Championship Wrestling From Florida - 3/31/82

1) David Von Erich & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Terry Allen & Brian Blair – 4
Allen and Blair were still jobbers at this point but would eventually become big stars. Allen in the NWA as a magnum and Blair in the WWF as one half of the Killer Bees. The show starts with the match already in progress. I’m still unsure of how David Von Erich fits into the Florida territory unless he was on loan from Texas. Funk and Von Erich are just schooling these guys. Betcha can’t guess who wins! If you said Funk and David, that would be right. Good tag match to start the show.

2) Jerry “The King” Lawler vs. Kendo Nagasaki – 4
This match is joined in progress as well. Solie tells us that Nagasaki’s karate thrust to the throat and mid-section have been barred by the referee. J.J. Dillon is in Nagasaki’s corner. Ref bump and Kendo nails Lawler in the throat. Lawler sells it like he was just stabbed in the neck. Lawler eventually makes it back in to the ring and had blood around his mouth. You just don’t see that kind of dedication to the sell nowadays. Nagasaki hits the throat thrust again in front of the ref and a DQ ends it. I would’ve liked to have seen the whole thing. Good from what was presented.

3) El Grand Apollo & Mike Graham vs. Avalanche Tyler & Bob Russell – 3
Apparently, Tyler is high up on the list of J.J. Dillon who does some scouting from ringside. If you’re curious about what this Tyler guy looks like, just imagine King Kong Bundy about five inches shorter and with hair. This looks like squash city to me. The only person I’m remotely familiar with is Graham, even then, I’ve only seen a small amount of his work. Apollo seemed like your generic Cuban wrestler from back in the day. Graham and Apollo get the win and Tyler and Russell don reflector jackets and help direct traffic after the show.

Eddie Graham is presented with the Florida state flag from the lieutenant governor. I wonder if it’s the same flag that was draped over his coffin after he shot himself? Just curious.

Highlights are shown from the Dusty Rhodes/Harley Race match in St. Petersburg where Dusty wins the NWA title. I already spoke about this bout on my review of the Dusty DVD. Moving on …

4) “Hacksaw” Butch Reed vs. Ric Flair – 4
This is JIP near the end of the bout. Barbara Clary sets up the match beforehand by touting that the referee’s decision would go before the NWA board. Flair eats a post and does a blade job. The ref is shoved and mayhem ensues as a giant brawl erupts. Numerous officials and undercard wrestlers try to break it up but fail miserably. The finish was set up beforehand as “controversial” but I just saw it as a regualar double DQ. Again, I would’ve liked to have seen the whole match so I’m only scoring on what was presented.

5) Hiro Matsuda vs. Mr. Wrestling #2 – 3
There’s only about 10 minutes of TV time left. Let’s see if this gets cut off like they used to do back in the day. Matsuda had a brief stint as the manager of the Four Horsemen in WCW in early 1990. MW 2 seems pretty generic to me, then again, that’s probably what the gimmick is supposed to be. Gordon Solie informs us that we’re out of time for this week. Credits roll as the match is still in progress. Not quite as good as the other stuff that was presented but still not enough to completely bore me.

Final Thoughts:
As I said in my review of the Greatest Families DVD, Florida is quickly becoming one of my favorite territories to watch. The number of people who passed through or got their start there is like a who’s who of wrestling legends. I’m not too familiar with the Florida storylines yet as this is only the second show of theirs I’ve seen but it’s still enough to keep me interested. Thumbs up for Florida wrestling.