The SmarK Rant for NWA Power Hour – 05.04.90
Taped from Marietta, GA
Your hosts are Jim Ross & Gordon Solie
Eddie Gilbert v. Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker
Eddie does some strutting and grabs a headlock, but Parker powers out, so Eddie works the arm and takes him down off that. Meanwhile JR says “Capital Combat The Return of Robocop” as many time as possible. Why was it the RETURN of Robocop? He was never in the promotion before! Unless it was one of those deals where Alex Murphy was a Thunderfoot or something back in the Crockett era. Eddie goes for a crossbody and misses, and Parker gets two off that and now it’s his turn to work the arm. Slam gets two. Corner clothesline follows, but Eddie comes back with a DDT and finishes with the Hotshot at 5:41. And that was the end of Eddie Gilbert’s WCW career. *
WRESTLING NEWS NETWORK! WITH GORDON SOLIE!
So the previously announced Mean Mark v. Eddie Gilbert match is now Mean Mark v. Johnny Ace, and Eddie is teaming with Tommy Rich against the SST. Of course, that one didn’t happen, either.
Meanwhile, on Worldwide, the Rock N Roll Express get into a brawl with the Freebirds.
The Rock N Roll Express v. Nasty Ned & Joe Cazana
Nasty Ned gets double-teamed by the RNR in their corner to start, and then they haul Cazana in and Ricky hits him with a kneelift. They work the arm and Jim promises that someone is getting taken to the woodshed, so to speak, in the Freebird match at CAPITAL COMBAT THE RETURN OF ROBOCOP. Nasty Ned, who Gordon makes sure to note is “double tough”, gets some shots on Robert, but Ricky dropkicks him to end that rally. Look, anyone who was named “Nasty Ned” by his parents would have to be double tough to back it up. And the RNR slow it down again and work the leg of ol’ Nasty Ned as the crowd tries to rally them WHILE THEY’RE ON OFFENSE. How come no one is chanting for Nasty Ned to rally him? Cazana manages to tag in again and elbows Robert down for two, but the RNR finish him off with the double dropkick at 7:43. Super dull squash.
Meanwhile, the Rock N Rolls are pretty upset about getting whipped by the Freebirds earlier and they’re going to demonstrate that they’re the best rock n rollers! By whipping them with leather straps, I guess?
Lex Luger joins Jim Cornette for an interview, and Cornette points out that Flair is pretty good in cage matches himself, having won one of his World titles against Harley Race in a cage. He actually won two of them, as poor Ron Garvin gets forgotten already. Lex is confident because there’s no way for any of the Horsemen to interfere in the cage match! Oh I’m pretty sure they can find a way.
Flyin’ Brian & Z-Man v. Samu & Outlaw Deaton
We get a funny promo before the match, with Jim Cornette paying the jobbers a big bribe from his mother’s personal account in exchange for them hurting either Pillman or Zenk. And if they get suspended for doing it, Jim will take care of them and “keep Samu in pineapples for life.” In fact, Deaton already doesn’t like those punks, so he would have done it for free. So Samu is into the period of his WCW career where he’s just wearing his Sunday sweatpants as gear, apparently, while the Fatu brothers have taken over the SST gimmick. Samu gets chased by Pillman and comes back in to trade chops, and the Outlaw comes in and walks into a crossbody, followed by a Pillman dropkick that puts him over the top rope and out to the floor. Samu isn’t even trying to maintain continuity, just acting like a completely normal heel and jawing with the fans after months of playing a babbling savage. Unsurprisingly, this was also Samu’s last appearance on this show on his way out of the promotion. Zenk works the leg on Deaton and it’s over to Samu, so Pillman goes to work on his arm and gets a sunset flip for two. Gordon speculates that the fearsome team of Outlaw Deaton and Samu might now be able to fulfil the deal they made with Cornette, and JR disgustedly notes that Cornette probably made a “cash on delivery” deal with them. Um, why wouldn’t he? At the very least he should pay them half up front and half on delivery of the injury. Paying them the entire amount up front would just be bad business. It’s like how I don’t get paid by Tony Khan until AFTER I review Dynamite. Deaton and Samu pull Zenk to the floor and double-team out there, and Samu runs him into the railing until Brian makes the save. But then they double suplex Zenk on the floor. Back in the ring, Zenk continues being trapped by the heels, and we even get a false tag spot as the ref misses the tag to Pillman, and Deaton suplexes Zenk in from the apron to take over again. Samu with the chinlock, but he goes up and misses a flying splash, and it’s hot tag Pillman. This brings Cornette down to protest this waste of his money, and he has to do it himself by hitting Pillman with the racket, putting Samu on top for two. Deaton with a bulldog next, but Pillman holds him up in the air mid-move, while Z-Man comes off the top with a clothesline, allowing Pillman to get the pin at 14:00. That was a pretty nifty match with a cool finish. Pillman and Zenk were a pretty great team and this was worth watching. *** I think they should have been US tag champs way longer, too.
Sadly no Doom-Steiners stuff this week, but I think the main event and associated wackiness was enough to make this a thumbs up episode.