The SmarK Rant for NWA Power Hour – 08.10.90

The SmarK Rant for NWA Power Hour – 08.10.90

Taped from Gainesville, GA

Your host is Jim Ross

The Fantastics v. Scott Williams & Barry Horowitz

WHOA. Now, to be clear, this isn’t the classic team, it’s Bobby Fulton and his younger brother Jackie, after Tommy Rogers moved onto other things on his own. Still, I had no idea they were in WCW. The Fultons with a double dropkick on Williams and Bobby goes to a cross armbreaker. Over to Jackie and he works the arm, and then Bobby comes in to face off with Barry Horowitz. The Fantastics do an inset promo where they pledge to start at the bottom and work their way to the top, but apparently they decided to do the first part and then leave. Jackie comes in and works on Barry’s arm as this version of the Fantastics is somewhat less dynamic than the original version. Barry escapes with a kneelift, but Bobby comes in again with a flying knee on Williams, and then Jackie also goes up with a flying splash to finish at 3:40. Bobby left again pretty quick and Jackie was mostly an enhancement guy afterwards.

Sid Vicious v. John Douglas

Douglas looks like if Jim Ross decided to become a wrestler in 1979. Sid beats him down while yelling threats at Sting. Who, by the way, is apparently wrestling somebody named (checks notes) “The Black Scorpion” on Clash XII next month. JR has no notes on who this unknown fella is, but suspects it might be one of the Four Horsemen under a mask. Well, in a way, he was right. Sid with the helicopter slam for two and then he puts Douglas down again with a lazy faceplant as this squash drags on way past Sid’s peak for squash matches, and finally he finishes with the powerbomb at 3:14.

WRESTLING NEWS NETWORK! WITH GORDON SOLIE!

First up, Stan Hansen has been reinstated from his suspension for brutalizing Tommy Rich on World Championship Wrestling, and he’s pledging to brutalize Rich some more. Recidivism is apparently a real thing in wrestling.

Second, Sting does a promo on behalf of Lex Luger, pledging revenge on the Horsemen because apparently Lex isn’t available to do it himself.

Third, the Freebirds faced the Southern Boys on NWA Pro with LANCE RUSSELL on commentary, which blows my damn mind every time I hear it. And the Boys beat them with their double-team flying elbow, the DIXIE DEMOLITION. I never even knew that move had a name.

Ric Flair & Arn Anderson v. Brad Batton & Dave Diamond

Batton was something of a name in Central States but I don’t think he ever did anything after the 80s. Batton takes Flair down with armdrags and gets some shine on Ric while JR in fact brings up the Batton Twins and their history as a team. Over to Diamond and Arn quickly kicks his ass and puts the boots to him. Flair beats on him with chops while JR accuses Diamond of being more like a cubic zirconium. Savage. Diamond manages to tag Batton again and Flair is selling for him again, taking a backdrop, and Batton gets a small package for two. But then Arn gets a cheapshot from the apron and comes in with the spinebuster, and Flair finishes with the figure-four at 5:44. This was of course the start of a push by Jim Herd to make Flair and Anderson into a regular tag team and move Flair out of the singles division for good, and it worked about as well as you’d expect.

Dutch Mantel v. Lou Perez

They’ve been hyping up Lou Perez for the entire episode, and he’s got a title shot against Arn Anderson on the Saturday show as well. Lou, who was apparently a real relative of Al Perez (brother or cousin, and I forget which he was billed as), takes Dutch down and works a headlock, but Dutch puts him down for two and puts the boots to him. Snap suplex gets two. Perez with a small package for two, but Dutch slams him again for two. Dutch with an abdominal stretch, but Lou escapes that and comes back with a dropkick and a rollup for the pin at 5:00. Lou had even less talent and charisma than Al, and didn’t stick around the business for long. But hey, good looking kid from Florida with a name, why not take a shot on pushing someone new?

Lex Luger v. Bob Holly

Yup. That Bob Holly. Lex takes him down and works the arm. Crazy that Luger was one of the longest-reigning US champs in NWA history, and today his year-long reign would illicit reactions of “Why did they take the title off him so soon?” Lex with the powerslam and HUMAN TORTURE RACK at 2:28. Something something car racing joke. Hang on, I’m paying for Google’s AI thing now, let’s see what it’s got for puns:

“Bob Holly lost the match? Guess he blew a head gasket!”

OK so let’s not worry about this technology taking over the world QUITE yet.

Meanwhile, Jim Cornette chats with Lex Luger, offering the opinion that the Horsemen have broken him like a wild stallion, shattering his spirit. Nonsense, the only way that could happen is if they put a t-shirt on him that’s too tight. Cornette thinks that Lex doesn’t have the guts to go after the Horsemen and get his revenge, but Lex snaps and tries to throttle Cornette, demanding to be called “Mr. Luger, sir” next time. Hopefully Cornette won’t hold a grudge for 3 years over that.

Mean Mark Callous v. Tommy Rich

Oh great, we’ve got one goofy redneck with questionable politics, and the other guy is Tommy Rich. Mark attacks in the corner and Rich evades him and goes to work on the arm. That goes on for so long that even Paul E yells DO SOMETHING at ringside and finally Mark clotheslines Rich down to take over. Mark with a snap suplex for two. Mark misses an elbow but boots Tommy down again. Tommy fights back with an elbow off the middle rope and kind of hits the Thesz Press, but he immediately goes after Paul instead of covering, and the heels double-team Rich until the ref calls for the DQ at 5:52. So there you go, Tommy Rich beat the Undertaker at one point. It was a dogshit finish but it counts.

And we finish with the Freebirds talking about their rematch with the Southern Boys on World Championship Wrestling.

Kind of a weird episode as they were definitely a promotion in a state of flux in the summer of 1990.