The WWE Network Hidden Gems team is putting more emphasis on complete shows than individual matches and angles lately, which is neat for archival sake but a little nerve-wracking for guy who tries to write about all the stuff they put up. September was a little lighter than normal though, as they released then quickly deleted full versions of the two MTV shows that arguably led to the Hulkamania boom.
What did get uploaded and stayed uploaded was a mammoth WCW All Nighter event from 1995 focused around the Clash of the Champions, a pair of late stage AWA shows, and delightfully a couple of those neat individual matches and angles.
The Brawl to End It All (WWF 7/23/84) and The War to Settle the Score (WWF 2/18/85)
Controversy abounds! Complete versions, dark matches included, of both the WWF and MTV’s Brawl to End It All and War to Settle the Score events were uploaded to the WWE Network and hastily removed a day later. I talk A LOT about the WWF in the lead-up to WrestleMania in Year in Review – WWF in 1984, Year in Review – WWF Tuesday Night Titans (1984), Year in Review – WWF in 1985, and Year in Review – WWF Tuesday Night Titans (1985) – Part 1, but am a little bummed I missed these complete shows.
WCW All Nighter 1995 (WCW 1/20/95)
Well here’s something. FOUR AND A HALF HOURS OF SOMETHING. If you’ve got the time, you know? Back in January 1995, eight months before Monday Nitro was a thing, WCW put on a five-hour late night special starting at midnight on TBS where a bunch of their on-screen personalities shacked up in a room at The Omni Hotel to film some bits in between classic wrestling matches. I wouldn’t be convinced they actually stayed up all night, but Tony Schiavone’s ragged look as the show goes on convinces me it’s a shoot.
This was actually the second All Nighter gimmick WCW did, the first of which took place the in March the year before from TONY SCHIAVONE’S HOUSE. That’s the one I need. Tony Schiavone is the main host, with an array of talent helping out: Bobby Heenan, Mean Gene Okerlund, Dusty Rhodes, Larry Zbyszko, and Gordon Solie (drink in hand) are all hanging out with Hulk Hogan merch all over the place, with the occasional disappearance by everybody but Tony and I think Gene. The gimmick here is that they’re going to countdown the Top 10 Clash of the Champions matches, but they never actually make clear what the full 10 is and air random stuff from Halloween Havoc, SuperBrawl, and TV here and there in place of what would be some of the top 10 matches. WCW!
1. If Austin is DQ’d, He Loses the Title – WCW U.S. Heavyweight Title: Stunning Steve Austin [c] vs. Ricky Steamboat (Clash of the Champions XXVIII 8/24/94): Just a classic bunch of stream-of-consciousness wrestling, Austin begging and bumping around doing his best Flair impersonation opposite Steamboat, who plays classic Steamboat here but infamously injures his back off a skin the cat, causing this to be his last match until his brief return to the WWF in 2009. Hulk Hogan had been attacked prior to the match so that’s all commentary is talking about, including an update cut-in from Stage Manager Ron Kirk that isn’t properly mic’d. Fun wrestling, side headlocking, armdragging, rope-running, cradling… they’re always moving and young Austin is expressive as hell. Steamboat does the skin the cat which really doesn’t look all that bad, and comes back in to roll up Austin for 3 and the championship… that he’d vacate back to Austin soon after. ****
Dusty Rhodes does monologue on what his son needed to do and prove versus Vader in their WCW World Heavyweight Title match, which is apparently Match #8 on the countdown after the next match (#9), though we never see Dustin vs. Vader on this show. I dunno.
2. No DQ Match – WCW World Heavyweight Title: Big Van Vader [c] w/ Harley Race vs. Davey Boy Smith (Clash of the Champions XXIV 8/18/93): Michael Buffer, as he was to do, goes all in on the intro here. I feel like he’d just add shit in to see if people would notice, describing Vader as a “3-time WCW World Heavyweight Titalist.” This is one of those weird 90s Dream Matches you wouldn’t expect, truly a battle of Bulls. Davey Boy attacks Vader on the ramp and it’s on from there, nothing remotely pretty but an experience and a half – Davey Boy lifting Vader for a Samoan drop or Vader just shellacking Davey with a body block is compelling stuff.
