Midnight Express vs. Rock N Roll Express -

Man, the 2nd time I have seen the Irish whip butt bump to partner in 2 days. Eaton takes a painful looking backdrop on the floor. The first few minutes saw both teams tagging in and out with neither really gaining an advantage. Gibson plays FIP here but I was a little disappointed that the MX weren't more heelish or using more cheating tactics. Don't get me wrong, the match was ok but it feels like we have been here too many times before. The most memorable thing about this was the MX winning the World Title. I am going to throw this up as a nomination but I am not excited about it.

 

Midnight Express Post-Match Interview

 

Road Warriors vs. Ivan & Nikita Koloff -

Nice power duel between Nikita and Animal to start off. This was actually shaping up to be a decent tag match until Baron Von Raschke came in for the DQ. Shit ending to a match that never got on track.

 

Interviews w/ Fans

 

Dusty Rhodes & Willie Nelson Interview EXTRA

 

Dusty Rhodes vs. Tully Blanchard - WTF is Dusty wearing??? This starts off slow wih Dust just casually working a leg hold. The fans try to get themselves interested and start chanting "BREAK IT, BREAK IT". The tide turns and then Tully begins to work on Dusty's leg that the announcers point out was recently broken. He even breaks out the Figure Four on Rhodes who reverses it ending the leg work. Once the leg work is over, Dust breaks out the MOVES with a backbreaker and belly-to-belly. End stretch sees Dusty getting frustrated ith Tully and JJ finding ways to get the foot on the rope during pinfalls. It ends in a draw which was fine with me. The match was pretty good but the crowd has been really subdued tonight. I'll throw this on the block for discussion but it is a low level nomination.

 

Hype for Jim Crockett Cup

 

Ron Garvin vs. Ric Flair -

Early on, Garvin is just chopping the shit out of Flair and tries to rip out Flair's nose. While Flair is doing his shtick, this really is a Ron Garvin striking showcase match. Chops, slaps, punches, kicks, headbutts. For the first 8 minutes or so, this felt like an extended squash. This also has one of the few cases wheere it made sense for Flair to run the ropes since Garvin was looking the other way. The end run was a case of each man trying to pin each other in various ways with Ric finally getting the win even though garvin's foot was on the ropes. These two just work so well together that this gets a strong nomination for me. Again, the only weak point was the subdued crowd.

This starts with the badass video of Magnum riding around downtown Atlanta on his Harley with no helmet of course because this was 1986 set to Willie Nelson's "Georgia on a Fast Train." Definite extra.

I always dug this special mat they used for this show at The Omni and felt they should've used it more often.

Magnum doesn't even work the show as he hosts the show with Linda Curry who I have no idea who that was.

Bob Caudle is hanging with the Rock n Roll Express in their locker room where they show clips of the RnR winning the titles their first match in the promotion from the Russians.

NWA World Tag Titles: The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) © vs. The Midnight Express ("Loverboy" Dennis Condrey & "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton (2/2/86)

MX jumps RnR at the bell and the brawl is on before Tom Miller even gets finished making the introduction. RnR fight back though and the crowd goes nuts forcing the MX to regroup on the floor. Eaton takes some wild bumps in and out of the ring here especially a hard backdrop by Morton on the concrete floor. RnR focus hard on Condrey's left leg early and I loved the spot where Condrey used his left knee in the gut of Morton and then sold it like death. Dennis would get a desperation tag to Bobby who eats some offense but would counter a move by Gibson and gave him a slingshot right into a Dennis clothesline on the apron which began the MX offensive barrage. Gibson gets worn down by restholds basically with quick tags by the MX who do a good job of keeping Gibson away from Morton who would come in at one point with a dropkick trying to save Robert. The MX would miss the Rocket Launcher and Morton would get the hot tag where he ran wild with offense until Robert was able to join him. They hit the double dropkick on both MX but Pee Wee Anderson got hit as well. RnR brought Cornette into the ring with Condrey whacking Morton with the tennis racquet then Cornette dragged Eaton over him to get the win. This was a pretty good match and because it was a title change that puts it over the top for me as a low-end nomination.

Next we get Bob Caudle interviewing Cornette and the MX in their locker room celebrating. Definite extra.

Then we get clips of the feud between the Roadies & the Russians.

The Road Warriors (Animal & Hawk) vs. Ivan & Nikita Koloff (2/2/86)

This starts as an all-action match with Ivan taking a lot of punishment as Baron Von Raschke shows up at ringside to watch. Hawk would soon get isolated in the Russian corner and they would rough him up some even using the chain. Animal would soon get tired of it and he jumped in the ring which brought in Baron Von Raschke for the DQ. The attack continued after the match and even Ellering got involved where they tried to use the chain on him but the Roadies would make the save. Fine for what it was.

Magnum would then interview NASCAR legend Benny Parsons next who was in his full racesuit which was great.

Next we get comments from the fans talking about who they love.

Then we get a taped promo with Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes, & Willie Nelson and this is a slam dunk extra.

National Heavyweight Title: "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes © vs. Tully Blanchard (2/2/86)

Dusty coming out to HELLO DOLLY by Louis Armstrong is AMAZING.......and he was wearing one of his old 70's robes and hats. Dusty went after Tully's right leg early on which was interesting because in wrestling it was always the left side of the body that got worn down. Dusty would come off the ropes though bad on his left leg and Tully immediately went to work on it. The first half of this match was all legwork from both men which was fun but the 2nd half saw the action pick up with Dusty breaking out a belly-to-belly at one point on Tully for a nearfall. Dusty would get a controversial nearfall as he got Tully in a suplex but Dillon put Tully's foot on the bottom rope to save him. Tom Miller starts counting down by the minute now so they are telegraping the draw but Tully is slugging away on Dusty and he looks like he is about to put him away but Dusty keeps fighting back. Dusty though isn't showing any urgency nor really should he since he was the champion. Dillon would trip up Dusty and Tully covered for a nearfall but Dusty recovered to continue pounding on Tully. Dusty would lock on a Boston Crab with 30 seconds left and the time ran out for the draw. Dillon ran in after the match and Tully used that to piledrive Dusty right on his head and then Dillon grabbed the National belt giving it to Tully and they walked off. I thought this was a pretty good match and I liked the different legwork early in the match. I'm pushing it forward as a low-end nomination.

Magnum then interviews Jim Crockett about the future of the promotion in 1986 featuring the Crockett Cup announcement which Jim hopes would take place in Charlotte. Magnum then shows a video from Joel Watts and the Superdome officials who want the tournament there. Extra material.

Tony Schiavone also introduces MLB HOFer Gaylord Perry at ringside and they talk about the show.

NWA World Heavyweight Title: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair © vs. "Hands of Stone" Ronnie Garvin (2/2/86)

THE WANDERER!!!!!!!!!! is played after 2001 and god this is already great. This is your standard Flair/Garvin stiff festival along with some limbwork from Garvin which was always cool. This had some great back and forth action of course with some exciting nearfalls until Tommy Young got bumped. Garvin caught Flair with the KO punch but Young was slow to get in the ring and when he did Flair caught Garvin with a knee to back and he pinned him to win the match. Flair winning by pinfall although Garvin's foot was on the bottom rope was still a pinfall win for Flair which was rare. Of course this was a pretty damn solid match and a easy nomination.

Road Warriors vs Koloffs

 

This was ok. Not a nomination though.