The SmarK Rant for Pro Wrestling USA – 10.20.84

The SmarK Rant for Pro Wrestling USA – 10.20.84

People seemed to like the first episode of Pro Wrestling USA, so let’s carry on.

The KrisPLettuce archives doesn’t have the 10/13 episode but Monsoon Classic has one match from it, Harley Race v. Dutch Mantel.

Taped from various arenas this time. Mostly Memphis though.

Your hosts are Jack Reynolds & Terry Funk

Tony Atlas & Hacksaw Butch Reed v. Keith Robertson & The Spoiler

Reed and Atlas work Robertson over in the corner while Sheik Adnan hangs out scouting at ringside. Over to the Spoiler and he loads up his mask to put Reed down with a headbutt and the jobbers get some offense on Reed in the corner as a result, with Robertson using the CLUBBING FOREARMS, somehow Reed survives this flurry of offense and brings in Atlas and they wander around the ring until Atlas dropkicks Robertson for the pin at 4:08. This was bad.

Bob Backlund joins Jack for another promo, and Reynolds AGAIN introduces him as the “reigning WWF heavyweight champion”. DUDE. Seriously. Bob once again claims that there are more important things than money but that doesn’t explain why he’s still claiming to be the champion nearly a year after losing it.

Dusty Rhodes v. Unnamed Jobber

Dusty squashes him and finishes with a figure-four at 0:30 in whatever NWA arena this was from.

Mark Ragin & Tracy Smothers v. Dory Funk Jr. & Harley Race

Race quickly hits Ragin with a gut wrench suplex and puts him on the floor, and Dory helps him back in as Terry puts his brother’s sportsmanship over. Funk comes in and takes Ragin down with an armbar as Terry continues putting his brother over. Aw that’s nice. Dory with forearms on Tracy and Race follows with a butterfly suplex and a kneelift. Dory tosses Tracy out and Race doesn’t help him back in nicely like Dory did. Dory with more forearms in the corner and he drops an elbow for two. So we’re back to Ragin as this plodding squash match drags on and Race drops an elbow on Ragin for two. Race drops another elbow for two. And then Dory finishes with the spinning toehold at 5:12. This was right out of the 70s and exactly the kind of dull stuff that was allowing Vince to destroy all the competition.

Jerry Lawler joins us and apparently the Road Warriors attacked Tommy Rich on the 10/13 show that isn’t in this collection. So he threatens to piledrive the Road Warriors and put them in the hospital.

Nick Bockwinkel joins Jack and he advocates for having a big tournament of champions to determine who the real World champion. Well it’s sure not Bob Backlund. But Nick continues to spread the Big Lie that Bob is still the WWF champion and he wants a title match against him.

Jerry Lawler v. Eddie Gilbert

Gilbert was still being presented as the plucky underdog at this point so this wasn’t yet what it would be in the future. Gilbert slugs him down in the corner and starts playing the cocky heel, but Lawler dodges an elbow and chases Eddie into the corner with his own punches. Eddie takes a spectacular bump out of the corner, doing a flip all the way over to the other side of the ring. So Gilbert gives him his own haymaker and Lawler takes a flip over the top rope and lands on the floor. So Lawler gets frustrated and sends him into the post, and then pulls down the strap and makes the comeback. Back in the ring, he slugs away and drops the fist, but Eddie moves and hits a DDT for two. But he gets cocky and Lawler reverses to a sunset flip for the pin at 4:10. Obviously Lawler was determined to get Eddie over in the time allotted and gave him as much as he could. They would of course have much bigger matches in Memphis later on.

Larry “Zybesco” joins us and yells at the crowd while claiming that the NWA and AWA have merged into one company and all the champions are scared to face him. Also he sold out Shea Stadium. Gotta mention that one.

Larry Zbyszko v. Keith Eric

Larry continues his own running commentary while taking Eric down with a fireman’s carry, but Eric gets an abdominal stretch. Larry quickly reverses out of that and hits him with a backbreaker for two. Larry tries a suplex and Eric blocks him, so Larry whips him into the turnbuckles and slams him for two while jawing at the referee and the crowd and anyone else within earshot. Eric tries a comeback but Larry won’t sell anything for him and quickly cuts him off before hitting the neckbreaker and another backbreaker to finish at 3:44. This was a weird squash, as I wouldn’t say they weren’t cooperating but Larry sure wasn’t giving him anything.

The Road Warriors v. Craig Carson & Ken Raper

The Warriors clear the ring right away and Hawk gets a shoulderbreaker on Carson for two. Animal comes in and chokes him out on the ropes before tossing him away and letting Raper come in. Raper’s coming in whether you like it or not. Animal with a backbreaker for one but he picks him up and allows Hawk to toss him back into the corner with a press slam. Animal presses Raper onto Hawk’s knee in a nasty spot, and they finish Carson with a Hart Attack at 3:15. That was actually the genesis of the Doomsday Device, as they started having Hawk do the clothesline off the top, and then finally ended up with Animal putting the victim on his shoulders.

Harley Race & Dory Funk join Jack to discuss the nebulous World title unification tournament that of course never happened.

The Rock N Roll Express v. Phil Hickerson & Lanny Poffo

Jack calls him “Lenny Poffo” despite Lanny already being an established star who had been around since the 70s. But then Terry gently corrects him and Jack blames the director’s bad handwriting. But who the hell decided to put PHIL HICKERSON together with Lanny Poffo as enhancement guys? Morton takes Lanny down with an armbar of a brief flurry, and then it’s over to big fat Phil Hickerson to slow things down. The RNR double-team him with headlocks and Gibson gets a hiptoss. Over to Poffo again and the RNR work on his leg and do the double somersault into the double punches, but Lanny does a cool reversal out of the leg hold and hits Gibson with an enzuigiri. So the heels take over on Ricky Morton and Phil beats on him in the corner, but Ricky backdrops him for two. RNR double-team Phil in the corner, but Poffo comes in for the brawl and gets some good shots on Ricky. But then the DOUBLE DROPKICK, almost as devastating a double clotheslines, finishes Hickerson at 5:40. Man this must have been at the end of the taping or something because the arena was darker than an episode of Rampage and the crowd was dead. This was not a good showcase of the Rock N Roll, as you need a hot crowd of screaming teenage girls to make them look like stars.

Bob Backlund joins us again and he’s apparently going to wrestle next week for the first time in a long while. He’s still the champ, but he’s going to get his title back, but he never lost the title and he still considers himself the champion. OK then.

This was a huge step down from the mostly entertaining debut. The crowd was dead, and it was just a bunch of squash matches with not much interesting going on. Just a bunch of aging former World champions talking about how they wish they were World champion again. If I want that I’ll just watch the AWA. I really hope they find an actual voice for this show soon.