Continental Wrestling Federation TV – October 1, 1988 – Not What I Was Planning

Continental Wrestling Federation TV
Date: October 1, 1988
Location: Boutwell Auditorium, Birmingham, Alabama
Commentators: Charlie Platt, Joe Petecino

Ok so when I found four shows labeled CWF, I thought it was Championship Wrestling From Florida, not Continental. Continental is a pretty much forgotten company which ran in the southeast, namely around Alabama, Tennesee and the Gulf Coast with some shots in north Florida as well. It was owned by the Fuller Family, which is more known as Colonel Robert Parker’s family. This isn’t a well known company because it was surrounded by bigger companies, but let’s take a look at it anyway. I have four consecutive episodes of their TV show (which aired on the Financial News Network for some reason) so let’s get to it.

We open with the United States Junior Heavyweight Champion Nightmare Ken Wayne, saying he’ll defend his title today on television. The records I can find say he won it on this day so one of these dates is wrong. He mentions a big show in Birmingham, which I believe is part of the Road to Birmingham tournament, which was their Wrestlemania style show I think. It was nothing compared to what it was supposed to be, due to a ton of political stuff going on.

Wayne’s partner, Nightmare Danny Davis (OVW owner) says he wants the title. They would trade it like four times each.

A voiceover runs down the card and the hosts welcome us to the show. Something happened last week but it’s not mentioned. Eddie Gilbert, a big deal in the indies around this time and I believe the booker here, has something to say. As best I can tell, this is the Road to Birmingham show, which is taking place in Birmingham. Either that or it’s in two days. Some guy comes out and I don’t think that’s Gilbert. He talks about the upcoming show where they’ll crown the CWF world and tag champions.

Some other guy (no one is named here) comes out and says that he and his Wild Samoans will win the tag titles. If they lose though, they’re out of the territory.

We get an ad for the Road to Birmingham show which will have the tournament final for the first ever CWF Championship. From what I can find, this would be the same title in a company called Southeast Championship Wrestling, but when they closed and the CWF replaced it, the title was retired and it’s being resurrected here. If that sounds confusing, you’re not alone. This territory stuff and who has the lineage of what titles can make nuclear physics look like reading Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Lord Humongous/Shane Douglas vs. Ricky Siegler/Deuce Mason

Humongous is Sid Vicious in a Jason mask. He and Shane are already tag champions so the match with the Samoans is just a title vs. leave town match. The other two guys (I think the first name is right. It’s either that or Buck Seger) are jobbers I think. Sid busts out a dropkick and it wasn’t half bad. Ok that time they DEFINITELY said Bucky. We’ll stick with what I have though. Sid destroys Bucky/Ricky/whatever his name is and we hear that Sid’s name is Hugo. He press slams Shane onto Siegler to end it. This barely lasted a minute.

Shane says they’ll win on Monday. I’d assume this was taped in advance which would explain the date issue. They would keep the titles.

More house show ads.

US Junior Heavyweight Title: Ken Wayne vs. Danny Davis

Wayne is champion and they’re partners here. From what I understand, there’s going to be a hair vs. hair match on Monday (Road to Birmingham). Nelson Royal, the world Junior Heavyweight Champion comes in to shake their hands. He doesn’t seem to like Davis at all. Royal gets in on commentary. He says he’s here to scout. Davis controls to start and takes him down to the mat, working on the arm.

Wayne nips up a few times but Davis sends him to the floor and the crowd likes him. Royal talks about going to Yugoslavia for some reason. Something different about this show is that they have cameras on all four sides so you have to keep an eye on the CWF letters on the mat to tell where things are facing. Wayne fires a punch to take over as he’s the heel here. I think they’re still partners but I’m not sure.

You can tell this is from the 80s as no one uses anything bigger than a middle rope elbow, which gets two for Wayne. Davis fights back and they collide. Royal offers a distraction as Wayne pulls out a chain. Davis has one of his own though and pops Wayne with it for the pin and the title. NICE.

