The SmarK 24/7 Rant for World Championship Wrestling – June 29 1985
– Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and the returning David Crockett.
– Black Bart joins us to start and says “Dag gum” a lot while threatening Ron Garvin, and lets us know that Italian Stallion is going to pay for his annoyance. That’s a main event in any arena in the country, Tony!
– Ole & Arn Anderson v. Roy George & Alan Martin. An apparent bad mood for the Andersons this week, as they go right after Martin’s arm with old favorites like the hammerlock slam, and then they take George to the mat and ride him for fun. Back to working the arm, and they finish with Ole’s flying knee to the shoulder and armbar for the submission.
– The Koloffs unsuccessfully try to bully David Crockett, and then promise to hurt Ric Flair and take his title. Nikita was one scary, badass mother back in the day.
– Ivan Koloff v. Gerald Findley. Findley, as per the last couple of weeks, gets a quick sunset flip for two and almost gains the offense, but Ivan lays him out with a forearm. Elbow misses, however, and Gerald works the arm, but Ivan tosses him to take over. Back in, the flying knee gets two, as David is openly cheering against Koloff. Findley makes another rookie mistake, putting his head down, and Ivan tosses him again and slams him on the concrete. Back in, he chokes him out on the ropes in order to make a point, and then takes him down with the Russian Hammer before finishing with the Sickle.
– Ric Flair lets us know that it’s time for him to become a national hero. Onto Magnum TA, who just isn’t ready to wear the $1000 shoes, $500 tie, and diamond studded Rolex. And then he shifts gears into babyface mode, standing up for David Crockett against Nikita Koloff’s threats and offering Nikita a job as his personal gardener once he gets done beating him around the country in the Great American Bash. Ah, Flair.
– Dusty Rhodes sends in a video from Texas, drinking his liquor and babbling about cowboys and barbed wire. The upshot of his drunken rambling is that he’ll have barbed-wire matches against Tully Blanchard at the Bash.
– Buzz Sawyer v. Jim Dill. Quick demolition by the Mad Dog, as he drops a knee and gets a suplex for two. Dropkick (and quite a nice one) gets two, as he picks the jobber up. He keeps yelling “This is for you, Andersons,” which Tony surmises is a message for the Andersons. Well, it’s not exactly the Da Vinci Code. Powerslam ends it. For those wondering, The Andersons never lost the National tag team titles, and in fact retired them in 1986, so if the Sawyers ever did get their revenge, it wasn’t in a title match.
– Tully Blanchard, dressed in his cowboy best, reminds us that he’s from Texas too and he’s not worried about barbed wire.
– And now, HISTORY. James E Cornette proudly presents the NWA debut of…
– The Midnight Express v. Dale Williams & Larry Clark. The bastards in legal EDITED OUT “THE CHASE”. Fuckers. How can you have the Midnight Express without their theme song? Cornette promises something we’ve never seen before, and that’s an understatement. They immediately starting firing off highspots, as Bobby drops an elbow from the second rope on Clark, and they double-team Williams in the corner while Cornette offers moral encouragement at ringside (“You hit like a girl!”) They just double-team the poor jobber into oblivion and then bring in Clark, as Condrey gives him a side salto and Bobby elbows him down. Condrey cradles for two. Condrey works a hammerlock, subjecting the guy to Cornette’s ranting for added punishment, and then powerslams the kid. Eaton comes in to finish their victim with the Double Goozle. The Express wrestled at a faster pace than anyone in the promotion at that time, and exploded onto the scene like the proverbial atomic bomb, changing tag team wrestling forever. This was HUGE.
– Jim Cornette gives his first loud-mouthed interview with Tony and goes a mile a minute, something that would become a tradition for the next few years.
– Jimmy Valiant v. Carl Styles. I was watching a Valiant v. Jay Strongbow match in the Hall of Fame section today, and it was literally so boring that it put me to sleep. 22 minutes of trading sleepers, baby. Before I can even finish typing that, Jimmy finishes with the elbows.
– Dick Slater promises he’ll sink to any level to get Kevin Sullivan. Hey, try stealing his wife, that worked pretty well for Chris Benoit.
– Black Bart v. The Italian Stallion. Bart pounds on him, but Stallion gets a bodypress for two. Hiptosses and Bart backs off. Stallion backdrops him out of the corner and takes him down with armdrags, then goes to work on the arm. Bart slugs away in the corner as we switch to the second hour, with Bart still in control. Bart headbutts the shoulder and pounds on the arm, then goes to an armbar, alternating with headbutts and legdropping the arm. Stallion tries to roll out of the armbar, but Bart keeps pounding the arm to keep him down. Stallion fires back with his good arm, but Bart just keeps working that other arm and Stallion can’t get momentum. Finally a headbutt backfires, as Stallion moves his arm and Bart knocks himself out, and Stallion gets a powerslam for two. Airplane spin, but he can’t capitalize in time, and Bart takes him down in the corner and pins him with the ropes. Stallion is ANGUISHED. With acting like that, I’m shocked he didn’t win more matches.
– Jimmy Valiant is out for an interview that will doubtlessly be longer than his match this week, but Paul Jones comes out to confront him and challenges him to a dog collar match. Valiant is pumped about it.
– Manny Fernandez v. Kent Glover. Manny quickly chops Glover down and it’s kind of a dull one as he works an armbar for a while before finishing with the flying forearm.
– The Sawyers are here and still pissed off at the Andersons.
– More with Cornette, as he lets the audience know how ugly they are, and issues an open challenge for anyone to give the Express some competition.
– Sam Houston v. Jason Walker. Houston dodges Walker and dropkicks him a few times, then grabs an armbar. The fun facts note that he was in the first Royal Rumble along with brother Jake Roberts. It blows my mind that they just casually acknowledge stuff like that now. Houston holds onto the armbar through a slam attempt by Walker. Houston slugs him down and finishes with the bulldog, and color commentator Tully Blanchard charges in and beats the snot out of Houston as a message to Dusty Rhodes, after putting the kid over for the whole match. That’s tough love, kids.
– Magnum TA has some words for Kamala.
– American Starship Eagle v. Mark Fleming. Eagle is Dan Spivey, during his days as a tag team with American Starship Coyote, aka Scott Hall. Eagle takes Fleming down with armdrags and holds an armbar. He overpowers Fleming with shoulderblocks and goes back to the armbar, and then finishes with a powerslam. And he was supposed to be the next Hulk Hogan?
– Denny Brown v. Paul Garner. Denny is the Junior heavyweight champion, which is basically the equivalent of the Cruiserweight title before anyone thought that a lighter weight class could be booked differently. Denny takes him down with a butterfly suplex and forearms him down. Slam and running kneedrop gets two. Oklahoma Roll finishes.
– Manny and Magnum throw their hat in the ring for the Midnight Express’ open challenge.
– Dick Slater v. Nick Busick. Slater takes Busick down a couple of times, but gets outwrestled on the mat, so he drops elbows to regain the advantage. Neckbreaker and he goes up with the elbow from the top to finish.
– Tully has some more words for Dusty, and we’re out.
The Pulse:
It’s the debut of the Midnight Express! What more do you need? See you next week.
