NWA Clash of the Champions VI: Ragin’ Cajun

Date: April 2, 1989

Location: Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana

Announcers: Jim Ross and Michael P.S. Hayes

The Setup

We have the second and final version of NWA/WCW running a live Clash up against Wrestlemania, only this time, two things changed:

1. In an effort not to hurt Flair vs. Steamboat at the house shows, George Scott barely promoted the match for this show. 
2. Unlike the Wrestlemania IV WWF title tournament, this time the NWA was going against a juggernaut in Wrestlemania V with Hogan vs. Savage.

The Business

The show drew 5,300 fans in the cavernous Superdome, and with only a $15k gate, that meant they papered the show heavily, even at less than 10% full. 

Aired live on TBS, the show did a 4.3 rating, not only down from the prior year’s 5.8 for Flair vs. Sting, but also the lowest Clash rating ever up until this point.  

The Results

The Samoan Swat Team (Samu and Fatu) def. The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) in 20:32 **1/4

The Great Muta def. Steven Casey in 8:11 **

Junkyard Dog def. Butch Reed in 9:56 *

Bob Orton def. Dick Murdoch in 0:33 *1/2

NWA World Tag Team Title Match: The Varsity Club (Mike Rotunda and Steve Williams) def. The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk) (C) in 11:40 to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship ***1/4

Ranger Ross def. The Iron Sheik by DQ in 1:56 DUD 

NWA United States Tag Team Champions Eddie Gilbert and Rick Steiner (C) def. Dan Spivey and Kevin Sullivan in 3:51 **

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ricky Steamboat (C) def. Ric Flair in 55:32 in a two-out-of-three falls match to retain the title *****

Notable Happenings

Steamboat and Flair had a fantastic match, even better than their Chi-Town Rumble match IMO. To plant the seeds for a rematch, Steamboat pinned Flair in the third fall with Flair’s leg under the bottom rope, which the official missed. The controversial finish was a good reason to do the match again from a wrestling standpoint, but they never did anything to build further heat in this program after Flair was stripped to his underwear at the last Clash. 

Referee Teddy Long delivered a fast count, allowing Steve Williams to pin Road Warrior Hawk, handing the NWA World Tag Team Titles to the Varsity Club. It occurred after the Warriors accidentally bumped Teddy during the match, and he stood there, refusing to count a Doomsday Device cover. When Rotunda rolled up Hawk, long darted over and counted three as fast as humanly possible. I liked the finish the way they gave Long a reason to turn and allow the match to go on as long as it did. 

Gary Hart grabbed Murdoch’s leg when Dick attempted a suplex and held it there until the ref counted three. 

Gilbert hit Sullivan in the stomach with Missy’s Gucci bag to get the win for their team. 

Rip Morgan attacked Ranger Ross with the Iranian flag after he combat kicked Sheik, only for JYD to make the save. 

The Best, The Worst, The Underrated

Best: Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Hands down, and it’s not close. 

Worst: The show’s overall production. The building was so fucking dark. It had to be, because it was empty and the show looked awful throughout the production. Going head-to-head against the WWF made them look so bush league by comparison. 

Most Underrated: The world tag title match. Just a fun match with big guys hitting each other and throwing each other around. 

Backstage Notes

Booker, George Scott, was fired for several reasons, but his decision not to promote this show heavily on TV was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He did produce some very bland television. 

Abdullah the Butcher quit when he was asked to lose to Junkyard Dog. Apparently, he was also going to do an entrance involving a casket and a New Orleans funeral on this show. I’m sorry we missed that. 

Because of problems with Scott, the Midnighrs left shortly after this show, only to return a few weeks later since Scott was fired. 

The Teddy Long finish was used to move him into the manager role, a role in which he was probably underrated throughout his WCW run. 

The show had also planned Lex Luger vs. Jack Victory for the US title and Rip Morgan vs. Sting for the TV title, but the matches ran long and had to air on the weekend show. 

Rating: 6.5/10

Almost an hour of this show was one of the best wrestling matches ever broadcast, so you can’t go wrong with that. However, the trainwreck production and lack of quality throughout the show hurt its overall quality.