WCCW 13/11/1982

The Fabulous Freebirds vs Frank Dusek & Killer Tim Brooks

Pretty decent match, liked how well these two teams matched up. There’s some little touches that indicate a bit of hate, like Brooks biting Hayes’ hand early on, which goes with the vicious brawling that occurs every time the two are in the ring together. The Freebirds are the more fluid team, loved some of their early quick tags and teamwork. Gordy is briefly isolated, but makes the tag after a big back suplex on Dusek, and the Freebirds win as Gordy holds Dusek in a fireman’s carry, leaving him prone to a Hayes elbow to the head.

The Great Kabuki vs The Samoan & Sal Olivares

Very similar to the Kabuki squash on the last episode, as he blitzes both opponents with thrust kicks. Like before, the Samoan is left alone when his partner falls to the Kabuki legbreaker, and he gets a brief run  before he falls through the ropes and takes the legbreaker for the submission.

Kerry von Erich vs The Destroyer II

Nice little Kerry showcase. They work a brief mat stint, before Kerry ups the pace. Pair of nice kneedrops give von Erich control and he finishes with the discus punch.

Bugsy McGraw vs Checkmate

There were bits of this I liked but the ending was very frustrating. McGraw strikes me as someone I wont like as much when he’s not facing Checkmate, but he works well in this type of match, as he sells the frustration of not being able to deal with the mat smarts of his opponent. Checkmate will roll into a ball, annoying McGraw and luring him in so that he can grab an arm or a leg. Checkmate can also look vicious, hitting some nice headbutts, and McGraw does get to drop a nice elbow when he finally unravels the knot of Checkmate. Unfortunately, the ending makes Checkmate look foolish, as he lures McGraw to the apron, but seemingly has no plan as he gets put in a bearhug for the double count out. Weak end, but I enjoyed the meat of this.

World Class Championship Wrestling 11/11/1982

Bugsy McGraw & Al Madril vs Checkmate & Bill Irwin

The early stages of this, with McGraw working a pointless and not-very-good mat section with Irwin, weren’t great, though I did like McGraw actually tripping up his opponent on a drop down. Madril becomes face-in-peril, and Checkmate works the arm. Lovely little bit where Checkmate uses his wristlock on Madril to kick the ribs, knowing Madril can’t block it. Heels control Madril nicely, quickly tagging in and out when Al gets any kind of hope spot. They throw Madril to the floor, but this is a mistake as it gives him plenty of time to recover. After a brief flurry by a hot-tagged McGraw, Madril locked in a figure-four on Irwin, but Checkmate stomps on his throat to earn the pin. This is quickly overturned by another ref, and we get a brawl to finish. Fun stuff.

Destroyer II vs David von Erich

Very short match, with David controlling on the mat after some fun misdirection on a drop down. Von Erich hits a big leaping knee to the face, drops a series of knees and hits a proto-Vader Bomb to win.

The Great Kabuki & Magic Dragon vs the Fabulous Freebirds

Decent tag action, with the Freebirds controlling early with lots of quick tags. Dragon is portrayed the weak member of his team, as Gordy has far more difficulty with Kabuki than he does with Dragon, before Hayes blitzes Dragon with strikes. The Freebirds tag continuity allows them to string together 3-4 moves on each tag to give them control. The heels do get some brief heat on Gordy, but Dragon backflips out of the corner into a Gordy dropkick and a big elbow gives the Freebirds the win.

Kerry von Erich vs Killer Tim Brooks

Really quick sprint, but this was the match of the show. Brooks attacks before the match, and Kerry has to put on a headscissors to keep Brooks subdued long enough to enable him to take off his robe. Brooks locks on a big choke after ducking the discus punch, really liked the commentary highlighting that the punch forces you to briefly turn your back on your opponent, which helped explain it. Kerry gets knees on a slingshot splash, but Brooks instantly hits knees on a splash of his own, and a sunset flip wins it for Kerry.