Sage Cortez
It’s time for another dual site Starrcade! The build to Nikita vs. Flair hasn’t been spectacular, but it has been for a few of the other matches. Tully vs. Dusty, Road Warriors vs. Midnight Express, now those have been great. Unfortunately, no David Crockett on commentary tonight. That’s too bad. I was looking forward to some of his reactions, but I’ll have to do without that. The only match on this show that I’ve seen before is the scaffold match. Everyone should watch that, by the way. On WWE Network, this becomes a lot easier to watch, picture quality wise in particular. It’s a four hour monstrosity as well. Let’s get to it!
– November 27th, 1986, from the Omni in Atlanta, Georgia, and Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina
THIS IS THE NIGHT OF THE SKYWALKERS, BROTHER. Of course, the national anthem is played before anything else happens. Nobody sings it, an instrumental version is played over the PA. Tony Schiavone and Rick Stewart will be our commentators in Atlanta, Bob Caudle and Johnny Weaver will do the duties in Greensboro.
Tim Horner & Nelson Royal vs. Don & Rocky Kernodle
Pre-Match Thoughts: Horner and Royal are two junior heavyweight, mat-based wrestlers. Don and Rocky Kernodle have become jobbers more and more over time. The business was moving away from wrestlers like these four men. These are vanilla midgets.
Match Review: Horner and Rocky start the match, exchanging wrist and hammer locks. They do some nice chain wrestling, which ends in Rocky giving Horner and arm drag and tagging out. Horner gives Don Kernodle a bodyslam, and winds up being given a powerslam after running the ropes. Royal is quite old at the time of this, by the way. He puts an abdominal stretch on Don, who reverses to a hip-toss. Don misses a charge to the corner after that, and Royal tags out. Horner doesn’t fare much better, and at the moment I’m wondering which of these teams is supposed to be the babyfaces and heels. This just feels meaningless. Royal tags back in and puts a sleeper on his pudgy opponent, but Don reaches the corner and Rocky flies in with a sunset flip from the top rope. He follows with a bodyslam for 2 as well, but misses a cross body. Horner tags in, and gives him a powerslam for 2. A small package gets the same, and both men then collide in the middle of the ring. Don Kernodle makes the tag, and gives Horner a great looking delayed vertical suplex…for 2. Don gives Horner a backdrop, and tries running into a diving headbutt, but he misses. Horner gives Don a dropkick for 2, and Don follows with a big clothesline. This isn’t bad, but it’s lacking heat. Rocky tags in again, and gives Tim Horner a gorilla press slam for 2. Rocky then cradles Horner, but Horner reverses it into one of his own…and gets the victory at 7:30.
My Thoughts: That finish kind of came out of nowhere. It was what it was, pretty much. A nothing match with three guys trying to impress, wrestling a style that was dying amongst the big two. They had no characters and simply wrestled. That wasn’t going to last anymore, and it’s going to take a little more than that for me to remain interested. I say three guys because Royal didn’t do anything. *3/4.
Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious) vs. Brad Armstrong
Pre-Match Thoughts: Over to Atlanta for this one, and it’s my first chance to catch Brad Armstrong over the run of this series. First chance to catch Jimmy Garvin in a longer match, too. I’m a little worried about the latter, but Armstrong has always had the reputation of being a good hand. Bit young here though! This is arguably one of his biggest singles matches. Garvin’s entrance is spectacular. I recommend catching a non-dubbed version, which has magically been linked below!
Match Review: The two lock up, and it’s made obvious that Garvin is going to try to wrestle with the quick Armstrong. The scaffold is in the way of some of these camera angles that they’d like to use, it may make for poor visuals later in the show. Regardless, Armstrong is very quick getting in and of holds. The two men struggle over a wristlock for a long time, and Armstrong gets the better of it in the end. He drops knees on Garvin’s arm for a while, and Armstrong eventually puts Garvin in a headlock until they get in the ropes. Garvin then trips Armstrong and locks up his leg…man, nothing is going on here. Finally, something does happen, and it’s Armstrong giving Garvin a drop toe-hold. Armstrong continues to use his agility to stay in control, and thanks to Precious distracting the official, Garvin reverses the hold into a head-scissors. Armstrong head stands to get out of it, runs the ropes, and gives Garvin a hip-toss. Once again Garvin cheats to get the head-scissors on the mat, but Armstrong reverses into a headlock. They’ve worked these holds for a really long time now. Garvin gives Armstrong a back suplex to get out of the headlock, and hopefully we’re headed towards some interesting spots. Garvin tosses Armstrong out of the ring and hard to the concrete floor, then covers Armstrong when he crawls back into the ring for a 2 count. Garvin drops Armstrong on the top rope for 2, and gives him a backbreaker. Cover gets 2. The two men then run into each other, and do the slow crawl up to their feet. Armstrong falls on top of Garvin during a slam attempt to get a 2 count, but he misses a charge to the corner. Garvin covers for 2, and we have a minute left on the time limit. For some inexplicable reason, Garvin grabs a hold of Armstrong and puts him in a short chinlock, but then he gives Armstrong a small package. They reverse and it gets 2, so Garvin goes back to the chinlock. Garvin slams Armstrong and heads up top for a big splash, but he misses and…that’s the 15 minute time limit. This is a draw.
