wrestling / Video Reviews

The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (4.19.1986)

July 22, 2016 | Posted by Adam Nedeff
NWA World Championship Wrestling
5.9
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The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (4.19.1986)  

-Cold open: Road Warriors and Midnight Express squash some geeks on Worldwide.

-Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & David Crockett (wearing Shooter McGavin’s jacket). This is a strange position for a TV show because it’s the day OF the Crockett Cup. They establish that the afternoon session is over, but the night show is starting in just about two hours.

-Ric Flair is here for now, but in twenty minutes, he and Ted Turner are taking the limo at the airport to take Flair Force One over to New Orleans for the main event. He warns Dusty that he won’t do a job in front of 70,000 people, which is insider stuff that wrestling didn’t touch for another ten years.

ROAD WARRIORS (with Paul Ellering) vs RAY TRAYLOR & BILL TABB
-Warriors steamroll the jobbers and clear Tabb out of the ring. Hawk slams Traylor twice and drops a leg on him. Tabb tags in and gets press slammed repeatedly by Animal. Powerslam by Animal, and the Doomsday Device Jr. finishes. This match kind of sums up the problem with the entire show this weekend, as they had two of their beefiest jobbers there so the Road Warriors could look like a million damn dollars going into the Crockett Cup…which they are in the middle of as this airs. This week should have been a best-of show or something because once you’ve hammered home the point that this is happening in mid-supercard, the entire broadcast feels hollow and pointless.

-Dusty Rhodes (cowboy hat, sportcoat, button down shirt, jeans, sunglasses, so…business Dusty) is here to say he doesn’t care how much Flair paid for his robe or his private jet. Robes and jets don’t win anything in wrestling, and by the way, “I don’t do no jobs in front of 70,000 people either, so where does that leave us?”

-Jimmy Valiant comes out dancing and clapping, back to Full Biker Clown mode after his brief brush with believability. Jimmy says Shaska had better remember that it was only a month ago when “Pistol Pez” came crawling in pain to Jimmy and Jimmy took care of him until he was back to 100%. He calls Shaska an Uncle Tom for good measure, and promises that Paul Jones and Shaska Whatley are both about to look exactly like the Baron: BALD!

NIGHTHAWK vs GENE LIGON
-Nighthawk takes Ligon down with an extremely polite armdrag. Ligon fights back with a kneelift, but Nighthawk fights back with a well-spoken powerslam. Nighthawk needs two attempts to get the shouderbreaker right and finishes immediately.

-Rock & Roll Express is planning on taking the Crockett Cup and throwing the biggest party that Bourbon Street has ever seen.

WAHOO MCDANIEL vs VERNON DEATON
-Wahoo takes Deaton down with a side headlock. Deaton fights back to his feet and backs Wahoo into a corner, but Wahoo fights him off with chops and an arm wringer; you can actually see the twist lines in Deaton’s arm and it makes you squirm for a moment.

-Chinlock by Wahoo, then he throws Vernon out to the floor. Back inside, more big chops get the three-count.

-Military man Paul Jones and tuxedo-clad Shaska Whatley are here. It’s weird how agonizingly close they got to making this pair work. Shaska is now dressing the way Paul Jones USED to dress, Jones has changed his look, Shaska was full of raw anger for that first week, and now he’s just a dork who makes faces as he screams at the camera. Shaska promises that Jimmy Valiant is going to be a bald-headed geek in the very near future.

-JJ Dillon is here to announce that the NWA is on notice. Seven days from now, either JJ wants to see an X-ray of Ron Garvin’s hand or he wants to see Garvin’s cast removed. He will NOT tolerate Garvin faking an injury as an excuse to wear a cast.

MAGNUM T.A. (United States Champion) vs PAUL GARNER
-Garner knows TA works quick, so he goes on the offensive with forearms to the chest. Magnum fights back with a dropkick, and you know the rest.

-Paul Ellering promises that a day of reckoning is coming for the Russians, and when that’s over, they want a piece of the Midnight Express.

GORGEOUS JIMMY GARVIN (with Precious) vs GEORGE SOUTH
-Rapid fire kneelifts by Jimmy. South fights right back with a dropkick but gets slammed down. South tries an Irish whip but misses the follow-through dropkick, and Garvin tosses him to the floor.

