TCW VII: The Man Comes Around

Battle Royal for a TCW World Heavyweight Championship Match

"Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers vs. Diamond Dallas Page vs. "Dr. Death" Steve WIlliams vs. Tully Blanchard vs. Terry Gordy vs. "Boogie Woogie Man" Jimmy Valiant vs. Lenny Lane vs. James Snuka vs. Ivan Koloff vs. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs. Blackjack Mulligan
Steve Williams eliminated Diamond Dallas Page at 1:32.
Ivan Koloff eliminated Greg Valentine at 1:44
Jimmy Valiant eliminated Lenny Lane at 2:10
Steve Williams eliminated (2) James Snuka at 2:25
Ivan Koloff eliminated (2) Jimmy Valiant at 3:43
Terry Gordy eliminated Steve Williams at 4:14
Buddy Rogers eliminated Ivan Koloff at 4:41
Blackjack Mulligan eliminated Tully Blanchard at 4:54
Terry Gordy eliminated (2) Blackjack Mulligan at 5:14
Terry Gordy eliminated (3) Buddy Rogers at 7:14.

The Miracle Violence Connection dominated the battle royal. In fact, the only person who seemed to be able to stop either of them was the other, with Gordy taking Williams out of the ring after a big lariat. After a few minutes more action, Gordy eliminated Mulligan and Buddy Rogers to be the last man standing and secure the title shot later tonight.

Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake vs. Boris Zhukov
Brutus Beefcake defeated Boris Zhukov via submission (SLEEPER) at 4:57. *

Zhukov started off strong, but Beefcake quickly outmaneuvered him and took over the action. He dropped the big Russian with a clothesline and then locked in his finisher for a quick tapout.

The Taylors (Tug and Scott) vs. Vanity
Gorgeous George defeated Tugboat Taylor via pinfall (ROLLING HIPLOCKS) at 9:34. *1/2

Vanity continued to click as a top-tier team in TCW, methodically dominating the action en route to picking up a win over the Taylors.

Nikolai Volkoff vs. Angelo Poffo
Nikolai Volkoff defeated Angelo Poffo via pinfall (BACKBREAKER DROP) at 2:40. *1/2

Volkoff isolated Poffo's back aggressively from the opening bell, using his trademarked bear hug and two big BACKBREAKER DROPS for a dominating victory.

Dennis Condrey vs. Stan Lane
Dennis Condrey defeated Stan Lane via pinfall (atomic drop) at 17:03. ****1/4

The two tag specialists were in somewhat unfamiliar territory standing alone in the ring, but that didn't stop them from absolutely tearing the house down. Each man took the best that his opponent had to offer, kicking out of a combined eight pin attempts before Condrey finally hit a big atomic drop and then rolled up Lane for the three count.

"The Raging Bull of the Pampas" Pampero Firpo vs. King Kong Bundy
Pampero Firpo defeated King Kong Bundy via submission (EL GARFIO) at 2:37. *3/4

Bundy went for a quick pin after a body slam, but Firpo kicked out emphatically and then went wild on the big man, locking him into his submission hold. Bundy held on longer than most, but eventually had to tap.

Post-Match: As he left the ring, Bundy was holding his neck and talking to one of the trainers.

Johnny Valentine vs. Magnum T.A.
Magnum T.A. defeated Johnny Valientine via pinfall (BELLY TO BELLY SUPLEX) at 3:43. *3/4

Magnum put on an impressive, dominant showing. He hit his BELLY TO BELLY SUPLEX finisher outside of the ring on Valentine, then threw him back in and hit it twice more to score an easy win - and something of a mild upset.

Pre-Match: With both men in the ring for the referee's instructions, Billie Piper rolled into the ring and got in Bobo's face, giving him a slap. As he stared her down and the referee tried to restore order, Taylor spun the champ around and hit a big Manhattan drop. The referee promptly restored order, ejecting Piper from ringside and separating the two before finally calling for the bell to start the match.

