Written by: Bob Colling
CWA TV
Date: 9/20/1986
From: Memphis, TN
Lance Russell and Dave Brown welcome everyone to the program. Jeff Jarrett and Pat Tanaka will challenge for the AWA Southern Tag Team Championships taking on Fire and Flame.
Opening Contest: AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lawler vs. Keith Roberson: Lawler wins this match in less than twenty-seconds. Roberson got a few right hands in and Lawler hit him with a right hand for the quick victory. After the match, Roberson attacks Lawler with more right hands. Lawler pulls his strap down and spikes Roberson with a piledriver.
Lance Russell promotes the Evansville show taking place on Wednesday. AWA Southern Tag Team Champions Fire and Flame defend against Jerry Lawler and Paul Diamond. Fire and Flame enter the scene saying when they beat Lawler nobody is going to be able to beat them. Fire wants Diamond to remember past challengers and how they aren’t around any longer. They are going to light up their life in Evansville.
Lance Russell talks about Larry Sharpe and his training camp where he finds these monster of men. It’s called the Monster Factory and we go to some video to see Man Mountain Link in action. Recently, Mountain battled Lawler and busted him wide open. Russell mentions that Link ate raw chicken at one point.
Second Contest: The Killer vs. Boss Winters: Kenny D hits Killer with a steel chair a few times and then Killer smashes himself with the chair. The crowd didn’t really know how to take that. Killer hits a powerslam and a leaping clothesline for the win. (1/4*. The crowd really didn’t know how to respond to Killer when he hit himself with a chair. The match was very clunky and awkward.)
Third Contest: The Giant Hillbilly & Cousin Junior vs. Red Demons: Junior starts the match and hammers away on one of the masked men. Hillbilly enters and uses his big gut to knock one of the guys down. Junior comes off the ropes and wins the match following a sit down splash. (1/4*. I’m not really liking this team of Hillbilly and Junior.)
Lance Russell promotes some shows coming up, which includes Evansville. Giant Hillbilly takes on Man Mountain Link. AWA International Tag Team Champions Sato and Goto defend against Jeff Jarrett and Pat Tanaka without a referee involved. Plus, AWA Southern Tag Team Champions Fire and Flame defend against Jerry Lawler and Paul Diamond.
Footage from last week is shown focusing on the Tracy Smothers attack by the MOD Squad and then we get a music video for Smothers. There’s also clips of Paul Diamond.
Fourth Contest: AWA Mid-American Champion Tracy Smothers & Paul Diamond vs. Rough & Ready: Smothers and Diamond work well together to keep control of the match. Smothers comes off the apron with a middle rope forearm drop. Diamond hits a monkey flip out of the corner and Smothers hits a standing dropkick. Smothers also hits a monkey flip to allow Diamond to deliver a running clothesline. Smothers holds Rough in the air and Diamond hit a middle rope dropkick for the win. (1/4*. Diamond doesn’t seem to flow very well. I found myself not very interested in this at all.)
Fifth Contest: AWA International Tag Team Champions Akio Sato & Tarzan Goto vs., Van Van Horne & William “The Bear” Thompson: Goto and Sato work over Horne early on. Goto continues to beat on Horne with stomps. Wasn’t Horne briefly part of a surfer team? That must have gotten dropped quickly. Thompson doesn’t get much momentum as Goto delivers a knee drop. Thompson continues to be beaten on the mat but kicks out at two. Horne dropkicks Goto into the corner but runs into a boot. Sato slams Horne and Goto holds Horne to allow a middle rope knee drop for the win. (1/4*. That was mostly harmless and just a quick match for the champs.)
Lance Russell promotes the Evansville card. Russell brings in Jerry Lawler and Paul Diamond for a promo on Fire and Flame, whom they are facing for the AWA Southern Tag Team Championships. Diamond says that he’ll always get involved when it is 4 on 2. Diamond will do all that he can to win the tag titles. Lawler talks about how easy it is to run your mouths and say how much you want to face the King. He says it will be harder to do it face to face. Lawler considers Diamond to be a young punk who can handle all three masked wrestlers. Lawler will make sure they have ten guys in their corner to make sure the other guys don’t cheat.
A music video promoting Jeff Jarrett and Pat Tanaka attacking Goto and Sato with kendo sticks is shown. I’m taking this as a way to promote the tag feud.
Main Event: AWA Southern Tag Team Champions Fire & Flame vs. Jeff Jarrett & Pat Tanaka: They are really trying to make Jarrett and Tanaka in heartthrobs. Jarrett dropkicks Fire to the floor and there’s a change without a tag. Flame is now involved in the match and Jarrett tries to explain to the referee what’s going on. Jarrett hits a powerslam on Flame and Tanaka delivers a strike from the apron. Fire slams Jarrett to the mat but Jarrett comes back with a hip toss. Jarrett scoop slams Fire a few times and the referee backs him off. Jarrett continues with a dropkick to send Fire rolling to the floor. Fire knee lifts Flame on the apron on accident as Jarrett moved out of the way. Fire takes Jarrett down to the mat to control the left arm. Tanaka tags in and chops Fire off the ropes. Akio Sato and Tarzan Goto enter the ring with wooden boards to attack Jarrett and Tanaka! Cousin Junior and Giant Hillbilly come out to make the save.
Jeff Jarrett gets a microphone and wants Tojo to bring whatever he has because he’s not scared of him. Jarrett proclaims that the war is far from being over.
The Giant Hillbilly, Cousin Junior, Pat Tanaka and Jeff Jarrett have remained in the ring with weapons. The match continues with Tanaka entering wildly throwing chop attempts on Flame, but misses. Flame drives Tanaka into the corner face first to keep control of the match. Torch is involved hitting a scoop slam on Tanaka. Tanaka is met with a double elbow strike. Fire hits a swinging neckbreaker on Tanaka. Tanaka is driven face first onto the announcers table. Tanaka gets in the ring and is worked over by Fire with a clothesline. Fire keeps control with a sleeper hold. Jarrett gets the tag but the referee wasn’t paying attention. Tanaka continues to be worked over by Flame. Jarrett enters and dropkicks Fire followed by right hands. Jarrett backdrops Fire and continues to hammer away on the champions. Flame takes Jarrett over with a gut wrench slam and a leg drop. Flame drives Jarrett down with a vertical suplex.
Jarrett fights off the champions on the floor with right hands. Goto has a wooden board, but the referee stops him. Jarrett was tossed over the top to the floor and appears to be bloodied, but the referee missed it. Tanaka gets met with an elbow from Flame. Tanaka tries to fight back with right hands but Fire delivers a strike from behind and almost gets a three count. Tanaka almost pins Flame with a sunset flip attempt. Tanaka is met with a backdrop by Fire and Flame. Fire scoop slams Tanaka with a scoop slams for a two count. It’s noted that time is running out and the bell sounds. So, Jarrett and Tanaka do not win titles since they won by disqualification. All four men begin to brawl in the ring for a moment. (*1/2. Prior to the match, I thought this was one of the bigger main events on television to this point in 1986. It was a decent match and the involvement of Goto and Sato made sense. However, it was a little repetitive considering they did a similar attack the other week. There wasn’t much excitement and I didn’t find myself thinking that Tanaka and Jarrett were going to walk out as the champions at any point.)
Final Thoughts:
The focus continues to be on the AWA International Tag Team Championship feud, but this week the developments were a little to repetitive for me. There doesn’t appear to be a major heel to challenge Lawler so that’s kind of hurting television, too.I’d rather see Kabuki get a program with Lawler.
Thanks for reading.