Ryan Navigates '90 - #43 (6/10 - 6/13)
Ric Flair has a DOG of a match.
EDITOR’S NOTE: On April 23rd, the legendary Steve “Mongo” McMichael passed away at the age of 67 after a long battle with ALS.
Mongo was initially famous for his exploits on the gridiron as a defensive tackle, having won Super Bowl XX with DA BEARS in the 1985-86 season, in addition to racking up two Pro Bowl appearances, five All Pro distinctions, and induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2024.
After he retired from pro ball, he turned his attention to the squared circle. After an appearance at WWF WrestleMania XI cornering fellow football legend Lawrence Taylor, McMichael picked up an announcing gig with WCW, providing memorable commentary and a unique perspective to early episodes of Monday Nitro. Mongo later joined the Four Horsemen and embarked on a career between the ropes, picking up a reign as WCW United States Heavyweight Champion before leaving the company (and the business) in 1999.
In-ring, you can tell Mongo wanted to give his all every time he went out there, and he was a ton of fun to watch. He entertained through sheer vibes and gusto alone. Also, in a group with the pedigree of the Four Horsemen, Mongo fit right in with his legitimate athletic accomplishments, toughness, look, and swagger.
Rest in peace, big man.
Good day!
Much like how the Colorado River took millions of years to create the Grand Canyon, we are continuing to gradually erode our way through June 1990. Today, we have three blood-soaked battles from New Japan, including a titanic clash for the IWGP Heavyweight title.
Plus, we arrive at the NWA’s eleventh Clash of the Champions free TV supershow. We get a few matches from that, including one of the more maligned matches in Ric Flair’s career.
We got nothing for June 10th and 11th, so let’s hit the 12th!
TUESDAY, JUNE 12
NJPW Battle Line Kyushu 1990, Night One
This one’s pretty major as we have a significant IWGP Heavyweight title match in the main event, so we’ll give it the “big show” treatment with match results for stuff we don’t see and all that.
The show also played host to the Kyushu Cup, a four-man tournament featuring wrestlers who would go on to be the biggest stars of their generation, though none of those matches are reviewed today.
Takayuki Iizuka defeated Osamu Matsuda.
Pegasus Kid overtook Kuniaki Kobayashi.
In eight-man tag action, Super Strong Machine & Blond Outlaws (Hiro Saito, Tatsutoshi Goto, & Norio Honaga) beat Hiroshi Hase, Kengo Kimura, Kantaro Hoshino, & Shiro Koshinaka.
In a Semi-Final Kyushu Cup match, Shinya Hashimoto bested Kensuke Sasaki.
In the other Semi-Final Kyushu Cup bout, Keiji Muto got past Masahiro Chono.
Muto will meet Hash in the finals later in the evening.
Masa Saito defeated The Soultaker.
Different Style Fight: Jushin Liger vs. Masashi Aoyagi - We saw Aoyagi before in that weird brawl from Pioneer Senshi in Part 21, which was also a Different Style Fight.
Liger’s mask looks a bit different, with the eyes and mouth exposed.
ROUND ONE: Aoyagi teases a couple of spinkicks, but Liger takes him down and cranks down on a jujigatame. Aoyagi makes the ropes and tries another kick, but Liger catches him and applies a legbar. Aoyagi kicks at Liger to disorient him, and he applies a leg grapevine until it’s broken up. Liger escapes a headlock and tries to work his way into another jujigatame, but Aoyagi reverses into a half-crab.
He maintains the hold until the round ends.
ROUND TWO: Liger breaks an attempted tackle in the ropes and starts kicking and stomping Aoyagi into goo. Aoyagi responds by taking Liger down and raining down punches. Back up, Aoyagi hits a spinning hook kick to the back of Liger’s head, then follows with a rolling solebutt to knock him down again. Liger beats the count and parries another kick, then they scrap and claw at each other on the mat, with Aoyagi going after the mask. Liger secures a legbar, but the round soon ends.
Liger’s having issues with his mask, so he takes the time between rounds to fix it up (with the cornerman covering him up with a towel).
