-Today we look at SuperClash III from the AWA.
-SuperClash III was shown on PPV on December 13, 1988 from the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, IL. There were 1,672 in attendance. This was the third SuperClash event produced by the AWA and the only AWA show to be broadcast on PPV. WCWA, formerly WCCW, POWW, and Memphis based CWA also promoted and provided talent for the show.
-We get the TV-MA advertisement to begin.
-We start out with a Label that says live as Lee Marshall says Verne Gagne presents SuperClash III.
-Larry Nelson welcomes us to ringside before bringing Lee Marshall over. They discuss the title match and both men favor Jerry Lawler. Larry then throws it up to Garry Michael Capetta who runs down all the people who sanctioned the event, emergency personnel, etc.
-Lee Marshall and Ray Stevens on the call for the first match.
-Chavo, Mando, and Hector Guerrero VS. Cactus Jack and the Rock ‘N’ Roll RPMs Mike Davis and Tommy Lane. Hector starts out doing some flips. Both RPM’s bump for him. Mando and Cactus Jack in. Cactus Jack does some bumps outside. Triple teaming on Cactus Jack, focusing on his leg. Chavo and Lane in, feeling each other out. There is a big pile on spot. Chavo and Cactus Jack back at it. RPM’s and Cactus Jack working Chavo over. Mando comes back and gets a pin on Lane.
-Larry Nelson talks to Nina about the Beverly Hill Street Fight Lingerie Battle Royal. The future Ivory is the P.O.W.W. World Champion. She’s looking forward to the Battle Royal.
-Larry Nelson got paid in interviews.
-WCCW Light-Heavyweight Championship Match: Jeff Jarrett VS. Eric Embry: Verne Gagne is in with Lee Marshall now. Back and forth to start. They feel each other out. Jarrett hits a clothesline after Embry gets one. Jarrett misses a crossbody and falls outside. He gets in right before the 10-count. Jarrett hits a top rope dropkick. They do a quick series of moves. Embry gets the pin after a rollup. New champion: Eric Embry.
-Lee Marshall interviews Eric Embry. He gives Jarret props and says he will give him a rematch at any time.
-Larry Nelson interviews The Terrorist about the Battle Royal. She overwhelms him and he has the Quote of the Night when he says he is disoriented and confused.
-Wayne Bloom VS. Jimmy Valiant: Bloom attacks early, but Valiant comes back and hits Bloom and gets a quick pin.
-Larry Nelson interviews David McLane and Bambi about the Battle Royal. McLane looks and acts creepy. Bambi is ready. Listen to her comments towards Peggy Lee Leather before Larry Nelson cuts her off.
-Texas Heavyweight Championship Match: Iceman King Parsons VS. Brickhouse Brown: Verne Gagne is just lost on commentary. Slow to start. Brown hits a big dropkick. Parsons takes a stroll to slow things down. He finally comes back in. Parsons hits a nice high knee and gets a two count. Brown hits a sloppy crossbody. Parsons hits a big left hand. Brown reverses a piledriver attempt. Brown then hits a flying forearm but only gets a two count. Parsons slips something on his hand and nails Brown with it for the pin.
-Lee Marshall interviews Iceman King Parsons. He says he told everyone that he was going to win.
-Larry Nelson interviews Pocahontas and Brandi Mae about the Battle Royal. Nelson is getting creepier as the night goes on. They are pushing this Battle Royal Hard.
-6 Person Tag Team Match. Badd Company Paul Diamond and Pat Tanaka and Madusa Miceli with Diamond Dallas Page VS. The Top Guns Ricky Rice and Derrick Dukes and Wendy Richter. The Ladies Championship and the Tag Team Championship are on the line in this match. Also the men will wrestle the men and the women will wrestle the women. DDP does the intros for the heels and it is not good. Ray Stevens is back on commentary. Faces have the early advantage. The heels then regain the advantage. Quick tags by the heels. Richter tagged in. Madusa then gets in as well. They do some hard hitting moves. Richter hits a powerbomb. Madusa gets an inadvertent kick by Tanaka and Richter pins her. Big celebration and the Top Guns whip Madusa afterwards. Yikes moment of the week!