Davey Boy drapes Vader on the guardrail which disgusts a woman in the front row and leads to what appears to be a random fan that looks like Tom DeLonge with the mullet in that Blink 182 music video helping Vader get his leg back over so he can continue the match. They pull off a few nice false finishes, one when Vader lands on his ass trying to stop a sunset flip, and another where Davey Boy pulls off a crucifix cradle on Big Leon. Davey Boy catches Vader off the top with a powerslam but the referee gets bumped, then he actually picks Vader up for a suplex, but a Harley Race chop block ensures the title stays in Vader’s hands. Legitimately good. I swear. ****
3. The Mulkey Brothers vs. The Gladiators (3/30/87): Certainly a historical match I’m glad I saw; it just seemed odd they threw this in here instead of a Top 10 Clash of the Champions match like they said they were going to do at the start of the show. Regardless, this is 60-seconds and rules because perennial losers The Mulkey Brothers manage a victory over the masked Gladiators. For 60-seconds it’s pretty perfectly laid out too – The Gladiators attack pre-bell, one of the Mulkeys takes their usual bump on the concrete floor, then one of the Gladiators tries to suplex him back in and the other Mulkey kneels behind him so the Gladiator trips and the Mulkeys win. The crowd and especially David Crockett go wild – “RANDY AND BILL! YA BEAT ‘EM!” Crockett is happier than the Mulkeys themselves in the post-match interview, and they capitalize on their moment by saying exactly The Mulkey Brothers should: “We don’t know what to say!”
4. Steel Cage Retirement Match – WCW World Heavyweight Title: Hulk Hogan [c] w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Ric Flair w/ Sensuous Sherri (Special Guest Referee: Mr. T) (Halloween Havoc 10/23/94): We’re officially in Hoganland and what a weird world it is. I think the former Brutus Beefcake comes out with Hogan and Hart, but then he disappears only to return later on. Muhammad Ali is in the crowd. Mr. T is the referee. And it’s HOGAN VS. FLAIR!
Because it’s Hogan Flair, there’s the occasional hot moment and the occasional pop for something Mr. T does, but overall this is a pretty clunky Top Guy kind of match that has some Ric Flair leg work between a bunch of nuttiness. Hogan starts so how that Mr. T pushes him away – HUGE! Hogan bumps into Mr. T and Flair takes advantage, dragging Mr. T over for the cover only for Hogan to kickout at one – WOW! Sensuous Sherri climbs the cage and Jimmy Hart pulls her down, revealing her panties – M’GOODNESS!!! Sting runs down to help with Sherri, a masked man attacks him and Jimmy Hart with a bat, Sherri does a crappy axe handle off the top of the cage to Hogan’s back which Hogan no-sells, then Flair chop blocks Hogan as the masked guy climbs and I start to realize just how god damn long Mr. T has been selling that bump.
Mr. T gets handcuffed to the ropes, Hogan bodyslams Sherri… the crowd’s going wild but not quite wild, like a certain set of the crowd is enjoying themselves but everybody’s not all in on what’s going on. Hogan does a half-hearted comeback as Tony crows about them being the two greatest ever in professional wrestling, the questioning of that thesis statement right before our eyes. Hogan hits the big boot, drags Flair close to T, hits the leg drop, taps T on the back (yes T is still selling that bump) and it’s 1-2-3. Hogan does the celebration, the masked guy appears from behind, Hogan fights him off and reveals it to be Brother Bruti to no reaction. Kevin Sullivan shows up with the Avalanche and we fade out. The match itself is a trip but what a mess this all was. ***1/2
1995 Bobby Heenan has an Al Bundy vibe, a real deadpan general disappointment with his surroundings. “Can’t we get some balloons?”
5. Flyin’ Brian Pillman vs. Steve Austin w/ Col. Robert Parker (Clash of the Champions XXV 11/10/93): This is good fun, just too short to be anything memorable, hence why this is honestly the first time I even became aware of the Hollywood Blondes’ singles match existence. Pillman is full babyface and just goes AT Austin right away, so clearly better than Hogan in every single way, before a chase of Col. Parker leads to Austin working over Pillman’s leg. They keep it moving and Pillman keeps firing back, with the occasional cool spot like Pillman dropkicking an Austin leap off the top rope or Austin catching a Pillman slingshot from the apron with a powerslam. Parker sort of trips Pillman up on a springboard and Austin just pulls him down and pins him. Great stuff, it just kind of stops. ***1/4
Larry Zbyszko talks up teaming with Arn Anderson and seems to take shots at the media but also says they got it right when they named Arn the Enforcer. Alright.
6. WCW World Tag Team Title: The Enforcers (Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko) [c] vs. Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes w/ Barry Windham (Clash of the Champions XVII 11/19/91): This is complete bullshit because they cut the insane Steamboat return with the big dragon mask and Arn absolutely flipping out in an absolutely legendary performance. This clip does at least cut into a big “NOT STEAMBOAT!” before we head to the match, which is tremendous. Steamboat is teeing off on Arn, Zbyszko is screaming and shaking while in a Dustin armbar, Arn actually blocks getting thrown off the top rope with an eye rake to setup heat on Dustin. Steamboat is a maniac on the apron as usual, and Tony puts it best: “Steamboat keeping this crowd into it… the emotion so important for a young wrestler like Rhodes.”
