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May 2009 features the legacy of World Class Championship Wrestling, or WCCW. It’s interesting that they put that on now, as I just finished the WCCW DVD review. Like I mentioned in the April review, I won’t be doing all these reviews since I just don’t have the time. I will be doing the ones that I find interesting for some reason or another.
-Great Kabuki vs. Kerry Von Erich-
This is from March 24th, 1982. I wasn’t planning on doing this one, but it was short so I figured what the hell? We see a Gary Hart promo as he talks for Kerry and says that they will defeat Kerry in record time as a personal favor to Ric Flair. Kabuki spits out his mist prior to the match starting. They lock up and Kabuki chops away. Kabuki thrust kicks Kerry down and heads upstairs. Kerry catches him and powerslams him off for the pinfall victory at 0:42. Well, that was fast. DUD.
-Ric Flair(c) vs. Kerry Von Erich for the NWA Title in a 2/3 Falls Match-
This is from August 24th, 1982, the day after my wife was born. Flair grabs a headlock early on, which Kerry reverses into a headscissor take down to the delight of the fans. Flair breaks free of that so Kerry uses the side headlock this time leading to a battle of the hammerlock. Flair falls victim to an armbar now but he breaks and tries a Thesz press, which Kerry was supposed to do something with but ends up blowing it and both guys roll around on the mat to make up for it. Flair goes old-school with some chops in the corner only to have Kerry sunset flip him for two. Kerry takes control with an arm drag and side-headlock takeover, which Flair turns around into a couple of two-counts. Kerry goes for an arm-drag that he wasn't supposed to so Flair chucks him to the outside. Kerry is whipped back and Flair corners Kerry, only to have Kerry slug his way out of that. Kerry sends Flair to the corner and backdrops him off the rebound but a shot to the gut puts things back in Flair's favor. Flair slams Kerry down but misses an elbow drop. Kerry follows that up with an abdominal stretch and Kerry puts the Claw onto the gut of Flair. Flair breaks with a thumb to the eye and a belly to back suplex for two. Kerry is up first and dropkicks Flair. Kerry misses another one and Flair drops a knee for two. A piledriver (called a reverse head and atomic drop) gets two. Flair tries another one but Kerry backdrops out of that one and drops a knee. He misses a Claw attempt so Flair chops away at Kerry. The referee pulls Flair at the corner and while he's holding Flair Kerry tries the discus punch. Flair ducks and it hits the referee instead. Kerry hits a cross body but there's no ref to count. Another ref runs in as Flair tries a suplex. Kerry flips out of that and puts the sleeper hold on Flair. Flair's knocked out at 21:03, giving Kerry Von Erich the first fall. The referees converge and talk about that first fall and instead decide to disqualify Kerry for hitting the referee that first time. So it is Flair 1, Von Erich 0.
The second fall starts with Kerry slugging away at Flair in the corner and putting him in the sleeper hold again. Hey it put him out the first time so that was a smart move. This time Flair has a counter, charging at the ropes and ducking, sending Kerry to the outside. Kerry comes back in and Flair goes right to work on that knee. He takes the wrapping off Kerry's wrapped knee and Flair just pounds on it in the corner. A suplex leads to an elbow and Flair locks on the figure four. Kerry turns the hold around and Flair breaks. Flair knocks Kerry down and plans on doing more damage when Kerry locks the Iron Claw onto the head of Flair. Flair is bleeding now and falls to the mat, where Kerry gets the pinfall at 30:33. We see Flair's bloodied face, which is put in the black and white due to the WWE's insistence on trying to be kid friendly. I still think that is BS, though.
Kerry pounds away at Flair in the corner, only to have Flair pound back. Flair walks into a discus punch but Kerry doesn't cover, instead punching away at Flair some more. They continue pounding on each other when the ref calls for the bell at 31:41 for the LAME finish. Kerry would've won if he didn't have that DQ early on in the match, too. Flair retains. This was a really hot match until that lame finish. Some blown spots in the first fall knocks some points off this one, as does the finish. ***3/4.
