by Liam Byrne
The continued link between Billy Jack and the Missing Kids section of CWF leads to a video this week that has Nicole (the girl that has been with Jack before) doing some tumbling in the ring before giving Jack a hug which segues into the missing children hotline segment. There is something a little bit awkward, knowing the strange man that Jack would eventually become, in the manner with which they use the relationship with Nicole to promote this segment. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it feels very fake.
The overlooking of The Dream since the debut of the gimmick continues as he is here to get squashed by Pez Whatley with limited fanfare. Two hiptosses and a dropkick have the Dream rolling to ringside before Whatley brings him back in with a tug on the topes. A waistlock takedown doesn’t allow Whatley to keep down the Dream for long, but a back body drop moments later knocks the wind out of his opponent. After a punch and eye rake by the Dream momentarily halts Whatley, ‘Pistol’ picks up the win after turning a second rope crossbody into a powerslam that almost winds up dropping the Dream on his head. A decent enough showcase for Whatley but the CWF clearly had no plans for the Dream, realising the gimmick was dead on arrival. In an odd post-match moment, three heel jobbers are dealt with by Whatley, whilst the arrival of a more fitting duo in Kevin Sullivan and Billy Graham sees Mike Graham hit the ring to even the numbers and force a withdrawal by the heel team.
Some shilling continues to sell the Miami show, including Pez Whatley and Buggsy McGraw talking about slapping the Dream about, The Creep Show (as named via the chyron) talking primarily about Billy Jack and Mike Graham, Jack retorting by promising to end Sullivan’s time in Florida and One Man Gang throwing some verbals Jim Nighthart’s way.
Speaking of Nighthart, he is up next for his Florida television debut against Shotgun Willie, one of the jobbers that attacked Whatley earlier. Willie drops Nighthart with a side headlock takedown and controls him until a send-off into the ropes sees Willie get taken down with a shoulderblock. Nighthart shrugs off a dropkick and Willie eats several forearms to the face and back. An eye rake halts a Willie punch combination before Nighthart bites him in the corner. Several shoulders in the corner lead to a throw across the ring, whilst Willie’s constant attempts to fight back are halted with a clubbing blow or eye rake. Willie has one more burst of offense, yet an Irish whip into the corner is reversed and he is dumped hard with a clothesline. Two shoulderblocks and a backbreaker are enough for the win; not exactly the most impressive of moves to finish a contest considering Nighthart’s power. The match was quite sloppy to be honest, though it did sell Nighthart’s physical nature.
The Creep Show join Solie at the commentary booth, with Oliver Humperdink making it clear that they he has no contractual link to Kevin Sullivan, they just share similar desires in the business. Sullivan cuts across Humperdink to talk about his past history with Mike Graham, wrapped up in his usual mystical references. Humperdink has the final word, promising to talk to his lawyer about getting the match against the One Man Gang and Buggsy McGraw scrapped, something Solie doesn’t believe will be possible.
Chief Joe Lightfoot and Mike Allen are the opponents for Billy Graham and Kevin Sullivan in the match that was termed the main event of today’s show in the opening segment. Graham uses his huge arms to take control of Allen with a side headlock and some punches, though Allen almost steals a pin with a sunset flip on Sullivan moments later. Lightfoot ends up in the ring, rocking Sullivan with chops and an atomic drop, before slapping on an armbar, one which he hangs onto as Sullivan tries to scramble his way out of the hold. Blackjack Mulligan and Kendall Windham join the commentary team, with Mulligan grabbing the Lock in order to try and snap her out of the trance Sullivan has her in. At this moment, we can hear the action in the background, but the camera is showing Mulligan’s attempts to talk to the Lock. She begins to scream in confusion and flees the scene, leading to Mulligan and Windham also heading backstage.
Sullivan is in control as we see the action back in the ring, nailing Lightfoot with a chop, double foot stomp and big clothesline. A slam gets him a one count only though, and Lightfoot avoids a turnbuckle smash to hit one of his own. A tag to Allen sees Allen halted instantly with a clothesline, taken down with two double chops to the throat by Graham and a full nelson applied for the submission. Sullivan seems more focused on where the Lock is than the victory itself. What we saw of the match looked decent, it was just a shame the bulk of it was lost to the ridiculous Lock story that I can’t imagine would have gone down well at the time either, let alone over thirty years in the future.
