REVIEW: Clash Of The Champions XIII: Thanksgiving Thunder: No Thank You

Welcome to KB’s Old School (and New School) Reviews. I’ve been reviewing wrestling shows for over ten years now and have reviewed over 5,000 shows. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I’ll be posting a new review here on Wrestlingrumors.net. It could be anything from modern WWE to old school to indies to anything in between. Note that I rate using letters instead of stars and I don’t rate matches under three minutes as really, how good or bad can something that short be?

Clash of the Champions XIII: Thanksgiving Thunder
Date: November 20, 1990
Location: Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, Florida
Attendance: 5,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul E. Dangerously

Things are really grinding to a halt at this point with the Black Scorpion just not working as a main story but no one having any idea of what to do instead. Now they have to wait for the unmasking but there’s almost no way it’s going to be worth the long and horrible period getting there. Sting and the Black Scorpion are both here tonight. Let’s get to it.

The set has changed again with large WCW letters at the entrance and a ramp to the apron of the ring once again.

Ross and Dangerously run down the card. The main event is either Flair or Arn Anderson vs. a member of Doom with some interesting stipulations. If the member of Doom wins, Doom gets Flair’s yacht and limousine but if Flair or Anderson wins, the Horsemen get a Tag Team Title match at Starrcade and Doom’s manager Theodore Long has to be Flair’s chauffeur for a day.

Freebirds/Bobby Eaton vs. El Gigante/Southern Boys

The Midnight Express has broken up as Lane and Cornette have left to start Smoky Mountain Wrestling, leaving Eaton on his own. There’s no El Gigante in sight and the Freebirds claim responsibility, so Eaton is dropped from the match and we get the same opener for the third show in a row.

Freebirds vs. Southern Boys

Garvin and Smothers get things going but everything quickly breaks down and the Freebirds are knocked to the floor. Even the Freebirds’ roadie Little Richard Marley takes a right hand to the face. Back in and Hayes takes over on Smothers but Tracy rolls across the ring, allowing Armstrong to come off the top with a high cross body to take out both Freebirds. Things settle down and Tracy slams both of them down and the Freebirds bail to the floor again.

Back in and Garvin takes over on Tracy but gets caught in a quick sunset flip for two. Jimmy goes up top but gets slammed to the mat, only to have Hayes come in illegally for a double suplex. Armstrong will have none of that and comes in with a high cross body as everything breaks down again. Marley is brought in as well and Armstrong dives over the top rope to take out Garvin on the ramp. Richard trips up Tracy though, allowing Hayes to grab the DDT for the pin.

Rating: C-. Nice opener here for the speed of the match but this match has been done far too many times in this series now. The Freebirds were being given something to do for the first time in a good while but there was only so much interest left in them at this point. The Southern Boys would be in for a change very soon.

Sting is fired up and will be in the Danger Zone interview segment with the Black Scorpion later tonight. Before he leaves, the Scorpion’s voice comes is heard saying he knows Sting is waiting for him. Tonight we’ll see his powers of black magic.

Brian Pillman vs. Buddy Landell

Landell is now called the Nature Boy as he becomes even more and more like Flair. He chokes Pillman on the ropes to start but gets caught by a quick sunset flip for two. Pillman throws him onto the ramp and hits Air Pillman over the ropes to take him down. Buddy counters a piledriver with a backdrop and they fight to the floor with Brian chopping away.

Back inside and Buddy gets in chops of his own but Pillman sends him right back to the floor and follows up with a big spinning springboard cross body into the barricade. It hurts Pillman even worse though and Buddy takes him back inside for an abdominal stretch. A backbreaker has Brian in even more trouble but he’s able to fight out of a superplex and pin Landell off a high cross body.

Rating: C+. It dragged a bit in the middle but this was much better than I was expecting. Landell wasn’t great in the ring but he was a good opponent for the high flier Pillman. There was actually some chemistry here and the match would have been better if Buddy could have kept up with Pillman at all.

