A lot of changes going on in the NWA, but luckily, the Chi-Town Rumble 1989 review features a main event that cannot fail.
That’s right: Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat for the NWA World Heavyweight Title.
Let’s jump into one of the most memorable main events ever with Blake’s Chi-Town Rumble 1989 review!
- Date: February 20, 1989
- Location: Chicago, IL
ANNOUNCE BOOTH: Jim Ross and Magnum TA welcome us and run down the card for the evening.
Michael P.S. Hayes vs. Russian Assassin No. 1 (w/Paul Jones)
Not exactly a hot opener here. Hayes starts off with the momentum and makes Assassin look silly. We work to Assassin being on the offensive, and before you know it, Gary Michael Cappetta is saying 10 minutes have already gone by. Wow.
Jones gets involved while the ref’s back is turned, much to the surprise of no one. Hayes rebounds and goes for the bulldog, but Assassin counters. Then Hayes manages to counter a Russian move and hits the suplex. He goes to drop the elbow, but once again that pesky Russian moves. Another counter from Hayes that sends the Assassin into the post.
Hayes then turns around and nails the DDT for the win at 15:48. This was slow at times, but surprisingly I didn’t completely hate it.
• Rating: *1/2
BACKSTAGE: Ricky Steamboat is with little Dragon and his wife. He’s ready to rock and roll tonight. START THE MATCH RIGHT NOW.
Sting vs. Hacksaw Butch Reed (w/Hiro Matsuda)
Sting with the pink tights in this one. Back and forth to start and then Sting gets some hot spots with the arm drag and dropkick. Lots of rest holds now with the arm bar on Reed. Once Reed works his way out of it, he sends Sting flying to the outside.
Now we’ve got Reed slowing the pace. This is dragging. Matsuda gets involved and chokes out Sting while Teddy Long has his back turned for the 9,374th time in the past six matches. Sleeper hold from Reed and Sting fights his way up, but goes right back down. Eventually Sting gets out and goes up top. Reed uses the knees to take Sting down.
It feels like this match should have been over five minutes ago. But it’s still going. And here’s another rest hold spot on Sting. Thankfully, Sting makes his move and hits a barrage of offense. Reed uses the ropes to try and steal the pin, but Long sees it and knocks his hands off the ropes. Sting reverses with a pin of his own for the win at 20:07.
Well, 20 minutes for this match was entirely unnecessary and it dragged quite a bit until the finish.
• Rating: *1/2
BACKSTAGE: Paul E. Dangerously pulls the ol’ switcheroo and says Jack Victory will be teaming with Randy Rose tonight against the Midnight Express. He says that the Midnights knew Dennis Condrey best and that’s who they were preparing for, so he let Dennis take a vacation. Of course, in actuality, he had left the promotion.
The Original Midnight Express and Paul E. Dangerously vs. The Midnight Express and Jim Cornette – Loser Leaves NWA Match
Good guys with the hot start and Cornette drops an elbow on Victory to a massive pop from the crowd. Then we get a spot where Paul E is playing to the crowd and turns around and slaps Rose in the face. Needless to say, he thought it was Lane. Near fall on Rose after that.
Action really picks up when Rose tosses Eaton off the apron directly onto the steel railing. Back inside and Paul E gets tagged in while Eaton is down. He delivers punches and kicks before weaseling out when Eaton gets back up. Eaton tags in Cornette and he says he wants Paul E. So he charges at Paul E but Rose hammers him from behind. Then Rose tags in Paul E and he starts going to work on Cornette’s back.
Cornette gets the upper hand back and that leads to Paul E making the tag. Rose and Victory beat the hell out of Cornette until Eaton changes the game with a bulldog on Victory. Cornette then makes the tag to Lane. A lot of good work from both sides now, and we finally get the big spot where Cornette gets in and goes to town on a hurt Paul E. Cornette hits a clothesline from hell but Rose comes in. Cornette does some flipping and makes the hot tag to Lane who kicks everyone into oblivion.
Rose tries to gain an advantage and goes up top but misses. Midnight then hit the finisher for the victory at 15:54. This was very good. You knew it would be with the workers involved and the awesomeness of the Cornette/Paul E feud.
• Rating: ***
BACKSTAGE: Ric Flair is ready for Steamboat and guarantees victory.
Mike Rotundo vs. (c) Rick Steiner (w/Scott Steiner) – TV Title
Worth noting that this is Scott’s first-ever appearance. I think these Steiner guys might have a future. Rotundo retreats a few times early and stares down Scott on the outside. Steiner in complete control for the first several minutes of the match. JR brings up Rotundo’s impressive run through the NFL PUNT, PASS, AND KICK COMPETITION. That’s the kind of depth that you can’t find anywhere else.
Rotundo finally takes control and uses the ropes for leverage on an abdominal stretch. JR continues his crazy amount of insight into Rotundo’s amateur wrestling career. Back and forth we go again, and the crowd loves them some Rick Steiner. Lateral press from Steiner gets near fall and then he goes up top but Rotundo moves out of the way at the last second.
We go outside the ring and Rotundo rams the shoulder into the post. Rick busted open now. Another perfectly executed punt, pass, and kick reference from JR. Steiner hits a hell of powerslam back inside the ring for another close count. And since a good wrestling match isn’t enough, Kevin Sullivan comes out and grabs a mic and insinuates that he’s taken Steiner’s dog. Woof.
Steiner gets back in and Rotundo hits an immediate suplex. But Steiner takes back over and works in the sleeper hold as Cappetta announces five minutes left in the time limit. They then do the spot when they fall to the mat with Steiner holding on the sleeper, but his shoulders are on the mat so Teddy counts the three for a new champ at 16:21. This was good stuff until the finish.
