Live Blog Time Machine: Clash of the Champions 1988

Welcome to another trip into the nyiforlife time machine. Today's live blog is of the very first Clash of the Champions special on TBS by Jim Crockett Promotions from March 27, 1988.

If you don't know, here is some quick history: Vince created the Royal Rumble for the USA Network to compete up against the NWA's first foray into pay-per-view, the Bunkhouse Stampede, in January of 1988. Ted Turner and Jim Crockett then created this special, called Clash of the Champions, as a free-TV alternative to Wrestlemania IV. While universally hailed as a better show, the Clash caused some very real heat between the cable companies and Turner Broadcasting who thought that the free wrestling negatively impacted the PPV offering from the WWF. It probably did.

Now, thanks to the WWE 24/7, we have a special 20th anniversary package for the first Clash of the Champions. Interviews with WWE employees who were then part of Jim Crockett Promotions are interspersed throughout the show to offer perspective on the original event. I'm not going to comment much on that stuff because a lot of it is dumbed-down company-speak. Let's go to the videotape!

Our first match pits Jimmy Garvin against the NWA TV Champion, Mike Rotunda. Rotunda is managed by the Gamesmaster Kevin Sullivan and the match is under the one-count rule for victory because Rotunda is doing the Varsity Club gimmick. I just thought the Varsity Club was a great gimmick for colorless guys like Rotunda, Dr. Death, and Rick Steiner at the time. Why the evil devil-worshipping Kevin Sullivan had to act as their coach was beyond me at the time and comes off as a little ridiculous in the rear view mirror. Sullivan was sort of feuding with Jimmy Garvin over Garvin's wife, Precious, and this match was more of a backdrop for that feud. Rotunda wins and keeps the title after rolling up Garvin for a one-count while Garvin was jawing with Sullivan. This leads to the beat-down of Garvin afterward when Steiner comes in. Precious ends up making the save and choking Sullivan with a coat-hanger. Yes, a wire hanger. Not sure how that got in there. TBS complained about Funk using a plastic bag on Flair a year later but let this coat hanger thing go out over the air? Weird.

Next up we have a US Tag Title match with the Fantastics trying to dethrone the Midnight Express.

Everyone who knows me knows that I love the whole MX & Jim Cornette thing. And I wasn't alone. There's ten dudes in the front row dressed up like Cornette's bodyguard, Big Bubba Rogers. (Wear a suit to the show...put on sunglasses, you're Big Bubba. Take them off, hold up four fingers, and you're custom-made like Ric Flair. Genius!)

We need to acknowledge referee Randy Anderson's poofy mullet before we start. Pee Wee really had a ledge of hair. He may be my new Hair Hero!

Great match between two great teams who could go. The finish came on a typical Dusty-booked horsebleeping fake-out where Bobby Fulton originally had pinned Bobby Eaton to win the titles but the decision was reversed because Fulton had thrown referee Randy Anderson over the top rope before the pinfall was made. Got that? Afterward, The Midnights beat down the Fantastics and they whipped Bobby Fulton with Jim Cornette's belt. There was no way to watch this and not think of David Crockett excitedly screaming, "Whip 'im! Whip 'im like a dog!" as he did two years before when Ricky Morton was using a belt on Cornette and the Midnights.

Next we have an interview with Doctor Death Steve Williams. Doc is rocking one serious mullet. Actually, I am thinking the mullet is rocking Doc at this point. Interviews were not Doc's strong point and whoo, this one is super-bad. He wasn't in the Varsity Club yet and he totally needed someone to talk for him. He might have been a real-life ass-kicker, but unless he was paid by the "Lemme tell ya somethin's", Doc was not doing himself any favors. Really, really, really bad. Not bad in a good, "Shockmaster"-kind of way, either. Just horrid.

Goldberg Prototype Nikita Koloff is next. This was after his conversion to good guy, man with hair, and person who wanted to help kids. Hurt career, help kids. Not a fair trade in the pocketbook, I bet. Next.

In a very tame barbed wire match by ECW/Attitude standards, the LOD and Dusty beat The Powers of Pain and Ivan Koloff. This was a very heated return match off an angle where the Warlord and the Barbarian "broke" Animal's eye socket in a melee after a bench pressing contest. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that Animal is wearing a mask straight out of the Jerry Cheevers' School of Goaltending.

