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[1990-06-13-NWA-Clash of the Champions IX] Interview: Ric Flair / Ric Flair vs Junkyard Dog / Interview: Rocky King & Sting / Ric Flair and Sting


Loss

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  • 1 month later...

They tried with the entrances, but the drawing of Flair is pretty horrible. Since when does he wear tape around his wrists? This is a notoriously bad match, but it's not as bad as its reputation. Still, Flair makes a good effort, but JYD just can't do much. He looks exhausted just a couple of minutes into the match. This feels more like a TV main event than a Clash main event. The Horsemen beat down JYD for the DQ (Flair can't even beat JYD at this point!) until the Dudes make the save.

 

After a commercial break, Jim Ross interviews Rocky King and Sting. Sting announces that he's ready to take on Flair for the World title at the Great American Bash. He begs Flair to come back out. Arn Anderson takes a bump and we finally get the Flair/Sting confrontation we've been waiting on for months. The Dudes hold the Horsemen off, and for a disappointing show, they at least ended on a hot note.

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No race-baiting in the pre-match promo, mercifully. JYD's entrance would have had a lot more effect if the jazz band had come out with him live. Actually the match starts fairly hot, and JYD certainly knows how to draw in a crowd, but...yeah. He's not interested in selling anything and despite some smoke-and-mirrors spots like the chairshot, Flair can't save this. A Horsemen beatdown is broken up by the Dudes With Attitudes, both here and again in Sting's post-match promo.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was so let down that we didnt get the new Orleans entrance live for JYD. One of the worst matches of the year but really couldn't ask for much more from JYD at this point. This was a really stupid finish. El Gigante continues to be worthless as they position him on the ramp and he lets Arn run right by him doing nothing. The Sting/Flair confrontation was well done though and the challenge for the Bash is extended.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Ole and Flair are still confident despite the events of show so far. Surely, Flair can’t lose to Junkyard? Flair mentions previous matches Arn and Windham had but ignores Sid’s match.

 

Junkyard doesn’t get a fancy drawing but does get a jazzy entrance. Ross makes comments about JYD’s lack of conditioning and being out of shape. He also doesn’t have a scientific move in his repertoire. And he eats a lot of chickens. Flair is doing what he can here. Caudle gets his chair stolen. This is the year of announcers being more concerned about their chair. JYD takes his first bump with Flair hitting him from behind with a knee. Ends up being his only bump as Ole interferes for the DQ. Horsemen gang up on JYD but Sting, Luger and Orndorff help out.

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Sting wants his chance at Flair for the title. Dudes with Attitudes. So Michaels/Diesel stole that from them. Sting wants it one on one as he has the Dudes to take out the Horsemen. Four Horsemen charge the ring. El Gigante is standing on the apron. Doing something I presume. The Dudes are able to fight off the Horsemen leaving Sting and Flair alone. Sting is geting the upperhand as the show ends.

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  • 3 months later...

This was a mediocre match. Flair worked really hard, but I felt Jerry Lawler worked a smarter match with JYD earlier in the year. The Lawler vs. JYD match wasn't all that much better, but Lawler at least saved his energy and tried to work around JYD's terrible work and terrible shape a bit more. Flair simply did his usual bumping and selling routine, which works fine with workers that are at least decent (JYD was definitely less than decent and simply terrible at that point in his career though). The finish of this match didn't help things either, of course.

 

A question for anyone who wants to share his view on this point: how would you compare this Flair vs. JYD match with the Lawler vs. JYD match from January in terms of quality (or lack of quality)?

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This was a mediocre match. Flair worked really hard, but I felt Jerry Lawler worked a smarter match with JYD earlier in the year. The Lawler vs. JYD match wasn't all that much better, but Lawler at least saved his energy and tried to work around JYD's terrible work and terrible shape a bit more. Flair simply did his usual bumping and selling routine, which works fine with workers that are at least decent (JYD was definitely less than decent and simply terrible at that point in his career though). The finish of this match didn't help things either, of course.

 

A question for anyone who wants to share his view on this point: how would you compare this Flair vs. JYD match with the Lawler vs. JYD match from January in terms of quality (or lack of quality)?

It's a good comparison, and I do agree that the Lawler approach worked better. Flair had always been able to carry guys who were capable but limited. JYD wasn't even really capable at this point. I think Flair thought he could get a decent match out of him through sheer will, but that was the wrong approach in this case.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 6 months later...

