The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (5.28.1988)

-Cold open: Barry Windham cuts a screw-you promo running down everyone who’s ever been alive, and suddenly (well, suddenly by Dusty Rhodes standards) Dusty Rhodes shows up, and punches start being thrown.

-Originally aired May 28, 1988.

-Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, David Crockett, and Jim Ross.

-Kevin Sullivan shows up and says if he’s lied about anything he’s said in the past few weeks, Patty would come out here and refute the stories. He tells us that after dining on monkey brains, he came up with a design for a Tower of Doom match, a three-level cage match. If a monkey’s brain gave me an idea like a Tower of Doom cage match, I’d spank him.

THE FANTASTICS (US Tag Team Champions) vs. JOE CRUZE & LARRY STEPHENS
-Rogers shoulderblocks Stephens and dropkicks him. Cruze gets double-teamed. Fantastic Rocket Launcher finishes in short order.

-David Crockett tries to have a word with the Fantastics, but Jim Cornette interrupts and says that he’s tired of people coming up with stipulations solely to try to kill him. He ain’t wearin’ no straitjacket for the next re-match! And to show he’s serious, he’s pulling the Midnight Express from NWA television until either the NWA begs them to come back or until Ted Turner starts airing two hours of Mighty Mouse cartoons every Saturday night.

-We’re off to World Wide Wrestling, where Jim Ross is conducting an interview in the ring with Barry Windham, and poor Jim is getting absolutely showered with rich frothy spittle while Barry Windham yells right in his face. Dusty Rhodes shows up, but then so do Arn and Tully, and it’s an assault on Dusty. Lex Luger tries to make the save, but now Rick Flair is out here, and with JJ in the mix, it’s 5-on-2. Dusty’s bleeding as the claw is applied on Lex Luger.

-Dusty rattles off a whole long list of guys who don’t like the Horsemen. Hey, ya know, summer’s coming up and I can’t help Dusty rattled off five guys who don’t like the Four Horsemen or JJ Dillon. Any sort of obvious payoff that could lead to? Yup! You guessed it! Tomorrow night, he and Lex have signed up for a double-bullrope match!

STING, “Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS, & NIKITA KOLOFF vs. RYAN WAGNER, GARY PHELPS, & DAVE SPEARMAN
-Williams tackles Phelps and Sting comes off the top with a bodypress. Nikita looks like he wants to do the sickle immediately, but Spearman manages to tag in and lights into Nikita with forearms, but Nikita rams him into the opposite corner shoulder-first and dumps him on the floor. Flying clothesline by Williams, and Dale Laperouse, who is not one of the guys in the chyron at the start of this match, tags in and falls victim to a Vader bomb from Sting. Just to be clear, I just call the move that for clarity, that’s not what the move was called yet. But gosh, wouldn’t it be wild if it was called that and THEN Leon White started using the Vader gimmick? An all-time great coincidence to be sure. Anywhoo, Stinger splash, Oklahoma Stampede, three-count.

-Gary Hart and Al Perez are here to devote two additional minutes to the Feud That Will Never be Interesting, challenging Nikita to any gimmick match he wants. Gary Hart emphasizes that Nikita USED to be something special, but now he’s just another guy. And honestly at this point, there’s more truth than heel heat in what Gary Hart is saying.

AL PEREZ (with Gary Hart) vs. BOB RIDDLE
-Al Perez works the arm and turns a hammerlock into a fireman’s carry takedown. Airplane spin and a flying forearm, and the spinning toehold wraps it up. Match lasted about 90 seconds, and not for one of those seconds did Perez do anything to lead you to the conclusion that he’s a heel.

SPAM SLAM
-Barry Windham is the master of the iron claw…and so our Spam Slam of the Week is his trademark powerslam.

-Ric Flair is here. The Horsemen, the Powers of Pain, and the Varsity Club are what’s happening in pro wrestling today and all summer long! Woooooo!

-Nikita says he doesn’t care about Al Perez! It’s unanimous, then!

ARN ANDERSON (with JJ Dillon) vs. KEITH STEINBORN
-Arn grabs Steinborn, yanks him down to the mat, rubs his face in te mat, and DDTs him, and that’s all he needs.

-The Horsemen are here, fully assembled and ready for the double bullrope match tomorrow night in Greensboro! And the Horsemen are ready for the Great American Bash!

-Clash of the Champions II: Miami Mayhem, June 8! So….matches?

-JR welcomes Mighty Wilbur back to NWA competition after his leg injury. Wilbur announces he’s forming a tag team with Ron Garvin and that they’re going to be the next World Tag Team Champions. Of course, this is the NWA in 1988, so as you’ve probably guessed, this is Wilbur’s last appearance in the NWA. From what little info is out there about Wilbur, it sounds like he just hated his year of working for JCP and left the business entirely. More power to him if he elected not to stay in a business where he wasn’t happy, but I’d be surprised if he didn’t even get a cursory glance from Vince McMahon, who never saw a big fat guy he couldn’t push.

MIGHTY WILBUR & RON GARVIN vs. ROBBIE ALMAN & DAN GRUNDY
-Wilbur shoves Grundy and knocks him around the ring. Everyone tags and Garvin throws a hard chop, with Alman doing a crazy backflip to sell it and almost accidentally killing himself that way. Headutts by Garvin. He pretzelizes Alman with one boot pressed against his head for good measure. Big splash by Wilbur closes this one.

-Lex Luger is here with a few words. Very few words because it’s a one-hour show this week, and WE’RE OUTTA TIME!

5.4

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Nikita/Perez continues to die a yawning death, and with a TV special, a 45-day tour, and a PPV all on the horizon, there's an amazing lack of focus, aside from Kevin Sullivan's Tower of Terror Ride or whatever.