Sage Cortez
Sorry to all readers for the delay. In many respects, this is one of the precursors to the Clash of the Champions. It’s a very strong concept, that gave fans around the country a chance to vote upon and watch legitimate matches on TBS. That was a very big deal. The card is stacked, and there are three title matches. That is great stuff, and something I’m really looking forward to as I’ve never watched any of it before.
– Taped to Air January 7th, 1986, from Atlanta, Georgia
The show starts with Magnum T.A. in a hosting position. What the hell is going on here? David Crockett and Tony Schiavone will be on commentary. They hype the fan vote, which was a cool concept, although I’m not sure it was really used in making the matches on this show. All the matches have a 20 minute time limit. Bob Caudle will be doing interviews backstage, by the way.
Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) vs. Rock ‘n’ Roll Express for the NWA World Tag Team Championships
Pre-Match Thoughts: Before the match, they show the ending of the match where the RnR’s won the tag belts. Anyway, this is the first time these teams have been able to face each other on any of Crockett’s TV. I haven’t seen much hype around my usual haunts about this match, so I’m interested to see whether or not it’s any good. I don’t see how it couldn’t be.
Match Review: The Midnights attack at the beginning of the match, and double team Morton with great fury after they throw Gibson out of the ring. Morton is then thrown out as well, and Gibson comes in to take a beating. Something awesome happens though, and Morton launches both members of the ME out of the ring to catch a beatdown from the RnR’s. Back in the ring, and the RnR’s give Eaton and Condrey each an atomic drop, which causes them to run into each other. Then the Midnights leave the ring. Really good start. Back to normal tag team fare, it will be Eaton and Gibson in the ring. They trade punches and stare at each other, Gibson then gives Eaton a hip-toss, a flying head-scissors, and tags in Morton. Morton grabs onto Eaton’s left leg and sits on it, but gets tossed to ringside. Eaton clocks Morton in the face and takes a big backdrop on the concrete floor. Crazy bump. Condrey gets punched by Gibson as this is going on, and Eaton makes the tag to Condrey once he leaves the ring. Condrey gets punched, then Morton tags in Gibson. They exchange tags for a bit, and Morton does a cool leg drop onto Condrey’s leg during that. A Gibson cover after a knee drop gets 2. Gibson makes a tag, and he and Morton do this good looking double leg whip thing, where they roll through and knock Eaton off the ring apron. Cornette gets a chant from the fans, and I don’t think the fans mean it in a bad way either. Condrey knees Morton with his injured leg, and sells it as if that hurt, so Morton is able to make the tag and Gibson can go to work. This is very much heel in peril type stuff. Morton tags in and heads to the second rope for a knee drop onto Condrey’s left leg. Condrey takes his first chance to make a tag, and it’s Eaton and Morton squaring off now. They lock up, and Eaton hits Morton with some extremely real looking punches. Morton replies with a suplex, though. Gibson tags in, and covers for 2. Gibson misses a dropkick, and Eaton slingshots him right into Condrey for a big elbow.
They come back from the commercial with Eaton having put Gibson in a chinlock. Condrey tags in to do the same, and Gibson stands up, but Condrey pulls his hair to keep him from reaching his corner. That distracts the referee, and Eaton gives Gibson a top rope elbow smash, before Condrey heads back to the chinlock. Gibson does break free, but he’s in the wrong corner. However, he gives Condrey a knee lift…but winds up with the same problem of being in the wrong corner. Eaton tags in, and gives Gibson a swinging neckbreaker. Cover gets 2. Unfortunately, Eaton goes back to the chinlock, which hasn’t served to create a huge amount of heat. Eaton and Condrey try a double team, but things wind up with Gibson giving a sunset-flip, and Morton dishing out a dropkick, and me thinking that the RnR’s were going to win, but that didn’t happen. Even still, the Midnight Express is able to keep control of Gibson, and Condrey gives Gibson a backbreaker. They go for a ROCKET LAUNCHER, but miss and Morton tags in with all kinds of offense. A bodypress on Eaton got 2, and looked as if it would be the victory. They then give Eaton a double dropkick, which leads to a ref bump. Condrey gets dropkicked out of the ring, and then the RnR’s drag Cornette into the ring…and they weren’t paying attention. Gibson hit Eaton in the head with the TENNIS RACKET, but they drop it, and then Condrey hits Gibson in the head with the TENNIS RACKET, Cornette picks up the referee, and the Midnight Express wins the tag team championships at 16:27. I can hardly believe it.
