NWA (JCP) World Championship Wrestling (November 9, 1985)

Original Airdate: November 9, 1985 (taped November 3)

 

From Atlanta, Georgia; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and David Crockett

 

NWA National Tag Team Champion Arn Anderson shows up, and he’s got the NWA Television Title with him, despite the title being vacant following an injury to Dusty Rhodes. Though Arn would end up winning it in the eventual tournament anyway. He gloats about taking Dusty’s belt, and not much else

 

Manny Fernandez v Vernon Deaton: People make fun of the small arenas that the WWF was running in the mid-90s, but even though high school gyms weren’t quite as dinky as this TV studio. It’s also way, WAY over lit, though I guess that’s still preferable to the dingy ECW type shows. Manny with a 2nd rope kneedrop at 2:32. ¼*

 

NWA National Champion Terry Taylor stops by the desk, and he really wants to defend his title, he just can’t seem to find an opponent. That’s a rare problem for a champion to have

 

The Minnesota Wrecking Crew v Jim Backlund and Keith Freeze: The Crew hold the NWA National Tag titles, but this is non-title. Obviously. Read that in Snape voice, please. It helps. Backlund is a young Jimmy Del Ray, and he looks like a total scrub here. Arn Anderson finishes Freeze with a gourdbuster at 3:03. The bumper for the post match commercial lets us know to stay tuned because it ‘gets even better!’ Well, I’d hope so. ¼*

 

NWA United States Champion Tully Blanchard swings by to call Magnum TA out for sexually assaulting Baby Doll a few weeks ago. And even with pretty clear footage of him forcing himself on Doll and then tearing her clothes off, Blanchard is still somehow the heel in this feud

 

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Ivan Koloff, Nikita Koloff, and Krusher Kruschev v Larry Clarke, Jimmy Langston, and Kent Glover: The Russians are the NWA World and Six-Man Tag Team champions here. What’s up with Ivan’s boots here? It’s almost like they’re trying to curl up like Iron Sheik’s, but unintentionally. I’m sure he was making decent money at this point, would a nice boot kill him? Russian Sickle finishes at 3:41. This was energetic and economical. That alone should have been a dead giveaway that they weren’t actually communists. ½*

 

The Rock 'n' Roll Express v Mac Jeffers and Jim Jeffers: The announcers talk about ‘the Jeffers’ as if they’re, I dunno, local contractors, or something. Which, hell, they probably were. I just love the kinda informal, almost casual style of the commentary from this era. It’s certainly a nice change of pace after doing a modern WWE show, that’s for sure. Stereo dropkicks wrap it up at 6:25. They overstayed their welcome a little bit with this one, going back to the armbars again and again instead of just getting to it. ¼*

 

Tony brings Jim Crockett out for an update on Starrcade, and hey, Terry Taylor found someone to challenge for this title! How wonderful! I’m happy for him!

 

Speaking of Crockett, he was recently at a house show in Atlanta, where he announced that Dusty Rhodes has been cleared to return to action, and he will challenge NWA World Champion Ric Flair for the title at Starrcade

 

Billy Jack Haynes v Thunderfoot: Manny Fernandez is sitting in on commentary here. Thunderfoot tries slugging at him to start, but Billy shrugs it off, and a press-slam sends Thunderfoot running to the outside to regroup. Back in, Haynes uses an earringer and a standing dropkick to send Thunderfoot back to the outside, and Billy works a standing headlock when he comes in again. Thunderfoot forces a criss cross, but Billy wins it with a hiptoss, and he armdrags him over for an armbar. Billy works the arm for a bit, but Thunderfoot gets into the ropes to force a break, so Haynes gives him a sloppy slam. Armdrag leads to another armbar, and Billy sinks his teeth into that one for a good long while. Finally, JJ Dillon runs interference to allow Thunderfoot to turn the tide, and a vertical suplex gets him two. Thunderfoot works a front-facelock, and a side suplex gets him two. Back to the facelock, but Billy gets to a vertical base, so Thunderfoot backdrops him for two. Again, but Billy blocks this time, and he makes a comeback. Full-nelson looks to finish, so Dillon hops on the apron to distract him. That allows Thunderfoot to load his boot, but Manny runs over to alert the referee, and Haynes cradles at 10:48. Really dull. I’m honestly surprised the crowd stayed with them as much as they did, and Thunderfoot looked really bad here. Afterwards, Haynes and Fernandez swing by the desk, and they’re so excited over this tiny bit of teamwork that they vow to win the tag titles. That’s a stretch. That’s like me getting a speeding ticket and vowing to win the Indy 500. ½*

