Grilling JR - Starrcade 1990 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Starrcade 1990: Collision Course was the eighth annual Starrcade event and was the third produced by WCW along with the final produced under the National Wrestling Alliance banner. The event was on December 16, 1990 on PPV, doing an estimated 165,000 PPV buys. That was up from the year before, which did about 130,000 but it still wasn’t as good as 1990s Great American Bash. That show pulled 200,000 buys, estimates show, with Sting and Flair headlining the show.

We get Sting and Flair here, too. Just, under the wrong circumstances, right?

The event was held at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. The live crowd was 6,357 paid with a gate of $93,425 with about 7,200 total in the building or a few hundred shy of what the building was set up to hold (Kiel holds around 10,700 but with TV equipment it was blocked down to about 8,000 seats).

Let’s talk about the Kiel Auditorium for a second. This was its last full year in business as it closed in 1991 and was demolished in 1992. The arena was originally called the St. Louis Municipal Auditorium, an indoor venue completed in 1934 that was home to the St. Louis University basketball team and hosted the NBA team of the St. Louis Hawks from 1955 to 1968. In 1943, it was renamed after former St. Louis Mayor Henry Kiel. From the 1950s until the 1970s, the Kiel Auditorium was considered by many second only to Madison Square Garden as North America's most famous wrestling arena.

The Kiel Auditorium is one of those arenas that has a lot of history in a city rich in pro-wrestling history. Do you have any memories of the arena, or stories about the history there?

News And Notes

The news going into 1991 as the year rounded out surrounded the return of Dusty Rhodes to WCW. Although no announcement had officially been made at the time, Meltzer reported in the first Observer of the new year it is a virtual certainty that Dusty Rhodes will be the new booker for World Championship Wrestling (and also that in 1991, the name National Wrestling Alliance will virtually disappear from the wrestling industry except for the names of a few championships in Mexico and references to WCW in Japan). Rhodes' final house show date with Titan was 12/30, although he's scheduled for one last night of humiliation at the Royal Rumble on 1/19. There are some within WCW who believe Rhodes will actually come on board to book before the Rumble, provided WCW can get a release from Titan Sports on Rhodes. If that doesn't happen, then Rhodes will almost surely start as booker very soon after Jan. 20.

While it still somewhat amazes me that Rhodes would be brought back, there are a few points that need to be made. First, there is nobody else out there with experience in booking a U.S. national promotion besides Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson that TBS hasn't already gone through. Rhodes does have that experience. And while Rhodes' booking was a major factor in the plunge of Jim Crockett Promotions in 1987-88, the fact is that Bill Watts isn't going to come in as long as the current organizational structure is in place, and there is no guarantee he would be a miracle worker (which still seems like the only person who could succeed in the role). Rhodes does have something to prove. Just as importantly, it seems pretty much certain that his days in the ring are just about over. To maintain both his lifestyle and his status within the industry, he has to succeed here.

Was Dusty the right choice to be brought back in here?

The Steiners were reported to have had some issues signing new contracts as the year came to a close. Meltzer reported...

As of the last word I had, the Steiners still hadn't signed 1991 contracts (current deal comes due within the next two months or so). There were problems because the last contract issued cut their percentage of gimmick sales from 33 percent to 17 percent of net profits and also had a clause that in case of an injury that lasts more than one month that the time period of the contract is put on hold. In other words, WCW is trying to protect itself from situations like what happened with Sting and Sid Vicious in that they paid these guys huge weekly salaries for several months while they were off work. The thing is, if the injury is job related, as they pretty much all are, it should be the company's moral responsibility to take care of those who get hurt in the line of duty. . .

As talent, what was your take on this? Were the requests unreasonable?

A new line-up for the New Japan two-hour prime-time television special on 12/26 was announced, which includes Lou Thesz becoming the first man (at least as far as Metlzer could tell at the time) to wrestle in seven different decades. Thesz, who is 74, is one of a small group of men to have worked in six decades (30s through 80s). I'm aware of Buddy Rogers, Ronnie Etchison, Bull Curry, Fred Blassie (who wrestled Lou Albano a few times in 1985) and I believe Arnold Skoaland. Thesz will wrestle Masa Chono in a one fall, 30 minute time limit match. Originally we had figured Thesz would work in a tag match so he could get in and out, or possibly in a five minute match billed as an exhibition, but instead he's working against one of the main wrestlers for New Japan. Interesting thing is that Chono did some training with Thesz in the past few years and that his finishing hold, called the STF (a step over toehold take turn turned into a combination with a crossface which is a legit "hooking" combination) was taught to him by Thesz. Some talk that Rogers, who is now 69, is interested in working a match now so he can work in seven decades as well.

