– BASH SHOW! This was the stuff I LIVED for back in the day. Rather than the standard Techwood studio, they’re taping at a jacked and packed arena show.
– Hosted by Tony and JIM CORNETTE~!
The Warlord v. Gene Ligon
Warlord, as a rookie babyface, with HAIR…save me Jeebus. Baby Doll is managing, which somehow makes him look less scary by comparison. Ligon tries some wrestling and Warlord completely shrugs him off and adds a powerslam to finish at 0:44.
– Ric Flair doesn’t think Dusty has a chance to win the title, although he HAS had it twice before. But still, c’mon. No way.
– And now the Four Horsemen do a group interview, as they discount anyone teaming up to face them as a unit.
Rocky King v. Ivan Koloff
Ivan gets a rollup to start, but Rocky catches him with a headscissors and takes him down. Rocky starts working on the arm while Ivan claims a hairpull (?), but the ref doesn’t buy in and Rocky gets a crossbody for two. He hammers away in the corner and catches Koloff with a sleeper, but Ivan dumps him to escape and they head to the floor. Rocky takes a nasty shot to the railing, but sunset flips back in for two. Ivan boots him down and chokes him out with the ring curtain, then takes him down with the Russian Hammer. A pair of legdrops gets two. Rocky fights back with a headbutt that gets two, and a dropkick gets two. Ivan staggers back to the corner, but suckers Rocky in and then pounds him down. Sneaky old bastard. Rocky gets dumped again…and this time Nikita gives him a lovetap. Back in, Ivan elbows him down, but misses a kneedrop off the second rope. Rocky immediately goes after the leg and pounds on it, and follows with a backdrop and dropkick. He walks into a back elbow, however, and Ivan finishes at 5:32. Weak finish, surprisingly heated and entertaining match. **1/2
– We get a clip of the finish of Shaska Whatley v. Jimmy Valiant, as Shaska gets his head shaved after losing.
– Magnum TA, down in the series to Nikita, notes that “pain is inspiration”, obviously from the Roadhouse school of philosophy.
Ronnie Garvin v. Black Bart
This is NOT for Bart’s Mid-Atlantic title. For those worried about it. Bart goes after him to start and Garvin gets pissed and slugs back, then yanks him down by the hair. Bart tries working on the arm and pounds on it in the corner, but Garvin throws down with his nasty chops and Bart is down for two. Bart goes back to the arm and yanks on it in the corner, trying to disable the Hands of Stone. Garvin fires back with headbutts to counter that strategy, and drops an elbow for two. And then he starts torturing the guy, twisting the arm on the mat, and we take a break. Back with Ronnie hanging in the Tree of Woe. Bart drops elbows for two, but JJ and Tully join us at ringside while Ronnie makes the comeback and headbutts him in the corner. Bart takes him down in the corner for two, but Tommy Young sees the use of the ropes and breaks it up. Bart hammers away on a distracted Garvin, but this time Garvin uses the ropes for the pin at 6:46 and Young ignores the cheating. HUGE pop for that one, and rightfully so. **1/2
– Dusty talks himself up, as usual.
Teijho Khan v. Mark Fleming
Khan pounds away in the corner, but Fleming goes for the arm. Khan is just embarrassing, not even bumping off simple stuff without screwing it up. Khan pounds him down for two, but Fleming goes back to the arm until he gets chopped down. Slam gets two. Fleming fires back with an elbow as they’ve managed to kill one of the hottest crowds I’ve heard in forever. This crowd was popping for the WARLORD and Khan is just destroying the goodwill built up by the prior matches with this abomination. A pop-up notes that he used to team with Samu, as even his factoids suck. Powerslam finishes at 6:13.
– Cornette takes a break from commentary to cut a promo against Baby Doll. Soon we’ll discover who the better man is!
– Over to the Rock N Roll, and deep down Flair KNOWS that they’re just as much man as he is.