After the match, the Midnight Express and Jim Cornette have an interview with Bob Caudle. Cornette is so great on the microphone, everyone knows it, and I know it too. Eaton does a great bit where he acts knocked out for the entire time, selling that racket shot like a BEAST.
My Thoughts: That wasn’t as good as I expected (I was thinking along the lines of a 4 star match), but it was still good. I think everyone was surprised about the title change, stunned into silence. That being said, the Midnight Express didn’t cheat any more than the RnR’s did. So all was fair and just in my opinion. ***1/4. There’s good reason for the titles to change, and it’s because the RnR’s are better in the chase than as beltholders. Still, I am concerned about the impact this may have on the rest of the card.
The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) vs. The Russians (Six-Man Tag Team Champions)
Pre-Match Thoughts: Shown before the match is a clip of the Road Warriors and Russians fighting, during which Animal was clotheslined by a chain. This is a very big collision, of course. Another video is shown, during which the Russians decided to hang Hawk by the neck and throw him over the top rope. “Iron Man” as the Road Warriors theme is really awesome, by the way. It is a bit surprising that the Russians do not have anyone at ringside. I suppose Khrushchev really does have a messed up knee.
Match Review: After the commercial, we commence with Nikita and Animal beginning the match. Nikita does a few shouldercharges into Animal at the buckle, then Animal whips Nikita into the turnbuckle and misses a charge. Nikita comes off the top rope and gets caught in a bearhug, but he makes Animal let go. Then he gives Animal a bodyslam and misses an elbow drop. Quick start. Animal gives Nikita a bodyslam and misses a leg drop. That did a great job of putting over how strong they both are, yet not strong enough to ruin their opponent. Hawk tags in, they trade shots, and Ivan tags in. He gives Hawk a double axehandle from the top rope, but gets shot into the corner, and Hawk misses a charge. Ivan tries for another top rope move, but gets caught in the gut and Hawk gives him a shoulderbreaker. After a big boot by Hawk, Animal tags in, and gives Ivan a big gorilla press slam. Hawk tags back in, lands a fist drop, and goes for a cover which gets 2. Hawk is so big right now that he looks like a cartoon character, by the way. Animal tags in, and it is made clear that BARON VON RASCHKE is standing at ringside. The Road Warriors do a nice double team, with an atomic drop leading into a top rope punch by Hawk, who gets thrown by Ivan into Nikita’s fist. Nikita gives Hawk a bodyslam for 2, and distracts the ref while Ivan chokes Hawk with their CHAIN. CHEATING. Nikita misses an elbow drop, but that doesn’t change much, he simply tags out and Ivan gives Hawk a leg drop for 2. Ivan gives him a swinging neckbreaker now, and tags his partner back in for a double back elbow on Hawk. Hawk gets choked with the chain again, which makes Tommy Young seem like an idiot because he doesn’t spot it, but Hawk finally lands a flying shoulderblock. After a failed cover, everything goes downhill, and Baron attacks Hawk with the referee not noticing. Fortunately for the Road Warriors, Hawk kicks out. After giving Ivan a bodyslam, Hawk gets tripped by Nikita while running the rope, and then things get out of control.
Baron runs back in again, the Russians get disqualified at 6:55, and the Road Warriors catch a beatdown. After they get beaten up, Paul Ellering very stupidly runs in, and they start beating him up. Nikita grabs THE CHAIN, with every intention of taking Ellering out, but the Road Warriors pull the top rope down, and the Russians fly over the top rope, so that the Road Warriors can beat them up. Hawk clotheslines Ivan and Baron with the chain to big cheers, and the ring is finally cleared.
My Thoughts: The Midnight Express win took a bit of steam out of the crowd, as they didn’t get heated up again until the finish. This was nothing special, with the obvious purpose of leading the Road Warriors to find a partner to try to take the six man belts from the Russians. I assume that Baron von Raschke is taking Khrushchev’s spot in the team. I’ll give this *.
