Legends of Wrestling Card Game - 1985 NWA - Ongoing thread

[Mickey Yarber]

I recently picked up a copy of the Legends of Wrestling card game from Filsinger games.  It's a card and dice table top game that has turned out to be pretty fun, and I thought I would use it to simulated some action from 1985 under the guise of the NWA.  To start with, I decided that after a controversial match between Flair and Dusty, the title was held up and a tournament ordered.  Sixteen of the top wrestlers were invited to participate in a two night tournament to crown a champion.  This is the first event in my NWA world.

I played out all of the matches, and the only thing I've embellished is motivations for the characters to create storylines.  Otherwise, everything is exactly as it played out.

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NWA World Heavyweight Title Tournament - Night 1

Friday February 26, 1985

Charlotte Coliseum

Charlotte NC



In the opening match of the tournament, #1 seed "Nature Boy" Ric Flair defeated #16 seed Florida Champion Barry Windham. The young Windham was game and put up a heckuva fight, but Flair had been working on Windham's knee, and when Windham came back into the ring after a battle on the floor, Flair clipped him from behind and scored the pinfall. Time of match was 16:30.



In the second match, #9 seed Giant Baba defeated #8 seed Mid-South Champion Ted DiBiase when DiBiase got counted out. The two had been fighting on the floor, and DiBiase had the advantage. The referee was almost to the end of his count when DiBiase rolled Baba back into the ring at 9. This left DiBiase on the floor when the referee counted 10. Time of match was 9:10.



#12 seed, Southern Champion Jerry "The King" Lawler pulled off an upset when he defeated #5 seed "Rowdy" Roddy Piper by Disqualification. Lawler had pulled a chain from his tights, but Piper took it away from him and blasted him with it in full view of the referee, drawing the DQ. "The King" advanced at 13:50.
 (In this world, Piper was undefeated in the WWF, and has just returned to the NWA.  He still uses his rulebreaker tactics, but isn't quite as hated here as he was in the WWF.)


In the fourth match, another big upset took place as #13 seed Pacific Northwest Champion Billy Jack Haynes knocked off #4 seed World Class Champion Kerry Von Erich. In one of the most exciting bouts of the night, the two fan favorites put on a full power display that ended when Haynes caught Von Erich in his patented Full Nelson. It was the third time in the match that Haynes had locked on the Full Nelson, and this time, Kerry passed out from the pain and the match was awarded to Haynes. Time of match was 15:44.



#3 seed AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkle was very aggressive as he defeated #14 seed UWA Champion Mil Mascaras. Mascaras dominated the match early on with his arsenal of high flying moves, but when Bockwinkle took the action to the floor, he took over. He ran Mascaras into the ring post before rolling him back into the ring and putting him away with a Sleeper hold at 10:26.



#6 seed and former champion, Harley Race defeated #11 seed Canadian Champion Dino Bravo with a piledriver in what was a really good back and forth contest. Time of match was 11:28.



#7 seed United States Champion Wahoo McDaniel defeated #10 seed National Champion Tully Blanchard by DQ when Tully hit Wahoo with a steel chair on the floor. The bad blood that has been boiling between these two finally came to the fore front in their first clash. Both men have been stressing that their respective title makes them a higher contender than the others, but tonight was the first match between the two. You could tell from watching this one that it is far from over. Time of match was 7:10.



In the final match of the first round, #2 seed Dusty Rhodes defeated #15 seed Terry Funk in a match that was a total brawl that resulted in both men bleeding before it was over. It had become known before the tournament that Terry Funk was basically a hired gun of Ric Flair to make sure Dusty Rhodes didn't make it out of the first round, but that plan didn't pan out. Time of match was 14:14.



Along with the tournament matches, a tag team feature bout was part of the card and closed out the show. United States Tag Team Champions, Ole & Arn Anderson, The Minnesota Wrecking Crew retained their titles over Thunderbolt Patterson and Dick Slater. Arn and Ole caught TBolt with a double clothesline and Ole followed that with a diving knee from the top for the winning pinfall at 13:02.