National title: Tully Blanchard v. Wahoo McDaniel
Wahoo chops the crap out of Tully and he runs away as a result and gets some advice from JJ. Back in, Wahoo unleashes more chops and Tully sells like crazy, which gives Wahoo two. We take a break and return with Wahoo holding a chinlock. Tully breaks out and wants a test of strength, then immediately cheapshots Wahoo and stomps him down. Wahoo fights back up and takes Tully down with a wristlock, then chops him into the corner. Cornette notes that Tully is just wearing Wahoo’s hand down until he’s ready to make the comeback. Wahoo goes to the chinlock, but Tully fires back in the corner and takes him down with a snapmare for two. They fight over a knucklelock, but Tully gets a cheapshot and sets up for the slingshot, which Wahoo reverses. Chop gets two. Tully bails to regroup and then suckers Wahoo into a chase, catching him from behind and sending him into the post. They must have been doing color a lot on the tour because both guys are bleeding without any significant forehead contact during the match thus far. Back in, Tully drops elbows for two. Wahoo comes back with an atomic drop into the corner, and an elbow on the rebound that gets two. Tully tries to escape again, but Wahoo drags him back in and then just lays in with a chop for two. JJ puts Tully’s foot on the ropes and then retrieves brass knuckles from his sock, which Tully uses for two. Garvin runs in to stop the count, however, and JJ is so flustered that he drops the knuckles right in front of the ref for the DQ at 10:55. Tully quickly gets his revenge with a slingshot suplex on Garvin, however. What a great heel — sell like nuts for the whole match, lose by a cowardly DQ, and then backjump his arch-enemy to get his heat back and act like a big man. Classic stuff. **1/2
– The Russians have nothing good to say about Magnum TA or Americans in general. And the Road Warriors can suck it, too, comrade.
Sam Houston v. George South
Houston gets a backdrop out of the corner and takes him down with an armbar, but South slams out of it before missing an elbow. South starts working on the arm, but they go to the ropes and start from scratch again. South goes to the eyes, but walks into an inverted bulldog that gets two for Houston. He goes back to the arm and turns it into a headscissors, but South elbows him down and hits the chinlock. Fistdrop gets two. Houston fights up again and finishes with the bulldog at 6:55. Kind of dull and Houston was nearing the end of his run anyway. *1/2
NWA World tag titles: The Midnight Express v. The Road Warriors
I don’t expect a finish here, but it’s free TV in 1986 so there’s no reason to. The reaction to the LOD’s entrance is gigantic. Animal starts with Dennis, who grabs a headlock and then gets tossed down like a sack of garbage. Animal follows with a back elbow and Condrey wisely backs off for advice from Cornette. Jim advises him to outsmart Animal. So back in, Animal grabs the headlock this time and then head-fakes him on a leapfrog and dropkicks him out of the ring. Over to Hawk as Cornette is still preaching the outsmarting plan. Dennis stops for a posedown and loses that pretty handily, and Animal messes with him from the apron by yanking on his hair. Dennis recovers with a piledriver on Hawk, and you know what happens there. And we take a break as Condrey runs away again. Back with Eaton trying a headlock on Hawk and then running away, but Animal presses him back into the ring. Hawk then clotheslines him out, and Animal hits him on the rebound with a clothesline on the floor in an awesomely timed spot. Back in, the Express tries a double wristlock on Hawk, but he clotheslines him both down and the Express is just getting nowhere. Hawk presses Bobby, but misses a clothesline off the middle rope and finally the champs get their advantage, as Condrey uses the tennis racket to take over. Back in, Condrey clotheslines Hawk down for two and stomps him down. Bobby goes to the eyes and then leaves Hawk in the corner for more cheating, including another tennis racket to the head, but Hawk fights up and makes the hot tag to Animal. Dropkicks and a powerslam for Bobby, and a shoulderblock gets two. It’s BONZO GONZO and Cornette uses the racket one time too many, for the DQ at 10:40. Really, you can’t change the belts and you can’t beat the Warriors, so that’s the only finish you can do. Baby Doll runs out and LEVELS Cornette as the crowd just goes nuts. Way to earn your money, Bubba! Total stall-fest but insane heat from the crowd made it lots of fun. **1/2
– Let’s go back and watch the last two minutes of that match, in case you missed it two minutes ago.
The Rock N Roll Express & Dusty Rhodes v. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson & Ole Anderson
We get about a minute before we’re OUT OF TIME.
Oh man, why couldn’t they have toured Canada when I was a kid? I would have been bouncing off the walls to be at a show like this one. And next week, MORE of the Bash tour!