ROUND THREE: Liger just says “screw it” and goes completely mask-off as if he was WWE PR during WrestleMania 41 week. He charges at Aoyagi right off the jump, tackling him down and beating the everloving crap out of him, busting him open in the process!
Liger applies a jujigatame, but Aoyagi fights his way out. However, Liger gets up and stomps and pounds away at Aoyagi, who’s still on the mat. Aoyagi tries to fight off more Liger offense with defensive kicks, but Liger still maintains the advantage. He works into a rear choke, and the bell rings! Liger thinks he won, but it was just the end of the round.
Aoyagi is an ungodly mess.
ROUND FOUR: They trade kicks and palmstrikes until Liger wrangles Aoyagi to the mat. Liger looks for a rear choke, but Aoyagi makes the ropes. Aoyagi hobbles around and looks for a takedown, but Liger blocks and drops some knees before getting back up. Seconds later, Liger hits a double-leg takedown and rains down the palmstrikes until the ref calls for the bell! Liger wins!
***3/4 - The first couple of rounds had some sound technical wrestling and solid striking, but this became a wholly different, and awesome, animal once Liger ditched the mask and went berserk on Aoyagi. We got heat and hatred between these guys, an unhinged performance from Liger, and some great color from Aoyagi. This was a delight.
Riki Choshu vs. Animal Hamaguchi - Hamaguchi has some history with Choshu, forming the Ishin Gundan heel stable in the early 1980s, which itself broke away from NJPW and formed its own promotion, Japan Pro Wrestling in 1984. It partnered with All Japan, but ended up devolving to a subset of guys working for AJPW but under a different contract. The promotion shuttered for good in 1987.
Animal had a storied career as a tag team wrestler, winning titles in NJPW, AJPW, Stampede Wrestling, Wrestle Association R, among other places, but his greatest legacy is as a trainer. He’s had a hand in training a LOT of your favorite Japanese wrestlers, including Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Satoshi Kojima, Shinjiro Otani, Smackdown #1 Announcer Funaki, BUSHI, YOSHI-HASHI, and countless others. Hell, his daughter, Olympic wrestler Kyoko Hamaguchi, trained legit Best in the World contender Sareee.
Hamaguchi attacks Choshu in the aisleway while he’s making his entrance, quickly busting him open. Animal batters him around ringside for a bit, then continues the abuse inside the ring with headbutts and a running back elbow in the corner.
Animal drops a couple of spiteful legs, then plants Choshu with a piledriver before hitting a duo of sliding elbowdrops. Choshu rolls to the floor, so Hamaguchi follows with a falling clothesline off the apron. However, Choshu reverses a whip into the barricade and dishes out punishment of his own.
Choshu attacks Hamaguchi on the apron, then suplexes him back as Animal got cut open along the way. Double juice! Animal hits a superplex for two, then gets another two off a falling clothesline. Hamaguchi lands a top rope elbowdrop for two.
Hamaguchi goes for a side headlock, but Choshu drills him with a Saito suplex, then a DDT. Choshu blasts him with a lariat as one of Hamaguchi’s cornermen throws in the towel. Riki goes “hahahaha no” and tosses the towel back before hitting another lariat. Super Strong Machine comes in and gets promptly tossed by Choshu as Animal shows FIGHTING SPIRIT. However, a third lariat puts him down for good.
Post-match, Machine and the Blond Outlaws attack the victorious Choshu until they’re chased off by his cornermen.
***1/4 - This was a little under ten minutes, but it was another violent, heated brawl with a good story. Animal’s offense and the exciting closing moments really stood out for me. Choshu’s having a sneaky good year so far between the ropes.
In the Kyushu Cup Final, Shinya Hashimoto defeated Keiji Muto.
IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Big Van Vader (c) vs. Stan Hansen - Well, this is interesting. Not only is it a rematch of the brawl where Vader’s eye went into business for itself, but it’s a meeting of New Japan’s IWGP Heavyweight Champion and All Japan’s Triple Crown Champion. Only Vader’s gold is on the line.
