NWA World Championship Wrestling
January 3, 1987
Atlanta, GA

To start the show, they flash back to last week where the NWA US tag champs Ronnie Garvin & Barry Windham fought to a time limit draw with the Midnight Express. Afterwards, the Midnight Express and Cornette attacked the champs.

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and David Crockett.

The Rock N Roll Express come by to tell the world that they are the only REAL R&R. Naturally, they are talking about Ragin’ & Rude – the NWA world tag champs Manny Fernandez & Rick Rude.

Scrappy McGowan is *your* referee for the duration of the program.

• Brad Armstrong vs. Kent Glover

Armstrong is awesome. Glover tries, but Brad flips out of a slam into the RUSSIAN LEGSWEEP for the 1-2-3 at 3:58. The man is SOOOO incredibly underrated.

Jim Cornette and Big Bubba remind the Road Warriors just how tough Big Bubba is. Cornette also tells the Road Warriors what his Midnight Express is going to do to them in their scaffold matches coming to an arena near you! As for Mutt and Jeff, the US tag team chump champions, the Midnight Express will get the belts back from Ronnie Garvin and Barry Windham. Cornette on the mic – it’s always a pleasure.

• The Rock N Roll Express vs. Alan Martin & Zane Smith

Martin and Smith don’t even have a chance. Zane Smith eats the DOUBLE DROPKICK in no time flat at 2:27.

Tony gets a word with the US tag team champions: Ronnie Garvin and Barry Windham. Ronnie says that if he’s broken down and bruised at the hands of someone especially like Jim Cornette, he’s not going to stay at home and cry over his wounds. He’s going to get up and fight. Windham promises the belts will stay right here with himself and Garvin. Like nobody has ever made THAT promise before.

After the break, the NWA World Television champion Tully Blanchard and JJ Dillon come out to talk the upcoming match with Tim Horner. Dillon pulls out $10,000 and makes an offer to Horner that if he can defeat Blanchard and win the belt, he can have the money. Man, somebody must be BORED. What else has Tully done to make his title defenses even better? As the champ, he dictates the time limits for his matches and has now boosted the time-limit up from 20 minutes to 25 minutes to give everybody a greater chance of beating him, which apparently nobody can do. Now he’s just getting crazy.

• Ronnie Garvin vs. The White Knight

The White Knight wears a Mr. Wrestling II mask and LEOPARD SKIN TIGHTS. What. The Hands of Stone punch by Garvin gets the three-count at 2:02. Heyyyyy, isn’t a closed fist illegal?

Dick Murdoch comes out and talks about the national expansion of Jim Crockett Promotions and how great it is. Tony tries to get him to talk about Tully Blanchard and how he’s changing rules around, but Murdoch continues to talk about a big card planned for his hometown of Amarillo Texas.

• Barry Windham vs. Randy Barber

Not too much Barber can do while Windham is on a roll. Jumping Lariat gets the 1-2-3 at 1:46.

Cornette comes out and continues to talk. He assures Paul Ellering that he WILL knock him off the scaffold.

• The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) vs. George South & Mike Jackson

South and Jackson try to control the Midnights to start, so Eaton and Condrey turn up the heat. Jackson delivers a flying headscissors, but Eaton counters the second one by dropping him on the top rope. By the way, Cornette is talking the ENTIRE TIME and making jokes. George South gets a tag, but he runs into a boot and receives the Flying Knee Drop from Eaton. DOUBLE FLAPJACK on South gets the 1-2-3 (4:50) Some good fast-paced tag action here. *½

The NWA world heavyweight champ Ric Flair is in the building. He talks about himself, but then mentions how Vladimir Petrov (who he says has to turn sideways to walk through the door because he’s so massive) is in the building and he will destroy Nikita Koloff who is one of Flair’s top contenders. Because of talent like the Midnight Express, he says that even big guys like the Road Warriors get REAL nervous thinking about them. By the way, where is Dusty Rhodes? He’s nowhere to be seen. What about Barry Windham? He can’t handle the champ. Ric Flair tells everybody to forget Jack Nicholson or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar because HE is the new King of LA. WOOOOOOO. As Flair walks away, Tony asks him if he will ever defend his world title on TV. No answer.

The Minnesota Wrecking Crew stop by the desk. Ole says 1987 is the year he’s going to take care of some people on his hit list – Dusty Rhodes, the US tag team champs, and the big fat cowboy down in Oklahoma. Who? Arn Anderson takes it upon himself to end the career of Dusty Rhodes. As for Nikita Koloff, every time he makes a threat towards somebody, he always comes through. Right now, AA is starving to death for some gold and he’s wanting Nikita’s US title. AWESOME.

