World Championship Wrestling (3.11.1989) Review

-Originally aired March 11, 1989.

-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Magnum TA.

-The Varsity Club is here, and Captain Mike has $10,000 in a briefcase. Mike opens it the lack of showmanship is breathtaking. It may legit be $10,000 for all I know, but he has it in fifties and twenties, so there are only four packets of money and the briefcase is half-empty. Rotunda says that the ten grand is a good investment because it might inspire better competition, and “competition makes me go.” Well, hopefully he brings a briefcase full of Metamucil next week.

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (with Jim Cornette) vs. BOB COOK & THE RAIDER
-Bobby Eaton trades punches with The Raider. Raider slams him but he misses a tag behind the back and runs into a clothesline by Stan Lane. Drop toehold/elbow combo by the Express. Educated feet by Lane, and Bob Cook finally enters and takes his licks. He gets a little bit of offense with headscissors. Eaton tags in and punches him into the corner. Raider gets slammed and Eaton comes off the top with a legdrop that could finish, but Eaton decides not to. Cook heads back in and gets flapjacked to end the mauling.

-Jim Cornette runs down Paul E. His new bodyguard Jack Victory couldn’t guard the sugar at a tea party, and a couple of Gilligan’s Island rejects from Samoa can’t just paddle over to Georgia and beat the Midnight Express.

IRON SHEIK vs. GEORGE SOUTH
-Joined in progress with Sheik looking like he’s about to give birth. He throws South out to the floor, then brings him back in with a gutwrench for two. Abdominal stretch by Sheiky baby and Sheik is sweating and sucking wind at this point. South goes face-first into the pointy boot, and Sheik follows that with a belly-to-belly for two. Camel clutch gets the submission. George South is The Jabroni, it appears.

THE DANGER ZONE
-Paul E. Dangerously welcomes Lex Luger. Luger announces that tomorrow night at the Omni, he’ll be wrestling a tag team match as Michael Hayes’ partner, and Hayes boogies into view, and you can tell by his energy level that Jack Victory has not adequately guarded the sugar bowl. Paul E. jumps to conclusions and announces that Lex is the newest member of the Fabulous Freebirds, and Hayes has a violent mood swing and makes it very clear that Lex is just a tag team partner, but not a full-fledged Freebird.

TV TITLE AND $10,000: CAPTAIN MIKE ROTUNDA (Champion) vs. COUGAR JAY
-Hammerlock by the Captain, and he stays on the arm. JR and TA are hyping the Omni house show hard. When Ted Turner bought the company, everyone figured out right away, “Okay, we’re a TV-company, we’re going to be focusing on TV more strongly.” And then they brought in George Scott who did not get that at all and ended up out of a job after the next Clash because of it.

-Rotunda is still working on the arm as the crowd chants “We want Steiner,” not necessarily because Steiner is over but because then something might happen. Rotunda applies an abdominal stretch before hitting hard with a dropkick, and the guillotine finishes.

-Ric Flair is here and he vows not to rest until he has the NWA World Title back…but also, he hates Lex Luger so damn much that he might challenge for the US Title just to take that title and mess with Luger. This is a nice story arc, as Flair declared himself done with Luger and proclaiming Luger a beaten man, but now Flair doesn’t know how to handle life without a title belt, so he needs to spin a reason for himself to challenge Luger.

STING vs, JULIO BARERRA
-Shoulderblocks by Sting. Flying headscissors, and Barerra ends up tumbling out of the ring and crashing on some fans, and Sting actually seems alarmed by that and goes out to check on them. Barerra turns it into a sneak attack opportunity and brings Sting back inside, but he misses a splash. Stinger splash and the scorpion deathlock finish this. This jobber was game for anything and it was fun while it lasted.

-Funny promo post-match, as Sting declares his concern for an attractive who was near “where the fat guy got thrown out” so he rushes off to check on her.

RIC FLAIR (with Hiro Matsuda) vs. GREG EVANS
-Greg Evans is cosplaying as Ricky Morton. Flair works the arm to start. Evans comes to life with chops and a hiptoss, but Flair gets fired up and throws him to the concrete.

