btw, I've never done a review, so it may be awkward, but the subject is great and that's what matters! The first episode is from November 8, 1986. Lets begin!
Generic eighties intro music and sweet ring graphic are awesomely fitting as the show opens and leads to Pedicino and Solie in the studio. Pedicino introduces the show and the hosts while Solie tells us what we have to look forward to; Abdullah, an interview with the new WCCW champion Kevin Von Erich, Bill Apter, a classic match with Wild Red Berry, mammoth ladies in Japan and Adrian Street. Sounds like a great show. These guys are very polished and professional and really add credibility to the news format of the program.
First an update on the condition of the recently hospitalized Magnum TA. He's still in critical condition in intensive care in Charlotte. This was a horrible blow to the NWA, as he really was a talented young wrestler who may have gone on to become a big star.
To the Cotton Bowl for a cage match between Abdullah the Butcher and Bruiser Brody. Fritz Von Erich is officiating here because "no other referee is willing to take the job!". Match is joined in-progress with Brody coming off the top onto an already bloody Abby and then kicking him for a while. Abdullah turns the tide when his manager Gary Hart slips him a fork, pounding Brody and shoving Von Erich. Fritz is a Von Erich in Texas, so he takes the fork and beats the brakes off Abdullah with it, throwing Brody on top and counting the pin. Hart isn't pleased with this miscarriage of justice and gets in Von Erich's face, distracting him so Abby can hit him from behind. Fritz shrugs it off and proceeds to fork the shit out of both of them until people have to come in and pull him off. His white shirt is covered with Abdullah's blood. Winner: Fritz Von Erich
A WCCW Report informs us that World Class has merged with USA All Stars to form Texas Championship Wrestling, and we have an interview with their new champion! Kevin Von Erich is humble and has fulfilled his dream, dedicating the win to his brother, Mike, who died in Japan. He also informs us Kerry is progressing well from his serious injury; the doctors say three months but Kevin is confident he'll be back quicker. A little thing like a missing foot can't keep Kerry Von Erich down for long. Kevin tells us about his upcoming matches in Japan and Malaysia, and in a funny moment, realizes he will already be back by the time the episode airs. "Well, I guess I'm home now".
Now to Continental for a Southeastern Heavyweight title match with Adrian Street defending against "The Hustler" Rip Rogers. Chicanery is promised.
Footage begins with Rogers on the offensive. Rogers was a solid wrestler and here he uses heel moves to keep Street down. Street stages a brief comeback before the aforementioned chicanery takes place. Roger's valet, Brenda Britton, hands him a foreign object and he nails Street in the head and gets the pin. Street's valet, Miss Linda, is not only sexy, she's smart; she had taken the object from Rogers and snuck it into the back of his trunks. As Rogers was announced as the winner, Linda showed the ref the hidden object and the decision was overturned. DQ victory for Street and he remains champ. The women get in each others faces and Rogers destroys Miss Linda with a clothesline and leaves with the belt. Outrage from the broadcast booth.
Time for some NWF wrestling from Newark, New Jersey, a match pitting Jim Fannigan and Apollo Martinez versus the NWF tag champs, the Executioners, in a non-title affair. On commentary is a young Paul Heyman, before he was Paul E. Dangerously. Neat.
The Executioners are in control, using quick tags, teamwork and some brutal offense, including a nice belly to belly. Straight up squash here as they pick up the win when one holds Martinez while the other comes off the second rope with a clothesline. Executioners had defended the titles against some very good teams, including the Fantastics, and look strong here. NWF runs an ad promoting shows in PA and OH with Brody and Abdullah going at it again.
The WCW Ring Report is selling us on Starrcade '86 and Joe Pedicino is interviewing Jim Cornette. Cornette is with Big Bubba Rodgers and in full indignant mode here, bemoaning the "total horrification" that is the Midnight Express' upcoming scaffold match with the Road Warriors. His well-known fear of heights is mentioned which prompts Cornette to point out Pedicino's lack of courage. He then explains the match to all the illiterate people out there and that there is a good chance somebody will not only be hurt be but killed, "Ain't no soft fall from twenty-five feet!". He then informs us that the only reason the Warriors wanted this match is to get their self respect back after the Midnights kicked their asses and ran them off. Cornette is absolute gold in front of the microphone and is on top of his game here. Great stuff.
