[1988-03-27-NWA-Clash of the Champions I] Dusty Rhodes & Road Warriors vs Ivan Koloff & Powers of Pain (Barbed Wire)

[Superstar Sleeze]

Dusty Rhodes & Road Warriors vs Ivan Koloff & Powers of Pain - Clash of the Champions I Barbed Wire Match

 

So the night before at 6:05 Eastern on Muthaship, Dusty took exception to Tully roughing up Magnum TA and savagely attacked him with a baseball bat and in the fracas nailed Jim Crockett. They devoted the rest of the show to Sullivan, Cornette and Dillon calling for Dusty's head and people like Sting shook by it. Great angle, Why he is out here now though? I don't get it. Could have furthered the angle by not having him out.

 

Match was not violent enough. Very pedestrian. Could they not bleed on TBS? Stupid stipulation then. Animal's orbital bone was cracked during the weightlifting competition. He is earing a mask not much done with the mask. Not much going on. Too many bodies no energy. Finish was lame. Animal powerslam and Barbie headbutts Warlord by accident. Afterwards, taking the mask off Animal and working eye added drama should have happened during match proper. American Dream chases him off.

 

First DUD of the night. More lame than bad.

[Loss]

That boot to the face from Barbarian in the post-match, though.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Love Barbarians Kick of Fear best part of any Powers of Pain match

[cactus]

I didn't hate this, but it was rather hard to follow. The wire is wrapped around the ring, and is mostly there to keep everyone within the ring, so I didn't go into this expecting a crazy FMW deathmatch with crazy spots. I like how hot the crowd was, how badass the Road Warriors looked and how they made Dusty an honorable member for this match.  The only barbed wire spot I can recall is when Koloff goes arm first into it during the post match. Never thought I would see the 3rd ever WWWF champion do a spot with something that's mostly associated with deathmatch wrestling. Barbarin kicking off Animal's protective face mask was oddly satisfying. 

★★