Big Cat vs. Brad Armstrong

Big Cat is a large muscular man who would eventually become a bodyguard named Mr. Hughes. He wants Lex Luger in the near future. Cat runs Armstrong over with a shoulder and Brad isn’t sure what to do with him. Brad scores with a quick dropkick but runs into a backbreaker with two more thrown in as a bonus. Another hard shoulder block puts Brad on the mat and we hit the bearhug. That goes nowhere so Cat picks Brad up in Luger’s Torture Rack for the win via referee stoppage.

Rating: D+. Just a squash here to set up the Big Cat vs. Luger match. Cat had a good look and a lot of power but he felt like a monster of the month for Luger or Sting to vanquish down the line. It wasn’t a bad match and it did its job well enough, but there’s only so much quality you can pack into a four minute squash.

Dick the Bruiser promises to be a fair referee for the main event of Starrcade.

Brian Lee vs. Z-Man

Lee is a tall but not very thick guy who would become a bigger deal later in his career in ECW under the same name and then the WWF as Chainz. This is his tryout match here as the Clash of the Champions continues to be a place to put a bunch of new guys on TV. He runs Z-Man over with a hard shoulder block but walks into a hiptoss to speed things up for a few seconds. It’s only a few seconds though as Z-Man misses a cross body and crashes to the mat. We hit the chinlock on Z-Man but he easily fights up, slams Lee and gets the pin off a missile dropkick.

Rating: D. This was another short match in a series of them tonight and the formula didn’t work all that well here. Z-Man’s comeback and pin came within a span of fifteen seconds so there wasn’t any time to get into it. It’s not a terrible match but it didn’t have the time to go anywhere and what we got wasn’t much to see.

Here are Mike Rotunda and Alexander York, a businesswoman who would become much more famous as Marlena/Terri in the WWF. Rotunda says never call him Mike Rotunda again because his name is now legally Michael Wallstreet. York says that she has made computer calculations that show Wallstreet should win his match tonight with ease. This gimmick would be more developed soon.

Starblazer vs. Michael Wallstreet

Starblazer is Tim Horner under a mask. Wallstreet looks at a computer printout before the bell and easily takes Starblazer down. The masked man comes back with a few dropkicks and Michael bails to the floor. Back in and Wallstreet sends Starblazer to the floor but the masked man gets a knee up in the corner to drop Michael. Wallstreet counters a dropkick into a Boston crab but Starblazer kicks out with ease. He does the same thing again, only to be caught in the Wall Street Crash, a Samoan drop, for the pin.

Rating: D. These short matches are becoming annoying. This was the worst one tonight as it did a bad job at making Wallstreet look like a major threat. Starblazer got in a good amount of offense and Wallstreet didn’t dominate nearly as much as he should have. This show is needing a long match to give us a breather from these quick ones.

Time for the WCW Top Ten.

Tag Teams:

1. Steiner Brothers

2. Ric Flair/Arn Anderson

3. Nasty Boys

4. Freebirds

5. Ricky Morton/Tommy Rich

6. Southern Boys

7. Master Blasters

8. Tim Horner/Brad Armstrong

9. Big Cat/Motor City Madman

10. Norman/The Juicer

Singles:

1. Stan Hansen

2. Sid Vicious

3. Lex Luger

4. Ric Flair

5. Arn Anderson

6. Terry Taylor

7. Brian Pillman

8. Michael Wallstreet

9. Z-Man

10. Bobby Eaton

We look at the Pat O’Connor Memorial International Tag Team Tournament, which is just a big single elimination tournament to be held at Starrcade. The Steiners are the #1 seed and Great Muta/Hiroshi Hase from Japan are the #2 seed.

