Sage Cortez
Starrcade is a-comin’, yes it is. We’re hitting a period of the NWA where I haven’t seen many of these matches or angles previously. There’s really no reason for that, I just haven’t. After a successful Great American Bash tour, the NWA was hit with the news that Starrcade was going to be counter programmed by Survivor Series. Obviously, that wasn’t great news, and I’ll add more on that later. For now, let’s get to the matches!
– Taped to air August 8th, 1987, on Worldwide Wrestling, from ?????
Dusty Rhodes vs. Lex Luger (w/JJ Dillon) for the NWA United States Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: More Dusty stuff, but this seems necessary. Dusty vs. Luger was the program heading into Starrcade, so it must be watched. The same logic will extend to other, worse title feuds in the future. Maybe not for the European Championship, but for the secondary title, absolutely.
Match Review: Luger’s posing gets love from the ladies, and heat from the men. Dusty’s mocking of Luger is very funny. Dusty really doesn’t want to have a test of strength with Luger, so after about 3 minutes of entertaining stalling, we’re ready for the match. Dusty arm drags Luger, then Luger comes back with a shot that puts Dusty down on the canvas for a fair bit. Luger does that again, then we go to a commercial as Dusty is in the middle of punching Luger.
Dusty has Luger’s leg locked up when we come back, but Luger breaks free and tosses Dusty to the outside. However, Dusty trips him, and rams his leg into the ring post. Back inside, Dusty takes Luger down with a shoulderblock, yet gets hit with a clothesline shortly after that. JJ kicks Dusty in the back as he’s on the floor, then Luger walks over to ram Dusty’s arm into the guardrail. Back inside, Luger continues that work, and pulls Dusty’s hair to drag him down to the canvas. I’ve just noticed that Teddy Long is the referee! Long won’t let Dusty punch Luger with a closed fist, so Luger is able to keep the armbar going. Dusty reaches the ropes, the hold is broken, and he chops Luger really hard a few times. Dusty tries an elbow drop, but he misses, and Luger puts him in a bear hug. That lasts for quite a while, giving me time to think about the cosmos and all that kind of stuff. How was life created? Why were humans the superior species? Why don’t we have fur? Dusty breaks out of the bear hug with a hip toss, but Luger puts it right back on him, so that was quite irrelevant. Dusty lands some elbows to permanently end the hold, but that knocked Luger into Teddy Long, causing Long to fall out of the ring. Dusty backdrops Luger over the top rope, then suplexes him back into the ring and covers…but there’s no referee. Well, damn. Dusty reverses a cross body, and gets a 3 count…is he the new United States Champion? Well, no. He backdropped Luger over the top rope, so he has been disqualified after a match that was about 12 minutes long. So, Dusty heads to the dressing room, and PUTS A SLEEPER ON LUGER.
My Thoughts: Way to make a superhuman looking guy like Luger look super bad. That’s what usually happens with Dusty’s angles, so it isn’t surprising, but he keeps becoming more and more intolerable in the ring. What’s going through my head right now, are the words “one year left.” That’s as long as I have to put up with this. *3/4 for the match, it was nothing spectacular, and certainly nothing that would get you excited about this feud going forward.
At this time, there was talk of the Road Warriors making the jump to the WWF. As we know, they’re really over. I think that it would have messed with Crockett’s business to a large degree if that move happened, but it didn’t. Also, they chose Chicago as the host of Starrcade, and declined to bring THE IRON SHEIK into the company.
– Taped to air August 29th, 1987, on NWA Pro, from Cumberland County Civic Center in Fayetteville, North Carolina
Nikita Koloff vs. Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) for the NWA Television Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: Haven’t had the opportunity to see many of Tully’s title defenses. Nor many Nikita vs. Tully matches. This is joined in progress.
Match Review: Nikita has Tully in a hammerlock when the clip starts, but that doesn’t last long and Nikita hits the champion with some clubbing blows. He puts Tully in a bear hug, but gets poked in the eye, forcing him to break it. Back to that bear hug we go, until Nikita gets poked in the eye once again. Nikita takes Tully down with a chokehold, then goes for a clothesline, only to miss and tumble over the top rope. Crowd is ridiculously heated after that. JJ kicks Nikita, then the challenger gets back in the ring, and gets choked. Nikita hits Tully with a clothesline coming out of the corner, but Dillon has the referee distracted, rendering any pinfall attempt irrelevant. Nikita goes to give Tully 10 punches in the corner, but instead lands 5 and we head to a commercial.
