USWA Wrestling Challenge
Date: August 11, 1989
Location: Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
Commentator: Marc Lowrance

This is the first of I think six episodes I have of this. I don’t have them all in order and I have no idea where to find them otherwise, so I won’t be able to put up the one from August 18. Other than that though this is from the late 80s (obviously) and it’s as good as anything else while I find a copy of the Raw I was going to do. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip from a World Class show from last week with Eric Embry facing someone from Japan in a cage. The idea here is that if Embry, a Memphis guy, wins, then the Memphis guys get to stay in WCCW but if he loses then they’re all gone. Apparently we’ll get the ending later because that’s all we see here.

This is a USWA show from Dallas which is something I’ve never seen before. I’d assume that means Embry won. Marc Lowrence, the longtime WCCW commentator, is host. Short version: Memphis (CWA) and Dallas (WCCW) merged to form the USWA to try to fight McMahon and Crockett and it lasted all of a year before they split again.

Skandor Akbar talks about how Devastation Inc is tired of not getting acknowledged. They’re coming for the Memphis guys.

Lowrance takes us back to the cage match and the fans are all behind Embry. Embry is the booker from Foley’s book that liked to book while not wearing any clothes. Eric wins with a fluke rollup.

After a break Embry and Percy Pringle (Paul Bearer) take down the WCCW banner and put up a USWA banner. I’m really not entirely sure what’s going on here but it’s as basic of the idea as I can get it. From what I can understand, that cage match was the culmination of a LONG story (as in like 6 months to a year) between Embry and Devastation Inc.

WCCW had been taken over by evil (Fritz had legitimately sold to Jerry Jarrett at this point so the Von Erichs got toned WAY down) Japanese people and Eric represented the good guys of the USWA. He won the match to bring in a new era, which was wanted/needed. This is all based off info I can find elsewhere and not from the TV show mind you.

Billy Travis, a WCCW guy, talks very nervously about how he’s glad to be here.

Eric and Percy are here to talk about the USWA. I’m not sure if USWA was the name in Memphis or not. They talk about how they’re glad the evil ones are gone and they’ll try not to let us down.

Jimmy Jack Funk/Kerry Von Erich vs. Al Perez/Taurus Bulba

Perez vs. Kerry gets us going. They fight for position early and then get in each others’ faces. Kerry grabs the arm and it’s off to Jimmy Jack. The guys on the apron almost get into it out there as (and by that I mean Marc talking to himself) talk about the cage match. Kerry throws the chair at Taurus. Akbar is at ringside too. Lowrance talks about how all of the good things from WCCW will be around in the USWA also. Bulba comes in but misses an elbow to Funk. Back to Von Erich who LOUDLY says put your foot up, which is exactly what Taurus does in the corner. Bulba runs from the Claw and takes Kerry back down.

An elbow drop keeps Kerry down as Akbar talks about how awesome Devastation Inc is. Bulba comes off the top but jumps into the Claw. He makes the rope though and it heads to the floor. The Claw goes on outside and they go towards the crowd. Bulba goes into the post and allegedly we’re at 10 minutes. More like 4 but whatever. Tornado Punch sends Bulba into the barricade but Perez hits Kerry with a chair. Everything breaks down and somehow there isn’t a DQ.

We have four minutes left in the time limit and Kerry is double teamed in the corner. Perez hooks a sleeper on Kerry and takes him down with three minutes to go. Kerry gets out and punches Perez down. Off to Funk and everything breaks down again. Somehow we’re now down to one minute as they’re not even trying to hide the clock changes. A lot of pins are broken up but Kerry gets the Claw on Perez with 15 seconds left. And never mind because it’s a draw.

Rating: C. This was a pretty high impact brawl and I’d assume it was to advance a Perez vs. Kerry feud, which is fine. Bulba was a Mongolian which is a tried and true indy heel gimmick. Not a great match or anything but the crowd was into it and it wasn’t a bad match at all. The clock thing was just laughable though.

A guy who isn’t named doesn’t like to be in Texas but likes Arkansas. He’s part of Devastation Inc though. Oh it’s Gary Young.

Tojo Yamamoto and Akbar get equal time and say they’ll be here. They’re coming for Eric and Pringle. There’s a $100,000 bounty involved somewhere.

USWA Tag Titles: Jeff Jarrett/Matt Borne vs. Cactus Jack Manson/Scott Braddock

Manson is Foley and his team has the titles. Frank Duschek is with the challengers. He was the WCCW boss and was fired by Akbar, who is here of course as well. Braddock is thrown into Akbar on the floor and it’s Jarrett vs. Jack to start. Now there’s a pairing. Jarrett works the arm to control and has Jack hiding in the corner. There was talk of a break but I don’t think we ever went to one.

Braddock comes in and walks into an armdrag of his own. Here’s Borne in pink shorts. He’s no Bret Hart in them but he has a good clothesline. Back to Jarrett and the arm work continues. Back to Borne who grabs the arm again. Now we take a break and come back to a promo of Jarrett and Borne WITH THE TAG TEAM TITLES. They say they’ll deal with anyone that wants a shot.

Back with Jarrett working on the arm of Braddock some more. Off to Manson who rams Jarrett into the buckle then clotheslines him down to block Jarrett’s flips. Off to Braddock who slams Jeff for two. Cactus throws him to the floor and hits the elbow off the apron (called The Consequences here, which is a perfect name for it). That gets two back inside as it occurs to me we’ve never been told who the champions are. It’s Jack/Braddock, but we’ve never been told that.

Jack throws him to the floor and tries another Consequences, but Jeff moves and crawls for the corner. A diving tag brings in the pink shorts wearing Maniac to pound of Manson. Everything breaks down and Borne snaps off a quick German suplex on Jack for the pin and the titles. It’s a huge pop, but man it would have sucked to watch this on TV and have the ending spoiled.

Rating: C. Pretty boring tag match for the most part but the ending was a lot better. That being said, I’d have liked it a lot better if I hadn’t seen Jarrett and Braddock with the belts halfway through the thing. These guys would trade the titles for awhile until Jack left to go to I think WCW. Not much of a match but a title change is always worth seeing.

Lowrance wraps up the show and in something you don’t often hear on a wrestling show, says have a good weekend and worship at the church of your choice. He retired from wrestling to become a minister but it’s still odd to hear. Nothing wrong with it mind you, just not something you often hear.

Overall Rating: C. This was a really bad episode to jump in on. The feuds that were featured here were some VERY hot stories back in the day and it brought Dallas back from a bad slump they had been in, although it was short lived because of backstage politics with the WCCW guys pulling out of the USWA, making that company a Memphis exclusive in about a year or so. Still, fun stuff and a cool look at an interesting time in wrestling history. I don’t have the 8/18 show but I do have 8/25 which is up next.

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Ring Ka King TV
Date: January 28, 2012
Location: Balewadi Sports Complex, Pune, India
Commentators: Siddharth Kanan, Joe Bath

After this, never let it be said that I don’t give the people what they ask for. I’ve gotten a lot of requests from people for this show so why not. This is the TNA related company formed in India. The name means King of the Ring in some Indian language. Odds are this is going to be the only episode I watch of it but if it’s good I might take another look. There are a lot of big named stars over there so let’s get to it.

We open with a musical performance. It’s an Indian performer who has a bunch of dancing girls. I don’t speak whatever language this is so I can’t say anything here. The crowd seems to dig it. I’ve heard there were about 1,500 people here which isn’t bad. The set is similar to Impact’s but in a bigger arena. Apparently this guy’s name is Mika.

After he’s done the ring announcer comes in and thank goodness she speaks English. That’s one of the main reasons I don’t watch puro: I have no idea what’s going on. And never mind as they’re in another language again. I think they’re saying it’s awesome to be here or something like that. She’s shifting between languages. Either that or some of the words are the same. There’s talk of a singles and tag titles and female wrestlers. She introduces the announcers and I have no idea what they’re saying. The fans seem to like them so maybe they’re known.

Now we bring out a guy named Harbhajan Singh, who appears to be a cricket player of some national renown. He’s listed as a Ring Ka King goodwill ambassador. Mika starts a chant of Singh is King or something like that. The singer wishes him good luck and that’s about it. I’m just trying to pick up what I can here. Mika leaves.

Singh talks some more and says something about international wrestling and Ring Ka King. The girls are still at ringside. He sends us to a video of a familiar face: Chavo Guerrero Jr. He talks about being around the world but that he’s never been to India and is here to become Ring Ka King Champion.

Chavo comes to the ring and Singh introduces someone else: Maxx B. He appears to be a boxing/fighting character but I don’t recognize him and he doesn’t speak English. The announcers talk about MMA during’ Maxx’s entrance.

Sir Brutus Magnus says he’ll win the title. He calls himself the International Athlete.

Next up is Doctor Nicholas Dinsmore, who is of course Nick Dinsmore, aka Eugene. I think these are just introductions of wrestlers. Dinsmore comes out in a medical outfit which is a character you don’t really see that often.

Sonjay Dutt has a dollar sign above his name and gets a huge pop due to being from India.

In sixth (they’re just standing in the ring) is Mahabali Veera, a muscular guy who doesn’t speak English either. He appears to be the tallest and most popular guy so far.

Next up is Scott Steiner who talks about his arms and short fuse.

Matt Morgan says he’s 7’0 tall which is still a lie. He’s here to become world champion. Morgan and Steiner came out to their TNA music. Morgan is in street clothes.

