home | wrestling | flashback_reviews | world_class

World Class Championship Wrestling - December 17, 1983

by Erick Von Erich

After the Thanksgiving Holiday Rasslin' Star Wars at Reunion Arena, we're back to the Sportatorium as we begin the build for the Christmas Holiday Rassln' Star Wars. I'm drawing a bit of a blank, but I don't recall WCCW having both of those shows shown on their weekly programming in 1982. Anyways, the big news is that Iceman King Parson is out for Revenge (capital "R") after being burned in the grill by Skandar Akbar and those dastardly Super Destroyers! Also, we weren't shown the match, but Kerry Von Erich beat Michael Hayes to send the leader of the Freebirds out of town. But with so much going on in World Class Championship Wrestling, let's get down to ringside for...

Encore Match: American Tag Team Championship:
Super Destroyers (c) (w/Skandar Akbar) vs. "Iceman" King Parsons & the Junkyard Dog

Same match, in its entirety, from two weeks ago. One thing I didn't notice when recapping that match is that the Super D's get doused with beer from the crowd as they walk back to the locker room. SD1 (I think it's him), encourages it and asks for more.

Bill Mercer Studio Interview: General Skandar Akbar and the Super Destroyers

Pre-recorded in the World Class studio. Akbar is seated and flanked by the Super D's; both wearing poweder-blue versions of their masks and decked out in slacks and sportscoats. I love it when masked wrestlers do that. Mercer asks about the fireball incident and Akbar responds that Iceman has been getting in the way of Devastation Incoporated's business for awhile, now. "Do no tmeddle in the General's affairs". He throws out a warning to all the other wrestlers and mentions that he's not concerned about the fine he received for burning Iceman. Mercer then asks about the recent slam challenge he threw out: $10,000 to whoever can slam Kimala the Ugandan Giant. Mercer shows footage of last week's episode, where Kerry Von Erich ran in and slammed Kimala. Akbar denies any payment, since it was a run-in and not an actual match. With Hayes (temporarily) leaving, this was a good way to play up Devastation as a larger heel threat. Aside from Kimala, they've been sorta' midcarders since their formation.

Match 1: "Gorgeous" Jimmy Gavin (w/Precious) vs. Doug Vines

Vines is a generic jobber, billed from Chicago. He's a slightly bigger guy and I think I've seen him, here and there, for other early 80's promotion. I'm guessing Mike Reed had the night off. They trade arm wringers as Vines gets the intial advantage then delivers a slam. Garvin recovers with a kneelift, drops some elbows and tosses Vines into the turnbuckles. He slams Vines, but pulls him up at a 2 count. Garvin then delivers his "bombs away" brainbuster suplex, but pulls up at 2, again. Finally, Garvin ends the Vines Threat with a rolling DDT that easily scores 3. Good tune-up and squash fro Garvin, after being humiliated at Star Wars.

Bill Mercer Ringside Interview: "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin with Precious

Mercer inquires about an upcoming rematch with Chris Adams. This time, if Adams wins, Sunshine will gets five minutes in the ring with Precious. Garvin says it's no big deal, but Precious is strongly against the idea.

Match 2: Kevin Von Erich vs. Buddy Roberts

Roberts is still in his special headgear, this time with a blond wig underneath (or maybe his actual hair has begun growing back). The Penultimate Kuncklelock Challenge starts the action, until Kevin blasts Buddy with a dropkick in the grill to send him out of the ring. Buddy returns and gets hooked in a side headlock and a leg takedown from Kevin. Kevin works a toehold while Mercer once again announces that David Von Erich will soon be challenging the NEW NWA Champ, Ric Flair. Buddy makes the ropes to break, then goes into a kick/punch/snapmare sequence. Buddy sits down into a reverse chinlock, but Kevin powers up and drops him on the top turnbuckle. He whips Buddy to the opposite corner, as Buddy try to beg him away. Buddy suckers him with a loaded headgear headbutt. Buddy kicks and chokes and sends Kevin outside. Kevin returns for a brawl, then Buddy misses a flying elbowdrop. Kevin quickly runs at him with a flying head scissors and rolls forward into a cradle pinning combo for 3. Pretty cool flying cradle move, but in the replay we can see that Kevin actually bothced the move and Buddy sold it well.

Match 3: NWA American Tag Team Championship:
Super Destroyers (c) (w/Skandar Akbar) vs. "Iceman" King Parsons & Kerry Von Erich

Dang, Ice ain't messin' around. He went out and got Kerry to help him with the Super D's. That's basically the story of the match, as Ice is just insanely PISSED and wants to kick some Super D tushy. He's selling the burn, as his left forehead and cheek are still red and irritated. It might be facepaint, but I doubt it. Ice and Kerry storm the ring before the introductions and clear away the heels. After a few minutes of fisticuffs, Marc Lowrance finally gets to do his introductions with the bout essentially started. Not sure if this is an actual title match or not-- no real harm in labeling it as such.

Kerry starts off with two armdrags on SD2. Ice comes in and simply wants to pound away! SD1 gets a jab to the eyes and scratches Ice's burned forehead. Ice keeps fighting back, amidst a series of double-team thumpings from the SD's. Kerry makes a save and delivers a kneelift to SD2, but gets ordered back to his corner. SD2 chokes Ice and the double-teams continue. Ice finally makes the Hot Tag to Kerry, who delivers a Double (masked) Noggin Knocker. He slams SD2 and lands a kneedrop from the second rope. All four guys enter for Enhanced Fisticuffs, while Iceman backdrops SD1. Referee Bronko Lubich is confused and can't keep track of the action... then Kimala enters the ring. He stampedes into Kerry, looking for payback from the Star Wars slam. Things break down, as the match is awarded via disqualification to Ice and Kerry. The brawling continues as the Super-D's, Akbar and Friday all enter the ring.

Yet order cannot be restored! Referees storm the ring in an attempt to sort things out, but there's also a guy in a polo shirt who appears to have wandered in from an REO Speedwagon concert. He attacks the Devastation charges and helps to even the score for Kerry and Ice. After further investigation, we see that's it ol' Von Erich buddy Brian Adias, making his return to World Class! Hmm, I can't remember the last time we saw him. I think it was about 8 months ago.

Bill Mercer Ringside Interview: "Iceman" King Parsons, Kerry Von Erich and Brian Adias

Iceman is still screaming for revenge, while Kerry will "kill somebody" to get the 10K Akbar owes him. But that's all the time we have for now-- join us next week!

Why'd You Tape This?:
Another "day at the office". While the Kevin/Buddy match started off well enough, the sloppy ending hurt the overall product. Once again, the main event is the only real highlight. It wasn't just a basic brawl, either, as they were given about 8 or 9 minutes before all the shenanigans began. It furthered the Iceman/Super D's issue, gave the Super D's more of a push, setsup Kerry/Kimala and even introduced a new player in Brian Adias. I think Adias had left for Portland in early 1983 over a pay-out dispute. He's back now and will stick around with a slightly higher profile than before.

Boom-da-da-da-boom, da-da-da-boom, da-da-da-boom

Sound Off!
Comment about this article on Da' Wrestling Boards!

email erick von erich

Back to World Class index