Hansen attacks Vader with his bullrope while he’s making his entrance, so Vader tosses a chair into the ring, which Hansen hurls right back at him! Moments later, Vader, like Liger earlier, foregoes the mask.
The bell rings, and both guys assert their will until Hansen bails and rages on the floor. Back in, Hansen goes after the previously injured orbital bone before they trade chops and other horrific strikes. Vader fights off a back suplex attempt, then attacks Hansen’s midsection with stiff shots. Hansen comes back with a successful back suplex for two, then he works Vader over with a chinlock. Vader fights out and hammers down some vicious shots. After dodging Hansen’s lariats, Vader takes him down with a clothesline of his own, then follows with a splash for two.
Hansen blocks a powerbomb attempt, so Vader tries a sunset flip (!), which Hansen sits down on. Hansen hits a short lariat on Vader, who takes a pretty big bump off of that. Vader rolls to the floor to make sure his eyeball is still where it should be, but Hansen greets him with some chops and a big back elbow. Vader returns the favor with a nasty clubbing clothesline, then we brawl it out on the floor for a bit.
Back in, Hansen hits a big knee, but Vader comes back with some strikes until Hansen takes him down with a legbar.
Vader fights out with a dragon sleeper, then wallops Hansen with some nasty punches before opting to wear him down with a chinlock. Vader transitions to an armbar, then just switches to headbutting Hansen repeatedly. Vader hits an avalanche in the corner, then clobbers him in the corner. However, Hansen gets a big boot off a blind charge and BOWLS him over with a shoulderblock! Another one sends Vader to the floor, where Hansen administers more castigation.
Hansen blasts Vader with a couple of chairshots, busting Vader open in the process! We’re 3-for-3 so far when it comes to sanguine skirmishes.
Hansen works over the laceration while Vader fights back with body blows. Stan hits a vertical suplex for two, then zeroes in with some elbowdrops for another near-fall. Back to the floor for more chaos, then Hansen drops some more elbows in the ring. Vader ducks a lariat and gets a roll-up for two, then he intercepts a shoulderblock with a leaping body attack. Hansen seeks refuge on the floor, but Vader allows none, peppering him with headbutts and other vicious shots.
They continue brawling into the crowd before Vader deposits Hansen back into the ring for a huge powerslam for two. Vader delivers another splash for two, then it’s back to ringside where Vader continues kicking Hansen’s ass, and now HANSEN is wearing crimson.
Vader pounds away at Hansen with a ringside table before looking to finish him off in the ring, but Hansen again exits. Vader looks to splash Hansen against the ring post, but Hansen blasts him with a lariat! Hansen grabs the bullrope, and that’s enough for the disqualification!
Post-match, they continue their combat, with Hansen belting Vader and the referee with the cowbell.
***3/4 - This one doesn’t have nearly the notoriety of their prior match, mostly because both of Vader’s eyeballs managed to stay inside his head this time. Also, it wasn’t as good as there were parts that really dragged for me. That said, it’s still a hard-hitting, hostile hoss fight and a worthy follow-up to their legendary February brawl.
The DQ finish is not a surprise at all given that Giant Baba likely wasn’t going to let his Triple Crown Champion do a clean job, especially so soon after winning the belts.
In an odd, yet fun, statistic, Jushin Liger was the only NJPW wrestler we saw today who didn’t bleed. That’s a bit surprising because he bled quite a bit during his legendary match with Naoki Sano earlier this year.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13th
USWA Evansville TV
In a promo for the Evansville market, Jerry “The King” Lawler addresses The Snowman.
This promo seems incredibly out of place as Lawler talks about Leon Spinks costing him the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship to Snowman. The next match, there will be no referee in the ring; only one on the outside who will come in solely to count the pin. This time, it’s SNOWMAN’s shoulders that will be pinned to the mat!
Yeah, I’m not sure why this promo is here as we’ve still got plenty of Memphis footage before Snowman wins the title.
IWA Championship Wrestling
We wade back into the waters of IWA with Jerry “The King” Lawler and the moustacheless Lee Marshall. Lee asks Lawler about the impending challenge from Kerry Von Erich.
