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The History of the World Heavyweight Championship


MikeCampbell

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Is there space on the first disc for Dory Jr. vs. Kiniski uncut? I ask because I would imagine that the documentary will last at least 60 minutes and the two Flair matches will go a combined 40 minutes. Just something to bare in mind.

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Dory-Kiniski from the 16mm has been out there for some time. It's unlikely the WWE has more than has been circulated by folks like Wrestling Classics.

 

Same goes for the Brisco-Terry match.

 

What's strange is that this is the perfect DVD to roll out the Race-Backlund for the first time. It really is a weak set overall, and not terribly imaginative. Things like Flair vs. Steiner would have been better served on a Best of The Clash DVD, while Vader vs. Steamboat would have been good on a Steamboat DVD.

 

 

John

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NWA World Heavyweight Championship 1 - DVD

 

Probably on some others as well as they recycle stuff on occassion.

 

Also likely out there elsewhere. May even be on DM and Youtube.

 

Doubt that the WWE is going to have much more in terms of footage that is out there already. Same would go with the Race-Rhodes: it's unlikely to be anything we haven't already seen or is circulating.

 

John

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JD Dunn has reveviewed the first disc. Sadly, the two Funk wins are just short clips. Can anyone who's seen it verify if the Harley/Dusty match is their '79 one?

The description, if accurate, tells me that it is indeed the 1979 title change. Good stuff. :)

 

Since this appears just to be the match clips, I would recommend seeking out the entire Rhodes wins title-defends against Race-Funk attacks Dusty-Race regains title angle. Goodhelmet should have his Terry Funk set out soon and it'll be on that. It's an amazing study in how Rhodes was booked in Florida as the ultimate hero, even at the expense of the NWA title and all the prestige that surrounded it.

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Since this appears just to be the match clips, I would recommend seeking out the entire Rhodes wins title-defends against Race-Funk attacks Dusty-Race regains title angle. Goodhelmet should have his Terry Funk set out soon and it'll be on that. It's an amazing study in how Rhodes was booked in Florida as the ultimate hero, even at the expense of the NWA title and all the prestige that surrounded it.

If anyone ever does a Dusty In Florida set, there's a lot more to hit on. The whole King of the Ring nonsense to get Dusty a win over the NWA Champ. Dusty in Florida was every bit as abusive to the NWA Title as Fritz was in Texas.

 

John

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Was it uncommon for promoters to abuse the NWA championship? I remember reading that Lord Al Hayes beat Dory for the title, only for Dory to get DQ'ed for attacking the referee AFTER the match. And Carlos Colon beating the champ by escaping the cage, only for the promoters to declare that the title could not change hands on a cage escape.

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Since this appears just to be the match clips, I would recommend seeking out the entire Rhodes wins title-defends against Race-Funk attacks Dusty-Race regains title angle. Goodhelmet should have his Terry Funk set out soon and it'll be on that. It's an amazing study in how Rhodes was booked in Florida as the ultimate hero, even at the expense of the NWA title and all the prestige that surrounded it.

If anyone ever does a Dusty In Florida set, there's a lot more to hit on. The whole King of the Ring nonsense to get Dusty a win over the NWA Champ. Dusty in Florida was every bit as abusive to the NWA Title as Fritz was in Texas.

 

John

 

Indeed. To this end, which of these were a part of Rhodes' title loss back to Race in 1979?

 

a) title can change hands on a DQ

B) Rhodes wrestling with a broken arm...and literally being unable to use the limb for the entire match

c) Terry Funk pre-match sneak attack

d) all of the above

 

Of course, you know the answer, which if you stop and think about for a minute, is mind-bogglingly disrespectful towards the "integrity" of the NWA title.

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My favorite Dusty in Florida angle regarding the NWA title was a promo he cut after the Last Tango in Tampa in 1980 where they went to a 60:00 draw with Dusty winning the 1st fall and the 2nd fall went to a draw but Harley kept the title. Dusty then said that he would never wrestle Harley for the title again until he could defeat him in a match. How awesome is it that the #1 contender won't wrestle for the title until the champion can prove that he can beat him.

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Since this appears just to be the match clips, I would recommend seeking out the entire Rhodes wins title-defends against Race-Funk attacks Dusty-Race regains title angle. Goodhelmet should have his Terry Funk set out soon and it'll be on that. It's an amazing study in how Rhodes was booked in Florida as the ultimate hero, even at the expense of the NWA title and all the prestige that surrounded it.

If anyone ever does a Dusty In Florida set, there's a lot more to hit on. The whole King of the Ring nonsense to get Dusty a win over the NWA Champ. Dusty in Florida was every bit as abusive to the NWA Title as Fritz was in Texas.

 

John

 

Would you throw Lawler & the AWA title in that list as well.

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Karl Lauer told this story at last year's Cauliflower Alley Club reunion.

 

Los Angeles during Terry's run had a three match angle with Terry and Chavo Guerrero Sr. In the blowoff, Chavo, normally a junior heavyweight, weighed in about five pounds above the heavyweight minimum. Chavo pinned Funk at around the 58-minute mark to apparently win the title, Funk demanded Chavo get on the scale...and Chavo lost so much weight during the match that he fell about three pounds below the heavyweight minimum. As a result, Funk kept the championship.

 

Looking back, it's amazing anybody ever cared about the NWA World Heavyweight Title.