The two guys keep fighting after the match, and Armstrong chases Garvin out of the ring. So, Precious gets into the ring, and I think the fans want Armstrong to hit her. However, Garvin sneaks back in for the attack, and gets knocked out of the ring again to huge applause.
My Thoughts: This was a bit silly. Firstly, Garvin called the match in the ring, and he called the match to take far too long in working nothing holds. Garvin’s act is great for getting heat, not so great for wrestling. I never bought the match ending because of those chinlocks. There’s obviously some mileage in using Garvin as a babyface too. The crowd is into the guy despite his not doing too great in the match. I feel a bit bad for Armstrong, this was a chance for him to have a showcase match, and it didn’t happen for him. Why they’d put this on first, and why they’d give it 15 minutes, I don’t know. I guess they didn’t want anyone to job, but that was a bit foolish. *1/4.
The Barbarian & Shaska Whatley vs. Hector Guerrero & Baron Von Raschke
Pre-Match Thoughts: Every match alternates locations, and this is in Greensboro. Won’t mention it again for a while. This is a strange matchup. To explain, Guerrero was teaming with Manny Fernandez for a while. After Fernandez joined Paul Jones, they split. The Baron was part of Paul Jones Army. He left. As for The Barbarian, we know the story there. He has long been part of Paul Jones Army. Jones has a match of his own later in the show, so he isn’t/can’t be out there to manage his team. Hector Guerrero enters to mariachi music, not sure if that’s dubbed in or not. That’s cool and messed up all at the same time.
Match Review: Man, Hector Guerrero is really over. To start the match, all four men fight in the ring. I expected nothing less. Whatley and Barbarian get thrown into each other, and Guerrero gives Whatley a backdrop. Hector flies off the second rope with a cross-body for 2, and lands a dropkick for 2. Like his quickness. Barbarian tags in, and clocks Guerrero over the head. Guerrero then evades a big boot, only to be dropped on the top rope by Barbarian. Hector moves out of the way of a charge by the big man, and Barbarian tumbles through the ropes to the outside. Then Hector does some shit that has the crowd going absolutely crazy, a PLANCHA. Hector Guerrero is awesome. Regardless, that doesn’t stop Barbarian from dropping him throat-first on the steel guardrail. Barbarian gives Guerrero a gorilla press slam and a leg drop, then tags in his partner, who resembles a black Iron Sheik. Whatley gives Guerrero a backdrop, then tags in Barbarian, who follows with a backbreaker. Whatley and Barbarian give Guerrero a double backdrop, then Barbarian gives Guerrero a big boot for 2. Barbarian gives Guerrero a couple of backbreakers now, and Whatley tags in to spit on his opponent. That’s gross. Hector spits back at him and makes the tag, and the crowd goes crazy for Baron’s entrance. He goose steps, and puts THE CLAW on Whatley until Barbarian breaks it up. Now they’re all fighting, and I don’t know what’s going to happen. Whatley misses a charge, Baron elbow drops him, and covers for 3 at 7:30.
It’s not over yet though. Barbarian and Whatley give Baron a double clothesline, and Barbarian gives him a big boot before heading up top. Barbarian comes down with a flying headbutt…and the babyface Nazi is down for the count. How sad.
My Thoughts: Hector Guerrero was great in this match. His offense was a breath of fresh air, he sold and bumped like a madman, and in doing so kept his very bad tag team partner out of the ring. The Barbarian was pretty good in it too. His offense looks real, which is a big deal for a heel like him. They went straight to the finish after the hot tag, which was also good. **3/4.
Before the next match, Johnny Weaver is supposed to have an interview with Dusty Rhodes…but Dusty won’t give one. That was a waste of time.
The Kansas Jayhawks vs. Ivan Koloff & Krusher Khruschev in a NO DISQUALIFICATION match for the NWA United States Tag Team Championships
Pre-Match Thoughts: The background here is simple. Russians beat the Jayhawks for the US Tag Team Titles in a tournament that was held to crown inaugural champions. Khruschev is wearing tights now, to cover up the lack of muscle definition in his legs since his injury, I assume. He got way out of shape.
