The SmarK 24/7 Rant for World Championship Wrestling - October 4 1986
- Your hosts are Tony & David. This is likely taped before the Omni show with the US tag title tournament they've been hyping for weeks, so no mention of the results or even the show here.
- And we're at breakneck speed again this week, so the Andersons are right there for a promo against Magnum TA, Dusty, and the Rock N Roll Express.
Magnum TA v. Vern Deaton.
Bing bang boom, belly to belly, you know the drill. And check it out, EARL HEBNER makes his reffing debut for this show.
- Paul Jones and the Baron talk about the total lack of dissention in the Army. This of course proves ironic when Baron gets kicked out. Apparently Manny has taken the money and joined with Rick Rude as part of the Army. What, no turn on Jimmy Valiant to pay it off?
- Jimmy Valiant isn't here to talk about the Ragin' Bull stabbing him in the back (along with everyone else that year), and really who the hell CAN tell what he's here to talk about?
Manny Fernandez v. Mike Simiani
Bull works on the leg to start and finishes with the flying burrito at 0:58. The announcers still treat him like a babyface, so maybe I'm misinterpreting events from the previous interviews, but the turn happens around this point either way.
- Bill and Budro date themselves by putting over Crocodile Dundee (the hottest movie in America, daddy!).
Tim Horner v. Randy Mulkey
Horner overpowers Mulkey and works a headlock. He does some mat wrestling and bridges for the pin at 1:44. Horner was one of those guys with a good look and good matches, but just couldn't find the right gimmick to get himself over.
- Robert Gibson joins us for a solo interview.
The Andersons & Tully Blanchard v. Rocky Kernodle, Bill Tabb & Charles Freeman
Ole cranks on Tabb's arm and Arn drops a knee. Over to Freeman and Tully immediately jumps him and throws knees, then puts him on the floor. Back in, Arn drops a knee and Tully chokes him out on the ropes. Ole goes to the armbar and Arn finishes with the gourdbuster at 3:49. Man, Kernodle didn't even get to tag in for his token offense.
- Dusty Rhodes joins us to explain the rigors of defending the World TV title.
Baron Von Raschke & Shaska Whatley v. Lee Peak & Bill Mulkey
Shaska backdrops Mulkey out of the corner as they clarify the Manny situation: Jones is still TRYING to buy him off. I wonder if the turn happened at the Omni show and that's why they're being so vague? Over to Peak and the Baron sends him into the corner and puts him down with a knee to the gut. Shaska finishes with the superplex at 2:53.
The Midnight Express v. Keith Patterson & Randy Barber
I'm guessing Cornette's pre-match rant is gonna be longer than the match. Dennis powerslams Patterson and Bobby comes in with a back elbow and the flying knee while Cornette takes potshots at the jobbers. Over to Barber, who I hear is so ugly that when he opens the door at Halloween kids give him candy, and Dennis chops him down and finishes him with the Rocket Launcher at 1:48.
- And we've gotta squeeze Ric Flair in here, of course. His logic is that if the Crocketts are worth millions, he's gotta be worth almost as much himself. You've gotta be a dude to hang with him in the ring.
- Magnum TA is increasingly annoyed by Jimmy Garvin and the way Precious keeps yakking at him about what's gonna happen.
Ron Garvin v. Gary Royal
Hands of stone and we're done.
- Jimmy Garvin thinks Magnum should be taken to jail for touching Precious, and perhaps Magnum's grandpa used to beat his grandma and that's where his social problems stem from.
And just like that, we're done. 30 minutes? Oh well, always a good time regardless.
Related Posts:
- The SmarK 24/7 Rant for World Championship Wrestling – October 25 1986
- The SmarK 24/7 Rant for World Championship Wrestling – April 26 1986
- The SmarK 24/7 Rant for World Championship Wrestling – October 11 1986
- The SmarK 24/7 Rant for World Championship Wrestling – May 17 1986
- The SmarK 24/7 Rant for World Championship Wrestling – May 31 1986
Tags: 24, 24/7, Dusty Rhodes, Four Horsemen, Jimmy Garvin, Magnum TA, Midnight Express, NWA, Ric Flair, Rock N Roll Express, SmarK Rants, The Rock, Tully Blanchard, TV, WCW, World Championship Wrestling
Hey I just got the channel two days ago, and here’s the first show I watched. This is actually my first ever episode of 80’s NWA. I found it a fairly lackluster show overall, so time compressed as to be silly. And Jimmy Valiant’s Dolly Parton joke was just…odd. The MX squash and Flair promos seem to be the regular highlights.
