NWA Clash of the Champions XIII 11/20/1990

Written By: Matt Peddycord

NWA Clash of the Champions XIII: Thanksgiving Thunder
November 20, 1990
Jacksonville, FL
Jacksonville Coliseum

The current NWA Champs were as follows:
World Champion: Sting (7/7/1990)
U.S. Champion: Stan Hansen (10/27/1990)
World Tag Team Champions: Doom (5/19/1990)
U.S. Tag Team Champions: Rick & Scott Steiner (8/24/1990)
World Television Champion: Arn Anderson (1/2/1990)

Your hosts are Jim Ross & Paul E. Dangerously.

The Freebirds & Bobby Eaton (w/Little Richard Marley) vs. The Southern Boys & El Gigante

As you can probably tell, Lane and Cornette have already left to create SMW. El Gigante is a no-show, and since Michael Hayes said he had something to do with that, the ref orders Eaton to leave and for this match to be another Freebirds/Southern Boys opener at the Clash. That’s THREE times in a row now! I’m with Paul E on this one. I wanted to see Bobby Eaton wrestle.

The Freebirds (w/Little Richard Marley) vs. The Southern Boys

Little Richard is the ‘Birds black roadie played by perennial jobber Rocky King. This was very similar to their other two matches, as you might imagine. Double dropkicks are delivered to both the Freebirds to send them out to the floor. Back in, Smothers gets cornered by the Freebirds to set up the spot where the Southern Boys bait their opponents in for a Steve Armstrong crossbody. Smothers shoves out of a headlock and goes slam crazy on the ‘Birds. Hayes goes low and then knocks Smothers off the apron for his chest-first guardrail bump with the LEFT HAND! They don’t take time for the heat segment though. Back in, Smothers slams Garvin off the top and makes the tag to Armstrong. BUT THE REF DIDN’T SEE THE TAG! Smothers takes a double suplex, but then the ‘Birds turn around into a flying crossbody from Armstrong! Steve tosses Garvin out onto the rampway and dives out on top of him. He’s all fists-of-fire on Garvin while in the ring, Marley trips Smothers up into a DDT from Hayes for the 1-2-3. (4:50) Short, fun stuff. **

Tony Schiavone interviews NWA World Champion Sting: Tonight, Sting will go face-to-face with the Black Scorpion on the Danger Zone! Before he goes, Ole the Black Scorpion sends him a message over the PA. He’ll show everybody his black magic skills! Sign in the crowd: “Don’t need black majic when you’r Sting” And they say our education system is getting WORSE!

Brian Pillman vs. Buddy Landell

Paul E makes a faux pas in this match, naming Pillman as the only guy that Ric Flair ever trained. Of course, that guy was Stan Lane. Landell attacks at the bell and then tries for the double-bicep pose pin, but Pillman hooks the arms with his legs and rolls Landell over for two. Pillman with an inside cradle for two. Backslide gets two for Pillman, followed by a clothesline that takes Landell out to the rampway. AIR PILLMAN on the rampway! Awesome. Pillman wants a piledriver, but Landell backdrops him over and clotheslines Pillman back in the ring. He kicks Pillman to the apron and then knocks him off to the guardrail for our second chest-first guardrail bump of the night. Landell misses a clothesline up against the ringpost, but then Pillman gets shoved off into the post. Back in, Pillman hiptosses Landell around and then dropkicks him out to the floor for a springboard crossbody! Back in again, Landell controls with an ab stretch and you know he’s grabbing the ropes for leverage. Pillman tries to come back with a crossbody out of the corner, but Landell catches him for a backbreaker which gets 1-2-NO! Landell wants a superplex, but Pillman punches him off for a Flying Crossbody for 1-2-3! (5:52) Good match. Pillman pulled out all the stops here and Landell was game. ***

Big Cat vs. Brad Armstrong

No, it’s not Ernie Ladd. It’s Mr. Hughes! He’s here to take out Lex Luger, which is odd when you know a year later, he’ll become the guy who looks out for Lex Luger as his bodyguard. Very basic start. Hughes only goes down to dropkicks. Armstrong gets caught off a crossbody attempt for a backbreaker. Bearhugs follow. Armstrong tries to come back, but he whiffs on a dropkick and lands on his sore back. Big Cat lifts Armstrong up for the TORTURE RACK and that will do it. (4:31) Decent squash. *½

