NWA (GCW) at Omni Coliseum (February 26, 1984)

 

Original Airdate: February 26, 1984

From Atlanta, Georgia

Opening Match: Pez Whately v Jesse Barr: Whately makes a big thing about the referee checking Barr’s kneepad, and Jesse even teases forfeiting before allowing the official to look… and then the referee finds nothing anyway. So simple, but so effective, and one of those nuances I miss from this era. Posturing to start, with Whately generally in control. Pez wins a criss cross with a hiptoss, so Barr begs off, and breaks the momentum by hiding in the ropes. Whately gets a standing side-headlock on next, but Barr forces a criss cross, and gets Pez in a chinlock. Whately starts to fight free, so Barr puts the boots to him, and right back to the hold from there. Whately escapes again, and wins a criss cross with a bodypress for two, then hooks a small package for two. He tries holding Barr in a front-facelock, but Jesse escapes, and swings wildly - ducked by Whately, and carried into a side suplex. Barr manages to catch him with a knee, and he dumps Whately to the outside to buy some time. Pez beats the count, so Barr welcomes him with another knee for one, then uses a bodyslam. He tries a big kneelift, but Whately dodges, and hits a jumping headbutt at 6:42. Nothing of note, but solid. ¾*

Spoiler v Johnny Rich: Spoiler powers him into the corner right away, but Rich shoves him off to make space, and unloads a series of punches, ahead of a dropkick. Rich tries a front-facelock, but Spoiler gets him into the corner, then takes a shot on the rope break. Rich responds by getting fired up and slugging him into another corner, then delivers a cross corner whip. Rich with a bodyslam for two, and he corners Spoiler for a ten-punch. Another cross corner whip, but Spoiler reverses it this time, and delivers a flying forearm for two. Spoiler dumps him out of the ring, and perches on the top rope, waiting for Rich to get back in so he can dive with another flying forearm. Spoiler dumps him back to the outside, but Rich beats the count, so Spoiler puts the boots to him. Rich gets fired up again, and manages a backdrop to set up a kneedrop, so Spoiler tries a ropewalk, but gets slammed off the top. Rich keeps coming with a cross corner whip, and he follows in for a monkey flip, but Spoiler grabs a clawhold to block. Rich gets the ropes, so Spoiler dumps him to the outside, and poor Johnny is a bloody mess at this point. Spoiler tries keeping up on the outside, but Rich manages a slingshot sunset flip, so Spoiler grabs another claw. Rich fights it, but ultimately passes out at 6:57. Nothing monumental. but good work. * ¼ 

Ted DiBiase v Mr. R: The masked Mr. R is Tommy Rich under a mask, doing a Machines style gimmick where everyone knows it’s him, but DiBiase can’t prove it. Some posturing to start, and Mr. R gets control with a mat-based side-headlock. He works on that for a good while, until both Jesse Barr and Spoiler individually run in to attack Mr. R, trying to claim the bounty offered for capturing his mask. They fail to do so, but do trigger a DQ at 6:32. There was literally nothing here other than a lengthy headlock. DUD

NWA Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Les Thornton v Tommy Rogers: We’ve had the same referee working four matches straight here. Les working as a Junior Heavyweight feels like the inverse of Rey Mysterio working as a Heavyweight. He’s huge! Tommy takes him down in a headlock early on, and he sinks his teeth into that. Les eventually counters to a headscissors, and he works that for a bit, until Rogers counters back to the headlock. Les escapes, but gets caught in a sunset flip for two, and Rogers adds a dropkick, before going back to the headlock. Les quickly counters to the headscissors, until Rogers catches him with a powerslam for two, so the champ goes to the eyes. That’ll learn ‘im. Rogers ends up taking the count on the outside, but makes it up to the apron, so Les rattles him with a pair of smashes into the wrench that connects the post to the turnbuckle pad, and Tommy ends up taking another count. Rogers fights back to the apron, so Les tries punching him, but Rogers manages a slingshot sunset flip for two. Les cuts him off, and uses a butterfly suplex for two. He grounds Rogers in a chinlock, until the challenger fights to a vertical base, so Les turnbuckle smashes him to prevent a flurry. Les with a cross corner whip, but the charge in misses, and Rogers bodyslams him to set up a kneedrop for two. Les tries grabbing a headlock to slow things down, but Rogers dropkicks him out of the ring to block it. Rogers with a smash into the apron before forcing him in with a side suplex for two. A pair of dropkicks corner the champion, but an overzealous Rogers gets nailed following in. Les tries a vertical suplex, but Rogers reverses, and dives with a flying sunset flip for two. A rollup is worth two, but then Les rolls through for three at 14:00. Good storytelling throughout, even if only the last few minutes were especially action packed. * ½ 

Wahoo McDaniel v Nikolai Volkoff: Wahoo tries to keep him at bay with chops, but Volkoff muscles him to the mat, and gets a cravat on. Volkoff with a press-backbreaker for two, and he corner whips Wahoo for a rebound into a bearhug. Wahoo escapes, so Volkoff tags him with a backelbow for two, but Wahoo gets fired up with a series of chops, and  Volkoff goes over the top. Wahoo follows, but Volkoff sends him into the post out there. Volkoff tries to use a chair, but misses, and Wahoo pounds him into the ropes. The referee tries to break it up, but Wahoo isn’t having it, and shoves the official down. The referee might let it go, but then he goes to intervene again, and this time Volkoff shoves him down, and that’s a double disqualification at 6:26. ½*

