wrestling / Video Reviews

The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (10.31.1987)

April 14, 2018 | Posted by Adam Nedeff
NWA - Ron Fuller, Dory Funk Jr. Image Credit: NWA
6.2
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The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (10.31.1987)  

-They apparently couldn’t decide what to do with the cold open this week, so we get a weird split screen of Ric Flair winning a squash match and the Four Horsemen attacking Ron Garvin.

-Originally aired October 31, 1987.

-Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, David Crockett, and their respective facial hair.

MICHAEL HAYES & GORGEOUS JIMMY GARVIN (with Precious) vs GLADIATORS
-Garvin is in gold, Hayes is in teal, and Precious is in blue, the first sign that this new allegiance is losing focus, because their outfit coordination was on point for the first few matches.

-Hayes rams #1 into the turnbuckle and the crowd is PUMPED this week. Garvin slams #1 repeatedly. #2 tags in and gets slammed around too. #2 tries a dropkick but crashes. Big clothesline by Hayes. Bulldog gets three.

-Gorgeous Jimmy says he has a real bad case of Starrcade Fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!

RICKY SANTANA vs LARRY STEPHENS
-Santana trips Stephens and applies a side headlock, gets bored with it quickly and tries a double underhook suplex for two. Santana applies an armbar, then cranks it into a hammerlock. BREAKING: upper balcony at the Atlanta Omni is down to five dollars. I’m curious if the NWA and TBS ever entertained the idea of airing the Omni events like the WWF was doing with MSG house shows.

-Stephens continues having a sucky night, missing a corner charge and getting armdragged into another armbar. Santana keeps Stephens on the mat as this match is starting to drag a bit. Stephens finally backs him into the corner and throws forearms, but Santana grounds him with a forearm of his own. Bodypress from the top rope finishes.

STARRCADE REPORT
-Tony is with Jim Crockett, President of The Wrestling Network, who announces that Arn & Tully will be defending their World Tag Team Titles against the Road Warriors. We go to Sandy Scott, Event Coordinator for The Wrestling Network, who is overseeing the contract signing with Paul Ellering and JJ Dillon. Tully and Arn offer comments after the fact. They resent the notion that the Road Warriors are invincible, or that they can’t lose in their hometown of Chicago. They also resent people saying that Arn & Tully’s title win was tainted. They ripped Ricky Morton’s arm to pieces, that’s worth a victory! Right?

DICK MURDOCH vs TOMMY ANGEL
-David Crockett keeps calling him “The Bounty Hunter” Dick Murdoch, which is probably a reference to some UWF angle that we’re all just supposed to automatically know about without the guy in a different promotion filling us in.

-Elbows and boots by Murdoch, and then he sends Angel to the concrete. Angel gets rammed into the commentary table and topples it. Murdoch dedicates the continued assault to Dusty Rhodes. Tommy fights back but Murdoch shakes it off and slams him down while Tony and David rationalize calling a 90-day vacation for Dusty “a career-ender” for the Starrcade stipulation. David actually finds a way to make it even stupider, by saying that 90 days is enough time for Dusty’s body to lose its tone. Brainbuster finishes meantime.

-Dick Murdoch reminds us that he’s responsible for injuries to Dr. Death and Nikita Koloff. Now he hears that Dusty Rhodes is putting his career on the line at Starrcade, which is Dusty’s way of getting out of having to wrestle Murdoch.

IVAN KOLOFF & THE WARLORD (with Paul Jones) vs ROCKY KING & DAVID ISLEY
-David gleefully introduces “Pudding Heeeeeead” to start the match. Koloff throws King out to the floor, and King absolutely SAILS to the floor. Jones and The Warlord gang up on him. Legdrop by Koloff, and in comes Warlord to choke him out. Ivan uses the chain in the corner to choke him some more.

-Isley tags in and Ivan politely just lets him get all of the wuss punches out of his system before dropping him like a bad habit. Ivan and Warlord both put the boots to Isley. Backbreaker by Warlord, and he puts Isley into a body vice so Ivan can connect with a sickle from the top rope to end it.

MIGHTY WILBUR vs COUGAR JAY
-Polite handshakes for everybody. Wilbur shoves Cougar Jay down, then sends him into the ropes for a shoulderblock. Polish hammer by Wilbur. Cute finish, as Cougar’s already hurt and Wilbur can’t decide if he actually wants to do the splash, but the crowd begs him to do it, so he splashes Cougar just to make them happy.

-Mighty Wilbur hopes he didn’t injure Cougar Jay because he seemed like a nice fellow. Wilbur is more amused than angered by Paul Jones because it’s just funny to see how riled up he gets from a silly remark like “Pudding Head.”

-JJ, Lex, and Hiro Matsuda are here. It’s a total joke to hear Dusty calling himself a living legend. Dusty has never slayed a dragon or killed a giant. Also, Hiro eats a lot of ginseng, according to Lex.

MIKE ROTUNDO (Florida Champion) vs THUNDERFOOT #2
-Rotundo with a quick takedown. He works the arm for a bit before slamming Thunderfoot and dropping an elbow for two. Thunderfoot tries to get away but Rotundo just ties him up and holds onto him in a fun sequence. Airplane spin ends it without much trouble.

-Cornette wishes David Crockett a happy Halloween, “the only day of the year he can go out in public and have people accept him.”

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (US Tag Team Champions, with Jim Cornette & Big Bubba Rogers) vs ED FRANKS & ALAN MARTIN
-Eaton starts with Martin. Back suplex by Eaton, and then the Express tries a spot where Eaton backdrops Martin into a superkick by Stan Lane, but it doesn’t look good in execution at all. Martin gets sent out to the floor for some taunting by Cornette. Franks tags in and they work his back over. Double goozle finishes.

-We go to NWA Pro, where the Midnight Express faces a pair of lowly masked jobbers called the Texas Cowboys, and the Cowboys absolutely kick the shit out of them. Cornette throws a tantrum upon realizing they’re the Rock & Roll Express. Cornette says the Rock & Roll Express had better pray that music can save their mortal souls, or else Starrcade will be the day that music dies.

-The Superpowers are here. Nikita has his belt back, which takes some of the piss out of the build-up for the Starrcade match. Nikita vows to be the one World TV Champion after Starrcade. Dusty reviews some footage of a recent house show bout against Hiro Matsuda. Hiro blinds him with salt and chops him all over the place. Dusty gets fed up and fights back with a big elbow. Dusty applies the Weaverlock, while Johnny Weaver applies a Weaverlock of his own on JJ to stop him from interfering. But there’s no one to stop Lex Luger from interfering, and it turns into a 3-on-2 attack. Also, Dick Murdoch sucks.

NEW BREED vs RICK RYDER & ROBBIE IDOL
-Sean Royal wrestles Idol down. Champion connects with a big dropkick. Clothesline off the top by Royal. Suplex/dropkick combo by the New Breed on Rick Rider. Cast-assisted clothesline by Champion. Royal tags in and applies a sharpshooter. And again, it’s really weird to see that move being treated by just a resthold. Suplex/bodypress combo by the New Breed finishes.

-Flair montage!

RICKY MORTON vs JOE LYNN
-Morton has the use of both arms again, but he’s still all taped up around the shoulder. Side headlock as fans are shouting “Punky” at Morton! Chinlock by Morton, followed by a dropkick. The audience for Morton is actually pretty jarringly quiet this week. Small package gets three.

-Ricky Morton promises to END the Midnight Express at Starrcade.

EDDIE GILBERT vs TONY SUBER
-Eddie tries a waistlock to start, but Suber’s a big fella so he just twists his torso and flips Eddie over that way. Eddie locks up with Suber, backs him into the corner, breaks cleanly, and brags that he’s doing a really good Mighty Wilbur impression by doing that. Eddie backs Suber into the corner a second time and punches him in the face, so now it’s Eddie Gilbert as himself.

-More right hands by Gilbert, and the hot shot gets three.

-Dusty montage!

-Kevin Sullivan is back for his incredibly bizarre “Jim Crockett’s hype man” segment. I have no idea what they want to accomplish with these.

ARN ANDERSON & TULLY BLANCHARD (World Tag Team Champions) vs KEITH STEINBORN & REX KING
-Arn is feeling extra-aggressive this week and rams Steinborn in the gut. King tags in and Arn decides yes, THIS is the jobber whose arm he’ll injure this week. He and Tully both go to work on it. Quick camerawork helps a bungled decapitator, and the double gourdbuster finishes.

-Ric Flair says it would make his life if Dusty Rhodes actually had to retire after Starrcade (for 90 days). Ron Garvin has had a little more than a month to drive around with a title belt and a bunch of fat broads to make himself feel like the best, but he has to prove it on Thanksgiving night.

UWF TV TITLE: TERRY TAYLOR (Champion, with Eddie Gilbert) vs CURTIS THOMPSON
-Thompson tries a side headlock, but Taylor just turns it into a back suplex. Neckbreaker by Taylor, and the figure four finishes in under a minute.

6.2
The final score: review Average
The 411
Starrcade is locked in stone and we still have another three weeks of hype for it, but the thing is there's nothing more to say, they could have the event the next day with the hype they've already had.
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