There’s a bunch of filler after that match, starting with Magnum TA sitting with NASCAR driver Benny Parsons, putting over NASCAR coverage on TBS. They have a brand new Oldsmobile this year. AN OLDSMOBILE. I think Magnum is the type of guy who is/was really into NASCAR too. A true Southern People’s Champion.
There’s another bit with people in the audience talking about how much they like wrestling. ALL the women like the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express and Magnum TA. The men like Flair, Ron Garvin, Dusty, and the Road Warriors. It was a wasted opportunity to not have Magnum wrestling on this show. Maybe he had a little injury or something.
After that, Tony Schiavone has an interview with Dusty Rhodes and BAH GAWD WILLIE NELSON. Dusty’s story about his first match and the 25 dollars he made was pretty cool.
Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) vs. Dusty Rhodes (w/Baby Doll) for the NWA National Heavyweight Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is a really hot program, but of course with Dusty matches, I’m concerned that it’s going to be him dominating the entire match. Tully is great though, so let’s see. Dusty wears an interesting hat and robe getup to the ring, makes him look like a clown. As with the other matches on this card, there is a 20 minute time limit.
Match Review: Dusty has been made to take his protective boot off, so I wonder if the match will be about his leg. After a commercial, during which there was obviously even more stalling than before it, Dusty trips Tully and gives him an elbow drop to the knee. Dusty builds up heat, then does it again. Dusty puts Tully in a FIGURE-FOUR, but Tully grabs the ropes quickly and heads out of the ring. Back in and Tully tries to stall, but Dusty catches up to him, trips him, and gives him a spinning toe-hold. The crowd chants for Dusty to break Tully’s leg, which he tries to do by dragging him to the corner and ramming that leg into the ring post. Dusty heads to the top rope, and comes down with an elbow to Tully, but he lands in a way that allows him to sell his formerly injured leg. I don’t really like that. Tully should have been the one to spot and deal with that injury. Tully works that left leg over, during which Dusty takes some silly looking bumps. Tully puts Dusty in a figure-four, Dusty reverses it, and Tully reaches the ropes. This match is already 10 minutes long, by the way. Not a lot happening. Tully tries a cross-body, but Dusty catches and gives him a backbreaker. Dusty gives Tully a BELLY TO BELLY, but JJ distracts the referee and prevents a cover. Tully then gives Dusty a high knee, knocking Dusty out of the ring. Baby Doll helps Dusty back into the ring (very nice on her part), where Dusty comes back and hits Tully with all of his big shots. Only five minutes left on the time limit. Dusty gives Tully a suplex, but JJ sticks Tully’s foot on the bottom rope, preventing Dusty’s win. JJ! Dusty heads to the outside to chase JJ, but that gives Tully the opportunity to perform a sneak attack. Back in the ring, Tully hits Dusty with some cool looking punches, but is given a backslide…for 2. Dusty gives Tully an atomic drop, and gives him a football tackle to the legs that didn’t really hit anything. Looked terrible. Dusty gave Tully a double handed slap, which got a close 2 count. Dusty is blown up by this point, and after shooting Tully into the corner, can’t even do a running charge on him. He pushes the referee out of the way, and Tully gets a 2 count after JJ trips Dusty. Dusty chases JJ around the ring again, but this time he’s smartened up, and he punches Tully. Dusty takes Tully down into a Boston crab, but the bell for the time limit rings at a very inopportune and incorrect time, I’d say. The time limit was 20 minutes, but I’m not sure that was 20 minutes.
After the match, Tully gives Dusty a PILEDRIVER, and JJ grabs Dusty’s belt to celebrate with. Not just celebrate with it looks like. He and Tully are taking it!
My Thoughts: That was grueling. I really disliked the match. Despite the fact that both guys obviously know how to work, and keep their psychology in order, it wasn’t any good. Way too much of the match was spent protecting Dusty and it was nearly impossible for Tully to get heat. I disliked the legwork quite a bit, it lasted too long, and it didn’t give Tully the opportunity to inflict the injury to Dusty. Instead he did it to himself. As said about the last match, the early title change hurt the crowd. * and for a 20 minute match, that is not good.
