411 Video Review: NWA Clash Of The Champions 4
Posted by Brian Cole on 11.09.2001
True, most of the matches had little or no story lines going into them but the Main Event alone made up for that alone.
Hey fans, Brian Cole back with the second edition of my version of 411's Video Review. In this review I am going to pick up where fellow 411 Reviewer, Ken Anderson left off. Ken asked me to fill in for him with the NWA Clash of the Champions 4 report because he can't find his version of the event. Far be it from me to leave a brutha hanging. Also want to note at this point Scott Keith hasn't even gotten around to doing the video review for this specific Clash. So, to my knowledge, this is the first video review of the Super Card. This video can be found and purchased at www.WrestlinGods.com as so can thousands of other videos and all the other Clashes.
Now, LIVE, from the UTC Arena in Chattanooga, TN…The NWA proudly presents Clash of the Champions #4 "Season's Beatings". This Clash was aired live December 7,1988 on Super Station TBS and featured 5 big matches. Our commentators tonight are Jim Ross & Bob Caudle. And now to the ring…
MATCH #1: Fantastics vs. Ron Simmons & Eddie Gilbert (U.S. Tag Title Finals)
We open the show with that punk kid from the "Wonder Years", Jason Hervey doing the ring announcing of the competitors. The story behind this match is that the Midnight Express were the U.S. Tag Champs but after winning the World Tag Titles in September they had to vacate the U.S. straps. The result, a U.S. Tag Title Tournament. To make it to the finals the Fans defeated the team of Mike Rotunda & Steve Williams and then received a bye in the semi's. Simmons & Gilbert on the other hand have a unique story on the way they made it to the finals. Originally gaining a win over Al Perez & Larry Zbyszko in the first round, Ron & Eddie lost their semi-final bout to the Sheepherders. However, before we made it to the Clash the Herders signed with the WWF to go on to become the BushWhackers. This led to a reverse decision in the semi-final bout, which allowed Faarooq and Hot Stuff to enter the finals of the tourney on this event. After commercial we return and the bell sounds. We start off with Simmons & Fulton in a tie up and that is broke. Fulton charges Ron but only stuns himself so he charges Ron again, this time Fulton hits the met. As Bobby gets up he slides through Simmons' legs and pops up on the other side with a dropkick sending Ron into the ropes and a second dropkick which floors the former Seminole. Bobby whips Ron off the ropes and Ron misses a clothesline. Fulton now with a body block but Ron catches him with a back breaker. Simmons displays more strength with a giant press slam on Bobby. Fulton is stupid enough now to go for a test of strength with Ron, but Bobby floats over Ron during the hold and hits an armdrag and tags in Tommy Rogers. Rogers comes in with a dropkick and then a side headlock, but allows Simmons to work his way back into the corner where Ron tags in Eddie Gilbert. Eddie with a side headlock on Rogers and sends him off the ropes. Eddie with a tackle on Rogers followed by a hip toss but misses an elbow drop. Rogers goes for the cover but gets a one count. Tommy quickly whips Eddie into an armdrag and down with an armbar. Gilbert works his way up to his feet and Tommy tags in Fulton. Gilbert fights back with a sunset flip on Bobby however, and nearly gets a quick win. Fulton with a side headlock and sends Eddie off. Fulton takes Eddie down with a tackle and hits the ropes again. Gilbert attempts a hiptoss but Fulton holds onto the ropes and struts his stuff. Gilbert with an armdrag but Fulton returns with a hiptoss & a side headlock take over. Gilbert maneuvers Bobby into a head scissors lock on the mat & Bobby works back into the headlock. Eddie gets to his feet & shoots Fulton off the ropes & attempts a powerslam, but Fulton counters with an inside cradle for a 2 count. The two begin to get a little heated and shove each other. Gilbert tags Simmons back in who drives Fulton down with a hammerlock. Bobby eventually works to the ropes and drops down using the momentum to carry Ron to the floor. As Simmons returns into the ring Fulton w/another inside cradle for another close win. Fulton tags in Rogers. Simmons with a schoolboy for a 2 count & into a top wrist lock there after. Simmons gets shot off the ropes and hits a shoulder tackle. Ron off the ropes