Lawler says that Kerry has been following him all around, even into the IWA. The King praises Kerry’s musculature, but much like he did with Mike Awesome, Lawler compares him to a dinosaur, saying he’s large, but with a pea-sized brain. He drops the “mind readers only charge him half-price” line, then says that the gulf in intelligence between the two is why he will remain champion.
This was another Lawler promo with bits recycled for a new audience, like when I would post my old Twitter memes on BlueSky. At least he puts over Kerry’s physical traits to at least make him seem like a force.
We now get Big Lee chatting with Kerry Von Erich himself. Lawler calls himself the King, but everyone else calls him the QUEEN! Oh, got his ass.
Kerrance tells Lawler that when he wants to SHOOT with him, he’s ready! Kerry references the ending to SuperClash III where he had Lawler beat with the Iron Claw, but the ref ended the match due to blood loss. Kerry will take Lawler down and will be the champion “for the last time”.
Not sure why he said that last part, or most things in general. Hell, Kerry probably didn’t know, either, but you can’t say he’s not passionate.
NWA Clash of the Champions XI: COASTAL CRUSH
The coast being crushed is in Charleston, South Carolina. Specifically, Clash XI emanated in front of 4,100 fans at the McAlister Field House, which is located on The Citadel, a military college. The show garnered a 4.1 rating, down from the 4.9 for Clash of the Champions X: Texas Shootout.
The Southern Boys (Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong) defeated The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael “P.S.” Hayes & Jimmy Jam Garvin) after Armstrong hit a diving headbutt on Garvin and placed Smothers on top for the pin.
The Boys were supremely over, getting a massive pop for the upset win.
“Wildfire” Tommy Rich defeated Bam Bam Bigelow via one of three disqualifications in the evening.
Bammer was DQed for not releasing a chokehold by the ref’s five count.
The Z-Man & Captain Mike Rotunda beat The SST (The Samoan Savage & Fatu) via a Tom Zenk small package.
Mean Mark Callous pinned Flyin’ Brian after a hotshot.
The finish was meant to be the HEART PUNCH, but they didn’t nail the sequence leading up to it, so they awkwardly switched to the hotshot on the fly.
NWA United States Tag Team Championship: Midnight Express (“Beautiful” Bobby Eaton & “Sweet” Stan Lane) (c) vs. The Rock N’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) - Need to bail out a lackluster show? Throw the Expresses out there!
Eaton and Gibson kick things off, with Robert getting the early shine as the crowd chants “Rock N’ Roll”. Gibson hits a flying headscissors and grabs an armbar, but Eaton backs into his corner to tag Sweet Stan. Gibson runs into a kick to the guts, then Stan lands some redneck kung fu kicks until Robert hits an enzuigiri.
Morton quickly tags in and gets the best of Lane with a hiptoss reversal, but Stan socks Ricky in the corner. However, a blind charge misses, and Morton hits a back body drop to put him back down. Lane hits a couple of gut punches and a kick before tagging Eaton back in…who immediately runs into an armbar.
Bobby fights out, but Morton dodges some attempts at offense and hits a dropkick, then a hurricanrana. Eaton wrests Morton into his corner for a tag from Lane, but Ricky deftly takes HIM down with an armbar. Robert switches in, evades Lane’s attacks, and knocks Lane into Eaton with an atomic drop.
Morton comes in and gets a quick roll-up before Lane pokes the eyes to break up an armbar and tags in Bobby. Eaton dodges an armdrag attempt and pokes Ricky in the eye to take over. Beautiful Bobby places Ricky on the top rope and goes for a superplex, but Morton slips out, lands on his feet, and gets a roll-up…but Stan breaks that up by hurling Ricky into the turnbuckle!
Gibson comes in and it’s a four-way fray! Lane rids the ring of Ricky and the Midnights hit a big double-team back body drop on Gibson. An attempt at another one is countered by the Rock N’ Rolls with a tandem sunset flip/roll-up for two!
Things take a moment to settle down until Morton takes Lane down with an armdrag and goes for a monkey flip, but the Midnights take him down with an assisted powerbomb out of the corner! Eaton hits his lovely twisting vertical suplex, then the Midnights continue working Ricky over until Eaton misses a blind charge in the corner.
