NWA (JCP) World Championship Wrestling (July 12, 1986)

 

Original Airdate: July 12, 1986

Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Jim Cornette in the studio

Jim Crockett is out to celebrate the greatness that is the Great American Bash tour thus far

Warlord v Gene Ligon: From Raleigh, North Carolina on July 6. Aside from just being a unique venue for this show, it’s a unique venue in general, with those giant windows. A great look. Warlord with a running powerslam at 0:42. DUD

NWA World Champion Ric Flair is out to hype a match against Dusty Rhodes at tonight’s Bash tour stop

The Four Horsemen are out, and Ole must have been feeling some real gold envy

Ivan Koloff v Rocky King: From Raleigh, North Carolina on July 6. Why do they keep wasting airtime on Ivan? Just make him a manager, already! Koloff with a straddling ropechoke at 5:28. Yes, a straddling ropechoke to finish. ¼*

Great American Bash Update is a look at Jimmy Valiant shaving Shaska Whatley’s head on the tour

Magnum TA may be down in his series with Nikita Koloff, but not out

Ron Garvin v Black Bart: From Raleigh, North Carolina on July 6. Some posturing to start, and Bart takes control. He works Garvin over in the corner, but Ron fights him off, and delivers an elbowdrop for two. Garvin goes to a front-facelock, then into an armbar, but Bart fights free. Garvin tries a dropkick in the corner, but ends up caught in a tree of woe, and Bart takes over. He tries a charge in the corner, but hits a boot, and Garvin hooks a leveraged pin at 7:37. ¼*

Dusty Rhodes is ready to make history, and defeat Ric Flair for the world title, tonight

Teijo Khan v Mark Fleming: From Raleigh, North Carolina on July 6. Khan is still around? Khan with a powerslam at 6:08. Stop doing six minute squashes, you losers. DUD

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express are really excited. About kerchiefs. Well, fall is coming

NWA National Title Match: Tully Blanchard v Wahoo McDaniel: From Raleigh, North Carolina on July 6. Wahoo dominates early, and grounds Blanchard in a wristlock. Tully fights, so Wahoo goes to a chinlock, as he continues to give us maximum level excitement. Blanchard fights him off, and works his challenger over in equally dull fashion. Wondrous! Wahoo fights him off, so Blanchard tries to run, but Wahoo keeps him in the ring. Wahoo goes to town with chops, and a knife-edge nearly puts it away, but JJ Dillon gets Blanchard into the ropes at two. He passes Tully a weapon, and Blanchard knocks Wahoo silly. Cover, count, but Ron Garvin runs in to alert the referee to the weapon, and Blanchard is disqualified at 11:54. They did a good job hitting their marks to make that finish work. ½*

The Russians think Magnum TA is a big nothing burger

Sam Houston v George South: From Raleigh, North Carolina on July 6. Is Houston a jobber this week? Sam with a bulldog at 6:45. As far as I’m concerned, taking nearly seven minutes to squash a guy places you firmly in the ‘jobber’ column. DUD

NWA World Tag Team Title Match: The Midnight Express v The Road Warriors: From Raleigh, North Carolina on July 6. Dennis Condrey starts with Animal, and his attempts to wrestle the challenger go badly. Dennis ends up on the outside after an elbow from Animal, and Cornette is right there to help him regroup. Back in, Animal gets a standing headlock, so Dennis forces a criss cross, but gets dropped. Animal adds a dropkick to send Condrey back to the outside, and it’s over to Hawk. Dennis tries a piledriver on him, but Hawk pops up, and uses a headbutt to send Dennis back to the floor. The Warriors get tired of them, and chase, and the Express get wrecked on the outside. The heat for this is off the charts. Inside, the Express try to double up on Hawk, but get shrugged off. Cornette adds a weapon into the mix to allow the Express to finally turn the tide, and they go to work on Hawk. Hot tag to Animal, and Roseanne Barr the door, we’ve got a kettle on! Baby Doll shows up to knock Cornette out in the chaos (to a massive pop), and the Warriors are awarded the bout by DQ at 10:42. *

The Road Warriors are fuming, feeling robbed of the title

Bunkhouse Six-Man Tag Team Match: Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Ole Anderson v Dusty Rhodes, Ricky Morton, and Robert Gibson: From Raleigh, North Carolina on July 6. Everyone brawls right away, and I legitimately love how Flair’s take on ‘bunkhouse gear’ is slacks and polo shirt. Dusty chases him around the building, and drags Ric in for Morton to whack with a cowbell. Gibson takes off his cowboy boot to keep the party going, and Arn is bleeding, two minutes into this. That’s dedication. We don’t get the finish though, as time just runs out on the episode at 2:37 shown. Well, that was some bullshit. 

BUExperience: Getting them out of the usual venue in Atlanta was an immediate shot in the arm, and they had some good marque matches as well. Not a great episode, but better than many others.