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NWA World Championship Wrestling -04/20/85
by Mad Dog

Once again here's your Championship Roll Call:
NWA World Champion: Ric Flair
World Tag Team Champions: The Russians
United States Champion: Magnum TA
National Champion: Ronnie Garvin
National Tag Team Champions: Ole Anderson/ Thunderbolt Patterson
Mid-Atlantic Champion: Buzz Tyler
NWA TV Champion: Dusty Rhodes
Six-Man Champions: The Russians
World Jr. Heavyweight Champ: Denny Brown

The National Tag Team Title situation gets resolved this week as far as I know.

Tully Blanchard sends Baby Doll out to confront Dusty Rhodes as our pre-show segment this week.

Hosts are Tony Schiavone and David Crockett

We start out with the World Tag Team Champions and the World Six Man Tag Team Champions the Russians. They all call out Dusty Rhodes since he's defending the Television Title against Krusher Khrushchev on today's show. Nikita tells Ric Flair to beware of Nikita.

Buddy Landel w/ JJ Dillon vs. Mack Jeffers
Match History: Landel is going for his third win in as many weeks. He's also been calling out Magnum TA for a potential shot at the U.S. Title.

Landel starts it off with a couple of arm drags. Landel goes to the wristlock and then pounds on Jeffers in the corner. Jeffers reverses an irish whip but Landel catches him with a hip toss. Landel nails a chop and then follows it up with an elbow. Landel works over the arm on the mat. Landel hits a standing dropkickand then goes back to the arm. Landel takes Jeffers down with a knee and then a chop. Landel goes back to the arm. Landel hits a couple of chops and goes back to the arm and adds in a neck wrench. Why is he doing this for the whole match when he's just going to slap on the Figure-Four at the end? Landel uses a body slam and comes off the ropes with a knee drop. Landel has gone from working the arm to more working the neck now. Bodyslam, elbow drop, Figure-Four Leglock, goodnight folks.

Rundown: 1/2*, a lot of arm work that led nowhere. I don't know why he focuses exclusively on the upper body when his finisher is a lower body move. I guess I shouldn't put so much thought into a squash match though.

Tully Blanchard and Baby Doll are out for an interview. He issues an open challenge to whoever wins the Television Title match tonight. See, now that's what I love about old school wrestling. He's even willing to go after the heel to get what he wants. The WWE never does stuff like that these days. I also like the relaxed delivery that Tully Blanchard has for interview.

They show a video of Dusty Rhodes being presented with the brand new NWA World Television Title belt. Yes, it's been renamed and he gets the awesome red version of the belt. This is from World Wide Wrestling from what I've read. Dusty cuts a short promo on becoming the new longest reigning Television Champion.

Magnum TA vs. Doug Vines
Match History: TA is going for his third straight win here. He's been finishing his opponents off in seconds on the shows. He's also got quite a few guys like Buddy Landel gunning for his United States Championship.

Vines charges right into the Belly to Belly Suplex.

Rundown: DUD, one and done there. Like I said, I love this push. They're just making TA look like a monster in the ring and making him seem like the next big thing in wrestling.

Video of a Ric Flair promo. This is your typical Flair hype promo where he's not really pushing any particular angle. He does call out a number of guys as not being second best because they don't have the gold.

Ivan Koloff w/ Nikita Koloff vs. Josh Stroud
Match History: Ivan Koloff went to a no contest against Buzz Sawyer last week in a lackluster match. Stroud has gotten passed around from some of the bigger monsters and has taken quite a beating the last couple of weeks.

Ivan goes right to the arm to start. Ivan rams him into the ropes and then hits an elbow. Stroud gets a leap frog but Ivan nails him with an elbow. Ivan misses with an elbow drop but then no sells a dropkick. Test of strength sees Ivan get the better of Stroud. Ivan throws Stroud with a snapmare and then drops a knee. Ivan chokes Stroud on the ropes. Ivan chokes Stroud a couple of times then hits a knee. Ivan hits a back body drop and then a headbutt. Ivan hits another knee and covers for two. Ivan tosses Stroud across the ring. Stroud fights back but gets a boot from Ivan. Stroud fights back again but gets another boot from Ivan. Ivan tosses Stroud to the outside where Nikita puts the boots to him. Neck snap on the ropes followed by another elbow from Ivan. Ivan gets a double stomp from Ivan followed by the Russian Hammer. Russian Sickle followed by the Cobra Hold ends things.

Rundown: 1/4*, kind of a sloppy showing from Ivan. In his defense he is pretty old here. I like how the Russians use all the same finishers and know that the Russian Sickle finishes but insist on applying the Cobra Hold just to hurt their opponent that much more.

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Paul Jones is out for an interview. Jones shows off the scars from the surgery that he needed to fix his arm after Jimmy Valiant injured him. He shows off video of the Barbarian, Superstar Billy Graham and himself getting the better of Jimmy Valiant at an arena show. He says they aren't through with punishing him yet.

NWA World Television Champion Dusty Rhodes is out for an interview. Ivan comes out and confronts Dusty. They trash talk about tonight's match.