Match Review: Dutch and Ivan lock up, and Dutch backdrops Ivan as he rushes out of the corner. Bobby Jaggers tags in, and gives Ivan a back elbow, as he pinballs back and forth between the two babyfaces, getting beaten up. Ivan does roll up Jaggers for 2, and that makes the big man make a quick tag to Dutch. Khruschev tags in as well, and clubs Dutch in the corner. Dutch causes a Khruschev backdrop attempt to fail, and lures Ivan into the ring, so that he and Jaggers can double team Khruschev in the corner as the ref shepherds Ivan out of the ring. Jaggers and Dutch continue with the quick tags, but Ivan tags in, and gets control of Dutch and his hairy back. Ivan misses a charge to the corner though, and then Dutch nearly does, but he stops himself in time so that he takes no bump. He and Jaggers then give Ivan a double back elbow, but Khruschev trips Dutch, pulls him out of the ring, and rams him into the table. He atomic drops Dutch’s crotch on the steel guardrail, and tags in, so he and Ivan give Dutch a double back elbow. Cover gets 2. They continue to work Dutch over in the corner, and try a double clothesline, but Dutch clotheslines the both of them.
The tag is made to Jaggers, who clears the ring very slowly. Such a shame. He gives Ivan a hard clothesline for 2, and all four men brawl after that. There’s no DQ here, so…Ivan and Dutch go for their respective weapons. Ivan has a steel chain, Dutch has a bull whip, and something’s obviously going to happen. Dutch whips Ivan’s legs with it, which is awesome. He does the same to Khruschev…THAT’S SICK. He tosses Khruschev out of the ring, and they brawl, which Khruschev gets the better of by hitting Dutch with his steel chain. Then, Khruschev punches Jaggers in the back of the head with his chain as Jaggers runs the ropes, and the Russians retain their titles after making the pin at 7:51.
My Thoughts: Cool finish here. I don’t think the match itself was as good as the previous tag team match, but all four men worked hard and the finish they came up with was super interesting. The crack of the bull whip as it hit Ivan and Khruschev’s legs…that shit had to hurt. I don’t know how that can be gimmicked. In any case, Dutch and Ivan were the best two in this match. Despite Ivan’s age, he always gave good efforts in these matches. **1/2. Good start to the card so far. The Kansas Jayhawks would have been a better team if Dutch had a more nimble partner. Like a Sam Houston. But that’s nitpicking.
Wahoo McDaniel vs. Rick Rude (w/Paul Jones) in an INDIAN STRAP MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: Okay, so…if Jones can be with Rude here, why couldn’t he be with his team for their first match? Very interesting. This is the first time I’ve been able to see a strap match while doing these reviews. I’ve always liked the gimmick, but at times strap matches can become a little grueling with all the corner touching that has to go on. I don’t need to demonstrate the absurdity of calling the strap an “Indian Strap,” do I? Rick Rude entering to “Smooth Operator” was super smart. Too bad it’s dubbed over. Look at this swaggy custom tron down here.
Match Review: Paul Jones is hilarious at the beginning, telling Wahoo to put the strap on first. So, while Rude is doing his posing, Wahoo whips him with it. Rude gets taken down with a shoulderblock, and choked by the strap to the crowd’s delight. Rude works a headlock after that, then starts punching Wahoo in the head with the strap, and whipping him as well. After a lot of that, Wahoo gets bodyslammed. Rude then ties Wahoo’s hands up, and drags him over to the corners. He taps two of them, but Wahoo knocks him down, so Rude will have to start all over. Wahoo takes control, and beats Rude with the strap to the crowd’s delight. Rude is bleeding after being punched with it, and Wahoo is going for the turnbuckles now. I think he may be bleeding as well, but there are no closeups of his face. He drags Rude to three of them, but that’s all he can do. Rude heads up to the top turnbuckle now, and comes down with a fist drop. Rude heads up to the top yet again, and…Wahoo pulls him down to the canvas. He drops an elbow, and starts touching corners again. He gets close to the fourth, but can’t make it. Then Paul Jones jumps on the apron, Wahoo hits him, and Rude hits Wahoo from behind…knocking him into the turnbuckle. So, Wahoo wins the strap match at 9:05.
After the match, Jones and Rude double team Wahoo in the ring. That is, until Hector Guerrero and Baron Von Raschke come out to save Wahoo.
My Thoughts: Some combination of this long running Paul Jones vs. midcard babyfaces feud as a War Games Match would have been hilarious. I can’t stop thinking about it now.This was nothing special, unfortunately. Wahoo didn’t have a lot left to give, and Rude wasn’t very good. 3/4* for a nothing match. The gimmick didn’t make things any better, as there were no savage thrashings given out. In a strap match, it’s better if the two wrestlers are beating each other with it. Crowd’s into the angle, but hey, the angle doesn’t always make things better. Rude needs to improve.
Over in Atlanta, Ivan Koloff and Krusher Khruschev have an interview with Rick Stewart. They’re talking about winning one of the Bunkhouse Stampede matches that Jim Crockett would usually host on the touring circuit after Starrcade. They also want title shots against Nikita Koloff if he wins the NWA Title.