Ricky tags in and begins taking heat himself, with all kinds of good stuff from the Enforcers – blind tags, cut-offs, and of course Ricky selling everything huge. Ricky almost gets a hot tag out of a Boston crab which I found just awesome, and once he does get it Dustin unloads and a Ricky crossbody wins the titles. Classic stuff, with a crowd going nuts for everything. ****1/4
7. Ric Flair & Bary Windham w/ JJ Dillon vs. Eddie Gilbert & X (Ricky Steamboat) (1/21/89): I’m not familiar with the babyface “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert run in late-80s WCW, but Teddy Long is the referee for this studio TV match, in which Eddie has a mystery partner for the Four Horsemen and it’s Ricky Steamboat, who gets not as big a pop as you’d think. Ricky seems more fired up than anybody and after about 5 minutes of decent action he pins Flair with a crossbody off the top. Neat moment but nothing special. **
8. Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair w/ Sensuous Sherri (Main Event 7/24/94): The Clash of Champions Top 10 Match #4 is their 60-minute 2/3 Falls match at Clash of the Champions VI: Rajun’ Cajun in 1989 a few months after that Steamboat return, but what they air here is a 15-minute match on WCW Main Event that ended up the last televised Flair/Steamboat match. Ricky hugs his son Richie (and his bowl cut) on the way to the ring before he and Flair do a bunch of classic, beautifully flowing professional wrestling for like 10 minutes.
The referee and Sherri eventually take bumps, because it’s 1994 WCW I guess, and the determined Sherri tries to stop a figure-four until Ricky pulls her down for a kind of inside cradle and the crowd goes fucking NUTS. She jumps over the top off an atomic drop from Steamboat in a perfectly goofy wrestling bump, then Steamboat gets a visual 3-count off a top rope crossbody before Stunning Steve Austin runs in for the DQ. Steamboat… celbrates? Quality but disappointing at the same time. ***1/2
David Crockett joins the show and really aged so much between 1990 and 1995. They show some clips of December 1986 prime Four Horsemen promos with the group just absolutely RANTING at the WTBS studios. Tully’s rocking a New York Giants long sleeve in Atlanta cracks me up.
9. NWA World Tag Team Title: Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard [c] w/ JJ Dillon vs. Dusty Rhodes & Sting (Clash of the Champions II 6/8/88): This is Match #3 at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, FL and the folks are HYPED as Dusty and Sting charge to the ring, Dusty wearing a tye-dye shirt. The match is classic BS – some might say lazy, some might say as good as pro wrestling gets. Small children watch on as Dusty kicks some ass, Tully & Arn work over Sting being all dirty and whatnot including a DDT on the floor, and Dusty makes a comeback. The crowd loves it! Barry Windham eventually runs in and puts The Claw on Dusty and it’s a DQ. Stupid, but good. ***3/4<?b>
Ron from Papa John’s shows up to the hotel room to banter the gropu and Tony is really starting to look tired, the only member of the group who came prepared. Bobby Heenan looks to have fallen asleep and Mean Gene forgets the name of the event of the next match. “It was Starrcade,” says Tony.
10. Iron Team Tournament: The Steiner Brothers vs. The Road Warriors w/ Paul Ellering (Starrcade 12/13/89): This is the final match in this convoluted Iron Tag Team Tournament gimmick. “It’s the insensible force meeting the illiterate object,” says Cornette, with the Line of the Night. I am all in on a Steiners vs. Warriors match but this is real quick and the finish is dumb. We get Scott almost dropping Hawk on his head with a belly-to-belly off the top rope, and there’s a whole lot of tackles and missed elbows. The Doomsday Device is hit on Scott and Animal turns it into a backdrop hold, but Scott gets a shoulder up while Animal’s shoulders are down so The Steiners very awkwardly win. ***
Gordon Solie and Dusty Rhodes have disappeared.
11. I Quit Match: Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk w/ Gary Hart (Clash of the Champions IX 11/15/89): Flair gets fireworks and ladies on his arms as he walks the red carpet entrance, while crazy Funk rants on the microphone but it’s not audible. This is a great match, a crazy match, a completely different type of Ric Flair match and a wonderful example of the enigma that is Terry Funk but watching it in 2019 it is not AS GOOD as legend might lead one to believe.
Flair plays fired up babyface while Funk dishes a beating and does mic work throughout the match. “ASK HIM!” he screams as he holds Flair up for a piledriver. It’s crazy. But also the crowd’s pretty quiet and I don’t think it drew very well. Crazy Funk takes a suplex onto the apron – which I think really was the hardest part of the ring back in 1989 – and him wildly swinging as he loses momentum is great stuff. Flair works the leg and finally gets on the figure-four, leading to Funk uttering, “My leg! My leg! Ahhyeaahhheaahhh… YES I QUIT.” He has the delivery of a man who is confessing to a crime – it is incredible. It also gets a huge pop.
