This show starts with SCW Commission Lou Thesz announcing that SCW would be creating their own world heavyweight title and the tournament that would take place in Houston 2 months later. This is a definite extra.

 

Southwest Tag Titles: The Grapplers (Tony Anthony & Len Denton) © vs. The Dynamic Duo (Tully Blanchard & Gino Hernandez) (3/21/83)

 

This is a rare heel vs. heel match but the Duo were getting the cheers although they still work their normal style. Tully works early FIP and the Grapplers take it to him with Tully bumping around the ring. Gino would get the tag and he comes in fired up beating on both Grapplers but would get kicked in the head so he tagged back in Tully. Tully would get the advantage on Grappler #2 before both made tags and Gino would get the quick advantage on Grappler #1 with there being quite a bit of switching in and out. Tully would get back in and played FIP again with both Grapplers taking it to him. Tully would eat a nice swinging neckbreaker for a nearfall before tagging Gino but Jack Howell didn’t see it. Gino would tag in and was fired up again getting a dropkick for a nearfall before tagging Tully back in. Gino would then accidentally hit Tully and countered a slam into an O’Connor Roll where the Grappler would knock heads with Tully and Gino got the win. The Duo win the titles and Tully decides to attack Gino with his title belt. Tully pounds on Gino relentlessly who blades but Gino would recover to run Tully off until the Grapplers decided to start destroying him until Gino made a comeback cleaning house on the Grapplers and Carson. This was a solid match with Gino getting over bigtime as a babyface afterwards in this legendary angle and this is a nomination.

 

“Bruiser” Bob Sweetan vs. Ali Bey (3/21/83)

 

It’s a hard act to follow the hot angle that happened before the match so these two just break the second rope on the ring. They try to tighten the rope but the guys continue to work on the loose rope causing problems for the ring crew so they leave and just let these guys continue to work. Gino comes out during the match and declares the Dynamic Duo is dead and he would destroy Tully. Extra material.

 

Steve Stack then recaps the Duo split with Lou Thesz.

 

“Hangman” Bobby Jaggers vs. Frank Monte (3/21/83)

 

Competitive squash. Jaggers then cuts a promo after the match and wanting to be the world champ.

 

Terry Funk sends in a taped promo putting over the world title tournament. This was a great promo.

 

Bob Sweetan then cuts a promo about being the Southwest champion and going for the world title.

 

They start the next show with clips of the Duo breakup followed by a great Tully promo explaining his side of the turn. Extra material.

 

Eric Embry vs. Tully Blanchard (3/28/83)

 

This was a fun competitive semi-squash as Embry got some offense in but was brutalized by Tully who would give him a brutal backdrop suplex before sending Embry to the floor. Gino then showed up in street clothes ready to brawl with Tully with the crowd going nuts for him but Tully would duck out of the ringside area allowing Embry to win by countout. Extra material.

 

Sweetan then cuts a promo about the current events in Southwest. Gino then comes out and hands Sweetan what looks like a video before cutting a great promo on Tully. More for the Tully/Gino feud extra files.

 

“Hangman” Bobby Jaggers vs. Tonga John (The Barbarian) (3/28/83)

 

Pretty much a squash.

 

Next is a taped match of Adonis vs. Terry Daniels.

 

Sweetan comes back out and they show the tape that Gino gave him and it has the highlights of the cage match that Sweetan beat Tully for the Southwest title from February.

 

Scott Casey & Rick McGraw vs. The Grapplers (Tony Anthony & Len Denton) (3/28/83)

 

This goes to a TV draw.

 

Sweetan starts the next show talking about the most popular wrestler contest.

 

“Bruiser” Bob Sweetan vs. Grappler #2 (Tony Anthony) (4/4/83)

 

This had some good action as Grappler did the normal armwork their known for and Sweetan using some good matwork as well. Sweetan throws his patented punches though and works over Grappler before going for the mask which would bring out Grappler #1 to run in for the DQ. Wahoo McDaniel then comes back to the area and makes the save ending with the faces getting rid of the Grapplers.