The final match of the show is a chance to showcase the Saint once more as he takes on the Breakdancer. Some grappling down on the canvas shows some sense of parity, but a Saint punch to the throat has the Breakdancer reeling. The Breakdancer shakes off a turnbuckle smash and lands a headbutt of his own, but the Saint regains control with a side headlock takedown. A shoulderblock by the Breakdancer is followed by a clothesline by the Saint, with a kneedrop earning him a two count. The Saint sends the match to the outside, ramming the Breakdancer back against the ring apron and using a suplex to bring him back in for a nearfall. The Breakdancer gets a one count off of a sunset flip, before kicking out of a side suplex attempt by the Saint. The Breakdancer hits a dropkick but whiffs on a second attempt, allowing the Saint to hit a kneedrop and a swinging neckbreaker for the win. Again, perfectly acceptable, but the Saint just isn’t a particularly engaging character which hurts squash matches when that is what is being sold to the audience.
We have just enough time for a Pez Whatley promo in which he tells us he is ready for the black magic, and word from Blackjack Mulligan, who believes that Kendall Windham might be the key to breaking the hold Sullivan has on the Lock. Solie’s sign-off for the week is a dour note as he talks about people getting into the wrong crowds and how it only ends up in a bad way.
I remember being pretty low on early Florida from this year, but the promotion had done a really good job of turning things around. However, losing a lot of the more engaging characters and the continued focus on the Lock nonsense has hurt their weekly television significantly. The matches on here were all fine enough, but the characters just aren’t as interesting and the storylines that they focus on are either played out or uninspiring. Perhaps an opportune time to have a break as my next Florida footage comes a month down the line, and a month is a long time in the days of the territories.
MACW World Wide Wrestling 25.8.84
For the second week in a row, we begin a show with Brian Adidis in the ring as he faces off against Paul Graham. As Adidis uses a trip and leglock to control Graham, David Crockett announces that we will see Don Kernodle and Ivan Koloff defend the NWA World Tag Team Titles against the Renegade and Mark Youngblood, alongside a Ric Flair match, which is a pretty stacked show. Adids continues to work the leg with a spinning toe hold, though an eye rake briefly halts him before he heads back to a leglock. Graham goes back to the eyes once more, but as Adidis hits the ropes on an Irish whip, he violently swings his way past Graham and into a sleeper hold for the victory. A dynamic end to an otherwise boring squash.
Ricky Steamboat is with Crockett next as he voices his displeasure over the change in attitude we’ve seen with Wahoo McDaniel, as well as his alliance with Tully Blanchard. In a similar vein to Ric Flair’s promos of recent weeks in which he talks about bringing in Blackjack Mulligan, Steamboat talks about getting a partner, though his choice is standing just off camera – Flair himself. Flair calls himself a friend of Steamboat, before introducing video footage that we’ve seen before of a spike piledriver by the Awesome Twosome on Flair. According to the champion, he was unconscious for nine minutes, but this than transitions into Flair talking about asking no quarter, and giving no quarter.
JJ Dillon is in the ring again this week, this time against Brett Hart. Dillon uses multiple side headlock takedowns, but Hart consistently turns them into headscissors until Dillon takes a shortcut and just whacks him in the throat. D
illon gets a two count off of a slam before applying a modified chinlock. Fighting his way back to his feet, Hart fires up with some strikes, a back body drop and a legdrop. Hart actually gets a two count off of a series of forearms, as well as a dropkick that requires Dillon to put his foot on the rope. A slam and a shoulderblock have Hart in control, but he isn’t able to hold on as a waistlock sees both men hit the ropes. Hart springs back hard onto the canvas and gets hit with a big elbowdrop for the victory. Nothing really of note, though Hart did get people engaged with his fiery comeback.
