wrestling / Video Reviews
1986 Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Review
Loading...-A few years back I attempted to review the Crockett Cup ’86 home video release, but trying to fit this event on home video–2 hours for a 23-match card–was just an all-out assault on my attention span so I tapped out after 3 matches and never finished writing it. But now, WWE Network has stepped forward with a new version of the show as part of their Hidden Gems series. This edit runs 4 hours and 7 minutes, which, prior to the existence of WWE Network, was considered a long show.
-A refresher…this was another ill-fated attempt by promoters not named Vince McMahon to combine forces and present a competing supercard. In this case, Jim Crockett and Bill Watts (who, per Jim Ross, truly could not stand each other before or after this) are teaming up for what is basically a Jim Crockett Promotions card, borrowing a few people from Bill Watts’ roster, and presenting it in the Superdome. Apparently, Bill Watts pretty much had to be involved here because he was the only person authorized to promote wrestling in the Superdome. It’s odd that they’re doing it here at all because Jim Crockett Sr. was indeed a legendary promoter of tag team wrestling, but they’re promoting the show outside of his territory, but hey, that’s why I’m not in the wrestling business and Crockett & Watts are. For another two years or so.
-The event is actually two cards, a matinée show and a night show, both happening on April 19, 1986.
-The WWE Network version, even clocking in at over four hours, still isn’t complete. We’re picking up at the 6th match of Round One in the afternoon show, so here’s what we’ve missed so far, per thehistoryofwwe.com:
Wahoo McDaniel & Mark Youngblood defeated Bobby Jaggers & Mike Miller when McDaniel pinned Miller with a chop and elbow drop at 7:35
Nelson Royal & Sam Houston defeated the Batton Twins when Houston scored the pin following the bulldog at 8:17
Jimmy Valiant & Manny Fernandez defeated Baron Von Raschke & the Barbarian (w/ Paul Jones & Shaska Whatley) when Fernandez pinned Barbarian with a sunset flip into the ring
Terry Taylor & Steve Williams defeated Bill Dundee & Buddy Landel when Williams pinned Landel with the running powerslam
The Sheepherders (w/ Jack Victory) defeated Hector & Chavo Guerrero when Luke Williams pinned Hector following a double clothesline behind the referee’s back
Okay, now…ONWARD!
ROUND ONE: THE FANTASTICS vs. THE FABULOUS ONES
-And hey, it’s on Watts’ home turf, so Brother Love himself is doing the ring announcing. As it turns out, what WWE Network has is footage from a single handheld camera at ringside, which might make the action tough to follow at times, fair warning.
-Bobby Fulton and Stan Lane trade shoves and the teams tease a brawl right away, but the referee comes on and gets in there, and keeps control of this one. Lane tries to send Fulton into the ropes for a monkeyflip, but Fulton just gives him a boot to the head. Tommy Rogers tags in and works the arm with a hammerlock. Lane manages to back Rogers into the Fabulous corner and Steve Keirn tags in, and now Rogers, who was once working the arm, now finds his own arm being worked. My, how the turntables have…
-Rogers survives with a little help from his friend, as Fulton comes off the second rope with an axehandle and applies an armbar on Keirn. Fantastics tag in and out and are all over Keirn’s arm with everything they have. Stan Lane tags in and the Fantastics switch off behind the referee’s back. They should call these guys the Fantastic Cheaters, right, everyone?
-Lane makes it to his feet and educates Fulton’s head, sending him to the floor. Back in, Lane does a JYD-style rolling headbutt and bring Keirn back in. Keirn stunguns Fulton and goes after his eyes. Another stungun, and Keirn struts to celebrate. Fulton slaps him and tries to crawl to the corner, but Keirn yanks the tights, giving us a cameo by Bobby Fulton’s ass, and I’m gonna go ahead and guess that Bobby uses a tanning bed instead of the sun.
-Keirn throws Fulton over the top rope behind the referee’s back and Fulton is doing the most bizarre sell of everything that happens to him tonight, making a Popeye face every time he takes a bump. Back in, Lane tries a backdrop, but Fulton sunset flips him for a near miracle. Fabulous Ones switch without tagging. Fulton hangs on for dear life as the Fabulous Ones keep trying to put him away. Fulton and Keirn collide on a double shoulderblock, and Fulton finally makes the tag.
