Written by: Bob Colling
CWA TV
Date: 5/24/1986
From: Memphis, TN
Lance Russell and Dave Brown promote the show after welcoming everyone to the show. They will talk about who won the tournament. Brown notes that Bill Dundee and Buddy Landell have split up, too!
It is revealed that Jerry Lawler and Austin Idol won the tag team tournament and they will be going over to compete in Japan. Russell and Brown talk about the breakup between Dundee and Landell. There will be a footage shown later on.
Opening Contest: The Giant Hillbilly & Jerry Lawler vs. EZ Ryder & Keith Eric: In case you didn’t know, the Hillbilly was previously known as Uncle Elmer, but they weren’t allowed to use the name thus there’s the name change. Lawler and Eric start the match but Hillbilly gets in the ring to scare Eric from the ring after Eric had backed Lawler into the corner. Lawler sends Eric into Hillbilly on the apron. Lawler delivers a standing fist drop and that leads to Ryder getting tagged in. Ryder backs Lawler into a corner and hammers away on Lawler. That changes when Lawler fights back with strikes. Eric gets tagged in to try his luck with Lawler again. Hillbilly enters the ring and boots Eric in the midsection. Hillbilly scoop slams Eric followed by a boot to the chest. Lawler goes for a piledriver but the referee stopped him and settles for a right hand. Ryder gets taken down to the mat by Lawler. Lawler decks Ryder with a clothesline and continues with a vertical suplex. Lawler drives Ryder into the corner face first to keep control. Eric gets tagged in and hammers away on Lawler a few times. Lawler regroups with strikes of his own before tagging in Hillbilly. Hillbilly delivers a splash in the corner followed by a leg drop for the win. (1/2*. It probably went longer than it needed to. I’m not sure who EZ Ryder and he didn’t do anything to stand out.)
Lance Russell promotes the show in Evansville, which will feature Bill Dundee taking on Buddy Landell. Plus, the Mod Squad will be in action against The Giant Hillbilly and Jerry Lawler. Lawler and Hillbilly enter the scene saying that they are excited to add the belts around their waists. If they were to win, then Lawler would get five minutes with JD Costello in the ring. Lawler suggests that Costello get new women lingerie for when he strips him of his clothing. Hillbilly is going to take out the Mod Squad, too.
Back to the arena, Lance Russell talks about the tag team tournament where the finals where between the team of Dundee/Landell taking on Lawler/Idol with the latter team winning Bill Dundee comes out and is interviewed. He says that he was waiting by his phone waiting for Landell to apologize to him and he was going to accept it. Dundee says he was here to apologize but says that Landell is a coward and isn’t here. Dundee claims he is the workhorse and he’s the real winner of the team. Dundee says that Landell didn’t call him but instead he called Eddie Marlin to fight him. Dundee believes that Landell is making the same mistake that Terry Taylor, Jerry Lawler and Steve Keirn all made because he ran them out of town. Dundee says that if Landell calls him and apologizes they can cancel all of this. He assures Russell that he isn’t afraid of the figure four leg lock. We see footage of what happened.
Dundee has a sleeper hold on Lawler for several minutes. Lawler’s arm drops four times but the fifth time he doesn’t stay down. Frank Morrell is the referee, by the way. Lawler breaks free by ramming Dundee into the corner. Landell tries to get involved and is decked by Lawler. Lawler fights them both off. Idol has gotten into the ring and all four men are going at it. Landell holds Lawler for Dundee to come off the top but Dundee accidentally hits Landell and that allows Lawler to win the match. Dundee shoves Landell after the match but gets shoved to the mat by Buddy. Landell isn’t paying attention and Dundee attacks Landell with a chain around his fist. Landell has been busted open badly due to the attack. Landell fights back with chops and backdrops Dundee. Dundee is able to escape from the ring. Dundee is pissed saying that Landell is the reason that they lost. Dundee says that Landell isn’t going to beat him up and he isn’t going to accept Landell’s apology if he were to even try now.
Second Contest: Bill Dundee vs. David Haskins: Early on, Haskins takes Dundee down to the mat with a few arm drags but his offense is short lived after missing a dropkick attempt. Dundee pummels Haskins with right hands for a two count. Dundee keeps control of Haskins and yells at the fans that are taunting him. Dundee clotheslines Haskins and that’s good enough for the win in short time. (1/2*. Nothing much really going on here as Dundee gets a match to give him momentum.)
Buddy Landell comes into the arena and he has a bandage on his forehead. The fans are cheering for him as he’s just looking into the ring as Dundee is begging off. Dundee bails to the floor and backs off from Landell, who is now walking over. Dundee says he didn’t mean anything he said previously. Landell heads over to the commentary area to be interviewed by Russell. Landell has his side of the story he wants to say. Landell says that Dundee has been riding his coattails for many years. Landell knows that the fans know that he was the workhorse. He wouldn’t spit on Dundee’s tail if his carcass was on fire. Landell has bled before and it isn’t his first rodeo. He is going to beat Dundee’s brains in. Landell says they are going to get it on. Landell thinks he was the best thing to ever happen to Dundee. Whenever Dundee would turn on someone Buddy would always be there. Landell had respect for Dundee but that’s all changed. Landell is determined to beat Dundee’s brains out.