-Lee Marshall interviews Madusa who gets into it with DDP and Badd Company. They call Madusa a bimbo. They are also mad that The Top Guns walked off with the titles despite not pinning Badd Company.
-Larry Nelson interviews Kerry Von Erich who has his daughter Holly with him. He is also spaced out of his mind. Just listen to his interview, wait one minute, and then try to tell me what he says here.
-International Television Championship Match: Ron Garvin VS. Greg Gagne: Gagne starts out getting some boos. Back and forth. They run each other into the post. Garvin gets a chinlock on. Gagne is chopping hard. They trade pin attempts. Gagne starts to work on the arm. Garvin fights back. Batters Gagne to the post. Gagne retaliates. Gagne misses his trademark dropkick. They awkwardly fall out of the ring. Gagne makes it back in. The bell rings. Gagne and Garvin keep fighting. Garvin was counted out and Gagne with the TV title back.
-Lee Marshall interviews Greg Gagne. He says any time Garvin wants a rematch, he’s got it. He then puts down the Bears in Chicago. If he wanted to become a heel, he is well on his way.
-Larry Nelson interviews Jerry Lawler. They slyly talk about Kerry Von Erich losing his foot here by talking about his accident.
-P.O.W.W. Beverly Hill Street Fight Lingerie Battle Royal. The Terrorist, Bambi, Peggy Lee Leather, Laurie Lynn, Brandi Mae, Malibu, Nina, Pocahontas, and Luna Vachon are your participants. David McLane joins commentary because why not? This is your typical Battle Royal. Lots of clothing is being torn, but you don’t see anything. Bambi and Peggy Lee Leather eliminate each other which is funny if you know the story between the two of them. It comes down to Brandi Mae and The Terrorist. The crowd yells Rip It Off and the announcers try to say they are yelling Brandi Mae. The Terrorist choke Brandi Mae then throws her out.
-Lee Marshall interviews The Terrorist. She says she has proved she’s the best.
-Larry Nelson interviews Peggy Lee Leather and Luna Vachon. This is one of the most surreal moments I have ever witnesses in my almost 30 years of watching wrestling. They are upset that they lost. Then, Madusa comes in and puts a snake on Luna and just walks away.
-Lee Marshall is with Bill Apter from Pro Wrestling Illustrated, he awards the 1988 Inspirational Wrestler of the year to Jerry Lawler. Lawler is supposedly busy preparing for his match so he doesn’t come out to accept the award.
-Larry Nelson talks to Sergeant Slaughter. He is ready for Colonel DeBeers and the Boot Camp match.
-Boot Camp Match. Sergeant Slaughter VS. Colonel DeBeers with Diamond Dallas Page: DDP calls Slaughter a boy. Slaughter starts out beating down DeBeers. DeBeers gets Slaughters helmet and hits him with it. Then he chokes Slaughter with a belt. Slaughter throws DeBeers out. They go outside. DeBeers uses a stanchion to beat down Slaughter. DeBeers puts Slaughter’s helmet on. DeBeers gets run into DDP. Slaughter hits a clothesline. Really annoying fans have whistles that they are blowing. Slaughter gets the helmet and headbutts DeBeers. He hits him with it three more times. Then DeBeers gets another clothesline. Slaughter puts the Cobra Clutch on DeBeers. DeBeers gives up. Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie comes in. He and DDP get hit and Adnan gets the Cobra Clutch. Then the Iron Sheik comes in. The Guerrero brothers come in and chase off the heels.
-Lee Marshall interviews Sgt. Slaughter. Sarge says he’s not afraid to take on the entire world for the USA. He then leads everyone in The Pledge of Allegiance.
-Larry Nelson has Jerry Lawler and Bill Apter with him. They do the award presentation here. He says next year he will be Wrestler of the Year.
