411 Video Review: Clash Of Champions 2: Miami Mayhem

Welcome back to everyone who read my report on the first Clash of the Champions. Thanks to everyone who provided feedback on the first installment, both positive and negative. I’m constantly trying to improve the format, so look for some changes to take place over the course of the next few shows. Today we will be taking a look at the second, and vastly inferior, edition of the TBS Supershow. I’ve made a few slight modifications to the format, and also included links to the Clash II companion site that I set up on some free server space. As always, Jason over at Wrestling Supercards and Tournaments was kind enough to allow me to use his match times. And we’re off…

June 8, 1988.

There’s that NWA intro again with the lightning and Big Gold.

And we are LIVE from the James L. Knight Center in the place to be Miami, Florida for Clash of the Champions II – Miami Mayhem

-Jim Ross is standing out back as limos begin to pull up. He lets us know that many celebrities are in attendance tonight. We cut to a close-up of Lyle Alzado exiting his limo and, as we are told by Mr. Ross, Lyle is not only a former Super Bowl Champion, but is also the star of the brand new situation comedy “Learning the Ropes.” If this means nothing to you, consider yourself to be amongst the lucky. I really can’t do the show the same kind of justice that RD did over at Wrestlecrap (R.I.P. old buddy, sniffle sniffle ), but let’s just say that the show was the sitcom equivalent of an El Gigante/PN News best of seven series and leave it at that. Frances Crocket, Gary Juster from the NWA Board of Directors (whom you may remember as a judge from the last Clash), and an unnamed member of the Chicago Blackhawks also step out of the limos.

-Guiding us through the evening will be our good friends Tony Schiavone and Bob Caudle. 

-U.S. Heavyweight Title Match: Barry Windham (w/ JJ Dillon) vs. Brad Armstrong. Barry is fresh off of a massive heel turn that made him the newest member of the Horseman, and is understandably far from the most popular guy in Miami right now. Armstrong goes right to work with a quick arm-drag that sends Windham bailing outside. And let the crowd shots begin. Over the course of this match we will be treated to 18 separate crowd shots. It’s like the old saying goes, “I tuned in to see the crowd shots, and from time to time they would interrupt with those damn rasslin’ matches.” One thing of interest relating to these crowd shots: Twice during the course of the match the camera focuses in on what appears to be a young, pre-SNL Adam Sandler marking out for Barry Windham. Back to the matter at hand… Barry goes down low with some right hands and whips Armstrong into the ropes. Armstrong comes back, slides under Barry, and gets a headlock takeover. JJ calls a time-out and Windham ducks outside for a quick strategy session. Back inside, Armstrong immediately scores with another headlock takeover and kills another two minutes or so. Both men tie up in the corner and Armstrong foolishly trusts a heel to make a clean break. He catches a right hook for his act of good will. A little bit more stalling before Armstrong ducks a clothesline and goes right back in for the headlock takedown yet again. Windham wiggles out only be put right back in fifteen seconds later. Broken up again as Armstrong gets a quick shoulder tackle, followed by a body slam, and then… you guessed it, another headlock. Windham bails, comes back in, and gets immediately headlocked again. This time he’s smart enough to just pick Armstrong up and drop him on his back. Windham follows up with a powerslam and then locks on the figure four. A figure four alone is enough to make any man submit, but Barry wants more. He’s got something up his sleeve… something HEELISH. As Teddy Long has his back turned asking for the submission, JJ Dillon grabs Barry’s arms and pulls waaaaaaay back for added leverage on the hold. Teddy turns around and asks Barry if he was breaking the rules; Barry says no. The long-haired fans at ringside claim otherwise. Teddy Long catches Windham in the act and breaks the hold. Armstrong mounts a comeback with a high cross body off the top rope for two. Armstrong goes for the same move again, but Barry rolls him over and locks on the Iron Claw. Armstrong is on the mat fighting with everything he’s got to escape, but when someone is palming your forehead you know that any breath you take could very well be your last. Armstrong loses consciousness as a direct result of the vicious claw and Windham scores the pinfall (13:35). ** Your “smart” friends may say, “ONLY Two Stars, but it’s Barry Windham in his prime against the vastly underutilized Brad Armstrong!” To that I say, go pop in your Super J Cup tapes and cry yourself to sleep you f*cking nerds. The match just didn’t make any sense. Of the 13:35, at least 11:00 was consumed by the Armstrong headlock. This isn’t a 90-minute draw fellas, it’s a short TV match. 

