National Wrestling Alliance / World Championship Wrestling - Saturday, April 13th, 1985
- The show opens with Ivan & Nikita Koloff destroying someone that I couldn't identify in a cage (maybe Buzz Sawyer), ending with a freeze-frame of a vicious clothesline with a chain. My wife actually found that disturbing to see.
- Opening credits.
- Tony Schiavone and David Crockett are your announcers.
- "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel w/ JJ Dillon vs. Sam Houston
- More effusive praise from Schiavone and Crockett for Landel. Also, great praise for JJ Dillon.
- Like last week, tremendous counter-moves from Landel every time his opponent gets something going. Landel was trained by Boris Malenko...I don't know if everyone else from Malenko's school wrestles the same way.
- Lots of headlocks from Landel.
- Wow...just like last week...Landel constantly pounding his opponent's head into the mat, bouncing it like double-dribbling a basketball.
- Big chop by Landel...tremendous standing dropkick by Landel.
- Eventually, after giving Houston a heck of a beating, Landel locks on the figure-four and Houston gives up.
- Your Winner: Buddy Landel via submission.
- Schiavone interviews the current US Champion, Magnum TA. Magnum challenges anyone talking about him to actually sign on the dotted line and wrestle him.
- Replay of the Ric Flair interview with the three lovely ladies from last week.
- Michael Hayes vs. Joel Deaton
- Hayes with the early advantage, consistently outsmarting Deaton.
- Funny moment...Hayes had Deaton in a headlock. Deaton started pulling on Hayes' hair to get out of it, and Hayes pulled Deaton's hair until Deaton let go.
- Deaton gets a flurry of offense in, but Hayes stops that in a hurry, bulldogs Deaton, and gets the pin.
- Your Winner: Michael Hayes via pinfall
- Promo video of Manny Fernandez' pre-match routine for suiting up, complete with bullfighter music, which segues into "Beat It".
- Manny Fernandez & Thunderbolt Patterson vs. Paul Garner & Mike Jackson
- Fernandez and Mike Jackson start out. Jackson gets a few shots in, but Fernandez takes over.
- Garner gets tagged in, and just gets totally destroyed as Fernandez and Patterson keep tagging in and out.
- Finally, Garner is put out of his misery with a flying forearm from Fernandez.
- Your Winners: Manny Fernandez & Thunderbolt Patterson via pinfall.
- Graphic states that Ric Flair's robes cost an average of $10,300.
- Schiavone interviews Ole & Arn Anderson. Arn has swapped his Panama hat for a Yankees cap. Good call.
- A replay of their beatdown on Fernandez is shown.
- Their voiceover is pretty funny...they are explaining what went down, and it is so obviously a twisted version of events as you are watching what they are watching and describing, and it doesn't match up.
- Tully Blanchard w/"The Perfect Ten" vs. Paul Diamond
- Another clean handshake as the match begins from Tully Blanchard. That is so cool.
- Armdrag by Tully.
- Diamond with a headlock. Tully ends that with a hair pull.
- Arm twist into a fireman's carry by Tully.
- Drop toe hold into a knee and ankle lock by Tully. Tully talks trash to his opponent, while dropping elbows on Diamond.
- This is cool to watch...in addition to demolishing Diamond physically, Tully is taking Diamond apart mentally by making Diamond lose his cool.
- The psyche out backfires, as Diamond comes back and throws Tully into the turnbuckles, where Tully's arm gets damaged.
- Tully comes back quickly, however.
- Tullly goes back to work, a slingshot suplex, and it's over.
- Your Winner: Tully Blanchard via pinfall
- After the match, as he's getting booed, Tully looks over the crowd, quite pleased with himself.
- Schiavone interviews Dusty Rhodes. Schiavone tries to engage Dusty about Tully and the Television Belt, but Dusty talks about the Russians and six-man title instead. Dusty, Jimmy Valiant, and "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer are gunning for the belts.
- Ole & Arn Anderson vs. Gene Ligon & Rocky King
- I guess that I had Ligon's name spelled right in my last report.
- Arn and Ligon start it out. Mat wrestling to begin. Arn with the advantage.
- Ole tagged in quickly. Arn tagged back in. Man...they are taking Ligon apart. I so would not ever want to mess with Ole.
- Arn lets Ligon tag out so Rocky King can come in and take a beating.
- Ole tags in...damn...like I said, if I ever saw him, I'd be running the other way.
- Ole and Arn tagging in and out...if this keeps going, Rocky King's arm is going to be broken.
- Schiavone's assessment of the Andersons always working on the left arm, "It's like some great college football teams...you know exactly what their game plan is going to be, but you have no way to stop it." Good analogy.
