Clash of the Champions V: St. Valentine’s Massacre

February 15, 1989

Cleveland Convention Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Announcers: Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone

The Setup

This was the first Clash for the new booker, George Scott, and his fingerprints were all over the live TV special. The two titles with the lowest position in the company were the only ones defended, and there was no big marquee match. Scott was a big proponent of saving things for the house shows, and this certainly was the most glaring example of that possible. The Road Warriors & Tenryu had no cachet in the US as a unit, nor did their random trio opponents, nor did the six-man titles ad a whole. It was like a triangle of futility. This was only five days before the Chi Town Rumble PPV.

The Business

Prowrestlinghistory has the show drawing 5,000 fans. The show posted a 4.6 television rating, slightly up from the record low of Clash IV. 

The Results

The Midnight Express def. The Russian Assassins in 13:14 *3/4 

Butch Reed def. Steve Casey in 17:36 DUD

Lex Luger def. The Blackmailer in 12:53 *

NWA United States Tag Team Championship: Mike Rotunda (C) & Steve Williams (C) def. The Fantastics in 13:25 **1/4

Ricky Steamboat def. Bob Bradley in 6:23 **

Rick Steiner def. Rip Morgan in 4:40 3/4*

NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Match: The Road Warriors & Genichiro Tenryu (C) NC Sting, Michael Hayes & Junkyard Dog NR

Notable Happenings

The Varsity Club locked up Sting, Hayes, and JYD in a little room in the back behind a fence. This put them out of the start of the main event. The VC began brawling with the Roadies & Tenry in the ring until the babyfaces were eventually free, and it was a tame three-way brawl to end the show. This nonsense was meant to help set up the Varsity Club vs. Road Warriors on the PPV and eventually get the Road Warriors back to being babyfaces, but failing to deliver on the advertised main event was a horrendous way to do it. 

Flair and Steamboat had a confrontation that led to Flair being stripped down to his underwear to set up their PPV match. This was a redo of an angle the two did with George Scott as booker in the Mid-Atlantic in the 70s. It was fine, but I also felt a little outdated for the time. We’d seen Flair bare-assed before, so this wasn’t much to build a stronger grudge. 

Best, Worst, and Most Underrated of the Night

Best: Probably the Fantastics-VC tag match, although it was merely decent on a dreadful show. 

Worst: The Butch Reed vs. Steve Casey match. George Scott wanted all the opening matches to be slow and work a lot of holds, and they did that to loud “boring chants” and an awful match. 

Most Underrated: I suppose the rehashed Flair-Steamboat angle, just because it was at least decent. 

Backstage Notes

The company’s relationship with All Japan ended, in part, due to this show. Giant Baba thought it was stupid that the company couldn’t hold off the main event until they found bolt cutters to free the challengers. The match had three of his regulars defending the titles. Steamboat worked a pre-planned tour as NWA champion shortly after this, and then there wasn’t much talent exchanged outside of that. 

Ten of the twenty-one wrestlers on this show were making their first Clash appearance, as the roster turnover was severe at the time. 

Jack Victory worked twice, both as one of the Russian Assassins and the Blackmailer. 

Rating: 1.0/10

Just an anymsally awful show. As hype for Flair vs. Steamboat, it felt like it did very little as well. It was a dark and depressing show held in the physical dark with an all-time lame WCW ending. Look at the notable happenings category, and very little happened—one of the worst Clashes ever for sure, if not the very worst. 

The Video