I looked at the retrospective show Mike Graham and Randy Savage were presenting circa 2001 a few weeks ago, so I thought I’d have a look at a full episode. This is from the beginning of 1986, almost a year removed from the death of Eddie Graham, and I believe the story is that anyone who had a share in the company, be it a penny or a pound, wanted in and to take control, leading to the company going into a decline and having to be sold at the beginning of 1987. Let’s see what we have here.
Hosted by Gordon Solie.
Hector Guerrero and Tyree Pride vs. The Red Menace and Jack Hart
This match is already going on as the show starts, but for some reason they decide that a Blackjack Mulligan promo is more important to focus on, as he threatens Kevin Sullivan and his men with a baseball bat. Back to the match, as Buddy Colt joins Gordon on commentary. Buddy is considered a good promo, bad commentator, but I like him as his voice was so distinctive. Jack Hart is Barry Horowitz. Pride is the Bahamas champion and dwarfed by Hart. The heels use backbreakers on him, but he gets the tag to Hector as they go to a break three minutes in! Did someone spike the coffee with speed?! Back to it with Pride and the Menace in, with Pride missing a flying headbutt. Hart fails to garrote him with his wrist tape and dropkicks him while he’s on his knees, which is probably as high as he’d get with how tiny he is. Hart pokes the eyes and gets some neat uppercut forearms. Even though he’s known for the loser gimmick he was an incredibly proficient wrestler. Colt calls a camel clutch a “surfboard or guillotine”, which might go some way towards the criticism of him. Pride’s out with a forearm and the partners both get in. Menace fires Hector out of the ring and it’s brawl outside on the hard camera side, so referee Bubba Douglas throws it out and calls it a double disqualification, cutting his own promo on everyone needing to follow the rules. Very fast pace, but too interrupted to rate.
A look at the Road Warriors, wrestling Kevin Sullivan, the Purple Haze and Bob Roop at a recent show. Haze beats on them with the golden spike, but Blackjack Mulligan makes the save and the Roadies take out the heels with the spike themselves.
Jesse Barr vs. Coco Samoa
The return of Jesse is played up, even though he’s plain as toast until he’s repackaged as fake Funk Jimmy Jack. Gordon talks about the soon departure of referee Bruce Tharpe, who’s going back to college to continue his law studies. I know he was around for a long time in some shape or form. Test of strength, which Jesse uses the ropes to get Samoa on the mat. Samoa climbs the tree and flips out of it. Barr with the boots in response. Bearhug into a beautiful belly-to-belly by Barr. Suplex reversed into a small package, and Coco fights back. Legdrop and try at a crossbody, but Jesse muscles him up into a running shoulderbreaker for the pinfall win. Jesse was solid and underrated as a wrestler, but needed a gimmick desperately. After the match he cuts a mush-mouthed promo on the babyfaces in the territory while never looking directly at the camera, in case you needed some proof. Match was absolutely fine.
Lex Lugar vs. Dale Apollo
This is early days for Package, with stubble, version one of his surname, no knee pads, ripped top and headband, green as grass but looking like a Greek god. Power and flex, power and flex, then an arm drag into an armbar. He’s Southern heavyweight champion already by this point, so Solie talking up his interest in the lesser TV championship seems incongruous. Apollo looks great, but is about a foot smaller than Lex to make him look even bigger and better. You can see as Lex works a rear chinlock how he’s trying the move but it’s really clunky. Same with the two backbreakers he finishes with for the pinfall, he’s doing them right but there’s no showmanship with them. Greater things ahead for Flexy Lexy, though.
After the match, he speaks with his natural voice, no bass in it, on his attack of Wahoo McDaniel and ripping up his war bonnet, which we see. He looked special and felt special but didn’t sound or act special yet.
Back from a break with older footage of a six man match featuring Dusty Rhodes in the seventies, no context given or commentary. He gets a dropkick on Pak Song Nam at one point. Pak ends up getting the pinfall a few minutes later on one of his partner.
Bob Roop vs. ?
Roop is in his Maya Singh persona with the half-shaved head, accompanied by “Angel” (Luna) Vachon. No idea on the unnamed opponent but he’s very top-heavy. Kevin Sullivan and Roop beat the guy up on the outside when he takes a bump and Bruce Tharpe disqualifies them then tries to cut his own promo while sounding like a teenager then reminds everyone that Sullivan is facing a one year suspension. Sullivan, with a mysterious patch over his eye and scuffed up face, cuts a promo in response while sounding and looking like he’s been on a binge since before Christmas, which he probably had. He then cuts a Mafia-esque promo (“It would be an awful shame…”) on the announcers too if they give him any aggro. More interview than match.
Interview with Wahoo McDaniel and Blackjack Mulligan, with Buddy holding the US tag team championship belts previously held by Wahoo and Billy Jack Haynes. They explain they’ve been vacated as Wahoo and Billy Jack couldn’t align their schedules to defend them. Read: Billy Wack flaked out. Actually, isn’t this not long after Starrcade, when Billy threatened to kill Jim Crockett and Dusty Rhodes and anyone else he could think of after a low payoff? Could be. Blackjack talks about teaming with Dusty or Wahoo in the tournament for them, then goes off on a rant about “that criminal creep, that drug-craved maniac that’s wrecked fifteen cars, beats up little girls” and how we should keep asking him what happened to his eye, then pulls himself back from saying any more as if he hasn’t said more than most would say. Seeing as Kendall can’t talk, he even calls out Jesse Barr to promote their programme too. Well, that was something else! Even Wahoo talking about how he doesn’t need to bite off noses or pull eyes out to beat people seems muted by comparison.
Barry and Kendall Windham vs. Prince Iaukea and the Cuban Assassin
Prince Iaukea is not the guy from WCW in the nineties, rather it’s the son of King Curtis (Rocky). Cuban Assassin is Dave/Fidel Sierra. Barry looks so much more the star than anyone else in the ring off his WWF run. Smooth as silk, he manages Iaukea until Dave is tagged in. Dave rakes the eyes, but BW gets his trademark rights and an elbow, but again it’s an attack on the eyes. Barry tags in Kendall for a double dropkick and side headlock. Christ, imagine if they’d tried to recruit young Kendall to team with Mike Rotunda in the US Express – that would’ve made Dan Spivey look like Hulk Hogan by comparison! Barry back in with Iaukea with a sweet uppercut forearm and dropkick to set up Kendall getting the bulldog (or running stampede as Gordon strangely calls it) for the win. All good, bolstered by the presence of Barry while he waited to get back in the good graces of Dusty to return to the NWA. At the desk, Kendall lisps through a rethponthe to Jesse Barr, then Barry out-cools everyone as they sign off the show.
Melting it down: Great action and a fast pace throughout, so never boring, but the presentation was dated and never going to compete with the bigger leagues even though the roster was full of stars. Definitely worth a look.