National Wrestling Alliance / World Championship Wrestling - Saturday, May 18th, 1985
- The show opens with Magnum TA talking with the announcers, and Flair barges in and takes over, saying it's time for Magnum to prove himself.
- NWA/WCW World Tag Champions Ivan & Nikita Koloff vs. Phillip Strickland & Randy Barber
- Presumably, this is not a title match.
- The fans are really giving the Koloffs a hard time. The fans are standing up, singing the National Anthem, and it's getting to the Koloffs.
- Ivan and Barber start off trading arm locks and twists.
- Ivan hits a couple impact moves and tags Nikita in.
- Nikita goes to work. It's actually very interesting to notice the difference between Ivan and Nikita. Ivan is so methodical, and Nikita is so explosive and savage.
- Ivan back in. Barber with a short comeback, and Strickland is tagged in.
- Nikita tagged in, and he starts taking Strickland apart.
- According to Shiavone, Nikita was supposed to compete for Russia in the 1984 Olympics that the USSR boycotted.
- Ivan back in, with some more impact moves.
- Nikita back in, handling Strickland like he's a rag doll.
- Ivan back in. Backbreaker, double stomp to the gut, knee to the gut. One count.
- Choke across the top, and Nikita gets a choke in while referee Tommy Young is distracted.
- Strickland thrown out, Nikita tosses him back in. Ivan drops Strickland throat-first onto the top rope.
- Nikita with the Cobra Clutch, and the referee calls for the bell. No Russian Sicle today.
- After the bell, Nikita won't release the hold for a good 20 seconds or so.
- Your Winners: NWA/WCW World Tag Team Champions Ivan & Nikita Koloff via submission.
- Schiavone interviews JJ Dillon and Buddy Landel. Dillon claims that fathers around the country are upset because their young daughters were fainting watching Buddy's video last week. Buddy says the legends like Flair and Rhodes are great, but it's time for them to move over. Landel will be wrestling Ron Garvin for the National Heavyweight Title on the show tonight.
- Dick Slater vs. The Golden Terror
- The announcers keep talking about how "unpredictable" Slater is.
- Clean break by Slater on the ropes.
- Monkey flip by Slater. Don't see many of those these days.
- Slam, foot grind to the face...in the corner, another clean break by Slater.
- Golden Terror with some offense, but Slater turns it around. Slater looks like Don Muraco in the face when he's hurt.
- Spinning neckbreaker by Slater...elbow to the back of the head...double-underhook suplex and...it's over? Wow.
- Your Winner: "The Unpredicable" Dick Slater via pinfall
- The announcers must have said "unpredictable" a good ten times in a match that lasted about three minutes.
- Schiavone is with World Television Champion Tully Blanchard and The Perfect 10. Tully thinks Dusty has a lot of gall to call himself the best and the baddest when it's Tully holding the belt. Tully apologizes to all the fans at home for all the rude fans in the arena. Ironically, they zoom in on a guy in a t-shirt that says "Tully Blanchard is Number One". And Tully says, "These fans are low-quality fans...except for that guy right there...he's the man!". Hah!
- Another anniversary announcement...Otis and Dorothy Hicks of Delhi CA...51 years.
- Paul Garner vs. Black Bart
- Big clubbing blows, big clubbing headbutts, big clubbing forearms by Black Bart.
- Announcers note how Black Bart takes his time.
- Snapmare, knee drop, arm bar.
- Garner tries to fight his way out of it...that didn't work out too well for him.
- Bart really working on the left arm.
- Crockett notes that Garner is taller, so Bart is keeping him down on the mat to neutralize the height advantage.
- OWWW! Bart splits Garner's fingers into a Vulcan greeting and slams them down on the top rope with the top rope hitting between the middle and ring fingers. I have never seen that move before.
- Bart really working on the left arm...he's going to pull it out of the socket eventually.
- Anderson Slam onto the left arm.
- Leg drop across the chest from the second rope by Bart. 1-2-3.
- Pretty much a squash there.
