WCW Classics - 7/29/00 Page 2
We then get an impossible to follow video montage of Jimmy Valiant highlights. None of the clips are long enough to leave any impression, so that's all I have to say about that.
And just like that it's time for the feature match.
Charlie Brown (Jimmy wearing a mask) vs. Great Kabuki (with Gary Hart): Mid-Atlantic TV Title match from Starcade '83 (though we aren't told that)
I must repeat: Would it kill them to provide some background for these matches. Why was Valiant wearing a mask? The mask itself completely failed to hide the identity of it's wearer. It only covers half of Valiant's face, completely revealing his trademark oversized beard. This, as I said before, is the second match they have shown on this series from the "Granddaddy of Them All" Starcade '83. Gordon Solie does the announcing for both (I was a big fan of Solie's work in the '80's. My condolences to his family). Both matches can be ID'ed as being in the same ring as there is a very obvious blood stain on the mat (probably from Abdullah vs. Colon). Starcade '83 had three legendary matches (Flair-Race; Piper-Valentine; Steamboat & Youngblood-Briscos). Maybe someday we'll see one of these great Starcade matches.
I say that above because this match is, in scientific terms, a suckfest. The match is long enough to span across a commercial break, but the "action" mainly consists of Kabuki applying a claw hold. Valiant escapes the claw, and Kabuki re-applies it. This process seems to go on for several years, until Kabuki misses a kick in the corner, "Charlie Brown" hits an elbowdrop and gets the pin and the TV title. Oh wait, if "Charlie" had lost he would have had to unmask. Something else they might have told us during the intro.
And that does it for this edition of WCW Classics.