 

Bob Orton Jr. makes his debut in the area with a promo calling out Sweetan.

 

Bob Orton Jr. vs. Eric Embry (4/4/83)

 

Orton looks great here as Embry was a good opponent for his debut because of his bumping and selling. Orton would win with his patented superplex.

 

Gino comes out to cut another good promo on Tully.

 

Scott Casey vs. Tully Blanchard (4/4/83)

 

Gino is on color commentary here and is mega babyface here talking about doing everything to please the fans. Casey is fired up here throwing some good forearms and just beating Tully from pillar to post and Tully is great as usual bumping and selling. We had a cool spot where Casey hit a cross body block on Tully and the momentum took them to the ropes and Casey over the top. Tully would bring Casey back in the ring but Gino would jump in the ring running Tully out of the ring again giving Casey a countout win. Tully would come back though jumping Gino from behind and busts him open but Gino makes his own comeback and runs Tully out. More for the feud extra file.

 

Mando Guerrero vs. “Hangman” Bobby Jaggers (4/4/83)

 

Jaggers dominated the early part of the match but Mando came back throwing some nice snapping punches before Jaggers chunked him to the floor. Mando then botched a springboard clothesline from the apron before going for a sunset flip off the top rope that Jack Howell wouldn’t count the pin for because he came off the top rope so Jaggers then just threw Mando over the top rope for the DQ. Quite the clusterfuck of a finish.

 

“Chief” Wahoo McDaniel vs. Cocoa Samoa (4/4/83)

 

Cocoa still has his Sabu look here. Wahoo just fires some hard chops here but Cocoa fights back although he misses a diving body press off the top rope leading to Wahoo just chopping him for the finish.

 

The Sheepherders (Jonathan Boyd & Luke Williams) vs. Rick McGraw & El Santo Negro (4/4/83)

 

More former Memphis talent coming into the area as the Sheeps make their debut here. TV time runs out before the finish.

 

The next show starts with Bob Orton Jr. talking about not being in the tournament and just waiting on the winner.

 

Lou Thesz then cuts a promo showing that they have invited Bob Backlund, Nick Bockwinkel, & Ric Flair to be in the tourney.

 

Bob Orton Jr. vs. Arias Romero (4/11/83)

 

Pretty much a squash.

 

Adrian Adonis makes his return after a New Japan tour cutting a great promo.

 

Adrian Adonis vs. Scott Casey (4/11/83)

 

Adonis hits a flying headscissors early on just proving what a great athlete he was even with his odd frame. There was some damn good matwork to start here with Adonis working over Casey’s left knee relentlessly and Casey was good here at gathering sympathy. It would turn into a slugfest with Casey recovering to fire shots while selling his left knee before missing a legdrop that led to Adonis throwing Casey into Jack Howell. Adonis climbs up to the top rope and hits a diving elbow drop but Jack Howell saw it and called for the DQ in a shitty finish. I really liked this a lot and even with the shitty finish I’m putting it up on the block for consideration.

 

Gino then cuts another promo Tully and talks about returning to Houston to face Tully.

 

“Bruiser” Bob Sweetan vs. “Hangman” Bobby Jaggers (4/11/83)

 

Orton does commentary here for this one. Sweetan works a headlock for the early part of the match while sprinkling some punches in there but Jaggers would make a comeback using a lot of elbows and punches. Sweetan starts throwing some bombs himself before Orton jumps on the apron to distract him so Jaggers could roll him up but as that happened Sweetan ducked a shot by Orton and pinned Jaggers to win. Fun stuff.

