WCCW Parade of Champions 2

Date: 05/05/1985

Location: Dallas, TX at Texas Stadium

Announcer: Bill Mercer 

The Setup: 

Since PPVs are few and far between in a year like 1985, I’ll also be reviewing the AWA and WCCW’s big events.

After Kerry won the NWA title on the first Parade of Champions, Fritz was trying to sell the idea of Kevin Von Erich as the second VE to win the NWA title at the event. I don’t have all the matches, but almost everyone worked twice. What I do have has the Von Erichs in four of five matches. There were two rings, specifically to accommodate a twelve-man tag where the Freebirds and Von Erichs were on the same side. 

The Business

Prowrestlinghistory.com has the show drawing 26,153 fans for a $250,000 gate. That’s almost $530k in 2025 money, so they were still doing very good business at this point. 

Results/Ratings 

Johnny Mantell vs. Skip Young – TLD (time unknown, not shown)

Brian Adias & Scott Casey def. Kelly Kiniski & Nick Kiniski (time unknown, not shown)

Terry Gordy def. Kamala by DQ (time unknown, not shown)

Mike Von Erich def. Rip Oliver in 8:53 3/4*

Chris Adams & Gino Hernandez def. Scott Casey & The Great Kabuki in 8:19  (time unknown, not shown)

NWA American Tag Team Title Two-Ring No DQ Match in 8:35 – Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers def. Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey to win the vacant titles. 

Best 3 of 5 Falls 12-Man Two-Ring Match in 18:43 [3–2] – Kerry Von Erich, Kevin Von Erich, Mike Von Erich, Michael Hayes, Buddy Roberts & Terry Gordy def. Chris Adams, Gino Hernandez, Rip Oliver, Steve Williams, Kamala & One Man Gang *1/2

 Chris Adams pinned Buddy Roberts [0–1]

 Gino Hernandez pinned Michael Hayes [0–2]

 Kerry Von Erich pinned Rip Oliver [1–2]

 Buddy Roberts pinned Gino Hernandez [2–2]

 Kevin Von Erich pinned Steve Williams [3–2]

NWA World Heavyweight Title Match in 22:00 – Ric Flair (c) vs. Kevin Von Erich – Double Count Out ***3/4 

Hair vs. Hair Match in 8:15 – Kerry Von Erich def. One Man Gang (Gary Hart shaved) *1/2 

Snap Bumps:

-The main event had the elements of a much better match than what it was, but the stip of Fritz and Gary Hart being handcuffed to each other made zero sense. They both interfered freely, including at the finish when Fritz tripped Gang, so WTF was the point of the stip? 

-I always heard Gary Hart didn’t sell for wrestlers as a manager because he couldn’t physically bump anymore, but Fritz was firing on him while he was in the chair, and he looked as relaxed as he was taking in a double feature. I’m not sure what the reason was there. 

-Kerry did a great spot in the Gang match where he faked a bodyslam only to give Gang the claw. 

-They did a tremendous angle after the twelve-man. Kevin won a car by winning the decisive fall. After the match, the heels tried to destroy it, but the Von Erichs ran them off. Then, Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez came out and destroyed the car with a chain. Awesome stuff. 

-The Kevin/Flair match got noticeably clunky at the end (including Kevin looking like he allowed himself to be pinned while he was collecting himself to try a bridge, but these two beat the shit out of each other. The thunderous chops were one thing, but you could hear these guys giving each other shots to the body at points. 

-The Best 3 of 5 was fucking weird. It was hard to get lost in that match, as I’m not sure I can tell you much of anything the NWA champion, Ric Flair, did. The fans could keep track of things, as they did react to a couple of nearfalls, but overall, it was just sort of there. 

-Even a fun wrestler like Rip Oliver couldn’t carry Mike to anything remotely decent. They blew a hip toss spot right off the bat. 

-They did a deal similar to Gary Hart and Fritz with Jim Cornette and the giant Little John. The finish came when. John was distracted and missed Cornette’s interference with the racket. The match was a fun brawl, not the regular, straight wrestling matches expected from these two teams. 

The Verdict: Thumbs up

I sure wish we had that Dynamic Duo tag because Meltzer gave it four-plus stars, and Gordy vs. Kamala sounds like a fun match. However, this is still an entertaining, nearly two-hour show. We didn’t get Kerry winning the NWA title, but in less than two hours, we got a far better NWA title match and the babyfaces cutting the last of Gart Hart’s Homer Simpson hairdo. Drinks all around. WCCW was still good and still fun here.