Hidden Gems #7
Date: 1981, 1992

So the Network is going coconuts for the Christmas season with TWELVE (even though they’re starting this on the day after the regular Hidden Gems drop, meaning it should be THIRTEEN) STRAIGHT DAYS of of Hidden Gems, with new stuff being added every day through Christmas. Therefore, I’ll be putting these up in four three day blocks. Some of these are going to be much longer than others but the fun part is going to be seeing what surprises we’re in for. Let’s get to it.

Star Wars 1981
Date: December 25, 1981
Location: Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas
Commentator: Bill Mercer

So this is most of a full show, with a Big Time Wrestling event (very soon to be World Class Championship Wrestling) under the Star Wars banner. Star Wars was a series of big shows that the promotion ran on certain important nights (often holidays) so expect a big night. The entire thing isn’t here but I’ll fill in the gaps where I can. Let’s get to it.

It’s a double ring show, which could make for an interesting night.

Ring announcer Marc Lowrance introduces the show and explains the two rings.

The first two matches aren’t present. First up was El Negro Assassin vs. Richard Blood (not Ricky Steamboat) in a fifteen minute draw and Tiny Tom defeating Little Tokyo in about ten minutes.

Texas Brass Knuckles Title: Jose Lothario vs. Ernie Ladd

Ladd, a monster with some of the greatest promos ever, is defending. The title is more a toughman title than anything else, as hardcore wrestling hadn’t exactly been invented yet. Lothario on the other hand is best known for training Shawn Michaels. Ladd backs up a few times in the first minute before taking Lothario into the corner. That just earns him a shot to the ribs and it’s time to stall some more.

Some right hands finally put Lothario in trouble and it’s off to a bearhug, which is rather awkward given Ladd’s foot or so height advantage. With that broken up, it turns into a boxing match and Lothario being a former boxer means Ladd is in trouble in a hurry. Ladd uses the distraction to load up a foreign object, which goes into Lothario’s neck. A right hand knocks Lothario to the floor but he comes back in with a top rope right hand to the head….for the pin and the title at 6:14.

Rating: D. Well that happened. The punching stuff made sense and both of them looked fine on their own, but it was still a dull match with neither of them having the time to do much. The ending, with a big right hand from the top, made sense for the gimmick of the match but it wasn’t much to see until we got to the finish.

There was another unaired match here with Blue Demon and Al Madril beating Arman Hussein and Carlos Zapata. I believe that’s the last missing match on the card.

UWA Light Heavyweight Title: El Solitario vs. Tim Brooks

Solitario is defending and this is a title from the Universal Wrestling Association in Mexico. Brooks on the other hand, apparently loves to have dog collar matches. That’s quite the random factoid. There’s also no way that he’s a light heavyweight. Solitario spins out of a leglock to start and we have an early standoff. Brooks hits a shoulder but charges into a hiptoss as Solitario sends him into the other ring.

They head back to the original with Brooks sending him into the corner and dropping a knee for two but a sunset flip gives Solitario the same. A dropkick puts Brooks on the apron and a posting sends him to the floor. Solitario hits a dive and Brooks is busted open, which at least came off a good spot. Back in again and another crossbody retains Solitario’s title at 5:21.

Rating: C-. Solitario’s dives looked good and were WAY ahead of their time but Brooks was any heel here, which meant he was a pretty lame challenger. At least they kept it short here and let Solitario be the star, which was the right idea given what was going on in there. Just not much to see here, aside from Solitario being insane for an American audience.

Fritz Von Erich vs. Great Kabuki

Kabuki has top heel manager Gary Hart with him. This is a Texas Death Match, which basically means Last Man Standing. Fritz is rather popular as ringside fills up with fans wanting autographs, which Fritz of course grants. The ring announcer explains that after every fall, there will be a thirty second rest period before a ten count begins. Fritz goes straight for the Claw but Kabuki does the smart thing by grabbing the wrist. The stomach version works a bit better until Kabuki makes a rope for a break. In a Death Match?

Back up and Fritz slugs away but another Claw attempt is blocked. So you’re saying he uses a Claw a lot? Kabuki chops him down in the corner but then Fritz does the same thing. They head into the other ring where another Claw attempt is countered with a kick to the head. This time Kabuki grabs Fritz underneath the arm for a nerve hold as this is getting awful in a hurry.