Now we move onto the Commissioner, a man named Jazzy Laharia who is with someone named Deadly Danda, who I guess is a bodyguard. I’m assuming Deadly is the guy in the military gear and has what appeared to be a sword. He’s almost as tall as Matt Morgan. Singh talks some more and I think these eight are going to be in a Heavyweight Title Tournament. The belt comes down from the ceiling and pyro goes off. The belt looks like the ECW Silver Title but with a sticker on the middle of it.

We get a quick video of all eight people here and a graphic saying Ring Ka King Heavyweight Title Tournament.

Now here’s Jeremy Borash who speaks English and talks to Morgan, who says everyone is honored to be in India. Magnus cuts him off and puts his arms around Dutt and Steiner and says they’re going to take over Ring Ka King. A brawl is started but Deadly Danda breaks it up.

Ring Ka King Heavyweight Title Tournament: Dr. Nicholas Dinsmore vs. Mahabali Veera

We’re about 25 minutes into the show not counting commercials and here’s the first match. And no I’m not holding that against them as it’s the debut episode. Dinsmore is basically the heel by default here. He cheats a top wristlock by pulling the hair to bring him down. Dinsmore sends him to the floor but Veera gets a sunset flip for two. Veera has a good look to him and moves well for a bigger (as in taller) guy. The referee is in a green shirt. Off to a chinlock by Dinsmore but Veera hits a spinebuster (called the Veera Bomb) for the pin at 2:59. Short but fine.

Magnus is on the phone in the back to his boss and talks about how he, Dutt and Steiner (all in the room) have three of the eight spots in the tournament and are going to dominate both it and Ring Ka King. It’s Magnus vs. Morgan in the first round.

Someone called Shera brings out American Adonis, who is more known as Chris Masters. He does the same entrance that he did as the Masterpiece. He’s a lot bigger than he used to be too so I guess the roids are rolling again. Masters says he’s here to prove that no one can break his Adonis Lock. Back to the old classics I guess. He’s put up a lock of Indian Rupees (whatever that means. A lock I mean. I know what Rupees are) to anyone that wants to try it. There’s a briefcase in there so I’m assuming it has the money in it.

A plant accepts the challenge and we get a referee and the chair. The guy is named Zed. What kind of a name is Zed? He’s from Pune and gets thrown all over the place in the full nelson. And he’s out cold in about 10 seconds.

Veera says something which I’d assume means he’ll win. Singh comes in and shakes his hand. Morgan comes up to shake his hand and says he hopes to see Veera in the finals.

Next week (I think) it’s Steiner vs. Maxx B and Chavo vs. Dutt in the tournament.

Ring Ka King Heavyweight Title Tournament: Sir Brutus Magnus vs. Matt Morgan

Magnus runs to the corner to start. Morgan gets his hands on him and throws him around with ease. Magnus gets sent to the floor and it’s time for a chase scene. Morgan misses a corner splash and Magnus takes over. A slam attempt fails as Morgan falls onto him for two. Off to an abdominal stretch by Magnus which Morgan easily escapes and starts his comeback. He beats Magnus up and hits a chokeslam, followed by the Carbon Footprint for the pin at 5:14.

Rating: D. This was a really basic and boring power match. I’ve seen far worse but there really isn’t anything going on here. Morgan looks like a force though which is the point of this. Not terrible but if Magnus is supposed to be the top heel in the company or at least the mouthpiece for it (no sign of him being a coward yet) shouldn’t he be treated as something better than a jobber to the stars like he was here?

Dutt and Steiner come in for an attempted beatdown but Veera makes the save. A tag team staredown ends the show.

Overall Rating: B-. As a wrestling show it was boring but for a show designed to introduce us to the product, I can’t really complain much here. They set up the tournament and we have a top heel group already. Veera looks like a star (although we didn’t get to see much of him in the ring) and Morgan is his usual self. I probably won’t watch this again but it wasn’t that bad at all. The production values were very good and definitely at the same levels as Impact. Great debut and if you’re not familiar with these guys, it’s a great show. It’s probably not for fans that know the talent, though it’s worth a look.

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Smokey Mountain Wrestling TV
Date: May 21, 1994
Location: Knoxville Civic Coliseum, Knoxville, Tennessee
Commentator: Les Thatcher

Ah Smokey Mountain Wrestling. I’ve been looking forward to this. Now as any of you that regularly follow me or talk to me about wrestling know, I’m a Jim Cornette disciple. I love his mind for wrestling and he’s old school in his way of going about wrestling. Well what better place than Cornette’s company? SMW was Cornette’s attempt to restart the territory system which didn’t really work but it did survive for about four years and had some big time stars (including I believe the first big American job of Chris Jericho). I’ve been looking forward to this so let’s get to it.

I think this might be a special called Global Warning but I’m not sure. That might be the theme from WWE 24/7 where this is from.

Thatcher tells us that a lot of this is from the Volunteer Slam from the day before.

Thrillseekers vs. Well Dunn

Well Dunn was a team made up of people with those last names. The Thrillseekers are Lance Storm and Chris Jericho and this is joined in progress. Jericho is in there with I think Well and he hits a Lionsault Press for two. An enziguri clears the ring and we’re clipped to a tag to Storm. The Thrillseekers clear the ring again and we’re clipped to Jericho in a chinlock but he’s fighting out of it.

They ram into each other and double tags bring in Well and Storm. Storm hits a nice spinning cross body for two. Well Dunn takes over but Jericho distracts Dunn and Storm hits a springboard cross body for the pin. This was more of a highlight package so I can’t really give it a fair rating.

Well Dunn rants about the Thrillseekers and say they need to follow the rules. They swear they’re the better team and they’ll find a way to beat them.

The Thrillseekers say they don’t cheat so a match where they can’t cheat is fine with them. Neither of them is good on the mic yet but they’re trying. Storm might be a step ahead of Jericho here if you can believe that. They get the point across though and that’s all that matters. They’re basically rookies here so giving them practice is the best thing you can do.

Cornette and his protege Bruiser Bedlam (bald guy who is crazy. He never did anything outside of territorial places) rant against Bob Armstrong and Tracy Smothers. Armstrong is Commissioner and Cornette wants him to resign. Jim also rants against hillbillies and implies that Smothers’ mother wasn’t the nicest woman. This brings Smothers out and Bedlam sends him flying with a brass knuckles shot. Smothers is busted open and a bunch of guys come in for the save.

Armstrong brought in someone to fight Bedlam and here’s part of the match, also from last night’s Volunteer Slam.

Bruiser Bedlam vs. Randy Savage

Yeah this works. Joined in progress again with Savage in trouble. We’re told this is the opening part of the match so that’s not so bad. Off to a long nerve hold which Armstrong cheers Savage out of. Bedlam misses a headbutt and here comes Savage. They go to the floor and Cornette is in the ring. Savage takes over and slams Bedlam down. He knocks Cornette down and hits the elbow, but there’s no referee. Dory Funk comes out and gets beaten up by Armstrong. Cornette throws powder in his eyes and Savage drops Jim. Dory shoves Savage off the top and a knuckles shot gives Beldam the pin.

Rating: C-. This was far more of a brawl than a match. I’d assume the full thing ran about ten minutes which isn’t bad. Savage was still with the WWF at the time and this was part of a talent exchange they had going on. Not much of a match and Bedlam never did anything, but that’s how you get guys over in a territory: have them beat guys that everyone knows.

Cornette, Funk and Bedlam brag about the win. Dory wants to be commissioner.

Armstrong and Smothers say they’ll do whatever they can to get another shot at Cornette and his boys. Armstrong says if he can find someone else to be commissioner, he’ll jump into the ring immediately.

We talk about the tag title scene between the Rock N Roll Express challenging Chris Candido/Brian Lee. This leads us to a clip of Morton vs. Candido which is all clipped. The point of this is Candido is trying to piledrive Morton. Lee and Tammy Fytch (Sunny) run in as Sunny has uncuffed Lee which was a prematch stipulation. They set for a spike piledriver but Gibson runs in for the save.

Armstrong makes an unsanctioned piledriver match for the titles. That means you win by piledriving someone, not pinning them.

Sunny says this is ridiculous.

We recap the SMW Title picture with a video. Jake Roberts debuted and said he wanted the title from Dirty White Boy. He called White Boy handicapped and said he was a 4/10. Roberts isn’t going to hit a mentally handicapped person or a blind man (White Boy is in an eye patch) but Roberts gets a title match anyway.

We get a clip of the title match and a masked man runs in to steal the patch. Two guys run in for the save and White Boy is messed up because of the exposure to light. White Boy comes back with a bunch of rights and Roberts is knocked to the floor. Roberts gets his picture taken so he steals the camera and uses the flash to blind White Boy. The DDT gives him the title.

SMW Heavyweight Title: Jake Roberts vs. Dirty White Boy

This is the main event from Volunteer Slam. Joined in progress again as Roberts goes after the eye. Jake toys with him now as he lays on the mat and kind of stares at White Boy. They go to the floor and White Boy rams the arm into the post a few times. We’re told this is 15 minutes in. They go back in but Roberts tosses him out again. That doesn’t work as White Boy grabs the arm.

Roberts pulls the referee into a shot and Mark Curtis is down. Jake takes the tape off his wrist and ties him to the ropes. Jake’s bag is brought in and I think a fan runs in so Jake clotheslines him. Dirty White Girl tries to make the save but Jake shoves her down and eventually DDTs her. The match has been stopped pretty much. He goes to put the snake on her but the locker room makes the save. Not enough to rate but the match looked like a typical match from a territory with no ending. Think Memphis.

White Girl is taken out in an ambulance.

Jake says he got caught up in the heat of a battle. This turns into a discussion of Cain and Abel. He’ll do whatever it takes to get the job done because he has to do everything for himself. He’ll come for the girl too.

