National Wrestling Alliance / World Championship Wrestling - Saturday, April 20th, 1985
- The show opens with Tully Blanchard ranting about Dusty Rhodes. The screen splits, and we see Baby Doll confronting Dusty Rhodes in the ring. Baby Doll slaps Rhodes, and Rhodes rears back to return the favor, the frame freezes and the opening credits roll.
- Tony Schiavone and David Crockett are your announcers, and they are with the three Russians. Khruschev and Nikita are wearing the belts. No trophy today, though. Ivan talks while Krusher and Nikita pose. Krusher will be challenging Dusty for the TV Title today. Funny how young Khrusher looks...no surprise, it being 23 years ago. Nikita grunts in Pig Russian through his interview.
- "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel w/JJ Dillon vs. Mack Jeffers
- A few arm drags and struts by Landel.
- True to form, Landel keeps reversing everything Jeffers tries. A few botched moves here and there.
- Landel goes to sitting on the back, with an arm lock and a neck twist. Nice hold.
- Standing dropkick, right in the mush.
- Landel goes back to sitting on the back, with an arm lock and a neck twist. No idea what that's called.
- Kicks, stomps, struts...and back to that hold.
- Dillon is in a really bad tux.
- More kicks, stomps, struts...and back to that hold. Now really working on the neck.
- Slam, kneedrop, back to the hold.
- Yes! Abdullah The Butcher will be on later!
- Big elbow from Landel.
- Figure-four, and it's over.
- Your Winner: Buddy Landel by submission
- JJ goes in the ring, theoretically to get Buddy to break the hold, but JJ isn't trying very hard.
- Tully Blanchard is interviewed. Tully issues an open challenge to whoever wins the Rhodes/Kruschev match. Again...such a cool heel...he says good things about Dusty, but he's still going after him.
- Crockett and Schiavone introduce a special presentation by Jim Crockett to Dusty Rhodes. Dusty gets a new TV belt, for the "World" TV belt, since the NWA has signed contracts in several other countries to defend it. The "NWA Television Belt" is now the "NWA World Television Belt". Dusty talks, and it makes no sense at all. (Surprise!) He aims to be the longest-reigning TV champion.
- In a presumably non-title match: NWA US Heavyweight Champion Magnum TA vs. Doug Vines
- Doug Vines runs right into a belly-to-belly suplex.
- Your Winner: Magnum TA via pinfall.
- Lucky me! According to Schiavone, I just saw a world record...a pinfall in four seconds.
- Crockett and Schiavone introduce a soliloquy by Ric Flair. Classic Flair speech...everyone is playing catch-up to him. If you're not carrying the gold, you're not the man.
- Ivan Koloff w/Nikita Koloff vs. Joshua Stroud
- Ivan starts taking Stroud apart, but Stroud turns things around.
- Ivan turns things around. A lot of clubbing blows.
- Ivan tries a headbutt, but that backfires (Stroud is black). He comes right back, though.
- Ivan keeps going. Stroud keeps mounting short comebacks, but they are always stopped in a hurry.
- Stroud is thrown outside the ring, and he gets a boot in the back from Nikita for his troubles.
- Russian Hammer, Russian Sicle, Cobra Hold.
- Stroud really fights hard in the hold, but Stroud goes out.
- Your Winner: Ivan Koloff by submission.
- Schiavone interviews Paul Jones. Jones shows all the surgery scars on his left hand and left arm as a result of the injuries he suffered at the hands of Jimmy Valiant. Jones has them roll the film of his getting even with Valiant, and he says they are not through with Valiant yet.
- Schiavone interviews Dusty Rhodes. Dusty blabbers about the Russians. Ivan comes out to jaw with Dusty, and that goes nowhere. I was sure Dusty was going to get jumped from behind, but it didn't happen.
- Abdullah The Butcher w/Paul Jones vs. Gene Ligon
- Lock up, head butt by Abdullah, thrust to the throat by Abdullah.
- Trapezius nerve hold by Abdullah.
- Whip to the ropes, big shoulder block by Abdullah.
- Ligon goes outside the ring, to be hit by Jones' cane.
