NWA House Show
Date: February 1, 1987
Location: The Omni, Atlanta, Georgia
Attendance: 4,500

So the WWE Vault YouTube channel strikes again as we have a house show from some of the glory years of the NWA. The names included on the show are something of a who’s who of this era and that should make for a rather fun time. The main event is the Road Warriors challenging for the Tag Team Titles so let’s get to it.

Note that there is no commentary for this and it’s not the complete show, but we’re getting about an hour.

Dutch Mantell vs. Bill Dundee

Dundee’s Central States Title isn’t on the line. Mantell chases him around to start and grabs an armdrag as Dundee is shaken up early. A backdrop gives Mantell one and it’s time to work on Dundee’s arm. Back up and Mantell grabs his big whip, which is enough to send Dundee bailing to the floor (which is far from a cowardly heel move). Dundee gets back in and goes after the leg, setting up a front facelock to take over. The middle rope crossbody misses for Dundee so Mantell rolls him up, only for Dundee to reverse into one of his own and grab the tights for the pin at 5:12.

Rating: C. Not exactly a classic here but they kept things moving and didn’t spend too much time out there, making it a solid choice for an opener. Dundee is a great example of someone who wrestles bigger than his size, as he is not a big guy but makes you forget it, which is quite the trick. Mantell is best known for his talking, but he could more than hang in there with anyone.

Jimmy Garvin vs. Bob Armstrong

Garvin jumps him to start and hammers away in the corner. The brainbuster is loaded up but Armstrong slips out and elbows him in the face (with a cast) for the pin at 30 seconds. Ok then.

Brad Armstrong vs. Arn Anderson

Anderson has JJ Dillon and Lex Luger in his corner, the latter of whom seems to be making his debut. Anderson shoulders him down to start before grinding away on a headlock. Back up and Armstrong hits some dropkicks out to the floor, with the fans approving. A crossbody gives Armstrong one and he grabs an armbar to keep Anderson in trouble. They go to the floor with the arm being sent into the barricade, followed by more armbarring back inside.

Anderson can’t even get out of trouble by going to the eyes and Anderson is right back on the arm. An atomic drop out of the corner puts Armstrong down for a breather though and Anderson drops a knee for one. The Anderson Drop (later known as the spinebuster) gets a slightly delayed two but Armstrong punches him out of the air and starts the comeback. Armstrong loads up a suplex but Luger sweeps the leg, allowing Anderson to land on top for the pin at 8:10.

Rating: C+. And that’s how you introduce someone and have them pay instant dividends, as the fans immediately get that they need to pay attention when Luger is out there. The Horsemen were always going to be fine with some cheating to win and Luger lets them do it even more frequently. Nice stuff here in another fairly short match.

TV Title: Wahoo McDaniel vs. Tully Blanchard

Blanchard is defending and has JJ Dillon with him, plus the winner gets $10,000. McDaniel takes him into the corner to start and hits an elbow to the head, with Blanchard bailing out to the floor. Back in and McDaniel chops away again, with Dillon’s distraction completely failing. A rake to the eyes works a bit better for Blanchard and he snapmares McDaniel down into a chinlock. Blanchard punches him down for two more but McDaniel is right back with the signature chops. Lex Luger, apparently at ringside too, gets in a belt shot, to give Blanchard the pin at 5:11 (with the camera on Luger rather than the cover for a weird visual).

Rating: C. Similar story to the last match as Luger is able to screw over two popular stars in back to back matches. It’s easy to see why Wahoo was so popular as he looked tough and had some incredible charisma. Again though they didn’t have much time to build things up, which makes me wonder if there were about fifteen matches on the show or if the main event was going REALLY long.

Midnight Express vs. Ronnie Garvin/Robert Gibson

Elimination rules. Garvin is half of the US Tag Team Champions so the Midnights (with Jim Cornette and Big Bubba Rogers of course) could be feuding with either of them. Eaton hugs Cornette who gives him a kiss on the cheek before he drives Gibson into the corner to start. Gibson slams his way out of trouble and it’s time for Cornette to yell at a cameraman. Condrey comes in and gets slammed down as well before the good guys beat up both Midnights at once.

