Lance Russell and Dave Brown welcomed us to the show. Brown told us that today we’d be seeing Jerry Lawler battling the Golden Terror in the opener. We’d also see Big Bubba and Goliath, Jeff Jarrett and Billy Travis, the Rock n Roll RPMs would battle Tracy Smothers and John Paul, and there would be an 8-man tag match in the main event.
We came back from commercial to find the masked Golden Terror in the ring awaiting the arrival of Jerry Lawler. The two locked up and Lawler backed the Terror into the corner. Lawler did so by tossing the Terror across the ring. Another lockup saw Lawler in the corner and the Terror came out on the losing end of trading punches. Lawler whipped the Terror and put him down with a big boot, then dropped an elbow and hit a suplex. A back elbow put the Terror down again, then Lawler dropped the fist from the second rope for the win at 1:12.
After the match Lawler went after the Terror’s mask, but the Terror escaped with his mask intact.
We headed to commentary where Russell introduced a tape that showed highlights of Tommy Rich taking on Big Bubba. We saw Rich punching away on Bubba and covered for a two count. Rich whipped Bubba and Bubba hung onto the ropes to dodge a dropkick.
Bubba picked up Rich and slammed him, taking out referee Frank Morrell in the process. Rich dodged a splash and Rich climbed the ropes. Rich hit a Lou Thesz press from the second rope and Downtown Bruno climbed into the ring, wrapping a chain around his fist as he did. Bruno popped Rich with the chain and pushed him off Bubba. Bubba rolled on top of him and covered as Lawler hit the ring. Lawler stomped Bubba and was caught by referee Frank Morrell. The clip faded back to the studio as Big Bubba was announced the winner by DQ.
Russell explained that Bruno had the chain wrapped around his fist and pointed out that Lawler was just trying to even the odds. From there we went to footage of Lawler battling the Great Kabuki. We joined the match with Lawler trapped in Kabuki’s nerve hold. Lawler punched his way free and dropped the strap, then punched away on Kabuki to back the challenger into the corner. Lawler climbed the ropes and hit the ten punches on Kabuki and suddenly we saw Sato and Goto battling Tracy Smothers, Jeff Jarrett, and Billy Travis both at ringside and in the crowd.
Lawler took down Kabuki and Tommy Rich climbed onto the apron, where he was calling the ref over. Lawler was thrown into the ropes and his head cracked against Rich’s. Rich fell to the ground and Kabuki covered Lawler for the win at 7:15.
After the match we saw Rich storming out of the arena as Kabuki began attacking Lawler again and the ringside fight started up again. With the ref distracted, Lawler regained his feet and put Kabuki down with a piledriver.
Russell explained that Smothers, Rich, Jarrett, and Travis had been out to be sure that Tojo’s men didn’t try anything. Russell also said that people at ringside had said that it looked like Rich hit Lawler with his elbow, but the tape wasn’t clear.
From there we headed to an interview with Rich. Rich called Lawler insecure for interfering after he’d pinned Bubba. Rich also brought up the contested title shot with Bockwinkel. Rich explained that if he’d won the International title, he would have been in line for a world shot. Rich also said that he’d only gotten on the apron to make sure that Lawler was okay and then “Mr. Clumsy†had knocked him down. Rich again brought up that while Lawler had never beaten Bockwinkel, Rich had defeated Harley Race for the world title. Rich closed by telling everyone that he knew he could beat Bockwinkel if he had the opportunity.
From there we headed backstage. Russell promised that an unprecedented incident was coming up in just a few minutes. He also reminded everyone that the next Evansville show was on January 7. He mentioned a Hopkinsville show where Billy Travis and Jeff Jarrett would be battling the Rock n Roll RPMs. Jarrett and Travis came in for a word and brought up that they would be facing the RPMs for the belts with two referees. Jarrett also said that they’d lost their rematch when Travis was pinned while Jarrett was the legal man.