-Ric Flair(c) vs. David Von Erich for the NWA Title-
This is from December 25th, 1983. David was being groomed to become the NWA champ, but his untimely death stopped all of those plans. David was considered the better wrestler of the Von Erich brothers and Kerry only got to the top when David died and he didn’t stay there for long. We get to this one JIP with Flair working the arm of David and the timekeeper announcing this at 15 minutes. Damn, I guess the full tape doesn’t exist. David punches out of the armbar, and the two exchange blows. David sends Flair to the corner and catches him in a sleeper on the rebound. Flair back suplexes out of it and tries to piledrive David. That fails as David back drops out of it and attempts to put the Claw on Flair. Flair blocks it, but nevertheless gets pounded on in the corner. A high knee to Flair’s head gets a two for David. David backslides Flair for two. Flair tosses David over the top rope, which should be an automatic DQ but the ref says the match is going to continue. David comes back to the ring and Flair tries to suplex him, only to get small packaged for two. David gets a suplex of his own for two then locks the Claw on Flair. The WWE pussies out by going to black and white now while Flair bleeds, which is completely ridiculous. Flair uses a microphone and smashes it into David’s face but the ref won’t DQ him. David is busted open now, too, but I can’t see anything because this shit is in black and white. The ref does finally DQ Flair and awards the match to David, but the title doesn’t change hands on a DQ. I have to wonder why the WWE censors things they own the rights to. If you don’t want people to see the blood put a fucking warning before people watch the match. I mean, why bastardize this great match like that? This match, by the way, rocked hard. The WWE, however, does not. ***1/2.
-Andre The Giant/King Parsons vs. Super Destroyers-
This comes to us from January 21st, 1984. Andre is introduced as hailing from Canada. Andre was in a lot better shape than he would degrade to even three years later. I’ve never really seen Iceman wrestle, since the DVD didn’t really feature him. I’ll refer to the Super D’s as SD 1 and SD 2. Iceman leapfrogs SD1 and bodyslams him. SD2 is tagged in and Iceman shoulderblocks him down. He puts him in a side headlock which SD breaks. Iceman tags in Andre and the SD’s bail. One sneaks up behind Andre and leaps on him, only to get squashed in the corner. SD 2 comes back in and Andre squashes both of them, too. Andre clears the ring then hits SD with his big ass. He puts his head down and SD 2 kicks him and Andre actually falls down. The SD’s do their best to soften up the Giant but to no avail. Andre tags in Iceman who backdrops the SD. Iceman slams the head of the SD into Andre’s boot and covers for two. Was that the first pinfall attempt of the evening? The SD’s take over with a poke to the eye and Iceman is slammed onto the top rope. Parsons plays face in peril, though the SD’s really aren’t doing much to draw a lot of heat in this segment. SD misses a splash in the corner and Iceman is able to make the hot tag to Andre. Andre press slams Iceman onto both SD’s and a pier-six erupts. Kamala comes out and attacks Andre, drawing the DQ victory for Andre and Iceman. The heels triple team the faces until Andre comes back and clears the ring. I’m surprised this one got 13 minutes. It was a standard, if not longish, television tag match that ended crappily. *.