-We are back from the break and oh lord are we in trouble. Tony is at ringside with none other than Lyle Alzado. Speak of the devil, he just so happens to have a clip of his new situation comedy “Learning the Ropes” with him. Just relax, this shouldn’t hurt one bit…

Narrator: “Meet Robert Randall… Hard Working Teacher… Dedicated Vice-Principal… And devoted father who moonlights as a PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER!!”

Token Bonehead Son: “My father’s an ANIMAL!!!”

Robert Randall: (excitedly shaking hands with the Road Warriors in what looks to be a kindergarten classroom) “This is my other job, and these are my friends, but the two of you (his children) have GOT to keep this a secret”

*Cue token sappy theme music*, and it goes a little something like this…..

Living in this world of ours, can sometimes bring us down :*(

Brings our hopes to the ground, 

We can work it out!

Even though we fall so hard, 

We’ll live another day,

Where there’s a will there’s a way, 

Now if we only knew how!

*LEARNING THE ROPES, LEARNING TO LAUGH AT OUR FEARS, 

*LEARNING TO FIGHT THROUGH THESE TEARS,

*THAT BRING US CLOSER TOGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETHER!!*

*LEARNING THE ROPES, LEARNING THE FIVE GOLDEN RULES, *

*BECAUSE LOVING’S GONNA KEEP US STRONG, 

*LOVING’S GONNA KEEP US STRONG,

Learning the Ropes!!!!

-My God. The fun’s not over yet though. After seeing this clip which explains to us, in completely idiot proof fashion, the EXACT premise of the show, Tony turns to Lyle and says “So tell us what the show is about.” Lyle is kind enough to rehash exactly what the clip just told us in the form of one long run-on sentence…

“Well, you see, I play Robert Randall, a high school teacher who is trying to make ends meet, and what happens is the fact that teachers don’t make a lot of money unfortunately in this country, and this teacher Robert Randall that I play doesn’t make enough money, and he moonlights as a professional wrestler and they call him the Masked Maniac, and he has relationships with NWA wrestlers. It’s pretty interesting.” Ummmmm, ok.

-The Rock N’ Roll Express come out for a very brief promo. They want the tag straps, and they want ’em BAD.

-Footage is shown of the Great American Bash contract signing which took place in the cabin of the world famous yacht “Blackhawk.” This same yacht has housed Lyndon Johnson, Frank Sinatra, and John Denver, according to J.R. Luger and Flair are seated and ready to sign. The Horseman, Frances Crockett, and Gary Juster are also on board. The contract is signed and we are out.

-We cut back to present time as the Horseman arrive in their black stretch limo. All four are wearing black tuxes. Flair cuts one of his typical amazing promos on Luger, which he concludes by saying “It’s one thing to be a World Champion, but it’s another thing altogether to be a Horseman. Luger, if you’re watching this pal, diamonds are forever, and so are the Four Horseman, Whoo!”

-U.S. Tag Team Title Match: The Fantastics vs. The Sheepherders. Yes, there is some actual “wrestling” on this show. We are in the ring and ready to…BUT WAIT!!!

*We are back outside to see Luger’s limo pull up. Luger, in a white tux, steps out of the limo, and the Horseman proceed to hand him his ass. Flair rams Luger’s head repeatedly into the back of the limo. Luger blades as nervous telephone calls begin circulating in Maryland. The Horseman leave Luger laying on the ground in a puddle of his own blood. 

