WCW Clash of the Champions X: Texas Shoot-Out

WCW Clash of the Champions X: Texas Shoot-Out

Corpus Christi, Texas - February 1990

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Ric Flair is the WCW World Champion, Lex Luger is the United States Champion, Arn Anderson is the Television Champion (having defeated The Great Muta in January on an episode of the Power Hour), and the Steiner Brothers are the WCW World Tag Team Champions. 

COMMENTATORS: Jim Ross and Jim Cornette


The tenth Clash of the Champions specials starts with a very 80s graphic sequence of various WCW stars getting shot. Its almost stupid enough to warrant a bonus point, but its too short for me to dub it a Network Nugget of Awesomeness.

What does warrant a plus one is the pre-match video for Steve Williams which takes the "Dr. Death" mantle and turns it into a vignette that makes absolutely no sense and is soundtracked by a Baywatch-esque theme. It is glorious. (+1)

"Dr. Death" Steve Williams vs. The Samoan Savage is the opener. The Savage is the twin of Rikishi and the older brother of Umaga but didn't achieve any success in the WWE himself for whatever reason aside from a run as part of the Islanders tag team in 88'. Williams comes in to a huge reaction and initially controls the tempo, but the Savage overtakes him, applying a death grip onto Williams' shoulder and then cutting him off with a powerslam off the ropes. Williams gets another hope spot in, but its back to the shoulder submission for the Savage. Dr. Death ends up on the outside nearly counted out. Back in the ring, Savage hits a sidewalk slam, but misses on a huge splash to give Williams a second life. Williams lifts him for his trademark guerilla press, connects with a dropkick and takes the match home with a backslide. Not a bad match, but I would've liked some more variety out of Savage's offense to make things more interesting. (2/5)

WrestleWar 90' music video. Amazing. We're barely 30 minutes into this show and its already scoring pretty high for its production with me. (+1)

Terry Funk welcomes the Four Horsemen - Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, and Sting. Ole Anderson tells Sting that he overstepped a boundary when he signed a contract to challenge Ric Flair for his World Championship and tells him he has until the end of the night to decide to give up his title shot...or else. Flair cheap shots Sting before he can respond - so, that kinda seals it that Sting is out of the Horsemen and has no reason to throw away his title shot. I'll explain a bit further why this angle makes no sense later...

Z-Man and Brian Pillman vs. The Mod Squad is next. I was surprised to read that The Mod Squad actually had a touch of success in the 80s in regional promotions, though, maybe I shouldn't have been - while they're not much to look at, they're not too bad in the ring, have believable size and menace, and look like just the type of team people would love to see get their butts handed to them by more popular tags. Despite their loathsomeness, though, Z-Man and Pillman only seem to have a portion of the audience supporting them, which is probably more of Zenk's fault than Pillman's as the former Bengal was fairly popular around the country based on what I've seen of him in the late 80s. Not a great match and maybe a touch long, but good back-and-forth commentary from Ross and Cornette helps. (2/5)

A somewhat infamous match follows - Mil Mascaras vs. Cactus Jack. In his book, Foley did not pull any punches talking about how unimpressed he was with the Mexican legend. Mascaras controls early and Cacus sells for him well, falling haphazardly to the outside. He takes a ridiculously stupid self-caused bump on a chair which, in my mind, makes Mascaras treating him like a dunce somewhat acceptable. Mascaras no-sells a blow in the corner and tries to apply a crab as a fan in the audience shouts "Boring." Jack takes control, running Mascaras into the corner and then tossing him to the outside. Mascaras brushes off a body slam on the outside leading to Foley taking an absolutely disgusting back drop onto the concrete floor. In a better match, a bump like that would be acceptable, but in this context, it is incredibly stupid. Foley probably thought he needed to do it to capture the audience's (and maybe the bookers) attention, but I can Flair watching backstage and pegging him as a "stunt man" just based on this match alone. A half-point for Foley's guts, but I won't reward stupidity much more than that. (0.5/5)

However, after a quick commercial break, Jack ends up brawling with a random band member! Much better! (+1)

Norman The Lunatic is backstage with Gordon Solie to discuss his upcoming Falls Count Anywhere match with Kevin Sullivan. I've never seen this match or heard of it, so I'm curious if it will match Sullivan's more legendary Falls Count Anywhere matches with Chris Benoit six or so years later. I doubt it, but maybe I'll be surprised.

