World Class Championship Wrestling 27/12/1982

Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy & David von Erich vs Mike Sharpe, Ben Sharpe & Tom Steele

David is out here to replace Buddy Roberts, who can’t get to the arena due to inclement weather, and this is for the six man tag belts. Fun stuff to start, Gordy in particular looks like a beast ploughing through the opponents, with a huge powerslam and suplex on Ben Sharpe. Iron Mike does a load of fun stooging about, cowering off, begging Hayes for a handshake then attacking the moment his back is turned. A lot of the match is based on the heel getting heat on Michael Hayes, and Hayes sells his beatdown really well. There’s a lovely bearhug locked in on Hayes by Iron Mike, Sharpe grabs him really low down which means that Hayes is held up really high in the air. Looks really impressive and as Hayes weakens, he flops as dead weight, not a bit of him touching the ground. He escapes, but this is followed by a sleeper by Steele, and Hayes looks to be done. He tags out to Gordy, who almost immediately flies into a ringpost on a corner charge. We get a melee, and in all that David hits a big knee on Mike for the win. Really good stuff.

$10,000 Battle Royal

The rules of this match state that this is a battle royal with pin, submission and over-the-top rules, until we get to the final three entrants, at which point they become eligible to climb a pole and retrieve a check for $10,000 to win. Some fun bits to this match, David von Erich is the first man eliminated, which is a bit of a shocker. Loved four men dog-piling Bundy to try and pin him, Bundy kicking out, but getting dropkicked out by Bugsy McGraw as he celebrates. McGraw’s elimination sees him get whipped to the ropes and basically throw himself out, looked pretty odd. We get down to an unlikely final three of Ken Mantell, Mike Sharpe and Brian Adidas, and they all rush for the pole, frantically scrapping. Sharpe throws Adidas to the floor, eliminating him, but this allows Mantell to climb the pole without hindrance and claim the money. Always enjoy a battle royal, this was fun.