The final rounds of the tournament take place tomorrow night at The Omni in Atlanta GA, with a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion being crowned at the end of the night. Also part of the card, the most exciting tag team in all of professional wrestling, The Road Warriors, will be in action as they take on the challenge of the masked duo of Thunderfoot and Golden Terror.



NWA World Title Tournament Quarterfinal match-ups:



#01 Ric Flair

vs

#09 Giant Baba





#12 Jerry Lawler

vs

#13 Billy Jack Haynes





#03 Nick Bockwinkle

vs

#06 Harley Race





#07 Wahoo McDaniel

vs

#02 Dusty Rhodes


If you want to continue following along with all the action, I've set up a blog where I'm chronicling everything that goes down.
wrestlinginhistory.blogspot.com/

[Mickey Yarber]

Flair Defeats Race in Finals of Tournament to Regain NWA Crown


Just a few minutes ago, Ric Flair made Harley Race submit to the figure four leg lock to win the final match of the NWA World Title Tournament and regain the heavyweight crown at The Omni in Atlanta GA.



The championship had been held up after a controversial match between Flair and Dusty Rhodes on New Year's day. The two night tournament was ordered by the NWA Board of Directors, and Ric Flair defeated Barry Windham, Giant Baba, and Jerry Lawler to reach the final round where he defeated long time rival Race.



There is no immediate news on when Flair's first defense will take place, but to avoid being stripped of the championship, he will have to defend it by March 28, which would mark 30 days from winning the title. The rules of the NWA state that the champion must defend the belt at least once every thirty days. One thing is certain though, and that is there is no shortage of challengers awaiting their opportunity to compete for the title.



We will have full results from Night 2 of the tournament tomorrow.

[jeepguy]

Not to take away from your tournament write-up, what you think of the game in terms of mechanics, cost, etc.?

I had tried the computer version and was kind of turned off by it, especially the cost to get the people I wanted. Wasn't too impressed with the mechanics of the game either which was a shame because I was really hoping to like it.

[Mickey Yarber]

I really like the game, and don't find it cost prohibitive either. But of course, I'm a cheapskate. More on that in a bit....

I tried the online game as well, and didn't really understand it. But since I'm currently working on designing a wrestling role playing game, I wanted to check it out and see how the game worked. I spent the $18.00 and ordered the starter set of cards, game book, charts, and everything else in the pack. After about a half hour of messing with it, everything clicked and I understood how it works. I played several games that evening and really enjoyed it. But I had the same feelings you did when it came to the cost of getting the wrestlers I would actually want to use.

Then I started snooping around online and found out about the bootlegs. Wrestlers and cards created by players of the game. I found a complete 1985 Crockett Promotions roster PDF file...including jobbers like Golden Terror and Rocky King, already designed to look like the other cards. I got some white card stock paper, printed the set onto it, and cut them accordingly...and viola! I increased my set of 24 cards to a set of 80+....featuring wrestlers I like! Also in that PDF set, were some blank cards...as in it was formatted properly, but didn't have any specific wrestler info filled in. I made about 30 copies of those, and found bootleg info for other wrestlers I wanted and just wrote them in myself. I'm not to make a big deal out of using hand made cards. They are the same size and card stock as what I bought. I just like having the info and being able to play with the ones I want.

In addition to the '85 Crockett set, there are classic Memphis sets, '85 WWF, '86 WWF, Portland stars sets....too many to list. So in that regard, I spent $18.00 for all the stuff I need to play the game and learn how to play it, and I'm just bootlegging the actual playing cards.

I just filled out the cards for Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid, and will be bringing them into the NWA 1985. I look forward to the eventual showdowns with the Midnight Express!

In my opinion, it's a really fun game, and highly worth the $18.00 I spent. I'll continue to use bootlegs instead of making further purchases though because I've found bootlegs for most everyone I'd want to use.

If you decide to get into it, let me know, and I'll point you in the direction of some good bootlegs.

[jeepguy]

Long ago, I used to play Superstar Pro Wrestling, also a dice and card wrestling game. Used to have a blast playing that with my friends who also added a roleplaying element to it with everyone doing interviews.