-Rogers is the house of fire, taking on both men. Neat finish, as he tags Fulton without Keirn seeing. Keirn then sends Rogers into the ropes for a backdrop and Fulton slips in and rolls up the bent-over Keirn for a three-count. 1 for 1. If the territory system hadn’t fallen apart, The Fantastics wouldn’t have gotten squeezed out and they’d be talked about a lot more today. What a great team.
ROUND ONE: KOKO B. WARE & ITALIAN STALLION vs. BUZZ SAWYER & RICK STEINER
-Koko is billed from “Motown City.” They must have a terrible census taker if it’s both a town AND a city. And this is an odd period in Koko’s career as he’s morphing from what he was into what he became. He has the flashy “Birdman” entrance outfit and tights but he just scowls and looks like a serious, angry mofo during his intro and doesn’t play to the crowd.
-Sawyaer backs Koko into the corner and drives forearms into him. Koko fights back with a dropkick and Sawyer just takes the best bump ever from it, flying across the ring and totally clearing the ropes as he goes through them. Back in, Koko applies a side headlock. Sawyer tries to get out with a back suplex, but Koko hangs on. A second back suplex does the trick. Steiner tags in and misses a falling headbutt,m and in comes the Italian Stallion.
-Stallion applies a side headlock on Steiner. Steiner sends him into the ropes but Stallion meets him with a shoulderblock and a dropkick. Everyone tags and Sawyer gets pinballed by the faces. Sawyer lets out a bizarre scream while leapfrogging Koko, then gets dropkicked down. Stallion heads back in and applies a side headlock as we get the five-minute announcement. Sawyer fights the side headlock for a bit, but everyone threatens to rumble and Earl Hebner ain’t having it.
-Steiner tags in and Koko powerslams him for two. Koko gets caught in the wrong corner and beaten down. Sawyer tags back in and hits a flying forearm to finally get the ball rolling for himself in this match, and Koko goes out to the koncrete. Sawyer suplexes him on the floor and axehandles him off the apron, and Koko’s on the floor so long you’d swear this was the commercial break.
-Back in the ring and Steiner applies a bearhug on Koko as we hit the ten-minute mark. Steiner then turns it into a belly-to-belly but holds onto the bearhug after the impact, and Koko struggles to keep his shoulders off the mat. Sawyer tags in and tries his own bearhug on the mat, but he can’t put Koko away. Koko rolls him up out of nowhere for two. Steiner heads back in and reapplies the bearhug as the heels are doing everything they can to finish this but Koko stays alive. Like the last match. Again, it sticks out in my head that JJ Dillon once did a shoot interview where he said that when he jumped to the WWF, one of the first things he learned about putting a card together was that Vince McMahon had a policy in stone that you never ever have tag team matches back to back. And so here you can see why putting an entire card of them is a bit tricky. And when you watch the older Survivor Series cards now, you’ll notice that only ONE of the four or five matches each year had a face in peril. The rest of the matches had to go without that.
-Stallion tries to get the crowd to cheer louder for Koko but the crowd ain’t having it. Sawyer heads back in and suplexes Koko and looks like he’s getting tired trying to finish him off. Top rope splash by Buzz “misses” but he protects himself so obviously on the crash that it barely gets a crowd reaction. Stallion tags in and whips Sawyer into the ropes for a Thesz press, but Sawyer catches him in the air and powerslams him for three. 2 for 2. The bearhug went for a while, but at least there was a story to it, so it was a solid 15 minutes.
ROUND ONE: BRETT WAYNE & DAVE PETERSON vs. BLACK BART & GORGEOUS JIMMY GARVIN (with Precious)
-Brett starts with Bart, obviously before they allowed Ron Bass to convert them into spurs. Bart chops Brett Wayne but Wayne bodypresses him for an early two-count. Elbows and rights by Bart. Flying headscissors by Wayne, and he keeps them locked on while projectile-spitting at Jimmy Garvin on the apron. Everybody tags and Garvin knocks the wind out of Peterson with a knee to the gut. Peterson gets caught in the corner and worked over until he manages to catch Bart in an armbar and Wayne (who has “Sawyer” on his boots because no stinkin’ promoter’s gonna tell him what his name should be) comes off the top with a legdrop.
