World Class Championship Wrestling TV 01/09/1982
On this edition of World Class Championship Wrestling, Kerry Von Erich takes on The Great Kabuki in singles action. Plus, Arman Hussein and Tim Brooks battle Tom Shaft and José Lothario in the main event, Kevin Von Erich faces Carlos Zapata, and more!
WCCW TV*
Date: 01/09/1982
From: Dallas, Texas
Matches
1. Raul Castro vs. Captain Frank Dusek
2. Jesse Relampago Leon vs. “Wild” Bill Irwin
3. The Great Kabuki vs. Kerry Von Erich
4. Carlos Zapata vs. Kevin Von Erich
5. “Killer” Tim Books & Arman Hussein vs. Tom “Boogaloo” Shaft & José Lothario
*BROADCAST NOTE
This playback copy has been presented in the most complete form possible, due to original production technical difficulties, reported by the WWE Network as of 04/17/2020. All Rights Reserved.
BREAKDOWN & REVIEW
- Gene Goodson welcomed us to the program and introduced us to his guest commentating expert for tonight, Fritz Von Erich! Gene ran down the card and briefly mentioned what Kabuki did to Fritz recently, misting him in the eyes and causing temporary blindness!
- Raul Castro versus Captain Frank Dusek: Castro and Dusek were schedule for a ten minute singles match up here. Dusek was not in good shape and I was not expecting Castro to be a masked wrestler! Some basic tosses, takedowns, and armbars started us off here. Castro stayed in control for a short time, with this one definitely designed to be a squash for Dusek. Dusek hit a stiff DDT, poorly-timed and all, to capture the three count. For a dud of a match, I’ll give this one half a of star.
- Gene was then joined by José Lothario for an interview. Lothario said he was glad to be back competing in WCCW tonight. He introduced his “good friend”, Big Daddy Bundy, claiming he was bigger and better than André the Giant. Bundy thanked Lothario, the Von Erichs, and his fans for all his success in pro wrestling thus far. He also said that currently, he was making more money than he had in his entire life and was ready for whatever came along his way in WCCW. They were reallying trying to get this Bundy-versus-André thing over, weren’t they? It feels like WCCW may be trying to pop the territory by perhaps trying to lure André to come down for a match against Big Daddy Bundy.
- Jesse Relampago Leon versus “Wild” Bill Irwin: Irwin and Leon were scheduled for a ten minute singles bout here tonight. A rough lockup started us off, with strikes and some quick offense thrown out by Leon. Irwin quickly took a commanding lead over Leon with some heavy strikes to shut him down. Irwin hit a second-rope, elbow-drop-body-splash thingy. Not great. Again, I’d say this was another dud, half of a star at best.
- Gene brought in Gary Hart for an interview next. Hart introduced and put over The Great Kabuki as the greatest athlete in the sport today. He continued with a dig at Shaft, saying that tough man competitions didn’t matter, that Kakubi was a master of all the martial arts. Being from Singapore and now here in Texas, nobody has a pin over professional wrestling’s boogeyman! He closed with a warning of, “If the green mist misses you the first time, it may not the second!” Gary Hart killed it here, only further enhancing the mystique of Kabuki!
- The Great Kabuki versus Kerry Von Erich: Kerry and Kabuki were ready to square off in a fifteen minute singles match here tonight. Kabuki taunted with the mist and Kerry stayed at a safe distance. Kerry worked over Kabuki’s legs first, stayed on him with a solid dropkick, and ended his flurry with a bearhug. Kabuki recovered and hit some quick body and throat kicks, a few chops in the corner, and ended with his own shoulder clutch submission. The crowd started to get pretty loud when Kerry caught Kabuki in a sleeper hold, but he was forced to break the hold quick due to a rope break. We went into some back-and-forth offense from both men who stayed on their feet despite some heavy shots. As soon as Kerry started to get back on a roll, he was able to get The Claw applied to Kabuki’s stomach while he stood perched on the top rope. Kerry kept it on and was nearing victory when Gary Hart grabbed his leg and caused a breakup of The Claw. Fritz got heated and left the commentary booth to correct some injustice at ringside. He pushed Hart away and found himself in a confrontation with Kakubi. The two needed to be pulled apart and the officials called for the bell on a count of disqualification. I’d say that was probably their best bet for a finish there, so both guys stay strong. Neither guy couldn’t have afforded a loss here. Solid match, good storytelling, and a finish that protected both guys earns this one a well-earned two stars!
- Carlos Zapata versus Kevin Von Erich: Von Erich and Zapata were set for their ten minute exhibition match tonight. Fritz didn’t return to commentary for this one, as noted by Gene. Both men played things pretty safe in the beginning, testing each other out. Kevin came out just slightly on top, with a cloverleaf-like leg submission being applied to Zapata early on. Out of nowhere, Kevin got a quick body scissor submission victory! This was a nice little squash match for Kevin Von Erich, worthy of a full star!
- “Killer” Tim Brooks & Armand Hussein versus Tom “Boogaloo” Shaft & José Lothario: These teams were set up to square off as long as television time allowed! Huessein and “Boogaloo” Shaft started things off with some jockeying for position. Shaft took over with a wrist lock that kept Hussein on his knees. Lothario tagged in to continue the arm work Shaft had started. Tim Books got in next and nailed a LOUD body chop that staggered Lothario and made the crowd audibly wince. Lothario took back over and Hussein was in next, who didn’t fare much better. Shaft picked up where Lothario left off to work on the heels. We ended up with all four men in, seeing the faces getting the better of the heels. Order was restored with Brooks and Shaft continuing their battle. A ‘one-minute remaining’ announcement was made over the arena speakers and Lothario tagged back in and fought both men off. All four men were again back in ring and we reached our time limit, resulting in this match ending in a draw. The heels raised their own hands as the crowd demanded five more minutes… Which they didn’t get! This one was kind of a mess with no real format or purpose, so it gets a dud rating from me!
- Gene closed out the episode by putting over the mysterious Kabuki and his epic battle with the Von Erichs this week! He promised us another great night of action next week, same time, same place. Though, no match-ups were given. This differed from last week’s closing comments.
Final Thoughts
The Great Kabuki and Kerry Von Erich had a solid match this week! It definitely lived up to the hype and I really look forward to the Von Erichs continuing their battle with Kabuki and Hart in the coming weeks. Besides that, nothing else was worth much of a watch this week, unfortunately. Hopefully, the coming week of exciting action that Gene promised us is what we can expect next time… We’ll see!
See you all then!
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Austin Skinner View All
I'm a twenty-seven year old lover of the professional wrestling of yesteryear, writer extraordinaire, and bigtime James Bond film/novel enthusiast... Welcome to the party, my dear.
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