CWA TV 3/15/1986

Written by: Bob Colling

CWA TV
Date: 3/15/1986
From: Memphis, TN

Lance Russell and Dave Brown welcome us to the program and they discuss what we’ll see tonight.

Opening Contest: Paul Diamond & Michael Lee vs. Benny Traylor & The Masked Patriot: Diamond and Lee are a new tag team making their first televised appearance. Diamond takes Traylor over with a hip toss early on in the contest. Lee enters and dropkicks Patriot, which looked good. Diamond just runs over Patriot and Lee comes off the ropes with a leg drop for a two count. Lee takes Patriot down with a side Russian leg sweep and that’s enough for the three count. (1/4*. Really nothing of a squash match.)

We see footage of an AWA International Championship match between champion Rick Casey and Abdul Gaddafi. Late in the match, Gaddafi dropped Casey over the top rope and delivered an elbow drop. Casey made a comeback and hit an impressive Samoan Drop. Gaddafi got up first but missed a couple of elbow drop attempts. Gaddafi begs off in the corner and Casey goes on the offensive. Casey uses mostly strikes to drop Gaddafi to the mat. Gaddafi sends Casey into the ropes and the champion gets his head stuck in the ropes. Gaddafi drops a few elbows and wins the title. I can’t say I’m surprised to see him winning the championship.

Lance Russell and Dave Brown chat about the match and it’s revealed that Rick Casey has a severe neck injury and won’t be competing for quite awhile.

Billy Travis and Frank Morell share a pre-tape promo saying that Travis is a bit shy and he does most of the talking. Morell notes that Travis had 20% winning percentage and it has gotten up to 60%. Morell says his winning has improved since he’s been hanging with Travis. Morell says that Gaddafi got lucky in his match against Casey. Frank says that Travis would be lucky to survive ten-minutes, but this is where Travis can start. Travis thinks that he can beat Gaddafi. That’s all he has to say.

Lance Russell has some local promos with some talent to promote a show at the Coliseum. AWA Tag Team Champions the Fantastics will defend against the Mod Squad. They say its only the beginning if they think they’re going to come in and take the titles. It’s going to be a long summer. Dutch Mantell comes into the scene and promotes his tag match with Lawler against Dundee and Landell. Dutch doesn’t think Dundee is a man for his actions against Jerry and Jeff Jarrett. Dutch says they aren’t going to tell him and Lawler what to do. There isn’t going to be a wrestling match but rather a fight at the Coliseum.

Second Contest: Dutch Mantell vs. Keith Eric: Dutch wastes no time going right at Eric with a powerslam. Dutch slams Eric to the mat followed by an elbow drop. Dutch takes Eric down with a clothesline and a front suplex. Dutch wins the match following a quick elbow drop. (1/4*. A simple squash match but I’m liking Dutch as a face act.)

We go to Jerry Lawler’s pre-tape comments from his home, I’m assuming. Lawler wishes he could be at the arena on live television but has commitments he has to take care of. Lawler knows that Dundee and Landell are in the studio and wants them to hear what he has to say. Lawler thanks the fans for their energy following his return. He’s not done yet. He hates Dundee and Landell very much. Lawler also talks about the attack on an 18-year old Jeff Jarrett. Lawler questions their manhood for attacking a teenager. The worst of it was when they tried to injure Jerry’s good eye. Lawler thinks they were trying to takeaway his manhood. Lawler calls them idiots and says that Jerry Jarrett has friends and he’s one of them. Lawler notes that Jerry was in tears on TV realizing that he wasn’t the same man to protect his son from attacks. Jerry is coming back for Dundee and Landell. Lawler is not done with Dundee and he’s going to get rid of Dundee once and for all. He’s back and it’s going to be all over for Dundee and Mantell.

Lance Russell promotes the Coliseum in Evansville telling us what will be on the show. AWA International Champion Abdul Gaddafi defends against Billy Travis, AWA Tag Team Champions The Fantastics defend against the Mod Squad and the main event will see AWA Southern Champion Bill Dundee & Buddy Landell taking on Jerry Lawler and Dutch Mantell.

