NWA (JCP) World Championship Wrestling (January 31, 1987)

 

Original Airdate: January 31, 1987

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

Jimmy Garvin v George South: Wow, George South, Jimmy must be in for a big push. Garvin with a brainbuster at 2:36. Afterwards, Garvin swings by the desk to make sure his hair is still good. DUD

Brad Armstrong is out, and his hair is also still good. God, the beauty salons in the Atlanta must have been flush with all of these perms going on. And Scott Steiner hasn’t even shown up yet!

Ron Garvin v Gary Royal: Garvin stretches the guy for a while, before knocking him out for the pin at 4:13. Afterwards, Garvin swings by to show off his NWA United States Tag Team title belt. Well, it is a very nice belt. DUD

NWA World Tag Team Champions Rick Rude and Manny Fernandez are out, and their belts are significantly less nice

NWA Television Title Match: Tully Blanchard v Brad Armstrong: They couldn’t have worn different color gear? Brad jumpstarts things with a blitz, and Blanchard ends up on the outside after taking a dropkick. Brad is on his tail to win a slugfest out there, and he uses an elbowdrop for two on the way back in. Blanchard tries to bail, but Brad keeps him inside for another two count, and he goes to the mat with a side-headlock. Blanchard keeps escaping, but Brad stays on him, and delivers a kneelift for two. Turnbuckle smash, but Blanchard blocks, and nails him. That fires Brad up enough to win another slugfest, and a snapmare gets him two. Side suplex, but Blanchard blocks, and lands a kneesmash. That’s enough to finally slow Brad down, and Blanchard delivers the turnbuckle smash that failed him previously. Cross corner whip, but Brad reverses, and Tully takes a bump to the outside. Brad forces him back in for a hanging vertical suplex for two, so Blanchard thinks fast, and dumps him to the outside to buy some recovery time. That allows Blanchard to choke Brad as he fights to the apron, but Armstrong is ready with rights once inside. Brad with a cross corner whip and an atomic drop, then a snapmare to set up a kneedrop for two. A northern lights suplex gets the challenger two, so Tully looks to trigger a slugfest, but it goes badly for him. Brad with a corner whip for two, and a kneelift sets up an elbowdrop for one. Blanchard is pissed off now, but trying to mix it up with Brad proves to be a dumb idea once more. Brad with a powerslam for two, and he hammers him with mounted punches, until Blanchard is able to bail. Blanchard decides to walk, but Brad drags him back to prevent the countout save. Brad dives with a missile dropkick, but Tully is in the ropes at two. Blanchard manages to sweep the legs, but an elbowdrop misses, and Brad tags him with another right hand. The Russian legsweep looks to finish, but time has expired at 9:12. Oh man, give them five more minutes! This told a great story. ***

Dick Murdoch is out, and I hardly recognize him in a polo shirt and without a dirty trucker hat

Jimmy Valiant is out, and luckily he has his dirty ski cap on, so I don’t fail to recognize him

Lex Luger v Tommy Angel: Luger has JJ Dillon in his corner here, though he’s not officially a Horsemen yet. Lex with the torture rack at 1:31. Afterwards, Luger swings by the desk to face it. DUD

Baron von Raschke is out to show us his various bandaids

Ric Flair and Ole Anderson v Tim Horner and Eddie Roberts: The Horsemen are in full asshole mode here, and Ole wraps up with an armbar at 7:37. Too long, but had mojo. ¼*

Luger is back out, but this time Barry Windham stops by, and thinks he should put on a shirt already. Them’s obviously fighting words, and fight they do - with Lex beating him up, and ripping his shirt off to make sure he gets the point

Ivan Koloff and Vladimir Petrov are out, and Petrov has a chain now. Clearly, he’s angling for an action figure accessory 

Vladimir Petrov v Zane Smith: Petrov with something resembling a 2nd rope clothesline at 0:41. DUD

NWA United States Champion Nikita Koloff and Dusty Rhodes are out, and both look like they could use some bandaids themselves 

Rick Rude and Manny Fernandez v Rocky King and Kent Glover: The NWA World Tag Team title is not on the line. The Moustache Brothers get the win here at 2:58. DUD

Jim Cornette is out to remind us that he exists. Oh, we haven’t forgotten, don’t worry

The Midnight Express v Vernon Deaton and Larry Stephens: The Express at 4:17, and I think they may have messed up their jobber here, because Bobby Eaton doesn’t even give a proper cover, and Dennis Condrey checks on him after the bell. He looked messed up there. DUD

NWA World Champion Ric Flair is out to show off his insane suit of the week. He looks like a full on mob boss out there, and may have more gold around his neck and on his fingers than around his waist. He then peels off some cash so Tony can go buy a better suit, which is just tremendous 

Tim Horner is out to complain about the loss in the tag match earlier, so he’s going to fight Arn Anderson. You do that

Arn Anderson v Tim Horner: Horner blitzes him, and a dropkick leads to a snapmare for two, but Arn blocks a rollup. That allows Arn to drop him across the top rope, and he dumps Horner to the outside for a trip into the post. Inside, Arn hits him with the rotating spinebuster, and that leaves Horner in trouble, but here comes Barry Windham for the DQ at 1:37. ¼*

The Midnight Express are back out, and hopefully their jobber is still walking

The Horsemen are out, and Luger is standing with them now 

BUExperience: The Blanchard/Armstrong match is definitely worth a look, as is the quality of Flair’s suit this week. Everything else less so, but it wasn’t bad.