Overall Rating: C. Unfortunately this is the only episode I have of this show. This really isn’t the best representation of SMW because it’s more or less a clip show from last night’s big show. This is very much an old school territory as it’s about the house shows and building to them rather than those building to TV/PPV today. This was still pretty good and you can certainly see the old school storytelling in there. I liked it, but the clipping gets annoying fast. Worth checking out if you can find a show though.

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NWA Central States TV
Date: March 17, 1984
Location: Memorial Hall, Kansas City, Kansas
Commentators: Kevin Walters, Bill Morris

This is one of the NWA’s big territories from back in the day, but at this point it’s fallen on some hard times due to Vince’s nationwide plans. Harley Race was the big star but I think he’s moved into a management role by this point. I have no real idea what to expect here so I don’t have much else to say. Let’s get to it.

The show is called All Star Wrestling. Ok then. I’m sticking with Central States TV.

The announcers run down the card tonight. I only know a handful of these names.

Tommy Rogers vs. Scott Ferris

I’m assuming that’s the same Rogers from the Fantastics. He has a beard so it’s kind of hard to tell. Ferris is from Oregon and is the heel here. Very basic match here and the camera angle is taking some getting used to. It’s between the top and middle rope for the most part. Ferris is the bigger guy and the veteran here. He likes to drop knees it seems. Time for a bearhug because it’s the 80s. A belly to belly gets two. Scott works on the back but Rogers makes a very weak comeback. He walks into a hot shot though and a splash ends this with Ferris getting the very slow pin.

Rating: D. By today’s standards this was pretty boring and I don’t think it was all that great back then either. Ferris is a guy I’ve never really heard of but then again this is a territory so that has to be expected with a lot of them. This was really just a somewhat longer than usual squash, but Rogers would get a lot better.

Frank Leopard vs. One Man Gang

Gang is pretty new here and this is from a different area. Gordon Solie is on commentary. This is total dominance and for some reason we’re talking about Dusty Rhodes. I’d assume this is from Florida. It’s mentioned that Gang and Ron Bass are US Tag Champions so that puts this somewhere from late December of 83 to mid January of 84 in Florida. A splash ends this total squash.

Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin says he’s coming to St. Louis. He talks about an upcoming match with Chris Adams.

Tiger Mask vs. TG Stone

This is joined in progress. Stone gets knocked backwards and rolled up for two. Stone stomps away and is definitely the heel here. Tiger tries to use speed but Stone is an evil cheater who does bad things. Off to a chinlock and Stone pounds away. Most of this is just Stone pounding away on Tiger Mask. I’m assuming this is Tiger Mask I. That chinlockery continues, this time with a knee in the back.

A backdrop and a kneedrop combine to get one. Tiger Mask gets up and Hulks Up. Things get a little sloppy now as it seems like they go into a totally different match. Tiger gets up and things kind of stumble around into Stone taking him down. The masked one comes back and hits a backdrop and middle rope punch for two. A cross body gets two. Some punches and elbow drops get the same. A dropkick puts Stone down and it’s a time limit draw.

Rating: F. This was more about these two just not clicking at all. Tiger Mask is very good but he had nothing to work with here. Like I said, there’s only so much you can do in territories like these. You have guys like Stone who isn’t anything of note but he filled in a spot on a card. Bad chemistry abounded here.

Video on Bruce Reed, who is far more famous as Butch Reed. It’s a music video and all it really says is that Reed is awesome and strong. There are a LOT of shoulder blocks in this. This goes on WAY too long, as in like 5 minutes.

Chris Adams offers a rebuttal to Garvin. He’s British and from World Class where he had a long feud with Jimmy Garvin. They both had women involved. He also had two big contributions to American wrestling: he was the first big named guy to use a superkick, and he trained Steve Austin.

Wahoo McDaniel says he’s ready for his match with Harley Race for the Missouri Heavyweight Title, which was a big time title in those days.

Grapplers vs. Ted Oates

This is No DQ. The Grapplers are masked guys and Oates’ partner, Ron Richie, isn’t here yet so we’re starting with a handicap match. We’ll say that’s Grappler #1 to start. Oates fights them both off and the Grapplers regroup. We’ll say that’s #2 in there now. You really can’t tell them apart so there’s no point in trying to tell which is which. Oates hammers him down so it’s off to #1. The Grapplers run again as this has been one sided so far.

The Grapplers switch but the referee (the same one in all of the matches so far) catches him because of something about their boots. So the Grapplers tag and #1, the one that tried to cheat, comes in anyway. Oates nips up but finally gets in trouble due to the numbers advantage. The Grapplers start double teaming and here’s Bulldog Bob Brown to be Oates’ partner.

Brown tries to come in but gets shoved out for fear of a stern lecture I suppose. The Grapplers work over the leg with a spinning toe hold. Oates has finally seen Brown but #2 comes in and tries the same hold for awhile. Oates gets in a knee lift to #1 and makes the tag. Brown cleans house and wins very quickly with a belly to back suplex.

Rating: C-. Pretty basic tag match here once it got to the end. I’m not sure what the point of it was but I can’t hold that against it as I don’t know what the story was to it. Not a bad match or anything and the idea of having Oates desperately needing a tag worked well enough. Not bad and definitely the match of the show.

Brown and Oates take the Grappler down and try to find out if his boot is loaded. The other Grappler comes back and the boot goes upside Oates’ head to bust him open.

Post break Oates and Brown say they won.

Overall Rating: D. Like I said in the rating for the previous match, I’d have probably liked this a lot better if I had known some of the stories going into it. The stuff with the promos was good and I’d like of like to see some of those matches. The best way to describe this show is that the stuff that was good was good and the stuff that was bad was bad. Not the worst I’ve ever seen but it wasn’t anything great.

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Continental Wrestling Federation TV
Date: October 22, 1988
Location: Montgomery Civic Center, Montgomery, Alabama
Commentators: Charlie Platt, Dutch Mantel

This is the last episode I have of this show and THANK GOODNESS FOR THAT. I can’t take much more of this horrible and boring show. The company isn’t remembered at all and like I said, there’s a reason for that: it’s not interesting at all. No one has anything resembling a personality and the champion is lucky to be on TV 15 seconds a week. Let’s get to it.

The champ is actually wrestling tonight. I’m shocked. Oh great: the Party Patrol is here AGAIN.

Bullet talks about his issues as of late. We get a clip of last week with Bullet saving the Rich’s (they’re the Party Patrol if anyone is getting lost) from a beatdown by the tag champions last week. Brad Armstrong will be here before the end of the night. As Bullet leaves a guy in a hat with long hair but his face covered up jumps Bullet. And it’s Tony Anthony, the Dirty White Boy. Stubbs comes in too and it’s a big beatdown. The Rich’s make the save. This is still boring but it’s BY FAR the most developed and interesting angle in this company at the moment.

House show ads. What else did you expect?

Tom Pritchard vs. The Invader

Ok this is weird. Either this is in a different arena or they really don’t know how to do lighting, because the arena is full of people in one shot and in the next you can only see about three rows. Invader is just a guy in a mask. Pritchard is heavyweight champion. Now you can see like 15 rows full of people. This is a very oddly designed building. Mantel says Bullet has a bad shoulder injury. Invader hammers away but walks into a backdrop. Pritchard punches him down and drops an elbow for one. Off to a chinlock and then a middle rope cross body gets two. Enziguri gets the pin for the champ.

Rating: D. Mantel says this is a confidence builder for Pritchard. He’s the heavyweight champion. Why would he need a confidence builder? For a face champion, Pritchard certainly does have problems beating what appear to be just basic heel opponents. The lack of a feud for him isn’t making me interested in the title, especially when the Dirty White Boy vs. Bullet is clearly the top feud in the company.

Second batch of ads.

CWF Heavyweight Championship Tournament Final: Tom Pritchard vs. Dirty White Boy

This is from Birmingham and is the tournament final. Why we’re seeing this after knowing who won is beyond me but whatever. It’s joined in progress and Pritchard is on commentary for it. Neckbreaker gets two for White Boy. All White Boy at this point. Ron Fuller, a big shot in this area, is guest referee.

Pritchard starts a comeback with punches but walks into an atomic drop. This is apparently 25 minutes in and their third match each of the night. Anthony misses something off the top and Stubbs tries to interfere, only for Fuller to take care of him. Someone runs in and drills Anthony during the distraction for the pin. Well that was pretty heelish. Not enough to rate but what we saw was bad.

Party Patrol vs. The Count/The Grappler #2

Please….make it short. Davey and Grappler start things off and Davey uses that wide variety of arm drags of his. Arm work abounds and it’s on the right arm which is rather odd. The Rich’s are in the national top ten rankings of tag teams. I want to see these rankings. Then I want to slap whoever writes them. Off to Johnny and the Rich’s control with their usual boring stuff.

The camera cuts to just a shot of their feet as Grappler gets a suplex to take over. Count misses a middle rope elbow and it’s off to Johnny again. Or is that Davey? Actually who freaking cares? Headknocker takes Count (another masked guy) down and things break down a bit. Grappler is gone and Johnny suplexes Count. Off to Davey and they botch a Thesz Press for the pin.

Rating: F. I hate these guys. That is all.

House shows.

Willie B. Hert vs. Chuck Allen

Allen is a blonde dude and Hert is the same annoying dancing man that he’s always been. Willie grabs the arm and the announcers make fun of Allen for being fat. And apparently the director got bored with the match as we cut to a promo from Ron Fuller. The match continues to be boring as Fuller talks about how he’ll keep his title. The promo has nothing to do with this match but I’d rather hear Fuller talk than watch it so there you go. Hert is destroying him anyway. Suplex puts Allen down and pounds away. Allen rakes his eyes and that’s all of his offense. Neckbreaker and headbutt end this.

