Hey Yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,
Pro Wrestling Love vol. 25:
The Best of World Class Championship Wrestling 1983-1989
Objective: Break up the Greatest Match Ever Project
(hosted at gwe.freeforums.project.net) into more manageable chunks to help me
build my Top 100 List for the project.
Motivation:
Contribute to the discussion around these matches to enrich my own
understanding of pro wrestling and give a fresh perspective for old matches and
even hopefully discover great pro wrestling matches that have been hidden by
the sands of time.
Subject: This twenty-fifth
volume of Pro Wrestling Love is the beginning of the Top 12 countdown of the
best matches to take place in World Class Championship Wrestling between
1983-1987. The time period is set because this was the peak of the territorial
era in regards to footage. Footage before 1983 in regards to American wrestling
is a dicey proposition. There are some gaps after 1983, but for the most part
from 1983 on we have everything. Originally I was going to end this countdown
in 1987 as believe that to be the end of the territorial era (Crockett buys out
Watts and World Class & AWA are on their death bed), but I figure I might
as well include 1988 and 1989 in this because World Class is sold to Jarrett
& Memphis in 1989 to form the USWA. World Class had a terribly pathetic
1986-87 so you won’t see any matches from those years. There was a slight
rebound in 1988 when the Fabulous Freebirds make a return and Jerry Lawler vs
Kerry Von Erich feud over who the real world champion is. You can revisit past
Pro Wrestling Love Volumes at ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com. You can check
out the full version of these reviews in ProWrestlingOnly.com by going to the
forums and finding the folders associated with the date of the match.
Contact Info: @superstarsleeze
on Twitter, Instagram & ProWrestlingOnly.com.
Honorable Mentions
American Tag Team
Champions Fantastics vs Midnight Express – 12/25/84
American Tag Team
Champions Midnight Express vs Fantastics – 1/11/85
The Midnight Express vs Fantastics is most famous from their
1988 series in Crockett, but don’t sleep on their work in World Class. It may not
be quite as good, but it is still worth the time to seek out. Plus it has a
different feel from the 1988 series because this is the Dennis Condrey version
of the Midnight Express.
Kevin Von Erich vs
Chris Adams – Cotton Bowl 10/27/84
Six-Man Tag Team
Champions Chris Adams, Gino Hernandez & Jake Roberts vs Von Erichs – 12/31/84
Kevin Von Erich vs
Chris Adams – No DQ 9/2/85
Chris Adams was a true Gentleman when he got his start in
World Class. However with the departure of the Freebirds, World Class was in
desperate need of heels to put against Dallas’ favorite sons. Thus in the big
October 1984 Cotton Bowl show Chris Adams inexplicably turned heel and aligned
himself with the evil Gary Hart and would align himself with Gino Hernandez to
form the Dynamic Duo. There will be more to be said about this feud later in
the countdown.
AWA World Heavyweight
Champion Jerry Lawler vs WCWA World Heavyweight Champion Kerry Von Erich – 9/23/88
AWA World Heavyweight
Champion Jerry Lawler vs WCWA World Heavyweight Champion Kerry Von Erich –
Steel Cage 11/25/88
I really enjoyed the Lawler vs Kerry feud when I finally got
a chance to see it on tour. I thought these matches were right on the same
level as the famous SuperClash III match. In fact, I thought the September
match had a better inconclusive finish (they both deck the ref) and the
November Cage match was a great ass kicking match from Kerry and a superb heel
performance from Lawler. Really that what this feud comes down to, the
consummate babyface in Kerry Von Erich and the consummate heel in Jerry Lawler.
Fabulous
Freebirds/Jimmy Garvin vs Von Erichs/Iceman King Parsons – Elimination Match 5/27/83
Six-Man Tag Team
Champions Von Erichs vs Fabulous Freebirds – 8/12/83
Six-Man Tag Team
Champions Fabulous Freebirds vs Von Erichs – 9/5/83
The Freebirds vs Von Erichs feud of 1983 reminds me a lot of
the great Greg Valentine & Tito Santana feud in that their crime is that
they had too many great matches together. Thus they all sort of blur together
and it is hard for one to stand out from the other. There are definitely more
Freebirds vs Von Erichs to come down the line, but these are some of the good
ones that should be checked out also.
