Post by Rated R on Nov 14, 2014 5:41:58 GMT -5
NWA SHOWCASE
May 2nd 1987
- We kick things off with the usual video package before heading down to the announce team of Tony Schiavone and Rich Landrum. The duo run down tonight’s big show as Showcase plays host to an NWA Television Championship main event as Tully Blanchard defends against Mike Rotunda. There’ll also be appearances from Barry Windham, Camp Cornette and the debut of Kevin Sullivan.
- The show kicks off with Roddy Piper leading Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff and Ron Simmons down to the ring. The four all get their chance to talk but it’s Simmons that unsurprisingly skips the pleasantries and gets right down to business, calling out The Four Horsemen and challenging them to face them right here tonight. He’s done playing around, he doesn’t care about the Television Championship match, he wants the Four Horsemen and one way or another he’ll get them. Instead they get a surprise appearance by Bob Geigel, the chairman of the National Wrestling Alliance! Geigel announces that the four of them will indeed get their hands on The Four Horsemen at the upcoming two hour Showcase special. Since Simmons was screwed over on the very first show he gets the big prize, an NWA World Heavyweight Championship match against Ric Flair while Piper, Rhodes and Koloff will face off with the other three Horsemen in a six man tag team match. The crowd go crazy at the big announcement as Simmons and the others look more than a little bit happy now they know they’ll be getting their hands on the Four Horsemen in just two weeks’ time.
1.) Big Bubba Rogers & The Midnight Expres (w/ Jim Cornette) Defeated Lazer Tron & The New Breed. Camp Cornette faced some stiff competition here but nothing the trio couldn’t overcome. The Midnight Express did most of the work until they brought in Rogers to shut everything down, running through both members of the New Breed with relative ease before putting Lazer Tron down with the Big Bubba Slam to pick up the convincing victory.
- Following the match Jim Cornette demands a microphone and starts shouting that after Mike Rotunda makes a fool of himself in tonight’s main event then they will be here to pick up the pieces and crush them into dust. When Showcase comes to New York in two weeks’ time it’ll be Rotunda vs. Big Bubba Rogers and Rotunda will regret ever stepping foot into their business.
- We get a video package highlighting two young up and coming high flyers in action, the duo hitting the kind of fast paced offence that you don’t exactly see all that often in the National Wrestling Alliance. The video ends by promising that when Showcase comes to New York City Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty, The Rockers, will make their debuts.
- We get a pre-recorded video interview courtesy of the NWA World Tag Team Champions Rick Rude & Manny Fernandez. The two spend the promo preening while talking about how the Legion of Doom are nothing but two cavemen who haven’t yet grasped personal grooming. They also haven’t grasped that they don’t have half the talent of “your” NWA World Tag Team Champions and at Showcase in New York they’re going to find out exactly how it feels to take to be made to look bad at the hands of two handsome champions.
2.) Kevin Sullivan Defeated Denny Brown. The debut of Mr. Varsity was an impressive one as the ‘all-American athlete’ got a victory on his debut. Sullivan’s so called amateur wrestling prowess is mostly dirty tricks and the odd technical display which didn’t win him any fans with the crowd as he locked on a poor version of the Figure Four to get the victory.
- We head back to the locker room where Lex Luger is arguing with J.J. Dillon about Ric Flair and Arn Anderson not being at the show tonight despite Tully’s big title defence. Tully, who’s sitting in the locker room, tells Luger that it doesn’t matter who’s here and who isn’t, he’s walking to that ring with the Television Championship and he’s walking out with it. Piper and those other losers don’t scare him, he’s going to kick ass and take names and that Luger better learn to do the same if he wants to make it in this business. Dillon simply says “that’s telling you” as Luger looks less than impressed.
- We move away where Mr. Varsity Kevin Sullivan is shown walking through a corridor, stopping to insult numerous people for being overweight, drinking coffee and even have a spot on their face, trying to make the point that none of them are as good as Mr. Varsity. He ends up running into “Gentleman” Chris Adams who tells Sullivan that a real man doesn’t go around insulting everybody else, he settles things in the ring. Sullivan just laughs in Adams’ face and walks off, still laughing the entire time as Adams watches him go. There’s a clear clash of characters between these two.
3.) Barry Windham Defeated Tim Horner. Windham seemed particularly sluggish here, like he just wasn’t interested in being in this match. Still he came out on top in a short contest putting Horner away with a sloppy lariat that didn’t really impress anyone.
- We go backstage to a video promo featuring Mike Rotunda talking about getting a shot at the NWA World Television Champion. He makes it clear that he isn’t scared of Tully Blanchard, he isn’t scared of the Four Horsemen and he isn’t scared of Camp Cornette. He’s here in the National Wrestling Alliance to make his name as one of the best in the business, to ensure that in the decades to come everyone will come to respect a Rotunda. The first step towards that is unseating Tully Blanchard as Television Champion and if he’s only got fifteen minutes to do that, as per the titles rules, then it’s going to be the fifteen minutes that makes him a star.
- Up next is the NWA Live Event Centre hosted by the finest yuppie in all the land with his giant phone, Paul E. Dangerously. Dangerously focuses first off on some of the events being hosted by the National Wrestling Alliance’s regional promotions before coming back to talk about the upcoming two hour New York Showcase special. He confirms the matches so far including the NWA World Heavyweight Championship match between champion Ric Flair and challenger Ron Simmons and the six man tag between the remaining Horsemen and Roddy Piper, Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff. Dangerously then announces that just added to the card is a clash between Big Bubba Rogers and Mike Rotunda and the debut of new NWA tag team The Rockers!
4. NWA WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH) Mike Rotunda Defeated Tully Blanchard (w/ J. J. Dillon & Lex Luger) to become the NEW NWA World Television Champion! A big main event saw a big upset as Mike Rotunda became the new World Television Champion. As are standard rules for NWA Television Championship matches this one had a fifteen minute time limit so both men went at it hard and fast from the early going trying to get the win in a short amount of time. The addition of Dillon and Luger at ringside proved a distraction for Rotunda on more than one occasion and put him at a serious disadvantage but he refused to be beaten, fighting every step of the way. The big shift came when Dillon got into an argument with the official over what seemed like a slow two count. Luger entered the ring looking to do some damage only to find himself pulled right back out by Nikita Koloff who proceeded to show incredible strength by throwing the big man Luger across the floor on the outside. He proceeded to yank Dillon off of the apron and clock him with a right hand, the distraction leading Rotunda to land a victory roll on Blanchard to get the three, the win, and the championship!
- Mike Rotunda is quick to roll out of the ring as Tully Blanchard looks absolutely furious as he realizes Koloff just cost him the title. Koloff climbs into the ring and goes toe to toe with Blanchard, the two tough guys staring each other down as Koloff mouths that “if it’s fair for you” pointing to Rotunda as he’s handed the NWA World Television Championship on the outside. The Horsemen cost Koloff the United States Championship last week so he’s cost Blanchard his title in return! Showcase goes off the air with the shot of Koloff and Blanchard, two very intimidating figures, standing toe to toe in another huge Showcase ending!