Post-match Flair gets his championship and Flair gets on the mic: “I’m gonna shake his hand cause… you’re a hell of a man, Ric Flair. You’re better than me.” Gary Hart attacks Funk from behind, Flair goes after Hart, and THE GREAT MUTA and THE DRAGON MASTER run in to attack Flair before STING comes in for the save. “The Japanese have attacked Flair! The Japanese have attacked Flair!” Lex Luger runs out and attacks Sting with a chair just to make everything even more crazy, and we fade out with Sting and Flair laid out and the next angle setup as Funk moved on. Then the cheesy WCW All Nighter music hits lol. ****
The segment after this focuses on a strange time in April ’85 where Dusty Rhodes needed backup against The Russians so he brought in… a man in a gorilla suit that he presented as an actual gorilla. This resulted in a few skits said gorilla came to the WTBS studio. What sells this is Dusty’s conviction as he explains the angle: “I look at his [Ivan Koloff’s] partner and I said man he ain’t nothing but a big old gorilla… and a LIGHTBULB FLASHED UP IN THE MIDDLE OF MY NOGGIN’… I said gorilla time it iiis.” Dusty has his gorilla partner locked in a cage but introduces the gorilla’s momma, who has a purse and bonnet and is apparently allowed to roam freely. Dusty feeds his guy bananas.
Bobby Heenan has fallen asleep and Mean Gene begins to paint him like a “pussy cat.”
12. WCW World Heavyweight Title: Lex Luger [c] w/ Harley Race vs. Sting (SuperBrawl II 2/29/92): The ENTRANCE for Sting here, oh baby. What excitement. Other than that, this kind of sucked. Lots of big mid-ring collisions but not much of a match. There’s too much choking, stomping, and punching, but when Sting does a jumping DDT and it just feels like he’s trying too hard. Harley takes a back body drop on the floor, Sting hits a crap crossbody to Luger to win, and Luger gets right back up and just looks slightly disappointed. **1/4
David Crockett and Tony recall Ric Flair and Magnum T.A. as personalities, and Crockett boils it down to this: Flair had women, Cadillacs, everything. Magnum was leather jackets, blue jeans, and motorcycles. This is how life works, ladies and gentleman.
13. Ric Flair vs. George South (Championship Wrestling 6/1/85): This is great for three reasons: great pre-match Flair promo, great wrestling match, and great post-match angle between Flair and the then-emerging Magnum T.A.
Flair, as he was to do in the 1980s, goes full Flair for his promo: “I deal with my opponents a little like I handle my love life – I make sure I leave a lasting impression.” He recaps his Starrcade wins, commentating over them – “THERE IT IS! Ya see that!” when Joe Frazier raises his hand. He recaps a VICIOUS beating on Magnum in the last month, then brags about the cost of a suit he recently bought before transitioning beautifully into “I’m gonna get in the ring Tony and show you once again WHY, WHY! I’m the World Champion, brother.” Then he charges to the ring to wrestle George South.
He has just the most perfect little jobber match with South, as South gets in these little well-timed comebacks but mostly Flair just kicks ass and is the WORST. Magnum shows up picture-in-picture and admires the suit, then wonders aloud if it will fit him as Flair applies an abdominal stretch. South taps to the figure-four, then T.A. struts to the ring and dramatically tears up the suit. The LOOK on Flair’s face is the very definition of pro wrestling. Magnum gets a BELLY-TO-BELLY! and it’s all such a what-could’ve-been wonder.
14. NWA World Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair [c] vs. Sting (Clash of the Champions I 3/27/88): The ol’ classic, the template for ’em all or so one might have said before. It really is a master class in the new guy getting the better of the champ, of the champion selling the new guy’s absolute raw power. There are clear moments of Sting being green, but it doesn’t take away from the match – it makes it better. The Flair shtick has been done again and again, but there aren’t many greater moments in pro wrestling than the rope-running into press slam spot here, even if it is followed up by a really rough headscissors. Sting’s comebacks and fire ups are partially goofy and partially absolutely amazing, not quite Hogan and not quite Warrior but something special.
JJ Dillon is suspended above the ring. Garry Juster, Jason Hervey, Ken Osmond, Patty Mullen and Sandy Scott sit ringside as judges. Flair woo’s, Sting crows. Flair armbar takedown, Sting kip-up. Flair chops away at Sting and the careful commentary cracks me up: “I don’t want to turn anybody off but… Flair chopped Sting so hard a while ago on the chest that Sting has a small laceration on his pectoral muscle.”
There’s a long Sting headlock and bearhug in the middle, as the Stinger hadn’t really fleshed out his whole offensive routine just yet. Flair sells it like death – “oh my GOD, my back!” Sting misses a jumping elbow which leads to Flair taking over, including whipping Sting into the buckle a bunch of times because it make such a nice noise. The top rope crossbody from Flair gets only TWO which really is something as after Flair beats Race with it at Starrcade ’83, it really does become a big finish in WCW, even after this match. At 40 minutes Sting no-sells a Manhattan drop and clotheslines Flair, but soon takes a massive bump over the turnbuckle to the floor. They get some big false finishes at the end and that crazy bastard Flair blades with like 90 seconds to go. Sting gets the Scorpion Deathlock on, which Flair endures until the 45-minute time limit expires.
