From The Network- NWA Clash of the Champions I

NWA Clash of the Champions I
3-27-88
Greensboro, NC

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross, and Bob Caudle.

This was the NWA’s attempt to screw the WWF by putting a free mega show up against Wrestlemania IV which was airing at the same time.

Amateur Rules Match for the NWA TV Championship- Mike Rotunda © w/Kevin Sullivan vs. Jimmy Garvin w/Precious
You only need a one count to win this match and it is contested in three five minute rounds.
Round 1: Single leg takedown by Rotunda and Garvin quickly gets back to his feet. Hip toss and a slam by Garvin and Rotunda bails. Back in, Rotunda pulls Garvin down by the hair and he throws some shots to the head of Garvin. Garvin comes back with a back elbow and goes for the cover but Rotunda quickly kicks out. Rotunda gets a cheap shot on Garvin and he drops Garvin on the top rope. Rotunda stomps away in the corner and he hits a clothesline. He covers but Garvin rolled over to prevent the fall. Time runs out in round one.
Round 2: Rotunda attacks after the rest period and he slams Garvin. He goes up but Garvin stops him and tosses him off the top. Backdrop by Garvin and he goes for the Brainbuster but he’s distracted by Sullivan going after Precious on the apron. Garvin goes after Sullivan, allowing Rotunda to roll him up for 1.
Winner and Still NWA TV Champion- Mike Rotunda ** ( The one count rule clearly hindered what they could do in the match but I enjoyed that they worked this match almost like a legitimate wrestling exhibition and the result was some good ground based grappling that I’m a sucker for. )

After the match, Garvin lays out Rotunda with a Brainbuster. He goes after Sullivan but Rick Steiner attacks him. Precious nails Steiner with a 2×4 and she chokes Sullivan with a coat hanger to a huge pop!!! Rotunda and Steiner recover and Garvin bails with Precious.

Dr. Death Steve Williams supports Dusty Rhodes’ actions lately and he declares that he is challenging the winner of Ric Flair/Sting. Williams says he is a true champion. He struggled to get that promo out.

NWA US Tag Team Championships- Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) © w/Jim Cornette vs. The Fantastics (Tommy Rogers and Bobby Fulton)
All four men brawl to start and Rogers hits an axe handle off the top to Lane. Eaton and Fulton brawl on the floor, where Fulton nails Eaton with a chair. Hip toss by Fulton to Lane and the Fantastics hit a double back drop. Everyone brawls on the floor and Eaton sends Rogers into a chair Cornette was holding up. Lane chokes Fulton on the barricade and back in, Rogers hammers the head of Eaton. Eaton rakes the eyes and Rogers comes back with a dropkick. Slam by Fulton and the Fantastics toss the Express across the ring. Punches in the corner by Fulton to Eaton and the Midnight Express comes back with a High/Low on Rogers. Lane rubs Rogers’ face off the mat and he hits a superkick. Tag to Eaton and he hits some rights. Eaton sends Rogers face first into a table that Cornette held up. Tag to Lane and he hits a leg drop. Elbow drop by Lane and he throws a head butt to the back. Rogers goes low on Lane and Eaton comes in. Powerslam by Eaton and he goes up. Flying elbow drop by Eaton and Lane tags in. Gutwrench suplex by Lane and the Express double team Rogers. Lane rakes the eyes of Rogers and the Express hit a backbreaker/front elbow drop combo. Punches in the corner by Eaton to Rogers and he tags Lane. Sunset flip by Rogers but the ref is distracted by a pissed off Fulton, allowing Eaton to break it up. Superkick by Lane and he dumps Rogers to the floor. Eaton slams Rogers onto a table on the floor and he hits a bulldog onto the table!!! Back in, Lane throws some shots to the midsection and he tags Eaton. Drop toe hold/elbow drop to the back combo by the Express and Rogers fights out of the corner. He tags Fulton but the ref didn’t see it. Fulton has had enough and he dumps the ref to the floor!!! Cornette comes in and goes to nail Rogers with the tennis racket but misses and nails Eaton!!! Fulton lays out Cornette and Rogers goes up. Rocket Launcher by the Fantastics gets 3!!! BUT WAIT!!!! The official referee waives off the finish and DQs The Fantastics!!!
Winners by DQ and Still NWA US Tag Team Champions- Midnight Express **** ( Oh man, this was just phenomenal stuff until the crappy finish. The opening few minutes was an insane brawl that ECW tag matches years later would be based on and they followed it up with classic, old school wrestling. Just tremendous stuff across the board. )

After the match, Cornette cleans house on everyone with the racquet and he whips Fulton with his belt. Rogers clears the ring with a chair.

