The Chrononaut Chronicles – WWE 24/7: NWA World Championship Wrestling – Saturday, May 25, 1985
– Some of you may recall my first NWA recap from WWE 24/7. Well, we now pick up over a month later and I will hopefully be able to continue this series each month as we follow the adventures of Jim Crockett Promotions on Superstation TBS.
– We begin with a quick clip of Magnum TA squashing somebody with the belly-to-belly suplex before we go to the World Championship Wrestling opening, after which David Crockett & Tony Schiavone run down this week’s lineup.
– Ivan Koloff & Khrusher Khrushchev vs. Richard Dye & Gerald Finly
This is obviously a non-title bout as Ivan & Khrusher are the NWA World Tag Team Champions and they have their World Six-Man Tag Team Championship partner, Nikita Koloff, in their corner during this complete thrashing. Although Dye is identified as “Richard” in the chyron, both Tony & David refer to him as “Pat”. Poor guy, it’s bad enough getting your ass kicked by the Russians but it must really sting when nobody’s sure what your name is. This extended squash finally ends when Khrushchev nails Dye with the Russian Sickle and traps him in the Cobra Clutch for the submission. Afterwards, Khrusher takes his time releasing the hold while Finly casually stands back and watches. Some partner he is, though I can’t blame him for not getting involved.
– Schiavone interviews NWA World Champion Ric Flair, who cuts his usual classic “custom-made from head to toe” promo about being the greatest wrestler in the world and bagging the most women, noting how amazing it is that “so much man could be wrapped in such a good-looking package.” You and me both, Ric!
– After a commercial, Schiavone interviews Dusty Rhodes, who brags about making $500,000 a year and sets his sights on regaining the NWA World Television Title from Tully Blanchard even if Baby Doll sticks her “ugly face” in the match. Looked in the mirror lately, Dust? The American Dream also adds that he and Dick Slater will take down the Koloffs for the tag belts. This guy just has to be involved in everything, doesn’t he?
– The Italian Stallion vs. Terry Flynn
Now this is a surprise. I only remember the Italian Stallion as a potbellied jobber for both WWF and WCW and I recall a heel commentator (maybe Jesse or Bobby?) joking about him winning plenty of spaghetti-eating contests back in Italy because of his rather dumpy physique, but here the Stallion is in incredible shape and actually looks impressive. What a difference steroids can make, huh? The most boring squash ever includes several bearhugs and chinlocks before finally ending when Stallion pins Flynn following a Samoan Drop.
– Schiavone sends out Happy 50th Anniversary wishes to some old couple and gives an address for viewers to write if they’d like to have their anniversary mentioned on the air, but the Andersons come out for their interview and Ole says he doesn’t care about anniversaries. What a HEEL. Ole namedrops Bill Watts, Andre The Giant, Bruno Sammartino, & Wahoo McDaniel as guys that are scared of them as he states that Thunderbolt Patterson doesn’t belong in the business and Arn challenges anybody to try to take their National Tag Team Championship.
– Tully Blanchard vs. Stoney Burke
Baby Doll is in the NWA TV Champion’s corner as Stoney outwrestles Tully early on until Dusty Rhodes joins Tony & David on commentary, at which point Tully suddenly turns the match around and wears down Stoney with restholds. David notes of Baby Doll that “Someone should show her who a good man is”, which just sounds weird and creepy when Crockett says it, like he’s encouraging Dusty to go rape her or something. Blanchard puts Burke away with the slingshot suplex and confronts Rhodes afterwards, but hides behind Baby Doll, who claims that men should tip their hats to a lady and walks off with Tully. In a bold statement for such a loveable babyface, Dusty threatens to slap Baby Doll in the lips if she touches his hat and defies women’s organizations across America to stop him.
– Schiavone interviews NWA United States Champion Magnum TA, who basically accuses Ric Flair of ducking him and brags about successfully defending his US Title against 25-30 different contenders over the last couple months, but does it in a way that makes you love the guy. John Cena should watch some Magnum tapes to learn how to cut a killer babyface promo that appeals to male fans while still allowing him to be the pretty boy the ladies love.
– Thunderbolt Patterson vs. Joel Deaton
I’m still waiting for someone to explain Thunderbolt to me. The dude looks, moves, and talks like a homeless crack addict in tights. Patterson finishes off Deaton with a double-forearm thrust to the chest.
– Schiavone interviews Dick Slater, who announces that he’s decided not to wrestle today as he intends on living up to his “unpredictable” reputation by going after the Koloffs and the Andersons without naming his partner. I think Dusty already let the cat out of that bag earlier, Dick. Slater plans to capture the World Title and/or the World Tag Team Title.
