The
Art of the
The
cruel crucifixion
of Dusty Rhodes!
By
late 1987, J.J. Dillon, Tully Blanchard and their teammates decided
that Dusty Rhodes had become too unpredictable and too dangerous
for their best interests. Something had to be done about it, with
an all-important cage match and Starrcade (the first pay-per-view
wrestling event) coming up later in the year.
Dusty
Rhodes, who fancied himself an urban cowboy at the time, was on
his way to a meeting at Crockett Productions, never knowing that
he was walking into a Texas-style ambush. The whole thing was captured
on videotape by the perpetrators, who were riding secretly in the
car behind Dusty.
Dillon
wanted Dusty out of the way for the Starrcade event broadcast live
from Greensboro, North Carolina. Tully was already hobbling around
on crutches because of Dusty's brutality, he didn't want a live
audience to see what he wanted done in revenge.
In
the rough footage, we see bloodied
Dusty hog-tied to the side of a pickup truck
and left for dead in the blistering southern sun.
It's
a good thing assault charges weren't filed, there wouldn't be much
of a trial with the victim found prostrate in the Crockett parking
lot and a video tape of the whole seedy affair sitting on his desk.
Their
plan failed - Dusty made it to Starrcade with a cast on his arm,
which he used to crack open James J. Dillon's face. As a result,
Dillon will
live with those scars for
the rest of his life.
Today,
Tully Blanchard is a man of the cloth - let he who is without sin,
indeed!
"THE
GODS ARE JUST,
AND OF OUR PLEASANT
VICES MAKE INSTRUMENTS
TO PLAGUE US."
The
Charlotte Coliseum was sold out and the audience was rocking the floorboards
for the start of the World Championship
match in 1986 between Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair. Way down south
in the land of vengeance, Nature Boy was on his home turf, but he would
need every advantage against this bull of the woods (if you will).
Dusty
was still highly irritated over the craven attacks inflicted upon himself
and his beloved Baby Doll and couldn't wait to get his hands on Ric Flair
again.
He
entered the ring proudly that night in Carolina, with his loyal lady by
his side, as she had been through dozens of matches. After all, behind
every man . . . Flair was in peak form, but Dusty was a force of nature
that night, the match was his to win from the beginning. Within moments
of the bell, Flair was reeling, nearly passed out from the blows.
As
Dusty went to make an easy pin (and pick up that championship belt he
paid a hellish price for), unexpectedly - seemingly out of nowhere - Baby
Doll sneaked along the side of the ring, grabbed Ric Flair's limp
foot and placed it on the ropes.
As
the rules require, the ref stopped the pin count and Dusty recoiled in
confusion. "What had just happened?," he seemed to say. He knew he had
Flair pinned!
The
audience couldn't believe their eyes as shock and anger pierced the arena.
Momentary confusion gave Nature Boy the advantage he needed, knocking
the injured legs out from under his opponent, causing Dusty to crumble
to the mat.
Even
Ric Flair looked confused in the ring, he was obviously as surprised as
anyone at what had happened. How could Baby Doll snatch sure victory from
her own man's grasp?
With
Dusty flailing on the canvas, Flair applied the dreaded Figure Four leg
lock, necessity's sharp pinch! Dusty, his fragile leg causing him excruciating
pain, was breaking away from Flair's hold when Baby Doll once again gave
Flair the leverage he needed to move Dusty back into a position of pain.
Once
free, Dusty's fury became uncontrollable as he took out his aggressions
on Flair, who couldn't take the savage beating and went down, cowering
in a corner.
In the confusion, referee Tommy Young was violently bounced from the ring
and knocked unconscious as Dusty roared into Flair with wild abandon.
With
the World Champion lying in certain defeat, Baby doll knew that
there could be no turning back. The belle from Hell grabbed a metal folding
chair, brought it into the ring and began swinging it wildly at Dusty.
The
Charlotte harlot missed her target, but Dusty grabbed the chair and used
it on Ric Flair - until Referee Young regained consciousness and called
a halt to the fiasco.
"Diamonds are forever - and so is Baby Doll," Flair boasted to announcer
Bob Caudle afterward. "It's now the Four Horsemen and one mare!"
(by Steve Byrd)
Before
Ted Turner bought Jim Crockett's Charlotte company out in the late '80s
and turned it into WCW, it was the dominant territorial promotion in the
NWA. Crockett's syndicated program was called Worldwide Wrestling, which
is now known as WCW Worldwide. Oh, the NWA is still around, and it still
has territorial franchise promotions. Details and history are at www.nwa-wrestling.com
Baby
Doll was played by a lady whose name, I believe, was Nickla Roberts. She
was, in my opinion, a pioneer female manager. [I prefer not to use the
term "valet"] I forgot who Baby Doll was managing, but I do remember another
female named Precious [David Crockett called her "the
bodacious Precious"] who was in the corner of Jim
Garvin.
Two
signature Crockett supercards, Great American Bash and Starrcade, have
gone on to become staples in WCW's pay-per-view lineup. Interestingly,
WWF [Northeast US, early 1960s], WCW [Carolinas & Atlanta area, late 1980s]
and ECW [Philadelphia area, mid 1990s] all had their roots as regional
territories in the NWA, but ended up choosing to strike out on their own.
World Championship
Wrestling was a Saturday night offering on TBS even before Turner bought
Jim Crockett Promotions and renamed it WCW. From 1977-85, it aired on
TBS, packaged by Georgia Championship Wrestling and hosted by Gordon Solie,
who also did a similar show in the Tampa Bay area and has been described
as "Wrestling's most celebrated commentator."
When
GCW closed shop in '85, the WWF bought time on TBS for the WCW show, then
pulled them off within weeks, when TBS talked Jim Crockett into packaging
WCW.
Tony Schiavone
and David Crockett were the original hosts, while Bob Caudle stayed with
the syndicated Worldwide Wrestling.