This was not a good example of the show, as it’s generally a more leisurely pace, especially the MX squashes. Welcome to the world of WWE 24/7, regardless!
This is a glorious time to have joined 24/7. Nitro is one of the best episodes ever this month and the Big Ones rock, Superbrawl III is amazing.
I am half-way through the 12/15/97 Nitro. So far so good. I loved the spot fest tag match with Juvi/Mysterio v. LaParqua/Psychosis. Jericho heel turn right around the corner!
The ending of the episode I thought was really poetic and brilliant, transcendent by wrestling standards and probably helped spike that Starrcade 97 buyrate even higher. WCW still was far from being a punchline and that episode was seriously God tier Sopranos/Mad Men/Wire level TV.
We are getting ever so closer to the Magnum car accident (October 14, according to Wikipedia).
Watching this series, and seeing Magnum come into his own, it’s really sad to know what’s about to happen. I keep hoping to myself that I am watching some “alternate” version of history and that I will finally get to see the Starrcade ‘86 Flair/TA Main Event that has been building for the past 6-8 months.
I’m guessing it will be a ****+ classic.
Since I didn’t get TBS and I was 4 in 1986, the whole Magnum thing never registered with me until now. I mean, the promotion is on FIRE and Flair/Magnum is cash money.
Although if you can’t fault the NWA for anything it’s that they didn’t have a 2nd top face right behind Magnum. They have Dusty, but that was played. And they try with Garvin, but he just wasn’t main event material, in my opinion. But I’m not sure what they would have done or who they could have built up. You’ll notice that the WWF during this time almost always had two mega faces (Hogan/Andre, then Hogan/Savage, then Hogan/Warrior, then Warrior/Savage, etc.). 1986 NWA had a boatload of awesome heels, two fantastic face tag teams but only Magnum as a true lead face.
Flair talks a lot about the problems with Garvin in his shoot. Basically Flair felt that Garvin was a bigger star than Garvin really was and didn’t realize how poorly he was going to draw in the north. Odd that McMahon picked him up considering that.
FWIW their matches together were dynamite, they had great chemistry together and the feud deserved better.
By the way, i’m like 9 or 10 hours into the Flair shoot (listening to it in my car, i never watch these things, just burn the mp3s to cds and use it as commute listening fodder) – Flair is incredibly revealing about a lot of stuff a lot of even the most die hard Flair fans haven’t heard before but a lot of the problem with the interview is how terrible and unprofessional the Highspots guy is in the interview, he repeatedly interrupts and contradicts Flair and has the personality of a wet dischcloth. I so wish Flair and Feinstein didn’t have heat (at least I heard that’s why RF didn’t get the interview), despite Feinstein’s possible molesty tendencies he’s really funny and charismatic in his shoots and has a great rapport with the wrestlers. What he could do with a Flair shoot would far eclipse the one we have.
I’m not going to review for anybody the entire 13 hour interview but if anybody has questions I’ll answer them.
Feinstein is notorious for being a HORRIBLE interviewer. He’s often misinformed and doesn’t know any detail or background to his list of questions. There have been several interviews where the subject asks him for clarification or more detail about the question he’s asking, and Rob has no idea what the answer is or how to clarify. He’ll often miss the opportunity to ask follow-up questions or ask the subject to elaborate on a point or even challenge the answer.
While the interviewer of the Flair shoot has very little personality, he at least asks in-depth questions and rightly challenges Flair on a few points. One in particular, and I can’t remember the details, is when he asks Flair about why he would agree to drop the belt to Windham and not Luger in 1991, given that Luger was actually in the title picture at that point and Windham wasn’t. Had Feinstein done the interview, it likely would have been much shorter and less in-depth than what Highspots was able to accomplish.
And speaking of unprofessional, how many times does Feinstein interrupt the subject with “I was gonna ask you that”? He’s a dumbass, plain and simple. I’ve only seen a clip of it, but Ole Anderson rightly blisters his ass in his shoot for asking a stupid question that he clearly doesn’t have any idea why he’s asking it in the first place. I’ll have to find it on YouTube and post the link here.
