wrestling / Video Reviews
The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (10.24.1987)
Image Credit: NWA
Loading...-Cold open: Paul Jones loses his temper with Mighty Wilbur and smacks him with a riding crop. Mighty Wilbur don’t take too kindly to that.
-Originally aired October 24, 1987.
-Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and David Crockett. David is geeking out about “What happened to Pudding Head!”
JIMMY VALIANT & BUGSY MCGRAW vs ERIC LONG & TOMMY ANGEL
-Valiant fights both opponents, giving Long a big thumb to the throat and ramming him into Bugsy’s knee. Bee sting by Bugsy. Bugsy stomps away at Long and hiptosses him. Great moment on commentary as Tony mentions that Bugsy always wears a white lab coat to the ring and “We know where he must have gotten that from!” David affirmatively replies, “Ichabod Crane!” And there’s just a long pause after that. You can hear Tony thinking “WTF?”
-Eric Long continues to have the worst week ever as Jimmy Valiant works the arm. Valiant seems weirdly motivated and it’s surprising to see him putting extra time into a squash match like this. Bug Man Splash off the ropes by Bugsy gets three. By the way, for anyone wondering about the Valiant/Lazer Tron team they were pushing for a while, Lazer Tron abandoned the Jr. Heavyweight Title and took off for Memphis at this point, which is fine because this is a much more sensible pairing.
BARRY WINDHAM (Western States Heritage Champion) vs JOHN SAVAGE
-Barry’s OVER in this studio. He armdrags Savage but gets shoulderblocked down. Barry shoulderblocks him back and throws a dropkick. He gets Savage on the mat for a side headlock. Savage fights out and Barry goes to work with forearms and elbows. Flying lariat gets three.
-David has words with Windham and Mike Rotundo. Barry is ready for Starrcade and warns Steve Williams that he’s putting friendship aside that night. Mike Rotundo says that the Starrcade hoopla is hot and heavy.
STARRCADE REPORT
-Tony Schiavone is in the Starrcade control center with JJ Dillon and Jim Crockett, President of The Wrestling Network. I love that it took them seven months to start the interpromotional stuff and this “Wrestling Network” thing was created at the time that they’re getting ready to kill it.
-Case in point, Jim Crockett buries UWF commissioner John Ayres for being ineffective and says that the NWA had to take all the initiative to sign the TV Title unification match for Starrcade.
-We examine the US Title situation. Dusty Rhodes is in his office and has examined the contract that JJ Dillon is insisting on for the match at Starrcade. Dusty says he lives in the moment and never makes plans for the future, which explains so much about the next 365 days for this company. But Dusty has reluctantly agreed to put his career on the line for the match.
-Back to the control center, JJ Dillon is reading over the contract…yes, Lex and Dusty are having a US Title match. The stipulation they’ve agreed on is a steel cage match. And by the way, just a reminder, the build to this match was that Dusty began using a lethal submission hold, Lex Luger has been racking up win after win throughout 1987 with a lethal submission hold, so naturally, the stipulation for this match is a steel cage match…
-But JJ calls bullshit on the stipulation that Dusty’s “career is on the line.” Page 2 of the contract clearly says that Dusty can’t wrestle for 30 days, which JJ says is ridiculous because—and he really says this—giving up a career obviously means that Dusty would have to stop wrestling for 90 days, not 30. Also, the contract specifies that Dusty can’t wrestle in the United States, but Dusty can just as easily go to Europe for a month. JJ promises to ask Dusty about that.
MIGHTY WILBUR vs DAVID ISLEY
-The mighty one walks alone. Double chop and a splash finishes in seconds.
-We revisit the cold open, as Paul Jones gets carried away with his riding crop and Wilbur just beats the crap out of him and walks away smiling.
-David Crockett is in the studio with Wilbur, who says he’s thrilled to be a part of “The Superstars of Wrestling.” I’m actually genuinely amazed that Crockett didn’t edit that out. Wilbur gives us his background story, a former grape picker for a group of vineyards in California. He saw a mugger attacking an old lady once, and he walked over and took care of the mugger. Turns out a retired wrestler named Red Bastien saw the whole thing and talked him into becoming a wrestler and joining some guy named Mister Jones. Wilbur didn’t like Paul Jones because he was mean to fans when they asked for autographs. Mighty Wilbur actually has some genuine nice guy charisma.
THE NEW BREED vs BOB RIDDLE & GLADIATOR #1
-Chris Champion’s back!
-Sean Royal starts. Gladiator gets him on the mat and they do a nice amateur sequence. Champion connects with a flying clothesline, with his arm still in a plaster cast. Tony notices there’s a lot of extra stuff on the cast, like circuits and wires. Dropkick by Royal gets two. Royal decides he’d rather try to rip the mask off than go for the win. Gladiator makes the tag while trying to keep the mask on.
-New Breed targets the ribs. Royal throws Riddle to the floor. Champion with a Randy Savage axehandle onto Riddle, with a little help from the cast. Royal suplexes him back in, and Le Bombe De New Breed gets the three count.
-Ron Garvin is here. Another note from the Observer is that this is the point where people noticed the alarming way that business crashed from almost the moment Garvin got the belt, with house show business drying up in a lot of cities and TV ratings absolutely cratering pretty much from now through Starrcade. Garvin proclaims himself the people’s champion because he won the belt without lowering himself or cheating people for five straight years.
