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NWA Worldwide 1-16 & 1-23-88

These shows are pretty easy to watch but every now and then you get a go-home show for the Bunkhouse Stampede and well...it requires you to listen more than normal.
NWA Worldwide 1-16-88

Opening teaser: Nikita Koloff vs. Dick Murdoch in a bounty match.

Hosted by....Davey, where's Tony?

Opening promo with Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin. They talk about the main event which is Sting/Windham vs. Arn/Tully and they challenge the winners while openly rooting for Sting and Windham to win. Hayes talks noise about Ric Flair.

There's Tony, it's in the interview room with The Sheepherders. Ok, seeing Johnny Ace as their flagbearer flunky is pretty awesome. Luke refers to tape of them punking the Rock & Roll Express and then we get to see it.

"Dr Death" Steve Williams vs. Mark Fleming

Yeah, Fleming's got a shot...in his ass. Nasty belly to back suplex and a big clothesline is nothing more than a lead-in for more nastiness. Fleming tries a weak rally and Dr. Death just kicks him in the nuts. Awesome. Oklahoma Stampede ends this in about a minute.

* Bunkhouse Stampede promo. Nope not sold yet. NWA giving a special bonus for a group of 40 or more. Good to know *

Midnight Express...err Jim Cornette promo and they are joined by Dick Murdoch. Clips of the trio almost collecting the bounty on Dusty Rhodes but not quite. Unfortunately Murdoch takes up some of Cornette's interview time.

Road Warriors vs. Two Poor Guys

Yeah. Press slam, tag, gut wrench suplex, tag, Hawk's cool standing dropkick, tag, Animal's flying shoulderblock and the Doomsday Device ends this in 30 seconds.

* Bunkhouse Stampede promo. Sorry guys, not happening *

Back with the Road Warriors sending threats to the Powers of Pain. The Bench Press challenge is coming up...Really a fucking bench press challenge is a blowoff? No wonder Crockett went broke. Hawk cracks on Ric Flair's choice of women. These guys were so cool.

Powers of Pain & Ivan Koloff vs. Ummm...I got nothing.

Koloff his the one guy with an elbow and a kneelift before squeezing his head. Barbarian in with a big boot and a sweet powerslam. Barbarian with an elbow to the back of the head and a clothesline. Warlord comes in with a belly to belly suplex and tags in Koloff who does his 1973 offense, which includes a lot of grunting. Back to Barbarian and a double elbow. One guy makes tag to other guy who basically gets his head kicked off.Tag to Warlord and they do that double-team backbreaker where Barbarian throws the guy on Warlord's knee. A few more tags as the opposition is just taking a grade-A shitkicking here. Even Paul Jones gets in on the action. Mercifully a decapitation ends...no it doesn't as Warlord adds a side backbreaker and Barbarian comes off the top with a headbutt...but that's not enough as a third decapitation with Koloff doing the honors gets the win. An extended squash but a very definitive one.

Tony and Davey talk about their dream match sweepstakes. I bet it was a Dusty-Tully match.

Mike Rotundo/a vs. Bob Riddle

Rotundo/a quickly jumps on top with a suplex and an elbow before stretching him out. He was doing Tazz's gimmick nine year prior. Rotunda/o dumps Riddle on the floor where Sullivan hits him with a clothesline and a double stomp. Back in the ring and Rotundo/a with three double underhook suplexes and a pin.

Kevin Sullivan talks about taking Mike Rotundo/a out of his cocoon and making him a mean, crazed machine. He demands a tape of Rotunda/o beating some guy up and sending him on a stretcher.

Interview room with Lex Luger. He's still smarting about the Horsemen. Geez, talk about a one-track mind. Not a good promo from Luger, sort of clunky and disjointed.

NWA World Tag Titles: Sting & Barry Windham vs. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard

Barry and Tully start things out, Windham with a headlock and works it into an armbar and they play over a reversal before Windham takes control and Tully bails. Break time.

