WCCW TV
January 22, 1983
Dallas, TX
Sportatorium
(taped on 1/7/83)

The NWA & WCCW champions were as follows:
NWA World Heavyweight Champion: Ric Flair (9/17/1981)
NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Champions: The Fabulous Freebirds (12/25/1982)
NWA American Heavyweight Champion: Terry Gordy (1/21/1983)
NWA American Tag Team Champions: The Fabulous Freebirds (11/26/1982)
NWA Texas Heavyweight Champion: David Von Erich (9/19/1982)

Your host is Bill Mercer.

• NWA American Heavyweight Champion Kevin Von Erich vs. King Kong Bundy – (Christmas Star Wars, 12/25/82)
  

Interesting because Kevin was the one to dethrone Bundy of the American heavyweight title back in September. Bundy was champion for four months with only a brief interruption when Fritz Von Erich defeated him for the title back in his “retirement” match in June. Kevin wears a golden cape to the ring because he can FLY. He corners Bundy to start and wants to wail away on him so bad, but doesn’t because he’s a great guy. Von Erich takes Bundy down into a headlock, but Bundy counters with a headscissors. Kevin escapes and drills Bundy with a dropkick. Bundy punishes Kevin with a hammerlock, but again Kevin breaks free and delivers another dropkick. Bundy has enough of this nonsense and throws Von Erich to the floor. He does his best to keep Kevin on the floor, but he fires back inside with a sunset flip for 1-2-NO! Of course, Von Erich wants the CLAW. Once he gets Bundy on the mat with the Claw, Bundy manages to reach the ropes for the break. Kevin comes off the top rope for a flying chop, but Bundy pulls ref David Manning in the way! With no ref watching, Bundy heaves Kevin over the top rope. Back inside, ref David Manning is back on his feet and pulls Kevin out of the way of the Avalanche. Are you freaking kidding me? Manning then raises Von Erich’s arm and awards him the match via DQ for getting pulled by Bundy into a flying Kevin. (8:38) Decent storytelling going on here, but David Manning is the worst. You want the ref to be the third person in the ring and never feel like a ref is on par with the wrestlers. **

In his best Jeremiah Johnson bearskin coat, Kerry Von Erich speaks with Bill Mercer about Christmas Star Wars. It’s Dallas; even in January, you know it’s like 55 degrees outside. That coat is not even necessary. Kerry says there’s no excuse for Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy’s actions! After watching over and over again the cage door slam on his face, Kerry gets FIRED UP. He wishes he had his hands around their throats right now.

• Terry Gordy vs. Brian Adias (w/Kerry Von Erich)
  

While Kerry hoped Gordy would come out with Hayes tonight, Gordy comes to the ring all by himself. Hayes and Roberts are “conspicuous by their absence”. Before the match, Kerry points out that Gordy is a coward since none of the Freebirds would sign a contract to face any of the Von Erichs. Gordy makes a big stink to start about allowing Kerry at ringside, and rightfully so. The match hardly gets out of first gear, but gets interesting once Michael Hayes appears in the crowd. He just sort of observes. Once Kerry spots Hayes, he slowly loosens the belt on his robe, and starts to get madder every second. As Hayes passes under the retaining rope, Von Erich threatens him with the Claw and begins to chase him around the ring. He even chases Hayes in and out of the ring until finally Hayes gets away and leaves through the crowd. With all the attention turned on Hayes and Kerry (and I mean all), Gordy nails Adias from behind and quickly hits the PILEDRIVER for the win. (12:19) He wants to give Adias another one, but Kerry turns his attention back to Gordy and DISCUS PUNCHES him out of the ring. Nice. Match was inconsequential since all the drama surrounding it was way more important. **

We’ve heard the Freebirds side, we’ve heard Kerry Von Erich’s side, and now we’re going to hear ref David Manning’s side of what happened in the cage match at Reunion Arena at Christmas Star Wars. Manning is the one who agreed to make Terry Gordy the “gatekeeper” at the request of Hayes because he thought it was a great idea at the time. Once the door closed, he felt Michael Hayes became like a different person. It was like he wanted to show the people how much power he had in the ring. As the match went on, Manning noticed both Hayes and Gordy became more belligerent using profanity and threats. After the cage door slammed on Kerry’s face, David says Kerry made a comment to the effect of “we’re having a great workout, aren’t we Brian?”. HA. At this moment, Manning knew that Von Erich wasn’t mentally there anymore. However, due to the conditions of the contract that both men signed to set up the cage match, Manning announces that there will be another rematch for Ric Flair and Kerry Von Erich. Awesome.

• King Kong Bundy vs. The Samoan
  

Before the match, Bundy announces that he and “The Man” are now known as Devastation Inc. From here on out, none of his matches will be allowed to be shown without his written permission. Now you Mid-South fans know exactly who “The Man” is. Total squash affair. Bundy wins with the AVALANCHE and a BODY SPLASH in 3:51. Bundy – “That’s what Devastation Incorporated is all about!”

After the break, Mercer meets with Bundy to talk about “The Man” some more. He tells us that “The Man” has brought into Devastation Inc. one of the most evil men in wrestling…THE GREAT KABUKI. Look out, world.