Dusty Rhodes & Nikita promo after Magnum TA accident

[TheBoomer418]

Dusty promos were so real u can feel them. No One Cut Real promos that real and came from his heart than the Amercian Dream. His promos what working people can relate too. Dusty Eat and Breathe the Wrestling bussiness. God Bless the Dream

[TheForgottenFlesh]

I wish they would do this more often. It's terrible that in 2011 the audience still jeers anyone that isn't American. More storylines in wrestling should be used as learning and teaching tools rather than mere entertainment.

[pacmanfever100]

The best face turn ever.

[mrbluto3]

Magnum TA and David Von Erich were the two young stars that would have led wrestling into the future.

[Erionnacirema]

It was a terrific accident that ended Magnum's career in The Sport. Many fans were in tears. He had so much Promise and Ability. He would have given Flair more than enough competition for YEARS.

And as "Glosnos" was where U.S. / U.S.S.R. relationships were at this time, it such a good move on the Promoters part putting these 2 great athletes together to battle the "Evil Within" NWA (The 4 Horsemen).

NWA had a WINNER.

[Erionnacirema]

This was, to me, one of the greatest MOVES of Crockett Promotions & The NWA. It was so SHOCKING at first to realize they had put Dusty & Nikita together as The Super Powers.

But I had really liked Nikita from the beginning, he was such an AWESOME athlete, that uncle Ivan brought in to the NWA.

The Super Powers were a good opponent for The 4 Horsemen who were at this time in The NWA, OUT of Control.

[MagicKirin]

@Erionnacirema

You are correct they were great at coming up with the unexpected. This , the Barry Windham turn, the Baby Doll turns

[leonardweirich]

Dusty and Nikita made a pretty good team as well.

[popcur]

Agreed. Magnum TA was an upcoming superstar. He could have been like sort of the Hulk Hogan of the NWA. When he made surprise appearances, you could hear the ladies screaming.

[JAB5625]

:49: Dusty is apparently not a member of the democrat party. Lord Zero and the current crop of democrats despise those freedoms...:)

[LPrice359]

"and we talked for OWAHS...and we met and we talked for more OWAHS"...God I miss Dusty in his prime. One of the most bullshit endings to a World title match was the ref checking Dust for bleeding...lol.

[BigOrangeTitan]

You bettah listen up Daddeh, cuz big Dust is speakin' some truth to ya.

[atworkstation]

This led to Nikita Koloff's face turn.

[Crookmeisteren]

haha that accent is comical, its on a serious matter and then when it cuts to nikkita it turns into a comedy bit

[mighty690am]

this was about the time Ivan Koloff was on his way out? Then Krusher? He Best known as REPO Man? LOL! I was california WWF area.... I loved GCW on TBS.

[JuliusC1973]

@mighty690am I don't think so. Barry Darsow was far better known as Demolition Smash of Demolition than he was as The Repo Man, Blacktop Bully or Mr. Hole In One.

[rshadio]

the whitest black man ive ever seen....

[JonathanVonErich]

Magnum was great....His injury was one of the reason why Crockett Promotion went out of business because everybody loved Magnum and he would have been an awesome World Champion....Sad story...

[heavymetalsoldier]

Nikita actually learned Russian to make the gimmick look real. Thats commitment

[JAY28273]

if nakita had slipped outta voice it would have been a serious fuckup....he kept the voice together

[kirksvillemale]

the muther fucker wasnt russian, just had too much crack

[JuliusC1973]

@kirksvillemale Ivan Koloff, Nikolai Volkov nor were most of the guys who played Russians in Professional Wrestling were actually Russian. At least Vladimir Kozlov is Ukranian.

[FireitupBedford]

@JuliusC1973 Ivan isn't a Russian. Saw him last year in walmart and he doesn't sound nowhere near how he did on TV...

[TheLizardKing1967]

@FireitupBedford Magaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Dogghouse531]

@FireitupBedford neither is Nikita lol

[FireitupBedford]

@Dogghouse531 That's true but he was a hellva actor...

[psu68born]

THis was not so much about wrestling as it is about there two guys who nearly lost there friend who thankfully did not pass in that accident

[xhemexx]

@psu68born Amen!!

[SteamboatFan1]

Enjoyed the promo Dusty and Nikita made. Dusty was sincere in his words and so was Nikita.

