PDRwrestling Review: NWA Superstars on the Superstation

NWA Superstars on the Superstation
February 7, 1986
Atlanta, GA
The Omni
(Taped on February 2, 1986)

This was the first big try at a supercard on Turner’s WTBS which would later become known as Clash of the Champions by March of 1988. It started as an opportunity for the fan’s to write in and tell the Crocketts just exactly what they wanted to see; kind of like Taboo Tuesday minus the internet by using the old-fashioned way of actually sitting down and writing letters. The whole pen and paper thing is, yeah, COMPLETELY ridiculous. But that’s how they did things back in the day.

We open up to find Magnum TA riding over to the Omni on his motorcycle to the tune of an extremely sad Willie Nelson song. Good thing he’s not driving his Porsche here. HIIOOOO!

After we get an introduction from Dr. Tom Miller, we are welcomed by Magnum TA and the incompetent Linda Curry!

Your hosts are David Crockett and Tony (or Tuny as David calls him) Schiavone!

NWA World Tag Team Champions The Rock n Roll Express vs. The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette)

Before Cornette’s introduction, they show a clip of the RnR Express beating the Russians during the previous summer for their first reign with the tag belts. This is, however, their second reign as they lost the belts back to the Russians in October and then regained them at Starrcade in a cage match to end their feud and knocks the Russians down a peg so that the Midnights could come in and take over as the #1 heel tag team. This is the Condrey/Eaton combination that started this great rivalry between the two teams. The Midnights attack right after ring announcer Tom Miller says “roll” and we’re…off and running here. They dump Gibson and double-team Morton REAL good before they dump him as well. Gibson gets shot in from the apron, but not Morton! He slings both Condrey and Eaton over the top and out onto the floor! The RnR get back in the ring and pound away on the Midnights which lead to some cool double-teaming. Things finally settle down and we get a one-on-one between Eaton and Gibson. Gibson blocks a hiptoss and counters with one of his own and follows with a headscissors takedown. Morton tags in and quickly gets dumped. Eaton follows him out but takes a backdrop on the concrete floor. Back in, Condrey tags in as does Gibson. The RnR keep Condrey in their corner and tag in and out while working on Condrey’s knee. Gibson slingshots himself in onto Condrey’s knee for a count of two, then they return to working on his knee. Condrey fights up and tries to bury his knee into Morton’s gut, but that proves to be a BAD idea. He sells it wonderfully, by the way. Morton drags Condrey back to his corner and tags in Gibson to continue the pressure on the knee. Morton makes a mistake allowing Condrey to slide over and tag in Eaton which makes all their work moot now. Haha, Morton doesn’t care and tells Eaton to BRING IT! Eaton takes the early advantage by hammering on Morton in the corner, but then ducks low off a whip and takes a quick suplex. Morton uses the ropes and hits a jumping knee drop down on Eaton’s back to injure him! Gibson tags in and covers for 1, 2, NO! Gibson makes a fatal error by missing a dropkick and gets nailed from Condrey on the apron after being launched off the catapult by Eaton! Condrey tags in as we go to a break. We come back to find Eaton locking on a reverse chinlock on Gibson. Condrey tags in and returns to the chinlock. Gibson tries to fight out and maneuvers into an overhead wristlock, but Condrey pulls him back down by the hair and into the chinlock. Morton comes in and tries to pull Condrey off Gibson by his hair, but that just allows Eaton to double-team with a top-rope elbow drop. Condrey covers for two and goes back to the chinlock. Gibson breaks free once he’s on his feet but can’t make the tag to Morton. Condrey ducks low off a whip and takes a knee-lift, but Gibson collapses in the heel corner. After more tagging in and out by the Midnights, Morton comes in and dropkicks Eaton down into a sunset flip for 1, 2, NO! Condrey makes the save and covers for two. Gibson fires back and tries to reach out to Morton, but Condrey comes from behind and punishes him with a backbreaker. IT’S ROCKET LAUNCHER TIME! Gibson moves out of the way! HOT TAG TO MORTON! Morton connects with a crossbody block on Eaton, but ref Randy Anderson doesn’t count because all four men are in the ring. The ref gets bumped off a double-dropkick to Eaton. Cornette gets tossed in from the apron. Gibson LEVELS Eaton with the tennis racket and covers him while Morton stalks Cornette down in the corner. Condrey comes over and DECKS Morton from behind with the racket and then he and Gibson fall out to the floor. Cornette lays Eaton on top of Morton as the ref comes to and counts the three-count for the Midnight Express to win their first NWA World Tag Team Titles! (14:28 shown) ***½

We go to the back for an interview with the new tag champs to find Eaton is STILL laid out from that racket shot. That’s okay though because it means more mic time for Cornette!