They fight to the floor and then over a chair with Fritz getting the better of it. Fritz punches him back inside and more bad looking right hands don’t do much damage. The Claw goes on for a three count and it takes him awhile to let go. Two referees have to pull Fritz off and he puts it on again.

That’s considered part of the rest period so Fritz beats up Hart to kill some time. Kabuki beats the count and it’s time to go after the cut on his head. That means more Claw (egads man learn a new move) as Hart takes off a turnbuckle pad. Kabuki is back up as Fritz beats Hart up and sends Fritz face first into the exposed buckle. A lot of choking keeps Fritz down until he punches his way to freedom (and that’s AMERICAN freedom mind you).

Both guys are down long enough that the rest period begins, followed by the ten count and neither can make it to their feet. We don’t have draws in Texas though and the winner is the first person on his feet in the ring. Fritz almost gets up first so Hart pulls him down and pours something on Kabuki’s face to wake him up, which is enough for the win at 18:11. That’s the first Texas Death Match that Fritz has ever lost.

Rating: F. I know he’s a legend in Texas and owns the promotion and all that jazz but this was HORRIBLE with Fritz looking about 90 years old and doing nothing but punching and the Claw. This might have been a nice treat for the fans live and meant something to them, but watching it back is an absolute chore as it’s just sitting there watching Fritz put his hand on Kabuki’s head for long stretches over and over. Terrible stuff here, no matter how big a WCCW fan you might be.

Kevin Von Erich comes in to clear the villains out.

Kevin Von Erich/David Von Erich/Kerry Von Erich vs. Frank Dusek/Bill Irwin/Ten Gu

Ten Gu is better known as Kendo Nagasaki in Stampede Wrestling. This is a six man tag with both rings being used, meaning it’s basically a singles match in both rings and one person able to tag into either ring at either time. That’s kind of clever. Before we can get going though, the Von Erichs are mobbed for autographs again. Mike is with them here with his brothers and that’s always kind of sad to see. Kerry and Irwin start in one ring and the rules are already starting to get confusing as the other four just stand there.

We settle down to David working on Gu’s arm and the camera still only focusing on one ring at a time. Kevin works on a headlock on Dusek before headscissoring Irwin down at the same time. There is WAY too much going on here at once with the tagging and it’s not flowing well at all. We go back to Kerry putting Gu in a sleeper until Dusek makes a save. That means a chinlock for a bit with Dusek fighting up and almost hitting Irwin in the other ring.

They FINALLY go to a wide shot that the match was begging for and we get to see just how slow everyone is keeping things. David gets a sleeper on Gu until Kerry hits a running dive over the ropes to take Gu down. A double ax handle gets two on David but he’s right back with a suplex for the same on Dusek. Kerry snapmares Irwin down and drops a middle rope knee for two of his own. Dusek gets in his own suplex on Kerry but misses a top rope splash and hurts his knee. Irwin misses his own running knee on Kevin, who pops up with the Claw on Gu. A middle rope ax handle hits Gu by mistake and Kevin pins him at 10:58.

Rating: D-. I’m going to blame this one more on the production and the layout as this needed to either stay wide the whole time or drop the tagging stuff to make it a regular brawl. There was too much going on with too many people involved and it caught up with them in a hurry. I couldn’t tell what was going on and there was no story to the whole thing. I’m not sure why the Von Erichs were fighting these three in the first place, and there’s just nothing good to say about it. Oh yeah Fritz wasn’t wrestling so it was slightly less bad than the previous match.

Battle Royal

David Von Erich, Bill Irwin, Kerry Von Erich, Big Daddy Bundy, Al Madrill, Armand Hussein, Blue Demon, Carlos Zapata, El Negro Assassin, Frank Dusek, Jose Lothario, Richard Blood, Ten Gu, Tim Brooks

Double ring battle royal (throw the people from one ring into the other, then out like a regular battle royal, the last two people involved have a two man battle royal for the win) for $10,000. The match is listed as having sixteen people, the records I can find say fourteen, and I see twelve. Thankfully we get a listing and it turns out that I can’t count or see everyone in a ring. It’s a big brawl to start and EGADS Bundy looks weird in jeans and with a full head of hair. The camera continues to focus on half of the ring instead of going wide, which would seem to be the solution to this whole thing.

