The NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion, Harley Race, graces The Sportatorium with his presence when he accepts a challenge from “Iceman” King Parsons! Will he take Parsons too lightly, or put him away without much fuss? There’s only one way to find out!
WCCW TV*
Date: 10/22/1983
From: Dallas, Texas
MATCHES
1. Michael Hayes vs. Johnny Mantell
2. Art Crews vs. “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin
3. Harley Race vs. “Iceman” King Parsons
*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 08/02/2026.
BREAKDOWN & REVIEW
- Bill Mercer welcomed us to tonight’s episode from ringside. He previewed tonight’s card, including the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship match between visiting champion, Harley Race, and his challenger, “Iceman” King Parsons!
- Michael Hayes vs. Johnny Mantell: Our opening contest was set for one fall, ten minutes for a limit. Hayes strutted around and avoided Mantell for the first minute or so of this one. A struggle broke out in a lock up, until Hayes ended up being driven face-first into the mat by Mantell. Some basic strikes from Hayes kept Mantell off his game as Hayes continued to strut around between moves. Mantell fired up and looked to go for a Thesz press, but Hayes turned it into a sort of sloppy Stun Gun across the top rope to pick up a confusing three count.
- This match simply wasn’t good. These guys had no in-ring chemistry whatsoever. The sloppy finish only added to the bizarreness that was this match. Hayes strutted more than he wrestled and Mantell offered us just about nothing before losing the match. What an odd booking choice here. DUD.
- Back from commercial, we got a replay of Skandor Akbar instructing Kamala to attack David Von Erich to end last week’s main event match between Dave and “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin. The post-match attack ended in Dave backing Kamala down with the Iron Claw.
- Again, I don’t hate this direction for either man.
- After another commercial, we got some sort of music video, highlighting “Iceman” King Parsons in a battle against The Great Kabuki. Some funky music straight out of the decade before played as more highlights showed Parsons taking the fight to Buddy Roberts, Jimmy Garvin, The Mongol, and more from his World Class run over the last nine months. The package went on for quite a bit, ending with Parsons standing with a handful of kids where he claimed that he was going to be the very first black World’s Heavyweight Champion… Have mercy!
- I still like “Iceman” King Parsons, despite World Class kind of dropping the ball with him momentum-wise over the last two months or so. He has kind of fallen out of the weekly booking rotation. Maybe this will be his way back into the fold.
- Again prior to “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin’s match this week, “Gentleman” Chris Adams came to the ring and grabbed a house mic to challenge Garvin to a match. He again called Garvin a coward and asked why he wouldn’t face him. Similarly to last time, Garvin didn’t give Adams the time of day.
- Art Crews vs. “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin: Our next match would be set for one fall to a finish, fifteen minutes for a limit. Art Crews got ZERO reaction during the introductions here, which I found hilarious. The crowd was almost saying we hate Garvin but couldn’t care less about you! Once the match started, Garvin was on the receiving end of some offense, getting body slammed down hard. On commentary, Bill Mercer once again mentioned the $10,000 challenge put out by Skandor Akbar for anybody who is able to slam Kamala. Back in the ring, an arm submission was being applied to Garvin. This would be broken quickly, opening up Garvin to trade punches with Crews for a moment. Garvin, got back into things with a chin lock and a duck of a dropkick that he followed up with a DDT. That was enough to put Crews away for a three count.
- I’m glad Garvin made pretty quick work of Crews here, as I don’t like when mainstay stars give too much away to enhancement talent on television. Garvin put in a good amount of effort here, begging off for Crews to continue the play up of his cowardice. One star from me.
- After the match, Bill Mercer met “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin, Sunshine, and Sunshine’s valet at ringside for an interview. Bill Mercer asked about Chris Adams. Jimmy Garvin asked, Chris, who? Chris, who? Garvin went on to call him a phony Englishman, claiming Adams was really from Biloxi, Mississippi! He didn’t deserve to get in the ring with Garvin. He doesn’t have the time of day for him! He didn’t even know this guy’s name… Chris, who?
