-6/8/88
-From the James L. Knight Center in Miami, FL
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Bob Caudle
-Match 1: NWA United States Championship: Barry Windham [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Brad Armstrong
-Lots of cuts away from the action early on. Armstrong stays a step ahead of Windham with armdrags and slams. Windham gets Armstrong in a headscissors after pulling the hair, and Teddy Long asks the crowd if there was a hair pull, and actually makes Windham break the hold when the crowd says "yes". It happens a second time, and Windham is really not happy about it. After giving a clean break in the corner, Windham punches Armstrong right in the face as Armstrong is about to reciprocate. Armstrong comes back with several takedowns, frustrating the champion. Windham comes back with a big powerslam for a near-fall. After a punch and a bodyslam, Windham locks in a Figure 4, getting some aid from JJ. This goes on for quite a while, but Armstrong does not give it up. Windham misses an elbow from the top, and Armstrong finally fights back. Armstrong does not sell the leg at all, as he works like a tag babyface who just got the hot tag. Armstrong goes for a cross-body off the top, but Windham rolls through and applies the Claw for the pin. Nothing special here, and Armstrong not selling the leg during his comeback is pretty inexcusable.
-In between the ring introductions for the next match and the bell, #1 Contender for the World title Lex Luger shows up...and promptly gets attacked by the Horsemen. Damn, Luger's white tux was spiffy too. Tony & Bob are very upset with the Horsemen for this.
-Match 2: NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Fantastics [c] VS The Sheepherders (w/Rip Morgan)
-Some good action early on, but the announcers spend most of the time talking about Luger VS Flair. Caudle immediately goes from that to being apprehensive that the Sheepherders might try to literally murder the Fantastics. The USA VS New Zealand angle is played up, and the crowd is into it. Pretty solid, if unspectacular action. Really dumb spot as the Fantastics take turns covering both Sheepherders at once, and Teddy Long counts every time. The Sheepherders decide to start cheating themselves at the fifteen minute mark, sending Tommy Rogers over the top rope, into the guardrail, then whacking him across the back with one of the title belts. They then follow up with a chairshot to add injury to injury. Luke covers Rogers, and decides to bite the bottom rope for no apparent reason.
-Heel miscommunication almost allows Rogers to make the tag. Butch gets a vicious knee across Rogers' midsection for two. As Fulton has Teddy Long distracted, Luke tries to whipe Rogers into a chair held by Butch, but Rogers reverses the whip, sending Luke into the chair, and allowing Rogers to finally make the tag. Fulton quickly gets a roll-up on Luke for the pin to retain. I was hoping for a wild Fantastics VS Midnights style brawl, and get a pedestrian formula match instead.
-Match 3: The Garvin Brothers (w/Precious) VS Mike Rotunda & Rick Steiner
-Kevin Sullivan is locked in a cage at ringside. Steve Williams joins the commentary team. Weird moment early on as Steiner runs into Ronnie, and does a Marty Jannetty style twisting bump off it. Rotunda takes Jimmy down with a fireman's carry, then gets up with a big shit-eating grin on his face. Jimmy responds with one of his own, and Rotunda is not happy about it. Sullivan keeps calling Precious over, and at one point, she nods at him, which Tony actually notices. Sullivan has a piece of paper that he mentions is notarized at one point. Rotunda & Steiner switch while holding Ronnie in an armbar, and Teddy Long actually makes them switch back, because he did not see a tag. Pure tag formula as Ronnie plays the face-in-peril, while Sullivan keeps trying to get Precious to let him out.
-Ronnie finally makes the tag to Jimmy, who doesn't clean house, instead he gets a front facelock on Steiner. Ronnie gets back in, and takes Steiner down with a school boy for a couple two counts. Ronnie gets a sunset flip on Rotunda, who makes it to the ropes before Teddy Long kicks Rotunda's hands off them, allowing Ronnie to complete the move. I hate that spot. Steiner tosses Ronnie through the ropes, and he crashes into a cameraman. The match breaks down, and Precious stupidly goes over to Sullivan, who steals the key to lock himself out. As he does, Jimmy rolls Rotunda up for the pin. Sullivan escapes the cage, and immediately chokes Precious until Dr. Death makes the save, Precious gets pissed for some reason, and walks away from the babyfaces. Match was as much about the drama at ringside as it was in the ring, and the split focus hurt the match quality a little bit, IMO.
-Match 4: Al Perez (w/Gary Hart) VS Nikita Koloff
-Both men get mixed reactions. The beginning is a little different, as this is a grudge match where the competitors try to out-wrestle each other instead of brawling from the get-go. They do eventually go to the outside, and Perez takes over, culminating in Perez slamming Nikita on the floor. Perez tries to slam Nikita off the apron into the ring, but Nikita shifts his weight, and almost gets a pin off that. Perez keeps control until Nikita catches an attempted kick, and goes to town with a flying shoulderblock, and punches in the corner. The crowd gets 100% in Nikita's corner. Nikita sends Perez over the top with a back elbow. Hart protests, and Larry Zybisko runs in. He immediately takes a Russian Sickle, but Teddy Long calls for the bell anyway. 3-on-1 beatdwon ensues, Hart covers Nikita with his jacket, allowing Perez and Zybisko to nail Nikita with a chain. Decent enough match. I'm hoping that there's something on the GAB with these guys involved.
-Match 5: NWA World Tag Team Championship: Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Sting & Dusty Rhodes
-AA immediately takes Sting outside, but ends up clotheslining the ringpost. Sting goes right to work on the arm, and things don't go better when Tully is tagged in. Dusty comes in and goes to town on Tully to a MASSIVE crowd reaction. Dusty gets the Figure 4 on Tully, but JJ distracts Teddy Long, allowing AA to break it up. Dusty gets worked on for a bit before coming back with a flying clothesline, then a dropkick on Tully before tagging Sting. Sting promptly gets the Stinger Splash on Tully and goes for the Scorpion Deathlock, but AA breaks that up. That turns the tide, as the champions work Sting over, including a big DDT on the floor from AA. Sting manages to get a hot shot on Tully, and makes the tag before AA can stop him. Dusty cleans house and gets the big fat elbow on AA, but Tully saves. The match breaks down, and Sting stupidly throws Teddy Long down. When Teddy gets up, Dusty does the same. Barry Windham runs out, and Teddy finally calls for the bell. Windham locks the Claw on Dusty, allowing the rest of the Horsemen to work Sting over. Dusty bleeds thanks to the lengthy Claw. Match was better than the other tags, but needed a finish.
-Overall, the show is not nearly as good as the first Clash of the Champions, although YMMV is you're really into tag formula wrestling.
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