CWA TV 9/27/1986

Written by: Bob Colling

CWA TV
Date: 9/27/1986
From: Memphis, TN

Lance Russell and Dave Brown welcome everyone to the program. They rundown the show which will feature AWA Mid-American Champion Tracy Smothers defending against The Ninja.

Tojo Yamamoto shared pre-tape comments and says he wants the whole world to know that Jerry Jarrett is a punk. He wants to wrestle Jerry Jarrett but he can’t because of Jerry’s bad eye. Tojo knows that Jerry can see. Tojo says he’s going to get Jerry and calls him a no good punk several times.

We see footage again of the Mod Squad attacking Tracy Smothers a couple weeks ago and that leads to a music video to promote Smothers and Paul Diamond.

Opening Contest: AWA Mid-American Champion Tracy Smothers vs. The Ninja: Ninja delivers a sidekick and drops Smothers with a few strikes to the mat. Smothers ducks a strike and scoop slams Ninja a couple times. Ninja delivers another kick and drops Smothers with another strike. Smothers fights back with a dropkick. There is some awful editing going on during this match. Smothers forearms Ninja several times. Ninja dumps Smothers to the floor and Tojo hits Tracy with the kendo stick a few times. Ninja hammers away on Smothers with strikes against the ropes and Smothers has been busted open. Ninja covers Smothers and gets a three count, but Smothers for sure kicked out after the chop. They quickly get away from the match. (1/4*. Well, that means there’s a new champion and Smothers for sure kicked out of the pin. That was a weird outcome as this was likely supposed to be something to give Smothers more momentum.)

Somebody who isn’t Lance Russell promotes the Evansville show coming up. Fire & Flame take on Jerry Lawler & Tommy Rich in a mask vs. hair match. Tojo Yamamoto take on Jerry Jarrett, as well. Tracy Smothers cuts a promo saying the belt was stolen from him and he’s going to get his revenge. Jerry Lawler enters the scene and says he has too much to gain and that’s why he put his hair on the line again. Lawler has Tommy Rich coming in and neither of them are going to lose their hair in Evansville.

Jerry Lawler comes out and talks to Lance Russell. Lawler doesn’t think the outcome for the previous match was the right decision. Lawler thinks that Smothers got screwed over. He wants to talk about the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship back around his waist. Lawler says that he got a telegram from CWA saying that he can’t hold two titles at a time. Thus, he decided to vacate the AWA International Championship. He wants a shot at the NWA World Championship and doesn’t like the traveling that the AWA International Championship entails. Lawler notes he’l be wrestling one of the masked men known as Fire, Flame or Torch. He’s going to get them unmasked one way or another.

Second Contest: AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lawler vs. Torch: Torch works over Lawler in the corner with a right hand. Lawler takes Torch down with a rollup and gets a quick victory. Well, now Flame wants a piece of Lawler. Lawler agrees to a match.

Third Contest: AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lawler vs. Flame: Flame hammers away on Lawler and delivers a clothesline to drop the champion. Flame punches Lawler in the midsection and delivers a knee lift for a two count. Lawler tricks Flame into thinking he won the match by patting him on the back and wins the match with a rollup. Fire comes out and decides to wrestle and if he loses then they will all take their masks off.

Fourth Contest: AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lawler vs. Fire: Fire stomps away on Lawler and continues with a backdrop followed by a standing knee drop for a two count. Fire delivers a standing senton splash for a two count. Lawler continues to kick out of pin attempts. Fire nearly wins following a swinging neckbreaker. Fire misses a falling headbutt and Lawler hammers away on Fire. Lawler dropkicks Fire and delivers a fist drop. Lawler gets distracted along with the referee and Fire tosses flour into Lawler’s eyes to get the cheap win. (*. I was worried that all three masked men were going to lose and it would have damaged them to lose in such quick manner. Luckily, Fire prevails here and appears to be the top guy of the group.)

Lance Russell brings out Tojo Yamamoto, Akio Sato and Tarzan Goto. Tojo says that they are not sneaky. Tojo says that they are imperial. Tojo threatens to paint Jeff Jarrett’s back yellow because he’s a coward. He’ll whip Jerry with a belt and paint his back as well.

