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The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (4.12.1986)

July 9, 2016 | Posted by Adam Nedeff
NWA World Championship Wrestling
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The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (4.12.1986)  

-Originally aired April 12, 1986.

-Your host is Tony Schiavone. The NWA has finally, finally, finally noticed that they have a six-man title, that they’re forcing the Russians to defend it. They’re allowing them to use Baron Von Raschke to defend in place of Krusher Khruschev, apparently having remembered that’s the ENTIRE reason they brought the Baron in.

-Dusty Rhodes is here, wearing his Skoal jacket plus an Eastern Airlines t-shirt, which is one hell of an omen, all things considered. Baby Doll has issued an open challenge to JJ Dillon, any time, any place. Dusty mentions that there’s some other woman running around the NWA, but there’s nobody better than Baby Doll.

HECTOR GUERRERO & “Ragin’ Bull” MANNY FERNANDEZ vs GEORGE SOUTH & TONY ZANE
-Manny starts with George South. Manny leapfrogs again and again before finally hiptossing South and going to work on the arm. Hector tags in to help with the arm. Zane tags in and tries to help, but he misses a corner charge and now he gets his arm worked over too.

-South comes back in and takes a thrust kick to the chin from Manny. Double underhook by Hector gets two. Hector backs South into the corner and we finally get a bit of offense as Zane tags in without being seen and clubbers Hector, but double elbows take him right back down, and George South tags back in.

-Manny connects with a jawjacker. Hector goes upstairs and comes off with a bodypress for three.

-Hector appreciates the American hospitality and promises that they’re ready for the Crockett Cup.

BLACK BART (Mid-Atlantic Champion) vs GENE LIGON
-Bart starts off with forearms to the chest, but Ligon connects with a quick bodypress for two. Bart goes to work with headbutts to the shoulder. They slug it out and Bart just stays on the arm. Ligon comes back with his good arm but crashes on a dropkick attempt. Compactor finishes for Black Bart.

-Tully Blanchard is here to commend Ron Garvin for having enough guts to keep signing for matches, even though he knows his hand his injured. He strenuously objects to Garvin taping his fist, however, because that gives him an unfair edge and he’s able to throw a more potent fist. And by the way, Tully points out, punching is SUPPOSED to be illegal in wrestling anyway, so the fact that Garvin is already going it as his signature move is kinda bullshit. The man has a point. Tully suspects that Garvin is going to get a glove made by the same doctors that made that boot for Dusty Rhodes (continuity!) and Tully won’t stand for it!

SIX-MAN TAG TEAM TITLES: BARON VON RASCHKE & THE KOLOFFS (Champions, with Paul Jones) vs ITALIAN STALLION, NELSON ROYAL, & DENNY BROWN
-Continuing our walk down the Boulevard of Forgotten Titles, my honest theory about this match is that this company, which gave out its mailing address weekly and encouraged people to write in, was getting letters asking why the hell this title is always mentioned when the guys holding it haven’t done anything in months, so we’re getting this match to justify it. The big story in this match however is that Nikita is wrestling weeks after he announced a boycott of the TV tapings until he got his United States Title match. Now that Magnum has agreed to the Russian chain stipulation, Nikita is cheerfully agreeing to wrestle on TV again.

-Ivan starts with Denny Brown. Denny with a hammerlock to start, as he’s clearing hoping to lock the hammer so devastatingly used by Ivan Koloff. Nelson Royal and his shoe-polished combover tag in to add an armdrag. Italian Stallion monkeyflips Ivan but misses a dropkick. Ivan tries to capitalize but misses an elbow, and Ivan is just taking a drubbing from the jobbers. I mean, challengers.

-Ivan rams Denny into Nikita’s boot in the corner, and here comes Baron Von Raschke. Baron rakes the face and back, and Denny is caught in the wrong part of town as Nikita tags in and slams him hard. Backbreaker by Nikita. Ivan tags back in and gets hiptossed by Denny, but before Denny can tag out, Ivan goes back on the offensive and whips him. Corner charge misses. Ivan appears to have hurt his shoulder and tags right out.
-Nikita distracts the referee while the Baron does a bunch of completely legal stuff. Nelson Royal tags back in and so does Ivan. Average age: 48. Ivan elbows down Nelson and tags in Nikita. Forearm by Nelson but Nikita totally shrugs it off and tags in the Baron. Nelson and Baron slug it out and it actually looks like a slow motion replay.

