wrestling / Video Reviews
Dark Pegasus Video Review: WCCW Wrestling Star Wars
September 21, 2006 | Posted by
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Loading...WCCW Wrestling Star Wars
by J.D. Dunn
Chavo is Chavito’s dad. Jose Lothario trained Shawn Michaels. Chris Adams trained Steve Austin. Irwin was briefly the Goon in the WWF. The Mongol is Gene Lewis. Fishman is sort of a precursor to Shark Boy and is about as effective. Adams finds it difficult to shoulderblock the big Mongol down, but a superkick works much more effectively. And there’s a superkick for Fishman. I find it mildly ironic that Adams is the master of the superkick while Lothario is the one who trained Shawn Michaels. Irwin and Mongol utilize their brawling tactics to isolate Chavo for a bit. Lothario tags in for some old-man offense. Finally, Chavo gets the blind tag and hits the Mongol with a flying bodypress for the win (which the camera misses) at 7:35. Good enough. **
I covered some of this in the “Best of the Freebirds” reviews. As a tangent from the Freebirds/Von Erichs feud, Buddy Roberts clipped Parsons’ hair. Parsons spent the next few months going after revenge, finally getting this match. But Buddy has an ace up his sleeve in the form of a special “Freebird Cream” that will take the hair right off your head. I suppose it’s like Nair only smellier. Roberts jumps Parsons as he’s taking his warm-ups off. Parsons comes back with a flying crossbody for two. Buddy gets tied up in the ropes, and Parsons just pastes him with chops. Roberts misses a trio of elbowdrops. Parsons shoves him into the turnbuckle and rolls him up, but Roberts rolls through with a handful of tights for the pinfall win at 5:39. Not exactly the epic match you were probably hoping for. David Manning tries to get the Freebird Hair Cream away from Roberts to sort things out. In the chaos, Parsons hits the Rumperstumper on Roberts and COVERS HIS HEAD IN THE CREAM! Michael Hayes comes down and pulls Buddy out. Not a great match, but a great moment for those who wanted to see Parsons get some revenge. *1/4
Garvin had an interesting problem in that his character was basically a poor man’s Michael Hayes but he was a better wrestler than Hayes. Bronco Lubbich is the referee for this an many other matches on the card. If you haven’t read “Have a Nice Day” or seen any WCCW matches, Lubbich’s big problem is that he treats the whole thing as a shoot and referee’s the match the way a smart referee would, always catching the heels in the act of cheating and never letting them get away with anything. Quick start with David missing a dropkick, and they take turns knocking each other down. David tries to go to work on the legs, but Garvin grounds him with a sleeper. David powers up and does the superman comeback. David gets a sleeper! Garvin shoots him off the ropes and hot shots him on the rebound. It only gets two, but Garvin repositions him and covers again (with Sunshine holding David’s feet) to pick up the win and the title at 11:21. **
Dibiase was already a big name in Mid-South and Georgia but not, apparently, Texas because nobody pronounces the “e” at the end of his name. Oddly enough, they do pronounce the “t” at the beginning of “Tsuruta,” even though you’re not supposed to. Lots of back-and-forth technical wrestling to start because both guys are essentially babyfaces. That doesn’t last very long as they get chippy with one another on the floor, and Jumbo slaps him right in the face. Ted blocks a sunset flip for two, making Jumbo a little more cautious. Ted gets two off a piledriver, but Tsuruta comes back with a Thesz Press for two. Tsuruta misses a knee in the corner, and Dibiase goes right after it in anticipation of the figure-four, including driving his knee down on it seven times. Jumbo shoves him away and hits an enzuigiri to set up a backdrop suplex. Ted is in the ropes, though. In an odd moment, Ted lifts Jumbo up for a kneebreaker but takes him all the way over for a backdrop suplex, and then they repeat the spot with Ted hitting the kneebreaker. Ted goes for the figure-four again, but Jumbo shoves him to the floor. Back in, Dibiase goes for the figure-four again, but Jumbo simply counters to a small package for the win at 14:00. I’m sure they didn’t want to show up the other matches on the card, but this was very disappointing, considering the competitors. The “Dibiase is obsessed with the figure-four” psychology worked quite well for the match. Not bad, but it’s kind of like a *** Flair/Steamboat match where you think, “Wow, they had an off night.” ***
