National Wrestling Alliance / World Championship Wrestling - Saturday, July 13th, 1985
- The show opens with a few seconds of Dusty and Tully fighting in a cage with no voiceover, and then we go to the credits.
- It's Crockett and Schiavone, and Crockett tells us the clip was from The Great American Bash, and there'll be more. The Bash being last weekend may be why there doesn't seem to have been a Saturday night show last week.
- Today, The Midnight Express and more. And there are new tag team champions, The Rock And Roll Express...and there is a new TV Champion...Dusty has captured the belt and Baby Doll.
- Terry Taylor is introduced...he's glad to be in WCW, and he's going for Black Bart and his National Championship belt.
- Buddy Landel (spelled correctly) w/JJ Dillon vs. Rocky King
- Lock up, and some jawing between the two.
- Headlock and takedown by Landel.
- Landel with reversals on Rocky King, and back to the headlock on the mat.
- Rocky with a few punches on Landel, which incenses Buddy. A few hard elbows by Landel, into a headlock. Move, headlock, move, headlock...that seems to be the pattern today.
- Elbows, hard slam, flying knee to the head.
- Landel tosses King to the floor. Dillon gets a kick in when the referee isn't looking.
- Back in the ring, Landel with a snapmare into another headlock on the mat.
- Big elbowdrop, figure-four leglock. Submission, it's over.
- Your Winner: "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel via submission
- Landel won't break the hold. Dillon comes in ostensibly to get Landel to break the hold but, instead, helps Landel add more punishment.
- Schiavone interviews the new World Television Champion, Dusty Rhodes. Dusty does his talking, and he notes that he's won Baby Doll's services for 30 days.
- Commercials.
- Schiavone interviews Tully Blanchard, who is without both Baby Doll and the Television Title. Blanchard claims Dusty beat him with an illegal hold, and that Dusty can't handle Baby Doll. Tully says his name is in the hat for a shot at the TV Title. Tully is gunning for both Magnum TA and Dusty.
- Buzz and Brett Sawyer vs. George South and Randy Barber
- Brett to start versus Barber. Barber doesn't want a handshake.
- Clean break. Two dropkicks for each opponent from Brett. The bad guys bail out.
- Arm twist by Brett. Buzz tagged in. Flying forearm by Buzz into an arm lock. Brett tagged in with a top rope jump onto Barber's arm.
- Buzz tagged in. Still working on Barber's left arm.
- Brett tagged in. Knee to the arm.
- Buzz tagged in. Flying heatbutt to the left arm, into an armlock.
- Buzz lets Barber tag out.
- Buzz with a fireman's carry on South into a chinlock.
- Brett tagged in with a top rope elbow to South's arm.
- Whip and a flying forearm by Brett. Cover, two count.
- Buzz tagged in. Seated armlock by Buzz on South.
- Body slam by Buzz onto South's arm. Standing jump elbow drop.
- Brett tagged in. Elbow off the ropes onto the rope. Arm twist, whip into a running back elbow.
- Buzz tagged in. Whip, power slam. 1-2-3.
- Your Winner: Buzz and Brett Sawyer via pinfall.
- Here's Jim Cornette with his tennis racket to do the introduction.
- The Midnight Express (Eaton &: Condrey) vs. Terry Flynn and Jason Walker
- Eaton offers a handshake to Flynn to start off, and kicks him in the gut when he accepts it. Heh.
- Condrey tagged in to deliver more punishment.
- Walker tagged in, Eaton tagged in. Walker keeps trying to punch Eaton, and Eaton just feints away from each one. Cornette notes that Flynn made a mistake by making a fist at Eaton from the corner. Total squash thus far.
- Big elbow from the top rope by Eaton. Eaton drags Walker over to the corner so he can tag Flynn.
- Suplex by Eaton. As a replay of Eaton's top rope elbow is shown, Condrey must have been tagged in. Flynn's head into the turnbuckle, Suplex. Another head to the turnbuckle and Walker is tagged in. Crowd is chanting "Boring".
- Eye rake, knee by Eaton as he is tagged in. Walker tries punching his way out and Condrey is tagged in. Mat wrestling. Eaton tagged back in.