IT’S HOT TAG GIBSON as he’s a house afire! Things break down after a bit with Morton crossbodying Eaton out of the ring. Gibson goes for a spinning toehold on Lane, but Stan shoves Robert into Ricky on the apron! Gibson fights back with a sleeper, but Eaton comes off the top with a double axehandle. Lane covers, but Gibson kicks out!
Everyone battles it out again as Ricky and Robert hit the double dropkick! However, Lane grabs the referee to stop the count, and it’s a disqualification against the Midnights! The Rock N’ Rolls send the Midnights packing after the bell rings.
*** - This was a truncated version of their usual story as there wasn’t really any kind of extended heat for the Midnights, but it’s still pretty good. These teams can have an entertaining match in their sleep.
The DQ finish was super-lame, and Ole basically booked himself into a corner with this one. He didn’t want to take the belts off the Midnights yet, but the Rock N’ Roll Express were penciled in for a World Tag title match at the Great American Bash, so them losing here wasn’t ideal. In the end, you get this.
Barry Windham pinned Doug Furnas after a back suplex and assistance from the ropes.
Furnas was pretty messy here, but Windham held it together.
Sid Vicious cuts a promo on Lex Luger while still wearing that dang tuxedo! Sid’s a fuel-injected suicidal machine!
NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: Lex Luger (c) vs. Sid Vicious - I’m honestly shocked that Sidward isn’t wrestling in that tux. This is Sid’s first match since becoming a Horseman as he was on the shelf for a long time due to a punctured lung, and he has Ole Anderson with him. Lex, who himself is still recovering from a staph infection, is rocking a ponytail and pink tights like he’s 1992 Rick Martel.
Luger fends off a pre-bell attack from Ole, prompting Sid to attack from behind. However, Luger quickly topples Sid with a clothesline and gets a rapid three! Thanks for coming, guys.
I don’t believe either guy was fully cleared for competition at this point, which is why we got what we got. I wouldn’t have bothered with the match, honestly. Getting dropped in under half a minute to a clothesline couldn’t have done any favors for Sid’s image as the Horsemen’s monster muscle.
In a bout for the NWA World Tag Team Championship, Doom (Ron Simmons & Butch Reed) (c) defeated The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) after Simmons hit Scott with some brass knuckles.
At the same time, Rick covered Reed for a visual pinfall, but it didn’t count because Scott and Simmons were the legal men.
Leading up to the show, Rick and Scott were allegedly promised by Ole that they’d be getting the belts back, but Anderson changed his mind and wanted to have Doom go over clean instead. This led to a massive blowup backstage between the Steiners and Ole, so both parties compromised with that finish in an attempt to protect the Steiners a bit.
We jump to the ending of Arn Anderson vs. Paul Orndorff, with Mr. Wonderful hitting a kneelift and an elbowdrop for two. Orndorff goes for a pump splash, which hits knees. Anderson applies an inside cradle, but Orndorff reverses into one of his own for the pin!
Other than Windham beating Furnas, things have not been going well for the Horsemen thus far.
Speaking of the Men of Horse, Tony Schiavone interviews them all on the platform. Ole says that they saw what Sting, Lex Luger, and Paul Orndorff can do, but they pledge that nobody will take the world title away from Ric Flair.
Ric says that many men are ready to climb the mountain, but only one man has sit atop said mountain for the last nine years. With the Horsemen by his side, victory is guaranteed. When Flair speaks, it’s as good as gold! Flair puts over the efforts of Windham and Arn, then tells Junkyard Dog and the other Dudes with Attitude that Ric Flair is the best thing going today before closing with a WOO!
Well, at least there wasn’t any racism in that promo.
Junkyard Dog’s gonna bite down on Ric Flair!
NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair (c) vs. Junkyard Dog - Well, if they had to run this as a top program, it’s better to blow it off on free TV than try to convince fans to buy it on PPV.
JYD gets a pretty fun little marching band entrance, and the fans seem to be into him.
