CWA TV 7/26/1986

Written by: Bob Colling

CWA TV
Date: 7/26/1986
From: Memphis, TN

Lance Russell is alone on commentary this week. He promotes what we’ll see on the program.

Bam-Bam Bigelow goes to the commentary table and wants to know how long he has to wait for Jerry Lawler. He’s been here for a while now and Lawler is never there.

Opening Contest: Bam-Bam Bigelow vs. David Haskins & Jim Jamison in a handicap match: Bigelow works over Jamison and Haskins with right hands and slaps. The fans are making it known they want Lawler. Bigelow dumps Jamison to the floor and takes Haskins over with a snap suplex. Bigelow rams them into each other and locks in a double bear hug. Bigelow drops them both and apparently has won the match.

Randy Hales promotes some local cards including in Evansville. Joe LeDuc will be wrestling Bam-Bam Bigelow. Bigelow enters the scene and says that LeDuc is going to have a new name… Joe LePoop. Yeah, that just happened. JD Costello enters the scene about his match with the Nightmares where if his Mod Squad team loses then he gets a makeover. Costello insults the Nightmares and questions if they are men for taking time to get ready.

Lance Russell talks about the Jarret/Tanaka feud with Sato/Goto. The next time they wrestle., Jarrett and Tanaka will have Jerry Jarrett in their corner. Russell recalls Tojo being champions with Jerry Jarrett several years ago.

Jerry Jarrett shares a pre-tape promo and says that Jeff asked him what he thinks happened to Tojo. Jerry has tried to get ahold of Tojo, but each time he has hung up the phone. Jerry thinks he has figured it out. Tojo is older and still wrestles while he’s retired. He thinks that Tojo resents the younger Jeff Jarrett entering the promotion. Jerry doesn’t intend on getting involved in any of Jeff’s matches. Jerry is going to be there Monday night and he’ll “knock some of that slant out of your eyes.” Jesus, Jerry…

Second Contest: Jeff Jarrett & Pat Tanaka vs. Keith Roberson & Greg Gillis: This is the debut of Greg Gillis in CWA. Jarrett starts the match with Roberson controlling with a headlock. Roberson gets a few strikes on Jarrett for some control before tagging in Gillis, who doesn’t keep the advantage. Jarrett arm drags Gillis a few times. Tanaka enters and breaks away from Gillis cleanly. Tanaka dropkicks Gillis. Gillis takes Tanaka down to the mat but can’t keep him down for very long. Roberson enters and beats on Tanaka with strikes against the ropes. Gillis isn’t interested in cheating with Roberson and instead decks Roberson before leaving. Roberson is dropkicked by Jarrett. Tanaka pins Roberson with a German suplex.

Footage from a house show where JD Costello got involved and someone tossed a fireball into Hillbilly’s face. That lead to Fire and Flame winning the AWA Tag Team Championships. It turns out it was Billy Spears. Spears comes out with the tag titles and he seems happy with what he did. Spears says he is the new manager for Fire and Flame. Russell is confused about what’s happened with JD Costello. Spears knows more about wrestling than someone who hasn’t ever done it. Spears wants his guys to wrestle in the studio and has his lawyers on the case. Spears tells Russell that nobody will stop them from wrestling on TV. Eddie Marlin comes out and says that he made the decision to ban them from wrestling and they will not wrestle in the studio. Spears proclaims that he’s the reason they won the titles. Spears is determined to have them wrestle on TV today.

Randy Hales promotes the Evansville show. Bam-Bam Bigelow will take on Joe LeDuc. A return match for the International Tag Team Championships. Nightmares take on Mod Squad, where if they lose they will wear a dress.

Lance Russell interviews JD Costello and the Mod Squad. Russell explains how if the Mod Squad lose then Costello will have a makeover at the parlor. Costello is annoyed about the stipulations he’s had to deal with. Costello says the fans have a misconception on who he is. He doesn’t wear makeup or spray his hair, but the two sissies do. He considers the Nightmares to by Boy George. There’s then a video promoting the parlor scene. One of the guys there isn’t sure what they could do to make Costello more attractive. They aren’t miracle workers. Costello wants to know who the geek was that said all that. Costello was going to pay off the parlor since he has $25 million dollars. Instead, they will go visit them in a few hours for a personal visit.

Third Contest: The Nightmares (Ken Wayne & Danny Davis) vs. AWA International Tag Team Champions Akio Sato & Tarzan Goto: Wayne and Sato kickoff the match with Wayne delivering a right hand. Sato misses a forearm drop and Davis gets tagged in. Sato hammers away on Davis but gets worked over in the corner moments later. Nightmares hit a double monkey flip and a head scissors to send the champs to the floor. The bell has sounded during the match as there’s been another issue in the crowd. Wait a minute, it’s actually Fire and Flame outside the arena destroying Jeff Jarrett and Pat Tanaka in the parking lot. Jarrett has been slammed onto the bed of a truck. The bed of the truck is slowly moving in the parking lot as Fire continues to hit Jarrett with a stick. Well, I enjoyed the parking lot stuff because it serves a purpose to give the feud more a reason to be happening.

Tojo, Sato and Goto are interviewed by Lance Russell. Tojo says whatever happened outside isn’t any of his business. Tojo doesn’t trust Jerry Jarrett and says as of today their friendship is over with. Tojo is going to draw blood from Jerry’s head. Tojo never turned his back on Jeff. Goto chimes in and thinks that the whole family is going to be needed at ringside.

Fourth Contest: Jerry Lawler & JT Southern vs. Keith Eric & Don Donovan: Southern hammers away on Eric at the start of the match. Lawler gets tagged and delivers a fist drop. Donovan tags in and gets backdropped by Lawler. Lawler leaps off the middle rope with a fist drop. Southern hits a top rope bulldog, due to the referee being distracted, and wins the match.

Randy Hales promotes the Evansville show. He interviews Joe LeDuc regarding his match with Bam-Bam Bigelow. LeDuc wants to talk about himself. LeDuc says its all coming to an end for Fire, Flame and Bigelow. He doesn’t care where they are from because he will fight the devil if he has to. LeDuc says that Bigelow doesn’t have him yet, no matter how young and strong he is.

Main Event: The Mod Squad, Memphis Vice (Jerry Bryant & Lou Winston) & Ron Sexton vs. Benny Trailer, Jerry Garmen & The Demolition Express (Charles Atlas, James Atlas & Rock Steady): Steady gets worked over by Winston to start the match and Basher tags in to hammer away on Steady before hitting a scoop slam. Spike delivers a leaping shoulder block and Bryant enters to hit a powerslam. Costello claims that he got rid of Fire and Flame because they were costing him money and they’d sleep in until noon everyday. Winston beats on Charles with a few strikes. Steady tags in and gets beaten up in the corner by everyone. Sexton gets a slam on Steady for a one count. Mod Squad drives Garmen down with a double gut buster for the win. We’ll it’s an expiration of time match, so there will be another fall.

There is two women in the crowd dressed like the Nightmares, which is annoying to JD Costello. Costello suggests that Lance Russell kill himself since he wouldn’t have that much to lose anyway. Sexton clotheslines Garmen for a two count. Steady tags in and keeps Spike on the mat for a few moments working on the left arm. Bryant tags in and gets slammed by James. Trailer dropkicks Bryant for a two count. Trailer gets dropped throat first over the top rope. Winston boots Trailer followed by a vertical suplex and elbow drop. Bryant drops Trailer with a clothesline and Winston tags in but Charles tags back in. Bryant tags back in and takes James down to the mat with a sleeper hold. Bryant scoop slams James and tags in Sexton. Basher drives Trailer down to the mat with a powerslam. Sexton drives his knee down onto Trailer from the middle rope for the win. (1/2*. I don’t think this needed to be so long, but it was likely just filling airtime. Costello did a good job promoting the tag match on commentary.)

Final Thoughts:
Another episode where nothing was really advanced nor anything overly exciting. I did like the parking lot attack by Fire and Flame. They continue to slowly buildup to a Bigelow/Lawler match, which should be taking place when Lawler is eventually the champion. Speaking of champion, Buddy Landell hasn’t been seen or talked about in a few weeks. I’ll assume his demons got in the way this time around.

Thanks for reading.