wrestling / Video Reviews
The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (1.17.1987)
Image Credit: NWA
Loading...-Cold open: Barry Windham saves a jobber from being injured by Ric Flair. Flair looks like he wants a piece of this new guy.
-Originally aired January 17, 1987.
-Your hosts are Tony Schiavone’s bad haircut and David Crockett. They lay out two really big announcements this week, #1, Magnum TA is at least in decent condition to give interviews now, and an interview with Magnum will air in the coming weeks. #2, a new guy named Lex Luger debuts this week.
-Dusty Rhodes is out here to offer his full support to Nikita Koloff in his battles with Uncle Ivan & Vladimir Petrov. (Translation: Vladimir is ALREADY at a point where the company is second-guessing his drawing power, so the Nikita/Vladimir feud is being turned into a tag team thing.)
RAVISHING & RAGING (World Tag Team Champions, with Paul Jones) vs BILL TABB & ROCKY KING
-Manny Fernandez chops King, but runs into a bodyslam and a hiptoss. Dropkick makes Manny back off from Special Delivery King. He throws punches to stop King in his tracks. Rude tags in and adds a snap suplex for two. BEAUTIFUL clothesline by Rude, and King tags out.
-Tabb gets kneed by both opponents. Neckbreaker by Rude, and just a normal one too as he hasn’t quite found a way to make it his own yet. Double backbreaker by the champs, and the Rude Awakening finishes.
-Paul Jones pretty much writes off the Rock & Roll Express and says they aren’t getting another title belt. They focus their attention on the Road Warriors and says talk is cheap and they need to show what they have underneath the custom exterior.
-Barry Windham is here and shows us a bit of tape, He’s battling Ric Flair with the Horsemen (minus Ole, hmm…) at ringside. Barry starts to dominate and the Horsemen look like they’re about to provide reinforcements, but then out come Dusty Rhodes and the Rock & Roll Express to provide some support. Flair and Windham proceed to have a dead-even match until Windham decidedly wins a fistfight (with the NWA fans providing their awesome “OOH! OOH! OOH!” for every punch that connects) and Flair decides to call it a night and take the count-out…but Dusty ‘N pals throw him back in and make him finish the fight.
-Flair’s bleeding and Barry applies his own figure four on the champ. He’s close enough to the ropes that JJ Dillon can break the hold by raking his eyes. Tommy Young turns around to see what happened and Flair adds a low blow to maximize the chicanery. Flair tosses Windham to the floor near the Horsemen, but the Express walks over with their fists up and pretty much dare the Horsemen to try something, so they back off. Back in, Barry Windham connects with a flying lariat, and that brings in EVERYBODY for the big-ass schmoz to end it. Flair retains the belt, but Windham clearly proved himself.
-Back in the studio, Barry Windham is long gone and out comes Ric Flair to chew out David Crockett for closing the match by declaring Barry Windham the winner. Disqualifications are irrelevant to Flair; he has the belt, so clearly HE won the match.
KANSAS JAYHAWKS vs ALLEN WEST & EDDIE ROBERTS
-I honestly kinda forgot about this team after Starrcade. Bobby Jaggers starts with Eddie Roberts. Roberts has a GREAT look but probably got unfairly written off due to his height. Today he’d probably be given more of a chance. Jayhawks switch off with their usual rapid fire tags. Allen West tags in and there’s a shockingly vocal pro-Allen West contingent in the audience this week. Dutch dodges a dropkick from Eddie Roberts and puts the boots to him. Slam and an elbow by Dutch. Allen West comes back in and gets hammered down. BREAKING: The Starrcade ’86 videocassette is now available.
-Inverted atomic drop by Dutch, and a big floppy clothesline by Bobby Jaggers gets the win. Following on what I said about Eddie Roberts, Bobby Jaggers is 100% the opposite, a guy who would never, EVER get a glance today.
-History is made as Tony and David introduce us to Lex Luger, wearing a suit that’s too small for him and he looks super-uncomfortable. He declares himself the total package, physically and intellectually. He says he wants to join the Four Horsemen, because that’s where the most money is.
BARRY WINDHAM vs THUNDERFOOT #2
-Thunderfoot armdrags Windham, but Windham fights back with a back suplex, with Thunderfoot offering a terrified “Noooooooo!” as he goes in the air. Windham applies a chinlock; Thunderfoot breaks out, but gets whipped and backdropped. Flying lariat gives Windham the win.
-Barry runs over to the commentary table and says he needs to talk Lex Luger out of being a Horseman because he knows Lex and he thinks it’s a bad career move for him.
-The Horsemen are here, minus dear leader. JJ calls Ole the pillar of the group, and Ole tosses a token threat to Dusty before calling out Barry Windham.
BARON VON RASCHKE & DICK MURDOCH vs GARY ROYAL & RANDY BARBER
-Murdoch takes Royal to the mat, and Baron comes in to work the arm. Baron reverses an Irish whip while David Crockett says it’s curious that the Horsemen didn’t even acknowledge Lex Luger’s comments earlier. Tony wants to see if he can get everybody in the studio at the same time before the end of the show.
-Royal comes to life but misses an elbow. Murdoch lays a beating on him while a large group of black fans is going crazy and popping for everything Murdoch was, which is rather interesting, all rumors considered. Brainbuster gets the three-count.
