Sage Cortez
Hello once again, as we delve into the world of Jim Crockett Promotions! These two months essentially set up the first Great American Bash tour. That tour was a great thing, but let’s focus on these matches. Included in this bunch is a supposedly fantastic match between Ron Garvin and Tully Blanchard.
– Taped to air May 3rd, on World Championship Wrestling, from Atlanta, Georgia
The James Gang vs. The Midnight Express (NWA Tag Team Champions) (w/Jim Cornette) in a non title match
Pre-Match Thoughts: This episode of World Championship Wrestling started with a video clip of Dusty Rhodes entering the ring and beating up the Midnight Express & Cornette. That’s not really very surprising to be honest. Cornette cuts an excellent promo before his charges take on these two masked men. Hilarious how he runs down the previous jobber opponents for the Midnight Express, and says that Dusty and Magnum will not be getting a title shot any time soon. Laughing so hard at the James Gang entering to “Midnight Rider”. One of these masked men is kind of fat…
Match Review: Frank and Jesse James, eh? Cornette thinks something fishy is going on here. The James Gang clears the ring, and beats the crap out of Bobby Eaton on the floor. The fat one just gave Eaton a big elbow. Hmm. Cornette says that Ray Charles could tell who these two are. The big one grabs a hold of Condrey, and tags in his partner, who comes off the top with a double axehandle. Magnum, er, the James brother takes Condrey down with a fireman’s carry, and tags in the big boy, who hits Condrey with a double shot to the eyes. Eaton tags in now, and we head to commercial.
We’re back, with Condrey getting beaten up. He finally gets some offense in, and tags in Eaton, who gets some shots in too. Eaton suplexes Magnum, and covers for a 2 count. Condrey tags in and slams him, then lands an elbow drop for a 2 count. Eaton gives Magnum a back elbow for 2, and the Midnight Express quickly switches in and out for a bit. Cornette hits Magnum in the face with the TENNIS RACKET, and Condrey chokes Magnum repeatedly afterward. Eaton tries to rip the mask off Magnum, but keeping the US Champion from making the tag will suffice. Condrey gives Magnum a BRAINBUSTER, but Dusty comes in to prevent a cover. Eaton lands a hard knee as well, and another elbow for a 2 count. We’re clearly nearing the end, as Eaton heads to the top for something awesome, only for Magnum to follow him up there and give him a SUPERPLEX. Magnum misses a splash, but gives him a sunset-flip. Then both teams start brawling, and the James Gang HITS STEREO BELLY TO BELLY SUPLEXES and both pin the Midnight Express for the victory at 7:41!
Baby Doll whacks Cornette with a bullrope, chasing him to the back, and the JAMES GANG cuts a promo at the announce desk.
My Thoughts: This was so cool. You know, a lot of people would complain about Dusty latching himself to a hot act, and other kinds of assorted whining, but this was a perfect fit. The angle was an excellent reply to being denied a title shot, something that should be resurrected in fact. Would modern fans get it? I’m not really sure. Anyway, this set up a couple matches for the Great American Bash tour, one of which went on video tape. It most certainly served a purpose. The next week, when the Midnight Express were beating up jobbers, the James Gang showed up once again and tied a noose around Cornette’s neck to HUGE cheers. I’m really hoping that the match on the GAB tape is not clipped.
As for the match, it was a really good TV bout, and Dusty did pretty much none of the work. As such, things were really strong for the duration. ***, and I LOVED that finish. Glad I found this.
– Taped to air March 3rd, on Worldwide Wrestling, from…somewhere….
Ron Garvin vs. Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) for the National Heavyweight Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: As previously stated, I’ve heard great things about this match. Garvin’s work lately has been good, and Tully is great in these kinds of matches, so it seems as if things will go very well. I don’t have a location for the match.