• Rating: ***
Lex Luger vs. (c) Barry Windham (w/Hiro Matsuda) – US Heavyweight Title
Immediate sleeper hold from Luger but Windham counters with a back suplex. Luger no sells it and then hits the press slam. Windham with the retreat outside, and damn was Windham awesome during this stretch of his career. Absolutely awesome.
Luger slamming Windham all over the place, and hits a big clothesline for a near fall. Luger reaches into the bag of tricks for a top rope move and it goes about as well as you’d expect it to. He misses and rolls all the way to the outside. Windham in control now, but he rams the CLAW hand right into the post. He’s selling it like a champ.
Windham keeps on the offensive but Windham can barely lift the hand. Luger bleeding more than he did at Great American Bash ’88 as well. Windham sits Luger up top to go for the superplex and hits it. He drops the elbow but the pin only gets a two. Then in the same exact spot from the match before, Windham hits the belly to back suplex and his shoulders are on the mat as referee Tommy Young counts the three at 10:43. New champ.
After the match, Windham delivers a piledriver to Luger on the belt and then crushes him over the head with it.
• Rating: ***
The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) vs. (c) Kevin Sullivan and Steve Williams – NWA World Tag Team Titles
We get a hoss showdown between Animal and Williams early. Big powerslam from Animal sends Doc retreating as Hawk makes his way into the match. Doc comes back with a press slam but Hawk clotheslines him right out of his singlet. Animal gets thrown to the outside as Teddy Long continues his run of stupidity by not seeing Sullivan nail Animal with a chair.
Sullivan works over Animal in the ring and that becomes the theme. Doc comes in and does the same as Animal fights to make the tag. HOT TAG time to Hawk and he runs over everyone. He goes for a pin on Sullivan but Doc makes the save. Then we get Hawk and Doc on the outside while Animal and Sullivan fight inside.
Then all four are back in the ring, and Animal gets pinned by Doc at the same time Hawk is pinning Sullivan. Teddy counts the three, and awards the Road Warriors the win and title at 8:27 since Hawk/Sullivan were the legal men. I wasn’t a fan of this at all.
• Rating: *
VIDEO: We see all of the events that led up to the Steamboat/Flair match. Here we go.
Ricky Steamboat vs. (c) Ric Flair (w/Hiro Matsuda) – NWA World Heavyweight Title
Several near falls in the early going from Steamboat, which sends Flair outside to regroup. Vicious chops from both men and then Steamboat lands the back body drop to Flair. More hellacious chops after that and Flair is pissed. Steamboat then goes to work with hammerlocks and headlocks.
Flair gets up and they are beating the holy hell out of each other with chops. Steamboat then delivers a FUCKING CHOP FROM HELL to get a two count. Shoulder block from Flair, but Steamboat right back up to give him more chops and send him to the mat on the outside. Steamboat sucks chants start up as both men now inside.
This is absolutely masterful work at this point. If you’re reading this, chances are, you already know how good this match was. But even in the first several minutes, it’s clear that these are two dudes on a completely different page from everyone else. More chops from both men and then the pace picks up with Flair catching Steamboat with a back elbow. Steamboat fights back once again with the chops and sends him over the top and to the floor.
Flair with the underhanded move to drag Steamboat to the outside. He throws Steamboat off the rails right in front of Dave Meltzer and then beats him with vicious chops. Meltzer totally losing his shit for every move. Double-arm suplex on the inside from Flair for a near fall. And then we get another exchange of chops before Flair flops over the post and then goes up top for a TERRIFIC spot. He jumps off the top and Steamboat reverses into a pin that gets two and a half. The roof almost came off the building.
Now the crowd is all in on Steamboat and chants his name as Flair locks on the Figure Four. Steamboat hammers the mat in pain (which was back when tapping the mat didn’t result in giving up), as the crowd continues to try and help Steamboat. Flair goes for the ropes and Tommy Young makes him break the hold.
Both men up on their feet and MORE CHOPS. Irish whip from Steamboat and it ends with both men going over the top. Chops from both men on the outside and then Flair throws Steamboat into the post. Suplex from Flair gets another two and a half. Worth noting that JR is on fire here and Magnum TA is pretty good as well. Another suplex from Flair but Steamboat kicks out again. Flair starts showing signs of frustration as he goes over to intimidate Young.
Backbreaker from Flair and he puts his feet on the ropes, but Steamboat kicks out multiple times as Young isn’t seeing any of this. Steamboat then does a quick rollup as Flair taunts the crowd but another near fall. Flair throws Steamboat into the corner and Steamboat jumps up top only to miss a flying cross body. Both reverse moves and then the bridge works to Steamboat delivering the double arm suplex. Flair manages to get a foot on the rope before the three. Another near fall from Steamboat and WE ARE BACK TO SOME DAMN CHOPS.
Irish whip from Flair and Steamboat comes back with a clothesline. Then Steamboat delivers the judo chop and another flying tackle. Steamboat goes up top and hits the judo chop off the top rope. Steamboat back up top again and he hits the cross body but Young gets caught in the middle and goes down. Flair then goes for the rollup as Young is down but no count. Teddy Long comes down as Flair tosses Steamboat over the top. Flair goes over to check on Young, but at the same time, Steamboat goes up top and misses another flying cross body.
Flair then immediately goes over to lock in the Figure Four but Steamboat counters it into a small package for the three count at 23:07. There’s a reason why the series between these two was so highly regarded. This was simply spectacular.
• Rating: *****
BACKSTAGE: Bob Caudle catches up with Steamboat. All the good guys come in with the champagne to congratulate him.
SHOW SUMMARY
When your main event is five stars, it’s hard to look down on a show. But when you consider that the show also had three matches at three stars, it’s certainly a successful one. Outstanding show for the most part, as Steamboat and Luger’s title wins would set the course for what was to come for many months ahead.
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