NWA (JCP) World Championship Wrestling (December 7, 1985)

Original Airdate: December 7, 1985 (taped December 1)

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

Tully Blanchard comes out right away, clarifying that he never said ‘I quit’ in the match with Magnum TA

The Rock 'n' Roll Express v Mack Jeffers and Jim Jeffers: The Express are the NWA World Tag Team champions, but this is non-title. And the announcers are really excited about that, straight up saying that the belts look like they were designed for them. It’s amazing how quickly these two went from world championship level team to hasbeens, even by wrestling standards. Stereo dropkicks put this one away quickly at 1:50. DUD

Ron Garvin v Tommy Lane: Garvin appears to be wearing literal tighty-whities at this point. The announcers note that Garvin can intimidate you, even with ‘just a look or a slap.’ Yeah, well, I’d hope so. Garvin knocks him out for the pin at 1:55. DUD

We get an extensive Starrcade highlight package. That’s more than the WWF gave away on TV and print combined

New NWA United States Champion Magnum TA joins us, and he’s ready to move on from Tully

Nikita Koloff v Italian Stallion: The graphic promises Arn Anderson against Stallion, but we get Koloff instead. Not sure if that was just an honest mistake, or what, but the announcers turn it into a story without missing a beat, noting that it speaks to Anderson’s character to bail on the match and give his spot to the Russians. Sickle finishes at 1:36. DUD

Tommy Young joins us to talk about the finish in the Ric Flair/Dusty Rhodes match for the NWA World title. Could this promotion ever just have a clean, decisive finish to their big blowoff matches? And even twelve years later they still hadn’t learned the lesson

NWA World Champion Ric Flair comes out to celebrate still being the champion

The Road Warriors v Paul Garner and Adrian Bevins: The Warriors charge in to kick start the match, and let the destruction begin! I still don’t get why people are so nostalgic for this venue/set. I get that logic doesn’t apply when it comes to nostalgia, but it just looks and sounds so small and dinky. Hawk with a clothesline at 3:03. DUD

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Magnum TA, Sam Houston, and Billy Jack Haynes v Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, and Ole Anderson: Sam and Arn start, but Anderson wants Billy. Haynes obliges, and Arn immediately regrets it when Billy traps him in a headlock. Over to Magnum for a flying axehandle, and Arn wisely backs off. He suckers Magnum into the heel corner, but TA manages to avoid the triple team as Ole tags into the match. Ole traps him on the ropes and passes to Tully to get his licks in, but Magnum quickly fights him off, and delivers a press-slam. Magnum with an atomic drop, and Tully begs off in the corner, but Magnum stupidly takes the bait, and takes a trip into the post. Blanchard goes to town in the corner, but Magnum gets fired up, and slugs him across the ring. Tully passes back to Arn, but Magnum reverses a wristlock on him, and tags Sam to dive in with a flying axehandle. Arn fights him off with a drop-toehold, but Sam reverses a waistlock, so Arn passes to Ole. They double team Houston, but Sam manages to out punch Ole, and Anderson ends up in the babyface corner to get pinballed. Back to Arn to try another double team, but Sam is too slippery, and he gets back to Magnum. Arn backs into his home corner to buy some time, but still ends up in a headlock once engaging. Magnum takes it into the babyface corner with the hold, and Billy tags in to put Arn in a chinlock. Arn fights to a vertical base, so Billy press-slams him. That draws Tully in, so Billy gives him one too, and then one for Ole as well. Dust settles on Billy and Tully, and the fans chant ‘I quit’ to taunt Tully. Blanchard gets fired up and turnbuckle smashes Haynes in the heel corner, but Billy counters a bodyslam into the full-nelson, so Ole comes in for the save. Billy responds by putting him in the hold, but he’s too close to the heel corner, and Arn is able to tag himself in. He takes the pep out of Billy’s step with a chinlock, and then Tully dives in with a flying axehandle as Arn applies the hold. The heels work Haynes over, but Magnum catches a hot tag, and Roseanne Barr the door! The referee restores order, but not before the heels are able to gang up on legal man Magnum, and they cut the ring in half on him. Magnum reverses a vertical suplex on Tully to allow the tag to Sam, and he runs wild on the Andersons. Bulldog on Ole looks to finish, but Tully saves, so Magnum runs in, and Roseanne Barr the door again! Arn gets a cheap shot on Sam in the mix, and Ole covers at 18:55. Good, solid tag action here. Nothing flashy, just hard work, rooted in psychology. ***

Dusty Rhodes stops by the desk, and he’s none too pleased about this whole ‘no longer champ’ thing. But it’s nothing a bunch of rambling won’t fix!

The Road Warriors do not want the Russians to visit their backyard. Perhaps they should invest in a fence instead of standing here and complaining to Tony and David

Jimmy Valiant v Vernon Deaton: If I live another hundred years on this planet, I still won’t figure out Valiant’s appeal in this role. Valiant with a backelbow and an elbowdrop at 1:42. Valiant couldn’t even make squashing someone interesting. DUD

The Russians stop by, and promise to avoid the Road Warriors’ backyard. They’ll even take the long way home from school!

Terry Taylor v Brodie Chase: That’s a heck of a jobber name, actually. Sadly, his look does not match up with his badass moniker. Taylor with a slow squash, before finishing with a vertical superplex at 3:37. DUD

Barbarian v George South: Barbarian wastes no time squashing the ever loving shit out of South, before finishing up with a flying headbutt drop at 1:36. Barbarian was all fired up this week, which is always nice to see. ¼*

JJ Dillon comes out to gloat about all the loot he picked up at Starrcade. Clearly the man doesn’t lie, just look at that jacket

Buddy Landel v Jeff Smith: Buddy’s NWA National title is not up for grabs here. Landel suckers the punk into a cheap shot right away, and he unloads in the corner, before finishing with a figure four at 2:26. Landel looked energetic here. Gee, I wonder why. ¼*

Paul Jones would like to clarify that Barbarian is strong. Was that, like, in doubt? 

Krusher Kruschev and Ivan Koloff v Jimmy Backlund and Mark Cooper: Honestly, this studio is really just a half step above the AWA when they were doing the Team Challenge Series pilot. People constantly talk about how ‘embarrassing’ the WWF’s TV was in the mid-90s when they were running high school gyms, but even those looked more big time than this hole. Ivan with a clothesline at 3:02. The jobbers were bumping around like crazy for them here, and any points this match gets is for them. ¼*

Tully comes back out to voice support for Ric Flair

BUExperience: I’m starting to get a little sick of this show, honestly. It’s not bad wrestling by any means, I just think this era in general is not my cup of tea, and this rinky dink set gets on my nerves. I don’t find it as charming. 

Good six-man in there, though.