NWA (JCP) World Championship Wrestling (April 26, 1986)

 

Original Airdate: April 26, 1986 (taped April 20)

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

Jimmy Valiant v Kent Glover: Valiant’s gear this week has ‘purple heart’ on the rear, which… was he? Because I’ll dislike him a lot less if it’s true. I mean, I’ll still hate him as a wrestler, but at least I’ll respect him as a person. Still kind of a weird thing to have on your gear if you’re not doing a military gimmick. Valiant with an elbowdrop at 2:47. DUD

Manny Fernandez swings by, and he’s sick of Pez Whatley wanting to be Shaska. Racist

Manny Fernandez v Art Pritts: “Watch the Bull,” notes Crockett. You know, I’d rather not! Manny with the jumping forearm at 4:16. DUD

Ron Garvin v Paul Garner: JJ Dillon is out to announce that he’s petitioned the board, and Ron Garvin is no longer allowed to wear the tape around his wrist. Well, he’s right! You may not like him, but the man is right! Garvin with a headbutt and a splash at 5:02. Afterwards, Garvin swings by the desk, and he notes that he’s ‘proud to be an American’ which somehow ties into a threat to breaking into JJ’s house and watching him sleep. That’s… an interesting connection…? DUD

The Road Warriors are out to celebrate their Crockett Cup win

Clips of the Crockett Cup. Still clips! And, like, five minutes of them, no less!

The Road Warriors v Randy Mulkey and Jeff Smith: The Warriors make their usual short work of the jobbers, and Hawk finishes with a flying splash at 1:43. That was actually something of a marathon for them. DUD

Clips of Ricky Morton pinning NWA World Champion Ric Flair as part of a tag match at a house show somewhere. That leads to Ric and his boys jumping Ricky in the dressing rooms, and rubbing his face into the floor until he bleeds all over the tile. Pretty brutal. I may not like everything about this promotion, but I do appreciate how much more gritty and realistic their angles are

Baron von Raschke and Shaska Whatley v Bill Tabb and Lee Peak: Such a weird team. But I guess it works to get over that they’re both mercenaries. Whatley with a superplex at 10:03. This went on forever. They just don’t get the concept of squashes in this promotion. Afterwards, they swing by the desk to talk trash at Jimmy Valiant. DUD

Ric Flair is out, and he doesn’t feel remotely bad about what he did to Morton. He needed to be made an example of

Wahoo McDaniel v Jim Dawson: Luckily, Wahoo is feeling generous this week, and puts this shit away quick with a chop at 1:10. Bless you. DUD

Jimmy Garvin and Precious are out, and they’ve got presents for Wahoo, in the form of various native American indian toys. He’s got trinkets! Trinkets!

Clips of the big story this week: the Midnight Express hitting Baby Doll in the middle of a fight with Dusty Rhodes, and then gloating and celebrating it. That draws Dusty and Magnum TA out here in the studio, and they’re fuming

The Rock 'n' Roll Express v Bob Owens and Ron Rossi: Oh shit, this is going to be, like, eight minutes, isn’t it? Actually, no, as the Express put it away with a combo at a surprisingly brisk 1:56. Well, that just warms my heart. DUD

Jim Cornette is out, and David Crockett is so disgusted by him that he won’t even appear in this segment. Despite that, Cornette still gloats, and does the whole male chauvinist angle. It’s a cliche for a reason, you really want to see the babyfaces get him now

The Midnight Express v George South and Rocky King: The NWA World Tag Team title is not on the line here, and, of course, Cornette sits in on commentary. The Express put it away at 2:34. DUD

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express are back out, and man, Ricky Morton’s face looks terrible. Great angle

Tully Blanchard v Mike Somaini: The NWA National title is not on the line here. Tully is looking energetic this week (I wonder why that might be, hmm), and a slingshot suplex finishes at a brisk 0:39. Afterwards, Blanchard and JJ swing by the desk, and while they weren’t involved, they don’t see what the big deal is with the whole Baby Doll deal. People get hurt in wrestling every day, why is she so special?  ¼*

Ivan and Nikita Koloff join us, and they don’t feel bad for making Magnum TA bleed. Them’s the breaks

NWA Television Title Match: Arn Anderson v Gene Ligon: This is for the title, really? Unfortunately for Gene, he may look a little like Robert DeNiro, but that’s about all he has going for him, and Arn wraps up with the gourdbuster at 4:15. Afterwards, Arn swings by the desk, and is quickly joined by Flair, Blanchard, and Dillon. They keep calling themselves the ‘three horsemen’ here. So close. DUD

BUExperience: Total feature matches: zero. Total title shots for Gene Ligon: one. Show: sucks.