NWA World Wide
Date: January 2, 1988
Location: Omni, Atlanta, Georgia
Attendance: 12,700
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, David Crockett

Smackdown is downloading so here’s something to fill in the time. This is World Wide which I’ve done a little bit of before and I rather liked it. This is early 1988 and I’d expect a lot of squashes. Sting is rapidly on the rise and would get his big break in late March, so expect him to be taking the Magnum route and crushing someone in about thirty seconds. Let’s get to it.

We open with Lex Luger taking his shirt off and shouting that he wants someone. Oh he wants Arn.

Opening sequence.

Larry and Baby Doll say they want Windham’s Western States Heritage Title. That’s Larry Z in case you’re confused.

Ricky Morton vs. Mike Force

Force jumps him but Morton grabs a backslide for a fast pin. Might have lasted 20 seconds.

Ad for the Bunkhouse Stampede. What a mess that was.

Ricky Morton stands up for America post match because he doesn’t like the Sheepherders running down the red white and blue.

Tony talks about the Bunkhouse Stampede which is a battle royal in a cage and you had to throw people out of the cage to win it. See how it’s kind of a mess? Jim Crockett comes in and announces that Hawk will get a title shot at that show. Dusty, the US Champion and one of the favorites going into the Stampede. He wants the money you win for the Stampede.

Ron Garvin vs. Thunderfoot #1

Thunderfoot, half of a team of masked guys, jumps Garvin in the corner but is knocked down, stomped and pinned in maybe 30 seconds.

Luger still wants Arn Anderson. Anderson drew first blood so Luger says no more.

Sting vs. Thunderfoot #2

I was right: Deathlock in 32 seconds.

Flair says that he’s awesome because he’s world champion and therefore better than anyone else. Michael Hayes has been running his mouth. Flair doesn’t like blue jeans and tennis shoes. He also doesn’t like defending the title against Hayes. As for Sting, he’s the new model that wants to replace Flair. That makes Flair laugh. Hawk can bring it on.

Eddie Gilbert vs. George South

This is also a squash but at least we get 90 seconds to it. The Hot Shot ends it quick. I know I’m leaving a lot out of it but what is there to say? Gilbert stalls a lot then hits the Hot Shot for the pin. That’s about it.

The Legion of Doom says they’ll be ready for the weightlifting challenge. Hawk says women and limos and jets don’t win the world title.

Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard vs. Dusty Rhodes/Nikita Koloff

The former are tag champions and the latter are the US/TV Champions respectfully but this is non-title. Nikita and Tully start us off. There must be a million dollars worth of feuds in there. Tully tries power against Nikita so Koloff holds him in the air for awhile. Off to Arn and Anderson ducks to the floor to avoid the Sickle. We take a break and come back with the Horsemen on the floor again.

They come back in and Dusty takes them down on his own before putting Tully in the really bad figure four. Arn makes the save and takes a leg crank of his own. Arn gets in some right hands but Dusty pops up and slams him down. There’s a slam and Dusty hooks a sleeper. We take another break and come back with Anderson tagging in Dusty to work over Rhodes even more. The Horsemen work on the arm but Dusty manages a DDT out of nowhere to take Arn down. Off to Nikita who goes into Beast Mode. Sickle kills Tully but Arn makes the save as everything breaks down. Nikita is thrown over the top for the DQ.

Rating: C-. Not bad here as they were in the pretty standard face in peril formula. Nikita was awesome until the end of the decade when he had to get off steroids and lost most of his muscle mass. Either way, it’s cool to see the late 80s version of Koloff run over people. He was one of the top faces in the company at this point and was in main event feuds like this one.

Flair comes out to help in a Horseman beatdown but Lex runs in to take out Arn.

Paul Jones says his men (Powers of Pain) are stronger than the Road Warriors.

Big Bubba Rogers/Midnight Express vs. Kendall Windham/Mighty Wilbur/Italian Stallion

Wilbur is a BIG country boy. He and Lane start us off with Lane jumping into a massive bearhug. Off to Eaton and Windham which sounds a lot better than it really is. The Midnights double team as only they can. Cornette is on commentary to explain why they’re awesome. Here’s Bubba for about two seconds and here’s Eaton again. Kendall falls into a tag to the Stallion who hits the worst looking monkey flip I can remember in a long time. Bubba runs him over and there’s the Flapjack for the pin.

Rating: C+. This was a pretty common thing to see from the Midnights as they made an art form out of the squash. This was the six man variety and Cornette on commentary made it even better. Kendall was trained by his brother but just wasn’t nearly as good. Wilbur was too much like Norman the Lunatic for his own good I think which is why you never hear about him.

Overall Rating: C+. There are two ways to do shows like these. This would be the right one. This was so fast paced that it stays exciting. While most of these matches are squashes, they’re kept fast so no one has the time to get boring. That’s a very good idea and the whole show works better that way. Good stuff.

