[molson]

THE STARS OF WORLD CLASS ON TOUR
Monday, Week 4, February 1984
San Antonio, TX (Very Small Venue)
Expected Attendance: 2,676. Ticket prices: $4 over default
Actual Attendance: 2,000 (SOLD OUT)

-One quiet roster move before tonight's show, Sunshine is officially removed as Iceman Parsons' valet. Sunshine has been hanging around Parsons at least since Parsons was teaming with Chris Adams, but he's fallen too far down on the roster to justify the expense of a manger. Sunshine is still the valet of David Von Erich, though she's been in the background for months now.

-Pre-Show Dark Match
Nikita Koloff defeats Tommy Rodgers in 7:57 by pinfall. (C-). Koloff was off his game tonight. After the match, Boris Malenko (still smoking his victory cigar) hypes his client. (C)

-Pre-Show Dark match
King Kong Bundy defeats Owen Hart in 2:41 in a dominating victory. (C-). Bundy looked good. The two showed poor chemistry.

-As the show starts David, Kevin, and Kerry come to the ring. They again claim that the issues between them have been resolved, and that six-man tag titles have given them unity again. Kerry then says (somewhat ominously), that as long as the Von Erichs can keep those belts around their waists, they'll be on the same page. They then hype their title defense tonight against Bob Backlund, Michael Hayes, and Jimmy Garvin. The mention that the match will be an "six-man elimination match" (Survivor Series Rules) (B-)

-Tiger Mask defeats Super Kendo in 7:55 by pinfall. (C-). After the match, Tiger Mask hyped his Mexican Invasion match with Villano III. Tiger Mask again states that this isn't Japan v. Mexico, his him v. Villano III. (B-)

-Piper's Pit.
Roddy Piper's guest is WCCW World Heavyweight Champion, David Von Erich. David hypes his title defense against Bob Backlund later this week at Mexican Invasion. David says he feels Backlund is the toughest guy in WCCW, and he just can't believe that Backlund is willing to hand over the title to Hayes, should he win. David says we'll never know for sure whether Backlund will actually do that, because he's retaining the title on Wednesday night. (B-)

-Roddy Piper defeats Al Perez in 5:35 by submission. (C-). Perez was off his game. After the match, Piper hyped his Mexican Invasion match with Adrian Adonis. (C).

-The Sheepherders defeat Mike Von Erich & Ricky Morton in 9:25 when Williams pinned Mike. (C). After the match, The Sheepherders attack Mike and Ricky further, and throw them from the ring. (D+). Skandor Akbar then hypes his team. Akbar says that while Gary Hart is getting all the attention lately, he still doesn't have a single champion in his stable. Akbar says that he'll have the tag titles after Mexican Invasion. (C+)

-Ted Dibiase defeated Fishman in 12:56 by pinfall. (B+) After the match, Dibiase taunts Fishman by shoving a $100 bill down his throat. (C)

-Bob Backlund, Michael Hayes, and Jimmy Garvin hype their upcoming title shot against the Von Erichs. (B-)

-Six-Man Tag Team Championship Match
-Elimination Rules
The Von Erichs defeat Bob Backlund, Jimmy Garvin, and Michael Hayes in 14:46 to make their first defense of the titles. (C+) Kevin and Kerry Von Erich were the "survivors". Backlund and David looked good. Order of elimination was as follows:

1. David Von Erich (made to submit by Bob Backlund - passed out to the chicken-wing).
2. Jimmy Garvin (pinned by Kevin Von Erich).
3. Michael Hayes (made to submit by Kevin Von Erich).
4. Bob Backlund (counted out - after taking on Kevin and Kerry 2-1 for a while, he eventually decided to just leave the match).

Overall Show Rating: C+

THOUGHTS;

-A somewhat disappointing overall rating, considering we were in Texas (where I consider a B- show "good" at this point)

-I really liked the storyline aspects of the main event (Backlund getting the better of David AGAIN, and embarrassing him into being the first elimination), but the match was pretty mediocre. They only delivered a C+, after scoring a B in their previous 6-man tag. Nobody in the match complained of exhaustion after the show, so the difference in rating wasn't fatigue. Strangely, that prior "B" match took place in Tennessee (of the 6 guys in the match, only Garvin is over more in the Southeast than he his in Texas).

-I had a feeling Fishman and Dibiase would steal the show, and they did. My only house rule in the dynasty (so far) is that loaned workers must not have a losing record with me. Since Fishman won in a tag match last week, I was able to feed him to Dibiase here. A Dibiase v. David feud should generate some great matches down the road.

-Piper and The Sheepherders were all "blah" once again. The Sheepherders are at least a very established team with an A+ team experience rating. Piper just isn't worth the money at all. Unless things change, he'll fade into the sunset (or into a table) after the Adonis feud is over.

-Nikita Koloff is getting a liitle bit of an undercard push, complete with his own storyline. (The cigar thing - eventually it will be used as a weapon). Koloff is still young and green, but I believe that in wrestling, you have to push some guys higher than their current talents would seem to allow to get them ahead.