-Wayne is so distracted by his own internal identity crisis that he can’t concentrate and gets dropped throat-first on the ropes. Garvin tags in and does stuff. Wayne counters an attempted backdrop and tags in Peterson for your third straight hot tag, but Peterson can’t capitalize on the opportunity. Legdrop by Bart. Garvin comes in and gives Peterson a brainbuster to finish. A half-assed one too. 2 for 3.
ROUND TWO: NELSON ROYAL & SAM HOUSTON vs. MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (with Jim Cornette)
-Midnights immediately start dismantling Houston and don’t even let him get a hot start on them first. Dennis Condrey beheads him with a clothesline. He goes for a backdrop but Houston lifts the knee and tags in Fred Mertz. Condrey is caught in an abdominal stretch, but Eaton sneaks in with an axehandle to break the hold…for THREE! That was it! 2 for 4.
ROUND TWO: MAGNUM T.A. & RON GARVIN vs. BUZZ SAWYER & RICK STEINER
-The Mid-Atlantic Blondes immediately start working over Buzz Sawyer. Magnum armdrags him into an armbar. Garvin tags in and rears back like he’s going for the hands of stone right away, but Sawyer backs off and tags. Garvin and Steiner collide on shoulderblocks but don’t budge, so Garvin just does what he does best and chops the hell out of Steiner. Magnum heads back in and works the arm. Sawyer tags in and grabs onto the angriest chinlock ever. Magnum punches him away but Sawyer manages to scissor his leg while stretching out to tag Steiner.
-Steiner applies a headlock but Magnum breaks it by ramming him into the corner. Sawyer blocks the hot tag and suplexes him for two. Magnum gets caught in the corner and clubbered, but he kicks Steiner away on an attempted backdrop and makes the tag. Garvin punches both opponents recently but, finding that his hands aren’t stony enough at this juncture, he tags Magnum back in. Belly-to-belly on Steiner gets the three-count. Felt rushed. 2 for 5.
-Now onto the night show! Taking over as ring announcer is Tony Schiavone, and it’s a multi-camera shoot going forward!
-Jim Ross reads the official rules for the night show. All matches have a 20-minute time limit, the piledriver and moves off the top rope are legalized for tonight even though it’s a UWF-sanctioned card, and all teams have been warned that they can only make one save in a pinfall situation tonight.
After the national anthem, Bruce Prichard suddenly emerges with the microphone and takes over as ring announcer even though Tony was just there and then JR was just there. My headcanon is that the ring announcer job is contested under 24/7 rules.
SECOND ROUND: “Super Chief” WAHOO MCDANIEL & MARK YOUNGBLOOD vs. ROAD WARRIORS (with Paul Ellering)
-This is instantly weird because the Road Warriors have new theme music here that I’ve never heard, with Hawk not quite rapping but more talking in rhythm a la Ted DiBiase’s theme, which is kinda cool, but it’s just a pulsating keyboard and a heavy drum beat. You need the angriest electric guitar available if you’re going to record theme music for the Road Warriors. This sounds too mellow for them.
-Animal hammers Youngblood. Youngblood tries a bodypress but Animal just catches him and slams him. Everyone tags and Hawk and Wahoo have a chopping contest. Piss & vinegar team up to overpower steroids and Wahoo rolls him up for two. Hawk overpowers him with a test of strength, so Wahoo headbutts him in the sternum. Animal heads in and elbows Wahoo down. Wahoo fights back with a chop and Animal sells for it, going down from just a single Wahoo chop.
-Youngblood heads back in and Animal applies a standing side headlock. Hawk tags in without Youngblood seeing it, and Hawk goes airborne with a tackle. Director timed his shot nicely and we got a cool angle too. Youngblood fights back with a dropkick, but Hawk avoids a bodypress and comes off the second rope with a clothesline. Wahoo puts the team over in his own way, as he runs in to break the pin, but Animal steps through the ropes and gives him the evil eye, and Wahoo just stops in his tracks and lets his partner get pinned. Thumbs up just for that. 3 for 6.