- Eaton drags Walker over so he can tag Flynn in. Punishment and a knee from the top rope right across the throat. JEEZ...screw that move up, and you'd kill the guy!
- Condrey tagged back in and he and Eaton set Walker up for a suplex from the second rope. 1-2-3.
- Your Winners: "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton & "Loverboy" Dennis Condrey, aka The Midnight Express
- Schiavone interviews US Heavyweight Champion Magnum TA. Magnum is very happy about the Rock 'n Roll Express' big title win. Magnum is excited about Dusty defending the belt. Magnum, while defending the US Belt, is excited about forming America's Team with Dusty Rhodes, to take on the Andersons.
- Which brings out Arn Anderson to have words with Magnum. Arn makes his point really well, and he warns Magnum that he and Dusty better never get caught anywhere alone when the Andersons are around.
- When Arn leaves, Magnum notes that Arn seemed to not really want a physical confrontation when Ole wasn't around.
- Dick Slater vs. Gerald Findley
- Clean break from Slater to start, and then some mat wrestling.
- Clean break from Findley on the ropes.
- More mat wrestling.
- Announcers are talking about Kevin Sullivan gunning for Slater.
- Inexplicably, we cut to an angry little girl in the crowd.
- Clean break, more mat wrestling.
- Elbow drop by Slater...first power move of the match. Hip toss into an arm pull. People in the crowd are clearing shouting "Tear it off! Tear it off!"
- Knees to the shoulder by Slater. In the ropes, Findley doesn't make a clean break...big mistake.
- Kicks and knees by Slater. Big suplex by Slater.
- Wow...Slater puts Findley into some type of abdominal stretch and turns it into a pinfall. The announcers didn't have a name of it, either.
- Your Winner: Dick Slater via pinfall.
- Schiavone interviews Dusty along with his belt and Baby Doll. Baby Doll likes dowdy and unhappy.
- Baby Doll is counting the days and hours until she's back with Tully. Rhodes is not the man Tully is. She walks off. Dusty says he's not through with her. Magnum brings an apoplectic (sic) Baby Doll back over his shoulder. She punches Dusty and Magnum carries her back off.
- Dusty says, "This is going to take a little more work than I thought." The whole thing was pretty funny.
- Commericals, including one for chewing tobacco.
- Schiavone interviews a shirtless Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan spouts some quasi-Satanism nonsense about Slater. Sullivan says he's going to put Slater out of wrestling.
- National Heavyweight Champion Black Bart vs. Gene Ligon
- Presumably a non-title match.
- Punch, head butts, wrench, elbow...punish, punish, punish.
- Terry Taylor is with the announcers, scouting Black Bart.
- Club, club, punch, punch.
- Oh, my! An armbar. Black Bart must be out of breath.
- Big suplex from Black Bart.
- Big knees onto the left shoulder by Black Bart.
- Ligon's in the armbar again. He's taking a hell of a beating, but he keeps trying to come back.
- Leg drop from the second rope by Black Bart...The Texas Trash Compactor. 1-2-3, it's over.
- Your Winner: Black Bart via pinfall.
- Black Bart comes down to confront Terry Taylor. He slaps Taylor, and Taylor slaps him back.
- Taylor tries to goad Bart to the ring, but Bart walks off. Taylor said this incident is not going to go unanswered.
- Jimmy Valiant vs. The Barbarian w/ Paul Jones
- Oh, God, no...
- Valiant gives a huge kiss to some woman in the crowd. Unfortunately, Abbrevia wasn't available in 1985.
- In the ring, Valiant goes right at Barbarian before the bell even rings...whip into the corner, hip toss, back body drop, thumb to the throat, outside the ring into the ring post.
- Jones is irate at Barbarian.
- Back in the ring, Valiant continues the assault.
- Barbarian does something to his wristband (which the announcers miss) and gets Valiant in the throat. After the move, Barbarian undoes whatever he did to his wristband.
- It's all Barbarian now. A few power moves, and then the bear hug until Valiant bites Barbarian's nose to get out of it. However, Barbarian goes right back to the bear hug.