Was or is it a big deal for some athletes to perform in as many decades as possible? And is the seven decade feat still an impressive one today?

Around this time, with the Persian Gulf conflict happening, one of WCW’s upcoming events was affected in that the venue had to change.

Meltzer reported...

Because of the troops being sent out from Camp Lejeunce, NC, World Championship Wrestling has moved the site of its 1/30 Clash of Champions. At press time the site hasn't been officially announced, but Meltzer said he heard speculation that it will probably be Greenville, SC or Augusta, GA. The tentative card has Sting & Lex Luger vs. Doom, Ric Flair vs. Brian Pillman, Arn Anderson & Barry Windham vs. The Renegade Warriors, Tom Zenk vs. Bobby Eaton for the TV title, Steiners vs. Master Blasters for the U.S. tag team titles, JFD vs. Iron Sheik and a few others including an arm wrestling match with Missy Hyatt vs. Paul E. Dangerously which will be set up on upcoming TBS television shows. At least on paper it's a very solid wrestling line-up and at least looks to be the best Clash in a long time.

Do you remember anything about having to book a new home for the Clash event because of troops being deployed?

A big story around this time was Jim Cornette and Stan Lane walking out of the company after a blow up fight with Ole Anderson. Cornette, who spent the bulk of his career up until that point in the NWA, left nearly seven months before his contract expired. Stan Lane followed him out while Bobby Eaton, the third member of the Midnight Express, opted to stay.

In an interview in December with Wade Keller, Cornette talked about it. He said after Halloween Havoc where, because camera guys were all over the place, Bobby ran into me and it wasn’t his fault, my jaw hurts and I can’t chew for two days. So then the next day we get up and leave Chicago driving at noon and get caught in traffic driving out of Gary because of an accident. We drive like crazy to get to Indianapolis, check into a hotel, then leave and keep going 285 miles to Farmland indiana. We get there just in time to get dressed and work. Then we get undressed nad drive 100 miles back to indianapolis. Then we drive from Indianapolis to Charlotte, hop in our car, go home to drop our laundry off, get back in the car and drive like crazy to get to tv in Anderson, South Carolina. We get there and find out Bobby’s not working. We talked to somebody from the office every day and nobody told him not to come. We received tickets to get from Indianapolis to Atlanta but no way to get tickets back from Atlanta. So I called them and they said to switch it, go to Charlotte and drive. So anyway we get there and we’re not on. This is Monday. And he can’t go back home to Charlotte because nobody’s going so he has to go to Atlanta for Centre Stage the next day on his day off. Stan had match number 20 that night against Steve Armstrong to do, guess what, a job. We do jobs on PPVS, do jobs on the house shows and do jobs on TV. So then at this point it’s like 1 in the morning getting into Atlanta. The next night we go to center stage. Here’s the day, the day you’ve been waiting for.

Before we get to the juicy part, is that an accurate assessment of how things were run in 1990 WCW?

Cornette continues…

I’m cranky, I’m pissed off, I’m generally depressed, I’m tired. I know we’ve got a match with The Southern Boys so I hoped it was on early so we could leave because it was 250 miles home. I get there that day and as soon as I’m going to brush my teeth somebody comes up and says “Hey, they’ve got you wrestling four or five times tonight.” I say “What?!”

Then I went into a room with Judy Hamilton, Ronnie West, Kevin Sullivan, Ole Anderson talking to somebody and Bobby’s gone in there and he’s looking at the match lineup. I said “Bobby how many times are we working?” “Well we’ve got a match against Ricky Morton and Tommy Rich. We’ve got a match against The Southern Boys. We’ve got a match against some job guys. “

I said to nobody in particular “But why is it that this guy jumps off the roof Saturday night and nearly kills himself and does everything he can yet he goes to Anderson and don’t get nothing and can’t have a day off because nobody can tell him he’s not working. And now we’ve got to work four or five times in one night. This stuff is post produced so this doesn’t make any sense. And Ole steps in front of me and turns his back on me as usual and asks Bobby “Do you know any words? Can you talk for yourself?” And I said “Ole…” and he starts trying to talk over me talking to Bobby and I grab him by the arm and say “Hey goddammit, I’m the one fucking talking to ya. Don’t turn your back on me. I’m sick and tired of that. If you want to talk to somebody, talk to me.” So he says if you don’t like it, why don’t you just go ahead and go home. And I say “Sounds like a good idea.”