- Your Winner: Black Bart via pinfall.
- Schiavone with Dusty Rhodes. He is all over the place about Flair, Magnum and Blanchard...pretty non-sensical. Somehow, people with belts (i.e. Flair and Blanchard) don't mean anything until they deal with Dusty. (Huh?) Then he mentions the gorilla. Then he says sometime soon Flair is going to wake up in the morning without his belt after Dusty or Magnum takes it.
- Rocky King vs. Ron Bass w/JJ Dillon
- Bass growls and yells a lot as he beats the living snot out of Rocky King.
- Bass misses a charge into the corner, bringing out a flurry of offense from King. Doesn't last all that long.
- More big clubbing blows. Big clothesline and neckbreaker. Two count only.
- King pounds away to little effect on Bass.
- Big punch and elbow by Bass. Bass slows it down with a headlock on the mat.
- Knees to the ribs on the ropes by Bass. King falls out of the ring and gets kicked by Dillon for his trouble.
- More knees by Bass and another headlock that Tommy Young breaks because it was a choke.
- Rocky King keeps trying to come back. Bass will have none of it.
- Whoa! An abdominal stretch by Ron Bass! That's a blast from the past!!
- JJ calls for the claw. King is whipped into the ropes and runs right into the claw. Bass gets the pin with the claw on King's head.
- Your Winner: Ron Bass via pinfall.
- Bass won't let go of the hold after the bell.
- For the NWA/WCW World Television Title: Champion Tully Blanchard vs. Mike Nichols
- Hmmm...breach of protocol there. Baby Doll keeps the belt during the match. I thought a neutral party held the belt in a title match. (And the announcers noted that it is a title match.)
- Handshake between the two combatants to start the match.
- Clean break from Tully on the ropes. Another clean break from Tully. A third one. A second handshake offered by Tully gets Nichols a slap in the face. (Nichols totally overplays his falling down as a result.)
- Thirty seconds later, another slap from Tully on a break. I'm noticing how much Nichols is built like and looks like Owen Hart.
- Tully's got his opponent flustered and Tully is getting his opponent to blow his temper.
- Tully slows things down with some mat wrestling and some forearm shots.
- In one of the oddest finishes I've ever seen, Tully pins Nichols after a forearm shot and an elbow drop.
- Tully, not happy with that ending, does a slingshot suplex on Nichols after the bell.
- Your Winner: NWA/WCW World Television Champion Tully Blanchard via pinfall.
- Schiavone interviews Black Bart. Bart calls out Ronnie Garvin. Bart says his challenge to Garvin two weeks ago has gone unanswered. In fact, Garvin hasn't even been seen since. Bart doesn't think Garvin has any guts.
- In a presumably non-title match: NWA/WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs. Sam Houston
- Magnum TA is with the announcing team. Flair talks trash to Magnum from inside the ring before the match starts.
- The girls squeal as Flair takes off his robe. Flair flexes his pecs to add to the drama.
- Flair with the early advantage. Flair talks trash to Magnum as he controls Houston.
- Flair methodically taking Houston apart.
- Flair leaves the ring to give Magnum lip for not paying attention. Flair says he shouldn't be wasting his time wrestling "that goof" if no one is going to pay attention.
- Flair returns to the ring and, as you might expect, Houston starts reversing everything that Flair tries.
- Flair finally comes back with a single leg toe-hold until Houston gets to the ropes.
- Houston with a head scissors.
- Commercial break.
- Returning from the break, Flair gives a clean break in the corner.
- Flair with the arm bar.
- Flair taunts Houston in the corner, which prompts a flurry of offense from Houston. Flair turns that around with knee to the gut and some chops in the corner.
- Houston fights his way out...he whips Flair across the ring. Flair Flip, and Flair goes to the floor. Houston follows Flair out and throws him right back in.
- Flair begs off, whip, abdominal stretch by Houston. Flair hip tosses his way out of it, but misses an elbow drop.
- Reversals and Flair takes Houston down with big chops. Houston almost pins Flair with a backslide.