Following this, they read the judges’ scores which feel so hilarious and irrelevant. Mullen says Flair, Juster says Sting, Scott says draw. The other guys… don’t get votes? So it’s still a draw, and Flair still retains. Cool. ****1/2
Bobby Heenan wakes up and everybody laughs at him and his pussy cat facepaint. Dusty and Solie have to be on the air for WCW Pro in a few hours, while Zbyszko wants to go golfing like he always does. Overall this is Not Recommended as there’s better avenues to take the best matches in, but it’s worth a watch if you’ve got nearly five hours on your hands to see a bunch of great rasslin and Tony Schiavone carry all these nutcases through a night of filming.
The Power of Karate – 4-on-1 Handicap Karate Match: Phil Silva vs. Earl Fleming, Terry Foster, Farmer Andrews & Johnny Dobbs (Texas Rasslin’ Sportatorium 1/12/54)
The Texas Rasslin’ footage is some of the coolest stuff WWE Network has, black-and-white footage from the 1950s in excellent quality with wonderful casual commentary and a gentlemanly approach to the sport in the arena that became the home of World Class Championship Wrestling. Phil Silva is a man of foreign descent in a gi who knows karate and is basically treated like a circus freak, brought in to tangle with four apparently misled volunteers.
The tone-setting and presentation of this is so weird and great: after some commotion right away one of the matchmakers gets on the house mic and proclaims, “Ladies and gentleman, in karate wrestling anything goes … when you four boys… when I asked you to accept this match, I told you that this man insists that anything goes – now you consented to it, now you’re trying to change it.” Johnny Dobbs is being all combative but eventually consents. The matchmaker warns Silva and his corner guy: “I’m gonna ask one thing: please do not touch the eyes. Oh no, we’ll not have eyes. No eye gouging at all. Anything goes but eye gouging.” “Oh no you have to leave the ring, you understand that.” Live arguing over the karate rules in mid-50s black-and-white Dallas wrestling is AWESOME.
The match is absolutely ridiculous, so long and hilarious. Everyone’s all hesitant to approach Silva, who does an over-the-top goofy warmup. Karate offense here means quick shitty little chops to the neck, which are adorably sold like death by evrybody involved. Respect to Johnny Dobbs for effectively playing the role of cowardly shit too, trying to direct the other guys. The three others try to sneak around the ring to approach Silva, who responds with more chops. Fleming submits to an abdominal stretch thing. Foster gets one too, and Silva chops at his throat as he does it. It’s all so fake but Foster also sells like he’s about to die.
Promoter Jack O’Brien and others run out as Farmer Andrews goes down to a judo throw, and O’Brien pulls at Silva’s hair as he tries to cover the Farmer. Silva begins to do the chops to all these guys in their suits and it’s absolute madness, like he’s some savage. There are some serious swings thrown by the Texas guys but the karate chops make it all so hilarious. All the promoters try to help Andrews pin Silva, but Silva’s corner guy runs in and poor O’Brien and another guy in the suit hug each other in desperation as they take an onslaught from Silva. Silva literally chokes Andrews and Dobbs into submission with his foot. When douchebag Dobbs gets his it’s not even sad, just scary. Too crazy to not Recommend
Arm Wrestling Armageddon – Superstar Billy Graham vs. The Great Scott (AWA 8/25/73)
A spectacular over-the-top announcer introduces an Arm Wrestling Match with Superstar Graham at his side pointing to his muscle, then the camera does a pitch perfect pan to his opponent: The Great Scott, a shirtless scrawny guy in glasses. Graham wins immediately, and Scott claps and points to his bicep. Legit good wrestling comedy. It’s 30 seconds, Highly Recommended
The Road to SuperClash III (AWA 9/18/88)
Unbeknownst to me, the AWA ran hype shows for their very bad SuperClash shows, this one for SuperClash III which was headlined by Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich in an AWA vs. WCWA (World Class) World Heavyweight Title Unification Match. I wrote about that show once: Happy Thoughts – AWA SuperClash III (12/13/88). It was bad.
This show has lots of squashes. Lots. Lots. Tons. It’s a slog, but they get across the big points and honestly it might be better than SuperClash III itself.