Bundy keeps beating on everyone as we’re still waiting on the first elimination. David gets launched into the second ring and Brooks follows him as we look at this ring instead of the two next to each other. Madrill and Demon come to the second ring as well, followed by a bunch of others as things go nuts in a hurry. Bundy wins the first ring, followed by Hussein and Demon both being eliminated. Two other guys leave at the same time but they’re not important enough to mention.

Dusek is out and we’re down to eight left in the second ring as I try to figure out the other two eliminations. Madrill and Assassin go out, followed by Kerry and Ten Gu, leaving us with Lothario, Irwin, Blood and Zapata, meaning the other two unmentioned eliminations were David Von Erich and Tim Brooks. Now why couldn’t those names just be mentioned? Anyway Blood and Zapata go out and Lothario follows, leaving us with the heel vs. heel battle of Bundy vs. Irwin.

Bundy gets lured into the other ring and the fight is on, with both referees staying in the ring with them. Some forearms have Irwin in trouble until he avoids an elbow drop from Bundy. Wait is Bundy a face here? What kind of idiot would make Bundy a face? Commentary seems to confirm this as Irwin pokes him in the eye. I mean, it makes more sense for this match but makes far less sense otherwise. Irwin gets him to the apron but gets pulled out to give Bundy the win at 12:12.

Rating: D. The same production issues hurt this one as you couldn’t see a lot of what was going on when the action was still going on in both rings. Other than that, it was a bad battle royal with everyone running around and a bunch of people going from one quick fight to another. It’s not the worst, but it wasn’t very good. Bundy winning makes sense, especially since he’s a good guy around here, because reasons.

And now from another part of the country on the same night. The following few matches are from the 1981 AWA Christmas night show in St. Paul, Minnesota. The whole video is just over half an hour long so I can’t call it the full show, but you never know what you’re going to get on these things.

AWA House Show
Date: December 25, 1981
Location: St. Paul Civic Center, St. Paul, Minnesota
Commentator: Rodger Kent

This isn’t my favorite time and/or promotion in the world but they could do big shows fairly well. As mentioned this isn’t the full show but hopefully we get the best of the what they had to offer that night. The big match is a non-title match, which is non-title for no adequately explained reason. Why would you want to waste a major match on something like Christmas? Let’s get to it.

Rene Goulet vs. Kenny Jay

Goulet was an agent with the WWF forever but wasn’t much in the ring. Joined in progress with Jay (never heard of him) working on a wristlock as the unnamed announcer talks about Japanese photographers in attendance. Goulet takes him down into a chinlock as the announcer talks about Goulet’s airfare in 1981 costing over $58,000.

A headscissors keeps Jay down until he reverses into a leglock to send Goulet bailing to the ropes. The hold goes right back on with Jay taking him down to keep Goulet in trouble. Goulet finally makes it over to the rope as we’re told there are five minutes left. Back up and some elbows get Goulet out of trouble before a middle rope knee finishes Jay at 6:14 shown (announced as 11:14).

Rating: D. What we saw wasn’t exactly thrilling stuff as it was a lot of leg work and not much else. Goulet never was the most interesting guy in the world and Jay seemed like just a guy for the most part. In other words, for once I’m rather glad about this being clipped instead of having to sit through the full thing.

Curt Hennig vs. Evan Johnson

This is very early in Hennig’s career and we’re joined in progress again with Hennig taking him down with a headscissors. The announcer talks about Johnson being an Olympic wrestler and only missing the 1980 games due to the boycott. Johnson fights up into a wristlock and Hennig can’t slam his way to freedom. The arm work continues as we’re told that Scrap Iron Gadaski is the referee. That name might not mean much to you, but he was Ric Flair’s first ever opponent. Hennig comes back with an armdrag of his own and then grabs a leglock to change things up a bit.