IVAN KOLOFF & THE WARLORD (with Paul Jones) vs RICK RYDER & REX KING
-Ivan pounds away at Ryder while Paul Jones grouses about how Mighty Wilbur is “more like Mighty Mouse…Brain!” Paul Jones blames Red Bastien and can’t believe he held a grudge this long and screwed him over years after Paul believed he and Red had made their peace.
-Warlord slams Ryder and drops a leg as Paul cranks up the shit-talking, saying that as fruit-pickers go, Wilbur probably only picked grapes off the ground because he wouldn’t have the guts to touch a grape on a vine. Warlord holds King in a body vice and Ivan comes off the top with a sickle to end it.
-Paul Jones warns Wilbur that he’s dead meat.
-Ric Flair’s in the house. Flair is so hoarse he can’t even woo properly this week, but he’s ready for Starrcade. He’s weirdly kissing Dusty’s ass throughout the promo saying you shouldn’t be fooled by Dusty’s appearance because he’s actually quite wealthy, and Flair says that when he walks the aisle, he wants fame and notoriety, which is the same reason that Dusty Rhodes is still in the business.
MICHAEL P.S. HAYES & GORGEOUS JIMMY GARVIN (with Precious) vs RICK IDOL & THUNDERFOOT #1
-Hayes slams Thunderfoot down. Rick Idol tags in and gets bulldogged for an easy three. DID YOU KNOW: “Rick Idol” was the original name used by game show host Todd Newton during his disc jockey days? The more you know…
-Michael and Jimmy say they’ve heard rumors that International star Larry Zybysko, Eddie Gilbert, and Rob Rechsteiner want a match at Starrcade. They accept, with a warning that Sting agreed to be their partner. This was way, way after the point that he stopped using the name Rob Rechsteiner, by the way.
KEVIN SULLIVAN vs TERRY JONES
-Sullivan gets Jones down on the mat and lights into him with chop after chop while Tony and David remind us that War Games 4 is coming to Nassau Coliseum the night before Starrcade. Everybody thought they were crazy for coming to WWF territory with Garvin as champion but they actually drew 11,000 fans, or more people than attended Starrcade the following night.
-Sullivan finishes with a double-stomp to the belly.
-Sullivan promotes the card at Starrcade again. So weird that they’re just using him as a hype machine while giving him nothing to do for himself.
-Flair montage again.
STARRCADE REPORT
-Breaking! Dusty has agreed to every one of JJ’s demands, including putting his career on the line (for 90 days).
-Jim Cornette shows up in the Starrcade Control Center and says that he’s so obsessed with the Rock & Roll Express that he gave Jim Crockett a “blank contract” for a Midnights/Rock & Roll match. Jim Crockett announces it will be a Sky Walkers match, and Cornette blows a gasket. No recap could do this justice.
ARN ANDERSON & TULLY BLANCHARD (World Tag Team Champions, with JJ Dillon) vs KEITH STEINBORN & RICKY NELSON
-Horsemen get Nelson into the corner and gang up on him. Steinborn tags in and Arn rubs his face into the mat. Forearms by Tully, and Arn is feeling merciful, skipping the slow torture limb injuring, and just putting Steinborn out of his misery with the spinebuster and the gourdbuster.
MIKE ROTUNDO (Florida Champion) vs ALAN MARTIN
-Rotundo hiptosses and slams Martin. Forearms by Rotundo, and a big suplex. Airplane spin gets the easy victory.
-New Breed calls the Midnight Express “Fugly.”
ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS vs LARRY STEPHENS & TONY SUBER
-Stephens pounces early on Robert Gibson but gets elbowed down. Ricky Morton, still wrestling with one arm, tags in and helps with a double-team boot on Stephens. Suber tags in and the image of Morton going for a test of strength with this tall muscular jobber and getting the better end of it is just too ridiculous. Gibson bodypresses Suber while Morton schoolboys him for three.
-The Rock & Roll Express says the feud with the Midnight Express will end once and for all in Chicago.
MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (US Tag Team Champions, with Jim Cornette & Big Bubba Rogers) vs GEORGE SOUTH & ITALIAN STALLION
-Tony taunts Cornette with a bunch of height-related puns. Cornette is insisting on a quick match this week because he double-parked so he can make a quick exit and meet with his lawyer.
-South dropkicks Stan Lane but Lane catches him coming off the ropes and turns it into a side suplex. They drape South over the top rope and work his back with bodypresses. Rocket launcher finishes easily.
-JJ is out here with Lex Luger. JJ is proud of the way he outmaneuvered Jim Crockett despite Crockett’s obvious favoritism for Dusty. Luger says that Starrcade is more than a match or a title. It’s ego vs. ego, and from there, Luger cuts an incredibly tongue-tied promo. Any time he strives for more than two syllables in a word, it falls into a blender.
-Eddie Gilbert is here with both TV Title belts. This Thanksgiving night, the world will finally see which company is better: The NWA or the UWF.
RICKY SANTANA vs THUNDERFOOT #2
-The jobber formerly known as Aldo Marino makes his debut in the NWA. He has blue tights with lightning bolts on him and he actually looks like he and Thunderfoot are part of the same faction or something.
-Armdrag into an armbar by Santana. Backdrop gets a one-count. Thesz press gets two. Slightly-airborne forearm and another Thesz press, this time from the top rope to finish.
-Ricky’s thrilled to be on WTBS, and he’s excited about Starrcade, which he’s not in.
