CWA TV 9/13/1986

Written by: Bob Colling

CWA TV
Date: 9/13/1986
From: Memphis, TN

Lance Russell and Dave Brown welcome everyone to the program and they highlight what will be seen this week. We were supposed to have a Mid-American Championship match, but Tracy Smothers hasn’t been cleared due to Great Kabuki spitting mist into his eyes.

Jerry Lawler doing a discount furniture commercial is shown. Well, it’s apparently his store. Lawler’s discount furniture store.

Lance Russell talks about the recent Texas Death Match between Bam-Bam Bigelow and Jerry Lawler for the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship. Russell says the video tape is coming from someone who was there watching the show and the video quality isn’t the greatest. We see footage of the ending which saw Larry Sharpe accidentally hit Bigelow with a chain. Bigelow struggled getting to his feet and fell down a few times. The chain shot kept Bigelow on the mat and Lawler was able to get to his feet to win the match and title. After the match, Sharpe shoved Bigelow and slapped him in the corner a few times. That naturally fired up Bigelow who decked Sharpe and then chased him backstage. Russell says Sharpe and Bigelow are on the outs.

Back to the arena, Tojo, Akio Sato, Tarzan Goto and Kabuki are cutting a promo joined in progress. Tojo says that he is going to take Austin Idol out forever and kill him.

Opening Contest: The Great Kabuki vs. David Haskins: This is the in-ring debut for Kabuki on television, according to Lance Russell. Kabuki spits some mist onto his hands and works over Haskins with chops in the corner. Kabuki drops Haskins with a kick to the chest. Kabuki beats on Haskins with several strikes, but Haskins fights back with right hands only to run into a boot in the corner. Kabuki wins the match following a falling right hand to the chest. (1/2*. I actually found myself intrigued by Kabuki and his look. It should be interesting to see what they do with Kabuki.) After the match, Kabuki continues to beat on Haskins with strikes. Jim Jamison tried to get in the ring to help and was beaten up for doing so. Mike Murphy tries to help and is met with a savant kick. Tojo enters with his kendo stick and beats on Haskins. Jerry Lawler comes into the ring and makes the save. I honestly could buy into a Kabuki/Lawler match.

Lance Russell promotes the Evansville show. Giant Hillbilly, Cousin Junior and Tommy Rich will be taking on Fire, Flame and Torch in a six man tag match. They say they are going to take them out, but it was kinda hard to hear with some music playing. Jeff Jarrett, Pat Tanaka and a masked Jerry Jarrett enter the scene. Jerry is going to be a special referee, but he has a mask on and they are playing him off as being a mystery referee. Jerry Lawler chimes in and says he will be teaming with Bam-Bam Bigelow and it’s better to be on the same side as Bigelow. Bigelow comes over and says there is going to be a slaughter for Sharpe. The apple will be put his mouth!

A music video promoting Jerry Lawler is shown.

Second Contest: AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lawler vs. Mod Squad Basher: Lawler doesn’t come out with the championship. Basher tries to toss Lawler out of the corner, but Lawler counters with a hip toss of his own. Lawler and Basher run the ropes with Lawler stopping and making Basher look like a dope by continuing to run the ropes before stopping. JD Costello gets on the apron to council Basher. Basher beats on Lawler with strikes to beat down the champion. Lawler sends Basher shoulder first into the ring post. They get back into the ring where Lawler blocks a kick and delivers a strike on the mat. Basher blocks a boot attempt but Lawler uses his free leg to knock Basher down to the mat. Lawler runs the ropes again and slides to the floor to chase Costello, who slides into the ring quickly. Lawler has JD’s rulebook and begins to read the book. The referee tries to take the book away and successfully does. Basher beats on Lawler in the corner followed by a back elbow strike. Lawler lowers his strap and hammers away on Basher on the canvas. JD Costello tries to get into the ring but Lawler hits a middle rope fist drop. Costello is able to get in the ring and attacks Lawler to cause a disqualification. After the match, Spike comes out but he gets knocked out and Costello escapes to the floor. (*. There wasn’t much going on here and it felt like they were just filling time before the aftermath. Also, clearly MOD Squad was not turning face, which might have been the case considering their TV feud with Fire and Flame.)

Lance Russell promotes the Evansville card. The Wrestling Bear is wrestling Tojo Yamamoto. Mad Mountain Link and Larry Sharpe take on Jerry Lawler and Bam-Bam Bigelow.