- Blows traded in the corner...Flair Flop. Two count only by Houston.
- Cross body block off the ropes by Houston, two count only.
- Flair with some shots, hip toss, knee drop to Houston's head. Two count only. Another two count.
- Double underhook suplex by Flair. Two count only.
- Big chop by Flair...Houston's head to the turnbuckles. They start trading blows.
- Houston takes Flair down. Flair whipped to the corner, Houston comes in with a high knee, Flair gets out of Dodge, and Houston goes into the corner knee-first.
- You can see what's coming now as soon as you see Houston hit his knee.
- Houston writhing on the mat with the knee pain.
- Belly-to-back suplex by Flair, and he starts working on Houston's knee.
- With the benefit of my taped copy, it's obvious that Flair's working on a different knee than the one Houston injured. We'll let that little discrepancy go for now.
- Flair's using the ring posts on Houston's knee, and then a shin breaker.
- Flair starts smacking Houston in the face.
- More use of the ropes on Houston's knee.
- Finally, the figure-four. Houston guts it out for ten or fifteen seconds but has to give up.
- Your Winner: NWA/WCW World Heavyweight Champion via submission.
- After the match and the replay, Flair reapplies the figure-four, even taking Houston's boot off.
- Magnum rushes the ring and breaks Flair's hold. They start shoving each other, and Magnum rips off his shirt and dares Flair to come at him.
- Flair leaves the ring. Magnum meets Flair on the floor. They shove each other, there is a tense stand-off and...The Boogie Woogie Man comes out and starts screaming into the microphone. WTF??!!
- Flair leaves the arena, and Magnum helps Sam Houston out.
- Meanwhile, Valiant is screaming into the microphone about Paul Jones' army. He names a bunch of people that are on his side. Of course, none of them were there to help when Jones' army handed Valiant's ass to him, but we'll also let that go for now. Valiant gives Schiavone a big kiss on the lips before he leaves. Geez...
- Ron Rossie vs. Abdullah The Butcher w/Paul Jones
- Abdullah goes right to work beating the snot out of Rossie.
- Schiavone says, "I'm glad Ron Rossie is there and I'm here." No kidding.
- Rossie thrown out of the ring by Abdullah and Paul Jones gets two cane shots in.
- Back in the ring, clothesline by Abdullah, big elbow drop, and it's over.
- Your Winner: Abdullah The Butcher via pinfall
- Schiavone interviews Dick Slater and Dusty Rhodes. Slater says he's been eating a lot of bananas, and the Russians are in for trouble. Slater's wearing a Porsche hat. Dusty yammers on about him and Slater being former world tag champions. Dusty throws in more gorilla metaphors. *sigh *
- Schiavone interviews Ivan & Nikita Koloff. Schiavone wants to discuss Rhodes' and Slater's challenge to them. Ivan, correctly, notes that facing top competition is what champions do. "What do you expect us to do? Of course, we'll fight them!" Nikita grunts stuff about other wrestlers talking big talk.
- It's interesting to me how Nikita refers to himself as Russian here, because I thought he was billed as being from Lithuania.
- In a presumably non-title match: NWA/WCW US Heavweight Champion Magnum TA vs. Carl Stiles
- The over/under on this match is 25 seconds.
- Lock up, go behind by Stiles, reversed by Magnum, rear take down by Magnum.
- Into the ropes, clean break, (sort of a) hip toss by Magnum.
- Whip by Magnum, drop kick.
- Whip by Magnum, belly-to-belly suplex, it's over.
- Your Winner: NWA/WCW US Chamption Magnum TA via pinfall.
- "Over" was the winner...the match was 45 seconds exactly.
- Schiavone is with Ric Flair in the interview area. Schiavone asks Flair what happened earlier. Flair tells Magnum that he better never interfere in Flair's business again. As for Rhodes, Flair says Rhodes has to beat him to be the man. As for Slater, Flair says he's one of the toughest guys around, but "I'm the world champion...Ric Flair!" Back to Magnum, Ric has more women waiting for him in the hallway right now "quivering, shaking and having conniptions" than Magnum has met in the last five years. "I am Slick Ric!" Hah!!! And Buddy Landel is an "imitation, nothing happening punk!" (We cut to Buddy and JJ in the ring talking.) Also, Billy Jack Haynes is on his way, and Ric's going to take care of him, too.