JYD is blown up after the first sequence of the match. Way to come in for your main event run in good shape, dude.

 

This isn't good, but by no fault of Flair as he works hard, but can't solve the riddle of how to work with JYD, and then the shit finish on top. If I didn't know any better, I'd think Ole was trying to bury the Horsemen. But really, none of the heels looked good on this show, and it makes things flat heading into the GAB, hot ending with Sting and Flair aside.

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  • 4 months later...

I was pleasantly surprised by this match...

 

Heard it was the exception that proved the Flair broomstick rule, but I kind of liked it. Felt shorter than 6 minutes and while Flair's superb bumps didn't actually convince me that JYD was a threat, I found the match as a whole fun. It was like a Flair from a better match was transported into the ring with the Dog and didn't realize it.

 

It's a good thing it didn't go longer, but for what it was I didn't have too much of a problem with it. Now, if its reputation mostly comes from the booking of Flair and the rest of the Horsemen right before the Bash, I agree they look harmless. Maybe if Orndorff, JYD, and Gigante were swapped out for the Steiners and Pillman, this would be remembered more fondly. Or if the Horseman did a typical beatdown on JYD to end the show.

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  • 8 months later...

You can't blame JYD for no-selling here; his entire gimmick by now was his hard head and the thickness of his torso. So what does Flair do? He chops him in the chest and hits him in the head with a chair.

 

From a kayfabe standpoint, he wrestled a mind-bogglingly stupid match and would have deserved to lose the belt if Ole hadn't caused the DQ. From a performance and style standpoint, this was a terrible matchup, because Flair's matches depend on action and aggression, and JYD could provide neither, but Flair either wouldn't or couldn't adapt. Lawler can work a match consisting of nothing but chain shots and verbal static if the situation calls for it, and that's the kind of match JYD needs to be in to look his best: a match with as little physicality as possible.

 

Maybe Ole should have given Flair an object to pound JYD with for about five minutes, then let JYD make a comeback to set up the DQ. If necessary, have Ole cut a promo where he says Flair's so much better than JYD that he can beat him without using a single wrestling move, which would prepare the fans for the type of match they were about to see. Of course, they could have just had a Luger/Flair blowoff here and had JYD join the other Dudes at ringside, but the only gimmick they hadn't used in that feud yet was "I Quit", and there's no way Luger could have lost a match like that and stayed strong, even if the Horsemen had brought AK-47s to ringside. Flair couldn't have lost either; if Luger beats him non-title, then it's Luger the fans want to see wrestle him at the Bash, and what happens to Sting?

 

On another note, JR clearly wasn't happy about this being a Clash main event. He constantly refers to how out-of-shape JYD is (which is obvious and doesn't need to be belabored) and at one time uses the old line about not knowing a wristlock from a wristwatch, which is a typical insult usually heard on a heel promo, not from a babyface-leaning "objective" commentator. Did he believe we should have seen one last Luger/Flair bout, or maybe a swap of matches between Arn and Flair (JYD vs. Arn, Orndorff vs. Flair)? Was he trying to send a message to JYD about his conditioning, as he would later in his WWF days? Or was he just kicking himself for not throwing in enough football references? Sadly, the latter can't be entirely dismissed. (By the way, JYD supposedly either played or tried out for the Green Bay Packers, and had a decent career in the CFL.)

 

Boy, heels sure love to steal chairs from announcers this year. Poor Bob Caudle; at least he got his chair back.

 

I liked the brawl at the end; Sting and Flair needed to get their hands on each other, officially or unofficially, and I'm glad Sting's knee is finally in good enough shape to make that happen.

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  • 1 year later...

Is that clip from JYD's entrance at Clash 6? I know I've seen that before. Poor JYD just can't move. This is in the beginning of a rough year and a half for WCW. Still, not the worst match. And now the Horsemen are out, and the Dudes with Attitude follow. Man I love Sting wearing a Luger shirt and vice versa. What's Rocky King doing out here? Okay, this is more of an angle to set up Flair vs Sting.

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  • 10 months later...
  • GSR changed the title to [1990-06-13-NWA-Clash of the Champions IX] Interview: Ric Flair / Ric Flair vs Junkyard Dog / Interview: Rocky King & Sting / Ric Flair and Sting

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