Sage Cortez
It seems like its been a long time, but over to the NWA we go! Starrcade was a difficult show for the NWA, with a lack of financial success coming as a result of the circumstances. They’re desperate, and it’s time for the usual thing to start happening when a wrestling company gets desperate. Flailing around! Let’s see if that happens!
– December 2nd, 1987, from the Knight Center, in Miami, Florida
Lex Luger & the Four Horsemen
I would not have seen this coming. So, to start off this video, JJ Dillon is in full blown 10/10 recapping mode. Nobody else in the business could have done something like this to this extent. Then, we cut to the clip of what actually happened, during a Bunkhouse Stampede match. The guys left at the finish of the match were Tully Blanchard, JJ Dillon, Lex Luger, and Arn Anderson. Tully and Arn self eliminate, but Luger has absolutely zero interest in that. He throws JJ out, and wins the match. Then, Tully runs in, and Luger gives him a press slam. A clothesline for Arn, and a powerslam too! He puts Arn in the TORTURE RACK, and Tully hits Luger in the knee with a chair. Arn drops a leg from the second rope on that knee, and it’s obvious that Luger is no longer part of the Four Horsemen. Too bad for him. Arn’s promo after the video clip is great. “YOU’RE IN NO MAN’S LAND NOW, FELLA.” This was followed up by…
Luger puts himself over as being more dedicated to his profession than the Horsemen, which sounds like BS knowing what we know, but it’s a good idea for a storyline. I think this was a great idea, providing JCP with a much needed option to be their top babyface. They didn’t have one previously, and that’s reflected by Road Warrior Hawk challenging for the NWA Championship at the next PPV. Granted, Luger wasn’t great on the microphone, and he didn’t have what it takes to carry the business, but against someone like Flair, he was certainly a good fit for the role required of him. Solid B-side guy.
– Taped to air December 5th, 1987, on NWA Pro, from Monroe, Louisiana
Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (NWA Tag Team Champions, w/JJ Dillon) vs. Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is a non-title match. So under current WWE logic, does this mean Hayes and Garvin are going to win? Earlier in the show, Anderson and Blanchard were interviewed, and they talked about how often they win matches. Jim Crockett was mad about what they said, so this current match was granted.
Match Review: This thing kicks off with the show coming out of commercial, and both teams brawling on the floor. Hayes is paired off with Anderson, and Garvin with Blanchard. Finally, Garvin and Tully get in the ring, and work on a real match. Garvin slams Tully, then holds him up for Hayes to hit. Hayes tags in, and trades punches with Tully until Tully tags out. Now that Arn is in, he misses a knee drop, and Hayes puts a figure-four on him. Garvin and Tully rush in, and then Garvin has one on Tully. It’s hilarious how that spot causes fans to react. The two Horsemen break free, and Tully clotheslines Hayes. After an elbow drop, Tully covers for 2. He puts Hayes in a chinlock, but Hayes breaks out and makes the tag to Garvin. Garvin takes Tully down, drops a knee, and puts his own chinlock on the champion, as we head to a commercial.
It’s strange to see a heel in peril tag match, but that’s what this is. Tully goes for a suplex on Garvin, but Hayes rushes in and prevents it. Now all four wrestlers are in, until Tully throws Garvin over the top rope. Good thing the referee didn’t see that! Arn makes a legal tag in, and heads outside to ram Garvin into the guardrail. Back inside, Arn continues his work, until tagging in his partner. Arn puts a chinlock on Garvin, but Garvin gets out and sneaks through Arn’s legs to make a tag. Hayes gives Arn a bulldog, and the referee takes time to clear the ring so Hayes can make the cover. That was pretty dumb on the referee’s part, because it gave Tully time to hit Hayes with JJ Dillon’s shoe, leading to a disqualification after about 6:50.
My Thoughts: Honestly, I was kind of bored by that. It was very chinlocky, despite the action on display. Of course, Hayes and Garvin aren’t the most entertaining of tag teams, so what happened is merely to be expected. *1/2.
– December, 1987
Flair & Michael Hayes
I don’t know what day this is from, but I thought it was worth sharing. This is a good example of Flair making his opponent appear to be on his level, even when they aren’t. This built towards a match at the Omni between the two, which Hayes lost. Now, based on this battle, you’d think that Hayes would have been a massive star in this promotion. Yet, he wasn’t.
– Taped to air December 12th, 1987, on NWA Pro, from the Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia
Mike Rotunda & Ricky Santana vs. The Midnight Express (US Tag Team Champions, w/Jim Cornette)
So, with Rotunda, for a little while Kevin Sullivan had been crapping on him. He had said that Rotunda had nothing going on, basically calling him boring. David Crockett had a really hard time not laughing at that, when it happened.
