-4/10 & 4/11/87
-From the creatively named Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, MD
-Host is Tony Schiavone.
-Pretty long video basically recaps the whole event, and even spoils the winner. Thanks guys.
-Match 1: Crockett Cup Tournament First Round Match-Bill Dundee & The Barbarian VS Tim Horner & Mike Rotunda
-Match is clipped to Dundee sending Rotund into the barricade on the outside. Dundee's blue with darker blue stars tights look like a little kid's pajamas. Barbarian has control on Rotund until he misses a diving headbut. Horner gets the hot tag and has Barbarian pinned after a cross-body, but the ref has to send Dundee & Rotund out of the ring. Horner gets Barbarian in a sleeper, but Dundee hits him with a really weak punch behind the ref's back, and that gets the pin for the heels. Match was brutally clipped, but what was shown looked OK, except for the finish. Possible poll question: is Tim Horner Mike Rotunda’s worst tag team partner?
-Match 2: Crockett Cup Tournament First Round Match-Jimmy Valiant & LazorTron VS Shaska Whatley & Teijho Khan
-Tron dropkicks Khan, who looks like a character model for Mortal Kombat. Match gets comedic with Whatley's selling, and heel miscommunication. Tony mentions that Tron is the World Junior Champion. Tron (who looks like someone at a cosplay convention) has the pin after a flying forearm on Whatley, but brawling between the other two distract the ref. Right as the ref turns around, Tron backdrops a charging Whatley over the top, drawing the DQ. Worse gimmick for Hector Guerrero, LazorTron, or the Gobbledy Gooker?
-Match 3: Crockett Cup Tournament First Round Match-Ivan & Vladimir Petrov VS Brad & Bob Armstrong
-Match is cut to the Russians double-teaming Bullet Bob. Bob with some great facial expressions while in Petrov's bear hug. Brad gets the hot tag and cleans house. Brad gets a sleeper on Koloff, then intentionally turns his back so Petrov can grab the chain and nail him with it. The ref sees this and calls for the DQ, and the Armstrongs win in a big upset. Not much to comment on here.
-Match 4: Crockett Cup Tournament Second Round Match-The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) VS Jimmy & Ronnie Garvin (w/Precious)
-Match actually starts at the beginning, with the Garvins starting out hot. Cornette is rocking a pink tuxedo jacket with matching pink shoes. The Garvins almost get their hands on Cornette, and Jimmy stupidly almost gets his team DQ'd by taking a swing at the Midnights with Cornette's tennis racket. Match is cut to the Midnights gaining control. Heel miscommunication allows Jimmy to make the tag to Ronnie. Ronnie KO's Eaton with the hands of stone, and Eaton almost takes a bump over the top before thinking better of it. Ronnie sets Eaton up for a piledriver on the floor, but Cornette nails him with the tennis racket, and Ronnie is counted out. Ronnie drops the ref after he refuses to reverse the decision. Are there going to be ANY clean finishes on this show?
-An announcement is made that Ricky Morton has an eye injury, so the Rock 'N Roll Express have withdrawn from the tournament.
-Match 5: Cage Match-Big Bubba Rogers (w/Jim Cornette) VS Ole Anderson
-So Ole is out of the Horsemen at this point, and gets a big face reaction as he goes right after Bubba to start the match. Tommy Young counts Bubba as he chokes Ole, causing Cornette to remind him that this is a cage match, and Bubba can choke if he wants to. Young very quickly starts to count either man down if they fall to the mat. Cornette's bad advice allows Ole to turn the tide. Ole is busted open, so we have our first color on this video. Bubba chokes Ole down and almost out with his suspenders. Bubba misses a splash from the top, and Ole follows up with a piledriver. Bubba cannot get up before the ten count, so Ole wins. It would have been nice to have some mention that the ten count was the only way to win. Nothing to write home about here, as Ray Traylor was not good at all at this point, IMO.
-As a special bonus on this release, they added three of Magnum T.A.'s most high profile matches: his U.S. Title win over Wahoo McDaniel, a title defense against Kamala, and his second U.S. Title win in the “I Quit” match against Tully. Since only the Wahoo match hasn't been on a previous release I have reviewed in this thread, I will skip the other two.
-Bonus Match: Cage Match for the NWA United States Championship: Wahoo McDaniel [c] VS Magnum T.A.
-Tony & David Crockett are the commentators on this match. Tony talks about Magnum quickly establishing himself with quick victories. Wahoo drops Magnum with a back-kick to the nuts. Magnum fires back, so Wahoo goes to the eyes. Magnum won't back down, and keeps coming back. Magnum sends Wahoo into the cage, and Wahoo's wobbly selling before falling is pretty great. Wahoo sends Magnum into the cage, but can't keep him down for the three count. Wahoo keeps pounding on Magnum and cutting off his comeback attempts, but cannot put him away. Wahoo tries to escape, but Magnum catches him with a belly-to-back suplex for a near-fall. Wahoo tries to build momentum, but runs into a belly-to-belly suplex for the pin, and to say the crowd goes wild would be an understatement. Pretty good match for the style it was contested in.
-Match 6: Crockett Cup Quarter-Finals-The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) VS The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering)
-Cornette has changed into a Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase styles jacket for night two. Match is clipped to Animal getting a powerslam on Eaton. Hawk has Lane beaten after a flying clothesline, but Eaton rushes to make the save, and Animal runs in to stop him, causing the ref to miss the pin. The Midnights take over via cheating, including Eaton nailing Hawk on the top of his head with Cornette's tennis racket. The Midnights try everything they can to put Hawk down, including throwing him over the top when the ref's back is turned, and another shot with the tennis racket. Animal finally gets the hot tag and all hell breaks loose. Cornette throws fire at Animal (which he basically no-sells). Animal gets a hold of the tennis racket and lays waste to the heels, but the ref sees this, and DQ's the Road Warriors. The Roadies lay out the Midnights after the bell. Pretty decent from what was shown.
