On this edition of World Class Championship Wrestling, The Spoiler takes to the ring to go one-on-one with Wild Bill Irwin in the main event. Plus, The Great Kabuki in action, Kerry Von Erich takes on Carlos Zapata in singles competition, and much more!
WCCW TV
Date: 04/03/1982
From: Dallas, Texas
MATCHES
1. Al Madril vs. Blackie Gordman
2. The Great Kabuki vs. Tom “Boogaloo” Shaft
3. Kerry Von Erich vs. Carlos Zapata
4. Wild Bill Irwin vs. The Spoiler
BREAKDOWN & REVIEW
- Marc Lowrance opened the show and was again standing in for Gene Goodson this week. I’m not sure Gene will be back at this point. Alongside Lowrance this week, was Captain Frank Dusek, who will be a guest at the commentary table tonight. He made it clear that he was STILL the manager of the Texas Heavyweight Champion and everything is all good between the two.
- Al Madril vs. Blackie Gordman: These guys were ready to open the card in a singles match with a ten minute time limit. Gordman got NO reaction when announced, which I thought was funny. Al is pretty over, so I assume this one will be quick. We saw some basic arm working and a stalemate or two to start this one off, Dusek putting over both guys athleticism. We went into a lot of stalling as Marc let us know that we’d be getting some recap footage of Kerry Von Erich challenging Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. We traded wrist locks in the ring for what was shaping up to be a dud. Madril went to work on the leg of Gordman, causing him to bail to the floor. More stalling and strikes kept this match at a snail’s pace, with the official ignoring a blatant punch to the groin at one point! We got a sixty-second warning and I can’t believe we were going to get a time limit draw between these two here! Madril should have had this one in the bag easy, due to his overness in this territory. After being declared a time limit draw, Madril got on the mic and asked for five more minutes. Gordman would head to the back, ignoring the challenge. Straight up boring with no clear-cut win for Madril? That’s a dud from me, friends…
- Bugsy McGraw was standing by with Marc Lowrance to get his stuff in on a quick promo about being the Brass Knuckles Champion, no other title meaning anything close to his! He’s willing to get crude, rude, dirty, and nasty to win. McGraw talks about how as a child he demanded he get a pony from his father, who said no, so he broke his arm. He always gets what he wants and he’s here to stay. Lowrance always looks like he’s on the verge of laughter when this guy opens his mouth. McGraw at least continues to show some colorfulness on the mic, if nothing else!
- The Great Kabuki vs. Tom “Boogaloo” Shaft: These two top competitors were set to meet in a singles match with a ten minute time limit. H&H Limited is now made up of Gary Hart, Great Kabuki, King Kong Bundy, and Armand Hussein. I’m cool with that stable of heels! Hussein and the official exchanged heated words, delaying the start of this one. I like Shaft and Kabuki, so I was looking forward to this one. Shaft started with some basic strikes on Kabuki, Kabuki sporting a broken hand at the hands of Kerry Von Erich at the most recent WCCW Star Wars events. Shaft worked on the injured hand but Kabuki was able to fire back with some good kicks. Shaft mangled Kabuki’s injured hand and nailed him with a solid headbutt. We’ve never seen Kabuki worked over like this before! Hussein came up to the apron as Hart passed Kabuki his nunchucks. Kabuki nailed Shaft with them and got the three count once the official turned around to get the count. Hussein came in to the ring to work over shaft after the bell and Hart consoled Kabuki and his injured hand. I was kind of bummed Kabuki need a screwed finish here, but it made sense with the context of the bigger story. I’ll throw it a full star!
- Kerry Von Erich vs. Carlos Zapata: Tonight, these two were set to lock horns in a singles match with a ten minute time limit. I’m a sucker for both of these guys but didn’t expect Zapata to last too long in this one, though. Kerry has cut his hair rather short, which was weird. Dusek put Kerry over as the best contender going today, if only he’d listen to him. Kerry was working quick, yet sloppy. These two weren’t quite meshing. Kerry landed a few solid dropkicks, causing Zapata to bail to the floor and catch his breath. Zapata rallied with some heelish strikes but Kerry scored a surprise discuss punch for a three count! A solid match for these two, another full star match here tonight.
- We got a recap of a few weeks ago when Ric Flair was in Texas and Kerry Von Erich challenged Flair for a future match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship prior to his match with Richard Blood on the 03/13 episode of WCCW TV. The full breakdown of this segment can be read here.
- Wild Bill Irwin vs. The Spoiler: We joined this match already underway after the commercial break. Both men were on the outside, swinging chairs at one another. This one was set for a ten minute singles match or TV time remaining. They ended up back in the ring, with the Texas Heavyweight Champion getting the better of the masked man with some heavy strikes. The Spoiler applied an Iron Claw, which was weird for a non-Von Erich to be using during a match. Irwin slid under the bottom rope to the outside to break the claw grip. We were down to a minute left within the time limit and the bell rang with Spoiler having the Claw locked on. The bell continued to ring as Irwin worked on the mask of The Spoiler before the two again began to trade strikes. Another draw here tonight, which sucks. However, for an all-out brawl, I guess that’s fine. Only a one-star battle for me in this main event.
- Marc Lowrance and Captain Frank Dusek closed the show for us here, Dusek ended up saying he’d love to be invited back to do some commentary in the future. He was tolerable, so I’d be okay with it.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Well, a pretty underwhelming week of action this time around. A lot of stalling plagued the show tonight with Al Madril feeling like he was mailing this one in and Kabuki being injured for the duration of his match. McGraw continues to get the rub here, so I expect him to be in some higher profile matches moving forward. All things considered, a lower-tiered show this week for sure. Hopefully, we’ll return to the upswing by next week.
See you all then!