Wednesday, November 14, 2007

WCCW TV - 1/15/83

1) Buddy Roberts vs. Brian Adias - 2
2) Michael Hayes vs. Al Madril - 3
3) Andre the Giant vs. Terry Gordy vs. King Kong Bundy vs. Bugsy McGraw vs. Wild Bill Irwin vs. Kerry Von Erich - Six Man Elimination Match - 4

Well, this was basically just a Freebird showcase. Adias was about as pasty as a ball of dough at a cake shop. Roberts wasn't really impressive but had a nice look about him. Afterwards, a video of Bill Mercer visiting the Freebirds at home and asking questions about the finish of the Flair/Kerry cage match from Reunion Arena. While it was a fun little package, the background music was edited over which left some of the dialogue hard to hear.

The bout with Hayes and Madril was a little more action packed than the opener but still wasn't much more than a showcase for Hayes. The reason this gets a better grade than the opener was because the selling from both guys was way better than the first bout. Hayes hit a piledriver and pulled Madril up from a pin followed by an attack from Jose Lothario who challenged Hayes to a match.

A six-man match like the main even was a rarity back in the day. It was basically a six-man battle royal but the talent array was so interesting that it warranted a decent rating. Also, seeing Andre in World Class was a treat as well. The main story of the match was focusing on the Gordy/Von Erich issue that had spawned from the finish of the Flair/Von Erich cage match the previous week. Andre dominated Gordy who eliminated Kerry early on. The match dragged at points but was still cool to watch with the talent involved.

Overall, this episode focused mainly on building the Freebirds up as threats to the Von Erichs with the main point being the finish of the cage match from the previous week. The Freebirds/Von Erich feud would eventually turn World Class into the hottest territory of the 1980s and all the seeds that were planted in the previous episode were expounded upon here. I would definitely recommend watching the Flair/Kerry cage match before viewing this in order to know exactly what's happening.

1 comment:

Brian said...

i agree about the badly dubbed music taking away from the interview package..