Sage Cortez
It’s time to jump back to the competition with buildup to Starrcade, and some important NWA title defenses! The main event angle for Starrcade is one of the best that there’s ever been, I think. The promotion was red-hot, the best acts were touring around to pair up with a few other promotions…it was near perfect.
The Dusty Rhodes vs. Ric Flair Buildup Compendium
This deserves its own section and not to be broken up. These are all aired in October and November on various Crockett programs.
So, after Ric Flair faced Nikita Koloff in a cage match at the Omni, Flair was attacked in the ring by Ivan Koloff. Dusty Rhodes comes in to save Ric Flair, and the fuckin’ Mega Powers unite, right? The crowd explodes, but they’re WRONG. Flair immediately points at Dusty, and all of a sudden the Andersons run down to the cage, Flair locks it shut, and they commence giving Dusty one of the most epic beatdowns that there has ever been in professional wrestling. The Andersons hold Dusty down, Flair climbs up to the top rope, and he kneedrops Dusty’s leg. Then he puts on the figure-four leglock, presumably breaking his leg. Magnum TA, Terry Taylor, Sam Houston, and the Rock n Roll Express are all trying to get in the cage, which they cannot do for some time, and to put over the seriousness of this angle, they don’t even attack the Andersons. During this the fans are trying to RIP DOWN THE FUCKING CAGE. The cops eventually get there and escort those dirty bastard heels out of the ringside area, but that was pretty close to an actual dangerous situation. So, once Flair and the Andersons leave, the crew deconstructs the cage, and takes down the ropes, so Dusty can be carried away from ringside. NOW THAT’S AN ANGLE BROTHER.
Ric Flair cuts his own promo, a week later. He doesn’t really talk about the incident, other than to tell people not to look down on him.
Of course, the promotion explained their way out of a leg break, and called Dusty’s injury a third degree sprain. No way they could take Dusty off TV with a “broken leg” after running an angle that hot. So, on October 19th, Dusty Rhodes was stripped off the TV title. Makes sense for a multitude of reasons, the main one being that he shouldn’t have had it in the first place. Ten days later, one of if not the best interview in wrestling history…
Look at this plantation-esque outfit Dusty is wearing! And the hair! RIC FLAIR PUT HARD TIMES ON DUSTY RHODES. Or judging by this promo, the entirety of the country. And John Wayne. Dusty talks about taking Flair’s belt too, but that’s nowhere near as important as the rest.
Over the course of the next few weeks, Flair and some others would cut promos, but the stable hasn’t been named yet. I don’t have a video of this one that can be embedded, but they did a great tease on TBS before Starrcade, where Flair, Blanchard, and the Andersons were going to attack Dusty and Magnum TA…but the ROAD WARRIORS showed up and scared them away. So, let’s resume with everything else that happens before Starrcade.
– October 21st, 1985, from Tokyo, Japan
Ric Flair vs. Rick Martel in an NWA vs. AWA World Title Unification Match
Pre-Match Thoughts: Here’s that unification they were talking about at SuperClash! And it’s in Japan! All-Japan. Really hoping for a long match, as I haven’t seen Martel work in very many of them. Judging by the run-time, I’ll get my wish. This clip I have has some dude doing a Bill Clinton imitation on commentary. I shit you not.
Match Review: I hope these two can get the crowd into the match. The staredown is a good sign. They do an amateur wrestling deal and Martel establishes himself as the babyface in terms of this match by breaking free from Flair a few times. Martel runs Flair over with a shouldertackle, and after that I notice all the photographers outside of the ring. Don’t think anyone is taking a throw over the top rope tonight. Martel puts Flair in a hammerlock, which Flair breaks at the ropes. Clean break makes the fans excited. Martel wins a test of strength, and once again Flair grabs onto the ropes. Flair and Martel exchange holds once again, then square off and repeat the process once more. Finally Flair shows some ARROGANCE, and decides he’s not breaking clean again. He chops Martel, then gets a hiptoss reversed, and Martel does two flying headscissors. Tough match here as both guys aren’t known for boasting a great offensive repertoire. Flair gets to the ropes again, and tries a suplex, which Martel blocks. Then they lock up, and Martel locks on a hard headlock. He takes over Flair for a 2 count.
