CWF TV 4/28/82

Barry Windham vs. Bob Russell - 1

Windham is young here, looking like a ’74 NY subway bum, complete with porno ‘stache and leering eyes. This is a real short match, offering little in the way of substance. There’s one part that’s good for a laugh, as a green Windham looks like he’s going for a back suplex, but really, is just inserting his own head under Russell’s arm, essentially putting himself in a headlock. Windham does this wild, flying forearm that doesn’t get the job done, but shortly after, does a flying clothesline to score the victory. It was just a throwaway bout for the youngster, but boy, did it ever make Russell look like an incompetent loser.

Chavo Guerrero vs. Hiro Matsuda – Highlights

This looked really fucking stellar. Chavo was acrobatic as all hell, Hiro busted out some great karate chops to the throat, and I was completely sold – it’s a real shame they didn’t include more than the last few minutes of this.

Chavo Guerrero vs. Kendo Nagasaki - 1

Chavo starts off a ball of fire, but after backing Kendo in the corner, Nagasaki does a thrust to Chavo’s throat rendering Guerrero wrecked. Gordon Solie says he’s “hemorrhaging” as fake blood spills from Chavo Classic’s mouth. Mike Graham makes the save, brawling sloppily with Nagaski and his legendary bedhead.

Mike Graham and Brian Blair vs. Hiro Matsuda and Super Destroyer – 3

This is a fun tag, with highlights being teacher Matsuda and student Graham doing a nice amateur section, full of reversals, hooked exposed limbs, etc. Destroyer is your typical, lumbering big man, but delivers the overhand rights like they’re going out of style. Blair throws a nice dropkick, which all of us old Killer Bees fans recognize. There’s a section of the heels doing arm work on Graham. The end comes when Blair puts Destroyer in the dreaded airplane spin, then locks him in a cobra clutch variation. As the graphic pops up and they head to commercial, watch Blair, as he sits up an unconscious Destroyer (think Weekend at Bernie’s) and locks him in some head hold for a few seconds randomly, as the ref and other workers stand around watching nonchalantly.

Terry Allen and El Gran Apollo vs. Derek "Mongoose" Draper and Dory Funk, Jr. - 4

Draper is a barellchested guy that looks like he left the circus circuit to take up wrestling. Dory is just so... Dory! What a weird phyisque, and he's essentially the Tim Duncan of wrestling, expressionless but gets the damn job done. A lot of basic limb work, not a lot of fireworks, save for Apollo's stereotypical fiery temper. Keep an eye out for Apollo keeping one of the heels from breaking a pinfall with a dropkick, but then landing right on his partner Allen's head. My other favorite moment was when Allen spills out to the floor, as Draper does two disgusting stomps, bouncing Allen's skull off the grimy Florida tile floor. Dory gets the his team the big "W" with the textbook vertical suplex.

"Hacksaw" Butch Reed vs. David Von Erich - 1

After about six minutes of action the show's closing credits start scrolling, thus robbing us of the finish of this match. David is in rare form here, I never recalled him having much personality, but here, he's playing the dual identity of cocky/geeky by being an amalgam of Ric Flair and Dwight Schrute of The Office. We see him doing goofy struts and rocking flamboyant blonde hair. Reed spends roughly 75% of the match controlling David on the ground, the majority of which is an extended side headlock sequence, just like that damn match he had with Sting at Chi-Town Rumble seven years later. I guess I now know two things Reed likes--headlocks and White Girls, the movie, that is.