Rating: D+. Boring match, but the ending was awesome with some great thinking. The idea of having them know each other so well and them being former partners is great as Davis knew what was coming and blasted Wayne with it instead. I was bored during the match but the end helped things out a lot here. I really liked that ending and it’s given me some hope for the rest of the show.

Davis, in a pre-taped promo, says he’ll win. He’s also putting up his car against Eddie Gilbert’s $25,000 backing Wayne. I’d hope they’re not partners anymore because this is a pretty hateful promo.

Wayne counters by saying that they have a long history and Davis was the one that turned his back on Wayne, not the other way around. Not as good as Davis’ interview.

Eddie Gilbert apparently has been having more medical tests and isn’t well. Gilbert talks about being injured a few years ago in a car wreck and being brought in because people believed in him. A few weeks ago he reinjured himself and he’s not sure what his future has in store for him. One of the commentators isn’t sure what’s going on here because Gilbert has been a very evil man lately. He lists off the stuff Gilbert has done lately and now he’s injured.

Gilbert says he wouldn’t believe himself. To prove himself though, he gives a check for $25,000 to the other announcer to give to whoever needs it most. That’s the money he and Dangerously (Heyman) put up in the hair vs. hair match. If he doesn’t win the title on Monday, he’ll quit wrestling. This would be a way for him to leave the company due to management issues. He was supposed to win the title but that didn’t happen.

More house show ads. It’s an indy thing.

Dr. Tom Pritchard vs. Jerry Stubbs

No idea what he’s a doctor of but I don’t think it’s Thuganomics. Stubbs is a former partner I think and the announcers say if you saw the TV show last week, you know what happened. Commentary is a failure here I guess. Pritchard speeds things up and takes over on the arm. After a brief beatdown by Stubbs, Pritchard takes over and signals for his finisher (whatever that is) but the Dangerous Alliance runs in for the DQ. Some blonde guy runs out with a steel bar for the save. Oh it’s Austin Idol. You 80s fans will know that name. Pritchard would win the tournament on Monday.

The Dangerous Alliance (Dirty White Boy, Ken Wayne and Nightmare Freddy, a masked guy) says that Dirty White Boy (that really is his name) will win the title and Wayne will get his title back. As far as Gilbert, Dangerously doesn’t want to talk Paul E. Dangerously and Eddie Gilbert. He wants to talk Paul Heyman and Thomas Edward Gilbert. That money is his life savings including money he got from his father. He invested it in a stud named Eddie Gilbert but instead of winning the race (he’s using a Kentucky Derby analogy) he broke his leg. You put a horse with a broken leg out of its misery with a bullet to the head.

Cue Jerry Stubbs from the previous match who wants to be in the Alliance. Dangerously says that if Stubbs can do a few things to prove himself, he can be in. Stubbs says that’s cool.

Doug Furnace vs. Dutch Mantel

Yes Furnace is spelled that way on the graphics. Stubbs jumps him and beats him down with…..a coat rack? Seriously? A COAT RACK??? WHY WAS THERE A COAT RACK READILY AVAILABLE??? Mantel makes the save. Due to the beating Furnace is out so we get a replacement.

Dutch Mantel vs. Pat Rose

Rose is a familiar name but I’m not sure who he is. Mantel is kind of a cowboy but not really. He wins with a quick gordbuster.

Austin Idol hypes the Road to Birmingham.

Dangerously does the same.

Missy’s Manor, an interview segment, ends this. The guests are a team called the Party Patrol who are back after leaving for awhile. They talk about Eddie Gilbert for a bit and say they don’t care about the money. They’re happy to be back and that’s about it.

Dirty White Boy vs. ???

The bell rings with less than a minute left in the video. He destroys the unnamed jobber and gets the pin off something we don’t see due to looking at the announcers. The credits were rolling before the three count.

Overall Rating: C-. It’s hard to complain about this because I have no idea what’s going on here. They hyped up the Road to Birmingham show every single chance they could get and it worked pretty well. Nothing to see here for the most part but I’ve seen worse. The wrestling isn’t exactly the focal point of things, but it wasn’t that bad. We’ll see if the next week was any better.

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