World Class Championship Wrestling - October 13, 1984
by Erick Von Erich
Things have definitely pivoted in World Class, lately. Bill Mercer is here to tell us about the controversial TURN of one "Gentleman" Chris Adams. In fact, we're going to lead off thi episode with a recap of the shocking events, including a sit-down interview with Kevin Von Erich. So whie there is a lot going on in World Class CHampionship Wreslting, we won't get get to ringside right away...
Special Reports on the Chris Adams/Kevin Von Erich Situation
Bill Mercer and Kevin are in the World Class studios to narrate and discuss last week's main event. They inform us of somethng that the cameras missed: Stella Mae French reached in to trip up Gino Hernandez's ring-apron suplex (and frankly, I missed it, too). This caued Gino to fall, Chris to roll, and Gino to score the 3 count. If you're up on your Pro Wrestling 101, you know that grabbing/tripping the leg on an ring apron suplex usually works well and causes the desired result (see: Bobby Heenan at WrestleMania V as an example). Immediately after, Chris was irate with Stella Mae... and then Gary Hart got involved. Kevin then reiterates that he gave Hart 3 chances to stop shoving Stella Mae, but had to "do what was right". Kevin then says that he's not sure what's going on with Chris. "Maybe it's ego or something". Both Mercer and Kevin allude to the fact that Gary Hart may have gotten in Chris's ear. Regardless, Kevin is irate and wants a piece of Chris.Next is some NEW stuff involving footage from Fort Worth. Kevin was scheduled to wrestle in a 6-man tag match with brothers Kerry and Mike, against Gino Hernandez and Jake "The Snake" Roberts. However, Kevin received a concussion from last week's superkick and wasn't medically cleared to wrestle. So Buck "Rock & Roll" Zumhofe stepped in. Hernandez and Roberts were supposed to partner with El Gran Marcus... but he didn't show for whatever reason. Thus, Gary Hart brought out CHRIS ADAMS to join Hernandez and Roberts! We cut to the end of the bout where Mike is slamming Hernandez. Suddenly, Kevin runs in, in his street clothes and begins whaling away on Adams! Referee Mark Hazzard throws the match out, as officials try to quell the mayhem. Nevertheless, at the upcoming Cotton Bowl Extravaganza, the World Six Man Tag Tam Championship will be on the line, as the Von Erichs will defend against the dastadly trio of Gino Hernandez, Jake Roberts and Chris Adams. Kevin closes the segment, in the studio, by saying: "no power on Earth can keep me away from him". In case, you missed it, Kevin vs. Chris is very much a BIG thing.
Bill Mercer On Location Interivew with Jake "The Snake" Roberts
They're at a junkyard, or maybe just a Big Pile of Junk behind someone's house. Jake is wearing a shoddy suit jacket and tie, then chuckles and says "welcome to MY world". Mercer notes that it's quite a dichotomy from his partner Gino Hernandez's lifestyle. "He lives in his world, I live in mine". He says this was all here before he got there, as society has already created everything. "This could be a part of your car". He points to a friend of his, a stray dog. Rules and contracts are made to be broken, and if you people want to call him a sicko or a fool, you better look in the mirror, because you're no different. Too many people live in glass hosues, but he's the rock thrower. Jake then digs into his pocket, excited that he's found some rope. Never know what that could be good for. I am totally digging Evil Hobo Jake Roberts!
I'm 100% satisifed with this episode, already. Oh hey, here comes the actual rasslin'...
Jake "The Snake" Roberts vs. Tony Torres
Jake completely ignores Torres's offer of a handshake. Jake works the arm, slams him twice, then stops Torres's micro comeback with a chop to the throat and a kneelift. Seated chinlock for awhile, then a non-chalant showboating slam from jake. Suplex set-up, but Jake drapes Torres on the top rope. Torres staggers into the center of the ring and Jake hits the DDT for the easy 3 count. Jake then slithers out, under the bottom rope. Great squash.Locker Room Interview with Kerry Von Erich, "Iceman" King Parsons & Buck "Rock & Roll" Zumhofe
Kerry tries to chime in on the Chris Adams contrversy and says he's here to make sure something like that doesn't happen again. Iceman wanders in, next, also expressing his shock about Adams. A blasting boombox signals the arrival of Zumhofe, who throws out some fairly generic words about how "Rock n' Soul" will take on any tag team. I mention that, because I believe this is the first time "Rock & Soul" has been mentioned. It's not an official name, so I still think it's something of a retroactive fan fabrication.