Bill Dundee vs. Sam Houston for the Central States Heavyweight Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: Haven’t seen Houston since he was sent to Central States by Dusty Rhodes. Not going to try to bullshit here, I have no idea what’s going on with this feud. Or if it even is a feud. Dundee’s sparkly jacket reminds me of Chris Jericho.
Match Review: I can see that this is going to be a very fast-paced match. Dundee works a headlock for a bit, but these guys are so damn fast that it doesn’t last long. I don’t know if the Atlanta crowd is too familiar with these guys. Houston gives Dundee a flying head-scissors, and sits in that hold for a little bit. He then releases and follows with two arm drags, and a dropkick. Dundee cheats and goes back to the headlock, but Houston gets out and punches him for 2. Houston goes to a headlock himself, but that doesn’t last. He tries for THE BULLDOG, but Dundee is ready for it and tries to reverse into an atomic drop. Houston reverses that into a rolling cradle, which gets 2. The fans aren’t into this, but I like the action. Dundee pulls Houston out of the ring now, and gets atomic dropped by Houston when he follows him. Dundee takes a cool bump over the guardrail, that gets the crowd’s interest. Dundee slithers back to the apron, where Houston slingshots him in. Cover gets 2. Dundee responds by kicking Houston in the face, and going to the top rope, landing a big fist drop on the way down for 2. He rakes at Houston’s face, and puts a chinlock on the champion after that. They eventually get up, and Dundee pretty much hits him with Dusty’s best stuff. Haha. A heel doing that. Dundee puts a Boston crab on Houston, he gets out of it, and gets thrown out of the ring. Back in, Dundee attacks with a double axehandle from the top rope, which gets 2. Houston is taking a beating. He fights back though, and rams Dundee’s back into the turnbuckles. He hits Dundee with a flying back elbow for 2, and drops a knee on him. He follows with a bodyslam, and tries another knee drop, which misses. Dundee works over that knee, but gets kicked into the referee. So, he hits Houston with one of his own boots, and the referee rings the bell for a disqualification at 10:21. Didn’t see that finish coming at all.
My Thoughts: This was just getting going, and building towards a hot finish. And then this ending came out of nowhere. Not a big fan of it. Houston is someone who may have been misused during the 80’s. He could bump, sell, and he was very fast. Dundee was really good in his role as well. To be honest, I’ve never checked out Memphis stuff. Maybe when this review project is over years from now, it will be time to. I’ll give this **1/4. Go to a distinct finish next time!
Jimmy Valiant (w/Big Mama) vs. Paul Jones
Pre-Match Thoughts: We all know the back story here, I’ve posted about it in my other articles. However, there’s a stipulation for this match. If Jones loses, he gets his head shaved. If Valiant loses, his wife (Big Mama) gets her head shaved. That’s pretty straight forward. In addition, Manny Fernandez will be locked inside of a cage. Gimmick overload here. This is like, a three year angle. Seriously.
Match Review: Fernandez is upset and doesn’t want to get in that cage. Eventually, a bunch of wrestlers come down to the ring to put him in the cage. Wahoo and Baron Von Raschke knock him into that cage! Damn, the Baron is ALL OVER this show. Crowd explodes at Fernandez being made to get into the cage. Valiant attacks Jones from behind after all that, sends him into the buckle, and knocks him down with a punch. Valiant’s offense is the corniest thing in the world. Back rakes, thumbs to the throat, all that corny shit. He gives Jones a hip-toss, and after the referee pulls them away, Jones takes something out of his tights and hits Valiant with it. Haha. Valiant gets color off of that, but Jones isn’t able to pin him, as Valiant gets his foot on the ropes. Jones hits Valiant again with the object, and covers again for 2. Jones tries an INDIAN DEATHLOCK now, but Valiant blocks it…and here comes the big comeback. The crowd is ridiculously into this match. That’s what I call “knowing your audience”. Valiant puts a sleeper on Jones, and tosses him into the turnbuckle, during which Jones drops the foreign object. Valiant hits Jones with it, covers, and gets the 3 count to a huge pop after 4 minutes.
Valiant is going to shave Jones’ head now…that guy’s head is going to look WEIRD with no hair on it. Somehow, Manny Fernandez has been lowered to the floor, and he’s being let out of it. That did not bode well for Valiant, who has been attacked. Rick Rude rushes out too, and they’re going destroy the poor guy. Fernandez grabs a steel chair, and they give him a flapjack & DDT COMBO onto it. They all definitely got their heat back.
My Thoughts: Man, that seemed WAY longer than 4 minutes. The match was absolutely awful. Valiant’s offense is hilarious, so it was good from a comedy perspective, but that’s it for me. DUD for blood, goofy shit, and the post-match. That’s far up from what it would be rated otherwise. If you can’t find something funny about this match, or something entertaining, I don’t know why you watch wrestling. It’s going to be sad when Valiant is done with wrestling in this promotion. He isn’t good, but he’s funny as hell.