-South tries ramming his shoulder into Garvin on his way back in, but Garvin smartly just turns it into a front facelock and drags South back in and down to the mat. Hammerlock by Garvin. South gets him to the ropes and forces a clean break, but Garvin just takes him down with a waistlock. South fights out and threatens to come to blows. Garvin backs off, but South gets him down and clamps on headscissors.

-Garvin gets out and works the legs with a toehold while primping with his free hand. Garvin says he don’t see no Indians around here, and David Crockett makes the funniest “Ooooooh” sound, like a disappointed dad. Brainbuster finishes after a surprisingly good, competitive bout.

-Manny Fernandez has signed for a TV Title match this week. Ole is gone and without him around, Arn is beatable. Manny will prove it.

-Tony talks to Gorgeous Jimmy and Precious. Wahoo shouldn’t wear a full headdress. All he deserves is one tiny feather.

IVAN KOLOFF (with Nikita Koloff) vs TONY ZANE
-Ivan whips Zane around, but ducks for a backdrop and pays for it with an elbow to the back of the head from Zane. Zane tries to finish with a sunset flip, but Ivan gets out and boots him. He tosses Zane to the floor, where Nikita almost attacks him but then looks at Zane’s bruise-covered torso and thinks “Wait, did I already do a spot with him?” and backs off while trying to remember.

-Back in the ring, a legdrop by Ivan gets two. Zane fights back with right hands, but crashes on a corner charge. Forearm after forearm after forearm by Ivan. Neckbreaker and a knee, but Ivan feels the need to pull the tights for some reason and the referee catches him so he refuses to count. Zane gets his second wind with a backdrop and a mare for two.

-Ivan with a mare of his own and a series of elbow drops. Right hands by Ivan, then a headbutt. Hard chop sends Zane into the corner. This is, in fact, the same match, they haven’t spliced two Ivan Koloff/Tony Zane matches back-to-back.

-Ivan boots Zane out to the floor and rams him into the apron to work the back. Zane walks off the pace; oh, good, make this take longer, Tony. It’s blind speculation time: I think Nighthawk totally lost his nerve when he bungled that one move and went home too early, and they have to vamp, because this is going on preposterously long.

-Case in point, we return from a commercial break with Ivan chopping Zane and punching him in the torso and face. Hard boot by Ivan. He charges off the ropes, but Zane shocks the crowd by catching him in an airplane spin, and the audience comes to life for just a second. Zane gets greedy with a splash off the ropes, but Ivan raises his knees to counter it, and a sickle off the second rope finally finishes this thing. TEN DAMN MINUTES.

-Tony Schiavone talks to the Koloffs, who laugh at Tony for mentioning that Road Warriors. They’re going to hospitalize the Warriors and take the US Title from Magnum. Ivan compares his nephew to cigarette smoking. “Americans want it even though it will kill them.”

-Dusty Rhodes comes out again to remind us that, in fact, he is flying to New Orleans.

TV TITLE: ARN ANDERSON (Champion) vs “Ragin’ Bull” MANNY FERNANDEZ
-Arn bitches about Dusty being at ringside. Dusty was on his way out but sticks around just to spite Arn. Dusty namedrops AWA commentator Roger Kent for no good reason and David breaks up.

-Lefts by Arn, but Manny connects with a bodypress and goes for the instant win. Arn kicks out and goes right to the floor to back off. Back in, they tussle and Manny connects with a hard elbow that sends Arn out to the floor. Arn blames Dusty for his trouble and is complaining loudly about his presence even though Dusty hasn’t done anything. Dusty suspects the stalling is Arn just trying to drag this thing to ten minutes.

-Arn gets elbowed out of the ring AGAIN and he stalls some more, lending credence to Dusty’s theory. And now Arn just blatantly asks how much time has elapsed and gives away his strategy. He steps back into the ring and Manny clamps on a side headlock, holding onto it snuggly to keep Arn in the ring. They bounce off the ropes and Manny backhands him, and Arn goes out to the floor yet again. Dusty is now just flat out shouting “He’s stalling!” to hammer it home for Frank in Mississippi who wasn’t getting the nuance of this story.