Ken Osmond of the new Leave it to Beaver TV show interviews Jim Cornette. Not much to this.

Gary Hart challenges Dusty Rhodes for the US Championship on behalf of Al Perez. Perez says nothing will keep him from winning the title.

We get a list of the top ten seeds for the upcoming Jim Crockett Memorial Cup.

Chicago Street Fight Barbed Wire Match-Dusty Rhodes and Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal) vs. Ivan Koloff and Powers of Pain (Warlord and Barbarian) w/Paul Jones
The ropes are wrapped in barbed wire. Everyone brawls to start and Hawk dropkicks Warlord. Animal rakes Barbarian’s head against the barbed wire and Dusty does the same to Koloff. Hawk clotheslines Barbarian and Warlord rakes the injured eye of Animal. Hawk press slams Koloff and he hits a fist drop. Koloff bites the head of Dusty and he rakes Dusty’s head against the barbed wire. Dusty throws some lefts at Warlord and knocks him down. DDT by Dusty to Barbarian and everyone continues to brawl. Powerslam by Animal to Warlord and Barbarian goes for a diving head butt off the top but misses Animal and nails Warlod. Animal covers for 3!!!
Winners- Dusty Rhodes and Road Warriors *1/2 ( With barbed wire surrounding the ring and six huge guys stuffed in there, it didn’t allow much in the way of actual action. At least they had a satisfying conclusion and the match was the giant brawl it was billed as. )

After the match, the Powers of Pain take the mask off of Animal and they nail Animal in his bad eye with a chain. They double team Animal but Dusty and Hawk make the save.

Nikita Koloff says he has been busy for months spreading the message to kids about good health and the Varsity Club has been trying to take his health. He tells Kevin Sullivan he doesn’t need a belt to be a champion and he throws a challenge at whoever the NWA Champion is. He declares the Superpowers of himself and Dusty Rhodes are going to win the Crockett Cup.

NWA Tag Team Championship- Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard © w/JJ Dillon vs. Barry Windham and Lex Luger
Blanchard and Luger start but Anderson attacks allowing a double team on Luger. Luger fights back with clotheslines and he hits a powerslam on Blanchard. Torture Rack by Luger but Anderson stomps on the leg of Luger to break. Tag to Anderson who hits some elbow drops to the leg of Luger. Tag to Blanchard and he jumps on the leg of Luger in the ropes. Tag to Anderson and he goes for the Figure-4 but Luger kicks him into Blanchard to break. Tag to Windham and he cleans house. Flying lariat by Windham and he hits a powerslam for 2. Sleeper by Windham but Blanchard tries to go to the floor to break. Windham holds on to the hold on the floor and he finally releases after some time. Blanchard snaps Windham’s neck off the ropes and he goes up. Windham tosses him off the top and catches Blanchard in the abdominal stretch. Anderson breaks it up and connects with a DDT for 2. Spinebuster by Anderson gets 2!!! Arn goes to jump on Windham but Windham gets the knees up to block. Tag to Blanchard and he hits some rights. He knocks Windham down for 2 and Windham comes back with a crossbody for 2. Windham and Blanchard bump heads knocking both men down. Gut wrench suplex by Windham and Anderson tags in. He works the arm of Windham but Windham kicks him away. Snapmare by Arn but he misses a kneedrop. Tag to Blanchard and he hits the Slingshot suplex for 2!!! Windham knocks Blanchard down and Luger gets the tag. Luger cleans house and hits a clothesline to Anderson. Short arm clothesline by Luger and he rams the champs heads together. Knee to the back by Blanchard and Anderson charges but Luger catches him with a powerslam. Dillon has a chair but Luger sends Anderson head first into the chair and covers for 3!!!! The place EXPLODES!!!!!
Winners and NEW NWA Tag Team Champions- Barry Windham and Lex Luger **** ( This was one the most faced paced, exciting, dramatic, and loudest sub ten minute matches you will ever see. This was phenominal stuff and the finish got one of the loudest pops you will ever here. )