Solie and Pedicino talk about Starrcade for a minute and speculate Cornette is very worried about the scaffold match. Weren't these guys paying attention? Cornette just emphatically told us the Midnights got this shit covered. Rare lack of professionalism here from a couple legends. They attempt to cover their blunder by taking us to Hawaii for some Polynesian Pro Wrestling.
The three hundred plus pound Farmer Boy Epo takes on JR the Wild Hog in this match-up featuring two legends of the industry. Quite a contrast in wrestlers here, as JR the Wild Hog is a big, fat, hairy white guy and Farmer Boy is a big, fat, hairy Polynesian guy. They wrestle like their names imply they would. This amazing feat of athleticism ends with a running splash by Epo. Fans of Jerry Blackwell may appreciate this match, but I fear other wrestling fans may not be able to appreciate the artistry.
Poor Solie can't contain his jealousy that Pedicino got to go interview former AWA Womens Champion Candi Devine. He practically drools as he introduces the segment, where we see Pedicino and Devine looking like she just escaped an LA Guns video. She's resplendent in her one piece under a feathered jacket, with big, permed platinum hair and an endearing overbite. She's pretty good in front of a mic, detailing her upcoming matches in Canada and Japan and telling us she's going to win the belt back from Sherri Martel. WCCW graphic promotes The Dingo Warrior and Lance Von Erich(and much more!) Thanksgiving night at Reunion Arena. If only I had a time machine....
Now we're going to Bill Apter's office in New York. A PWI cover is shown(Great Scot! Rowdy Roddy Piper Turns Good). Apter is going to be covering the Florida and Tag Team top ten rating and discussing the Von Erich Family- are they jinxed?
Florida Top Ten as of 11/5/86
1-Lex Luger
2-Barry Windham
3-Ron Bass
4-Hacksaw Higgins
5-Kendall Windham
6-Kareem Muhammad
7-Ed "Bull" Gantner
8-Ron Simmons
9-Chris Champion(New Breed, fuck yeah)
10-The Falcon
Good mix of talent. I'm going to have to start digging up more FCW.
Tag Team Top Ten
1-Road Warriors
2-Rock N Roll Express
3-The British Bulldogs
4-The Fantastics
5-Ole and Arn Anderson
6-The Midnight Express
7-Buddy Rose and Doug Somers
8-Buzz Sawyer and Matt Borne
9-Midnight Rockers
10-John Tatum and Jack Victory
How great was the state of tag team wrestling in the mid-eighties? Fuckin' incredible, that's how great.
Apter touches on the recent tragedies in the Von Erich family; David's death, Mike's near death, serious shoulder injuries for Kevin, and Kerry's horrific motorcycle crash. Bill tells us that not only isn't the family jinxed, but that it is blessed. Mike and Kerry are near returning and the courageous First Family of Wrestling is inspiring in their ability to deal with tragedy. I have the utmost respect for you, Bill, but methinks you whiffed on this one.
On the subject of jinxes, we segue into a WWF report discussing the just days-old injury of Ricky Steamboat at the hands of Randy Savage. Steamboat's throat was crushed by Savage and he was stretchered out of the arena. This is an actual spoiler, as Pedicino tells us it won't be announced on WWF television for another couple weeks. Segment does a good job of showing this to be a credible wrestling news program and makes me curious as to how it was received in WWF headquarters.
Back, back, back to the past. 1953, to be exact, for the second fall of a match between Wild Red Berry and Cyclone Anaya. All of you Red Berry fans are in for a treat here. Berry was a pretty accomplished star as a light heavyweight and was later the long-time manager of Gorilla Monsoon and The Fabulous Kangaroos so he's a pretty important figure. I know nothing of Anaya; research shows he won an assortment of titles, notably the Texas Heavyweight, along with several NWA tags. A couple decorated guys here, so I'm looking forward to it.