-Back from commercial, Flair gives Mickey Rorton a double underhook and an elbow. Flair starts targeting the knees, and now we go to school. Figure four finishes, but Flair promised he was here to make a statement, so Flair keeps the hold locked on as Evans screams for his life. Flair reluctantly breaks the hold, then throws Teddy Long to the floor and goes back to murdering Greg Evans. This had to be the worst week of Greg Evans’ wrestling career in 1989. (Googles “wrestler Greg Evans”) Evans is going to be repackaged later in 1989 as one half of the Ding Dongs. Getting the shit kicked out of him by Ric Flair was the highlight of his wrestling career in 1989.

-Ric Flair announces that he’s had sex with 5000 women and calls out Lex Luger.

BARRY WINDHAM (with Ric Flair & Hiro Matsuda) vs. GATOR GILMORE
-JR and TA are still hyping the crap out of the Omni card as Windham fires punches at Gator with his supposedly injured hand. Superplex finishes immediately.

-Barry Windham tells Lex to stop spending so much time in the weight room and more time in the ring!

-Eddie Gilbert and Rick Steiner are here. Eddie Gilbert has been a dirty rotten cheater before, and if the Varsity Club is stupid enough to carry $10,000 in cash around, then some dirty rotten stuff might start happening around here.

DAN SPIVEY & KEVIN SULLIVAN (with Mike Rotunda) vs. MORGAN VASTEIN & MIKE THOR
-Spivey mows down Thor with a clothesline as we get the softest-spoken promo ever from the newest arrival in the NWA, Ranger Ross. I gather he’s in the NWA and ready for great competition and excited to represent the company, but I have the air conditioner turned on and didn’t understand a word he said. It was like Ranger Bob Ross was cutting a promo.

-Sullivan rakes Vastein’s back and throws him to the floor. Rotunda and Spivey double team him and send him back in. Side slam and a backbreaker by Spivey. Vastein gets hung up in the tree of woe, and then Spivey just powerbombs him over and over and over again. Amazingly that’s not the finish, as Spivey opts to get the submission with a bearhug. A million powerbombs at a time when it was fresh and new and he went with a bearhug.

EDDIE GILBERT & RICK STEINER (with Missy Hyatt) vs. MAX MILES & TRENT KNIGHT
-Knight leapfrogs Gilbert but gets clotheslined down. Steiner heads in and just tackles him. Miles tags in and Steiner just murders him with an overhead suplex. Jobbers get whipped into each other and they should have just ended it there. Jobbers go to the floor to regroup, but when they re-enter Steiner press-slams Gilbert onto them.

-Gilbert puts Miles in a modified sugar hold. Steiner continues the legalized murder by powerslamming Miles face-first and then “brushing the teeth,” his old finisher that I shat on so hard when Steiner first started appearing on these shows. Gilbert applies an abdominal stretch, and Steiner finally puts Miles out of his misery with another overhead belly-to-belly. Interesting recap of the instant replay, as JR suggests that “the tape traders” will want copies of this squash.

-Dan Spivey calls out the Road Warriors and Rotunda sounds concerned that Spivey wants to get involved with them.

HACKSAW BUTCH REED (with Hiro Matsuda) vs. JOE CRUZ
-Reed headbutts Cruz and stomps away at him. JR mentions that “big things are brewing for the Superdome” and then doesn’t elaborate on that in any way. Again to be filed under “Why George Scott got fired.” Powerblock (shoulderblock off the top rope) gives Reed the win.

SAMOAN SWAT TEAM (with Paul E. Dangerously) vs. BOB EMERY & RANDY MULKEY
-They actually replay the Ranger Ross promo from earlier. And yeah, great competition, coming to the NWA, so forth.

-Samu clotheslines Mulkey and puts the, well, feet to him. Backdrop by Samu, and then a belly-to-back. Top rope splash by Fatu finishes.

-Paul E.: “Don’t be happy, worry.”

JUNKYARD DOG, MICHAEL P.S. HAYES, & VINCENT YOUNG vs. RIP MORGAN & CRUEL CONNECTION
-Michael Hayes goes over to the commentary team because they’re playing Vincent Young’s entrance music instead of the Freebird music. Hayes specifically warned the audio guy about that before the show!

-Bodypress by Vincent on one member of another of the Cruel Connection. Hayes tags in and works the arm over. Flying clothesline, and Hayes gets some pretty damn good air on it. DDT finishes.

6.6

The final score: review Average

The 411

Pretty good paced show this week. Flair's side of this storyline is so much more fun than Steamboat's side, as week by week we're just watching Flair fall apart mentally while pretending that this is all part of some brilliant plan.