Lance Russell promotes the Evansville card. Joe LeDuc will take on Abdul Gaddafi in a lumberjack match. AWA Southern Tag Team Champions The Mod Squad will defend against Jerry Lawler and the Giant Hillbilly. Plus, Bill Dundee and Buddy Landell will compete in a singles match.
JD Costello says he was gone to great lengths to find a new wrestler, Danny Fargo. He’s great because he’ll be managing him. Costello claims that many people have tried to get Fargo but he’s the one that obtained his services.
Third Contest: AWA Southern Tag Team Champions Mod Squad & Danny Fargo vs. Jim Jamison, Benny Trailer & Mike Murphy: During the match, Costello claims that Jackie Fargo has tried to prevent Danny from being successful. As expected, the Mod Squad and Fargo don’t have any issues with the enhancement guys. Costello believes that Danny will be a world champion from this moment forward. Fargo gets the win on Jamison following an atomic drop. (1/4*. I don’t think I have much interest in Danny Fargo and I don’t think the Mod Squad need anyone added to their match to take the focus away from them. They are involved in a major angle with Lawler and probably just have the focus on them on television.)
Lance Russell interviews the AWA Mid-American Champion Dutch Mantell, who is really happy about Dundee and Landell splitting up. Dutch says that Jackie Fargo won’t be happy about the news that Danny Fargo is here. Dutch wants Rip Rogers to come after him and try to take the title away from him. Dutch puts over Rip’s success but that doesn’t make him a champion. The only way Rogers is going to win the title is by keeping him down for three-seconds. Rip Rogers comes out and says he never brags only to then brag about all the titles he has held. Rogers says he has beaten everyone on the ladder moving his way up and wants a shot at Dutch. Rogers thinks that Dutch has been hiding from him. Rogers doesn’t want Dutch to touch him. Dutch says that Rogers had done a lot of things but he hasn’t beaten him. Rogers believes he’ll need just one chance to beat Dutch. Dutch has taken bigger pills than Rogers. Dutch is going to be right behind Rogers when they get in the ring and prevent him from walking away in there.
Fourth Contest: The Hunters (The Raven & The Eagle) vs. David Johnson & Henry Rutledge: Similar to their first match last week, the Hunters continue to deliver quick offense and beat on their opponents constantly. Rutledge just gets tossed around the ring several times. They win the match after a forearm strike to Rutledge’s chest. (1/4*. Not as good of a showing as their appearance from last week, but it seems like these guys are going to get a push.)
The Hunters are interviewed by Lance Russell. They are here and they say they have all the beef. They were in the tag team tournament where they went through Dutch. However, they claim they didn’t lose to Lawler and Idol. They should have the money and trip to Japan. They call the Hillbilly Uncle Elmer, but he’s not going by that name. They issue a challenge to Buddy Landell. They might give Buddy a haircut, too.
Lance Russell promotes the local card for Evansville. JD Costello and the Mod Squad are interviewed since if the Squad lose then Costello will wrestle Lawler for five-minutes. Costello calls the Giant Hillbilly the giant blob. Costello says that nobody will be able to put Lawler together again. Costello would love to get in the ring with Lawler for five-minutes. He’s confident that he’d win any interaction with Lawler.
Main Event: Tony Falk, Abdul Gaddafi, Pat Rose & Baron Von Brauner vs. Jeff Jarrett, Billy Travis, Paul Diamond & Pat Tanaka: There’s about six minutes left in the programming so it’s not going to be a long match. Rose and Tanaka kick off the match with Rose taking Tanaka down to the mat with an arm drag. Tanaka comes back with one of his own. Tanaka chops Rose a few times to drop him to the mat. Jarrett gets tagged in but Rose tags in Falk. Falk is taken down with an arm drag by Jarrett. Jarrett backdrops Falk out of the corner followed by a dropkick. Jarrett successfully takes Falk out of the corner with a monkey flip, which he failed at last week. Gaddafi tags in but Diamond enters the match and controls the left arm. Gaddafi sends Diamond into the ropes and gets dropkicked by both Diamond and Travis. Travis remains in the ring as Rose is tagged in to try his luck. Rose hammers away on Travis with strikes. Travis monkey flips Rose out of the corner before tagging in Diamond. Tanaka comes off the ropes to deliver a headbutt to Rose on the mat. Rose kicks Tanaka and tags in Falk.
Falk works over Travis with a few strikes until Gaddafi gets tagged in and delivers an elbow drop on Travis. Falk beats on Travis with more right hands. At this point, everyone is getting involved in the match. Pat Rose comes off the top and the match is thrown out. (1/2*. It’s difficult for these kind of matches to be successful when they are given so little time. Costello’s Dynasty should probably be winning these kinds of matches. It kind of makes me think that the group isn’t going to be a major deal moving forward.)
Final Thoughts:
Dundee and Landell splitting up is a bit surprising especially since they had just turned on Dutch a few months ago. There wasn’t much of a tease of a split, either. Aside from the split angle, there wasn’t much going on this week.
Thanks for reading.