[Airsoftcleaner]

Well they did it Before Mr. Reagan and Mr. Gobachev

[crassyfrake]

at least nikita attempted to talk in an accent.....krusher krushchev sounded like repo man....lol

[crush1man]

not many ppl would know this, but Magnum was next in line for the NWA world title until he had his accident

[whitewitchoz]

Nikita was already getting a lot of fan mail as a heel.

[bleedforme1981]

Whether or not TA Had Mic skills,(I thought he was ok) he was insanely over with the fans. We loved him! If he hadnt been the next "Hogan" or "Flair", He in my humble opinion would have been as popular as Sting was in the 90s. He probably would have been with Sting,DDP,Benoit,Luger,Flair,M­ongo,and later Goldberg as one of the "Team WcW power players" Like the Anti-Hogan. He was a "stone cold" precursor. Good guy with a badass edge. He would have been huge in the late 80s through the 2000s.

[wessydde]

he is the fat mans ric flair! Whooo ...nice speech, he could be the president of cool

[DonPhilip84]

wow dusty looks damn cool here.

[okrabay]

It would have been better for wrestling had Nikita stayed heel and attacked Dusty. He had a cold hearted persona and he would he been totally over.

He lost his killer instinct when he went face and his career faded away soon after that.

[MrBiscuit77]

His wife had cancer and passed. He then walked away.........

[steburton]

Woulda been funny if Nakita accidently used his legit voice...

[bladestormviking]

happened once on a promo around the big sting/nikita run in the early 90's. just too bad Nikita was one of many victims of "the cowboy"'s business strategy. i hate to say it but bill watts buried so many guys cuz he didn't want to change. Vladimir Koslov is a cheap update of the russian nightmare

[Tonyillicit]

i will neva forget when this happened. I agree with miggy 25. I was shocked that many people quickly jumped on Nikita as a face. But you gotta think...ALOT of people had mad respect for that Russian Cickle!

[speedbuggy]

Sickle

[jlcochran]

Hard to believe he was only 27 when it happened. That's like a basically being a rookie in the wrestling business.

IMO, if TA stayed around, the NWA would still be in business right now and not sold to Turner and eventually McMahon.

[stansimms72]

yes, called him maggot ta. this was told to me from a very reliable source about three years ago. that reliable source was nikita koloff himself. i always thought he was saying "magga ta" but, i was wrong.

[stansimms72]

i remember seeing the footage of nikita turning face on mid altlantic wrestling the saturday after it took place. all my friends, myself included, actually thought nikita was trying to sneak up on dusty and attack him before dusty entered the ring. remember this like yesterday. smart move on dusty's part. shame "maggot" t.a. had his wreck. he would have been nwa world champion a month later at starrcade 87 had he not had the wreck.

[stansimms72]

actually, it would have been starrcade 86, not 87. my apologies.

[miggy25]

I was always so amazed at how Nikita went from being so DESPISED by fans to being so LOVED by the fans after Magnum's accident...the respect that he and everyone had for Magnum was immense....and I too think Magnum should be in the Hall

[wize1ne]

It's funny how Dusty always refers to himself in the third person...haha

[Maestrohbill]

It was 'Mugga TA' to Nikita.

[Greg4fun]

i remember the Nikita face turn here

[MRDXKLIQ101]

STILL SAY TA NEED TO BE IN THE HALL

[jordantmagnificent]

sucked when magnum ta retired so early he was destined to be world champ

[Dre7Guevara]

I guarantee Magnum would've had us fans saying "Hulk who?" & this is coming from a Hulkamaniac

[jman4212]

I agree...It also makes me wonder how Magnum's "super push" would have effected the outcome of Ric Flairs career...lotsa' "what ifs"...

[speedbuggy]

I have read that had Magnum not been in that accident that he WOULD HAVE become world heavyweight champion. Mostly because Terry Allen's good friend, Virgil Runnels AKA Dusty Rhodes, was the booker back then.

[cbaldwinjr]

Na'ah...that's really disrespectful for how influential Hulk Hogan was. Magnum would've been Sting in the late 80s to Hulk Hogan...not as popular, but the biggest fish in a smaller pond

[Dre7Guevara]

with WAAAAAAY better wrestling skills, then again, I can't say that because Hogan wrestled a totally different style in Japan than he did in the states.