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Speaking of Dusty and the NWA title, was there any truth to the legend that the reason Dusty's reigns were so short (at least the first two) were because the Giant Baba wouldn't have approved someone looking like Dusty touring Japan as champ and the NWA didn't want to piss Baba off?

 

 

Also that reminds me of Dusty's promo on the freshly heeled Dick Murdoch (which is on the NWA TV ep now up on WWE 24/7) where Dusty mentions his 3 world title reigns when listing the reasons he's better than Murdoch despite the total of all his time with the belt put together adding up to what, a month or so?

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Since this appears just to be the match clips, I would recommend seeking out the entire Rhodes wins title-defends against Race-Funk attacks Dusty-Race regains title angle. Goodhelmet should have his Terry Funk set out soon and it'll be on that. It's an amazing study in how Rhodes was booked in Florida as the ultimate hero, even at the expense of the NWA title and all the prestige that surrounded it.

If anyone ever does a Dusty In Florida set, there's a lot more to hit on. The whole King of the Ring nonsense to get Dusty a win over the NWA Champ. Dusty in Florida was every bit as abusive to the NWA Title as Fritz was in Texas.

 

John

 

Would you throw Lawler & the AWA title in that list as well.

 

I wouldn't. He seemed to win more than he lost against Kerry, for example.

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Yeah but Lawler would always get screwy wins and Bock basically only won clean in the matches for the Southern Heavyweight Title.

 

Dusty in Japan was complete politics because he was an Inoki guy and Baba had a stronghold on the Japanese bookings for the champion.

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Yeah but Lawler would always get screwy wins and Bock basically only won clean in the matches for the Southern Heavyweight Title.

Bockwinkel wasn't booked all that differently in the regular AWA so I never made the connection to where you were going with that until you spelled it out above.

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I've never heard that particular story about Dusty and Baba. I know that Baba and the NWA had problems when Dusty won the belt from Flair in '86 he went on a tour of New Japan, who wasn't in the alliance. They obviously worked them out, since Flair went back in '87 and Steamboat in '89.

As Kris says, Dusty was an "Inoki Guy" from 1979 on. Baba used him just one series: the 11/75 - 12/75 Open League series. He had worked series with IWE in 1971 and 1973 before that.

 

Dusty never worked a series with New Japan while being NWA Champ.

 

He worked with New Japan from 5/22-6/4 right before winning the title later in 1981. He worked next during the tag league that year in Nov-Dec. He didn't work for New Japan in 1986.

 

This is likely the thing that people are talking about: The NWA Title being booked into All Japan from 10/06/81 - 10/09/81. Flair always was going to beat Dusty, but it's possible that they shortened Dusty's "run" with the title a little bit because Dusty wouldn't/couldn't go into All Japan to defend the title.

 

John

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Karl Lauer told this story at last year's Cauliflower Alley Club reunion.

 

Los Angeles during Terry's run had a three match angle with Terry and Chavo Guerrero Sr. In the blowoff, Chavo, normally a junior heavyweight, weighed in about five pounds above the heavyweight minimum. Chavo pinned Funk at around the 58-minute mark to apparently win the title, Funk demanded Chavo get on the scale...and Chavo lost so much weight during the match that he fell about three pounds below the heavyweight minimum. As a result, Funk kept the championship.

That's fantastic.
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As Kris says, Dusty was an "Inoki Guy" from 1979 on. Baba used him just one series: the 11/75 - 12/75 Open League series. He had worked series with IWE in 1971 and 1973 before that.

 

Dusty never worked a series with New Japan while being NWA Champ.

 

He worked with New Japan from 5/22-6/4 right before winning the title later in 1981. He worked next during the tag league that year in Nov-Dec. He didn't work for New Japan in 1986.

 

This is likely the thing that people are talking about: The NWA Title being booked into All Japan from 10/06/81 - 10/09/81. Flair always was going to beat Dusty, but it's possible that they shortened Dusty's "run" with the title a little bit because Dusty wouldn't/couldn't go into All Japan to defend the title.

 

John

Hmmmm. I could have sworn that I'd read, years ago, that the heat was due to the '86 title change. Thanks for the info though, John.

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One would have to take a look. Flair at the time was blowing off All Japan trips left and right. He *may* have blown one off in that period, though I'd have to check the WON and the schedules. Their big series climaxed 7/31/86 with Jumbo-Hansen for the AWA & Int'l Title, with Hansen winning the Int'l title. Also had Tenryu-Yatsu for the UN Title. Perhaps that was originally planned to have both the AWA and NWA Titles on the card. Hansen walked out on dropping the AWA Title because Baba already had those AWA defenses in that series booked. Maybe Flair had been promised as well.

 

It was clear a while out that JCP was going to be doing the Bash from July 1 to August 2. July 26, 1986 was going to be Flair-Rhodes headlining Greensboro, and of course Flair would need to headline August 2, 1986 in the stadium in Atlanta. Perhaps there was a plan for Flair to go to Japan between those shows for the July 31 card. Lose a day going... fly out on August 1, get the day back but losing it going across country to work on August 2. It does kind of fit in.

 

But having had the title since May 1984, it seemed kind of clear that Flair was ripe to drop it during the Bash. And Dusty was, sadly, the guy to do it given the chase going back to Starcade 1984 (and beyond). Crockett would have had to have shared it with Baba. Perhaps the original plan was August 2, and it got moved to Greensboro?

 

Well, pretty clear range of WON's to take a look at from roughly May to August 1986. But might also be worthwhile to check the entire year as I recall Flair blew off something like 3 out of 4 trips.

 

John

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