Sage Cortez
It’s time once again to piledrive through a few months of NWA action! Unfortunately, in searching for the matches that I would prefer to watch, some of them aren’t on the internet. That’s a bit sad, but for future years that is not the case. Just this one. I believe that things will be fine regardless. To make up for a lack of match reviews, some notes from the WON may be posted. So, let’s get right to it!
– Taped to air on February 14th, 1987, on NWA Pro, from Township Auditorium in Columbia, South Carolina
Big Red, Ivan Koloff, & Vladimir Pietrov vs. The Superpowers & Dick Murdoch
Pre-Match Thoughts: So, with Krusher Khruschev having walked out due to a bad Starrcade payoff, the Russian team has a man under the mask. That man is Big Red. The Superpowers, as we know, are Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff. They have drafted in Dick Murdoch. This match is considered a big deal.
Match Review: The match begins with Dusty and Koloff trading punches and elbows in the ring. Of course, Ivan gets the worst of that exchange, and gets tosses into the buckle. Dusty misses a charge to the corner, but slams Ivan down from the top rope. Dusty misses an elbow drop, and it’s Nikita and Big Red who tag in. Nikita gives Big Red the SICKLE, and pins him after 1:26. What the hell? That’s one of the shortest blowoff matches I’ve ever seen.
However, that’s not the end by any stretch. In a surprise, Dick Murdoch then hops into the ring, and attacks Nikita from behind. What kind of double-cross is this? The three heels then proceed to beat the crap out of Nikita. Pietrov gives Nikita a RUSSIAN SICKLE of his own, and Dusty crawls into the ring…getting beaten up. The babyface brigade comes out of the back, but it’s irrelevant because the Superpowers just got destroyed. Murdoch gets on the microphone after that, and questions Dusty for having taken Nikita Koloff as a tag team partner. He’s pissed off that Dusty would befriend somebody who talked about the United States the way that Nikita did. I can’t disagree with that at all. Dusty then comes back to the ring to confront Murdoch, and they begin to brawl with each other. Murdoch bloodies Dusty with a steel chain, and well goddamn. A serious beating given out here.
My Thoughts: This is a great way of running a turn angle. It’s logical, and it’s much needed to have a new guy on the heel side in this promotion. The company has a great reputation of having run high quality angles for a reason. There were a LOT of them. No rating for the match, but the angle is very much recommended. Simply google the show title, fast forward to around 24 minutes in, and enjoy. The logical reason for this move is simply that Pietrov was really bad in the ring and couldn’t do very much work for the team.
– Taped to air February 21st, 1987, on NWA Pro, from Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina
The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette & Big Bubba) vs. Ron Garvin & Barry Windham for the NWA United States Tag Team Championships
Pre-Match Thoughts: I know exactly what happens at the end of this match, but regardless of that, I’d be watching it. It’s a great matchup.
Match Review: Condrey and Windham will start the match up, doing so with Windham reversing a back suplex into a headlock takedown. He takes Condrey down with a shoulderblock, with a dropkick, and then lands multiple dropkicks on both of the Midnight Express, clearing the ring. Then we head to a commercial, which is used as an opportunity to plug local shows. Promos are cut and the like.
Coming back from that, Condrey has Windham in a chinlock. He lets go, tags in Eaton, and Eaton gives Windham an elbow for a 2 count. Eaton follows with a clothesline for 2, and tags in Condrey, who puts a SLEEPER on Windham. The hold generates a lot of heat on the match, but Windham forces Condrey to make a tag. Eaton puts a chinlock on Windham now, and the Express makes the switch again as was necessary. Condrey tosses Windham to the outside, and with the referee distracted, BUBBA runs over to beat him up. Excellent! Back inside, Condrey and Eaton switch places, and Eaton puts that chinlock back on his young opponent. Windham gives Eaton a sunset flip, but Condrey had tagged in, and goes right back to the chinlock. Weird hope spot. The Express continues to beat up Windham, drawing Garvin into the ring to distract the referee as well. That’s cheating! Windham winds up suplexing Condrey, and finally the tag is made. Garvin comes in to a huge cheer, and gives Condrey a huge backdrop. He signals for the HANDS OF STONE, clocks Condrey, but Eaton rushes in to break up the cover. All four guys are in the ring, until Bubba drags Windham to the outside. As that’s going on, Cornette crawls into the ring, and has a lighter….IT’S A FIREBALL. FIREBALL RIGHT INTO GARVIN’S FACE. BAH GAWD IT’S FIRE. That gets the Midnight Express disqualified at around the 10 minute point, but they won that war for certain.
