The NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion, “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair arrives at the Texas State Fair Coliseum in Dallas to face the challenge of Kevin Von Erich in tonight’s colossal main event! Plus, Kendo sticks are legal when bitter rivals, The Great Kabuki, and The Great Yatsu square off tonight. Also in action, Texas Heavyweight Champion “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin, “Iceman” King Parsons, and more!
WCCW TV
Date: 04/09/1983
From: Dallas, Texas (@ State Fair Coliseum)
MATCHES
1. Mike Bond vs. “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin
2. “Iceman” King Parsons vs. Michael Hayes
3. The Great Kabuki vs. The Great Yatsu
4. Kevin Von Erich vs. Ric Flair
BREAKDOWN & REVIEW
- Bill Mercer welcomed us to the program tonight, from the Texas State Fair Coliseum in Dallas. He mentioned featured tonight would be Ric Flair being challenged by Kevin Von Erich tonight. Yatsu and Kabuki will be in a Kendo Stick Match. Plus, much more!
- Prior to the opening contest, David Von Erich jumped on a house mic and addressed “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin. David said for four years he held the Texas Title and if he had any guts, Garvin would put it on the line… against him! Garvin strutted around any blew David off until he turned his back long enough for Garvin to blindside him with punches. The officials held David back while Jimmy played to him on the opposite side of the ring.
- This is shaping up to be one of the best feuds of the year, Garvin and Dave play off each other so well. They both spent some time in Florida, so I’m sure that is helping… I could watch these guys go back-and-forth all day, they are natural foils for each other.
- Mike Bond vs. “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin: This match was set for one fall to a finish, non-title, with ten minutes for a limit. First thing I noticed was the quality of the audio, lighting, and video. Everything looked and sounded A LOT bigger and better than The Sportatorium! Garvin worked Bond’s wrist over to start us out. Bond ended up getting body slammed, bounced into a corner, and grounded with a reverse chinlock. Garvin was making light work of Bond here, with Bond mounting no offense whatsoever. Garvin nailed a backbreaker and pulled Bond out of a pin at two to continue the punishment. A big clothesline landed and again Garvin pulled Bond out of a pin attempt at two, the same thing happened after a back suplex. Finally, Garvin pinned Bond following a spinning neckbreaker. After the match, David Von Erich was quick to reappear and confront Garvin. Sunshine threw a punch at David, but he moved her out of the way to nail Garvin and send him bailing to the floor. Dave then spanked Sunshine over his knee as the crowd erupted!
- This was basically a squash for Jimmy Garvin here, with Bond not getting one offensive move in. It was very short and much less important than the confrontation between Garvin and Von Erich. Bond probably shouldn’t continue to get bookings with World Class, as it seems he has significantly regressed in progress since the last time we saw him. Dud.
- In a pre-taped interview, Kevin was standing by at ringside to address his match tonight. It takes a lot of work to earn a spot against the World Champion. When the arena is packed tonight, he promises not to let those fans down. He can’t promise anything but his best and that is what he was bringing tonight!
- Seems like Kevin promised a win and then immediately backtracked on saying that he ‘couldn’t promise anything’… Whoops.
- Next up, it was NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair’s turn for a pre-taped interview, standing by in the locker room to discuss the main event tonight. He said it was only a matter of time before it was Flair against another Von Erich. Kevin Von Erich is one of the greatest wrestlers today, but nobody can claim to be the best except for the World Heavyweight Champion!
- Nothing special from Ric here, seemed a little rushed and generic.
- “Iceman” King Parsons vs. Michael Hayes: This one was set for one fall, twenty minute time limit. Parsons is over like crazy, with Hayes getting big boos. This was set up as a grudge match of sorts, due to the recent developments between The Freebirds and Iceman. Parsons was all over Hayes, bouncing him from pillar to post with strikes and dropkicks. In the midst of a flurry, Parsons hit a running crossbody on Hayes, but Hayes rolled through and ended on top of him. Using he feet on the ropes for leverage, Hayes was able to pin Parsons for a stolen victory within the first few minutes of the bout!
- This one went literally about two minutes. Michael Hayes needed a win here, I just wish we would’ve gotten more of a match before the stolen finish. Nothing much to judge here, another dud in my book… a shame, because this one could’ve been really good!
- After the match, Bill Mercer met Michael Hayes at ringside for his comments. Hayes said he taught that boy that you never slap Freebird Fantasia. He was born on Badstreet USA and he might not even be done with Parsons… it might be time he starts brandishing people around here!
- Not sure what Hayes meant by that closing line, but it seems the feud is far from over between he and Parsons. I think they are working a solid program and I just hope we don’t get the rug pulled out from under us too soon on this.
- Back from commercial, Bill Mercer introduced our featurette for the night. We were going to find out just how “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin stays in such gorgeous shape. He threw it to a tape from some sort of salon where Garvin was having his hair done, along with a manicure by Sunshine, and a pedicure by some guy named ‘Big John’. Garvin said that when he came to the World Class area, it would be a great opportunity for people to see exactly what “Gorgeous” is all about. He’s held regional and state titles all around the country, including currently the Texas Heavyweight title. Garvin said World Class was the top of the food chain and that’s why he’s here. Bill asked who else Garvin had in mind to be challenging him for the Texas title. Jimmy said he is only focused on David Von Erich, number two or three in line doesn’t even matter. He finished by saying his looks are just one of the many reasons his the Texas champion!
