WCCW #25 Page #2
Marc
Lowrance later interviewed Kevin and Brian “at the airport” in one of the
more fake looking wrestling skits you’ll ever see, although credit the
promotion for at least trying to make this title change look like a big deal.
Meanwhile Killer Brooks claimed the TV title in Fort Worth on June 10, 1985,
losing it to Iceman Parsons on July 15, 1985 in the same location.
In
the summer of 1985 the feud pitting Kerry and Kevin Von Erich against Chris
Adams and Gino Hernandez grow even more intense than before. These two teams
created the same kind of magic that the Von Erichs had created with the
Freebirds. One element was that they always seemed evenly matched. There is a
misconception that due to their push and power within the promotion, the Von
Erichs never sold or let their opponents get the edge. On the contrary they gave
Chris and Gino plenty, even more so than the Birds in many ways, and that added
so much to their feud.
The
dynamics of the teams also added depth. Gino and Chris both cheated constantly,
but Gino often took the role of the dirty, underhanded, and often wimpy heel,
bragging while riding high only to cower in a plea for mercy when the tide
turned. Chris tended to show his vicious streak and came off like a true bully
in the ring. Over on the other side of the ring Kevin alternated between
offensive flurries while showing some of his dad’s tough guy streak and
playing the imperiled babyface, selling for The Dynamic Duo in order to set up a
hot tag for Kerry. For his part Kerry, while bigger and more muscular than
either opponent, tended to de-emphasize his power at least to the extent that
Chris and Gino could stand toe to toe with him.
One of the promotion’s
primary feuds of the summer of 1985 pitted Sunshine against Jim Cornette. The
idea was to run a women’s lib angle to get over Sunshine. She would be
presented as a strong, intelligent, and capable woman who could not only hold
her own, but also excel in the male dominated world of pro wrestling. Meanwhile
Jim Cornette, who was portrayed as a wimpy mama’s boy and the opposite of
macho, played Sunshine’s enemy. He would oppose her while spouting off every
condescending, sexist, male chauvinistic cliché about the inferiority of women
in general and Sunshine in particular. Jim Cornette’s gift of gab made him
especially effective as a heel. In theory the angle sounds pretty good. In
execution it did not work as well. This was due to a green jacket.
While
attempting to escape a beating from Scott Casey and Sunshine, Jim Cornette
barely escaped with his life. However he didn’t escape with his sports coat.
This green jacket, which Cornette claimed was a gift from his mama for winning
the mixed doubles tennis tournament at the country club, became the centerpiece
of the feud. For weeks Cornette, the Midnight Express, and Rip Oliver attempted
to reclaim this garment without success. The basic premise of the feud had so
much too offer. It is too bad that the focus could not have been a title. For
instance Casey and Oliver could have battled for the Texas Title or Casey and
Kabuki could have feuded with The Midnight Express for the American Tag Team
Title. The appallingly ugly green jacket just seemed like too superfluous an
item to be such a concern, even if the feud was really about the principle of
Sunshine outsmarting Jim Cornette again and again.
Gary Hart had rebuilt his
stable, adding old standbys Killer Tim Brooks and Mark Lewin to the fold,
joining mainstay One Man Gang. They continued to face the Von Erichs on a
frequent basis and eventually claimed the Six Man Title. This feud also served
as a means to reintroduce Iceman Parsons to the area. Mike Von Erich had
suffered yet another shoulder injury. To explain the injury, World Class
concocted a phantom match. In a bout that supposedly took place in Detroit at
Joe Louis Arena, Mike’s shoulder was injured as he teamed with Iceman Parsons
against One Man Gang and Killer Brooks. Hart’s men took credit for the injury.
Iceman claimed that Mike had punched Brooks so hard that he threw out his
shoulder. The real point was to draw some money off the injury with Iceman
returning to World Class after a sabbatical of six months or so to avenge Mike.
A holiday meant that the time
had come for another Wrestling Star Wars. Approximately 14,200 fans attended the
event. Let’s take a look at the results and their ramifications.
Sunshine’s man got the win
over the young New Jersey Heartthrob. It is a bit surprising to find Casey this
low on the card. The promotion had made a point to push him hard during the
summer of 1985. However on a supercard, it seems a little more acceptable
Brian Adias battled Jim
Powers to a no contest
This befuddling result defies
explanation at the moment. Both men were entrenched in the babyface camp. I have
no further information about the bout and will guess that someone ran in on the
affair, most likely members of the Gary Hart camp.
The Fantastics defeated
Rip Oliver and Kelly Kiniski 2 falls to none in a best of 3 falls bout
The Fantastics’ main
enemies of the past few months, The Midnight Express, had already departed for
Jim Crockett Promotions. The Fantastics themselves were soon to leave as well.
In the meantime they shut out Kelly Kiniski and Rip Oliver, Jim Cornette’s
remaining protégé in World Class Championship Wrestling.
Killer Tim Brooks defeated
Iceman Parsons
The returning Iceman wanted
revenge on Brooks for knocking Mike Von Erich out of action. As this was the
beginning of the feud rather than the end, Brooks escaped with the win to set up
future matches.
Kerry Von Erich defeated
One Man Gang in a Chicago Death Match
This was a Texas Death Match
with rules a name change to give OMG an advantage. Despite giving up size and
power as well as wrestling two matches in one night, Kerry got the win over his
main enemy of the first part of the year.
The Great Kabuki defeated
Chris Adams
The American Title was not at
stake in this encounter, only pride and the question of which move was superior,
the Super Kick or the Savate Kick. Ultimately it was a misguided attempt at
cheating that settled the bout rather than one of those kicks. Adams grabbed a
chair to use against Kabuki. Sunshine grabbed the other end in attempt to stop
him. As they struggled for the chair, Kabuki rolled up Chris from behind to get
the win. Despite this loss, Chris would not leave Fort Worth without a major win
still to come later in the evening.
Sunshine defeated Jim
Cornette
Jim Cornette had maintained
for weeks that no woman could outsmart or outfight a man and he aimed to prove
it. Cornette promised not just to beat Sunshine, but do so while blindfolded and
with one arm tied behind his back. Once Jim had been secured in his handicapping
devices, the bell rang. Before long Sunshine’s second Scott Casey entered the
ring and knocked out Jim with one punch. Sunshine then covered the mouthy
manager and scored the pin. Jim Cornette nearly had a heart attack. He thought
that Sunshine had knocked him out! Sunshine had accomplished her goals. She had
defeated Cornette in the ring, embarrassed him, and outsmarted him. Jim Cornette
slinked off to JCP while Sunshine reigned over World Class once again.
Chris Adams and Gino
Hernandez defeated Kerry and Kevin Von Erich to retain the American Tag Team
Title and earn a rematch under stipulations of their choice
This bout not only featured
outstanding action, but also set into motion a series of angles that set the
stage for the remainder of 1985 for World Class. The two teams had had numerous
violent encounters heading into this match. A Texas Tornado match between the
two teams ended with Chris and Gino viciously clobbering Kerry and Kevin with
the American and Texas Title belts, footage that World Class repeated often over
the ensuing months. Each team had a goal heading to the Independence Day
Wrestling Star Wars. The Von Erichs wanted revenge for Chris and Gino smashing
the Lincoln Continental at Texas Stadium in May. Chris and Gino wanted a match
with the Von Erichs under their stipulations and terms, a “fair fight” as
they claimed. To that end stipulations were laid out. A Von Erich win gave them
the right to smash up The Dynamic Duo’s red Corvette. Victory for The Dynamic
Duo gave Chris and Gino the right to select the stipulations, date, and venue of
their choice for a rematch.
This match was an exciting,
wild brawl from the start with a famous finish. Referee David Manning took a
bump and went careening into the ropes. His head became twisted between the top
and second ropes so that Manning was essentially being choked out while flailing
about in a futile effort to get free. The already hot crowd exploded at this
point because Manning was in a predicament that well exceeded any kind of ref
bump that the fans had seen and worse yet, his incapacitation prevented him from
counting a winning fall for the Von Erichs and enabled Chris and Gino to put
their cheating into overdrive. Announcer Marc Lowrance went into a panic over
Manning’s plight. He frantically put down his microphone and headset and
abandoned the broadcast table to free Manning from the ropes Lowrance succeeded
after a bit of a struggle. Upon returning to the broadcast position he remarked
to the TV audience that Manning “could have been killed!” Meanwhile as
Manning regained his breath, Gino tossed powder in Kevin’s eyes while Adams
scored the winning pin. This match and especially the crazy finish set the table
for some big houses for the rest of the summer. The infuriated fans desperately
wanted The Dynamic Duo to get theirs after stealing this important win and
wanted Kerry and Kevin Von Erich to be the ones to dole out the punishment.
In the aftermath of this
incredible match came two important developments. First of all The Dynamic Duo
left the arena to find that someone had smashed their prized Corvette smashed to
pieces. The Von Erichs denied involvement and this claim proved to be true. The
actual culprit was Bruiser Brody! Brody had returned to World Class Championship
Wrestling for the first time in nearly two years and had targeted Chris and Gino
and for starters their car. Secondly, smashed car not withstanding, The Dynamic
Duo gave Marc Lowrance an interview later that evening during their victory
party at a local nightclub (Toni Adams could be seen among the partiers dancing
in the background). Chris and Gino wanted to get a win that would humiliate
Kerry and Kevin in front of a huge live crowd and the entire world watching on
television. Therefore they named Sunday October 6, 1985 outdoors at The Cotton
Bowl as the venue. The official would be Alfred Neely, the heel referee who
infamously cost Kerry an NWA World Title match against Ric Flair back in 1982.
The stipulation was the coup de grace. From a velvet pouch Chris and Gino
revealed a pair of gold plated scissors. Both members of the losing team would
have their heads shaved bald!
NEXT
MONTH:
As you can see we have plenty to discuss next time around. Plenty of action and wild times happened indeed as well as a brush with tragedy. We’ll go over it all in our next article. See you then.