Tom Zenk vs. “Prime Time” Brian Lee

Prime time, baby! Brian Lee is infamously known as the Fake Undertaker in ’94 WWF. He’s pretty much green as can be at this point. Zenk flips out of the corner off a whip and hiptosses Lee over for a crossbody out of the corner, but Lee stays on the other side of the ring and Zenk completely misses. They run the ropes a bit and Lee gets caught with a dropkick. Lee cheapshots Zenk and then takes over with a chinlock. Zenk elbows out and avoids a corner charge. They have another timing issue off a whip, so Zenk slams Lee and gives him the MISSILE DROPKICK for the win. (3:10) After months of being buried by lead booker Ole Anderson, causing the phrase “pin me, pay me” to be coined, Zenk begins a hot streak all the way to the TV title. As for the match, they had some obvious timing issues and you could tell Lee was greener than New Zealand here. CRAP

Tony Schiavone interviews Michael Wallstreet & Alexandra York: This is the debut of the Wallstreet character and the beginning of the York Foundation for that matter. You see, Michael Wallstreet earned a large inheritance, changed his name from Rotunda to Wallstreet, and hired this lady to manage his money and use her computer to win matches. The York Foundation of course would become a lower mid-card stable with a bunch of rednecks like Tommy Rich and Ricky Morton who WOULD pay someone else to use a computer for them.

Michael Wallstreet (w/Alexandra York) vs. Star Blazer

Star Blazer is a masked Tim Horner. Blazer starts off all hot and heavy with Wallstreet by killing him with dropkicks. Back in, Wallstreet dumps Blazer out while York types away on the computer. Once Blazer crawls back in the ring, Wallstreet applies the ab stretch near the ropes for a reason. Ref Nick Patrick catches him to break the hold. Blazer slips out of a suplex into a rollup for two. He catches Wallstreet with a knee to the face in the corner, but Wallstreet stops Blazer and his many dropkicks into a Boston crab. That’s countered over into a rollup sequence. Wallstreet wants a rolling Boston crab, but he doesn’t roll over right and Blazer kicks him away. Wallstreet says screw it, and puts Blazer away with the WALL STREET CRASH (Samoan drop). (4:15) Kind of a mess in some spots. You’d think these two would work well together too. ½*

Gordon Solie has our WCW Top Ten!
Tag Teams
10. Norman & The Juicer (Juicer is Art Barr. He wasn’t in WCW long.)
9. Big Cat & Motor City Madman
8. Tim Horner & Brad Armstrong (Lightning Express~!)
7. Master Blasters (this countdown IS a joke)
6. Southern Boys
5. Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich
4. Freebirds
3. Nasty Boys
2. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson
1. NWA U.S. Tag Team Champions Rick & Scott Steiner
NWA World Tag Team Champions Doom

Singles
10. Bobby Eaton
9. Tom Zenk
8. Michael Wallstreet (because he beat a masked one-time-only jobber?)
7. Flyin’ Brian
6. Terry Taylor
5. NWA World Television Champion Arn Anderson
4. Ric Flair
3. Lex Luger
2. Sid Vicious
1. NWA U.S. Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Sting

Sgt. Krueger & Col. Deklerk vs. Kalua & Botswana Beast

This was a Pat O’Connor tag tournament qualifier match for Africa. Deklerk is Rocco Rock or Ted Petty and Krueger is nobody noteworthy that I know of. Kalua looks like Haku and wrestles like him too. Beast is just a big black guy. The South Africans deliver a Midnight Express drop toe-hold/elbow drop combo to Kalua for two. The Beast tags in and no-sells everything. Deklerk does a complete flip over the Beast out of the corner and drops him with a clothesline. Beast catches Deklerk off the top with a powerslam and an awkward cover gets 1-2-NO! That breaks down into a brawl and when the ref tries to get Kalua out of the ring, Krueger dropkicks Deklerk on top of the Beast for 1-2-3. (4:48) Not that it matters much. Krueger & Deklerk would be fed to the Steiners at Starrcade in the first round. ½*

A recap video for the Luger/Hansen feud is played. Luger pops Big Cat in the mouth during a pre-match interview. That wasn’t very nice.