After some shilling that includes Ivan Koloff and Nikita Koloff talking about taking on the Youngbloods, arguably detracting from the match later on in the show, Ric Flair is in the ring taking on Kurt Von Hess. A side headlock has Flair in control, but Von Hess does land a bodyslam, only to miss an elbowdrop and effectively lead to a reset. Flair hits a back elbow before a bodyslam of his own, following with an elbowdrop for a two count. Von Hess backs Flair up in the corner and hits several punches in a row, yet Flair hits a knee and fires back with his own strikes. Still Von Hess keeps getting offense, landing a back body drop and a neckbreaker. Flair fires up with a hiptoss and a back body drop, but Von Hess whips him into the corner with Flair taking a huge bump to the outside. It appears as if the same thing is going to happen with a second Irish whip, but Flair runs along the apron, up onto the turnbuckle and hits an elbow from the top. A suplex sets up for the figure four and the win. Flair was happy to give Von Hess a fair bit of the match, whilst also putting in a bump that was far beyond what was probably necessary in a television squash.
The Awesome Twosome are now with Crockett as they talk about ‘the magical nine minutes’ that Flair was out for. McDaniel implies that Crockett is biased towards Flair, before threatening that the next time he is out, it could be for nine days. After a commercial, we have JJ Dillon with Crockett, explaining that he is scouting talent before both the Zambuie Express and the Long Riders come into the territory. Dillon’s words turn to Barry Windham, a man who he says he knows very well, but it is always worth looking at in the ring just in case he notices something new. Footage of Windham versus Mr Olimpia in Florida is shown, with Windham winning in short order with a jumping clothesline.
The Awesome Twosome are now in the ring against Randy Barber and Jim Horton, with Blanchard already slapping on a hammerlock to isolate Horton in the corner. McDaniel also wails away with some chops before using a handful of hair to drag him down to the canvas. Some illegal teaming behind the referee’s back sees Blanchard pushing down on McDaniel to add leverage to a submission hold. Horton messes up on a spot, colliding with Blanchard and seemingly injuring himself in the process. He tags out, looking very groggy, whilst Barber begins to get worked over instead. As Horton freshens up, Barber makes the tag back out, only for Horton to walk into a backbreaker by Blanchard. A chop and a slingshot suplex ends the contest. The Awesome Twosome are a really fun tag team in and out of the ring, so long may they last.
We get the response shilling of the Youngbloods prior to the main event of the show – most notable for Jay Youngblood now choosing to be a Youngblood rather than a Renegade. However, he is still the Renegade in tonight’s main event, which takes place after Ivan Koloff has a quick word with Crockett about why Nikita is sporting a chain, in order to take care of business if necessary. It is Ivan Koloff and Don Kernoodle against Mark Youngblood and The Renegade, with the champions getting jumped before the match has even officially started. The Renegade uses a double noggin knocker to take out both of the champions, with an eye rake allowing a tag to his brother who uses a snapmare and a side headlock to slow things down. The fans are electric for the challengers, ready to pop for anything they do.
Youngblood overshoots on a sunset flip to end up in the rope with Koloff, which gives the Russian a chance to tag out. However, Kernodle is isolated quickly by the brothers, with the Renegade hitting a shoulderblock and Youngblood slapping on another side headlock. Kernodle takes a risk and misses a crossbody attempt and a Renegade elbowdrop earns the challengers a nearfall. The usually sound team work of the champions isn’t so good this week as Ivan is out of position for a tag due to arguing with the referee and after getting knocked off of the apron. A huge Kernodle clothesline halts the faces’ momentum, but only briefly as the two men tag out and the Renegade nails Koloff with a dropkick and a bulldog.
We get another moment where both men are down moments later as the Renegade collides with Koloff, but this time the Renegade is unable to make the switch. Kernodle throws the Renegade over the top rope, leading to some confusion on commentary as Crockett says the ref didn’t see it whilst Bob Caudle talks about it being a no-DQ match. Koloff locks on a sleeper in the center of the ring, but it is only good enough for a two count. Kernodle then hits a vicious neckbreaker, but also only gets two. The Renegade avoids a Koloff charge into the corner and an elbowdrop attempt, only to head into the wrong corner for the tag. Koloff applies a bear hug, but the Renegade escapes by biting him!
