Classic Review: WCCW Thanksgiving Star Wars 1983

Back on the trail with the Classic Reviews! Got seven more to come before November is out! And we’re switching off the early Survivor Series path to go all the way back to 1983 in World Class Championship Wrestling.

WCCW Thanksgiving Star Wars
November 24, 1983
Reunion Arena - Dallas, TX

• This didn’t air live and it wasn’t released as a single VHS or anything, this is pieced together from various TV, but it’s as complete as you can get.

• We lead off with Marc Lowrance introducing Ralph Pulley to sing the national anthem. Pulley was a referee and announcer and had a nice singing voice. Ralph died in early 1992 at just 36 years of age, and was close with Percy Pringle, aka Paul Bearer, who was actually one of the pallbearers at Ralph’s funeral.

• Bill Mercer with some hype for one thing we’ll see: “The debut — that fantastic Von Erich family, Von Erich number five in the world of professional wrestling, Mike Von Erich. The youngest of the present group. Of course there’s Fritz, and then there was Kevin, and then David, and then Kerry, and now Mike Von Erich.”

Johnny Mantel, Mike Reed & Jose Lothario vs Boris Zurkov, Black Gordman & Tonga John

Tonga John is a young Barbarian, all of 25 years old in this one.¹ He has a nice smile even though he’s a heel because of being foreign. Zurkov — before it was changed to “Zhukov” once he went to Southeastern just after this — is also young, a couple months shy of his own 24th birthday, bald but post-Private Jim Nelson days, hasn’t dyed his facial hair yet.

“Six big ones, tough ones, rampaging!” Bill tells me. Mercer’s one of my all-time favorite commentators. Had the ability to work effectively solo, which is not easy.

Tonga John is barefoot and has some nice aqua blue trunks, he starts with Mantel.² Mercer notes that Gordman³ and Lothario are real rivals while Mantel out-wrestles Tonga John early before tagging Reed⁴ and his lovely, soft, medium-long hair, a borderline mullet but a bit long on the top and back to truly qualify in my view.

Bill Mercer: “This Tonga John is not a tall man, but he is so thick, he is just huge; rather like a redwood tree, not particularly tall in this case, but just tremendous girth and sinew and muscle.”

We went from this to Michael Cole’s fake snickering and “WHAT THE HELLERYA DOING?!” McMahon-o-Vision took so much from us.