In a slightly different type of Star Wars event, World Class Championship Wrestling presents a special live show from Fort Worth, on Monday, July 4th, 1983. In front of over 12,000 fans, our main event will see The Fabulous Freebirds taking on the Von Erichs in a knock-down, drag-out, best two-out-of-three falls six-man tag team match! Plus, Bruiser Brody returns to Fort Worth in a singles match against “The Ugandan Giant” Kamala, and much more!
WCCW Independence Day Star Wars*
Date: 07/04/1983
From: Fort Worth, Texas
MATCH CARD
Singles Match
1. Wild Bill Irwin vs. “Gentleman” Chris Adams
(Match cut from taping, no rating available.)
Singles Match
2. Johnny Mantell vs. The Mongol
(Match cut from taping, no rating available.)
Singles Match
3. Mil Máscaras vs. Rip Rogers
(Match cut from taping, no rating available.)
Singles Match
4. Chavo Guerrero vs. Buddy Roberts
(Match cut from taping, no rating available.)
“Lights Out” Singles Match
5. Michael Hayes vs. “Iceman” King Parsons
(Match cut from taping, no rating available.)
Special Attraction Singles Match
6. Bruiser Brody vs. Kamala
Singles Match for the vacant NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship
7. David Von Erich vs. “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin
(Match cut from taping, no rating available.)
2-Out-Of-3 Falls Six-Man Tag Team Match for the WCCW Six-Man Tag Team Championship
8. Kevin, Kerry, & David Von Erich vs. Michael Hayes, Buddy Roberts, & Terry Gordy
*BROADCAST NOTE
This Star Wars card wasn’t promoted on weekly television. This event seems to be more so something special World Class put on for the local market to enjoy on Independence Day. That said, footage is really hit-or-miss for this one. I was only able to find scraps of tape on YouTube. No full show anywhere that I could find…
BREAKDOWN & REVIEW
- Marc Lowrance was shown backstage in the Fort Worth Convention Center to discuss what we’d see on this Monday night wrestling card. He covered the main event between The Freebirds and Von Erichs and we went to commercial.
- Wild Bill Irwin vs. “Gentleman” Chris Adams: No review for this one available. It seems this match had been excluded from the taping, perhaps never being taped at all. I wasn’t able to find it anywhere online, either. It is reported that “Gentleman” Chris Adams won this match.
- Johnny Mantell vs. The Mongol: No review for this one available. It seems this match had been excluded from the taping, perhaps never being taped at all. I wasn’t able to find it anywhere online, either. It is reported that The Mongol won this match.
- Mil Máscaras vs. Rip Rogers: No review for this one available. It seems this match had been excluded from the taping, perhaps never being taped at all. I wasn’t able to find it anywhere online, either. It is reported that Mil Máscaras won this match.
- Chavo Guerrero vs. Buddy Roberts: No review for this one available. It seems this match had been excluded from the taping, perhaps never being taped at all. I wasn’t able to find it anywhere online, either. It is reported that Chavo Guerrero won this match.
- Michael Hayes vs. “Iceman” King Parsons: No review for this one available. It seems this match had been excluded from the taping, perhaps never being taped at all. I wasn’t able to find it anywhere online, either. It is reported that Michael Hayes won this match.
- Bruiser Brody vs. Kamala: This special attraction match was set for one fall with a forty-five minute time limit. These guys got right to work on each other before the bell rang. Kamala was getting the better of Brody with overhead chops and strikes to the chest. Then, Brody began to fire back with lumbering punches to the head. Kamala would target the throat of Brody with blatant chokes and throat thrusts. At this point, Brody was bleeding and Kamala licked at his hands after working on the spilt forehead of Brody. Pretty sickening. Brody seemed to be in a bad way until he fired up with a big running dropkick and a set of big boots. Brody came off the top with a double axe handle as the crowd exploded. Friday jumped up to the apron, but was scared off quickly by Brody. Then, the match broke down completely as the two giants traded punches, even pushing and punching the official out of the way to continue their battle. The bell was sounded as men from the back came down to the ring to help separate these two. The other wrestlers didn’t have a chance, as Brody and Kamala continued slugging it out, taking out the other wrestlers in the process. Finally, as Brody was able to get Kamala out of the ring, the match was declared a double disqualification, due to the assault on the referee. Brody continued to pace the ring, even grabbing a chair from ringside and swinging it down onto Friday at ringside!
- These guys ended up being a better match pairing than I thought they’d be, as their styles were able to mesh well together. Within this match, that only lasted a few minutes, the brawling was exactly what you’d expect from Brody, with wild strikes and chops also being typical Kamala offense. With Brody getting color only a minute or so into this one, I was taken back a little bit, but I guess it sold the deadliness of Kamala’s strikes. Much like an Abdullah the Butcher / Bruiser Brody confrontation, I could see Kamala and Brody doing big business around Texas as just brutal battles between giants. Having no clear winner was the right call here, as these two have more money to draw together no doubt about it! The crowd was loving this one and I found it to be somewhat of a guilty pleasure, too. Two stars for me, as I was left really wanting more.
- David Von Erich vs. “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin: No review for this one available. It seems this match had been excluded from the taping, perhaps never being taped at all. I wasn’t able to find it anywhere online, either. It is reported that David Von Erich won this match.
- Kevin, Kerry, & David Von Erich vs. Michael Hayes, Buddy Roberts, & Terry Gordy: This match was set for best two-out-of-three falls with a sixty minute time limit, for the WCCW Six-Man Tag Team Championship. A tall trophy was also apparently on the line here, as it was held up by the official prior to the bout and Marc Lowrance announced it as so on commentary. The bell rang and it looked to be Kerry and Michael Hayes starting things off. A stalemate had Hayes begging off in the corner, accusing Kerry of pulling his hair. Next in was Gordy and David to lock horns, David got over on Gordy with a quick small package pin attempt for a near fall! Dave then nailed Hayes with a punch, knocking him off the apron, and tagged in Kevin who was a house of fire. Kevin was all over Gordy with knees and a dropkick, until Roberts tagged in and began working Kevin over. Quick tags in the Freebird corner had Kevin in rough shape, as he ate a back elbow from Michael Hayes. Gordy was in next to deliver the same treatment, until Kerry exploded from the corner in rage to give Gordy a few good shots. With tag format restored, Michael Hayes slapped on a reverse chinlock on Kevin to further ware him down. David got a hot tag and hit a big running high knee on Buddy Roberts, but was blindsided by Terry Gordy, who came off the top rope with a crossbody and pinned David Von Erich! The first fall was officially awarded to The Freebirds! Back from commercial, the second portion of the match began, as it was still David and Gordy to kick things off. Hayes tagged in, but was reluctant to go up against a frustrated David Von Erich. Hayes was fed a dropkick and then found himself on the end of a triple dropkick from the boys! Gordy was in next to avenge Michael and dropped a big knee on Dave for a near fall. Roberts was next in to hit a swinging neckbreaker on Dave for another near fall. Kerry Von Erich was able to get the tag in next as he took care of both Buddy and Hayes, followed by Gordy, as tag format broke down again. Gordy was legally back in and choked Kerry under the bottom rope behind the referee’s back. More frequent tags in the heel corner kept Kerry on ice for awhile at this point. On the apron, Dave helped Kerry hit a double clothesline on Buddy Roberts as Kevin applied an Iron Claw on Terry Gordy in the opposite corner. Kerry jumped onto a downed Buddy Roberts to pick up the second fall of the match! With the bout tied one to one, David Mannings demanded a second referee come down to the ring to help officiate. He also said that the next team that forces a break in tag format would be disqualified, no matter who it is! Back from commercial, Bronko Lubich was in the ring as our second official and our third fall was ready to be decided. Kerry hit a scoop slam on Buddy Roberts and then stuck him with an avalanche elbow drop off the top rope for a near fall. Gordy was able to get the tag next and brought the pain to Kerry in the corner with a kick to the midsection. Hayes was then in and he slapped on a bearhug, draining Kerry of even more energy. Then, it was Gordy back in to do the same with even more power and strength. Kerry attempted to fight his way out of it, but Buddy tagged in and slapped a bearhug on of his own! Kerry grabbed at Buddy’s headgear to break the bearhug and finally Kevin was tagged in to clear house. He landed a running dropkick on Michael Hayes and applied an Iron Claw onto his midsection! The Claw was broken and Hayes was able to get back to his feet and attempt a piledriver. Kevin reversed it but ran into David Manning inadvertently, sending Manning out to the floor through the ropes. All six men were then in the ring to brawl as Bronko lost order. Kevin came off the top with a turning crossbody onto Michael Hayes and got a surprise three count! The crowd erupted as The Fabulous Freebirds collected on the outside and the Von Erichs celebrated in the ring. Gordy threw the ring steps into the ring in protest, but David Manning recovered and confirmed Bronko’s call, officially awarding Kevin, Kerry, and Dave the match and the championship!
- This one was just as exciting as it was chaotic. It was very hard to keep up with the action and tags, but that kept things fresh and kept the pace of the match lightning-quick. I was surprised to not see a disqualification finish for the last fall, especially after David Manning took the bump to the floor! That said, the Von Erichs getting a win here doesn’t hurt a bit, as I feel they needed it much more than The Freebirds did. Von Erichs getting a clean win on super shows doesn’t happen very often! That said, this was a cool little hidden gem of a match and one that I was glad I was able to find, despite the quality being absolutely horrible. Three stars from me, as it was fun, exciting, and the team that needed the win got it on America’s birthday.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Again, this was a weird Star Wars, as it was kind of a secret. This being a special show for Fort Worth fans that happened to be called ‘Independence Day Star Wars’ probably could’ve been called anything. That said, having Brody here again for a bout was huge and an obvious draw, plus our main event was what everybody paid to see. I’m glad I was able to find a few matches from this show and include it in my reviews here, even if I technically missed it in chronological order by a few weeks! I found both of these bouts on YouTube and each really flew by, check them out if your able. If nothing else, this served as a feel-good show and a break from our regularly-scheduled episodes of WCCW TV. Speaking of which, we’ll have to wait and see if any of these matches make it on weekly television…
See you all then!