NWA World Heavyweight
Champion Ric Flair vs Terry Gordy – 2/4/83
NWA World Heavyweight
Champion Kerry Von Erich vs Terry Gordy – 5/7/84
NWA World Heavyweight
Champion Kerry Von Erich vs Ric Flair – 5/11/84
World Class was a famous stopover for the Nature Boy Ric
Flair as he would defend his World Championship against the Von Erich boys. In
fact besides Japan, World Class is the best place to get a gauge on what Ric
Flair’s first title reign was like. The match that just missed the cut (i.e.
the 13th match) was his defense Gordy which I just thought was
really cool because it was a heel vs heel match. The Freebirds had just turned
on Kerry on Christmas Day in the steel cage World Title match. The Texas crowd,
which normally lustily hated the Nature Boy, was cheering Flair heartily
screaming “Go Flair Go” and popped huge for his win. It is not too often to see
Flair play the babyface on tour and it worked out well against the huge, athletic
Terry Gordy. Also, I am a huge Kerry Von Erich Fan and I was so elated when he
won the World Championship from Flair that I had to put that match at #12. It
always brings a smile to my face to see him with the Belt. I thought in his
short run as Champion he had great matches with Gordy, Flair and Jumbo Tsuruta.
 |
| Rest In Peace, Von Erichs |
Great match? Not really. Awesome moment? OH HELL YEAH! I have seen this match a handful of times, but watching after seeing the other Von Erich bouts in order really hit home for me last night. I was as excited as every one of those 32,000 people in Texas Stadium (announcer claims 50k and the largest audience ever in attendance to watch pro wrestling) to see Kerry Von Erich capture the World Championship achieving his dream and honoring his late brother. The entrance was perfect with Kerry coming out with the Yellow Rose and wearing "In Memory of David Von Erich" on his jacket and the yellow trunks. The crowd starts up with a Go Kerry Go! Even though they are in stadium, the crowd is just as rocking as an intimate arena crowd. Flair does not seem psyched out, but maybe he is as he is brings the fight to Kerry trying to go for amateur takedowns. Or maybe it is the fact that he can lose title by DQ thus stripping him of his champion's advantage and forcing him to wrestle more like a challenger. I think he knows the moment and he needs to hush the crowd and bring Kerry down. On May 6, 1984, Kerry would not be denied. Kerry in a criss cross stops on a dime and hits a nice dropkick. Flair breaks his rhythm by retreating to the corner. We are getting the more standard Flair vs power wrestler here. Kerry gets the big punches and huge press slam that is such a great picture and gets a huge pop. It makes sense to work a bigger match in front of a stadium crowd. They work their usual spots like the sleeper and the tussle over the ab stretch. Flair tries to create motion to get something going, but Kerry gets the CLAW out of nowhere for the big pop! Flair knee to gut and then press slammed off the top and Flair Flip as we get now trademark Flair spots. He is desperate looking for the figure-4 with no prep work to salvage this match, but Kerry kicks him off twice. They go through the hiptoss sequence, but Kerry gets a backslide and 1-2-3! WOW! WHAT A POP! One of the loudest pops you will ever hear. Just an amazing moment for Kerry and his family after the heartbreak of the loss of David. It serves as the climax to the first half of Flair's reign as he transitions away from the travelling champion to Horsemen Flair. It is also a satisfying conclusion to the Flair/Von Erich program. Of course, Kerry would drop title back in Japan and Flair/Von Erich would continue in other territories, but this was a great moment for this series.
Kevin is PISSED at Garvin for parading the American Championship that he stole (I did not watch the rematch, but it is clear Garvin won the held up title). Ring jackets aren’t even off and he just pulverizes Jimmy Jam sending him packing. Then they send Gordy packing again and again. Red hot start! Garvin, Gordy and Sunshine regroup.