Johnson reverses into something like a crucifix but can’t get the other shoulder down. The fans aren’t pleased so Hennig gets up as we’re told there are three minutes left. Things get a lot more physical in a hurry as they fight up against the ropes without actually hitting each other. Johnson snaps off a belly to belly for two and they trade rollups as we’re down to a minute to go. Hennig hits an ax handle for two and Johnson grabs a backslide for two (with a great shocked look from Hennig) of his own as the fifteen minute time limit expires at 10:12 shown.

Rating: C-. This was a lot better than the previous match as they were trying to get a fall until the end with both guys working rather hard. They didn’t flip the switch until later in the match and that’s acceptable as the stuff after they started trying was a lot better. Hennig wasn’t quite his great self yet but you can see the potential there.

Jerry Blackwell/Sheik Adnan Al-Kassie vs. High Flyers

The High Flyers’ (Jim Brunzell/Greg Gagne) Tag Team Titles aren’t on the line. Joined in progress again with Greg taking the huge Blackwell down by the arm. Brunzell comes in without a tag to knock Adnan off the apron and gets in a shot at Blackwell as a bonus. Now he comes in off a tag and cranks on the arm before it’s off to Adnan. That means more arm cranking, including Brunzell coming off the middle rope with a knee. The fans are all over Blackwell as Brunzell stays on the arm.

To mix things up a bit, Gagne comes back in to work on the arm some more. Blackwell finally gets the tag for a headbutt, only to miss a splash. Some corner splashes work a bit better so Brunzell goes after the Sheik, allowing Blackwell to throw Gagne over the top. Blackwell is dumb enough to keep going after Brunzell to break up the count and Gagne gets back inside. Sheik comes in without a tag so Brunzell does the same, allowing Gagne to be pulled back into the corner.

We get the always classic tag that the referee misses and the fans are right back into things off the near explosion. The bearhug goes on instead with Gagne not exactly looking like he’s in pain, but rather being confused that he’s here. He finally slips out and crawls over for the tag to Brunzell for the house cleaning dropkicks. It’s already back to Gagne for a top rope knee to Sheik’s knee. Brunzell (or The Brunzy apparently) comes back in for a Figure Four but Blackwell crushes him with a splash. With Gagne being thrown out, Sheik gets the pin on Brunzell at 12:18.

Rating: D+. The AWA isn’t my favorite promotion and this wasn’t the most thrilling thing in the world. It’s not clear why this was a non-title match as it was a pretty clean pin for Blackwell and the Sheik, but that might imply that something changes around here and we wouldn’t want that. The match was formula based stuff and that works well enough, though the very long arm work part didn’t get them very far.

And now for something very different, we go to Tampa, Florida for a Christmas message from Randy Savage to a bunch of students. New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner set this up and talks about how it’s giving something back to the community. After a quick statement from Steinbrenner about how important it is to take care of at risk children and how Christmas is the most important time of the year.

We go inside the auditorium where Savage is played to the stage by a live orchestra. Savage talks about how a lot of people care about the kids here and how it’s no secret that things can be better. His big message is to believe in yourself and you can accomplish any goal you want. Be all that you can be and your best friend is yourself because you’ll never give up on yourself.

You want to be a leader and not a follower who makes bad decisions. Say no to drugs and stay in school. An education is incredible and something you should take advantage of. There will be challenges in life and things can go badly, but keep getting up and never quit. The person who gets back up again is the person that Savage respects because they’re the kind of person who is going to battle and win at all costs.

It’s nice to be important but it’s important to be nice. Savage even takes off his glasses to wrap things up, saying Merry Christmas and saying he’ll shake hands with everyone here. Savage packed in every cliché you could ask for here but for the sake of something like this, it’s perfectly fine. It also helps when you have Savage’s charisma and can make anything sound good.

Overall Rating: D. This is quite the mixture and it’s really not very good. To be fair though these were designed to be a bunch of one off watches rather than marathoning them like I’ve been doing, which isn’t helping things. The wrestling wasn’t all that great, though a lot of that is more due to the time frame not being one of my favorites. Savage’s message was rather nice and it’s always cool to see wrestlers doing something for a charity. We’ve got a long way to go though and that’s….going to be interesting, at least I hope.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

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

WCCW TV
Date: March 3, 1984
Host: Bill Mercer

This is listed as being in the most complete form possible, which likely means something was removed for music copyright reasons.

