wrestling / Video Reviews
The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (10.8.1988)
Image Credit: NWA
Loading...-Russian Assassins squash some jobbers and demand a confrontation with the Koloffs!
-Originally aired October 8, 1988. We’re officially less than a month away from the sale.
-Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross, and David Crockett.
ROAD WARRIORS (with Paul Ellering) vs. TERRY JONES & RICK ALLEN
-Funny start, as Teddy Long is so used to the Warriors’ routine that he sounds the bell before they’ve even shown up. And sure enough, they storm in, powerslam a jobber off the turnbuckles, and finish it right there. Much better than the lethargic, leisurely pace to the squashes that normally open this show.
-Road Warriors drop a hint about things to come, saying they resent being told that they need a partner for six-man-tag team matches, when they could just as easily take on 3, 4, or 5 guys without any help. They still want a piece of the Midnight Express. Hawk tells this incredibly funny story about being offered pupus when he was in Hawaii and slapping the guy offering them, and leaves it on that note.
RON SIMMONS vs. THE MENACE
-Simmons slams Menace and axehandles him while JR tells us in hauntingly timely fashion that Simmons is “Burt Reynolds’ favorite wrestler.” Aww. Sad now.
-Menaces bungles taking a powerslam badly enough that JR is forced to call it by saying “There’s…a move.” Simmons goes to an abdominal stretch, then keeps it on the mat and ties the Menace up. Tackle off the second rope gets the three-count.
-David Crockett welcomes Ron Simmons…oh, and Dusty Rhodes, because god forbid anyone get over without the Thtamp of Approvah. As Ron catches his breath, Dusty drops some hot takes, saying he’s in favor of the Special Olympics, but against doing drugs.
THE FANTASTICS vs. KEITH STEINBORN & JERRY PRICE
-Steinborn winds up for a punch, but Bobby Fulton counters it with lethal butt-wiggling while JR runs down their history, including being “the regional champions of the Mid-South.”
-Tommy Rogers sends Price out to the concrete, but just to be different, he does it on the side opposite the hard camera. Back in, Price gets monkey-flipped. Price fights back with some weak punches but gets elbowed down. Steinborn heads back in and gets his arm worked over. Price heads back in to take his turn. Samoan drop by Fulton, and they finish with something different, as Rogers goes to the top rope and Fulton helps him somersault onto Price for the pin.
-We go to World Wide Wrestling, where the Fantastics are doing battle with the Sheepherders. Pier-sixer breaks out until Tommy Young has had enough and disqualifies both teams. After the bell, the brawl spills into the crowd.
DICK MURDOCH vs. CRUEL CONNECTION #1
-I think logically, he should be called “Cruel Connector,” or “Cruel Male End” or something.
-Murdoch gives him an elbow right to the nose and goes after the mask. #1 goes to the floor to readjust and Murdoch follows him out there for an ass-kicking. Murdoch turns the mask completely backwards and #1 staggers around blinded. Murdoch hammers away and the crowd is chanting “We want the mask!” Murdoch finishes with the brainbuster, which he dedicates to Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer. Mr. Not-a-Sports-Guy rushes to Google and it turns out it actually ties into something JR was talking about a few weeks ago. He casually mentioned Brian Bosworth’s new book mentions Sting. Well, it turns out Bosworth’s book also included a shit-ton of dirty laundry about all the huge ethical violations going on in Oklahoma and Switzer resigned in 1989. Yay context.
-We still have the Four Horsemen graphic as Ric Flair struts in and declares himself the king of the hill, I tell you what. He faced Sting, he faced Dusty Rhodes, he still has a belt. So a big fatso like Bam-Bam Bigelow doesn’t worry him. Bigelow THINKS he’s been to the top of the ladder, but oh, no, no, the NWA is the big time.
-Sir Oliver Humperdink says his plans for Bam-Bam or a big secret for HIM to know and YOU to find out. Hold on, getting my Wrestling-to-English translator…Oh, okay, so Jim Crockett brought him in without any ideas about what to actually do with him. I don’t understand the logic of bringing a new guy in and not having a plan in place from the word go.
BAM-BAM BIGELOW (with Sir Oliver Humperdink) vs. DAVID ISLEY
-From World Wide. Powerslam by Bam-Bam, and he chokes Isley out and could not look more like a heel. Much respect to Tony on commentary for mentioning that Bam-Bam “isn’t new to the sport” and saying fans already know who he is. Wrestling fans watch wrestling, contrary to popular belief.
-Headbutt by Bam-Bam as they are just pimping the upcoming Mid-South tour. Gourdbuster finishes.
-Humperdink warns Barry Windham that the U.S. Title isn’t safe.
RUSSIAN ASSASSIN #1 (with #2 and Paul Jones) vs. BRETT HOLIDAY
-Shoulderblock and an elbow by the Assassin. Assassin puts the boots to Holiday. Butterfly suplex (or my friend’s name for that move, “the clumsy dance partner”) and an elbow off the turnbuckles, and the sickle finishes it.
-Lex Luger promises he’s going to keep coming after Ric Flair until he has the title belt. Well, then Lex Luger has a lot of coming to do. Or something.
THE SHEEPHERDERS (with Rip Morgan) vs. MIKE JUSTICE & J.C. WILDE
-Luke beats down Wilde. Wilde comes back with a kick for a sudden one-count and tags in Justice. Butch grinds at his face with a chinlock. Wilde comes back in, and the battering ram and double stomachbreaker finish it. Tony declares the Sheepherders the favorite for the U.S. Tag Team Title tournament.
-The Sheepherders clarify that they’re pissed off at the Fantastics for grabbing the New Zealand flag and using it as a weapon in that brawl we saw earlier on. So now they really want a piece of the pretty boys.
TV TITLE: RICK STEINER (Proxy Champion, with Mike Rotunda & Kevin Sullivan) vs. CURTIS THOMPSON
-Commentators suspect that letting Steiner do something like this makes him feel important, so the Varsity Club gives him Rotunda’s jobber matches so he can feel like he’s helping.
-Thompson knocks Steiner loopy with a clothesline and Sullivan yanks him outside to yell at him for screwing up. Steiner comes back even though Rotunda is badgering him. Sullivan comes over to defend this tactic, saying Steiner gets motivated by a good scolding. Thompson gets dumped on the floor and Rotunda attacks. Forearm by Steiner, but the Varsity Club’s hollering distracts Steiner so much that he forgets to go for the pin. Thompson tries to make a comeback, but Steiner hits the belly-to-belly for the three-count to retain. Sullivan joyously gives the belt to Rotunda and embraces him afterward, congratulating him for earning the win while blowing off Steiner completely.
MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (World Tag Team Champions, with Jim Cornette) vs. MIKE JACKSON & AGENT STEEL
-Weird to see Cornette and Crockett acting buddy-buddy during the intros. Bobby Eaton falls victim to a roll-up right away while Cornette craps all over the Russian Assassins and the Varsity Club on commentary. Stan Lane tags in for a neckbreaker on Steele while Jim Cornette runs down all the stops on the impending Mid-South homecoming tour.
-Mike Jackson tags in and takes a bulldog from Eaton. Steel comes back in and gets mowed down by a clothesline and some educated feet from Stan. Flapjack gets the three-count.
-Cornette hypes his upcoming steel cage match, where JJ Dillon has promised to eat the tennis racquet if he loses. Cornette has a grocery bag full of condiments, plus some Fixodent for JJ’s old face. Cornette follows up on Hawk’s promo about the pupu platter, saying he must have loved the meal because now he has it for brains. Cornette holds up the World Tag Team Title belts and does a wink-nudge line, talking about champions “who would rather switch than fight.”
BARRY WINDHAM (U.S. Champion, with JJ Dillon) vs. GARY ROYAL
-Windham just drills Royal with a right hand and powerslams him. Flying lariat gets the easy three.
-JJ Dillon says Jim Cornette couldn’t “beat a herd of Smurfs if he had a bazooka.” Barry Windham is equally unconcerned about the new fat guy in town.
NIKITA KOLOFF (with Uncle Ivan) vs. BLUE DEMON
-Koloff works the arm and gets some advice from his uncle. It’s the Blue Demon, what words of wisdom do you need? Sickle finishes quickly.
-Ivan Koloff says he’s heard the challenge of the Russian Assassins, but “We don’t need no invitation.” Ha. I thought that was the lyric too, when I was a kid. The Koloffs insist that they do their own fighting, and that Dusty Rhodes can stay out of this one. Good luck with that.
LARRY ZBYSZKO (Western States Heritage Champion, with Gary Hart) vs. EDDIE SWEAT
-Oh baby, Larry has the nunchuks with him now. Slam by Larry gets one. He goes straight to the finish with a neckbreaker.
-Larry and Al Perez blah-blah-blah until they get the time signal and the credits roll. See you next week.