We're back and the faces are in control as Windham rocks Tully with a dropkick. Blanchard back with a knee but Windham wins a slugfest so Blanchard retreats and tags in the enforcer. Anderson wants Sting so Windham obliges and Anderson tries to sucker Sting into the corner but it doesn't work. Sting sends AA into the buckle and hits a high cross body for two. Anderson tags and Blanchard tries to get Sting in the corner but he fights back and cleans house of the bad guys. Press slam on Blanchard and it's break time.

We're back and the faces are working on Anderson's leg. Back elbow by Windham and it gives Anderson enough time to make the tag. Blanchard tries his luck and fails miserably as the faces hit a double-team elbow. Sting chokes out Blanchard and gives a shot to Anderson but he misses the Stinger splash. Anderson with a shot to the gut and Tully comes back in with knees, elbows and stomps. Anderson distracts the ref and Blanchard tosses Sting over the top. Anderson back in and he drops a knee before going to the chinlock. The Horsemen continue to work over Sting uses cheap tactics until we go to a break.

We're back and the heels continue to work over Sting until Anderson misses a blind charge. Both guys make the tag but Sting's is hot. Windham puts a whipping on the bad guys and hits a dropkick and a powerslam on Tully while keeping Anderson at bay. Double noggin knocker and Windham goes for the lariat but Dillon trips him causing the disqualification. The heels try to beat down Windham but Luger makes the save. Tully goes low, however, and hits Lex with a sling shot suplex. How the heels won the beatdown in a 2-on-3 situation is beyond me. Why couldn't Lex look strong in that situation? Anyway it was a decent match, we'll go **3/4.

NWA Worldwide 1-23-88

Opening teaser is Sting calling out Flair for a World Title match. Look at how young Jim Ross is.

Hosted by Tony and Davey

We go straight to the interview room and Magnum T.A. is interviewing Sting as he elaborates on his challenge to Flair.

The Sheepherders vs. Rich Devine & Willie Slade

No that's not their real names, it doesn't matter as Luke and Butch make short order of these guys and finish things off with the battering ram and the double gutbuster.

*The Bunkhouse Stampede is TOMORROW!! Get it on Cable TV PPV!*

Tony is interviewing the Rock & Roll Express in the interview room. Gibson says 1988 is going to be their year. Morton calls out the Sheepherders and says they are fighting for America! Ummm...I'd rather have Hacksaw Jim Duggan thankyouverymuch.

Now Bob Caudle is in the interview room with Lex Luger. It's a grey interview room instead of the red one. Hmmm. Anyway Lex says a whole bunch of stuff about his days as a Horseman. He really needs to get over it. They show a clip of another Luger interview when he calls out Arn Anderson and they get into a brawl. This was the teaser in the 1-2-88 Worldwide. Anyway Tully comes out and it's a big brawl with the entire buffet of underneath guys trying to stop it. And back to the Luger interview and fuck he's telling a story. Lex baby, we only got 43 minutes of air time, save the stories for the 6:05 Saturday night show on TBS. Finally he gets to an end game: He wants a cage match with Tully and Arn and the partner he chooses is....Ole Anderson....what?? no wonder Luger was such a loser. You've got Sting, Windham, Nikita...fuck take Ronnie Garvin or Dusty if you must. Anyway he's ANOTHER clip from a random Bunkhouse Stampede qualifier match that Luger wins and of course the Horsemen beat him down with a bullrope. Ole makes the save so that at least explains the reason for his tag choice. Back to Luger's interview and he's still telling a story. Yeah yeah, I get it, you want to take the right path, yeah yeah. I mean it's not a bad promo and it leads into a future main event but geez did it need 20% of the show to build?

Back to the red interview room and Tony is interviewing the Road Warriors and Paul Ellering wants to show a clip of a singles match between the Warlord and Animal...What is this? ECW? Anyway the Powers of Pain beat down Animal because Hawk isn't there. Why is Hawk not there? No clue. Sting makes the save. Oh boy, big bench-press challenge coming up soon. Ellering truly looks like one of those gay bikers from the Police Academy flicks.

Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes vs. Dickie Bobbie and Bobby Dicky

Hayes and Garvin quickly him a double spinebuster and win in 15 seconds.

Red interview room with the Face Freebirds and Precious. They want a world tag title match and they want it real soon or else. They bring a lot of energy to the room and Precious toys with Jimmy's hair a lot. She can't do that anymore.