 

The Grapplers (Tony Anthony & Len Denton) vs. Mando Guerrero & Rick McGraw (4/11/83)

 

Grapplers work over McGraw’s left leg trying to immobilize him and this goes on quite a while with both men tagging in and out keeping the fresh one in the ring. McGraw tries to fight back using his right leg and is finally able to get the hot tag to Mando who comes in a house of fire. Soon enough the 4-way brawl starts up before Mando would nuke Grappler #2 with a backdrop suplex followed up with an airplane spin for a nearfall. The match then settles back down into a normal match with the faces working over Grappler #1’s left arm. Grappler would hit a powerslam though on Mando that stopped that before the match again turned into a clusterfuck as guys didn’t know what to do. The faces then went after Grappler #2’s mask for a bit before he tagged in his partner and McGraw went to work on his left leg as payback from earlier. Grapplers though would get back on offense and went back to work on McGraw’s left leg again but it didn’t last long as Mando got the tag back in and another 4-way brawl would start up. Everyone is fighting here with the cameras having a hard time to follow as the bell rang for the TV draw. This was a fun match but very disjointed which hurts it as a nomination.

 

Bob Orton Jr. vs. El Santo Negro (4/18/83)

 

Another good showing for Orton and uses a piledriver in honor of Sweetan who watches from the stage and cuts a promo on Orton after the match.

 

Orton then comes back for a promo on Sweetan and using the piledriver.

 

The Grapplers (Tony Anthony & Len Denton) vs. Eric Embry & Rick McGraw (4/18/83)

 

More fun with the Grapplers & McGraw here this time with Embry being around to take a beating. This match had better pacing than the match the week before and Embry was better than Mando here as a fired up babyface even breaking out an enzuigiri. Embry would get killed though as he ate an atomic drop/flying clothesline from the middle rope combo for the win. Fun match.

 

Eddy Mansfield makes his return to Southwest with a promo here after being gone for well over a year and a half and he’s back for Scott Casey.

 

Then we get clips of the Grapplers vs. Sheeps on 4/24/83 in San Antonio with Jonathan Boyd on commentary. Boyd saying the Grapplers are Mexicans is funny. The Sheeps use a loaded glove given to them by Don Carson who turns on the Grapplers but the best part is that the Sheeps turn on Don Carson because they don’t need him. Terrific angle and a definite extra.

 

Scott Casey & Sweet Brown Sugar (Skip Young) vs. Cocoa Samoa & “Continental Lover” Eddy Mansfield (5/9/83)

 

Bert Prentice is doing the ring announcing here which is funny and Terry Funk is doing color. Eddy has packed on the weight since the last time he was here. Casey reminds Mansfield when they get in the ring together about the time he shaved his head and the fans are really hot for them matching up. Sugar looked good here as did pretty much everyone except Mansifeld who wasn’t in there much and did basically nothing with Cocoa doing all the work for his team it seemed. It would break down into a 4-way brawl with Sugar hitting a big cross body block on Cocoa to get the win. This had some good stuff but not good enough to warrant a nomination.

 

Rick McGraw vs. Tully Blanchard (5/9/83)

 

This started out as a slugfest with both men throwing shots at each other here. McGraw got Tully in a backdrop suplex but Jack Howell would get knocked down in the process so he couldn’t count the pin. Tully then answered with an atomic drop across the top rope before going to get a steel chair where he would smash it on McGraw’s left knee. Tully then locked on the figure-four for the win and refused to break so Howell awarded the match to McGraw. Tully tried to attack Howell but Sugar would make the save hitting a big dropkick off the top rope. Another fun little match

 

Sweetan then cuts a promo on Adonis wanting to get the Southwest title back from him that he lost a couple of weeks earlier.

 

“Bruiser” Bob Sweetan vs. Tonga John (The Barbarian) (5/9/83)

 

Tonga is now working barefoot and stayed even with Sweetan before missing a diving headbutt off the second rope. Sweetan took advantage and gave him a piledriver for the win.

 

The Sheepherders (Jonathan Boyd & Luke Williams) vs. Eric Embry & Mando Guerrero (5/9/83)

 

Embry gets his ass kicked to start the match with Mando having to jump in to save him from being pinned before finally getting the tag to Mando. Mando comes in looking good to start but the Sheeps go to work on him as well keeping him grounded until he rolled around enough to get the tag to Embry. Embry came in there and like Mando got some quick offense but fell prey to the Sheeps who would finish him off. Sheeps looked really good here.

 

The next show starts with clips of Adonis vs. Sweetan from San Antonio on 4/24/83.