[TheJohnnyCotts]

@jordantmagnificent That car accident broke Magnum's neck and nearly killed him. His right arm is almost completely useless. Magnum had aspirations of returning to the ring, but his body never fully recovered from the accident. He and his father started a construction company that builds cell phone towers, so Magnum made out very well financially in the end.

But if it hadn't been for that, Magnum definitely would have been champ and Crockett may have contended better against Vince.

[vjr97]

totaly shocking turn for its time.a russian being cheered?!?!!?!this is before glasnow or what ever the fuck they call it.they could have gone w/ a nikita/ivan caused the accident angle.nikita turning into a face: brilliant

[JIMMYLINE]

believe it or not--this kind of was playing on the end of the "cold war," when the Soviet Union broke up. At the time, the Berlin Wall was being torn down. So, all of a sudden, the "russians" in wrestling started turning babyface. Not ALL of them--but when Nikitia did, it was a big deal. And, it but a lot of "butts in seats" in the arenas too. It was a brilliant "angle/political move" for wrestling. From here, Nikita would take on Ric Flair and pack houses out all over the south.

[AxlCobainVedder]

Actually it was in 1986, 3 years before the Berlin Wall came down. So it was even more of a big deal then a simple reflection of world events.

[Maestrohbill]

This had NOTHING to do with that. 1986 was the year of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor fire that demonstrated Gorbachev was still committed to deceiving Europe. This turn took place in October 1986; Reagan didn't even make his 'tear down this wall' speech until 1987.

[gamesmaker]

here are my three best on the mic ric flair dusty rhodes jake roberts

[JManDoubleZero]

Dusty should have been a preacher!

[excelsior34]

Yeah I have been waiting for face turn to be posted for awhile, but no one seems to have it.

[garethac81]

The 3 greatest wrestlers on the mic (in no particular order): Jake Roberts, The Rock, Dusty Rhodes.

[yardape99]

Ric Flair, Roddy Piper and Steve Austin.

[garethac81]

The 3 you mentioned all had good mic skills, but I wouldn't put them in the same league as Roberts, Rock and Rhodes. Flair and Piper often tried too hard on the mic, shouting too much and sometimes losing the coherence of their speech. Austin was like Hogan - always clear, always intense, but relied mostly on catchphrases. Roberts, Rock and Rhodes could all improvise great lines, and it takes a special talent for promos to do that.

[MarTay555]

@garethac81 Austin relied on catchphrases?..lol the hell he did, flair and the rock relied on catchphrases..I honestly cant see where Austin used catchphrases out the ying yang like the other 2 i mentioned..U just made me question the average wrestling fans intelligence..ugh.

[dua72]

1.Ric Falir 2.Dusty Rhodes 3.The Rock 4.Rowdy Rodddy Piper 5.Blackjack Mulligan 6.Superstar Billy Graham 7.Macho Man Randy Savage 8.Hulk Hogan 9.Tully Blanchard 10.Ernie Ladd The greatest wrestlers on the mic of all time

[amaysnj]

Stone Cold is in the top 5. The Rock is #1.

[wvoutlaw2002]

IIRC, this was from the Sunday show, "Best of World Championship Wrestling".

[vjr97]

this was a very very surprising turn.a russian"good guy"?!?!??!?!well booked

[NWAfan]

Bottomline Magnum was just not very good on the mic.

[bennybagofdonuts]

Nikita Koloff was a scary looking guy.

[vulrare]

damn....would have loved to see Magnum hit it big in the NWA/WCW or the WWE (you know eventually Vince would have tried to steal him from Jim Crockett).....too bad he never got to be world's champion......Could have been bigger than Flair

[Beef266]

I don't know that he would have been bigger than Flair, but Magnum was on his way to being one of the biggest stars in wrestling.

[NWAfan]

Magnum was not a superstar like Flair or Dusty. Thats why he started as a face because he could not interview. Plus he only wrestled guys who could carry him like Tully or Flair.

[Corndog0202]

Magnum definitely was being groomed to be the biggest face in the NWA, bigger than Flair? Maybe not but it would have been a big draw as World title feud, in 1985 Magnum was the most popular wrestler in the US only second to Hulk Hogan in one of Hogan's biggest years right off his first WWF title win

[scoonman]

Nikita sure has a good russian inflection in his voice for someone born and bred in Minnesota lol.