- Eventually, Arn tags Ole in, Arn holds King's arm out, and Ole comes off the top on the arm. Ole tags Arn back in, and Arn puts the armlock on King until he submits.
- Your Winner: Ole & Arn Anderson by submission.
- Schiavone interviews Buddy Landel and JJ Dillon. Dillon and Landel challenge and make fun of Flair and Magnum.
- Interesting side note...over in the WWF, heel vs. heel battles are almost unheard of.
- "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer vs. Ivan Koloff w/Nikita Koloff and Krusher Kruschev
- Hmmm...Ivan's got Nikita and Krusher with him...I have a sneaking suspicion that this is going to be a six-man melee before it's all over.
- Sawyer's got a heck of a belly on him.
- All four wrestlers are bald,
- The Russians have a huge trophy with them for some reason.
- Koloff bites Sawyer...Sawyer bites him back.
- Nikita is still at ringside, but Krusher went to the back.
- The biting continues.
- Back and forth with all power moves, with Sawyer getting the advantage until Koloff moved out of the way on a corner charge. Sawyer hits his shoulder hard on the ring post.
- Kicking, biting...and some power moves and arm locks here and there.
- Commercials...match continues while we're in commercial.
- We come back to Nikita slamming Buzz's head outside the ring and tossing Sawyer back in.
- Ivan goes back to work on the arm.
- Sawyer hits a power slam out of nowhere, but Ivan gets a leg on the bottom rope to break the count.
- Big suplex by Sawyer, but again Ivan gets a leg on the rope.
- Belly-to-belly by Sawyer, and Koloff kicks out at one.
- Sawyer keeps trying submission moves, and Koloff keeps pounding on Sawyer's left shoulder.
- Toss off the top by Sawyer, but only a two count.
- Sawyer keeps getting two counts and going back to the bear hug, while Koloff pounds on the shoulder.
- A number of good suplexes by Sawyer in this contest, by the way.
- Double reverse, and a ref bump. The ref's out!
- Sawyer with a roll up, but no referee to count. Jimmy Valiant runs in and does a fast three-count.
- Four man brawl breaks out...Krusher Kruschev comes in...we're up to five. Sawyer is tossed out of the ring, and the Koloffs hold Valiant while Kruschev starts hitting him with a chain.
- Nikita and Kruschev hold Valiant down, and Ivan is just about to hit Valiant with the chain, but Dusty Rhodes runs in, grabs the chain away, and the Russians get out of there in a hurry.
- Your Winner: No contest, most likely.
- Schiavone interviews Freebird Michael Hayes. He makes fun of Flair, and gives a pretty decent interview.
- Tony Schiavone interviews Dusty Rhodes and Buzz Sawyer. Dusty tells the Russians to come get some. Jimmy Valiant joins them, and is a screaming maniac. Jimmy Valiant claims that Dusty Rhodes saved his life earlier.
- Tony Schaivone and David Crockett have a calmer conversation than the one just previous, and discuss the Russians
- Nikita Koloff w/Ivan Koloff & Krusher Kruschev wearing their tag team belts vs. Josh Stroud
- Doesn't look like today's going to be a good day for Stroud.
- Nikita shoves Stroud and Stroud growls back at him and poses.
- Stroud gets a full nelson on Koloff, and Koloff breaks it. Stroud grabs Koloff around the middle, and Koloff breaks it.
- It's all Koloff from then on, with Koloff making Stroud pay the price for earlier.
- Finally, Stroud comes back with some clubbing blows, which Koloff just absorbs to no effect.
- Koloff goes to work on the neck, setting Stroud up for the Russian Hammer and Russian Sicle.
- Stroud fights out of it a few times, but it never lasts long. Koloff keeps working on the neck and throat.
- Stroud scores a dropkick and gets a few shots in. He whips Koloff into the corner, but Koloff comes out with the Russian Sicle.
- Instead of going for the cover, Ivan Koloff tells Nikita to do something else.
- Nikita puts on the cobra hold, and Stroud must have verbally quit, and the ref calls for the bell.
- Your Winner: Nikita Koloff by submission
- The other Russians come in, in theory, to get Nikita to break the hold, but they didn't seem to try very hard.
- Schiavone interviews Manny Fernandez and Thunderbolt Patterson.
- Patterson has a lazy eye or a glass eye.
- Interesting...wrestlers said "daddy" in the 80s, "brother" in the 90s, and speak about themselves in the third person in the 2000s.
- "Superstar" Billy Graham & The Barbarian vs. Jim Jeffers & Mack Jeffers
- Using their last name as my first hint, Jeffers and Jeffers look to be brothers.