-Shaska Whatley and Paul Jones are here! Tony Schiavone finally shed some light on the name “Shaska” on his podcast and it’s a funny story. It was supposed to be Shaka Whatley (like Shaka Zulu) but Whatley managed to screw up the pronunciation on the first two promos he cut with the new name, and everyone just said “the hell with it” and went with the name Shaska. So Shaska holds up a lock of the hair he cut off Jimmy Valiant and declares him “a white Uncle Tom in Papa Pooh Bear britches.” And then holy hell, Shaska fires off the F-bomb at the fine people of New Orleans. Okay, so I can see why THAT didn’t make the home video release. He dares Jimmy Valiant to come to ringside and do something about it. Shaska apparently decides “In for a penny, in for a pound” and flings out the word “ass” for good measure.
-So we have an abrupt edit to Jimmy Valiant and Manny Fernandez in the ring, and sure enough, Shaska runs away and stalls. Bonus point, this was a great little angle, as the Valiant/Whatley feud was just AWESOME for about a week and then both guys put their clown shoes back in and the feud completely lost steam. 4 for 7.
SECOND ROUND: “Boogie Woogie Man” JIMMY VALIANT & “Ragin’ Bull” MANNY FERNANDEZ vs. THE KOLOFFS (with Eddie Gilbert & Korchenko)
-We have an attempt at synergy here, as Korchenko is the UWF’s fake Russian, loaned out to the Koloffs tonight by Eddie Gilbert in exchange for a cut of the prize money at the end.
-Nikita, sporting a black eye, starts with Manny. Nikita wins the test of strength but Manny brings him down to the mat and works the leg with a toehold. Nikita manages to tag while caught in the hold and Ivan puts the boots to Manny until he releases. But then Ivan drifts to the wrong corner and gets pinballed around. Valiant tags in and knocks Ivan around for a bit. Manny heads back in and misses a dropkick. Ivan comes off the top with the legal axehandle and drops the leg for two. Bearhug is applied. Manny breaks, but Nikita hurries in after a tag to keep him from even thinking of making a tag.
-So Nikita has the bearhug locked on. Manny starts to fight out but he’s too close to the wrong corner and Ivan just tags in and attacks from behind. Ivan goes to the top for the sickle, but Manny slams him off, and Valiant boogies all over the ring to the loudest crowd reaction of the night, which is how he kept getting pushed. Can’t fault him for it. And then Nikita sickles his beard off and Uncle Ivan pins Valiant and the crowd is SO pissed at that. Weak link stayed on the apron and the rest had a good match. 5 for 8.
SECOND ROUND: “Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS & TERRY TAYLOR vs. DINO BRAVO & RICK MARTEL
-Martel comes to the ring, not dressed to wrestle, and says that due to appendicitis, Dino Bravo had to be taken to the hospital this morning. Martel is only here as a show of good faith, but in fact, his team must forfeit. No match. This is kind of an unsolved mystery, as Dave Meltzer reported this like the “appendicitis” was a cover story and that Dino might have even been in the building when the announcement was made. And it ain’t like Dino had a scar on his stomach when he showed up in the WWF a few months later.
SECOND ROUND: ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS vs. SHEEPHERDERS (with Jack Victory)
-Robert Gibson starts with Luke. Luke wastes no time getting him backed into the Sheepherders corner, and Ricky Morton wastes no time coming to the rescue and helping his partner with a double-team move that sends Luke tumbling to the floor. Back in, Gibson rams Luke into the turnbuckle a few times and in comes Ricky Morton. Dropkicks send both Sheepherders to the concrete.
-And now Luke is MAD. He sends Ricky into the turnbuckle with authority as Vince would say. Butch heads in and gets sunset flipped right away for a two-count. And Butch is so annoyed by that, he just gets out right away after not doing much. Luke gets out of the way of a corner charge and Gibson goes shoulder-first into the post, and the Herders have their strategy all set. So after working the arm for a bit, Gibson gets thrown out to the floor and rammed into the post.
-Back in, diving headbutt by Luke onto the shoulder gets two. Gibson hits a miracle dropkick and makes the tag to Ricky. All four men are in the ring, and then Jack Victory heads in with the New Zealand flag to do something about it. Ricky Morton grabs the flag from him and takes a swing at him to knock him out of the ring, and the referee DQs the Rock & Roll Express, which is kind of a bullshit finish because Ricky used it only on Jack Victory. I’ll tell you, this Earl Hebner guy needs to make sure he’s not doing injustice to anybody with his decisions sometimes. 6 for 9.
