CWA TV 2/21/1987

Written by: Bob Colling

CWA TV
Date: 2/21/1987
From: Memphis, TN

Lance Russell and Dave Brown welcome everyone to the program. Brown rundowns what we’ll see on the show.

Pat Tanaka comes out to chat with Lance Russell. Tanaka couldn’t wait for the arena to get his hands on Boy Tony and asked Eddie Marlin for ten minutes this week with Boy Tony. Tanaka is confident that he’ll tear Tony to pieces.

Boy Tony and Bruno come out with Tony using crutches and claims he can’t wrestle. Bruno says that Tony was at the gym. Bruno talks about what Tony was doing for his workout. Tony was riding a bike at 70mph and then the chain broke. Thus, Tony has his ankle wrapped up. Bruno says they were going to show Tanaka what a real wrestler looks like but this was a freak accident. Tanaka thinks that the only gym that Bruno has ever seen is Jim Bean. They are obviously seeing up an attack here just by how Tanaka is positioning his body. Tony attacks Tanaka from behind with the crutch on the floor. Bruno and Tony shove an official away as they put a dress on Tanaka. Tony says this is nothing compared to the next time he’ll wrestle Tanaka. Billy Travis and Alan West come out to run the heels off.

Pat Tanaka is pissed that he’s got a dress on and he rips it off. Tanaka says that Tony has made him look like a fool for two weeks and promises to make him pay when he gets his hands on him in the ring.

Lance Russell talked with Jerry Lawler and Nick Bockwinkel to talk about Evansville and wrestling Austin Idol and Tommy Rich. This time around, the match will not be stopped because nothing was settled last week. Lawler feels weird standing next to Bockwinkel, but he respects him to be his partner. Lawler isn’t going to stop until he gets his revenge on Idol and Rich. Bockwinkel suggests that he’ll do some damage and he wants everyone to be there.

Downtown Bruno comes out with Goliath and Big Bubba and talks about how Jeff Jarrett and Billy Travis don’t deserve to be the tag champions. Bruno just wanted to beat Jarrett and Travis and not issue child abuse on them since they look like kids. Bruno thinks is bias with Eddie Marlin protecting the champions. Bruno is going to make them ugly, just like Lance Russell.

Opening Contest: Big Bubba & Goliath vs. Freezer Thompson & Ron Nations: This week Goliath and Big Bubba battle against two of the bigger enhancement guys that Memphis has to offer. Thompson gets a brief advantage on Bubba, but that doesn’t last long at all. It’s a rather slow pace match with Bubba and Goliath taking their sweet time issuing out pain. Goliath wins the match by pinning Nations with a big splash. (1/4*. That was just boring and didn’t need to go so long, at all.)

AWA International Champion Soul Train Jones makes his way out to be interviewed by Lance Russell. Alan West is out with Jones. Jones is always going to defend the title. He’s upset with what Idol and Rich did to his friend Lawler. Jones thinks that Lawler is going to be real mean to Idol and Rich. Alan West chimes in and says he’s been here for two weeks and there’s top of the line talent. West considers Rich and Idol to be scum on the earth.

Second Contest: AWA International Champion Soul Train Jones & Alan West vs. The Headhunters (Keith Roberson & Mike James): Jones works over Roberson early on with an awkward looking atomic drop in the early stages of the match. Jones dropkicks Roberson, which again was awkward looking. West comes off the middle rope to axe handle Roberson. West backdrops Roberson to maintain control of the match. Roberson goes to the floor after an arm drag into the ropes. James gets tagged in and gets control on West, but is stopped with an elbow strike and scoop slam by West. Jones pins James following a side Russian leg sweep. (1/2*. Jones is really awkward in the ring and tries to do things that he just isn’t talented enough to do. Alan West still comes across as someone that could get a push in a few months. I wouldn’t be surprised if his usage is increased over the next several weeks/months.)

Third Contest: AWA International Tag Team Champions Tarzan Goto & Shima vs. Jerry Garmen & Benny Trailer: Tojo beats on Garmen outside the ring, which the referee is apparently just ignoring. Shima savant kicks Garmen in the corner. Shima is just a new name for Sato. Goto delivers a standing spin kick. Goto and Shima have kept control for several minutes with strikes on Trailer. Goto drops Trailer on his head with a dangerous looking powerbomb, which looked liked a piledriver at first. (*. This went seven minutes and it had no reason to go this long. Goto and Shima are good wrestlers, but to give the match this amount of time is baffling.)

Austin Idol and Tommy Rich shared pre-tape comments on Jerry Lawler saying that he can’t hide behind anyone because he’s turned on everyone. Idol thinks Nick Bockwinkel is making a mistake if he’s going to trust Lawler. Jesus, they dismiss Lawler for sending “two block boys” to get the job done and Idol rolls his eyes there. That made me a little uncomfortable.

AWA Southern Tag Team Champions Jeff Jarrett and Billy Travis enter the area to cut a promo and that payback for Jerry Lawler is on the way. They promote their no disqualification match with Goliath and Big Bubba. Jarrett promises they aren’t going to lose the titles. Travis says they have worked hard to be champions and they will keep them.

Main Event: AWA Southern Tag Team Champions Jeff Jarrett & Billy Travis vs. The Grapplers: Downtown Bruno is freaking out on commentary thinking this was a title match, but it is not. Jarrett easily gets the pin following a dropkick. They have some time leftover and they do a second fall. Downtown Bruno thinks that Jerry Lawler and Nick Bockwinkel under the masks. Travis hits a middle rope elbow drop for the second win. (1/2*. Well, it got to a point where they were just filling some air time to close the show. I’m hoping that Jarrett and Travis will keep the titles as I’d prefer them to be champions than Bubba/Goliath.)

Final Thoughts:
I’m not a fan of the bait and switch with Tony/Tanaka, but they are doing that to add to their arena match. So, it makes sense, but also can piss off viewers who wanted to see the match on TV. A decent week of television for Memphis this week. Seems like the next arena show has some good hype on it and a couple big matches.

Thanks for reading.