Rating: D-. When the TV show doesn’t want to watch the match on it, I think you should probably know how good things are. This was just an extended squash by what I presume is supposed to be a fun character in Hert. He never really does anything serious so what else would he be classified as?

Mr. Martin is here with his new protege. It’s….MASAHIRO CHONO??? Martin challenges Lord Humongous (Sid Vicious) to a loser leaves town match against Kokina (Yokozuna). I’m pretty sure Sid lost so he could go to the NWA.

Mr. Chono vs. The Equalizer

Allegedly this is Chono’s American debut. That’s certainly Masahiro Chono. Equalizer is another masked dude. I believe we’re clipped to Chono dominating. A backbreaker gets two as he pulls Equalizer up. He slaps him down in the corner and hooks an abdominal stretch. Equalizer gets in some basic shots and Chono is like I DON’T THINK SO IN JAPANESE! Owen Hart style spinwheel kick puts Equalizer down and a Cobra Clutch ends this. Total squash but what a random thing to see here.

House show ads. New idea there.

Ken Wayne says he’s Danny Davis’ worst nightmare. He won the title back from Davis at the Road to Birmingham so here’s a clip of it. It’s also hair vs. hair but since it’s clipped I won’t bother listing it as a full match. Clipped to Danny GUSHING blood. Top rope legdrop hits for Wayne and we’re told this is 30 minutes in. Wayne for to pin him but Davis rolls him up very quickly for the surprise pin. Post match Wayne hit him with a Coke bottle and cut Davis’ hair anyway.

Bullet is back with his arm in a sling. Stubbs tries to jump him but Bullet beats him down anyway. Anthony pops up and they work over Bullet’s arm again. Brad Armstrong makes the save. Willie B. Hert comes out also and he and Brad say they won’t let this happen to Bullet again.

Overall Rating: D. Better show but that’s probably due to the show featuring a lot of stuff that wasn’t from this week. The Bullet storyline wasn’t horrible but it was all they had going for it. Chono was a very surprising appearance but it was just in a squash and he would be back in Japan pretty soon. Probably the best of the four shows but that’s not saying much.

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Continental Championship Wrestling TV
Date: October 15, 1988
Location: Montgomery Civic Center, Montgomery, Alabama
Commentators: Charlie Platt, Dutch Mantel

Back to this one again with the final two shows that I have of this time period. I’ve done the shows from October 1st and 8th so if you’re curious as to what’s going on with this company, take a look at those two. I’ll be doing the 22nd after this so we’ll be able to get a good look at this period for this company. I don’t know anything about this show so let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of last week’s show where the Dirty White Girl caused the Bullet to be choked out by the Dirty White Boy. She wound up getting spanked but Bullet got beaten down anyway.

The announcers run down the card for a bit.

Detroit Demolition vs. Keith Steinborn

Demolition is dressed exactly like Axe or Smash. Powerslam ends this in about 40 seconds. Total squash and guess who won.

Tom Pritchard brags about winning the CWF Title. He’s a wanted man and that’s fine with him.

House show ads.

Ken Wayne vs. Willie B. Hert

Wayne is the US Junior Heavyweight Champion. Hert is your standard jolly dancing black man. Mantel won’t say who his mystery man is at the Night of Champions. Hert uses his power game to take over early and sends Wayne to the floor. I forgot how much the camera jumps in this company. Back in and Wayne hooks on a headlock to take over. I also forgot how boring the in ring stuff was in this company.

Hert counters some corner punches with an atomic drop. Wayne uses some of the worst choking I’ve ever seen so Hert throws him around with ease. This is so boring. Hert dances around and a headbutt gets two. This has been going about six minutes so far and they’ve had about a minute of “action”. Hert rams him into the buckle a bunch and then takes him to the floor, beats on him even more and after about 4 seconds it’s a double countout.

Rating: D-. Terribly dull match here but that’s par for the course for this company. Hert is a guy that’s there more for his gimmick and the dancing stuff rather than the wrestling itself. It gets annoying to see these matches go on this long (seven minutes or so) though with a weak ending like that.

More house show ads, and by that I mean the same ones as earlier.

Grappler #2 vs. Lee Peak

Grappler is the guy that went to a draw with Pritchard last week. Peak gets in some slams and a cross body gets two. Grappler comes back and drops a leg for two. Peak walks into something like a fisherman’s suplex for the pin. This was nothing.

House show ads again.

Austin Idol vs. Mark Pyle

That’s a bit too rhymy for me. Idol is the Universal Heartthrob and is very handsome I guess. Pyle is a military guy I think and stalls early on. Idol heads to the floor and Pyle grabs something in his tights. A shot to the ribs with that gives Pyle a quick advantage. And never mind as Idol pounds him down and wins with a figure four. Another squash.

Do we really need to hear these same ads four times?

Dirty White Boy and Ken Stubbs say they’ll be tag champions soon. Oh wait they already are. The lack of belts kind of threw me off. They had broken up for awhile but now they’re back together and the best.

Dirty White Boy/Jerry Stubbs vs. Party Patrol

I was hoping to avoid the Rich Cousins today. Stubbs vs. let’s say Johnny starts us off. Rich throws him around with arm drags and hooks a bar. That goes on for awhile until it’s off to Tony Anthony (Dirty White Boy) who walks into arm work as well. Has Davey been in at all yet? I don’t think he has. To the shock of no one paying attention, this is another very boring match.

The Dirty White Girl is named Mystic. Ok then. The Rich’s keep up control and everything breaks down. This is non-title I’d assume. The champs are sent to the floor and I don’t think they’ve had control at all during this match. Actually I don’t think they’ve even been on offense yet. The champs cheat to take over and Johnny is sent to the floor. Johnny gets beaten down for awhile and I sound like I’m writing a book for three year olds. Johnny rolls through for the hot tag, everything breaks down, and a foreign objects knocks Davey out for the pin.

Rating: D. Somewhat better match than earlier but that’s not really saying much. This was terribly boring and I’m not sure why I keep trying to get my hopes up for these matches anymore. The champions would keep the titles for a little while before losing them to the Bullet and his real life son Brad Armstrong.

The champions keep beating them down post match until Bullet makes the save.

House show ads #5.

The tag champs say they’ll take Bullet out.

Tim Horner vs. Mr. Martin

Who Martin is I’m not sure but who cares? His first name is Allen apparently. There’s a Samoan with Martin whose name is Kokina the Samoan Warrior. If my memory is right, he would be on the first episode of Monday Night Raw and be called Yokozuna. He hits Horner in the throat and then does it again. Yoko has long hair here which is a weird look for him. Horner takes over and stomps on Kokina’s fingers. He rams Martin into the Samoan and rolls him up for the pin. Too short to rate but it’s always cool to see future superstars like this.

The announcers wrap things up and we see the double DDT on the tag champs again to end the show. They’re really making a big deal out of that.

Overall Rating: D-. Another terribly boring show. I think there’s a reason you never hear anything about this company: IT SUCKED. I know it’s a different era and a very southern style, but at least in Memphis you had some characters that were interesting and could get the crowd into things. This is just bare bones wrestling and nothing of interest at all. Maybe they’re still resetting after the Road To Birmingham or whatever, but that was a long time ago now. Bad show.

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Continental Wrestling Federation TV
Date: October 8, 1988
Location: Civic Center, Montgomery, Alabama
Commentators: Charlie Platt, Dutch Mantell

Back again with the second of four straight weeks of TV that I have here. We’re done with the Road to Birmingham now so it should be interesting to see where things go. Gilbert is gone, Pritchard is the champion, the tag titles didn’t change hands, and other than that there isn’t much else I can think of. Let’s get to it.

A masked guy is gunning for the Dirty White Boy. No name is given for him.

This is the “Showing of the Stars”, whatever that means. The voiceover lists off some of the people in action tonight.

Private Powell vs. Davey Rich

Well at least it’s not Davey Richards. He’s part of the Party Patrol you would hear about in the previous week’s show. The ring is small, like a WCW one. Rich takes over with a headscissors and a headlock. He works the arm which goes on for awhile. I think they botch a flip of some sort as I think Powell was supposed to use a monkey flip kind of thing but Rich jumped and crotched himself. Back to the arm and this is REALLY dull. Rich is in Hogan colors. They botch a sunset flip out of the corner and Rich gets the pin.

Rating: F. So they spent five minutes working on the arm and botching half of the moves they were trying? This was awful and there was nothing redeeming at all, even imaging Hogan being a member of the Party Patrol. Nothing to see here and not a good sign for the rest of the show.

The Bullet (Bob Armstrong in a mask, the guy that opened the show) is here but first let’s hear about those house shows. Bullet says that there are a lot of people here with talent and that’s about it. Dirty White Boy comes out to call him out and the match is next.

The Bullet vs. Dirty White Boy

They immediately slug it out and apparently this is a big feud. The White Boy (also known as Tony Anthony. Isn’t that a little redundant?) hammers away to take over. This is more of a brawl than a match, but with the names in there, were you expecting anything else? Off to a chinlock by Anthony. Make that a LONG chinlock which gets two arm drops. Bullet hits a clothesline and starts his comeback. There’s a whip brought in from somewhere and the match is thrown out.

Rating: D-. This was only somewhat better but it’s mostly punching and chinlocks. Oh before I forget: Anthony was in WWF for awhile as T.L. Hopper if you remember him. Bullet is Road Dogg’s dad and that’s about the extent of his fame. Not much of a match and I’m assuming the history of this is a lot more interesting.