Did you hear about this when it went down? What was your reaction?

Another story making news in the Torch in December, 1990 was that Larry Zbyszko, who was the current AWA World Heavyweight Champion, had all but retired the AWA by agreeing to work for WCW. His role, Keller reported, could range from active wrestler to co host of World Wide Wrestling. Zbyszko showed up at last Monday’s tapings, but because Jim Herd did not know about it ahead of time, he ordered none of the material to be used. Negotiations were scheduled to take place this past week. Larry Zbyszko is regarded by many as the best talker in the business.

Do you agree with the last line, at least for 1990?

Did Larry jumping as the AWA champion truly end the AWA or was it done already?

The Event Itself

STARRCADE '90

Thumbs up: 234 (52.8 percent)

Thumbs down: 176 (39.4 percent)

In between: 37 (7.8 percent)

Meltzer wrote:

It must have been a great show live because from those who were there live (similar to the Chicago PPV), the response was 31-1 thumbs up. I thought the show was good, not great or anything but watchable and entertaining until the last match. I understand why it was bad, but it was still real bad.

Did the show have an energy to it in the live crowd that we didn’t feel on TV?

Stan Note: The set looks really nice for the era. This was in the era of WWF sets being nothing more than a slightly yellowed WWF logo by a black curtain. The ring-posts have Starrcade logo pads on them, like you’d see in a boxing event. The ropes are a red/yellow/red combination and we see purple and yellow lights on the background curtains. The color scheme is all over the place! But it’s colorful and there are lights in the shape of a star at the entrance way.

We also get ramp. I love ramp. JR calls it the runway. You know what I realized? The runway allows for the suplex spot on the ring apron to have actual suspense! Usually, you can only suplex safely back into the ring, since most guys aren’t taking a suplex to the floor. But this allows the suplex to go either way.

Do you think Jim Herd gets enough credit for helping to turn TV wrestling into a more presentable, produced product?

Do you like the runway better than a ramp?

The show started with a warm-up match with Bill Irwin beating T.C. Carter (said to be N*).

Then Sam Muchnick (who promoted wrestling in St. Louis for 37 years and on a local basis managed to maintain more respect within his community than probably any wrestling promoter in this country was ever able to do) welcomed the crowd to this event. While this meant nothing nationally, it was evident that Muchnick has remained very popular in St. Louis, even nearly nine years after he has promoted his last card. But there was a feeling from here that he was out of place, because the concepts of wrestling that Muchnick promoted (this is not to say the style or anything else that goes on in the ring, I'm talking promoting concepts) are 100 percent at odds with the concepts of World Championship Wrestling.

How did Muchnick command the respect of his peers?

Why did the crowd react so warmly to him, a promoter?

1. Bobby Eaton pinned Tom Zenk with an inside cradle in 8:45. They started slow and actually had problems early. But once they got into the rhythm it turned into a very good opening match. The highlight was Zenk suplexing Eaton onto the ramp and then diving over the top rope with a crossbody block as Eaton was outside the ring on the ramp. Eaton came off the top rope but Zenk caught him with a superkick. Then Zenk missed a dropkick off the top rope and Eaton pinned him. ,Zenk wasn't acknowledged as TV champion (I believe the match airs this coming weekend) and this win sets Eaton up for TV title matches with Zenk in the future. ***

We get an interview next with Dick the Bruiser, who will be the referee in tonight’s main event.

Does anyone look or sound like more of a bad ass than Dick The Bruiser?

The winners of the next tournament, The Pat O’Conner Memorial Tag Team Tournament, will be the Champions of the Universe. The crowd doesn’t really react to that. The “Parade Of Nations” which is women walking out carrying flags while Gary Michael Capetta reads the names of the countries. The crowd boos the Soviet flag, the Mexican flag, and the Japanese flag.

2. The first match of the Pat O'Connor Memorial tag team tournament saw Rick & Scott Steiner beat Sgt. Kruger (Ray Apollo) and Col. DeKlerk (Ted Petty), who were billed as the South African team. DeKlerk tried to Jushin Liger dive over the top rope with a flip in mid-air, but Rick took one step back, so as not to "sell" the move, and caught him just enough to break the fall so he didn't break his neck and started laughing. Shortly after, Scott did a tilt-a-whirl slam on DeKlerk and pinned him with a Frankensteiner in 2:12. * 1/4

Did you think DeKlerk was seriously hurt after seeing this spot, for a second? Did the pads on the floor save him?