again, Tommy leap frogs and hits a dropkick but misses a top rope elbow drop. Ron Simmons with a flying shoulder tackle and goes to cover but Tommy's in the ropes. Ron tags in Hot Stuff. Eddie with an armbar now on Rogers and Tommy counters out with a school boy for a 2 count. Gilbert now works Rogers with a hammerlock but Tommy eventually back flips over to his feet & delivers an armdrag. Fulton back in now with a dropkick and an armdrag into an armbar. Simmons back in with a front face lock on Fulton into the corner. Ron charges into the corner but no one's home. Back in comes Rogers now as the Fantastics work on Ron's arm. The All American powers out and whips Rogers off the ropes & into a backdrop but misses an elbow. Wow it sounds like I've repeated the same spots 100 times. Rogers again with an armdrag into an armbar on Simmons. Ron shoots Tommy off the ropes & into a back elbow and tags back in Gilbert. Eddie comes in with a vicious looking swinging neck breaker for a 2 count followed by a suplex for another 2. Eddie goes for a backdrop but Rogers counters with a suplex of his own, ahh we must be in portion 2 of the match. That means all new moves repeated 100 times. Both Rogers & Gilbert make the tags to Fulton & Simmons. Ron with a body slam and yet again misses an elbow drop but Fulton doesn't miss with a leg drop for a 2 count. Bobby right into a reverse chin lock on Ron. Simmons fights his way to his feet where Fulton delivers a fist to the mid section and Rogers runs in with a knee lift that looked like it really hurt. Rogers with that back elbow again for a 2 count and Ron kicks out. Ron puts Tommy in the corner & unleashes some shoulder tackles in the corner before tagging in Gilbert. Eddie with a knee to Rogers kidneys followed by an atomic drop. Hot Stuff now with a back suplex for a 2 count. Ron back in works over Rogers arm and Irish whips him into the far corner. Simmons charges in and you guessed it, no one's home. Rogers tags in Fulton who goes to the top rope. Fulton off with a body block but it is caught and Simmons with a big power slam & tags in Eddie. Eddie with a roll up on Fulton but gets kicked off and into the ring post. Eddie rolls to the apron as Rogers is tagged in. Tommy charges at Eddie but is caught with a shoulder to the mid section and a forearm. Tommy fires back and knocks Gilbert to the concrete floor. Hot Stuff seems to have re-injured his left elbow in the bump to the outside. Eddie back in & Rogers with a drop toe-hold into a hammerlock. Fulton comes in and stretches the arm of Gilbert even more. Tommy is tagged back in and applies his version of a cross arm breaker. Now Fulton back in with an armbar. At this point I assume Ron's getting the hot tag. Rogers sends Eddie into Fulton who delivers a hiptoss. What a great double team, actually no it's not, it sucked a horses peter, even for back then. Rogers back into another version of a cross arm breaker and now I KNOW Simmons is getting a hot tag as there's like 5 minutes left in the match. Eddie tries to fight Rogers off but Tommy drop toeholds Gilbert & tags back in Fulton. Bobby with a hammerlock slam on Gilbert but misses a head butt. Eddie fights back with a hip toss but Rogers is tagged back in. Tommy hammer locks Gilbert followed by an arm bar. Eddie runs towards the corner and drops, which sends Tommy into the turnbuckle and down to the mat. Gilbert almost makes the tag but Fulton is tagged & stops the transaction. Fulton sends Eddie to the floor and now they're back in. Fulton charges at Eddie and…WHAM!!! Hot Shot but Eddie Gilbert. But Eddie doesn't cover. A confusing quadruple Irish whip reversal back into the same corner and Eddie misses with a shoulder block with his bad arm as he runs in & Fulton rolls him up for the 3 count. Well paint me pink and call me Lanny Poffo. There was no hot tag. Gilbert jobbed his ass out for 15 minutes straight and then just loses. The crowd was very Pro Hot Stuff and most didn't like the decision, yours included. Did I expect Ron & Eddie to win, hell no, especially since they were just subbing for the Sheepherders, but they could've had a better ending. Winners and new U.S. Tag Champs The Fantastics. (Rating: **¾, Could have been way better)
- Mike Rotunda & Kevin Sullivan of the Varsity Club crack some jokes about Rick Steiner. This interview was long before "In Living Color" and the jokes were half as entertaining. More like "Hee-Haw" if you ask me.