Post match Jerry Stubbs and the Dirty White Girl (seriously) comes in for a beatdown. The Party Patrol makes the save.

Since this is an old TV show, we get part of a commercial. This commercial features ERNEST P. WORRELL!!!!!! He’s from Lexington so he’s kind of a local hero.

The announcers talk about how the Rich Cousins (Party Patrol) are awesome. If you don’t believe us, here’s a taped match with them in it.

Pat Rose/Deuce Mason vs. Davey Rich/Johnny Rich

Johnny vs. Rose gets us going. Off to Deuce and this is looking like a total squash. Yep a shoulder block (seriously?) ends this in like 40 seconds.

Ken Wayne is here on commentary for the next match. He’s the US Junior Heavyweight Champion again.

Tom Pritchard vs. The Grappler II

This is after the Road to Birmingham tournament which Pritchard won but there’s no reference or title to be seen. He references having his hair and having a new car so this is after the Birmingham show. Grappler is a guy in a mask and the original was a huge deal in Portland. Ok so Pritchard is officially Heavyweight Champion. My guess is this was taped before the Birmingham show with commentary added later. Very basic match and we talk about the Night of Champions coming up. Pritchard controls with a headlock….and that’s enough of that.

We cut to the back where White Boy and Stubbs (the new tag champions which wasn’t mentioned when they were in the ring) talking about Bullet and the Rich Cousins. They switch to an inset window and Pritchard keeps the headlock the whole time. Grappler finally hits a suplex to take over and we talk about an elimination tag match coming up. They’re not exactly Survivor Series matches and the rules are too complex to figure out. Jerry Stubbs is called Mr. Perfect here. That gimmick was either about to start in WWF or already had.

Grappler hooks something resembling a chinlock but it’s more like a nerve hold. Pritchard makes the comeback and Wayne complains about everything he does. I guess this is to build up to a match between them. Pritchard hits a spin kick to the ribs and makes his real comeback. Grappler slams him and drops a leg for two. Pritchard hooks a backslide but the time limit runs out at two. The new heavyweight champion just wrestled to a draw in his first match as champion. WOW.

Rating: D. Honestly when this match was going on for awhile, I jokingly thought to myself that they would go to a draw in the first match in Pritchard’s reign, but then chuckled and said there’s no way they would do that. AND THEN THEY DID IT. The match was nothing special, but I don’t get the booking here in the slightest.

Big brawl post match. Wayne offers to let the announcer touch his hair before he goes.

White Lightning (this company borders on racial issues with these white themed names) talks about the elimination matches they mentioned earlier. We get an old match of Horner’s and the announcer tells us he wins. Well thanks for the drama.

Tim Horner vs. Private Powell

Did the world really demand two Private Powell matches? Bullett is on commentary. Powell takes over to start but walks into an atomic drop and bridging O’Connor Roll for the pin. Lasted maybe 90 seconds.

Willie B. Hert vs. The Counteract

Willie is your standard happy dancing black character. Count is in an executioner hood and I don’t see this going long. Willie beats him up and sends him to the floor. Instead of following up, it’s a dance party. Willie works on the arm and the crowd is DEAD. A suplex gets two. There’s a forearm and it’s finally done. That was like six or seven minutes lone somehow.

Rating: D-. Does this company get paid by the arm work? They seem to LOVE that kind of stuff and it wasn’t anything to see here. Hert isn’t interesting but is supposed to be a fun character I’d assume. Nothing to see here but that’s to be expected in this company it would seem.

Willie talks about Night of Champions but some blonde guy comes up and yells at him. He’s a champion of some sort. Oh that’s Wayne….again. They get in the ring and their match is next time.

Overall Rating: D+. It was a very different show this week but more boring. There was no real focus of the show and it seemed like they were all over the place. Pritchard vs. Grappler is long and that’s about all it had going for it. Not much here, but lucky me I get to do two more weeks of it. Anyway, not much to see here but at least it’s a pretty short TV show.

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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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David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions
Date: May 6, 1984
Location: Texas Stadium, Irving, Texas
Attendance: 32,123
Commentator: Marc Lawrence

So back in 1984, David Von Erich was allegedly the next in line to become NWA World Champion. Then he died. He had gone on a tour of Japan and complained of a stomach ache and he never woke up that night. According to the official results it was a heart attack but a lot of wrestlers say it was a drug overdose and Bruiser Brody allegedly flushed the drugs down a toilet. Anyway, this is a big memorial show for him and his brother Kerry has a world title shot against Flair. Gee, I wonder what’s going to happen. Let’s get to it.

I think this is a hacked up home video version, so things are going to be all over the place and probably clipped a lot.

Also I’ve gotten two different attendance totals and this is the smaller one, but the look of the show would imply it’s more correct than the one I saw that said over 50,000.

Chick Donovan vs. Butch Reed

Reed is a total monster here. Donovan is a surfer character and is built as well. They exchange shoves and Donovan takes him down. It’s so strange to think that this is almost a year before Wrestlemania as things look like they could be from the late 90s. I think we’re clipped a bit as Donovan grabs the leg but I’m not sure. They fight over a top wristlock and Reed takes over. Donovan gets thrown to the floor and the camera jumps around a lot. I think it’s more odd camera work than clipping. Donovan looks to Hulk Up on the floor and comes back in but gets his head kicked off. A gorilla press drop and a shoulder block end this.

Rating: D+. Not much here but I’m really impressed by the production values here. Maybe it’s that I’m so used to everything from the 80s being dark until the very end, but this is a really bright and good looking show. Reed would go on to the NWA and then the WWF later in the 80s and then become half of Doom. Donovan became an announcer I think.

Great Kabuki vs. Kamala

Kabuki is a guy that was far more famous in territories and Japan than in America. His biggest contribution: he introduced Asian Mist to pro wrestling. Kamala I’m sure you’re all familiar with. This is Gart Hart vs. Skandor Akbar in the managing aspect, who are both guys you should know as they’re awesome. Hart (not related to Stu) towers over Kabuki. Kabuki does a nunchuck demonstration before the match.

They stall forever before the match and Kabuki spits Mist. Now they stall even more. We’re at about a minute so far with no contact. Kamala finally gets things going by chopping away. Kabuki kicks a lot as is his custom. The fans have no idea who to cheer for it seems. A test of strength doesn’t happen as Kamala grabs a bearhug instead.

Now it’s a choke which Kamala shifts to a pectoral hold. In other words, he’s grabbing the chest. The managers are about to fight again. Kabuki fights up…and then Kamala pulls him right back down again. A superkick puts Kamala down and Kabuki chokes some too. END THIS ALREADY!!! They chop each other a lot and Kabuki kicks him down as the managers start fighting. They both come in and it’s a double DQ.

Rating: F. I need a drink after sitting through that match. This was HORRIBLE and the ending sucked really hard. Neither guy moved faster than a turtle with a broken leg’s pace and the ending made it even worse. Just a horrible match and I have no idea who thought this was going to be a good idea.

Junkyard Dog vs. Missing Link

Dog was a HUGE star at this point. Missing Link is a crazy man. Link charges straight at him so Dog punches him a lot. A chair is brought in so Dog whacks him over the head with it and that’s all well and good I guess. Akbar is Link’s manager too. Link tries ramming Dog’s head into the buckle and that just fails. Now Link rams his own head into the buckle. They both get on all fours and ram heads which goes to Dog as well. Akbar tries to cheat and it allows Link to hit a middle rope headbutt for the pin? Akbar had the foot for the pin but another referee comes out and says what happened so Dog wins by DQ.

Rating: D-. It’s only really not a failure because Link had a cool look and I liked the insane character he had. The Dog was WAY over and it worked very well to have him here. Not a good match at all though as their styles completely clashed and the ending was even worse with neither guy looking good at all. It was pretty much a squash until the end.

American Tag Titles: Super Destroyers vs. Rock N Roll Soul

The Destroyers are guys in masks and are the champions. Rock N Roll Soul are King Parsons and Buck Zumhofe. This is the top tag title in the company. Akbar manages the champions here AGAIN. The fans are way behind the champions here. Buck and we’ll say #1 start with a crisscross. Off to Parsons and #2 and Parsons works on the arm. A dropkick puts the Destroyer down and Parsons does the JYD all fours headbutt.

Off to the other Destroyer who can’t hurt Parson’s head, just like JYD. Couldn’t they at least have another match in between there so it’s not so obvious? Off to Buck who climbs the ropes with a headlock takeover. Sunset flip gets two. We hit the five minute mark as Buck still has that headlock on. The heels make a blind tag and the other comes in with a dropkick for two.

A kneedrop gets two for I think #1. Those are their names: Super Destroyer #1 and Super Destroyer #2. They would eventually be revealed to be Bill and Scott Irwin. Parsons gets the tag and everything breaks down. Soul gets stereo sunset flips for two. Parsons gets double teamed but he hits his flying hip attack (Goldust used to use it) for the pin and the titles.

Rating: D+. This is before 1986 so the tag team formula wasn’t established yet at all. This was pretty much just so they could say something major happened here…which is pretty pointless given the main event but whatever. This was more of a regional thing than a match for the masses if that makes sense.

Six Man Tag Titles: Freebirds vs. Von Erichs

Kevin, Mike and Fritz here. The Birds are the champions and the titles are represented by a big trophy instead of belts. Mike is one of the saddest stories you’ll ever hear: He wasn’t a good wrestler in the first place and then he was injured. The injury resulted in toxic shock syndrome, which resulted in brain damage. His dad, Fritz, made him get back in the ring anyway. He committed suicide later in the 80s.

