National Wrestling Alliance / World Championship Wrestling - Saturday, May 25th, 1985
- The show opens with Magnum TA leapfrogging and then giving a belly-to-belly suplex to an unnamed bearded wrestler and then pinning him.
- Opening credits.
- Magnum TA will be here, as will Ric Flair. World Tag Team Champions will be wrestling today. National Heavyweight Champion Ron Garvin will be putting his title on the line against Ron Bass.
- In a presumably non-title match: Ivan Koloff & Khrusher Khrushchev vs. Richard Dye and Gerald Finly (sic, per the broadcast)
- I think that the Russians are using the Freebird Rule for the World Tag Team Titles.
- Koloff vs. Finly to start out. Some back and forth, Khrushchev tagged in.
- Khrushchev with the advantage...Koloff tagged in...some punishment...Khrushchev tagged back in.
- Khrushchev tosses Finly into his own corner and Dye is tagged in.
- Khrushchev goes right to work on Dye, totally destroying him in the corner.
- Koloff tagged back in. He works on Dye on the mat.
- Khrushchev tagged back in. Kick...bear hug. Dye looks a little like Bobby Eaton.
- Koloff tagged back in. Punch, knee lift, another really big knee lift. Choke on the ropes.
- Khrushchev tagged back in...neck twist. The Russians are really talking trash to Dye.
- Koloff tags in. Punches. Dye hasn't even tried an offensive move. Leg drop, and Koloff lets Dye up at the two count.
- Russian Hammer/Choke by Koloff. Dye's head is rammed into Khrushchev's boot.
- Khrushchev tagged in. Russian Sicle, Cobra Clutch, and the referee calls for the bell.
- Your Winners: Ivan Koloff & Khrusher Khrushchev via submission
- As promised...here he is...the heavyweight champion of the world. Flair starts by giving props to the Russians, and then gives props to himself. Pretty much, he just talks about how great he is.
- Tony Schiavone interviews former World TV Champion, Dusty Rhodes. Dusty says that he doesn't need a belt to be recognized whereever he goes. Dusty says that he is going to get "his" World TV Title back. Also, he and Slater are going to get the tag titles.
- Italian Stallion vs. Terry Flynn
- To the mat, clean break from Stallion.
- To the ropes, no clean break from Flynn. Well, that conveniently establishes who the heel is.
- Whip, hip toss by Stallion. Power slam, whip into a bear hug.
- Two miscues in a row...Flynn ducks into a move that Stallion doesn't perform, and then Stallion goes to toss Flynn out and Flynn bounces off the second rope.
- Another bear hug. The camera angle makes it obvious that Stallion is putting no pressure on Flynn's back and Flynn is holding onto Stallion with his legs.
- Smacks by Stallion, whip, high back drop and Flynn lands badly. Oh, man, this is brutal.
- Rear chinlock by Stallion, which Schiavone refers to as a front facelock. Announcers are really putting over Stallion.
- Stallion with a single-leg Boston Crab with a foot on Flynn's back.
- Side backbreaker. Two count only. Back to the rear chinlock.
- Whip, elbow to the chest. Two elbows drops, two count only.
- Slam back first into the turnbuckles, backbreaker, two count only.
- Samoan Drop, 1-2-3.
- Your Winner: Italian Stallion via pinfall.
- Tony Schiavone has another anniversary announcement. Mister and Mrs. Clyde Mastesa (sp?) from Tacoma, WA. 53 years this week.
- Here are the National Tag Team Champions. Ole doesn't care about anybody's anniversary. Hah! Ole goes through all the legends who are afraid of them, including Bruno Sammartino. Arn says they are the measuring stick for being tough.
- NWA World Television Champion Tully Blanchard w/The Perfect 10 vs. Stoney Burke
- Again, in a breach of protocol, Baby Doll holds onto the belt during the match.
- Lockup, whip, and a big armdrag by Burke on Tully.
- Burke keeps reversing things, and Tully and Baby Doll really start losing their cool.
- Tully gets some shots in and really gains the advantage when he holds onto the ropes after a whip so Burke misses a dropkick.
- Rhodes is with the announcers for the match.
- Tully goes to work on Burke's left arm. Then to the rear chinlock, which Burke tries to elbow his way out of.
- Tully with some nasty words for the referee, and back to Burke's arm.
- Burke fights his way out, whips his opponent into the corner, and runs into a big boot.
- Elbow off the ropes by Tully.
- A lot of back-and-forth between the two.
- Tully works on Burke on the mat.
- Slingshot suplex from Tully out of nowhere. 1-2-3.
