-11/27/87
-From Chicago, IL
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross
-Match 1: Sting, Michael Hayes, & Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious) VS Eddie Gilbert, Rick Steiner, & Larry Zbysko (w/Baby Doll)
-Eddie Gilbert being announced as being from "Every Girl's Dream" is awesome. Sting countering with "from Every Man's Nightmare" even more so. JR states that this is a result of Sting leaving a group that he had with Steiner & Gilbert. Rick blindsides Sting with a punch and a clothesline to start, so Sting responds by sending him outside, diving out onto him, then a missile dropkick when they get back into the ring. Pier sixer results, and the faces clean house. Rick gets caught by the faces, and Larry tags in to a huge "Larry Sucks" chant. Larry gets more of the same, including getting grabbed by the nose by Hayes, before tagging out to Gilbert. The heels finally get some offense in on Garvin at the seven minute mark. Garvin frees himself from a Zbysko abdominal stretch just past ten minutes in, and makes the hot tag to Sting, who gets caught himself after a breif flurry of offense. Larry takes a nice bump off a Sting Irish Whip. Another Pier Sixer breaks out, and Hayes thinks he has Zbysko pinned after a bulldog, even though the ref stops at two and points at the ropes. Hayes kicks out of a Steiner belly-to-belly with under 30 seconds to go. Hayes gets a sunset flip on Gilbert as time expires. Really hot opener, but it could have used a definite finish.
-Match 2: UWF Heavyweight Championship: "Dr. Death" Steve Williams [c] VS Barry Windham
-Windham still holds the Western States Heritage title at this time. Mixed reaction for both men. I'm sure JR will not hold back on talking about Williams' college football career. Williams gorilla presses Windham early, who escapes and gets a roll-up for two. Crowd gets somewhat restless early, as you can hear a smattering of "boring" chants starting very early on. Very technical babyface match, which is unappreciated by some members of the crowd. Big pop when Williams tries for a leapfrog, but can't jump high enough, and ends up taking a headbut to the lower nutsack region. Crowd is not happy when Windham refuses to take advantage. Dr. Death takes some time to really get back into the match. Windham helps out by missing a cross-body, sending himself out over the top, onto the floor, and hitting his head on the time keeper's table in the process. Dr. Death catches Windham coming back in and pins him to retain. The crowd is NOT happy with how this match went. I appreciated the story they were (I think) trying to tell, and wonder if there was any follow-up to Windham not taking advantage of Williams' misfortune, but Williams not extending Windham the same courtesy.
-Match 3: "Skywalkers" (Sacffold) Match: The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette & Big Bubba Rogers) VS The Rock N' Roll Express
-The Midnights are the U.S. Tag Team Champions still, but this is non-title. Bubba goes after Ricky Morton before he can even start to climb the scaffold, leaving Gibson to fight by himself up top. Bubba wants to climb up to make it 3-on-1, but Morton steals Cornette's tennis racket, and knocks him down before climbing up himself. Gibson got busted open at some point, showing the first color of the night. Eaton quickly follows suit. Pretty meandering brawl that doesn't hold my interest at all. RnR win. Cornette sends Bubba to the top. He takes a kick to the nuts from Gibson, who then runs away and steals Bubba's hat and coat. I yawn and am ready for the next match.
-Match 4: NWA Television Championship VS UWF Television Championship Unification Match: Nikita Koloff [NWA] VS Terry Taylor [UWF] (w/Eddie Gilbert)
-Terry tries to get offense on Nikita, who simply no-sells, looks scary (which Taylor sells pretty well), and works Taylor's arm. Taylor makes the mistake of talking shit, only to take a bitch slap and a backdrop in response. Taylor gets a near-fall after a knee lift and a ropes-assisted pin attempt. His exhasperated "I had him, I had him" while in Nikita's hammerlock is great. Nikita whiffs on a Sickle attempt, allowing Taylor to get his first real offense, including a STIFF knife-edge chop on the outside. Taylor pounds away until the fifteen minute mark, at which Nikita says "fuck this selling shit" and fights back, until taking a fucked-up inverted atomic drop, which sends Nikita to the mat tailbone-first. Taylor gets into a shoving match with Earl Hebner, which leads to Nikita getting a school boy for two. Gilbert clips Nikita's leg with a chair, then assists Taylor with his Figure 4, until Hebner figures out what's going on. Nikita has had ENOUGH of this and snatches Gilbert. Taylor crashes into Gilbert, and the Russian Sickle gives Nikita the belts. Good start, boring as hell body, HOT finish. A modern-day comparison would be Edge winning the I-C title from Randy Orton.