No real story here. They just wanted to put two big guys in there. Fritz Von Erich, who is reading the proclamation for the title match, nearly gets into it with Bundy before the match. Fritz, after all, beat Bundy in his retirement match. This is basically a total squash for Baba as he puts Bundy in hold after hold until he gets tired of that. Bundy misses a splash, and Baba boots him right in the face for the win at 5:28. This would be savaged if it happened today. 1/2*
This was supposed to be Ric Flair versus Kevin, but Race won the title from Flair a week or so earlier. This is also the Von Erichs’ first serious shot at winning the title since the infamous Freebird Cage incident six months earlier. There was all sorts of political posturing in the NWA around this time as both David Von Erich and Ted Dibiase were promised the title, but Jim Crockett wound up screwing over everyone by putting the title back on Flair at the first Starrcade. The DQ rule is waived, so if Race gets disqualified, he loses the title. He tries to argue his way out of it before the match, saying it was Flair’s stipulation, not his. Kevin starts out hot, hitting a dropkick and a roundoff crossbody block for two. Race goes over the top off a whip, but he clearly dove, trying to get Kevin disqualified. Referee David Manning ain’t buying it, though. Kevin locks in the Iron Claw, but Race tosses him to the outside. Race tosses him again, and Kevin appears to injure his shoulder. Race is so awesome giving the crowd a bug-eyed “I GOT HIM!” look. Race goes after the shoulder, with Kevin fighting back desperately with his one good arm. Kevin gets the Iron Claw again, but Race tosses him to the floor. David Von Erich runs back down to check on Kevin and ask him to give it up. Kevin shakes his head, but Race spots David at ringside and gives him a little love nudge with the heel of his boot, prompting David to jump in and attack, getting his brother disqualified at 14:09. After the match, David gives Race a high knee and knocks him out then stands over him screaming, “Next time it’s my turn, and if I can’t beat you, I’ll quit wrestling!” David takes his brother to the back, apologizing profusely for costing him the title. How much you like this match depends on how believable you find the bodyscissors and the Iron Claw, both of which Kevin used in earnest. I come from the school of thought that it’s not the move but how you get it over, and Harley was certainly game enough for that. In fact, Kevin basically ran circles around Harley for much of the match with Race having to slow things down. Good, solid “young vs. old” match. ***1/2
Before the match, Hayes demands revenge on Iceman Parsons for taking Buddy Jack’s hair in the earlier match. He wants a “lights-out match” and if Parsons beats him, he can clip his hair. The joke here is that Hayes and Gordy offered to put up the tag titles against Kerry if he could find a partner “as long as it wasn’t one of his brothers.” Now, most long-time fans would automatically think “Andre the Giant” because that’s usually when he was brought in to get revenge on the heels. However, Hayes thought ahead and checked to make sure Andre was busy tonight. So, Kerry brought in someone even more lethal in Brody. Hayes and Gordy make sure to sell right off the bat that Brody is not someone with which you want to screw. Gordy stops short coming off the ropes and falls on his ass just to get away from Brody’s corner. Indeed, once Brody gets the hot tag, he cleans house on the heels. Gordy clotheslines him and lets Hayes get in a few shots, but Brody shrugs him off and tosses Von Erich on top of Hayes for the win and the titles at 4:39. Short and sweet. **
The 411:Â I'm sure the fact that Fritz put a lesser match over the NWA Title at end will sour some people on this show, but you want to send the fans home happy, and Kerry's win certainly did that. WCCW was just catching fire at this point, revolutionizing the business around young guys who could fly around the ring instead of the "grab a hold and hang on" philosophy that permeated the Mid-Atlantic, Florida and Georgia regions. I'll go with a solid thumbs up for this one thanks to a couple of big blowoffs involving the Freebirds, and concrete work from guys like Tsuruta, Dibiase & Race. Thumbs up. |
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| Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]  legend |