After that, it’s time for a Bunkhouse Stampede plug. Nelson Royal is going to tell us about it while sitting at a campfire. This is utterly strange. It’s THE HISTORY OF THE BUNKHOUSE STAMPEDE. We’re at intermission, and the run-time for this show is 3 hours and 51 minutes. Part of the intermission has been excised. How long was this show without that change? So, we get a video hyping Crockett Cup 1987. I can’t wait for that, I’ll be watching the arena footage coupled with some stuff from the commercial tape when it’s time.
Ron Garvin (Mid-Atlantic Champion) vs. Big Bubba Rogers (w/Jim Cornette) in a LOUISVILLE STREET FIGHT
Pre-Match Thoughts: These two guys have been very entertaining this year. Despite Ray Traylor being very green…I don’t see how this can be anything but a good match. Garvin has had a great calendar year for Jim Crockett Promotions and if he has to carry the match, it will be good anyway. The rules of the match are that the winner can be determined by pinfall or 10 count, and anything goes.
Match Review: Of course, Cornette starts running his mouth when Big Bubba gets in the ring. Bubba is like, I don’t know how to describe him. Extremely large. Garvin clocks him in the face but it doesn’t even do anything to him. Eventually, Garvin knocks him down. It took three punches in a row though! Bubba tosses Garvin to the outside twice, and Garvin grabs a cup of Coke on his way back in. He tosses it in Bubba’s face, and starts dishing out a beatdown. THE POWER OF COKE, BROTHER. Bubba gets knocked to the outside to huge applause, and takes something from his manager. So, Garvin chokes him, and rips part of his shirt. I don’t need to see Bubba’s body. He gives Garvin an avalanche in the corner, and finally hits Garvin with a bunch of coins. HAHA. That’s what Cornette gave him. Garvin gets up at the count of 8, and he’s bleeding. That was some sneaky blading. I didn’t even notice. Bubba slams him now, and follows with a splash. Cover gets 2 as Garvin barely nudges his shoulder up. Garvin gets up after another count, and he has some shit of his own. It looks like a rope! He chokes Bubba with it, then ties him up. It looks like Bubba has been busted or bitten open (seriously), but that’s not going to stop him. He puts Garvin in a bear hug, but Garvin headbutts his way out. That’s how you do it. Bubba puts it on again, the same thing happens, and Garvin punches him a lot, knocking him over the top rope. Great bump there. After Bubba gets back in, he takes yet another tumble as the result of getting punched. Bubba tosses Garvin back in and heads up top…but Garvin slams him down to a huge roar. Bubba kicks out by pushing Garvin onto Tommy Young, that is bad. Then Garvin does a very dangerous looking piledriver to Bubba, and as he’s resting against the ropes, Cornette loads up his racket…and whacks Garvin in the back of the head with it. Tommy Young counts, and both men are down for a 10 count. Haha.
Tommy Young says that the first man to get up will win the match. Cornette tries to influence proceedings and gets pushed out of the ring, and the drama over who’s going to get up first is crazy. Bubba decides to pull Tommy Young towards him, and when Garvin gets up…Cornette hits him in the knee with his tennis racket. HAHA again. BIG BUBBA WINS. Time was 11:50.
My Thoughts: I don’t think this was a classic, but I enjoyed it a lot. The crowd was really into it. Garvin did carry the match, but Bubba certainly did his part. He quite clearly got tired, but that didn’t matter at all. They bumped well, they came up with an inventive finish that allowed Garvin to save face while allowing Bubba to get over, and the “sudden death” type thing at the end was over big. *** and recommended for this one. It was a great exercise in showing how good Garvin was, and how good that Bubba could possibly become. Cool stuff.
Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) vs. Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World Television Championship in a FIRST BLOOD MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: Well, this is what the people in Greensboro came for, I assume. It’s a big drawing match. The tag match later is nice too, but if I was a fan then, this would have gotten me in the building. I don’t have any expectations. Dusty’s ring work is getting worse and worse, but his booking tricks are still unrivaled. So, we’ll see. Dusty’s entrance is hilarious, they do the Goldberg thing with him, following him from the locker room.
