WCW Clash of the Champions XII

WCW Clash of the Champions XII
“Fall Brawl: Mountain Madness”
Asheville, NC
Civic Center
September 5, 1990

This was an overall boring Clash of the Champions, except for the last two matches. The two main event matches of this card were awesome, otherwise this show was forgettable. The main goal of this card was to showcase some new talent and further drive home the WCW Top Tens, which ranked both the top ten singles and tag team wrestlers. WCW seemed to have a lot of random matches with the idea being that the guys were all competing to climb higher in these rankings. Kind of an interesting idea.

Jim Ross and Bob Caudle were the commentators, and the Civic Center in Asheville was packed. This was another hot crowd who were going nuts for everything, even the boring stuff.

1. The Southern Boys (w/ Bob Armstrong) defeated The Freebirds (w/ Buddy Roberts) at 8:34 when Smothers pinned Hayes with a sunset flip as Armstrong pinned Garvin with a sunset flip while both Freebirds attempted to grab at a foreign object thrown in the ring by Roberts; after the contest, all three Freebirds attacked their opponents, with Hayes & Garvin dropping Bob with a double DDT

This was a supposed to be a six man tag with Bullet Bob Armstrong joining his son and Smothers and original Freebird Buddy Roberts joining his team, but Roberts faked an arm injury and it was just a regular tag match. The heat was off the charts as the fans have hugely rallied behind the Southern Boys. The Freebirds are awesome as usual and this was a really exciting way to kick off the show. The tag division in WCW was so deep at this time and it’s awesome that these two teams had an intense feud away from either set of titles. The action never slowed down and the I was almost shocked when the Southern Boys won clean, getting a huge pop from the fans in Asheville. The Birds get their heat back by attacking them after the match and laying out Bullet Bob with an intense double DDT.

2. Captain 
Mike Rotunda pinned Buddy Landell with a backslide at 5:39; prior to the bout, Rotunda was escorted to the ring by Cindy Anderson, who won the NWA / Burger King “Ring Master” poetry contest

First of all, YAWN! Secondly, I laughed my ass off at Cindy Anderson winning a Burger King poetry contest. Holy shit that’s fucking funny!! This match was as boring as it gets, with Landell stalling and wrestling sloppy. I just don’t get why they kept him around. Ross is going on about the WCW top ten and about how important this match is in determining the rankings, lol. Captain Mike wins with his always exciting finishing move, the backslide

Tony Schiavone interviewed The Freebirds who talked about their match and about winning the war against the Southern Boys. Some pointless footage was shown of the Freebirds taking a trip to Hollywood where they were mobbed by fans as they checked out the sights.

Tony Schiavone was back with Brian Pillman and they unveiled a new concept for WCW – The Gauntlet. A wrestler who entered the Gauntlet had to win three consecutive matches over the three weekend shows against opponents drawn at “random”. If a wrestler was successful they would win $15,000, if they lost the money would be divided among the opponents. Why that number? The concept seemed like a neat way to get people invested in their TV shows, but why not come up with a better prize idea. Pillman was going to be the first to accept the challenge.

3. The Master Blasters defeated Tim Horner & “Candy Man” Brad Armstrong at 4:52 when Steel pinned Horner following a double shoulderblock

Wrestlecrap time! Its gimmick number 1 for Kevin Nash! The Master Blasters are comprised of Iron and Steel, Kevin Nash and a wrestler named Al Green who returned to WCW in the late 90s for some reason. Their opponents are Tim Horner and Brad Armstrong under his “Candy Man” gimmick, where he threw candy out of the kids or something equally stupid. Ross tries to put over the Blasters as being big monsters from a steel mill, but they just plain suck. Both guys are ridiculously green and can’t do the simplest of moves. It was painful watching this mess! Al Green especially was horrible. I couldn’t stop laughing at Nash’s stupid haircut and his stupid looking face. So funny that this was the guy who brought WCW to the moon 6 years later. The Blasters win in short order.

4. The Nasty Boys defeated Jackie Fulton & Terry Taylor at 7:11 when Jerry Saggs pinned Fulton with the elbowsmash off the top after Brian Knobbs caught Fulton coming off the top and hit a powerslam

The Nasty Boys make their WCW supercard debut. They were a success in the AWA before jumping to WCW. This match is mainly a showcase for the Nasties, but it’s also interesting to see Terry Taylor return to WCW after leaving the WWF and the Rooster gimmick behind earlier in the year. Taylor was just a mid-carder, and it makes me wonder how far he would have went in the NWA had he not jumped to the WWF and accepted that career killing gimmick. A basic somewhat boring match and the Nasty Boys win in convincing fashion.

Up next was the debut of the WCW Weekly Top 10 rankings:

Singles: Buddy Landell (10), Tommy Rich (9), the Junkyard Dog (8), Brian Pillman (7), Stan Hansen (6), Sid Vicious (5), Barry Windham (4), Arn Anderson (3), Ric Flair (2), and Lex Luger (1);

Tag Teams: Mike Rotunda & Tim Horner (10), the Junkyard Dog & El Gigante (9), Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk (8), the Samoan Swat Team (7), Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin (6), Tracey Smothers & Steve Armstrong (5), Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane (4), the Horsemen (3), Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson (2), and Rick & Scott Steiner (1)

Man, JYD and El Gigante might be the funniest tag team in wrestling history! Talk about two guys who have absolutely nothing to do with each other!

Tony Schiavone interviewed Stan “The Lariat” Hansen who was extremely pissed at his number 6 ranking. He promised to destroy Sting and everyone else in the rankings. More on him in a minute.

