The SmarK 24/7 Rant for World Championship Wrestling – September 6 1986

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The SmarK 24/7 Rant for World Championship Wrestling – September 6 1986

A reader notes…

“Hey Scott,

Long-time fan of your site and your wrestling writings.

I know you’re not a fan of Hogan but do you realize today marks 25 years since Hogan won the title? It’s crazy…that was right around the time I started watching wrestling and to think 25 years have passed since then is something else.

Enjoying the NWA Wrestling rants you do the most. That’s the show I most look forward to on 24/7.”

Thanks, and it’s also my favorite show to rant on, so it works out well for everyone.

– Hosted by Tony and David, with guest host Jim Cornette.

Johnny Cook & Rocky King v. Buddy Landell & Bill Dundee

King monkey-flips Dundee out of the corner to start, but misses a dropkick and Buddy comes in with a headlock. Back to Dundee and this time Rocky gets his dropkick, but Buddy chops him down and King gets double-teamed in the corner. Cook, with what appears to be Dino Bravo’s dye job but only 1/8 of his muscle tone, comes in and gets slammed by Buddy and beaten down. Cornette notes that the Midnight Express always wins all of their matches, so logically they’ll have to win the tournament and the US tag titles. It’s solid reasoning. Dundee just stiffs the hell out of Cook with a clothesline and then tosses him for a hard slam on the floor. What’d this poor bastard do to annoy them so much? Back in, Dundee drops a stiff elbow, too, as they’re just beating the hell out of this guy. Buddy finishes him with the corkscrew elbow and figure-four at 4:36. On a related note, 24/7 is showing the Lawler/Dundee win over Soldat Ustinov & Doug Somers for the AWA World tag titles, a match I’ve never seen before. It’s basically nine minutes of Dundee taking the worst-looking beating you’ll see in a Memphis match, and it’s no surprise why it went unaired up until now.

– The Russians are still focused on Ron Garvin, but they’ll take anyone on.

– America’s Team is ready to add the US tag titles to their credentials (and we get the first picture of the new belts!)

Ron Garvin & Dick Murdoch v. Brodie Chase & Alan Martin

Now there’s a TOUGH tag team. Garvin chops Chase down and Murdoch works a nasty facelock, while Cornette returns to commentary and notes that he was getting Big Bubba a sandwich, because he’s a 364 pound growing boy. The delivery here just kills me. Murdoch tosses Chase around and works on a headlock, then wallops him with a bionic elbow. Garvin ties him up with a submission hold until he decides to let Martin come in. And he doesn’t do much better, getting twisted and beat on by Murdoch. That just looks nasty. Hands of Stone puts Martin out of his misery at 4:37.

Wahoo McDaniel v. Lee Peek

This gives me a chance to answer another reader question:

It’s Wahoo McDaniel, right? So why does Ric Flair always call him Wahoo McDaniels?

Because he’s Ric Flair! Ahem. Anyway, I think it’s a Rotunda/Rotundo situation, where the name is different sometimes, because I’ve heard other people call him “McDaniels” as well.

Wahoo works a headlock and Cornette leaves the booth to answer a phone call. Cornette’s the kind of guy to resist cell phones for as long as humanly possible, so I bet he still uses a rotary dial. Wahoo puts Peek down with a series of slams and alternates between chops and chinlocks. Butterfly suplex finishes.

The Rock N Roll Express v. Phil Brown & Ray Aaron

Ricky takes Brown down with a headlock while yelling for Cornette. He’s taking a phone call! Leave him alone, you bully! The RNR switch off on the leg and it’s over to Aaron, who gets backdropped by Robert. Butterfly suplex from Ricky and Robert takes him down with an armbar, which Tony notes is setting him up for the double dropkick. That’s….a bit of a stretch. Back to the other guy, and the double dropkick finishes at 3:45.

– The REAL champ is here. He takes time to show off his wardrobe and new squeeze Baby Doll, then runs down the usual targets: Skinny-armed Magnum TA, Ricky Morton and his training bra fans, etc.

The Road Warriors v. Art Pritts & Darrin Evans

Pritts gets tossed and the Warriors proceed to destroying the other guy, as Hawk drops the elbow and Animal powerslams him. Gutwrench from Hawk and Animal just MURDILIZES him with a clothesline to finish at 1:02. Is this a contest to see who can stiff their jobbers the worst?

– The Road Warriors discuss how they do what they want — like if they want to go to the zoo and beat up on a gorilla, they do it. Or if they want to beat up an elephant, or Baby Doll, they do that too. BA-ZING!

– Tully and JJ discuss their plans now that the National title is gone from his waist. Apparently beating up on Dusty Rhodes again is the main gist of it.

Schick Match of the Week: Ole & Arn Anderson v. The Kansas Jayhawks

Dutch Mantel could definitely use a Schick razor for his back. Now, earlier, Tony notes that this would be a main event anywhere in the world, but JJ on commentary here notes that it’s a main event anywhere in the COUNTRY. Get your stories straight, gentlemen! I want to know if this could headline in Pakistan! Dutch controls Arn with a pair of hiptosses, chasing him back to the heel corner, but wisely not following. Jaggers works on Arn’s arm, so Ole comes in and gets more of the same from Dutch. The Jayhawks bring Ole to their corner and double-team him, then continue on with the arm. Back to Arn, and they double-team him as well and Jaggers gets two. They continue switching off on the armbar for quite a long time, actually, until Ole is finally able to get a cheapshot from the apron and allow the Horsemen to take over. Dutch wins a slugfest with Ole, but Jaggers falls victim to another cheapshot and we take a break. Back with the Andersons now working on the arm, but Jaggers collides with Arn and both guys are out. It’s breaking loose in Tulsa and JJ’s shoe gets involved for the DQ at 16:02. Hugely disappointing, as it was literally 80% armbar. *1/2

– Ivan Koloff returns with Khrusher Khruschev this time, as they’re also ready to win the US tag titles. Spoiler: They do.

– Wahoo is out to respond to Russian accusations that the National title is NOT the #1 contender to the World title, but rather the US title is. Wahoo feels the opposite.

Nikita Koloff v. Randy Barber

Barber actually gets some offense, catching Nikita’s leg and giving him a few punches, but Nikita pounds him down and tosses him. Back in, Koloff pounds away and finishes with the Sickle at 2:36.

– Jim Crockett joins us to announce that since both the National and US titles pretty much represent the same thing, they might as well just unify them. Wahoo’s good with that, and so is Nikita, so it’s on.

Jimmy Garvin & Tully Blanchard v. Henry Rutley & Mike Rose

Now that’s a strange duo. They double-team one jobber with armbars, and then the other comes in and gets choked out by Tully. Garvin adds a gutwrench suplex, as does Tully, and the jobber gets tossed for some abuse by Precious. Maybe she’s just upset because he’s got a better perm. Double-team elbow and Garvin goes to a chinlock. Tully comes in with a dropkick, and David notes that Precious has two men pleasing her right now. Cough. Garvin works on the leg and Tully comes in with a stepover toehold. Over to Mike Rose and Tully beats him down, then Garvin slugs him down for two, but picks him up. Obviously they’re just stretching this out to fill the airtime. Brainbuster and slingshot suplex finish in stereo at 6:33.

The Warlord v. Jack Weathers

So he’s still managed by Baby Doll and has thus done a defacto heel turn. So he doesn’t smile anymore, basically. He tosses Weathers around and finishes with the powerslam at 0:34.

– Baby Doll announces that Warlord is leaving for Central States. Lucky them.

– And we finish with Jim Cornette, who FINALLY comes back from his phone call, apparently having been yelled at by Mama Cornette.