wrestling / Video Reviews

The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (12.6.1986)

March 23, 2017 | Posted by Adam Nedeff
NWA World Championship Wrestling
6.4
The 411 Rating
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The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (12.6.1986)  

-This was taped after Starrcade and therefore is your REAL Starrcade fall-out show.

-Originally aired December 6, 1986.

-Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & David Crockett. They discuss all the outcomes of Starrcade, chief among them, Ricky Morton’s arm is totally messed up after the cage match.

-The Russians are here, and Khrusher hasn’t shaved his head and there’s visible stubble up there now, so somebody’s planning an exit. Uncle Ivan warns his nephew that he’s going to be let down by Dusty Rhodes and all of his other new friends.

TV TITLE: TULLY BLANCHARD (Champion, with JJ Dillon) vs MIKE JACKSON
-With the total grab bag nature of challengers, it amazes me that they never did just have a jobber go over as part of a big angle for shiggles.

-Mat wrestling to start. Jackson takes control with an armdrag and a dropkick, and Tully’s a little surprised by that. “We want Dusty!” chant goes up as Tully takes over with elbows and forearms. Chinlock is applied as JJ comes over to gloat about what a great night it was for the Horsemen at Starrcade.

-Jackson comes back with worked punches, but apparently he struck hard enough to re-open Tully’s Starrcade bladejob, so Tully’s bleeding hardway from the forehead! Jackson targets the wound, but Tully fights back and drops a series of elbows for two. Tully throws Jackson out to the floor and Jackson lands HARD. I’ve heard stories of wrestlers feeling so bad about accidentally throwing a shot too hard and atoning for it by deliberately hurting themselves later in the match, and I think Jackson is actually doing that here. Back in, Tully hits the slingshot suplex to wrap up his first title defense.

-Rock & Roll Express is here. Ricky thanks all of their loyal fans for their support. They’re ready for the Bunkhouse Stampede!

-Baby Doll with the Midnight Express? What is this, a crossover episode? Baby Doll breaks the news that Jim Cornette’s knee is all screwed up as a result of the scaffold match, and the Express wants revenge. Dennis Condrey jumps in and cuts the redneckiest promo EVER.

BRAD ARMSTRONG vs VERNON DEATON
-Armstrong takes Deaton down to the mat and works the arm. Audience in the studio this week is as into Brad Armstrong as I’ve heard since he debuted here. Big pop for a dropkick, and Brad follows that with the Russian legsweep to finish.

-Paul Jones, Manny Fernandez, and Ravishing Rick Rude are here, with Paul Jones wearing a big cowboy hat to hide his newly bald head. Manny taunts the Rock & Roll Express for coming out here and talking about Ricky’s injury. Injuries are part of wrestling, don’t come out demanding special treatment for them! Rude declares that the reigning champions aren’t real wrestlers. JCP gives preferential treatment to their golden boys, but Paul Jones promises that his men are going to take the belts real, real soon.

-Road Warriors are here now. They’re on their way to Cleveland for another scaffold match. Also, they’ve signed a lot of contract for their occasional plaything, the six-man tag team titles, so they’re gonna be having some matches with Dusty in the near future.

ARN ANDERSON vs ALAN MARTIN
-Arn’s in a bad mood, just knocking Martin over and tearing at his mouth to make him scream. David Crockett’s offended about the accusations that JCP is coddling the Rock & Roll Express and insists that the Rock & Roll Express are fighting champions who don’t need any kind of protection.

-Spinebuster by Arn, and the gourdbuster wraps things up.

-Dusty and his fur coat are here, and so’s Nikita Koloff. There’s a storm brewing and he’s in the eye along with Nikita. Dusty’s actually got a good line here, drawing attention to his fur coat, and shirtless Nikita, and saying they’re both dressed to go for a walk in Siberia. He goes on a great run about how Ric Flair’s track record with beautiful women is mostly the result of beer goggles because anything looks good at 3 a.m., while Dusty hires only the most attractive prostitutes and treats them to two meals and a drink before having sex with them. Tony Schiavone is cracking the hell up at this tangent (the microphone is visibly shaking). Nikita doesn’t break, but it’s as close to it as I’ve ever seen from him.

-Paul Jones is back and he’s all pissed off about David Crockett’s denial of coddling. Manny & Rick want a title match. Not next week. Not next month. NOW.

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (with Baby Doll & Big Bubba) vs ART PRITTS & DAVE SPEARMAN
-Baby Doll has a tennis racquet as tribute. Aww.

-Dennis Condrey tosses Pritts out to the floor right away. Eaton hammers him over to Spearman for the tag, and then throws Spearman to the floor. Eaton dedicates a punch to his fallen manager. Suplex by Dennis while Baby Doll comes over and announces that Cornette has generously made a deal for her to collect any prize money from the Bunkhouse Stampede.

-Rocket launcher gives the Express the win.

-Ric Flair is here, woo. The difference between Ric Flair and guys like Dusty & Nikita is that Ric Flair is actually capable of beating guys like Dusty & Nikita. Flair turns to David Crockett and demands no more bullrope matches and no more chain matches. He’s a wrestling champion, he’s only gonna defend his title with WRESTLING, dammit. The Horsemen minus Ole are here to a huge pop.

BARRY WINDHAM vs RANDY BARBER
-Windham hiptosses Randy all over the place to start off. Big clothesline, and the bulldog finishes instantly.

-Jim Crockett has hastily drawn up a contract for a tag team title match, but he insists that the Express is under no obligation to sign it. The Express are FIGHTING champions though, so they sign the contract. This match, Crockett declares, will begin in ten minutes.