1. The Top Guns (Ricky Rice & John Paul) vs. Terry Adonis & The Beast: We get right to the action with Lee Marshall and Frank Dusek on the call, and I love me some Lee Marshall, who is already hard selling the big show moments into the match. The Top Guns are working a low rent Rockers gimmick, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, while The Beast wears furry boots. Ricky Rice does a nice dropkick off a drop-down from John Paul, and Adonis kicks out at 3 but it’s OVER. *3/4
2. Ron Garvin vs. Scott Steiner: Scotty Steiner is a baby in his young lion tights, while Garvin is the International TV Champ and coasts to the ring with a SWAGGER. Scotty does a bodyslam, takes the Garvin stomp, massively misses a crossbody, and the Hands of Stone knock him out. NICE. **
3. Kerry Von Erich vs. Gary Young w/ Downtown Bruno: The future Harvey Wippleman pushes Kerry before the match, so he gets punched off the apron and takes another legendary leap of faith into the air to elicit a major pop from the crowd. Young goes to work for a bit and does a bad crossbody, which Kerry reverses for 3. Young looked crap but maybe Kerry was just impossible – I don’t know. Sloppy but effective as Kerry headed towards The King. *
4. Greg Gagne vs. Mike Enos: Greg’s saggy old man body is a sight to behold. They do some vaguely impressive technical wrestling, while a late fire-up by Greg doesn’t get over. He wins with the sleeper. *
5. Madusa Miceli & Sylvia vs. Wendi Richter & Magnificent Mimi: As per usual David McClain joins commentary for this. Madusa has a legendary SCOWL on her face as she stares down her opposition. This is a weird match. There’s a lot of yelling, including Madusa in a tree of woe just screaming “SYLVIA! SYLVIA!” Wendi and Mimi win when Wendi holds Madusa’s shoulders down, but the referee doesn’t count… the bell just rings and Madusa pushes the referee. Commentary tries to explain that maybe Madusa submitted and then Wendi screams for an uncomfortably long time on the mic about wanting a title match with Madusa while the crowd questions their decisions for the evening. *1/4
6. Badd Company (Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond) w/ Diamond Dallas Page and The Diamond Dolls vs. Nature’s Best (Bill Justin & Darryl Justin) : The awkward choice to put quotes around the names “Jennifer” and “Torri” when introducing them be damned, this is an awesome squash. Badd Company was ready to kick some ASS, delivering a vicious Hart Attack and elbow/backbreaker combo while Nature’s Best – who I’m not convinced commentary knew the difference between – takes their beating like professionals. A Superkick/German suplex combo finishes it. **1/2
7. The Rock & Roll Express vs. Terry Adonis & The Hangman: The Rock & Roll Express were always an underrated squash match. *1/2
8. WCWA Texas Heavyweight Title: Iceman King Parsons [c] vs. Michael PS Hayes: Parsons is in his pimp gear and highly disliked by the audience, while Hayes gets a big pop and jogs to the ring with his hair flowing in the air like he’s ready to take over the territory. He gyrates on the turnbuckle as the crowd goes nuts. Iceman works over Hayes for a bit and bayface Hayes is good stuff. Hayes’ opponents at SuperClash, the Samoan Swat Team – led by Hayes’ old buddy Buddy Roberts! – eventually run in for the DQ. Kerry Von Erich and Hayes’ pal Steve Cox run out for the save. **
9. Terry Garvin vs. Steve Cox: Terry Garvin, who is not the more infamous Terry Garvin, and is not related to Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin, appears to be doing some kind of Gorgeous Jimmy gimmick and comes off as a shorter chubbier version of him. Cox drops the poor guy with a German suplex right on his head, then no-sells some chops and walks towards him like he’s Tomohiro Ishii or something. A russian legsweep wins it in a minute. *1/2
10. Sgt. Slaughter & Keith Eric vs. Soldat Ustinov & Teijo Khan: Teijo Khan’s name is spelled on-screen as “Tijoe,” another new version of his always-changing first name. Sarge was supposed to tag with Jimmy Snuka, but Snuka isn’t here. He enters the ring in full G.I. Joe mascot gear and promptly walks to the back as the evil foreigners raise their hands, but Sarge drags poor locker room occupant Keith Eric out to stand on the apron as he goes to work. Poor Keith unfortunately finds himself taking a little beating until Sarge finds his way back in. Unfortunately, Col. DeBeers shows up and goads Sarge into a countout. Oh nooooo. They go full wrestling post-match, as Slaughter kneels over his downed partner and challenges DeBeers to a Boot Camp Match, then leads the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance as Eric is stretchered off. *3/4
11. Chief Wahoo McDaniel vs. Manny Fernandez: These two brudders are working holds a few years too late. As Lee Marshall blurts out, their 5 minutes of action feels like 5 days. They chop at each other on the floor until a double countout, and Wahoo says he’ll quit if he can’t beat Manny at SuperClash. He did, and it wasn’t much better than this. DUD