SECOND ROUND: THE FANTASTICS vs. TULLY BLANCHARD & ARN ANDERSON (with JJ Dillon)
-Well, this brings a smile to your face, doesn’t it? JJ makes Bruce Prichard do the intros again because he forgot to mention that both Horsemen are champs at the moment–Tully is National Champ and Arn is TV champ.
-Tommy and Tully start and both guys are just throwing leather at each other. Atomic drop by Tommy. Tully reverses it but Tommy gets out of the reversal and dropkicks Tully to the floor. Great bit follows as the Horsemen try to bluff the referee about Tully making a tag as he fell out to the floor and the referee isn’t buying it. Tully refuses to get back in on principle, so Tommy slingshots him back in.
-Arn finally tags in and mows Tommy down with a shoulderblock. Tommy fights back with a hiptoss and a series of dropkicks to send him scurrying to the floor. Tully tags in and gets caught in a hammerlock by Bobby Fulton, but Arn reaches in and jerks his partner’s tights to bring him to the ropes. Horsemen take over from there, dumping Fulton to the concrete and leaving him to get attacked by JJ while the referee is dealing with Tommy Rogers across the ring.
-Fulton still has some fight left in him, but he gets thrown to the floor again and rammed into the barricade. Security is having the funniest problem with these barricades tonight, I don’t think they know that those things are designed to be locked together.
-Back in the ring, AA with a spinebuster on Bobby Fulton. Fulton stays alive and throws punches with the energy he has left, but the Horsemen keep cutting him off. Tully just forces all of his weight on Fulton and yanks the tights to force two-count after two-count, hoping that Fulton just tires himself out. The fight goes to the floor, with all four men ending up in the brawl. Fulton makes it back in, but Tully cuts it off with a handful of tights and we have to see Bobby Fulton’s ass again. We’ve seen more of Bobby Fulton’s ass than we’ve seen of Dino Bravo on this card.
-Hot tag to Tommy, but it doesn’t stay hot for long as he goes for a backdrop and Arn turns it onto a gourdbuster. He picks Tommy up for a slam, but Fulton dropkicks his partner on top of Arn and it gets the three-count. JJ and especially Arn throw some fantastic post-match tantrums in the ring over that. 7 for 10. I wish these two teams had more chances to wrestle each other. This was good stuff.
-The UWF returns to the Superdome on June 14! Be there!
SECOND ROUND: TIGER MASK & GIANT BABA vs. BLACK BART & GORGEOUS JIMMY GARVIN (with Precious)
-Black Bart and Tiger Mask start. Bart throws a chop like he’s trying to win a job with it. Test of strength follows and Bart wins that. Tiger starts to fight is way back from the losing position so Bart just gets out of there. Garvin works the arm but Tiger reverses it and dropkicks Garvin to the floor, baseball sliding him into the barricade. Crowd was SILENT right up until that happened and now suddenly they give a shit and Tiger Mask is their favorite wrestler ever.
-Everyone tags and Baba chops Black Bart. Russian legsweep by Baba, but Bart shakes it off and goes to the throat. Garvin tags back in and gets a chop to the skull. Piledriver by Baba, and since that’s normally illegal in Louisiana, that should be the death of Garvin, but he happens to land near his own corner and he tags Bart back in.
-Bart suplexes Tiger Mask and suddenly Garvin is just totally revived and fresh and kicking ass in there. He chokes Tiger out while the referee is distracted. Slam by Garvin gets two. Now suddenly Tiger revives with a series of kicks and just calmly steps away and tags Baba in. Baba connects with the most tentative shoulderblock I’ve ever seen. Bart tags in and refuses to go down for Baba’s offense. Baba throws an AWFUL chop and Tiger Mask comes off the top with a bodypress, but it only gets two. Boot by Baba finishes. 7 for 11. Weird match with guys just deciding not to sell anything at random points and some odd looking offense at times. Precious gets right in Baba’s face after the bell but nothing comes of it.
