WCW Clash of the Champions XI: Coastal Crush

WCW Clash of the Champions XI: Coastal Crush

Charleston, South Carolina - June 1990

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, Ric Flair is the reigning WCW World Champion, Doom are the World Tag Team Champions, the Midnight Express hold the United States Tag Team Titles,  Arn Anderson is the TV Champion, and the United States Title is held by Lex Luger.

COMMENTARY: Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

Tony Schiavone welcomes fans to the 11th Clash of the Champions special, running down tonight's card before sending it to the ring where JR and Bob Caudle will handle the play-by-play.

The Southern Boys take on The Fabulous Freebirds in the opening match. Fast-paced action to start, things slowing down a bit as Hayes draws heat from the crowd and taunts the wiry Steve Armstrong. Garvin comes in and Armstrong's in trouble, withstanding a backbreaker and an armbar out of P.S. A fun little tag match follows, the action staying fast-paced for the most part and the crowd getting increasingly into it. Very good finish on this one. (2.5/5)

Tommy Rich takes on Bam Bam Bigelow (with "The Big Kahuna" Sir Oliver Humperdink) next. Rich gets in some offense at the start, the former NWA World Champion surprising his opponent with the effectiveness of his arm bar. Coming into this, I expected it to be all about Bigelow, but Rich maintains control for a lengthy stretch before the Bammer finally puts him on the mat with an atomic drop. Bigelow ends up getting himself disqualified by refusing to let go of a joke, a finish that establishes Bigelow as an absolute monster, but also protects Rich from taking a clean pinfall loss - which I'm not sure was completely necessary considering that we're talking about Tommy Rich in 1990. (1.5/5)

A video promo hypes the debut of Big Van Vader by showing his entrance, but nothing else, in a Japanese promotion. Okay.

Back in the ring, Gary Michael Capetta introduces El Gigante, the legit 7-footer. Capetta explains that El Gigante's English is limited, so he conducts the interview in Spanish and interprets El Gigante's responses. I'm sure other reviewers have torn this segment to shreds in the past, but this was arguably the best they could've done in this situation and Capetta's Spanish is respectable. 

"Captain" Mike Rotunda tags up with "The Z-Man" Tom Zenk to take on the Samoan SWAT Team. On the plus side, this one doesn't run very long. On the negative side, for the minutes it does take up, its nothing special and predictable every step of the way. Maybe in 1990 there would be a reason to get excited about seeing these two teams in the ring against each other, but 27 years later, this combination of workers elicits a yawn from me. (1/5)

The next match, on the other hand, is sort of interesting to watch in 2017 - "Flyin'" Brian Pillman vs. "Mean" Mark Callous. Pillman comes running to the ring, but "Mean" Mark beats him down as soon as he gets there. Nonetheless, Pillman tries to rally early but ends up launched throat-first into the guardrail, a bump that he loved to take back then. Callous tries for a side slam, but Pillman escapes and attempts a crucifix. "Mean" Mark regains control almost instantly and hits a body slam and a big elbow as JR hypes his match against Lex Luger at The Great American Bash in July. Pillman's hope spots get huge pops, but "Mean" Mark cuts him off at nearly every turn, eventually finishing him off with a stun gun. I don't like Pillman kicking out at a hair after 3 as it takes away the definitiveness of the victory. I also which it kinda ran just a touch longer, which could've been possible had they just eliminated one of the awful matches that came before it. (2/5)

Any time these two tag teams lock up, you know you're in for something good - The Rock n' Roll Express challenging The Midnight Express for the Midnights' United States Tag Team Championships. Gibson and Eaton start things off, but when Eaton can't get any traction, "Sweet" Stan comes in to try his hand. The Rock n' Rollers maintain control as Ricky Morton comes in, Morton back body dropping Lane and then locking Eaton in an arm bar soon after. Morton pops the crowd with a dropkick and something I'll call a "hesitation hurricanrana" before tagging in Robert Gibson. An eye poke provides the heels their first major opening, Lane eventually coming in for an illegal double team, but the Rock n' Rollers don't stay down for long after a flurry of action. Morton is finally grounded by another illegal double team maneuver, this one a somewhat sloppy powerbomb-like move. Morton doesn't play face-in-peril for long, though, getting the hot tag to Gibson moments later. On the outside, Ricky Morton launches Eaton into the guardrail, but the Rockers end up knocking into each other on the apron. After a great false finish, Lane ends up getting his team disqualified to continue their never-ending feud. (2.5/5) 