Match Review: Garvin drives Tully straight back to the corner, and it is revealed that DUSTY RHODES is on commentary. Garvin and Tully bring the hate early on, with a hate filled lock up segment. Garvin gives Tully a hip-toss, and does it again after another sequence in the corner. Garvin chases Tully out of the ring, and headbutts him when they get back in. Remember, Garvin has a screwed up hand from those weeks ago. Tully fights back and puts on a chinlock for a brief time, which serves to get the crowd heavily invested into the match. Garvin tried to reverse the chinlock, but Tully threw him into the turnbuckle. Tully then misses a charge and Garvin backslides him for two. Then he instinctively slaps Tully, and hurts his hand. Garvin then gets really pissed at Tully slapping him, and slaps back only to hurt himself again. This rules. Tully is a bit bloody, I can’t figure out from what, but Garvin puts him in a SLEEPER so I can stop thinking about it. Garvin then drops an elbow for a 2 count, but his cover is really sloppy due to the messed up hand. Garvin does a great double stomp onto Tully, and drops another elbow for 2. Garvin tries a crucifix as well, which gets 2. Once you notice that he keeps doing even moves like the crucifix without his injured hand, this match gets even better.
After the commercial, Tully has Garvin in a chinlock. Garvin gives him an arm drag to get out of it, but gets knocked out of the ring. Tully gives Garvin a couple of those Sheamus style forearms across the chest, but Garvin rams him into the turnbuckle and flies off the top with a body-press that I thought ended the match, but only got a 2 count. Garvin then suplexes the champion, but cannot hook the leg on the cover and subsequently cannot win. He locks in an abdominal stretch on Tully now, which Tully quickly reverses to a hip-toss. Garvin comes back with a splash for 2, and the two men then collide in the center of the ring. Garvin holds on to prevent a Blanchard cradle, but he can’t for long, and follows with a headbutt. Tully cowers in the corner after some leg work, but Garvin doesn’t care about that and tries to break Tully’s left leg. He starts with a SPINNING TOE-HOLD, and gets poked in the eye. Garvin does a mere toe-hold this time, and stomps on that ankle until Tully moves away. Garvin then wrenches that left leg around the ring post to big cheers, and Tully sells it like he did when Magnum stabbed him in the forehead.
After another commercial, it’s clear that Tully has control of Garvin. He works Garvin over in the corner, but can’t give him a piledriver, as Garvin reverses to a backdrop and they do a 2.9999 count. The crowd really thought that was over. Garvin goes for a small package that gets 2, and a bodyslam follows along with an elbow drop. Cover gets 2. The recurring theme is that Garvin can’t win because he can’t hook the leg, and it’s working. Tully gets some offense by pulling Garvin into the turnbuckle, and JJ runs distraction while TULLY HITS GARVIN WITH JJ’S SHOE. ON THE HAND. Excellent. Tully stomps on Garvin’s hand now, and rips the tape off Garvin’s hand so that he can wreck it. After doing so, Garvin fights back and gives Tully a gutwrench suplex for 2. Garvin follows with an atomic drop, and yet another elbow. However, Tully gets up and starts landing some of his own elbows, only to be given a Boston crab. JJ gets on the apron for a distraction once again, and Tully gets to the ropes during it. After that, we head towards…the GARVIN STOMP. Tully rakes the eyes, and falls down during an Irish whip, so Garvin thumbs him in the throat.
After the last commercial, Garvin slaps Tully in the chest and hurts his hand yet again. He fights off the pain and gives Tully another suplex, but Tully kicks him in the chest when he tries a backdrop. Tully tried to roll Garvin up using the tights, but that didn’t work out. Very typical of his character to do that. Garvin responds with some headbutts, but his hand is hurting even worse by this point, and when Tully chops him, he can’t exactly fight back with it. Garvin gives Tully a backslide, but Tully’s feet wind up on the ropes. That was neat. Garvin rams Tully into the turnbuckles OVER AND OVER, and catches a Tully attempt at a knee drop, trying to turn it into a figure-four. Tully reaches the ropes and we reset, with both guys getting VERY tired. Garvin and Tully then do the dosey-doe, and Tully runs into Tommy Young, who falls out of the ring. Garvin headbutts Tully, and his hand randomly starts hurting, at which point JJ slides something into Tully’s fist. Simultaneously, Dusty is TAPING GARVIN’S FIST. GARVIN LANDS FIRST, covers, and WINS THE NATIONAL HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE after around 30 minutes, not counting commercials. Nice addition of blood by Tully too.
After the celebration, JJ calls attention to Garvin’s taped fist, and REVERSES THE DECISION. David Crockett goes crazy pointing out that Tully had quarters in his hand, but that’s irrelevant. We snap to the back after that, and JJ Dillon is laughing like crazy while holding the National Title. How evil.