Tully has Nikita in a chinlock when we come back, but Nikita breaks it. He tries to give Tully a shoulderblock, but the champion moves out of the way and lets Nikita bull rush through the ropes to the outside. Tully follows, rams Nikita into a table, and gets onto the apron, to jump off of it with an elbow. Back inside, Tully covers for a very close 2 count. He takes Nikita down with a headlock, which leads to a bridge to a backslide spot, very impressive on Nikita’s part…it also gets 2. Nikita follows with an atomic drop, and that sends Tully to the outside. Nikita tries to suplex Tully back in, and does so for another close 2 count. Tully takes some moderate control with some hard chops, but Nikita no-sells those, and no-sells a clothesline as well.
After another commercial, we come back with Nikita in complete control of Tully. Tully headbutts Nikita in the gut, but he’s still not able to get anything going. Nikita hits him with a back elbow, then puts a figure-four on him. What? That’s so weird. JJ crawls into the ring to poke Nikita in the eye, and of course Earl Hebner did not spot that. Nikita bodyslams Tully, then hits him with a flying shoulderblock and covers again…for 2. Nikita tries a sunset flip, also getting 2. He gives Tully another atomic drop, which brings him close to JJ, and Nikita pulls JJ into the ring. He gives them a double noggin-knocker, and hits Tully with a back suplex that knocks Earl Hebner out of the ring. Here comes Arn Anderson, who slips Tully a foreign object. Oh no. Tully hits Nikita with that object, and covers…but Barry Windham enters the ring! He tells Hebner that Tully hit Nikita with a foreign object, and then Tully and Windham start brawling. Hebner separates them, and JJ rushes into the ring, so Nikita clotheslines him. He grabs that object, blasts Tully with it, and covers…for the win after 14 minutes! WHAT? WE HAVE A NEW CHAMPION!
The babyface brigade enters the ring to congratulate Nikita, and finally Tully’s reign of minimal accessible title defenses is over. Nikita’s promo after the match is awesome.
My Thoughts: That finish was a mess, but the match had the typical look of Tully winning in the most scumbag fashion possible. I can’t believe they didn’t overturn it! Finally a good booking decision made. This was also a really good match. Both guys worked very hard, with Nikita carrying the bulk of the work, and he looked like a great wrestler. That isn’t particularly commonplace from him, but Nikita was a lot better than he seems to get credit for. ***1/4 and recommended. At times, Tully can be average as a singles wrestler, but that wasn’t the case here.
– Taped to air September 19th, 1987, on World Championship Wrestling, from Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina
Barry Windham (UWF Western States Heritage Champion) vs. Lex Luger (w/JJ Dillon) for the NWA United States Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: This should be really, really good. First time seeing Windham compete in a little while.
Match Review: Luger stalls by posing, then is given an arm drag. That was a good counter to Luger rushing in with a punch. Windham uses Luger’s momentum to dump him to the outside, as Schiavone hypes a Arn & Tully vs. Rock ‘n’ Roll Express match that I cannot watch. What a bummer. The two men lock up, and Windham bodyslams his opponent, gives him a dropkick, and Luger bails to the outside. Back inside, they lock up again, and Windham throws Luger into the corner. He also backdrops Luger, and Luger has to leave the ring again. Say whatever you want about Luger, but this guy was really good in the ring at this point. He bumps around like a true veteran, certainly not like a primadonna. Luger tries a wristlock now, then pulls Windham’s hair to knock him down. To the armbar we go, but Windham breaks out and turns things into a wristlock of his own. He leg drops the arm, but misses a dropkick. Luger drops Windham throat-first onto the top rope, and that gets a 2 count as we head to a commercial.
Back from that commercial, Luger is making a cover for 2. Windham heads to the apron, and sunset flips his way in for a 2 count of his own. Luger comes back with a swinging neckbreaker, as 10 minutes have expired…and that also got a 2 count. Luger puts Windham in a bear hug, and that’s a good resting move for somebody with his muscles to use. It looks like an impressive hold. Windham reverses it into a belly to belly suplex, which gets 2, but Luger is still up for the fight. He gouges Windham’s eyes, and then they collide in the middle of the ring. Luger gets up first, tries an elbow drop, and misses. No surprise there. Now they brawl, with Windham getting the better of it. He takes Luger down and tries a figure-four, but Luger blocks it. Now Windham tries a suplex and gives it to his opponent. Windham tries a diving headbutt, but wipes out. Luger is clearly sucking wind now, so Windham gives him a small package for 2. Windham hits Luger with a running elbow, and heads up to the top…and comes down with a missile dropkick. That’s a great move for him to use. JJ pulls Windham out of the ring during the cover, and summarily gets punched by the challenger. Windham gets back into the ring, and now Arn Anderson is at ringside. The referees make Arn leave, but he trips Windham while leaving. Luger goes for a cover, but Earl Hebner interrupts Tommy Young’s count, and Windham is awarded the winner via disqualification, at 11:58. Good job, Arn.
