World Championship Wrestling (9.25.1982) Review

-Originally aired September 25, 1982.

-Your hosts are Gordon Solie and Roddy Piper.

PAUL ORNDORFF vs. MARVIN TURNER
-We go right to work as the show starts playing with the format, going from the theme to the bell sounding with Gordon doing his introductions during the match.

-Orndorff works the arm. Turner tries a side headlock, but Orndorff sends him into the ropes and meets him with a dropkick for two. Back to the arm as Orndorff gets Turner into a hammerlock slam while Gordon actually dives into a great kayfabe explanation for something–the reason pro wrestlers always work the left side of the opponent’s body is that for most people, the left arm is the non-dominant arm, which means it has the weakest muscle development in the body, so it’s the easiest area to wear out. THAT is where people are coming from when they express their fondness for Gordon’s commentary. Powerslam by Orndorff gets the pin.

-Orndorff comes over to discuss an incident involving himself, Harley Race, and Super Destroyer…but the film has disappeared and he suspects that Super D is responsible. Orndorff promises that he’s getting the National Title back one way or the other.

SUPER DESTROYER vs. JIM POWELL
-Super D hammers Powell and clamps on a hard front facelock before leveling him with an uppercut. Super D goes back to the front facelock. At about the 48-minute mark, Powell throws a forearm, but Super D slams him down and then props him on the top rope. Superplex finishes. This is the kind of squash on the WTBS show, regardless of which promotion was controlling that, that I always hate. If it’s going to be a LONG squash, give your opponent some meaningful offense, because an eight-minute ass-kicking is just hard to sit through.

-Paul Orndorff & Tommy Rich are here and getting geared up for action at the Omni, and tickets are on sale now….

October 3rd at 8 pm:
Buzz Sawyer vs. Tommy Rich
NWA WORLD TITLE: Ric Flair vs. Stan Hansen
Abdullah the Butcher vs. Roddy Piper
NATIONAL TITLE: Super D vs. Paul Orndorff
Samoans vs. Tito Santana & Terry Gordy
The Iron Sheik’s $5000 challenge
Plus Matt Borne, Johnny Rich, Brad Armstrong and many others!

-Piper admits that he’s done a lot in his life to deserve Abdullah the Butcher, but he’s ready for Butcher to dish out all of it.

-Ole Anderson has demanded an apology for being knocked down during the Piper/Muraco brawl, and Piper is refusing to apologize, and gets a gold star by weaving in a reference to George Gobel during his tirade.

-We watch a past Abdullah squash while Piper is all over Abdullah for being flabby and picking on an inexperienced rookie with stuff that Piper simply won’t walk into.

-We go to Ole Anderson, who reminds us that Roddy Piper once offered $5,000 to make a business deal with him. Anderson reminds Piper that Abdullah never actually took the money, and therefore never had a deal with Piper….but Abdullah has accepted $10,000 from Ole, so they’re in business now. Ole gives Abdullah his first payment, and Abdullah promptly eats the money, explaining that episode of Dark Side of the Ring.

TOM PRICHARD vs. CHIC DONOVAN
-Prichard works the arm as Bobby Simmons of “Appearing in this segment of the show” fame tells us to stay tuned because something we’ll be interested in will happen later in the show. Meanwhile, in the part of the show we’re not interested in, Prichard works the arm. Donovan with a FULL bodyslam, not even settling for a 9/10 bodyslam.

-Arm wringers are exchanged before Donovan goes to a side headlock, only for Prichard to turn it into a top wristlock. More mat work with the guys trading the advantage. Prichard applies a lateral guillotine (abdominal stretch and then rolling backward with it) for the three-count. Good scientific action.

-The 1983 Wrestling Calendar is now on sale for only $7.50, or significantly more than that if you wait four decades and look for a copy on Ebay.

-Sonny King is here with his entourage. Iron Sheik says Americans “are too much hot dogs” to take up his $5,000 Iranian clubs challenge, and Sonny King says the Samoans are also here.

IRON SHEIK vs. DALE VEASEY
-Sheik works over Veasey, trapping him in a surfboard and gradually losing his grip while Sonny King asks why the fat people at home who criticize wrestlers won’t take the challenge. I already told you, I’m busy this weekend, Sonny! That’s why! Camel clutch looks to finish, but Sheik is doing the not-good version where he’s not keeping Veasey’s arms back, and a member of the audience even yells out “ARMS!” and points that out! Sheik releases the hold and drops an elbow for three.

-Stan Hansen says that Ric Flair had better be ready for him in the Omni!

-Super Destroyer demands that Paul Orndorff get out here so that the world can see that Orndorff doesn’t deserve to be the National Champion. And Buzz Sawyer isn’t fond of Tommy Rich, so hopefully they resolve that quickly!