Back to the match… A ringside fan is proudly displaying a sign that says “New Zealand = Bad, U.S.A. = Good.” That is just BRILLIANT. For those of you who may not know, the Sheepherders were of course the team that would become known as the Bushwhackers in the WWF. They were annoying as hell once they became faces, or good guysâ„¢, in the WWF, but they were actually quite enjoyable in the mid 80’s as hated heels. They did a lot of the same goofy stuff as heels, but it was a lot funnier then because the crowd absolutely hated them. It’s pretty amusing to see them making their vintage wacky faces and having the crowd ready to crucify them for doing so. I’ve never been able to tell the two apart, and I’m not about to start now. Since this is the only Clash that they appear on, you can just bite the bullet and bear with me as I awkwardly stumble around varying ways to avoid actually using their names. The Sheepherders get off to an early start, beating on Fulton and using various heel tactics behind the ref’s back. The Fantastics are not looking particularly good here tonight. We see several blown moves here by the Fantastics, including a badly missed crucifix by Fulton. Rogers is in and is immediately back-dropped by an unnamed Whacker. He tries to flip out of the backdrop but misses badly. Lukewarm tag to Fulton who cleans house with bodyslams all around. The Fantastics do a strange variation of the *Double Noggin Knocker* in which both men grab one Whacker and then they throw their heads together. The Sheepherders are so shaken from this strange *DNK* variation that they bail to the outside for a quick regrouping. We cut to a *very* large woman in the crowd holding a sign that says “Hunk! Hunk! Hunk!” We’re not quite sure of who the sign is alluding to, but each man looks to have his fingers crossed desperately hoping it not be him. My memory’s a little cloudy, but I seem to recall reading in the Observer that the woman tried to rush the ring and put both The Fantastics between two very large pieces of bread, slather them with mayonnaise and soggy bacon, and proceed to have an afternoon snack… Confirmation on this story pending from Meltzer. On a related note, on the small outside chance that the woman in question is reading this, my brother is ALWAYS looking for a quick romp in the sack and can currently be reached at vanila242@aol.com … The Sheepherders regain the advantage with the double-team abdominal stretch on Rogers. A legitimate hot tag to Fulton is quickly snuffed out as one of the Whackers casually jabs both of his fingers into Fulton’s eyes. The crowd is pissed, so the guilty Whacker proceeds to stick his head over the ropes and make more goofy faces. Fulton mounts a comeback with a chop to the throat, followed by a knee-lift. He goes for the clothesline and we’ve got a double KO on our hands. The Sheepherder is the first one up and tags out, but they miss a double clothesline. Fulton comes back and lands the high cross body on both Whackers for the two-count. Rogers is in and he jumps on top of both Sheepherders for the two-count. Fulton proceeds to jump back on for two, Rogers back on for two (despite never being the legal man to begin with), and then Fulton jumps back on AGAIN for the two-count. The Herders are up and make some more of their trademark hilarious facial expressions. Some order is restored, but is quickly lost when Whacker#1 pulls down the tope rope, sending Tommy Rogers flying to the concrete. Rogers is dropped on the guardrail and clocked with the U.S. Tag belt for good measure. He plays dead outside while the Sheepherders are down on the canvas chewing on the ropes, which is legitimately one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Backdrop on Rogers, but a double axe handle attempt goes awry allowing a Fulton tag, a quick rollup, and a three-count to give the Fantastics the win at (19:29). A surprisingly one-sided match, as the Sheepherders weren’t exactly in the giving spirit tonight for whatever reason. A few interesting spots here and there make this a decent, if average match. **

-Tony is back at ringside with Dr. Death Steve Williams, who appears to have a blood alcohol level somewhere in the low 6’s. Williams is wearing a white tux with white gloves, and babbles on and on incoherently about absolutely nothing for a solid two minutes, stopping several times to repeat “Lex Luger is his own man.”   

-Special Grudge Match: Mike Rotunda and Rick Steiner w/ Kevin Sullivan vs. Ron Garvin and Jim Garvin w/ Precious. The ring announcer lets us know that “tag team rules are in effect” for this match. I guess I can stop looking around for the coal miner’s glove now. Kevin Sullivan is locked in a cage at ringside. This is the same cage that housed JJ Dillon at Clash I, and the same cage that the NWA/WCW would have a fruitful relationship with all the way up until May 19th of 1990…. Then HE came along. FUCK YOU Robocop, you selfish BITCH. Anyway, we get a quick commercial break as the match begins, so we cut back in with the bout already in progress as the Garvins lock duel sleepers onto the Varsity Club. Ron Garvin nails the big right hand on Rick Steiner. Damn Garvin is looking old here. While he may appear to be hovering around 65 or so, he is actually only 44 years old at the time of this match. Fifty bucks says he popped out of the womb with a full head of hair and a high school diploma. Back to the match as the Garvins begin working on the left arm of Rick Steiner. Jim Garvin with a hammerlock takedown, which he holds tightly while dropping four knees to the lower back of Steiner. Rotunda tags in and scores with a quick fireman’s carry takeover, but Garvin retaliates quickly with his own fireman’s carry. We cut outside to see Sullivan and Precious start making eyes at each other. Precious has the key to the cage which Sullivan wants, and Sullivan has a mysterious envelope which Precious wants. The crowd could care less. Both teams kill a few more minutes working each other over with arm bars. A few more minutes of Rick Steiner working over the left arm of Ron Garvin is ended by a big right hand by Garvin. Ron does a little somersault to the corner leading into a tag that, in theory, should be “hot”, but in reality was tepid at most. Jim Garvin goes to work with a knee-lift followed by a front face lock. We go back outside and resume the extracurricular antics , as Sullivan baits Precious with the mysterious envelope. Ronny G. attempts a sunset flip on Rotunda, but Rotunda grabs the top rope to avoid being taken over. Teddy Long kicks Rotunda’s arm off of the top rope solely because Rotunda is a heel. If that isn’t workplace discrimination then I don’t know what the hell is. Teddy Long gets distracted, which the V-Club capitalizes on by choking Garvin with the tag rope. The action spills outside and Kevin Sullivan takes a few swings at Old Man Garvin through the cage bars. Sullivan baits Precious over with the envelope and steals her keys. In the midst of the ruckus, Jim Garvin manages to roll Steiner up for the three-count to give the Garvins the win at (13:11). Sullivan escapes the cage and starts throwing Precious around by the neck in a rather brutal manner, even by today’s standards. Dr. Death storms the ring to make the save. He’s got his tuxedo jacket TUCKED IN TO HIS PANTS!!! YES!!! Jim Garvin attempts to check on Precious, but is abruptly shoved off for his efforts. She storms out of the ring as Teddy Long tries to console him. **

-We join Tony and Bob back at ringside to talk about Great American Bash ’88. Footage is shown from a January 20th show at the Greensboro Coliseum in which the Powers of Pain savagely attacked the Road Warriors, putting them out of commission for several weeks. Tony announces that a “Skywalkers” match has just been signed for the Great American Bash in Baltimore. Am I the only person on the face of the planet who actually enjoys scaffold matches? I didn’t remember the scaffold match at Great American Bash at all, so I checked my trusty PWI Almanac. My trusty book informed me that the match never even took place. It was almost as if Bill Apter himself was whispering secrets into my ear. It’s tough to understand Bill sometimes though, for he speaks only the strange, dead language of KAYFABE. To regress a little, I remember how excited I used to get as a kid when the new PWI would hit the newsstand. I would excitedly flip through the pages, carefully study the rankings, read the interviews over and over, send in my ballots for the year-end awards, and examine the results of each and every arena report. Little did I know at the time that the interviews were fabricated, as were many of the arena reports. The year-end awards were a complete work and the award issues would be packed up and ready to ship LONG before the ballot due-date was even up. Bill Apter was banned from ringside by Vince McMahon early into the initial rise of the WWF and actually ended up under the payroll of WCW for quite some time. Not coincidentally, the majority of the rankings and year-end awards favored the NWA/WCW heavily and often times Bill Apter himself would show up on WCW television to present the awards. It also pained me to learn that my favorite PWI columnist, Matt Brock, wasn’t even a real person. Brock was a fictitious character created by Bill Apter to play the roll of heel columnist. Popular legend has it that Apter even went as far as to create social security numbers for his “writers” Matt Brock, Liz Hunter, and Dan Shocket. Shocket is a particularly interesting character because Apter for whatever reason decided to smite his fictitious writer with cancer in what equated to the PWI equivalent of a wrestling “angle”. The payoff to this angle… the “death” of the fictitious Dan Shocket and a touching eulogy in the pages of Apter’s magazines. Back to the matter at hand… To the best of my knowledge, Clash II was the last major NWA event that the Powers of Pain would appear in before surfacing in the WWF. 

-We now rejoin Tony and Bob at ringside. An easel is set up next to them containing the blueprints for the “Tower of Doom” cage that will be used at the Great American Bash. Tony explains the structure to us, as well as the rules of the match. We get an extra treat as Bob Caudle unrolls a “parchment scroll” that Kevin Sullivan “found in a monastery.” This scroll contains the floor plan for the ancient Tower of Doom and is “THOUSANDS” of years old. Next…

–Al Perez w/ Gary Hart vs. Nikita Koloff . Nikita is back, and the fans love him. We are treated to a few more crowd shots to begin with and get to see a couple of “homemade” fan signs, including a generic “Nikita is your worst Nightmare” sign. The “Hunk! Hunk! Hunk!” woman is back with a vengeance. Her new sign is a clever play off of her last one, stating “Nikita isn’t just a Hunk, he’s a Super Hunk!”! Teddy Long goes over the rules and we are set to begin. Both men tie up violently and fight for the upper hand. Long breaks them up in the corner as they talk big time shit to each other. Another violent tie-up is broken up in the corner, and more forehead-to forehead trash talking occurs. Perez shoves Koloff hard, and Koloff returns the favor. These guys are INTENSE tonight. The Miami crowd is strongly behind Koloff here, chanting “Ni-ki-ta” at every chance they get. Nikita and Perez exchange arm-wringers and Perez gets a quick arm-drag. An elbow drop by Al misses and both men are back up, running their mouths, and ready to go. Another tie-up, a few reversed hammerlocks, and we have another stalemate. Another tie-up is broken up by Long in the corner, but Perez sneaks in a hard knee to Nikita’s abdomen. Nikita is pissed and charges at him, but Perez side-steps and Nikita hits the corner hard. Koloff rolls outside to recover, but isn’t very successful as Gary Hart rams him head first into a ringside table. We cut to a shot of a kid holding a long-winded, fragment filled sign saying, “Al Perez will have a bad dream. In fact it will be a Russian nightmare. One named Nikita.” Perez heads outside and goes to work on Nikita’s lower back, hoisting him up and running him back-first into the ring apron. Perez chokes Koloff on the bottom rope, and when Long pulls him away Gary Hart sneaks in a hard left hand to Nikita’s jaw. Nikita rolls back outside to recover, but is followed by Perez. Perez clubs Nikita across the lower back a few more times before slamming him hard on the concrete floor. There is no padding at all outside the ring here, that had to hurt. Nikita crawls back into the ring, heavily favoring his lower back. Perez with a few knees to Koloff’s back and a front chinlock. Koloff bridges out and snap-mares Perez, but misses an elbow drop, doing further damage to his already injured back. Perez locks on a modified camel clutch and wrenches way back, putting all the pressure on Nikita’s lower back. Nikita powers out and stands up with Perez still on his shoulders. He falls straight back, hurting Perez but ultimately just furthering his own injury. Nikita is dumped back outside by Perez, misses a sunset flip, and is AGAIN rammed back first into the corner. A Perez suplex is blocked by Koloff, and his counter suplex is in turn blocked by Perez. The second try is successful and Nikita has his second wind. Big right hands by Nikita have Perez reeling. A running elbow and a HUGE flying shoulder block puts Perez down. Nikita with another big elbow that sends Perez flying to the outside. Gary Hart is up on the apron jawing with Koloff, so Koloff goes after him. Larry Zbyszko (dressed entirely in black) appears out of nowhere and jumps Koloff from behind with a chain. Gary Hart takes off his jacket and puts it over Koloff’s head, smothering him as Perez and Zbyszko beat the hell out of Koloff. Teddy Long calls for the DQ, ending the match at (11:51). The heels leave Koloff for dead in the ring and we cut to a break. ***3/4. A really intense and hard fought match, despite the DQ finish. 