Garvin is antagonizing the crowd and Von Erichs. Even getting his ass kicked, he won’t let up. Gordy wants him to calm down figuring otherwise he was going to have clean up his mess. Gordy whipped into buckles and dropkicked out. Garvin is only making things worse with his attitude. Kevin takes a swipe at Garvin and then headscissors on Gordy. Garvin wont shut up. Easy to talk when you ain’t in the ring, Jimmy Jam. David lays one in on him try speaking with a knuckle sandwhich in your mouth. Kevin in the headscissors still clawing towards Garvin and shooting daggers at him. Awesome! Kevin is the man; he is a constant state of pissed off. He is the Tito Santana of World Class. Gordy makes the tag and holds him down while Garvin repeatedly knees him. Kevin headscissors on Garvin and the girls in the front row lose their shit for a headscissor. Imagine that today! Again, Kevin gets in wrong corner and they stomp away on him prone. Kevin makes it to David in and bombs away. Garvin sells well for David. David kneedrop for two, but misses next one and Garvin tags out and lets Gordy take care of him. Garvin single leg pick up and Gordy presses advantage. Gordy gets knees up in corner and flying kneedrop takes the first fall! Birds 1-0. Relatively clean win for the Birds. Garvin and Sunshine are such a great heel act. Gordy was at his best being the muscle, but also realizing he cant fight the Von Erichs two on one so shut up, Jimmy! The Von Erichs rage was very entertaining. Surprised how clean the fall was. Gordy & Garvin celebrate.
Garvin picks up where Gordy left off and kneedrops on David. David tags but ref doesn’t see it. Garvin hits the chinlock. Gordy goes a clubberin’ with David fighting back. Kevin blasts in and Kevin is the man! Gordy overwhelms dumps him to outside with trunks. Kevin keeps comin’. Hot shot by Gordy. Gordy Tags Garvin. Kevin keeps comin’! Love how chippy this is. Fighting in corner. Criss cross and Kevin tags in David hits a high knee and wins second fall. 1-1 Tied. Kevin constantly fighting back is what pro wrestling is all about. I love exasperated the heels were they just could not keep this fucker down. Great stuff!
Wild start to the third fall. David thinks piledriver then Gordy is inspired and thinks the same thing. Neither can wrangle it on the other. David applies the claw and Garvin saves and Kevin obliterates Garvin. Fight over suplex and David wins. David applies Claw and Garvin rakes eyes. Kevin attacks Garvin again. Double sleeper and ref rings the bell. Von Erichs win?!!?!? Double dropkick on Gordy after bell. Double DQ! Booooooooooooooo.
Shitty finish aside, this was a fucking war. The second best tag match of the Von Erich vs Freebird war after the Independence Day match. What an incredible fucking year and feud for these seven men! Watch as much Freebirds/Garvin vs Von Erichs in ’83 as you can.
Zack Galfinkas clearly took his grooming cues from the sleeziest man in wrestling, “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin. Garvin and Sunshine were a tremendous heel act and perfect as the top singles heel down from the Freebirds and as their ally. My love for Kevin Von Erich is well-known and one of the first matches I ever watched of him was this one. I was excited to re-watch it and it did not disappoint.
Kevin outclasses the preening, cocky Jimmy Garvin in the beginning with a dropkick out of chain sequence then bodyscissors. Kevin Von Erich is one of the wrestlers that has a credible body/head scissors. There is something about the way he does it that has me believing. Maybe part of that is Garvin’s great verbal selling in the hold. Garvin shows he can wrestle with a drop toehold and Indian detahlock and Garvin tries a pinning combination. Von Erich, always fighting, punches out. Garvin does not let up with good vicious knees to back. Garvin hits the chinlock.. Kevin blocks and throws Garvin into turnbuckle and Irish Whip. Kevin reverse crossbody from top rope to win first fall! Garvin is pissed at himself and rightfully so he dominated the first fall and let it slip right through his fingers.
Kevin starts the second fall with a nice armbar takedown. Kevin applies a headscissors. Sunshine is such a fun valet. Good facial expressions and reacts well to events in the ring. He basically piledrives Garvin when he tries to escape headsicssors. Garvin pops up, but ends up in a hammerlock, love foiling the heel like that. Great verbal selling by Gorgeous Jimmy again. Kevin is really working it and wrenching it, so good. Nice reversals in hammerlock with Kevin getting the best of it. Kevin now applies the double wristlock. Garvin powers up and hangs Kevin up on top rope, but Kevin keeps fighting. Big splash and Kevin eats feet to face. NASTY! KEVIN WENT FULL BORE INTO THAT! Tied 1-1. Kevin looked to have this title defense against Jimmy Jam all sewn up, but he blows it in the second fall.
