A BIG night of action awaits us in the Dallas Sportatorium tonight. The WCCW American Heavyweight Champion, the monstrous King Kong Bundy, is challenged by a freshly returned David Von Erich in the main event. Also featured tonight, The Great Kabuki in singles action, The Superfly returns to World Class television, and much more!
WCCW TV*
Date: 09/11/1982
From: Dallas, Texas
MATCHES
1. Brian Adidas vs. Roberto Renesto
2. The Superfly vs. José Lothario
3. Sal Olivares vs. The Great Kabuki
4. King Kong Bundy vs. David Von Erich
*BROADCAST NOTE
This playback copy has been presented in the most complete form possible, due to original production technical difficulties. Reported on Peacock as of 02/12/2024.
BREAKDOWN & REVIEW
- Bill Mercer and Jay Saldi welcomed us to downtown Dallas for another night of World Class action. They covered some of the details surrounding the main event and then threw to commercial.
- Brian Adidas vs. Roberto Renesto: The opening match was set for one fall with a ten minute time limit. A few arm drags put Renesto on the mat early on here. Hulk Hogan was mentioned on commentary here, in reference to his ‘younger brother’ Dizzy Hogan being set to arrive in World Class shortly. Oh boy. Checkmate was also mentioned as on his way into World Class. Meanwhile, nothing was really going on in this one at this point. Some basic offense from Adidas kept Renesto well behind in momentum. Renesto fired up, pulled down the straps of his singlet, and begged Adidas to bring it. Seconds later, he was rolled up and pinned after a botched attempt at a Victory Roll. These guys were not meant to wrestle each other. A lot of mistimed and miscued moves in this one, not much action to boast of. Too bad, Brian Adidas could’ve really benefitted from a nice win here.
- The Superfly vs. José Lothario: The next match was set for one fall, ten minutes to a finish. It has been a couple of week since we have seen either man, José being due to get a win over a H&H Limited guy. I swear, everytime I see The Superfly, he looks to be in better and better shape. Apparently, he has lost nearly forty pounds as Jay Saldi reported on commentary, so there you go! A headlock kept José off balance against the bigger man. The Superfly attempted to work over a leg but got caught in a grapevine for his troubles. These guys then stood and appeared to prepare for a boxing match. The referee moved in and instructed them to get back to a wrestling match, no closed fists permitted. It got to a point where it felt like these guys were going to just stall around until the time limit expired. More teased boxing. The match was thrown out once Arman Hussein was brought into the ring the hard way, The Superfly being disqualified. The heels tried to regroup on the outside, but Arman held his man back. This wasn’t great whatsoever. I didn’t even seem as if the commentary team cared about this one as they talked more about Rocky III, Hulk Hogan, the WWF, Jimmy Snuka, and Bob Backlund. Bizzare, to say the very least.
- Back from commercial, Bill Mercer was standing at ringside with Gary Hart and The Great Kabuki. Gary put over the lineage of the belt Kabuki now held, naming off a list of Japanese stars as former holders. He also confirmed that Kabuki had been working on a new leg submission, one on par with the Figure Four Leglock! Hart went on to say that if the opportunity arises tonight, we just may see it in action. Lastly, Bill asked Gary about Checkmate, which he didn’t have any comments on at this time.
- Sal Olivares vs. The Great Kabuki: This one was set for one fall to a finish with a ten minute time limit. As soon as the bell rang, Olivares jumped Kabuki and caught him off guard. His betterment of Kabuki was short lived though, as Kabuki began to chop and kick him to pieces. Kabuki wasted not time going after the leg of Sal Olivares. All of a sudden, Kabuki was awarded the match after a few knee smashes forced Olivares to quit! This was a surprise, as I thought we’d see the new submission after it was teased at ringside. Odd, but it made The Great Kabuki’s more focused offense seem all that much more deadly.
- After the match, Bugsy McGraw jumped into the ring from the front row, spun Gary Hart around, and decked him. With Hart out of the way, Bugsy hit Kabuki from behind and the two came to blows, with Bugsy pummeling a surprised Kabuki. Hart tripped Bugsy from the outside allowing Kabuki to go to the top. Bugys hipped up and threw Kabuki from the top and Gary Hart dragged his man out of the ring. As the two heels left, Bugsy got on the house mic and riled up the live crowd. I have to be honest, I am sick of the Bugsy and H&H Limited feud. I really don’t want The Great Kabuki to be tied up with him at this point, it would be such a waste.
- King Kong Bundy vs. David Von Erich: This main event was set for one fall, fifteen minutes set for the limit. David brought down his bull rope and bell and taunted Arman Hussein and Bundy with it. Von Erich’s punches didn’t have much effect on Bundy but some knees in the corner helped soften him up a little. Our audio was having some issues here, an issue with the tape? Not sure. Hence, the broadcast note in the beginning, I guess. A standing Iron Claw was applied quickly, bringing the big man down to one knee, both knees, and eventually to the ropes for a break. Jay Saldi excused David’s heel run in Florida with the fans down there being Buccaneer fans and David being a Cowboys fan through-and-through. Weak, but okay. Bundy bailed to the floor for a breather, consulting Arman. Some heavy strikes and a kneedrop rained down on David Von Erich. We got a double referee bump and officials called for the bell. The match was announced as a double-disqualification. This was turning into a brawl with both men trading strikes in and out of the corner. I feel like this one was working up to be a good match, we weren’t able to get there tonight, though. Seeing David so much after his return has me kind of confused as to why we haven’t seen Kevin or Kerry in weeks. Odd.
- After the match, Roberto Renesto, Brian Adidas, José Lothario, and a few others rushed to the ring to keep King Kong Bundy and David Von Erich from each other. Bundy was able to break away and the two had hands on each other in the corner again. The two would be separated and meet a couple more times before Bundy finally cleared out and headed for the back with Arman.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This week was kind of a dud. The in-ring action left a lot to be desired for all four matches on the card. It’s too bad the main event was thrown out, as it had potential to be a really solid matchup and spotlight for both men. I can’t believe how much non-World Class stuff was talked about tonight, it definitely felt like the attention was be paid to anywhere else but Dallas. No special segments, very little interviews, not even a show closeout from ringside! I am interested in seeing what is cooked up for the debuting Dizzy Hogan and Checkmate, though. I can only imagine…
See you all then!