Thursday, July 30, 2009

Random GAB Clip Fri...Er...Thursday!



Greetings Facebusterers:

With time and mandatory work productivity constraints threatening to interrupt my waxing nostalgic on all things Great American Bash tomorrow, I thought it prudent to properly conclude this year's tribute to summertime during the height of Jim Crockett Promotions with a special Thursday late afternoon posting spotlighting the humiliation of Ric Flair during the latter part of the 1987 Great American Bash tour, culminating in his losing of the NWA World Heavyweight Title to Ron Garvin that September.

Flair spent the weeks leading up to the '87 Bash distracted by and infatuated with Jimmy Garvin's valet/wife Precious. Flair went so far as to purchase Precious an expensive mink coat (as opposed to one he culled from a rack of slightly burned garments at the Charlotte area Goodwill). To the surprise of no one, Jimmy Garvin did not take kindly to this gesture in particular, let alone Flair's increasingly raunchy verbal advances on his lady. Hence, a match was signed for the Great American Bash card in Greensboro between the two. Steel cage. No disqualification. If Flair loses, the title goes buh-bye. But if Garvin loses, Flair gets a hot date with Precious likely culminating with a ride on Space Mountain *wink, wink; nudge, nudge*.

Flair was able to retain his title at the Greensboro Bash and earned his date. However, instead of Precious showing up to Flair's suite at the Ramada Renaissance, unbeknownst to Flair at the time due to some particularly romantic mood lighting, brother Ron Garvin walked in to the hotel room dressed in drag and proceeded to knock out the champ with the ol' hands of stone.

Flair, embarrassed and irate, went out for revenge, going so far as to interfere in Garvin's matches. Hence, the clip above, while taped a week or so after the conclusion of the '87 tour, is the nonetheless illustrative of the degradation Flair would suffer during much of the Summer of 1987 at the hands of Garvin. We start off with The Garvin Brothers challenging Jim Cornette's Midnight Express for the US Tag Titles on NWA Pro Wrestling (after the introductory remarks by David Crockett and Tony Schiovane, the latter of which is sporting a miserable attempt at Magnum T.A.'s trademark robust schlong cut). We end up with Flair and Garvin brawling in the ring, Garvin rolling up the champ and exposing Naitch's ghostly white buttcheeks to the rubes in the crowd, and perplexingly picking up the fall on a guy who wasn't even entered into the match.

This officially concludes Arabian Facebuster's Random Great American Bash clip July. Until next year's five part expose on Jimmy Valiant laying motionless on the canvas, covered in his own blood and the sweat of Paul Jones' Army members Shaska Whatley and Teijo Khan...

1 comment:

The Rev. von Fury said...

...And what a Summer it was! Thanks Malibu for firing up the old way-back machine and transporting us back to a simpler time where guys like Garvin could get away with wrasslin' in their red BVD's and walk away with world championships around their pudgy waists...