-Today we look at the first Clash of the Champions from the NWA and Jim Crockett Promotions.
-Clash of the Champions 1 was show on March 27, 1988 from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. It did a 5.6 rating on TBS.
-This is round 3 of the WWF/JCP battle. This one hurt the WWF hard.
-We start with the opening credits talking about some of the battles tonight.
-Tony Schiavone and Bob Caudle welcome us to Greensboro. The infamous 1988 Midnight Rider angle started the day before on TBS and is mentioned briefly before they talk about tonight. They throw it to Jim Ross who says hi before we start.
-Amateur Wrestling exhibition for the NWA Television championship: Jimmy Garvin with Precious VS. Mike Rotunda with Kevin Sullivan: Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone are on the call. Three 5 minute rounds with a 1 count for a fall. Amateur wrestling to start. Garvin withdraws. Comes out again fighting. Rotunda regroups. A lot of mat wrestling, rest holds, and stalling. Rotunda tries to get a pin, but the round ends. Round 2- Garvin comes out hot. Sullivan goes after Precious, so Garvin comes over. Rotunda comes from behind and gets the pin. Rick Steiner and Kevin Sullivan join Rotunda in beating down Garvin, but Precious starts to choke Sullivan with a coat hanger.
-Bob Caudle interviews Steve Williams who talks about his tour of Japan and what happened to Dusty Rhodes the night before and he wants to fight the winner of tonight’s main event.
-US Tag Team Championship Match: The Midnight Express Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton With Jim Cornette VS. The Fantastics Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers. Music dub of the Midnight Express music to start. Fantastics are over even if they were always in the Rock and Roll Express’ shadow. Hot and fast action to start. Chairs are flying. It finally heads toward the ring. Crowd is hot for the match. MX cheat to perfection. Eaton hits an elbow drop just as good as Randy Savage. Rogers is selling really well here. It goes back outside. They use tables and chairs. MX doing great double team moves. Rogers makes the tag, but the ref didn’t see it, so Fulton throws the ref out. It all breaks down. Tommy Young counts a Fantastic’s pin fall, but Randy Anderson reverses it because of the throw out spot. It becomes a melee. The MX whip Fulton mercilessly.
-Bob Caudle then talks about The New Leave it to Beaver and they go to Ken Osmond who talks with Jim Cornette and who will be a ringside judge. This is all TBS cross-promotion.
-Bob Caudle interviews Al Perez and Gary Hart. Hart says they are after championships and money. They then challenge Dusty Rhodes.
-Bob Caudle throws it to Francis Crockett who announces the Top 10 teams for the Crockett Cup.
-The Road Warriors Hawk and Animal and Dusty Rhodes with Paul Ellering VS. The Powers of Pain Warlord and The Barbarian and Ivan Koloff with Paul Jones: 6-man Barbed Wire Chicago/Texas Street Fight. They say both names during the beginning stages. All 6 men in it. This comes from the bench press challenge where Animal was hurt by the Powers of Pain. Power moves and forearms galore. Dusty and Ivan bleed early. Rhodes does the flip, flop, and fly. Animal hits the power slam on Warlord. Barbarian goes off the top rope to hit Animal who moves and he hits Warlord and Animal gets the pin. They knock Animal’s mask off and go for his bad eye. Rhodes and Hawk run them off.
-Tony and Jim plug the new NWA Main Event show that starts the next week. They then throw it to Bob Caudle who is going to interview Nikita Koloff. Koloff has grown out his hair and says he’s a new man and how he’s been talking to kids about not doing drugs. He eludes to his real life situation and how he wants the world title.
-NWA World Tag Team Championship Match: Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard with JJ Dillon VS. Barry Windham and Lex Luger. The faces come out hot and frankly the crowd is hot for Luger. Anderson comes back and is a methodical machine. This is a great wrestling crowd. Windham puts a sleeper on Blanchard who goes outside but Windham keeps the hold on. Anderson hits a big DDT but only gets a 2 count. Then a spine buster for a two count. Back and forth. Great wrestling by Blanchard and Windham. Blanchard hits the slingshot suplex, but Windham kicks out of that too. Luger comes in pumped up. JJ brings a chair up to hit the faces, but Anderson gets run into it and gets pinned. Windham and Luger are the new tag team champions.
-Jim and Tony talk about the next match. There are judges at ringside: Gary Juster, Sandy Scott, Patty Mullins, Ken Osmond, and Jason Hervey. When Sandy Scott is introduced, the graphic says he is a former NWA star Pet. Oh Boy. NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match: Ric Flair with JJ Dillon VS. Sting: Sting is popular, but Flair has his fans too. JJ is suspended above the ring in a cage. 45-minute television time limit match. Slow, methodical wrestling holds to start. Flair plays the psychological games. Sting has come to TCB and Flair is making him look so good. Great athleticism by both men. Sting hits a side headlock several times. He has a counter for Flair’s moves. JJ is trying to advise from his perch. You see how good Flair is here and how he is making Sting a made man. Flair works in a Flair flop. Sting is also working his butt off too. Flair takes over and opens the chop house. Sting counters with power moves. He gets a bear hug on Flair who sells like he is dying. Back and forth. It goes outside and Flair pushes Sting into the barricade. Flair unleashes on Sting. They brawl in and out of the ring. They are giving it their all. Sting hits the post at one point. Back and forth again. Sting goes for the Scorpion Deathlock, but Flair gets to the ropes. This is such a good match. Sting gets a 2 after a crossbody. Flair attacks the knee. Flair gets the figure four on. Sting won’t give up. He pulls Flair to the middle and turns it over. Both men down and both are hurt. Sting gets a suplex. Flair puts his knees up to counter a splash. Sting gets an abdominal stretch on. Flair gets caught up top. Sting goes to punish Flair’s leg. He puts the figure four on Flair. Flair goes out over the top of the judges. Sting batters Flair on the judges table. With 5 minutes left, they kick it up a notch. So many near falls. Sting misses the splash and goes out. They come back in and both go for falls. The crowd is losing their minds. Sting hits the splash and gets the Scorpion Deathlock on, but Flair won’t give up. The time expires. Decision goes to the judges. Both wrestlers are spent. The judges split, so the match is a draw. The crowd doesn’t like that result, but both did tremendously. Flair retains.
-Tony, Jim, and Bob recap the show and sign off from Greensboro. They then show the end credits.