wrestling / Video Reviews
The Name on the Marquee: NWA World Championship Wrestling (9.19.1987)
Loading...-Cold open: Barbarian is beating up on some jobber.
-Originally aired September 19, 1987.
-Hey, we’re on a field trip! We’re doing the show in Raleigh, North Carolina at an actual arena this week.
-Your host is Tony Schiavone. Funny intro, as the fans in the background are acting like such dorks that the camera does an extreme close-up on Tony.
THE BARBARIAN (with Paul Jones) vs COLT STEELE
-Ah! Turns out the cold open was actually the start of the first match. We pick it up with Barbarian locking on a sharpshooter. Jobber won’t give, so Barbarian grabs the rope for some extra leverage. Okay, honestly, I do not by this jobber lasting this long in a sharpshooter applied by the damn Barbarian. He should have cracked completely in half by now.
-Slam and a big legdrop by Barbarian gets two. Chinlock applied as Barbarian is really stretching this one out tonight. Funny as the jobber doesn’t seem to get raising the arm, so Tommy just keeps raising it and giving this guy chance after chance, and Colt just keeps dropping his arm.
-Steele gets free and throws punches, but Barbarian ignores every one of them and boots him down. Running powerslam by Barbarian, and the diving headbutt gets the win (and kind of a pop, to be honest).
UNITED STATES TITLE: LEX LUGER (Champion, with JJ Dillon) vs BARRY WINDHAM
-The fact that Barry wants this match should give you some idea of just how much the Western States Heritage Title means.
-Luger backs Windham into the corner. Windham surprises Luger with an armdrag. Luger tries a hammerlock but Windham does the spiffy counter where he runs forward and causes Luger to fling himself out of the ring. Luger gets him on the mat with a side headlock but Windham’s legs are so long he turns it into headscissors. Luger’s mounting exasperation every time is fun to watch.
-Windham slams Luger and dropkicks him, and Luger goes out to the floor for a pause. Back in, Luger yells “You’re starting to piss me off!” which gets a big reaction from the fans in the first few rows. Windham reverses an Irish whip and backdrops Luger, and Luger goes outside for another break.
-Back in, desperate times and all that, Luger uses handfuls of hair to keep Barry from escaping an arm wringer, and he finally gets Windham down on the mat. Barry fights it and fights it and throws a dropkick, but Luger dodges and stunguns Windham as WE PAUSE!
-We’re back with Luger getting a two-count. Windham catches him in a sunset flip for a two-count of his own. Luger fights back and he gets two. Bearhug by Luger. I love this hold because in kayfabe terms it’s like a babyface IQ test. How long does a guy have to be in this hold before he figures out he can just throw a punch? Barry does indeed throw a punch after about 20 seconds, but that’s not enough to make Luger break it, so Barry slips his arms around him and makes it a belly-to-belly for two.
-Both men collide on a shoulderblock. Luger recovers first but misses an elbow. Windham goes for the figure four. Luger kicks away. Forearm by Windham (with Tony wondering why he didn’t just go for the lariat) followed by a missile dropkick that ALMOST finishes but JJ puts the foot on the ropes. Barry catches him and gives him a right hand, which brings out Arn Anderson. Earl Hebner comes out to chase him off. Arn agrees, but trips Barry on his way out. Luger goes for the pin, but Hebner runs in and breaks the pin to tattle on him, so Tommy Young stops the match right there and raises Windham’s hand. Luger gets the moral victory with a torture rack after the bell, but the Rock & Roll Express makes the save. Fun back-and-forth action.
-Lex Luger brags that he has elevated the US Title to an elevation.
IVAN KOLOFF (with Paul Jones) vs GEORGE SOUTH
-South just pounces with dropkicks right away for a two-count and Ivan gets out of there because he wasn’t ready for that. Back in, big backdrop by Koloff, followed by a legdrop. Rapid-fire forearms by Koloff and a big boot. South just starts throwing punches and kicks desperately, but Koloff stops him with an extremely gentle clothesline. And then just to be a dick, he strangles South with his chain while Paul Jones distracts the referee. Flying sickle gets the win.
-We take a look at Ron Garvin’s extensive training for the world title, going for a jog and swimming in a huge lake, and lifting weights. We get a weird choice of dubbed music, as it’s a video montage of Garvin in the ring and for some reason, WWE Network picked the cut titled “Film Noir Detective Meets Beautiful Dame.”
“Boogie Woogie Man” JIMMY VALIANT vs TOMMY ANGEL
-Big shitty clobbering and the big shitty elbow gets a fast win.
-Tony welcomes Dusty and declares Luger’s title match tonight a total ripoff. He dares Luger to come out here right nyaw for a one-on-one confrontation. Luger shows up with Arn Anderson, and Dusty, smelling the obvious rat, calls for his own reinforcements to head to the ring. Luger almost enters the ring, but Arn talks him out of it when Nikita and the Rock & Roll Express show up.
-Sean Royal is here. The New Breed needs a quarterly physical upgrade, so, as he explains, he and Chris Champion rode Mr. Fusion to 2002 for their upgrade. Right now, Chris Champion is still in 2002, but in two weeks, they’ll be back in the ring together.
GORGEOUS JIMMY GARVIN (with Precious) vs JOHN SAVAGE
-Garvin wrings the arm. Savage stops that with a yank of the hair. Savage screws up taking a bodyslam and Garvin practically falls on top of him, so Garvin just says “The hell with this” and does the brainbuster immediately and calls it a night.
TV TITLE: NIKITA KOLOFF (Champion) vs DAVID ISLEY
-Koloff overpowers Isley. Isley manages to apply a side headlock and bonks Nikita on the head Three Stooges-style, and Nikita just gives him the best “No you didn’t” face and mauls him. Elbow by Nikita, a big slam, and then he connects with the sickle and calls it a night.
-We hear from Terry Taylor and Eddie Gilbert. Taylor, the UWF TV Champion, is the TRUE TV Champion. He accuses Nikita of hiding behind Dusty Rhodes and challenges him to prove he’s the true TV Champion by having a match where the winner will be the sole TV Champion in wrestling.
-Nikita accepts cordially.
-Ric Flair is here. Ron Garvin’s got a date with destiny, but the Nature Boy is more excited about the NWA’s debut in Las Vegas. Garvin can’t win the title because he doesn’t have enough class for a title match in Vegas.
WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE, NO DISQUALIFICATION: ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS (Champions) vs ARN ANDERSON & TULLY BLANCHARD (with JJ Dillon)
-And it’s instantly annoying as Robert Gibson and Arn Anderson take their places on the apron and let Ricky and Tully go at it one-on-one. IT’S NO DISQUALIFICATION. Morton applies a side headlock and Robert Gibson actually sort of draws attention to the stupidity by just kind of waving at Ricky’s back and stepping in.
-Gibson applies the side headlock and Arn rolls over for a pin with a handful of tights, but Tommy catches him and refuses to count. Tony tries to finesse this by explaining that in a no-DQ match, the guys can still do illegal stuff as long as they don’t get caught. Doesn’t that apply to EVERY MATCH? Holy shit this doesn’t work.
-Back from commercial, all four men are in the ring thank God. Arn & Tully get whipped into each other. Arn falls out of the ring and the Express gangs up on Tully. And then Ricky and Arn head back to the apron and OH MY GOD THAT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. Morton tags in and Tully gouges the eye, with Tony noting on commentary that he slipped that one past the referee. IT’S NO DISQUALIFICATION. A MATCH BETWEEN FOUR OF THE BEST WORKERS OF 1987 SHOULDN’T BE PISSING ME OFF SO MUCH.
-Great spot as Ricky gets thrown over the top rope, lands on his feet, and calm as can be, walks over, grabs a folding chair and walks back into the ring. Tommy Young won’t allow Ricky to use the chair because it might be too exciting, so he puts the chair away and throws Tully over the top and onto the concrete instead.
-Arn begins getting aggressive with right hands and stomping. Morton suckers Arn into charging and trips him. Express begins going to work on the leg. Tully tries to break but Tommy won’t allow him in the ring because he’s not the legal man. This match.
-We’re back from commercial with thank-God a brawl on the concrete between Tully and Ricky. Robert suplexes Arn back into the ring and the Express applies simultaneous figure fours. Tommy forces Ricky to release his because he’s not legal, and Arn throws Robert over the top and onto the floor before going out to the apron. You know, before he exceeds the five count. In this no-DQ match.
-Arn rams Robert into the post and gouges him. Arn sneaks the tag rope into the ring behind the referee’s back and chokes Robert while Tully distracts him. Ricky is getting tired of the “cheating” and tries to equalize before Tommy Young makes him go back on the apron. Side chinlock by Arn. Tommy Young gets distracted by Morton entering illegally and an elbow to the face nearly puts Gibson away, but he hangs on.
-Gibson gets a second wind but misses a corner charge. Tully attacks on the floor and Arn chokes him with the tag rope some more for a two-count. Arn goes for a backdrop, but Gibson faceplants him and finally makes the hot tag…during the commercial break, and we return with Morton punching away at Arn.
-Arn jerks him by the tights out to the floor. Tully throws him back in. Morton tags Robert in and Tony is questioning that after the beating he took. Arn chokes him with the tag rope some more. Arn works the arm over and the Horsemen trade off on that for a bit. Tully stunguns him for two. Another commercial.
-Back from the break the Express is in there with Arn. Double dropkick is enough to finish, but the referee gets knocked over. Loafer to the back of the head by Tully puts out Ricky Morton and the Horsemen get the pin and they’re your new world tag—nah, Earl Hebner tattles again and the match must continue. The no-disqualification match must continue.
-Gibson gives Arn the calmest kick to the nuts I’ve ever seen and there’s a brawl on the floor until the bell sounds and finally ends this nonsensical match after more than 35 minutes. Yes, I’ll say it, even with good workers, if the way they handle the stipulation fucks with the match, I can’t enjoy it. This was no-DQ, and 35 minutes of making guys stand on the apron, sneaky cheating, behind the referee’s back, and forbidding foreign objects straight-up irritated the shit out of me. I hated this match and I should NEVER have to say that about anything involving these four.
