NWA Worldwide 2-20-88

Sting vs. Flair

Need I say more?

NWA Worldwide 2-20-88

Opening Teaser: Flair’s rant from the February 6 show after Sting attacked Dillon. It’s an appropriate tease too.

Hosted by Davey….not sure where Tony is. The whole program is dedicated to Ric Flair and Sting.

There’s Tony in the grey interview room sending it to…himself in the blue interview room interviewing Magnum T.A., who teases a comeback and says the Horseman are a powder keg ready to explode. He teases an appearance in Norfolk and a surprise for Dillon. Wow, Magnum was pretty damn good on the stick. He says Luger, Ole and Dusty doesn’t have to worry about looking over their shoulder and Magnum can take care of himself.

Back to Tony in the grey interview room with Windham and Luger. Tony dubs them the ‘Twin Towers’, eh? That name obviously never took off. They express their support for Sting. Keeping in the grey room as Jim Crockett talks about today’s main event and next week’s main event with Dusty Rhodes and Beautiful Bobby in the cage with no time limit, no DQ and no excuses.

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Sting vs. “Nature Boy” Ric Flair.

Sting’s old music kicked so much ass. Sting’s follow up theme kicked equal amounts of ass. “A Man Called Sting”, however, no ass was kicked during that phase. After the announcements here we go. Sting overpowers Flair to start and bullies him around on a hammerlock. Flair pushes Sting to the corner and gets a clean break and we reset. Flair corners Sting and lands a couple chops but Sting finishes the rope sequence with a press slam. Flair begs off but Sting with a second press slam and the crowd is going absolutely nuts as Sting does his best Hogan impression. Flair takes a break but comes back in and corners Sting, who no sells the chops and beals Flair out of the corner. He follows with a standing dropkick that gets two. Back to the armbar for Sting and he takes Flair to the ground and stays with the hold as we go to a break.

We’re back and Sting has Flair in the corner where he decks him with punches and beals him out of the corner again. Standing dropkick meets air however and Flair tosses Sting to the floor. Sting lands on his feet and comes right back in with a sunset flip for two. Flair begs some more and Sting just chokes him. He gives Flair a corner whip but misses the blind charge, Flair tries to capitalize but does a flop instead. Flair recovers some more and gives Sting a delayed vertical suplex but Sting no sells it and knocks Flair over the top rope. He suckers Sting to the ropes and gets him on the floor where he sends him into the guard railing as we go to break.

We’re back and Flair hits the CLASSIC~! Knee drop, not once but twice, and he tosses Sting to the floor again. Flair follows Sting out and sends him into the guard railing again. He lays in some chops that are now hurting the youngster. Flair grabs a chair but Tommy Young stops him from using it. Flair sends Sting back in the ring and into the buckle. Dillon distracts the referee so Flair can send Sting over the top rope but Sting lands on his feet and hits Flair with a second rope clothesline for two…and a second two count as we take a break!

We’re back and Sting rolls up Flair for two. Flair reverses an Irish whip but Sting wins a battle over a backslide for two. Flair goes to the ropes and…well nothing good happens there so naturally he’s tossed off the top. Sting beals Flair out of the corner and then sends him up and over the other corner. Suplex by Sting but the splash hits knees. Sting rolls to the floor and Flair tries to follow him out but Young won’t let him so they fight while Sting climbs the ropes and hits a high-cross body that accidentally knocks Young out of the ring. In the ring Sting hits Flair with the Stinger splash and slaps on the scorpion!! A second ref tries to come in but Dillon intercepts him and sends him into the ringpost. Dillon tries to pull Sting off Flair but he can’t so he waves in Anderson but Luger and Windham are there to cut him off! Meanwhile Sting still has the hold on Flair. Finally the locker room clears in to rescue Flair and check on the referees. The whole thing is thrown out but they definitely sold the drama and sold Sting as a real-deal challenger. ****

Tony and Davey reset all the craziness and hell since we got more time let’s wrestle!

Ricky Santana vs. Curtis Thompson

Santana with a couple of forearms and a back elbow to take control of the match. He works in a hammerlock slam and a couple of decent takeovers. Thompson attempts a comeback but gets clotheslines for his efforts. Suplex by Santana gets two and he’s back to the armbar. Thompson botches a neckbreaker spot so Santana casually slams him and hits the flying body press from the top for three after about 90 seconds.

Upcoming shows: March 16 at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco

Grey interview room with The Varsity Club. Honestly this was a great idea as Rotundo/a and Steiner do all kinds of goofy shit in the background while trying not to crack up laughing. Rotundo/a talks about giving Steiner his Florida championship since he’s now the World TV champion.

More grey interview time with J.J. Dillon, who is completely bent out of shape. He screams and makes a bunch of demands. I like it but Bobby Heenan was much better at doing that sort of promo.

Back to the ring.

Mike Rotundo/a vs. Gary Royal (I think)

He attacks Royal while the referee was checking his gear and hits the double underhook floatover suplex to end things in ten seconds.

Ringside interview with Sting, Windham and Luger. They are still trying to get ‘The Twin Towers’ over. Lots of gloating and high fives for a group that didn’t even win the belts. Luger says the Horseman franchise is starting to crumble…yep…that’s what I think too. Sadly if they didn’t turn Windham they could have carried this feud for at least 18 months going in an assortment of directions.

Grey interview room where Tony teases the dream match and the winner is..TONY WYATT of Gaithersburg, Maryland….and now Tony brings in Arn Anderson. He’s pretty pissed about Flair getting beat up. He says Luger, Windham and Sting have declared war for attacked his family. Great maniacal promo from The Enforcer.

Back to the ring.

Powers of Pain vs. George South and…

Warlord crushes South with a big boot. He presses him and tosses him into the Barbarian who gives South a backbreaker. Barbarian folds South in half with a powerslam. South is mercifully allowed to tag. Other guy comes in and hits the big boot and a flying elbow. Tag in to Warlord, who sucks of course, he hits a fist drop. Back to Barbarian who tosses this guy into South for the tag. South comes in like a house of fire, being no sold of course. His high cross body is caught and turned into a backbreaker. Barbarian tosses South to the floor where Koloff kicks the shit out of him. Back in the ring and South, god bless him, tries a sunset flip with no luck. Barbarian lets him tag so they can beat up the other guy. Warlord in with a side suplex and a horrible kneelift. Seriously Barbarian allowed his best years to go to waste teaming with that loser. Barbarian back in the ring with an awesome dropkick and a running yakuza kick. Tag to Warlord as the guy tries to fight back but he’s got nothing. Finally this mercy killing comes to an end with the headbutt decapitation.

And we’re outta time!