Opening sequence.

Mercer is in a black room to introduce the show and talks about how much we all miss David.

Music video on David, including him in the woods and playing high school basketball and football.

Mercer talks about some of David’s accomplishments and big opponents.

We see an undated clip of David vs. Harley Race in a non-title match. David has him in trouble until a headbutt and knee drop put David down. More knees connect as we’re about ten minutes in. Race misses the middle rope headbutt and David gets the Claw (family finisher), apparently for the first time in his career. The blood starts flowing in a great visual and Race is out to give David the win, though I could have sworn they mentioned a first fall earlier.

Harley Race says if David hadn’t passed away, he would have been World Champion. That’s about as strong a level of praise as you’re going to get.

From Star Wars June 1983, David beats Jimmy Garvin (his longtime rival) to win the Texas Title and Garvin and Precious (Garvin’s valet) for a day. This one goes on for a few minutes but is mainly spent in a long chinlock. We don’t actually see the finish but David had a sleeper on.

Garvin, with Precious, talks about how well he knew David, to the point where he knew what David had for breakfast.

From an undisclosed date, David, Ice Man King Parsons and Kerry Von Erich vs. the Freebirds in one of roughly 1985382 matches the Von Erichs had against the team. This one is just a few seconds.

Michael Hayes (leader of the Freebirds) says this is going to be their only public statement. It was a tragedy and even the Freebirds know they lost a great warrior. The one thing David did was fight for what he believed in, and you have to respect that. The feud will never end though because there’s only room for one of them. This was as kayfabe of a response as you could and given the nature of their feud, I can live with that.

NWA World Title: Ric Flair vs. David Von Erich

Flair is defending on Christmas night 1983 in Reunion Arena in Dallas. An armbar has David in trouble as Flair shouts at the crowd at the fifteen minute mark. Some covers with the hold still on get two and Flair is getting ticked off at the pace of the count. David gets the sleeper on until Flair belly to backs his way out. It’s too early for the Claw though as Flair blocks the grip and heads up top, but it’s exactly the same result as it has been throughout his career.

The real comeback is on with right hands in the corner and a jumping knee to the face gives David two. Flair has had it with this and throws David over the top for the DQ….which the referee refuses to call. Back in and David gets two off a small package, followed by a suplex for the same. The Flair Flip in the corner sets up the Claw in the middle of the ring and the clip ends before the match is over. David would win by DQ. I won’t rate the match when we missed the first fifteen minutes, but what we got here was very good and you can see the star power in David, who had both the look and the work.

Flair talks about how they had professional differences but he knew David was a tremendous competitor and a tremendous man.

David Manning (WCCW referee) talks about how talented David was.

Another David video, this one about the family and growing up on the ranch. A lot of horseback riding ensues.

On the ranch, Fritz and the other sons, without looking at the camera, talks about how great a life David had and how much living he did in 25 years. He also talks about how big a star Mike can be because of how much he looks like David. They talk about how a Von Erich will win the World Title at some point in the future. The majority of this was about one of the boys becoming champion instead of David, which was quite the head trip.

Now we get a more traditional interview with Fritz, talking about David growing up with a love of the outdoors. He talks about what a great way it is to raise his children but says life goes on, even without David. Without being a Christian, this would have been incredibly hard. After talking about being with David in Heaven again one day, Fritz goes into a speech about how Mike will be a huge star for looking just like David. Kerry or Kevin will be the next World Champion and do it as a tribute to David’s memory.

The funeral for David was open to the public so they could say goodbye to him and the fans’ support meant a lot to Fritz. He’s made some mistakes raising them, but they’re not sissies. One more discussion of David in Heaven wraps us up. This was another nearly disturbing interview as Fritz seems to brush the death off for the sake of “oh well, business must go on”.

One more music video wraps things up.

The credits show a yellow rose and we end on an In Memory Of graphic.

Overall Rating: C. What in the world do you say to something like this? The wrestling wasn’t the point but my goodness this was hard to watch as Fritz kept talking about how business needed to keep going and how one of his kids was going to be World Champion. It was clear that David would have been a big star if given the chance, but egads things downhill in a hurry. While it was a rough spot at the time, it was yet to be known how terrifying a place the promotion had become.