We’re about 10 minutes in, and Flair gets shoulderblock and hiptossed. Martel does a gorilla press slam on Flair, which….WHAT? Don’t think I’ve seen him do that, even though it fits the Flair formula. Flair does an inverted atomic drop on Martel, and throws him out of the ring. Yes! He throws Martel into the ring post, and brings Martel back in for a hammerlock on the shoulder/arm that was thrown into the ring post. Flair then cheats by pulling Martel’s hair to knock him down, and I’m interested to see how this works out with the crowd. He does it for a second time, and the referee makes him break the hold. Flair works over Martel in the corner, they trade chops and punches, which Martel gets the better of. He throws Flair into the turnbuckle, and does his Rick Martel babyface ‘I’m tough’ thing that usually makes people happy. The Canadian launches Flair into the corner and backdrops him. Flair knees Martel and Martel responds with a small package, but that only gets a 2 count. After slamming Flair, Martel tries an elbow drop, but in very typical Flair formula fashion, he misses. Flair does a butterfly suplex on Martel, which I’ve always found to be a really nice move. Cover only gets 2. Flair puts Martel in an abdominal stretch, which is reversed! Nicely done. Flair hiptosses Martel, and misses an elbow drop of his own. Martel does a gutwrench suplex to Flair, which gets 2. Martel is thrown to the outside again, and Flair goes for a suplex , which is reversed and Martel cradles for a 2 count. Crowd bought into that finish. Martel lands 10 punches on Flair in the corner, and shoots Flair into another corner, which then leads him to flip over the top rope. They now brawl on the outside, until Martel comes back in and lands a crossbody…for a 2 count! After a snap mare, Flair lands a knee drop. Cover gets 2.
20 minutes in, Flair gets his next knee drop blocked, and Martel PUTS ON A FIGURE FOUR. Flair makes the ropes after some time, and Martel tries to put on that leglock again, but Flair kicks him off. Flair lands a shin breaker, both men then struggle to their feet, and Martel misses a charge to the corner. Flair now works over Martel’s left leg, and FALLS DOWN CAUSE HIS LEG HURTS WHAT SELLING. He suplexes Martel and crumples over to sell it even more, then goes for the FIGURE FOUR. The crowd chants for Martel, who reverses the hold to big applause. Flair tries to put the hold on again, and Martel puts him in a small package, only for a 2 count. Martel lands a big vertical suplex on Flair, also getting a 2 count. Flair heads to the top rope after a chop, but unsurprisingly he gets SLAMMED DOWN by Martel. Martel drops the knee, gets a 2 count. Back elbow by Flair, but Martel winds up putting Flair in a SLEEPER. Flair fights his way up, and gives Martel a back suplex! Flair throws Martel to the outside once again, and this time Martel throws FLAIR INTO THE RING POST. Martel does that again, and Flair crawls back into the ring with BLOOD ALL OVER HIS FACE. They trade punches in the ring now, do that FIGHTING SPIRIT JAPANESE WRESTLING SHIT, and Flair goes for a piledriver. Martel reverses it into a backdrop, and does a POWERSLAM. That gets 2. Martel rams Flair into the turnbuckle, and punches him over the top rope to the outside. These photographers are great at getting out of the way. Martel suplexes Flair back into the ring, getting another 2 count. So many near falls! Martel then does THE SLINGSHOT SPLASH WHAT A MANEUVER, but NO FLAIR’S FOOT IS ON THE ROPES DURING THE COVER. Martel does a backbreaker on Flair and heads to the second rope, tries a big splash, but Flair’s knees make impact with Martel’s stomach. Martel then bridges into a backslide, one of the best spots in wrestling BROTHER. Gets another 2! Flair does a crossbody to Martel, which takes both men to the outside…and they get counted out at 34:00.
My Thoughts: Great match, the best I’ve seen from this year. Started a tad slow, but really picked up and turned into something special. Of course this was never going to have a legitimate finish, but that didn’t matter. It was easy to get into it. I’d give it ****, highly recommended. Both guys showed they have more to offer offensively than I had expected. Hidden gem status for this one.
– October 22nd, 1985, from Kyoto, Japan
Ric Flair (NWA Champion) & Rick Martel (AWA Champion) vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu
Pre-Match Thoughts: Same Japan tour with something way different. No creepy Bill Clinton impersonation this time. The streamers that get thrown into the ring take forever to clean up. Flair’s sporting a bandage from his bladejob the night before.