This is anything goes. Fritz is in a dress shirt and jeans. Everything breaks down quickly and chairs are thrown in. The referee says anything goes but you have to tag. Ok then. Kevin is bleeding from the big brawl. Ok so it’s officially Buddy Roberts vs. Kevin to start. Kevin beats him down and it’s a brawl in less than 10 seconds with everyone coming in. Off to Mike who goes straight for the leg.

Mike is a very small man. Hayes comes in and stomps away as the fans HATE him. A middle rope splash misses and here’s old man Fritz. Everything breaks down again and Fritz whips Hayes’ back with a belt. Kevin vs. the monster known as Terry Gordy. Gordy starts his boxing and the fans are erupting more and more every second now. If the Von Erichs win, Kerry gets Fritz’s title since Fritz is retired. I’m glad they cleared that up.

Kevin tries the Iron Claw but Gordy fights it off at the five minute mark. Hayes comes in and the fans are louder in this match than they’ve been in the whole show so far. Hayes takes off his boot to get in some shots and it’s off to Roberts. In one of the oddest moves you’ll ever seen, Roberts thrusts his hips forward so his belt buckle hits Kevin in the head. Fritz comes in and everything breaks down. Claw to Hayes and to Roberts at the same time. Hayes is busted bad. Various people are rammed into each other until Kevin comes off the top with a cross body to pin Roberts for the title.

Rating: C. This was the first decent match of the entire show. Granted a lot of that was probably due to the crowd finally being interested. This was without a doubt the feud that defines the promotion so you knew they were going to have something going on here. Not a bad match, but the rematch in July won Match of the Year from Meltzer, so check that out instead since it had Kerry so Fritz didn’t look so out of place.

Killer Khan comes in post match for the big beatdown. Kerry runs out for the save.

NWA World Title: Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich

You can tell this is a long time ago as Flair is from Minneapolis still. Kerry comes out to some country song that started after the beginning of Tom Sawyer played. His robe says In Memory of David and has a yellow rose, which was David’s nickname. If Flair gets disqualified, Kerry is champion. Kerry overpowers him to start and they hit the mat at a standoff.

They go back to the mat and no one can get control again. Kerry takes over and hits a dropkick to put Flair into the corner. They fight over a top wristlock and Kerry takes over again. This is a long feeling out process to start. Kerry gets a press slam and Flair begs off, heading to the floor. Flair gets in some shots but Kerry is like not in Texas dude. Sunset flip gets two.

Kerry hooks a sleeper but Flair suplexes out of it to take over. The champ uses his regular stuff to control, including the knee drop. Kerry snaps off a dropkick which Flair doesn’t even go down from. Flair gets caught in an abdominal stretch but escapes quickly. Shoulder puts Kerry down but he grabs the Iron Claw. After escaping, Flair goes up top but is slammed down. Kerry escapes a pair of Figure Fours and grabs a backslide for the pin and the title.

Rating: D+. That’s it? I mean really, that’s it? This wasn’t even 12 minutes long. It came off more like a modern TV main event than anything else. Flair never had Kerry in anything resembling trouble, although Kerry never dominated either. To be fair though, you couldn’t have made this more obvious if you had painted a big sign saying “come see Kerry win the title”. His match with David had been built up already so this was thrown together at the last minute. The lack of hatred hurt it, but there’s only so much they could do here.

The locker room empties for the celebration. Flair says he’ll be back and Kerry says bring it. He would lose the title back to Flair in less than three weeks in Japan, and that’s ok I think as Kerry was never meant to be champion in the first place. Flair would hold it over two years after that.

Oddly enough, that’s not the last match.

Precious/Jimmy Garvin vs. Sunshine/Chris Adams

Basic feud here with Precious having Sunshine as an assistant until she treated her horribly once too often Sunshine snapped. This is the payoff for it. The guys start us off and Adams slams him down. Garvin can’t do much with him due to a lack of talent. After a brief chinlock we get a double clothesline to put both guys down. Superkick puts Garvin down and the girls come in.

They aren’t wrestlers so this is horrendous. Back to the guys and Adams takes over on a tired Garvin. Garvin hits what we would call Snake Eyes to take over. Adams is busted open but he manages to reverse a piledriver. The girls come in again and everything breaks down. Adams comes back in with a sunset flip for the pin as the girls fight to the floor.

Rating: F. Terrible all around, but to be fair the girls weren’t wrestlers. That being said, Garvin is but he couldn’t do anything of note. Adams wasn’t very famous as a wrestler but he brought the superkick into modern wrestling and trained Steve Austin, so he had to be worth something right?

Garvin and Precious run away to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. This was one of the worst shows I can remember in a long time. You had terrible matches other than about two and the rest was just missing. I get that it’s a different era, but would a clean fall have killed you in the first 30 minutes? Also the time is weird as only one match out of seven broke 10 minutes. The whole show is only a little over 70 minutes (granted that’s not counting entrances) so it came off as totally rushed. Not worth seeing, not even for the title change.

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Crockett Cup 1986
Date: April 19, 1986
Location: Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
Attendance: 3,500 (Afternoon), 13,000 (Evening)
Commentators: N/A

Here’s the first of a set of three rare shows I’ll get to eventually. This is a 24 team tag tournament that was held every year from 1986-1988. This year has sixteen teams in the first round and the winners of those eight matches would face eight teams that had gotten byes. As you may have guessed, some of these teams were thrown together because we needed teams to fill in the brackets. There are also two non-tournament matches. Thankfully this is the home video version so a lot of the 23 match card (see why it was split into two sessions?) is cut or clipped. Let’s get to it.

Again bear in mind that this is the home video version so a lot of the bracket is missing.

Here’s the first round. The winners will face the team in parentheses.

Wahoo McDaniel/Mark Youngblood
Bobby Jaggers/Mike Miller
(Road Warriors)

Sam Houston/Nelson Royal
Batten Twins
(Midnight Express)

Fabulous Ones
Fantastics
(Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard)

Guerreros
Sheepherders
(Rock N Roll Express)

Barbarian/Baron Von Raschke
Manny Fernandez/Jimmy Valiant
(Ivan Koloff/Nikita Koloff)

Terry Taylor/Steve Williams
Bill Dundee/Buddy Landell
(Dino Bravo/Rick Martel)

Italian Stallion/Koko Ware
Buzz Sawyer/Rick Steiner
(Ronnie Garvin/Magnum TA)

DJ Peterson/Brett Wayne
Black Bart/Jimmy Garvin
(Tiger Mask/Giant Baba)

See what I mean about thrown together teams? It’s no wonder this show is clipped.

The full title is Jim Crockett Senior Memorial Tag Team Tournament. Yeah it’s the Crockett Cup.

Crockett Cup First Round: Mark Youngblood/Wahoo McDaniel vs. Bobby Jaggers/Mike Miller

This is joined in progress with Wahoo pounding on I believe Miller. Expect to hear “joined in progress” and “clipped to” a lot in this. Off to Youngblood and it’s at this point that I realize there’s no commentary on this. Not even voiceovers. Something tells me this is going to be a lot harder to keep track of.

Youngblood gets beaten down and we’re cut to Jaggers holding him in a chinlock. Youngblood gets a shoulder block to put both guys down and it’s hot tag to Wahoo and everything breaks down. Wahoo chops Miller down and pins him with a big elbow drop (his finisher) to advance on. This was about 2 minutes of an 8 minute match. Expect a lot of stuff like that on this review.

Crockett Cup First Round: Sam Houston/Nelson Royal vs. Batten Twins

The twins are named Bart and Brad and that’s all I’ve got on them. Royal vs. let’s say Brad starts us off. And that’s enough of that so after about 8 seconds we’re off to Houston in trouble as the twins double team him. One of the twins misses a charge and hits the post but Houston can’t tag out. Jumping back elbow gets two for the one that didn’t hit the post. Lukewarm tag brings in Royal but its back to Houston quickly. At least the fans recognize him I think. The bulldog ends let’s say Bart quickly. This was about a minute out of 8 that the match ran.

Crockett Cup First Round: Jimmy Valiant/Manny Fernandez vs. Baron Von Raschke/Barbarian

We open with Jimmy dancing around like an idiot with the big beard against Baron’s evil paleness. Baron looks old and slow here in 1986. Off to Manny and we’re clipped to Barbarian hitting him in the back but missing a dropkick. Back off to Baron who can’t even throw very convincing forearms. Valiant gets a hot tag which Manny could make due to Baron being old and slow. Sleeper goes on Baron but things break down quickly. Some heel managers get involved but Manny hooks a sunset flip on Barbarian for the pin. About 2-3 minutes out of 11.

Crockett Cup First Round: Terry Taylor/Steve Williams vs. Bill Dundee/Buddy Landell

Team Mid-South here against I guess you would say Team Memphis. Joined in progress with Landell locking up with Taylor. There’s no rhyme or reason to any of these pairings so I apologize for how fast some of these matches seem. I’m just over ten minutes into the tap and we’ve seen this much. Clipped to Taylor in trouble as the fans chant for him. This is pre-Red Rooster so he’s got credibility. Dundee throws on a sleeper but Terry hooks a jawbreaker to escape. Hot tag brings in Williams who easily beats up both Tennesseeans. Oklahoma Stampede kills Landell dead at about two minutes out of twelve.

Crockett Cup First Round: Sheepherders vs. Hector Guerrero/Chavo Guerrero

The Sheepherders are the Bushwackers as CRAZY heels. Believe it or not there’s a match later on with them in it that Meltzer gave five stars, so they weren’t exactly the same team. Joined in progress with Butch pounding on Chavo but the guy with a famous brother escapes with speed moves. Off to Luke who pounds away even more but gets caught in a sunset flip for two.

