wrestling / Video Reviews
The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (11.5.88)
Image Credit: NWA
Loading...-Cold open: Bobby Eaton fights both Road Warriors despite being a bloody mess. He can barely keep his balance, though, so Animal just clotheslines him, pins him, and takes the World Tag Team Titles.
-Originally aired November 5, 1988. Taped November 2, the day after Ted Turner officially took over the company.
RON SIMMONS vs. RIP MORGAN
-First time we’ve actually seen Morgan in the ring on this show. Morgan lights into Simmons with punches all over. Simmons punches back and elbows him down. Dropkick by Simmons, followed by ten punches in the corner. Morgan counters it with an inverted atomic drop for two. Morgan literally steps to Ron, walking toward him and extending the foot to take out Simmons’ leg. He stays on the leg. Simmons rolls out of the way of an elbow drop and starts targeting the arm with headbutts. He locks on a hammerlock with one arm and a half-nelson with the other. Might be reading too much into this but it’s interesting to me that we’re kicking off the new era with a competitive match. They always opened this show with a squash.
-We actually pause for a break and return to Simmons ramming Morgan into the turnbuckle. Irish whip by Simmons, but he eats a boot when he charges. Clothesline by Morgan gets two. He keeps working over Simmons, choking him and targeting the back. Simmons throws a dropkick, but he’s too hurt to capitalize, so Morgan has time to shake it off and goes to a chinlock. He releases and hits the ropes, but Simmons catches him coming off and hits the spinebuster out of nowhere for the three-count. Post-match, the Sheepherders attack Simmons, but Eddie Gilbert shows up to help clear the ring. Well, that was an unexpectedly good starter.
-Bad idea: David Crockett tries to talk to Ron Simmons after an 11-minute match, but Ron is DONE and actually doubles over to get his breath while Eddie Gilbert cuts the promo. Gilbert explains that he felt helpless watching an American flag being burned in Iran in 1980, so he wants to get revenge by taking on the Sheepherders. A Stretch Armstrong doll doesn’t stretch like that logic.
-And we are off to New Orleans seven nights ago for the start of the Mid-South nostalgia tour.
WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE: MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (Champions, with Jim Cornette) vs. ROAD WARRIORS (with Paul Ellering)
-Paul Ellering attacks Jim Cornette on the floor during the ring intros, which triggers a big brawl on the floor to start. Eaton gets rammed into the ringpost repeatedly and is opened up right away. Hawk just straight murders Eaton on the floor while Lane tries to take on Animal in the ring, but Lane has finally had enough and throws kicks at Hawk to stop the assault. Lane tries to fight both Road Warriors by himself while Jim Cornette is freaking out because Eaton’s not even able to stand up anymore. Cornette gets fed up and hits Animal with the tennis racquet from the floor in desperate search of anything that will drag this match out.
-Eaton still can’t even get to his feet, while Animal chokes out Lane. Hart attack by the Warriors, and they’ve got this match locked up so they pretty much start toying with Lane, just teeing off on him with different moves while Cornette writes this one off as a loss and starts to walk Bobby Eaton to the locker room for medical attention. Eaton shoves Cornette away and insists on climbing up to the apron, falling off because he’s too weak to get his balance. Hawk just relentlessly hammers at Lane. Flying tackle by Animal, and Animal just pauses to celebrate, allowing Lane to make the tag. Eaton tags in, barely able to stand, but manages to fight both Warriors. He whips Animal, but he’s too dizzy to attempt a corner charge, so Animal just rebounds from the impact and clotheslines Eaton down, pinning him to take the belts. Animal just drills the belt into Eaton for good measure after the win.
-David Crockett talks to the Road Warriors. They’re tired of carrying Sting, Lex Luger, and especially Dusty Rhodes. They’re gonna keep those NWA World Tag Team Title belts, and they’re gonna mangle Sting’s face if he has a problem with it. They warn Dusty Rhodes that he needs to shut his mouth and mind his own business, which makes this, I’m guessing, the second time that week that somebody told Dusty that. Paul Ellering clarifies that they were Dusty’s friend for profit. 6-Man Tag Team Title belts come with money, after all. And now with the World Tag Team Titles, they have all the damn money they need, so step off, Dusty.
RUSSIAN ASSASSINS (with Paul Jones) vs. TERRY JONES & BRETT HOLIDAY
-Teddy Long insists on a mask inspection before the bell, and the Assassins are clean. #1 stunguns Jones, and #2 throws Holiday to the concrete for a beatdown. In the ring, double elbows ought to finsh it, but they want to keep up the assault n Holiday. Russian missile (#2 whips #1 into the corner), and a headbutt with a loaded mask puts Holiday out of his misery.
BAM-BAM BIGELOW (with Sir Oliver Humperdink) vs. TRENT KNIGHT
-Bam-Bam works the arm over and dropkicks Knight. Funny to hear the commentators talking about how Ric Flair is keeping an eye on Bam-Bam, while Flair already called bullshit on that plan and no-showed events over it. Bam-Bam does a hangman, using the arm instead of the neck, which isn’t such a bad idea for a finisher, but he releases that and goes to the gourdbuster instead to finish it.
-Oliver Humperdink announces that Bam-Bam is entering the US Tag Team Title tournament, and his partner will be…Dusty Rhodes. This gets NO reaction from the studio audience. Not a pop, not smarky booing…they just don’t give a shit.
-Ric Flair and JJ Dillon are here to say hello to a few Turner executives in the studio this week. Flair lets us know he’s the champ, Barry Windham is the champ, they’re both managed by JJ, and he can get any woman he wants by snapping his fingers.
THE FANTASTICS vs. GARY ROYAL & GEORGE SOUTH
-The Fantastics have an American flag now, as this company continues shamelessly exploiting the US/New Zealand War of 1988 for profit. Bobby Fulton takes on both jobbers, and Tommy Rogers heads in. South gets double dropkicked out to the floor. Gary Royal ends up following him out there. Back in, they work South’s arm until South goes to the eyes. Jobbers try a double backdrop, but Rogers counters with a double DDT. Fallaway slam by Fulton, and the Fulton-assisted somersault–the only name I really know for it is the Tower of Quebec, and even JR says on commentary that they need a name for it–gets the win.
-The Fantastics do the Sheepherders march and say that to beat the Sheepherders, they’re going to think like Sheepherders. And they must mean it, because they end up leaving a month after the Sheepherders leave.
LEX LUGER vs. AGENT STEEL
-Hammerlock by Luger, who, frankly, needs a haircut. Powerslam by Luger, and the torture rack ends it with ease.
-Lex Luger takes the Road Warriors to task for the shitty way they won their titles. Like, really guys, you attacked CORNETTE from behind?
-Jim Cornette is here in a white suit because he knows how to do this angle right. Instead of cutting his usual cocky promo he has something to say first. Jim Cornette takes the blame for the loss because they got caught with their pants down. They tried to be sportsmen because the Road Warriors generally follow the rules. The Road Warriors just assaulted them and used every dirty trick in the book because they knew Cornette wouldn’t have a game plan in mind in the event that the Road Warriors cheated. He commends Bobby, who’s all bandaged up, for having the guts to stay at ringside and tag himself in. Cornette’s not angry at all about what Eaton did because he showed more guts losing the match than the Road Warriors showed in victory. AWESOME promo from Cornette, and it just gets better from here…
STAN LANE (with Jim Cornette & Bobby Eaton) vs. MENACE #2
-Singles match because Eaton’s in no condition to wrestle today. Kicks by Lane as Cornette heads back over to the commentary lectern and rages some more. Tony interrupts commentary because he’s being told that there’s a phone call that needs to be taken, even though they’re on the air. Whoever it is asks to speak to Cornette. Cornette gradually gets angrier and angrier at whoever’s on the phone and asks “Are the other guys with you?” He slams the phone down and says he doesn’t want to talk about who it was.
-And all of a sudden, here are Dennis Condrey, Randy Rose, and Paul E. Dangerously with a total assault on the Midnights and Jim Cornette. Bobby is laid out with more post shots. while Paul E. drives his cellular phone into Cornette’s face and he’s bleeding all over himself. Stan Lane is blinded with powder, and Randy Rose connects with the phone from the second rope. Cornette’s a mess and the Midnights are out cold as the Original Midnight Express takes off.
-So the story behind this was that Dusty told Cornette to get “a little juice” for this angle. Cornette did one blade job and gigged himself pretty good, but when he ran his hand across his forehead to check it, he happened to run his hand over a dry spot and didn’t see any blood, so he assumed he needed to go deeper and did a second, gorier bladejob that made TBS pretty unhappy. Since Dusty was still booking for now, Dusty got the stern warning from the new bosses that they didn’t want to see blood anymore. Dusty decided he didn’t care for being told how to book his show, which leads to some shit going down in a few weeks, but we’ll get there.
“Hot Stuff” EDDIE GILBERT vs. MIKE JACKSON
-Jackson works the arm and takes Gilbert down to the mat. Gilbert snaps Jackson down and stomps the shoulder. They stare each other down and circle the ring, and Jackson starts throwing dropkicks. He charges at Gilbert, but Gilbert catches him and stunguns him for three.
-We go to some other TV taping, where Dusty Rhodes cuts the first official promo for Starrcade ’88: True Gritt! Dusty says that he, Stinger, and Lex Luger ain’t just lettin’ this lie. Dusty declares that there’s no steroids in his body, just whiskey, fight, and whatever the last lady of the evening left in him. Dear god.
ABDULLAH THE BUTCHER (with Gary Hart) vs. DAVID ISLEY
-Cool timing. You want Abdullah around right when the new bosses are dropping the banhammer on blood. Abdullah throws Isley to the floor and stomps him. He drags Isley back in and throws him right back out. Big ass elbow drop finishes. Isley didn’t even take off his jacket.
-Gary Hart introduces fans to Abdullah; Abdullah eats the windscreen on the microphone for maximum effect. Gary Hart tells us this is “the black monstah” he’s been promising the past few weeks, and the Boogeyman has arrived on TBS. Well, thank god Santino wasn’t sitting in the front row for this taping, then.
TV TITLE: MIKE ROTUNDA (Champion, with Kevin Sullivan & Rick Steiner) vs. BOB EMORY
-Steiner reads the comics to entertain himself, then leads the crowd in a “Syracuse stinks!” chant. Rotunda throws Emory to the floor and Steiner stops Sullivan from taking cheap shots and helps Emory climb back in. Double underhook by Rotunda finishes.
-After the match, Kevin and Mike yell at Rick Steiner for forgetting to bring his Florida belt to the taping. Steiner says he heard that Ric Flair was supposed to wrestle on TV next week and asks if he can have that match, and Sullivan just dismisses him as an idiot and walks him out of the studio. Mike Rotunda casually mentions “Oh, by the way, Steve Williams is a member of the Varsity Club and we’re a tag team now” to finish up. Apparently, in all the excitement and confusion of selling the company, they just straight up forgot to book an angle to explain this, so they simply ANNOUNCE that Williams is a heel and a member of the Varsity Club. That’s outstanding.
-Mark your calendar for Clash of the Champions IV: Season’s Beatings! Which title will Sting fail to win this time?
SHEEPHERDERS (with Rip Morgan) vs. JERRY PRICE & RICK ALLEN
-Luke slams Allen down and Butch drives forearms into the belly. Allen is snapmared into his own corner and makes the tag. Luke targets the throat, and the double stomachbreaker finishes it.
-Sheepherders are double-booked with feuds now, so they have some words to say about Ron Simmons, and Eddie Gilbert, and the Fantastics, and the Vietnam War for some reason, and the US Tag Team Title which now seems like a silly exercise because the guys who vacated the belts to begin with no longer have a reason to.