[nwopat]

does anyone have the match where dusty is wrestling ole & jj dillon in a cage ?? nikita follows him to the ring, teasing a jump, and then he joins dusty in kickin the hell out of them. this was right after magnum ta's accident. i think it was a highlight on a weekend show, maybe not the entire match. it would be greatly appreciated.

[viking407rob]

I was 10 when Magnum had his accident. It was a shame. I have always heard that Magnum was about to be pushed to the point of being NWA's franchise star. It would've been great to see him winning the World title the next year, instead of Ron Garvin.

[jerichofanforlife]

I was 19 and in the army when magnum had his car accident, I used to watch nwa wrestling saturday nights from 8 to 11.Wrestling was great then. Whoever said vince mcmahon and his circus is ruining wrestling couldnt have beem more right. I believe magnum t a was going to be the next franchise of wrestling. Magnum t a was on vengeance the wwe pay per view and they had him stand up and take a bow, that was cool.

[misterwookas]

This was back when wrestling was wrestling. None of that pay per view mess you see today. It was all on TBS or your local stations. I remember this like it was yesterday. Brings tears to your eyes.

[Mp25DIII]

I also have to BEG anyone who has the match where Nikita & Dusty face the Andersons and J.J. Dillon. It was supposed to be Dusty and Magnum and when Nikita comes out as Dusty's partner, the crowd FREAKS. It is one of the all-time greatest eruptions from a wrestling crowd EVER, and the YouTube crowd needs to see it!!!!!!!!!!

[hawkeyemd38]

Nikita Koloff is certainly a great guy.

[MCHammerMD]

Does Dusty's speech remind anyone else of Rocky's post Ivan Drago oration (although Dusty's claim that Nikita Kolov is the greatest Russian athlete in the world is a direct slap in the face to The Siberian Express)? I really think Dusty should have considered a career as elder statesmen, maybe moved into a position as UN Ambassador. He's like Ben Franklin with aviators. What's not to love?

[UltMitSinner78]

I felt Magnum TA was goign to be the Sting of NWA/WCW. He would have been their franchise player. Magnum TA had tons of charisma.

[miggy25]

I'll never forget Magnum's accident...I was only 5 or 6 when it happened, but Magnum was one of my favorite wrestlers ever...I was heartbroken that Magnum's career ended so prematurely...I hated Nikita, but the way he handled Magnum's accident really led to me having a new respect for him

[hawkeyemd38]

I was about 22 years old when Magnum had his car accident, but I developed a deep respect for Nikita over the way he handled the news of Magnum T.A.'s car accident.

[hawkeyemd38]

Dusty was truly sincere about what he said and so was Nikita.

[McRat1968]

You're right about their horrific attempted accents. LOL.

PS: also Nikolai Volkoff from the WWF/WWE of 20-ish years ago had a terrible voice and accent when he did his rendition of the Soviet national anthem. I'm Russian and I wanted to strangle him for his singing. LOL. It would the same as some idiot from American Idol doing the Star Spangled Banner.

[studentbodyrecords]

I remember hearing that Nikita's name was actually Scott Simpson and yes, that he's from Minnesota.

[joeymcnew]

Nikita wasn't really a Russian! He was originally from the US in MN.

[micahmack76]

Has a Russian EVER talked like that. But yes MEMORIESSS!

[Dildgaf]

Man, that brought ack some serious memories. I was i 9th grade when this happened. I remember Magnum T.A.'s car wreck on 10/14/86. I also remember watching Starrcade 86' at a buddy's house on satellite. 11/27/86. That was when wrestling was great. NWA,WWF,UWF, AWA,& WCCW was available in Texas.

[kibbabibba]

Man, that is the worst fact accent I have ever heard

[4eyedCyclopes]

lived in atlanta all my life and got to go to any nwa/wcw tv taping for 5 bucks...top that one.

[xrocinante1]

A dark day for wrestling.