Third Contest: AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Bill Dundee & Buddy Landell vs. Jim Jamison & David Haskins: Dundee has a bandaged on his forehead. Dundee tags in Landell and Buddy drops Haskins with an elbow strike and a dropkick. Dundee and Landell have kept control of the entire match basically just using strikes as offense. Jamison is bleeding from the mouth as the heels are just beating the crap out of him. Dundee gets the pin after a right hand. After the match, Landell dropkicks Haskins to the floor. They drag Jamison over to the announcers table and continue to beat on the bloodied Jamison. (*. The whole segment as done very well. These two are complete jerks and there’s sympathy for the poor Jamison fella. I enjoyed this.)

Fourth Contest: AWA Southern Tag Team Champions The Fantastics vs. Tony Falk & Pat Rose: The resident team of Falk and Rose try their luck with the tag champs. Rogers backdrops Rose at the start of the match and the fans are heavily behind Rogers. Falk gets tagged in but he doesn’t fare any better. Fulton comes off the ropes to deliver a strike after jumping over Rogers. Rogers comes off the middle rope to deliver a double axe handle. Fulton hip tosses Falk and Rogers enters to dropkick Falk. Rose gets control of Rogers with a headlock. Rose shoulder blocks Rogers a few times but is met with a hip toss and dropkick. Falk returns to the match to try his luck with Rogers. Fulton tags into the match and works over Falk’s left arm. Fulton arm drags Falk to the mat before keeping control of the arm. Fulton knocks Falk down and Rogers comes off the ropes with a splash for the win. (1/2*. It is kind of funny that Rose and Falk didn’t get much offense in at all. Their most dominating move was a headlock. Fantastics continue to be a fun team to watch even if their enhancement matches are a little too similar.)

Jerry Lawler promotes his video tape that runs for sixty minutes. The tape features matches against Andy Kauffman and Terry Funk. Plus, his match against Eddie Gilbert. The tape is only $29.95 plus $5.95 for shipping. That’s not a great deal for an hour tape, I’d say.

Lance Russell is again promoting live events and he just repeats the same matches. Here are some pre-recorded thoughts from AWA Southern Champion Bill Dundee and Buddy Landell. Dundee is pissed about Lawler trying to pull his eye out. There are pictures of Dundee having a black eye and he claims that Lawler had something illegal on his hand. He’s going to kill Lawler. They are talking over the company. Landell chimes in and says they aren’t here to sing autographs. They are going to own the damn company.

Main Event: The Mod Squad (Spike & Basher) vs. Larry Hamilton & David Johnson: This is an expiration of time match, which usually means there will be two falls. Hamilton takes them over with backdrops, a dropkick and a hip toss. Hamilton continues with a hip toss and arm drag using his speed to keep control of the match. Mod Squad gets control on Johnson with a scoop slam. JD Costello is on the microphone at the commentary table calling the opponents poor and they’re going to take them out of professional wrestling. Mod Squad has had a few sloppy moments during the match. Johnson is driven down to the mat with a vertical suplex. Mod Squad delivers a double team leg drop for a two count. Johnson is driven back first into the corner and then slammed to the mat. Mod Squad finishes off Johnson with a middle rope elevated clothesline. (DUD. The Mod Squad didn’t come across very well this week. They stumbled around and didn’t seem comfortable in the ring. I wouldn’t buy into them as challengers to the Fantastics after seeing this.)

Jos LeDuc video package promoting his return to the CWA is shown. The video is of a tug of war from awhile back. Ten men weren’t able to break the grip of LeDuc. LeDuc is a madman and the video basically the same video that was shown last week. He’s not crazy like everyone thinks.

Final Thoughts:
Dundee and Landell were promoted well here to promote their match with Lawler and Mantell. I’d pay to see them get their asses kicked just based off of the segment. Aside from that, there wasn’t much going on here. The tag feud is a very personal feud and is the best thing going on TV right now.

Thanks for reading.