Jim Crockett Promotions (1935-1988)

[BruiserBrody]

The WON notes from early 85 claim Dusty wanted Steamboat to turn heel and that was partly why he left for WWF.
I'm not sure I believe it as I don't think that's ever come out since, but in some way I can see it if Dusty was actually looking to move Steamboat out of the way as a babyface. (Steamboat has said he quit due to feuding with Tully and failing at the blow off, so Tully could stay strong for Rhodes.)

 

[BruiserBrody]

September — Harley Race meets with Andre the Giant multiple times in Japan to attempt to persuade him to leave the WWF, but Andre declines to do so. [WON 1985-10-06]

I'm not sure where Andre fits at Starrcade 85. He only had 8 months left in the tank at this point, and I'm not sure anybody realized it.

Dusty would probably book he and Andre in handicap matches with the Horsemen ASAP after Starrcade.

The size of merch checks Andre got from 84 was probably enough for him to scoff at any other offers.

 

[BruiserBrody]

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Edit- If Kamala and I stop posting the silly/historical Tweet stuff this board is down to about 3 threads bumped a day. For better or worse, we are the only dorks posting shit. The cool kids are in chat.

Brodydamus
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Today is the anniversary of the Shitshow that was Bunkhouse Stampede 88

Show should have been something like
Flair vs Sting (Sting was getting house show shots) Don't go 45 but put Sting over to set up the Clash.
Luger vs Horseman paid hitman Kevin Sullivan
Ole and his grudging partner Ron Garvin vs Tully and Arn in a taped fist Texas Tornado non title tag
Dusty and Nikita vs Mid Express
Windham vs Larry Z
Roadies and POP are in the Bunkhouse to continue that angle.

In the weeks and days before the show the RnR Express quit, Bubba quit, PS Hayes was fired and Dr Death was arrested

 

[Valeyard]

Bunkhouse Stampede is a show i find super easy to watch and I don't know why. It's booked like I would've with my action figures.

 

[JHawk]

Bunkhouse is hurt by the fact that they did a house show in Orlando the same night for some reason so you're working with a split crew to begin with.

I'd give Steve Williams his promised NWA-UWF unification match with Flair, do the unificiation for NWA-UWF tag titles, put a few different people into the stampede, and then you can even keep Nikita-Eaton and Windham-Zbyszko and it's a better show.

 

[strummer]

The dark match for Bunkhouse Stampede?

Sting and Jimmy Garvin v The Sheepherders!?!?!

 

[JHawk]

The dark match for Bunkhouse Stampede?

Sting and Jimmy Garvin v The Sheepherders!?!?!

Which actually exists on tape, I have it on a hard drive

 

[BruiserBrody]

Bunkhouse is hurt by the fact that they did a house show in Orlando the same night for some reason so you're working with a split crew to begin with.

I'd give Steve Williams his promised NWA-UWF unification match with Flair, do the unificiation for NWA-UWF tag titles, put a few different people into the stampede, and then you can even keep Nikita-Eaton and Windham-Zbyszko and it's a better show.

The dark match for Bunkhouse Stampede?

Sting and Jimmy Garvin v The Sheepherders!?!?!

Doc was suspended/fired over his drug bust.

Sheepherders were supposed to work the R n R Express but they quit over Ricky being asked to have the Sheepwackers cut their hair. Morton and Dusty were at odds over other things as well.

Sheepherders never got a UWF vs NWA tag title unification, so we could have gotten a heel vs heel unification here too.

I wonder if they could have tried to catch lightning in a bottle and do Flair vs Luger here with Luger winning the belt to try and shake up the dying house show attendance and TV ratings? Flair would have probably had a meltdown and really would have been at Summerslam 88.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1884650802771329161

So they threw this out here on free TV, almost WWF SNME style where the feud was blown off at the house shows (Not to mention Starrcade 86) so they could play up a big "free" match. (I wouldn't air a gimmick match either way to try and entice people to see it again later) Plus the build to Starrcade was Dennis and Bobby are going to die! And now we see the match happened multiple times and nobody died but Corny's knees.

The camera work managed to miss both heels actual bumps, and they cut away almost as soon as the match was over.

Edit: I looked it up and this aired a week later as part of the SuperTowns of the Superstation special, so at least it wasn't just on a random NWA Main Event on Sunday night or something.

 

[BruiserBrody]

JCP @ Long Island, NY – Nassau Coliseum – November 25, 1987 (11,500)
NWA World Champion Ron Garvin, Dusty Rhodes, NWA Western States Heritage Champion Barry Windham, Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson defeated Big Bubba, NWA Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard, NWA US Tag Team Champions Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane in Wargames when Eaton submitted to Rhodes’ figure-4

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I'm sure Dusty thought the Bunkhouse Stampede would be enough of a draw to carry a PPV, but putting War Games on PPV for the first time may have been the play.

Based on the storylines: Dusty, Nikita, Hawk, Animal and Ron Garvin vs Eaton, Lane, Tully, Arn and Flair sounds like a good idea. If they want to hot shot Sting (who was getting title shots at house shows) then ship Ronnie out of there. I'd love to have put Bubba in it, but he quit over his Starrcade payoff.

So that leaves:
Barry Windham vs Larry Z
Luger vs ________ (I'll stick with my Horsemen hired gun idea I used last time I talked about this card) So I'll put Dick Murdoch here to get a good match out of Luger. Plus you can play up Corny and JJ making a deal for this match while signing up for the War Games partnership.
Sting vs Eddie Gilbert to blow off their break up.
Brad Armstrong/Tim Horner/Kendall Windham vs Sullivan/Rotundo and Rick Steiner to establish the new Varsity Club.
Ole Anderson vs Black Bart in a Taped Fist bounty match (Bart has history with JJ and Ole is feuding with the Horsemen)
Jimmy Garvin and Shane Douglas (Sub for the fired Michael Hayes) vs Sheepherders
Jimmy Valiant, Bugsy McGraw vs Powers of Pain (Horrible match but the PoP are feuding with the Roadies and need a pay day)
Ron Simmons vs The Terminator (Quickie Squash to get Simmons over.)


Damn with Dr Death, Hayes, the RnRs and Bubba all leaving in January this roster needs HELP.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Starrcade before the Starrcade

I think I have this show in full on DVD(?)