SuperClash IV was the fourth and final

SuperClash SuperClash was a series of major professional wrestling shows promoted by the American Wrestling Association (AWA) between 1985 and 1990, often co-promoted with other North American wrestling promotions. AWA held a total of four SuperClash shows, ...

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

supercard event promoted by the

American Wrestling Association The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The promotion was born out of the Minneapolis ...

(AWA) and was held at the Saint Paul Civic Center in

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 311,527, making it Minnesota's second-most populous city a ...

on April 8, 1990. In September 2019 the event was added to the

WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television network owned by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, a division of TKO Group Holdings. The service relied on technology develo ...

as a hidden gem. Seven matches were contested at the event. In the

main event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

The Trooper "The Trooper" is a song by the English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released as the second single on 20 June 1983 from the band's fourth studio album, ''Piece of Mind'' (1983). It was one of only a few Iron Maiden songs to ac ...

and

Paul Diamond Thomas Boric (born May 11, 1961) is a Croatian-Canadian retired professional wrestler better known by his ring name Paul Diamond. He is best known for being one half of the tag team Badd Company with Pat Tanaka and for his time in the Worl ...

defeated The Destruction Crew (

Mike Enos Michael Enos (born June 11, 1963) is an American retired professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under his birth name ...

and Wayne Bloom) in a

steel cage match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...

, with

Bob Lurtsema Robert Ross Lurtsema (born March 29, 1942) is a former American football defensive end in the National Football League for the Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants and Seattle Seahawks. He played in two Super Bowls with the Vikings. Born in Grand ...

serving as the

special guest referee Special or specials may refer to: Policing * Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force * Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer * Special police forces M ...

. Also at the event,

Larry Zbyszko Lawrence Whistler (born December 5, 1951), better known by the ring name Larry Zbyszko, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his Feud (professional wrestling), feud with his mentor, Bruno Sammartino, during ...

defeated the defending champion Mr. Saito to win the

AWA World Heavyweight Championship The AWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and the highest ranked championship in the defunct American Wrestling Association (AWA). All AWA trademarks, including the AWA World Heavyweight C ...

, with

Nick Bockwinkel Nicholas Warren Francis Bockwinkel (December 6, 1934 – November 14, 2015) was an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in the 1970s and 1980s. Bockwinkel had ...

serving as the

Event

Preliminary matches

The event kicked off with a match between Jake Milliman and Todd Becker. Milliman pinned Becker with a sunset flip for the win. Next, Brad Rheingans and D.J. Peterson took on Texas Hangmen ( Killer and Psycho). Texas Hangmen pulled an illegal switch during the match and Killer pinned Peterson with a

cradle Cradle or Cradles may refer to: * Cradle (bed) * Bassinet, a small bed, often on rockers, in which babies and small children sleep Mechanical devices * Cradle (circus act), or aerial cradle or casting cradle used in an aerial circus act * Crad ...

for the win. In the following match,

Junkyard Dog Sylvester Ritter (December 13, 1952 – June 1, 1998) was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and NCAA football, college football player, best known for his time in Universal Wrestling Federation (Bill Watts), Mid-South Wre ...

was supposed to wrestle Col. DeBeers but JYD could not compete due to a knee injury. As a result, he was replaced by

Baron von Raschke James Donald Raschke (born October 17, 1940) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Baron von Raschke. Early life Raschke was a three-year letterman with the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Cor ...

. DeBeers' manager Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie interfered in the match by preventing Raschke from applying a clawhold on DeBeers by hitting Raschke with the briefcase. The action spilled to the outside where Raschke applied a clawhold on Adnan. DeBeers tried to take advantage of the distraction and attack Raschke but Raschke applied a clawhold on DeBeers as well. Raschke managed to enter the ring before the referee's ten-count and DeBeers was counted out. Later, Tommy Jammer took on

Tully Blanchard Tully Arthur Blanchard (born January 22, 1954) is a Canadian-American professional wrestler and manager. He is best known for his appearances with Jim Crockett Promotions and the World Wrestling Federation in the mid-to-late 1980s as a member of ...

. Blanchard's manager Christopher Love tripped Jammer from the leg as Jammer tried to deliver a

suplex A suplex is an Offense (sports), offensive move used in Wrestling, sport wrestling as well as amateur wrestling and professional wrestling. It is a throw that involves lifting the opponents and Bridge (grappling), bridging or rolling to slam the ...

to Blanchard from the ring apron into the ring. As a result, Blanchard fell on top of Jammer and pinned him for the win while Love caught Jammer's leg. Blanchard attacked Jammer after the match by delivering an atomic drop and repeatedly hit his knee with a steel chair. Next, Yukon John Nord took on Kokina Maximus in a

lumberjack match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...

. After fending off interference by the lumberjacks and Maximus' manager Sheik Adnan Al-Kassie, Nord hit Maximus with a briefcase and pinned him for the win. It was followed by the penultimate match, in which Mr. Saito defended the

against

served as the

. Saito delivered a '' Saito Suplex'' to Zbyszko with a bridge pin but Zbyszko raised his shoulder up at the two count while Saito's shoulder remained down and he was pinned. As a result, Zbyszko won the World Heavyweight Championship.

Main event match

The main event was a

, in which The Destruction Crew (

and Wayne Bloom) took on

and

served as the special guest referee. Lurtsema was taken out by the Destruction Crew and they delivered a '' Destruction Device'' to Trooper and covered him for the pinfall but Lurtsema refused to count the pinfall. He tossed Bloom into the cage, delivered a

leg drop A leg drop or legdrop refers to an attack used in professional wrestling in which an attacking wrestler will jump and land his leg across a fallen opponent's chest, throat, face or head or in some cases, the groin/lower-abdominal area. The mov ...

to Bloom, and put Trooper on top of Bloom for the pinfall. Lurtsema was attacked by Destruction Crew and Tully Blanchard after the match.

Reception

''SuperClash IV'' received negative reviews from critics. According to Arnold Furious, the event was "orth watching just to see AWA in 1990 but that’s it. There’s nothing good." However, he praised the World Heavyweight Championship contest as match of the night with "the best in-ring work of the entire show." He also praised the steel cage main event as "pretty good if you can ignore the NFL guy (Bob Lurtsema)." Scott Keith also panned the event, criticizing the quality of the event as indication of the promotion's imminent demise. He stated that it was "just kind of a sad circle down the drain for a once-great promotion, as this show very much demonstrates."

Aftermath

The post-match brawl after the main event at SuperClash IV led to a six-man tag team match at ''Twin Wars '90'', where Bob Lurtsema teamed with Brad Rheingans and The Trooper to defeat Tully Blanchard and Destruction Crew in a six-man tag team match.

Results

References

{{American Wrestling Association SuperClash 1990 in professional wrestling Events in Saint Paul, Minnesota Professional wrestling in Saint Paul, Minnesota 1990 in Minnesota