-Stallion and Nikita tag back in and Nikita just murders him immediately with the sickle to successfully defend their title against the toughest competition among those who showed up and weren’t in another match.

-Ron Garvin, wearing an Eastern Airlines cap, says he’s used to pain. His hand’s not broken, it hurts a lot, but he’s keeping his cool. We revisit the attack from last week and Ron Garvin promises revenge is coming.

-Road Warriors are pissed off about an incident that happened in Baltimore recently, and they promise that things are gonna blow up between then and the Russians the next time that the NWA comes to Baltimore. We go to the tape of the incident. As it’s laid out for us, this was advertised as a six-man tag match between the Russians and the Baron against the Road Warriors & Paul Ellering. Due to an injury, Hawk didn’t make it to the building, and Ellering gets coldcocked with the chain and has to leave on a stretcher. State your theory: Did Hawk have jobitis or personal demonosis?

WAHOO MCDANIEL vs RON ROSSI
-Wahoo takes down Rossi with a side headlock and hangs onto it. And onto it. And onto it. Chops by Wahoo and he slows things down with a chinlock. More chops by Wahoo send Rossi out to the floor. Back in, another chop gets three. Wahoo is pretty visibly winding down here.

-Magnum comes out wearing a Copenhagen jacket as National Free Stuff Week continues. No more excuses from Nikita. He wants that title match on television just so the fans can watch this issue get settled once and for all.

GORGEOUS JIMMY GARVIN (with Precious) vs ROCKY KERNODLE
-Armdrags and a waistlock by Jimmy. Kernodle slips out and applies a hammerlock. He cradles Garvin for two. Garvin kicks out easily and struts. Arm wringers are exchanged and Garvin takes him down with the hair to get the edge. Kernodle reverses and goes to work on the arm. Garvin calmly tells Precious that he’s going to be okay while he’s visibly wincing.

-Back from commercial, Garvin applies a toehold and poses for the cameras while keeping the hold locked on with one arm. Kernodle takes advantage of the self-inflicted distraction to mount a comeback, but takes a knee to the face and falls victim to the brainbuster to finish it.

-Ric Flair is here. He tells the hotel in New Orleans to be ready for the line of girls the night of the Crockett Cup. Ric Flair says Ricky Morton can keep the little girls in the training underwear. “The Nature Boy likes full sweaters and empty heads!” He’s offended by the damage done to his $200 sunglasses and $800 blazer, though, so Ricky needs to watch his step.

TV TITLE: ARN ANDERSON (Champion) vs SAM HOUSTON
-Ric sticks around to do commentary. Ric puts him over as fully as possible and with perfect timing, Houston punches him out to the floor. Back in, Houston hiptosses AA and dropkicks him out to the floor. Arn tentatively re-enters and Houston tries to finish instantly with the bulldog, but Arn slips out of it. Houston turns into the skid by running up the ropes in a fluid motion and connecting with a bodypress for two.

-Houston goes off the ropes and Arn grabs him and stun guns him to turn the tide. He chokes Houston on the top rope and follows with a NASTY spinebuster. He rubs Houston’s face in the mat. Houston tries a dropkick, but Arn evades it and finishes with the Gourdbuster.

-Arn says he’s EARNED his belt and rattles off an impressive list of victories. He’s on his way to the Crockett Cup, treat himself to a few cocktails at a nice bar somewhere in New Orleans, and then show up ready for business at the Superdome. And Cousin Ole IS coming back to the NWA, just as sure as Arn trips over Tony’s microphone cord on his way out.

-Ricky & Robert dare Ric Flair to show his face again. They’re ready for him any time.

SHASKA WHATLEY & BARBARIAN (with Paul Jones) vs VERNON DEATON & RANDY MULKEY
-So this is what Paul Jones meant when he said “Shaska” last week. Pez has indeed declared that from now on, he wants to be known as Shaska. Because.

-Barbarian throws Mulkey around and throws him out to the floor with force. Back in, Shaska contributes a little bit, but he’s apparently happy to let Barbarian do all the work, and who can blame him. Barbarian dropkicks Mulkey as a big “Traitor!” chant goes up and Shaska jaws with the fans. Deaton finally tags in and he gets tossed around in Mulkey-like fashion, and Shaska finishes easily with the flying headbutt.