Berry has an interesting style; he kind of hulks up and no-sells and can then immediately ask for mercy. His movements have an odd look to them, kind of hunched almost like George Steele. He hits some nice hip rolls from the second rope before being caught in Anaya's version of the abdominal stretch, the Guatemalan Stretch(announcer tells us he is from Guatemala, Mexico). The hold is well executed(he hooked the leg!) and Berry submits, ending the second fall. Announcers tell us Berry won the first fall with a step over toe hold. Who won the third fall? They don't say. Great wrestlers, legendary announcers, and now a bit of mystery-this show has it all!
NWA graphic pimps an upcoming show in DC at The Arena and Starrcade at the Omni on Thanksgiving night. After the break....."From Across the Seas....Japanese Women?". The question mark was theirs, as they are implying these ladies may be too big to be called women. Okay.
We're now in Calgary, where JR Foley and his army have a new recruit in the returning Makhan Singh. Singh was a 350 lb. bruiser who made life hell for good guys in Canada-including the Hart Family-for a long time before becoming Norman the Lunatic in WCW and Bastion Booger in the WWF. Here he takes on the pride of Athens, Greece, 220 lb. Kon Kavitas. Singh is convincing as a big, mean brawler and shouts at announcer Ed Whalen while beating the snot out of the Greek. Apparently, Whalen had given Singh the nickname "The Toilet Bowl" because he wanted an appliance nickname like William"The Refrigerator" Perry had. Singh hates the Toilet Bowl moniker, which is one attribute of a good nickname--as soon as a guy lets it be known he hates a nickname, he's stuck with it. Singh throws Kon onto the announce table and says it's a gift for Whalen. Singh destroys Kavitas, ending it with a running splash into the corner. Fun squash which added to the heat between Singh and Whalen.
Donna brings us the AWA report. She reminds us of how awesome Nick Bockwinkel is(very) as both a wrestler and an actor, and reports that Buddy Rose and Doug Somers have fans clamoring for personal fitness instruction from the talented team. The Midnight Rockers, disrespectful as always, claim the public yearning for the titleists workout plan is bogus. Who do these pups think they are, questioning the champs? Larry Zbysco was then compared to Mike Ditka due to his propensity of giving hecklers the bird.
Now off to Japan for the International Match of the Week, pitting Bull Nakano and Dump Matsumoto against the top team in Japan, The Crush Girls. These two teams have had some fine matches, so this is a treat. Pedicino promises us we've seen nothing like Matsumoto.
Matsumoto is a tank and begins the airing beating her high-flying opponent unmercifully. Some women jump in for some reason and help her beat the Crush Girl up some more. I'm not sure why or who they are, as the announcers are speaking Japanese, which I don't know. Shit breaks down in a big way, with women brawling outside the ring, getting choked with mic cords and thrown into ringposts. Back in the ring, The Crush Girls take advantage after reversing a table spot and kicking the behemoths into the table. Back to the outside, where there are women brawling everywhere, fighting into the crowd and hitting each other with anything they find, including what looks like wadded up paper, before ending in a double count out. Short clip of a wild match, but entertaining with the women beating the piss out off each other all over the place.
AWA promo touts their upcoming events in the Bahamas, Florida, Wisconsin and Nevada. The show concludes with the naming of their highly sought after Wrestler of the Week award, which this week goes to Kevin Von Erich in honor of his title win over Black Bart. To celebrate, let's go to the match finish!
Von Erich is struggling to get into the ring when Bart hits him with a sweet guillotine legdrop across the middle rope. Von Erich-according to the ref, who is showing typical Texas Von Erich bias-kicks out right before the three. As Bart pleads his case with the crooked ref, Von Erich hits a top rope dropkick and running splash to get the title win. The crowd goes apeshit.
Our hosts run down next weeks show before saying goodbye. Excellent debut for this show; effective squashes, attention on women's wrestling with the hardcore tag bout and Devine interview, blood, the breaking of the Steamboat storyline, an excellent Jim Cornette interview, and some World Class action, which I always mark out for. You couldn't ask for better hosts and a great mix of wrestling from around the world. I emphatically recommend it, as there is something for everyone. Hope you enjoyed, I did!