7/5/86 - GCW Superstars (TAPED: 6/24/86)
LOCATION: Mid-Hudson Civic Center - Poughkeepsie, NY
We're into the month of July as the summer is really heating up on GCW Superstars! A lot of great action today, with Big John Studd on the card, as well as Kerry Von Erich! And not one, but TWO big featured contests. The Russians are set to take on the Unholy Alliance, as well as Jim Duggan getting his Television Title shot against Tully Blanchard! Gorilla Monsoon & Mark Niemiller were pumped up for the show, so let's get right down to the ring for our first match with Ricky Steamboat!
MATCH #1
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat (w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan) vs. Leroy Malion
Ricky Steamboat made short work out of Leroy Malion in our opener, clearly outclassing him. A beautiful German suplex put this one away. After the match, Bobby Heenan got on the microphone and declared The Dragon as the man to run everyone's hero Rick Martel out of town, and said that he would do it to anyone else who got in his way. Monsoon said that he hated to see Steamboat as a turncoat like this, but Niemiller added that Steamboat may be a jerk, but there's no doubting he's a dangerous and successful one.
Ricky Steamboat pinned Leroy Malion after a German suplex in 0:03:18.
Rating: 3/4*
MATCH #2
Television Title Match
Tully Blanchard (c) (w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan) vs. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan
Tully Blanchard has added much needed stability to the Television Title, amassing a very impressive almost one year reign thus far. He hasn't always used the most noble of means to retain said title, but you don't defend the championship as much as he has for so long and not be a top flight competitor. He would not have an easy defense today though, as he put the gold on the line against "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. Duggan earned this title shot by pinning Bob Backlund in a match on June 17 in Tacoma, but this has been brewing for awhile. Blanchard tried to use stall tactics early on to try to coax the less experienced Duggan into making mistakes, but Duggan remained patience and was having fun punching the champ in the mouth whenever he could. The gameplan for Blanchard changed as Bobby Heenan decided later in the match that he was going to get involved because Tully couldn't seem to find the move to put the contest away. Heenan distracted referee Joey Marella which allowed ARN ANDERSON to jump in the ring and drop Duggan with a huge spinebuster! Anderson was laughing as he backed up the ramp, but he should have been paying attention so he could see BOB BACKLUND come behind him! Backlund spun Anderson around, clocked him with a forearm, and then put him in the Crossface Chickenwing in the aisle! Marella saw this and was yelling from the ring now to get some security down to break this up, thus completing missing the fact that Heenan slid Hacksaw's 4x4 into the ring. The Brain clearly was trying to get it to Blanchard, but Duggan had recovered and intercepted it. Blanchard begged off, but it didn't save him catching the wood to the midsection and then a hard shot to the back! Duggan ditched the evidence and hit the Three Point Stance. Marella turned around in time to make the 1-2-3, and ladies and gentleman, we had a brand new TV champ!
Jim Duggan pinned Tully Blanchard with the Three Point Stance in 0:09:40.
Rating: ** 3/4
(Jim Duggan won the GCW Television Title.)
Backlund came down and joined Duggan to celebrate the win as the members of the Heenan Family returned to the back licking their wounds. Niemiller as beside himself and said Jack Tunney needs to reverse this decision as Hacksaw clearly used a weapon. Monsoon pointed out that Bobby Heenan was the one who introduced the weapon, and the referee's decision is final!
TULLY BLANCHARD LOSES HIS MIND AFTER LOSING THE TELEVISION TITLE
After a commercial break, we are backstage with Bobby Heenan, Arn Anderson, and the now FORMER Television champion Tully Blanchard. Blanchard is beside himself with anger, and the usually eloquent speaker was barely making sense as he yelled about Jim Duggan cheating him out of his title. Heenan was trying to calm Blanchard down, but Tully was having none of it as Heenan & Anderson chased after him.
MATCH #3
Big John Studd vs. Eric Cooper
Just a quick exhibition of the power of Big John Studd. Interesting to note that Bobby Heenan was not at ringside as he was still dealing with Tully Blanchard's breakdown.
Big John Studd pinned Eric Cooper with the Backbreaker in 0:02:05.
Rating: -3/4*
CLIPS OF HULK HOGAN ON THE TONIGHT SHOW
A small highlight package was shown of World champion Hulk Hogan appearing this past week on The Tonight Show. A pretty light interview which featured Hogan teaching Johnny Carson all of his signature poses. Not a lot of substance, but does go to show the traction in pop culture that both Hulk Hogan and Global Championship Wrestling are garnering. Niemiller made a snide comment about how Hogan should have hit Ed McMahon with the Big Leg Drop, prompting a "Would you be serious!?" from Monsoon.