- Barbarian's make up gets on his opponents.
- One of the Jeffers brothers botches a leap into the corner.
- Schiavone is obsessed with who is with Paul Jones.
- YIKES!!!! It's Abdullah The Butcher!
- Barbarian rams one of the Jeffers back first into a corner pole outside the ring.
- Barbarian and Graham are taking these guys apart.
- Side kick from Barbarian...man, that looked like it nearly took the other guy's head off.
- Abdullah The Butcher is very intent on what's going on.
- Kicks, punches, chops...glad my last name isn't "Jeffers".
- Barbarian with a diving headbutt nearly all the way across the ring on Mack Jeffers. Graham puts Jim Jeffers in "The unbreakable full nelson" while Barbarian gets the 1-2-3 on Mack Jeffers.
- Your Winner: "Superstar" Billy Graham & Barbarian via pinfall
- Graphic that says Magnum TA is 25 years old.
- Tony Schiavone interviews the three Russians, and they have that enormous trophy with them.
- Apparently, the cup has something to do with the six-man championship...their name is on the nameplate...I guess that the trophy is used for the six-man tag champs instead of three belts. If so, it must be hard to fit that in your carry-on bag.
- I was confused because Krusher was wearing a belt, but that may have been a World Heavyweight Tag Team Belt, and they were using Freebird Rules.
- When Kruschev talks, he sounds like a very young guy, which he was at the time.
- In a presumably non-title match: NWA US Heavyweight Champion Magnum TA vs. George South
- Lockup, trade of arm twists, Magnum with an Irish whip, belly-to-belly suplex, and it's over. Maybe 15 seconds.
- Apparently, Magnum's gimmick is the quick pins.
- Your Winner: NWA US Heavyweight Champion Magnum TA via pinfall.
- Graphic that says Ric Flair is "Custom Made From Head To Toe".
- "Pistol" Pez Whatley vs. Vernon Deaton
- Both Schiavone and Crockett are big fans of Whatley.
- Whatley in control early...headlocks, back body drop, shoulder block, dropkick, etc.
- Phone number on the bottom of the screen for tickets for the TV tapings. I'm tempted to call it just to see who answers.
- Whatley putting on a clinic of basic offensive moves...gut wrench suplex, snapmare, headbutt...
- Suplex...two count only. Deaton has taken a lot of punishment, and Whatley has taken very little.
- Finally, a flying lariat and cover to win it.
- Your Winner: Pistol Pez Whatley via pinfall.
- Schiavone interviews Ole & Arn Anderson
- Arn must have just gotten his sideburns and beard shaved. They are the tightest I've ever seen them.
- I said it earlier and I'll say it again...dumping that Panama Hat really helps his image.
- Ole Anderson refers to them as "The Anderson Brothers" again.
- As for the interview, Arn is gunning for Manny Fernandez, and Ole is gunning for Thunderbolt Patterson. No surprises there.
- Krusher Kruschev w/Nikita & Ivan Koloff vs. Mike Somiani
- Krusher goes on the attack, and proceeds to take Somiani apart.
- Huh...according to Shiavone, Kruschev was born in Russia, raised in this country, his father deserted him, and he turned to the Russian ideals of his mother. I had never heard that story before.
- All offense by Krusher, concentrating on the left arm of Somiani.
- Nice arm bar while holding a boot on Somiani's face.
- Kruschev drops Somiani on his throat across the top rope. He does it again.
- Kruschev locks on the Cobra Grip, like Nikita did in his match earlier, and the referee calls for the bell.
- Kruschev won't release the hold. Ivan goes into the ring and acts like he is trying to get Kruschev to break the hold, but he's not trying very hard.
- Your Winner: Krusher Kruschev via submission
- Schiavone interviews Tully Blanchard, who has Baby Doll with him. Blanchard talks about having been the longest-running NWA TV Champion in history, and having had to write Dusty a $10,000 check that Tully had promised to whoever could beat him for the title. Blanchard promises to be a champion again, and he calls the people who are heckling him "illiterates".
- End of show, or at least end of my copy of the show.
- The Good: A number of good matches. Other than the Magnum TA match, none of the matches were gimmicky, so you actually saw a wrestling match for each one of them. Tully's was probably the highlight, with Landel's a close second. I really see why Tully was one of the first cool heels of all time.
- The Bad: Magnum's gimmick of winning matches quickly doesn't give you an opportunity to see him wrestle.
- The Ugly: Nothing really...Ole keeps referring to Arn and himself as "brothers", but that's more funny than ugly.