As the weather cools down with the start of November, things are really starting to heat up for World Class television! Tonight, Kevin Von Erich meets Wild Bill Irwin one-on-one in the main event, The Great Kabuki faces Raul Castro & The Samoan in a handicap match, The Fabulous Freebirds will be in tag team action, and much more! Plus, we will hear directly from Kerry Von Erich regarding his knee’s full rehabilitation. Who and where will “The Modern Day Warrior” set his sights on next?
WCCW TV
Date: 11/06/1982
From: Dallas, Texas
MATCHES
1. The Great Kabuki vs. The Samoan & Raul Castro
2. Gran Markus II & The Destroyer II vs. Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy
3. The Checkmate & Magic Dragon vs. Bugsy McGraw & Al Madril
4. Wild Bill Irwin vs. Kevin Von Erich
BREAKDOWN & REVIEW
- Bill Mercer and Jay Saldi welcomed us to downtown Dallas for World Class action. They ran down nearly the whole card and had a blurb about each. Some fancy match graphics were presented here, not sure I’ve ever seen these before…
- The Great Kabuki vs. The Samoan & Raul Castro: The opening contest was set for one fall to a finish with a ten minute time limit. This was a tornado handicap match, I wasn’t sure if tag format would be enforced or not. Nonetheless, Kabuki went right to work with kicks, chops, and leg sweeps to go around. Raul Castro was able to work in a head scissors, arm drag, and a nice little flurry before Kabuki basically kicked The Samoan’s head off and went after Castro for his trouble. Castro was then eliminated from the match after Kabuki used his twisting knee breaker that forced Castro to quit. I didn’t realize this would be an elimination bout, I was told one fall to a finish! The Samoan came off the top rope and missed with a splash, allowing Kabuki to start using his twisting knee breaker, taking The Samoan out, too! I really don’t like this new move Kabuki and the Magic Dragon have been doing. The kicks and mist are much more visually devastating. The Great Kabuki continues to be the territory’s strongest heel, without much competition at all.
- Back from commercial, there was an attack on Terry Gordy and Michael Hayes at the hands of Wild Bill Irwin and King Kong Bundy. The Freebirds quickly rallied and the two teams ended up in a pile. Gran Markus II and Destroyer II were then tangled up in the brawl, so officials and others made their way to the ring to help break the fight up. The brawl went long as everybody continued to fight to the point where the crowd began to encroach the ring and an announcement had to be made to keep the crowd back. The Freebirds, Al Madril, and Bugsy McGraw remained in the ring while the referee attempted to get some order restored finally.
- Gran Markus II & The Destroyer II vs. Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy: It was announced that the match would indeed still take place, with one fall to a fifteen minute time limit in place. The Destroyer and Terry Gordy started things off. Gordy took Destroyer up with a single-armed scoop slam and a falling knee. The Freebirds worked some double-team moves on Markus II, with the crowd firmly behind Hayes & Gordy. Hayes hit a back suplex on The Destroyer and Gordy was back in to land some big strikes on Markus II. An assisted piledriver put Gran Markus II down for a three. Nothing overly special here other than the reaction The Freebirds are able to garner from the crowd. They are crazy over and Terry Gordy might be even more over than Michael Hayes! I’m really looking forward to when these guys are presented with some real opponents.
- After the match, Michael Hayes grabbed a mic from ringside. He wanted to tell everybody, including Irwin and Bundy, The Freebirds were going to get them and that they could bet on it.
- Back from commercial, we got another update from Kerry Von Erich while sitting down with Bill Mercer. He said he was physically and mentally ready. His knee is totally rehabilitated and ready. Bill Mercer brought up the supposed bounty Ric Flair put on him. We saw a replay of Flairs comments on Von Erich from a few weeks back. Kerry Von Erich said that the games are over and this is serious business. This is war, Kerry wants the belt as much as he wants Flair. Kerry said it wasn’t just him that Flair had to worry about, it’s all of the people of Dallas, Fort Worth, and all of Texas that are coming after him. I really wish they would’ve reshot Kerry’s promo here as he visibly doesn’t know what to say and had to have Bill Mercer basically tee up some good sound bites for him to knock out. I think this promo hurt Kerry more than it helped, unfortunately…
- The Checkmate & Magic Dragon vs. Bugsy McGraw & Al Madril: This next match was set for one fall, twenty minutes to a finish. Bugsy McGraw and The Checkmate started things off, Bugsy marched around the ring and stalled a bit. The Checkmate wasted no time with McGraw and worked in some headlocks and side headlock takeovers. Each time Bugsy would rally, Checkmate would go into his ‘shell’ routine and frustrate Bugsy into making a mistake. Eventually, Bugsy got into his own ‘shell’ position, forcing Checkmate to make a move on him. Bugsy was able to get the better of Checkmate, forcing him to bail to ringside to regroup. A tag from Madril saw The Checkmate fall victim to some stiff punches and work in the corner. Dragon was finally tagged in and began some of his own striking on Madril. A seated sleeper kept Madril down for a few minutes until Checkmate came in and began working Madril over with some knees to the back. The referee was counting Madril’s shoulders down, but Madril wasn’t paying attention to him as he was being set up to take a slingshot into the corner. Instead, the referee had to awkwardly stall from counting the three until Madril annoyedly popped a shoulder up to break the count. After this blunder, the heels continued their work on Madril. Madril and Bugsy really started firing up and got the crowd going and the finish came with a nice looking crossbody off the top from Madril kept Magic Dragon down for a three count! This one felt like it went long and I just wish we didn’t spend so much time in holds or in ‘shell’ moves. The crowd was pretty hot on this one though, so that definitely helped. The finish was quick and well-executed and the crowd popped nice for the three count. I was pretty surprised to see Magic Dragon take the pin here, too!
- Wild Bill Irwin vs. Kevin Von Erich: This main event match was set for one fall, with a thirty minute time limit. Kevin hit a quick leg sweep after some circling. Kevin stuck a nice dropkick on Irwin as he stayed technically sound against Irwin. Side headlocks and a flying headscissors into a grapevine had Irwin reeling. Kevin worked really aggressively, landing big body splashes in the corner that looked like they hurt. Kevin rolled Irwin around with a body scissors, gaining near falls here and there. After serval minutes, Irwin was finally able to get into this one with some strikes and a scoop slam for a near fall. A kitchen sink sent Kevin to the ground, but he was able to reverse and rebound abdominal stretch into one of his own. The hold was broken but the referee took a spill when both men fell because Wild Bill grabbed onto him in the hold, causing a disqualification on Wild Bill Irwin. A pretty disappointing finish here for what was otherwise a really good match. Had they gotten five more minutes and a solid finish, this would have been up there with one of the best matches from World Class in 1982. They were really laying their shit in here.
- Back at the commentary booth, Bill Mercer and Jay Saldi mentioned an impending tag team championship match between King Kong Bundy and Wild Bill Irwin and The Freebirds, as long as Gary Hart is willing to play ball. They highlighted Al Madril and Bugsy McGraw, Kerry Von Erich, and sent us to the credits.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This was, by far, one of the most solid nights of in-ring action we’ve gotten from regular World Class television. Silly ‘shell’ moves aside, I continue to be surprised with how much The Checkmate adds to a match. Al Madril continues to be a completely unsung hero of World Class, The Freebirds are over like rover, and Kevin Von Erich looked worthy of a shot at the World’s Championship tonight. Many reasons why I fell in love with World Class were showcased this week. I only grow more excited as we march toward the winter and another week of action.
See you all then!