[herculeshernandez]

yeah, that was a great time to be a wrestling fan... in Baltimore, it was NWA on channel 54 every Saturday at 12pm and 5pm and Sundays at the same times. And WWF was on channel 45 on Saturdays at 4, with Superstars & Wrestling Challenge on at 11:30 pm and 12:30 am on channel 11. And also the DC channel 50 every weekday at 6, there were different wrestling shows.

[DekeRadio]

This might have been the most shocking face turn in history. It's just a shame it took such a tragedy to have it happen.

[nwopat]

great times in the old NWA. does anyone have the match with dusty & nikita against ole and JJ dillon in the cage, i think dusty had a cast on and beat the hell out of jj. i think this match aired soon after this interview aired. thanks in advance for keepiong the nwa alive.

[ecuacuban]

they were airing wrestling 6 nights a week on channel 68 during 1986 in NYC. World Wide Wrestling on Monday, NWA Pro on Fri. WCCW TUE. & THUR. CCW wed. UWF on Saturday. A fans dream. On Oct. 4 they started the Home Shopping Network and I missed the NWA until sept. 87 when they come back to channel 11. This is all the ish i missed. THANX!!!!

[bull705]

Yeah,that was wrestling heaven.6 nights of wrestling(although CCW sucked).The closest we'll ever get to a wrestling network in the states was ironically a small independent UHF station in NYC(which at the time was showing mostly music videos).

[JuliusC1973]

In the Washington DC Area we had wrestling 7 days a week: 1) NWA; 2) AWA; 3)WCCW; 4) USWA; 5) Mid-South/UWF; 6) GLOW; and 7) POW. We also had Pro-Wrestling this week with Joe Pedicino who showed Wrestling from all over the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Japan.

[ecuacuban]

we had pwtw in ny for most of 87. In september 87 the NWA came back to NY.

[TheJohnnyCotts]

@JuliusC1973 I remember PWTW with Gordon Solie and Joe Pedicino. I loved that show. I got to see wrestling from all these territories that I had only read about in PWI. In the NY/NJ area at that time, we got WWF (2 shows), AWA (later replaced by NWA) and GLOW, not including cable.

[caliban609]

MAGNUM TA...one of my favorites, too bad the accident cut his career short! the good old days!

[meavid]

...if yuu weeel

[hheidihoe]

The "Russian" accent is pretty bad isn't it? Isnt he a preacher now?

[GoblinGirl]

Don't all ex-wrestlers become preachers? Magnum TA did, and so did Tully Blanchard.  Wouldn't surprise me if Koloff did too.

[krushvelvet67]

Dusty drove them to it, like Prince did all of his women

[guitarplayer1776]

he did

[GoblinGirl]

Well there you go. It's almost like an alcoholic, or a man who has lived a hedonistic life, then turns to religion. It happens all the time.

[gqtexan]

Yes he is. He does ministry work with Ted "Million Dollar Man" Dibiase along with Steve Borden, aka Sting on TNA.

[MoshMasterD]

Why is there a plant in the background?

[wvoutlaw2002]

This was the old Sunday evening edition of World Championship Wrestling. It was mainly presented in a magazing/talk-show format, along with clips from the Saturday night show as well as the syndicated World Wide Wrestling and NWA Pro Wrestling weekend shows.

[haroof]

LMAO.

"Nikita" trying to talk with that Russian accent was hilarious.

[JuliusC1973]

Great Promo, I too remember when this happened. Magnum was lucky to be alive, considering that his Porsche was wrapped around a telephone poll. It cut short a bright career, he was one of the wrestlers being groomed to someday be NWA World Heavyweight Champion.

[zisul]

How about playin'the complete clip of Nikita teaming

up v's Ole and JJ Dillon in a tagteam cage match.Dusty

got little revenge for his broken hand.They did not

powned on Ole and JJ enough in that cage match.I would

have kicked & hit a slite longer & used the cage to my

advantage just a slite longer.

[arsenalfan98]

magnum terry allen was great. remember when he did studio matches with georgia champ wrestling. they rarely lasted 30 seconds.

[Tito74]

1986 era was great in the NWA. The Four Horsemen were at its peak>

[rudedog4]

I agree. Although I enjoyed the whole Nikita Koloff turn to Babyface era I always liked him with Ivan and Kruschev.

[ed2kou1]

Yeah it was to bad,cause Magnaum was going to be a big star,seems like he just reached his prime.