Live from Asheville, NC. Hosted by Jim Ross and Bob Caudle.
This kind of marks a change in philosophy for the Clashes. Many matches featured the stars vs. jobbers to the stars brought in for the show, possibly from that area.
This is also a period of WCW that I feel very familiar with. I believe the WCW Pro-Chicago program had just started on WGN, so I think I was watching a lot of the product at the time, though I was still conning my aunts Millie and Laura into recording the Clashes for me.
Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Southern Boys- second-straight Clash for this match, and it won't be the last. Buddy Roberts was injured, so he and Bullet Bob Armstrong are out of the match. Garvin tagged, and he gets leapfrogged and savate kicked. Garvin bails. The Birds doubleteam in the corner, but Armstrong hits them with a high cross body. The Birds consult with Roberts outside. He apparently told them to repeat the spot, and this time duck the crossbody by Armstrong. They do, but bith get dropkicked by the Boys from the South. More counseling from Roberts. Smothers leaps out of the way of a charging Hayes, but gets punched for his trouble. Garvin clotheslines Smothers outside, then Garvin hits a flying knee to knock him back out. Garvin cuts off a tag and slams Smothers, then Hayes tags in and gets a bulldog. He tries multiple pin attempts, and gets a side headlock. Quick tags as they continue to put the beats on Smothers. Garvin gets a slam but Smothers slams him off the top. He dives to tag Armstrong, who backdrops both and dropkicks both guys. Roberts interferes and Hayes rolls up Armstrong, but Bullet Bob comes in and punches Hayes. Garvin breaks up that pin, and the Boys first double shoulderblock Garvin, miss one on Hayes, but get stereo sunset flips on the Birds while they try to get a foreign object Roberts through in. Birds triple team Bullet Bob, but get chased off by the Boys. **3/4. Decent, but felt longer for an opener.
Schiavone with the new U.S. Tag team champs, the Steiners. They won them from the departing Midnight Express. They face the unheralded Maximum Overdrive tonight.
Buddy Landell vs. Capt. Mike- Landell shows off a Skid Row tattoo, and says "that's my boys!" Rotunda gets stuck in a headlock, but clotheslines Landell. Apparently Landell is friends with Dave "The Snake" Sabo from the band. Rotunda gets a shoulderblock and hiplock. Rotunda bodyslams Landell for two. Armbar on the Nature Boy, who clotheslines out of a hiptoss attempt. Abdominal stretch assisted by the rope, Rotunda hiptosses him but misses an elbow. Landell suplexes Rotunda, who punches Landell coming off the top, and legdrops him for two. Landell chops but Rotunda hulks up. Hold up- I missed Sting watch night at the Omni? Nooooo! Quick, someone head to ebay and find me a 1990 Sting watch! Landell gets a rope-assisted headlock now. Rotunda gets a backslide for a surprising three count. **.
Schiavone with the Freebirds. They want respect. Roberts said General Lee said Freebirds, get those Southern Boys out of here! We then see a video of the Birds going to Hollywood, with fans holding the years-old Bradstreet album for autographs. Well, I'm convinced.
Tim Horner/Brad Armstrong vs. the Master Blasters- the Blasters are Kevin Nash and Al "The Dog" Greene. I don't know if they were under contract, or this was a short-term run. Nash shoves Horner down. He then picks up Horner and drops him in the corner, and tags Iron. High-low elbows by the Blasters, and Nash misses a charge in the corner. Elbow, and a headbutt from the now-legal Iron. Armstrong in, but he gets shoulderblocked. Nash in, and they hit a double clothesline. Nash gets a powerslam. He then grabs the top rope to avoid a rollup, but misses an elbow and gets dropkicked. Armstrong runs into Nash's boot, and Steele hits another shoulderblock. Iron gets a slam and elbow, and a legdrop for two. Armstrong gets a dropkick, and Horner backdrops Iron. Horner gets a sleeper, Nash comes in, and Armstrong gets thrown out. Horner gets doubleshoulderblocked, Nash pins him. *3/4. Nash looked like a future star here. The Blasters apparently beat the Southern Boys at Halloween Havoc.
Schiavone with Brian Pillman. He will apparently run the gauntlet, meaning face a guy on each of the TBS weekend programs.
Missy Hyatt with Ric Flair. Flair flirts, and I'm sure he went there at some point. He's going to win the U.S. belt to become No. 1 contender.
Nasty Boys vs. Jackie Fulton/Terry Taylor- Taylor was back after his disastrous WWF run. Fulton is Bobby's brother. Fulton armdrags Knobbs. Knobbs pounds away and Fulton flips the Nastys out of a double wristlock, and bodypresses them both. Taylor gets a swinging neckbreaker. Bobby Fulton is abroad, apparently. Taylor gets armdrags. Fulton leaps on the arm, and Taylor gets forearmed coming in. Taylor sends Sags into the post, and Taylor leaps off on him. Taylor gets a crossbody, and Fulton works his arm. Knobbs gets armdragged by Fulton, and Taylor back suplexes him. Fulton dropkicks Knobbs off the top. Knobbs takea Taylor down by the hair. Sags whips Knobbs into Taylor in the corner. Sunset flip on Knobbs for 2.9. The Boys collide, Fulton slams both and then dropkicks both Nasties. Belly-to-belly by Fulton, but Knobbs catches Fulton off the top for a powerslam. Sags hits an elbow off the top for the win. ** I hope Fulton hung around a little longer; he looked good here.
Schiavone with Sid. He wants Sting's belt.
