NWA (JCP) World Championship Wrestling (December 27, 1986)

 

Original Airdate: December 27, 1986 

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

Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff are out to open things up, and Dusty walking around in a Boston Celtics jacket with a cowboy hat is a look

Dick Murdoch v Brodie Chase: I realize that is was a different time and place, but how did ‘Captain Redneck’ seriously work as a gimmick? Chase looks like he could be Magnum TA’s doofy brother. Murdoch with a lot of chinlocks here, before putting things away with an elbowdrop at 3:24. DUD

Jim Crockett summons Ron Garvin out, and Ron has to decide if he wants to keep the NWA Mid-Atlantic title or the NWA United States Tag Team title, since the NWA has a rule about only holding one belt at a time. Garvin decides to surrender the Mid-Atlantic belt

Ivan Koloff is out, promising to bring someone from Nikita’s childhood in to help him get revenge on his nephew 

NWA United States Tag Team Title Match: Ron Garvin and Barry Windham v The Midnight Express: Garvin probably should have waited to finish this defense before making that choice earlier. Barry and Dennis Condrey start, and they feel each other out, as Jim Cornette swings by commentary to do his thing. Tags all around, and Bobby Eaton manages to pound Ron into the corner, before grabbing a front-facelock. Ron gets into the ropes, and pops Bobby with a right hand, and he grabs a front-facelock of his own. Condrey breaks it up, however, and puts Garvin in a front-facelock. I’m starting to this these guys really like the front-facelock. Vertical suplex, but Ron counters to a small package for two, so Condrey quickly tags out, and Eaton cuts off Ron’s tag attempt. Eaton tries a hiptoss, but Ron reverses, and uses a headscissor takedown, which he hangs on to into a hold. Tag to Barry, and he holds Condrey in a headlock, but Dennis escapes. Barry responds with a bodyslam, and he takes it to the mat in a side-headlock, so Condrey goes to the eyes, and tags. Barry catches an incoming Eaton with a headlock, and a tag to Garvin for a flying sunset flip for two. Unfortunately, that puts Eaton in position to tag out, but Condrey gets caught with a punch while trying to corner Ron. Garvin with a suplex for two, but Condrey catches him with a knee, and passes to Eaton for a ropechoke. The Express go to work on Garvin, but Barry gets the tag, and unloads on Bobby. A charge in the corner hits a knee, however, and the challengers quickly capitalize. Condrey with a vertical suplex for one, so he grounds Windham in a chinlock. They work him over, but Garvin gets a tag in again. The Express quickly double up to put him into trouble, however, and they put him through a series of near falls. The Express hit the rocket launcher with time running down, but Garvin gets a shoulder up at two. Bobby fights him for additional pin attempts, but Garvin hangs tough. Tag to Condrey for a brainbuster, but Ron gets a defiant shoulder up at two, as time expires at 18:31. This was super fun, and classic style tag wrestling. ***

The Road Warriors v Bill Mulkey and Randy Mulkey: The Warriors are in happy squash mode tonight, and kill the jobbers at 0:21. Not wasting any time out there. Afterwards, the Warriors swing by the desk, and their face paint hasn’t even faded after that brief workout. DUD

The Midnight Express are back out, promising to get the US Tag title next time

Rick Rude and Manny Fernandez v Dave Spencer and Pablo Crenshaw: The NWA World Tag Team title isn’t on the line here. The champs are color coordinated here, always a plus. And they put this away at 6:16. Long. Afterwards, the champs swing by the desk to listen to a liontamer at the circus. DUD

Garvin and Windham are back, acting like they won

The Rock 'n' Roll Express v Kent Glover and Zane Smith: The Express with some combo action at 1:10. DUD

Bill Apter announces that the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express have won the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Tag Team of the Year for 1986, and he has plaque for them. Ain’t got no belts, though

Apter presents Ric Flair with Wrestler of the Year. Well, at least he’s also world champion

Flair is out, and he feels that being him is better than being a doctor, lawyer, or scientist. Probably combined, though he doesn’t explicitly say

NWA Television Title Match: Tully Blanchard v Pat O'Brien: Tully makes short work of him with the slingshot suplex at 0:24. DUD

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express are back out, and happy to be Tag Team of the Year. Again, where’s the gold?

Bill Dundee v Clement Fields: Dundee with a flying axehandle at 1:36. This felt long, even at a minute and a half. DUD

Arn Anderson and Ole Anderson v Randy Barber and Bill Tabb: Tony is very excited that Arn is wearing red. Arn with a gourdbuster at 4:22. Afterwards, they swing by the desk so Arn can also show off that badass haircut to go along with his red tights. DUD

Murdoch is back out, excited about traveling to Europe. Was he an actual captain of some sort? Why is Tony calling him ‘captain,’ otherwise? Fuck that shit. Who is he, Lisa Kudrow’s dad?

Brad Armstrong v Mike Jackson: Brad with a Russian legsweep at 5:28. DUD

Tully is back out, and he enjoys how much everyone hates him, because it means that he’s the best

Jimmy Garvin and Bill Dundee are out to shock and amaze us. The most amazing thing is that either of these guys could possibly be straight

Jimmy Garvin v Alan Martin: “Like him or not, Gorgeous Jimmy’s got something.” Yeah, hepatitis. Garvin with a brainbuster at 0:36. Happy new year to you, pal. DUD

Armstrong is back out, and hopes to enter the Crockett Cup with his dad as a partner. That draws Jimmy Garvin over to dance. But, like, at him

BUExperience: I really enjoyed the big feature match, and it’s worth checking out… even if the rest is pretty much filler.