Valentine's War Card - SWCW (Representing AWA) vs WCCW (Representing NWA) for Texas bragging rights!
 
Good luck to you both

Southwest Championship Wrestling
Thursday February 14, 1983
The Summitt in Houston TX
Sanctioned by the AWA
 
 
 
Prelimanary Bout:  Roberto Soto vs. Gary Young
 
Gary Young wrestled Roberto Soto to a 10 minute draw
 
 
 
Tag Team Bout:  The Oates Brothers vs. Dennis Stamp and Jody Arnold
 
Ted & Jerry Oates def. Dennis Stamp & Jody Arnold at 15:30 when Jerry caught Arnold in an abdominable stretch for the submission.
 
 
 
Debut Match:  Mark Van Halen vs. Sam Houston
 
Mark Van Halen made his debut, and made Sam Houston submit to a full nelson after 4:50 of a vicious beating.  He came to the ring and took his sweet time talking to women in the crowd and posing.  Once the bell rang, all the pompous attitude went away and he was a dangerous man.  He beat Houston down and would stop and pose some more before going back to beating on his opponent.
 
 
 
Six Man Tag Team Bout:  Santana / Lothario / Conway Jr. vs. Brooks / Rose / Krupp
 
Tito Santana, Jose Lothario, Tiger Conway Jr. def. Killer Brooks, Pat Rose, Killer Karl Krupp when Tito caught Brooks with a flying forearm at 15:41.
 
 
 
Southwest Tag Team Title Bout:  The Fantastics (c) vs. The Fabulous Blondes
 
In this anticipated title match, The Fabulous Blondes def. The Fantastics for the belts at 27:03.  The action was fast paced throughout.  At one point, Tommy Rogers fell from the ring and slammed his back hard on the floor.  The Blondes took advantage to work it over.  The Blondes pulled off illegal move after illegal move on Rogers.  Timbs threw Rogers to the floor, where Embry rammed him back first into the ring post before thowing him back in.  Timbs caught him in a boston crab.  While holding him there, Embry came from the top with an elbow drop to his back while the referee was trying to get Fulton to stay out of the ring.  Rogers submitted and we have new champions.
 
 
 
Grudge Match:  Blackjack Mulligan vs. Tully Blanchard
 
Tully Blanchard and Blackjack Mulligan fought to a bloody double countout at 18:51.  Tully tried his best to work on the broken arm of Mulligan, but it was that broken arm cast that busted Tully open in the early going.  You can tell this feud isn't settled, as the two men fought all around ringside after the bell had already sounded, and used everything they could get their hands on as a weapon.  When the dust cleared, both men were bleeding badly and soaked with sweat.  The "after match" part of the match went on about 10 minutes before it was able to be broken up.  Neither man backed off, and it appears another match will be needed to settle things.
 
 
 
Southwest Heavyweight Title Bout:  The Spoiler (c) vs. Manny Fernandez
 
In this long awaited title match, The Spoiler tried every trick he knew to hold off the attack of Manny Fernandez, but in the end, nothing worked.  He loaded his mask with a foreign object and tried to headbutt Manny, but Manny caught him and rammed his head into the turnbuckles causing the object to backfire on him!  A few seconds later, Manny nailed him with his flying burrito and pinned him to become the new AWA Southwest Heavyweight Champion at 30:30!  Tito Santana, Tiger Conway Jr., Ricky Romero, Roberto Soto, Jose Lothario, and a bandaged up Blackjack Mulligan came to the ring to celebrate with the new champion.

Valentine’s Day Massacre
2/14/83
Sam Houston Colisem
Houston, Texas
 
TEXAS TITLE TOURNAMENT, First ROUND:
1.      Bobo Brazil takes on Gino Hernandez(w/Jim Cornette). Gino takes a bunch of punishment and a lot of coco butts, but uses Cornette’s tennis racket to turn the tide. Gino hits the reverse elbow and gets the pin at 7:58.
2.      Kevin Von Erich takes on Killer Khan(w/ Mr. JR) in another first round match. Khan dominates most of the way, but Kevin makes a great comeback and get the win with a flying bodypress at 9:57.
3.      Dusty Rhodes takes on Lars Anderson in a hard fought first round bout. Lars has been a fan favorite for most of his time in WCCW, but he wrestles like a complete heel here tonight. Rhodes is at his best and gets the win with a reversal of an inside cradle at 8:44 to advance to the second round.
4.      Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious) wrestles Mil Mascaras in a first round match. Garvin struts and preens and acts cocky, but Mil looks unbeatable. It looks like Mil will get the win as he hits a flying shoulderblock on garvin and goes for the pin, but Precious puts Jimmy’s leg on the bottom rope to stop the count! Mil goes over and warns Precious…..Precious had an aerosol can and she sprays whatever is in in the can into Mascaras’ eyes! Referee David Manning saw it and he is DQing Jimmy Garvin! Mascaras will advance to the next round!
 
5.      Al Madril and Iceman Parsons come to the ring with “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” by War blasting over the sound system. The former Texas Tag Champions take on Moondogs Spot & Rex (w/Mr. JR). Madril and Iceman pick up right where they left off and are in championship form early on. The Moondogs gain the advantage and work over Madril for several minutes. Madril finally makes the hot tag and Iceman comes into the ring, getting down and kicking booty! Mr. JR comes in with the bones nad gets his men DQ’d, but they gang up on Iceman and give him quite a beating! Madril comes in and gets ahold of one of the bones and cleans house with it! Madril flattens both Moondogs and chases JR away! After the bout, the former champs embrace and lift each other’s hand in victory!
 
