On this edition of World Class Championship Wrestling, the NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion, Ric Flair, takes on Al Madril in a huge main event! José Lothario finally gets his wish when Blue Demon reaches Dallas to team with him and challenge The Great Kabuki and Magic Dragon in tag action! Plus, the devastating Superfly meets Sal Olivares in singles action, Kevin Von Erich squares off with “Captain” Frank Dusek, and much more!
WCCW TV*
Date: 08/14/1982
From: Dallas, Texas
MATCHES
1. Sal Olivares vs. The Superfly
2. Blue Demon & José Lothario vs. The Great Kabuki & Magic Dragon
3. Kevin Von Erich vs. “Captain” Frank Dusek
4. Ric Flair vs. Al Madril
*BROADCAST NOTE
This playback copy has been presented in the most complete form possible, due to original production technical difficulties, reported by Peacock of 11/14/2023. All Rights Reserved.
BREAKDOWN & REVIEW
- Bill Mercer welcomed us to the World Class Sportatorium and was joined by Kevin Von Erich. Again, no sign of Jay Saldi here. Bill spoke about the main event with Kevin who said it was a treat for the fans to see such a high profile matchup.
- Sal Olivares vs. The Superfly: This match was set for one fall with a ten minute time limit. Apparently, Bill told us The Superfly had lost about seventy-five pounds during his stint in Mexico. I don’t think I could tell quite that drastically… Nonetheless, we got right into this one with Superfly taking it to Olivares. Bugsy McGraw airplaned his way to ringside pretty early on here. Two water balloons hit Arman Hussein and one landed on the chin of The Superfly. Regardless, Superfly came off the top with a single leg stop and a sort of Octopus submission hold, forcing Olivares to submit. After the match, Superfly put the boots to Olivares for good measure. Odd to have Bugsy even come out to do this to pretty much only pop the live crowd, because he had no effect on the match in the ring. A run-of-the-mill squash here, although I will say I felt Superfly did move a little quicker.
- At ringside, Bill Mercer met Arman Hussein and The Superfly for a post match interview. He started by asking Arman about Bugsy. He said he is getting into something he can’t handle. He said McGraw was walking on thin ice, and he means VERY thin. I kind of like that Arman was brushing Bugsy off here. His antics are getting tired and it is starting to feel like the only “surprises” he is able to provide entertain the six-year-old crowd members in the Sportatorium.
- Blue Demon & José Lothario vs. The Great Kabuki & Magic Dragon: This special challenge match was set for one fall, also having a ten minute time limit. Kabuki and Blue Demon started things off here, two legends from different countries! The two tested each other’s technical skills, neither man getting a large advantage. Lothario and Dragon were in next, Lothario being all business and once he cooled off, the heels worked him over for a few minutes. Eventually, the match broke down and the officials called for the bell declaring a double-disqualification. José Lothario was definitely the workhorse of the match here. He and Blue Demon made a good team. I would’ve liked to have seen a few more minutes of this one and some sort of finish!
- After match, Bill Mercer was with José Lothario at ringside. Lothario was unsatisfied, and still demanded a taped fist match against The Great Kabuki. He said that if Dragon hadn’t been there for Kabuki tonight, he would have hurt him real bad.
- Kevin Von Erich vs. “Captain” Frank Dusek: We got no announcements for this match, so I’d assume this was one was one fall with a ten minute limit. Some sportsmanship was displayed on the part of both men as a stalemate ended in a respectful handshake, surprising that Dusek obliged. A couple of miscues ended up with both men fumbling to the mat in a cluster-turned-pin-attempt. After some brief strike exchanges, this one finished up quickly with a hurricanrana pinning combo from Kevin Von Erich. After the match, Kevin offered a handshake to which Dusek again accepted! I don’t know exactly what it was, but these two just didn’t seem to mesh. Plus, I don’t like all the hand shaking between heels and faces!
- Back from commercial, Al Madril was standing by with Bill Mercer at ringside. Al was willing to go on record and call Ric Flair the greatest wrestler alive. Any time someone can get in the ring with a World Champion, it is great. He wants to move up and prove to Ric Flair and the people that he is worthy of moving up! Madril is just a legit babyface, badass dude. I always find myself surprised that I enjoy his stuff, as usually, I like the complete opposite. He is just believable, likeable, consistent, and really deserves this shine here tonight to challenge Flair.
- Ric Flair vs. Al Madril: This main event was set for one fall with a ten minute time limit. Ric sold his ass off for Madril early on. Al was all over Ric, enough to force him to bail to the floor to catch a breather. We saw a flurry of momentum shifts that had the crowd going nuts for Al Madril. Flair started a commanding pace, as he dropped a knee drop and followed up with a deep abdominal stretch. We went into the two minute warning and Flair turned up the heat. With a minute left, Al swung the momentum again, threw him off the top rope, and locked in a rough Figure Four leglock on. The time limit was reached and the bell rang with Flair locked in his own finish. After the match, Madril demanded five more minutes and began fighting Flair again and the crowd erupted. Smarting up, Flair bailed to ringside in anger. The crowd was so hot for this match and that really added to the dynamic. Flair’s selling for Madril made me really happy to see, as again, I think Al Madril has been an unsung hero for the promotion. The crowd popped bigger and bigger for Al as the match went on and I didn’t mind the time limit draw, it makes sense given the men featured and the roles they play. Solid main event here!
- At ringside, Bill Mercer requested words with Ric Flair. Flair was beside himself and said with two more minutes he would’ve had him. This was all propaganda in Texas. The next time he has Al Madril in the ring, he is going to learn what it means to bleed and sweat enough to last a lifetime! Not necessarily some of Flair’s best mic work here, but you can tell he wasn’t really prepared to talk and made the best he could of it.
- Bill Mercer closed us out and promised that next week would feature some footage of the Reunion Arena Star Wars show. This was the first and only time Star Wars was mentioned, which is crazy because the event was held the next night. I still think the tapes got messed up, as last week’s promotion of the big event felt like it should have been on this show.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Much to no surprise of my own, this week’s in-ring action was much better than what we’ve been afforded lately. Anytime you have a big star like Ric Flair there for the night, everybody tends to step up their game. I’m really looking forward to watching the WCCW Star Wars show, especially for the Kerry Von Erich / Ric Flair battle!
See you all then!