Magnum TA is now sitting with Jim Crockett, who pimps up the Bunkhouse Stampede tour that just finished. Crockett also mentions the Crockett Cup, which is in honor of his father. Unfortunately, I cannot find a version of that which isn’t clipped beyond belief. So once it comes time for that review, I’ll lump it in with other things and only be able to review the final, as that’s the only full match on the tape. What a bummer. After that, Schiavone talked with Gaylord Perry (the baseball player) for some time.
Ron Garvin vs. Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: Finally, I get to watch a full match between these two. Hopefully it’s as good as their TV match to end 1985 looked before I was unable to finish it. It sounded like a fan was saying “yankee go home” to Flair. Don’t they know that Garvin isn’t from the South?
Match Review: First thing, they trade really hard chops with each other. Garvin gives Flair a shoulderblock after, and a big chop that causes Flair to leave the ring. Back in, and Garvin puts a headlock on Flair, but Flair drives him to the corner and gives Garvin some hard chops. Garvin fights back, and FINALLY the crowd is back after all this time. Garvin gets 2 on a cover, and they do a staredown once Flair reaches his feet. They struggle and struggle, and after Garvin slaps Flair, they get ready to brawl. Garvin grabs Flair by the nose though, to a big cheer. That knocked Flair down. They do another chop spot, and Garvin backdrops Flair as he bounces out of the corner. Garvin stomps on Flair’s hand, then knocks Flair out of the ring. This is a bit dissimilar from the formula. Garvin shoots Flair into the turnbuckle hard, arm-first, then takes Flair down and does a spinning arm-hold thing. Flair fights out, and throws Garvin out of the ring this time. He quickly gets back in, and the chop war intensifies. He punches Flair, knocking him over the top rope, and that should be a disqualification per their rules, shouldn’t it? But it isn’t. Garvin locks in a SLEEPER, but Flair reverses into a back suplex. Flair does a DOUBLE STOMP, which I’ve never seen him do before, and suplexes the challenger. Cover gets 2. Flair gives Garvin a knee drop and decides to choke him, but Garvin can grab back too. He winds up on top, and punches Flair in the head repeatedly. Garvin goes for a mounted pin, but gets 2. Surprised that there was no reversal. After they trade blows again, Flair goes down, and Garvin covers for 2. Garvin shoots Flair into the buckle, and Flair flips incorrectly, and damn if that didn’t look like he impaled himself. After he fell back into the ring, the two men fought over a suplex, which Garvin was eventually able to give to Flair. Cover got 2, not that near a fall. Flair and Garvin do a reversal into a Garvin backslide, but that only gets 2. Closer fall. Garvin lands a cross-body, gets 2 and the falls are getting closer and closer even still. This time Flair flips correctly and runs to the other side of the ring, and Garvin clocks him. Garvin rolls Flair up in a small package for two, but Flair chops Garvin down for 2 this time. Garvin goes for a roll-up that knocks Tommy Young out of the ring, obviously there’s no count, and Garvin hits Flair with the HANDS OF STONE. Still no cover, and the crowd is mad, but it’s Garvin’s fault. Flair hits Garvin with a knee in the back and makes the cover, which gets 3! Garvin’s foot was on the rope, but when Young looked up, Flair decided to hook the leg. That’s MY KIND OF CHEATING. 14:33 was the time.
Magnum closes the show in his role as host, and that’s it!
My Thoughts: This was an average match with a poorly put together finish. The Flair hooking the leg thing was a nice touch, but shouldn’t have had to happen. I don’t understand why Dusty and company thought it would be a good idea for Garvin to get counted to three because of a high knee to the back. That was silly. **1/2 is the rating for this, I love chop wars, and there were some decent instances of that here. It was not as good as their TV match a few months before, though.
For the most part, this show was disappointing. Not in the sense of it being bad, but I expected more from these matches because the feuds were really good, and there were a lot of good workers in the company. However, the heels got the better of nearly every match, and the matches weren’t as good as expected. Neither was the crowd. The placement of the matches had an impact on that to a large degree. In any case, what’s done is done, and next up after watching this poorly booked show is Saturday Night’s Main Event #5.
Best: Rock ‘n’ Roll Express vs. Midnight Express. This was the only booking I liked!
Worst: Tully Blanchard vs. Dusty Rhodes. Way too long, way too bad, finish was ill-timed.
Card Rating: 5.5/10. Booking matters as much as good wrestling.