- Mudhole stomp by Abdullah in the ring.
- Eye gouge by Abdullah on the ropes. Head butt. Back to the trapezius nerve hold.
- Gene Ligon elbows out of it, but Abdullah goes right back to it.
- Ligon fights his way out, only to get punished worse with his head getting slammed in the corner, a head butt, and a nasty eye gouge with one finger.
- A variation on the Russian Hammer, the big elbow, and it's over.
- Your Winner: Abdullah The Butcher via pinfall
- After the match, Abdullah just lays on Ligon and stares into the camera.
- Tully Blanchard w/Baby Doll vs. T.J. Trippe
- No handshake from Tully before the match today.
- Schiavone and Crockett wish a pair of fans a happy 50th wedding anniversary.
- Lockup, and leg trips by Tully.
- Tully is rope-a-doping Trippe, and keeps frustrating him with leg trips.
- Clean break by Tully on the ropes.
- Lock up, and a slap to the face by Tully.
- Tully starts taking Trippe apart...some mat wrestling, some vicious close quarters knees and other blows.
- Rear chinlock into a Rude Awakening across the knee by Tully. Vicious.
- Various neck holds by Tully. That would seem to me to be a counter-intuitive strategy given that Trippe is bigger but, obviously, Tully knows a whole lot more about what he's doing than I do.
- Slingshot suplex by Tully, and it's over.
- Your Winner: Tully Blanchard via pinfall
- Tully struts a bit after the match.
- Schiavone interviews Thunderbolt Patterson and Manny Fernandez. Patterson still has his National Tag Team belt. Thumderbolt and Manny challenge the Andersons to come get the belt.
- Patterson's lazy eye is really distracting.
- Patterson's Wikipedia bio is interesting...no idea how much of it is actually true, but it's interesting nonetheless.
- Commercial for the Trim Trak exercise sled.
- For The NWA/WCW World Television Title: Dusty Rhodes (champion) vs. Khrusher Khrushchev w/Ivan Koloff
- Never a pretty sight when Dusty takes his t-shirt off, even back in 1985.
- Arm drag, headlock, body slam...Rhodes with the early advantage.
- Khrusher with a brief advantage, but Dusty comes back with a slam and a rear chinlock to a leg scissors on the head. Dusty is doing an arm pull along with the leg scissors to the head. Good stuff.
- Elbow, snapmare and back into a rear chinlock by Dusty.
- Khrusher comes back with some offense. Dusty is thrown to the outside to take some punishment from Ivan Koloff.
- Commercial break. We come back and Khrusher's got the bear hug on Dusty in the ring. Dusty breaks free with an elbow to the head. Still Khrusher keeps coming back with the advantage.
- Hip toss by Dusty, but it's only a temporary reprieve. Khrusher attempts a cover and goes back to the bear hug.
- Dusty breaks out and...
- Dusty did a dropkick! Dusty did a dropkick!
- They're both down in the ring.
- Dusty is thrown to the corner, he gets out of the way of a charging Khrushchev and Khrushchev goes hard into the corner.
- A roll up by Dusty...1-2-3.
- Your Winner: And still NWA/WCW World Television Champion, Dusty Rhodes via pinfall
- Ivan comes in, Dusty puts him in the figure-four.
- Khrusher drops an elbow on Dusty and Nikita comes in.
- It's 3-on-1 with the Russians working on Dusty's back until Manny Fernandez, Magnum TA, and Thunderbolt Patterson make the save.
- Schiavone interviews Manny Fernandez and Thunderbolt Patterson. They challenge the Andersons. When Patterson says "Superstation", it sounds like "Stupidstation".
- The commercials include a Meister Brau commercial. They don't even make that anymore, do they?
- Ole & Arn Anderson vs. Gerald Finley and George South
- I will lay 1000-to-1 odds that the Andersons completely obliterate these guys. I will give 2-to-1 odds that the Andersons continue the punishment after the closing bell and Fernandez and Patterson run in to save the Andersons' opponents from further punishment.
