Posted June 7, 201312 yr comment_5546903 This starts with clips of Paul Jones/Masked Superstar vs. Ivan Koloff/Ray Stevens from Greensboro on 2/22/81 with the heels winning the tag titles. Harley Race vs. Jerry Stubbs (March 1979) Fun seeing Stubbs as a young job guy with some hair. Next we get promos from Valentine & The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (4/22/81) NWA World TV Title Tournament - Finals: Sweet Ebony Diamond vs. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (4/22/81) Diamond is Rocky Johnson under a mask. Lord Alfred Hayes is on commentary here as he did announcing for JCP for few months early in 1981. Diamond throws some fun dropkicks early on before taking it to the mat frustrating Valentine. Valentine would use his hammer strikes to turn the tide as Hayes is spouting off all these European promoters who would book the winner. The match got kicking after the halfway point as both men started getting nearfalls with Valentine starting to throw some serious forearms trying to put away Diamond with Lord Alfred accidentally revealing that Diamond's last name was Johnson. This turned into a slugfest with a minute left as both men teed off on each other until time expired. Tommy Young said afterwards that the match was a draw and that was it. Good TV match and is a low-end pick. Then we get the great Dusty Rhodes commercial for Stanback. Next we get clips of Crusher/Raschke vs. Blackwell/Studd from Winnipeg. Decision Match for the NWA World TV Title: Sweet Ebony Diamond vs. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (4/29/81) This match has a 60:00 time limit so there will be a winner and Diamond promised that if he won the match he would unmask. The pace here was way faster than the last match with Diamond looking crisp making Hammer slow it down which he did and he focused centrally on his left arm. Diamond is fun here with his hope spots fighting back before making his full comeback but he would slow it down himself working a chinlock before Hammer dropped him with a backdrop suplex. The wrestlers came out of the back rooting on their favorites now as both men were trying to finish the other one. WRAL Studios was heated for the back and forth action as they to go a break while Valentine had an abdominal stretch on Diamond. We come back with Diamond breaking free making his fiery comeback before we get a real funky finish as Valentine got an inside cradle on Diamond who reversed it sloppily then you had a sloppy count by Roughhouse Fargo confusing the fans before he raised Diamond's hand in victory. The faces celebrate afterwards with Diamond talking to Lord Alfred and he would unmask revealing Rocky Johnson but Valentine would nail him with the title belt in anger. Good match and a nomination. Then we get a promo from Greg Valentine with the TV title he won from Diamond for a show in Buffalo on 5/23/81. Next we get a promo with Rodger Kent and the retiring Verne Gagne. Then we get Kent with Stanley Blackburn talking the AWA title post Verne retirement and won't say what they are going to do. Next we get Adnan vs. Tito from Winnipeg. Then we get a wild promo from Flair wearing a great leather coat begging for Roddy Piper but the Andersons come out instead and Ivan jumps Flair from behind. Piper is insane on commentary while Koloff batters Flair. Extra material. (5/6/81) No DQ Match: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair & Dewey Robertson vs. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper & "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka (5/4/81) Piper & Snuka teaming together is a hoot and they spend the early portion of this trying to stay away from Flair but they would catch him and then doubled him up in their corner. Flair would get the hot tag to Dewey who would hit some big slams as the crowd goes nuts then works over Piper. Dewey would eventually get caught though and was controlled by the heels for a good bit before getting the hot tag to Flair who runs wild on Snuka. Flair would get caught again though but Dewey would dropkick his back as Snuka had him for a slam to get the win. Very fun TV match and I'll push this as a low-end pick. Piper is out with Bob Caudle next talking about Flair and we get clips of Flair SAVING DUSTY RHODES from a beating by Koloff in Greensboro on 5/9/81. This is great stuff and extra material. (5/13/81) Next we get clips of Verne's retirement match. Then we get clips of a brawl between Piper & Tony Parisi from Maple Leaf. Next we get a Blackwell/Brad Rheingans match from AWA TV.