TCW US Heavyweight Championship Match

Bobo Brazil (C) vs. "Ball Buster" Dave Taylor (UR)
Bobo Brazil defeated Dave Taylor via pinfall (Bobo body slam) at 1:15. *
Wasteland scored one point.

Bobo was angry about the pre-match attack, and channeled that anger into making quick work of his opponent.

Pre-Match: With entrances complete for the US Tag Team Championship match - Dr. House seconding for the Rock and Roll Express and Double J for the West Texas Rednecks - familiar music blared over the PA system as "The King" Harley Race entered the arena and sat down at the commentary desk, joining Lance Catamaran for the call of the match.

TCW US Tag Team Championship Match

The Rock and Roll Express (C) vs. The West Texas Rednecks (#6)
Robert Gibson defeated Curt Hennig via pinfall (DOUBLE DROPKICK) at 2:03. *
Order of the British Empire scored one point.

Ricky took advantage of an uncharacteristic mistake from Hennig when he set too early for a back body drop. Ricky used the opening to hit a devastating flipping piledriver, then came off the top three straight times, the last time in tandem with his partner to keep Hennig down for three.

Pre-Match: Commissioner Danielson joined the commentary team, once again with his clipboard and stopwatch. As he sat down, he told the team that Bundy had been evaluated by the staff backstage and would likely miss the next show.

SURVIVE ANDRE

Andre the Giant vs. "The Whole F'n Show" Rob Van Dam
Andre the Giant defeated Rob Van Dam via pinfall (body slam) at 3:45. *

The Commissioner's prediction came true, with Van Dam's flamboyant athletics providing no answer for the Giant.

Post-Match: "Told you," Danielson snapped as the bell rang. He stopped his timer, wrote something down, then curtly said goodnight to the team before heading to the back.

TCW World Heavyweight Championship Match

"The God of Wrestling" Lou Thesz (C) vs. Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy
Terry Gordy defeated Lou Thesz via pinfall (POWER BOMB) at 23:23. *****
Terry Gordy won the TCW World Heavyweight Championship.
The Million Dollar Team scored four points.

The two veterans of Japanese wrestling gave the fans one of the most violent, hard-hitting matches of the year in TCW. No quarter was given by either man, and Gordy kicked out of six separate pin attempts from Thesz over the course of more than twenty minutes. At match's end, Gordy took Thesz out of the ring with a huge lariat, and after the two brawled on the outside for a while, he hauled the champ back into the ring and hit a third POWER BOMB to finally keep Thesz down.

Pre-Match: As the challengers made their way to the ring to Pomp and Circumstance, they were joined by their seconds in their guises of Randall Tame and Cubic Zirconia. Not to be outdone, the Road Warriors were joined by their interim leader, Leva Bates, herself in spiked shoulder pads and carrying an aluminum baseball bat.

TCW World Tag Team Championship Match

The Road Warriors (C) vs. "Macho Man" Randy Savage and The Destroyer
Animal defeated The Destroyer via countout (piledriver) at 15:56. ***1/2
Wasteland scored two points.

Savage and The Destroyer were more than up to the challenge of squaring off against the Road Warriors. Both teams' seconds got into the action, with Cubic Zirconia getting up on the apron and flailing his hands to distract the referee from the pin after two nasty supexes from Hawk, who rewarded the comedian with a right hand. Leva returned the favor for her boys after Hawk got nailed with Savage's FLYING ELBOW DROP, getting into the ring with her bat and forcing the ref to deal with her instead of counting the three. At the end of the match, the Road Warriors hauled The Destroyer up for the DOOMSDAY DEVICE and nailed it, but the Intelligent Sensation kicked out, something that's never been done in TCW. He rolled out of the ring to get a breather after the exertion, but a furious Animal followed him right out and piledrove him outside, leaving him laying for the countout loss.