National Wrestling Alliance / World Championship Wrestling - Saturday, June 8th, 1985
- The copy of the show I have may have the very beginning cut off. Schiavone and Crockett are talking. As promised last week, we will have a loser-leaves-town match for the NWA National Heavyweight Title today between the champion Ron Garvin and the challenger Black Bart. Tully Blanchard and Magnum TA will be here as well. Schiavone mentions Dusty's cracked rib. Flair will be here as well, but they don't say if he will be wrestling.
- Magnum TA appears. Very soft-spoken, he says that he's got Ric Flair's number
- "The Ragin' Bull" Manny Fernandez vs. George South
- Lock up, clean break by Fernandez.
- Lock up, a clean arm drag by South! Fernandez comes up really mad, and South backs off in a hurry.
- Lock up, another clean arm drag by South!! Fernandez comes up really mad again, and South backs off in a hurry.
- Lock up, and Fernandez returns the favor with an arm drag and a hip toss.
- Arm lock, leap frog, leg lock, and surfboard by Fernandez. Not bad by a big guy.
- Standing hip toss, combination suplex and brain buster. One-count only.
- Lock up, short offense by South but Fernandez ends that in a hurry.
- Knee to the head by Fernandez, two-count only.
- Chop and surfboard by Fernandez.
- Attempted rollover into a pin from the surfboard by Fernandez, but they're in the ropes.
- Another flurry by South, but stopped in a hurry.
- Whip, reverse knife edge by Fernandez, one count.
- Snapmare, and another surfboard by Fernandez. Criminy, it's like watching Mil Mascaras with all the surfboards.
- Double underhook suplex by Fernandez. Two count only.
- Short flurry of offense by South, which enrages Fernandez...whip, double thrust, but Fernandez doesn't go for the cover.
- Standing knee to the head. Snapmare, elbow, seated headlock.
- Neck twist, left hand, right hand chop.
- Brief flurry by South, Fernandez whips him in, flying forearm, 1-2-3.
- Your Winner: Manny Fernandez via pinfall
- Shiavone and Crockett are with Fernandez. Fernandez says that he has fought for all the respect he has gotten in his life. Fernandez challenges all the heels, particularly Flair. He ends the interview by saying something in Spanish.
- NWA US Heavyweight Champion Magnum TA vs. Mike Simani
- Arm drag by Magnum TA. Another one. Arm bar, arm twist.
- Whip by Simani, leapfrog by Magnum, belly-to-belly suplex, 1-2-3.
- 28 seconds, bell-to-bell.
- Your Winner: NWA US Heavyweight Champion Magnum TA
- Schiavone is with Dusty Rhodes and his cracked ribs. Rhodes says that Blanchard put out a contract on Rhodes, and Abdullah The Butcher collected. Rhodes says that if you can't get it done yourself, don't send someone else to take care of your business. He insults Baby Doll who is in the ring.
- NWA World Television Champion Tully Blanchard vs. Mark Hawk
- Never seen Mark Hawk before...he's a big, fat guy.
- Lock up, slap by Blanchard.
- Lock up, shove by Blanchard.
- Blanchard starts beating the hell out of Hawk, and shoves him under the ropes so Baby Doll can slap Hawk.
- More beating by Blanchard, triple elbow drops, and Blanchard pulls Hawk up at a count of two.
- Rear chinlock by Blanchard. Snapmare into a headlock on the mat.
- Hawk punches his way out, but a couple knees by Tully stop that. Knee drop, knees to the head. Back to the rear chinlock.
- Hawk powers his way out with Blanchard sitting on his back. A vicious eye rake by Blanchard ends that.
- Meanwhile, Baby Doll went over to confront Rhodes, telling him to "deal with it". As she walks off, Rhodes is confused, asking "Deal with what?!"
- Meanwhile, in one of the funniest unintentional moments in professional wrestling I've ever seen, Blanchard tries to give Hawk a slingshot suplex and Hawk's too heavy. So, Blanchard lets Hawk go mid-move and Hawk goes tumbling through the ropes and to the floor. The crowd is laughing hysterically and Tully looks into the camera, shakes his head, and says "Too big!". Boots to the head by Tully from the apron and then on the floor.
- Dusty, cracked ribs and all, storms the ring. Baby Doll tries to shove Rhodes and they start mixing it up. Blanchard tries to blindside Rhodes and receives a bionic elbow for his trouble. Baby Doll siezes the opportunity to scratch Dusty's eyes.
