Courtesy of Larry Goodman's report on
www.georgiawrestlinghistory.com The NWA’s “60 Years of Excellence” in Atlanta at
Philips Arena came as a pleasant surprise on many
levels.
The response from the fans was one of the best things
about the show. They were extremely respectful of all
the legends and showed surprisingly long memories. It
felt like they were entertained by every match. Guys
that have been off television for a while, like Sid
Vicious and Sean Waltman, got surprisingly strong
reactions.
The NWA has talent. The quality of the wrestling from
the current generation performers was good to
excellent across the board, and the fans enjoyed the
nostalgia acts for what they were.
On Friday, Dave Meltzer reported tickets sales at 491
with 2400 free tickets out for the show. Apparently,
most of those freebies got used because the crowd was
2500-3000 in a building set up for 6000.
As inconceivable as it seems, there was no induction
ceremony for Ric Flair. My understanding from NWA
Executive Director Bob Trobich is they somehow forgot.
The NWA must have some mighty powerful stuff going on
in the old unconscious in the aftermath of WWE pulling
Flair from the show.
The show opened with a video message from Adam Pearce,
the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Pearce said he had
obligations to fulfill in Philadelphia (for ROH). He
invited the fans to take a trip down memory lane, as
the NWA’s thank you to Atlanta.
(1) Mike DiBiase beat Idol Stevens to retain the NWA
North American Title in 5:45. The crowd responded to
the DiBiase name. Both men looked in great shape.
Stevens took over after a gutbuster and a rabbit
lariat. When Stevens missed coming off the top,
DiBiase mounted a fiery comeback. DiBiase went up top.
Stevens got his foot up on his splash attempt, but
DiBiase caught Stevens with an inside cradle for pin.
(2) Iceberg (with the Reverend) beat Shatter (with
Jeff G. Bailey) and Mikal Judas in a three-way to
retain the NWA Anarchy Heavyweight Title in 10:36. For
a match that lacked name recognition factor, it got a
very good response. The crowd got into three big,
powerful men working stiff and hitting big moves. It
was mostly three-way action rather than the usual deal
where one guy gets taken out and the other two go at
it. Shatter got the “Whoo!” chant by using the figure
four. They did a massive three-way collision. Shatter
and Judas teamed up for a double superplex on Iceberg.
Finish saw Judas chokeslam Iceberg and try for El
Crucifijo on Shatter. No go, as Shatter then
catapulted Judas into a lariat on Iceberg. Shatter hit
the PTSD (powerbomb) on Judas, and Iceberg pounced on
Shatter with the Ground Zero splash for the pin.
Ricky O introduced Jim Cornette as the MC for the Hall
of Fame inductions. Cornette said he had spent many
long, bloody nights in the Omni in Atlanta under the
auspices of the NWA getting his butt kicked by Dusty
Rhodes and Barry Windham, but never the Road Warriors,
except at Starrcade ‘86. “They didn’t kick my butt.
They threw me off a 25 foot scaffold.” Cornette gave
the fans a sneak peak of the 2009 Hall of Fame class
by bringing out the first inductee, Paul Orndorff. The
crowd was totally appreciative, as they were for every
legend that followed. Orndorff talked about training
under Eddie Graham being pure hell, and beyond
anything he endured for football. Orndorff said the
NWA would rise again, but they couldn’t do it without
the fans. The first inductee was Nikita Koloff. He
said one of his memories of Starrcade ‘86 was watching
Cornette get thrown off that scaffold, but also
getting in the ring with Ric Flair that night. Koloff
mentioned Rhodes, Sting and Lex Luger, and said the
NWA was his heart and soul in wrestling. Iron Sheik
came out as the second inductee. Sheik said Georgia
was his home and his heart. He thanked Ted Turner for
bringing him to Georgia and blessed Gordon Solie.
During his intro for Corsica Joe, mentioned that the
Corsican Brothers were the world champions when the
NWA was first formed in 1948. Cornette said none of
them would be there if not for legends like Joe. The
crowd popped when Cornette said Joe was 88 years old.