- Your Winner: NWA World Television Champion Tully Blanchard via pinfall.
- Tully goes over to confront Dusty after the match. Dusty moves toward him, and Baby Doll steps between them and gets in Dusty's face saying he should tip his hat to a lady. Tully and Baby Doll leave. Dusty takes exception to the incident.
- Magnum TA, wearing a bad Magnum PI Hawaiian shirt, is here to be interviewed by Tony Schiavone. Magnum says everyone keeps asking when he's going to wrestle Flair. Magnum says that's up to Flair because Flair keeps ducking him. Man...Magnum's forehead is a mess.
- Thunderbolt Patterson vs. Joel Deaton
- Lock up.
- WTF?...Patterson gets out of the hold by shucking and jiving.
- Again.
- Again.
- After every move, Patterson clowns around.
- Patterson's moves don't even look remotely credible.
- Double-thrust to the chest. 1-2-3.
- Your Winner: Thunderbolt Patterson via pinfall.
- That was a complete joke, and one of the worst matches I've ever seen. Was Patterson drunk?
- Schiavone interviews "Unpredictable" Dick Slater. Apparently, he changes his schedule a lot to make sure he is "unpredictable". He's all over the place in the interview. Maybe he was drinking with Thunderbolt Patterson right before this?
- Black Bart vs. Ricky Reeves
- Crockett refers to Bart's opponent as "Rocky" even thought the graphic says "Ricky".
- Black Bart with his usual big clubbing blows. Schiavone calls Reeve's "Ricky", and Crockett starts calling him "Ricky".
- Bart with an armlock. Bart working on the left arm and shoulder.
- Vertical suplex by Bart.
- More arm and shoulder holds.
- Leg drop from the middle turnbuckle. 1-2-3.
- Your Winner: Black Bart via pinfall.
- Schiavone is with Black Bart. Schiavone has to admit that he's impressed. That sets Bart off for some reason. Bart calls out Ronnie Garvin in particular. Bart wants Garvin to hit him in the face with the "Hands Of Stone" to see if Garvin can knock him down. Bart slams his own head on the table a few times and leaves.
- For the NWA National Heavyweight Title: Ron Garvin (champion) vs. Ron Bass (challenger) w/JJ Dillon
- The ref gives the belt to the timekeeper for this title match.
- Lock ups traded. Garvin has trouble getting anything going, but whenever Bass gets something going, Garvin uses his quickness (relative to Bass, anyway) to reverse it.
- Holds exchanged, into a head scissors by Bass.
- My gosh, Bass looks like Harry Mudd from the original Star Trek.
- More holds exchanged.
- Black Bart is at ringside, and he's put the National Heavyweight Belt on.
- Commercial.
- Knee to the midsection by Bass.
- Punches and kicks by Garvin, now working on Bass in the corner. Garvin hasn't yet seen Bart with the belt on.
- Now he sees it, and Garvin is blindsided by Bass.
- Garvin comes back with a body press, but Bass tosses Garvin off during the cover onto the referee, knocking the ref out.
- Dillon is on the apron, and he puts his knee out. Bass goes to ram Garvin into Dillon's knee and...wait for it...Garvin reverses!
- Bass rolls out and Garvin's in the ring with Dillon, and Dillon, as you might imagine, is begging off.
- Garvin whips Dillon and punches him down. Dillon flops around like a fish on a linoleum floor.
- The ref is back up and Dillon rolls out of the ring.
- In a totally blown spot, Bart tries to pull the top rope down as Garvin is thrown into the ropes, but Bart is too late. So, the entire sequence is repeated, and this time Garvin goes out and the ref calls for the bell.
- Your Winner: NWA National Heavyweight Champion Ron Garvin via disqualification due to Bass throwing him over the top rope.
- Black Bart is standing in the ring with the belt on, defying Garvin to come in and get it. Garvin, dazed, rolls into the ring.
- Hands Of Stone...Bart goes down.
- Hands Of Stone...Bart goes down.
- In a master stroke, Bart pulls the belt off and holds it up so Garvin punches the metal on the belt instead of Bart.
- Garvin is writhing in agony...his hand may be broken.
- Black Bart takes the belt and leaves.
- NWA National Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Ole & Arn Anderson vs. Joel Deaton and Mike Simani
- WTF? Deaton just got his ass handed to him by a clowning-around Thunderbolt Patterson three matches ago.
- Hmmm...apparently, according to the announcers, this is "Vernon Deaton", despite what the graphic at the beginning of the match said.