 

Tony brings Dusty Rhodes out, and he’s very ready for Starrcade. He’s had hard times, but he’s recovered, and is ready to overcome, and take the world title. This isn’t the famous ‘hard times’ promo, but Dusty works in a lot of the same bits here, and it’s strong stuff

 

Ron Garvin v Paul Garner: I still don’t get the whole Miss Atlanta Lively deal, and I don’t think I ever quite will. I’ve seen so many silly or confusing things in the world of professional wrestling over the years, but that one may take the cake for the most flat out hard to make sense of. Especially for that location and time period. Garvin wrestles him on the mat for an eternity here, before finally putting it away with a punch at 6:27. Say what you will about the WWF in the early 90s, but they knew how to book much more effective squashes than this stuff. DUD

 

The Russians swing by to rant about things, and I’m having a hard time believing Nikita actually kayfabed the world even off-screen for such a long time, since anyone who has even met a real Russian person in passing would be able to spot that accent for a fake. I guess he was lucky it was the 1980s, and there probably wasn’t a lot of Russians running around the territory. But then, here we are in 2022, and they just released a Bond movie a few months ago with a dude doing an insanely phony Russian accent that was played as serious, and no one seemed to bat an eye, so what can I tell you?

 

Recently, David caught up with Jimmy Valiant, Big Mama, and Miss Atlanta Lively, who were engaged in some tasty group sex

 

Barbarian v Gerald Finley: Barbarian’s arm is in a cast here, but no one makes a big thing out of it. Not everyone can expect a parade every time they get a tummy ache, like Dusty Rhodes. Also, the commentators didn’t even get chairs? They just had to stand there with their hands in their pockets calling the match the whole time? Even when I did commentary for backyard wrestling ‘promotions’ in high school, we usually had seats. Sure, it was on the grass, and sure our mom’s got really pissed when we’d come home with our pants all stained, but damn it, we were comfortable! Barbarian with a flying headbutt drop at 3:16. Much better length for a squash. DUD

 

The Anderson’s are back at the desk, and promising to finish the job of Dusty. This is the early days of the Four Horsemen (before they officially formed), and it’s interesting to see the seeds. Arn even calls them, Flair, and Blanchard the ‘four horsemen’ here, possibly for the first time

 

Tully Blanchard v Joe Malcolm: And speaking of the future Horsemen. Baby Doll is still all worked up after Magnum’s assault, and beats on the jobber as well, just because. I don’t blame her for being upset, especially with the douchebag announcers continually claiming that she ‘loved it.’ Cringe. Blanchard with a slingshot suplex at 1:20. DUD

 

Paul Jones wants to talk about the book of names

 

Terry Taylor v Amos Moses: That’s quite the name on that jobber. Taylor works the arm, and finishes with a vertical superplex at 2:47. Nothing to it, but Taylor looked smooth out there. It’s a shame he never found greater stardom, he was a fine wrestler with a decent look, and probably should have been a bigger deal than he was. But he did a lot better than a lot of others, so nothing to complain about, either. ¼*

 

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express are at the desk to hype up their cage match with the Russians for the gold at Starrcade. Seeing close ups of them, it’s hard to believe how young they are. I guess maybe it’s the hair, which is so dated that it always seems to make them look much older than they actually are to me

 

BUExperience: One thing I really like about this show is how easy it is to just jump into. My familiarity with this period of this promotion is fairly limited, but they do a great job of getting you up to speed, and it’s easy to get sucked in. Just as it should be.