Sgt. Kruger/Colonel DeKlerk vs. The Beast/Kaluha

This is the African finals for the tournament with Kruger (portrayed by Matt Osborne, more famous as the original Doink the Clown) and DeKlerk (later Rocco Rock of Public Enemy) are billed from South Africa while the other team is from just Africa. Kaluha runs over Kruger to start and it’s off to the smaller DeKlerk. The Colonel takes Kaluha down with a drop toehold and Kruger drops an elbow but Kaluha is allowed to make a tag to the much larger Beast.

He never changes his angry expression as he runs over both opponents, leaving the South Africans to argue over who has to face the Beast. A powerslam puts DeKlerk down but he backflips (mostly) over the Beast before dropping him with a clothesline. DeKlerk hits a top rope ax handle but dives into a powerslam for two. Everything breaks down and DeKlerk is picked up in a slam only to have Kruger dropkick him down for the pin on Beast.

Rating: D+. DeKlerk was flying around like a pinball out there and carried the majority of the match but there wasn’t much he could do out there. We had no reason to care about either team and the whole thing was just kind of there. We also never got an explanation as to why the African finals are being held in Florida.

Legendary NWA promoter Sam Muchnick invites us to St. Louis for Starrcade and the tag team tournament.

We recap Stan Hansen vs. Lex Luger which saw Hansen take the US Title from Luger in a mostly clean finish. Luger says he’ll get a rematch against Hansen soon enough but Big Cat interrupts and gets decked in the jaw.

Lex Luger vs. Motor City Madman

The Madman is part of a group with Big Cat and another monster named the Nightstalker. Big Cat tries to jump Luger on the ramp but is easily punched back. The even bigger Madman goes after Luger as soon as he gets inside the ring but Luger hammers away and gets two off a cross body. Luger suplexes him from the apron into the ring but misses a big elbow drop. A side slam puts Luger down but he fights out of a backbreaker and scores with a quick clothesline for the pin.

Nick Patrick thinks he’ll have his hands full with the Nasty Boys vs. the Steiner Brothers.

Renegade Warriors vs. Nasty Boys

The Warriors are real life brothers Chris and Mark Youngblood as stereotypical Native Americans. Jerry and Mark get things going as Ross makes a promise to quit commentating if the Nasty Boys take the US Tag Team Titles from the Steiners. Sags gets in a cheap shot in the corner to take over before a double suplex puts Mark down.

Knobbs comes in to hammer away but Mark makes a blind tag to Chris who comes in with a cross body for two. The Warriors (called the Youngbloods by Ross) take over on Sags for a few moments until Jerry throws Mark over the top to the floor. Back in and Sags puts on a wristlock followed by a shoulder breaker but here are the Steiners for a big brawl as the match is thrown out.

Rating: D-. Egads this company loved it some tag team wrestling around this period. It was another nothing match with an ending that made it even worse. The Nasty Boys weren’t very good yet but their match at Halloween Havoc was enough to get them a job in the WWF. WCW was so smart that they had them in a title feud while not under contract and the Nastys left soon after this.

Sid Vicious vs. Nightstalker

Sid is a Horseman here but very over as a face anyway. The Nightstalker is a young powerful guy that would become Adam Bomb and then Wrath later in the 90s. He’s carrying a huge battleaxe here for some reason and gets in a test of strength to start. No one goes anywhere so Nightstalker lifts him up in a bearhug for lack of anything better to do.

Vicious claps Nightstalker’s ears to escape and comes back with a belly to back suplex as the Big Cat comes to the ring. Sid decks him with a right hand so Nightstalker swings the ax at Sid but hits the buckle. Sid picks up the ax and blasts Nightstalker in the throat with it for the pin.

Rating: F. I’d like to reiterate: he swung an AX AT SID. This was before the run-in and after the two minute bearhug in another match that didn’t even break five minutes. Nightstalker was very new at this point and it was clear that he still had a lot to learn. The match was just bad to put it mildly.

Sid gets double teamed post match but he rolls to the floor and gets a chair to run the villains off.

The Freebirds laugh about their win earlier when the Southern Boys and El Gigante show up to run them off.