- Tully goes to work on Dusty's ribs. Rhodes falls, Tully misses two elbow drops, Dusty rolls out, and we go to commercial.
- Your Winner: Presumably, NWA World Television Champion Tully Blanchard via disqualification due to Rhodes' interference
- Schiavone is interviewing Ric Flair. One-by-one, he disparages his competition. He talks about Magnum's claim that he took Flair to the limit, stating "I've been taken to the limit once in my life, and it took Lynda Carter and Bo Derek back-to-back to do that!". Hah! Flair says he is the greatest world champion of all time. He loves being the greatest athlete in the world. He leaves with a parting shot at Buddy Landel.
- "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer vs. Randy Beason
- Sawyer goes right to work. Slaps, hip toss, suplex, head into the turnbuckle.
- Fight for the advantage on the mat. Beason goes for Sawyer's eye and gets bitten for his trouble.
- The backstory here is an existing injury to Sawyer's eye courtesy of the Andersons.
- Beason sent to the floor twice.
- Back in the ring, Sawyer goes to work, all over Beason.
- Punches and clubbing blows. Bear hug, and Beason uses an eye gouge to get out of it. Sawyer comes right back.
- Whip and forearm to the head by Sawyer. Beason sent out of the ring again.
- Another bite by Sawyer, this time on the apron.
- Whip by Sawyer, powerslam, 1-2-3.
- Your Winner: Buzz Sawyer via pinfall
- Schiavone interviews Brett Sawyer, brother of Buzz Sawyer. Brett says that Buzz brought him in to him Buzz with the Andersons, since the Andersons were trying to blind Buzz.
- Arn Anderson vs. Larry Clarke
- Arn goes right to work, rubbing Clarke's face in the mat...punches, kicks, back breaker, snapmare, gut buster on the top rope, whip and a knee to the midsection.
- Brett is with the announcers, postulating that all the punishment being dished out is a message to the Sawyers.
- The beating continues...a total squash thus far. Arn points at Brett.
- Finally, a gourdbuster. 1-2-3.
- Your Winner: Arn Anderson via pinfall
- Arn stares down Brett after the match, and goes over to confront him.
- Arn asks where "One-Eyed Buzz" is.
- Arn blindsides Brett with a slap.
- Brett takes off his shirt, goes to the ring. Arn follows him in.
- They roll around, beating on each other.
- Back on their feet, Brett is waylaying (sp?) Arn.
- Arn sends Brett out of the ring and gives Brett a gourdbuster on the cement floor. He follows that up with a kick to the face. The crowd is chanting "We want Buzz".
- Arn is stalking the ring, victorious. Dick Slater is out to check on Brett. Arn gives Slater a double axehandle to the back and rolls back into the ring.
- Slater is in the ring, with the advantage on Arn. Arn gets out of Dodge when Buzz emerges from the locker room.
- Buzz and Slater are hovering over Brett, with Buzz bellowing.
- Slater goes over to the announcers and says "This is coming to come to an end!", going along the "eye for an eye" path.
- Happy 50th Anniversary to Tony & Catherine Spiranza from Rochester, NY.
- Schiavone interviews the World Heavyweight Tag Team Champions (and two-thirds of the World Six-Man Tag Team Champions), the Koloffs. Ivan says Americans are ignorant, and Khrusher Khruschev is not a traitor because he is really Russian. Ivan says they want to be treated with respect. Nikita grunts his part of the interview...something about Ric Flair and The Road Warriors.
- Nikita Koloff vs. Rocky King
- Pistol Pez Whatley is with the announcers, talking about how he's going to take Rocky King his wing.
- Nikita starts out destroying Rocky King. Crockett notes, "Whatley better take Rocky King under his wing right now if he's in there with Nikita".
- King tries a flying body press and Nikita catches him in mid-air and puts him in a sort of tree-of-woe on the top turnbuckle.
- King tries to do damage with his fists. Nothing doing. Nikita keeps tossing King like a rag doll.
- A long reverse headlock by Koloff on King.
- King with a leapfrog and a dropkick, a few punches, and he tries a whip and...Koloff levels him.
- Slam by Koloff and back to the reverse headlock.
- King keeps trying to fight his way out, but it's nothing doing.
- Nikita throws King out of the ring on the second attempt. Ivan throws him back in.
- Kicks, snapmare, two count.
- Back to the reverse headlock.
- Choke on the rope by Koloff. Clubbing blows to the back. Rocky keeps fighting back.