We’re probably not going to see eye to eye since you seem to be using Ole Anderson as a high watermark of conduct in well…anything – but for the gonzo, ramshackle expectations of shoot interviews Feinstein works. His “I was gonna ask you that” is sort of an irritating crutch when you listen to a fucking LOT of shoot interviews (i’m probably closing in on 100 or probably past that) but he has this gregarious late night host nature that really works and he doesn’t try to force stupid internet lore about wrestling onto the interviewees the way the highspots guy did. I bet the highspots guy would ask Randy Savage if he fucked Big Steph and start stammering but “but i heard…” when he corrects him and gets upset for the stupid question. The highspots guy *repeatedly* shoves stupid dirtsheet stories and internet lore down Flair’s throat when Flair calmly corrects him and lets him know the real deal. He doesn’t bother to redirect Flair when he’s mixing up years or jumping around 20 years in chronology during a conversation without any context whatsoever.
Feinstein’s interviews do have one unfortunate tendency that granted this one also gets into: Too much shit about the personal opinions of other wrestlers. Ric Flair’s vitriol about Diamond Dallas Page bordered on ridiculous, “If you can’t work with Mark (Calaway) you can’t work” and his comments about wanting to get iced down by the trainer despite him not taking “big bumps” [this is WCW before Flair started falling off ladders semi-regular.] First of all, Page did not get to work a competitive match with Calaway. He was repeatedly squashed, and that was poor business since WWE bothered to buy out his contract to make him one of the main figures of the Invasion. The interviewer should’ve changed the subject or encouraged him to drop it. Flair puts most everyone over in his interview but some of his targets puzzle me.
By the way, if you want to lose some serious respect for Arn Anderson and see him as a guy who had his more famous buddy fight all of his battles for him, watch this interview.
I’m not defending Ole at all, nor am I holding him up as a positive example for any conduct, aside from taking personal pleasure in someone finally putting Rob in his place for being such a dumb shit.
I agree there’s a lot of stupid internet lore out there, but I personally don’t have a problem with those questions being asked as shoot interviews are mostly going to appeal to internet fans who know these stories.
I also listen to shoot interviews on my mp3 player as I drive. Overall, I do enjoy RF’s shoot interviews but enjoy them much more when someone else is conducting the interview. I don’t know the guy’s name, but I really like whoever did the Scott Hall and Barry Darsow interview. He came across as knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and professional.
My favorite, unintentionally funny moment of one of RF’s shoots was in the Lann Poffo one. Lanny relayed a story about a magazine cover with (I think) Bret Hart and Hart’s face was removed and another wrestler inserted his genitalia instead. Lanny, who comes across as very well-spoken, articulate, and a class act, is trying to find the appropriate word to describe what was inserted. Feinstein, who is everything Lanny is not, blurts out “his cock!”
A true contrast of the opposite ends of the human spectrum.
Scott Hall and Jake Roberts are so tragic and interesting in their interviews. So much wasted potential, I almost had to pull over and just listen to Scott Hall talking matter of factly about taking anabuse to make towns without falling off the wagon. Jake’s “You think anybody says, “I want to grow up to be a drug addict”" speech is one of the best rebukes to the “blame the addict” school of thought on addiction.
Dustin Rhodes’ shoot is so so sad, he can barely compose himself through most of the interview. This guy has some serious serious issues, especially with his father, and it almost seems like his estrangement from his family might be out of fear of a Benoit-like scenario.
Lanny’s shoot is fantastic! My second favorite behind Cornette’s, I love his attitude about his brother’s fame and his own relative lack thereof. Lanny is pure class, a guy who just tells it like he sees it and makes good decisions for himself and laments his fallen brothers who did not. Have you seen him lately? He is in phenomenal shape, if he had interest in getting in the ring I’d like to see him get another go round. He looks way different. His comments on the idiocy of what WCW paid him to never step through the ropes are priceless too. I could listen to Lanny all day. He’s currently touring around with his poetry and lecturing children on the dangers of smoking and I guess has made a career out of it. Unlike so many wrestler’s the guy is no hypocrite.
