World Championship Wrestling (2.4.1989) Review

-Originally aired February 4, 1989.

-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Magnum TA. Tony Schiavone was a bit frosted about JR basically being treated as “the head commentator” by the new management and took off for a year or so.

-JR welcomes Eddie Gilbert and says that it takes courage for him to come out here after what he’s been through. He says this while standing within three feet of Magnum TA, who, mind you, had his career abruptly end in a car accident. Eddie says when he gets done with Ric Flair and Barry Windham, they’ll be Well Dunn. Or well-done, maybe. I’m not sure how he meant it.

VARSITY CLUB (US Tag Team Champions) vs. GEORGE SOUTH & BOB EMORY
-Williams and Sullivan take turns working the leg of South. Emory tags in and gets press slammed while Sullivan screams that Williams’ death won’t be snacked on by the Road Warriors. Dammit, Kevin, they snack on danger, they DINE on death. Way to kill the buyrate, dumbass.

-Williams works the arm on Emory, and Sullivan finishes with a hammerlock.

-JR welcomes Ricky Steamboat, who announces that he’ll be wrestling three men later in this show to train for his title match on February 20.

THE FANTASTICS vs. EDDIE SWEAT & TRENT KNIGHT
-Damn, I legit forgot this team was still here. Fantastics work Trent Knight’s arm. They attempt a criss-cross, but Rogers trips and falls on his face, which JR attributes to the speed of Trent Knight. Sweat tags in and Rogers atomic drops Fulton on top of him. JR announces that Barry Windham has “a new mentor” and we’ll hear more about it later in the show. We wind up with a pier sixer and the jobbers are rammed into each other, and the Tower of Quebec finishes.

-Ric Flair and Barry Windham welcome Hiro Matsuda. Mr. Matsuda has purchased their contracts for “an unnamed sum of money” and their careers are going to go sky-high now. Barry Windham laughs off Lex Luger’s challenge for the US Title because Bam-Bam went for the belt, ate shit, and quit, so what threat would Lex Luger pose?

ABDULLAH THE BUTCHER (with Gary Hart) vs. DAVE HEATH
-Abdullah flings the future Gangrel out to the floor, then drags him back in and flings him out the other side. Ear noogies by Abdullah and he starts ripping away at Heath’s face. Heath sells it by slobbering all over the ring, perhaps having an “a-ha” moment where he considers that he could be a star of some other fluid oozed from his mouth. Abdullah drops the elbow and pretty much just suffocates Heath with his pec while he gets the three-count.

TV TITLE: RICK STEINER (Champion) vs. PRETTY BOY LLOYD
-Steiner has the Michigan fight song now while JR tells us that his opponent is Mike Thor, giving us our first glimpse of the organizational issues that defined the NWA. The jobber has “PBL” on the back of his tights, so I’m pretty sure the graphic was correct and not JR.

-German suplex by Steiner. Steiner tries to suplex Tommy Young and Young stops him. Come to think of it, I can’t remember ever seeing Tommy Young doing matches in the studio before. Belly-to-belly by Rick gets the finish.

-Chi-Town Rumble is coming soon!

-Clash of the Champions is coming sooner!

KENDALL & BARRY WINDHAM (with Hiro Matsuda) vs. MIKE JUSTICE & ROBBIE WISE
-Kendall comes out shooting with both barrels, connecting with a flying lariat and then a hard chop. Barry tags in and the Windhams hit a doubl dropkick. Hiptoss by Kendall and this is the most motivated I’ve ever seen Kendall in my life. Barry with a superplex, Kendall with a bulldog, and we finish.

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (with Jim Cornette) vs. TERMINATORS
-The Terminators are just two masked schlubs. Original Midnights show up with a sign to taunt Jim Cornette while the Midnights make short work of the Terminators, hitting a flapjack to end it in less than a minute.

-Lex Luger is here. Ric Flair might say he’s done with Lex, but Lex reminds us that he has a title match against Barry Windham, and the US Champion is an automatic number-one contender.

