CWA TV 1/18/1986

Written by: Bob Colling

CWA TV
Date: 1/18/1986
From: Memphis, TN

Lance Russell and Dave Brown rundown what we will see on the program. There will be a “Date With The Fantastics”, so that should be fun.

AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Bill Dundee makes his way out and he rips on the fans while putting himself over. Dundee isn’t interested wrestling against Jamison. He believes the match would be boring. Dundee instead has a tape of his match against Big Red Reese. Dundee, Buddy Landell and Dutch Mantell have done their own commentary for the match.

AWA Southern Champion Bill Dundee vs. Big Red Reese: Reese displayed his strength by shoving Dundee to the mat. Reese stomps on Dundee’s fingers, too. Dundee got shoulder blocked to the floor before returning to the ring and delivering a few strikes in the corner. Reese drives Dundee into the top turnbuckle but Bill bails to the floor and tosses a chair into the ring. Dundee gets a few moments of offense with a dropkick and pummels Reese against the ropes with right hands. Reese fights back with an overhand strike and scoop slam. Reese misses a splash in the corner Reese sends Dundee into the corner and the champion collides with the referee. Reese delivers an elbow drop but Dutch Mantell gets on the apron and tosses a chain to Dundee. Dundee tries to use the chain but Reese decks him. Mantell distracts Reese again and Dundee decks Reese with the chain leading to the three count. (1/4*. I mean, that was just a bad wrestling match.)

Dundee is still out in the arena and says that all the fat people should be locked in a room and forced to listen to Jerry Lawler.

Randy Hales hypes up a card in Evansville where AWA Southern Champion Bill Dundee will defend against Steve Keirn in a loser leaves town match with no disqualification or count-out. Keirn cuts a promo about the upset Dundee defeated Lawler. Keirn can’t believe that Dundee would actually win the match cleanly. Keirn likes his match with Dundee because Dundee didn’t read the contract where if he loses the match he’d also have to leave town. Keirn is going to win the title and he’s going to run Dundee out of town, too.

Opening Contest: Billy Travis vs. The Invader: Travis controls Invader with various takedowns. Travis takes Invader down with a back suplex. Invader gets a few moments of offense, but Travis quickly counters with a scoop slam and a knee drop. Invader gets a few rights in the corner, but again Travis fights back with a backbreaker. Travis comes off the middle rope with a splash for the win. (1/2*. Travis seems like he has a chance to be an entertaining wrestler.)

We see footage from the Coliseum where the Bladerunners were attacking Billy Travis and Phil Hickerson. The attack led to Hickerson getting busted open as Buddy Wayne delivered several shots on Hickerson with his shoe. Bladerunners drove Hickerson down with a slam. The Spoiler enters the ring to take his shoe off. Spoiler proceeds to hit Wayne, Hellwig and Borden to save Hickerson. Spoiler was at one point partners with Hickerson. Spoiler stands tall to save his partner.

Lance Russell promotes an upcoming show where the main event will be AWA Southern Champion Bill Dundee takes on Steve Keirn in a loser leaves town match in Evansville.

Back to the commentary table and they talk about how many wrestlers would like to take the spot that Jerry Lawler has left. That leads to a music video for Austin Idol.

Second Contest: The Raiders vs. Dirty Rhodes & Tojo Yamamoto: This is the first time that Rhodes and Tojo have teamed in CWA. Rhodes and Tojo work over Raider #2. The Raiders are a masked duo. Tojo and Dirty’s offense is mostly strike related. Dirty delivers an elbow strike and an elbow drop for the win. Dirty has been promoted as the cousin to Dusty Rhodes and not only looks like him, but wrestles like him too. (1/2*. A rather boring tag match.)

Lance Russell is going to talk about the competition to win a date with the Fantastics. Tommy Rogers and Bobby Fulton make their way out and are interviewed. You have to a single woman who is at least 18-years old. They have to write a statement consisting of 100 words or less. The date will consist of a date with the Fantastics having a limo pick her up, dinner and then watch the wrestling match. Fulton says they would take all the woman out for a date but there would be only two winners. Buddy Landell comes out and he’s not happy about the contest. The Fantastics decide to leave the segment. Landell says he is the Nature Boy and he can come out whenever he wants to. Landell doesn’t think they have the right to mess with the heads of his women. Buddy says he’s going to do the same thing. Landell wants women to send 8×10’s and send it to the TV station. Buddy says that the woman who wins will be considered lucky. Landell reveals a poster of himself, which will be part of the prizes. Buddy says he is capable of handling more than one woman, but for the sake of the competition it will be just one female winner.

Third Contest: Dutch Mantell vs. Kevin McQueen: McQueen takes Mantell down with a couple of arm drags and reverses some early offense from Dutch. Dutch gets control working over McQueen’s left arm and finishes him off with a front slam.

Fourth Contest: Buddy Landell vs. David Johnson: Landell delivers a dropkick early on and keeps control of Johnson with a headlock. Landell scoop slams Johnson and comes off the ropes with an elbow drop. Landell wins the match with the figure our.

Lance Russell hypes up the Evansville show and it will feature AWA Southern Champion Bill Dundee to compete in a loser leaves town match with Steve Keirn. Dundee is interviewed and he thinks this is a conspiracy. Buddy Landell and Dutch Mantell are with him. Landell says they are the reason that Evansville sold out. Dundee puts over Keirn as a great athlete but that’s all he will be remembered as being. Dutch Mantell says it won’t take long for him to knock out Rick Casey, too.

Main Event: Pat Rose, Tony Falk, & The Sheepherders (Morgan & Taurus) vs. Koko Ware, Rick Casey, & The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers): Fulton and Taurus gets met with a series of arm drags. Fulton dropkicks Taurus before tagging in Rogers to splash down onto his arm. Morgan gets tagged in and works over the left arm of Rogers. Rogers ducks a few clotheslines to hit a crossbody for a two count. Rogers continues with a dropkick. Rose tags into the match and tries his luck with Ware. Ware fights out of the corner with right hands and Casey tags in to hit a hip toss followed by an atomic drop. Falk enters the match but he gets taken down by Casey quickly. Casey backdrops Falk out of the corner and continues with a dropkick and arm drag. Rogers comes off the middle rope with an elbow strike and Fulton tags back in. Falk misses an elbow drop on Fulton and Fulton fights back with right hands. Fulton slams Falk and Rogers hits a splash for the win. (1/2*. These finishes come out of nowhere and have very little heat for the most part. There was some energy in the match but there wasn’t much doubt as to who was going to win. The Sheepherders are NOT the Bushwhackers, by the way.)

Final Thoughts:
The episode was okay and Buddy Landell seems to be getting positioned as the number two heel behind Dundee. I’m totally onboard with the idea of Austin Idol coming back and possibly being inserted into a feud with Dundee to hold off on the return of Lawler.

Thanks for reading.