Wrestling Review: Central States All Star Wrestling January 21st, 1984



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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