• NWA World Television Champion Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) vs. Tim Horner

Barry Windham joins us for commentary. Remember, Tully has put up 10 GRAND for anybody who can beat him. Plus, he’s even moved the time limit from 15 minutes to 25 minutes to give his opponents more time to get the win over him. Horner works the arm forever, but they manage to keep it interesting. Blanchard FINALLY gets a break as he dumps out Horner, but Horner comes back in with a sunset flip for 1-2-NO! Horner avoids a corner charge and hits a suplex for another nearfall. Small package scores another two-count. Blanchard goes low and hooks a figure-four right near the ropes just long enough for him to get the extra leverage he needs to quickly effect Horner. Awesome. Blanchard hits a shin breaker and tries to work the knee, but Horner gets fired up and starts laying in the punches. O’CONNOR ROLL lands him in the ropes. Ahh. Horner catches a knee drop and delivers the Jeff Hardy double legdrop to give Blanchard the one-man wishbone. Dropkick by Horner gets 1-2-NO! Blanchard rakes the eyes to get out of a possible figure-four and asks what JJ thinks he needs to do next. He delivers a hotshot and keeps checking for the time. That split second away from Horner allows him to counter the SLINGSHOT SUPLEX into a snap suplex of his own for 1-2-NO! Double-KO ensues, but then Blanchard rolls through a flying bodypress by Horner. With a handful of tights, Blanchard gets the 1-2-3. (14:50 shown) Great example of how the Four Horsemen makes their opponents look like a million bucks to make the whole promotion stronger. Barry Windham saw the handful of tights and gets in the ring to confront the TV champ. **¼

Out comes the other three of the Four Horsemen. They leave him laying with the Slingshot Suplex. After the fun is over, everybody in the Four Horsemen takes the time to brag about what they can do when they get together.

• NWA World Tag Team Champions Manny Fernandez & Rick Rude (w/Paul Jones) vs. Allan West & Eddie Roberts

Not sure exactly, but I believe Allan West gets dumped and the RNR put Roberts away with a Hart Attack followed by the RUDE AWAKENING when it was a snap DDT in 0:50.

After the match, Paul Jones challenges the Rock n Roll Express, the Road Warriors, and Dusty & Nikita. Geez, Paul. CHILL. Rude calls them the Legion of Dumb. Hilarious. RAGIN AND RAVISHING HAVE TAKEN OVER THE WORLD.

Ivan Koloff introduces Vladimir Petrov as a guy from Nikita’s past who has come to the NWA to get revenge for Nikita turning on mother Russia.

• Vladimir Petrov vs. Bill Tabb, Randy & Bill Mulkey – Handicap Match

Petrov dumps the Mulkey boys and gives Tabb the RUSSIAN HAMMER for the win in 0:33. It always happens to the black guys. After the match, Ivan Koloff speaks for Petrov and challenges Nikita to a match.

• Dick Murdoch vs. Henry Rutley

Murdoch takes his time roughing this guy down on the mat. Backdrop driver looks to do it, but Rutley finds the ropes somehow. Some more abuse from Murdoch leads to the BRAINBUSTER for the three-count at 4:18.

The US champ Nikita Koloff responds to the challenge of Vladimir Petrov. But first, he acknowledges Arn Anderson. So many challenges, so little time. They both live by the mantra that there is no law. Oh snap. Vladimir is a superior Russian athlete, but Nikita says he knows that he is a superior athlete in all the world.

• Ole & Arn Anderson vs. Larry Stevens & David Isley

Typical MWC match where they try to tear off an arm. In a funny spot, Arn takes Larry over to see the girls while he claws and pulls on Larry’s face. SPINEBUSTER gets the 1-2-3 as it should at 3:24.

• NWA U.S. Heavyweight Champion Nikita Koloff vs. Chance McQuade

Before you know it, the RUSSIAN SICKLE puts McQuade away in 0:44.

Speaking of animals, the Road Warriors respond to the challenge of the world tag team champions. You KNOW they want the belts. Hawk says the Midnight Express and Jim Cornette have little brains and big mouths. As for Ric Flair, he thinks his body looks like Humpty Dumpty is out of the shell. WHAT. Hawk continues to say that if ravishing is what Rick Rude is, he likes being ugly. Also, all he ever got from burritos was gas – just like Manny Fernandez. To wrap things up, Ellering predicts a Crockett Cup victory in April.

• The Road Warriors vs. Dave Spearman & Clement Fields

Out goes one guy, the other takes an atomic drop into a Flying Clothesline from Hawk for the win in 0:49.

They replay the impressive debut of Vladimir Petrov in case you missed it as we close out the program.