-Ric Flair(c) vs. Chris Adams for the NWA Title-
This is from November 29th, 1984. Adams has Gary Hart in his corner. Both guys are booed. Feeling out process leads to Flair running his hands through his hair because he’s that damn cool. Flair corners Adams and breaks clean. Adams flips around the ring as Flair jives to the delight of the fans. Adams grabs a headlock and corners Flair. He tries to punch him but Flair blocks and slaps Adams. Adams work a hammerlock and uses the ropes for leverage until the ref catches him and makes him break the hold. Flair comes back and drops a knee to the face of Adams for two. Flair grabs a reverse chinlock which Adams reverses to an armbar. Again Adams uses the ropes to cheat. He continues with the arm. Flair starts chopping away with the other hand, and still sells the busted hand, letting it hang there. Adams wisely goes right back to the bum arm. Flair picks up Adams and airplane spins him, and then takes him over with a fireman’s carry. Flair now goes after Adams arm, just because he can. He dumps Adams to the outside via the middle rope. Flair tries to suplex Adams back in but Adams flips out of it and puts Flair in a sleeper. Flair suplexes out of it and sends Adams to the corner. Adams counters with a cross-body that Flair ducks out of it. Adams hits the referee instead, which is too bad because the referee wasn’t in position to count the small package Adams caught Flair in. Flair ends up putting Adams in a Boston Crab which draws Gary Hart. Gary attacks Flair and the ref calls for the DQ at 13:02. Give this another 10 minutes and a finish and you have an all-time classic. Instead, it’s a decent match with a bad finish that really never got going to the places it should’ve gone. ***.
-Shawn Michaels vs. One Man Gang-
Shawn was just Sean Michaels here, for this January 27th, 1985 bout against OMG. Shawn was just a jobber here, while OMG was the big bad heel. Michaels evades OMG early but gets cornered and pounded down. OMG dumps Shawn then clotheslines him on the way in. A powerslam leads to the big fat splash to finish this at 2:34. Welcome to the wrestling world Shawn! DUD.
-Rick Rude vs. Lance Von Erich-
This is from June 15th, 1986. Percy Pringle is in Rude’s corner. Percy would become Paul Bearer about 5 years later. Rude, who is introduced as the Smooth Operator, was the WCCW champ at the time, though this is a non-title bout. Lance Von Erich is an interesting story in the WCCW. He wasn’t related to the Von Erichs at all, but was brought in because he could have looked like one. This didn’t go over too well in the WCCW. Lance gets an early enzuigiri and sends Rude into the corners before locking on a chinlock, then an armbar. Rude breaks and heads outside for a breather, only to be arm-dragged upon re-entry. Lance continues working the arm until Rude breaks and misses an elbow drop with the bad arm. Lance connects with one of his own for two. Lance misses a charge in the corner and posts his shoulder. Rude covers for two and then follows with a backbreaker for two. Rude suplexes for two. Lance tries to go after the elbow but Rude catches him in an abdominal stretch. Lance hip-tosses Rude out of it. Rude knocks Lance down and tries to an elbow drop from the second rope but misses. Lance comes back with a clothesline and a back body drop. He tries another one but Rude leapfrogs him and runs into the referee. Lance puts on the Claw and Percy tries to use the cane to break the hold. It hits Rude instead and Lance sunset flips him for the pin and the win at 9:26. This was better than a lot of matches on the WCCW DVD. This was exciting, the crowd was into it, Rude continued selling the elbow the whole time, and it had an actual finish. ***.
-Rick Rude & Dingo Warrior vs. Mike & Kevin Von Erich-
This is from October 12th, 1986. This was an easy pick because of the Dingo Warrior, hailing from Queens New York. If you grow his hair out, shave his mustache, make him from Parts Unknown and change Dingo to Ultimate, you have one of the biggest stars of the early 90’s. Rude and Dingo have a female valet named Raven in their corner. Kevin is the Von Erich without the boots. The announcer proclaims the Von Erichs to be moral champions. A test of strength starts this match off between Rude and Kevin. Kevin armdrags out of the test of strength and he goes to work on the arm of Rude, which Mike continues when he’s tagged in. Rude bails to the outside and when he comes back in Mike goes right back to work on the arm. Rude escapes and tags in Dingo, who doesn’t really do much more than a bear-hug. Rude comes in with an abdominal stretch. Kevin hiptosses out of it and Dingo is tagged in. Kevin’s double-teamed in the corner but he comes right back with the Iron Claw on Rude. Rude is in the hold and can’t escape, so he knocks out the referee and draws a DQ at 8:41. Rude is tossed to the outside and this causes Rude and Dingo to battle on the floor. Dingo was pretty worthless here. There wasn’t anything spectacular about this tag match. *1/2.