-The Russians boast about their big victory. Nikita makes it very clear that he wrestled on TV today because he FELT like it. No American makes him do anything, not Magnum or the NWA.

ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS vs CARL STYLES & RAY TRAYLOR
-But before THAT can happen, Ric Flair strolls out wearing his tights and his belt, and he’s taking Morton up on his offer.

NON-TITLE: RIC FLAIR (NWA World Champion) vs RICKY MORTON (with Robert Gibson)
-Thanks to Brian Bayless at Scott Keith’s Blog of Doom, I’ve now become familiar with the Express’ account of this whole angle, which was that Robert Gibson was goddamn terrified that they were going to split up the team and job him out with this angle, and Ricky thought he was right to be terrified of that because Dusty apparently couldn’t stand the Rock & Roll Express (Dusty didn’t like anybody who could sell out an arena where he wasn’t appearing, basically) and was looking for any way to split them up that the fans could buy into.

-Crowd is instantly into this with a “Rock and Roll” chant. Ricky takes Ric down right away but gets kicked out of the ring. He slingshots himself back in and sunset flips Flair for two. Dropkick by Ricky misses, but an elbow by Flair misses. Ricky applies a side headlock and good GOD that was a lot that they crammed into one minute.

-Arn Anderson shows up to keep an eye on things. Flair goes for a hiptoss but Ricky has a FANTASTIC counter, keeping his feet firmly planted and just making it an abdominal stretch. Flair hiptosses free. They trade blows and Morton decisively wins that battle. Flying headscissors and a dropkick follow. Monkeyflip by Morton and he adds an arrogant cover with bonus taunting right in Flair’s face for a two-count. Morton got exactly what he wanted out of that, though, as Flair goes to the floor, visibly upset, and calms himself down before going back in.

-Front facelock by Morton. Flair backs him into the corner but gets laid out with a punch for two. Side headlock by Morton as we pause for commercial at a PERFECT moment, with Flair dodging a bodypress but cutting away before we see Morton crash.

-Back from the break, Flair is chopping away, but Irish whips Ricky, who immediately turns it into a bodypress for two. Backdrop by Morton, followed by a dropkick and Flair ain’t lookin’ good. Morton goes for a suplex and Flair desperately fights it. Morton finally gets the suplex but he’s exhausted just from the sheer amount of stuff that he’s already thrown at Flair in this match.

-Chops are traded and the referee accidentally gets knocked out of the ring on a sunset flip attempt. Flair takes advantage right away by throwing Morton over the top rope next to the referee. Morton recovers enough to ram Flair into the post and Flair is bleeding. Morton fires punch after punch capitalize on the wound. Irish whip gives us a Flair flip. Flair goes to the top and connects with a bodypress, but Morton rolls through and cradles him, and Robert Gibson just says “to hell with it” and counts the pin himself, and the timekeeper sounds the bell. So the victory doesn’t really count but Morton very clearly was the better man there. Awesome match and you know what? I’m actually okay with the wonky finish on this one. Ricky & Robert are smart enough to realize that the ref bump is going to screw them, so they chose to be satisfied with merely proving their point instead of waiting for the referee to wake up and screwing themselves. I’ve noticed that’s a theme in the way that Jim Cornette booked the Rock & Rolls in SMW too. Instead of being hapless babyfaces falling victim to one evil scheme after another, the Rock & Rolls were depicted as being pretty smart guys.

-Dusty Rhodes comes out to give the rub to Morton, and looks Robert Gibson right in the eye and says “Robert, THIS is my main man!” That’ll show him.

-Jim Cornette shows up wearing a disguise (a normal suit and sunglasses) because everybody is gunning for him. He warns Paul Ellering that the Midnight Express is about to expose the Road Warriors for the phonies that they are.

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (World Tag Team Champions, with Jim Cornette) vs PAUL GARNER & BOB OWENS
-Time is rapidly running out of the show unfortunately, so we don’t really get the Express’ trademark torture this week. It’s a bunch of quick offense like slams and kneedrops until they finish Garner off with a Total Elimination for three.

-Paul Jones’ Army shows off Jimmy Valiant’s hair. Shaska promises to leave him bald.

7.0
The final score: review Good
The 411
Ric vs. Ricky was enough to earn a thumbs-up, but this was a decent show all around with no slow stuff. For two hours, they sure kept this show moving.
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