Championship Wrestling from Florida
March 14, 1987
Tampa, FL
(Taped on 3/11/87)

The NWA & CWF champions were as follows:
NWA World Heavyweight Champion: Ric Flair (8/9/1986)
NWA U.S. Heavyweight Champion: Nikita Koloff (8/17/1986)
NWA World Tag Team Champions: Manny Fernandez & Rick Rude (12/6/1986)
NWA U.S. Tag Team Champions: Barry Windham & Ronnie Garvin (12/9/1986)
NWA World Television Champion: Tully Blanchard (11/27/1986)

NWA Florida Heavyweight Champion: Ed Gantner (2/1987)
NWA Florida Tag Team Champions: The Southern Boys (2/21/1987)

When the CWF merged with Jim Crockett Promotions in February, this show evolved into what could be considered a more intimate extension of what they would see every Saturday night at 6:05PM on the MUTHASHIP. They only kept the two Florida titles while bringing in other NWA wrestlers to wrestle, do interviews, and hype upcoming shows.

Your hosts are Gordon Solie & Buddy Colt.

The Four Horsemen sans Ric Flair stand around the announce table. We get the standard of excellence and tailor-made from head to toe promos all around. Arn informs us that if a guy’s wife suddenly has a short attention span when the Horsemen are on the tube, don’t wonder why. You’ve heard it before and it’s still awesome.

After a commercial, Ric Flair joins us via satellite and announces he’s returning to Florida to take on the top challengers Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda. He wants to slap Scott Hall across the face and run him out of Florida if he gets the chance. As for Dusty Rhodes coming back to Florida to take back the NWA world title, but diamonds are forever and so is Ric Flair. WOO!

• Mike Rotunda vs. Sean Royal
  

Sean Royal from the New Breed tag team from the FUTURE. Too bad they couldn’t foresee how unsuccessful they would be in the years to come. Rotunda is on fire here as he is just a day away from facing Ed Gantner for the Florida heavyweight title in Daytona. AIRPLANE SPIN ends Royal in no time. Well, actually it was 1:32.

In other matches set for March 15, Kevin Sullivan will meet Bad News Allen in the Thunderdome cage match. It has to be one of the first ones ever. They show the sitdown luncheon Gordon Solie discussing the recent happenings with Bad News Allen. When Kevin Sullivan returned to Florida and helped Sir Oliver Humperdink take out Lex Luger (before he joined the Horsemen) with a $25,000 bounty, Humperdink paid Sullivan $24,500 and gave Bad News only $500. It was supposed to be an even split, but clearly Humperdink didn’t stick to his word. That led to the split and Bad News talking junk about Humperdink. Once Bad News puts his hands on Humperdink, Kevin Sullivan and Kareem Muhammad beat the crap out of him. Humperdink tries to make restitution and it turns out to be just another insulting payoff, so Bad News makes Sullivan pay with a beating that goes all the way into the streets. Bad News gets a match with Humperdink, but Sullivan interferes and costs Bad News the Florida heavyweight title, which explains how Gantner holds the gold. Sullivan closes with his classic line, “to be a king, you have to kill a king.” Sullivan would defeat Bad News Allen in the Thunderdome cage match as this would be Allen’s last night in the territory.

• Lex Luger & Arn Anderson (w/JJ Dillon & Tully Blanchard) vs. The Sterling Brothers
  

Solie never mentions the names of the Sterling brothers, but it doesn’t much matter. They get completely demolished and disrespected as Luger whips one of them in for the AA Spinebuster for the win at 3:10.

The Southern Boys stop by to tell everyone they want to party tomorrow night after their tough match with the MOD Squad in Daytona. They would lose that match and the Florida tag team titles. I wonder if they still felt like partying?

• Bad News Allen vs. Chris Champion
  

Here’s the other half of the New Breed. Champion pounds Bad News in the corner to start, but that goes nowhere. He covers Champion after a leg drop, but pulls him up. Running powerslam gets the win at 1:47.

Afterwards, Bad News heads over to the desk and hypes the Thunderdome cage match telling us that two men enter, only one man will leave. NO MERCY!

Before the next match, Sir Oliver Humperdink and Big Ed talk with Solie and Colt telling Mike Rotunda that he doesn’t have a chance tomorrow in Daytona. Now here’s a “Moment with Ed”. He’s working out and says nothing exhilarates him quite like blood pumping through his body. Apparently, it doesn’t take much for Gantner.

• NWA Florida Heavyweight Champion Ed Gantner (w/Sir Oliver Humperdink) vs. Bob Cook
  

If you’ve never seen Gantner, imagine a taller and beefier Stunning Steve Austin. He throws Cook around and hits a swinging neckbreaker, but he pulls up Cook at the last second. A back elbow takes Cook to the floor and Gantner brings him back in with a suplex for the win at 1:58. Humperdink and Gantner put the boots to Cook after the bell, which cues Mike Rotunda for the save. The next night, Mike Rotunda would defeat Ed Gantner and recapture the Florida heavyweight title.

Dusty Rhodes joins us at the desk to announce his return to Florida in 1987.

• Barry Windham vs. Chick Donovan
  

A little more competitive than the other matches, but not really. Windham stuns Donovan with a back suplex and then delivers a nice dropkick. The LARIAT gets the win at 2:05.

An injured Kendall Windham comes down to congratulate his brother on his match. As Buddy Colt walks over to ask him about his broken leg, Sir Oliver Humperdink and Ed Gantner come over and beat on Kendall’s broken leg with his own crutch! Barry ends up having to save his little brother as we go to commercial.

• NWA U.S. Heavyweight Champion Nikita Koloff vs. Jack Towers
  

THE RUSSIAN SICKLE! It’s all Nikita needs to win in :31.

Now we go to a real strange Jimmy Valiant montage to show how he lives in the fast line, says Gordon Solie. This has to be seen to be believed. It looks like Valiant’s about to star in a cheesy sitcom or something. Where’s ALF when you need him?

• Scott Hall & Stan Lane vs. The Barbarian & Superstar Bill Dundee
  

This is the tail end of Stan Lane as a Fabulous One and debuting as the newest member of the Midnight Express. Scott Hall here is just a big lug with a mustache. Barbarian misses the KICK OF FEAR early. Lane fires back with a crescent kick of his own and levels Barbarian with a running forearm. Barbarian gets the KICK OF FEAR after all and Lane falls to the floor. Dundee tries to injure Lane, but gets shoved off into the ringpost to bust him open. Meanwhile, Barbarian has to give Hall the KICK OF FEAR so he can go help his partner. He posts Lane and then throws him over the wooden barricade. Hall gets double-teamed, which brings in Stan Lane with a chair to bust open Barbarian who blades in plain sight. This match finally gets out of control to the point Jimmy Jett has no choice but to call for the bell. (2:52) The pier-six brawl continues until we reach the credits. Pretty wild ending to the show! *½