wrestling / Video Reviews

The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (5.14.1988)

June 20, 2018 | Posted by Adam Nedeff
NWA World Championship Wrestling
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The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (5.14.1988)  

-Cold open: Jim Cornette goes into a cake. Jim Ross doesn’t break for a moment but his voice cracks a few times.

-Originally aired May 14, 1988.

-On the road this week! We’re in Tallahassee, Florida! And we have THREE feature matches during the show. Smells like sweeps to me.

-Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross.

-Nikita Koloff shows up to let us know he’s studied Al Perez closely. It’s funny how standards for “over” have changed in 30 years. Dave Meltzer complained a lot during this period about how Nikita just wasn’t over anymore, but if Nikita got this kind of crowd reaction today, he’d be getting the rocket ship push.

THE FANTASTICS (US Tag Team Champions) vs. ROBBIE ALMON & JERRY PRICE
-Almon gets backdropped by Bobby Fulton and dropkicked by Tommy Rogers. Both of the jobbers are taking flying bumps for these guys. Cute spot sees Price get knocked off the apron and then Almon thrown into that corner, and Almon just sits there, sticking his arm out even though there’s nobody there.

-Tommy Young works Price’s arm, and a double hiptoss gets two. Almon reluctantly tags back in and takes a sweet bump off a monkeyflip. They need to keep Almon around, he’s making these guys look like a million damn dollars. Fantastic rocket launcher gets three.

-Bobby Fulton promises to pull down Jim Cornette’s pants and make his butt bleed. Oooooooooh myyyyyyyyy.

-Watch NWA Main Event!

-Jim Ross is here with Paul Ellering. He warns Barry Windham that he needs to choose his enemies more carefully.

“Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS vs. GARY PHELPS
-Phelps runs the ropes more tentatively than any wrestler I’ve ever seen, like somebody told him they were made of eggshells. Enziguiri and a press slam by the Doctor, and he goes to commentary to tell Jim Ross that his offense is dedicated to Ric Flair. Series of tackles and an Oklahoma Stampede finish this one quickly.

GORGEOUS JIMMY & RON GARVIN (with Precious) vs. VARSITY CLUB (with Kevin Sullivan)
-Ron comes out swinging against Mike Rotunda. Ron heelishly suckers Rotunda into chasing him outside the ring and just gives him a hard right, and the Varsity Club is already arguing because Rick Steiner didn’t do anything to prevent it. Steiner tags in and runs into a right hand from Gorgeous Jimmy, to show that it runs in the family. At ringside, Kevin Sullivan hasn’t budged since the match started and doesn’t appear to actually be watching the match.

-Jimmy hiptosses Mike Rotunda and punches hard enough to send him retreating to the floor. Steiner tags back in and slugs it out with Jimmy, but Jimmy gets the upper hand, and Ron tries to finish it right here with a sleeper, but an elbow from the top by Rotunda breaks it. We pause for a break.

-Watch NWA Main Event!

-Steiner has Ron trapped in his own sleeper. Ron fights to his feet, so Rotunda tags in and applies his own sleeper. Ron armdrags out and knocks Rotunda right out with the hands of stone. Ron’s too exhausted to make it to the corner in time and a false tag gives the Varsity Club an opening to attack Ron in their corner. Sullivan has an opening to interfere with Ron right next to him as the referee’s distracted, but Sullivan doesn’t even look at him and still seems to be ignoring the match altogether.

-Hot tag to Gorgeous Jimmy and we end up with all four men in the ring before long, and that’s when Kevin Sullivan finally snaps out of his trance, runs to the other side of the ring, puts Precious on his shoulders, and runs off with her. JR and Tony frantically get Jimmy’s attention to tell him what happened, and the Garvins let the Varsity Club have this one by count-out while they run backstage. They find Precious locked in a dressing room, sobbing and begging Jimmy not to touch her. I know I’ve ragged on the Varsity Club and Kevin Sullivan’s whole deal, but I liked the creepy way that this angle played out.

AL PEREZ (with Gary Hart) vs. RUSS MOSLEY
-Perez starts right off with a German suplex and throws him out to the floor. Tony Schiavone utters a great only-in-wrestling sentence at this point: “We’ve witnessed a kidnapping, and hopefully we’ll have an update on that later in the program.” Perez chokes out Mosley and the crowd is riding Perez’s ass with “boring” chants at this point. Okay, so it’s not just me. Stepover toehold gets the submission for Perez.

SPAM SLAM
-Bobby Eaton’s clothesline. Okay, seriously, Spam Slam is in RERUNS?

-Gary Hart says Nikita Koloff is a socialist pig who just needs to get out of Gary Hart’s country, and fans who cheer for him are diabolic liberal morons. Al Perez can’t top that promo but attempts to, bless his heart.

-Watch NWA Main Event!

-Jim Ross welcomes Dusty Rhodes. Dusty likes Florida because it has Christians, good-looking ladies, and rednecks. These are some weirdly divisive promos everyone is cutting this week.

STING vs. LARRY DAVIS
-Stinger splash, scorpion deathlock, bell rings.

-Sting says that this is a really partying spot, and checks the back of his guitar before saying that nobody knows how to party like the people of………….Florida!

RICKY SANTANA vs. MIKE JACKSON
-Friendly scientific handshake to start. They trade arm stuff, with Santana eventually getting the better end of that and keeping Jackson on the mat. And that’s really all that there is to say about this match. Santana goes to a side headlock and the fans are beginning to lose patience. Santana goes back to the armbar and I swear, the program should have just said “Pee Break” in the listing for this one. Jackson shows signs of life with an elbow and an uppercut, but he runs into a forearm by Santana, who finishes with a top rope splash. Well, that just laid there.

-Jim Cornette is all pissed off about the party being ruined last week and Tony Schiavone DEMANDS a replay so the fans can know what they’re talking about. Cornette vows that the Fantastics will NEVER give him a whipping.

-Mark your calendars, Clash of the Champions II: Miami Mayhem is only 25 days away! Maybe we could announce a match or something, huh guys?

-Ric Flair says that walking with the World Champ is a ticket to the good life, and that’s why Barry Windham became a Horseman.

ARN ANDERSON (with JJ Dillon & Ric Flair) vs. RYAN WAGNER
-DDT right off the bat by Arn. Suplex by Arn as Tony declares the Horsemen to be at their peak with Barry Windham as a member. It’s still so fascinating to me that this is the most revered version of the Horsemen and they were only a unit for five months. Gourdbuster finishes.

-Tully Blanchard says there’s no shame in it if Barry Windham wants to be famous and successful, and joining the Horsemen was the best way to do that.

-Watch NWA Main Event!

BARRY WINDHAM (with JJ Dillon) vs. KEITH STEINBORN
-Barry has him some HEAT as he enters the ring. Series of rights with the dreaded black glove. Flying lariat ends it with ease. JJ gets into an argument with Tommy Young to distract him while Barry applies the claw just for fun.

-Barry is such a heel that he says “ass” during his promo.

ROAD WARRIORS (International Tag Team Champions, with Paul Ellering) vs. POWERS OF PAIN (with Paul Jones & Ivan Koloff)
-Warriors storm the ring with folding chairs and clear the ring immediately. Match proper starts with Hawk dropkicking Barbarian. Barbarian responds with a powerslam and an elbow. He goes for a backdrop, but Hawk turns it into a neckbreaker and a shot to the nuts. Warriors clear the ring with shots to the nuts. Road Warriors switch off and work Barbarian’s arm.

-Watch NWA Main Event!

-Back from commercial with Animal and Warlord ramming into each other, with neither guy budging. JR: “It’s like watching women drivers on a truck driving course!” Flying clothesline sends Warlord tumbling out to the floor. Animal and Barbarian have the most awkward exchange as they do a clothesline spot but can’t decide which one of them should make contact, so Animal literally just stops running after a bit and the two of them stare at each other. Boot to Animal’s injured eye sends him out to the concrete. In the ring, Powers just start flinging Animal around like a lightweight with powerslams and belly-to-bellies.

-Barbarian misses an elbow off the second rope. Brawl on the floor, brawl in the ring. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard show up and start attacking Animal on the floor. In the ring, Koloff whips out a chair as the referee calls for the bell, and Hawk just gets murdered with the chair, with shots to the back and a top rope splash by Barbarian, with the chair underneath Hawk as he takes it.

BULLROPE MATCH: DUSTY RHODES vs. TULLY BLANCHARD (with JJ Dillon)
-Three minutes left in the show. Okay, at this point, your average fan knows that the shows are pre-taped, they’re going to wonder why they had to sit through Ricky Santana’s Armbar Festival and have this match get cut off. Dusty puts on his end of the rope. JJ grabs it and basically uses it as a leash so Dusty is stuck in one place while Tully attacks from behind. He whips Dusty with the cowbell before finally putting on his end of the rope and starting the match. Tully aims at Dusty’s head and Dusty ducks, then grabs the bell and grinds it into Tully’s face as we sign off.

6.1
The final score: review Average
The 411
Two hot angles, but interrupting the main event AGAIN after they already caught hell from their fans for doing that a few months ago was just so irritating and left a sour taste.
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