Clash of the Champions 3 Page 2
-
The Sheepherders v. Steve Williams &
Nikita Koloff. The booking was
getting really disjointed around this point, with thrown-together stuff like
this dominating the midcard while Crockett was busy selling out to Turner.
In fact, the more I learn about how insane Dusty Rhodes was becoming
around this time, the more it amazes me that the promotion even survived long
enough to sell out. Midnight Rider,
anyone? As merely one example of
the anarchy going down all around Dusty, the main storyline being pushed during
this match by the announcers is the Midnight Express v. Tully & Arn feud.
That feud would come to a final end less than a week after this at a
house show in Philly, with the Express winning the tag belts as Tully & Arn
bailed on the NWA and jumped ship without even giving two weeks notice.
After two and a half hours of incessant hype for that payoff match, the
world at large never even got to see it, or indeed even hear about what the hell
happened to Tully & Arn besides them losing the tag titles.
To the match: Doc gets beat
in the corner, but a brawl erupts and the Herders bail. Back in, Doc overpowers Luke with ease and the heels bail
again. I somehow doubt we’ll be
seeing Luke & Butch cutting off all the babyface comebacks like they did at
Clash II against the Fantastics. Koloff
comes in and slams both, and they bail again.
Back in, Nikita overwhelms Luke and Doc works the arm.
Clothesline puts Luke out, and Doc suplexes him and goes up with a
bodypress for one. Koloff pounds on
the arm and prevents a tag. Nice touch. Doc
stays on the armbar and the faces team up on it.
Williams tosses him into the corner, but misses a blind charge and Butch
takes over with stomps and an elbow for two.
Doc no-sells Luke’s stuff, but Butch clocks him from behind for two.
Luke hits the chinlock. Butch
gets a running knee for two, but heel miscommunication allows Koloff to get the
tag. He pummels Butch, but Rip
Morgan nails him with the flag and Nikita is YOUR commie-in-peril.
They kill him outside the ring, and Luke gets a forearm off the middle
for two. Kneedrop gets two, and
they double-team for two. Luke
grabs a sleeper, but Koloff sends him scurrying out.
However, Doc is busy with that pesky Rip Morgan, so no tag.
Luke goes up and gets nothing but mat, and suddenly the corners change as
everyone rotates 90 degrees around the ring for no apparent reason.
Whatever. Hot tag to the
Doc, and he nails everything that moves. Butch
clips him, but Nikita rips HIS head off in turn with the Sickle and gets the pin
at 16:53. Nikita quit right after
that match to tend to his increasingly sick wife, and didn’t come back for
another 3 years. It’s too bad,
because had he not quit doing the steroids and not had the misfortune of having
his wife die, Vince McMahon would have snapped him up in a minute and pushed him
until he was a household name. You
don’t think Vince could have sold out stadiums around the country with Hulk
Hogan v. Nikita Koloff? The match
was really good, leaving me to wonder what the hell happened to the Sheepherders
in the two week period between them screwing Turner over and debuting as comedy
jobbers in the WWF. ***
-
Dusty Rhodes v. Kevin Sullivan.
Dusty no-sells some stuff to start and they brawl out, terrorizing Ross
& Caudle at ringside in the process. Dusty
wins easily and Kevin grabs some sort of metal object to defend himself. Everyone regroups and Dusty tosses Kevin again.
Back in, Sullivan goes to the throat to take over and wins a brawl
outside. Back in, we hit the
chinlock. Sullivan finds an
international object and plays Lawler games with it. Dusty comes back with the flip flop and fly as this match
goes south faster than birds in the winter, and a shot with the object gets two.
Dusty chases Gary Hart, but Al Perez comes in and a beatdown results.
Contrary to standard logic and common sense, the match continues until
Dusty pins GARY HART at 6:59 for the win. I
say again: Dusty was losing all touch with reality at this point and may have
been on the verge of a nervous breakdown if his behavior leading up to his
firing was any indication. No
wonder Dustin ended up so screwed up. DUD
-
Russian chain match:
Ricky Morton v. Ivan Koloff. Ah,
the Ivan face turn angle that drew so much money.