MATCH #2: "Dr. Death" Steve Williams vs. The Italian Stallion
The Stallion, Gary Sabaugh (AKA Sabin), is supposed to be a proverbial jobber here but still takes the match 15 minutes before doing the job. There's really no story or point to this match other than to be used as filler on the show. The only title the Stallion ever won was for eating the most spaghetti in one sitting. For that he holds the record in the book of Guinness. There's something to be proud of, eh paizon? Now to the match. If you want, feel free to scroll down to the ending for the winner but I'm sure I'll have tons of witty comments in this one. A tie up and Williams throws Stallion over with a fireman's carry. Stallion back up with a shoulder tackle on Steve followed by a hiptoss and a dropkick which sends Dr. Death to the outside. Williams gets some words of advice from Kevin Sullivan and re-enters the ring. Stallion with a wristlock on Williams but Dr. Death trips him up and applies an ankle lock but Stallion gets to the ropes. Williams pounds the Italian into the corner and gives him a hard Irish whip but Stallion bounces out of the corner and nails Dr. Death with a hard clothesline. Steve rolls to the outside again and speaks to Sullivan. Williams back in with a hammerlock on Sabaugh but the Stallion reverses it. Williams turns the hammerlock by Stallion into a Samoan Drop. Williams now with a body slam but misses and elbow. Stallion follows up with a leg drop for a 1 count. The Stallion with a wristlock down into a cross arm breaker on Steve. Williams rolls the Italian into a pinning predicament but only gets several 2 counts. Sabaugh brings him back down into the arm breaker but Williams finally escapes. Dr. Death for a clothesline and misses, for a back elbow & misses again, Stallion with a body block and gets a 2 count. Dr. Death powers out of the count sending the Italian to the concrete. After returning into the ring Williams catches Stallion with a turnbuckle smash and grinds his face into the canvas before sending Sabaugh back to the concrete where Sullivan puts the boots to him. Williams rams the back of Stallion into the apron repeatedly then brings him back into the ring with a suplex. Stallion fights back but Williams hits him with a knee to the ribs and drops the Italian. Dr. Death with a sleeper, which he turns into a reverse chin lock for a very LONG time. Stallion fights his way up and out, finally, with a series of elbows but misses an elbow drop. Williams nails Stallion with a version of the Inzugiri and begins to work on the Italian's leg with a version of the ankle lock. Stallion grabs the ropes and Williams sends him to the outside where Kevin Sullivan attacks. Dr. Death off the apron with a double axe handle and throws Sabaugh back into the ring. Stallion fires back and goes for the 10 punch in the corner but Williams counters with an inverted atomic drop & an elbow drop. Williams locks on a front chin lock and moves around into a sleeper. The Stallion breaks the hold but Steve slams him for his troubles. Ok, what is this, Dr. Death is climbing the ropes…And of course he misses with a big splash. The Italian is apparently Hulking up at this point while throwing several right hands, a dropkick and a power slam. Williams goes for a clothesline and Sabaugh ducks and comes back in with a body block. Williams catches the cross body and delivers a running powerslam "Oklahoma Stampede" for the pin. Wow this match wasn't that awful at all but it didn't need to be this long. Winner of the bout, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams (Rating: *¾, A LOT better than I expected)
- Jason Hervey of "The Wonder Years" does an interview about his new hit show which I hated.
- Magnum T.A. Interviews the Junk Yard Dog who claims he has returned to the NWA to help out his "good friend?!?" Ivan Koloff in his battle against the Russian Assassins. Well I guess every dog needs a bone to chew on and he found his. Maybe if he spent more time working out and wrestling instead of chewing bones he wouldn't have been so fat.
MATCH #3: Ivan Koloff (w/One arm behind his back) vs. Paul Jones
Ah yes…memories…the infamous Ivan Koloff turns baby face, right before his release, angle of no reason. Story goes Ivan was being turned face to team with "nephew" Nikita and feud with Paul Jones' Russian Assassins, wow a four man Russian feud, well 1 Russian and 3 frauds. Unfortunately, for all of us, or fortunately pending how you want to look at it, Nikita left the NWA to take care of his ailing wife and Ivan was stuck in Nowheresville, GA. with a partner by the name of the Junk Yard Dog. Make sense? Didn't think so. Anyway, Ivan was really heated when Paul Jones turned on him and had the Russians beat his ass so of course Koloff wanted revenge against the manager and former wrestler himself Paul Jones. Jones agreed to wrestle Ivan if Ivan tied one hand behind his back, so Koloff agreed and got his match. I don't get it, Jones was a great wrestler and on top for several years then he got old & became a manager so he lost all of his super powers of the ring. Yet Ivan is an even older wrestler and is portrayed as being strong as ever. Why make sense, it's only pro wrestling, right boys?!? Referee Teddy Long ties Koloff's left arm behind his back and the bell sounds. Koloff takes Jones off his feet and Paul rolls to the outside to regroup. Paul re-enters and Koloff sweeps Jones' legs out from underneath him. Jones is back to his feet and Ivan now with a right hand sends Jones back down. Paul attempts to dive at Ivan's leg but Koloff moves. A one arm test of strength and Koloff head butts Jones to the mat and begins to stomp on him. Koloff with a couple of turnbuckle smashes on Jones and a weak Irish whip. Koloff begins to choke Paul with his one hand and Long makes him break. Koloff for a kick but Jones catches the foot and kicks Koloff in the calf. Wow I bet that hurt. Jones with a big right sends Koloff down and Paul delivers a few knee drops & then begins to choke Ivan. Both men go to the outside and Jones posts Ivan shoulder first into the ring post. Paul stomps down on Ivan on the concrete to make this match even more boring. Back on the inside Ivan tries to get up but Jones keeps kicking his hand out from under him preventing him from getting up. Jones with an Irish whip but Koloff comes back with a series of rights sending Jones to the concrete. Paul nails Ivan with a foreign object on his return into the ring. Paul goes to nail Koloff again with the object but Ivan takes it from him and uses it on Jones and he covers. This was quick but not painless. The Russian Assassins hit the ring and attack Ivan, at this point I'm just waiting for the JYD who's probably chewing on another bone, the fat ass. Finally, here comes the JYD who clears the ring without doing a single thing. Your winner Ivan Koloff. (Rating: - ¼* at best, no I meant to put that negative there)
- Sting Interview (Don't Know, Don't Care)
- Rick Steiner talks to Magnum T.A. about his hand puppet, Alex. POINTLESS and extremely homosexual.
MATCH #4: Dusty Rhodes vs. Road Warrior Animal
Oh man this goes right along with the previous bout in the fact that an entire story line was changed because someone left the promotion. Way to handle the contracts NWA. Let me try to explain this as quickly as I can. The Powers of Pain began a feud with the Road Warriors & to a lesser extent Dusty Rhodes. Rhodes and the LOD were and at this point are the 6-Man Tag Champs. The PoP decided to take off one evening and head up north to the WWF never to return. This left NWA in a slump with no dominant heel tag team in the company. So what did they do but turn the Warriors heel and have them attack their own partner Dusty Rhodes for no real reason. The winner of this match would get to pick whom they want to continue their 6-Man Title reign with. If you ask me the LOD shoulda turned on Dusty in a 6-Man and cost him to lose the titles since the LOD were the World Tag Champs anyway and didn't need this crappy belt too. Here we go No Seller vs. No Wrestler. We return from advertisements with Animal & Ellering in the ring awaiting the American Dweem, Dusty Rhodes. Rhodes hits the ring with an elbow on Ellering sending him out of the ring and begins throwing his jabs on Animal before he forgets the Road Warriors DON'T SELL. Come on Dusty you should know that by now. Animal