- Arn vs. Finley to start out. Arn working on the arm, head butt from Finley, and he tags South in. Arn immediately tags Ole in.
- Ole's doing his best to pull South's arm out of the socket, keeping him in the Andersons' half of the ring.
- Arn is tagged in. Boot to the back, slam on the arm, knees to the arm, and back to the arm bar. South's left arm over the top rope. Take over with the arm, and Ole is tagged in.
- Interesting observation from Schiavone. While Ole is seemingly working on the arm, he's really attacking the shoulder because that's more vulnerable because it only goes one direction, and Ole pushes the other. As I am a guy who's had rotator cuff surgery, I wince particularly hard watching what Ole does.
- Ole just administers a general beating since he doesn't have much luck getting South's arm because South is in the ropes.
- Arn is tagged in. Some quick work on the arm and Ole is tagged in. Ole jumps down on South's arm that Arn is holding out.
- Oddly, Ole tags Arn right in the center of the ring and Ole walks back out, and the referee allows that.
- Arn twists the arm some more, and South gives up. Weird ending because Arn should not have been the legal man.
- Your Winner: Ole & Arn Anderson via submission.
- The Andersons leave without incident. You should have taken that bet about the run-in. You would have made 2-to-1 money.
- In the replay, referring to the illegal tag, Crockett says "they're close enough". Could be the rules were different in 1985, but I thought the person being tagged in had to be outside on the apron, not in the ring.
- Schiavone interviews NWA/WCW US Heavyweight Champion Magnum TA. He's get a bandage on his forehead. Magnum just set the record for the quickest win ever on TV. Magnum talks about all the people coming after his title..."Superstar" Billy Graham, The Barbarian, The Russians, Tully Blanchard, Buddy Landel. Magnum says that all they need to do is put their name on the dotted line to get a shot at his title. He's ready to take on anyone.
- Black Bart vs. Ron Rossie
- Black Bart just starts beating on Rossie. Rossie keeps trying to get punches in to Bart's midsection, but Black Bart keeps dishing out the punishment.
- Spinning neckbreaker by Bart. First non-power move in the match. Bart is managed by JJ Dillon, but Dillon is not at ringside.
- Eye scrape on the top rope by Bart. A few thumb thrusts. Power slam off the ropes by Bart.
- Leg drop off the second rope by Bart. That's a pretty unique move for 1985.
- 1-2-3.
- Your Winner: Black Bart via pinfall.
- Manny Fernandez & Thunderbolt Patterson vs. Jim Jeffers & Randy Barber
- I will feel vindicated if the Andersons do a run-in during or after this match.
- Patterson has his National Tag Team belt with him.
- Patterson versus Jeffers to start. Clean break from Patterson on the ropes.
- Fireman's carry by Patterson, clean break in the ropes.
- Headlock take over by Patterson, and Fernandez is tagged in. Take over, stomp, big chop, and Barber is tagged in.
- Barber with a headlock, criss cross, drop kick by Fernandez, and a knee to the head. Elbow to the head by Fernandez, Barber is tossed into his opponents' corner, a shot by Patterson, and Patterson is tagged in.
- Barber off the ropes, double shot on him. Patterson with a double thrust, and he tags Fernandez in. Double elbow and Fernandez hits Barber with the flying forearm coming off the ropes.
- Fernandez goes for the cover while Patterson prevents the run-in. 1-2-3.
- Your Winner: Manny Fernandez & Thunderbolt Patterson via pinfall
- No run-in by the Andersons. Wow...I guess that over the last 23 years, I've gotten to expect overbooking.
- Shiavone interviews the Andersons. Ole is wearing his National Tag Team belt. The Andersons, especially Ole, think that Fernandez and Patterson are hiding from them. Ole admits Fernandez and Patterson are great wrestlers, but the Andersons are still way better.
- And that's the end.
- The Good: It's (by definition) subtle, but I'm really impressed by the lack of overbooking. The emphasis is on the matches themselves.
- The Bad: Like last week, there was a dramatic moment to open the show that ends in a freeze frame, and then it isn't referenced nor explained during the broadcast.
- The Ugly: JJ Dillon's tuxedo.