WCW Clash of the Champions VIII: Fall Brawl 89'

WCW Clash of the Champions VIII: Fall Brawl 89'

Columbia, South Carolina - September 1989

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, Ric Flair is the reigning NWA World Champion ("WCW" was still officially the NWA at this point), the Fabulous Freebirds were the World Tag Team Champions, The Great Muta had become the recognizing Television Champion due to the controversial finish of his match with Sting at The Great American Bash, and Lex Luger was in the midst of his third United States Title run. (Eddie Gilbert and Rick Steiner held the US Tag Titles but hadn't defended them in months, at least not at any major show)

COMMENTATORS: Jim Ross and Jim Cornette



Right from the first minute, Clash of the Champions VIII has a noticeably upgraded look than the previous edition of the show and even the Great American Bash show a few months earlier. The crowd is lit a bit brighter as is the ring, WCW obviously attempting to present a show with the same level of flash as the WWE (then WWF) was producing going into the 90s.

Our first match of the night is the Samoan SWAT Team taking on the uber-popular Road Warriors. Animal and Fatu start things off with the Legion of Doom taking control early and forcing Dangerously's boys to regroup. After withstanding quite a beatdown from the LOD, Hawk takes a nasty tumble to the outside and ends up crotched on the guardrail by Samu as well, the crowd booing at the low blow. Back in the ring, Hawk plays the face in peril as the Samoans take turns dishing out bodyslams and headbutts. Animal comes in on the hot tag and takes out Samu with a series of shoulderblocks but his pin attempt is broken up as all four men go at it. An incredible Doomsday Device finish caps things off as the crowd goes wild. As I'm not a huge fan of either team, I wasn't expecting this to be very good, but they kept their feet on the gas and everyone executed what they needed to do. Interesting post-match drama too. (2.5/5)

Sick Halloween Havoc 89' commercial. (+1)

And here we go with the debut of one of my childhood favorites - "The Z-Man" Tom Zenk making his first NWA appearance against The Cuban Assassin. Zenk comes out to a very mild response and though he always had an impressive look and a good dropkick, he's also one of the most vanilla guys ever. Arm drags in abundance, a wrist lock, a sunset flip, a sleeper - nothing Zenk does is remotely special. (0/5)

Cut to Ric Flair being awarded with a plaque from the Governor of South Carolina, Carroll Campbell. 

Back in the ring, Ranger Ross prepares for an ass-kicking by the well-liked half of the Skyscrapers, Sid Vicious. Though he's accompanied by Long and Spivey and immediately resorts to dirty tactics to get the upper hand, the crowd is still fairly in his corner. Sid hits a ridiculous spinning release powerbomb and then a second powerbomb to wrap up the match in under 3 minutes. In fact, the slo-mo replay may actually be longer than the entire bout. Effective squash. (1/5)

I've rewarded points before under the catch-all phrase "Network Nugget of Awesomeness." Well, this next segment is slightly different but no less deserving of a point. Robin Green (aka "Woman" aka Nancy Sullivan and future Nancy Benoit) and Missy Hyatt go shopping, the relative newcomer Green showing off her wealth and eye for high fashion while we hear some corny 80s pop music in the background. Network Nugget of Awkwardness! (+1)

Back in the arena, Green and Hyatt accompany tonight's challengers for the NWA World Tag Team Titles - Rick and Scott, The Steiner Brothers! Their opponents, The Fabulous Freebirds, eat a bunch of offense for the first third of the match, but their eventual cut-offs are so vicious and full of impact that the match isn't lop-sided at all, a real testament to the underrated offense of the Freebirds and their ability to match the toughness of the Steiners. Solid third of the match with a wild ending that raises interesting questions about the motives of both Hyatt and Green. Good stuff, though, not necessarily "must see." (3/5)

One of my favorite cruddy gimmicks in WCW history is up next - Norman The Lunatic taking on hot young upstart "Flyin'" Brian Pillman. The Lunatic and Pillman both put in a ton of effort here and it pays off in the form of an enjoyable match that effectively gets over two messages: (a) Pillman has a ton of fight in him and is a good enough athlete to take on grapplers twice his size and (b) Norman may be a monster, but he can be subdued and outwrestled if one has the cunning, speed, and agility to outsmart him. The fact that it doesn't even last 5 minutes makes it even better. I have no qualms calling this an "above average" match despite its brevity and the goofiness of the Lunatic gimmick. (3/5)

Former tag partners "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Mike Rotundo square off next. This one is based on Williams' brief stay in Kevin Sullivan's Varsity Club but is wrestled with more animus than the storyline necessarily called for (a good thing in this case). Williams' strength is on full display, but Rotundo's crafty wrestling shouldn't be underestimated either. Stiff stuff between a few minutes when Rotundo slows things down and tries to wear down the Sooner Legend. Rotundo has never been the flashiest of workers, but he was almost always solid - a guy that wrestled like a heel because nothing he did would pop the crowd and everything he did was meant to make the audience want to see the other guy take over. This psychology doesn't make for the most exciting of matches, but it can't necessarily be criticized in its logic. Williams carries this with his feats of strength and toughess. (2.5/5)

A surprisingly very good match follows - Lex Luger defending the United States Championship against Tommy "Wildfire" Rich. Kudos to Jim Cornette for his commentary in this one as he does a great job of summarizing Rich's career since dropping the NWA World Heavyweight Championship years earlier. This might be the peak (as early in his career as it may be) of Lex Luger as an in-ring performer because he doesn't seem to take a single breath in this match - it is a "go-go-go" match unlike practically anything he did in the 90s. Rich is over enough with the South Carolina crowd and a good enough babyface-in-peril guy to make his comebacks hot and engaging. Luger bumps and sells well enough for it to be totally believable that Rich has his number. Strong ending that keeps both guys looking good. The match of the night so far. (3.5/5)

After a taped promo from Terry Funk, it's main event time - Sting and Ric Flair vs. Gary Hart's team of heels, The Great Muta and "Dirty" Dick Slater. If the heat in the opening contest was a 10, this is somewhere between a 10.5 and 11 from the very beginning to the end. I refuse to believe the audience was still "in the dark" about professional wrestling being a staged performance, but the way this crowd emphatically hoots and hollers at every twist and turn is enough to make me doubt that presumption. Sting and Muta starts things off, proving their chemistry at the previous big NWA show (Great American Bash) was no fluke. Flair comes in and keeps the pressure on Muta, landing a double axehandle from the top corner in what would be a shocking occurrence if it wasn't for the fact that Flair's probability of landing a top rope move and not just getting press slammed to the mat goes up by about 900% when he's a face. The heels are able to take control though and the mat just turns into an out-and-out war from here, all four men fighting on the inside and outside, 2-on-1 advantages broken up with forearms and chest chops, and Gary Hart even getting involved with a roll of a quarters at one point. The controlled mayhem is just excellent and that's before Terry Funk eventually shows up in a very surprising appearance. I mean, Hart, JR and Jim Cornette claim all night that he's in the building, but who actually believed it up to this point in the show? Considering that this match is basically just bedlam, it is amazing how much short-term and longterm storytelling is on display. For starters, any time you got Flair and Sting teaming up at a Clash, the History Bells should be ringing in your eyes. Second, the way Sting and Flair target Slater's "injured" wrist (I'm not positive, but I believe he was doing the "Bob Orton" gimmick at the time). Last, the way the heels target Flair's neck in a not-so-subtle nod to the piledriver that sent him home for months earlier in the year. An ultra-violent ending with Flair nearly strangled to death in the kind of angle that the WWE wouldn't even describe on TV today and Sting practically maimed by the dreaded branding iron puts this one over the top. Excellent match that falls somewhere between "should see" and "must see." (4/5)


With a solid score of 3.07-out-of-5 on the Kwang Meter, Clash of the Champions VIII starts a bit slow but quickly turns into one of the funnest shows I've watched in months. The worst matches on the card are under 3 minutes too, so, its not like you're going to have to wade through a bunch of garbage to get to the good stuff (plus, though I scored it deservedly low, a Sid Vicious squash match still kinda qualifies as "good stuff"). While an inessential show in the grand scheme of NWA/WCW history, with such a high percentage of above-average matches to filler, a recommendation is warranted.

FINAL RATING - Watch It