Abdullah the Butcher w/ Paul Jones vs. Gene Ligon
Match History: This is Abdullah's debut as far as Mid-Atlantic being on TBS.

Abdullah hits a headbutt in the ropes and then a throat chop. Abdullah goes for the trapezius hold to wear down Ligon. Abdullah sends Ligon into the ropes and hits a shoulder block. Ligon heads to the outside and Jones hits him with the cane. Ligon tries to get back in the ring but Abdullah stomps him back to the ground. Adbullah chokes Ligon on the apron. Abdullah hits a headbutt and goes back to the trapezius hold. Ligon fights out but Abdullah cuts him off with a right hand. Abdullah goes back to the trapezius hold. Ligon fights out of the hold but Abdullah rams him into the corner a few times. Abdullah hits a headbutt and gouges the eyes of Ligon. Throat chop and running elbow drop finishes it for Abdullah.

Rundown: DUD, sloppy. Abdullah can barely move in 1985. He's a lot better as a brawler or standing around and looking scary.

Tully Blanchard w/ Baby Doll vs. T.J. Trippe
Match History: Tully has faced two tough matches since Mid-Atlantic took over this show. He's defeated Paul Diamond and Sam Houston. He's working hard to build some momentum so he can win back the Television Title.

Tully shoves Trippe off after a couple of lock ups. Tully gets a single leg takedown and they do some amateur style stuff on the mat. Tully gets another takedown but Trippe gets to the ropes. Tully gets a headlock and spins into a wristlock but Trippe gets in the ropes. Tully slaps Trippe and then runs. Tully shoots in but Trippe grabs the ropes. Tully hits some shoulder thrusts in the ropes and Trippe gets mad. Tully grabs a headlock and takes Trippe down. Trippe gets in the ropes and Tully pounds on him. Tully takes him down with a forearm and then a right hand. Tully uses a snapmare and goes to the chinlock. Tully drops Trippe on his knee and follows up with a couple of elbow drops for two. Tully goes back to the chinlock and drops some elbows on the face. Tully applies a front face lock and rolls him up for two. Trippe fights out of a chinlock but Tully hits a knee. Slingshot suplex and Tully wins again.

Rundown: *. Tully usually has the best squash match of the week. Trippe got no offense in as this was just a showcase for how good Tully can be. I have to admit the Tully Blanchard match is usually the highlight of these World Championship Wrestling shows for me.

Thunderbolt Patterson and Manny Fernandez are out for an interview. Thunderbolt has his half of the National Tag Team Titles. The deal with the belts is each man picks his partner and they'll meet to determine who the new champions will be. So of course it's the Andersons vs. Patterson/Fernandez.

NWA World Television Title Match:
Dusty Rhodes © vs. Krusher Khrushchev w/ Ivan Koloff

Match History: Both men were involved in a big brawl last week between the Russians and Valiant/Sawyer/Rhodes. Dusty and his team have been gunning for the Six Man Tag Team Titles of the Russians. Khrushchev is looking to add yet another belt to the Russian stable. As far as inring goes this is Dusty Rhodes inring debut on the Mid-Atlantic era World Championship Wrestling. He was of course on the Georgia controled version of the show. Krusher earned a win over Mike Simone on last week's show in pretty impressive fashion.

Lock up and Dusty gets an arm drag. Dusty grabs a headlock and gets a takedown. Dusty rakes the face with his boots and then a bodyslam. Krusher gets a headlock but Dusty throws him off in the ropes. Krusher hits a shoulder block but then runs right into a bodyslam. Dusty applies a chinlock and then a head scissor. Dusty breaks the hold and hits an elbow drop. Dusty uses a snap mare so he can go back to the chinlock. Krusher gets a face rake and he goes to work on Dusty with kicks and forearms. Krusher sends Dusty into the corner and charges in with a knee. Krusher tosses Dusty to the outside where Ivan rams him into the ring apron. Krusher stomps Dusty on the floor. We head to commercial as Dusty gets back in the ring. We're back as Krusher has Dusty in a bear hug. Dusty escapes with the Bionic Elbow but Krusher quickly gets him back in the hold. Dusty again escapes with the Bionic Elbow and follows it up with a snap mare. Dusty misses an elbow drop and Krusher starts choking him. Krusher rams him into the corner and hits a series of shoulder thrusts. Back to the bear hug as Krusher wears him down. Dusty escapes with a hip toss but Krusher quickly regains control with a kick. Right hand takes Dusty down. Hip toss and an elbow drop gets two for Krusher. Back to the bear hug to further wear on Dusty. Dusty escapes with a headbutt and then takes him down with a second. Dusty hits a standing dropkick. Shoulder block off the ropes puts them both on the mat. They both struggle to their feet and Krusher pounds on Dusty. Krusher sends Dusty into the corner but then rams shoulder first into the ringpost after missing with a charge. Dusty rolls him up for the surprise pin. Ivan gets in the ring and gets a figure-four from Dusty. Nikita runs out and now it's a 3 on 1 beatdown for Dusty. Manny Fernandez, Thunderbolt Patterson and Magnum TA run in for the save.