This is a pretty low rated match for the Steiners. What did you think?

3. Konnan (that's how he spells it and he should know) & Rey Misterio from Mexico defeated Chris Adams & Norman Smiley, billed as the team from England. This was a unique match since all four have totally conflicting abilities but all are good workers within their style. However, two unfortunate things took place just prior to the match. Sometime in the past two weeks, Adams suffered a few broken ribs, I'm not sure if it was in or out of the ring but he was working injured. And then on Thursday night in Raleigh, NC, Konnan blew out his knee (stretched ligaments, doctors orders were to keep weight off the knee for at least a month and not wrestle for three months) but since this was his big chance, he gutted his way through it but obviously neither was anywhere close to 100 percent. Match was disjoined because of style conflicts but also had good moves. Konnan pinned Smiley with a combination of a Dragon sleeper and a superplex which is one of his trademark suplexes in 5:29. At the finish, Misterio tried to dive out of the ring on Adams but Adams wasn't there to catch him and he splattered himself all over the ring steps. * ½

The styles of the wrestlers involved seemed to clash here. But, hearing a 1990 announcer introduce Konnan and Rey Mysterio was a surprise.

Give us your thoughts on the match.

The director totally missed the last spot where Misterio tried to dive onto Adams and Adams didn’t catch him. In that instance, are you also missing the spot on your monitors? Those monitors show the TV feed, right?

4. Masa Saito & Great Muta downed Rip Morgan & Jacko Victory (billed as the New Zealand team). Crowd really didn't know how to react to this but it was an all-action decent match. Finish saw Morgan accidentally clothesline Victory, and as Victory staggered back, Muta caught him with a german suplex for the pin in 5:41. *3/4

Paul E. mentions something about now we know Muta isn’t the Black Scorpion but...wouldn’t he have been the perfect choice?

5. Selman Hashimikov & Victor Zangiev of the Soviet Union made their U.S. debut beating Canadians Danny "Bull" Johnson and Troy Montour. They went 3:54, which is about two minutes longer than it should have gone. There was some sort of a problem here because the Soviets demonstrated legitimate wrestling maneuvers, which of course have nothing to do with pro wrestling. The Canadians were really bad. Hashimikov pinned Johnson with a belly-to-belly suplex. - * 1/4

The finish seemed so confusing and it even seemed like the referee was saying it was only a two count. Was this supposed to be an amateur style worked contest that just didn’t work?

6. Michael Wall Street pinned Terry Taylor with his Stock Market Crash (Samoan drop) in 6:52. According to Ms. Alexandra York's computer, Wall Street was going to win in less than 8:32 and this was kind of a "Beat the Clock" type deal. Match was okay, but I expected more considering the ability of these two. ** 1/4

What did you think of the York Foundation/Computer gimmick? Seemed kind of creative given the time and...it allowed for a “Beat the Clock” style match without any kind of stipulation. Did it seem too hokey or did you get into it?

7. Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich defeated The Freebirds in 6:13. Good fast-paced action with Little Richard Marley (Rocky King) in his farewell appearance as the NWA "scooped" Titan on the heel turns on the black valet on a PPV angle. Robert Gibson, on crutches, was in the faces corner. Either Gibson was working to get sympathy, or, and no doubt this is the real story, his knee is in really bad shape. Finish saw the Birds hold Morton's leg as Marley went to come off the top rope on it. Gibson hit Marley with the crutch and he crashed into Jimmy Jam and Morton pinned Garvin with a schoolboy. After the match the Birds turned on Marley and gave him a double DDT and were pounding on him until Morton & Rich made the save. This left Gibson in the aisle and the Birds ran at him and gave him a double clothesline on the way out. Better match than it figured to be because it was kept short (they've made mistakes on several big shows this year in programming Freebirds matches to go 15 to 25 minutes). ** ½

Was Gibson too injured to perform here or just selling really well?

8. Actually, the seventh match was Sid Vicious & Danny Spivey beating Big Cat & Motor City Mad Man in 1:01. Sid pinned Mad Man after a double power bomb. Short and sweet. *

Sid’s monster push here doesn’t seem all that different from Goldbergs, or Ultimate Warriors. Compare Sid to Goldberg and the Ultimate Warrior. Who made the most of their monster push?

