The
second available clip from 1984 Central States television, dated January 21st,
opens with a short clip of a Japanese bout between then NWA World Heavyweight
Champion Ric Flair and challenger Jumbo Tsuruta. The clip ends indecisively
with Jumbo locked in the champion’s signature Figure Four leglock before we
segue into the first of the episode’s territory matches. The opening bout on
this footage features perennial dishwater dull babyface Ron Ritchie squaring
off against Sheik Abdullah the Great (Jack Kruger). Kruger’s heel talents
distinguish this match as he takes early command before Ritchie mounts a decent
offensive flurry. Sheik takes sustained control before the inevitable babyface
comeback illustrates why Ritchie had such a low ceiling on his potential. A
Ritchie splash from the second rope scores the pin in a glorified squash.
Rick Stuart conducts an in-ring
interview with the pairing of Tully Blanchard and “Crazy” Luke Graham. Stuart
plays the babyface announcer role to the hilt while Blanchard denies any
nefarious wrongdoing in past matches and challenges “Bulldog” Bob Brown to a
match. We segue to the next match, a contest between Tripe 6 (666) and then
booker “Colonel” Buck Robely. Robely, a solid but limited worker, can’t do much
with the empty grappling vessel known as 666, but the main purpose of this
match is to further the program between the aforementioned Brown and 666/ Brown
proves enough of a distraction that Robely scores an “upset” pin with a rollup.
We next join Tully Blanchard and
“Bulldog” Bob Brown in progress. It’s a typical television brawl, nothing
exceptional, ending with Blanchard’s then-partner “Crazy” Luke Graham and Roger
Kirby ending the bout with a heel run in and beat down on Midwestern legend
Brown. “Avalanche” Buzz Tyler and King Cobra hit the ring to even things up and
rescue Brown as the footage concludes. This truncated episode pales compared to
1984’s first, admittedly limited, episode and illustrates the free fall that
ended a few years later.
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