12. The Guerrero Brothers (Chavo, Hector & Mando) vs. The Rock & Roll RPM’s (Mike Davis & Tommy Lane) & The Hangman w/ Downtown Bruno: The Guerrero Brothers are an absolute fire here, running through double and triple teams seamlessly as Dusek calls them the greatest combination of American and Latin wrestling today. Mando does a big plancha to the concrete floor, Hector does a completely insane diving plancha to the same floor, and Chavo blows minds further with a moonsault inside for 3. This same match opens SuperClash III with Cactus Jack in Hangman’s place and it’s pretty much the best match on the show. ***
13. Colonel DeBeers w/ Diamond Dallas Page and The Diamond Dolls vs. Alan Reynolds: DDP lays down a promo before the match, saying that when DeBeers and Sarge face off at SuperClash it’ll be decided once and for all “who, who, who – by god WHO – is the real military man here.” DeBeers drops a brutal Calf branding knee drop on Reynolds here, then finishes him off real quick with a front-face piledriver. *1/4
14. The Samoan Swat Team (Fatu & Samu) w/ Buddy Roberts vs. Ray Odyssey & Shawn Baxter: Shawn Baxter sports a very respectable 80s rocker haircut as he takes part in this very cool squash match opposite the SST. **
15. Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Adonis: Terry Adonis is the real MVP of this show, making The Top Guns, The Rock & Roll Express, and now Jerry Lawler all look amazing. The crowd is hyped for The King as he heads to the ring, and his reaction to getting a kiss from an excited crowd member is hilarious. He throws some of them classic punches before a fist drop wins it. **
16. Bill Dundee & Brickhouse Brown vs. The Stud Stable (Jimmy Golden & Robert Fuller) w/ Downtown Bruno and Sylvia: The Stud Stable bump around here for Brickhouse Brown who is an absolute lightning rod of charisma. Dundee does his cute bullshit like getting Fuller to do an arm wringer to Golden before Sylvia runs in with a kendo stick for the DQ. Cactus Jack runs out to back up The Stud Stable before Jeff Jarrett runs in and throws some of the greatest god damn punches I’ve ever seen. Jimmy Valiant shows up too and looks shockingly different compared to his JCP run like a year before. **3/4
17. Jeff Jarrett, The Rock & Roll Express and The Top Guns vs. Cactus Jack, Badd Company and The Rock & Roll RPM’s: There’s a whole lot going on here – Jarrett on fire, early Cactus, and a few heat segments involving 10 different men (plus DDP at one point) that are various levels of good. Badd Company runs into each other at one point and each goes 1000% on the bump. Everybody starts brawling in the ring and I found myself compelled at Ricky throwing punches then wiping his nose. A wild match. One of The Top Guns yells, “We’re high on dropkicks, not drugs!” while a jacked up Ricky screams, “When we get together, all we do is create stormy weather”! ***1/4
18. Jerry Lawler & Jimmy Valiant vs. Kerry Von Erich & Michael PS Hayes: Kerry hops on the mic pre-match and explains that his brother “Kevin got a concussion a couple days ago so I’ve has asked my best friend Michael PS Hayes to be my partner, thank you.” Lee Marshall again and again explains how Kerry once beat Hulk Hogan. This is a pretty crappy trailer for the Lawler/Kerry title match, with no good guy to root for – Lawler and Kerry keep it to themselves until they go for a dropkick at the same time and tag out. Hayes and Valiant brawl on the floor, Kerry and Lawler try to get them back in, double countout. Four all-stars but boooo. **3/4
Lee Marshall wishes they had another hour to talk about the pay-per-view – no thanks. Not Recommended
SuperClash 4 (AWA 4/8/90)
“Ladies and gentleman, a quick announcement: there is no smoking in the arena proper. Sorry… I’m just tellin’ ya, no smoking in the arena proper please… smoke in the outer concourse if you want.”
SuperClash IV was the LAST SuperClash, an era long past hope for the American Wrestling Association. It took place at the St. Paul Civic Center and was thought to not be filmed until this hard cam-only footage showed up in the Hidden Gems section. In addition to the wrestling, a young Eric Bischoff does 15 minutes of post-show interviews.
The biggest thing here is the camera and microphone is set that you can audibly hear the sounds of unruly children and adults throughout the show that are nearby the entrance area, doing usual wrestling stuff like yelling “You stink, DeBeers!” and “Tully, Tully!” but also hilariously and sadly mocking Verne Gagne for the attendance and card. Verne gets introduced as wrestling’s greatest legend later in the show before the Mr. Saito/Larry Zbyszko AWA World Title match, and the locals just unload and it cuts DEEP: “Keep up the good work, Verne … Good crowd, Verne … I got comp tickets!” BRUTAL.
