NWA (JCP) World Championship Wrestling (March 1, 1986)

Original Airdate: March 1, 1986 (taped February 23)

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

Ron Garvin comes out to hype up his shot at Arn Anderson’s NWA TV title later tonight. Solid stuff from Ron Ron here

Jimmy Valiant v Bob Owens: Valiant remains employed. Jimmy with the elbowdrop at 2:30. Afterwards, Jimmy swings by the desk to sing Marvin Gaye songs. DUD

Tony brings the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express out, and they’ve got their own tennis rackets now, so take that, Cornette. Truly playing 4D chess there

Baron von Raschke v George South: South gets some good fire in early on, but Baron takes over, and finishes with the clawhold to end this endless squash at 5:56. DUD

NWA Television Champion Arn Anderson comes out to let us all know that he thinks Garvin is a joke, and doesn’t really feel he’s worth his time, let alone a shot at the title

Ivan Koloff v Rocky King: Nikita Koloff is still doing his thing about refusing to wrestle on TV until he gets a United States title shot, which still feels like a really weird threat. Like, what’s his leverage supposed to be? Koloff with a 2nd rope clothesline at 5:36. Another really lengthy squash that didn’t have anything going for it. DUD

Tully Blanchard and JJ Dillon stop by to let us know that Dusty Rhodes is helpless and hopeless

Barbarian v Tony Zane: Barbarian does some no selling, before gobbling Zane up, and finishing with a flying headbutt drop at 3:48. DUD

The Koloff’s swing by the desk to call Magnum TA out again

Magnum TA v Randy Mulkey: Magnum’s NWA United States gold is not on the line. Magnum is all smiles despite the threats from the Russians, and sends a quick message with a belly-to-belly suplex at 0:20. DUD

NWA World Champion Ric Flair joins us, and he’s in his robe tonight, as opposed to the suit. And, man, does that brand new big gold belt look incredible. It lost a lot of luster over the years (mostly due to being a one-and-done, as opposed to getting constant replacements like the other belts), but it looks brilliant at this stage. Anyway, he thinks Ron Garvin is a joke, too

Tully Blanchard v Bill Tabb: Another long form squash, ending in Blanchard suplexing him at 4:26. Well, at least it was under five minutes, I suppose. DUD

NWA National Champion Dusty Rhodes and Baby Doll come out so Dusty can tell some fan to get their ‘fat ass’ out of the building. That’s pretty colorful for 1986

Jim Cornette clarifies that he is, in fact, not a complete idiot

The Midnight Express v Alan Martin and Paul Garner: The NWA World Tag Team title is not on the line here. Cornette does guest commentary here, since he can’t keep his mouth closed for more than thirty seconds without combusting. The Express with a Russian facebuster to pick up the win at 5:50. Some good moves from the Express here, but another squash that was just far too long. ½*

The Rock 'n' Roll Express v Bill Mulkey and Mike Somaini: What was with them and booking the two Express teams back to back every week? And why was the crowd so into these guys? They’re so dull. The stereo dropkicks put this away at 4:18. DUD

Magnum TA joins us, and apparently he thinks he’s actually ending the Cold War if he beats Nikita Koloff. Well, it’s good to set goals for yourself, I suppose

NWA Television Title Match: Arn Anderson v Ron Garvin: They feel each other out to start, with Arn cautious of Ron’s fist - the one recently knocked Ric Flair cold. Arn goes to the outside to stall, and manages a wristlock on the way back in, but Garvin bops him with a pair of headbutts to engineer a reversal. Anderson reverses back, so Garvin forces him into the ropes, and smacks him with a pair of chops. They trade hammerlocks, ending in Arn needing the ropes to escape, but the champion manages to use the hair for a takedown into a chinlock. Arn goes to work on the arm after wearing Garvin down a little bit, but Ron slams his way out of a wristlock, and traps the champion in an armbar. Arn fights, so Ron shifts to a front-facelock, and wears him down until he can go back to the arm, as Flair shows up to do commentary. Arn escapes an armbreaker and delivers a bodyslam before slapping a bearhug on, but the arm is weak, and he can’t really wrench it on properly. He tries a backdrop, but Garvin counters with a sunset flip for two, so Anderson goes back to the bearhug. Garvin escapes with a bodyslam, and follows up with an elbowdrop for two, so Arn chokes him into the corner. Cross corner whip, but Ron reverses, and backdrops the champ on the rebound. Anderson wisely bails to break the momentum, but Garvin manages chops when Anderson comes back in. Arn bails again, and suckers Garvin into a chase, but ends up in an abdominal stretch - only to be saved by the time limit bell at 12:18. That’s got to be one of the few times where they actually ran longer than the advertised time (ten minutes) on a time limit draw. It’s almost always the other way around. Afterwards, Flair distracts Garvin, allowing Anderson to deliver a gourdbuster to leave Ron down and out. Good psychological match here. ** ½

Baron and Paul Jones come out to rub it in for Garvin, before switching to threatening Jimmy Valiant. Oh God, Valiant v Baron? There’s not enough alcohol in the world

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express come back out to show off their tennis rackets again. 4D. 4D 

Ric Flair v Brodie Chase: The NWA World title is not on the line. Crockett notes that Ric is the ‘world heavyweight champion of the world.’ Flair, being awesome, does a whole spiel asking the ring attendant (a young Teddy Long) if he’s ‘old enough to hold something so precious.’ Few people in history got the art of pro-wrestling like Ric. Flair toys with him while cutting various promos, and finishes with the figure four at 3:39. ¼*

Cornette comes back out to do some more bellyaching about the Express’ rackets

BUExperience: Though I still really don’t like this show’s two hour format of lengthy squash matches, the star/star stuff is always good, and this week was no exception. But two hours of extended squashes is not a great trade for ten minutes of actual entertaining wrestling.