NWA National Television Title Match: Jake Roberts v Ron Garvin: In case you thought it was only in response to his terrible physique in 1996, Jake works in a t-shirt here as well. Jake takes him down and works an armbar right away, and speaking of weird looks, dig Garvin with a Greg Valentine haircut. Maybe that’s what their feud was about in 1989. Ron eventually escapes, and dumps Jake to the outside, where Roberts stalls for a stint. Jake manages a takedown, and he delivers an elbowdrop, then a pointed elbowdrop. Jake goes to the mat again, but Garvin fights to a vertical base, so Jake starts throwing punches. Garvin no-sells, however, and it’s comeback time! Ron targets Jake’s taped up ribs, but the referee gets bumped, and Paul Ellering comes at him with a chair. Garvin manages to block, but Roberts recovers, and delivers a DDT onto the chair for the pin at 13:24. This was pretty dull, but Jake did a good job of selling the ribs. ½*

NWA National Tag Team Title Match: The Road Warriors v King Kong Bundy and Stan Hansen: Considering how many guys from this card would end up in the WWF not long after this, it’s shocking that the Road Warriors didn’t. Hawk and Stan start, and they measure each other, with Stan’s wiley ways outdoing Hawk’s raw power. Tags all around, and Bundy puts Animal on the outside with a shoulderblock. Tag back to Hawk to try the monster on for size, and Hawk calls for a test-of-strength. Bundy accepts, and initially dominates the exchange, so Hawk starts kicking him. Bundy catches the leg and wallops him, then slaps on a bearhug from there, and it’s crazy to watch Hawk earnestly sell. Hawk fights free, and hammers Bundy into the corner, but he can’t muscle him for a cross corner whip. Hawk tries a charge instead, but gets blocked, so he passes to Animal. Animal stupidly tries a bodyslam on the way in, but gets reversed, and the tag is made to Stan. Stan slaps on a standing side-headlock, but Animal muscles into his home corner for a blind tag. Hawk tries taking advantage, but Hansen fights him off. Stan with an armdrag ahead of a tag to Bundy, who drops a knee to the shoulder, and grabs an armbar. Also weird seeing Bundy work stuff like armbars, I don’t think he even did that during the WWF run. The challengers work Hawk’s arm, but he manages to pull into the corner for a tag. Animal gets Stan down in an armbar of his own, and the Warriors manage to work him over, cutting the ring in half. He finally escapes a double team and gets the hot tag to Bundy, and Roseanne Barr the door! Bundy casually dominates both Warriors, and the poor referee has no hope of restoring order, finally calling a double DQ at 15:08. It was fun seeing these four guys go at it, and the dynamic of the match (and, in particular, seeing the Warriors actually sell lots) was interesting, but it really wasn’t much as far as a match. ¾*

Main Event: NWA World Title Match: Ric Flair v Brad Armstrong: Brad is the NWA National champion at this point, but only Ric’s belt is on the line. And, for those keeping score, we’re up to the main event, and still only one referee deep for the night. They feel each other out to start, and Brad gets control, sinking his teeth into a side-headlock, and evading all of Flair’s many counter and escape attempts. Flair throws chops to try and shake him, but Armstrong is ready with a pair of dropkicks, and the champion bails to break the momentum. Back in, Flair muscles him into the corner for a non-clean break, but Brad turns the tables on some chops. Armstrong with a cross corner whip, and he backdrops Flair for two on the rebound. That allows Armstrong to go back to the headlock, but a criss cross allows Flair to tag him with a backelbow, and the champ adds a kneedrop. Odd to see people in the front row leaving during this, presumably to get a jump on traffic. Flair works him with some chops, and a butterfly suplex gets the champion two. Ric with a corner whip, but Armstrong blocks a couple of suplex attempts, so Flair unloads with chops to soften him up. It ends up firing Armstrong up, however, and the challenger pounds away with rights and left to flop Flair. Brad gets a sleeper on, and Flair fades, but gets a foot into the ropes to save himself. Brad responds by attacking the knee, and a vertical suplex gets the challenger two. Armstrong hooks an abdominal stretch, but Flair escapes with a hiptoss, only to miss an elbowdrop. That allows Brad to keep hammering him in the corner, and a cross corner whip flips Flair over the buckles into a tree of woe. Flair tries a snapmare, but Armstrong counters to a backslide for two, so Flair tries a side suplex, but Brad counters to a rollup for two. Ric goes to the top, but Armstrong slams him off, and drops a knee for two. Both guys are up for a slugfest, won by Armstrong. He gets Flair in the corner for a ten-punch, so Ric tries going to old faithful: chops. Brad matches him shot for shot, however. Flair tries a bodyslam, but Armstrong topples for two. Bodypress, but Ric rolls through - and right into a leveraged pin at 20:51. The standard Flair formula match, meaning the psychology was good, with the challenger dominating, until the veteran outlasts him luck long enough to take advantage of a mistake. The early going was a little dull, even if psychologically sound, but the last leg was great back-and-forth stuff. ** ½ 

BUExperience: I didn’t really find this to be worth investing the time into watching, but the main event is at least worth a look if you’re in the neighborhood. 

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