Match Review: Tully’s wearing amateur wrestling headgear at the beginning, but he gets made to take it off. That’s such good stooging. JJ puts vaseline on Tully’s face now, but Earl Hebner wipes it off. Funny stuff. JJ eats an elbow from Dusty, and BLADES OFF IT. BLADING OFF AN ELBOW TO THE HEAD. The bell finally rings, and Tully misses a charge to the corner. Dusty stalls now, and threatens to hit Tully with an elbow. This is ridiculous. Tully trips Dusty, misses a fist drop, and ducks out of the ring. I can see how this is going to go (not well). Dusty takes the challenger down, and Tully stalls of course, so I’m getting a bit bored. Dusty is able to crack Tully with an elbow, but of course he’s not bleeding from that. He’s a real man. Dusty works a terrible toe-hold, and drops an elbow on Tully’s leg. That looks so lazy. Tully tries working on Dusty’s face, but that doesn’t really do anything, of course. Dusty comes back by working over Tully in the corner, then of course the referee gets knocked down. Dusty suplexes Tully into our referee as well, and he has JJ Dillon’s shoe. He elbows Tully instead of using it, and works him over, so…Tully is bleeding. You could see Dusty blading him during that, and he’s so lazy he just dropped the blade right in front of the camera. Seriously. Dusty has his back turned, and during that, JJ Dillon wipes away the blood from Tully’s face and wipes Vaseline on Tully’s cut. SHENANIGANS. There’s no blood now! Tully gets up and hits Dusty with a roll of coins, busting Dusty wide open. Earl Hebner wakes up and sees the blood on Dusty’s face, so…Tully Blanchard wins the Television Title at 8:41. HAHAHA. Dusty’s reaction to losing the belt was amazing. He pushed Earl Hebner out of the ring and stormed to the back.
My Thoughts: By no metric was this a “good match.” Tully is great at times, Dusty can be good at times, they cannot have good matches at any time. The beginning was pure cheese. I have no problem with that, but there was no substance to the bout. Dusty worked extremely crappy looking holds, Tully stalled…I was watching this match at 11:50 PM and was having a hard time staying awake. The finish was pretty much what you’d expect whenever Dusty does a job. Two ref bumps, silliness with a heel manager, and his opponent also having to cheat. Par for the course. Considering that I was bored, and that this was bad, it was at best a 1/2* match. Sloppy stuff. Glad the TV Title has been shifted to somebody who can wrestle and is more willing to give offense to their opponents, though.
The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette & Big Bubba Rogers) vs. The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) in a SKYWALKERS MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: The time has finally come for the greatest spectacle in the history of our sport! Well, not really, but to be perfectly honest, you can argue that to this point, the scaffold match was the craziest thing that had been done in wrestling. Perhaps it still is. It’s a terrible gimmick, but there’s a major freakshow aspect to it. It’s impossible to look away. On the other hand, it’s impossible to have a good scaffold match. Or is it? Maybe it only is when nobody believes that one of the teams could possibly lose it. The dubbed theme for the Midnight Express is nowhere near as good as the original. Of course, the Road Warriors isn’t either.
Match Review: It’s clear to see that Animal very nearly got fucked up by the poorly put together scaffold. Hawk had a bit of a hard time climbing it, but you couldn’t tell. This is the most badass entrance to a match I can think of. Condrey eventually climbs up, sees the Road Warriors, and climbs back down. Haha. Animal looks slightly concerned that Condrey and Eaton won’t even make it up there. They do, and I guess it’s time now. I don’t even know how to describe this, to be honest. Hawk has a broken leg and is working like he’s in the ring. Condrey eventually throws powder in his eyes, and Hawk doesn’t even fall down. HAHA. Eaton does the same to Animal, and the Road Warriors have been blinded. Hawk is teasing falling over the scaffold and down to the arena floor (pretty sure he’d die), now he’s teasing falling through the guardrail and down to the floor. One of the rails breaks behind Condrey, so really, they shouldn’t be doing this. Hawk is hanging by his bicep, and Eaton winds up dangling from Animal’s leg. He does his tarzan thing and swings back to the scaffold, but the crowd is buzzing at the notion of Eaton falling down to the canvas. Hawk gives Condrey a face buster, so of course he gigs. That’s what we needed! Eaton is busted open too, and Condrey decides to try climbing down. He’s had enough! He’s dangling from the underside of the scaffold, and Hawk is going to crawl down there too. These guys are crazy. They trade punches, and Condrey decides to use the scaffold like a set of monkey bars. HAHA. It looks like Eaton is going to do the same thing, but it turns out that all four guys are doing it. Hawk kicks Condrey down, Animal kicks Eaton down, and that’s it at 7:07. The crowd reaction to that finish was amazing. Those people were sick.
Hawk crawls down to the ring, visibly limping, and Paul Ellering decides to take Cornette’s tennis racket. He and Hawk chase Cornette up the scaffold to a huge roar, Cornette thinking he’s getting away. Little does he know that Animal is waiting up there for him, as Hawk is beating up Big Bubba in the ring. Cornette is trapped between Ellering and Animal, and Cornette is now hanging from the scaffold. Big Bubba is supposed to catch him, but…he misses and Cornette’s legs explode. Man, that would be awful. That was such a bad bump that the crowd isn’t quite as loud as you’d expect. It was possible that he’d be out for a few months, but he came back a month later.