Dave Sheldon is lurking around ringside in his guise as Russian Assassin
#1. Ivan pounds Morton and clotheslines him with the chain as
Ross hints at his face turn. Ricky
crotches him with the chain, but gets nailed again.
Koloff touches two corners, but Ricky breaks it up and bails.
Back in, Koloff keeps stomping away and touches two again.
Ricky kicks at the knee to take over and whips at the knee with the
chain. Koloff hits him with the chain, but gets yanked off the top.
Ivan chokes him out, but Ricky comes back.
Ivan whips him and touches three, but Morton takes him down and pounds
away. Koloff hits him with the
chain again and goes up, but they knock each other out.
Ricky recovers first and drags him to three corners, but Paul gives Ivan
the riding crop to hold onto for leverage, before suddenly letting go and giving
Ricky the win at 9:52. Ivan is
unceremoniously turfed via a beatdown by the Russian Assassins, and Nikita was
SUPPOSED to make the save, but he was already gone.
Junkyard Dog was later subbed into the angle to replace him, which of
course makes no sense whatsoever and basically killed the whole angle. Match was slow and plodding.
*
-
Tony introduces us to football player
John Ayres, who will be reffing an upcoming Flair-Luger title match.
Flair runs verbal circles around him, which is pretty funny in both a
“ha ha” and sad sort of way. John
is doing color for the main event.
-
US title match:
Barry Windham v. Sting. Sting
grabs a pair of armdrags, but gets tagged by Windham.
They trade shoulderblocks and Sting dropkicks him out.
Back in, Windham suplexes him, but he no-sells and dropkicks him out
again. Back in, Windham cheats on a
test of strength and pounds away in the corner. Sting atomic drops him out, and lays in his own beating in
the opposite corner. Facejam and
slam, but the Elbow That Never Hits lives up to its name. They brawl outside and Windham gets a slam on the floor and
suplexes him back in. Sting gets a
sunset flip, but Windham kicks him in the head to break.
Powerslam and kneedrop get two. Sting
cradles for two, and Windham posts himself in dramatic fashion on a blind charge
and tumbles to the floor. Sting
introduces him to a pair of ringposts, drawing blood.
Back in, Sting bites at the cut and cheats like a madman, which the crowd
loves. Dropkick gets nothing and he
grabs a rare sleeper, as they reverse the usual heel-face roles and Windham
fights to recover. Weird psychology
there. They go to the usual
babyface sleeper psychology, with Windham trying to run him into the corner,
only to see Sting release the hold and then reapply it.
Windham drops him on his knee to break, and slaps on the figure-four,
using JJ and the ropes for leverage. The
ref sees that and breaks it up, but the damage is done.
Delayed backdrop suplex, but Sting fights back.
Vertical suplex attempt is countered by Barry with a clawhold to the pecs,
and Sting has to fight out of that. Windham
bails, so Sting slingslots him back in and mounts the comeback. Stinger splash is blocked, bumping the ref in the process.
Another try hits, Scorpion Deathlock follows, but no ref.
JJ brings in a chair and knocks Sting cold, but John Ayres leaves
ringside to stop the count and let Tommy Young know that shenanigans have
occurred, which draws a DQ at 21:02. RETARDED
finish from the rapidly senile Dusty, which makes Barry look weak and does
nothing for Sting. Windham,
previously the hottest commodity in all of wrestling, was progressively killed
by the booking for the next 6 months until he jumped to the WWF to escape it.
Gotta deduct ¼* for the ending, but the match is must-see otherwise.
****
The
Bottom Line: Thank god Ted Turner
was able to bail out Jim Crockett around this time, because Dusty Rhodes’
self-absorbed and increasingly stupid booking choices were killing the promotion
faster than Vince ever could. The
really sad part is that the talent was putting on fantastic matches that were
totally going to waste in all the circus atmosphere of the management situation.
Mildly recommended show, for the main event and opener.