NWA (JCP) World Championship Wrestling (April 19, 1986)

 

Original Airdate: April 19, 1986 (taped April 13)

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

NWA World Champion Ric Flair swings by, and he’s ready to catch his private jet to New Orleans right after this, because today is the Crockett Cup. He also lets Dusty Rhodes know that he “don’t do no jobs in front of 70,000 people,” which is pretty insider-ish for 1986

The Road Warriors v Ray Traylor and Bill Tabb: The Warriors storm the ring with a real fury, and they just brutalize their jobbers, finishing Tabb with a bearhug/flying clothesline combo at 1:55. The Warriors had really fun energy this week, you can see why they were huge stars. ½*

Dusty Rhodes and Baby Doll swing by, and Dusty’s not interested in Flair’s bullshit, because he’s coming for the gold. And he doesn’t do jobs in front of 70,000 people either, by the way. Pretty sure that won’t be a problem they have to worry about, so job away!

Jimmy Valiant comes by, and he doesn’t care if he’s calling himself ‘Shaska’ or ‘Pez,’ Whatley is still his brother

Nighthawk v Gene Ligon: Rare Nighthawk appearance! Get your cameras out! Nighthawk with a shoulderbreaker at 1:07. DUD

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express are out to talk Crockett Cup. Boy, I sure hope there aren’t any delays in air travel. Could really mess up that show taking place across the country in just a few hours

Wahoo McDaniel v Vernon Deaton: They just keep talking about how Wahoo is going to explode someday, they’ve been going on about it for weeks, and I really wish the fucker would explode already. Because he’s boring the hell out of me so far. Crockett sounds drunk on commentary, slurring stuff like, “you don’t want no part of this Indian,” which definitely sounds like something I’ve heard an old guy say in a bar. Wahoo with a knife-edge chop at 4:31. DUD

Shaska Whatley is out, and he doesn’t give a shit about Valiant, and in fact, he’s going to cut off all his hair and leave him a ‘bald headed geek.’ Sounds like a plan

JJ Dillon swings by, and he thinks Ron Garvin is a piece of shit. Checks out

Magnum TA v Paul Garner: The NWA United States title is not on the line here. Not that it matters for Garner, who eats the belly-to-belly at 0:31. Did Magnum squashes ever run over a minute? DUD

Paul Ellering is out, and he has nothing against the Koloffs, but he thinks their opinions are worthless, and they’re going down soon. Sounds like he has something against them, if I’m being completely honest

Jimmy Garvin v George South: Garvin is great at being a heel, everything about his look and entrance routine makes you instantly hate him. Also, I get that it’s his nickname, but hearing the announcers say stuff like “look at Gorgeous now” feels awkward. Schiavone especially. Garvin puts it away at 6:44. You know how I feel about squashes that run over five minutes. And they were doing so well today! DUD

Manny Fernandez is out, and he’s ready to take the NWA Television title from Arn Anderson later today. It’s so odd hearing someone shift from a Southern American accent to a Spanish speaking accent that smoothly

Jimmy Garvin and Precious are back out, and I’m pretty sure they’re the main reason for climate change

Ivan Koloff v Tony Zane: Why is it always Ivan doing the squashes? Nikita killing dudes is where the money is. Ivan with a 2nd rope clothesline at 10:17. Yes it took him ten minutes (and a commercial break) to squash this fuck. And you wonder why I hate this show. Afterwards, Ivan and Nikita swing by the desk to continue honing their horrible Russian accents. DUD

NWA Television Title Match: Arn Anderson v Manny Fernandez: Dusty is out for commentary, since he’s an ‘expert’ on the TV title, and Baby Doll has got his bags all packed up for him, so he’s got nothing else to do anyway. Manny with a bodypress for two almost right away, but Arn bails to break the momentum. Back in, Arn manages a corner whip, but Fernandez blocks the charge in, and Anderson ends up on the outside again. Manny continues to dominate him with Anderson bailing after each exchange, until Fernandez gets him in a wristlock to keep the champion grounded. Arn gets a headlock on, but Fernandez quickly uses a drop-toehold to shake him off, and the challenger works a toehold. Arn escapes, and tries a backdrop, but gets clobbered, and Fernandez works a spinning toehold. He does a lot of work on the ankle for a guy who finishes with a jumping forearm to the head. Nevertheless, Fernandez keeps working and working and working on the leg, until Arn finally fights him off, and uses a snapmare. He stupidly drops a knee, though, and aggravates the leg. Arn with a pop-up flapjack, and he grounds Fernandez in a bodyscissors, as time starts running down. Arn with a knee, but he hurts himself again, and I’m starting to think he’s not very smart. Fernandez recovers with a jumping forearm, but he can’t cover quickly enough. He looks for a dropkick, but Arn dodges. Arn tries an elbowdrop, but Manny dodges, and hits the champ with a 2nd rope clothesline. The jumping forearm looks to finish, but Arn is in the ropes, and time expires at 17:52. The announcers act like Fernandez was robbed, but Anderson had his foot on the ropes at two regardless of the time limit. Afterwards, Tully Blanchard runs out to attack, but Dusty and Ron Garvin make the save. Pretty dull stuff, though Anderson did a great job of selling the leg. *

Jim Cornette is out and apparently he’s received a contract for the Midnight Express to wrestle Magnum TA and Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World Tag Team title, but Cornette doesn’t think Dusty and Magnum have ever actually teamed… but he’ll still grant them a title shot. I don’t think he’s as good of a manager as he thinks he is

The Midnight Express v Art Pritts and Bob Pearson: The NWA World Tag Team title is not on the line, and Cornette hangs out on commentary. The Express have fun with this one, taking one of the jobbers over to the commentary area, and giving the announcers a close up view of the abuse. Bobby Eaton with a flying kneedrop, and Dennis Condrey adds a full nelson facebuster at 5:10. I’m tempted to drop the rating because it went over five minutes, but the Express were having so much fun with this that I can’t do that in good conscience. ¼*

NWA National Champion Tully Blanchard and JJ Dillon are out, and poor Tully is looking beat to hell, but his mouth still works fine

Ron Garvin is out, and he’ll take the tape off his fists when he feels like it, not because JJ Dillon tells him to. Also, he’s dangerous, even when he sleeps. Because of beans? I get that

Ron Garvin v Brodie Chase: I’m trying really hard to find something interesting to talk about here, but Garvin is just not doing it for me. He puts Chase away at 3:13, in any case. DUD

Jimmy Valiant is back to yell some more. Apparently Whatley is no longer his brother. Also, he might be Napoleon 

BUExperience: The feature match looked good on paper, but ultimately this episode was a disappointment. It just feels like nothing ever really develops and it’s the same people doing and saying the same thing every week.