Cornette pulls Eaton out to the floor as Garvin rolls Condrey up for some near falls. A Bubba cheap shot puts Gavin down though and Eaton comes in for some choking behind the referee’s back, as a villain should be known to do. Condrey grabs the camel clutch so Garvin crawls over to the ropes in something you don’t see very often. That doesn’t work but a jumping headbutt does, allowing the hot tag to Gibson as the fans go NUTS. Everything breaks down and Cornette rackets Gibson for the elimination at 7:38.

The villains celebrate so Garvin rolls Eaton up to tie the score at 8:02, which would be used again by Randy Savage on Ted DiBiase at Survivor Series 1988. So it’s Condrey vs. Garvin, with Condrey slamming him down and dropping an elbow but not being able to keep the shoulders on the mat. Garvin’s rollup gets two and they collide for a double knockdown. They trade rollups for two each until Garvin’s big right hand gets two more. An elbow to the head gets the same but the Texas piledriver is countered Bubba gets on the apron but Garvin sends Condrey into him for the fast pin at 12:38.

Rating: B. Despite the really weird good guy combination, this was easily the most fun thing on the show so far and the fans were losing it for the ending. Garvin was someone the fans would get behind no matter what he was doing and they wanted to see him win here. You would normally associate Gibson with getting the win here, but this was good stuff with Cornette losing it as usual on the floor.

Post match the Midnights and company lay out the winners until Gibson gets the racket for the save.

Russians vs. Super Powers

The Russians talk trash before the match and Dusty gets laid out but Nikita makes the save with the chain. The Russians run off and the match is a DQ before it ever starts. Well that’s lame, but the fans were going nuts for Dusty and Koloff.

Tag Team Titles: Manny Fernandez/Rick Rude vs. Road Warriors

The Warriors, with Paul Ellering, are challenging and Paul Jones is here with the champs. Rude already has the slow robe reveal down and is basically what he would be in the WWF about a year later. Hawk doesn’t think much of Rude’s posing to start and shoves him down, setting up his own posing. Back up and Hawk wins a test of strength to take Rude’s hands to the mat for a good stomping.

Animal comes in to shoulder Rude down before doing the same to Fernandez as the fans heartily approve. The champs charge back in and are gorilla pressed out to the floor because you just do not do that to the Warriors. Back in and Fernandez is knocked outside again so let’s try Rude vs. Hawk again. A slam sets up Hawk’s middle rope clothesline (that always looked great) for two as Fernandez makes the save.

Fernandez gets in a cheap shot from the middle rope so the villains can take over, with an elbow to the face dropping Hawk. Rude’s top rope fist drop actually connects for two but Hawk grabs a quickly broken bearhug. The piledriver wakes Hawk up (as is his custom) and it’s a double tag to Animal and Fernandez. Everything breaks down and Animal hits a powerslam, drawing in Jones for the (delayed) DQ at 11:04.

Rating: C+. The Warriors are a great example of a team not having to do much to make it work because they were so popular that the fans were going nuts over anything they did. The ending isn’t that big of a surprise as it’s rather normal for a house show result. Fernandez and Rude would never be defeated for those belts, as Rude would leave for the WWF in April and the Rock N Roll Express got the belts in a phantom title change.

The only match missing is an hour long Broadway between Ric Flair and Barry Windham, which probably tore the house down.

Overall Rating: B-. It does feel incomplete without the main event but this was a heck of a fun hour of old school wrestling. You could hear the fans reacting like crazy to just about everything and you can see why the NWA was as hot as it was at this point. The business side of things would go downhill in a hurry, but the wrestling wasn’t the issue here. This YouTube channel is great and I could absolutely go for more of this kind of thing.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

Classic All Star Wrestling
Date: October 30, 2022
Host: Adam Parsons

I’ve been having more and more fun with this show every week for more than one reasons. One of the fun things about this show is trying to figure out what I’m actually watching, as some of the labeling isn’t exactly correct. That very well may be the situation again here and that makes for some fun times. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Parsons runs down the card.

