The SmarK Rant for World Class Championship Wrestling – 01.26.83
Taped from Dallas, TX
Your host is Bill Mercer.
Welcome to my first PTBN-exclusive rant! Great to be here at the Place to Be.
David Von Erich v. The Checkmate
Poor David gets absolutely mobbed by autograph-seeking kids before the match. No wonder the kids were under so much pressure and turned to drugs. David dominates with armdrags and dropkicks as Checkmate runs away for the first four minutes, but he takes David down and works the leg. David counters by trying to untie the mask, and Checkmate runs away yet again. Back in, Checkmate goes back to the leg with a spinning toehold, but David kicks him to the corner to break and makes the comeback. David puts him down with the high knee for two, and then catches him with an awful sleeper (it looked like he went for the claw, somehow missed, and then grabbed him in the half-assed sleeper on the way down to compensate) to finish at 8:50. Armand Hussein was sitting on the top rope looking like he was supposed to dive in and break it up, but he never did and Checkmate was just declared to be out. Just like Conor McGregor, as the WWE announcers would say! *
Meanwhile, the Freebirds invite Bill Mercer to lunch for an interview about the Von Erichs, but they end up ordering fast food in their van and making Mercer stand outside. You can tell it’s 1983 because the food is served on one of those trays that clip to the car door and was probably served by a waitress on roller skates. Mercer accuses them of letting David do all the work for them in the six-man title match, so Hayes drives off and stiffs him on the bill.
“The Great” Tora Yatsu v. Brian Adias
Adias controls with armbars, but walks into a pretty sweet judo throw that gets two for Yatsu. It was almost like an overhead belly to belly. Yatsu gives him a side kick to the face , and they have an awkward moment as Adias tries to get his comeback in while Yatsu cuts him off at the same time. Yatsu tosses him after a couple of tries, as this match is just all of the awkward. Back in and Yatsu cranks on a facelock, basically a standing guillotine choke, but Adias fights back with an awkward DDT for two. Yatsu powerslams him and finishes with the cobra sleeper at 7:25. Two guys in a row winning with sleepers is really sloppy booking. Speaking of sloppy, I don’t know if there was a language issue or what, but they were on totally different pages here and stumbled over all kinds of simple stuff. *
Speaking of stumbling over simple stuff, Kevin Von Erich gives a rambling interview about Terry Gordy, sounding like he just visited his local pharmacy for cold pills and cough syrup, while Mercer desperately tries to steer him back on topic again. Kevin promises to get all fired up and “burn the place down” against Gordy, so I take that to mean he’s cooking meth in the dressing room?
American Heavyweight Title: Kevin Von Erich v. Terry Gordy
Kevin sends Gordy to the apron with a dropkick and then brings him back in with a flying headscissors and controls with a headlock. Gordy bails to escape, so Kevin grabs another headlock on the way back in and controls with that. Gordy bails again, so Kevin hauls him in and whips him into the corner for a Flair flip and Gordy regroups again. Back to the headlock from Kevin, but now Gordy drops him on the top rope to break and get the heat on him. And that turns out to be a chinlock that goes on forever. If it was anyone else in there but a Von Erich against a Freebird, the crowd would have tuned out ages ago. Like seriously, the chinlock lasts for FOUR MINUTES. Finally the Freebirds come out to inject some life into this thing while Kevin lies there in a chinlock, and he finally makes the comeback and goes after Buddy Roberts. Then he tries to slam Terry Gordy while the ref gets rid of Buddy, allowing Hayes to trip Kevin up and Gordy to fall on top for the pin and the title at 14:07. Complete crap match, in a battle of the headlocks. ½*
The Freebirds cut a promo with the Confederate flag, setting up next week’s Flair v. Gordy title match which is unfortunately not in the Network collection. It wasn’t on 24/7 either back in the day, so the tape must be lost.
Not my favorite show, but they were really starting to heat up the Freebirds, and the talent influx is about to begin as well.
Be sure to check out the PTBN’s Excellent WWE Network Adventure for a review of this show as part of chronological look at everything on the WWE Network!