We headed back to the studio to commentary, where Bruno, Bubba, and Goliath were coming in for a word. Bruno corrected Russell – the team’s name was not the Pittsburg Connection, it was the Downtown Connection. Bruno then switched gears to Memphis Vice and said he wanted a match against the Vice. Russell mentioned that the Vice would have a mystery partner against the three members of the Connection. Bruno demanded to know who the partner was. Russell told Bruno that he didn’t know. Bruno kept pushing and called Russell a liar when he said he didn’t know. Bubba tried to calm Bruno down as he got incensed about Russell’s maintaining that he was unaware of who the partner was. Bruno and Russell argued another moment before Bubba and Goliath headed to the ring to face Ed Mattox and Dennis Upton.
Mattox and Goliath started. Goliath clubbed Mattox and then put him down with a back elbow. A clothesline and a body slam neutralized him long enough for Bubba to tag in.
Bubba slammed him and then hit a suplex. Upton tagged in and Bubba slugged him down. Bubba whipped him and put him down with a clothesline. Bubba hit another clothesline and followed with another slam. A forearm put Upton on his knees and a slam put him on his back. Bubba hit a splash for the win at 1:37.
Russell returned to the interview set as the Memphis Vice cam out for a word. Bryant brought up the mystery partner as Russell tried to get it out of them. Winston even said that he didn’t know who it was. Bryant turned to the crowd and asked who in the crowd could whip Downtown Bruno. Bryant then asked who’d like the opportunity. Lou then explained that they were going to pick somebody out of the crowd to be their partner.
Russell followed as Winston and Bryant inspected the crowd. They finally made their choice – a woman. The three of them headed back to Russell. The woman identified herself as Emily Arthur. Bryant promised that the Vice would handle Bubba and Goliath – all she had to do was take out Bruno. Emily advised that she wasn’t a wrestler – she was a computer operator.
That brought out Bruno, Bubba, and Goliath. Bruno demanded to know what was going on and Russell explained it. Bruno said that he’d beat up a lot of ladies in Pittsburgh and Emily couldn’t keep up with him. Bruno promised that Emily would get hurt and the Vice would suffer. Bubba chimed in that they’d take Emily apart.
Bryant and Winston reaffirmed that Emily was their partner and she agreed to sign a release from the company. Russell brought up the Andy Kaufman situation, and said that he wanted to check with Eddie Marlin to see any legalities regarding this.
We came back from commercial to see Russell backstage. He reminded the fans that they’d be back in Evansville on January 7.
We came back to the studio and Russell was back at the interview set. He explained that he wanted to introduce some of the new faces coming in through still photos. Up first was Soul Train Jones, a man wearing attire similar to Apollo Creed.
He also introduced a women’s tag team. Their names were Locke and Luna – the Daughters of Darkness.
Russell then brought out Jeff Jarrett and Billy Travis for a word. Jeff brought up that they’d gotten defeated after Travis was pinned while Jarrett, the legal man, was pinning his opponent. He also mentioned that they’d have two referees in the next rematch. Travis promised that with two referees there was no way they could lose.
Jarrett and Travis headed to the ring to face Rough and Ready. Rough started against Jarrett. Rough got Jarrett in a headlock and Jarrett took him down. Another lockup saw Jarrett get a headlock and then he hit a shoulderblock.
Travis tagged in and slammed Rough, then dropped an elbow on him.
Jarrett came in and both men hit stereo back elbows before Jarrett covered for a 1 count. Jarrett locked in an armbar and wound up getting backed across the ring where Ready tagged in.
Jarrett whipped Ready and hit a back elbow that earned a one count.
Travis tagged in and hit an elbow off the second rope. Travis worked the arm and then hit a back elbow and slammed Ready down. Travis dropped a knee and covered for a two.
Jarrett came in and hit a flying back elbow that got another two. Travis tagged and started working the arm again. Ready whipped Travis and tried for a big boot but got caught. Travis spun around and hit a suplex that earned another two.
Jarrett got the tag and threw a punch, then slammed Ready. Jarrett covered for yet another two. Jarrett went back to the arm and brought in Travis, who planted Ready and splashed him. Travis slammed him and tagged Jarrett.