-Match 7: Crockett Cup Quarter-Finals-Rick Rude & Manny Fernandez (w/Paul Jones) VS Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff
-Teddy Long is the ref, sporting his old “Black Gallagher” look. Manny & Rude come out wearing title belts, but no mention is made of what title they hold. Dusty works over Manny, causing the heels to ask Teddy to look at Dusty's elbow pad. The heels manage to take over, and Rude sends Dusty into the ring post, almost resulting in a count-out. Dusty plays face-in-peril. Dusty finally comes back, and after it breaks down for a bit, Manny goes up top for a cross-body and almost misses Dusty, who manages to catch him and roll through for the pin, getting a very quick count from Teddy. Almost all of what was shown was Dusty eating offense from Manny, which was OK, if not terribly exciting.
-Match 8: Crockett Cup Quarter-Finals-Lex Luger & Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) VS Brad & Bob Armstrong
-Tully misses a charge in the corner, and Brad does the smart thing and tries for the quick win with a missile dropkick, but that only gets two. Tully sends Brad into the ropes, and JJ pulls the top rope down, sending Brad crashing to the floor. Tully starts working over Brad's back, and the fifteen minute announcement is made, showing that this has been clipped to shreds, as there's been about one minute shown at that point. Bob tries to turn the tide, and the match breaks down for a little bit. This allows JJ to aid Tully in hitting a double-clothesline on Bob, and that gets the pin for the Horsemen. Not enough shown to really comment on it.
-Match 9: Crockett Cup Semi-Finals-The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) VS Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff
-Match is JIP at the five minute mark, with Dusty nailing both of the Midnights with Bionic Elbows and strutting. Nikita has a neck brace on, and I have no idea why. Dusty makes the mistake of tagging him in, and Nikita becomes the face-in-peril. Cornette distracts the ref, allowing Eaton to nail Nikita from behind. The Midnights focus on Nikita's injured neck for quite a long time. Nikita finally gets something in with a flying shoulderblock on Eaton for two. After heel miscommunication, the Russian Sickle on Eaton gets the pin, with another quick count from Black Gallagher. From what I saw, this seemed pretty much to be a copy of Dusty & Nikita's match the last round, just switching the roles of the two. Cornette's temper tantrum after the pin is pretty funny.
-Match 10: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] VS Barry Windham
-Match is JIP with Windham responding to Flair chops by punching him in the face. Flair quickly gets the Figure 4 and uses the ropes for leverage, but Windham will not give up, even going to the point of pulling Tommy Young out of his way. Flair and Young get into a shoving match. Flair catches Windham with a back elbow which sends Windham over the top and into the barricade, but does not draw a DQ. Flair sets up for a piledriver on the Flair, but Young threatens to DQ Flair for that. Windham gets a sunset flip and a backslide for near-falls, and Flair takes a walk. Windham really starts working Flair over, and gets another near-fall after a delayed vertical suplex, but Windham is lazy with his cover, so he doesn't get the pin. The fight goes out to the floor, and Windham stupidly tries for a piledriver, but gets back dropped. Flair goes up top...AND GETS THE CROSS-BODY!...but Windham rolls through for another near-fall. Back on the outside, Flair catches Windham with a low blow. Flair tries for a delayed vertical suplex, but Windham gets out of it, and Flair backs into a sleeper in an awkward spot. Flair goes up top again, but gets caught and launched this time. Windham locks in a Figure 4, which really needs Flair cursing him out while in the hold to be complete. Flair dives at Windham, and both men tumble out of the ring, but neither go over the top. Windham gets a missile dropkick for the pin, but Flair's foot is on the bottom rope, so the match continues. A series of roll-up reversals gets a couple more near-falls for Windham. Windham tries one more roll-up out of the corner, but Flair reverses and pulls the tights to get the pin and retain the title. Your standard “Flair takes a beating but escapes with the belt” match, but that is usually good ---> great, and this match is no exception.
-Gary Michael Cappetta introduces Magnum T.A. who is in really rough shape. He hugs it out with Dusty & Nikita to huge pops.
-Match 11: Crockett Cup Tournament Finals-Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff VS Tully Blanchard & Lex Luger (w/JJ Dillon)
-Complete introductions for this one. Nikita takes Tully over the top with a clothesline, causing them both to go out, but no DQ is called for by Earl Hebner. EARL SCREWED TULLY & LEX. The Horsemen remove Nikita's neck brace. They work Nikita over, making him the FIP for this match. Huge “Nikita” chant as he struggles to stay alive. Nikita gets worked over for a long time, then FINALLY makes the hot tag to Dusty, who hits everything in sight with Bionic Elbows. Dusty and Lex brawl on the outside, and Tully accidentally hits JJ inside the ring. Tully tries for a piledriver on Nikita, but Dusty COMES FLYING OFF THE TOP WITH A CROSS-BODY for the pin and the million dollars. Match was the same as the others for Dusty/Nikita, but at least the finish was hot.
-This release is a lot better than the one for the previous year's, since there's A.) commentary and B.) half the matches, making it a much less draining viewing experience.
-More highlights as the credits roll.
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