Which 1989 Flair-Steamboat was the best and why?

[Sweettre15]

Today I managed to watch all three title matches that Steamboat-Flair had and surprised myself when I ended up liking the Chi-Town Rumble match the most when I used to favor The Clash of Champions match the most and alot of people seem to agree with that but now.... So basically I want to know how you guys rank these three matches and why.

As for me.....

I'd rank them like this:

1.Chi-Town Rumble: I find this match to be my favorite not only because Steamboat won the championship but because EVERYTHING was on point that night, the intensity, psychology, pacing,commentating....everything.

2. WrestleWar: Another great outing that was a testament to Flair and Steamboat's chemistry but fell a bit flat in comparison to Chi-Town Rumble but the audience more than made up for that as well as the build to the next feud with Terry Funk after the match.

3. Clash of Champions: In theory this match should have been the best due to the 2/3 Falls stipulation and the length of the match BUT it kinda fell flat because everything that clicked perfectly in the previous matches just wasnt working as well in this match. Which is a bit sad because I USE TO consider this match my favorite and even had a bias for it because it took place in my home state.


Note: I find this to be an debate worth having because the wrestlers involved both seem to have differing opinions on which one was best themselves. Flair favors Chi-Town Rumble, Steamboat favors Clash of Champions, and from a "fan perspective" HHH favors WrestleWar the most and I can only imagine that they'd see things this way for different reasons.

Now your turn to Rank these matches

 

[FlairFan2003]

I don't think any of them fall flat. The first encounter in CHI in Feb 89 was electric because Steamboat hadn't wrestled in the NWA in several years and in fact hadn't wrestled anywhere in over a year. His comeback and return were well orchestrated, there was also a feeling Flair was due for a loss as he'd been champ for nearly 15 months straight at this point. The ending of the match, which plays on the by then tired "Dusty Finish" but instead of benefitting the heel (Flair) actually gets reversed and the correct decision is rendered (Steamboat's win) is a nice touch, you can clearly feel the hesitation in the audience waiting for the final call, thinking it would be another screw job ending.

The Clash Match was impressive because there aren't many dead spots, which is hard to do in a match that lasts over 5o minutes. Sometimes late in some of the longer Flair-Sting encounters Sting would get repetitive with his moves, a sign his repertoire wasn't quite big enough to handle such long matches, even if his acting and athleticism and charisma all were. The Clash match also stands out because the went against two taboos of 80s wrestling. One, back in then big stars never lost by submission. It was completely unfathomable to think of a legit main eventer submitting clean in a match. This started to change in the 90s when WWE started asking top stars to put over Brett Hart with the Sharpshooter (both his title win vs Flair and his first PPV title defense which was against HBK ended in clean submission wins). Flair cleanly submitting to Steamboat (in a move we never saw Steamboat attempt before) was shocking for it's time, and given Flair's status it's a surprise he went along with such an idea.

Second, back in the 80s it was taboo for a major heel to beat a major fan fav cleanly. Occcassionally Flair did it, Harley Race went over JYD clean at WrestleMania, but it was not the norm. Flair cleanly pinning Steamboat after an evenly fought 2nd fall was a surprise.

For me, the best match was the final - Flair's win: This is the toughest match to orchestrate for a couple reasons. One, we'd already seen these guys twice before, usually in a series like this the last match needs a serious change in rules to be interesting, think HHH-Taker at WM. Each match was exceptionally good, but there were major changes to each, going from a standard bout to Hell In A Cell to Hell In A Cell with a special guest ref who was a threat to turn on Taker and end his streak. Here, Flair-Steamboat aren't given any special gimmicks, this isn't a No Hold Barred Cage Match, it's not NO DQ, or I Quit, it's another standard match. The build was good after Flair was essentially screwed by the improper pin that decided the Clash Match ( a good touch of irony storyline wise since Flair often won as a heel by taking his opponents foot of the ropes before the ref could see, getting the pin that way). Several times they played on themes from the other matches, Steamboat attempting the Chicken Wing submission move but Flair this time having a counter, Flair trying to counter Steamboat's attempt to small package him when he tried the Figure Four (which is how Steamboat beat him the first time), the addition of ring side judges scoring the match in the event of a draw (the only gimmick change) also put more pressure on Flair's character to maintain leads in the match without blatant cheating, a good psychological ploy. Amazingly, these two managed another 30 plus minute match, very fast paced, very realistic selling of high spots and big falls, with very little overlap between high spots/big moments of the first two matches (Flair finding counters to Steamboat's chicken wing & Small Package maneuvers the main hark back to the first two encounters). Making the 3rd match this entertaining without a complete change in the gimmick is impressive. Also, orchestrating the face turn for Flair at the end adds to this individual match's impressiveness.

To that end I would say the 3rd bout is the best. Given the first two, the challenge was greater for the 3rd one than either of the other two. Making this match as good as it was, making good use of the big moments of the first two, keeping it fairly evenly fought, ending in a clean finish, and adding the face turn at the end, all serve to make the final match in the series the best.