-Match 5: NWA World Tag Team Championship: Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering)
-Arn starts with Hawk, and freaks out as Hawk reverses his overhead wristlock. Tully gets battered by Hawk, who prevents him from taking a walk. Crowd is obviously molten for the hometown boys, who twart every attempt at offense the Horesmen try early on. The Horsemen finally get some offense in on Hawk after AA clips Hawk's knee while he has Tully in a gorilla press. With AA & JJ distracting the ref, Tully whacks Hawk's knee with a chair. Hawk becomes the face-in-peril, and Tully locks in a Figure 4. AA takes a shot to the nuts, allowing Hawk to make the tag. The match breaks down and Tully throws Tommy Young to the outside. AA is thrown over the top. Road Warriors get the Doomsday Device on Arn, and Earl Hebnre comes out to count the pin, and there was much rejoicing. Wait a second, *knock knock*...who's there?...Dusty...Dusty who?...DUSTY FINISH!...FUCK! Yes, Tommy Young comes to and DQ's the Road Warriors for Arn getting thrown over the top. Why he doesn't DQ the Horsemen for Tully firing him through the ropes is a mystery. Match was OK, but did Dusty really have to break out that finish here?
-Match 6: Cage Match for the NWA United States Championship: Lex Luger [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Dusty Rhodes
-If Dusty loses, he is gone for 90 days. Johnny Weaver holds the key to the cage. Luger gets a small amount of cheers after being announced as being from Chicago. LOL Moment: camera shows a close-up of a grimacing Dusty as he has a hammerlock on Lex, to which JR says "Not just another pretty face." Match is pretty basic, which reminds me of a quote about Lex from Bret Hart's book (which I just read again), which was something along the lines of Lex being a safe, mechanical worker who went with the basics and stayed there. Dusty is busted open after being sent into the cage. Dusty makes a big comeback after taking a lot of punishment, and appears to have the match won with a sleeper, but JJ nails Johnny Weaver with a chair to steal the key, and slides a chair into the ring. This backfires, as Dusty hits Lex with his shitty DDT on the chair for the pin and the title. Hot finish, but Lex is boring as shit when he's on offense.
-Match 7: Cage Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ronnie Garvin [c] VS Ric Flair (w/JJ Dillon)
-Match is cut to Garvin controlling Flair. Garvin gets the 10 punches in the corner, and follows up with the Garvin Stomp. Flair takes over and works on Garvin's leg. Crowd pops big as Flair locks in the Figure 4. Flair continues to work Garvin over, until Garvin reverses a whip, and sends Flair face-first into the cage. Flair bleeds, of course. Garvin levels Flair with some STIFF chops. Flair tries to climb out, and you can figure out how that works for him. Garvin locks in his own Figure 4. After a chop exchange, Garvin gets a cross-body off the top, then a backslide for two counts. Garvin gets a sunset flip off the top, but Flair blocks and almost gets the pin by using the ropes. Tommy Young breaks that, allowing Garvin to get a two count. Hands of Stone gets two for Garvin. Flair hot-shots Garvin into the cage for the pin to regain the title. Match was nothing special, but the crowd was hot mostly throughout. Lots of people cheering for Flair. I've read that was because no one bought Garvin as the champ, since he only won it for Flair to win it back (thus no one would put Garvin over in the meantime).
-An OK show with a really hot Chicago crowd. The bodies of the matches are pretty boring, and I struggled to pay attention at times, but the finishes are hot at least.
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