Match Review: Jumbo and Martel start, former AWA Champion vs. the current (well at the time)! Jumbo latches onto Martel’s left arm, and goes to work. Jumbo shoulderblocks and hip-tosses the Canadian, but Martel finally gets a hold of Jumbo’s left arm, picks him up and tosses him over his shoulder. Flair tags in, he and Jumbo exchange hammerlocks, and Flair goes to the ropes once Jumbo has him in position for a surfboard. Jumbo chops Flair with some super hard shit, and tags in Tenryu for the first time. Flair and Tenryu chop much the same, until Flair gives Tenryu a shin breaker. Martel tags in and goes to work on Tenryu’s left leg. Tenryu chops Martel until he lets go, and bodyslams him. Martel then gets the better of him in a wrestling exchange, but Tenryu makes it to the corner and tags Jumbo, who then knees Martel a few times in the gut. He follows with some big chops, shoots Martel in the corner, and Martel comes off the ropes with a crossbody for 2. Martel slams Jumbo and tags in Flair, who takes Jumbo over and lands a knee drop. Cover gets 2. They then trade chops again, blow a spot, and repeat it with Flair getting backdropped coming out of the corner. Tenryu tags in, chops Flair quite a lot, but Flair replies by throwing him into the turnbuckle and tagging in Martel. Martel gives Tenryu a backbreaker for 2, and I’m hoping this picks up. Gutwrench suplex by Martel gets 2. Flair tags in, and gives Tenryu a back suplex. Now he goes for the FIGURE FOUR, AND LOCKS IT IN. Martel then tags in, and puts it on Tenryu as well. Tenryu tries to pick Martel’s leg up to break the hold, which makes so much sense yet I’ve never seen it before. Flair tags in, and tries to put it on Tenryu again, but he cradles for 2. This is not a great match. Jumbo tags in, hits Flair with a LARIAT, and picks him up for a big nothing. Flair comes off the ropes and Jumbo locks in a sleeper.
Flair barely is able to tag in Martel, who hits Jumbo with some stiff shots that don’t do shit. Jumbo backdrops him, and lands a LARIATOOOO. Tenryu tags in, and they double suplex Martel. Tenryu gives him a back suplex for 2, and ENZIGURI’S him in the back of the head. He tags in Jumbo and they give Martel a double LARIATOOOOOO and Jumbo piledrives Martel. That gets a 2 count. Jumbo gives him a swinging neckbreaker which also gets 2. This picked up all of a sudden. Martel hits Tenryu in the throat with a forearm, and launches him head first into a turnbuckle before tagging in Flair again. Flair gives Tenryu a suplex, and tags in Martel, who drops the knee. Martel tags in Flair again, who lands a few punches and chops on Tenryu. In Martel goes, WITH THE SLINGSHOT SPLASH. Only gets 2. Martel gives Tenryu a backbreaker and heads up top…for a flying bodypress. Gets 2 as Jumbo hops in to break it up. Flair gets knocked out of the ring after Jumbo knees him, and Tenryu enziguri’s Martel, who then heads to the apron. Jumbo then walks over to beat up Martel and fling him into the ring post, the same thing happens to Flair, and this match ends by countout at 17:39, with Jumbo and Tenryu winning.
My Thoughts: This never really got going, but there were more things about it that I didn’t like. First, Tenryu kinda got made to look like a bitch. He got worked by the North Americans. Second, the crowd was awfully quiet. That’s not abnormal, but good matches get Japanese crowds into them. This wasn’t good. It was also quite long, without the necessary quality. **.
– November 6th, 1985, from Shreveport, Louisiana
Ted DiBiase vs. Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: Yes, Mid-South! To my knowledge this never happened anywhere else AND FUCK YES THIS IS JIM ROSS ON WITH ORIGINAL COMMENTARY, not dubbed over later by WWE. This match is also on the Legends of Mid-South Wrestling DVD.
At the start of the match, Dick Murdoch comes into the ring and tells DiBiase that he doesn’t deserve an NWA Title shot. DiBiase responds by telling him that he’s yesterday’s news, and MURDOCH PUNCHES HIM RIGHT IN THE GODDAMN FACE. They throw down, DiBiase gets the better of it, and Flair capitalizes by knocking DiBiase out of the ring where he can be launched into the ring post by Murdoch. Ted does a FIVE ALARM BLADEJOB here. This is like top 1 in my list of best pre-match attacks. Steve Williams walks out to try to help him, while Ric Flair is cutting a promo in the ring. Flair says HE’S GOING HOME.
After the commercial, Bill Watts shows up on TV and says that DiBiase has DEMANDED HIS TITLE SHOT. BAH GAWD THAT’S HOW YOU GET SOMEONE OVER. Watts says that the match is likely to get gory. Yes, please do get.