Cornette made the case for the Midnight Express being
the greatest tag team of the 80s. Not a difficult case
to make. Cornette said the Midnights “synonimized”
what the NWA was all about. Cornette said no team gave
the fans everything they wanted from a professional
wrestling match like the Midnights. Condrey said he
always loved the fans even if he didn’t show it.
Cornette asked the crowd if they wanted Bobby to talk
one time. “Thank you, Jim. Thank you, Dennis. Thank
you, everybody. Appreciate it“, said Eaton. That got a
laugh. Condrey thanked his wife, Teresa for putting up
with 19 years of his crap. Rich said Atlanta adopted
him and here he was 31 years later. Rich said he was
fortunate to catch the end of the time when rasslin’
was rasslin’. Rich thanked the wrestlers from previous
generations that made his career possible. Abdullah
came down the aisle with long time manager, John
Cheatam babbling about his black specimen. Leading to…
(3) Tommy Rich vs. Abdullah the Butcher (with John
Cheatham) was ruled a no contest. They brawled on the
outside and bloodied each other up with the crowd
loving every minute of it. Abdullah pulled out his
fork and Rich’s bleached blonde hair was instant
crimson. Abby stabbed referee D. L. Norris, who bled
copious amounts of plasma. Rich then forked up
Abdullah. At one point, Rich climbed on top of the
ringside table and Abdullah tipped it over. They
battled down the aisle. A second ref got knocked down.
Abdullah used Cheatham’s cane on Rich and high-tailed
it to the back. The crowd popped as Rich finally got
in the ring. Rich told the crowd he didn’t get to
feeling right until his head was busted up.
(4) Sean Waltman & Blue Demon Jr. beat Rob Conway &
Carl Ouellete in 10:08. Waltman came out to the DX
music and the crowd was right there when it came time
for the “suck it.” Ouellete escaped from the Bronco
Buster early. There was a lot of spit flying when guys
took punches in this match. It worked with this crowd.
Ouellete used power moves on Waltman. He got the tag
and it was major heat on Demon. The crowd was
surprisingly strong for Demon’s comeback. The hot tag
led to Waltman nailing the Bronco Buster on Conway.
Demon hit a killer tope on Ouellete for one of the
biggest pops of the night. Waltman pinned Conway with
the X Factor- a great finish that the crowd adored.
(5) Mike Quackenbush beat Ricky Vega with submission
to retain the NWA World Lightweight Title in 8:31.
They made the best of what was somewhat of a style
clash. The crowd didn’t know Quack, but he’s such an
awesome babyface that he got over fine. Vega (formerly
Machete in TNA) overpowered Quack early. Quack popped
the crowd with a flip dive. Vega came right back with
a nice quebradora for a near fall. Vega took over. He
hit a really nice snap powerslam. But he committed the
cardinal sin of taking too much time, and busted his
ass on a guillotine legdrop attempt. Vega cut off
Quack’s comeback with a huge lariat for a close near
fall and got another one with a sitout spinebuster.
Vega tried to bring Quack off the top with a slam ala
Flair. Quack rolled though, hit a top rope huracanrana
and got the tap out with the figure four.
(6) Los Luchas (Phoenix Star & Zokre) beat the
Naturals (Chase Stevens & Andy Douglas) and Real
American Heroes (Joey Ryan & Karl Anderson) in an
elimination match to retain the NWA World Tag Team
Titles in 17:24. My favorite match of the night.
Luchas were over with their flying. A healthy portion
of the crowd seemed to know Naturals from TNA. Luchas
were outnumbered by two heel teams, and they’re very
appealing in the role of the underdog. Douglas
interfered by grabbing Star’s leg. Zokre returned the
favor on Stevens to set up a sweet double quebrada
spot. But Douglas pulled the ropes down on Zokre and
he took punishment from Heroes. Luchas were flying
again with the hot tag when Anderson cut Zokre off
with the classic spinebuster. Douglas hit a double
underhook slam on Anderson and both Luchas piled on to
eliminate Heroes at 8:25. Naturals got heat on Star,
who managed to kick out of a top rope move by Stevens
and make the hot tag. Luchas hit big doubleteams, and
Naturals had to save each other. The Naturals had
Zokre put away with the Natural Disaster, but Heroes
ran down to ringside and Anderson pulled the ref out
at two. As Stevens was distracted by Heroes, he
stumbled over Zokre and both Luchas piled on for the
pin. Naturals teased a break up after the match.