- Arn goes right to work on Deaton, like a man posessed.
- Ole tagged in, same deal.
- Arn tagged in, more punishment.
- Ole tagged in, he practically drags Deaton to his own corner so he can tag Simiani in.
- Beating by Ole, Arn tagged in.
- Arn with a slam, Ole tagged right back in.
- Ole off the top with a knee to the shoulder.
- Ole with the armlock, and Ole is screaming his head off. Simiani submits.
- Your Winner: Ole & Arn Anderson via submission.
- The Andersons remain in the ring calling Thunderbolt out after the match.
- Schiavone is with Ric Flair again. Flair can't take his eyes off the monitor because he is so good looking and because he energizes the American public. Everyone wants to be like him. However, there can only be one...The Franchise.
- NWA US Heavyweight Champion Magnum TA vs. Paul Garner
- Lock up, whip, back elbow by Magnum.
- Whip, belly-to-belly suplex by Magnum. 1-2-3, it's over.
- Your Winner: NWA US Heavyweight Champion Magnum TA via pinfall.
- 30 seconds, exact, from the opening bell. Only 20 seconds from the first lock up.
- Magnum stares down Flair after the match.
- Magnum goes to face down Flair at the announcers' station. Flair tells Magnum that he looked like Jethro Bodine in that Hawaiian shirt. (Hah!) Flair tells Magnum that before he thinks about taking Flair's belt and being the world's champion, he needs to learn how to dress. Flair can introduce him to a tailor. (Hah!) Flair is being very disrespectful. Magnum's had enough, and he grabs Flair by the tie. He's had enough, and he wants Flair right now.
- Magnum goes to the ring, Flair follows him taking his shirt off and...Flair backs off.
- Magnum says that Flair is not getting away again.
- Flair goes into the ring and takes his shirt off. As Magnum is coming through the ropes into the ring, Flair hits Magnum with a knee.
- Flair goes apes**t on Magnum, and rubs Magnum's face into the mat.
- Stomp, stomp stomp...smash into the turnbuckle.
- (I predict a belly-to-belly suplex out of nowhere by Magnum...Flair would do well not to whip Magnum into the ropes.)
- Knee to the midsection by Flair.
- Chop to the chest by Flair.
- Double-underhook suplex by Flair.
- Scrape across Magnum's face by Flair with his street shoes.
- Flair rolls out the ring.
- As he's putting his jewelry back on at the announcers' table, Flair says, "All in a day's work".
- Crockett tries admonishing Flair for not letting Magnum get in the ring, and Flair says "Go tell your mother", and Flair storms off.
- What Flair did to Magnum was a classic Harley Race move. Back in the old days, Harley used to challenge anyone in the crowd to come into the ring and fight him. If anyone was dumb enough to try it, he would knee them in the head as they tried to get through the ropes, and continue punishing them from there.
- Commercials.
- Tony Schiavone is interviewing Ron Garvin, who has his right hand all wrapped up. Garvin says he needs to get the hand X-rayed but it doesn't matter because he has another hand and two legs. The belt is Garvin's personal property and he's going to get it back.
- "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer vs. Randy Barber
- Fireman's carry by Sawyer.
- Big slaps by Sawyer in the corner.
- Whip, back body drop by Sawyer. One count only.
- Eye rake by Barber, whip and drop kick by Sawyer. The drop kick doesn't connect, yet Barber propels himself from the ring.
- Sawyer suplexes Barber in from the apron. Two count only.
- Sawyer rubs Barber's head into the mat, and then bites Barber's head.
- Body slam by Sawyer, elbow drop, two count.
- Headlock by Sawyer, as he howls to the crowd.
- Stomp, gut wrench suplex. Two count.
- Barber rakes the eyes (again) and gets some punches in. Sawyer whips Barber into the corner and Sawyer goes in with a knee, but Barber moves out of the way.
- Barber goes up to the top turnbuckle and...jumps right into a powerslam. 1-2-3.
- Your Winner: "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer via pinfall.
- Schiavone is with the Russians. Man, Ivan's forehead is a mess. Ivan says they can use the Freebird Rule (my term, not his) to defend the World Tag Team belts. Ivan challenges Slater and Rhodes to a match next week. Nikita barks.
- And that's it for this week.
- The Good: Even though it was very short and not a real match, the Flair/Magnum confrontation was really good. It was Flair in his prime, showing why he is "the dirtiest player in the game".
- The Bad: All of the blown spots, particularly in the Stallion/Flynn match.
- The Ugly: The Thunderbolt Patterson match was an insult.