My Thoughts: Firstly, this was nothing spectacular. It’s a freakshow, one you can’t turn away from. Seems impossible to get out of that kind of match without somebody getting badly injured. All four guys tried their best to make it good, but the construction of the scaffold was faulty. Even if it wasn’t faulty, who would go all out in this kind of match? You can’t even take a bump up there. It’s hard to rate this match, but I’m going to give it ** and recommend it if only because you need to see one scaffold match, and this is the most widely available one to see. The fact that this was booked was crazy, that Cornette was booked to take this bump was crazy, and that Hawk went through the match with a messed up leg was crazy. Different era. I’d never participate in this match, so these men are more apt for wrestling than I am.
After that crazy match, we get to see a hype video for Great American Bash 1987. It shows some of the best moments from the 1986 tour. And wow, yet another intermission. They play the credits during it. With Senior Producer “VIRGIL RUNNELS” having his name in prominent position.
The Minnesota Wrecking Crew vs. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express for the NWA World Tag Team Championships in a STEEL CAGE MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: The gimmick matches continue, and this…is likely to be the best bout on the card. Despite having it on DVD, I’ve never watched it before. Two great teams, with a great gimmick for the match, there’s nothing to dislike about that. This is the main event in Greensboro, and of course as always with NWA cage matches, pinfall & submission rules.
Match Review: Ole and Gibson start the match for their respective teams, and do a great punching segment at the start. Then all four men get in the ring, and the Andersons double team Gibson. Arn quickly gets his head rammed into the fence, and pinballs back and forth between his opponents. Ole tags back in to put an end to that, but that doesn’t really happen, as Morton tags in and beats him up. Arn tags back in, and tries to ram Morton’s head into the fence, but it gets blocked. Gibson tags in, but misses a charge to the corner on Arn, and gets his leg rammed into the fence. That’s inventive. The Andersons work over that left leg now, but Gibson kicks Arn off of him, and into the cage. Still, the tag is made, and Ole does the same stuff. As does Arn. After a lot of stomping, elbow dropping, and locking up that leg, Eventually Gibson gives Arn an enziguri, and the tag is made. Ole throws Morton into the cage though, so that comeback didn’t last long at all! Ole and Arn beat him up, and Arn grinds Morton’s face into the cage. Morton is now bleeding, and Ole has decided to work over his left arm. Ole sends Morton hard into the turnbuckle, and gives Morton an armbar. Arn tags in and slams Morton on his hurt arm, then heads up to the second buckle. That’s unusual for him. Morton hits him on the way down, and gives him a DDT, but Ole gets in the ring to prevent Morton from making a tag. Ole throws Morton into the cage again, and the referee ushers Gibson out of the ring. That’s very nice of him to allow the Anderson to do that to Morton. Ole gives Morton a shoulder breaker, and tags in Arn to continue his work. Morton hits Arn with a knee as he comes off the ropes, but Ole tags in to prevent Morton from doing the same. With the referee distracted, Arn punches the crimson masked Morton, and eventually tags in to punch Gibson, preventing a tag from being made. Arn gives Morton the SPINEBUSTER, but Gibson breaks up the cover. Now Ole tags in and goes up top, coming down with a knee to Morton’s arm. Ole continues with an armbar, and then the two men run into each other in the middle of the ring. Morton STILL can’t make the tag, as Arn tags in and puts him in a chinlock. Morton fights out of that and does the absolute best tag tease, but Ole cuts him off at the pass. HAHA. Morton gives Ole a small package for 2, and now all four men are fighting in the ring. Ole goes for a bodyslam, but Gibson dropkicks Morton, causing him to land on top of Ole. Earl Hebner counts…1-2-3! Huge pop, time of the fall 19:03.
Ole and Arn decide to continue beating up their opponents, until they can crawl out of the cage. But they’re champions, so….those beatings don’t matter.
My Thoughts: I thought it was amazing how Morton never even made the tag to win the match. Great finish, and the teasing of Morton finally making the tag was outstanding. They did it for so long. Props to Morton for doing such a good blade, too. His face was covered in blood. All in all, this was one of the best tag team cage matches that there has been. The Andersons were very evil in the match, constantly cheating, constantly keeping Morton from making the tag, and punishing him. So, I’d give this ****1/4 and a high recommendation. Everyone should watch this match. Ole and Arn were a great team, and so were their opponents. It’s even more noticeable when watching them semi-regularly.
Nikita Koloff (United States Champion) vs. Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: Over to Atlanta for the main event. This is the first chance I’ve had to see Nikita wrestle as a babyface, as such it will be interesting to see how much people believe in him. This should have been Magnum TA’s night, but that wasn’t to be. I have no doubt he would have won the World Title either on that night, or in the next few months. Sadly, they show a Magnum TA video before the match. I don’t really have anything to say about that, except that it brought me down a bit when I’m in a pretty good mood. Nikita got booed a lot during his entrance.