-Barry Windham is thrilled to be in the NWA! He wishes a speedy recovery to his good friend Magnum TA.

IVAN KOLOFF & KHRUSHER KHRUSCHEV (US Tag Team Champions) vs MULKEY BROTHERS
-Gosh, I hope this match doesn’t go ten minutes and turn Jim Crockett into a liar. One of the Mulkey’s misses a corner charge and Ivan just gives him a literal boot in the ass to hammer home how much he sucks.

-Back from commercial, Ivan drops the leg for two. Backbreaker and a series of legdrops by Ivan this time. Hard chop, and then Khrusher tags in. He chokes whichever Mulkey it is, and then tags right back out. Neckbreaker by Ivan, and he’s so annoyed by how not-competitive this is that he chops and slaps Mulkey all over the place. Sickle finishes. Nikita perfected that move so well though that it just looks weak when Ivan does it.

WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE: ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS (Champions) vs. “Ragin’ Bull” MANNY FERNANDEZ & RAVISHING RICK RUDE (with Paul Jones)
-Ricky Morton starts, despite needing a cast on his arm, and Manny just smirks at him. Ricky teases locking up with his injured arm and then just belts Manny in the mouth with the other hand, and a bodypress gets a quick two-count. Manny’s pissed. Headbutt by Manny, but Ricky just comes back harder with an elbow to the jaw. Manny tries standing nose-to-nose with him, but Ricky just punches him again.

-Everybody tags, and Robert Gibson ends up monkeyflipping Rude. Series of dropkicks follows. Manny tries to help but gets Irish whipped into his partner. Rude tries to do a monkeyflip of his own, but just gets decked right between the eyes. Express works Rude’s arm. Ricky appears to hurt his own arm while working Rude’s arm and tags out quickly, and Paul Jones is smelling blood.

-But not just yet. Manny tries a flying elbow on Gibson and misses. Ricky tags in and clamps on an armbar and the commentators immediately declare this to be the dumbest thing Ricky can do. Ricky applies an armbar, but he doesn’t have a good grip because of his bad arm, so he tags back out the moment he has a chance to. Gibson applies his own armbar. Paul Jones tries to interfere, but the referee catches him.

-Ricky tags in so the Express can finish with a double dropkick, but Manny is never in EXACTLY the right position for it and the Express has to give up on the move and Ricky is stuck in the ring now. Back from commercial, Ricky connects with another bodypress for two. Ricky tries the armbar, but then remembers that his arm is in bad shape, so he has to tag out again, and NOW the heels go to work. Manny & Rude just unleash everything on Gibson as fast as they can to get him down to the mat before he can tag.

-Manny & Rick focus on Gibson’s leg, keeping him on the mat and cranking on it. Gibson stops the offense with an enziguiri and goes for the hot tag, but he’s so dazed that he goes to the wrong corner, and Manny goes back to work on the leg. And then Rick works the leg. And I’m beginning to sense I should make myself really comfortable. God bless these fans for being as passionate as they are, they’ve been clapping, stomping and chanting from the word “go.”

-Robert escapes but goes to the wrong corner again, and Rude works the leg over some more. Rude charges at Robert and Robert gets a high backdrop on Rude. Hot tag to Ricky. Ricky cleans house until the very moment that Manny gets his hands on Ricky’s arm, and the Express is kinda screwed now.

-Back from the break, Manny is taking the cast apart, and some slick positioning by Rude allows his partner and his manager to help triple-team Ricky. More arm work by Manny. Hammerlock slam by Rude, which leads David to suspect that Paul Jones’ men consulted the Andersons before going into the ring. Gibson naively tries to help, which allows the men to switch without tagging.

-Morton misses a corner charge and injures his shoulder too. Manny just has a little fun, as Bob Ross would say, mixing up his offense by using Ricky’s arm tape to strangle him. Paul Jones creates a diversion while the heels switch again. Gibson fails to learn his lesson and it happens AGAIN, and honestly, it’s at this point that the Express really deserves to lose this thing. Ricky repeatedly put his injured arm in harm’s way until his opponents could seize the opportunity, while Robert has now made the same dumb mistake three times and allowed his partner to get mauled even further.

-Another commercial. Rude is still just relentless on the arm. Ricky, with his last ounce of life, hits an inverted atomic drop and makes the hot tag. Gibson dropkicks everything with a pulse and clamps a sleeper on Manny Rude breaks the hold and we have a pier sixer. Gibson rolls up Manny Fernandez. Rude sneaks over and clotheslines Gibson hard enough to reverse their positions, and Manny wins the tag team belts with a handful of tights. The studio crowd is shocked and enraged right up until Paul Jones’ hat falls off, and then everyone just laughs their asses off. I enjoyed this but I can easily see how somebody else wouldn’t. This was a full 30 minutes and absolutely felt like 30 minutes, but at least it had a story and everybody worked hard. And the crowd absolutely gave it some extra atmosphere. You can watch it, you won’t hate it, but you’ll never want to watch it again.

-Manny christens his team “Ravishing & Raging” and they’re in a celebratory mood. This feels weird. Rude and Fernandez are a brand new team and it’s not like they were particularly effective the handful of times they were together. It feels like the titles are being used to give the team credibility, instead of the other way around.

6.4
The final score: review Average
The 411
So the enjoyment of the show pretty much depends entirely on your enjoyment of the feature match. Again, it's good, but not good in a way you want to watch a second time. And as a bonus, this show has oddities like Dusty's promo and the Midnight Express having the wrong manager, so it's worth a glance.
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