1/4/86 TV Title Tournament

[starrcadefan]

I have always wondered about this...... In late 1985 when they were hyping the tournament to fill the vacant World TV Title Bill Apter did a few segemtns of his "Pro Wrestling Illustrated Scouting Reports" about it....He mwntione quite a few guys, many that were not JCP stars who were enetering the tournament......

By name he hyped up:
- Carlos Colon
- Harley Race
- Jerry Lawler
- Jim Duggan
- Dick Slater
- Barry Windham (who was in Florida at the time)
- Billy Jack Haynes
- Dusty Rhodes
- Wahoo McDaniel
- Jimmy Valiant

When it was actually held in Greensboro, it was all JCP guys in the tournament.....My question was did they really plan to have any of these non-regulars in the tournament or was that just hype to make it seem really important and make the JCP guys seem more important since they made the cut over some of those other guys....

I also have heard many times that Billy Jack Haynes was supposed to win the whole tournament but walked out on the company before it waw ever held.......Seemed to have a habit of doing that....Man what could have been with that guy......

[Baltimore Jack]

I've always wondered the same thing. They made a huge deal out of that tournament, but didn't follow through at all with the guys billed to be in it. I've never seen the local promos or newspaper ads for that show, so I don't know if the guys mentioned in that segment by Bill Apter on TBS were ever advertiased locally in Greensboro.

Continuing with your list, only four of the guys listed were actually Crockett regulars at that point, and the guy that won it (Arn Anderson) wasn't on your list (but I was thinking he was in the originaly package Apter reviewed.)

- Carlos Colon (WWC)
- Harley Race (Central States)
- Jerry Lawler (Memphis)
- Jim Duggan (Mid-South)
- Dick Slater (Mid-South)
- Barry Windham (who was in Florida at the time)

The Crockett guys listed were:
- Billy Jack Haynes (as mentioned above, left before the tournament)
- Dusty Rhodes (I don't think he was in it either, was he? Anyone have the brackets for this thing?)
- Wahoo McDaniel (made it to the finals against Arn)
- Jimmy Valiant

[bobbyryates]

tully beat ron bass
arn beat valiant
black bart and animal were eliminated by double DQ
wahoo beat the barbarian

arn beat ronnie garvin
wahoo beat tully

arn beat wahoo
----------
in my notes, i have no reason why garvin was in that second round so i have no idea. seems that with animal and bart out, arn would have advanced to the finals regardless.

[hmfiles]

bobbyryates said:

tully beat ron bass
arn beat valiant
black bart and animal were eliminated by double DQ
wahoo beat the barbarian

arn beat ronnie garvin
wahoo beat tully

arn beat wahoo
----------
in my notes, i have no reason why garvin was in that second round so i have no idea. seems that with animal and bart out, arn would have advanced to the finals regardless.

Are you sure about Arn vs Garvin? A few places (including prowrestlinghistory.com/ ) suggest that Arn had a bye into the finals, and that Garvin wasn't involved. I have no idea for sure, as I sure wasn't in attendance.

[bobbyryates]

i can't recall. and without that notation, i am at a loss. wait a minute...
i just looked in my photos from that night. i do have a photo (just one) of arn fighting ronnie garvin. i keep my photos in strcit chronological order. so, that match did happen that night before the finals match.

[sittingstill]

Bobby - you sure have seen some wrestling (back when it still existed)!!

[bobbyryates]

yep. been all over the southern east coast and went to japan.
i've always said i've wasted a lot of money on this stuff. (wasted is defined as from the non-fan's point of view)

[bluedevil71]

Bobby, seeing the good stuff was not money wasted. LOL

[ssteward]

I just can't understand the Animal-Bart DDQ. In Jan of 86, bart was basically teaming with Thunderfoot and not winning much. I guess they had to get them out of the tourney, but it had to make Animal look bad.

[bobbyryates]

i think so too.
a road warrior can't even beat black bart?? mr. no-push?? no disrespect intended, but he was never that much here on the food chain.

[starrcadefan]

I don't know...Black Bart had a pretty good run in JCP....He was pretty highly featured at Starrcade 85 in the match against Ron Bass and then shortly after the TV Title tournament he beat Sam Houston for the Mid Atlantic Title.... In late 1986 he was in World Class and was their champion and faced Kevin Von Erich at the Cotton Bowl.... A year later he was in the UWF and was feuding with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams for the UWF title...... I would say that he carved out a pretty good little niche for himself............

[RowdyRoddy]

Black Bart had good runs in WCCW and JCP in 1985 and 1986. He was wise to leave Crockett in 1986 and wrestle for Fritz in TX as they would start jobbing him to mid card talent by late 1986 had he stayed.

[ironanderson]

On my NWA Handheld footage these are the matches from the tourney:

NWA HOUSESHOWS 1986

TULLY BLANCHARD over RON BASS
ARN ANDERSON over JIMMY VALIANT
WAHOO MCDANIEL over BARBARIAN

ARN ANDERSON over RONNIE GARVIN
WAHOO MCDANIEL over TULLY BLANCHARD

ARN ANDERSON over WAHOO MCDANIEL

-Black Bart versus Road Warrior Animal which ended in a ddq isn't included in the footage.

Maybe due to Arn Anderson receiving a bye into Round 2 they announced Ronnie Garvin as his opponent as a surprise for the Greensboro crowd.

I'll pop in the dvd and see if an announcement is made prior to Arn's match. Unless it was made post Black Bart/Road Warrior Animal and was cut on the handheld.

[flairfan]

dont forget blackbarts run as natioal heavyweight champion and 1/2 of the midatlantic tag champions.