If I were to compile a list of must listen shoots
Flair’s (pretty much mandatory)
The Iron Shiek (the most insane thing I’ve ever listened to, and Shiek trying to score drugs through the whole interview is more than a little unsettling)
Scott Hall and also The Outsiders shoot
Jake The Snake shoot and the one about the wrestling business that he did, whatever that series is called
Jim Cornette, any shoot, especially his first
Cowboy Bill Watts
Sid’s 1998 shoot (wow is this guy angry! I listened to his recent one from 2007 right after it and the change in tone is so jarring)
The Ultimate Warrior
Bam Bam Bigelow (fantastic listen, he’s so funny and charming – it’s a shame nobody ever let him talk as a character)
Avoid Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart’s interviews. Bret says nothing of value, Shawn is drugged out and talks like a man with a paper asshole. If you want fodder for your still brewing Shawn hatred that’s the interview for you. Bobby Heenan’s shoot sucks too, his voice is destroyed and he just trots out all of the terrible comedy bits that didn’t work in WCW. For what a legendary manager and announcer Bobby Heenan is he really really turned it off for those miserable six years he spent in WCW. Although it’s pretty understandable why the guy was always drunk and depressed, he was never a good fit there but it seemed like he stayed out of needing the money for some reasons he wasn’t getting into. I think in his book he also mentioned it had something to do with him getting a lot more time off than in WWF to spend time with his daughters.
The Lanny one IS great and I, too, could listen to him all day. He really comes across as a genuinely good guy and it made me a bigger fan of him. I actually e-mailed him through his website, just a brief “thank you” to him and his brother for being such great stars and providing so many enjoyable wrestling moments, and he sent me a lengthy reply thanking me for taking the time to write him. He’s a real class act. There’s another shoot of his on YouTube which is just as enjoyable to listen to.
The Cornette 2000 one is definitely my favorite and I got hooked on it after reading Scott’s review of it a few years ago. Arn Anderson’s is pretty good, even though he kayfabes throughout it. Another I really enjoyed was Barry Darsow, who came across to me as very humble and a fun guy to listen to and be around.
What was Barry Windham doing around that time? I remember he was feuding with Zybsyzko over that stupid Western States Title before he started tagging with Luger and feuding with and eventually joining the Horsemen in 87/88.
Windham spent most of 1986 in the Florida territory before returning full-time to the Carolinas in 1987. He won the Western States title in 1987 , then dropped it to Zbyszko in early 1988.
Ah ok, thanks for clearing that up. I thought he could’ve been that 2nd babyface who could’ve stepped up after Magnum’s accident.
He probably could have and it’s a shame they didn’t go that route, at least to explore how it would have worked.
I think there’s a little bit of revisionism to the claim that Starrcade ‘86 was going to be the Magnum coronation show. I don’t disagree that he was over and all, I just think that here we are in October 1986 and, up until the accident, Magnum’s kind of sidetracked with the Jimmy Garvin feud (which, admittedly, was probably a time-filler). I think that any plan to do a Magnum NWA title win would have been booked over a greater period of time and with greater detail than, essentially, a 4 to 6 week build up.
I also can’t remember how it played out, but IIRC the initial “Starrcade Control Center” (and I don’t know if this is pre-accident or where it fits with the Nikita turn) hype Ron Garvin and Dusty as the potential #1 contenders for Flair.
The Magnum coronation theory comes from them basically going on TV after the accident (Supertowns on the Superstation, I believe it was) and saying “Magnum was going to be the guy to wrestle Ric Flair at Starrcade.” I don’t know if Magnum has ever come out and said whether the NWA had approved a title change or whatever, but it seems to be an easy jump in logic given the progression of the character through the year.
Just watched the documentary portion of Starrcade: The Essential Collection last night and David Crockett, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, and Magnum himself were all talking about Magnum eventually unseating Flair for the title. They even showed a program/advertisement of Flair vs Magnum taking place at Starrcade ‘86.
To be fair about the build up…Flair calls out Magnum in just about every interview anyway and Flair was basically feuding with every face on the roster at that point. The Jimmy Garvin thing may have been a short feud to rebuild Magnum since he just lost the US Title to Nikita.
By the way, I love Flair calling out Magnum for his “teeny-weeny arms” and “itty-bitty legs”….it cracks me up.
Also, if anyone watches/watched the Legends of Wrestling on black wrestler…Tony Atlas gives the funniest promo I’ve ever seen about Ric Flair. “That’s your World Champion?!?” and ripping on Flair about looking like a girl. “Ain’t no girl I couldn’t whup.”