The SmarK Rant for International Championship Wrestling – 11.28.81

The SmarK Rant for International Championship Wrestling – 11.28.81

Originally written 09.27.25

Digging into the KrisP vault on a Saturday night. And they use THE CHASE as the theme song! Let’s get our Poffo on.

Taped from Lexington, KY

Your hosts are Tim Tyler and Edgar Wallace, joined by THE MASKED MISER, who is a masked man with USA flag mask who sounds suspiciously like the owner of the promotion, and has recently won the Television title.

Pistol Pez Whatley v. Roy Bates

Pez is newly turned, now going by “Bad” Pistol Pez Whatley. Pez gets a slam and rams him into the turnbuckles a few times, and then follows with a gut wrench for the pin at 1:10.

Afterwards, Pez joins us at the desk, talking some shit about Ronnie Garvin. So we get footage from last week, after Garvin interfered in Pez’s business last week and ruined a really nice suitcase that belonged to Pez, allowing the Miser to accidentally win the TV title in the process. Meanwhile Pez and Garvin do a wild brawl until the Great Tio joins in with Pez and they beat Garvin down with a lead pipe until Leaping Lanny and Crusher Broomfield make the save. So back at the desk, a pissed off Pez declares that Ronnie Garvin will no longer be known as the One Man Gang after he steps into the ring with Pez and the Great Tio.

The Masked Miser, covered in dollar signs and the American flag, once again stresses that NO ONE KNOWS WHO HE IS. Certainly not the notably cheap owner and promoter.

Meanwhile, we get some footage of The Great Tio facing Jerry Eagle, and Apache Luis does commentary over it.

Apache Luis v. Ricky Starr

Luis takes him down with armdrags and Starr bails to the floor. Back in the ring, Luis takes him down with a nice armbar and does a wardance in celebration while the announcers discuss how a bear once bit off one of his fingers. Now that’s hardcore. Starr sends him to the apron and gets some shots there to send him to the floor, but Luis makes the PISSED OFF RACIAL STEREOTYPE COMEBACK and puts him down with chops and wardances before wrapping him up in a leglock and then releasing to beat up manager Gary Royal. This brings Rip Rogers out of the back to join in on a 3-on-1 beatdown and it’s a DQ at 4:10 thanks to the Convertible Blondes, which is a pretty good name for a heel stable.

Meanwhile, MACHO MAN RANDY SAVAGE stops by, World champion of ICW and cream of the crop, yeah, but he doesn’t quite the Pampero Firpo speech down pat. But he’s close. He’s coming to Illinois to work some shows, dig it!

Rick Zarta v. Ricky Starr

We’re joined at the desk by Zarta, who provides commentary for tape of this match, but he falls victim to a cheapshot and gets pinned.

Crusher Broomfield v. Cowboy Young

Crusher is a babyface here, very very green and basically playing a hillbilly character. Crusher beats on Young in the corner with the clubbing forearms and then drops the leg on him and finishes with a piledriver at 1:49.

Inside ICW with special guest Leaping Lanny. They talk with Ronnie Garvin on the phone, after he failed to appear for his TV title match last week and the Masked Miser ended up winning it instead. So then Ronnie came out late, as seen earlier, and suffered a beatdown at the hands of Pez Whatley with a lead pipe that has him out for a few weeks. Lanny calls him a LIAR, who lied about everything he said on the tape, and he’s pretty sure that Garvin is way more injured than he’s letting on, because one shot from Pez puts you on the shelf for month. Also he took a photo of Garvin when he wasn’t looking, revealing that Garvin is so injured that he can’t even lace up his wrestling boots without help from Lanny. So he’s trying to fool the people into thinking he’s not hurt. Just to clarify, this was a babyface promo from Lanny, as he was basically saying that Garvin is trying to tough out an injury so he doesn’t lose face with the fans.

Meeanwhile, Rip Rogers is upset that promoter George Weingroff is holding up the ICW US tag team titles because of controversy during the last title match. But regardless, he shows off some trophies he won for bodybuilding in Tennessee, although he didn’t actually win but came in third. Still, impressive.

Rip Rogers v. Rocky Armstrong

So we learn that the tag team titles will indeed be put up in a tournament. Rip takes Rocky down and chokes him out, and drops an elbow for the pin at 2:14.

Meanwhile, Rip Rogers promises to be coming to Illinois, although he’s pretty sure fans in that state don’t have enough money to afford the Convertible Blondes.

And we finish with Crusher Broomfield, showing the beatdown on Ronnie Garvin again last week, but Crusher is good friends with Ronnie and hasn’t heard anything from him about his injuries.

I thought this was a really fun show, actually, with a surprisingly high level of talent for what was essentially a promotion created out of spite towards Jerry Jarrett. Felt very much like Memphis in a lot of ways with a cast that went on to bigger things. Definitely worth checking out if you get a chance.