QUARTERFINAL: ROAD WARRIORS (with Paul Ellering) vs. MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (with Jim Cornette)
-Animal and Condrey start. Condrey’s shoulderblocks don’t do anything but an elbow to the chin by Animal certainly does. Dropkick sends Condrey to the floor. Hawk tags in and takes on both Midnights by himself. Condrey tries a piledriver, but it’s Hawk so that doesn’t work. Great gag as Condrey tags out, all smiles, after doing the piledriver, and Eaton suddenly realizes that Hawk is standing up and he goes to the floor instead of getting in the ring.
-Eaton tries to stall but Animal attacks him on the floor and press slams him back inside, where Hawk immediately clotheslines him back out to the floor. Back in, slam and a shoulderblock by Hawk. Eaton goes airborne on a backdrop by Animal and this is just the worst night ever for him. Midnights set a nice trap for some referee distraction and choke Animal out. That still doesn’t quite work so Jim Cornette just whacks him with the tennis racquet in front of the referee and gets DQed. Eaton took some nice bumps but it was just a squash match. 7 for 12.
QUARTERFINAL: TERRY TAYLOR & “Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS vs. IVAN & NIKITA KOLOFF (with Eddie Gilbert & Korchenko)
-Taylor wrings Ivan’s arm for a bit and whips him into the corner for a monkeyflip. Dropkick sends Ivan to the floor. Faces stay on the arm and Dr. Death press slams Ivan. Ivan tries to tag out but goes to the wrong corner and gets punched down by Taylor for two. Ivan just keeps getting destroyed here and pretty much the entire first seven minutes of his is Ivan getting his arm wrecked. Weird visual, by the way: Dr. Death is wearing yellow tights and red kneepads.
-Ivan finally gives Dr. Death a thumb to the eye and tags out, giving us Dr. Death vs. Nikita, and in a parallel universe where Mid-South Wrestling stayed on TBS for the long haul, this would have been the feud of 1987. Shoulderblocks are all no-sold by Nikita and he strikes a pose to brag about it, leaving himself wise open, so Doc just dropkicks him straight out to the floor. Nikita demands a test of strength, but they just end up kicking each other before either man can get an edge.
-Williams is overwhelmed by the power of Russian clubbering, as Ivan tags back in and they both just go nuts on him until he goes down on the mat. Front facelock by Nikita as we’re getting time warnings now. Dr. Death stays alive, but Nikita tags out. Doc surprises Ivan with a powerslam for two, then tags in Terry Taylor. Taylor is a house of fire until Doc boots him down and tags out. Nikita heaves Taylor straight out to the barricade. Back in, Nikita applies a bearhug right as we get the one-minute warning. The ring announcer’s announcements are all over the place, as we get a 30-second warning almost immediately after the one-minute warning, and then a ten-second warning, and then a fifteen-second warning. Bell sounds for the time limit draw, and the Russians go on a killing spree afterward, leaving Williams and Taylor in a heap. 8 for 13. Kind of impressed that nobody got blown up.
QUARTERFINAL: THE FANTASTICS vs. THE SHEEPHERDERS (with Jack Victory)
-All right, this is what we’re here for! This is your Wrestling Observer 1986 Match of the Year, as Dave Meltzer was in attendance for this show and just busted both nuts for this match, but then only clips of it were ever shown, so it’s yet another holy grail dug up by WWE Network. Bobby Fulton grabs the mic and leads the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance just to fuck with the Sheepherders, then they charge into the ring and clean house right away.
-Sheepherders rally and start working Fulton’s arm, and all of a sudden Fulton is noticeably wearing underwear under his tights, so somebody got a stern lecture after the last match.
-Butch stomps Fulton and Luke punches him into the corner. Fulton surprises him with a monkey flip and a dropkick. Dropkick for Butch and both Sheepherders go to the floor. Luke heads back in but now Tommy Rogers has tagged in. he surprises Luke with a sunset flip for two. Luke tags out and Tommy slingshots Butch in. Butch doesn’t stay in long at all, and before long we’re back to Bobby Fulton and Luke going at it, with Luke getting the upper hand. He misses a corner charge and Bobby atomic drops him into Butch, knocking him down to the floor.
-Luke tags his cousin in anyway after that. Butch applies a side headlock. Bobby fights out but Butch acts quickly and throws him to the floor. It turns into a brawl out there and Luke & Tommy decide to join the fun. Tommy sends Luke into the barricade while Jack Victory takes cheap shots on Bobby Fulton. Bobby’s bleeding and Luke sends him into the post. Bobby gets back into the ring with a struggle but Butch boots him right back out. Bobby’s a mess.
-Butch brings him back in to finish him off, but Bobby surprises him with a clothesline. He’s too weak to find his way to Tommy in time though, so Luke tags in and cuts him off. Bobby ends up on the floor again and takes another beatdown. Back in the ring, we get a false hot tag and as Tommy Rogers argues with the referee, the New Zealand flag ends up in the ring, but Bobby sends Luke into his own flag and makes the tag. Rogers tags in and now Luke is bleeding all over the place too, and Tommy is just instantly covered in his opponent’s blood after punching and slamming him. Referee gets dumped out of the ring and Bobby Fulton tumbles out on top of him.
-Jack Victory tries to attack but Bobby sees him coming. Butch sneaks up and attacks, sending Fulton into the post again. Jack passes off the flagpole to Butch and this time it makes contact with Tommy. Tommy gets whacked a second time, this time right in the face, so you knowit’s his turn now. Fulton crawls back in and props Butch up and Tommy takes a swing at him, and now all four guys are bleeding. Aww shit, Victory takes a bump with the flagpole as a bonus, we have five guys bleeding. Second referee shows up and calls for the bell just to stop this horror. 9 for 14. Was it a great match? Hell yeah! Match of the year-worthy? Well…Honestly, just off the top of my head I would have cast my vote for the Rock & Rolls vs. Andersons at Starrcade. This was still well worth watching though.
QUARTERFINAL: MAGNUM T.A. & RON GARVIN vs. GIANT BABA & TIGER MASK
-So we’ve had two straight matches with no winners, which means we’ll be skipping the semi-final round and the winners here go straight to the finals.
-Garvin and Tiger Mask start. Garvin ties him in a half-crab right away. Magnum comes in and applies a side headlock. Everyone tags and Baba works Garvin’s arm, Garvin reverses it and manages to back Baba into his own corner, tagging Magnum. Magnum wrings the arm, but Baba just sends him into the ropes and elbows him. Tiger Mask tags in and drops an elbow, Baba comes in with a neckbreaker for two. Tiger Mask hurries back in and applies a chinlock, switching to a front facelock.
-You can kind of sense the fans winding down for the night as Baba steps in and rolls up Magnum for a series of two-counts. Baba dumbly takes Magnum over to his own corner and Garvin tags in and throws chop after chop at the big guy. All four men end up in the ring and the Americans whip the Japanese guys into each other. Magnum dropkicks Baba and Garvin schoolboys him for two. Tiger and Magnum criss-cross and Tiger cartwheels over him, drop kicking him for two. Bad-looking finish sees Tiger come off the top rope for a bodypress, but Magnum flips over and turns it into a belly-to-belly for the three-count. With better timing it would have looked cool but it didn’t really look like a belly-to-belly, it just looked like Magnum was falling with style. 9 for 15.
UWF NORTH AMERICAN TITLE: HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN (Champion) vs. DICK SLATER
-Jim Ross assumes ring announcer duties here.
-Duggan goes nuts on Slater with forearms and rights before taking him down with a clothesline. Slater goes to the floor to shake it off, then heads back in. Duggan with a side headlock on Slater, and then an uppercut so powerful that Slater gets hung up on the top rope. Match spills out to the floor and Duggan is whipped into the barricade hard enough to knock it over (Fan: “Goddamn!”)
-Back in, Slater applies a chinlock and hammers on Duggan. Neckbreaker gets two. Slater tries a sleeper but Duggan hangs on. Slater releases and tries a falling headbutt. He heads to the top rope, since that’s legal tonight, but Duggan meets him with a shot to the gut. Kneedrop straight down on the throat by Duggan gets two. Funny spot by Slater, as he elbows Duggan downand goes for the pin; Duggan kicks out and Slater comes down lightly on the referee. Slater, seeing an opportunity, just gives the referee a knee to the back of the head so he can have a match without a referee for a bit.
-But Duggan takes everything Slater dishes out and backdrops him as the referee revives. Referee jaws with Slater for a bit and Slater just throws him aside, but he walks right into the three-point stance by Duggan. Duggan gets the three-count and retains with an assist from karma. 9 for 16. Kind of weird because you’d expect these two to let it all hang out and have a wild brawl and then they just kinda had a match.
