Neither Pat nor Paul were very charismatic so Diamond Dallas Page did the majority of the talking for Badd Company. Page appeared to be destined for a great career as a manager.

With Curt Hennig leaving the AWA for the WWF, AWA International Television champion Greg Gagne was left without a hated rival. Gagne continued to defend his title on a regular basis without being tested by a formidable competitor until former NWA champion Ronnie Garvin entered the AWA. Garvin defeated Gagne for the AWA TV title on September 17^th, 1988 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Jerry Lawler's toughest challenger for the AWA title was The Modern Day Warrior, Kerry Von Erich. Kerry, a former NWA world heavyweight champion, was the most popular wrestler in Dallas, Texas. Lawler was the most popular wrestler in Memphis, Tennessee. When Lawler would battle Von Erich in Dallas, the fans would cheer for Kerry. When their matches were held in Memphis, the fans would cheer for Lawler. The Von Erich against Lawler battles were the impetus for the inter-promotional feud between the Dallas-based WCWA and the Memphis-based CWA. In short, it was Texas versus Tennessee.

Verne Gagne, Jerry Jarrett and Fritz Von Erich geared all of their promotional efforts towards the upcoming Pay Per View broadcast called Super Clash III. Jarrett and Von Erich concentrated on building the Texas versus Tennessee feud while Gagne used his national broadcast outlet ESPN to hype Super Clash III. The feeling was if all three promotions touted Super Clash III as a must see show, the Pay Per View broadcast to be held on December 13th 1988 in Chicago Illinois, would be a huge success.

Because there were three promotions involved in the upcoming PPV broadcast, arguments arose between Verne Gagne, Jerry Jarrett and Fritz Von Erich regarding which wrestlers would win the matches on the Super Clash III card. The disagreements over which wrestlers would win at Super Clash III weren't the only problems facing the promotional alliance. All three promoters wanted the AWA champion to wrestle on their own cards. The main event for Super Clash III was agreed upon though. It would feature AWA champion Jerry Lawler against WCWA champion Kerry Von Erich. The date was December 13^th, 1988. The site was the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois. Welcome to Super Clash III, the AWA's first foray into pay per view.

The opening bout saw Chavo, Mando and Hector Guerrero face the team of Mike Davis and Tommy Lane also known as the Rock and Roll RPMs along with their partner for the night Cactus Jack. The Guerrero brothers emerged victorious when Chavo pinned Tommy Lane at the 6:35 mark.

The second match of the evening featured World Class light heavyweight champion Jeff Jarrett against former champion Flamboyant Eric Embry. Jarrett represented the Tennessee-based CWA while Embry was a wrestler from the Texas-based WCWA. Eric regained the World Class light heavyweight title by defeating Jeff in four minutes and 13 seconds.

The next contest pitted the Boogie Woogie Man Jimmy Valiant versus AWA newcomer Wayne "The Train" Bloom. Valiant easily won this squash match in 24 seconds!!

The fourth slugfest of the night had Texas heavyweight champion Iceman King Parsons taking on his longtime rival Brickhouse Brown. Parsons retained his title by beating Brickhouse in a hard fought contest. The time of the match was 5:41.

Up next was an inter-gender 6 person tag team match with Pat Tanaka and Paul Diamond teaming up with Madusa Micelli to oppose Ricky Rice, Derrick Dukes and Wendi Richter. Richter pinned Madusa at 5:43 to win the match for her team after a Pat Tanaka crescent kick accidentally hit Micelli.

The sixth match of Super Clash III featured AWA TV champion Ronnie Garvin against former champion Greg Gagne. There were special stipulations for this match as the belt could change hands on a disqualification or a countout. These stipulations came into play when Ronnie Garvin was counted out of the ring at five minutes and fifty two seconds. Greg Gagne regained the AWA TV championship in the first screwjob finish of the evening.

The seventh encounter was a Beverly Hills Lingerie battle royal featuring the lady wrestlers from POWW. The evil Terrorist won the bout when she eliminated her enemy Brandi Mae. The time of the match was 8:36.

The eighth encounter of the evening was a boot camp match between Sgt. Slaughter and Colonel DeBeers. Just as Slaughter was about to win the match, Sheik Adnan Al Kaissee and The Iron Sheik interfered on behalf on DeBeers. The Guerrero brothers eventually made the save. The match was ruled a no contest continuing a trend of bizarre finishes.

The next bout was a tag team affair with The Samoan Swat Team, Samu and Fatu, defending the World Class tag team titles against Freebird Michael Hayes and his partner Steve "Do It To It" Cox. Samu and Fatu retained their titles when their manager Freebird Buddy Roberts interfered allowing Samu to pin Hayes in 7:53.

The tenth match of Super Clash III was an Indian Strap Match pitting bitter enemies Wahoo McDaniel versus the "Raging Bull" Manny Fernandez. This bout was extremely bloody with the announcers at ringside suggesting the encounter be stopped because there was too much blood being spilled. McDaniel won the bout in seven minutes and forty-eight seconds.

Next up was AWA champion Jerry The King Lawler in a unification title match against WCWA title holder the Modern Day Warrior Kerry Von Erich. Lawler played the role of villian in this contest. This was an excellent brawl between two legendary wrestlers. Jerry used a foreign object to bloody up Kerry. Kerry juiced big time as blood was flowing everywhere. Von Erich made a Superman comeback and had Lawler locked in the Iron Claw hold when the referee inexplicably stopped the match declaring Lawler the winner due to Kerry's excessive bleeding. It was a unsatisfying conclusion to an otherwise great match. The fans at ringside were upset at the referee's decision to stop the match on account of blood. Jerry Lawler unified the AWA and WCWA titles in eighteen minutes and fifty three seconds.

The final bout of Super Clash III had The Rock and Roll Express, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, facing the Studd Stable of Robert Fuller and Jimmy Golden. Both teams were disquailified at 7:03 ending Super Clash III.

The attendance at Super Clash III was disappointing with a little over one thousand people showing up for the card. The pay per view buy rate wasn't much better as SuperClash III drew roughly 25% of what the WWF and NWA normally drew for their pay per views during the same time period. These weren't the only difficulties arising from Super Clash III. AWA promoter Verne Gagne blatantly lied about the gate receipts and refused to pay any of the pay per view revenue to anyone involved with the CWA or WCWA. In other words Verne stiffed everyone.

Verne not only didn't pay the wrestlers but he refused to recognize Jerry Lawler's claim of being the Unified heavyweight champion. This act by Gagne along with a disagreement over what dates Lawler would work on AWA cards led to Jarrett withdrawing the CWA from the promotional alliance. The WCWA soon followed suit. Verne Gagne then stripped Jerry Lawler of the AWA heavyweight championship in January of 1989. A new AWA champion would have to be crowned.

NEXT MONTH:

We'll look at Larry Zbyzsko's AWA title reign, the AWA team challenge series and the final days of the AWA.