The SmarK Rant for NWA Power Hour – 08.24.90

The SmarK Rant for NWA Power Hour – 08.24.90

For some reason the August 17 episode is skipped in this collection. I’m gonna blame vampires because we’re getting closer to Halloween.

Taped from Marietta, GA, although it’s basically a hodge-podge of stuff for NWA Pro and NWA Worldwide from what I can tell.

Your host is Jim Ross

Stan Hansen v. Rick Ford

We’ve switched from Rhubarb Jones as ring announcer, back to Gary Capetta, as this show is just kind of spliced together from footage from all the other tapings at this point. Hansen spits his chewing tobacco in Ford’s face and beats on him with the chaps before dropping elbows on him and tossing him to the floor. And then he chokes Ford out with the bullrope until the ref calls for the DQ at 1:00 as he continues his path of blind rage towards Tommy Rich. I literally had no idea that this Hansen v. Rich feud was going on in the background all this time in 1990.

WRESTLING NEWS NETWORK! WITH GORDON SOLIE!

We’ve got two big stories this week, with Clash of Champions coming up and Sting defending against the Black Scorpion. Also, last week saw Pillman & Zenk facing the Midnight Express on World Championship Wrestling, but Sid Vicious came out and destroyed both teams single-handedly. Seemed like they were having a pretty boss match before the DQ finish, too. What does the attack mean? No idea, I don’t think it was ever followed up.

Hector Guerrero v. Mark Kyle

Back to Rhubarb as we switch tapings. I had no idea Hector Guerrero was in WCW in 1990 but I’m just gonna assume they wasted whatever potential he had. Hector rolls around like an AEW main eventer and takes Kyle down with a hiptoss before reversing out of a headlock and going to work on the arm. Apparently Hector has another brother besides Chavo, named “Eddie”. Wonder if he’s any good? Hector with a double arm suplex for two, but Kyle slugs away on him before missing a blind charge. Hector takes him down with a headscissors and Tijeras, sending Kyle back to the corner in confusion. Hector takes him down with a necksnap and rings his ears,and then hits a twisting splash for two. Kyle fights back with the clubbing forearms, but Hector flips in from the apron and sends Kyle to the floor with dropkicks, before hitting him with a pescado. Back in the ring, Hector with a springboard crossbody and the abdominal stretch into a rolling cradle for the pin at 6:47. Dom Mysterio likely aspires to the mullet and moustache that Hector effortlessly pulled off here. Kyle was basically the big mean guy acting as a base for Hector flying all over the ring and this was a fun squash.

The Southern Boys v. Snake Watson & Death Row

Now that’s a mean-sounding jobber team. Back to Capetta as we switch tapings again. The Southern Boys double-team Death Row with a shoulderblock and he tags out to Snake, who also gets double-teamed. Tracy works the arm while JR hypes up an impending six-man at the Clash with Buddy Roberts joining the Freebirds and Bob Armstrong joining the Southern Boys, but that didn’t happen. Back to Death Row, who goes after Armstrong’s arm, but Tracy comes in with a dropkick to knock him down and then follows with a shoulderblock and flying elbow. Back to Snake, but the Southern Boys quickly hit the Dixie Demolition to finish at 4:35. Disappointingly mundane outing for Death Row, who usually provides entertaining squashes by fucking up simple moves or trying to shoot on accomplished amateur wrestlers.

Meanwhile, Ric Flair talks with Jim Cornette, and claims to have nothing to do with the Black Scorpion, because the Four Horsemen don’t conceal their identity. If they had a title shot against Sting, they’d put their name on the contract in BIG BLACK LETTERS so everyone knew who it was. And then Flair goes a bit meta, saying that the “powers that be” in the NWA are trying to push Flair to the sidelines and make him step aside. But the NFL tried to do that to Joe Montana as well and now he’s signed for millions of dollars with the Kansas City Chiefs. Yeah well the 49ers looked a lot smarter for going with Steve Young than Jim Herd did for going with Sting, that’s for sure.

Sting v. Chris Sullivan

JR notes that he’s been around the sport a long time and he’s never seen a more closely guarded secret than the identity of the Black Scorpion. Given all the things we’ve since discovered about the stuff going on backstage, I think JR is fibbing about that. I’m pretty sure he knew some much more closely guarded secrets. Sting takes Sullivan to the corner and tells him to relax because he’s getting too worked up, and then backs off and hits him with the Stinger Splash before finishing him with the Scorpion Deathlock at 2:00.

WCW World tag team title: Doom v. The Fantastics

Man they’ve only been around two weeks and they’re already wrestling the tag team champions! Simmons tells Jackie to bring it on and then knocks him down with football tackles, but on a third try, Jackie hits a bodypress for two and follows with dropkicks to send Ron back to the corner to regroup. Over to Bobby, who hits both Doomers with some shots and then runs away, allowing Jackie to hit a double bodypress. But then Reed whiplashes Bobby with a slam that rams the back of his head into the mat with MUSTARD on it, and the champs take over. Reed with a lariat, but Bobby fights back with a kneelift and makes a hot tag to Jackie. He does a super-awkward series with Simmons, as they trade shoulderblocks and Jackie looks completely lost. Bobby comes back in and helps out with a double atomic drop, but the ref escorts Bobby out and Reed hits Jackie with a flying knee off the top and puts Simmons on top for the pin at 5:48. This were doing a simple “babyface shine and heel heat” tag match and then it just completely fell apart out of nowhere. ** I suspect that Bobby getting his head smashed on the mat was a bit more real than they wanted and he got knocked a bit loopy. And in fact this was Bobby’s final match for the promotion, so that’s probably what happened.

Ric Flair, Arn Anderson & Sid Vicious v. Tim Parker, Brad Batton & Bob Holly

Holly trades takedowns with Arn and then brings in Batton. So Sid casually presses him and carries him around the ring before slamming him and putting the boots to him. Batton makes a comeback on Flair, but misses a dropkick and gets beaten down again. Over to Tim Parker, but Arn quickly hits him with the spinebuster and then Sid finishes him off with the helicopter slam into Flair’s figure-four at 4:00. Beatdown follows, but El Gigante and his friends make the save as the Dudes With Attitudes are apparently still a thing? Paul Orndorff was basically out the door at this point but I guess he stuck around long enough to save Tim Parker from the Horsemen.

Next time: We finally meet the mysterious BLACK SCORPION! I for one can’t wait.