This one is very sad, but the story would get even worse when the actual details came out. It’s interesting (and understandable) that they don’t actually mention anything about the details of David’s passing. Maybe they were still in shock (understandable) or maybe they didn’t want to tell their version of the events yet. Either way, it’s a very depressing moment, but it’s even worse when you see where things would be headed because of the environment.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

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

WCCW Television
Date: May 8, 1982
Location: Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
Commentator: Marc Lowrance

A TON of these have been added to the Network and in my never ending quest to review as much wrestling as I can, it’s worth a try. I’ve done a handful of these before and have a decent working knowledge of the promotion so this won’t be the most confusing thing in the world. While I’m not sure on the specifics, I’ll go on a limb and say it’s something about the Von Erichs. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Lowrance welcomes us to the show and runs down the card. Simple idea and nothing you see too often anymore.

Frank Dusek is ready to take Wild Bill Irwin’s soul and the Texas Title.

Frank Dusek vs. The Spoiler

The much bigger (and much more masked) Spoiler shoves Dusek into the corner but doesn’t give a clean break. Dude could you let us know when you’re going to do that? We hit a Boston crab on Dusek but a rollup sends them both into the ropes for the break. Dusek’s headlock works as well as a headlock is going to work so Dusek, who seems to be more of a tweener, pokes Spoiler in the eye for a breather.

A hard whip into the corner drops Dusek again though and it’s time for some heavy forearms to the chest. Not that it matters as Dusek grabs a rollup with his feet on the ropes for three, only to have it called off because Spoiler’s feet were in the ropes too. The distracted Dusek gets rolled up for the pin a few seconds later.

Rating: D. I think this was either heel vs. heel or heel vs. tweener but it only kind of worked. Spoiler was a fine big masked man and Dusek seemed to be more of a midcarder, though the match wasn’t much to see. The ending definitely made Dusek out to be a heel, but the match was kind of a mess, which makes me think that this isn’t a show for people just jumping on.

Boogaloo Shaft/Ken Mantel vs. King Kong Bundy/Bugsy McGraw

There are two referees here for some reason. Bundy (with hair and billed from Alaska) and McGraw’s Tag Team Titles aren’t on the line. Unfortunately we get a mention of something Bundy did earlier in the evening, making me think that this is either out of order or not the complete show, which is always annoying. McGraw and Boogaloo (best name ever) start things off before it’s off to Bundy to hit Shaft in the head.

The much smaller Mantel comes in so Bundy invites him to hammer away. A wristlock doesn’t get Mantel anywhere as the announcer keeps going on about how we’ll get to see Fritz Von Erich’s first ever filmed match next week. Mantel slips between the legs and brings Shaft back in for a headbutt (see, he’s black and therefore has a hard head) to stagger Bundy. The heel manager distracts one of the referees to Bundy and McGraw can crush Shaft with standing splashes (in front of the other referee) for the pin.

Rating: D+. I want to be reincarnated as a guy named Boogaloo Shaft (which is definitely a name Watts came up with after seeing the marquee at a movie theater somewhere). This was just over a squash, though again the ending didn’t make a ton of sense. If there are two referees, what’s the point in distracting one of them? It didn’t feel like one of them was crooked but that’s the only way that ending makes sense.

Gary Hart (top heel manager) says he’s bringing in someone called the Dragon, who is a great martial artist and very similar to Great Kabuki. The Dragon has an amazing sleeper and everyone will know of true torture. All that matters to Hart is getting rid of Fritz and only Asians are cold blooded enough to do it. The Dragon would be Kazuharu Sonoda, who was never a major star.

Al Madrill vs. Armand Hussein

Again they talk about something Bundy did, but this time they say we’ll be seeing him later. Geez this show really is all over the place. Hang on a second though as Hussein has to do his ritual, whatever that is. It is but a ruse though as Hussein jumps Al and sends him into the buckle a few times to take over. We hit the required choking as the fans are trying as hard as they can to get behind Madrill.