1. Jake Milliman vs. Todd Becker: There are not many men on planet earth that define the role of enhancement talent better than Jake “The Milkman” Milliman, who’s impressive beef has him coming off as a spiritual successor to Otis Dozovic who also does 80s opener armdrags. Becker works a few holds before Milkman wins it with a sunset flip to end this serviceable, quiet, low key opener. *
2. Brad Rheingans & DJ Peterson vs. The Texas Hangmen (Killer & Psycho): One of the Texas Hangman is Bull Pain I believe, a member of one of many teams of anonymous masked man ala The Machines and Super Destroyers who aren’t quite as mysterious as they think they are. The mic picks up casual crowd chatter about local radio station AM1280 being sold while the good guys try to do some cute armbar spots that nobody’s into except one wide-eyed mesmerized girl in the second row. Peterson takes some heat, one Hangman hits another by mistake, Brad gets in but is randomly rolled up to give the bad guys the nod. *1/4
3. Baron von Raschke vs. Col. DeBeers w/ Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie: They announce at the start of the show that Junkyard Dog recently suffered torn ligaments in his knee so replacing him against Col. DeBeers will be Baron von Raschke, which I’m pretty sure is the second AWA show on the WWE Network I’ve seen that had Baron as a replacement. It actually gets a pop, I imagine because by 1990 everybody knew JYD wasn’t quite JYD. DeBeers does an amazing stumble out of the ring to avoid THE CLAW early but otherwise this is a very simple match designed for a scenario where any of this is actually over. Raschke wins by countout or some shit. *1/2
4. Tully Blanchard w/ Christopher Love vs. Tommy Jammer: This is a JOURNEY. Tully is still Tully, but NOBODY is into his bumping and nobody is especially into his opponent, Tommy Jammer. It feels like Tully just sleepwalking through his shtick with a 5-minute armbar in between. He reverses a suplex into the ring with a pin and puts his feet on the ropes after 15 freaking minutes. Tully finally kicks Jammer’s ass in the aisle afterwards and you’ve got to wonder what was taking so much time during those other 15 minutes. DUD
5. Lumberjack Match: Nord the Barbarian vs. Kokina Maximus w/ Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie: This is a Dream Match on some kind of planet, The Berzerker vs. Yokozuna, but in 1990 at AWA SuperClash IV it was just slow big guy BS with the only highlight being a moment where Kokina is caught smiling on camera. Kokina goes all in on a big back splash in the corner that misses, then Nord nails a massive big boot before Kaissie hits him with a briefcase and Kokina wins. Kokina attacks Kaissie afterwards and somebody yells that WWF is #1. Classic. *3/4
6. AWA World Heavyweight Title: Mr. Saito [c] vs. Larry Zbyszko (Special Guest Referee: Nick Bockwinkel): IWGP Heavyweight Champion Riki Choshu is introduced before the match, wearing sunglasses. With him is Tiger Hattori, announced as “Tiger Haroti.” That’s probably the best part of all of this, as bless Mr. Saito as a World Champion in 1990 and bless Larry Zbyszko here and there but they almost seem to be making a point of doing nothing but applying and escaping holds, trying to cling on to some type of wrestling era that no longer existed, and it’s all so bad that all the mean heckles directed Verne’s way during the match seem well-deserved.
They blow a swinging neckbreaker and Saito delivers a German suplex hold, but Zbyszko gets a shoulder up at the last second. Saito gets announced as the winner, but Bockwinkel raises his old rival Larry’s hand and the announcer asks us to stand by for a correction. Zbyszko is champ, enraging and exciting nobody. Quarter star for like 5 seconds of intensity from Saito. 1/4*
7. Tag Team Steel Cage Match: Paul Diamond & The Trooper vs. The Destruction Crew (Mike Enos & Wayne Bloom): I’m not sure I even want to know why The Trooper, who is the future Patriot, is teaming with Paul Diamond instead of Pat Tanaka to take on the future Beverly Brothers in a steel cage. This is basic on top of basic with a striking lack of star power – the Crew does an admirable job bumping around, but all this is really building to is former football player and brief AWA referee/wrestler getting thrown down by the Crew then throwing them into the cage as revenge and helping Trooper cover for 3. Just 10 minutes of cage wrestling, nothing more nothing less. *1/2
Young Bischoff interviews the some of the folks after the show. Tiger Hattori and Mr. Saito are pissed. There are some outtakes of DeBeers clarifying his lines and he comes across like such a normal dude. Bockwinkel calmly explains that he’s a man of integrity, as he wants to kill Zbyszko but still made him champ. Zbyszko is over the moon: “LONG LIVE… LARRY LAAAAND!” The Destruction Crew and Tully Blanchard have apparently informed the Terrible Trio, managed by Christopher Love, and there’s an ounce of potential. They’re hot at Lutserma, who does his own interview and sounds like my old doctor before he just starts YELLING: “If you go by the rules, by God, if you play by the rules, I’ll get in there… and I’ll whip em!” This old man is NOT AFRAID of The Destruction Crew. Bischoff starts prepping The Trooper before they cut and stop (“alright sorry”) to do the hand-in-front-of-the-camera gimmick prior to his promo.
The post-show interviews are interesting and for curiosity sake the Destruction Crew/Tully Blanchard trio was nice to see, but this is very much Not Recommended.