My Thoughts: This has to be one of the best Crockett TV matches kicking around. The story is great and extremely well worked. Garvin has a broken hand, so whenever he does something with it, Tully takes over. Makes sense. The finish was different considering the time period. It wasn’t overkilled yet, so that has to be taken into account. This was a good play on the ‘if a ref doesn’t see it, it doesn’t matter’ trope. Tommy Young never saw the quarters in Tully’s hand, he saw them on the canvas. As for a rating, this was a spectacular match, and it was very long. ****1/4. This is the best singles match of Garvin’s that I’ve seen, and the second best of Tully’s. I don’t know if any other singles match from Tully can approach this one, much less the Magnum TA match. Of course, this is recommended viewing.
On May 17th, Dusty Rhodes & The Road Warriors defeated Baron Von Raschke, Ivan Koloff, and Nikita Koloff for the NWA Six Man Tag Team Championships. I don’t know if that’s heading anywhere, but it should be mentioned. They talk about it below.
– Taped to air May 31st, 1986, on World Championship Wrestling
Tully Blanchard, JJ Dillon, and Ron Garvin
Tully and JJ seem awfully proud of themselves. JJ says this is from May 23rd at the Norfolk Scope. Garvin comes into the ring to face Leo Burke, and Tully is at ringside wearing a cast and sling around his right shoulder. After a bit of the match, during which Garvin is now able to punch people with his taped up fist, Tommy Young falls down after Garvin pushes him away. So JJ gets in the ring, goes for a shoe shot on Garvin, and hits Burke instead. Then Garvin knocks JJ into Tully, and wins the match because Leo Burke has been knocked out. Tully runs into the ring after that, and starts hammering Garvin’s face with his own taped up fist. What a heel. To cap it all off, Tully PILEDRIVES GARVIN ON A CHAIR. Magnum TA runs down to save Garvin, but it’s way too late. Good segment, I really like this feud, but I’m not sure how much longer it will go on.
Magnum TA/Nikita Koloff contract signing for a United States Heavyweight Championship match next week…
This is way back before these awful things became common place. A contract signing meant something. Magnum signs the contract, and passes it across to Nikita and Ivan, who are wearing DAPPER WHITE SUITS. The match is now officially signed, and Ivan has a statement to make. So does Nikita, and he insults Magnum’s mother. Oh shit. Magnum jumps over the table in response, and the Russians give him a BEATDOWN OF A LIFETIME WHAT A CLOTHESLINE. Magnum TA > Hulk Hogan as a babyface hero. Watch the video please.
– Taped to air June 7th, 1986, on World Championship Wrestling
Magnum TA & Nikita Koloff for the US Title
Quite shockingly, there is no match, and Magnum TA has been stripped of the United States Heavyweight Championship. This piece started with NWA President Bob Geigel reading a statement to Magnum. Magnum tells him that Nikita was talking about his mother, and he had to do something. Giegel doesn’t care, so Magnum tells him to “REPRIMAND THIS” and PUNCHES GEIGEL IN THE FACE. Magnum TA RULES. He fights commies and he fights the power. That’s a real man’s man. But he lost his title because he hit Bob Geigel, so. Later in the show, Nikita and Ivan have something to say. Nikita calls Magnum a coward, and Jim Crockett comes out to announce a BEST OF 7 SERIES between Magnum TA and Nikita Koloff. Well damn, I just realized that I think I don’t have all of those matches. Ah well. A highly recommended segment in any case.
Dusty Rhodes (w/Baby Doll) vs. Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: The video package at the start of the show, which basically paints Dusty Rhodes as a sex symbol machine, was absolutely fucking hilarious to me. Flair’s promo before this match is shown, with the guys wearing suits and holding up a Slick Ric sign, is awesome. He says that the Four Horsemen are back together, because Ole Anderson is going to be back on this show. After Dusty tosses a jobber out of the ring, Flair walks out to the ring and THEY’RE GONNA GET IT ON LIKE TWO MEN SHOULD DO.
Match Review: Flair backs down from no challenges. The two lock up, and Dusty gives Flair a shoulderblock and hip-toss. An elbow knocks Flair towards the corner, and he stands up with some chops, only to get knocked down repeatedly. No surprise there. Flair goes after Baby Doll now, and gets rammed into the turnbuckle, causing him to fall onto the floor. Flair gets back in, takes Dusty down and drops a knee, for 2. Dusty follows up with a press slam, and a missed elbow drop. Dusty lands a big clothesline though, and gets 2. Dusty then slams Flair off the top rope as per usual, and then Flair gets DQ’d as Tully and Arn run into the ring.