Jerry Lawler recently sat down with Jeff Jarrett and Pat Tanaka and asks what they like most about wrestling. In a weird editing choice, they cut right to a music video to put the tag team over. Jarrett says that wrestling is a lot of fun and they spend some time working out and hanging out with girls. There’s footage of the duo shopping as if they are best friends. Tanaka says they enjoy meeting all the fans. Jarrett says his favorite thing about wrestling is how the fans are always behind them and give them support.

Third Contest: Memphis Vice (Jerry Bryant & Lou Winston) vs. Jeff Jarrett & Pat Tanaka: Jarrett and Bryant kick off the match. Jarrett has new ring gear as he’s wearing purple pant tights. Jarrett dropkicks Bryant and Winston to keep control of the match. Jarrett backdrops Bryant followed by a scoop slam for a two count. Jarrett dropkicks both men again to send them to the floor. Bryant gets control with a strike and a headlock. Winston delivers a shot from the apron to drop Jarrett. Bryant gets a two count on Jarrett. Winston enters and takes Jarrett over with a snap suplex and an elbow drop. Bryant decks Jarrett with a forearm shot. Bryant scoop slams Jarrett and continues to deliver strikes. Winston hammers away on Jarrett with right hands. Jarrett comes off the ropes to boot Bryant and nearly wins. Tanaka gets the hot tag and he cleans house with strikes and kicks. All four men are in the ring brawling. Sato, Goto and Tojo come out and the champions enter the ring to attack Jarrett and Tanaka with help from Memphis Vice. Tojo gets in the ring and beats on Jarrett with his kendo stick. Tojo whacks Tanaka over the head with the stick and Tanaka has been busted open. Jarrett has been busted open as well. The beating has been going on for several minutes. Jerry Jarrett enters the ring and cleans house to save his son. Well, that is until Tojo whacks Jerry with the kendo stick! Jerry Lawler runs out and makes the save with strikes. Jerry hits Tojo with the kendo stick several times. The faces have recovered and the heels bail to the floor. (*1/2. The aftermath was much needed to keep interest in this lengthy feud. Jerry’s involvement certainly adds to the drama of the feud and the intensity. I’m hoping after this week the feud concludes.)

Lance Russell has a video regarding the AWA Mid-American Champion Tracy Smothers. Well, it’s actually just a music video.

AWA Mid-American Champion Tracy Smothers comes out and is wearing a blindfold. Smothers doesn’t know what Kabuki has with that mist, but it’s impacted his sight in one eye. Smothers should be ready to compete next week. Smothers hopes he doesn’t lose his eye. JD Costello comes over and says that he’s angry with Smothers for not defending against Spike. Costello believes there’s nothing wrong with Smothers eye. They are the nasty boys at the end of the street. Spike thinks that Smothers has a yellow streak on his back. Spike proceeds to deck Smothers and Basher gets a shot in as well. Smothers tackles Basher and tries to defend himself. Smothers had another bandage on his injured eye and is held back by Paul Diamond. Smothers says he’s a man now and this will not happen to him.

Eddie Marlin comes out and says that Tracy Smothers threatened to leave the area if he didn’t get a shot at the Mod Squad. Thus, Smothers will team with Paul Diamond to take on the Mod Squad.

Lance Russell promotes the Evansville show. Fire, Flame and Torch enter the scene to be interviewed. Fire says they have defended the titles against all challengers and they are going to lite up Tommy Rich. Tojo, Sato and Goto enter the scene and Tojo says that he knows who is under the mask. He can tell it is Jerry Jarrett because he can see his lump on his head. He threatens Jerry to not screw them out of the titles. Larry Sharpe says this will be the final match for Lawler and Bigelow. Sharpe says he was the brains behind Bigelow. He has two watches to show that Lawler and Bigelow are running out of time. Sharpe assures us that Link will take out Lawler.

Main Event: AWA International Tag Team Champions Akio Sato & Tarzan Goto vs. Mike Jackson & William “The Bear” Thompson: Sato keeps control of Thompson early on before tagging in Goto. Pat Tanaka and Jeff Jarrett enter the ring with boards and attack the champions and Tojo. They beat on the champions with the wooden boards several times on the floor. (1/4*. The attack by Jarrett and Tanaka wasn’t a surprise at all and continues their feud, which has gotten more heated.)

Final Thoughts:
A solid episode this week as the action was consistent and the matches kept my interest throughout. The main focus here was the feud focused on was the AWA International Tag Team feud and it worked for me. The added touch of violence has helped my interest in that feud, which had been dragging on prior. I’m not sure if I like Bigelow aligning with Lawler, but he seems to have ran his course as a top heel for CWA. The Tracy Smothers segment was effective and I’m liking the focus that he’s getting on television.

Thanks for reading.