World Championship Wrestling (2.25.1989) Review

-Cold open: Ricky Steamboat gets his arm raised at Chi-Town Rumble. And they even include the FU to Dusty with Tommy Young raising Ricky’s other arm.

-Originally aired February 25, 1989.

-Your host is Jim Ross.

JUNKYARD DOG & MICHAEL P.S. HAYES vs. NIGHTMARE & EL NEGRO
-JYDPS take turns working the arm on Nightmare. Double elbows and then Dog goes to a neck vice. Hiro Matsuda, here on behalf of “The Japanese Corporation,” comes to ringside to scout JYD & Hayes because those damn Japanese are trying to buy everything, even wrestling talent!

-El Negro tags in and he’s the one jobber in the NWA who’s bigger than the Dog. Hayes works el armo unil Nightmare tags back in. JYD demands a test of strength, but then just boots Nightmare in the gut and applies the neck vice again. Hayes comes back in and drops a big elbow for two. He tries to finish with the DDT, but Nightmare actually fights it off and tags out. El Negro gets knocked loopy by a headbutt, and the DDT finishes him.

HACKSAW BUTCH REED (with Miro Matsuda) vs. CHRIS POWERS
-Reed’s entrance music sounds like they’re just playing an instructional aerobics video over the PA system.

-Reed elbows Powers down and just sticks with the elbows before snapmaring Powers into a chinlock. Clothesline and elbows by Reed, and he goes back to the chinlock. Reed dumps Powers onto the floor. Powers lands some shots to the midsection, but Reed just punches him down like nothing, and The Bomb finishes.

-A video montage of all the finishes to the title matches at Chi-Town Rumble. Oh, dude, come on, you make the fans buy the home video for that!

-We go to Rick Steiner’s pre-match interview at Chi-Town Rumble, which, for some reason, is missing from the Network version of the show. And it’s actually a really crucial promo as Rick introduces the world to his brother Scott, who lays out his brother’s back story–a gifted wrestler who got his brains scrambled in a car accident, hence Alex–and then accompanies him to the ring.

-And then holy crap, they show us the ENTIRE TV Title match from Chi-Town Rumble. Do you know how to pay-per-view, bro?

-Magnum TA welcomes Eddie Gilbert, who re-introduces Missy Hyatt. Eddie and Missy promise a Gucci purse upside the head for anyone who interferes in his matches.

“Hot Stuff” EDDIE GILBERT (with Missy Hyatt) vs. RICK CONNERS
-Jobber looks every minute of 50. Mat wrestling exhibition goes Eddie’s way. Gilbert works the arm as JR puts over Conners as a veteran, and it turns out Conners trained Dirty White Boy, Buddy Landel, Doug Furnas, and Tim Horner. So basically, Smoky Mountain Wrestling is Brian Lee versus a a series of fans drawn from a hat if this guy never existed.

-Test of strength five minutes deep into this match. They trade punches and Eddie calls a spot loud enough to make John Cena say “Dude, shut up” before hitting the hot shot and hitting it again for three.

-Ten minutes of Flair/Steamboat highlights and Steamboat’s post-victory speech. Why even buy the PPV?

-Jim Ross welcomes a new international superstar and former world champion making his first appearance in the NWA…The Iron Sheik. Sheik has come from the oldest country in the world 10,000 miles to the toughest territory in the world, the NWA territory. Sheik touts his accomplishments in the Olympics, as well as “in the AWA, the NWA, and WW-whatever.” The next two years are one of the all-time great “This stupid company…” stories. Sheik ends up completely sucking (George Scott basically had it in his head that it was still 1979 and Sheik could still go at that level) and they basically stop using him come summer time, but they don’t actually go to the trouble of letting him out of his one-year contract. NWA/WCW contract language stated that if the company wanted to get rid of you, they had to give you 90 days notice, and if they didn’t, the contract rolled over. So a year later, Sheik surprises the company by waving his contract in their face and demanding another year of pay. Jim Herd attempts to get some return on the investment by using Sheik as a jobber, but the matches he wrestles as a job guy are so bad they’re basically unairable, so they ended up paying him for another year just to house shows without ever putting him on TV again. And the kicker is after that year was through, not only did Vince McMahon find a use for Sheik, he puts him in a PPV main event in 1991!

DANGEROUS DAN SPIVEY vs. TOM PITNER
-Big boot and a gutwrench by Spivey. He stomps away at Pitner. Powerbomb by Spivey and shockingly, that’s not his finisher, he just keeps going, and it’s the sidewalk slam that puts Pitner away.

-Dick Murdoch is on his way back to the Mid-South territory and he’s looking forward to locking up with Butch Reed during the NWA tour of Louisiana.

DICK MURDOCH vs. KEITH STEINBORN
-Waistlock by Murdoch. He goes to the armbar while JR and TA make themselves dizzy trying to spin “old, slow and doughy” into “raw-boned and not traditional.” Big elbow finishes as Magnum is like “Well, he COULD have used the brainbuster, but he’s really good at dropping an elbow too.”

-Spivey cuts a bug-eyed promo warning the Road Warriors to get ready.

KENDALL WINDHAM vs. KEITH HART
-Not that Keith Hart, surprisingly.

-Hart counters a backdrop with a kick and throws punches, but Kendall takes his head off with a flying lariat and that should have just finished it right there. Kendall throws another clothesline and Hart does a Janetty-bump from it, and for the first time EVER, a “Kendall” chant goes up in the TBS studio. High backdrop by Kendall, and a legdrop nearly finishes, but Kendall picks him up at two and tells the referee “I didn’t touch him.” Kinda sad to see Kendall finally finding himself this late in the game.

-Cavalcade of rest holds by Kendall before he finally picks up the pace with a powerslam. Legdrop and back to the chinlock. Bulldog finally ends it. Kendall does it again and the crowd sings “Na-na-na-na” to the jobber.

Magnum TA talks to JYD and Hayes. Hayes says he’s received an offer from The Japanese Corporation and then gets bleeped for five full seconds while explaining why he rejected the offer.

VINCENT YOUNG vs. JOE CACANE
-DEAD MATCH WALKING! And the TBS audience boos Young out of the building the moment he enters the studio. Monkeyflip sends Cacane retreating to the floor, and Young taunts him with pop-locking. Back in, Young struggles and struggles and struggles to get into position for a flying headscissors. Another monkeyflip by Young. He works the arm, and a sunset flip off the top gets three. Celebratory dance by Young gets another chorus of boos.

-We close out the show by looking at the Midnights/Midnights match. Fare thee well, Randy Rose.

5.3

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Not much to say about the stuff in the ring this week, as it was pretty clearly taped before the PPV and thus there wasn't much they could do. But seeing Kendall Windham in the zone as a heel was a shockingly delightful change of pace.