Bill Irwin vs. Tommy Rich- That's about the second most Southern matchup you could make, behind the opener. He whips at Tommy, but Rich comes in guns blazing. Flying attack from Irwin, shoulderblocks and hiptoss on Irwin out of the ring. Rich flips him in, back suplex by Rich. Tommy has patriotic tights on because of soldiers heading to Iraq and Kuwait. At least WCW didn't do an angle like WWF did. Rich works a headlock. Irwin gets a side suplex. Rich gets sent out to the railing. Rich gets a sleeper but gets rammed to the corner. Thesz Press gets the three. **. I thought Irwin would win here.
We take a look at the WCW Top 10. Rotunda and Horner were No. 10 in the tag teams. Numbers 1 through 7 all have team names. Get your stuff together, Junkyard Dog and El Gigante!
LPWA world title, Bambi vs. Susan Sexton (c)- Not sure what the story behind this cross-promotion was. Sexton grabs a headlock, but gets hiptossed off the ropes. Shoulder tackle by Bambi, but Sexton gets a drop toehold into a deathlock. Bambi gets a headscissors. Sure, JR; rub my lack of a Sting wristlock in my face again. Jerk. Bambi gets a armbar but Sexton reverses and does a wristlock takeover. Bambi with a headscissor. Ross and Caudle talk about dating the winner. Shoulderblock by Sexton, and she gets a slam. Sexton does a cross off the second buckle, and gets a backdrop. Bodyslam on Bambi followed by an elbowdrop. Bambi rolls her up coming off the ropes for two, but Sexton reverses for the pin. *3/4. This was somewhere between Brie vs. Summer Rae and Sasha vs. Becky.
The Steiners vs. Maximum Overdrive- Scott locks up with one (Maximum?) and gets a Liontamer. Scott works the arm and gets a modified wristlock on the mat. Scott gets a hiptoss. Scott then blocks and gets a Biel (Frank, not Jessica) out of the corner. Scott gets a backdrop on one, armdrag on another, and Rick takes their heads off with Steinerlines. Scott German suplexes the one he's wrestling, and Rick gets tagged. Silencer I guess is the chap's name. He slams Rick, and gets a back elbow. He catches Silencer coming off the ropes with a powerslam. The Hunter gets the tag, and gets a good Steinerline. Rick puts him on his shoulders, and Scott does a DDT off the top. Rick gets the cover. **3/4. God help me, I love watching the Steiners beat the crap out of dudes.
Stan Hansen vs. Z-Man- Hansen attacks right away, and rams Zenk into the railing, then the ramp. It's a battle of former AWA champion vs. AWA title battle royal also-ran! Hansen gets a suplex and drops an elbow for two. Big elbow drops on the apron. Hansen unleashes chops, and stomps on Zenk's face. Schiavone interviews Luger in the back, telegraphing future happenings. Back suplex gets two. Zenk gets a crossbody off the second buckle, and a dropkick. Hansen gets a football block, but gets Lariat-ed for the win. *1/2.
Schiavone throws us to video from Wrestle War '90, and Luger beating up Flair. Their Capitol Combat cage match is more my jam. Then he talks to Luger.
U.S. Championship, Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger (c)- it was odd seeing Flair challenging for a secondary title at this point, much less challenging Luger. Flair tells Luger that tonight he moves from number 2 to number 1. Luger gets a shoulder block, but gets chopped in the corner. Luger gets a military press slam, and Flair bails. Flair gets a chop on a moving Luger, but gets press slammed again. Luger then clothelines him out, and clotheslines him again on the floor. Flair poses, but backs off from Luger's pose. A third military press, but Luger misses an elbow. Flair chops, but gets clotheslined. Flair claims a shoulder injury, but sucker punches Luger and tosses him out. Flair gets rammed into the railing. Flair stomps on Luger, as Caudle says he can smell the title. Flair sends him out again and jobs him Luger style. Flair softens up his knee, but Luger then no-sells some chops. Punches in the corner, then a clothesline gets 2.5. Luger slams him off the top, and clotheslines Flair after a Flair Flip. Powerslam, and Luget grabs a bearhug. He sets Flair on the top, and gets a superplex. Flair gets his foot on the bottom rope to avoid the pin. The two tumble out, and as Luger rolls in Stan Hansen sacks him. Luger gets beat up, and even worse, gets tobacco juice spit on him. Ewwww. **3/4.
Schiavone throws to a video from the Black Scorpion, then Sting. The time is now!
WCW World Championship, Sting (c) vs. The Black Scorpion- Sting chops away and chokes Scorpy. Scorpion does the same with the bottom rope. To the outside, and Scorpion pounds away. Sting drops him throat-first on the railing. Sting slams him and goes for the mask, unsuccessfully. Scorpion chokes Sting now. Scorpion slams him on the ramp outside. Back in, Sting dropkicks him, rams his face to the mat, and eventually gets a press slam. Sting goes up and hits a crossbody for two. Scorpion drops a knee to his throat, then chokes him with his foot. Sting gets a clothesline and a Stinger Splash for three. I never saw that beat anyone. *. Sting gets to unmask the Scorpion, and when he does he has another mask on. Another Scorpion appears on the ramp, as the one Sting beat runs away. I don't know why he didn't go chase the first guy down to at least know who he was wrestling.
Stupid angles aside, Sting is now champion and preparing for his big Halloween Havoc matchup with Sid. I'm sure nothing stupid will happen at the end of that one! This show was decent to me, though it's one I've watched many times. Flair vs. Luger was interesting because of the reversal of champion/challenger roles, and the Steiners can sure beat up jobbers.
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