The SmarK Rant for NWA Power Hour – 07.22.90

The SmarK Rant for NWA Power Hour – 07.22.90

I was confused about the date here but apparently the show was being moved around for sportsball reasons at this point.

Taped from Marietta, GA

Your host is Jim Ross

Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk v. Crusher Knoff & JD Wolf

Not sure why they’re randomly putting these two back together again. Tag team breakups can be a messy and confusing thing sometimes, I guess. The babyfaces double-team the very intimidating Crusher Knoff and Zenk puts him down with a superkick, so it’s over to Wolf, and the babyfaces quickly hit him with a dropkick variant on the Hart Attack and Zenk finishes with a slingshot splash at 2:40.

Meanwhile, at the Bash, the mysterious Big Van Vader debuts.

The Samoan Swat Team v. Dave Johnson & Vincent Vandooly

The continuing adventures of the SST resume here, as they’re back to going by the SST despite being the Fatu brothers instead of Fatu & Samu. Fatu puts Vandooly down with a snap suplex, and then lets Johnson in and hits him with a neckbreaker for two. Fatu with a superkick and samoan drop to set up the flying splash from Samoan Savage at 2:56. JR puts over a feud with the Steiners but that didn’t go anywhere. Just kinda shows how aimless the product was with more than three months to go until the next PPV.

Meanwhile, on World Championship Wrestling, Stan Hansen kicks the crap out of Tommy Rich, as promised on this very show last week, but Tommy fights back and so Stan tosses him over the top rope for the DQ. And then he hits the ref with a lariat for good measure.

Paul Orndorff v. Zan Panzer

Zan is from “the continent of Europe”, which narrows it right down. Orndorff as the smiling babyface at this point is just so wrong and thankfully his run was just about over. Panzer works a headlock on Orndorff, but Paul takes him down with armdrags and goes to a top wristlock. Panzer fights out, but a shoulderblock misses and Paul puts him away with the piledriver at 2:30. Panzer, aka Gene Anderson’s son Brad Anderson, stuck around the business for a long time and then wrecked his career by shooting on a guy at an indie show for some reason.

Meanwhile, Jim Cornette interviews Junkyard Dog, who promises he’s as mean and nasty as the Horsemen want to be. At least I think that’s the gist of it, Dog sounded pretty out of it.

US tag team title: The Midnight Express v. Tommy Rich & Tim Horner

I only recently learned of the story about how Dusty Rhodes invented the US tag team titles so that the Midnight Express could have gold as a part of their presentation. That’s awesome. Horner trades takedowns with Bobby while Tommy Rich encourages the crowd to call Cornette a “ferry”, I presume because he’s large enough to shuttle passengers on the water. Although he wasn’t really fat in 1990 so I’m at a loss. Horner takes Eaton down with a headscissors on the mat and Rich keeps coming into the ring to cheat behind the ref’s back. They were literally hosting the GOODWILL GAMES on TBS at this point, and this is the example of sportsmanship being set by Rich? Sweet Stan comes in for some nice clean wrestling on the mat with Horner to take over, but Rich comes off the top with an axehandle and works the arm. Lane with a cheapshot from the apron and Bobby takes over with a neckbreaker while JR notes that doctors advised Cornette to drink “diet caffeine free soda”. So, like WATER? Because that’s basically what you’re got left at that point. The Midnights double-team Rich in the corner and Bobby comes off the top for two. They continue beating on Rich as JR explains the Gauntlet concept again, but Horner gets a hot tag and hits Eaton with a bodypress for two. It’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA and the babyfaces clear the ring, but Lane slingshots in with a clothesline to the back of Horner’s neck and pins him as the illegal man at 12:10. This got the job done in a workmanlike manner, I guess. **1/2

This was kind of a dull show, to say the least, which was expected since they had to move it back two days due to the used clothing store Olympics. The storyline was still “Sting is being targeted by the Four Horsemen” at this point, but BOY HOWDY would that get dropped soon and go into a completely different direction.