Garvin presses his advantage clubbering and drops Kevin throat first in the top rope. Garvin back to the chinlock. Michaels Hayes is on apron and at first I thought it was Sunshine. Lets be honest, Hayes has way better than Sunshine so sorry for dissing you, Michael! Kevin throws Garvin’s head into turnbuckle and great selling by Garvin knowing what is coming next! Kevin applies the vaunted Iron Claw to the head of Gorgeous Jimmy. Is that perm enough of a helmet? Garvin gets to ropes. Kevin dropkick sends Jimmy Jam out to the floor. Sunshine slaps Kevin so Kevin spanks Sunshine! Garvin comes crashing down on him for the victory!!!
Sunshine taking one for the team! Kevin is a total hothead in the ring and that’s what makes him great. Sunshine and Garvin parlayed that into an advantage of their own. Great action in there, loved the symmetry of the first two falls and a super hot finish run. Another great Kevin Von Erich match!
Call me crazy, but I think the Dynamic Duo had better matches with the Von Erichs than the Freebirds. They were more willing to meet the Von Erichs with fire rather just feed and bump. This match felt downright Japanese. Everyone was just running into each other and breaking stuff up. It was total chaos and I loved it.
The beginning was great with Adams hitting a superkick out of nowhere on Kerry. So Kerry had to scramble for the tag. I love how Kerry had the presence of mind to hold Adams for Kevin. Kevin was a total madman in this match. This match is a perfect example why I love Kevin (and at times I hate him). He goes at everyone full force, but sometime he recovers too quickly. He takes some big missed splashes. You know that lamest spot in wrestling, you know the one where, a wrestler is on his back and the opponent is coming off with a double axehandle I think and eats a boot. Like honestly what did you expect to hit. Well Kevin takes that bump with full on splash! Kevin is the man! The problem is Kevin does not sell these for long and is ready to get right back on offense. At the same time, this is just a chaotic fight. This would not feel that out of place in All Japan 1980s. Kerry nails Adams with a wicked discus punch. As soon as Kerry gets the ab stretch, Gino interferes and Kevin comes flyin in to smack Gino. There is one time where Kevin so desperately wants to attack Gino he trips over Kerry and Adams' bodies. It was awesome. Gino & Adams have to fight for their lives just to get offense in. Kerry was great at selling and definitely needed to do that since his brother just straight refuses to. I loved the kneecrusher as a set up for the abdomen claw. Adams attacks and here comes Kevin! Adams cant prevent the tag. Kevin and Adams have this great clash before a wicked Kevin dropkick. This is just gnarly how they are fighting for everything. Kevin's bodyscissors, which I love is the first time the match has not been an all out-sprint. Adams selling and Kevin working it into covers makes it a great spot. Gino finally gets tired of it and elbows Kevin. Kerry just blasts Gino. Kevin drags in Gary Hart into the ring and Adams hits Kevin hard in the back of the head. The ref calls the match off, which I totally buy because this match was a melee. Don't have a problem with that finish.
As I said in the body, this feels like an 80s All Japan tag with Kevin playing the role of Hansen just an absolute madman. The offense and general story is not as high quality, but it is immensely entertaining. Adams & Gino have to fight for their lives to stay on top. They bump when they have to see Adams on that Discus punch and there are some other times, but they are willing to meet the Von Erichs toe to toe, which gives these matches more of a gritty, fight feel than the feel-good Freebirds matches. Really, really looking forward to hair vs hair now!
World Class Match of the Year, 1988
Finally, the Von Erichs and the Freebirds have the brawl that I always knew they had in them. I think scaling it back to 2 vs. 2 was a big boon. Another big difference was Gordy was working way bigger in this match. His first instinct was to stand his ground rather than bump. There are two reasons for that. Probably the biggest was his knees were shot as he two giant metal braces on them. I would hazard having worked Japan for at least five years now had rubbed off on him and he definitely seemed more offense-focused which made more a more awesome stand up battle rather than the usual feel-good Von Erich/Freebird battle. A note the Freebirds were sans Michael Hayes and incorporated Iceman King Parsons as the third member. This coming off the infamous Christmas 1987 where Fritz faked a heart attack to try to kickstart business.
