The SmarK Rant for World Class Championship Wrestling – 12.02.82
Another couple of missing episodes brings us into December, and HOLY SHIT a get a commercial before the show for the first time in months. I thought they had forgotten about doing that. Video quality on this episode is pretty iffy, like VHS quality at times, so I can see why they’re hesitant about putting them up.
Congrats to the Royals, who just wouldn’t go away until the won a World Series. Everyone else in the playoffs was playing with house money anyway.
Taped from Dallas, TX
Your hosts are Bill Mercer & Jay Saldi
Meanwhile, The Spoiler returns, and he’s here to tell us that Darth Vader is actually Luke’s father! What a jerk. Good thing Facebook wasn’t around in 1982.
The Spoiler v. Roberto Renesto
Spoiler pounds away on Renesto and he’s apparently working as a babyface, which is weird because Jardine was usually a pretty evil heel. He runs Renesto into the turnbuckles for a near-fall, but SPOILER ALERT: Renesto kicks out. Renesto comes back and hammers away in the corner as this match is not exactly a showcase of technical prowess. Even Mercer notes that Spoiler is “not particularly beautiful to watch in the ring” as he just punches and kicks away on the jobber. Finally Renesto gets a pair of elbows, but he goes up for a flying knee and misses. Spoiler walks the ropes and drops an elbow to finish at 5:00. Trivia note: Jardine helped train young Mark Calaway when he came through World Class, and in particular taught him that rope walk. SPOILER: He became the Undertaker. A dull squash. ½*
MIDGET MADNESS: Little Coco v. Hillbilly Pete
We get the usual midget spots, and I should note that Hillbilly Pete actually predated Hillbilly Jim by three years. Sadly, he’s not actually dressed like a hillbilly. Where’s the commitment to the gimmick, Hillbilly Pete? Pete pounds away, but Coco gets a bodypress out of the corner for the pin at 5:45. I don’t rate midget matches.
Meanwhile, it’s duck season for the Von Erichs, and a part of me has very uncomfortable questions about that rifle that Kerry is carrying around. Kevin notes that he’s not into disco dancing and all that city stuff, he’s into natural living and hunting. Oh, and drugs. Shit-tons of drugs. It goes well and they haul a bunch of duck carcasses back with them. It was a different time.
Al Madril v. The Great Kabuki
Madril works the arm and slugs away, but Kabuki puts him down with a thrust kick and goes to the Vulcan nerve hold. Madril fights back out of that and slugs away, but Kabuki puts him down with an enzuigiri and goes back to the nerve hold. Just reading up on Kabuki during the downtime, and apparently he rented the gimmick out to the Magic Dragon so he could double-book himself. Madril tosses Kabuki and follows with a bodypress to the floor, but misses a charge in the ring and injures his knee, falling to the floor for a countout at 9:00. Very hard worked match. **3/4
Kerry Von Erich, likely on a cocktail of recreational drugs at the time, describes his strategy for the tag team main event tonight: “We’ve been working on some things in the gym. If it fails, it fails. If it succeeds, we’ll probably win the match.” Sage words, Kerry.
Checkmate & Magic Dragon v. Kerry Von Erich & Brian Adidas
They’re pushing the lifelong friendship of Adidas and Kerry so hard that these days it would almost be a given that Adidas will turn on him. He did eventually, of course, but not for years later. Before the match, King Kong Bundy returns from his career diversion as a dock worker, with his new bald look, and he announces that he’s forming his own stable out of Gary Hart & Armand Hussein, DEVASTATION INC., and he’s taking all comers. That one would quickly become the big heel stable in the territory, in fact. And what a great wrestling name! There’s no question as to the motivation of the group or their alignment. Checkmate puts a toehold on Kerry, and at least at this point Kerry still has a toe. Checkmate controls with a hammerlock, but Kerry rolls up the Dragon for two. They do a test of strength and Kerry wins that one handily, and it’s over to Adidas, who works the arm. He was kind of a spitting image of Dave Meltzer back then, actually. Dragon fires back in the corner and whips Adidas into the turnbuckles, but Kerry throws himself in the way to protect him. You don’t see that one very often these days. Kerry gets the hot tag and runs wild on the Dragon, but a cheapshot puts the heels back in control. Checkmate comes in and Kerry makes his own comeback, as it’s a pier six brawl. Adidas gets a slam on Checkmate for two, but the heels double-team him behind the ref’s back and Checkmate gets the pin at 9:50. Just an average match, but Adidas was clearly fired up to be working with his real life childhood friend. **1/2
The Pulse
Nothing really on the build to Flair v. Kerry this week, which has been the strongest part of these early shows, but next week really starts the ball rolling again. A fun show regardless with a couple of good matches.