PUBLIC WORKOUT: RICKY “The Dragon” STEAMBOAT vs. BOB COOK, DUSTIN RHODES, & RIC DIAMOND
-It’s not really one on three, it’s basically just three consecutive squash matches. Steamboat starts with the shockingly-still-here Dustin Rhodes. Dustin snapmares him and drops a series of knees, and there’s just NO mention of his father at all. He’s just “Some Wrestler” Dustin Rhodes. Dustin sweeps the leg and goes for a figure four, but Steamboat turns it into a cradle for two.

-And then Dustin just kinda says “Done” and one of the jobbers takes a turn. Ric Flair storms out in a huff because JR just compared Steamboat’s kneedrop to Flair’s. Flair is in a white hot rage and taking it out on the jobbers for not being able to get anything done as we abruptly cut to commercial.

-Back from commercial, JR and Magnum prove that “the tape machines were rolling” as they’ve always said, and we see what happened during the break. Flair decides to throw down with Steamboat and throws some chops, but Steamboat comes fighting right back with a backdrop and a press slam. Steamboat rips Flair’s shirt off, making him the fourth person to do that today, probably, woooo, and Flair goes running off. Camera zooms in to get an amazing shot of a purple handprint on Steamboat’s chest.

-Road Warriors warn that Chicago is good for them, bad for the Varsity Club. I think Arn & Tully would have something to say about that.

HACKSAW BUTCH REED (with Hiro Matsuda) vs. JERRY PRICE
-Whip and a backdrop by Reed as the “almost-Horsemen” exist for yet another week. Reed punches Price and chokes him out, and the clothesline off the top finishes things.

-Sting says some Sting stuff.

ROAD WARRIORS (World Tag Team Champions, with Paul Ellering) vs. MIKE JACKSON & KIP MONTANA
-Holy shit that’s Billy Gunn! I had no idea. Kip goes flying out of the ring and Mike Jackson puts up a valiant effort against Animal, but he goes for a bodypress and gets caught in mid-air, and Animal just gives him one backbreaker after another while holding onto him. Mr. Ass tags in and gets dropkicked by Hawk, and the Hart Attack finishes.

“Captain Redneck” DICK MURDOCH vs. MIKE THOR
-Okay, so apparently this guy is Mike Thor. Murdoch armdrags him while JR promises us that Murdoch would NEVER work for someone from Japan. Commentators put the most affectionate spin possible on “Dick’s fat and drinks a lot” while he works Thor with a side headlock. Thor breaks it by pulling the hair and stomping away. Murdoch comes back with punches and a dropkick, and something cracked Tommy Young up right before he threw that dropkick. Brainbuster finishes.

-Jim Cornette promises that Paul E.’s day is coming on February 20. Hitler killed himself, Ted Bundy got his brain fried, and Paul E is next on the list.

MIKE ROTUNDA vs. MIKE ALLEN
-Allen tries a side headlock. Rotunda backs him into the corner and throws hard chops. Weird thing: Rotunda’s singlet straps are held together with tape this week. Rotunda throws Allen out to the concrete and demands a count-out. Back in, the double underhook finishes things.

JUNKYARD DOG, MICHAEL P.S. HAYES, & STING vs. MAX MCGYVER & THE CRUEL CONNECTION
-Sting starts with #1. Sting tries to make it a short night, but the splash actually misses. He shakes it off and slams #1 off the top rope. He takes on both Cruel, uh, Connectors at the same time and dropkicks #1 out of the ring. Hayes tags in and shoulderblocks #2. JYD headbutts #2 and that’s about all he’s feeling so he tags Sting back in. Sting lets Hayes take it, and the DDT finishes.

-JR talks to team Junkstingayes, who says he’s still standing even after the Road Warriors “did a Greg Louganis special on me.” Michael Hayes flings a racial slur at Tenryu in preparation for their Six-Man Tag Title match as we close the show.

6.8

The final score: review Average

The 411

Another solid week, which some noteworthy jobbers in the mix as a bonus!