- Dale Williams vs. Buddy Landel w/JJ Dillon
- I thought Landel was going to be wrestling Ronnie Garvin for the National Title tonight. Huh. Oh, well.
- Lock up, clean break from Williams in the corner.
- A few moments later, Landel does not return the favor.
- Basic impact moves by Landel. Knee lift, body slam, snapmare.
- Interesting neck hold combined with a nose crush by Landel.
- Forearm, belly-to-back slam. Landel rubs Williams' face in the mat.
- The announcers say that Landel is sending a message to Flair. Combination arm lock and chin lock.
- Kicks and back to the arm/chin lock.
- Damn...LOUD chops by Landel.
- Landel keeps taking Williams down with Judo-style holds.
- Whip into the ropes and a back elbow by Landel. Back to the chin lock.
- Wow...press slam by Landel. Granted, Williams is pretty small as pro wrestlers go, but still...
- Big elbow drop, figure-four leglock. It's over.
- Your Winner: Buddy Landel via submission.
- Landel won't break the hold. JJ pretends to try to get Landel to break the hold, but he's not really trying.
- Tony Schiavone is with US Champion Magnum TA. Magnum says that there will come a point that Flair will no longer be able to duck him, as Magnum is the number-one contender.
- Commercial.
- Schiavone is with Black Bart. Bart calls all the good guys out. In particular, he calls out Ronnie Garvin. Garvin may have hands of stone, but Black Bart has a face of stone.
- Jimmy Valiant vs. Jimmy Dill
- Valiant is shown shaking hands with people in the crowd before the match.
- The match starts with Valiant giving Dill a face rake. Dill didn't realize that it was a face rack, and he has a delayed reaction that is way obvious.
- Valiant is all over Dill.
- Dill tries going outside, but Valiant follows him out and beats him back in.
- Valiant keeps choking Dill and doing moves to the throat and calling out Jones.
- Jones is out there, staring down Valiant. The announcers note that Jones doesn't have his army with him, and that's why Jones isn't confronting Valiant.
- Valiant keeps a trapezius hold on Dill as he calls out Jones.
- Whip, back elbow, elbow drop. It's over.
- Your Winner: Jimmy Valiant via pinfall
- Wow, that was a really bad match.
- Jones is interviewed by Schiavone. Jones says Tully Blanchard has offered him a lot of money to have Abdullah The Butcher take care of Dusty Rhodes.
- Jones keeps getting flustered by the crowd.
- Jones says that the announcers better start saying nice things about his army, or the army will eliminate them, too.
- In a handicap match: Nikita Koloff vs. Mark Cooper & Gerald Findlay
- As the match begins, Ivan Koloff is giving an interview. Something about the road to Moscow being paved with gold.
- To start, Cooper gets nowhere against Koloff. Findlay tries to help out, and that doesn't go too well for him.
- Cooper takes a beating, and tags out.
- Findlay comes in, delivers a number of very big shots to Koloff, none of which have any effect.
- Koloff is working on Findlay's throat.
- Cooper tries to make a save. While the ref's back is turned, Cooper and Findlay try to do a double clothesline on Nikita, and he beats them to it. He pins both men at once. It's incredibly rare to see a heel do that reversal.
- Your Winner: Nikita Koloff via pinfall
- After the match, Nikita puts the Cobra Clutch on Cooper, and Ivan tosses Findlay from the ring.
- That's it for this week. As a side note, the listed Producer of the show in the credits is Virgil Runnels, aka Dusty Rhodes.
- The Good: The Flair/Houston match. A classic Flair match from when he was in his prime.
- The Bad: A number of really weak finishes this week.
- The Ugly: The Jimmy Valiant match. One long trapezius hold.