– Black Bart vs. Ricky Reeves
Black Bart is managed by JJ Dillon here, but would go on to less remarkable JTTS stints in the WWF & WCW. After working over his arm throughout the match, Bart squashes Reeves with a flying legdrop off the middle turnbuckle and cuts a yelling promo challenging National Champion Ronnie Garvin to try to knock him down with his “Hands of Stone”.
– National Heavyweight Title: Ron Garvin [champion] vs. Ron Bass
JJ Dillon manages Ron Bass as the Cowboy shoves Garvin a couple times, but Garvin rolls him up for a two-count. Bass misses a charge in the corner and Garvin backslides him for two, but Bass elbows out of a headlock and Garvin dodges the claw attempt. Garvin goes back to the headlock on the mat and Bass counters with headscissors, but Garvin manages to spring out and strikes with a right hand. They go through some counter-wrestling while Black Bart appears at the announce table to strap on the National Title belt as we go to break. When we come back, Bass catches Garvin with a knee to the gut, but Garvin fires back with his patented “Hands of Stone” punches and throws chops as Bass begs off. Garvin sees Bart wearing his belt and gets distracted long enough for Bass to score with a high kneelift and stomp away, but Garvin hits a crossbody off the ropes for two and squashes the referee when Bass kicks out of the pin and Garvin lands on the ref. Dillon gets on the apron to interfere with his knee, but Garvin throws Bass into his own manager and hammers JJ with a series of punches as the ref wakes up. They slug it out until Bass is disqualified for tossing Garvin over the top rope and Bart stands triumphantly in the ring with the National belt around his waist. Garvin climbs back in and throws his trademark punches, but Bart blocks one with the belt and Garvin collapses in pain as he clutches his hand and the commentators treat it as a serious injury. I guess gold trumps stone.
– Ole & Arn Anderson vs. Vernon Deaton & Mike Simani
Vernon is identified as his brother Joel in the prematch chyron. The Andersons ravage Deaton’s arm from the start and eventually let him tag Simani, who gets the same treatment as the National Tag Team Champions target his arm until Ole forces Simani to submit to an armbar.
– Schiavone interviews Ric Flair, who brags about his accomplishments and sticks around to watch Magnum TA’s match.
– Magnum TA vs. Paul Garner
Flair puts over the NWA as the best in the world and admits that Magnum must be good to be the NWA US Heavyweight Champion while Magnum slams Garner with the belly-to-belly for the 1-2-3 in less than 45 seconds. Funny that Magnum bears a faint facial resemblance to Goldberg considering that Magnum was getting the Goldberg Push here.
– Afterwards, Magnum confronts Flair at the broadcast table and the NWA World Champion offers to contact his own personal tailor to get the US Champion into some better-looking clothes, but Magnum grabs Flair by the tie and challenges him to fight right now as he heads to the ring. Flair states that nobody touches his clothes and removes his tie and watch, but decides to walk away instead so Magnum follows him to the floor. The Nature Boy intelligently climbs in the ring and pounces on Magnum when he rolls back in as Flair stomps away before slamming Magnum with a double-underhook suplex and raking his shoe across his face. Flair returns to the broadcast table to collect his belongings and brag about beating up Magnum as David & Tony point out that Flair cheapshotted TA coming through the ropes. Awesome segment as this confrontation has been building for the last few weeks with the war of words between the two champs.
– Schiavone interviews Ron Garvin, who informs Tony that he’ll be having an x-ray on his hand but says that he can still wrestle and he wants his National Title belt back from Black Bart.
– Buzz Sawyer vs. Randy Barber
I’m convinced that Randy Barber is CW Anderson, they look exactly the same. The WWE 24/7 “Terri-stories” popup informs us that Buzz was an original member of the Legion Of Doom stable in Georgia in 1983 with Hawk, Animal, Spoiler, Jake Roberts, & King Kong Bundy. The Mad Dog throws a nice dropkick while David & Tony actually invite viewers to send in ideas for matchups they’d like to see because they care what the fans think. What a novel concept. Competitive squash here that ends when Barber leaps off the top turnbuckle and Sawyer catches him in a powerslam for the three-count. Gotta love the Mad Dog.
– Schiavone interviews the Russians as Ivan puts over the intense competition in the NWA for their World Tag Team & Six-Man Championships and challenges Dick Slater & Dusty Rhodes to be there next week. Nikita growls about Ric Flair’s “talk talk talk” before Tony suddenly signs off and the credits roll.
Afterthoughts: Not the most exciting show, but the Flair/Magnum confrontation was just off the charts when Magnum finally grabbed Flair by the tie and said he was sick of him running his mouth after weeks of back-and-forth comments between the two. As I said before, it’s really too bad that Magnum had that car accident because I believe he would have been a huge star and helped the NWA compete with the WWF. I know I’d buy a PPV headlined by Flair/Magnum in a bloody cage match with Magnum finally winning the World Title to blow off an extended feud. We’ll just have to see what the next chapter in this story holds. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the future.
