-4/22 & 4/23/88
-From Greenville, SC (4/22) & Greensboro, NC (4/23)
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross
-Match 1: Crockett Cup First Round Match: Jimmy Valiant & The Mighty Wilbur VS Ivan Koloff & Dick Murdoch
-Wilbur is a huge hillbilly in the vein of Uncle Elmer. He overpowers both the heels early fairly easily. Valiant dominates Koloff, but can't do anything against Murdoch. Valiant takes a knee to the back from Murdoch, and the Russian Sickle from Koloff for the pin in quick order.
-Match 2: Crockett Cup First Round Match: "Dr. Death" Steve Williams & Ron Simmons VS Mike Rotunda & Rick Steiner (w/Kevin Sullivan)
-The first thing JR mentions about Williams & Simmons is that they played college football. Rotunda & Steiner are members of the Varsity Club at this point, and Rick is now wearing the headgear. Dr. Death overpowers Rotunda, and hits a couple football tackles on Steiner, before missing a third and crashing into the turnbuckles. After taking a beating from Rotunda, Simmons comes back with a running clothesline, but is in the Varsity Club corner, so that leads to him being double-teamed. Dr. Death wears out Rotunda in the ring, but Simmons is the legal man, and Kevin Sullivan spikes Simmons, leading to a countout. This was OK.
-Match 3: Crockett Cup Second Round Match: NWA World Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) VS Kendall Windham & The Italian Stallion
-Match is clipped to Kendall taking Tully down with an armdrag. Arn gets tagged in, and takes one himself. Kendall tags in the Stallion, and AA takes over on him, before tagging in Tully, who Stallion fights back on before tagging Kendall. Kendall can't keep the momentum going for his team. Arn plants Kendall with a spinebuster to a babyface reaction. Match is clipped to Kendall tagging in Stallion, who lowers his head too soon, and Arn spikes him with the DDT for the pin. Needed more Horsemen offense.
-Match 4: Crockett Cup Second Round Match: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) VS The Jive Tones (Shaska Whatley & Tiger Conway Jr.)
-Match is clipped to Animal hitting Whatlet with a flying shouler block. Hawk drops Conway with a Gorilla Press. After ducking a flying clothesline from Whatley, Hawk comes off the top with a flying clothesline of his own for the pin. The five minute announcement was made, maybe two minutes were shown.
-Match 5: Crockett Cup Second Round Match: The Fantastics VS Al Perez & Larry Zybisko
-The Fantastics take a tour around ringside to greet the fans. After taking some punishment, Tommy Rogers lands on his feet after taking a Zybisko backdrop in a spiffy spot. Fulton & Perez do some nice exchanges, leading to Perez drilling Fulton with a German Suplex. Perez tags Zybisko, who gets a shoulder breaker for two. Neat finish as Perez hits a flying forearm on Fulton, he opts not to go for the win, instead, he tags in Zybisko. Fulton tries to small package Zybisko, but Perez holds on to Larry's arm to prevent the move from being completed, until Rogers dropkicks Perez out of the ring, allowing Fulton to finish the small package, and get the pin.
-Match 6: Crockett Cup Second Round Match: Lex Luger & Sting (w/Magnum T.A.) VS Dick Murdoch & Ivan Koloff
-Luger was supposed to team with Barry Windham, but Barry joined the Horsemen, and practically handed the World Tag titles back to Tully & Arn. I hate it when that happens. Luger does a really awkward looking dropkick, catching Koloff right in the stomach. Sting gets a big reaction upon being tagged in. The heels try to double-team Sting in the corner, but Sting fights out. Murdoch takes him down with an armbar anyway. Murdoch chokes Sting with a chain behind the ref's back to put him in peril. Koloff gets into a shoving match with ref Randy Andeson, allowing Murdoch to hit Sting in the back with a folded-out chair on the outside. Stinger Splash sets Murdoch up for a Figure 4, but Koloff saves, and the match breaks down. Murdoch tries to slam Sting from the apron into the ring, but gets rolled up and pinned instead.
-Match 7: Crockett Cup Second Round Match: NWA United States Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) VS The Sheepherders (w/Rip Morgan)
-JR dubs Cornette "The Louisville Lip". The Sheepherders jump the Midnights before the bell. Crowd does not know how to react to this heel-vs-heel match. Eaton is heel-in-peril. Butch has Eaton pinned, but Morgan distracts the ref, allowing Lane to nail Butch with the tennis racket for the pin to a small pop.
-Match 8: Prince of Darkness Death Match: Kevin Sullivan (w/Rick Steiner) VS Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious)
-Both men are hooded. This is no-DQ. Tony Schiavone the live ring announcer interrupts Tony Schiavone the taped match commentator. JR suggests the Sullivan should have had Rotunda with him instead of Steiner, because JR is pretty sure Rotunda graduated. Your typical blindfold match. Garvin gets a small package for the pin. After unmasking Sullivan, Steiner jumps Garvin before he can unmask. Ron Garvin makes the save, but Rotunda makes in 3-on-2 long enough for Sullivan to spike Ronny in the chest.