-World Tag Team Title Match: Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard w/ JJ Dillon vs. Sting and Dusty Rhodes. During the ring introductions, Sting is announced at 255 pounding and Dusty is announced at 267 pounds, somehow I find that a weeeeeeeee bit hard to believe. More creative crowd signs are shown, including *but not limited to*: “Sting Makes My Heart Zing” (get it, Sting rhymes with Zing), “Sting will strike tonight”, “Sting is #1”, and my personal favorite, a sign that says “Are the four horseman really brain dead?” with a big crudely drawn picture of what appears to be a four-headed llama. How four-headed llamas relate to the brain retardation of wrestling’s premiere heel stable is beyond me, but maybe I’m the slow one myself. Sting starts things out with Ax2 and quickly gets the upper hand, which sends Arn bailing outside for an impromptu strategy session with Blanchard and JJ. We’re back in and Arn scores with a low blow on Sting. Sting is tossed outside and positioned up against the ringpost. Arn runs towards him for the clothesline, but Sting ducks out of the way and Arn connects with the post. Sting goes to work on the injured arm with some heavy stomps and an arm bar. Blanchard tags in and is immediately arm-dragged and hip-tossed by Sting. Sting jumps on Tully’s shoulder and scores with the head-scissors takedown. Dusty is tagged in and cleans house on both opponents with a combination of rolling punches and elbows. Rhodes works over Tully for a few minutes, not allowing much offense from him at all. Dusty with a bad looking spinning toe-hold which is turned into a figure-four when he realizes that it’s not working. Either my imagination is playing tricks on me, or Dusty appears to be lactating this evening. Both men back on their feet and Dusty connects again with a shoulder-block. A Dusty dropkick hits Blanchard well below the strike-zone, and Sting is tagged in. Sting is on fire with a gorilla press on Blanchard, followed by a picture-perfect Stinger Splash. The Scorpion Deathlock attempt is broken up by Ax2, and Sting is again thrown outside the ring. Arn drops Sting neck first on the railing and rolls back in. JJ throws Sting back in for a two-count. Arn goes to the middle rope for a splash, but Sting gets his knees up. Great teamwork by the Horseman here… Arn goes for the suplex on Sting but cannot get him up. He makes a blind tag to Tully who comes over the top of Sting (still in the suplex position) with a sunset flip. Sting is struggling to stay up, and Arn releases the suplex and clotheslines Sting over and into the pinning position. Only good for a two-count though unfortunately. Sting is injured and back on the outside. Arn sneaks outside and PLANTS Sting with a DDT on the concrete. Again, no mats here tonight. Sting is back in and whipped into the ropes by Blanchard. Sting reverses and connects with the stun-gun. Tony chimes in with a great little observation saying, “When you have nothing left, you have to use the other man’s momentum to your advantage.” People are really too hard on Tony, he was (and still is) a great announcer and a hell of a good guy from what I’ve heard. It must have been pretty tough for the guy to be fired up about the product he was calling towards the end there. Hot tag to Dusty, who wipes the floor with the Horseman via the Bionic Elbow. Big elbow drop by Dusty, but the referee is down. All four men are in the ring now brawling. Suddenly Barry Windham comes out of nowhere (in the same black outfit that Larry Zbyszko was wearing earlier tonight) and locks the Iron Claw on Dusty. Flair is now in as well, beating the living hell out of Sting. Dusty is out cold as a direct result of the claw and has apparently bladed. Not quite sure why a nasty blade job is necessary to sell the Iron Claw, but who am I to question the 267 pound legend. The match is ruled a DQ and Sting and Dusty pick up the win at (10:58). **

-Tony, Jim, Bob, and Lyle Alzado bid us farewell and remind us to tune in to “Learning the Ropes.” The upcoming Great American Bash PPV is mentioned one last time and we are OUT.

*Epilogue* Clash II: Miami Mayhem was nowhere near the quality of the first show. The Midnight Express, Ric Flair, The Road Warriors, and various other NWA top-tier players were kept out of action this evening and it hurt the show immensely. A solid outing by Nikita Koloff and Al Perez is the only thing at all keeping this show from being a complete and total waste. Clash II reminded me of the USA specials that the WWF used to run to hype their upcoming PPV’s (i.e. Survivor Series Showdown, Summerslam Spectacular, March to Wrestlemania, etc..) The show was basically a glorified infomercial for the upcoming Great American Bash and the new situation comedy “Learning the Ropes.” Definitely worth watching if you can easily get your hands on a copy, but nothing worth flying to Japan to hunt down. 

*Eulogy*

**Lyle Alzado passed away on May 14th, 1992 at the age of 43. The official cause of death was brain cancer, which Lyle blamed solely on steroid abuse over the years. While it’s easy to point fingers regarding mistakes someone makes in their personal life, it’s always sad to see someone die at such a young age. Lyle spent his last year on earth educating on the dangers of steroid abuse. He spent his dying days trying to bring about some sort of positive change so that his death would not be in vain. Unfortunately, anabolic steroid use is still rampant in the world of professional wrestling and is considered by most to be a “necessary evil” of the business. How many premature deaths do we need before guys start saying “You know what, is it really worth the risk to use these drugs?” I’ll end this with a quote Mr. Alzado made just before his death: “I started taking anabolic steroids in 1969 and never stopped. It was addicting, mentally addicting. Now I’m sick, and I’m scared. Ninety percent of the athletes I know are on the stuff. We’re not born to be 300 pounds or jump 30ft. But all the time I was taking steroids, I knew they were making me play better. I became very violent on the field and off it. I did things only crazy people do. Once a guy sideswiped my car and I beat the hell out of him. Now look at me. My hair’s gone, I wobble when I walk and have to hold on to someone for support, and I have trouble remembering things. My last wish? That no one else ever dies the way that I am going to.”

-I guess that’s it until next time kids. As always, keep the feedback (both positive and negative) coming. Let me know if you found the screen grabs to be useful. They took quite a bit of time to do, so if they suck let me know so I can give them the axe. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you guys in Albany for Clash of the Champions III: Fall Brawl!