no sells and fires back with hard right and some elbows. Animal sends Rhodes off the ropes and misses a clothesline but Dusty connects with one of his own. Of course Animal doesn't even leave his feet until Dusty hits a second one. Oh wait, Dusty is from Texas, people from Texas call them lariats not clotheslines, my bad. Animal attempts to sell but looks like he's having convulsions instead. Dusty for the bionic elbow drop but no one home. Animal whips Dusty into the buckle and charges in but Dusty moves out of the way. Rhodes then rams Animal's leg into the ring post several times hoping to force the Road Warrior to sell. Dusty kicks Animal's leg out from underneath him and slaps on the Figure 4, Whoooo. Ellering breaks the hold but nailing Dusty in the eyes. Animal gets on top of Dusty after climbing his jellyroll like mountain of a stomach. Oh wait, it really is a jellyroll, I see a giant purple bubble of jelly on Dusty's gut hanging off. Pop that bubble Animal!!! I want to know what's in there. Animal continues to pummel away raking at Dusty's eyes until Rhodes turns it over and goes for Animal's eyes. Hawk hits the ring followed by Sting and we have a pier 6er going on. Rhodes takes Animal's leg out with a chair while Sting battles Hawk on the concrete and the crowd is going NUTS. Winner some how was declared to be Animal by DQ as he got to pick Tenryu as the 3rd member of the 6-Man Tag Champs. I guess Dusty hit the ref or something, must have missed that. (Rating: DUD, no point, no need, no way)
MATCH #5: The Midnight Express vs. Ric Flair & Barry Windham
Okay absolute favoritism all the way in this match. One of my favorites if not my favorite tag team of all times, The Midnight Express (Eaton & Lane), are in this match as well as two more great workers in Ric Flair still in his prime and Barry Windham before he got lazy. A great main event but there's really no note worthy story behind this match nor a title on the line. That's okay though, I forgive them, because the wrestling will make up for lack of story & heat going into the match. All right lets sit back & enjoy a real wrestling match. We start off with Flair & Eaton in the ring. Lock up and Eaton takes Flair back into the corner. Flair sticks his face out to mock Bobby and Eaton smacks it off for Flair's troubles. Lock up again and Flair takes Bobby into the corner and unleashes some, well, Ric Flair like chops. Eaton retaliates with some, well, Eaton like right hands. Eaton with an Irish whip and a big backdrop. Bobby with another Irish whip and Flair does the old flip over the top rope out to the apron bit where Stan Lane is waiting to send Flair back in. Lane is tagged in and I'm gonna mark out now…Woooo Stan Lane, yeah, woooo. Ok, I'm better. Stan with a savatte kick on his mentor the Nature Boy (NOTE: Lane is the only man Flair ever trained in the business). Lane goes for a boot but Flair catches it and tags in Windham. In the mean time Lane hits an Inzugiri on Flair to the crowds delight. Lane whips Windham off the ropes and nails a dropkick on Barry. Barry comes back and clubs Windham with some right hands and body slam. This being the main event Windham doesn't just miss with the elbow drop everyone has missed with all night, he misses with an elbow drop off the top rope. Lane with another dropkick and another karate kick that sends Barry to the outside. Eaton nails Barry with a right on the outside and Windham climbs back onto the apron where Lane slingshots him into the ring. Eaton & Flair are both tagged back in and Eaton with a shoulder tackle and a hip toss on Flair, hip toss on Windham, body slam on Flair, slam on Windham. Flair & Windham go for a double clothesline but Bobby ducks and comes back with one of his own on both men. This is how a tag match is done people!!! Eaton attempts to pin Windham but referee Tommy Young reminds Eaton Flair is the legal man. On the outside manager J.J. Dillon converses with the Horsemen while Jim Cornette talks to the Midnights. Flair & Lane now back in as the legal men Lane with a drop toehold and into a Figure 4 on Flair and Windham comes in and Eaton catches him with a Figure 4. Double Figure 4's whooooo. The leg locks are broke and Lane with a back elbow and some quick kicks to Flair sending Ric down. Lane tags Eaton back in and Flair goes to work on