Armand pulls at the face until the referee actually drags him away from the ropes. That’s enough to start the comeback with Madrill firing off some punches to the head. They fight outside with Hussein choking with the rope before avoiding a charge back inside. Hussein misses a running flip splash though and its a jackknife rollup to give Madrill the pin.

Rating: D+. Not a terrible brawl here as Hussein was looking like a decent heel, only to have him screw up and lose at the end in a big of a surprise. Madrill seemed to be rather popular with the fans and he’s a name I’ve heard of before, albeit not very much. Then again when you’re a face in this promotion and not a Von Erich, it’s not going to matter for the most part.

Richard Blood/Mike Bond vs. Bill Irwin

Irwin is Texas Heavyweight Champion and he has to pin both opponents within ten minutes. Also that’s not Ricky Steamboat, though the name did make my head spin for a second. Blood works on a headlock to start and it’s off to Bond for one of his own. Irwin shrugs them both off without too much effort with a gutwrench suplex getting two on Blood. Bond runs him over with a shoulder as the jobbers are getting in way more offense than you would expect. As I say that, Irwin ends Bond with a clothesline for the first fall. A powerslam plants Blood and a running knee drop puts him away.

Rating: D. This was a little more entertaining than you would expect with Irwin selling way more than I would have guessed. That being said, you’re only going to get so much out of a guy destroying a pair of jobbers in a little over three minutes. If nothing else though, the Blood name gave me a chuckle.

Kevin Von Erich vs. Great Kabuki

Kabuki has been attacking Kerry and David is here for revenge. The fans want Fritz, who is in Kevin’s corner. The brawl is on in a hurry as they fight to the apron with the referee barely able to break it up. Back in and Kevin grabs a wristlock, which is how you deal with someone trying to injure your brother. Kabuki superkicks the heck out of him and we hit a chest claw. Kevin fights up but gets kicked in the head for his efforts, triggering an argument between Gary Hart and the referee.

Now it’s off to a double chest claw, which is totally hardcore. Kevin fights up again but can’t get the Iron Claw. Instead it’s off to a stomach claw, because these people don’t have the most varied offenses. A splash hits Kabuki’s raised boot and he starts ripping at the eyebrows. That’s certainly a new one.

Back up and Kevin starts his comeback with a dropkick to send them both outside. Fritz and Gary get into a fight as Kabuki works over Kevin inside. Fritz is choking Gary by his tie and holding him in his chair but here’s Bundy to stomp Fritz down. Kevin goes out to brawl with Bundy and it’s a double DQ.

Rating: D+. This was designed to set up Bundy vs. Fritz for Fritz’s retirement match where Fritz was just nice enough to give himself the title one more time. As for the match itself, the brawling and action were good but the claws were only going to take them so far. Then again, the fans were going to erupt over ANYTHING the Von Erichs did, especially against Hart and his men. It’s a simple formula but it certainly worked for a long time.

The Von Erichs want to keep fighting. I’m assuming this is the Bundy thing referenced earlier, which means this was taped out of order. That’s quite odd but it’s nice to know that you got everything they were talking about and that nothing is missing from the show.

Lowrance wraps things up to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. The first thing that becomes very clear around here is that you have to be a long time fan. They’re not going to walk you through these stories or explain what’s really going on. What they will do though is give you some of the best production you could ever imagine. Compare this to 1982 WWF and you won’t believe it’s from the same time. This looks like a low level show from 1990 or so, which is such a completely different time in wrestling.

The wrestling was what you would expect from 1982: mainly kicking and punching with a big move thrown in at the end, but again this was all about the backstory and long term stories. You don’t see a single recap of what’s been happening and, aside from the occasional reference by Lowrance, you really won’t know why these people are fighting or who they are for the most part. It really does make you appreciate the WWE style of today where a single package will tell you everything you need to know in a few minutes.

I’d check more of this stuff out later on, but it’s really a show built around the idea of watching the long term stuff, which takes its sweet time. The key things here though are the crowds being white hot and a fast pace of action. It’s easy to see why this promotion has the reputation it does and it’s WAY ahead of its time. Check it out if you want to see why this was the hottest promotion in the world for a very long time, though that wouldn’t take off until the end of this year.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Complete 2002 Monday Night Raw Reviews in either E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

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