- Throat drop on the top rope by Koloff.
- Whip and a vicious Russian Sicle. 1-2-3.
- Your Winner: Nikita Koloff via pinfall
- For the NWA National Heavyweight Title, Ron Garvin (champion) vs. Black Bart (challenger), with a loser-leaves-town stipulation for the loser.
- Black Bart attacks before the bell.
- A few shots, but Bart misses a charge and Garvin takes over.
- Tully Blanchard and Baby Doll are with the announcers are ringside. That doesn't bode well for Garvin, unless of course their likely forthcoming interference backfires.
- Headbutt by Garvin, one-count only.
- This is a donnybrook...these guys are going right at each other.
- Garvin keeps with the advantage with successive headbutts.
- Blanchard gives reluctant props to Garvin for his perseverance.
- Bart attacks the hand to regain the advantage.
- Bart working on the right hand. Garvin has to roll out to get some breathing space.
- Back in the ring, they are duking it out, and it really is hurting Garvin's hand.
- To Garvin's credit, he is using his brains to continually outsmart Bart when he needs a break.
- Garvin suplexes Bart into the ring from the apron. Two-count only.
- Armbar by Garvin. Turns it into an interesting body scissors without using the right hand.
- Garvin's really playing injury well, and he's stomping on Bart's left hand to even things up. Blanchard is impressed with Garvin's strategy.
- Bart comes back, and Garvin does a rope-a-dope, but Bart comes back. These guys are really tearing it up...very physical match. Good stuff.
- More headbutts by Garvin. Roll up, two-count only.
- Blanchard with more props for Garvin, and Magnum for that matter..."To have the belt, you have to have guts."
- Garvin with a double-foot stomp to the gut. Two-count only.
- Bart turns the tables...shoulder charges in the corner, and then a leg drop on Garvin's bad arm.
- The two of them trade blows in the corner.
- Garvin with a sleeper.
- Garvin breaks the hold himself (even Blanchard notes that he doesn't understand why) and switches to the abdominal stretch.
- Garvin is obviously in pain from the hand, even with the advantage.
- The hold is broken, and they continue beating the crap out of each other. Truly a slobberknocker.
- Garvin whips Bart to the ropes and levels Bart with a right hand. Bart is flat out, and Garvin is standing there in agony.
- Garvin goes for the cover. The ref counts three and calls for the bell, but then realizes that Bart's foot was on the ropes.
- Garvin tries to go back to work, but Bart's still in the ropes, so the ref pulls Garvin off.
- While that is happening, Baby Doll's sneaking up to Bart...I see a foreign object in Garvin's future.
- Baby Doll puts an elbow guard on Bart. Bart springs forward and levels Garvin with the elbow guard.
- 1-2-3, it's over.
- Your Winner: And new NWA National Heavyweight Champion, Black Bart. Ron Garvin must leave town.
- The Koloffs are interviewed again. Ivan says everyone is jealous of them. They'll defend against anyone, anywhere, anytime. Nikita grunts about destroying American wrestlers.
- "The Unpredictable" Dick Slater vs. Paul Garner
- Lock ups, amateur moves traded.
- The amateur moves get exagerrated.
- Slater starts to work on the left arm.
- Slater keeps spinning around on top of Garner.
- Elbow drop, headbutt, and Slater pitches Garner from the ring.
- Elbow to the back, snapmare back into the ring, spinning neckbreaker by Slater.
- Top rope elbow to the head by Slater.
- Slater looks like he's going to go for a spinning toe hold, but he flips over onto Garner and gets the pin.
- Your Winner: Dick Slater via pinfall
- Schiavone interviews Dusty Rhodes. He's pretty upset about Tully Blanchard and "Jezebel". Dusty guarantees that he's going to steal Baby Doll from Tully.
- Schiavone is with the new NWA National Heavyweight Champion Black Bart. Bart says that he has humiliated Ronnie Garvin. Bart says that everyone now has to get in line.
- Pez Whatley, Thunderbolt Patterson & Italian Stallion vs. RPM 1, RPM 2 & Randy Barber
- DJ and Whatley to start.
- Standard lockups and headlocks to start.
- Whip and two leapfrogs by DJ. DJ doesn't get high enough on the second one, Whatley stumbles as he goes under, and he goes face-first into the ropes all wrong. Ouch!
- DJ tags in LP but Whatley comes back, no worse for the wear. Nice dropkick to the face by Whatley.