After the match, Arn and Luger are double teaming Windham. Luger puts Windham in the TORTURE RACK, and eventually the RnR Express hits the ring to put an end to that.
My Thoughts: This match was really good, even better than the last one. I didn’t quite expect it to be, but Luger was good at this point and Windham was excellent. So, any match between the two should be really good. I think this should have been the US Championship program heading into Starrcade, but Dusty had to be going for a belt. ***1/2 and recommended for this. It was very entertaining and not too long at all.
After this show, Manny Fernandez left the company. Rick Rude leaving really screwed up whatever plans they had for him, which is too bad.
– September 22nd, 1987, from the Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida
Dusty Rhodes vs. Lex Luger (w/JJ Dillon) for the NWA United States Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: Yeah, I’m sorry to inflict another Dusty vs. Luger match upon myself, but this one is pretty important. At least I’m not watching it on the same day that I watched the first one. This bout furthered the story along. The ring here is like…Mickey Mouse small. It’s absurd. BILL ALFONSO is the referee.
Match Review: They do the usual thing of Luger being scared of Dusty’s elbows, same shtick I’ve seen time and time again. They lock up, Luger punches Dusty, and then runs away. The same thing happens once again, and then a third time. Dusty forces Luger to miss the third time, then hits him with his big elbow. He gives JJ the same, and we go to a commercial. I hate when they do that.
I don’t think any of the match was clipped, which is cool. Dusty has Luger in a headlock, then takes Luger down with a shoulderblock and tries to follow that with a sleeper, but Luger leaves the ring. Back inside, Luger takes Dusty down, and misses a knee drop. Dusty puts the figure-four on him, but JJ reaches in and gouges Dusty’s eyes. Ha. Luger chases Dusty around the ring, and attacks him from behind. He sends Dusty into the ring post, and JJ HITS DUSTY WITH A SHOE. Luger tosses Dusty back into the ring, which is where he throws Dusty’s head into a turnbuckle. After a knee drop, we go to another ad break!
Back from that break, Luger has Dusty in a chinlock. Dusty breaks out, punches Luger, and tries to drop an elbow, but misses. Luger puts Dusty in a bear hug, and Dusty breaks it with some elbows. Dusty puts Luger in a SLEEPER, and that infuriates JJ. So, he gets in the ring and hits Dusty from behind. That gets Luger disqualified after 12 minutes.
Luger and Dusty brawl in the ring, then JJ begins to stomp on Dusty. Bill Alfonso gets pushed to the canvas, and that pisses off old school guy JOHNNY WEAVER. He gets in the ring, puts a sleeper on JJ, and Dusty clears Luger from the ring. Poor JJ.
My Thoughts: This wasn’t better than their first match. So, I’m just going to take it for what it was. An angle to get some juice on the feud after a match that wasn’t better than their first match. *1/2. I’m not sure if Luger and Dusty can have a good match with each other. I’ll find out at Starrcade.
– September 25th, 1987, from Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan
Ron Garvin vs. Ric Flair in a STEEL CAGE MATCH for the NWA Heavyweight Championship
For whatever reason, I can’t find this whole match. That’s extremely annoying, and frankly pretty stupid. I’m not sure they ever aired the whole match. Anyway, the clip I’m watching starts off with Garvin and Flair chopping each other as hard as they can. Then it cuts to the end of the match, as Garvin is giving Flair…THE GARVIN STOMP. Flair heads to the top rope, and Garvin slams him down. He gives Flair a suplex, which gets 2. Garvin also lands an elbow drop, which gets another 2 count. Garvin no-sells some chops, and backdrops the champion. Flair tries to leave the cage, but Garvin follows him, so…he rams Flair’s head into the top of the fence. Flair crotches himself and falls into the ring, and Garvin flies off the top rope with a sunset flip that wins him the NWA CHAMPIONSHIP! Er…did anyone see that coming? Obviously, they put the belt on Garvin to build heat on the Starrcade PPV. There were quite a few reasons for that. One was that they needed a heated program for their direct competition with the WWF. The other was that they didn’t want to run Ric Flair as the champion on a 4th Starrcade in a row. It was expected that the WWF would be a higher priority for cable companies than Starrcade, and because of the WWF threatening to not offer WrestleMania if those companies didn’t carry Survivor Series, that was the case. Sadly, Flair vs. Garvin was one of the only main event options they had heading in.