- Jimmy Garvin is quickly becoming someone I can’t get enough of watching. Right now, he is primed and at his peak as far as look, character work, and presence as far as I’m concerned. He and Dave have really been carrying the shows with their feud week-to-week.
- The Great Kabuki vs. The Great Yatsu: This match was a Kendo Stick Match, whoever gets the stick first is allowed to use it. A winner will be declared if he is able to pin the other with the stick or if the opponent is thrown from the ring with the stick. If the stick falls to ringside, the match will be reset and the Kendo stick will be up for grabs again. Convoluted? Yes. Interesting? Also, yes. Yatsu tried to jump Kabuki, but he was able to block with his nunchaku. Kabuki seems to be a little leaner as the two were broken up and the match was able to start. Kabuki got the stick first and fired away on Yatsu’s back. The Kendo stick began to break apart quickly, as Yatsu was able to get it and hit Kabuki a few times. Kabuki came off the top with an attempted chop, but Yatsu nailed him in the throat with the stick, sending Kabuki to the floor. Kabuki was counted out by the referee and a disappointed and slightly confused hush fell over the crowd.
- Okay, so every match thus far tonight has gone about two minutes, give or take. They are obviously saving a lot of time for our main event tonight. This one again suffered from being so short and lackluster. A special attraction match like this deserved a lot more, as this is a feud that’s been building up as well. They were making good use of the stick and I think the in-ring chemistry is there between these guys, but it is hard to tell in two minutes. Dud this time around.
- At ringside, Arman Hussein and The Great Yatsu were stopped for a quick, post-match interview. Arman said Yatsu would fight anybody that came along, be it Kabuki, or even the great Kamala. He will shy away from no man, as he is the most dangerous in the world today.
- So, that’s obviously the next direction we’re going in… Kamala will have Yatsu in his path once he hits World Class.
- Kevin Von Erich vs. Ric Flair: This match was set for one fall, with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on the line, sixty minutes for a limit. The American Heavyweight Champion, Kevin Von Erich, was the challenger tonight and he was going to have both hands full with Flair tonight. Kevin used his legs to his advantage in the beginning, taking Flair over with a head scissors. On commentary, Bill Mercer announced that coming soon to World Class television was Chavo Guerrero, of Mexican fame, and a gentleman named Chris Adams, from England. We’ll have to look out for both of them! Before long, Kevin had Ric Flair begging off in one of the corners as the crowd cheered him on. A dropkick set Flair to the mat. Flair got flattened with a back body drop, but he’d recover quickly, chopping away on Kevin and throwing him through the middle ropes to the floor. Kevin popped right back up into the ring and the another stalemate occurred between the two. Some nice, stiff-looking punches, and a standing knee to the forehead kept Kevin down for a two count. Neither man could get too much momentum strung together before the other took back over. Kevin did end up locking an Iron Claw on Flair as the crowd erupted, but Flair was able to break it pretty quickly. Flair attempted a suplex, but Kevin dropped behind him and applied a sleeper hold. A running crossbody almost kept Flair down for a three! The referee was taken out inadvertently, allowing Flair to illegally throw Kevin up and over the top rope to the floor! After a near countout, Kevin got back in and was suplexed for a near fall. More strikes and near falls occurred for both men before the referee again was bumped, this time, out to the floor. Kevin applied another Claw and sent Flair out over the top rope for a measure of revenge as the action spilled to the outside for a moment. A flying crossbody off the top caught Flair off guard, allowing him to get a three count pin and win the match when a second referee was able to make the call! The crowd absolutely erupted and I was legit shocked as David Von Erich came out to celebrate with his brother. Once the original referee recovered, he argued with the second official. According to him, the match ended when Kevin threw Flair over the top rope, Flair retaining the championship officially.
- A FRICKIN’ DUSTY FINISH! YOU GOT ME WORLD CLASS! Nonetheless, that was an awesome match and one this show desperately needed. The crowd reaction to the false finish really had me thinking they were letting Kevin win the belt here for tonight. These two guys were hammering each other with fists, chops, and knees, so the battle was hard-fought and well-received. Three and a half stars for me, had that gotten a little more time and Kevin won the match clean? That would’ve made for a totally different story.
- Bill Mercer closed us out by going over some of the results of the show tonight. Next week, we will hear from Ric Flair and both referees regarding tonight’s ruling, a special Kamala featurette, and David Von Erich and Terry Gordy will be handcuffed together in a singles match!
- Another gimmick match is interesting, I’m already assuming that one isn’t going to go long. However, who isn’t ready for another look at Kamala!? I want him to debut already!
FINAL THOUGHTS
As crazy-strong as this week looked on paper, it didn’t really deliver in execution due to television time alone, I’d bet. They wanted to give Flair and Kevin as much time as possible and even then I feel like they could’ve used a few more minutes. Had any of the other matches gone longer than two minutes, we could’ve had a chance at the best card of the year thus far. With that said, I am ready to get back to The Sportatorium for some answers, debuts, and more exciting World Class action!
See you all then!