NWA World Heavyweight Championship- Ric Flair © vs. Sting
Flair’s manager, JJ Dillon, is hung above the ring in a shark cage to prevent interference. This match has a forty five minute time limit and there are judges at ringside to determine a winner if the time limit expires. Test of strength to start and Sting powers Flair down. Hiptoss and a dropkick by Sting and Flair bails to the floor. Back in, Sting grabs a standing arm bar but Flair backs him to the ropes to break. Press slam by Sting and he hits a headscissors takeover. Hiptoss by Sting and he goes to the side headlock. Flair escapes but Sting catches him with a hiptoss and goes right back to work with the side headlock. Sting maintains the side headlock despite every attempt by Flair to escape. Flair backs Sting to the corner to finally break and Sting hits some rights. Hiptoss by Sting and he misses a dropkick. Flair dumps Sting to the floor but Sting comes right back in. Punches in the corner by Sting and we go back to the side headlock. Flair backs him to the ropes to break and Flair throws an elbow to the ribs of Sting. Chops in the corner by Flair but Sting stomps away to fight out of the corner. Press slam by Sting and he grabs a bear hug. Sting brings Flair onto the mat and applies a rear bear hug, getting some two counts off of it. Sting releases and he goes for an elbow drop but misses. Whip to the corner and Sting goes for the Stinger Splash but Flair moves. Sting goes for punches in the corner but Flair brings him out with a reverse atomic drop. They head to the floor and Flair sends Sting into the railings a few times. Back in, Flair chops away and sends Sting hard into the corner. Snapmare and Flair hits a kneedrop. A second kneedrop by Flair and he rakes the back of Sting. Flair rakes Sting’s face across the ropes and he dumps Sting to the floor. Flair follows and he sends Sting into the railings. Back in, Flair works over Sting in the corner. Flair hammers away but Sting fights back with rights, knocking Flair back to the floor. Sting follows and goes for a clothesline but misses and hits the post arm first. Back in, Flair works a wrist lock but Sting fights out and hits some punches in the corner. Hiptoss followed by a clothesline by Sting gets 2. Sting suplexes Flair back into the ring and he grabs the Scorpion Deathlock but Flair quickly goes to the ropes to break. Sting stomps away and chokes Flair in the corner with his boot. Sting knocks Flair down with a hard right for 2 as Flair gets his foot on the ropes. Hiptoss by Sting and he charges but Flair moves causing Sting to crash to the floor. Flair snaps Sting’s neck off the ropes but Sting no sells and goes up. Crossbody off the top by Sting gets 2!!! Kneebreaker by Flair and he connects with another forcing Sting to bail to the floor. Flair brings Sting back in and Flair hits a back suplex. Figure-4 by Flair but Sting eventually turns it over on Flair!!! Sting eventually releases and he suplexes Flair back into the ring. Sting goes for a big splash but Flair gets the knees up. Flair goes for the abdominal stretch but Sting reverses to his own. Flair hiptosses out and he misses an elbow drop. Flair goes up but Sting tosses him off the top for 2. Sting crotches Flair against the post and Sting locks in a Figure-4 of his own. Flair gets to the ropes to break and Sting hits some punches in the corner. Hiptoss by Sting and he hits some rights in the corner. Sting stomps on the leg of Flair and he pulls Flair out of the corner. Sting dumps on the leg of Flair and he sends Flair to the corner where Flair does the corner flip, crashing back to the floor!!! Sting follows out and he slams Flair’s face off the railings. He slams Flair’s face off the judges table and then slams his face off the post, causing Flair to fall into the front row!!! Back in, Flair goes for the sunset flip but Sting blocks with a hard right. Sting rakes Flair’s face across the ropes and Sting hits some punches in the corner. Sting blocks another reverse atomic drop attempt and hits a clothesline for 2 as Flair gets his foot on the ropes. Whip to the corner and Sting goes for the Stinger Splash but misses and crashes to the floor!!! Back in, Flair grabs a sleeper but Sting runs to the corner sending Flair face first into the turnbuckle to break. Sting goes for a sunset flip but Flair grabs the ropes to block for 2 as the ref sees it and forces Flair to release, causing Sting to finish the flip for 2. Whip to the corner and Flair flips to the apron. He goes up for a crossbody but Sting rolls through for 2!!! Chops by Flair have no effect and Sting works Flair over in the corner. Punches in the corner by Sting and he sends Flair to the corner. Stinger Splash by Sting and he grabs the Scorpion Deathlock!!! Flair won’t quit as time runs out!!!! One judge gives the match to Flair, one gives the match to Sting, and the third judge calls a draw, so the match is a draw.
Match ends in a Draw ****1/4 ( The major criticism I have with the match is that as you watched it you could tell they were going long. They hit rest holds for such a long time that it wasn’t a secret this was probably going the time limit and it caused some drag points in the match. That being said, this was still one hell of a match and turned Sting into a superstar. A classic that I think any wrestling fan should watch at least once. )

This is an all-time classic show. The NWA took a risk putting on a major show against Wrestlemania IV and they hit a home run. There are tremendous matches galore on this show plus some amazing moments such as the pop for the tag title switch and the emergence of Sting as the new star heading into the 1990s. This is a must watch show that put the Clash of the Champions concept on the map and showcased the absolute best of the NWA at this time. You must go out of your way to see this.