International Star Wars is a mere six days away and the card continues to stack up higher and higher! Tonight, we find out who Kerry Von Erich has enlisted as his partner to take on The Freebirds at Star Wars! Plus, a giant-sized, eight-man elimination tag team match pits some of the territory’s biggest stars against each other in tonight’s main event.
WCCW TV*
Date: 06/11/1983
From: Dallas, Texas
MATCHES
1. “Gentleman” Chris Adams vs. The Great Yatsu
2. The Mongol vs. Kenny Johnson
3. Kerry, David, Kevin Von Erich, & “Iceman” King Parsons vs. Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, Buddy Roberts, & “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin
*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 11/19/2025.
BREAKDOWN & REVIEW
- Bill Mercer welcomed us to the show tonight with a wide shot of the ring. Mercer was sporting a sweet mustache tonight, too. He covered the main event tonight, as well as our opening contest before throwing to commercial.
- “Gentleman” Chris Adams vs. The Great Yatsu: Our opening contest of the evening was set for one fall to a finish, twenty minutes to a finish. I feared this was going to be somewhat clunky, as I’m not sure Yatsu and Adams’ styles really mesh well… we of course started off with Yatsu doing his normal warm-up skit before trying to hit a surprise kick on Adams. Adams dodged it and slapped Yatsu hard, sending him to regroup with Hussein on the outside. Yatsu does seem to have thinned out a quite a bit. A monkey flip sent Yatsu begging off in the corner, followed by an arm drag. Adams seemed to out-smart Yatsu at every pass, including locking Yatsu in a head scissors submission. Yatsu began to turn momentum with some chops and a drop of Chris Adams throat-first over the top rope. A choke over the top rope finished off with a face scrub put Adams in an even worse spot. Two standing side kicks landed hard into Chris Adams’ chest, but Adams was able to rally and land a Super Kick of his own up under Yatsu’s chin. A flying crossbody off the second rope earned him a near fall and Adams was even able to drop Arman Hussein from the apron much to the delight of the crowd. The finish came when Adams hit a jumping Super Kick off the top rope!
- Not going to lie, I thought we were in for something pretty subpar before we got going. That said, I do think Yatsu is a weak addition to the roster, just as I’ve felt really since his debut. These guys were able to put on a nice opening match, though, all things considered! The finish was big and each guy got a decent amount of time to shine with offense. This felt like one of Adams’ bigger wins since his debut. I’ll take more Adams, less Yatsu moving forward, please! Star and a half from me here.
- We then joined Bill Mercer, Michael Hayes, Buddy Roberts, and Terry Gordy poolside for a interview featurette. Hayes said that they make money and buy things, which is why they were poolside. Buddy said he was tired of Mercer interrupting them. He pulled out the lock of King Parsons’ hair, he knows he can beat him in Reunion Arena at Star Wars and he will be balder than a billiard when he beats “Iceman”. Terry said hello to his mother and thanked her and Michael’s mother for doing such a great job with The Freebirds. Terry mentioned that there was a mystery partner involved in their match at reunion, but they weren’t really concerned with it, just that that man better be knowing what he was in for when it came to stepping in the ring with The Freebirds. As Terry went into the pool with Buddy, Michael said that Kerry had José Lothario as a partner, until they put him out of action… Kerry was going to have Johnny Rich as a partner, until Kamala ate him for lunch… and now Michael is betting he can’t even find a friend to get beat up by The Freebirds. It won’t be André, it won’t be Dusty Rhodes, and not even his own father will come out of retirement to help him! Hayes advised that Kerry doesn’t show up to Reunion!
- This was an awesome piece of business for The Freebirds here. Maybe, the most serious we’ve seen them in a segment like this. There was no background music, or cheeseburger chomping. Each man had a point to make and made it rather well, special kudos to Hayes. The mystery partner continues to be intriguing, but if it isn’t a big name, I feel fans will feel cheated at this point. I have my sneaking suspicions…
- The Mongol vs. Kenny Johnson: Our next bout was scheduled for one fall with a thirty minute time limit. By the looks of Ken Johnson, this ought to be quick. Mercer said that while at commercial, Kerry revealed to him the mystery partner! He said it was going to surprise, amaze, and thrill fans… it being BRUISER BRODY! They announced it here on commentary during a match!? I mean, fuck yeah to Brody, but what a lame way to reveal it. I have been waiting for Brody’s arrival since I started my reviews as I’m only really familiar with his Japanese work as a top star in AJPW. Anyway, in the ring, The Mongol was destroying Johnson, obviously. He rained down some heavy clubbing strikes and hit a nice powerslam. The Mongol pulled his opponent out of a two count twice to continue the beating at this point. A running powerslam put Johnson down for an easy three count.
- Not much to rate here, as once Mercer was done revealing Kerry’s partner on commentary, the match was basically over. A squash for The Mongol, plain and simple. Half star, moving along.
- At ringside, Bill Mercer met up with The Mongol and Skandor Akbar for a post-match interview. He asked about Kamala and his match at Star Wars. Akbar said that Kamala would be wrestling THREE opponents at the International Star Wars! Nobody has what it takes to put his Ugandan Giant down, nobody.
- Well, that should be interesting. What’s better than Kamala killing two guys in the same match? Him killing three!