Match Review: We begin with Nikita shoving Flair super hard to the canvas a few times. Flair walks out of the ring to get his bearings, then comes back in and chops Nikita. Nikita no-sells it amazingly, so Flair leaves the ring again. Flair tries a wristlock when he comes back in, but gets pushed down again…so he tells Nikita, “you’re gonna get your ass kicked now brother.” Haha. Nikita gives Flair two hip-tosses and a bodyslam, which serves to get over his strength. After another bodyslam, Flair begs for time, which he kind of gets. Nikita puts Flair in a bear hug for a short bit, then misses a charge to the corner. So Flair gives him a suplex, showing great strength in delaying it. Nikita no-sells, and Flair heads out of the ring again, then hops the guardrail over to the crowd. The cops are there to make sure nobody does anything dumb, which is a neat touch. Adds a realistic aspect to it. Flair gets back in and chops away at his Soviet opponent, which works for him. Nikita comes back with a choke though. I guess he doesn’t know how to work as a babyface. Then he goes for a clothesline, and flies over the top rope as Flair gets out of the way. That looked like a really rough bump. Flair then rams Nikita’s leg into the ring post, and clips his leg. He locks in the figure-four very quickly, and cheats by holding the ropes. I hate seeing the figure-four used in this way, as a non-finisher. It’s far too early to be a finisher. Nikita reverses and gets out of it, but Flair is still in control, until Nikita starts no-selling that is. The look on his face is amazing. He takes Flair down with a shoulderblock, then tries to do it again, but Flair uses his experience to move out of the way and allow Nikita to charge his way out of the ring. Nikita gets rammed into the scaffold now…I’m counting on blood after that. Of course there is, but it isn’t a crazy amount. Flair drops a knee for a 2 count, then gives the challenger a back suplex for 2 as well. Nikita charges back and gives Flair a bodyslam, and a hip-toss. Nikita looks a bit tired. He sends Flair into the corner, and Flair flips over to the outside, where Nikita follows him to. Nikita sends Flair into the scaffold this time, and our great champion is bleeding as well. Flair crawls back into the ring, only to be rammed into the turnbuckle as the match is losing a little steam. Come on guys, get back to business. Nikita hits Flair with a big flying shouldertackle, which also knocks Tommy Young down to the arena floor. Here comes the good stuff. Nikita gets whipped into the corner and comes out of it with a RUSSIAN SICKLE, but there isn’t a referee. Poor Nikita. Flair knees Nikita in the back and the other referee counts, but only for 2. Flair shoots Nikita into the ropes now, and the other referee gets hit with the RUSSIAN SICKLE. This got amazing quite quickly. Nikita pushes Tommy Young down to the canvas a few times, and the bell is tolled at 19:12. It’s a double disqualification, which doesn’t seem right…but that’s what it was.
Of course, after the bell rings, the two keep it going. Two guys run in to break it up, and Nikita takes them both out with clotheslines. Bill Dundee, Big Bubba, and Jimmy Garvin runs down to the ring to hold Nikita in place for Flair to beat him up, then some other guys come out. Bobby Jaggers, Ron Garvin, Brad Armstrong, and Dutch Mantell come out to try breaking up the fight…this is hilarious. Great pull apart brawl. Of course, after that is a highlights package, and Starrcade 1986 is over!
My Thoughts: There was a flaw in the post-match, which was that the other three Horsemen were in Greensboro. Obviously they couldn’t put all the star power on one half of the card, but that’s the problem with split site shows. It should have been the Horsemen going out there to beat up Nikita. But it’s a minor flaw, instead most of the mid-card wrestlers who were involved in matches went out there to fight each other. As for the match, while Nikita’s offense was limited, it did the job. Flair sold for him as only Ric Flair could do, and the slower bits near the end of the match turned out to be due to both wrestlers making sure they had something left for the post-match. All in all, this was a much better main event than the previous year’s Starrcade, and one of, if not the best match of Nikita Koloff’s career. ***3/4, and certainly recommended.
This was a textbook example of card building. Start with some minor stuff to get the crowd going, and building up heat. It was different than the modern show in that the opener wasn’t considered to be one of the more important parts of the card. It was…an opener with guys nobody cared about. Match #2 introduced more and more people the audience was familiar with, and we went from there. I think Atlanta got a far better show than Greensboro did, but the fans were able to watch both parts of the show from the arenas. So it doesn’t matter. Regardless, wow. This was an excellent card. I guess you could say “but there were only two highly rated matches,” but it isn’t always about how good the matches are. It can be about the finishes of them, what the outlook is going forward, and if they were matches you wanted to see. In all three categories I think Dusty Rhodes did a great job booking the show. Next time out, I’ll be reviewing SNME #8. Hard to believe that I’ve watched so many of those already!
Best: The Minnesota Wrecking Crew vs. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express. Outstanding match.
Worst: Paul Jones vs. Jimmy Valiant. And you know, that bump Jim Cornette took? That.
Card Rating: 9/10. Pacing is a major factor in that. Other than Starrcade 1983, this may be the best one. At 3 hours and 51 minutes, set a lot of time aside to watch this, or check it out in parts. Like I did!