Moderate tag brings in Hector and the announcer says we’re at ten minutes in. Abdominal stretch goes on but the Herders won’t quit cheating. Butch is knocked out of the ring as the flag bearer (Rip Morgan) is dropped for a BIG pop. Not that it matters as a double clothesline to Hector ends the Guerreros at just under three minutes shown of about 11. I’m sorry for the lack of ratings but at 15 minutes into the tape I’ve gotten through a two minute intro and five matches. What can I really do here?

Crockett Cup First Round: Fantastics vs. Fabulous Ones

Ok by sheer talent in the ring this has to be good. The Fabulous ones are Steve Keirn (Skinner and the current owner of FCW) and Stan Lane (future member of the Midnight Express). The Fantastics are Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rodgers and are probably my favorite NWA tag team. Fulton vs. Keirn to start and this goes fast. Clipped to Keirn hammering on Fulton. This lack of commentary is really pretty interesting.

A hot shot puts Fulton down but there’s no cover. Clipped to his comeback and Fulton’s tights being pulled down. Lane comes in for a superkick and we’re clipped again to both guys going down off a Russian legsweep. Hot tag to Rodgers gets a big pop as he hammers away on everyone in sight. House is cleaned and an O’Connor Roll pins Lane. WAY too clipped to have any kind of idea if it was good or not.

Crockett Cup First Round: Buzz Sawyer/Rick Steiner vs. Koko Ware/Italian Stallion

Ware is obvious and Stallion is a jobber to the stars. Sawyer is a bit nuts so he fits in perfectly. Ware vs. Sawyer to start off the latest clip-a-thon and I have no idea who the favorites are here. Sawyer is sent to the floor twice and wow he’s already back in. HOW FAST IS THIS GUY? Stallion comes in and works on Steiner who I didn’t recognize in regular trunks. I think he and Sawyer are the heels. Clipped to Ware in a bearhug by Steiner and it’s off to Sawyer. He misses a splash and Stallion comes in. We’re at the 15 minute mark so Sawyer hits a powerslam for the pin. Maybe two minutes shown.

Crockett Cup First Round: Brett Sawyer/Dave Peterson vs. Black Bart/Jimmy Garvin

This is the last match of the first round. Bart is a big fat cowboy and I don’t know much about their opponents. Bart hammers on Peterson and bumps around fast as Peterson isn’t that good from what I can tell. Off to Sawyer as they work on Bart’s arm a bit. Clipped to Garvin in control and then a hot tag to Sawyer. Bart drops a leg and a Garvin brainbuster ends this. The whole match was about 6 and a half minutes.

Now we’re onto the second round and most of the teams from here on are at least knows pairings. Here are the brackets.

Road Warriors
Wahoo McDaniel/Mark Youngblood

Sam Houston/Nelson Royal
Midnight Express

Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard
Fantastics

Sheepherders
Rock N Roll Express

Koloffs
Manny Fernandez/Jimmy Valiant

Terry Taylor/Steve Williams
Dino Bravo/Rick Martel

Ronnie Garvin/Magnum TA
Buzz Sawyer/Rick Steiner

Black Bart/Jimmy Garvin
Tiger Mask/Giant Baba

Crockett Cup Second Round: Midnight Express vs. Sam Houston/Nelson Royal

We start at the beginning with Houston vs. Condrey. Man Cornette is loud. Off to Eaton and the Midnights are moving in this one. This has been all Express so far. Houston gets in a knee lift and it’s off to Royal and his huge trunks. Everything breaks down quickly and Eaton hits a shot off the top to Royal for the pin. The whole thing (unclipped!!!) was under two minutes.

Crockett Cup Second Round: Magnum TA/Ronnie Garvin vs. Buzz Sawyer/Rick Steiner

Ronnie vs. Sawyer to get us going but it’s off to Magnum quickly. Magnum works on Buzz’s arm but we’re clipped to him working on Rick’s arm. Go figure. Sawyer comes back in and goes nuts on him with all kinds of pounding away. Off to a chinlock and also off to Steiner. We’re clipped to a bit later in the heel beatdown and a DDT by Sawyer for two.

Magnum grabs a small package for two as well as a backslide. He finally gets the hot tag to Ronnie who throws some punches and tags right back out. Magnum hits the belly to belly on Steiner and in 1986 that might as well have been a bullet to the head. Again, way too short. Is a full match over three minutes too much to ask?

Crockett Cup Second Round: Road Warriors vs. Wahoo McDaniel/Mark Youngblood

Animal pounds on Youngblood and it’s off to Hawk quickly. Total dominance so far. Wahoo comes in to chop Animal some but enough of the powerful veteran. Let’s get the skinny guy in again! Hawk kills him with a shoulder block and after a few punches from Youngblood, the middle rope clothesline ends this. Total squash according to the clipped version.

Crockett Cup Second Round: Ivan Koloff/Nikita Koloff vs. Manny Fernandez/Jimmy Valiant

The first thing we see is Nikita in a leg lock. This is getting really boring because there’s not enough to gather anything from at all. We’re on the 12th match and I’ve watched about 35 minutes of this tape. Think about that for a minute. Wrestlemania 17 had 11 matches. Ivan gets a tag in and gets caught in the wrong corner. How was he a former world champion? Off to Valiant as Ivan’t crotch takes a beating.

Clipped to the five minute mark with Fernandez missing a dropkick to bring in Nikita again. Clipped to Manny in a bearhug as Ivan comes in again. Hot tag brings in Jimmy who cleans house and hooks a sleeper. Everything breaks down (that should be the name of this show) and Nikita gets a Sickle for the pin. WOW IT WAS OVER THREE MINUTES SHOWN!!!

Rating: D+. This was just ok as the Koloffs who were usually a good heel team came off looking like clowns here who hit one big move to win the match. I wasn’t huge on this one but a lot of that is probably due to Valiant. He had no room on a show outside of Memphis as he was just a crowd favorite rather than anyone talented in the ring. That being said, his pops were huge and I get why he’s in this. I just don’t like him.

Crockett Cup Second Round: Dino Bravo/Rick Martel vs. Terry Taylor/Steve Williams

Bravo is hurt, forfeit, no match.

Crockett Cup Second Round: Rock N Roll Express vs. Sheepherders

Oh pardon me: the New Zealand Sheepherders. It’s a big brawl to start and Luke has to bail quickly. Clipped to Robert sending Luke into the buckle and bringing in Ricky who cleans house. Clipped again to Butch pounding Ricky down to the shock of no one that knows anything about 80s wrestling. We’re at the five minute mark (when I say that it means that’s what the announcer says) and we’re clipped to Robert coming back in.

Gibson misses a charge into the corner and we’re clipped into even more of a beating on him. It’s weird to see an Express match without having Morton in there getting beaten down for the majority of it. Hot tag brings in Morton and there’s a double dropkick to Butch. The Flag Bearer comes in for the attack but Morton gets caught with the flag for the DQ to send the Sheepherders to the third round.

Rating: C. Pretty fun match with all four guys being all over the place here but in a good way. This was meant to be more of a fast paced match with the Express being dragged into a brawling style where they were in over their heads. Not a great match or anything, but these teams could have had a decent match if given the time.

Crockett Cup Second Round: Tully Blanchard/Arn Anderson vs. Fantastics

We actually get an opening bell and it’s Blanchard vs. Rodgers. They slug it out and we’re clipped to Rodgers holding a headlock. Off to Arn and he doesn’t do very well either. Clipped to Arn hammering away on Fulton as he becomes the Fantastic in peril. Fulton is sent to the floor and into the barricade. Not that we need to care or anything as we’re clipped to the hot tag to Rodgers. Arn grabs the Gordbuster but Fulton makes the save. We get the dropkick into the back of your partner as he’s slammed for the pin. Another short one.

Crockett Cup Second Round: Giant Baba/Tiger Mask vs. Black Bart/Jimmy Garvin

That’s Tiger Mask II, as in Misawa. Clipped to Tiger being faster than anything anyone has seen in America ever up to this point. Tiger grabs the arm and speeds things way farther up than this audience is used to with a baseball slide. Clipped to Baba hammering on Garvin after some heel double teaming. Clipped again to the heels working on Tiger Mask. Baba comes back in and destroys them all because that’s what old giants do. A big boot gets the pin on Bart to end what appeared to be a long squash.

That takes us to the third round. Here are the quarter-final brackets.

Road Warriors
Midnight Express

Fantastics
Sheepherders

Koloffs
Terry Taylor/Steve Williams

Ronnie Garvin/Magnum TA
Giant Baba/Tiger Mask

Crockett Cup Quarter-Finals: Road Warriors vs. Midnight Express

We open with Animal beating on Condrey. The Midnights are in different tights than earlier. This might be in the evening session. Animal runs him over a few times and hits a dropkick to the stomach. Clipped to Condrey trying to have a pose down with Hawk for no apparent reason. Cornette gets up on the apron for some double teaming which doesn’t work at all and the Midnights hit the floor.

Hawk takes a piledriver from Condrey and actually stays down for a few seconds! Oh scratch that as he’s back up and hammering away again. Clipped to a Rocket Launcher attempt but Hawk pops up and slams Eaton. Eaton gets beaten down for awhile and it’s off to Animal. The Midnights cheat some more as Animal catches Condrey in a powerslam. The makes Cornette pull the leg and it’s a DQ to send the Warriors to the final four. We got about 5 minutes out of ten here which is the most we’ve seen so far.