From Memphis from some time in the 80s, possibly February 5, 1983.

Fabulous Ones/Bill Dundee/Dutch Mantell vs. Destroyers/Marauder/Invader

2/3 falls. Dundee slams Destroyer #1 down to start and then grabs a headlock takeover to put him down. Stan Lane comes in and snapmares #1 over as the pace picks up. Well as much as it is going to pick up in an eight man tag in Memphis. Steve Keirn slams #1 into the corner so Marauder can come in and get forearmed in the face. Er, mask. It’s back to Dundee for another slam and Invader comes in to punch him in the face. Er, fa…never mind. The eternally hairy Mantell comes in for all of three seconds before the Fabs hit a double clothesline to give Dundee the pin and the first fall at 2:48.

The second fall begins with Dundee stomping on the Marauder’s ribs as the dominance continues in full. Dundee even messes with Marauder’s mask so we pause for an adjustment before Lane comes in for a backbreaker. There’s a side suplex and Mantell comes in, only to have Dundee cut off an invading, uh, Invader.

Commentary says we have about a minute left as Dundee takes Marauder down with ease. Invader comes in and gets punched in the face over and over, allowing Keirn to come in for a jumping right hand. It’s back to Marauder so the Fabs can hit a hot shot for the fast pin and the two fall sweep at 6:16 total.

Rating: C-. This was a match where the idea was to get some stars in the ring and in front of a camera rather than anything competitive. As such, it was little more than target practice for the big names, which is what you would get in a lot of these matches. It was perfectly fine for what it was and it’s always cool to see some of these legends back when they were just the stars of the day for a change.

From Portland, likely in 1983-84.

Chris Colt vs. Brian Adidas

Colt is a name that you might not have heard of but he WAY ahead of his time with the weird, oddball style. They trade waistlocks to start as we hear about Buddy Rose sending a hitman (apparently at ringside) to go after Curt Hennig. Colt grabs a full nelson but Adidas sends him into the corner as we keep talking about Hennig and the hitman. With that going nowhere, Colt grabs a headlock as commentary talks about beverages. A backdrop sends Colt bailing to the floor for a breather as it’s kind of amazing to see how banged up the ring posts and ropes really are.

Back in and some dropkicks rock Colt, whose arms get tied up in the ropes. Colt needs a breather as we hear about an upcoming live event. A missed charge in the corner lets Colt start in on the arm until a headlock takeover….doesn’t really work that well for Adidas. Back up and Colt grabs the referee so he breaks it up, even holding Colt’s arms so Adidas can punch him to the floor. The referee raises Adidas’ arm for the win, presumably by DQ at 6:21.

Rating: C. And this is why I love this show. Where else are you going to see a Chris Colt match on TV these days? This was a total out of nowhere match with a pretty simple story of cheating vs. skill and it worked out well enough. I could have gone for some better commentary but for what we got here, I was invested in a short TV match from about 40 years ago so I’d call it a success.

Here’s the preview for next week.

From Memphis again. No date given but a little research seems to suggest around 1987.

Jimmy Jack Funk vs. Manny Fernandez

It’s a fight to start with Fernandez missing a dropkick and getting dropped throat first across the top for his efforts. Funk drops a fist to the head for two but Fernandez runs him over for a double knockdown. There’s a knee drop for two on Funk and the Flying Burrito gets two as Teijo Khan comes in to jump Fernandez for the DQ at 2:58. I’ve always liked Fernandez and it’s cool to see him here.

Post match Jack and Khan destroy Fernandez with a loaded glove. Jeff Jarrett makes the save with a broom, which would put this in late 1987/early 1988.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a nice mixture of stuff and a good example of why I look forward to this show every week. Sometimes you just need some random wrestling to have some fun and that is what you got here. It’s a really easy show to watch and the research of finding out what I’m seeing is a lot of fun. Check this out, if you can ever find it, or just throw something old on Youtube.

 

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.