Lex Luger vs. Motor City Madman

MCM was found in a pool hall by Paul E. Dangerously. He’s just a big guy who looks mad. During Luger’s entrance, Big Cat attacks Lex from behind and we get ourselves a pull-apart brawl. MCM attacks Luger as he comes in the ring, but Lex comes back with a crossbody and a clothesline. Luger blocks a suplex from the apron and counters with a botched one of his own. Ow, MCM landed right on his head! Luger misses the jumping elbow drop, which leads to a side slam. MCM wants his CANADIAN BACKBREAKER, but Luger backdrops out and hits a clothesline for 1-2-3. (2:34) Another squash. CRAP

The Nasty Boys vs. The Renegade Warriors

The Renegade Warriors are Chris and Mark Youngblood. Pretty much just cheap talent that Ole signed for the company. The Nasties were still having their problems with the Steiners in a feud that was really being pushed here, regardless of the fact that they still had not made any real long-term deals with WCW. Mark gets clobbered by the Nasties with a double suplex. Chris gets a blind tag and hits a crossbody on Knobbs for two. Knobbs stiffs Chris pretty good with forearms to escapes the armbar and makes the tag to Sags. They work on Sags’ arm, but then he tosses Mark out over the top rope behind the ref’s back. Knobbs heads over and throws Mark into the guardrail real good. Back in, Knobbs delivers an armbreaker. The Injuns do the false tag spot. Sags hits a shoulderbreaker on Mark and that’s when the Steiners come running in to get them some. (4:49) The Steiners send the Nasties running all the way to the WWF in a couple weeks. Not a bad glorified squash. They used the standard psychology of trying to damage the arm. ¾*

Sid Vicious vs. The Nightstalker

Nightstalker is a clean-shaven Bryan Clarke/Wrath/Adam Bomb. Supposedly, Ox Baker is managing the Nightstalker, but doesn’t see the need to accompany him to the ring, says JR. This is that match, by the way. Considered 1990’s worst match of the year. There’s a test of strength to start. That leads to a NO-SELL shoulderblock from Nightstalker. When Sid doesn’t budge, Nightstalker picks him up in a bearhug. Sid breaks away, Nightstalker reapplies the bearhug. Sid punches out, Nightstalker knees him several times in the gut. Who knew there was such a thing as awkward knee strikes? Well, these definitely are. Sid hits a back suplex out of nowhere as Big Cat comes down to ringside. Apparently, he’s got an issue with Sid too. Sid decks Big Cat while Nightstalker grabs his huge fake-looking ax. The heel miscommunication problem doesn’t go as planned. Nightstalker doesn’t hit Big Cat like he’s supposed to. Big Cat’s in the ring for some reason and gets kicked. Sid grabs the ax and shoves Nightstalker down for the 1-2-3. (3:30) Completely horrid. I don’t think three people has ever looked that incompetent in the ring. CRAP

Tony Schiavone interviews the Freebirds: They come out and gloat about their win and how they took out El Gigante, and that’s when the Southern Boys stop by with the Giant himself to scare the Freebirds away. He’s going to be on you like a duck on a junebug!

NWA U.S. Tag Team Champions Rick & Scott Steiner vs. Magnum Force

Magnum Force just might be the jobberiffic WCW tag team of all-time. They have mullets and a bad attitude that just makes them fun to watch get beat up. I don’t even think they had names, they were so bad. Scott dishes out the tilt-a-whirl slam and the fallaway slam. Rick hits a Steinerline and Scott delivers the FRANKENSTEINER for the win. (1:57) The Nasties come out for revenge, but that ain’t happening. ¼*

Recap of the Sting/Black Scorpion segments.

