On this edition of World Class Championship Wrestling, we are granted a replay of the WCCW American Heavyweight Championship bout between King Kong Bundy and champion Kevin Von Erich from Christmas Star Wars! Plus, Terry Gordy in singles action against Brian Adidas, and King Kong Bundy has a proclamation that may shake things up for all of the Dallas territory!
WCCW TV
Date: 01/22/1983
From: Dallas, Texas
MATCHES
1. Kevin Von Erich vs. King Kong Bundy (Taped replay)
2. Terry Gordy vs. Brian Adidas
3. King Kong Bundy vs. The Samoan
BREAKDOWN & REVIEW
- Bill Mercer welcomed us to World Class in downtown Dallas. He mentioned having some special features lined up for us tonight and ran down the card.
- Back from commercial, Bill Mercer provided us the lead-in for the taped match coming up from Reunion Arena for the WCCW American Heavyweight Championship.
- Kevin Von Erich vs. King Kong Bundy: This bout was set for one fall, forty-five minutes to a finish, and was for the WCCW American Heavyweight Championship. A lockup lead to a Kevin slapping on a standing side headlock into a takeover to keep Bundy grounded early on. Bundy turned it into a head scissors that Kevin struggled with for a minute. Once broken, a nice dropkick put Bundy in his place and we were back to square one. A frustrated Bundy threw Kevin to the outside, giving himself a chance to rile up the crowd in the ring. A couple times Kevin made it back to the apron, but Bundy continued to knock him away from the ring. Finally, a shoulder block and sunset flip allowed Kevin in and put Bundy down for a near fall. An Iron Claw was blocked and Bundy turned up the heat on Von Erich. That was, until Kevin was able to get the Claw applied for a moment before King Kong was able to put a foot on the bottom rope. The referee then took a bump but was able to catch Bundy throwing Kevin over the top rope illegally. The fight continued until David Manning was able to get to his feet and raise Kevin’s arm in victory via disqualification!
- I really wish this one would’ve gotten a few more minutes. I think they were on a path to put something really good together, but then the match was over. I think King Kong Bundy’s best opponent is Kevin Von Erich and visually, it is the perfect David-versus-Goliath. I like this one but was pretty bummed with the finish, for sure.
- We returned to the Sportatorium, where Bill Mercer mentioned catching up with Kerry Von Erich and Kerry watching the footage back from his match against Ric Flair at Christmas Star Wars for the first time.
- We then cut to a pre-taped sit down interview with Kerry Von Erich and Bill Mercer in some sort of World Class interview set. Kerry said that he’s lucky he wasn’t dead after being hit with the cage door like that. That night, Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy cost him the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship. He mentioned speaking to his mom before the bout and wanting to win, not only for them, but for his mother and father. Footage from the match was spliced in for Kerry to speak about it. Kerry said there was no excuse for what Michael Hayes did. The door slam was shown again and Kerry said that’s just the nature and ego of The Freebirds. Kerry wishes he had Terry Gordy by the throat right now! Gordy was the instigator of this, but Hayes should’ve been better equipped as the referee. He mentioned now that The Freebirds had three men, and he and his brothers are three men, the best six men in the business are about to clash, and when Kerry gets them back in the ring, he isn’t out to hurt them, he’s out to cripple them!
- Wow. This was hands-down, the most emotionally-charged promo / interview we’ve ever heard from Kerry. He was serious and seemed to genuinely wince while watching the footage of the cage door attack over and over again. If we can get this kind of Kerry on the microphone more regularly, his stock is going to soar. The Freebirds may indeed have their hands full!
- Terry Gordy vs. Brian Adidas: This one was set for one fall with a twenty minute time limit. Kerry Von Erich was in Brian’s corner tonight. Kerry got on the house mic and called out Michael Hayes for suspiciously not showing up to Gordy’s second. A lot of stalling in the beginning here, as Gordy was too distracted with Kerry at ringside. I don’t think these guys touched for five straight minutes. A side headlock finally got us started on the part of Gordy, but he was quickly thrown off into the ropes and arm dragged for his troubles. A second standing side headlock was slapped on for a few solid minutes as the crowd chanted for Brian. Shortly after, Gordy dropped Brian down throat first over the top rope and followed up with a spinning neckbreaker. A standing knee drop almost kept Adidas down for a three count. Michael Hayes slowly started his way down to the ring, Kerry begging him to come down. Brian Adidas began to fire up and backed Gordy into a corner with some punches and knees as Hayes approached ringside. Kerry chased Hayes around and through the ring until he retreated up into the crowd. Back in the ring, Gordy hit a nasty piledriver and pinned Adidas! He went for a second one until Kerry came down and sent Gordy up and over the top rope with a punch.