Or did they? While Garvin is covering his face, Jimmy Garvin comes into the ring, to help Ron to the back. All the babyfaces helping Ron Garvin are a little confused, but doesn’t anyone get it? THEIR LAST NAME. Ron Garvin collapses in the dressing room, and Jimmy goes looking for the Midnight Express. He charges in, and attacks Cornette! That’s a face turn! Then of course, they take Ron to the hospital.
My Thoughts: Alright match, epic post-match. One thing that’s always super enjoyable about NWA TV is that they keep the hits coming from week to week. Big angles, big turns, and decent or better matches on television. Who can complain about that? Not this guy. **1/2 for an okay match that was built for a big hot tag to Garvin, and then him getting his face burned off. The Jimmy Garvin turn is a bit surprising, and wasn’t built towards at all.
Unfortunately, I do not have Ivan Koloff & Dick Murdoch vs. Ron Garvin & Barry Windham for the NWA United States Tag Team Championships. But I can tell you guys that a title change happened, and Koloff/Murdoch became the new champions. Very bummed about not having that match.
– Taped to air March 21st, 1987, on NWA Pro
Ole Anderson gets kicked out of the Four Horsemen
Watch the video. I don’t know in which city this occurred, but it is a very big deal. This was built to for some time, with Ole becoming increasingly more disagreeable. So, after Ole faced Big Bubba, Arn Anderson ran in to attack Ole. Arn and JJ put the boots to Ole, and Arn gave Ole a GOURDBUSTER. After that happened, Ole decided to walk into the Four Horsemen locker room. That’s a pretty big mistake, haha. He confronts Flair, and while doing so, Tully and Arn attack him from behind. Flair and Lex Luger join in, and that’s just amazing. Luger isn’t a Horseman quite yet, but…it’s coming. This just shows, YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE HORSEMEN, BROTHER. Ole does a major blade, and gets tossed out of the room until a dirty and disgusting washroom floor.
I think this was necessary for the direction that the business was headed in. Ole was always the least of the Horsemen in my eyes. In addition to that, he was ready to go off the road. I’m glad it was him who left instead of one of the other guys. Babyface Ole Anderson though, to be quite honest, that’s really dumb.
– Taped to air March 27th, 1987, on NWA Pro, from Lincolnton, North Carolina
Lex Luger joins the Four Horsemen!
Matter of time before this happened, wasn’t it. Of course, JJ Dillon announces that Lex Luger has joined the club. He tells Luger that he fits the lifestyle and deserves to be a Horseman. We’ll see how this goes, I always considered it to have gone very well.
– Taped to air March 28th, 1987, on Worldwide Wrestling, from Lincolnton, North Carolina
Ole Anderson PAYBACK TIME
As we know, Flair and Ole have fallen out. So, while a match is going on, and while Flair is cutting a promo, Ole comes out to confront him again. This time, Ole BEATS HIM DOWN. The Horsemen come out to save, but they don’t chase their new foe. And Flair has a LOT to say about what just happened. This is one of his most crazed rants ever. The only downer here, is that this feud doesn’t go anywhere. That’s just the fact of the matter. It shouldn’t go anywhere because Ole can’t play a good babyface, but regardless.
– April 3rd, 1987, from Greensboro Coliseum, in Greensboro, North Carolina
Lex Luger & Tully Blanchard (NWA TV Champion w/JJ Dillon) vs. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is a big match to have shown on television. It’s also a good chance to get to see Luger work a longer match. Obviously they’re continuing to protect him by having him in a tag team, which is a good idea.
Match Review: Tully and Morton will start the match off, and Tully gets the better of their early exchange. However, Morton fires off a dropkick to clear the ring, and brawls with Tully on the floor. Tully rushes back into the ring, and gets beaten up even more! Morton dropkicks him again, and gives Luger one as well. Luger needs to learn how to bump better because his looked very silly. Gibson and Tully will get the match going again, and Tully spits at him. Ha. Gibson shoots Tully into the ropes and puts a sleeper on him, then Luger runs in…and the Express puts sleepers on both of them. Brilliantly done. After things normalize, Luger tries to tag in, but the referee never spotted it. That never happens to heels! After that, we go to a commercial.
We come back from it, and Morton has Tully in an armbar. And then once again, the referee doesn’t spot Luger making the tag. Gibson switches in as heels do, which…is so weird. I love it. Luger finally tags in clean, and gets arm dragged by Morton and put in an armbar. Gibson tags in, and continues with the same. Luger reaches the ropes, and gets taken down with a cross body for 2. Gibson continues working the arm, Morton does as well, but Luger gets out. He misses a charge to the corner and the Express goes back to the arm. I’m liking this match. Gibson tags in, and slingshots himself over the top drop, coming down onto Luger with a knee drop. Then, they use Tully to distract the referee, and Morton switches in. So different. I love the way Hebner keeps missing tags. However, Tully makes a legitimate tag in, and gets beaten up by Morton. Morton goes to run the ropes, and JJ pulls down the top one to force Morton to fly over the top to the floor. That was a great way to change the momentum of the bout. Tully follows Morton to the floor, rams his back into the apron, and Luger tags in. Morton’s back in the ring as well, and Luger gives him a big back elbow. Luger also puts him in a bear hug, building more and more heat. Morton breaks the hold, and unfortunately we go to another commercial. DAMN!
We come back with Tully trying to give Morton a suplex, but Morton reverses it. Gibson and Luger both tag in, and here we go. Gibson lands a dropkick on Luger (leading to another silly bump), then slams Luger. Gibson goes to the second rope, and drops his fist for 2. Morton tags in and rolls Luger up for 2, and tries a crucifix as well, which gets 2. Morton cannot slam Luger, so Tully has time to tag in. Tully has his knee drop blocked, and Morton locks in a figure-four. Then Gibson does the same to Luger. IN STEREO! The Horsemen do get out of them, and take some sort of control again. Tully suplexes Morton back in from the ring apron, and uh…that turned into more of a BRAINBUSTER. Dangerous looking suplex there. Morton cradles Tully for a 2 count, and there are 30 seconds left. Morton goes with a backslide that gets 2, and rams Tully into the buckle. Morton comes down with a flying bodypress, but the time limit bell rings after 15 minutes.
After the match, everyone keeps fighting. Luger gets thrown into the ring post, and inside the ring, Morton and Blanchard exchange atomic drop attempts. Neither of those land, but the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express lands a double dropkick to clear the ring. And that’s it!
My Thoughts: That was a really good match. I loved the early flow, with the heels being the ones to be outsmarted. That was a nice touch. And then, the action was quick and hard hitting. That differs a bit from the usual RnR match. Luger made a good account of himself, not that he was in the match for very long. I’d definitely recommend checking this out. The draw finish is secondary because it’s a TV match, and it’s non-title, so who cares if there’s a winner. That’s my philosophy right now. ***1/2.
– April 4th, 1987, from WTBS Studios in Atlanta, Georgia
Few things happened on this show, but even more things happened leading into it. One that happened leading into it, was that Jim Crockett had commenced with merging the Central States territory and the Florida territory into his organization. No shock there. But what was shocking, was that Jim Crockett bought Mid-South Wrestling. Obviously that’s going to have a huge impact on the business and on shows going forward. They have an amazing group of talent now. The other side of the coin is that wrestlers are going to leave Mid-South/JCP as a result of this. Some of them will be going to the WWF.
One that happened on the show, was that the United States Tag Team Championships were stripped from Ivan Koloff and Dick Murdoch. The reason given on TV was because he attacked Nikita Koloff and gave him a brainbuster on concrete floor. The real reason was that he had a month long tour of Japan. So why put the belts on that team? Baffling decision.
Then, in something else that was completely shocking at the time, Dennis Condrey walked out on the company. He left no notice, and he just bailed. They thought that he was going to the WWF, although why they’d want him as a singles guy with his look, I don’t know. So, Stan Lane was put in his place. The Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton incarnation of the Midnight Express is my favorite, so I’m cool with this. No complaints, but it is a very major change. So now, onto another event.
Ric Flair interview…
First, Flair puts over the Crockett Cup. Speaking of the Crockett Cup, I’ll be reviewing a very lengthy version of that in a future article, after WrestleMania III and the buildup for it are done. Flair is stating that Precious has the hots for him. And he likes her. Oh boy, where’s this going? She needs to get on Space Mountain, he says. HAHA. So, Precious comes out now. Flair says that she’s the best looking woman he’s ever seen. I wouldn’t go that far. Flair’s hilarious during this. He squares up for a kiss, and gets SLAPPED across the face. He liked it. HAHA. He says that he’s bringing women next week, but uh…I’m not able to watch that episode. Damn. This angle brought some great stuff to TV screens around the country, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to see it.
Unfortunately, that’s it for the rest of April. Naturally, after the Crockett Cup and acquisitions made, there’s a bit of an adjustment period. A few things did happen, such as Lex Luger attacking Barry Windham. It’s difficult to find things to review because the internet has been purged of many events. That all being said, the Crockett Cup review should be fun. First, I’ll be coming back with three WWF reviews. February & March in the WWF, SNME #10, and WrestleMania III. Should be a fun group of shows to watch.
Best: Rock ‘n’ Roll Express vs. Tully Blanchard and Lex Luger
Worst: Dick Murdoch going on a tour of Japan, making a title change mean nothing.