TEXAS TITLE TOURNAMENT, Second  ROUND:
 
6.      In an amazing match, Mil Mascaras takes on Kevin Von Erich. Possibly because of the foreign substance Precious sprayed in his eyes, Mil sems a step behind Kevin throughout the match. At the 17:33 mark, Mil hits his patented flying bodypress, but Von Erich rolls through, reverses, and scores the pin! The fans give both men a standing ovation as they shake hands after the bout.
7.      Dusty Rhodes locks up with Gino Hernandez(w/Jim Cornette) in the other semifinal bout. Dusty is at his best and Gino relies on a pair of brass knucks passed to him by Cornette to KO Dusty and get the pin at 13:47.
 
8.      Sgt. Slaughter and Don Kernodle take on Ivan Koloff & Nikolai Volkoff in a boot camp match.The Cobra Corps takes it to the Russians and soon, Ivan is bleeding! It looks like it’s over when Slaughter applies the cobra clutch on “The Russian Bear”. Volkoff gets ahold of Ivan’s chain and bashes Kernodle upside the head with it and then nails Slaughter from behind with it! Since there is no DQ, referee David manning can only watch! Now, the Russians wrap the chain arounf Don’s neck and throw him over the top rope… that looked like it snapped his neck! Now, they are hanging him! Slaughter gets up, puts on his combat helmet and head butts both Russians! Kernodle falls to the floor and just lays there! He’s hurt badly! Slaughter gets his riding crop and starts whipping both Russians! Eventually, the Russians have enough and retreat to the dressing room! The Cobra Corps wins by COR at 10:07, but it’s a somewhat hollow win as Kernodle is stretchered out of the arena!
 
9.      NWA World Title Match: Rick Steamboat & Jay Youngblood defend against The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette). The Champs look unbeatable early, but The Midnights get the advantage on Steamboat and dish out punishment to Rick for several minutes, using some impressive double team moves and getting several near falls. Finally, Ricky makes the hot tag to jay and Youngblood comes in, kicking tail and taking names! While the ref tries to get Steamboat out of the ring, Cornette tosses the tennis racket in Condrey’s direction. Youngblood intercepts it  and nails both Express members. The ref turns just in time to see Youngblood use the racket! The champs are DQ’d at 22:49! The champs are irate! They lay their belts on the mat and invite the Midnight Express back into the ring, but Cornette leads them away.
 
10.      TEXAS TITLE TOURNAMENT FINAL: Kevin Von Erich vs. Gino Hernandez(w/Jim Cornette): Von Erich controls most of the match, but interference from Cornette turns the tide. After a bid suplex, Gino goes for the top rope elbow, but Kevin rolls out of the way! Kevin goes to the top rope and hits the flying bodypress…Gino rolls though and reverses! One…two…Gino has the tights….THREE! GINO HERNANDEZ IS THE NEW TEXAS CHAMPION!!!! Kevin protests, but to no avail! Gino grabs the belt and he and Cornette strut all the way out of the arena!
 
11.      NWA WORLD TITLE MATCH……TEXAS DEATH RULES: David Von Erich defends the belt against “Dr. D” David Shults(w/Jim Cornette)!  Shults takes advantage of Cornette’s distractions to gain the early adbvantage. Shults scores a fall at the 8 minute mark with a piledriver, but David beats the ten count and gets to his feet. The match is pretty much a brawl from that point on. Shults scores another fall after Cornette uses his tennis racket on David and the ref doesn’t catch it at 13:54. Again, David answers the ten count. At this point, Durango Kid comes to ringside and stalks Cornette and occasionally slaps the mat and yells encouragement to the World Champ. At the 20:07 mark,  a bloody and battered David catches Dr. D in his famous “goodnight Irene” sleeper and puts Dr. D out! During the rest period, Cornette tries to revive his man, but Durango Kid chases him out of the arena! The ref counts 1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8….9….10! Shults is still asleep and David wins the Texas Death match! Afterwards, David wakes Dr. D up and Shults goes into a rage when he realizes what has happened! He leaves the ring and starts tossing ringside chairs into the ring at David! David grabs the World Title belt and leaves the arena victoriously as Shults throws a fit!

Good show Grigs.  Thanks for agreeing to this war card for bragging rights.  For those who don't know, this is probably the first in a series of showdowns between our two promotions here in the great city of Houston.
 
Good to see Gino get gold in World Class.  Its ironic that Kevin lost to the same roll through and reversal that he used to beat Mascaras with in the semis.
 
Hard fought match for the world title, but I was surprised to see Dr. D get the first pin in the match.
 
Shame to see Kernoodle get hurt like that.

Two great cards that surely sent the fans home happy. Fine action from both programs.  

I think the criteria you use is in the eye of the beholder.  For me personally, I take into consideration the storylines coming into the show, the payoffs of those storylines, and the writing of the show itself.  I also consider how strong the card is based on use of the talent in each promoters own territory.  I give a higher personal grade if the card consists more of home based talent rather than bring in all the champions and borrowed talent....unless....those borrowed guys or champions have a running program that continues into the ward card itself.
 
But like I said, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
 
And which show did you just flat out enjoy more?  Which lineup would have gotten your money on that night to see their show.?  Those too are questions I answer to myself when making a decision.

Two great cards!  A very close call.

Sorry to say I misplaced my voter's registration card and SPOILED my ballot!  Dangled a chad AND abstained, to boot.
 
REALLY enjoyed BOTH, great writing.  A tough call with SWCW concentrating on ongoing angles & WCCW and the tourney seeming to be newer developments.
 
Great seeing the idea of a series as well.