– Taped to air October 3rd, 1987, on NWA Pro, from Misenheimer, North Carolina
Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) vs. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express for the NWA Tag Team Championships
Pre-Match Thoughts: This should be good. There’s also an angle going on here, and that is made clear during a promo before the match. The Midnight Express is irate that their US Tag Team Championships haven’t put them in position to be #1 contenders for the RnR’s belts. Jim Cornette says that Morton’s dad is an alcoholic. HAHA. Morton walks out and slugs Cornette, and we think that’s that. However, during the RnR’s ring entrance, the Midnight Express jumps them from behind and destroys them. Eaton gives Morton a single arm DDT, and Morton has to be helped back to the match. JJ is upset because his team is supposed to be competing for the titles, and he has a valid point. CONTRACTS.
Match Review: Gibson shows up, and gives the impression that he’ll wrestle the match by himself. He takes out Tully with a dropkick, then hits Arn with a punch, and slams Tully. Gibson follows with a knee drop for a 1 count, and Tully makes his departure, tagging in Arn. Gibson hits Arn with an enziguri, which causes Arn to get advice in his corner. Hm. Gibson takes Arn down with a drop toe-hold, then continues that work with a spinning toe-hold. TOE-HOLDS. Arn reaches his corner and tags out, then we go to a commercial. The lone downside of long TV matches is the commercials.
We come back with Gibson being worked over, and Tully giving him a backbreaker. Tully drops some elbows for a 2 count, then tags in the Enforcer. Arn gives Gibson a SPINEBUSTER, which gets another near fall. Well, damn. Tully tags in, suplexes Gibson, and follows that with an elbow drop. Arn comes back in, and goes for a backdrop, but Gibson gives him a sunset flip that goes nowhere. Arn tagged out, you see. Gibson goes for a tag of his own, but there’s nobody there to tag. Tully gives Gibson a really sloppy piledriver, for 2. Then, to save his partner, here comes RICKY MORTON! He goes over to the apron, with his arm in a sling, and stands on the apron. Morton makes the tag in, tries to beat up both Horsemen with one arm, and does so for a bit. Eventually, Arn Anderson attacks him from behind, and rips apart that sling. He works over Morton’s arm, then tosses him shoulder-first into Tully’s knee. Tully puts Morton in an armbar, and Gibson tells the referee to stop the match, so that’s it after about 7 minutes. We have new tag team champions!
My Thoughts: Well, that had to be the way the Express lost the tag team titles. Never clean, and in the worst way possible. Two teams beat them, and the Horsemen reaped the rewards. Flair loses his belt, Tully loses his belt, and they gain two belts. The match was ** or so, but the angle was great. The crowd was irate about the way Arn & Tully won those titles. I think the Express were great champions in the time that they held the belts off and on. There was more fun in the chase, but they had plenty of good matches and the crowd really loved them. This was the last time they’d lose those tag team titles, and they begin the slow fade from here. At least they have a vendetta with the Midnight Express heading into Starrcade. And a scaffold match is coming!
– October 7th, 1987, from Cleveland, Ohio
Tully Blanchard (NWA Tag Team Champion, w/JJ Dillon) vs. Ron Garvin for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: Jim Ross was on the Great American Bash tape, but I haven’t heard his voice on NWA TV…UNTIL NOW! This was at a dual NWA/UWF taping, and it may not have been his first time on TV, but it’s the first time I’m hearing him. So glad to hear the great Jim Ross on commentary. This may have been Garvin’s only televised (not on PPV) title defense.
Match Review: Our two combatants lock up, and not for the first time. I remember their classic match. So, they chop each other as hard as possible outside the ring, and get back in to continue the stiff chops. This is kind of a mess at first. Tully trips Garvin, then Garvin kicks out…while this is going on, Jim Ross hypes a Nassau Coliseum show. More on that later. Tully takes Garvin down and puts him in a chinlock, then knees him in the back. Now they trade punches and chops again, and Garvin lands some stiff looking jabs. Tully finds a way to dump Garvin to the outside, but Garvin chops him again. Back inside, Garvin rams Tully into the turnbuckle, but Tully takes control and goes for a figure-four. Garvin reverses into a pin for 2, and climbs the turnbuckles to give Tully some punches. Tommy Young pulls Garvin away, so Garvin pushes him down. For whatever reason he doesn’t get disqualified, and Tully nails Garvin with JJ Dillon’s shoe. Then we head to commercial!