(Side note: man, those dudes were super-juiced. If Warlord were wrestling now, his gimmick would have to be called Red Flag. Hawk would have to be called Bullseye and the Barbarian might have had to go by People's Exhibit A. Seriously, these guys had more juice in them than a convoy of trucks pulling Florida oranges.)

Dusty bleeds (big surprise) and the whole match is less than four minutes long. Warlord was pinned after being accidentally hit with a diving headbutt from the Barbarian. I had to sit through Doctor Death choke through his interview with six cough drops in his mouth for these four freaking minutes? Add in the post-match beatdown where the heels try to get their heat back by ripping the Cheevers off of Animal, it's like seven minutes of work. Not really great work, either.

We have a segue with the latter-day Barry Windham. Wow, he looks to be in better shape than he did on the Horsemen DVD. Windham is teaming up with Lex Luger in the next match and in a shock of all shocks, he says nice things about Lex here. Rips him a new one on the DVD (he wasn't the only one) but here Barry gives him the glad-hand today. Must be because Lex is physically in a bad place right now or something.

So we have Arn and Tully facing Barry and Lex for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. The faces go over here in under ten minutes...but there was a bigger picture in this match. See, in a few weeks, Barry was going to tag with Lex and suddenly get all alligator-armed when Lex needed a tag. Then Luger would catch more beatdowns. Barry was on his way to becoming...a Horseman! They used to actually do angles to make money back in the day. Luger was thought to be the next big thing and as a face, he needed a dastardly turn from someone he had trusted to get him over even more. This was the beginning of the turn. I pray that WWE 24/7 plays that match where Barry turned his back and flashed the four fingers and devilish grin after deserting his partner. It was a great angle.

The capper of the night sees NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair fight Sting to a time-limit draw in 45 minutes. Yes, this is the famous match that "made" Sting a star and it still holds up to multiple viewing even today. (It's on the Ric Flair DVD set, too.)

Let's face it, if you're my age and you were formally a big wrestling fan, this is one of "those" matches that you never forget. For instance, I remember at the time thinking that Sting was looking much better than I had ever seen him, even though I liked the gimmick. Of course, Ric Flair was Ric Flair. Everyone looked good in the ring with Flair--even Luger!

For whatever reason, the extended bit with the judges ("There MUST be a winner!") made me upset more than the clipped part on the Flair DVD set. People have been wondering for years just how a judge could actually think the match was a draw and not choose a winner? Well, Sandy Scott, what the hell? I mean, we all know that Dusty booked Flair in as weak a manner as he could at times (all the time) but this one made me angry twenty years after the fact. The Pet picks Flair and Gary Juster picks Sting and Sandy freaking Scott picks draw.

Yes, I know it's all a work. Thanks for asking. I also know that Sandy Scott becomes the booker after Dusty gets fired and is going to be the guy who brings Ricky Steamboat in the next year for those great matches with the Nature Boy. Still, it pished me off in retrospect to see a masterpiece ruined by some dork in a ten dollar Wal-Mart sports coat sitting at ringside. I'm still talking to you, Sandy Scott!

Overall, I really enjoyed the show. Sure, there was some bad booking in spots and some of it was head-scratching (Nikita Koloff and Eddie Haskell) but overall, a pretty fun look back. You had the perfect storm of unintended hilarity (Pee Wee Anderson's mullet and Doctor Death's freaky rant); great action (Midnights vs. Fantastics); a star turn for Sting; and every match on the card had an issue at stake that lead to all of the matches being interesting. Plus, you had Ric Flair. Not too shabby. I really miss the NWA.

Lastly, let me end this with some more Flair news. Although it is just a rumor at the time I write this, it has been proposed that Ric Flair will face Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania in the Nature Boy's final match. To me, there is no one better to put him in there with. Michaels grew up idolizing Flair and he knows how important Flair is to the history of wrestling. HBK and Flair always want to put on a show to begin with and in such a big spot, both guys are going to want to ride it out for as much and for as long as they can. I hope it happens. Flair should be retired by a genuine star--someone who can make him look as good as he made countless others while NWA champ--not someone who may or may not be on the rise.