World Class Championship Wrestling TV 05/15/1982

Tonight, The Spoiler and Al Madril challenge American Tag Team Champions King Kong Bundy and Bugsy McGraw in the main event of the evening. A special presentation of Fritz Von Erich’s first match is also featured. Plus, the much-anticipated debut of H&H Limited’s newest weapon, the Magic Dragon!

WCCW TV

Date: 05/15/1982
From: Dallas, Texas

MATCHES

1. Mike Bond vs. “Captain” Frank Dusek

2. Magic Dragon vs. Ken Mantell

3. Wild Bill Irwin vs. Rick Harris

4. Jack Adkisson vs. Alex Bashere (clipped match, circa 1955)

5. Bugsy McGraw & King Kong Bundy vs. The Spoiler & Al Madril

BREAKDOWN & REVIEW

• Marc Lowrance welcomed us to the Sportatorium, ran down the card in a breakneck pace, and threw to commercial.
• Mike Bond vs. “Captain” Frank Dusek: This match was scheduled for one fall, ten minutes. Mike Bond was signing some autographs before the match, I wish they still did this! Bond one-upped Dusek for the first portion of the match, sending him to the floor to regroup. Dusek hit a nice couple of suplexes for a few near falls. We don’t see enough of these, almost making them high spots! Bond began to rally back, but “Captain” Frank was able to put him away with a wild DDT. Mike Bond’s selling was pretty all over the place here, but he gave Dusek a good match. These guys got a solid chunk of time, too. Solid, two-star effort.
• Marc Lowrance was standing ringside with Arman Hussein and who Hussein introduces as the Magic Dragon from Macau. Hussein says this Dragon has a heart that is blacker than coal and that’s all he has to say! Hmm. As if he didn’t know what else to say here… Kinda’ lame for a pre-match hype-up.
• Magic Dragon vs. Ken Mantell: This next match was also set for one fall, ten minutes for a limit. Hussein was ringside here for Magic Dragon, Gary Hart nowhere to be found, oddly. Dragon’s fighting stance and movements were comical, like Kabuki’s, just more over-the-top. He gave high-pitched screams with kicks and chops, catching Mantell off guard (me too). Ken Mantell tried to keep the man grounded with holds and throws, working on the arm for the most part. To close the match, Magic Dragon applied a grapevine with his legs around a supine Ken Mantell’s neck for a sleeper-type submission. Magic Dragon kept the hold on after the bell, forcing Hussein to break his man’s hold. This match also got some good time. Magic Dragon is really silly, nothing like the dangerous Great Kabuki. The finish was nice and came across as devastating, though. One star for this debut.
• Wild Bill Irwin vs. Rick Harris: After commercial, we were back for this one fall to a finish, scheduled ten-minute bout. The Texas Heavyweight Champion jumped his opponent before the bell. Irwin was one-hundred miles an hour, all over this guy. He jumped from the top rope to hit a diving axe handle on Harris to get the quick three-count! That went barely one minute (forty-three seconds to be exact). Well, that sucked. Either these guys just made TV for a slot, or Wild Bill had a hot date. Dud.
• Marc Lowrance was surrounded by H&H Limited members Arman Hussein, King Kong Bundy, and Bugsy McGraw. Hussein snapped and said the tag team championship was ROBBED from his men. Bundy added about the current champions that he was sick of skinny little weasels like Kerry Von Erich and Al Madril being able to call themselves professional wrestlers, let alone tag team champions. Bugsy then rambled, essentially saying that those thieves were not his reality. Hussein basically cut him off as the pre-taped promo ended. Really weird promo here and it is obvious to me that without Gary Hart and the Great Kabuki, this faction flounders quite a bit. Hussein hasn’t be able to really hold interest, Bundy rattles off basic, ‘big guy bad guy’ stuff, and Bugsy makes no sense. Either way, we can assume this team will again face Madril and Von Erich for the straps soon.
• Marc Lowrance was back at ringside to introduce a special showing of clips from Fritz Von Erich’s first-ever professional wrestling match.
• Jack Adkisson vs. Alex Bashere: Fritz was being called by his shoot name, to where a post-graphic clarified in text. Les Vox was apparently calling the action, based on another graphic given. Bashere kept Adkisson down with a reverse chinlock into a head scissors that referee was forced to break. Adkisson fired up and threw some stiff punches to Bashere. A knee lift sent Adkisson to the mat, followed up by a big scoop slam to put him away for good. What?! They show this match to spotlight Fritz and he loses… I can officially say this was the oldest match I have personally watched. Since it wasn’t presented in a full-match format, half of a star is the only thing that makes sense.
• Bugsy McGraw & King Kong Bundy vs. The Spoiler & Al Madril: This tag team main event was set for one fall with a forty-five minute time limit. Al Madril is over huge. Madril and Bugsy started things off, typical stalemates ensuing. Madril pounded Bugsy with a set of rapid fists, sending McGraw flying off the handle. The Spoiler tagged in and continued the work on McGraw. Things broke down as all four men ended up in the ring for a brief moment. Bundy was in and stayed one step behind The Spoiler in offense until he tagged back out. Bugsy regained control over The Spoiler, working holds and strikes. Bundy returned in the ring and continued the punishment. Madril got the hot tag and cleared house. Things broke back down as the heels took over and worked on Madril while The Spoiler roughed up Hussein on the apron. Bugsy McGraw pinned Madril after the attack. This wasn’t the best we’ve seen from any of these guys here, and really Al Madril and Bundy spent a lot of time on the apron compared to Bugsy and The Spoiler. Heels get the victory here, which makes sense given developments surround the titles. Still, nothing special for a one star here.
• Post-match, Marc Lowrance got the winners for an interview. Hussein said that H&H Limited are winners, and he will always be ringside to look after his investments. In a shocking twist, Bugsy McGraw grabbed the mic and cohesively said that the reality is that one-half of the tag team champions is laying the ring right now, beat. This was the best Bugsy McGraw has come off in a promo and it was literally a sentence. Difference here is when he said it, it seemed like he meant it. Heat-of-the-moment promos sometimes go a long way.
• Marc Lowrance closed the show with a run through of tonight’s winners. He promised us more action next week, including a Lumberjack match involving Kevin Von Erich!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Kind of a mixed bag of disappointments this week. The Magic Dragon from Macau was not very impressive, despite using a decent finishing hold. Wild Bill Irwin, the Texas Heavyweight Champion, got no time at all when matches like the first and second got extended times. Again, no Von Erichs, Kabuki, etc. All things considered, this week was skippable. With that said, at least we have a Lumberjack match to look forward to next week! I’ll take it!

See you all then!