-Introducing: Shawn Michaels-
This deals with Shawn’s early career in wrestling, recounting a story that was on WWE Before They Were Superstars and probably on the HBK Triumph… DVD. Shawn started in Mid-South wrestling, and then moving into WCCW. We’re treated to a WCCW match, from January 11th, 1985. Shawn is spelt as Sean here. He’s battling Billy Haynes, who has Sunshine with him. Shawn is sent to the corner where he flips out and celebrates. He walks right into a Full Nelson and that is all she wrote at 1:42. ¼*. Michaels would go on to main event countless Wrestlemania’s and win a bunch of WWE titles.
-JR’s Pick of the Month-
I wanted to watch this because of JR’s look at the WCCW. He talks about their use of multiple cameras, music videos and vignettes that really added to the production quality of the show that wasn’t in wrestling before. He talks about their big stars, like the Von Erich’s and their feud with the Freebirds. He mentions Gary Hart, as well as Precious and Sunshine, and of course Ric Flair and his journey’s through Texas. The match that JR picks is Chris Adams & Sunshine vs. Jimmy Garvin & Precious, which I already reviewed on the Triumph & Tragedy of WCCW.
-The Bottom Line- When you think of WCCW you think of the Von Erichs, so this month was very heavy with the Von Erichs and deservedly so. There were also a ton of cool guys featured this month that went through WCCW’s doors, including Shawn Michaels, Jake Roberts, Rick Rude, The Great Kabuki, Jose Lothario, among others. I focused on as many interesting matches as I could, and of course looked at all the Flair matches. He’s Ric Flair, how couldn’t you watch? The match quality was generally pretty good, and there was lot here that was very interesting and worth a look even if the wrestling wasn’t great.
Okay, so I have two gripes with this months focus. The first is that there were way too many DQ’s. That’s not the WWE’s fault because WCCW booked this stuff way back in the early 80’s and I have to assume the DQ’s were there to keep people from other territories strong (like Flair) without making their own guys look weak.
The second gripe is a pretty major one. Why the censorship of the blood? What purpose does it serve? If you’re going to censor it I would rather not even have the opportunity to watch the match at all. If you are afraid kids will watch this put a warning before the match that it may contain graphic content. Sometimes I don’t get them. Having blood in a match that is over 20 years old is bad, but having a girl come out with tight clothes and way too much cleavage is perfectly alright. That’s bogus and it really just pisses me off.
By the way, here’s a rundown of matches that were featured this month that I didn’t review here, though ones with a * are on the Triumph & Tragedy of the WCCW DVD.
--Jose Lothario& The Blue Demon vs. Great Kabuki & The Dragon
--WCCW Battle Royale
--Mike Von Erich vs. Michael Hayes
--Kevin Von Erich vs. Michael Hayes
--Kevin Von Erich vs. Terry Gordy
--The Fantastics vs. The Midnight Express
--Fritz Von Erich vs. King Kong Bundy*
--Jimmy Garvin vs. Chris Adams
--Bruiser Brody vs. Abdullah The Butcher*
--Freebirds vs. Kamala & The Missing Link
--Jake Roberts & Chris Adams vs. Jules Strongbow & George Wengroff
--Harley Race vs. Kerry Von Erich
--Freebirds vs. Kamala/Missing Link
--Bruiser Brody vs. Abdullah The Butcher
--Little Mr. T vs. Little Tokyo
--Kevin & Kerry Von Erich vs. Gino Hernandez & Chris Adams
--Midnight Express vs. Fantastics
--Kevin Von Erich vs. Harley Race
--Jake Roberts vs. Johnny Montell
--Kevin & Kerry Von Erich vs. Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts
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