Match Review: It’s surreal watching these two guys wrestle each other. DiBiase is a fucked up mess as he gets in the ring, and Flair throws him straight out. He chops DiBiase, and tosses him back in for even more chops. DiBiase throws Flair into the turnbuckle, and backdrops the Nature Boy. DiBiase gives Flair a back elbow, and a fist drop. Flair pokes DiBiase in the eye, and stries to suplex him. He can’t do that, so he chops DiBiase even more as Ted’s face begins to leak all over the ring. Flair gives DiBiase a back suplex, which gets a 2 count. JR sells this kickout like DiBiase was kicking out from DEATH. Flair throws DiBiase to the outside again, during which Steve Williams walks out to the ring again, presumably asking the referee to stop the match. Flair and DiBiase throw down, and DiBiase gets the better of it. He launches Flair into the turnbuckle, and Flair flips onto the apron, where he is then suplexed back into the ring. DiBiase cover only gets 1. DiBiase does an abdominal stretch to roll-up, which the referee kinda fucks up by not counting. Aw. Flair then tries a piledriver, but DiBiase fights out and backdrops him. Flair gets worked over by DiBiase now, and I realized that the other commentator is a moron. I don’t know his name but he’s an idiot. Apparently the match was supposed to be Butch Reed vs. Ric Flair. Flair heads up top, but DiBiase SLAMS HIM DOWN. DiBiase misses an elbow drop, then shoots Flair into the ropes and POWERSLAMS him. The psychology is that DiBiase can’t physically complete the action of pinning Flair, so everything flows together. DiBiase puts on the FIGURE FOUR (EVERYONE used this move then), but Flair breaks it. Then he tries again, and Flair kicks him over the top rope. Big bump. DiBiase can’t get back in the ring, and gets kicked out at 6:14. Best countout ending I’ve ever seen.
Oh look, Murdoch comes back to the ring AND STOMPS A MUDHOLE IN DIBIASE BAH GAWD NO DAMMIT NO. HOLY SHIT HE GIVES DIBIASE A BRAINBUSTER ON THE CONCRETE FLOOR HE’S DEAD. RIP.
My Thoughts: One of the craziest territory TV angles I’ve ever seen, it’s absolutely mandatory watching. This was apparently a face turn for DiBiase which made it even more awesome. ***** angle, *** match. Flair was a key part in the context of the angle, but it wasn’t about him. I guess that made it even better. It stinks that Mid-South wasn’t able to stick around longer. It was a big territory, and boasted a ton of talent.
– November 18th, 1985, from Memphis, Tennessee
Tully Blanchard & The Andersons (w/Baby Doll) vs. Jerry Lawler, Dusty Rhodes, & Magnum TA in a BUNKHOUSE MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: How could this possibly not be good? Horsemen in goddamn Memphis!
Match Review: They all pair off, and this is just completely wild shit. Dusty gets Arn, Magnum gets Tully, and Lawler gets Ole for the time being. Low on wrestling, big on people getting destroyed. The street clothes these guys are wearing look amusing. Lawler throws some of the best punches in the business at Blanchard. It’s legitimately impossible to PBP this match, but I can leave notes. Arn Anderson got busted open by Dusty, who then gets slapped in the head with Tully’s WEIGHT BELT. Tully does the same thing to Magnum, like my God these are hard belt shots. He slaps Lawler with the belt, Ole slaps Lawler with the belt, and Dusty gets slapped with it too. Ole and Tully try to cover Lawler, but Dusty intervenes and starts whipping dudes. Magnum starts whipping Arn with the belt, and BAH GAWD LAWLER STARTS TAKING SOME ANGER OUT ON THEIR BACKS. Arn messes up Dusty’s face with the belt, and Tully tries to cover Magnum, but that only gets a 2 count. Dusty lands a big elbow off the top rope on Ole Anderson, and gets the 3 count at 6:01.
My Thoughts: This could have and should have been better, but it was a nice novelty thing. I noticed that Lawler was kept from interacting with any of his opponents, which seems kinda weird. It’s MEMPHIS! Let him do whatever. **1/2 and worth a look, but if you go in with the expectation of a wild, heated brawl, you’ll be disappointed.
So, the stage is set for Starrcade. A Starrcade which would be run from Greensboro and Atlanta. Vince blatantly ripped this off for the next WrestleMania, and since the winner writes history, it’s portrayed as being extremely innovative when it wasn’t. There were a few omissions from this article, of course, and those were because I either couldn’t find good videos of the stuff, or videos at all. There was a Flair/Jake Roberts match with horrendous video quality that I decided not to review. It made me sad. I’ll probably pair December 1985 with the subsequent 1986 article. Not that much happens in the month after Starrcade. Next time I’ll be reviewing SNME #3 (Halloween episode) and after that, The Wrestling Classic. A WWF tournament, you say?
Best: Ric Flair vs. Ted DiBiase. One of the best angles you’ll ever see, but unfortunately I doubt I’ll see the payoff. The Dusty/Flair stuff doesn’t really count for this.
Worst: Ric Flair & Rick Martel vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu. Some might consider this blasphemous, but it just wasn’t very good. That was unfortunate, and it stinks that I’ve watched two great workers like Jumbo and Tenryu have poor matches. Especially against guys like Martel, Harley Race, and Flair. Doesn’t seem right.
