World Class Championship Wrestling - November 17, 1984
by Erick Von Erich
Previously... on "World Class": The Cotton Bowl Wrestling Star Wars Extravaganza (and Texas State Fair) has come and gone. And whle Kevin Von Erich beat that dastardly Chris Adams, fair and square, Adams seems to be winning the war, as he sent Kevin to the hospital and later walked away with the World 6-Man Tag Team Championship. With the 6-Man win, that dastardly Gino Hernandez is now a triple champion, as he holds the American Heavyweight Championshsip, as well as the Texas Heavyweight Champonship! Also, the Fantastics arrived, Sunshine returned via helicopter, and "Iceman" King Parsons won a big stuffed bear at a carnival game! But with so much going on in World Class Championship Wrestling, let's get down to ringside for...
Update on Stella Mae French and Andrea the Lady Giant
Announcer Bill Mercer kicks off the show by refreshing on what's been up with these two and how it all started. She originally came to World Class, a few months ago, looking for her missing niece, Sunshine. She then found out that "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin and Gino Hernandez had something to do with it. Well, that's a bit of a retcon, as Garvin and Hernandez didn't have a connection, but whatever. Gino then recruited Andre the Lady Giant, a.k.a Nickla Roberts, to watch his back for any attacks from Stella Mae. We then see highlights from the Cotton Bowl, when Sunshine returned, delivered a buncha' hugs, then helped her Aunt Stella get the pin in the mixed tag team against Andrea the Lady Giant and Gino Hernandez.Up next is a "new" clip from the last Fort Worth show, with Marc Lowrance conducting an in-ring interview with Stella Mae. She clarifies that "Val" (Sunshine) had temporarily gone back home to Florida. Gino Hernandez then arrives and distracts Stella Mae. This allows Andrea the Lady Giant to sneak in, plant Stella Mae with a DDT and begin cutting her hair! In a follow-up interview, much later (maybe even a week later), Gino and Andrea are bragging about their attack, but this time Sunshine interrupts. She warns Gino that he's not only made Stella Mae mad, but Sunshine as well. Gino blows it off and asks: "what are YOU going to do about it?!" So Sunshine sprays both Gino and Andrea in their eyes (either mace or a fragrance), and kicks Gino out of the ring. Crowd loves it.
$5,000 Arm Wrestling Challenge: "Hacksaw" Butch Reed vs. Kerry Von Erich
A missing "macth" from the Cotton Bowl Extravaganza...and you can probably guess what's going to happen. I don't think there was any real lead-up to this challenge, aside from the fact that both dudes are built. Reed talks a lot of vintage smack, including that he'll make Kerry "end up like Kevin did", referring to Kevin's stretcher job. Like any arm-wrestling angle, the heel laughs as he has the early advantage, the face comes back, and the heel gets frustrated. Kerry apparently wins, cleanly, but Reed complains "that table sucks" to referee/judge Rick Hazzard and that he (Reed) accidentally kicked out the table's legs. Mercer clarifies that the tight camera angle made this hard to see, but that Reed did, in fact, kick the table leg and thus we have "no contest". They re-start the challenge, but just as Kerry's about to win, the table collapses and they start brawling. Reed rolls out and Hazzard awards the challenge to Kerry. Sheesh...has ANY arm-wrestling angle ever had a clean finish?Update on Killer Khan and Terry Gordy
Wha?! Terry Gordy AND the Freebirds?! We haven't seen or heard from them in months! Mercer recounts the failed bro-mance between Gordy and Khan, and we get that awesome interview from the Freebird Van, back in August! Cut to the August 18th episode, when a locker-room brawl between Gordy and Khan interrupted a match between Mike Von Erich and "Wild" Bill Irwin. Final clip appears to be from a recent Fort Worth show and the ending of Khan's match against...some guy (maybe Skip Young)....when Gordy runs in to attack Khan and General Skandor Akbar, even smacking them with the Freebird Boot! Khan rolls out and chucks the ringside steps into the ring, and referee David Manning even gets tossed through the ropes. I think this Fort Worth clip was the surprise return of Terry Gordy, after a brief run in the WWF.Update on Kevin Von Erich and "Gentleman" Chris Adams
Pretty much all the incidents, thus far, between the two. Including the super-kick that started it all, back on the October 6th episode. A new segment is included: a sitdown interview between Bill Mercer and Kevin Von Erich, discussing the events of the Cotton Bowl. Kevin says he got a severe concussion, and shows off the 10-15 stiches in his head. Mercer wants to review tape from the attack, but Kevin is fed up, doesn't want to see it, takes off his mike and leaves the set. Mercer runs the tape, anyways. One funny note: this time the ringside fan giving Adams a middle-finger salute is blurred out.Kerry Von Erich & Mike Von Erich vs. The Missing Link & Killer Khan
Finally some fresh in-ring rasslin'. Mike is announced as "taking the place of brother Kevin, due to what happened at the Cotton Bowl". Tornado tag rules, with all 4 men in the ring at the same time. Before the bell, there's a surprise visit from the returning Chic Donovan, who now has a clean bill of health from his knee injury. He holds Akbar directly repsonsible for injuring his knee, and a brawl breaks out between everybody. Devastation, Inc. actually gets the advantage and Akbar works over Donovan's other knee. Now that's EVIL. Suddenly, Terry Gordy makes his Sporatorium return and runs in to attack Khan! Brawling spills all over ther ring area and Gordy brains Khan with a stiff boot shot. Back in the ring, the Von Erichs do a double drop-kick and then a double backdrop on the Link. Marc Lowrance then has of the greatest match annoucements ever: "in 1:18, both sides are thrown out due to Absolute Mayhem!" Ho, I love it!
Special Ringide Interview with Terry Gordy
Gordy's had been away, "trying to take a vacation", but was ticked that people have been saying that Akbar and Khan ran him out of Texas! So he ran all the way to Texas to correct that. He doesn't care about the Von Erichs or anybody else, he's just here to take out Khan. I'm reminded, once again, that Angry Terry Gordy Interviews are awesome.
Why'd You Watch This?:
Yeah, nothing but recaps, talking and storylines in this episode with less than two minutes of in-ring action. Ha! Take that, Monday Night Raw! Yet I didn't mind, as these were all GOOD storylines. Well, almost all...the Chic Donovan Revenge Tour is laughable, as he immediately gets taken out by Akbar. Nobody else attacked him. It was just Akbar beating the tar our of Donovan. I think Gordy runs as a solo act for awhile, but with his return it's only a matter of time before his "brothers" show up. Oh yeah, Andrea's DDT on Stella Mae was pretty wild, too! By my scorecard, there's no filler and every second of this episode was used for something. Great recharge episode and I'm excited to see more.
Boom-da-da-da-boom, da-da-da-boom, da-da-da-boom
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