Fifth Contest: AWA International Tag Team Champions Akio Sato & Tarzan Goto vs. Jim Jamison & David Johnson: Goto works over Jamison early on with several strikes. Pat Tanaka and Jeff Jarret come out to ringside. Jarrett dumps yellow paint onto Tojo! That’s hilarious. That leads to a brawl between the two tag teams. Tanaka gets hit with the paint can and Jarrett is double teamed. Tojo whacks Jarrett a few times in the midsection with his kendo stick and belt as Goto holds Jarrett open for the shots. Tojo continues to deliver several strikes over Jarrett’s back. Tanaka has been knocked out from the paint can shot. Jarrett is essentially out on his feet at this point. Eddie Marlin gets stopped by Sato on the floor and is held and beaten by Goto! They eventually leave and Marlin checks on Jarrett. There wasn’t a finish to the match, but again that was a good aftermath.

Eddie Marlin wants Tojo Yamamoto to come out here and fight him and he enters the ring. Marlin has threatened to fire Tojo. Marlin has taken his shirt off and wants the referee to make the ten count. If Tojo doesn’t come out then he’s fired. Marlin leaves the ring pulls away from Lance Russell and storms off backstage. Tojo Yamamoto comes back out and puts his hands on Russell. Russell tells Tojo he’s about to get himself sued. Tojo gets into the ring and Marlin enters. Tojo tosses salt into his eyes and beats on him on the canvas. Tojo has busted Marlin wide open as he continues to deliver overhand strikes. Eventually, Jarrett and Tanaka make the save with steel chairs to run off Tojo. Russell tells Tojo that he’s trash and a disgrace to his people. Russell tells Tojo he’ll sue him and get him in trouble in court if he puts his hands on him. Tojo proceeds to backoff and heads backstage.

Jerry Lawler was originally supposed to compete in the next match, but he’s been replaced by Jim Jamison due to the attack from earlier. Memphis Vice take this as Lawler being afraid of them. Randy Hales comes over and says that Lawler left the arena.

Sixth Contest: The Memphis Vice (Lou Winston & Jerry Bryant) vs. Jim Jamison & David Haskins: Haskins comes off the ropes and delivers a sloppy looking dropkick as Bryant ducked down for a backdrop and it looked awkward. Winston gets tagged in but is met with an arm drag. Bryant gets back into the match and beats on Haskins with strikes and a scoop slam. Bryant continues with a Samoan Drop. Haskins tries to fight back with right hands. Jamison gets the tag and Bryant is able to drive Jamison down to the mat with a back suplex. Bryant drives Jamison down with a backbreaker. Winston kicks Jamison twice to drop him to the canvas followed by a snap suplex. Bryant delivers a running clothesline and manages to win the match pinning Jamison. (1/2*. There was a few sloppy moments, but Jamison did a good job of making Memphis Vice look good and stronger. I’m still hoping that Memphis Vice gets some kind of push.)

Lance Russell says that Tojo Yamamoto could probably kill him, but he calls out Tojo and he has a hammer in his hand! Russell has a message from Jerry Jarrett. Tojo has a kendo stick and Russell says he’ll smash Tojo right in the face with his one shot. Russell calls Tojo trash and an embarrassment to his people. Russell told Jerry Jarrett what happened and Jerry said to sign the match. Tojo promises to beat Jerry up.

The Evansville card is promoted by someone that I don’t know. Fire and Flame enter the scene to be interviewed regarding their match with Lawler and Rich. Fire says that the stipulation is hard to overcome for them. Fire says they have been thinking about who’s hair they will cut. Tojo comes in and calls Tracy Smothers a sissy champion and Ninja will hold the Mid-American Championship for a long time. Tojo says that Jerry Jarrett must come out of the closet and fight him now.

Main Event: AWA Southern Tag Team Champions Fire & Flame vs. Mike Murphy & William “The Bear” Thompson: Fire takes Thompson down with a nice belly to belly suplex and Flame delivers a knee lift to keep control of the contest. Fire and Flame are both in the in the ring and they’re beating on their opponents. Jerry Lawler comes into the ring and tosses flour into their eyes! Lawler beats on Fire, Flame and Torch! Lawler then leaves the ring leaving the trop blinded in the ring.

Final Thoughts:
The continued focus on the AWA International Tag Team Championship feud was done nicely, and I’m surprised they weren’t promoted to be wrestling on the next big show. So, it continues to drag along. I shouldn’t say it has been bad or anything, but I’d like to see Jarrett and Tanaka involved in something else at this point. This week was a solid episode that featured a possibly accidental title change and some good focus on top feuds.

Thanks for reading.