NWA Clash of the Champions IX

Date: November 15, 1989

Location: RPI Field House, Troy, New York

Announcers: Jim Ross and Gordon Solie

The Setup

After the angle to start their feud occurred about six months before this, we got the triumphant blowoff to the Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk feud. This match wasn’t for the NWA title, as the I Quit stipulation for this epic final battle was the draw for this show. 

The Business

The event achieved a 4.9 cable rating, the third-highest-rated Clash to date and the highest since Clash III, making this show a huge success. 

Prowrestlinghistory has this event doing 4,000 people in upstate New York. 

The Results

The Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes) def. The Road Warriors (Road Warrior Animal and Road Warrior Hawk) by DQ in 5:18 *1/4 

Doom (Butch Reed and Ron Simmons) def. Eddie Gilbert and Tommy Rich in 5:15 **

The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) def. The Dynamic Dudes (Johnny Ace and Shane Douglas) in 9:22 **3/4 

Steve Williams def. The Super Destroyer in 1:41 NR 

The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) def. The Skyscrapers (Dan Spivey and Sid Vicious) by DQ in 6:08 **1/2 

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship Match: Lex Luger (C) def. Flyin’ Brian in 12:38 ***1/2 

Ric Flair def. Terry Funk in 18:33 *****

Notable Happenings

Flair made Funk submit in a fantastic match, ending the latter’s WCW in-ring run in this era. After the bout, The Great Muta, Dragonmaster, and Gary Hart attacked Funk and Flair until Sting made the save, only for Lex Luger to get involved. The babyfaces were left lying as Lex Luger destroyed Ric Flair’s previously awarded PWI Wrestler of the Decade award with a steel chair. Too bad that in typical WCW fashion, the spotlight wasn’t on Luger, who was at the top of the ramp, and most of the destruction took place in the dark. It sounded cool.

Jim Cornette finally turned on the Dynamic Dudes during the DD vs. Midnight Express match, finally splitting him from Johnny and Shane and ending the underwhelming ME babyface run. 

Sid Vicious suffered a punctured lung in the Skyscrapers match and would be out for over six months. They had a brawl after that match with all four Iron Teams for Starrcade, as they did in the main with all four singles competitors. Not that it helped the show’s business. 

The Luger-Pillman match was another strong singles heel showcase for Luger, much like the Tommy Rich match at the last Clash. 

Nitro debuted as Woman’s bodyguard on this show, interjecting in the big four-team brawl at the end of the Steiners’ match. 

Bill Apter presented PWI Awards to Sting and Ric Flair in front of the live crowd.

The Best, The Worst, and The Underrated

The Best: No need to overthink the main event in this spot. A believable and consuming story that felt like a fight where each wrestler was trying to prove he was the better man. 

The Worst: The opener. The action was clumsy, and the non-finishes in Road Warrior matches were getting old in 1989. 

The Underrated: Ross and Solie were great here, especially in the main event. Solie wasn’t at a point where he could carry a broadcast as a PBP man, but he worked in the color role incredibly well.  

Backstage Notes

Terry Funk’s body was ravaged by injuries, so he was pulled from the ring and placed on commentary and the booking committee. It’s too bad because a babyface Funk run would have been epic. 

The opening tag match was originally billed as a tag title match, but the Freebirds lost the titles a couple of weeks before this show to the Steiners at a TV taping. That match was scheduled to air the following weekend on TBS, so the result was never acknowledged on commentary.

Jack Victory was in a mask for another Clash show, this time as the Super Destroyer. 

Rating: 8.5.10.0

Obviously, this show was about the main event, but a very good US title match and an easy-to-get-through undercard made this an excellent show overall. 

The Video