Mike Von Erich vs Art Cruz
I'm fairly sure that Cruz is better known as "Art Crews", since Mercer mentions that he's a former "Pacific Heavyweight Champion". He has long, wispy, hair with a a tuft of white in the front; making him resemble Mad Max's "Toecutter", just a bit. Mike surprises him with two armdrags after the initial lock-ups. Cruz tries a one-arm slam to esape an arm-wringer, but Mike holds on. Cruz works the crowd, a bit, as he's visibly agitated by the "Go, Mike, Go" chant. Cruz gets a cheap shove after a rope-break to rile up Mike. Cruz with a kneelift, elbowsmash and a snapmare, which Mike counters into a head-scissors. Cruz clubs a bit, snapmares, gets a quick 1 count, then settles into a chinlock. Mike gets a sunset flip for1, then Cruz delivers more elbows. Irish whip into the corner is reversed and Cruz does an awkward flip into the turnbuckles. Another whip and this time Mike delivers a monkey-flip. Flying head-scissors from Mike, then he blows a leapfrog. Whip to the ropes and Mike hits a jumping high-knee (shades of his late brother David) and gets the 3 count pin at 6:55. Mike still looked like he was still in week one of training, but Cruz helped him along as best he could."Iceman" King Parsons & Buck "Rock & Roll" Zumhofe vs. "Wild" Bill & Scott "Hog" Irwin (w/Gen. Skandar Akbar)
Here's where the clipped intros on WWE/Peacock shaft us a bit: due to skipping over each teams entrances with copyrighted music, we can't tell who has the American Tag Team Championships, or if this is even a title match. It's a bit confusing, because as this segment starts, we see Parsons and Zumhofe holding the belts. It's entirely possible that they stormed the ring and grabbed them from the Irwins, which is why the Irwins are swinging their whips around and hollering. I'm going to go with that, since records state that the Irwins were still the champs-of-record, according to the Internets. Yet I also wouldn't be surprised if there was a hotshot, quickie, unrecorded, title run in there for Iceman and Zumhofe.As things start out, the faces frustrate the Irwins with armdrags. After that it's an animated brawl, full of punchy/kicky and the occassional side headlock or reverse chinlock. The crowd is into it, which helps a lot. I think, as the Super Destroyers, the Irwins at least tried to mix in some wrestling manuevers, like slams n' such... but now that they're unmasked, they're bashin' brawlers. Iceman gets two nice high dropkicks and entertains the fans with his boogie moves. Fun spot has Zumhofe drop down as Hog comes off the ropes. Hog then trips on Zumhofe and goes flying through the ropes, out to ringside and crashing into Marc Lowrance's wooden ringside table. It may have been unintentional, but it's a fun spot! In the end, Heck breaks loose with all four men brawling. The Irwins miscomunicate on a double-team attack on Zumhofe. However, they immediately rebound and hit the rock n' roller with a double clothesline (more like a "garrote" as Mercer accuratey calls it). and get the pin at 10:15. The Irwins hold their belts high and are announced as simply "the titleholders".
Why'd You Watch This?:
The main event was a good example of how an animated brawl may sound boring in a recap, but is actually quite entertaining. I think this serves as something of a blow-off for for the Iceman/Zumhofe vs. Super Destroyers/Irwins feud that had been running for about 6 months. Aside from that, this episode has some great promos and pieces from Kevin Von Erich and Jake Roberts. You don't hear about Jake's World Class run, much, but so far it's been great. The analysis segment with Kevin and Mercer worked very well, as they filled in the details of the Chris Adams turn (including Stella Mae's errant leg trip of Gino), and added fuel to the fire with the Fort Worth footage. It's now clear that it wasn't a misunderstanding between Adams and Von Erich: it's a full-on HEEL TURN and Adams is now a bad guy! We'll only have about, oh, another YEAR to go over this. Yet it's full of twists and turns and, arguably, matches the Von Erichs/Freebirds rivalry.
Boom-da-da-da-boom, da-da-da-boom, da-da-da-boom
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