Ivan & Nikita Koloff vs. The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering)

The story is simple: the Road Warriors were attacked by the Russians and now they want revenge. It’s a battle of who will sell the least as Animal starts off against Nikita. Seriously, neither man gives an inch here. Hawk tags in and gets in a shot on Nikita, then gets nailed as Ivan tags in and comes off the top with a double-ax to the back. Ivan tries to come off the top again, but gets caught in the ribs by Hawk. Hawk hits a shoulder-breaker and a big boot before tagging in Animal. He comes in and delivers a press slam and then tags in Hawk who covers Ivan for 1, 2, NO! That follows up with some more boring LOD offense as Baron Von Raschke comes down to stand in the corner of the Russians. Hawk gets nailed by Nikita off a whip-reversal for the Russians to take back control. Nikita tags in Ivan and then misses an elbow, but Ivan comes in and connects with a leg drop. Hawk NO-SELLS a swinging neckbreaker, but Ivan goes for the cover anyway for two. Nikita tags in and draws Animal into the ring to allow Ivan to choke on Hawk with his chain. Hawk comes back with a shoulderblock and gets two. Then it breaks down as all four men are in the ring. MAN, is Hawk WASTED in this match or what? Baron sneaks in an elbow drop and Hawk sits up and then lays back down as Ivan comes over to cover for two. Nikita trips up Hawk off a whip and then Baron comes in the ring to beat on Hawk for the DQ. (6:54) After the match, Ellering comes in to try and help LOD from a 3-on-2 beating. He gets overtaken and ends up dumping Ivan and Nikita over the top as they attempt to double-clothesline him with the chain. Then, LOD take the chain and clean house on the heels. By the way, that match was not good. ½*

We go up to Magnum TA who is sitting next to NASCAR legend Benny Parsons who’s just hanging out, but makes sure to plug NASCAR action on the SuperStation TBS. It makes me want to see Talladega Nights again.

After a clip of just what the Omni crowd thinks of the NWA, they show a creepy video montage of the camera just watching people in the crowd while set to a ROCKIN’ song!

Next up, we go to Tony Schiavone who is chillin’ with Willie Nelson and Dusty Rhodes! They go way back, you guys. Willie is here to plug his movie which is a remake of the John Wayne flick, “Stagecoach” starring Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson. To justify Dusty Rhodes being here, he too makes an appearance in the movie IF YOU WILLLLL! Tony looks ten years older from Starrcade ’83 to February ’86 all because of that sexy mustache.

NWA National Champion Dusty Rhodes (w/Baby Doll) vs. Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon)