Jarrett dropped an elbow and covered for another two. Jarrett hit a dropkick and Rough came in. Travis cut him off as Jarrett got the three count at 4:15.
We came back from commercial to see Tracy Smothers and John Paul on their way out to face the Rock n Roll RPMs as Brown pointed out that this was non-title.
Lane and Smothers started with Lane pushing him into the corner and following up with shoulder thrusts. Tracy escaped a whip and hit a body slam, then threw two hip tosses and started working his arm. Smothers rolled him up and got a one count.
Lane punched his way free and tagged Davis, who got hip tossed. He complained that Smothers had pulled his tights, then Smothers took Davis down and went back to the arm. Davis threw Smothers but Smothers held on and a rope break freed Davis.
Davis tried a test of strength that Smothers won and turned into an arm wringer. Davis reversed and wound up with Smothers in a headlock. Smothers sent Davis down and went back to the arm before tagging John Paul.
Paul hit a sledge from the ropes and kept working the arm. Davis slammed Paul’s head into the corner and Lane tagged in. Lane put Paul down with a back elbow, then slammed him down. Paul was punching back when Davis tagged.
Davis slammed Paul and taunted him a moment before hitting him with a knee lift. Lane tagged and clubbed Paul. Paul dodged a clothesline and hit one of his own before tagging Tracy.
Smothers fought off both RPMs and Paul soon got back into the fight. With the brawl going on, Boy Tony came out and cracked Smothers with his purse. Lane covered and the RPMs had the win.
Tony and Bruno headed to commentary where he proclaimed himself a winner while Smothers was just a loser. Bruno confirmed Tony’s standing and then called Smothers and Paul losers. Bruno threw his support behind the RPMs and then switched gears to talk about Tony. Bruno called Tony the best wrestler in the world and talked about the upcoming street fight between Tony and Smothers. Bruno was interrupted as Smothers interrupted by swinging a chair.
Smothers brought up the ways that Tony had cheated to beat him and promised to tear Tony’s clothes off to prove that Tony wasn’t a man, then he was going to whip Tony’s rear end the way his mama should have when he “turned into a fag.†With that said, Russell quickly sent us to commercial.
We came backstage to Russell again. He reminded the fans one more time about the return to Evansville and he brought in Bruno, Bubba, and Goliath for a word. Bruno bashed the Vice’s mystery partner and he said that all they were trying to do was make a fool out of him. Bruno said he wanted to talk to Eddie Marlin.
Marlin came in and Bruno said he didn’t want to get fined or sued for hitting Emily. Marlin showed off the paperwork and said that none of that would happen. Russell said that the match was set for Evansville.
We came back to the interview set to see Don Bass and Buddy Wayne coming out for a word. Bass introduced Wayne as his new partner and then Tojo and Goto, who promised that no Japanese wrestler would ever lose an I Quit match.
With that done, we headed to the ring to see Goto, Wayne, Bass, and Boy Tony set to face the Memphis Vice, Paul Diamond, and Pat Tanaka.
Wayne and Diamond started. Wayne and Diamond traded punches and Wayne soon tagged Bass in. Bass clubbed away on Diamond and backed him across the ring. Bass held on and brought in Goto. Goto and Diamond started trading chops. Diamond put Goto down with a dropkick and Wayne came in to prompt an eight man brawl.
Paul Diamond was thrown over the top for the DQ and Tojo went after him with the kendo stick. Diamond and Goto brawled outside while the Vice and Tanaka cleared the ring. They came out and got Diamond away from Tojo.
From there we headed back to commentary where Russell advised that Bass, Wayne, Tony, and Goto had been DQ’d and sent us to our last commercial.
We came back for Brown to give us a quick recap of the day’s events and Russell said goodbye for another week after wishing everyone happy holidays.
NO SHOW IN EVANSVILLE THIS WEEK – SHOWS RESUME JANUARY 7, 1987