Flair gets this really wild graphic during his entrance, complete with unibrow, wrist tape that he doesn’t usually wear, and exaggerated muscles and six-pack abs.
Like with Sid earlier, Ole Anderson’s out with Ric. Jim Ross on commentary is already talking about JYD being 310 pounds and having the cardiovascular disadvantage against Flair.
Flair slaps Junkyard Dog to start, so JYD returns fire, knocking Flair on his ass. The Dog continues powering Flair down after some lockups, then JYD shoulderblocks him down before catching him with an all-fours headbutt. An uppercut sends Ric Flair to the floor, resulting in a Flair Flop on the ramp. He looks like he’s doing the Yamcha death pose.
Back in, Flair begs off and gets a quick eyepoke. He tries some chops, but they’re no-sold by the Dog! JYD rains SOUPBONES down upon Flair in the corner, then puts him down with a clothesline. Again, Flair begs off and finally manages to chop JYD down, then he tries a kneedrop to the head…but JYD POPS BACK UP because of his comically hard head.
A noticeably winded Junkyard Dog backs Flair into the corner, but Flair tries to fight back. However, Dog endures the chops and unloads fists aplenty. A back body drop out of the corner forces Flair to again beg for mercy, but Naitch suckers JYD into getting his throat draped over the top rope. Ole distracts the ref, so Flair grabs a chair and brains JYD, but his head, much like The Adventures of Bayou Billy on NES, is JUST TOO DAMN HARD.
Junkyard Dog POWERS UP and backs Flair to the corner again and hits more punches, then he sends Flair to the apron with an Irish whip. Flair scales the ropes and comes off with an axehandle, but JYD intercepts with a massive SOUPBONE!
JYD again hits a back body drop on Flair, then punches Ole off the apron. However, Flair attacks JYD’s knee from behind and heads up again, but JYD hurls him off the top rope! JYD hits a headbutt and gets some mounted punches, but Ole and the rest of the Horsemen come in for yet another disqualification!
* - You know what? This wasn’t the unmitigated disaster that its reputation suggests. On the positive side, the crowd was into it, it was blessedly short at around six minutes, and Flair bumped, sold, and did everything in his power to get something out of a past-it Junkyard Dog. However, that doesn’t mean the match was good.
It was far below the typical baseline Flair match. JYD swallowed him up the entire match, so there wasn’t an opportunity for Flair to build heat. Dog’s offense was also woefully limited and repetitive for such a brief match. The DQ finish doesn’t help matters, especially since it was the third one of the night.
Sting, Lex Luger, and Paul Orndorff come out for the save, and the Dudes with Attitude brawl it out with the Horsemen as CLASH OF THE CHAMPIONS ROLLS ON…
…and we’re back with Sting challenging Ric Flair to a one-on-one championship match! The Horsemen come back out, with Flair setting his sights on Sting. However, the Stinger fights back and sends Flair packing as the credits roll.
THE TUGBOAT TRIBUNE
As always, the news comes courtesy of Dave Meltzer and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
The quality of that Junkyard Dog vs. Ric Flair match wasn’t exactly an anomaly based on the feedback about their house show series. Some called them the worst matches of Flair’s career.
Fear not, for the Nature Boy will sink much lower before it’s all said and done.
Speaking of house show nonsense, Flair vs. Junkyard Dog was set to main event one in Columbia, South Carolina, but Dog was pulled because he already had an indie booking.
Lex Luger was then asked to take JYD’s place, but he declined because he was already given the night off to attend his son’s baseball game. That refusal got him some heat backstage.
Ricky Morton ended up working Flair for the title, which I’m sure would be a qualitative improvement over the advertised match, at the very least.
From that same show, Jim Cornette gets his nose broken after a fan punched him in the face. Corny retaliated by smashing him repeatedly in the face with his tennis racket, only to find out later that the fan was at least somewhat mentally challenged.
Unsurprisingly, that earned WCW some negative local press.
NEXT TIME: It’s a frenetic Friday with lucha tag action from EMLL, developments and matches from USWA Dallas, and Arn Anderson finally tangles with Rocky King on Power Hour!
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