- Italian Stallion tagged in. Basic wrestling moves by Stallion, into an armbar. Hip toss by Stallion, body slam by LP, body slam on DJ, back breaker on Barber.
- Patterson tagged in, and he acts like a complete nitwit.
- Barber tagged in, and he claims Patterson has oil on his head.
- Barber can't get anything going, so DJ is tagged in.
- Fireman's carry, one-count and Whatley is tagged in.
- A few moves by Whatley, but DJ gets a head scissors on Whatley. Whatley gets out, but DJ puts him right back into the hold.
- LP tagged in, Italian Stallion tagged in.
- In an interesting sequence, LP gets Italian Stallion into the wrong corner with a hair pull, DJ and LP go for a double clothesline and miss, Italian Stallion goes for a double body-press, but they hit him with a double backbreaker.
- Barber tagged in. Stallion comes back immediately with a big back body drop. One-count only.
- Patterson tagged in. Rights and lefts. Whip, double fist. 1-2-3. No real build-up to that.
- Your Winners: Thunderbolt Patterson, Pistol Pez Whatley & The Italian Stallion via pinfall
- Schiavone interviews Buzz Sawyer and Dick Slater. Sawyer is, to say the least, very upset at the Andersons for what they did to his brother. He's so upset that he can't even finish the interview and he storms off. Slater challenges the Andersons to get in the ring.
- Abdullah The Butcher w/Tully Blanchard (!) vs Mike Nichols
- Abdullah goes right to work.
- Nichols is trying to make this not a squash, and it does not go well at all for him.
- Jabs by Abdullah, body slam, elbow drop, and it's over.
- Your Winner: Abdullah The Butcher via pinfall
- Schiavone interviews Tully Blanchard, Baby Doll and Abdullah The Butcher. Funny...Abdullah pretty much blocks the entire camera view with his back to the camera. Tully rants about Dusty Rhodes. Tully says that he and Abdullah do their talking in the ring. Abdullah just stares blankly.
- Ivan Koloff w/Nikita Koloff vs. The Green Shadow
- What the hell is a green shadow? Literally...I mean I really don't know what one is.
- A good shot of The Green Shadow...no idea who it is under the mask. Whoever it is, he's not very big.
- Amateur wrestling to start out, which turns into slams and kicks by Ivan.
- Green Shadow on the floor, Ivan follows him out, beats him there, and brings him back in.
- Snapmare, knee drop, spinning neck breaker.
- Double hammer on the head from the second rope, body slam, stomp, pounding blows.
- Two-count, and Ivan lets him up.
- Taunts by Ivan.
- Knee lift to the head by Ivan.
- Green Shadow mounts a small comeback that ends in a hurry.
- Knee drop from second rope by Ivan.
- A few more shots by Ivan, and then Ivan delivers a very weak Russian Sicle from the top rope. Ivan almost falls off as he comes off.
- Your Winner: Ivan Koloff via pinfall
- Schiavone interviews Arn Anderson. Arn says the three-on-one they tried on him failed. Try it two-on-two in the ring next time, for the belts.
- "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel w/ JJ Dillon vs. Gerald Findley
- Buddy goes right to work with basic power moves on Findley. He is relentless.
- Headbutt by Findley gets him out of that, but only for a moment. Findley sends Landel into the ropes for a dropkick, but Landel holds onto the ropes and Findley falls hard on the missed dropkick.
- Some context for you younger fans. Findley is black. Back in the 1980s, all black and Pacific Island wrestlers had hard heads, so they were all able to use a headbutt as effective offense.
- Big elbowdrop by Landel, into the figure-four leglock. Findley submits.
- Your Winner: Buddy Landel via submission
- Landel keeps the hold on after the bell for good measure.
- Schiavone interviews NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair. Flair says that Arn Anderson taught a punk kid a lesson today. It's a man's sport, for men only. If you don't like it, watch something else. And, there is only one World Heavyweight Champion. While Flair is talking, the cameras cut to Landel and Dillon still in the ring watching the interview. Flair has words for Slater and Magnum TA. As for Landel, if he wants some of Ric Flair, come get it. "I'm the world champion, I take them all on, and when I'm done, they're all history.
- That's it for this week.
- The Good: The match between Ron Garvin and Black Bart was quite good.
- The Bad: Yet another ridiculously short Magnum TA match.
- The Ugly: Tully missing the slingshot suplex, Nikita unsuccessfully throwing Rocky King out of the ring, and Whatley going face-first into the ropes.