[Mickey Yarber]

NWA World Title Tournament Night 2 - Final Rounds:

- Ric Flair defeated Giant Baba in what was a shorter match than I think most people were expecting. Flair went right to work on the knee and finished off the giant from Japan with his patented Figure Four leg lock for the submission victory at 10:03.

- Jerry "The King" Lawler defeated Billy Jack Haynes when he wrapped a chain around his fist and launched from the middle rope with a fist drop right to the head of the strong man from Oregon to gain the pinfall at 12:03.

- Harley Race pinned Nick Bockwinkle after a fast paced match that saw the two veterans go back and forth. Bockwinkle climbed to the top and launched with a cross body block, but Race was able to roll through it with the momentum and end up on top of Bockwinkle to get the pinfall at 14:00.

- Dusty Rhodes advanced over Wahoo McDaniel, after interference from Tully Blanchard caused McDaniel to fall from the top rope, leading to Rhodes finishing him off with a Bionic Elbow drop at 9:45.

The original Nature Boy, Buddy Rogers, was in attendance and was being interviewed at ringside by Bob Caudle when he was interrupted by the newest "Nature Boy" on the scene, Buddy Landel. Landel wanted to take over the interview time, saying that Roger's is a has been, and he is now the talk of the wrestling world. Rogers said that Landel doesn't have the resume to make claims like that and politely asked Landel to leave. Landel said that if Rogers still had anything left in the tank, he would make him leave, but he doesn't. Rogers just smiled, and thanked Caudle for the interview time, and thanked all the fans. He then waved and left. Landel just smiled and shook his head and walked off as well.

- Ric Flair defeated Jerry Lawler in a battle that saw both men do a fair share of cheating. In the end though, Flair made Lawler submit to the figure four leg lock. It was the third time Flair had used the move in the match. Time of match was 13:30.

- Harley Race pinned Dusty Rhodes in 15:29 to advance to the finals. Rhodes was in control of the action when Terry Funk came to the ring and tripped an on fire Rhodes as he bounced into the ropes. When he was tripped, Dusty stumbled right into the waiting arms of Race who put Rhodes down with a piledriver for the pinfall.

- In a special Tag Team attraction, The Road Warriors easily defeated Thunderfoot 1 & 2 with their awesome Doomsday Device finisher at 7:04.

- In the finals, Ric Flair made Harley Race submit to the figure four leg lock at 17:22 to win the match, the tournament, and once again, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

[Mickey Yarber]

Fan Favorites Rout Rule Breakers in Roanoke

Sunday Feb. 28, 1985

Earlier this afternoon, the fans at the Roanoke Civic Center in Roanoke VA were treated to some great wrestling action from the NWA, and the fans surely went home happy as all of their favorite wrestlers were victorious.



In the opening bout of the afternoon, Mike Rotunda fought off the solid challenge of young Soldat Ustinov. Ustinov punished Rotunda with a bevy of power moves and some questionable tactics, but the more experienced Rotunda stayed in the game with cunning and speed. Rotunda picked up the victory after battling with Ustinov on the floor, and being able to get back into the ring in time to beat the referee's count. Ustinov wasn't so lucky, and lost the bout by count out at 16:10.



The young Great American Star Ship team of Eagle and Coyote picked up a huge win when they out lasted manager Paul Jones' duo of Abdullah the Butcher and The Barbarian. Eagle and Coyote may be young, but they are big and powerful, and took the fight to their sadistic foes today. They appeared to be in trouble early as Abdullah and Barbarian worked well together as a team, but the younger stars held their own. Eagle caught The Barbarian with a power slam and covered him for the pin fall while his partner Coyote came in to stop Abdullah from making the save, preserving the win for his team. Time of match was 14:46.



In the main event, super popular Magnum T.A. downed Black Bart with his patented Belly to Belly Suplex at 20:03. Black Bart gave T.A. a heck of a time with his rule breaking tactics and high impact offense, but "The Boss" countered it all with his own high impact moves. The action spilled to the floor several times as Bart looked to that area for an advantage, but Magnum countered him at every turn. Black Bart was trying for a move from the top rope when Magnum caught him and slammed him to the mat from the top rope, and that led to the Belly to Belly Suplex to end the match.