US Tag Team Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Maximum Force

Force are two unnamed guys with a lot of hair and big mustaches. Scott takes #1 down and stomps on his ribs before slamming both guys down. Off to Rick to face #2 and take him down with a big powerslam. Scott comes back in and ends it with a quick Frankensteiner.

The Nasty Boys hit the ring for a post match brawl, only to be quickly run off.

The Horsemen say they’ll win the main event.

We recap the Black Scorpion vs. Sting with the Scorpion talking about being a part of Sting’s past who is back to make Sting lose his mind. He wants Sting’s life rather than the belt and will use his magic to take it. By black magic, he meant tricks you would see at a magic show for a kid’s birthday party, such as making objects disappear.

Time for the Danger Zone, hosted by Paul E. Dangerously and guests Sting and the Black Scorpion. Sting says there’s no reason he should be here but it’s something he has to do. The Black Scorpion shows up, puts a box around a man’s head and spins the head around before putting him in a cage and turning him into a tiger. The Scorpion’s voice is over the PA system and rambling about something I can’t understand. Scorpion stands on a platform, a curtain drops and the Scorpion is gone. This is the main event of the biggest show of the year people.

We recap Doom vs. the Horsemen. Flair and Arn said they wouldn’t share a locker room with Doom, turning the champions face and setting up a match between the teams at Halloween Havoc. The match went to a double countout, setting up the stipulations for the singles match mentioned earlier: one member of each team with Long’s services as a chauffeur and a title shot up against Flair’s limo and yacht.

The participants are determined by a coin toss.

Ric Flair vs. Butch Reed

Reed runs Ric over with a shoulder block before firing off some hard chops in the corner. Ric tries chops of his own so Reed punches him in the face. There’s a gorilla press and a clothesline to send Flair over the top and out to the floor. Flair heads up the ramp but a running clothesline to the back of the head puts him down. Back inside and Flair tries a headlock but gets countered into a backslide for two.

Reed rains down right hands in the corner but Flair finally gets in a thumb to the eye to take over. Flair stomps away as Simmons is yelling at the referee about something, allowing Ric to throw Reed over the top and out to the floor. Anderson gets in some cheap shots on the floor but they just fire Reed up, allowing him to take over with some left hands. They head back outside with Flair being rammed into the barricade over and over to change control.

Ric comes back with a quick thumb to the eye and drops a knee to the head before WOOing a bit. A second knee drop misses and Butch puts on a figure four of his own. Anderson helps Ric get to the ropes but the referee pulls Reed by the hair to get him out of the hold. That’s actually good for Reed because it could have been a DQ otherwise. Reed gets two off a suplex but he misses a middle rope elbow.

Flair can’t follow up so Reed hammers away and gorilla presses Flair down. Butch wins a slugout and slams him down one more time before hitting the top rope shoulder. Long is with the referee for no apparent reason and everything breaks down. The referee is knocked out and Anderson hits Reed in the back with a chair, giving Flair the pin.

Rating: B-. It’s a good match but fifteen minutes of good stuff isn’t enough to make up for an hour and forty five minutes of drek. The ending wasn’t ever really in doubt as you need to set up another match at Starrcade but they were able to make it entertaining anyway. Reed was getting better in the ring at this point and the match worked well as a result.

Overall Rating: D-. This was by far the worst show of the series so far as the promotion is collapsing before our eyes. Save for the main event, the entire show was spent on nothing matches that advanced uninteresting feuds with matches that didn’t get the time to go anywhere. Only two out of the eleven matches on this card lasted over five minutes and one of those didn’t make it to six. The main event was acceptable but it was all about setting up another show a month later.

On top of that there’s the Black Scorpion nonsense. What in the world were the fans supposed to make of this whole thing? He did magic that is usually used for entertainment but is supposed to be all evil and terrify Sting? It didn’t work in the slightest and is regarded as one of if not the worst angle in the history of wrestling.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for “GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES” to sign up. Thank you for reading!