- I can’t believe how much heat there is already between the Von Erichs and The Freebirds! The crowd was dying for Kerry to get his hands on Michael here. Gordy is over huge as a devastating force not to be taken lightly. This whole thing already smells like money and nothing has even really developed any further than the start in Reunion Arena. As far as this match goes, it got better as it went. Still nothing overly special as the pace was lacking just as much as the focus on Brian Adidas was. This was all about Kerry being ringside. Good win for Gordy here, nonetheless.
- Back from commercial, our next featurette of the night was presented. In the same location as Kerry Von Erich earlier, this time, Bill Mercer was sitting with David Manning for an interview. Manning said that earlier in the night, Michael Hayes seemed to be very excited to be the referee for the title bout that night. At the time, Manning said he believed it was a great idea to have Gordy be the keeper of the key at ringside. He said he told Michael not to get too physical with the guys that night and that Terry Gordy was adding fuel to the fire at ringside that night. We played more footage from the cage match, allowing Manning to breakdown what he was saying to Hayes at the time. We saw the cage door smash again and Manning said that it was Ric Flair who was the cause of Hayes flying out of the ring and Hayes was totally wrong. He looked at Kerry and knew mentally Kerry wasn’t there, so he had to call it. There is a return match claus in the contract and there will definitely be a rematch!
- Kind of a cool further breakdown of the events here from a different perspective. I’ll give David Manning credit, he does help sell something when speaking as an official. You get the sense he believes in what he is saying and what he is talking about. Something tells me this cage door incident is going to be the backdrop for all of 1983.
- Back from commercial, Bill Mercer met King Kong Bundy at ringside for a pre-match interview. Bundy had something to talk about in regard to the match showed earlier this week. From now on, unless Mercer and his people had written permission from himself personally, they are not allowed to show that footage anymore. During that match, he was just simply King Kong Bundy. Now, he would be known as Devastation Incorporated and right now he is going to show everybody exactly what that’s all about!
- So, I’m not sure if Bundy literally wants to be known as Devastation Incorporated or if this is a new group he’s forming? That part wasn’t really clear…
- King Kong Bundy vs. The Samoan: This was set for one fall with a twenty minute time limit. Bundy was announced as representing Devastation, Inc… so, I guess that it won’t be his name? I don’t know. Bundy threw The Samoan off a couple of times and flexed. Bundy was making light work of The Samoan with kicks, elbows, and a nice backbreaker. Bundy hit a running body splash for an easy pin. After the match, Bundy grabbed the house mic and said that the fans better get used to seeing wins like this, because he and “The Man” will be running roughshod as Devastation Incorporated for a long, long time!
- The match here was undoubtedly a dud tonight. However, it seems that Devastation, Inc. will be some sort of group or stable led by Bundy after all. No idea what that means for Arman Hussein, Gary Hart, and the rest of H&H Limited?
- Back from commercial, King Kong Bundy was in the commentary booth with Bill Mercer to close out our show and speak about “The Man” again… this man, was The Great Kabuki! With his skill in the martial arts and Bundy’s raw power, they will make Devastation Incorporated the most prestigious organization in professional wrestling today!
- Ummm. Hold on. What about Magic Dragon?! Isn’t he Kabuki’s tag partner in H&H? Also, can we just go back to, WHERE IS H&H LIMITED?! Why is Bundy doing the talking by himself? And why are we acting as if Kabuki and Bundy haven’t been in the same stable for the last like ten months? I smell something weird going on here…
FINAL THOUGHTS
Well, this week was… confusing. I have no idea what Devastation Incorporated is compared to H&H Limited? Does H&H not exist anymore? I guess it adds a little mystery to complement the very apparent and explosive collision between the Von Erichs and The Freebirds! I look forward to that eventual clash, especially when Kerry does finally get his hands on Terry Gordy for what he did in Reunion Arena! We’ll have to see what happens next week!
See you all then!