Doug Furnas vs. Barry Windham is next. Furnas is an intriguing performer to me - a match like this, this early in his career, shows just how much potential he had as a singles star. Agile and powerful, Furnas' offense is impressive and paired up with a veteran like Windham, he gets respectable reactions. A very basic match in terms of ay-out with the right guy winning, it doesn't overstay its welcome and never slows down. Good TV match. (2.5/5)

After an incredible pre-match pre-taped video promo from Sid Vicious in a tuxedo, its time for his match against the mega-popular United States Champion, Lex Luger, who comes out without the belt (probably because this is a non-title match). Luger goes right after Ole Anderson and then blasts Sid with a clothesline, the confusion causing the big man to lose his concentration and get rolled up for a three-count. This has to be one of the fastest and most meaningless segments I've seen, the definition of a "fluke" win and a very disappointing one at that. (0/5)

At the last major WCW pay-per-view, The Steiners and Doom put on what I would say was one of the better tag matches I've watched this year, a super stiff suplex-fest between two powerhouse teams. This one starts with Scott Steiner popping the crowd by hitting reverse slams (basically fallaway slams with Steiner throwing a backflip in for good measure) on both opponents and then putting Ron Simmons to the mat with nasty clothesline to the back of the skull. Butch Reed comes in for a spell but the crowd comes alive when Scott makes the tag and the Dog-faced Gremlin gets his time in the ring, belly-to-bellying Simmons and clubbing Reed in the mouth with a Steinerline. Simmons gives him a receipt minutes later on the outside of the ring and the World Tag Team Champions take control, beating down Rick Steiner as the crowd loudly chants "Peanuthead" to taunt Doom's manager, Teddy Long. I love how basic-but-impactful Doom's offense is and how eager they are to cheat - the perfect recipe for a dominant heel team. A solid finish caps off a match that doesn't quite measure up to their last outing, but was still pretty good from start-to-finish. (3/5)

The Junkyard Dog hypes his match against Ric Flair tonight with Tony Schiavone. 

Television Champion Arn Anderson takes on "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff in a non-title match next. The first few minutes are a "feeling out" with Orndorff consistently getting the upperhand, eventually locking in a sleeper to pop the crowd and, moments later, applying a figure four in a nod to Anderson's stablemate, the Nature Boy. Anderson is able to fight his way back into the match, however, beating down Mr. Wonderful in the corner, using the ropes to cut off his breathing, and then applying an abdominal stretch. Anderson keeps the pressure on with a reverse chinlock that builds to a flurry in the corner that sees Orndorff hit an atomic drop that nearly backfires when Anderson bounces off the turnbuckle and the two men's heads collide. Orndorff is back up first, though, and Mr. Wonderful takes control. After blocking a slingshot splash (Vader Bomb), Anderson goes for an inside cradle, but Orndorff reverses it for a three count. A few noticeable moments of re-positioning and spot-calling and a jerky pace kept this from being anything I'd want to revisit. (2/5)

Ric Flair cuts his typical (awesome) promo running down the "Dudes with Attitudes." Too short to warrant a bonus point, though.

Main event time - The Junkyard Dog vs. Ric Flair for Flair's World Heavyweight Championship. Nonsense match with Flair overselling everything JYD does and JYD no-selling anything that Flair does in return (including a comedic chair shot). This is Flair wrestling himself essentially and while there is some entertainment there and the crowd is certainly hot for it, that doesn't make it a "must watch" in my book. In some circles this match is infamous for being one of the worst bouts in Clash history, but there are plenty of real snoozers in the history of the concept so I'd argue this one can just be called one of the worst *main events* in Clash history. (1/5)

After the brawl that ended the last segment, we're back in the ring with Rocky King (why?) and Sting, who officially challenges Flair for the upcoming Great American Bash. At previous shows, these sorts of post-match angles worked really well and the live crowd definitely enjoys it, but this just seemed like a retread to me and not nearly as heated and wild as the one with Terry Funk from 89'. 


Overall, Clash XI is one of the more disappointing and irrelevant shows in the series. There's not a single match here I'd recommend and while these shows sometimes feature a segment or two that are great, this one doesn't really provide anything of note (even the El Gigante interview, which could've at least been unintentionally hilarious, is unremarkably bland). With an awful Kwang score of 1.8-out-of-5, this one is definitely a...

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville