World Championship Wrestling (2.11.1989) Review

-Cold open: The Dragon lays a beating on Ric Flair, from last week’s episode.

-Originally aired February 11, 1989.

-Your hosts are JR and TA.

-Ric Flair and Hiro Matsuda step in and are instantly drowned out by a “Steamboat” chant. Flair basically says that Steamboat is a loser for having sex with only one woman. He concludes by letting us know he wants a piece of Latoya Jackson next.

LEX LUGER vs. KIP MONTANA
-It’s Billy Gunn again, y’all! Luger shoves him down as Barry Windham shows up to scout his opponent. I swear, this is turning into the drinking game of 1989 NWA. Nobody stays in the locker room on this show.

-Punches and an elbow off the ropes by Luger. Bearhug is locked on while JR mentions that Kip has some “great amateur credentials.” Oh, I didn’t know. I should have called somebody. Torture rack finishes.

-And here’s Jim Cornette, with a promo about how nobody ever heard of Paul E before 1987 because he got a sex change by accident. Cornette slings some gay innuendo before digging out a road atlas from his friend “Randy McNally” with directions to hell for Paul. Well, some of that promo aged gracefully.

HACKSAW BUTCH REED (with Hiro Matsuda) vs. TRENT KNIGHT
-So at this point, George Scott had total control of the book, and it turned out that in general, he just totally hated the Four Horsemen concept in general. So Ric Flair, the Windhams, and Butch Reed all have the same manager, but going forward, the edict is that this isn’t acknowledged and they don’t cross paths.

-Reed overpowers Knight and armdrags him. Uppercuts and a turnbuckle shot by Reed as JR hypes “Reba McIntyre’s favorite wrestler, Dick Murdoch, and George Thoroughgood’s favorite wrestler, Michael PS Hayes.” Reed stomps away at Knight while JR tells a really awkward joke about using sushi as fish bait. You use fish to catch fish? Meanwhile, Reed hits The Bomb (his top rope clothesline) to finish.

-Lex Luger reminds us that there’s more than one way to skin a cat. He can’t get Ric Flair’s world title…but he can get a match with Barry Windham. This is a great storyline to give Lex, it’s a natural extension of what he was doing last year and it keeps him from looking like a punk for not getting the job done at Starrcade. He’s Lex Luger: the guy who just keeps looking for an open window.

DICK MURDOCH & MICHAEL P.S. HAYES vs. RIC ALLEN & MIKE THOR
-Hayes slaps Thor around and applies a front facelock. They trade arm wringers, but Murdoch tags in and gets Thor onto the mat. Hayes and Murdoch keep working the arm. Ric Allen tags in and Murdoch hammers on him while JR gives the plug for TV taping tickets and encourages us to “call Charlie after midnight.” Brainbuster by Murdoch wraps it up.

ROAD WARRIORS & PAUL ELLERING vs. VARSITY CLUB
-From earlier this morning on TBS. Rotunda tries amateur wrestling but Hawk just beats up on him. Everyone tags and Animal ties up Sullivan in a front facelock. Dr. Death tags in and tries amateur wrestling with Animal. he holds his own, but Animal throws kicks to shake him off and brings Hawk in. Hawk reverses an Irish whip and clotheslines Williams, and Williams goes to the floor to recover. We get the manager confrontation and Ellering throws dropkicks at Sullivan. It leads to a pier sixer but Tommy Young restores order.

-Animal charges at Rotunda. Rotunda ducks and Animal falls out to the floor and lands on his arm. Williams smells blood and attacks with the commentary lectern and a title belt. Hawk is so pissed off that he smashes the podium completely–AHA! I was wondering why it was missing this week!

-Varsity Club gets Animal back in the ring and just go nuts on Animal’s arm, while taunting Hawk so Tommy Young gets distracted every few seconds and creates an opening for double- and triple-teaming. Hawk just can’t take it anymore and starts fighting as if the hot tag happened. Tommy Young is so distracted that he misses Animal actually making a tag to Paul Ellering, and the Varsity Club promptly launches Ellering into the ring post and injure his shoulder. Hawk gets thrown over the top rope for the DQ, but as long as he’s out there, he grabs a chair and clears the ring with it. Good match and a good angle!

-Hawk cuts a nearly incoherent promo and slobbers all over himself. Animal says that Ellering his getting medical attention now, and if there’s a broken bone anywhere in him, the Varsity Club dies on February 20. Hawk picks up the metal chair again and rips pieces off of it with his bare hands in an astonishing visual.

-Varsity Club celebrates because they just proved that the Road Warriors aren’t as tough as everybody says.

TV TITLE: RICK STEINER (Champion) vs. PRETTY BOY LLOYD
-We had this match last week with JR accidentally calling Lloyd “Mike Thor,” so my headcanon is that it was Thor’s name on all the paperwork and Lloyd BSed his way into a rematch because nobody at TBS realized he already lost.

-Lloyd tricks Steiner into looking at the lights and elbows him. Steiner fights back with punches and takes Lloyd’s leg out. Steiner, who hasn’t taken his jacket off yet, talks to Alex for a moment. He sends Lloyd out to the floor and the audience n that side leaves the bleachers completely, so Steiner just uses the stands as a weapon. Back in, a belly-to-belly finishes.

-Paul E and the Original Midnights warn Jim Cornette that he only has a few days of career left.

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (with Jim Cornette) vs. CRUEL CONNECTION
-Midnights clothesline the Connection out to the floor and atomic drop them into each other. Back in, flapjack finishes.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

A good angle and a brisk (only one hour this week) episode. Hell yeah!