9. Steiners beat Konnan & Misterio in 2:51 when Misterio went for a Raul Mata style headscissors into a cradle but Rick caught him in mid-air and pinned him with a power bomb. Misterio was all banged up from missing that dive in the first match. Konnan was dragging his leg very noticeably. Highlight was Konnan on Scott's shoulders as Rick came off the top rope with a bulldog. * 1/4

This seems like another match where half of the participants probably needed to be in a local medical facility rather than in a wrestling ring. What did you think?

10. Muta & Saito beat Hashimikov & Zangiev in 3:08 when Saito pinned Zangiev with a Saito suplex. They traded nice suplexes and even though the Soviets are green, they've worked with these guys before so it was watchable. *

We’re sort of just running through these tournament matches at this point. Was there anything to this match that you liked?

11. Lex Luger regained the U.S. title in a lariat match with Stan Hansen. Pre-match hype had told us this would be the old Dusty style bullrope match but called a lariat match, in that the two guys would be tied together with a rope with a bell in the middle. Well, wouldn't you know it, the bell wasn't there. Still, this was a good stiff brawl with them taking turns trying to drag each other around the ring. Finally Luger dragged Hansen around to three corners, but as he went for the fourth, the ref went down and Luger then hit the corner but no ref. Hansen then took off his boot and hit Luger and started dragging him around, and used the lariat prior to hitting the fourth corner. The crowd was really heated when they thought it was a win for Hansen. Ref Nick Patrick was about to raise Hansen's hand but the first ref told him what happened and Luger was awarded the match and the title at 10:13.; Good finish and a good match. *** ¼

Fun match. What did Stan Hansen do so well that got him all of this heat?

We saw an excellent match between Hansen and Luger at the previous event, Halloween Havoc 90. Do you think these two had unusually good chemistry working together?

12. Doom retained the NWA tag team title in a North St. Louis Street fight going to a double pin with Barry Windham & Arn Anderson in 7:19. This was an old-style quadruple juice brawl. For some reason, they had "cut men" in the corners like boxing (who turned out to be Porkchop Cash and George "Russian Brute" Petrosky with hair) although they really never got involved. Windham bled 90 seconds in. By the three minute mark, all four were bloody. Stiff chair hits. With the exception of the double pin finish, this match was exactly what it was supposed to be and more. Finish saw Simmons have Anderson pinned while simultaneously Windham cradled Reed. More on this later. ****

Did you like the match?

Is Doom an underrated tag team?

Was there ever any blowback from Turner about doing blood when on PPV as opposed to TV?

13. The Steiners Won the tag  team tournament beating Muta and Saito in 10:53.  Initially, Dick the Bruiser was supposed to be the referee of this match as was advertised on television. Well, then Masao Hattori (trivia note: Hattori was a U.S. AAU freestyle national champion at 136 in the early 70s) was coming in on New Japan business so they decided to have him as a special ref (but the announcers made a point that he wasn't going to be a heel ref) for this bout and move Bruiser to the street fight (which made sense since Bruiser is well-known as a street fighter). Well, at the 11th hour and 59th minute, Bruiser was moved once again to the main event. Good fast-paced action with lots of hot moves. The Japanese played total heels. This was a good match to be sure, but it could have been better if we'd seen a Frankensteiner and a moonsault thrown in. Rick pinned Saito after a sunset flip off the top rope. ***1/4

14. Using a baseball analogy, at this point in the show, the home team had about a six-run lead when the man with more saves than Hoyt Wilhelm and Rollie Fingers combined showed up for the ninth inning. Officially, Sting pinned The Black Scorpion, who was Ric Flair, in the cage match at 18:31 to keep the title with a flying body press from off the top rope. The point we have to ponder here is if Fingers of Wilhelm could have kept that lead if they not only had to pitch wearing a mask, but also weren't allowed to throw any pitches that they've ever had any success with? On the good side, the ring entrance, where it appeared Scorpion came down from the ceiling in a flying saucer-like device was impressive. Bringing in all the previous Scorpions (hey, where was Tony Zane) I guess at least finishes the story line although the only people that using Dave Sheldon, Bill Irwin and Randy Culley as Scorpion henchman meant anything to were newsletter readers (Sheldon had never been unmasked while the others were unmasked but the crowds viewing those cards were tiny) and the hardcores who still attend live. Bruiser looked like Tugboat's grandfather in the ring. Flair did about as good a job as possible in hiding his identity, and because of that, had the worst match I've ever seen him in (including the Clash match with JFD). Flair juiced under the mask, then Sting tore off the black mask to reveal a silver mask so you could see the juice. Nothing much to say about the match. Post-match saw the four bogus Scorpions hit the ring, then Arn & Barry, and with a seven-on-two advantage on Sting and Bruiser in a locked cage, the heels got nothing accomplished. 3/4*

What did you think about Flair juicing under two masks?

