Clash of the Champions XIII: Thanksgiving Thunder
Date: 11/20/1990
Jacksonville, FL
Announcers: Jim Ross & Paul E. Dangerously
The Setup
After drawing a huge TV rating against Lex Luger in a US title match, Ric Flair headlined this show against Butch Reed, playing on the new Doom vs. Horsemen feud. No Sting in the ring and no NWA champion wrestling on a Clash since Clash VII, when Flair was selling his neck injury at the hands of Terry Funk. That’s an interesting choice after the last show’s mega rating.
The Business
This show dropped to a 4.2 cable rating, the third-worst of the thirteen Clashes. Main-eventing the show with a tag-team feud split into a singles match and having Sting not wrestle at all wasn’t a good idea. Luger was also part of the last show’s ratings in his match with Flair, and he had a meaningless match with Motorcity Madman. This card made very little sense to me, and we’re only two months away from Dusty Rhodes coming in to take the book. Prowrestlinghistory has the show doing 5,000 fans and a $36,000 gate.
The Results
The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) def. The Southern Boys (Steve Armstrong & Tracy Smothers) in 4:50 ***
Flyin’ Brian def. Buddy Landel in 5:52 **3/4
Big Cat def. Brad Armstrong in 4:31 *1/2
The Z-Man def. Brian Lee in 3:10 DUD
Michael Wallstreet def. The Starblazer in 4:15 *
Pat O’Connor Qualifier: Col. DeKlerk & Sgt. Krueger def. Kaluha & The Beast in 4:48 1/2*
Lex Luger def. The Motor City Madman in 2:34 DUD
The Renegade Warriors (Chris Youngblood & Mark Youngblood) def. The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) by DQ in 4:49 *1/2
Sid Vicious def. The Nightstalker in 3:30 DUD
NWA United States Tag Team Title Match: The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner) (C) def. Magnum Force (Magnum Force #1 & Magnum Force #2) in 1:57 NR
Ric Flair def. Butch Reed in 14:13 ***3/4
Notable Happenings
Flair beat Reed in the main event after interference from Arn Anderson. This set up Teddy being Ric Flair’s chauffeur, leading to a Doom attack angle and a Doom vs. Horsemen street fight at Starrcade.
The Black Scorpion appeared on this show to do more of his “black magic” bullshit, this time making a man disappear in front of Sting and the world. It’s like they weren’t even trying.
The Steiners attacked the Nasty Boys during their match with the Renegade Warriors to continue their feud with the former, in theory, but the Nasties were gone only a few weeks after this show. Without a long-term contract in WCW, Vince signed them and put the tag titles on them the following WrestleMania.
Much like the last Clash, we got a lot of short matches and even more green talent. The Nightstalker, Motorcity Madman, Brian Lee, and no one in the tag qualifier match needed to be having pro wrestling matches on cable TV.
Sid worked as a babyface against Nightstalker and won with the help of Stalker’s giant axe (in one of the worst matches in Clash history), in part to set up a brief Skyscrapers reunion at Starrvade. None of this made sense for a Horseman.
This was the big show where Mike
Rotunda debuted the Michael Wall Street character, accompanied by Alexander York (Terri Runnels). He beat a masked Tim Horner in a nothing match.
Two of the four guys in the tag tournament qualifier were Rocco Rock and Botswana Beast. It still sucked bad.
Some people may disagree with my rating of the first two matches, but despite being short, both were well executed and a lot of fun.
Rocky King was an awesome heater in the Freebirds’ corner. It would have been fun to see more of him. He helped the Freebirds finally beat the Southern Boys after losing the last two opening Clash matches before this one.
The Rating: 3.5/10.0
This show felt similar to the last, with the short matches, a few squashes, and a lot of green talent. The main event was worth watching, but it wasn’t even anywhere close to a top-five Flair Clash match on its own. Everything seemed to fall apart after the Curtis Hughes-Candy Man match.
The Video