The Danger Zone

Sting tells Paul E to SHUT UP. You know, no wonder Paul E started the Dangerous Alliance and made Sting’s life hell twelve months later. Anyways, the Black Scorpion interrupts the interview and does a little magic show. He grabs a “random” guy out of the audience, twists his head around in a *magic* box, and then turns him into a cougar. DOWN KAREN, DOWN! When Sting finally has enough of this, Black Scorpion makes himself disappear. So terrible. Are we supposed to take this Black Scorpion guy seriously?

Recap of the Doom/Horsemen feud.

Ric Flair (w/Arn Anderson) vs. Butch Reed (w/Ron Simmons & Theodore R. Long)

The participants were decided by a coin toss, by the way. Definitely the better pick, as these two had had a decent rivalry down in Florida in the early ’80s. If Flair wins, Teddy Long has to be the Horsemen’s chauffeur for a day and gets another tag title shot at Starrcade. If Reed wins, they get Flair’s Rolls Royce AND his yacht. Plus, no more tag title shots for the Horsemen. Flair woos and chops away on Reed, but he doesn’t let it bother him too much and fires back on Flair. Gorilla Press Slam connects and then a clothesline puts Flair on the floor. Simmons gets in a shot and then puts Flair back in the ring. Flair knees Reed in the gut and then walks out to the rampway to regroup, but then turns around into a clothesline. Reed follows Flair back in the ring and we get a headlock sequence into a backslide. Advantage Reed. That gets two. Reed delivers the ten-count corner punch and then hiptosses Flair out for a dropkick. Flair goes to the eyes to slow Reed down. He kicks Reed around and then drills him with chops. Flair gets the ref to look over at Ron Simmons, who is livid by the way, and tosses Reed out to AA for a clothesline. WOO! Flair snaps Reed’s neck on the top rope on his way back in. Some chops in the corner wake Reed up and cause him to just freakin’ UNLOAD on Flair. Flair flips out of the corner and falls off the apron out to Simmons, who drops Flair real good. He sends Flair into the guardrail and then throws him back in the ring. Flair goes low and delivers the Rolling Knee Drop. He goes for another, but Reed moves and applies a Figure-Four of his own! He makes the ropes and Reed doesn’t break at the five-count. Lucky for Doom, ref Nick Patrick doesn’t DQ Reed here. Flair rolls to the apron and Reed gives him a suplex back in for 1-2-NO! Reed goes for a flying elbow drop, but Flair moves out of the way. Reed explodes out of the corner with a clothesline for 1-2-NO! He mounts Flair for some punching and makes Flair cry out to a higher power. Reed gives Flair another Gorilla Press Slam and when he starts to pound on Flair in the corner, Nick Patrick holds Reed’s arm back and Flair takes advantage with a right hand of his own. Cover, 1-2-NO! Reed’s foot is on the rope. Reed hits a backdrop and a THIRD Gorilla Press Slam for 1-2-NO! AA pulls the ref out. Meanwhile, Reed hits the FLYING SHOULDERBLOCK! Flair lands near the ropes as Reed covers, but he’s with Arn and Teddy Long. Reed charges at Flair up against the ropes and takes a backdrop out on top of Teddy Long and the referee! The camera completely misses Simmons running by Flair in the ring and nailing him with a clothesline. Reed crawls back in the ring and covers Flair, but Arn grabs a chair and KO’s Reed with it. Flair turns over on Reed as Arn puts Nick Patrick in the ring and counts 1-2-3. (14:13) You had to know with that many people at ringside that something along these lines would happen. The feud continues into Starrcade, but Barry Windham subs for Flair because he had other business to attend to. Pretty much punch-kick stuff from Reed, but Flair can carry you through to a good match with that kind of offense with his selling and willingness to take a pounding and keep on coming back. ***¼

Final Thoughts: The Clash shows from 1990 were just a huge drop-off from the first two years prior. In my opinion, it turned into an extra episode of Saturday night wrestling on TBS. There’s a decent match here and there, but it’s mostly squash matches and meaningless pull-apart brawls. Thumbs down for Clash 13. Even Flair/Reed isn’t must-see.