Week 2, January 1990

This was one hell of a week for the NWA, with both the NWA and WCW shows off the charts, with the promotion's SlamBoree PPV being held tomorrow night. Before this weeks shows took place, head booker, along with some help from his trusted friends, Dory Funk Jr, Jack Lanza and Adrian Street decided to do some house cleaning when it came to the promotions titles.

First thing they did, was introduce two new titles, the NWA and WCW Six Man Tag Team Titles. These are designed to give the lower pushed wrestlers something to fight and feud over. Because of this however, it was apparent that there were just too many titles in the promotion, so Greg decided to retire the NWA Television Tag Team Belts. This made Steve Williams and Mike Rotundo none to happy, but Greg promised them a $1,000 bonus a piece to help them "cheer up." Greg also explained to Bret Hart that he was going to make the MACW Heavyweight Title that he won at Starrcade a belt that would only be wrestled for at Starrcade each year. So Bret would remain the MACW Champion for a year until two other wrestlers fought for it next December, but he wouldn't get a chance to ever defend it unless he goes for it again next year, which won't be likely as Greg has other plans for him.

One bit of bad news was that wrestler Tracy Smothers was signed away from the NWA by New Japan Pro Wrestling when they gave him a written contract. Though Tracy wasn't getting much of a push in the NWA, he was used quite a bit by Greg in getting other wrestlers over, as Smothers is a good technical wrestler and knew how to work.

Ok, to the shows. NWA fans are a glow this week after witnessing two fantastic shows building heat for SlamBoree. In the "NWA Worldwide" show, The Wild Somoans and the Road Warriors each won in 'dark' matches, which put the crowd into a frenzy from the start. In the opening TV segment Bret Hart and Ric Flair were in the ring and traded insults before trading punches. NWA "Commissioner" Greg Moe came out and made it official, Ric Flair would face Bret Hart one more time at "SlamBoree" for the NWA Heavyweight Title. Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart and the Road Warriors, who had come out to help Hart when the Four Horsemen had come out to backup Flair, walked back to the back looking like they were given the gift that they wanted. Flair and the Horsemen started arguing with Greg Moe as they all stood in the ring as the show went to commercial.

The opening match had Horsemen Tully Blanchard, Arn and Ole Anderson go up against The Hart Foundation's Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart teamed up with Sting. The match was very good with the fans standing and screaming through the whole thing. Then out of the blue, just as the Hart Foundation was gaining the upper hand, out ran the Road Warriors, long time allies of Bret and Neidhart's. Hawk and Animal climbed in the ring to the confusion of Bret, Jim and Sting. Suddenly, they turned away from the Horsemen and faced their friends and began to beat down Bret and Sting. When Neidhart tried to make a save, the Horsemen now along with even Ric Flair and Paul Ellering, beat down Jim as well as Bret and Sting. It was a massacre! The fans went crazy at the Road Warriors turn heel on national TV. There was even a shot of an little old, portly lady throwing her shoe at Hawk as he walked by after the ruckus.

Also on the show, Varsity Club member Steve Williams beat Ivan Koloff for the NWA Television Belt in a good sturdy match that though it was good, it gave the fans time to catch their breath. But no sooner had the crowd settled down, out walked Horseman Tully Blanchard to give an interview with Gordon Solie in which he went off on a tirade about how he thought Bret Hart and the Hart Foundation, along with Sting were nothing but "sissy boys" and "spoiled punks" having everything given to them on a silver platter. The fans booed him so loud that nobody even noticed when Mike Rotundo climbed into the ring. Shortly after Ric Flair came out to face Rotundo and even defend his Championship against him. However, before the match started, of course out walked Arn and Ole Anderson and Blanchard walked over also, surrounding the ring. The match was full of typical Horsemen tom foolery. Every time Flair would throw Rotundo out of the ring, the Horsemen would stomp him into the ground. Finally, Steve Williams ran out to help Rotundo and when he started to get the boot too, out ran the Hart Foundation and Sting. It was a fairly even brawl on the outside as Flair and Rotundo wrestled in the ring. Then out came the Road Warriors giving the Horsemen the advantage once more. While this was going on, the referee didn't see Tully Blanchard hit Mike Rotundo with Flair's Championship Belt helping Flair to score an easy 1, 2, 3! The pop from the crowd was deafening.

Considering the rave reviews that "Worldwide" received just the day before, it was going to be hard for "WCW Saturday Night" to keep the momentum going, but not only did it keep going, it gained even more speed. The show opened with a match with Terry Funk and Sid Vicious taking on "Hotstuff" Eddie Gilbert and Mark Callous. The match was really drawing the fans in when suddenly out ran newly signed Jerry "The King" Lawler. Lawler went right after Funk on the outside while Sid and Gilbert wrestled in the ring. As Lawler was putting the boot to Terry Funk on the outside, out ran seldom seen, road agent Dory Funk Jr to rescue his brother, along with Kevin Sullivan to the great approval of the fans. While this was all going on outside the ring, few people even saw Sid Vicious choke slam Eddie Gilbert almost through the ring floor.

Afterward backstage, Jim Ross interviewed Jerry Lawler, who swore vengeance against Terry Funk but especially Kevin Sullivan who he says "got into his business." Sullivan walked out and the two had to be held back from each other by agents and security guards. Sullivan got so heated, he offered Lawler a match right then and there and put up his Television Belt. Lawler quickly accepted the match and after the break, the two stepped in the ring to face each other. The match was very good, with both men really selling the action to the crowd. The match ended with Lawler getting the three count after Terry Funk accidentally hit Sullivan over the head with a chair which got a huge pop from the crowd as Lawler's hand was raised. This ended Kevin Sullivan's reign as WCW Television Champion which he successively defended five times.

Also on the show the fans were treated to the ever flamboyant Fabulous Freebirds of Michael 'P.S.' Hayes, "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin and Terry Gordy, who came over in a talent trade with All Japan Pro Wrestling. They went up against the three members of the Midnight Express, "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton, Stan Lane and Dennis Condrey. The match was for the new WCW Six Man Tag Belts and the six men really jelled well together. It was about as good as you could get for a six man tag match and the fans really got behind it. When it was over, the Fabulous Freebirds came out on top to win the belts. You never saw three men look so "over the top" in love with themselves. The Freebirds can really work a crowd.

The main event was a match between Lex Luger and Commissioner Greg Moe, who's no slouch when it comes to helping a wrestler get over, and that was exactly what Greg had in mind for Luger helping him draw heat for his match with Funk at SlamBoree. The match was very good with, of course Lex Luger winning in a stalwart effort. Lex Luger came out looking like he can't be beat, which is exactly what Greg had in mind. Greg expects Luger's match with Funk to be a great one drawing almost as much heat as Bret Hart and Ric Flair's match. SlamBoree should be a great PPV and the NWA hopes it can rival Halloween Havoc's quality and "Fall Brawl's" attendance which topped 37,000 fans.