The SmarK 24/7 Rant for World Class Championship Wrestling – February 5 1983
Hi Scott,
Old school rspw’er (1993 and up) here.
I guess there’s only so many hours in a day, but I can’t believe you’re not doing any rants on the 24/7 World Class shows.
Oh, OK, you talked me into it.
– Taped from Dallas
– Your host is Bill Mercer.
– David Von Erich v. The Checkmate. David is freshly back from Florida, having turned heel there and thus pissed off Fritz pretty good. Too bad, because his run as Dory Funk’s cocky protégé was some pretty fun stuff, the kind of thing Kerry or Kevin could never pull off. David takes him down with armdrags to start and Checkmate immediately bails. Back in, David goes to the arm again and Checkmate exits stage left again. Back in, David switches to a top wristlock, but Checkmate claims that his hair was pulled. Does that argument work with masked wrestlers? David dropkicks him out of the ring and he regroups again. Back in, Checkmate goes for the leg and applies what we now call the anklelock, although it means nothing in 1983. David counters by going for the mask and that sends Checkmate running away again. Back in, he takes David down in the corner and goes back to work on the leg, this time remaining upright and away from David’s reach. David kicks him into the corner this time to break, and fires away to make his comeback. Checkmate hides in the ropes, but then shoots in and takes David down before wrapping the leg around the post. Ah, sneaky Brits. David keeps fighting from his knees and slugs away, then hits the high knee for two. The claw misses, but David gets a sleeper on the rebound and finishes at 8:46. Kind of awkward at times what with David being about a foot taller than Checkmate, but still a good open. **1/4
– Lunch with the Freebirds! Bill Mercer gets talked into meeting them for an interview at “Mr. Hamburger,” a drive-in fast food restaurant. Man, those were the days. Mercer wants to know Gordy’s feelings on the title match tonight, but the Birds insist that they didn’t even invite him to be there and he kept calling their houses bugging them for the story. Mercer asks them if they’re embarrassed that David Von Erich won the six-man titles for them, so they drive the van away and leave him to pay the bill. Ha! This was the precursor to all the stuff you see on RAW today.
– Brian Adias v. Tora (Yoshiaki) Yatsu. Kind of neat who passed through Texas in their younger years. Yatsu evades Adias’ attacks to start and chops his way out of an armbar, then monkey-flips him in the corner and catches him with a belly-to-belly suplex for two. He throws sidekicks and elbows Adias down, then throws chops on the ropes and stomps him down. Adias fights back, but Yatsu pounds him down again and then tosses him. Back in, he puts Adias in a facelock and pounds the back, but Adias fights up and gets a dropkick to come back. Spinning neckbreaker gets two. Yatsu wins a slugfest and powerslams him, then finishes with the cobra sleeper at 7:22. Major style clash here, as Adias was pretty green and looked lost out there with someone working the stronger Japanese style. *1/2
– American Heavyweight title: Kevin Von Erich v. Terry Gordy. Gordy hides out in the corner to start, but Kevin goes for the arm and then backdrops Gordy to the floor. Terry pops right back in, so Kevin dropkicks him out, then brings him back in with a flying headscissors in a great sequence. Gordy understandably takes a breather after that. Back in, Kevin works the headlock and Gordy tosses him to escape, so Kevin jumps back in and tosses him right back out in return. Man, Kevin’s all fired up tonight. Back to the headlock, frustrating Gordy, and finally Terry drops him on the top rope to break. He hits the chinlock and the crowd remains incredibly hot and cheering Kevin back to his feet, so he responds with a bodypress for two. Gordy chinlocks him again and the crowd just won’t quit, as the Freebirds wander around ringside and torment David Von Erich to keep things going. Kevin escapes and comes back with the iron claw, then runs Gordy into Buddy Roberts to get rid of him. He goes for a slam, but Michael Hayes, using the 3-on-2 advantage, hooks the leg and Gordy falls on top to win the title at 14:36. Kind of slow at times, but the super-hot crowd saved it. ***
– We wrap it up with the Freebirds cutting a promo with the Confederate flag, as next week Terry Gordy attempts to trade up to the World title against Ric Flair! I sense revenge coming.
– Back in the present time, hosts Michael Hayes and Kevin Von Erich get into a fight about the last match in a funny bit.