Kevin Sullivan is in the ring first for the Falls Count Anywhere bout against Norman the Lunatic (now just kinda Norman). Nothing too special in this match, though, it is worth noting that they do end up in the bathroom at one point - obviously Sullivan thought this was a brilliant wrinkle to throw into a Falls Count Anywhere match well before he and Chris Benoit started brutalizing each other in the 90s. To Sullivan's credit, he does a nice job of chopping down Norman and making himself a threat to the much bigger opponent, but good character work can only take you so far in what is a pretty boring brawl. (1.5/5)

Terry Funk is in the ring to welcome the reigning United States Champion, Lex Luger. Luger arrives to boos and tells the audience to quiet down as he tells his one-time friend Sting to step aside because Luger is the true number one contender and claims he has Flair beat. While not delivered perfectly, this is one of the most sensible promos ever - Luger explains that he's been delivering all the punishment to Flair as of late and he won't stand for Sting coming in "fresh" when its been Luger whose done all the work to wear down the champ. Funk interrupts for a minute and the promo comes off the rails completely as Luger stumbles over his words and Funk cuts him off to go to commercial. 

The New Skycrapers, "Mean" Mark Callous and "Dangerous" Dan Spivey with manager Teddy Long, make their way down the aisle. At this point, I'm guessing Sid was either still injured or was being saved for a singles run. Their opponents tonight are the mega-popular Road Warriors with Paul Ellering. What's somewhat interesting here is just how hard the Warriors work to make this a competitive, interesting match, almost needlessly selling for the very green, unproven Callous (who hits an Old School in a cool bit of foreshadowing at one point). Spivey was the better all-arounder than Sid and, at least at this point, is more versatile and polished than Callous (who, in turn, is better than Sid), which means that when you factor in all the pieces and parts, including the inclusion of a chair and the managers into the match, you end up with an exciting and considerably better-than-expected match. (3/5)

Doom vs. The Steiner Brothers for the World Tag Team Championships follows. Both teams get brief video packages before their match, a very WWF touch. The Steiners dominate early but end up cut off  when Scott Steiner gets rocked with a stiff clothesline from Doom #2 (Butch Reed) on the outside. The stipulation of this match is that the titles are on the line as well as Doom's masks, though, I think by this point, any wrestling fan remotely knowledgable of the deteriorating territory system was aware of who was under the masks. Steiner hits a Franksteiner out of desperation and makes the tag, the Dogfaced Gremlin coming in and hitting a series of big clotheslines and a powerslam on Reed. Steiner rips off Reed's mask and the crowd roars, distracting "Hacksaw" long enough for him to then roll him up for the victory. Referee Nick Patrick that the second member of Doom must remove his mask and he does...and, not-so-big surprise, it's Ron Simmons. (2/5)

Main event time - Ric Flair and the Andersons vs. The Dragon Master, The Great Muta, and Buzz Sawyer in a cage. This match wasn't promoted at all during the course of the show, which makes little sense as there was some built-in drama waiting to be served with the commentators wondering how and if Sting would get involved. Yet another missed opportunity in the set-up of the Sting/Flair feud, though, by the end of this "match" (which is really just a brawl), there is no denying that they had adequately got the fans to loathe the treacherous Horseman and want to see Sting exact revenge on them. Between the bells there isn't much to speak of here, though, seeing Muta get face pops for his offense and watching Arn Anderson bump around are enough to nudge this one in above average range for me. Just about anyone could fantasy book and produce the Horsemen turning on Sting in a much more suspenseful, dramatic way than what we saw on this show. (3/5)


All in all, Texas Shoot-Out disappointed me a bit. Not a single match is really worth checking out. The highlight, if there is one, is either the promo video for WrestleWar 90' or the pre-match Dr. Death vignette. After that, its a fairly skippable show. Flair and Sting close out the show well with their passionate, explosive, locker room-clearing shenanigans, but only a completist would call the angle "must see." The Kwang Score is helped considerably by the show's very digestible 106-minute runtime, earning a 2.43-out-of-5 thanks to some fun production choices and Cactus Jack brawling with a rock n' roller.

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville