The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (6.11.1988)

-Cold open: Sting and Dusty amble on down to the ring at Clash of the Champions II. Thinking about it now, I’m surprised Dusty didn’t paint his face for that match.

-Originally aired June 11, 1988.

-Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross, and David Crockett.

-We go to Savannah, GA, where Bob Caudle is interviewing Barry Windham at ringside. Dusty Rhodes suddenly feels froggy and decides to leap on down there. Barry Windham doesn’t care what these stinking people say, so the brawl erupts. Horsemen show up for reinforcements, but Nikita, Sting, and Dr. Death show up just as fast.

THE FABULOUS STING vs. RICK ALLEN
-The “coming up next” graphic called him that, I’m going with it. Butch Patrick, TV’s “Eddie Munster” is in the studio for this week’s taping. No sign of his business associate Larry Kidkill anywhere though.

-Sting takes Allen down in a side headlock. He switches to a top wristlock as this is turning into a very un-Sting-like match. Sting finally gets bored with it and closes up with the Stinger splash and the scorpion deathlock.

-Sting and Dr. Death are ready to take on the Horsemen together.

-We watch the attack on Lex Luger at Clash of the Champions. JJ and Ric Flair are here to defend their actions. We get into a fascinating bit of legal nitpicking from JJ, who notes that since Lex wasn’t physically inside the arena, the NWA can’t actually punish the Horsemen. Ric Flair talks about his match “in Baltimore on the 10th of July” and they’re doing that weird-ass thing they did where they’re not mentioning that it’s a show we can actually SEE. Ric is so intense he earns a bleepin’ from TBS for warning Luger that “the shit’s on!”

BARRY WINDHAM (US Champion, with JJ Dillon) vs. CURTIS THOMPSON
-Windham slams Thompson and drops the knee. Windham has a weird design on his tights that I think is supposed to be tie-dye, but it just looks like he sat in a box of powdered doughnuts and enjoyed it a little too much. Superplex by Windham, but he’s feeling extra sinister, so instead of pinning him there, he hits the flying lariat. JR is noticeably frustrated on commentary with the amount of cheers Windham was getting from the studio audience.

-Barry Windham warns Lex Luger he’d better be ready for the Nature Boy.

“Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS vs. TRENT KNIGHT
-Kind of bummed out at Dr. Death isn’t wearing his white tux as an entrance outfit. Williams shrugs off some dropkicks and press slams Knight. Hammerlock kills some time before Doc goes for the football tackle. Oklahoma Stampede finishes.

-Arn & Tully are ready for the Bash and invite anyone who wants a piece of them to sign up for War Games. Arn mocks Lex for having to pay full price for the rented tux that the Horsemen ruined at Clash of the Champions. Arn’s forehead is all sliced up as he talks, and he says that Lex’s face looks like his, but it’s no big deal to Arn because he’s not the one running off to Hollywood.

TULLY BLANCHARD (with JJ Dillon) vs. DAVE SPEARMAN
-Tully offers a handshake and slaps Spearman to a good reaction, as TBS is playing host to the most heel crowd eer this week. Tully takes it out to the floor and chokes out Spearman. Spearman comes to life with a short outburst of offense, but Tully recovers and just keeps beating on Spearman. Spearman hangs on and fights back, but Tully knees him down, and the slingshot suplex puts him away.

“Games Master” KEVIN SULLIVAN vs. BOB RIDDLE
-Sullivan clotheslines Riddle out to the floor and then lugs the commentary podium over to drop it on the poor bastard. Sullivan keeps the match on the floor while demanding that “Gah-vin” come to the ring and face him like a man. Sullivan just beats on Riddle with a chair in full view of Teddy Long. Sullivan continues the murder in the ring, with a clothesline finishing Riddle off.

-Sullivan accuses Jimmy Garvin of stealing his girl years ago and vows to “make a keychain out of Garvin’s eye.” Sullivan’s character totally works when he’s doing his own thing and he’s not wedging it into a completely disconnected act.

-Lex Luger doesn’t want to press charges for assault because Ric Flair’s high-priced lawyers would just find ways to delay justice. Lex vows that Flair’s TRUE sentence is coming in Baltimore. Lex matches Flair bleep for bleep in this promo, too.

ARN ANDERSON (with JJ Dillon) vs. TOMMY ANGEL
-These two aren’t on the same page and an attempted clothesline by Anderson turns into Angel throwing a Wattskick. Arn pretty much decides right there that Angel isn’t going to get another turn at token offense for this match and goes nuts on the arm. Gourdbuster ends it.

SPAM SLAM
-Tommy Rogers’ powerslam is your Spam Slam, ma’am. Damn!

-Tony and Jim promote the matches on the Great American Bash tour and says the Road Warriors/Powers of Pain scaffold match will make history because there have never been four men that large in a single scaffold match. And there never will be!

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (with Jim Cornette) vs. LEE WAGNER & BOB EMORY
-Cornette does an amazing job of running down every active feud in the NWA right now and riffing on them one at a time. Meanwhile, Midnights take turns beating on Emory until he tags out. Eaton whips Wagner back and forth and bulldogs him. Eaton throws Wagner out on the floor but lays off after Cornette reminds him that TBS made them promise to stop breaking set pieces. Back in the ring, flying elbow by Eaton. Midnights just keep dismantling Wagner until they finally call it a week with the rocket launcher.

-Jim Cornette brags about the assault on the Fantastics last week and promises that he has more tricks up his sleeve, even when he’s wearing a straitjacket.

-We watch Koloff/Perez from Clash of the Champions. Most of the match, actually.

FANTASTICS (US Tag Team Champions) vs. THE GRAPPLER & JOE CRUZ
-Grappler is just some masked jobber and not one of the famous ones. Grappler throws punches, showing what blatant false advertising his name truly is. Tommy Rogers punches back and in comes Joe Cruz, who takes a beating and falls victim to the Fantastic rocket launcher in short order to close the show.

-Fantastics have some parting words for the Midnight Express. See you next week!

5.8

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

It fascinates me how this company is good at building a pay-per-view while also being completely terrible at promoting it. July 10 in Baltimore just sounds like a big-ass house show at this point.