Was this a satisfying conclusion to the Black Scorpion stuff or did you think we could have seen better?

Here’s what Meltzer had to say about the event.

A few more quick comments on the PPV show. As far as creating a reason for the Flair-Sting main events starting Christmas night and continuing through the month of January, they hurt their cause more than helped it. There is absolutely no "reason" for Flair to be considered a considered a viable challenger after having lost once again, juiced, and then failed to get anything accomplished with a seven-on-two advantage in the post-match brawl (which, by the way, was nothing like it was supposed to be. Between the show running late and people being in the wrong place at the wrong time, if it looked like it was directionless, it's not because it was, but because what was supposed to take place--basically a replay of the famous 1985 Ric Flair-Dusty Rhodes angle in a cage which drew incredible business for six months in 1986--somehow didn't materialize). The introduction of blood on the show was a positive. Really, given the street fight and cage stipulations the juice was mandatory. And given the fact WCW has to re-win its lost hardcore bloodthirsty audience, juice right now is neccessary. And you can count on it at the next PPV since they are doing War Games. Now here's the problem. We have a cage on this PPV. We have cage matches on just about every house show in January which no doubt will produce heavy juice (Anderson & Windham vs. Doom in most cities will be in cages). In February we have War Games. I see the situation being taken in the extreme in the other direction, which is okay in the short-run but over the long haul will do exactly what it did before--kill crowds. Of course, if cage match city is just for the first quarter, no problem. But if they get into the situation (which has happened before when Rhodes was booker) when virtually every card has a cage match, they kill the cage and the juice as gimmicks.

On the Scorpion, I believe that Flair was going to be the Scorpion from day one. And there is more to this story than meets the eye. About two weeks ago, even though the angle was shot for Flair to be injured and explain why Barry Windham would replace him in the tag match (and free him to be Scorpion), some changes in original plans took place. It wound up with Flair being moved back to the tag team match, which is why on TV they stopped selling the injury immediately, and naturally at that point Windham was to be Scorpion. The Tuesday before the card, the situation changed again and Flair was moved back to the Scorpion spot (after the announcers had said he was fine and basically said it was 100 percent he'd be in the tag match) with Windham in the tag. When Flair was in the tag, Doom was supposed to go over since that tag was to set up Barry & Arn vs. Doom at the house shows for January since Flair was working with Sting. However, when everything switched again during the last week and Barry & Arn were to wrestle Doom, the office wanted a title switch to "start" the feud and use Doom as the challengers at the houses. But, somebody wouldn't do the job and the company was backed into the corner. Nobody wins and nobody loses. But it was a great match anyway.

As for the tag team tournament, I give the company a lot of credit for effort. In a situation like this, my belief is either you do it as a work, and not worry about legitimacy, or do it with legitimacy. Half-and-half serves no purpose. The tourney didn't sell tickets because it was never pushed, but the concept was interesting and I thought seeing all the different styles added to the uniqueness of the card. If there weren't so many injuries (Scott Steiner wasn't 100 percent, although you couldn't tell it, but Konnan wasn't even 50 percent) it might have been even better. Tourneys really don't work well on PPV, and I think to do it right, you have to educate the casual fans as to who everyone is on your television beforehand, but most people seemed to enjoy it. Anyway, except for one match, it was a whole lot better than the Clash match that was the advertisement for the thing was. Obviously the Steiners are the hottest thing in the promotion but they are in a bad position in that right now they have no opponents. Nobody buys either Freebirds and Master Blasters as foes, so you're hottest act isn't in a position right now to help draw.

What did you think about the show, overall?

Observer:

BEST MATCH: 

• Doom vs. Anderson & Windham 238
• Steiners vs. Muta & Saito 21
• Luger vs. Hansen 6
• Zenk vs. Eaton 3
• Sting vs. Scorpion 2
• Adams & Smiley vs. Konnan & Misterio 1

WORST MATCH: 

• Russians vs. Canadians 116
• Sting vs. Scorpion 45
• Skyscrapers vs. Big Cat & Mad Man 29
• Adams & Smiley vs. Konnan & Misterio 2
• Doom vs. Windham & Anderson 1