-WCCW Tag Team Championship Match. The Samoan Swat Team Samu and Fatu with Buddy Roberts VS. Michael PS Hayes and Steve Cox: The SST and Roberts have Jägermeister shirts on. Slow to start out. Faces have the early advantage and make quick tags. Cox has an arm bar on Samu. Faces dominating early. It goes outside. SST coming back. Fatu hits a stun gun on Cox. Double clothesline. Hayes in and clearing house. Cox hits a nice tope on Fatu. Hayes hits a DDT but the ref is preoccupied and Roberts comes in and hits Hayes and the SST get the pin.
-Larry Nelson interviews The Iron Sheik and Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie. The gist is USA is bad.
-Strap Match. Wahoo McDaniel VS. Stolen Valor Manny Fernandez: IWGP champion Dragon Fujinami is introduced and Stolen Valor has a problem with him. Fujinami grabs Fernandez and McDaniel takes over on him. Fernandez rolls outside. They finally get him strapped on. Lee Marshall takes a jab at Rick Rude losing a strap match to McDaniel once. Fernandez uses the strap on McDaniel. McDaniel bleeding. They beat each other bloody. McDaniel hits three posts. Fernandez comes back. He gets three posts but doesn’t go for the last one and McDaniel comes back. In trying to get away, Fernandez pushes McDaniel into the last post so McDaniel wins. Fernandez attacks McDaniel after the match, but Fujinami makes the save.
-Lee Marshall talks to McDaniel. He says nothing is settled between the two.
-Larry Nelson talks to Stanley Blackburn and Verne Gagne. They talk about the last match and how it went too far with all of the blood. Then they stumble through talk about the title match.
World Title Unification Match. AWA World Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lawler VS. WCCW World Heavyweight Champion Kerry Von Erich: Von Erich very popular with the fans. They start out and Lawler hits Von Erich’s arm on the post to cover a Von Erich blunder. Lawler gets hit and rolls outside. Lawler selling hard. Von Erich gets a two count. Test of strength. Von Erich hits the discus punch. They pull hair. Lawler punches Von Erich out. Back and forth. Von Erich hits another discus punch and gets another two count. Lawler blocks a claw attempt. Referee gets knocked out. Von Erich gets a piledriver. Referee recovers. Lawler kicks out. They brawl outside. Back in, Lawler hits Von Erich with a foreign object. Lawler hits the fist drop. Von Erich is busted open. Lawler goes back to the second rope for the fist drop but Von Erich catches him with a claw to the stomach. Lawler eventually gets out of it and Von Erich goes into the post. Lawler again hits Von Erich with an object. Von Erich is a mess. Lawler jabbing hard. Von Erich falls out of the ring. Von Erich comes back hard. Both men go down. Everything is bloody. Referee calls for the bell as Von Erich has the claw on Lawler. Match is stopped on account of Von Erich has lost too much blood. Bullshit chant goes out. Von Erich takes both belts and leaves.
-Lee Marshall tries to explain what happened to the crowd, but they’re hot.
-Lee Marshall interviews Jerry Lawler. He says the referee made the right decision and gets booed.
-Larry Nelson interviews Kerry Von Erich and Stanley Blackburn. They bring up the earlier bloody McDaniel/Fernandez match in order to justify the decision. Von Erich is a bloody mess. He is pissed but Blackburn is adamant.
-The Rock & Roll Express Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson VS. The Stud Stable Robert Fuller and Jimmy Golden with Sylvia: Golden and Morton start with chain wrestling. RNR clean house. It breaks down a couple of times. Fuller and Gibson criss cross. Gibson goes out and Sylvia whacks him with the Kendo Stick she is carrying. Gibson being punished by the Stud Stable. It breaks down again. Bell rings and both teams are disqualified. They continue to brawl.
-Lee Marshall interviews the RNR. They are going for their 5th world tag team title.
-Larry Nelson interviews the Stud Stable. They don’t know why the match was stopped. They want a rematch.
-Lee Marshall interviews Verne Gagne. He thanks everyone for the event. He said it was a very controversial night. Gagne then stumbles through the rest of the interview. They sign off from Chicago.