Dusty thinks he has things taken care of considering he’s knocked down all three men, but then OLE ANDERSON shows up, just as Flair predicted, and they put a beating on Dusty. Magnum and the RnR’s run in to save Dusty from that beating, but Ole’s surprise return has been a success. You see, Flair’s promo was cut in the studio. The match took place at an arena, and nobody knew about Ole coming back. Arn cuts a promo in the studio, saying that the Four Horsemen will jump any wrestler, anywhere. Ole has a promo back at the arena, saying they are going to deal with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express and Dusty Rhodes very soon. Good news.
Match Review: Great post-match angle. It’s too bad Flair gave away the surprise beforehand, because I would have been very surprised. I was reviewing this one blind, and perhaps I don’t do that often enough, although it is not possible to do so very often in this format. ** for the match, recommended for the angle.
– Taped to air June 21st, 1986, on World Championship Wrestling, from Atlanta, Georgia
Sam Houston & Rocky Kernodle vs. The Midnight Express (NWA Tag Team Champions) (w/Jim Cornette & Big Bubba)
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is mostly included for an EPIC Cornette bit. As we know Houston has some legitimacy, which was the initial reason I looked at the match. Then I scanned and saw something amazing was being shown before it. Cornette has an ENORMOUS dress and claims that it is Baby Doll’s. Then he tells Schiavone to take that home to his wife. HAHA.
So, Cornette is going to show us a video. He’s going to have a match against one of the Mulkeys. Big Bubba is in the ring just in case, but out comes Baby Doll to give Mulkey a BELLY TO BELLY SUPLEX. Bubba tosses Baby Doll off Mulkey, and he has strange intentions. So, it turns out that Dusty BREAKS A WOODEN CHAIR OVER BUBBA’S HEAD. He no-sells that, which Dusty doesn’t really respond to. Then Bubba starts getting ready to fight Dusty, and the crowd goes a little batshit, so Magnum TA rushes into the ring with two shovels and the big man finally has to back down. Dusty did a great job of selling Bubba as an unbelievable brickhouse. I don’t like Cornette’s rape joke afterward though.
Match Review: The Midnight Express quickly rushes into the ring, and quickly finishes things off after Bobby Eaton’s awesome elbowdrop on Kernodle with Kernodle’s body placed on Condrey’s shoulder. Game over via pinfall after 35 seconds.
My Thoughts: Going to use this as an opportunity to mention that at this point in his career, Big Bubba Rogers is extremely green. I recall watching him in his first few appearances as a job guy. Eventually Dusty pulled him off TV and made him into a character, but he had no experience whatsoever in the business. With all the trash Cornette had talked over the last year, and teams like the Road Warriors around and getting ready to challenge the Midnight Express, it was a great time for Cornette to get a bodyguard. Perfect character, perfect guy, perfect time. No rating for the squash, but it is indicative of Dusty’s feelings towards Sam Houston at the time. I have read that he was interested in having Baby Doll for himself. Houston and Baby Doll were an item, and it wasn’t going to work out for Dusty, so he sent Houston to Central States (a dead territory).
Cornette would go on to cut some interesting promos about Baby Doll in the next few weeks, and a video was shown of Baby Doll training for her series of matches with Cornette on the GAB tour to the tunes of “Looks That Kill” by Motley Crue. AMAZING. The Warlord is apparently supposed to be her bodyguard now. What the hell…
That was an amazing way to spend a few hours. The difference in quality between this and the WWF product of the time is enormous. That’s not an opinion, that’s the way things actually are. The people are utilized to near perfection, the angles are better, and they permeate throughout the whole card. The announcers are also better at getting the angles over. Due to the upcoming tour, each person has multiple angles going at the same time, so it builds towards a slew of interesting matches. This time was a bit low on match quality and very high on great angles. That’s cool with me. Next time out, I’ll be reviewing the Great American Bash 1986 tape. It’s around two hours long and it looks awesome. If things are clipped, I really don’t care. It seems classic.
Best: Ron Garvin vs. Tully Blanchard. It was a great match, one of the best of this time period, and possibly the best I’ll watch from this year.
Worst: The trend of (sometimes implied) violence against women. It’s ridiculous, and my only complaint against the Crockett product at this time.