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NWA World Wide
Date: March 30, 1985
Location: Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, David Crockett

More downloading issues mean we get to take another show off my list. Here we have another edition of World Wide from the day before the first Wrestlemania. On this card is a US Title change which I’ve reviewed before and a few other matches. I liked this show the last time I did it so maybe this will be good as well. Let’s get to it.

We open with clips of Wahoo and Magnum in different matches before their title match tonight.

Billy Graham vs. Steve Casey

Graham is a karate dude now. Casey speeds things up to start and hooks what appears to be a sleeper. I’m surprised Casey has gotten in this much offense. Graham gets in a shot with a knee as we talk about the lack of Paul Jones, who is Graham’s manager. Out to the floor and Casey goes into the railing. A Stun Gun ends this in short order.

Arn Anderson vs. Manny Fernandez

Arn is in a hat which is a new sight. Manny strikes away to start and runs Arn over. Anderson hides in the corner and Fernandez works over the arm. We take a break and come back with more arm work on Arn. Anderson has had enough of that though and pulls Manny down by the wrist and it’s off to an armbar. This goes on for a good long while. Anderson goes up to the middle rope but jumps into a clothesline. Manny comes back with chops because he has one arm. A middle rope kneedrop hits but Manny shoves the referee for a DQ.

Rating: D+. Boring match for the most part but the arm work is an Anderson standard, as is messing up coming off the ropes. Manny used to be a tag champion I believe and he turned heel in 85/86. Anderson would join the Horsemen in a year as an inaugural member. The match was pretty dull though.

Anderson works over the arm and hits a few hammerlock slams.

Come to our house show in Philadelphia! Then come to the house show in the capital of Pennsylvania, Allentown! Anderson pops in and the first thing he asks is if Tony considers himself an intelligent man. That’s great. Anyway he’ll take care of Manny in their grudge match because Manny is a little chihuahua.

The Koloffs say they’re great. They’re both the tag champions and the six man champions. They don’t care what combination of people they face. I think they had an early version of the Freebird Rule in effect. Nikita will come for Flair soon according to Ivan, but Nikita wants the Road Warrior. I don’t think he means the tag team but I’m not sure.

Here’s a clip from Wahoo McDaniels vs. Flair in what appears to be an exhibition rather than a match. Tully runs in quickly and helps beat Flair down. We get another clip of Wahoo and Flair both in street clothes and Tully runs in again.

Now we get some clips of Magnum destroying people with the suplex.

This is from a home video release of Crockett Cup 87, which was after Magnum’s careering accident. It featured his return to ringside so there was a career retrospective on him on the tape. During the match, there was a commercial break where Manny Fernandez said he’ll take out Anderson and Anderson wasn’t going to make a name for himself off Fernandez.

US Title: Magnum TA vs. Wahoo McDaniel

McDaniel is very old but is US Champion here. It’s in a cage and is the real push for Magnum to the solid midcard spot he held until he retired. From March of 85 if you’re curious. Tony puts over the belly to belly as being really sudden and Wahoo kicks him low. Magnum fires off that great right hand of his but gets rammed into the cage. Magnum is like BRING IT ON and takes Wahoo down for two and an eruption from the crowd. A dropkick gets two.

They chop it out and Wahoo isn’t going to lose something like that. Wahoo goes into the cage again and just collapses this time. A headbutt puts Wahoo down and David Crockett, the other commentator, is getting on my nerves. Wahoo sends him into the cage again and a chop gets two. The mat isn’t a regular mat but is a bunch of blue gym mats shoved together. You can see the lines between them.

Magnum kicks him in the chest to take him down as the momentum doesn’t last long for Wahoo at all. He does manage to get a small package for two but Magnum is back up and punching away again. Wahoo tries to escape (I guess you can win that way) and Magnum suplexes him off the top for two. Wahoo, the old school lunkhead that he is, charges off the ropes a few times into Magnum which lets Magnum snap off his belly to belly suplex finisher for the US Title.

Rating: C-. Not bad here and it’s so nice to see a full match here. Magnum was so awesome and this was the moment that launched him up the card. His real classic would be later that year (and later on the tape) against Tully in a cage. Wahoo was just old at this point but this is how you go out: you lay down for a young guy clean and give your title up to him. Perfect example of that and good to see Magnum get the title that he should have had.

Everyone celebrates with Magnum in the back. Magnum says anyone can bring it on and he’ll fight anybody. Dusty comes in and says that was awesome. Don Kernodle says that was awesome. Tommy Young says that was the best match he’s ever refereed. Uh..WHAT? More guys celebrate it.

Overall Rating: C+. This was fun for the most part. The cage match is cool to see on TV even though the match itself was nothing all that special. This was all about Magnum reaching the next level because you can only squash jobbers for 30 seconds at a time for so long. He could have been something amazing. Fun show but nothing great wrestling wise.

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