World Championship Wrestling (7.1.1989) Review

-Cold open: Terry Funk piledrives Ric Flair on a table in an incident one may have heard about.

-Originally aired July 1, 1989.

-World Championship Wrestling is sponsored by A&W.

-Your host is Jim Ross.

-Last week: Eddie Gilbert gets red mist in his eyes, a kendo stick in his throat, and a song in his heart.

THE GREAT MUTA (with Gary Hart) vs. ITALIAN STALLION
-A firmly pro-Muta crowd as always. This was a sad wasted opportunity, as everybody in the company was in agreement that they needed to turn Muta face, but Muta deferred to Gary Hart a lot in real life, and Gary, looking out for number one, recognized that there wasn’t really a spot for him in that scenario and convinced Muta that he’d be jobbed out if they turned him babyface, so it didn’t happen.

-Muta kicks and tosses Stallion around. Stallion connects with a dropkick for two. Muta strikes back with a shot to the throat and that’s enough to put Stallion away. And Muta just wails on Stallion with the kendo stick after the bell.

-We go to 1 CNN Center and a press conference held by Jim Herd. Herd prophetically says that he’s concerned about what will happen to Ric Flair’s belt, then welcomes the champ himself to make a statement. Flair declares that he’s getting back into the ring on July 23 for a match with Terry Funk, with whatever stipulations the NWA requires.

-Back at the arena, JR is with Terry Funk. Funk has his luggage and cuts just a magnificent rambling promo about where he’s going, but somehow never quite gets around to saying where he’s going.

-Steiner Brothers are here, and Rick still isn’t comfortable calling Robin his girlfriend. Rick is heading to the Boston Garden next week to get back at Kevin Sullivan for being mean to her.

STEINER BROTHERS (with Missy Hyatt) vs. MIKE AWESOME & ROCK HARD RICK
-Neat spot with the Steiners lifting the jobbers into running powerslam position and ramming them into each other. Rock Hard Rick goes limp from a Steinerline. Blockbuster suplex into a front facelock by Scott. Awesome tags in and gets Steinerlined with gusto, as Scott apparently learned Awesome’s stance on fat people and simply does not agree with him. Overhead suplex by Rick, belly-to-belly by Scott finishes, and the Steiner’s pitbull chases Rock Hard Rick away from ringside after the bell.

SAMOAN SWAT TEAM (with Paul E. Dangerously) vs. LEE SCOTT & TRENT KNIGHT
-SST mauls the jobbers and Lee Scott gets the craziest hang time ever while taking a backdrop. Seriously, stop reading and go watch this backdrop.

-SST keeps dismantling him and JR can’t even focus, he’s still talking about the backdrop. Scott takes a clothesline and pretty much lands right on his head. Back suplex off the top rope by Samu, and Fatu rocket launches onto Scott for the three-count. Give that jobber a bonus!

TOMMY “Wildfire” RICH vs. WILD BILL IRWIN
Rich armdrags Irwin around. Irwin fights back with rights and elbows him out to the floor. Back in, a suplex gets one and Rich comes back with a series of punches. Irwin keeps fighting, but a Thesz press puts him away.

THE SKYSCRAPERS (with Teddy Long) vs. MARK SMITH & RAY LLOYD
-Debut of Sid Vicious, teaming up with Danny Spivey, who might as well just call himself “Other Guy from Wham!” in this pairing. Sid starts with axehandles to the back of Lloyd, and he stunguns him as Norman the Lunatic wanders down to the ring, and Teddy Long is so worried he’ll screw up his new team’s debut that he has to focus on corralling him . In the ring, Spivey gets the win with a surfboard, of all moves, then the Skyscrapers take turns powerbombing the jobbers after the bell.

-JR begins to sign-off, but Ric Flair surprises him by strutting out and declaring that he’s going to kick Terry Funk’s Texas ass, and the word “ass” is instantly more over than the Dynamic Dudes.

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

Only 34 minutes in this week's show but not one of them went to waste.