 

Sheeps show up for a promo with Boyd ripping everyone.

 

The Sheepherders (Jonathan Boyd & Luke Williams) vs. Mando Guerrero & El Santo Negro (5/16/83)

 

Mark Nulty makes his debut here as an announcer as well. Mando uses some flying headscissors early on with one looking good but the other ones were sloppy. Sheeps again look good here using solid teamwork to keep the advantage over Negro but he would fight back every chance he got before Mando got in the ring for a 4-way brawl. Sheeps would throw Mando out to the floor hard before finishing off Negro with the fireman’s carry kneedrop which I loved.

 

Bobby Jaggers comes out with a bucket of pig shit and says that he plans on pouring it on Casey’s head to collect the $5,000 bounty that Mansfield has out on Casey. It ends up though with Casey pouring the bucket on Jaggers’ head. Jaggers would then attack Casey with a chain as he was wrestling Cocoa Samoa before Sweet Brown Sugar would make the save. This angle killed Southwest on USA Network because they thought this was in very bad taste and not too long after this aired they were kicked off in favor of WWF programming with the rest being history. Definite extra.

 

Tully Blanchard vs. Eric Embry (5/16/83)

 

Last time these two wrestled, Embry got destroyed and the story here is that he has been working for almost 4 months for another shot at Tully. Tully works over Embry’s left leg for the early part of the match but Embry would break free and would go on offense sending Tully to the floor to regroup. Tully would come back in and would go back to work on Embry’s left leg with Embry using some good facials to gain the sympathy of the fans. Embry would again break free and would duck a running shoulderblock by Tully into the corner with him hitting the post. Embry then knocked Tully around a little before Tully again regained the advantage using a backdrop suplex hold to get the win. Tully was on offense almost the whole match but Embry was solid in his role as the underdog babyface that got glimpses of offense but couldn’t beat Tully. Very fun stuff.

SWCW Mar 27-May 22 1983 #1

 

Lou Thesz promo

 

 

Tully/Gino v Grapplers-title change-THEN TULLY TURNS ON GINO-one of the great angles ever-Gino blades-Grapplers destroy Gino, Gino comeback

 

This is a famous bout and angle. It's in the top 2 most famous angles in San Antonio wrestling history. Blanchard of course sold and bumped well for the Grapplers. Gino was on fire when he took the tag. The Grapplers are good hands in the ring and work over Blanchard's back. A great finish that lead to the hot angle. Gino would have been a great counter part face to Sweetan, and Wahoo. Nomination

 

Sweetan v The Turk

 

 

Gino, bloody, throws belt down

 

This was a money promo. Extra

 

Thesz orders tag tourney

 

 

Jagger squash and promo

 

Funk promo

 

Puts the World Title over.

 

Sweetan promo

 

 

Tully rips Gino

Blanchard promo.

 

Tully v Embry, Gino interferes

Fun studio bout.

 

Jaggers v Tonga John (Barbarian)

 

 

Adonis v Daniels

 

This was a fun little bout.

 

Sweetan v Tully (bloody mess) in cage JIP

 

Gino hooks up Sweetan with the lost tape.Blanchard is awesome in taking a beating. The finish was telegraphed with Sweetan's body language, but it was awesome. Just not enough shown to be a nomination. What was shown was awesome.

 

Casey/McGraw v Grapplers

 

Another fun studio bout that runs out of time.

 

Sweetan Promo

 

Sweetan v Grappler, Wahoo and other Grappler interferes

 

Another good studio bout.

 

Bob Orton Jr promo, wrestles Embry

 

Fun stuff

 

Gino promo-interferes w Tully v Casey

 

Another good segment

 

Jaggers v Mando Guerrero

 

Mando is fun here. The crowd is digging Mando's offense. This was neat, but the finish was odd.

 

Wahoo v Cocoa Samoa

 

Sheepherders-Boyd/Luke v McGraw/Santo Negro

 

Sheepherders debut.

SWCW Mar 27-May 22 1983 #2

 

Orton promo

 

Thesz promo on title tournament.