- Michael Hayes rushed the interview to demand Bill Mercer to stop lying about Bruiser Brody coming to Reunion Arena. Hayes argued that there was no way it could be him, he was wrestling in Japan! Hayes said he was marching into the office right now to get this all straightened out and to get Mercer to shut up with silly, bogus lies.
- Hayes did a good job of selling the panic of Brody being announced as Kerry’s partner here. That match is going to be awesome, super solid pick here with Brody to step in as the mystery man.
- Back from commercial, Kevin Von Erich joined Bill Mercer at the commentary booth to discuss his match against “Nature Boy” Ric Flair recently, where Kevin was disqualified. Mercer said that going over the top rope would be legal, no disqualification. Kevin said this was his best chance. He was going to take Ric Flair and beat him and take the World’s Heavyweight Championship. We then cut to a replay of the finish from that match, where Mercer was talking with Flair about the finish after that match. Flair said World Class had no right to have this shown on film. Nobody believes that finish to be true. The Von Erichs have not heard the last of Ric Flair and said that was the most embarrassing thing he’s ever seen! Cutting back to Kevin, he said that if Flair thought that finish was embarrassing, wait until Kevin is walking around with his World’s Championship around his waist!
- Solid outing on the mic for Kevin here, something that is rather rare. I think Kevin will give Flair another great match, but there’s just no way he’s going to walk away champ. As a World Class watcher for the last two years, I think I’ve officially become jaded toward NWA World’s Heavyweight Title matches…
- Kerry, David, Kevin Von Erich, & “Iceman” King Parsons vs. Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, Buddy Roberts, & “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin: This match was going to be an eight-man, elimination tag match, sixty minute time limit. This was a huge match and one I was pumped for. The bell rang and all hell broke lose! Is there no tag format?! Talk about chaos. We paired off in each corner, with two heels and two babyfaces being irish whipped into each other for a traffic jam in the center of the ring. Suddenly, Gordy was eliminated after getting hit with a crossbody by Kevin while Gordy was attempting to piledrive Parsons! The crowd went nuts as the mayhem continued. Hayes worked on Parsons in one corner as Kevin and Garvin traded blows in another. Roberts saved Hayes from being pinned by Parsons following a flying butt-butt hip attack. A pile-on eliminated Parsons was the teams once again evened out. David Von Erich went over the top rope to be eliminated by Garvin, but Garvin was sent out right after by a dropkick from Kevin! Dave and Garvin tangled on the outside as the match continued in the ring. Odd that battle royale rules were basically applying here as well. We were down to Hayes and Roberts versus Kevin and Kerry. Kevin hit a running splash on Roberts for a near fall. Meanwhile, Kerry and Hayes were trading wild punches until Kerry was laid out with a double clothesline. Some miscommunication saw Roberts levelling Hayes with a punch, nearly causing him to be eliminated. An Iron Claw was on Buddy Roberts in the corner, but Hayes was able to make the save. Kevin skinned the cat to make it back in the ring after almost being thrown out over the top rope. The Von Erichs had firm control over the situation at this point, with double Claws being applied to each remaining Freebird. I was surprised everybody else was eliminated so early at this point in the match, because these final four were starting to get a lot of time. Several near falls occurred for both teams here with momentum swinging back and forth. Hayes came off the top with an elbow on a standing Kerry to put him down for a three count. We were down to a handicap match, with Kevin somehow kicking out of an assisted backbreaker! Kevin was then choked over the top rope, nearly being pushed out and over the top, but he hung on and both Freebirds spilled out to the floor. Once again, Kevin slowly skinned the cat and made it back in to win the match!
- Holy crap, what a match. The action was nonstop and I’m pretty sure the crowd never sat down from start to finish. I thought the eliminations happened a little quick and should’ve been a little more spread out, as the final four got almost too much time until the finish came. The finish was awesome and very well executed, as I thought for sure with the handicap advantage, The Freebirds were going to just squeak by with a victory. Had the match gotten a little more time as a whole and the eliminations handled a bit better and this one would’ve made four stars, easily. For now, I’m slapping on a hard-earned three and a half! This was probably the most action-packed, exciting match we’ve seen this year to date.
- After commercial, Bill Mercer joined Dave, Kerry, and Kevin Von Erich in the ring for a closing interview. Kevin said he was primed and ready to become the next World’s Champion, Dave confirmed that his match for the Texas Heavyweight Championship was sign, sealed, and would be delivered against Jimmy Garvin, and Kerry said with Bruiser Brody by his side in Reunion, they will come away as the next American Tag Team Champions! Mercer also mentioned here that next week, it would be Kerry Von Erich challenging Terry Gordy for the WCCW Brass Knuckles Championship in the main event and much more, before signing off and wishing all a good night from Texas!
- A big win for the Von Erich boys tonight, with three big matches on the horizon, one for each of them. This International Summer Star Wars is shaping up to be (by far and away) the strongest card assembled in the territory since the beginning of our watching… or perhaps ever!
FINAL THOUGHTS
The stars were out in Dallas on this night in 1983! A huge main event, with solid interviews, and several matches made official for Pro Wrestling Star Wars coming up next week, June 17th, in Reunion Arena! We are getting several stars from All Japan Pro Wrestling appearing, Bruiser Brody in action, a NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship match, a hair-versus-hair match between Buddy Roberts and King Parsons, and so much more! I can’t wait to get to that show and hope it ends up being everything I think its going to be… meet you all in Reunion!
See you all then!