NWA WORLD TITLE: RIC FLAIR (Champion) vs. DUSTY RHODES (with Baby Doll)
-So everybody is getting a turn at ring announcing tonight. Now it’s Paul Boesch introducing this match, and he announces that both the title AND the belt are on the line. Thanks for clearing that up. This is early in the life of the Big Gold Belt, and a close-up shows that they haven’t corrected the spelling of Flair’s name yet.
-Dusty works the arm, daddy. They battle for a top wristlock, but Flair backs Dusty into the corner and rams him a few times. They trade chops, and Dusty starts doing the Ali shuffle, with right hand after right hand until Flair goes to the floor. Dusty keeps knocking him around so Flair demands a test of strength but Dusty wins that too. He gets Flair in a wristlock, but Flair gets free with a knee to the back. He backs Dusty into the corner, telling Tommy Young that Dusty is pulling his tights, so while Tommy goes around his back to check the tights, Flair gives Dusty a thumb to the eye.
-Kneedrops by Flair, and he dumps Dusty into the floor. Dusty is bleeding and Flair rams him into the post. Back in, Flair chops Dusty around, but he misses a knee drop and Dusty seizes the opportunity, dragging Flair to the corner and whacking his leg against the post a few times. Flair stays in the corner and goes for a pin with a foot on the ropes, but that doesn’t work out for him and Dusty goes back to work on the leg until Flair goes to the eye again.
-They trade chops and Flair applies a sleeper. Dusty rams him into the corner to break, but he’s worn out, and Flair goes after Dusty’s leg, still injured after all these months, with Dusty still wearing his special boot. Now we go to school and the figure four is applied. Dusty rolls, but Flair simply releases to get out of the hold. They go to the floor and Dusty sends Flair into the post. Back in, you bet your sweet ass Flair is bleeding. Dusty gives him ten punches in the corner and a big elbow between the eyes. Then whips Flair upside down into the corner.
-Dusty just keeps dishing out punch after punch, then applies a sleeper. Flair hangs on, so Dusty applies his figure four. Flair refuses to lose and Dusty just yells “Shit!” in frustration as Flair hangs in there. Dusty releases the hold and Tommy Young gets bumped out of the ring. Dusty gets his visual three while the referee is out. Flair takes his leg out and pulls Dusty’s orthopedic boot off, knocking Dusty out with a shot to the head. Referee revives, but so does Dusty. Baby Doll gets her hands on the boot and hands it to Dusty, and Dusty knocks out Flair in front of Tommy Young to get DQed. I never got that logic in wrestling, why is a boot suddenly a weapon when it’s in your hand instead of on your foot? Dusty heroically knocks out Tommy Young and steals Flair’s belt after the match. 10 for 17. Not a classic, but fine. Just fine.
FINALS: ROAD WARRIORS (with Paul Ellering) vs. RON GARVIN & MAGNUM T.A.
-Animal hiptosses Magnum. Magnum fights back with an armdrag and a dropkick. Garvin tries to tie up Animal with a front facelock, but Animal is strong enough to get to the corner and tag out. Garvin chops Hawk and hurts his own hand, which is a nice touch. Garvin tries biting him and that seems to go better. Magnum tags in and dropkicks him for two. Animal comes in and traps Magnum in a bearhug. Magnum survives, so Hawk comes in with a body vice, which he quickly turns into a slam for two.
-Magnum is our final face in peril for the evening and the Road Warriors are just having a bitch of a time putting him away., Belly to belly out of nowhere by Magnum, but Hawk runs in and uses his one free save. Everybody tags and Garvin throws chops and headbutts at Hawk, but again, he hurts himself. Garvin decides to make it count if he’s going to hurt himself anyway, and he rears back and hits Hawk with everything he has with the hands of stone, but Garvin collapses in agony and Hawk is able to roll over and tag out. Lariat by Animal and he gets the three-count over Garvin. Road Warriors win the cup. 11 for 17. Weird way to put them over, but the match was good.
-Post-match trophy ceremony, with Mrs. Crockett, god bless her, presenting the million dollar check to “The Road Runners.”