Bobby, but Bobby fires back with more right hands & Lane back in. Flair with a back elbow and Windham in now. The camera is taken back about 900 yards so we can squeeze in a Paul E. Dangerously Interview. WTF, I don't give a shit about Paul Heyman, I'm trying to watch a sweet ass match and you interrupt it with a balding, fat, homosexual, yuppie. Barry with the 2 count and misses a knee drop and sells it like a champ. Flair gets tagged back in and cuts off Lane from making the tag. Flair stomps Stan down into the corner & snap mares him out. Flair goes up for a cross body block he only hits as a baby face so you guessed it, Lane catches Ric and presses him off the top rope. Both Flair & Lane crawl to Eaton who gets tagged in and goes to work on the Nature Boy. Eaton sends Flair into the corner again and Ric again does the flip over the ropes to the apron. Flair runs over to the turnbuckle and climbs up going for a double axe handle, but he's still a heel and Eaton nails Ric with a fist to the mid section and the swinging neck breaker. Barry comes in & is caught with a solid right hand by Bobby, which brings Lane in. Barry goes back to the outside while the Midnights hit the double Flap Jack on Flair. Lane rolls out of the ring & Bobby gets a 2 count before Dillon puts Flair's foot on the ropes. Eaton with a roll up and everyone is off on this spot. Lane comes in to late to distract the ref and Barry comes in to late to break the count so Flair just puts his shoulder up. A little out of order as Lane comes in now followed by Barry who nails Eaton from behind. Windham gets tagged in & hits an inverted atomic drop and a big suplex on Eaton. Barry with another power slam and tags in Flair who drops his patented knee on Bobby. Flair sends Eaton to the outside where Windham drops Bobby across the guardrail. Flair drops down off the apron with a double axe handle on Eaton on the concrete. Flair brings Eaton back in & tags in Barry who hits the lariat (AKA the clothesline if you're from anywhere but TX). Bobby kicks out of the cover & Windham w/a gut wrench suplex and a knee drop. Windham with a sleeper now but Bobby gets out pretty quickly. Back in comes Flair who chops Bobby to the mat. Flair attempts to drop Eaton again but Bobby fires back as the two trade blows and Flair does the flop just before reaching Windham for the tag. Windham is finally tagged in but Bobby tags in Stan as well. Lane with a karate kick on Barry & one on Flair, a backdrop on Barry and one on Flair. Double noggin' knocker on the heels and Eaton is back in the ring. Double Goozle on Windham & Lane karate kicks Flair over the top to the outside. Eaton with the Alabama Jam on Windham, this match is f'n awesome. Dillon attempts to interfere but Cornette stops him with the tennis racket. Eaton covers Barry and the ref is getting Lane out of the ring. Flair nails Eaton on the back of the head with Dillon's shoe and rolls Windham on top for the win. Holy Shit! What a match. Winners of the match are Ric Flair & Barry Windham. (Rating: ***¾, Awesome!!! Wish it was longer, exactly what a tag match should be)
- SUMMARY: True, most of the matches had little or no story lines going into them but the Main Event alone made up for that alone. Yeah, there were a couple matches that sucked more than anything but the U.S. Tag Title match was solid as was the Dr. Death match. But the Main Event stole the show, an entire event in itself. I seldom see such great matches and it was an honor to call this one.
Match of the Night: The Midnight Express vs. Ric Flair & Barry Windham (Hands down)
Overall Rating: **½
- RECCOMENDATION: As if you couldn't tell already, I strongly recommend this video to everyone out there for the main event alone. It's worth a good 10-12 bucks. You can get this Clash as well as Clash #2 on the same video for only $15 if you purchase it from www.WrestlinGods.com and the Video Quality is Excellent.
Well that's all for this 411 Video Review, I hope you all enjoyed this Video and the Review itself. Please get back to me with any feedback you may have about this event as I am always willing to listen to your ideas & thoughts. I hope I lived up to your expectations Mr. Ken Anderson but I'm sure I'll here from you soon. I'll be back soon with yet another 411 Video Review. This is Brian Cole saying "I'll see ya".
