Dark Pegasus Video Review: NWA Battle of the Belts II

NWA Battle of the Belts II by J.D. Dunn February 14, 1986 From Daytona Beach, Fla. Your hosts are Gordon Solie and Mike Graham (son of Florida promoter Eddie Graham). Bahamas Title: Tyree Pride vs. Ron Slinker Yes, there was a title just for the Bahamas. Pride reminds me of Orlando Jordan. Slinker is allegedly a martial arts expert. Pride hits Slinker with a crossbody after about three minutes to get the pin. Slinker isn’t happy. 1/2* Buddy Colt interviews Pride. Pride says Slinker didn’t have time to use Karate on him because he’s so quick. Pride starts talking in…Creole? Apparently, he’s mad at Kevin Sullivan. Hey, who isn’t? Florida Heavyweight Title: Kendall Windham vs. Prince Iaukea Kendall is the son of Blackjack Mulligan and little brother of Barry Windham. He looks like Jeff Hardy with the shit slung out of him. Iaukea is not the one in WCW a few years back, but the son of King Curtis Iaukea. Iaukea tosses Windham, but Windham sunset flips back in for two. Iaukea keep using the hair as Graham notes Kendall is only 19. Iaukea charges into the corner and gets caught with a lariat. Kendall starts working the leg, I assume for the Spinning Toehold. They botch a headlock takedown, but Kendall covers. Bill Apter of PWI is working the camera at ringside. Don’t know why I pointed it out. Kendall nails the bulldog a few moments later for the victory. Solie called it the “Oklahoma Stampede” for some reason. Kendall did fine, but it was too long for Iaukea to keep up. ** Kendall gives a horrible, horrible interview which shows why he didn’t get a more immediate push. NWA World Junior Championship: Denny Brown vs. the White Ninja “The White Ninja” is Keiji Mutoh who is about five years ahead of his time, so people don’t know what to make of him. Denny is very talented, but is more Dean Malenko than Jushin Lyger. Bill Alphonso is ref (as he was for most early Mutoh matches). They do some mat stuff early on before Ninja gets a lightning quick reverse kick to put Brown down. Brown gets up and settles things down with an armbar. Ninja gets out of it and floats over to a headlock. Amazingly crisp. Brown reverses that to a chickenwing-hammerlock. Crowd shouts “boring.” Shut up, dickheads! THAT’S MUTA! Ninja delivers a backdrop into a headscissors. Graham quickly notes that, in Japan they train more for cardiovascular strength whereas, in North America, they train for power. Old school commentary reigns supreme! Brown grabs a chinlock as the rest holds are starting pile up as are the boos. Ninja grabs a single leg crab but Brown makes the ropes. Ninja gets a backbreaker and reverse chinlock to burn more time. Finally, Ninja wakes up the crowd with the handspring elbow. He delivers another backbreaker and THE MOONSAULT~! ONE, TWO, THRE—NOOOO!! Brown kicks out the moonsault?! Blasphemy! Brown charges and gets back dropped over the top rope for the lame DQ. Awful ending, disappointing match. ** Southern Heavyweight Title: Jesse Barr vs. Lex Lugar (w/Hiro Matsuda) Lugar is in his rookie year and is managed by Hiro Matsuda. He comes out to Motley Crüe. Barr is the older brother of Art Barr and formerly played the part of long-lost Funk brother Jimmy Jack Funk in the WWF. He shows why he was never more than a bland JTTS in the WWF. Mat wrestling to start and Lugar actually does okay. Of course, when he comes out of it, he hangs on to a headlock for the rest of eternity. More meaningless mat wrestling follows. Barr comes out on top, so Lugar asks for a test of strength. He drives Barr down to his knees, but Barr rolls through to reverse. Lugar runs to the ropes and starts heeling it up with the cocky attitude. He tosses Barr to the outside and won’t let him back in. Finally, Lugar tosses him back in and drives shoulderblocks into Barr’s midsection. Lugar gets the Oklahoma Stampede (the real Dr. Death one) and hangs Barr in the tree-of-woe. Fonzie frees Barr and Lugar locks in a Boston Crab. Graham talks about Stan Hansen beating Rick Martel for the AWA Title with that very move. Lugar delivers some forearms to the back and locks in a bearhug. This match is really dragging now. My clothes are going out of style and coming back into to style. Barr does the handclap