Dusty comes out to what sounds like a Louie Armstrong song. Why would you even THINK of that for someone’s entrance?! Anybody remember when and why Baby Doll turned on Tully because she was still with him at Starrcade? Dusty makes a clean break off a tie-up and prances around before we take a commercial break. We come back and Tully is begging Dusty off in the corner. Dusty grabs a single-leg takedown and starts working on the knee. He hooks on the figure-four, but Tully reaches the bottom rope. Tully crawls out to the floor to regroup with JJ. Blanchard comes back in and tries to fight on one leg. He tries rolling out to the floor again, but Dusty grabs him by the leg and pulls him back in the ring. Dusty works a spinning toe-hold and then posts the hurt knee. Dusty comes off the top with an elbow, but jars his knee once he hits the mat. Now Tully goes to work on the hurt knee. Tully applies a step-over toehold, but Dusty eventually reaches the ropes. Tully kicks Dusty back down and puts on the figure-four. Dusty reverses the hold, but Tully makes the ropes. Dusty reverses a whip out of the corner and catches Tully out of the corner for a backbreaker. Dusty hits Magnum TA’s move, the belly-to-belly suplex and covers, but JJ Dillon is up on the apron distracting the ref. As Dusty goes over to confront Tommy Young, Tully comes from behind with a knee to send Dusty out to the floor. Back in, Dusty comes back with rights. Blanchard rolls out to the apron but then takes a suplex back in the ring. Dusty covers but thanks to JJ Dillon; Tully gets his foot on the bottom rope. Dusty goes out after Dillon, but gets popped in the face by Blanchard from inside the ring. Tully goes out and whips Dusty into the side of the ring and then tries to get the huge beached whale back in the ring. Dusty counters a reverse neckbreaker with a backslide for two as Tully gets his feet on the ropes. Three minutes remain in this 20-minute TV time limit match as Dusty delivers an atomic drop. Dusty follows up with a five-point stance and then a double-chop for two. Dillon trips up Dusty which allows a near-fall for Tully. Continuous Dusty offense leads to Tully getting caught off a leapfrog and gets stuck in a Boston crab until the time limit expires. (20:00) There was no reason for that to go twenty minutes. Post-match, Tully stuns Dusty real good with a piledriver and leaves with the belt. *½

Jim Crockett Jr. introduces the original Crockett Cup tournament which would become an annual event until the Crocketts sold their share of the NWA to Turner.

Former Atlanta Braves pitching legend Gaylord (don’t laugh, he was great) Perry says a few words to hype the Braves’ upcoming season.

NWA World Champion Ric Flair vs. Ronnie Garvin

What the…? For some reason, they use the ‘50s song “The Wanderer” for Flair’s entrance rather than what he’s ALWAYS used. Mostly chops and slaps exchanged between the two for a good long while. Garvin begins to work the shoulder at around the five-minute mark. Flair comes back with chops and dumps Garvin out to the floor. Garvin shoots right back in and trades blows with Flair out of the corner. This time, Flair gets knocked out to the floor. Back in, Garvin hooks a poorly executed sleeper hold and that gets countered into a back suplex. Flair delivers a rare double-stomp to Garvin and follows up with a suplex for two. Flair lowers his knee pad and connects with the knee drop. Flair doesn’t go for the cover and instead, mounts Garvin and beats on him. Garvin turns it around and starts beating on Flair for 1, 2, NO! Garvin wins a slugfest and covers for 1, 2, NO! Garvin sends Flair in for the Flair Flip out of the corner, but he lands back in the ring and in the corner. Garvin hits a suplex for 1, 2, NO! Flair grabs a headlock takedown for Garvin to counter and bridge out of into a backslide for 1, 2, NO! Garvin hits a crossbody block for 1, 2, NO! Garvin sends Flair in the corner for another try at the Flair Flip and this time it works. Flair runs over to the corner and leaps off the top, but gets caught in the gut by Garvin. Small package by Garvin gets the 1, 2, NO! Flair chops Garvin down for 1, 2, NO! Flair goes over to argue with the ref and Garvin rolls him up while at the same time knocking the ref out of the ring. Garvin gets a ZERO count! Garvin goes for the kill as he nails Flair with a straight right hand as he comes off the ropes. He covers, but Tommy Young is still having trouble getting back in the ring. Flair charges at Garvin with a high knee from behind and gets the three-count. Garvin had his foot on the bottom rope but Flair took it off at the last second, leaving Young none the wiser. (14:26) Crockett at ringside goes on about how Garvin’s foot was on the bottom rope so he gets YELLED at by Flair! That’s right, Ric! SHUT HIM UP! This was just your average Flair/Garvin match. It was solid but nothing to go and call your friends about. **1/2

The 411: I don’t even remember how I FOUND this show, so good luck trying to find it yourself. The Midnights/RnR stuff was pretty good, the LOD/Russians match was a travesty, Rhodes/Blanchard was about ten minutes too long, and Flair/Garvin in a cage at Starrcade was much better simply because there was some BLOOD. I’ll go with thumbs in the middle leaning down because of the opener.
Final Score:  5.0   [ Not So Good ]