Rating: C+. This was getting pretty good while it lasted and the ten minute version would have been a pretty solid match. That being said, the clipped version is still pretty good and these are teams that seemingly would have been able to have good matches if they had the time to work with, but you can say that for almost any talented team.

Crockett Cut Quarter-Finals: Ivan Koloff/Nikita Koloff vs. Terry Taylor/Steve Williams

Taylor and Ivan start us off with Taylor working the arm. Taylor controls early and we’re clipped to Williams coming in to work on the arm. Doc (Williams) is in yellow and red here. We get the always cool gorilla press with reps from Williams to Ivan. Clipped to Taylor working on the arm. Ivan finally figures out he’s a bad guy and goes to the eyes so he can bring in Nikita.

Nikita vs. Williams at the moment in what is a power wrestling fan’s dream. Both of these guys are just scary strong. Koloff tries to pose so Williams dropkicks him to the floor. Clipped to a two count for Ivan and a tag back to Williams. We hit the fifteen minute mark of a twenty minute time limit with Doc slamming Ivan off the middle rope for two. Clipped to a powerslam getting the same result.

There’s the hot tag to Taylor and in Soviet Russia, house cleans you. He beats up both Russians but Ivan catches him with a knee/boot and various other power heel offense. Taylor is sent to the outside and they almost break the railing when he goes into it. Two minutes left. Ivan stomps on Terry and it’s back off to Nikita for a bear hug. A minute to go. Doc comes in anyway but Taylor keeps kicking out at 30 seconds to go. Taylor grabs a small package (this is a family show!) and time runs out with no real urgency from anyone.

Rating: C+. This was about ten minutes shown out of twenty which is something I can live with. This wasn’t bad and was probably the best match of the night so far. What a shock: a match that gets more time than any other one on the show is also the best one. Nothing too bad here but it wasn’t a memorable match or anything.

The double elimination means whoever wins in Garvin/Magnum vs. Baba/Tiger Mask is in the finals.

The Koloffs plus Krusher Khruschev (Smash from Demolition) beat down Doc post match.

Crockett Cup Quarter-Finals: Sheepherders vs. Fantastics

Big brawl to start and the Fantastics clear the ring. Clipped to Butch hammering on Fulton until the Fantastics dropkick everything in sight to send them to the floor. Clipped to Butch hammering on Fulton. I’ve seen this before it seems. Out to the floor for more dropkicking and it turns into a brawl. Fulton is beaten down on the floor and can barely move. Rodgers is ticked off because of it.

Clipped to Luke beating on Fulton but the flag bearer messes up, resulting in Luke going into the flag. There’s the hot tag to Rodgers and Butch is busted open. The cameraman and referee are taken out and now Fulton is busted as well. The flag bearer tries to cheat again and one more time it doesn’t work. The future Wackers get the flag stick in the ring and beat on Fulton with it but as is the case in wrestling, they get beat on with it as well. Another referee comes down to wake up the first and it’s another double DQ. That means the Road Warriors are in the finals as well.

Rating: B. Meltzer gave THIS five stars? It’s a fun brawl and WAY violent for its time, but the clipping must have killed it because this wasn’t a classic or anything resembling one. It’s good and the most fun match on the show so far, but if the full version was 15 minutes, this was the low half of it. My mind continues to be blown by his ratings at times as this is one of the matches better than Savage vs. Steamboat? Really?

Crockett Cup Quarter-Finals: Tiger Mask/Giant Baba vs. Magnum TA/Ronnie Garvin

Tiger Mask vs. Garvin starts us off but we’re joined in progress again. Garvin works on the leg and it’s off to Magnum vs. Baba. Baba runs him over a bit until we’re off to Tiger again. Magnum gets a suplex and we’re clipped to him being caught in a front facelock. Sunset flip gets two for Magnum and it’s back to Baba. Garvin comes in to get smacked around a bit by the Giant and everything breaks down again. Baba’s arms are frighteningly skinny. Tiger hits a dropkick and senton on Magnum. He goes up for the cross body but jumps into a belly to belly for the pin out of nowhere.

Rating: D+. From what I could see here this wasn’t that good. They were all faces which hurt things a lot. The ending wasn’t bad but the match was still pretty dull. This sets up another all face final which isn’t going to do this show any favors. Nothing great here but that’s just the way things have been going all day tonight.

Garvin/Magnum vs. Road Warriors in the final.

UWF North American Championship: Jim Duggan vs. Dick Slater

Oh great we’re going to get this one in full. Duggan is champion and that’s the top title in the Mid-South company. Jim Ross does the introductions which isn’t something you see every day. This REALLY could have gone on earlier in the tape and it would have helped a lot. Duggan takes over with power and we’re clipped to Slater coming back in after being knocked to the floor.

Duggan throws on a headlock and this match is already boring. He hammers away with his usual array of stuff, which is to say a lot of punches. Slater punches back and we head to the floor. Duggan is thrown into the barricade which falls over under his weight. Off to a chinlock as I begin to look for some traffic to play in to cure my boredom. Slater hooks a neckbreaker and we’re clipped to him missing something off the top.

Duggan starts hammering on him again and does his stomp to appeal to the patriotism in all of the fans. How that stomp is American I’m not sure but Duggan is on a different intellectual level than I am. The referee gets bumped (meaning kneed in the back by Slater) and Slater drops a top rope elbow for two. Duggan gets tied up in the ropes, but when the referee tries to pull him off, Duggan escapes with the three point shoulder block to end it.

Rating: D-. This was horrible. Duggan was a popular guy in Mid-South and would be a huge star in WWF, but without any kind of story or anything like that, this was just boring. It’s almost all punching and when Dick Slater is the more interesting wrestler in your match, you can tell you’re in a lot of trouble.

NWA World Title: Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes

They fight over a top wristlock to start and Dusty’s manager Baby Doll is already getting on my nerves with her screaming. Now they chop it out in the corner and Dusty takes over to start as you would expect. A bunch of right hands sends Flair running and Baby Doll is a very old looking woman. Back in Flair tries a leapfrog and walks into an elbow to the head to put him down.

They fight over the arm again as we hit five minutes. There might have been a clip in there somewhere because it doesn’t seem like we’ve been at this that long. They go to the floor for a few seconds and somewhere in there Dusty got busted open. Dusty fires back by crotching Flair on the post. Now I know we have a clip as they’re slugging it out until Flair grabs a sleeper.

Dusty sends Flair into the corner to counter and we’re clipped to them on the floor and Flair blading very obviously. We don’t see what the shot was that caused it but who needs that? You can hear the referee say Ric’s cut too. Flair gets caught in the Tree of Woe which goes nowhere. Dusty gets two off a clothesline at the fifteen minute mark. We saw about 5 minutes out of ten between the 5 and 15 minute announcements.

Off to a sleeper which Dusty doesn’t crank on at all. Flair grabs the rope about 10 times but the hold isn’t broken. Isn’t touching it the same as grabbing it? Dusty hooks his awful Figure Four as there’s no crank on it at all. You see that a lot in his holds. They clip out the hold to just Flair grabbing the rope. Are you serious? Flair goes up and yeah you know the drill. Dusty tackles him into the referee so there’s no count on his small package. Flair hits Dusty in the head with Dusty’s own boot for two at the 20 minute mark. Flair goes after baby Doll so Dusty hits him with the boot and that’s a DQ.

Rating: C. The curse of the clipping strikes again because this looked like it was a pretty good match but we didn’t get to see the middle parts of it which is where most of the good stuff came from. This has really been a problem but for the love of all things good and holy, can we please see the full match in the final? It’s all that’s left.

Side bar: why is a boot considered a foreign object? He wore it into the ring and kicked Flair with it on multiple times. Why is it illegal when there isn’t a foot in it and presumably the shot would be weaker as legs are usually stronger than arms?

Crockett Cup Finals: Road Warriors vs. Magnum TA/Ronnie Garvin

All faces here. The winners also get a million dollars. Animal and Magnum get things going. We get some surprisingly quick stuff until Magnum takes over with a dropkick. Animal takes him down with a top wristlock and they trade arm work on the mat. Off to Hawk who puts on a chinlock….and they clip this match too. ARE YOU SERIOUS???? The whole show is about one freaking tournament and you give us a total of ONE MATCH THAT ISN’T CLIPPED??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

A middle rope splash misses and Garvin gets a small package for two. Off to Magnum who doesn’t have as much luck with Animal who stomps away on the US Champion. Off to Animal again and it’s chinlock time. Powerslam gets two as Magnum is in trouble. Magnum grabs the belly to belly for two as Hawk saves. Hot tag to Garvin and down he goes almost immediately.

Garvin tries an abdominal stretch on Hawk but punches Hawk instead. The problem with this is he punches Hawk so hard that he breaks his hand. I’m not sure if this is kayfabe or real but it doesn’t really matter either way as Animal hits a pretty weak clothesline on Garvin and gets a quick pin for the tournament win and the million bucks.

Rating: D+. Apparently Garvin’s hand was broken coming in. Imagine that: Ronnie Garvin does something stupid like HIT A GUY IN THE HEAD WHILE HE HAS A BROKEN HAND. Garvin’s team deserves to lose after that. This match was pretty boring and the ending didn’t help things at all. Nothing to see here other than the end of a long and boring show.

The Warriors get the check to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-. OH man where do I begin with this one? The problem with this show comes down to one thing: four and a half hours. That’s the amount of ring time that this card would have had if the matches all got their full time shown. Now imagine that being put down into a two hour tape. That includes the time dedicated to the entrances, the graphics between matches, and the ending. Based on that alone, I think you know why this isn’t anything worth seeing. The other two tournaments can’t be this bad. I mean, it’s not possible. Without the clipping this would have been bad anyway.

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