Sting vs. Black Bart

Bart has Skandar Akbar at ringside because that's going to help. Bart and Sting fight over an armbar that Sting wins easily and takes control of the match with. This goes on for a good bit, which allows me to grab some sweet tea and they go to a break.

We're back and Sting goes after Akbar and gets jumped by Bart, who goes to the throat a couple of times. He also chokes Sting a lot and hits a kneelift. Sting fights back with a back drop and grabs Akbar, bringing him in the ring and causing a disqualification. Bart tries to hit Sting with a chair but Sting grabs the chair and cleans house. Pretty much a DUD.

Red interview room with Ric Flair and J.J. Dillon talking about Lex Luger and the opportunities he's missed out on by not being a Horsemen. Dillon says he's got no friends...maybe one in Ole Anderson but seriously with a friend like that who needs enemies? Flair goes after Sting and talks about being a world champion. He also goes after Luger, pulls some money out of his pocket and makes it rain up in that bitch. Ric Flair was making it rain long before Pacman Jones and Floyd Mayweather made it popular. Flair sends a final threat to Sting: "Next time you call me out, I'm going to walk that aisle and stitch you up!".

Ronnie Garvin vs. Bob Riddle

20 seconds and the Garvin stomp puts a quick end to this one.

Red interview room and Magnum T.A. interviews Dusty Rhodes and he's talking about Ric Flair and the Horsemen. He is challenging Flair again. Bah Dusty vs. Flair is so 1985. "Every woman you had, I've had 2-3 times daddy!" Seriously guys, bragging about fucking the same whores?

Barry Windham vs. George South

South with a shoulderblock and he takes a lariat on a criss cross. South was so creative in the ways he lost.

*TOMORROW! BUNKHOUSE STAMPEDE! GO! PLEASE!*

Red interview room with Tony talking to Larry Z and Baby Doll. Larry is ready to take Barry Windham to Larryland. Actually a damn funny promo by Larry.

Red interview room with Tully and Arn, they will be the only two guys in the Bunkhouse Stampede working as a unit. They call out Luger and says with "$500,000" on the line no one will be his friend. They also crack on the Freebirds and tells them to walk on.

Cage Match for U.S. Tag titles: Midnight Express vs. The Superpowers

Well we've only got about three minutes here so I'm guessing they will cut this off. Tony promises us we'll see the finish next weekend but go to the Bunkhouse Stampede or get it on PPV. Nikita and Beautiful Bobby start things off and Koloff wins a slugfes as Dick Murdoch joins Cornette at ringside. Eaton hammers on Koloff and takes him down with a shoulderblock but Koloff sends Eaton into the cage. We reset and Eaton hammers on Koloff but Nikita back with a powerslam...and we're outta time!! Next week fellas.

Comments

  1. Be thankful that Lex Luger on the second show wasn't done today because the story would have lasted twenty minutes with lame jokes in-between any relevant points he was making.

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  2. "The Bench Press challenge is coming up...Really a fucking bench press challenge is a blowoff?"
     
    Nah...I think this actually setup future matches.  The Road Warriors won/were going to win and the PoP attacked them during the bench press challenge, setting up more matches.  I think they feuded over the lame six-man tag title as well (PoP/Ivan vs. Road Warriors/Dusty). 

    A few other observations - there are youTube clips of the Lex/Ole vs. Arn/Tully match.  If it's the same match I'm thinking of it had a typical non-finish after Dillon got involved.  Or maybe I'm thinking of Lex/Ole vs. Tully/Flair (I vaguely remember Arn wandering down to ringside). 

    And I had no idea Hayes & Garvin teamed before Garvin 'officially' joined the Freebirds,,.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, it came out of Hayes surviving a Horseman beatdown on an episode of Saturday Night. The Garvins came out for the save and Garvin/Hayes teamed for a while. I think once the Garvin-Varsity Club stuff came about Hayes had taken a sabbatical. 

    It would have been cool had the Facebirds lowered their expectations and went after the U.S. titles because I think the Midnight Express could have carried them to soon good stuff.

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