escape of the bearhug and charges…right into another bearhug. Ugh. I’m begging you. Seasons are changing. Lugar actually goes for a Canadian Backbreaker instead of the Torture Rack. Barr backdrops him over and delivers a Neckbreaker Drop (Hart Attack). Barr is fired up and drops a few fists. Barr pantomimes something to the crowd. “Should I dig a hole?” No, that’s not it. Looks like it, though. Okay. One word. Combined. Sounds like… folder? Folder, molder, colder, shoulder…SHOULDER! Shoulderbreaker! Okay. Barr delivers the shoulder breaker, but Lex gets his foot on the ropes. Barr tries to roll Lugar up again, but Lugar holds the ropes and snaps Barr onto the back of his head. Lex explodes with a clothesline, covers, and Barr gets his foot on the ropes. Lugar pulls it off before Fonzie sees it, though, and counts three. Long, dull match. * Buddy Colt gives Lugar a verbal blowjob. Geez, get a room. $20,000 Bounty Match: Wahoo McDaniel vs. Bruiser Brody (w/Gary Hart) Brody is managed by Gary Hart who almost cancels out Brody’s awesomeness. The announcer stresses that the match has a one-hour time limit. Wahoo + one hour? Don’t f*ck with me, announcer man. Brody attacks to start but Wahoo screams “Ahnochuk” and gets “Superfriends” on Brody’s ass. Wahoo falls to the outside and Gary Hart posts him. Wahoo had some stiff chops back in the day. Wahoo makes the Super Injun comeback with chops (including one to Hart). They brawl out to the crowd and Wahoo uses a chair. The lose track of time and get counted out. BRODY FINISH! Sucktastic match. 1/2* As much as I love the NWA from 1983-1989, this show is seriously starting to stink like gorgonzola cheese that’s been sitting out in the Phoenix, Arizona sun after being nestled in Brian Knobbs’s armpit for three days. Which, of course, is pretty smelly. Colt interviews Paul Ellering who says the L.O.D. will not back down from Sullivan and Co. Kevin Sullivan, Purple Haze, & Bob Roop (w/Luna Vachon) vs. Blackjack Mulligan & the Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering). The Road Warriors have apparently stolen Sullivan’s golden spike, which is the source of his group’s Satanic powers. Did Sullivan write for Buffy, the Vampire Slayer or something? The Satanists have Luna Vachon and two unnamed snake-carriers with them. The Roadies clear the ring on their arrival and Mulligan takes goes after the fleeing Satan-worshippers. Roop looks just like Mankind ’96 with this gimmick. The wooden ring steps get involved as Mulligan gets his head driven into them. There’s just too much chaos to recap here. The heels isolate Mulligan, but he punches Sullivan and makes the HOT TAG~! to Animal. The ref is having a hard time maintaining order in there. Finally, Sullivan just elbows the ref and takes him out. Well, it’s not like he was doing anything. Animal grabs the golden spike and opens the Ark of the Covenant. Either that or he starts swinging it at people. Sullivan takes out the ref a second time. The L.O.D. and Mulligan finally chase the heels all the way to the back. The ref recovers and either counts them out or disqualifies them all. Wild stuff. *** Superstar Billly Graham announces that he and Wahoo McDaniel will face Sullivan and Co.. Buddy Colt interviews Ric Flair and calls him the greatest champion in wrestling history. Ric Flair says he has to agree with Colt. I’m going to go ahead and call that double-sourced. NWA Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham KICK ASS~! This is not to be confused with the 45-minute match on Worldwide that’s featured on the Flair DVD. Nor is it to be confused with their Crockett Cup match in 1987. This actually drew some accolades on its own, though, being named the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Match of the Year for 1986. Windham was really good at this point, but not quite at his peak and Flair was…Flair. Flair gets hiptossed early on and takes a breather. Windham powers out of a headlock and they do some mat wrestling, which ends with Windham holding a hammerlock. Flair makes the ropes. This is already the best match of the night. Flair slips on the ropes and cuts himself. You know, he did that a few times on Raw in early 2004. Windham gets a reverse rollup for two and Flair busts out the