Ricky O said he had ensured that the 6-10 crybaby Sid
Vicious would get some competition. O introduced the
NWA Pro East tag team champions as Sid’s cannon fodder
for the evening.
(7) Sid Vicious destroyed Playas Club (Davey Boy Bling
& Juicy Justin Corino) in 3:54. The reaction to
Vicious was pretty amazing considering how long he’s
been out of the limelight. Fans treated him like the
star of the show. Sid wrestled in a t-shirt and jeans.
Sid was frightfully stiff, which was exactly what the
crowd wanted to see. Vicious slapped Playas club
silly. He gave Bling a variation of a whirlybird and
wasted Juicy with a chokeslam and a cobra clutch slam.
Vicious finished with powerbombs on both Playas. He
took his shirt off, stacked them up, and made a one
foot pin.
There’s more. Vicious gave Playas another set of
powerbombs. A stretcher was wheeled out to ringside to
cart Playas out. Vicious knocked Playas off the
stretcher with lariats. The crowd chanted “Sid! Sid!
Sid!” as Ricky O wheeled Playas to the back.
(8) Rock n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert
Gibson) defeated the Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey
& Bobby Eaton with Jim Cornette) in 13:45. Cornette
said they weren’t being paid enough to continue to be
nice and insulted the crowd. Cornette said the
Midnights weren’t going to lay down for a couple of
punks and there would be zero tolerance for “Rock and
Roll” chants. Morton said it had been a long time
since the two teams met in Atlanta, but it was going
to be the same as it always was – a beating for the
Midnights. In hindsight, this probably was not the
match to put on last. There was no way the action
could match what the fans had just seen. Some folks
left right after Sid. The R & R were a step ahead at
every turn. They did the deal where Midnights
pumphandled Gibson’s arm, until he pulled the
switcheroo and it was Eaton blindly working over
Condrey. Midnights teased problems and Cornette had to
play peacemaker, but as usual, it was all to lull
their opponents into a false sense of security.
Cornette grabbed Gibson’s leg and blasted him with the
tennis racket. After brief heat on Gibson, they went
to the finish: Morton got the sleeper on Condrey.
Cornette tried to interfere, so Morton popped him.
Condrey hit Morton with a chain. Morton kicked out.
The R & R pinned the state-of-shock Midnights with
double roll ups.
Cornette got a pop for saying he and the Midnights
would never come back to Atlanta.
NOTES: Among the notables backstage were Jerry
Jarrett, Pam and Bob Allyn (Gordon Solie’s daughter
and son-in-law), NWA Top Rope promoter Mike Searcy,
and NWA Tennessee Champion, “Boogie Woogie Boy” Gary
Valiant. Valiant gets a shot at Adam Pearce’s NWA
World Title on the June 14 NWA Top Rope show in
Lebanon, Tn…Bob Trobich said the NWA was definitely
interested in returning to Atlanta, although not
necessarily to Philips…They didn’t have a cover for
Cornette’s tennis racket. It just so happened that
Rick Michaels was backstage and had the tennis racket
Cornette autographed for him back in 2001 during his
visit to NWA Wildside in the trunk of his car…Former
NWA Wildside wrestler, White Trash, was at the show.
He’s starting a gig as a co-host in the 12pm-2pm
timeslot on the ESPN radio affiliate in
Nashville…Douglas said the reason Naturals are not
working the same shows in Tennessee of late is because
he’s cut back on his bookings for the time being…Video
and audio clips from the event will be posted at
GeorgiaWrestlingHistory.com.
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