The video I have jumped to the middle of the match. Nothing wrong with that, but now I’m not actually reviewing the match. Santana was being beaten up by Stan Lane, while on the other side of the ring, Rotunda was being harassed by Kevin Sullivan. Santana went for a tag multiple times, and Rotunda wasn’t in the corner because of his argument with Sullivan. Santana then gets a last chance to tag, and Rotunda was drawn off the apron again. Haha. Santana gets pinned, and ROTUNDA LEAVES WITH SULLIVAN. This is the genesis of…THE VARSITY CLUB. Not going to make judgments until I see how it works out.
– Taped to air December 19th, 1987, on NWA Pro, from Raleigh, North Carolina
Mike Rotunda (w/Kevin Sullivan) vs. Nikita Koloff for the NWA Television Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: I don’t have the arena name. This is a pretty big match for Rotunda, with it being on syndicated TV in a big promotion, and all. This has a time limit of 20 minutes, but I doubt that will be reached. I usually find Rotunda very boring.
Match Review: They two men lock up, exchange go-behinds, and Nikita then slams the challenger. He also gives Rotunda a hip toss, and we go to commercial. That may be a new record for quick cut to a commercial.
Back from that commercial, Nikita has Rotunda in a headlock. Rotunda breaks out, lands some EUROPEAN UPPERCUTS, and misses a charge to the corner. Nikita puts the headlock back on, which serves to put over his power. Nikita blocks a backdrop attempt with a kick, and that gets 2. Rotunda comes back with a sunset flip for 2, then he and Nikita collide with each other. Nikita goes out of the ring, and now for whatever reason, Sullivan pushes Rotunda down to the canvas. Nikita rolls Rotunda up, and gets the pinfall win after about 5 minutes. Very weird match!
After the bout, Sullivan attacks Koloff. He ties him up in the corner, and lands a few boots. He’s trying to teach Rotunda to do that, and HE DOES. THE TUTORING OF A HEEL IS UNDERWAY. Rotunda continues to beat Nikita up, but Nikita fires off some punches to break free.
My Thoughts: This is obviously building to something else. I’ll reserve judgment until then. The match was a nothing event, * at most, but that’s all it was supposed to be. I’m looking forward to the longer match that will occur as a result of Rotunda’s actions here.
– Taped to air January 2nd, 1988, on World Wide Wrestling, from Albany, Georgia
Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (NWA Tag Team Champions) vs. Dusty Rhodes (NWA US Champion) & Nikita Koloff (NWA TV Champion)
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is a non-title match. This is also a hell of a match for syndicated TV. My video quality is crap, but I don’t even care, I’m pumped up for this match. It’s one of the biggest matches they could have made.
Match Review: Tully and Nikita will start the match, and Tully gets shoved down to the canvas. Nikita then chases Tully around the ring, and back inside, he bodyslams him. Arn tags in, and ducks out when he realizes Nikita is about to hit him. That’s smart! And in typical NWA fashion, we go to a commercial.
Back from that commercial, it appears that Dusty beat people up. He gives Tully an atomic drop to knock him into Arn, and puts a figure-four on Tully as well. Arn comes in to break the hold, and also makes a tag in. Dusty catches Arn’s attempt at a big boot, and drops an elbow on Arn’s leg. Arn rakes Dusty’s eyes to force him to let go, then blocks a Dusty attempt at a shoulder charge in the corner. Arn heads up top, Dusty slams him down, and the flow of the match continues. Dusty hits Arn with a clothesline, and puts a chinlock on him. I wonder if the clothesline spot was supposed to be a sleeper spot.
After another commercial, Arn clearly has control of Dusty. They cheat for leverage on an armbar, and Tully tags in to continue the arm work, with a hammerlock. Arn switches back in, and comes off the second rope with a blow to the arm. Dusty breaks free with some chops, but can’t make the tag. When Tully comes in, Dusty hits him with a bodypress, for a 2 count. Arn takes his place back in the ring, and back to the armbar he goes. Dusty fights back again, and the same thing happens to him again when Tully tags in. Tully goes for the slingshot suplex, but Dusty reverses it into a suplex of his own. Arn heads in, and Dusty hits him with a DDT. Now Dusty FINALLY makes the tag. Nikita comes in, and gives Tully an elbow. Both guys also get bodyslammed, and Nikita hits Tully with 5 punches in the corner. He gets whipped into the opposite corner, and comes out of it with THE SICKLE on Tully. Arn breaks the cover, throws Nikita over the top rope, and for once it gets spotted. In the NWA, that’s a disqualification, after a match that was about 11 minutes long.