The beginning of this match is why I fucking love pro wrestling. Kerry and Gordy just go fucking nuts on each other. They were really throwing haymakers at each other and it felt like a real struggle. I loved Kerry's discus punch to Gordy and his first bump came off that. Gordy clinches with the house of fire Kerry and throws a nice belly 2 belly when Kerry was trying to loosen up his belt. Gordy tags in Roberts and Kerry catches his boot and rips off his belt and just goes crazy on Buddy. This is fucking awesome! Kerry discus punch and tags in Kevin. He is like lightning punching both Birds right in the mouth. A melee breaks out in the corner and Kerry jumps on the pig pile. Gordy throws Kevin over the top rope for a nasty bump. Then he suplexes Kevin on the floor. So Kerry tries to give him a taste of his own medicine only to have Buddy clobber Kevin with his boot so Kerry nails Buddy with his belt. Just when you think how can this any crazy, you have to watch the next spot. I really cant do it justice, but I will try.
You know how when someone hits someone with a chair usually there is enough delay to give the other person some time to prepare. In real life, if you were armed with a chair against assailant, you would just start swinging for the fences while the assailant charged you. That's what fucking happened. I mean Gordy fucking smashes Kerry in the head as he charging him. It looked like a fucking shoot. This match is so damn good.
You know how when someone hits someone with a chair usually there is enough delay to give the other person some time to prepare. In real life, if you were armed with a chair against assailant, you would just start swinging for the fences while the assailant charged you. That's what fucking happened. I mean Gordy fucking smashes Kerry in the head as he charging him. It looked like a fucking shoot. This match is so damn good.
Kevin slams Buddy on the floor and ground and pounds him. He tries to apply the claw. My biggest problem of the match is Kerry does not really sell those awesome chair shots. Buddy with a quick knee to the midsection allows him to tag in Bordy. Gordy shows his new no-selling attitude. He absorbs Kevin's punches. Kevin rolls away takes off his boot and Gordy no sells those shots going after Kevin's eyes. Kevin gets a foreign object from Kerry and Gordy is finally disoriented. Kevin looks for the claw to the head and settles for the stomach. Kerry leaps over them and decks Buddy! Kerry is looking for his belt and cant find it. Love it! Gordy a little quickly gets up and piledrives Kevin and gives a great maniacal laugh. Now backdrop driver, yep Japan definitely has taken a hold of him. One more time?!?!?!? Kevin back drops out and here comes Kerry house of fire! He immediately piledrives Gordy and then piledrives Buddy! I love it! Kerry has found his belt and attacks Buddy. Gordy decks kerry so here comes Kevin with a boot to clobber Gordy. They both deck Gordy with a belt. Iceman and Adams brawl on the outside and the ref calls the match off.
Lame finish aside, this was a fucking war! For one night in 1988, they totally recaptured the magic of the Von Erichs vs Freebirds as the crowd was absolutely electric for this match. I think Gordy working a lot stronger with his first tendency to fight back rather than bump made a huge difference. This is one Kerry's best individual performances in terms of just being a total asskicker. There was not enough selling to take it to the next level for me, plus the bullshit No Contest in a Badstreet match was lame. Still the second best Von Erich vs Freebirds match and Ill be shocked if it is not in my top tier of matches for Texas.
Lame finish aside, this was a fucking war! For one night in 1988, they totally recaptured the magic of the Von Erichs vs Freebirds as the crowd was absolutely electric for this match. I think Gordy working a lot stronger with his first tendency to fight back rather than bump made a huge difference. This is one Kerry's best individual performances in terms of just being a total asskicker. There was not enough selling to take it to the next level for me, plus the bullshit No Contest in a Badstreet match was lame. Still the second best Von Erich vs Freebirds match and Ill be shocked if it is not in my top tier of matches for Texas.