A missed clothesline by Kernodle again sees the Renegade head to the wrong corner, though he does almost steal the win with a small package. Some punches and chops to Koloff look like it is finally enough for him to make the tag, but he falls over Koloff’s prone body and can’t make it. The ref is out of position on a Renegade roll-up as it looks like we are about to run out of time, though I do seemingly get the overspill footage. The Renegade eventually makes the tag after hitting a clothesline to Kernodle and we get a molten hot tag to Youngblood. He throws both opponents over the top rope and then hits Kernodle with a chop as he comes back in…and the footage cuts out.
It is a shame that, having looked around, I can’t find the footage. Perhaps it will be something that will end up on a future episode. However, the show was really good primarily because of the main event. The crowd were hot for the Youngbloods, and with apt support from the Awesome Twosome and Ric Flair, there was a lot of good action on the episode this week.
World Class Championship Wrestling 25.8.84
Bill Mercer tells us that we have a big main event – a common theme to his television opening sequences – and arguably he is right this week as Kerry Von Erich meets Michael Hayes in a Lumberjack Match. To highlight how significant this contest is in the annals of World Class history, we get footage of the end of the Von Erich versus Ric Flair cage match that saw Terry Gordy slam the cage door on Von Erich’s, thus igniting the feud that has carried the company for close to two years. Alongside this, we have slightly less exciting action from Chief Jules Strongbow and Buck Zum Hofe, though we will also see the World Class debut of Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts.
First, we have an encore match as we see the first contest between Killer Khan and Kevin Von Erich, before Khan joined up with Skandor Akbar. Here are my previous words on the bout:
The main event begins before the introductions can be completed as Killer Khan tries to jump Kevin Von Erich in the corner. Kevin isn’t backwards in going forwards and takes the fight to the Mongolian, hitting him with a dropkick but missing a charge into the corner. Boots and chops are the order of the day by Khan as he punishes Kevin, only to miss a kneedrop and eat several strikes. Kevin attempts a crossbody though it is turned into a Khan backbreaker. The subsequent Oriental spike attempt misses, allowing Kevin to lock on the iron claw. Khan manages to fight his way out of the hold and batters Kevin back into the corner. As David Manning tries to get in the way, Khan just turns around and press slams the official to the canvas. Both men lock on their submission holds in the corner, with the iron claw seemingly wearing Khan down enough for him to release the spike. The resulting brawl sees most of the locker room come to the ring to break the fight up, with limited initial success. Kevin has won by disqualification, but the brawl continues as each man keeps finding a way to break free. Nothing as a match, but a hot post-match angle.
The push is on for Skip Young as Mercer joins him outside South Oak Cliff High School, the place where Young was educated. U
nfortunately, Young doesn’t exactly shine on the microphone as he talks about all the best American Footballers he played against, as well as the various other sports he lettered in. Young also talks about religion, with his Father involved with the church, as Mercer tries to position him as a role model. To top off this attempt to get more of a rub for Young by making it clear he is a local guy, Mercer talks about the time that Young spent alongside the Von Erichs when they grew up. Mercer turns the interview to talk about the ‘Sweet Young Things’, with Young making it clear that he had run into them in the past and that there was unfinished business between the three of them.
The first new match on the show sees the Irwins take on Chief Jules Strongbow and Buck Zumhofe (with World Class finally realising how to spell his name). Strongbow and Scott Irwin start the contest, with an early hiptoss and chop by Strongbow leaving Hog backing away into a neutral corner. Irwin thinks he is clever after a leapfrog, but the Chief just whacks him with another chop that leads to a tag for Bill. Moments later, Irwin is fleeing to ringside to avoid another Strongbow chop, though he can’t avoid a strike onslaught upon his return as Strongbow wails away with both punches and chops. Zumhofe’s arrival into the match sees multiple arm wringers and a hammerlock, though a cheapshot to the stomach allows the Irwins to take control.