Tully takes Garvin down with a headlock, and Garvin bridges to a backslide for a 2 count. That spot always gets a pop. Garvin chops away, but Tully comes back and heads up top. Garvin slams him down, and lands THE HANDS OF STONE. JJ gets hit with THE HANDS OF STONE, at which point Luger and Flair dive into the ring, getting Blanchard disqualified after 6 minutes. Flair and Garvin brawl outside of the ring, with Flair busting Garvin open with a post shot. They all continue to open up Garvin, and this segment is getting a ton of heat. So, THE ROAD WARRIORS enter the ring, and take care of Flair and Luger. FUCK THOSE FOUR HORSEMEN, BROTHER.
My Thoughts: Great TV match and angle. It was only 10 minutes long in total, but it put a lot of sympathy on Garvin, and it made the Road Warriors look really good in saving him. It also made Luger and Blanchard look great to be involved with taking out Garvin. On top of that, they set up eventual challengers for Flair with the Road Warriors being involved. If Garvin had kept the belt, the same thing would apply to Blanchard and Luger, but that was never the intention. Garvin and Blanchard were a perfect match in the ring. Similar height, similar build, and a rugged look. It was super easy for them to maintain heat. **3/4 and considering this angle extends to the Bunkhouse Stampede show as well as Starrcade, it is very much recommended.
Sadly, Garvin’s reign as champion turned out to be a complete bust. Attendance wise, the company was really been hurt by his selection. Not that they had a different choice, other than for Flair to keep the belt. As for the Nassau Coliseum show mentioned on commentary, they decided they were going to run a show in Vince’s territory the night before Starrcade. This was due to their receiving TV carriage in New York for syndicated programs, and in the long run, they wound up running Bunkhouse Stampede from there as well.
– October 17th, 1987, on World Championship Wrestling, from WTBS Studios in Atlanta, Georgia
Thunderfoot #1 & Robbie Idol vs. THE FABULOUS FREEBIRDS (w/Precious)
Pre-Match Thoughts: Finally! It’s the Hayes and Garvin incarnation of the Freebirds! I don’t really care about the match, this is merely a vehicle to listen to BADSTREET USA, the best theme in the history of wrestling! Not to mention, there isn’t a whole lot of match selection from October or November anyway.
Match Review: Hayes and Thunderfoot start, and Hayes slams Thunderfoot. Garvin tags in, takes down Thunderfoot with some arm work, and tags in Idol. Jobbers are usually hilarious to me. Hayes gives Idol a bulldog, and that’s it at 1:18.
After the match, Hayes and Garvin give their promo for Starrcade. They will be teaming up with Sting to face Eddie Gilbert, Rick Steiner, and Larry Zbyszko. Sounds interesting!
– Taped to air November 7th, 1987, on Worldwide Wrestling, from Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina
Hiro Matsuda (w/JJ Dillon) vs. Dusty Rhodes (w/Johnny Weaver)
Even though Dusty was facing Luger at Starrcade, they brought Matsuda in for an angle. The angle was that his sleeper was better than Johnny Weaver’s because it put him to sleep. Weaver taught Rhodes his sleeper. So, Dusty had to face Matsuda in a match. Pretty simple!
So, what we get to see, are clips. Very Florida style of JCP. Matsuda throws powder or salt in Dusty’s eyes, then the rest of this video is awesomely hilarious. Matsuda gives Dusty a nervehold by the tit, Dusty fires back with some punches and an elbow, then JJ gets upset. He tries to punch Weaver, misses, and gets put in a sleeper. Lex Luger runs into the ring, beats up Dusty, then rushes outside to beat up Weaver. Luger holds Dusty in place for the TIT HOLD, then Luger clears some guys out of the ring and that’s that. I’m sure that was a sorry match if that wasn’t the full version of it, but that was a good angle. If it gets heat on the match and isn’t offensive, it works for me. This was hilarious.
And that’s that! Unlike PPV’s of this era, there were no unannounced matches heading into Starrcade. They even announced a couple of matches for the syndicated locations. I’m going to talk about the wavering on when this show was going to air in my next article, but I think the build was all in all pretty good. There wasn’t a lot of stuff to review, but that’s part and parcel for this format. You hope to find something, and if you do, it’s great. If you can’t and if you’ve seen it before, you find a way to write about it anyway. That’s the consolation aspect. Still, I’m very much looking forward to that Starrcade/Survivor Series night. Haven’t decided upon the order in which they’ll be reviewed, but I’ll come up with something. Next up is October and November from the WWF. Hope you guys are watching some of these links!
Best: BarryWindham vs. Lex Luger. It ruled.
Worst: Ron Garvin as champion. I liked Ron Garvin’s work, but this kinda sucked.
