The SmarK Rant for NWA Power Hour – 06.22.90

The SmarK Rant for NWA Power Hour – 06.22.90

Today is the day of Sting’s retirement, so let’s head back to 1990 again as he prepares to face Ric Flair for the World title…

Your host is Jim Ross

NWA World champion Ric Flair & World TV champion Arn Anderson v. Captain Mike Rotunda & Jerry Price

Well this is quite the step down for Captain Mike. Rotunda hits Arn with a flying forearm while the ever-stylish Sid hangs out at ringside in his tuxedo, once again seemingly fitted to prove that no one his size should be able to wear tuxedos like that. Rotunda with the abdominal stretch on Arn, but Flair breaks it up and comes in for a quick pinfall reversal sequence to give the Captain some shine. Rotunda with the airplane spin for two, but Arn breaks that up, so Rotunda beats on him in the corner until Arn drags him to the floor and hits him with a DDT out there. So that leaves Jerry Price alone with the Horsemen and that goes badly for him, as they proceed to torturing him and Arn finishes with the DDT at 3:04. A heel beatdown follows, but the DUDES WITH ATTITUDES rush in and make the save and Sting destroys Flair personally before chasing him to the back. The buildup has been really effective, if heavy-handed with all the Horsemen interference in every match, but they needed better backup for him than Paul Orndorff and JYD. Kerry Von Erich would really have been perfect for that role.

WRESTLING NEWS NETWORK! WITH GORDON SOLIE!

Gordon has a HOT TAKE that something has to be done about the Horsemen. So we get the Luger-Sid match as an example of that, although in that case it immediately backfired and Lex won in record time.

US champion Lex Luger v. Barry Horowitz

Weird to see Barry on an NWA show. Barry promises to “bust him up”, so Lex takes him down with a headlock and follows with a suplex. And of course, the Horsemen join us at ringside and Sting comes out to counter them. Lex with a press slam and powerslam, and that sets up the torture rack at 1:47. Odd that Luger was defending against Mean Mark at the PPV when it would have seemingly made more sense to defend against a Horsemen given the overarching story.

Meanwhile, Sting promises to walk that aisle, like Flair keeps telling him he needs to do, and he’s gonna use the knee surgery as motivation and take it out on Flair. He’s been through a lot with Flair and they’ll go through a lot more together apparently. Well that’s the understatement of the century.

Mean Mark v. Dennis Fowler

Mark takes him down and goes to work on the leg, which is an odd choice for someone his size. Mark with a sideslam and he goes up with a ropewalk elbowdrop that gets the pin at 2:00. Apparently that wasn’t supposed to be the finish, so Mark picks him up and hits a heart punch and pins him again for good measure.

Meanwhile, Jim Cornette interviews the Horsemen about the challenge from the Dudes With Attitudes, as Ole calls them “the Super Dudes” and doesn’t care which combination they face at the Bash. And Flair rants about his $1000 shoes and doesn’t think Sting is man enough to walk in them.

The Southern Boys v. The Freebirds

The Boys chase Hayes to the floor and we get some stalling from the Birds, shockingly enough. Back in the ring, Armstrong takes Garvin down with a headlock and grinds on that, but Garvin escapes with a cheapshot on the ropes and the Birds double-team him. Armstrong fights back with an elbows on Hayes for two and goes to an armbar, but Garvin gets the knee from the apron and Hayes uses his famous left hand to take over. Garvin necks him on the top rope for two. Hayes goes for the DDT and Steve fights out of that and makes the hot tag to Tracy Smothers. Southern Boys run wild with double shoulderblocks and slug away in the corners, but Jim Cornette shows up and trips up Smothers and Garvin rolls him up for the pin at 5:22. Man there’s a lot of interference on this show. They’d go on to have much better matches later on but this was fine for a quickie TV match. **1/4.

Meanwhile, Doom is not running from the Rock N Roll Express or the Steiners and they’ll face anyone.

The Rock N Roll Express v. The Mod Squad

Gibson misses a crossbody out of the corner on Basher and lands awkwardly, but recovers and works on Spike’s arm. Ricky comes in with a dropkick, and they double-team Basher and Robert rolls him up for two. Drop toehold gets one and a rollup follows, but Spike cuts him off with a clothesline and the Mods go to work. Odd to see Robert getting the heat here but he was good at it as well. Mods cut off the ring and lure Ricky in for some cheating in the corner, and Spike drops an elbow on Robert for two. Blind charge misses , but Basher cuts off the hot tag and chokes Robert out in the corner. Basher with the chinlock and they switch off as Basher gets an elbow for two. Robert comes back with a clothesline and makes the hot tag to Ricky, who gets a sleeper on Spike before Basher quickly breaks it up. So the Mods get rid of Robert and double-team Ricky, but Robert trips up Spike and Ricky pins Basher with a crossbody at 6:55. Another perfectly cromulent TV match from a couple of professional teams. **1/2

And Jim Ross wraps it up and hypes a Steiners v. Windham & AA match for the Main Event on Sunday. That sounds like another good one.

Good show this week!