-Back from commercial, Arn is in the ring and he has firm control with right hands and elbows. He goes off the ropes, but Manny trips him and keeps him in the ring with a toehold. Toehold stays locked on tight. Manny bars the leg and goes to work on the knee. Arn breaks out and tries for a backdrop, but Manny sweeps his leg and Arn goes down screaming in pain.

-Spinning toehold by Manny, and he falls backward a few times just to really wrench the leg. We pause for another break!

-We’re back with Arn finally breaking Manny’s legwork with an elbow to the schnozz, but just when he thinks he’s out, Manny goes straight to the finish with a figure four. Arn fights it, Manny turns it into a half crab, Arn fights it some more and finally kicks Manny into the corner to break the hold. He snapmares Manny. Nice touch by Arn as he drops the knee with his injured leg, then gives an “I shouldn’t have done that” wince of pain, then makes it a point to do the move again, but with his other knee.

-Arn applies Bodyscissors while asking for a time cue, clearly hoping to just run out the clock with the scissors, which is a mistake because you should never run with scissors. Arn does a running kneelift but uses the wrong knee again and hurts himself, and Manny takes full advantage. Clothesline off the second rope by Manny. Flying burrito gets a one, and a two…and the time limit expires. Good match! I don’t like stalling, usually, but Arn’s told a nice story and then match picked up a lot of steam as it went on.

-JJ comes out after it’s over and jaws with Dusty. Dusty is so distracted he doesn’t see Tully run in to gang up on Manny. They double-team Manny until Ron Garvin and Dusty both make the save and clear ringside.

-Jim Cornette is on top of the world because he knows the Midnight Express is about to bring home the Crockett Cup. Midnights got a ridiculous contact to face America’s Team in a title match. They do interviews together just because Magnum doesn’t know what his opinion is until Dusty’s told him, but has anyone actually seen America’s Team wrestle a tag team match? Hell no! The Midnight Express isn’t signing a contract to face them because they haven’t earned it.

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (World Tag Team Champions, with Jim Cornette) vs BOB PEARSON & ART PRITTS
-Bobby Eaton offers Pritts high ten and then just kicks him in the gut, and even Cornette on commentary is shocked that Pritts is that gullible.

-Pearson tags in and Eaton drags him by the neck over to the commentary table so Tony can interview him. Pearson is only able to offer a gurgling noise before getting thrown back into the ring. Cornette launches into a hilarious Dusty impression on commentary and reminds us that Baby Doll buys all of her clothes from the Junior Moose department.

-Eaton drags Pearson over to the corner and allows him to tag Pritts him, and the Express goes to work on Pritts’ leg. They drag him over to the ropes so Cornette can scold him for being Bill Pritts. Pritts is whipped into his own corner and Pearson heroically runs in for his turn, but Dennis Condrey trips him and Eaton connects with the knee from the top rope. Inverted Russian legsweep finishes.

-Tully Blanhard is here with a face covered in cuts. Manny Fernandez has found out what it’s like to get attacked by the Three Horsemen (they’ve been calling themselves that ever since Ole was injured and it’s actually going to sound weird to hear the correct name again whenever he comes back), and Tully warns Dusty that he’s willing to defend the National Title however Dusty wants him to. Dusty wants a barbed wire match? Bring on the barbed wire, Tully ain’t scared.

-Ron Garvin says he understands the concern about his taped up hand, but he’s not letting anything stop him from doing what he does best.

RON GARVIN vs BRODIE CHASE
-Garvin gets Chase down to the mat and pretzels him. Hiptoss follows, and then a suplex. Garvin winces in pain any time he does ANYTHING with his right hand, and David says he’s convinced that it’s a legitimate injury and that Garvin has a right to wear that tape. Running knee by Garvin, and he finishes with a splash, not even attempting the hands of stone.

-Jimmy Valiant says Paul Jones has Little Man Complex, like Napoleon and Hitler, and he’s so eaten up with jealousy that he’s turning people against the Boogie Woogie Man. He warns Shaska that Paul Jones uses people, and Shaska has lost every REAL friend he ever had.

5.9
The final score: review Not So Good
The 411
Just a really strange show overall. Again, the fact that it was literally happening the middle of a supercard gave the whole show a weird atmosphere. Valiant/Whatley has lost my interest in record time after an AMAZING start that brought out new stuff from both men, and now they're just both Furbys in a hollering contest. But the TV Title match was decent so this week at least has that going for it.
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