- Thumbs to the throat by Valiant gets him out. He goes on the attack, and gets a sleeper hold on Barbarian.
- Jones comes in, and it's a sleeper hold on Jones.
- Barbarian attacks from behind, and the referee calls for the ball.
- Jones and Barbarian go on the attack. Flying headbutt from the top rope by Barbarian. Barbarian (sort of) hangs up Valiant from the ring ropes as Jones repeatedly hits Valiant in the ribs.
- When it's over, Jones is ranting into the camera and Valiant is left convulsing in the ring.
- Your Winner: Jimmy Valiant by disqualification.
- From Kingman AZ, a 54th wedding anniversary.
- Jones and Barbarian are back. Jones is ranting again. He's upset that he signed for a dog collar match with Valiant not realizing it's for a series of matches, and not just one. They cut to a previous interview with Jones (totally overreacting) where he received a dog collar as a surprise gift from a little kid and flipped out.
- Terry Taylor vs. Mike Nichols
- Clean start to the match, trading mostly amateur wrestling holds.
- Now more to the pro stuff...body slam and knees to the elbow by Taylor. Double-underhook suplex by Taylor.
- Lots of arm locks and rolls by Taylor...some of which I don't even know the name of.
- Nichols tries to take the advantage on the ropes, which backfires.
- Back body drop by Taylor. Sleeper, it's over.
- Your Winner: Terry Taylor by submission
- Schiavone interviews Jimmy Valiant. Valiant rants and raves. He has six wives and 13 children, apparently. I think he said that the kid who gave Jones the dog collar was his. He looks like he needs a bath.
- Commercials.
- Schiavone is with the new NWA World Tag Team Champions, The Rock 'n Roll Express. Robert Gibson seems very genuine, but Ricky Morton gives a much better "pro wrestling interview".
- Editor's Note: I wasn't really following the NWA at this time, so I don't really have a concept of how hot the Rock 'n Roll Express were in their heyday. As I understand, at their pinnacle, they may have been the most popular tag team of all time. At some level, I get it...young, underdogs because they're small, good looking, and they talk the language of the people. However, I have to laugh at the "Rock 'n Roll" part of it. They don't sing, they don't play an instrument...other than wearing arm bends that look like they have piano keys on them, and hanging around jukeboxes, what was rock-and-roll about them?
- Arn Anderson vs. Adrian Bivens
- Arn wore his NWA National Tag Team belt to the ring.
- Arn goes straight ot the drop toe hold to bring Bivens down to the mat, and Arn goes right to work on the left arm.
- Stomps, elbows, knees, twists to the arm.
- Bivens looks like Issac Hayes with a fuller beard.
- Arn is just tearing that arm up.
- Body slam by Arn onto the left arm.
- Vicious arm bar, and Bivens submits.
- Total squash.
- Your Winner: Arn Anderson by submission
- Schiavone is interviewing Arn Anderson.
- The crowd seems to chant "Junior" at Arn.
- Arn says Dusty and Magnum are two individuals, and he and Ole are a team.
- The Rock & Roll Express vs. Larry Clark and Chuck Levens
- Presumably a non-title match.
- Cornette is with the announcers.
- Cornette says that the Rock & Roll Express winning the belts was the biggest fluke ever. It's like a couple of valley girls are the champions. They look like the board of directors at a massage parlor.
- Meanwhile, back in the ring, there's a match going on that I'm ignoring because I'm too busy listening to Cornette.
- Morton definitely can throw a high dropkick.
- Double-dropkick, and Morton gets the pinfall.
- Another squash.
- Your Winners: NWA World Tag Champions The Rock & Roll Express via pinfall
- Schiavone is interviewing Tully Blanchard. Blanchard is upset with the way Dusty is treating Baby Doll. Tully says that if Dusty doesn't straighten up, Tully is going to have to "reposess" Baby Doll, and that's not going to be pretty.
- That's it for this week.
- The Good: Jim Cornette's commentary.
- The Bad: Jimmy Valiant's interview.
- The Ugly: Jimmy Valiant's face.