 

Orton squash

 

Adonis promo, v Casey

 

Adonis is just great here. Him taking Casey to the mat was good stuff. Casey escape from the double writlock had a british feel to it. I mark at all times that it happens. Adonis just murdered the cowboy's leg with Casey selling it. Overall, this was a good studio bout, and a nomination.

 

 

Gino promo

 

Another good promo from Gino. He is awesome as a face. This is a great fired up promo. What a great piece of business.

 

Sweetan v Jaggers

 

Sweetan's headlock spots are cool as hell. Sweetan is such a smart worker. The whole crew here seems to be "smart" workers. The finish was fun. Good t.v bout.

 

Grapplers v McGraw/Mando Guerrero

 

I liked the Grappler's leg work here. Mando's offense is neat stuff. I liked McGraw's head fake when he went for the drop toe hold. I also liked how the Grapplers still went after McGraw's leg. This was fun, but just falls short of a nomination.

 

Orton v Santo Negro

 

A fun squash.

 

Sweetan Promo

 

 

Grapplers v McGraw/Embry

 

Another fun bout.

 

Eddie Mansfield promo

 

This was fun.

 

Sheepherders v Grapplers-Boyd commentates

 

This is JIP 5 minutes in. We get a swerve. Don carson joins the Sheepherders. The the Sheepherders turn on him.

 

Sheepherders promo

 

Another good promo from Boyd.

 

Casey/Sugar v Samoa/Mansfield-Funk commentates (tracking error from here on)

 

This was fun.

 

 

Sweetan v Tonga John

 

Solid bout.

 

Blanchard vs. McGraw

 

Another fun little studio bout.

 

Sweetan promo

 

 

Sheepherders v Embry /Mando

 

Good little bout.

 

Adonis v Sweetan

 

JIP late.

 

Boyd promo

 

 

Sheepherders v Mando/Santo Negro

 

Another good studio bout where the Sheepherders look great.

 

Jaggers attacks Scott Casey

 

This is a super famous angle. This is a sure fired extra.

 

Tully v Embry

 

I know it's getting old, but this was a ton of fun.

Disc 1:

 

Scott Casey vs. Tully Blanchard (4/4/83)

 

Match is kinda dull. Not sure the angle at the end merits it's inclusion as an extra.

 

Disc 2:

 

Adrian Adonis vs. Scott Casey (4/11/83)

 

Loved Adonis giving Jack Howe a hard time about removing his entrance gear at the start of the match. Really sets the tone as Adonis is really aggressive here, taking it Casey and ripping up his leg. This moves forward, and the Adonis' pre-match promo should go on with it.

 

Gino Hernandez Interview

 

I am a sucker for promos where freshly-turned babyfaces cop to previous wrongdoings and promise to atone. Gino says he'll start by dropping out of the "World" Title tournament so he can wrestle Tully that night. Possible extra for the Gino/Tully file.

 

The Grapplers (Tony Anthony & Len Denton) vs. Mando Guerrero & Rick McGraw (4/11/83)

 

I can see why you guys declined to nominate this, as there are a lot of points after Mando gets his first hot tag where things look kinda wrong. Kris calling it disjointed feels like an understandable complaint to me. Still, I don't think I could point to anything in this match that was out of place or didn't belong. I think the fact that they did a shortened version of a standard formula tag match that eventually broke down into chaos ending with the ref throwing the match out seconds before the time limit would've expired anyway was actually a clever way to work this. I am throwing it on the block.

 

The Grapplers (Tony Anthony & Len Denton) vs. Eric Embry & Rick McGraw (4/18/83)

 

Weird seeing Embry as the hot tag guy at this stage in his career. Of course, he doesn't last too long in that role before the Grapplers nuke him with their atomic drop/top-rope clothesline/backdrop double team thing. Really good, but not great.

 

Jaggers attacks Scott Casey

 

I guess you kinda have to include it as an extra for historic significance. Funny that 20+ years later, the wrestling promotion that replaced Southwest on USA because of this could have their babyfaces dump manure on the heels on their show and no one bats an eye. My, how times have changed.