TERRY GORDY & TITO SANTANA vs. THEIR MEN
-This is a weird match, apparently leftover from last week’s taping when Gordon was on vacation, so Gordon starts to do commentary on it, only to realize that Les Thatcher already did commentary and they didn’t record a copy without the commentary feed, so Gordon stops talking five seconds in and sounds like he wasn’t expecting this.

-Gordy rams one of the jobbers into the turnbuckle but I can’t make out his name. Ken Timbs tags in and T&T take turns working his arm. Timbs manages to trap Gordy into the heel corner, but he fights his way out and tags in Tito, who connects with the flying forearm to the BACK of Timbs’ head, which I’ve never seen from him. Double elbow on the unknown jobber. Double dropkick gets the win for the Odd Couple.

-Ole Anderson is out here to say that Roddy Piper says a LOT of things that he can’t back up, and Ole is about to wreck him.

STAN HANSEN vs. RANDY BARBER
-A tremendous su-play by Hansen to start things off. Piledriver by Hansen. Lariat and a big knee finish Barber off. Barber kicks out at three, which I would call a bit ballsy.

-Gordon Solie notes that Stan Hansen asks no quarter and gives none, and Bill Watts’ blue-haired lawyer promptly shows up to deliver a cease-and-desist order to him. Stan Hansen says Ric Flair has never felt a lariat before, and he promises to take the NWA World Title back to Texas.

-We head off to Florida to watch a Flair squash, and Stan Hansen isn’t worried about the figure four because Flair isn’t going to get him on his back for that.

-Ric Flair works his magic with 60 seconds of mic time sent in from Florida. He knows everybody in Georgia is talking about him, because he has the jewelry, he has the women, he has the title belt. Live with it!

TOMMY RICH vs. MARVIN TURNER
-Marvin Turner’s greatest contribution to wrestling history of course was calling his cousin Ted one night and saying “You know that new two-hour TV block you been looking for? Well listen to this!” and holding up the phone so Ted could hear Gordon on commentary.

-Headlock takedown by Rich, going into a front chancery (that name is so weird to me, still). Turner goes to a wristlock to take control but Tommy reverses it and drops the leg while holding onto the arm. Really messy finish sees Young eventually sunset flip Turner for three, but I really don’t think that’s what either guy had in mind.

-Paul Orndorff promises to take the hide off Super D in Charleston, WV tonight, and if there’s anything left on him, he’ll take the rest off in the Omni.

MIKE JACKSON vs. CHIC DONOVAN
-Jackson armdrags Donovan and applies a side headlock. Donovan gets to his feet but runs into a dropkick. Back to the side headlock. Donovan keeps fighting it and finally breaks it with a back suplex for two. Donovan uses some underhanded tactics to take over. Slam and a legdrop by Donovan for the two-count. Jackson comes back with a series of kneelifts, but Donovan gives him a few shots to the throat, and a neckbreaker finishes things for Donovan.

-Gordon waves Donovan over to the lectern for a postmatch interview. Great heel touch to it by Donovan; instead of walking to the open side of the lectern, he walks to Piper’s side and makes Piper move out of the way. Piper verrrrry calmly agrees to do so and walks away without any trouble. But Donovan just keeps poking the bear, insulting Piper and telling him to go hide somewhere as long as he has a $10,000 bounty on his head. In fact, Donovan tells him to go get his skirt and his booties and challenges Piper to a match right here on TV next week. Piper wonders why wait, takes his jacket off, and beats the hell out of Donovan.

IVAN KOLOFF vs. KENNY HALL
-We have another match with Les Thatcher doing commentary, and this time Gordon is ready for it. Hall misses a bodypress off the second turnbuckle. Ivan capitalizes with a backbreaker and locks on a bearhug. Hall hangs in there so, Koloff just hammers the lower back and drops a knee. Koloff just keeps up the beating. Kenny takes one last-ditch effort, throwing a dropkick that misses, and Koloff just pins him right there, but then goes to the top and does his finisher, faceplanting him to make a point.

BUZZ SAWYER vs. BURRHEAD JONES
-Sawyer rams Jones into the turnbuckle and heaves him to the floor as the audience taunts him with a “We want Tommy” chant. Powerslam gives Sawyer the win without much trouble.

-Buzz yells.

WILD SAMOANS (National Tag Team Champions) vs. TOM PRICHARD & JIMMY POWELL
-Prichard stuns Sika with a dropkick, but Sika blocks a monkey flip and Prichard gets out of there immediately. Afa tags in while Sheik does some guest commentary, talking about, I presume, wrestling.

-Powell gets knocked around while Sonny King BEGS somebody to take the $5,000 challenge. Samoan drop finishes things….for the Samoans, to be clear. They win.

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Pretty breezy two hours, for the most part.