shoving match with the ref spot. Finally, Flair grounds Windham (which is smart) and tries to roll him over for a cover. Barry winds up in the ropes, though, so Flair backs him into the corner and chops him. That only pisses Barry off, though, and Windham comes out swinging until Flair flops down to the mat. Windham locks in the Boston Crab, but it’s A) too early, and B) out of nowhere. Flair makes the ropes. Barry gets a stalling vertical suplex. ONE, TWO, THR–foot on the ropes. Barry pulls Flair to the center and puts him in an abdominal stretch. Flair hiptosses out of it, but the tank is running low. Windham charges but, runs right into a kneelift. Flair goes for a slam, but Windham falls on top of him for two. Flair tosses Windham and now Flair’s in solid control. Flair drops a few elbows and such, but when he tries a knee drop Windham moves and Flair drives his own knee into the mat. Barry locks in the figure-four. IRONY! Crowd is going nuts at the thought of Windham as the new champ. Flair twists…and…turns and…just makes the ropes. Barry pulls him back to the center and grinds Flair’s knee. A Windham headbutt gets two. Flair avoids a dropkick, though, to slow the tide. Windham reverses a Flair suplex to a small package for a nearfall. Flair takes him down and locks in a figure-four headlock. The NWA ring announcer tells us there are 25 minutes gone. Windham reverses out of the headscissors but takes a piledriver for two. Flair goes for a reverse elbow, but Barry ducks and comes off the other side with a flying clothesline. ONE, TWO, THRE—foot on the ropes. Crowd has that nervous anticipation you see whenever Flair seems to be on the verge of losing. Barry mounts Flair in the corner for the ten punches. A whip sends Flair over the top and to the outside. Barry tosses him back in and goes for another ten punches in the corner, but Flair counters to an atomic drop and tosses him outside. Windham sunset flips back in, but Flair punches him to counter. Windham charges, but Flair dodges and locks in the sleeper. Barry fades, but guess what, his hand stays up on the third count when the ref checks him. Barry rams Flair’s face into the turnbuckle but is unable to capitalize. Flair drapes Windham’s leg over the bottom rope and splashes it. Now, it’s time to go to school! Flair locks in the figure-four and Barry starts to fade again. Barry hulks up, though, and turns the figure-four over. Flair makes the ropes and goes up. I don’t think I need to tell you that Barry catches him and slams him off the top. Windham tries a knee drop, which is pretty stupid anyway, but he misses and injures the knee further. Flair stomps him and gets several two counts. Flair slaps on a headlock, but Windham shoves him — right into the ref. D’oh! Flair tosses Windham over the top with his newfound freedom. Barry comes right back with a missile dropkick off the top. ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE…huh? No ref! Barry revives the ref, but only gets one. Flair goes for a slam, but Windham counters to a sleeper. Now it’s Flair who’s fading. Flair falls on his back for several two counts. Barry thinks he’s out, so he pulls him to the middle of the ring and goes for a splash. Flair gets the knees up, though! Flair charges into the corner, but right into a shoulderblock. ONE, TWO, THRE–foot on the ropes. Flair gets the Flair flip in and comes off…right into a Windham fist to the gut. Flair ducks under a Windham elbow and hits him with a crossbody. They both fall over the top rope to the outside. Flair and Barry brawl on the outside and won’t let the other one in. Finally, Fonzie just counts both men out at 41:43. Awesome match until lame DCOR. The two would actually go on to top themselves twice in 1987! ****1/2 Gordon Solie comes back to wrap up the show and talks about how disappointed everyone is in that finish.

The 411: I cannot stress the term "show saver" enough when it comes to the main event. The Roadies brawl was okay too, but just because it was an ECW-ish mess. Everything else is completely skip-able, but you really should track down Flair vs. Windham, especially if you've never seen them go at it. Thumbs down for everything but the main event.
Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]