MATCH #4
"The Modern Day Warrior" Kerry Von Erich vs. Steve Johnson
We haven't seen him in quite some time in a GCW ring, but we got the official return of "The Modern Day Warrior" Kerry Von Erich. We got an insert promo as the match started where Von Erich said that he was looking to make his return this week anyway, but when he saw Lex Luger trying to take advantage of someone last week, he wasn't going to let him get away with it. He ended by saying if Luger wanted to take liberties with someone, he could try to take liberties with him. If Luger is going to take him up on that, he's going to have his work cut out for him as Von Erich looked great, getting an impressive win over Steve Johnson.
Kerry Von Erich pinned Steve Johnson with the Discus Punch in 0:02:58.
Rating: 1/2*
LIVE EVENT REPORT W/ GENE OKERLUND
"Mean" Gene Okerlund was beaming as always as he presented the Live Event Report. Okerlund always gets excited as we get close to big events, and we're closing in on a few, starting with July 14's King of the Ring. The card is full and Okerlund ran it down, including the first round matchups in the tournament and the big steel cage rematch for the World Title between Hulk Hogan and King Kong Bundy. Okerlund also made sure to mention tickets are on sale for the show on July 26 in an old GCW stomping ground, The Spectrum in Philadelphia. He went over the 3 team round robin, the big battle royal for the World Title shot at The Big Event in August, and he added one more match. Just signed as a result of what we saw earlier today, President Jack Tunney has declared that former Television champion Tully Blanchard will take on a man who was instrumental in the decision of that match, Bob Backlund!
MATCH #5
The Russians vs. Sgt. Slaughter/King Kong Bundy (w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan)
This was supposed to be a preview of what we would see in Philly, but the announcers let us know that Stan Hansen wasn't here. No reason was given, but it has to be pretty bad for him to not show up. Sgt. Slaughter didn't have to go out alone though, as KING KONG BUNDY volunteered to be his partner - not out of any friendship to Slaughter or hatred of the Russians, but because seeing Hulk Hogan on The Tonight Show put him in a bad mood. It will come as no surprise that this was a brawl from the word go. The fans had difficulty figuring out who they should cheer for, as we rarely get rulebreaker vs. rulebreaker matches. They may not have known who to cheer for, but they did enjoy these four beating the stuffing out of each other. The teams spent as much time on the outside as they did they did the inside, and eventually referee Danny Davis had no choice but to throw this one out.
Sgt. Slaughter and King Kong Bundy and The Russians (Nikita Koloff and Ivan Koloff) battled to a no contest in 0:10:58.
Nikita Koloff tore his right ACL. He will be out for approximately 8 months.
Rating: ** 1/2
(Stan Hansen no-showed.)
Nobody seemed to care that the bell had rung as the fight raged on, and they were soon joined by THE ROAD WARRIORS. We had a huge pier six brawl on our hands, and it got out of control, quite frankly. The show went off the air with the battle still going.
Be sure to join us next week as The Barbarian will be in action, as will Arn Anderson! The Power Company will compete, Bob Backlund will meet Jimmy Garvin, and Koko B. Ware takes on Honky Tonk Man! Have a good week, folks!
UPCOMING EVENTS
7/14/86 - KING OF THE RING - Sullivan Stadium - Foxboro, MA
WORLD TITLE STEEL CAGE MATCH - Hulk Hogan (c) vs. King Kong Bundy
Tournament Participants:
FIRST ROUND - Junkyard Dog vs. Honky Tonk Man
FIRST ROUND - Barry Windham vs. Hector Guerrero
FIRST ROUND - Jim Duggan vs. Adrian Adonis
FIRST ROUND - Dos Caras vs. Bad News Brown
FIRST ROUND - Koko B. Ware vs. Lex Luger
FIRST ROUND - The Barbarian vs. Big John Studd
FIRST ROUND - Bob Backlund vs. Jimmy Garvin
FIRST ROUND - Ted DiBiase vs. Arn Anderson
7/26/86 - The Spectrum - Philadelphia, PA
Battle Royal for World Title shot at The Big Event
The Road Warriors vs. Sgt. Slaughter/Stan Hansen
The Road Warriors vs. The Russians
Sgt. Slaughter/Stan Hansen vs. The Russians
Bob Backlund vs. Tully Blanchard
8/28/86 - THE BIG EVENT - CNE Stadium - Toronto, ON, CA
Card TBA