- Dude. put every belt on Garvin. The guy is a STAR. His promos have gotten better and better, his character on television has become stronger and stronger, and he really is one of the best guys on the roster. I’m wondering if he’s going to try to get this “Chris who?” thing over.
- Harley Race vs. “Iceman” King Parsons: Our main event of the evening was scheduled for one fall, sixty minutes, for the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship! David Von Erich was in the ring to give Race a hard time and to backup Parsons. Race protested Von Erich even being there, demanding the official get Von Erich out of here! There was plenty of video left, so I expected these guys to get plenty of time here. Race went right after Parsons and as the bell rang, Parsons was having none of it! A big back bodydrop sent Harley out to the floor. Race threatened to use a chair before getting back in. Once back in, Parsons caught Race with a running crossbody for a near fall! Harley was able to hit his standing headbutt down onto Parsons, but he came off worse for wear, once again sending Race to pace around on the outside. Back in the ring, Parsons landed a nice suplex for another near fall on the champion of the world. Race got things going with a few tight fists on Parsons in the corner, a standing knee drop, and a nasty piledriver for a near fall. Next, Parsons was able to find a sleeper hold on Race with Dave jumping out of his chair with encouragement at ringside. Out of desperation, Race sent Parsons out to the floor through the middle rope. With both men on the floor, Race sent Parsons into the post. David and Harley exchanged words for a moment, until Race turned around into a headbutt from Parsons! Race then stayed out on the floor for a nineteen count here! I thought for sure we were about to get a count-out victory for Parsons. Back in, another sleeper hold was slapped onto the champion. Race then got to the bottom rope with his feet to break a pair of pin attempts. Action again spilled to the outside, with Parsons getting almost a brainbuster style suplex on the floor. Back in the ring, these two exchanged moves and pin attempts. At this point, Race was getting frustrated with Dave, so he threw a kick down at him, and Dave caught it and pushed him over in the ring. This opened the door for Parsons, yet still Race was able to hang on and kick out of a roll up. Momentum continued to swing, with both guys hanging in there out of desperation. A body slam planted Race but he was able to move out of the way of a running splash from Parsons! Another nineteen count for Race following a reversal of a piledriver on the outside. These guys were spent as Parsons punched away on the champion. The referee pulled “Iceman” away from the corner long enough for Race to throw a punch at David from the ring. Instead, Dave got a punch in on Race that sent him stumbling right into a butt-butt hip attack from the “Iceman”! In the ring, a three count was counted and the crowd exploded! Then, the official on the outside threw the finish out due to Dave’s interference and Race was announced as the winner of the bout.
- Wow, what a match here! Harley Race is a master of methodical, meaningful offense and he matched up perfectly with the smaller, quicker King Parsons here. Parsons getting the showing he did here has to mean something to the office, as he held his own against the World’s Champion. I really enjoyed this match from start-to-finish. Speaking of the finish, I didn’t hate this one, as I feel it was done creatively. It also put Parsons over huge, despite him not officially winning. Again, just a really great match that got the appropriate amount of time and was well put together. Three and a half stars from me. This was one of the best championship bouts we’ve seen this year.
- At ringside, Bill Mercer covered the finish of the main event. He also mentioned that, next week, our main event would be Kevin Von Erich taking on Freebirds member, Terry Gordy!
FINAL THOUGHTS
Things started out pretty slow this week, yet our second half of the episode more than made up for it! We were treated to an awesome World’s Heavyweight Championship match, Garvin gave a burner of a squash and interview, and David Von Erich and Kamala’s feud was highlighted. Another shoutout to “Iceman” King Parsons for holding his own against Harley Race, the crowd absolutely believed he was going to be the new champ tonight. One of the more memorable episodes of World Class TV for 1983, no question… hopefully the same will be said for next week’s episode!
See you all then!