5. Tommy Rich pinned Bill Irwin with a Thesz Press at 3:55

Oh the boredom! These Tommy Rich matches are so fucking boring. His southern style and plain mat based offence are so dull. Thankfully this is kept short. But again, I have to ask – why is Tommy Rich on every single one of these supercards???

6. LPWA Women’s Champion Susan Sexton pinned Bambi by reversing an inside cradle at 4:10

Uh, why is this match even on this card? Jim Ross and Bob Caudle even had basically nothing to say about this. It was a fairly typical women’s match from the time. Both girls were wearing a one-piece, and wrestled well, but at a slower pace. Bambi was pretty f’n hot in an 80s way.

7. NWA US Tag Team Champions Rick & Scott Steiner defeated Maximum Overdrive (the Hunter & the Silencer) in a non-title match at 6:25 when Rick pinned Hunter following the DDT off the top double team

I’m still laughing at The Silencer. Quite possibly one of the stupidest wrestling names of all time. Overdrive were true one-shot wonders and left right after this card. Ross tries to put them over, but they’re both plain muscular guys who are way too green. The Steiners as always are exciting to watch. They dismantle their jobber opponents and destroy them with suplexes and clotheslines as the crowd goes crazy. They finish the match with an insane top rope DDT! They just kill one of the guys with that finisher. Awesome sight to see!

8. 
Stan Hansen pinned Tom Zenk with the lariat at 3:18

Poor Z-Man. He’s big time over and a great wrestler, but instead he’s used in the Koko B Ware role of putting bigger opponents to the test. I was surprised at how awesome Hansen was. He wrestles a hardcore style that was totally copied by all the brawlers in ECW. Hansen dismantles Zenk and spends a lot of the short match beating him up on the floor, hitting him with chairs and smashing him into the ramp. Ross makes some interesting comments about Hansen being one of the highest paid wrestlers in the world, which Terry Funk even talks about in his book, and acknowledges his legendary status in Japan. Hansen was being groomed as a future monster challenger for both Luger and Sting.

9. 
NWA US Champion Lex Luger defeated Ric Flair via disqualification at 14:26 when Stan Hansen attacked Luger and choked him with his cowbell after Luger dominated a fight with Flair on the floor

Now this was EPIC! Despite the boring undercard this match made the show for me. Just like Sting-Flair at GAB, this match was hyped throughout the rest of the card and everything else felt like filler compared to this. Luger-Flair has been second only to Sting-Flair for the feud of the year. Luger has done an awesome job of building himself back up as a top babyface and the crowd was rabid to see him tear Flair apart. What’s also unique about this match is that Flair is chasing the US title, something he hasn’t done in years! Once again Flair is booked to look weak and desperate, as Luger no sells a lot of his chops and gets up after a lot of his moves. I realize this is due to the political climate backstage, but storyline wise this all made perfect sense, as Flair’s empire began to crumble around him. The once dominant star was tired after years of abuse, and it made sense that he was so weak and desperate in his matches. These two pros absolutely tore each other apart. Ross kept stating that this was a physical match, and it sure was as I felt every blow. Both guys take a tremendous beating, but Luger seemed to have Flair on the verge of defeat when Stan Hansen suddenly appeared and attacked Luger. This was a great way to set up the next program and keep both Flair and Luger hot. The post-match beatdown was well executed and I am genuinely excited to see where this feud goes.

Okay, I know how badly this next angle has been ragged on, especially on the Wrestlecrap site, but at this point in the storyline it was awesome! Sting was being stalked by the mysterious Black Scorpion!!! The original storyline was awesome as the Scorpion showed up in WCW claiming to be someone from Sting’s past and dropping clues about his identity. I guess they wanted the Warrior, but he was the freakin’ WWF champ at the time! These initial segments were great, before the magic tricks and ridiculousness. Sting agreed to wrestle the Scorpion at the Clash under the condition that the Scorpion must unmask if he loses.

10. 
NWA World Champion Sting pinned the Black Scorpion following a Stinger Splash in the corner at 7:12; after the bout, Sting unmasked the Scorpion only to find another mask underneath; moments later, another Black Scorpion appeared on the entrance ramp

Again, I have to say, this original angle was great! The Scorpion was successfully in Sting’s head and he couldn’t concentrate on anything other than unmasking the Scorpion. This match was great and was very unique as it was almost all brawling, with Sting hellbent on tearing off the Scorpion’s hood. The Scorpion was a good worker and brawled with Sting, taking the advantage several times. I couldn’t believe how much the crowd was into this too. After a lot of battling in and out of the ring, Sting hits the Stinger Splash in the corner, out of nowhere and pins the Scorpion. The crowd erupts as Sting unmasks the Scorpion only to reveal a second mask. Suddenly ANOTHER Black Scorpion, presumably the real Black Scorpion is on the ramp! Holy crap that’s awesome booking. I can’t believe how shitty it was that WCW had no one in mind to be the Scorpion. Over the next couple events this angle gets stupider and stupider, but for now it was great!

My tape cuts off at this point, but there was an additional segment, setting up the Halloween Havoc PPV main event:

Following the commercial break, Jim Ross conducted an in-ring interview with Sting regarding the real Black Scorpion not having been Sting’s opponent, during which Sid Vicious interrupted and said he wanted Sting’s title; after Sting blew Sid off, saying he had nothing against it but Sid would have to talk to the championship committee and he was more worried with the Black Scorpion at the moment, Sid attacked Sting on the entrance ramp, hit him with the title belt, and spat on him; Sid then returned to the ring and said he would be the next world champion to close the broadcast