-The majority of the Bunkhouse Stampede finals is shown. It was bad enough watching it once.
-Match 9: Crockett Cup Third Round Match: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) VS The Powers of Pain (w/Paul Jones & Ivan Koloff)
-This is the only 3rd round match that is shown. The Powers of Pain & Ivan Koloff are the six man tag champions at this time, but the PoP do not wear their belts. Animal controls the early going. Barbarian is clotheslined over the top by Hawk, who is not DQ'd for some unknown reason. To make it worse, Hawk picks up the ring steps and throws them at Barbarian, and is still not DQ'd. JR puts the PoP over as a much-improved team, as they get the advantage even after Barbarian accidentally drops an elbow on Warlord, which JR says would have cost them the match before. Barbarian gets a beautiful kick to the face on Hawk for two. Warlord returns the favor to Hawk to smaking his leg with a chair. Hawk is trapped in a bearhug for a lengthy period by Barbarian. Animal gets the hot tag, and after laying out Barbarian, accidentally clotheslines Randy Anderson. Road Warriors get the pin on Barbarian after a double-clothesline with Teddy Long counting, but Randy Anderson comes to, and tells Teddy to DQ the Road Warriors instead. Really dumb Dusty Finish spoils a decent match.
-Match 10: Texas Bullrope Match: The Midnight Rider VS JJ Dillon
-JJ throws powder into the Rider's face right off the bat to gain the advantage. The Rider quickly takes control, and soon finishes JJ off with a shot with the bell from the top rope. Rider chokes JJ with the rope, and Tony's casual call of the Rider trying to "do him in" in Tony's words is funny. The masked Texan runs in for the save. Dr. Death runs in to even the odds, but the Texan works him over until the Rider comes back to chase him off. Not sure who the Texan was, but that Midnight Rider reminds me of someone...
-Match 11: Crockett Cup Semi-Final Match: Powers of Pain (w/Paul Jones & Ivan Koloff) VS Sting & Lex Luger (w/Magnum T.A.)
-Pretty slow start. Sting takes a vicious boot from the Barbarian to send him over the top, and no DQ is called for. Luger gets the hot tag, and the babyfaces take control. Warlord gets Luger up in slam position, but Sting dropkicks Luger's back, allowing him to fall on top of Warlord fort the pin. Pretty boring except for that Barbarian big boot.
-Match 12: Crockett Cup Semi-Final Match: NWA Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) VS The Fantastics
-After a brief flurry in the beginning, the Horsemen really take it to the Fantastics, Fulton in particular. The Horsemen seem to be going through the motions here. Hot tag is finally made Rogers, and the Fantastics get the Rocket Launcer on Arn, but Tully saves. JJ hands Arn his shoe, which Arn uses to KO Tommy Rogers and get the pin. I hope the Horsemen were saving their best for the finals.
-Match 13: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] (w/Barry Windham) VS Nikita Koloff
-Windham leaves righ after the ring introduction, receiving high-fives from Tully and JJ. Match is clipped to Koloff out-wrestling Flair. Match appears clipped again to Koloff no-selling a kick to the gut and pounding on Flair in the corner, before falling prey to an inverted atomic drop. Nikita fights back and locks Flair in the Figure 4, but Flair gets to the ropes. Nikita looks like he's going to work Flair's leg some more, but they end up going to the outside, and Nikita sends Flair into the ringpost, busting Flair open. Nikita keeps working Flair over, but cannot pin him, even after the Russian Sickle. Flair backdrops Nikita over the top, and for the first time this show, that draws a DQ. Weak. Sauce.
-Match 14: Crockett Cup Final Match: NWA World Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) VS Sting & Lex Luger (w/Magnum T.A.)
-Lex takes control of Arn early on, and the Horsemen do a good job of stopping the momentum. That doesn't last long, as Sting gets a big gorilla press slam on Tully, and the pace picks back up. Sting & Luger start using heel tricks, as Sting calls Luger in without a tag being made. As Arn tries to make the tag, Luger nails Tully to prevent it. Things go wrong for the faces when Sting misses a Stinger Splash. Tully sends Sting outside and drives him into the guardrails. AA gets the spinebuster, but Sting manages to kick out. Sting keeps fighting back, but every time he starts to build momentum, the Horsemen make a tag. AA DDT gets another near-fall. Lex FINALLY gets the hot tag. He runs into a AA spinebuster for two, and the match breaks down. Magnum trips up Arn, causing a near-fall. AA goes after Magnum, allowing Luger to school boy him for the pin. This was pretty decent, and I get the feeling I may have been more into this if it weren't for the draining experience that these shows are.
-Nothing really bad, but nothing really awesome on this show either. Really glad I am done with these. JR & Tony sounded like they were on downers when they recorded their commentary, as they were almost monotone during the whole thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment