Tonight, the Von Erichs are out for a measure of revenge against Skandor Akbar’s Devastation Incorporated, when Kerry & Kevin take on The Mongol & Mr. Ebony in tonight’s tag team match main event! Plus, Terry Gordy in singles action, Buddy Roberts meets “Gentleman” Chris Adams in our opening contest, and much more!
WCCW TV*
Date: 09/24/1983
From: Dallas, Texas
MATCHES
1. “Gentleman” Chris Adams vs. Buddy Roberts
2. Johnny Mantell vs. Cocoa Samoa
3. Terry Gordy vs. Ken Johnson
4. Kerry & Kevin Von Erich vs. The Mongol & Mr. Ebony
*BROADCAST NOTE
This playback copy has been presented in the most complete form possible, due to original production technical difficulties. Reported by the WWE as of 06/14/2026.
BREAKDOWN & REVIEW
- Bill Mercer welcomed us back to World Class Championship Wrestling and mentioned our tremendous main event, where the Von Erichs will be taking on two-thirds of Devastation Incorporated. He then mentioned our opening contest and threw to commercial.
- “Gentleman” Chris Adams vs. Buddy Roberts: Our opening bout of the evening was set for one fall to a finish, ten minutes for a time limit. Buddy had his headgear on here, as usual. These guys paced and locked up, with Roberts complaining about Adams pulling his hair. On commentary, Mercer mentioned again how Harley Race would be in Dallas soon, looking for suitable challengers for his World Championship. In the ring, Buddy was stalling as much as he could with Adams here. Adams hit a knee lift on Buddy that rocked him. A monkey flip and set of arm drags sent Buddy out to sell on the floor. Back in the ring, Adams went after the left arm of Roberts, wrenching it, and dropping a knee on it. Out of nowhere, Adams landed a nice Super Kick on Buddy, followed by a tombstone piledriver. Adams went up to the top rope, but slipped, and I couldn’t tell if he was supposed to do that, or not. Roberts popped up and dropped a running elbow on Roberts, followed by another off the second rope for a near fall. A running bulldog out of the corner got a Roberts another near fall. An atomic drop reversed the momentum in Adams’ favor, followed by another Super Kick! A few, scrambled pin attempts later put us into a time limit draw.
- Poor Chris Adams was stuck with Buddy Roberts’ shenanigans tonight. A lot of this one was spent stalling around and having momentum killed by Buddy’s heel tactics. Nothing special in my book, as I was desperate to move on and get to the rest of tonight’s card. I just feel like with Buddy Roberts, Adams wasn’t able to really show off his offense as much as he normally does. One star from me.
- Johnny Mantell vs. Cocoa Samoa: Our next bout was set for one fall with a fifteen minute time limit. I can’t say that I was really looking forward to this one but we were back from commercial and right into this one. This is the first time we’ve seen Cocoa Samoa on World Class television, but I figured I knew what to expect. Samoa took control of Johnny’s arm and sent him over with a flip. Mantell was on offense next, hitting a dropkick and an arm drag into a submission. Samoa missed a body splash in traffic and ended up getting body slammed instead. Mantell slapped on a head scissors on the mat next. A grapevine-type head submission was in store for Samoa next, though he was able to escape this a locked on what looked like a modified Texas Cloverleaf. Mantell sold the legs hard, leaving Samoa open to hit several chops and punches on his weakened opponent. Mantell hit a running crossbody for a near fall out of pure desperation. A side Russian Leg Sweep got a surprise pin over Samoa, with Samoa claiming his trunks were pulled after the bell.
- This one surprised me with how well these guys meshed with each other. There was action right from the first bell and both men worked pretty hard to put something together here. Besides the extended time in the head scissors, the pacing was enjoyable and I think both guys came out looking good. I didn’t end up hating this one nearly as much as I expected to! Two stars from me!
- Terry Gordy vs. Ken Johnson: The action continued with our next bout, one fall to a finish with a twenty minute time limit. On commentary, Bill Mercer announced Michael Hayes versus Bruiser Brody for next week’s card! I feared for little Ken Johnson’s life here, as Mercer put over Gordy’s teacher of the Oriental Spike, ‘Master Sing-Fu’. Hokey bullshit, obviously! Anyway, Gordy had Ken in a standing side headlock here for awhile. He tried to rally, but Gordy caught him in a running crossbody and slammed him hard. Gordy put the boots to Johnson and threw him out to the floor through the middle rope. Johnson tried to trade punches with Gordy and obviously, that didn’t go well for him. Gordy signalled for the Spike and got it, having Johnson thrash around in pain. Gordy circled as Johnson continued to convulse in pain before easily pinning him. Johnson really sold the pain, having officials check him afterward.
- Wow. Ken Johnson really sold his ass off here for Gordy. This squash made Gordy look like an effortless wrecking machine, so pretty effective. As far as the match, it was commandingly one-sided, so not much to rate. Full star squash here.
- At ringside, Bill Mercer caught up with Kevin Von Erich for a pre-match interview. Kevin mentioned that Dave was injured and would be out a week or two based on what happened last week. There was a wrong to be righted here tonight and the Von Erichs were on their way to doing it.
- This explains the swap in for Kevin instead of David tagging with Kerry tonight. I was intrigued which direction they’d be going in for the main event next, that’s for sure!
- Kerry & Kevin Von Erich vs. The Mongol & Mr. Ebony: Our final event of the evening was set for one fall, forty-five minutes for a time limit. The bell got us started here with Kerry and The Mongol. The Mongol tried to get his strikes rolling, but Kerry wouldn’t have it, battling right back with strikes of his own. A dropkick caught Mongol off guard enough for Kerry to tag Kevin in. Kevin came in to meet Mr. Ebony who was arm dragged as soon as he got in there. Kevin worked on an arm before tagging Kerry back in to continue the punishment. Another dropkick landed hard, forcing Ebony to tag out to Mongol. A test of strength was up next, with The Mongol getting the better of Kerry… at first. Kerry was able to monkey flip The Mongol away to get a tag over to Kevin. Kevin was in to put an abdominal claw on Mr. Ebony who was also freshly tagged in. Kevin went for the Claw again, but Mongol was in to help Ebony break the hold. Ebony then ate a double dropkick from the Von Erichs. In the midst of the chaos, Kerry was double-teamed in the heel corner behind the ref’s back as he was trying to wrangle Kevin. A deep bearhug put Kerry in a bad way here deep into the match. Kerry was able to get a Claw on The Mongol for a brief second to break the bearhug, but Ebony was tagged in and it was his turn to slap on a bearhug. Kerry got beaten down by both heels for the next few moments, ending up in yet another bearhug from The Mongol. Kevin finally got the hot tag and he cleaned house. Ebony ended up in a sleeper hold before all four men were in the ring. An Iron Claw was applied to Mr. Ebony by Kevin as the referee regained control of the match, just before it broke down again! All four were in there, with The Mongol eating a double dropkick and Mr. Ebony ending up getting stuck with Kevin Von Erich’s flying, turning crossbody off the top rope for a hard-fought three count. After the bell, The Mongol was back in and the battle between the four men continued. The heels were run into each other, sending both out to the floor. The Von Erichs stood tall in the ring while Devastation Incorporated exited in defeat.
- This was another surprisingly good match! I went into this one with pretty low expectations, but was pleasantly surprised with how well these four guys worked together. The bigger heels played perfectly off the Von Erichs, with Kerry’s fight-from-underneath shtick coming through just as great as it always does! I think these guys had the match of the night tonight and I think I was most shocked that Mongol and Ebony were able to keep up with the Von Erich boys! Two and a half stars here.
- Bill Mercer closed us out for the night from the ringside area. He again mentioned the match between Bruiser Brody and Michael Hayes coming up next week!
FINAL THOUGHTS
There was no fluff tonight, as all the action was kept between the ropes. One quick interview was all we got other than matches tonight, so we were definitely wrestling-heavy! Gordy’s squash match came off really well and Cocoa Samoa put up a shockingly good fight against Johnny Mantell. Our main event delivering more than I thought it would was nice, too! All things considered, I thought the night flew by and I was excited to hear that Bruiser Brody would be back next week to face Michael Hayes… as Hayes has been cruisin’ for a bruisin’ for a long, long time!
See you all then!