Rundown: **1/2. Pretty standard television match there. Nice energy and Dusty kept it fresh by finding a different way to escape from the bear hug each time. I would've liked to have seen a longer finishing sequence but since it was tv they wanted a fluke pin to keep everyone strong. The necessary evils of the old style wrestling shows.

Thunderbolt Patterson and Manny Fernandez are out for an interview. This is the official challenge for the Anderson to come and get Thunderbolt's half of the National Tag Team Championship.

The Andersons vs. Gerald Finley and George South
Match History: The Andersons got their first televised win as a team last week. Ole of course has the other half of the National Tag Team Championship and they're on a course to fight Thunderbolt Patterson and Manny Fernandez for the other half.

Arn and Finley start. They exchange arm ringers until Finley gets a headbutt in. South tags in and Arn pounds on him with elbows and forearms. Arn sends him into the ropes and hits a knee. Ole tags in and stomps on South. Ole rams him into the corner and hits a snap mare. Ole works the arm. Get used to seeing that because Ole always works the arm in these matches. South gets in the ropes and Arn tags in. Arn hits the Anderson Slam and drops some knees on the arm. Arn works the arm. Ole tags in and continues working the arm. Ole hits a chop and applies a few arm ringers. Ole works over South in the ropes. Arn tags in and pounds on South. Drop toe hold and back to the arm. Ole tags in and hits a knee off the top rope. Arn tags back in and applies an arm bar to get the submission win.

Rundown: 1/2*. Usual match for the Andersons. Destroy the arm the whole match, hit the big knee drop off the top rope and then finish it off with the arm bar. It's actually a nice formula and makes them look awesome in the process.

NWA United States Champion Magnum TA is out for an interview. He says he'll face anyone that puts their name on the dotted line.

Black Bart w/ JJ Dillon vs. Ron Rossi
Match History: Black Bart earned a win over Ron Rossi on the 4-6 sho. That match featured Rossi breaking the middle rope. So I guess you can consider this a rematch. I might've referred to Rossi as Bossi on that show. I have a nasty habit of doing that for some reason.

Bart rams Rossi into the corner. Bart neck snaps Rossi on the top rope. Rossi tries to fight back but Bart just pounds away. Bart hits a vertical suplex and then drops a knee. Bart no sells a few punches and then hits a spinning neckbreaker. Bart bites Rossi on the head a few times and then punches him in the head. Bart uses a face rake and then uses a thumb to the throat. Rossi fights back but charges into a bodyslam from Bart. Texas Trash Compactor finishes it for Bart.

Rundown: DUD. Not sloppy or anything but extremely short and Bart wasn't giving anything here. It served the purpose of making Bart look like a total monster.

Thunderbolt Patterson and Manny Fernandez vs. Jim Jeffers and Randy Barber
Match History: Patterson and Fernandez earned their first win as a team on last week's show. They'll be facing the Andersons to decide the new National Tag Team Champions in a few weeks.

Patterson and Jeffers start us off. Clean break in the ropes. Patterson gets a fireman's carry. Patterson gets a headlock takedown and tags Fernandez in. Fernandez hits a knee drop and then a snap mare. Fernandez hits a chop. Barbar tags in and gets a headlock. Back and forth until Fernandez hits a dropkick. Fernandez hits a snap mare and then a knee drop. Elbow to the head and then a ram into a fist from Patterson. Patterson tags in and they hit Barber with a double fist to the gut. Patterson hits a right hand and then a double thrust. Fernandez tags in and he hits a reverse forearm. Flying Burrito and it's over.

Rundown: 1/4*. Well that was quick. This was just there to show that they can work as a team to draw people in for the show where they'll face the Andersons.

The Andersons are out for an interview. Arn asks Tony if he thinks they can do that to the Andersons. Ole says he didn't walk out on Patterson. He ran him off because he wasn't good enough to team with Ole. They say that the belt Patterson has belongs around the waist of Arn. He tells them to either bring the belt or they'll take it.

Overall Thoughts:
Pretty good main event this week with Dusty Rhodes retaining the Television Title against Krusher Khrushchev. The other matches were all fairly quick and painless so no real complaints there. Ok, the Abdullah match was a little painful I guess.

Where this show really shined was the angles. The Andersons vs. Patterson/Fernandez is heating up nicely and we finally have a match in the future for them. It's pretty easy to see that Patterson/Fernandez are lambs to be slaughtered by the Andersons but I still like the feud. We also have things building between Dusty/Blanchard and TA/Landel. My only real complaint is that Dusty is bouncing around a little too much in the feuds. It's not too annoying at this stage though and he is the top face in the area.

They've established their top guys so now we'll start to see more guys filtering in to the shows so the same 5 guys aren't wrestling every week.

Join me next time as the Georgia crew starts filtering in. We'll be seeing Magnum TA defend his NWA United States Title against Scott Irwin. Also in action will be Ronnie Garvin, Bob Roop, Thunderbolt Patterson, Pez Whatley, Tully Blanchard, Manny Fernandez, Ivan and Nikita Koloff, Ron Bass and Superstar Billy Graham/Abdullah the Butcher.

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