-Road Warriors want the World Tag Team Titles, but that’s gotta come later because they’re defending the Six-Man Titles with Dusty tonight.
BIG BUBBA ROGERS & MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (with Jim Cornette) vs LARRY STEVENS, DAVID ISLEY, & TOMMY ANGEL
-Bobby locks up with…and we take a commercial break. That was fast.
-Bubba shakes off every punch thrown, blocks an attempted bodyslam, then does a slam of his own. Bobby Eaton tags back in and beats down Tommy Angel (or Ronnie Angle, according to the chyron). Bubba beats down Angel some more while the crowd chants “Sissy Cornette.” Eaton dedicates a suplex to David Crockett, and Dennis Condrey comes in to gutwrench David Isley. Enziguiri by Bubba, which absolutely blows Tony’s mind. Express hits the rocket launcher, and Eaton takes a moment to get up, dust himself off, adjust his tights, and straighten his hair before pinning the man with one finger.
-Cornette tells the story of how Dusty politicked his way to a “tiebreaker” even though Bubba was the clear winner of the Bunkhouse Stampede. Meanwhile, Bobby Eaton amuses himself by repeatedly trying to distract Tony Schiavone during the promo.
-Ivan and Vladimir are here, complaining about Dusty corrupting his nephew, and now bad things will happen to Dusty as well as Nikita.
VLADIMIR PETROV vs ZANE SMITH
-Vladimir attacks from behind and suplexes Smith. Russian hammer finishes right away.
The Vladimir Petrov Show continues as Ivan cuts another promo warning Dusty and Nikita that bad things are about to happen.
-JJ Dillon is here to explain why he ignored Lex Luger earlier. The Horsemen are an elite group because they don’t worry about fan support like Dusty Rhodes, and they think Luger might be the same way. The Horsemen also function as well as they do because they leverage contract negotiations for each other as a group, and Lex needs to be a team player with that regard too. IF he’s going to be a Horseman, that is. So JJ sticks around for the next match to scout him and see if it’s worth discussing.
LEX LUGER vs GEORGE SOUTH
-Luger removes his robe and the crowd goes nuts for the physique. He poses for the crowd, and JJ subtly seems not impressed by that. Luger suplexes South and starts going to work on the back. Powerslam could finish, but Luger changes his mind in mid-pin and does a torture rack instead to get the submission. Luger does some celebratory poses after the match, then comes over to the interview area to clarify that he came to the NWA for money and titles.
-So along comes Barry Windham, who says that the Horsemen have caused all kind of havoc for him and his friends. Luger appreciates Windham’s friendship, but he’s not in wrestling for friendship, he’s in it to do business, and being a Horseman is big business.
TIM HORNER vs THUNDERFOOT #1
-Thunderfoot shoulderblocks Horner, and gets monkeyflipped and dropkicked out to the floor. Back in the ring, Horner slams him. They slug it out, and Horner gets the better of him before slamming him down again. Bodypress by Horner gets two. Horner tries to do a fancy counter of a backdrop and almost kills himself with it in a scary moment, and the natural bridge ends things.
-Jimmy Valiant is here and says he loves his fans so much, he’d cross the street to say hello to them. He presents Tony with the key to New York City, but changes his mind when he releases it’s his house key. He makes out with Tony and leaves without giving us any insight as to why he’s even in the building.
GORGEOUS JIMMY GARVIN (with Precious) vs BILL MULKEY
-Mulkey gets booted down and dragged to the ropes so Precious can lecture him for sucking so much. Backbreaker looks to finish, but Jimmy takes him to the ropes so Precious can scold him some more, much to the consternation of Tommy Young.
-He tosses Mulkey to the concrete but still isn’t done with him. Brainbuster finally puts Mulkey out of his mulkery.
BRAD ARMSTRONG vs VERNON DEATON
-Armstrong snapmares Deaton down and keeps a side headlock clamped on. Armstrong drives a knee into Deaton for two. Russian legsweep ends it.
-Superpowers are here, and for no apparent reason, Nikita is wearing a Jimmy Valiant “Weasel Slappers” t-shirt. Maybe Jimmy was here to sell Nikita all of the backlogged boxes of those things he had in his basement. Nikita goes all over the place with his promo, issuing open challenges to anyone who wants the US Title, promising to take the World Title from Ric Flair, and saying that he’s not afraid of Uncle Ivan and Vladimir. Dusty warns the Horsemen that they gonna get it.
-Ric Flair offers to sell one of his shoes on behalf of a group of kids in the crowd because that one shoe will probably buy them something better than whatever they’re sleeping in now. THAT is a heel. That’s the Flair he needs to be. Not this “the NWA is the best wrestling in the world and all of the babyface wrestlers whose names I can think of are just super” stuff.
TV TITLE + $10,000: TULLY BLANCHARD (Champion, with JJ Dillon) vs RANDY MULKEY
-Tully attacks Randy from behind. Ric decides on a whim to stick around to provide moral support. Arn Anderson comes out too, and the commentators note that “all the Horsemen are here,” apparently not noticing that Ole is MIA. Tully sends Randy out to the concrete, then brings him back in and rubs his face in the mat while Flair dashes back over to the desk to send a message to Lex Luger about what it means to be a Horseman. They don’t accept just anybody for membership. Back in the ring, the slingshot suplex finishes.
-Horsemen have more words about Lex Luger, sounding really wishy washing about whether or not they really want Luger.