Ric Flair comes out of the back, and he attacks Nikita, as the two Horsemen in the ring deal with Dusty. Then, to a huge ovation, Lex Luger runs in, and starts brawling with Arn Anderson! He chases Arn through the crowd to the back, and that’s it!
My Thoughts: This match was nothing special, but the post-match was excellent. The crowd was into it all along. Maybe my problem was the video quality, but I don’t believe so. I’ll give this **. I’m really liking where this Luger thing is headed.
– Taped to air January 2nd, 1988, on NWA Pro, from St. Louis Arena in St. Louis, Missouri
Sting vs. Ric Flair for the NWA Heavyweight Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: I believe this is the first time they locked horns, and I have the video! Sting against Flair is always such a big deal to me, so it’s weird to see it from a different perspective in which Sting is wholly expected to lose clean. If that happens, I’ll be surprised though.
Match Review: Flair gets in Sting’s face, feeling up his arms and trying to intimidate him. Creepy. They lock up, and drive each other back to the corner, where Flair lands hard chops. He also lands a shoulderblock, but Sting comes back with a press slam. Flair has to take a break due to that, which again serves to get over how strong Sting is. Flair was so good at making everyone look legitimate, and that was a good example. Back inside, they lock up again, and Sting gives him another press slam! Sting misses a charge to the corner, and Flair comes back with a delayed vertical suplex. Sting no-sells that suplex, and Flair bails out again. That was great. Then, they do a bit where Flair and referee Theodore Long push each other, and Long runs to hide behind Sting. That was different. Sting no-sells a chop, and Flair goes to hide in the corner. You can see Sting’s “it factor” already. Flair takes Sting down after ramming him into the buckle, and misses a knee drop. Sting puts a sleeper on Flair, and after a great opening segment, we go to a commercial!
Flair has control of Sting after a missed splash attempt by the challenger, and puts a wristlock on him. Flair pulls hair to bring Sting down, and uses the ropes to cheat. Eventually Sting gets up, and after being chopped, he grabs Flair by the throat until being hit with a low blow. Not too many ball shots in the 80’s! Flair goes with a knee-breaker next, and locks on the FIGURE-FOUR. He cheats, which is no surprise at all. Will Long spot it? The answer is no, because Sting winds up reversing the hold. Flair and Sting unlock their legs, and Sting gets dumped down to the floor. Flair follows him, and chops him, before sending him back in. In that ring, Flair continues to work on Sting’s injured leg. Sting comes back with a bodypress for 2, and he turns a hip toss attempt into a backslide for another 2 count. Sting hits Flair with a clothesline as well, but Flair gets up first. He tries to suplex Sting to the floor, but Sting blocks it and gives Flair a suplex of his own. And that’s the end of the show! WHAT THE FUCK.
My Thoughts: That is one of the most bush league things I’ve seen in a while. I know that Crockett did this all the time, but I don’t recall a match that went so long before being cut off. I found it to be an excellent first 15 minutes of a 30 minute match. I’m pissed, and I think anyone else would be. I don’t know if they planned to program these guys together at the first Clash, because I don’t even believe that the first Clash was planned at this point. *** and I’m pissed!
– Taped to air January 9th, 1988, on World Championship Wrestling, from WTBS Studios in Atlanta, Georgia
The Road Warriors destroy jobbers…
Watch the video! The Road Warriors killed these two chumps. After the match, they went to the interview desk and Hawk went crazy. His comments about, uh…one part of his body being soft, but not all the time…then he says Ric Flair is going to find out what hard is all about…what the hell. It’s going to be a hard night when Hawk gets in the ring with Ric Flair at the Bunkhouse Stampede. And when Hawk is done, Space Mountain will be closed for repairs. Wow.
– Taped to air January 16th, 1988, on NWA Pro, from Baltimore Arena, in Baltimore, Maryland
Dick Murdoch (w/Jim Cornette) vs. Nikita Koloff for the NWA Television Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: I don’t know why Cornette is with Murdoch, but it sounds great. I’ll roll with it. I have read that this match is outstanding, but I didn’t know that when I put it on my list to watch. That’s a nice bonus. 20 minute time limit, as per usual for TV Title matches.
Match Review: Murdoch is awfully impatient when waiting for this match to start. Once it does, it starts with a slow build through locking up. After a few instances of Murdoch cowering away, he takes Nikita down to the canvas with an armbar. One thing I’ve noticed as he works that hold, is that he makes it look really realistic. Nikita sells it like it’s really happening to him. Five minutes in, that’s all they’ve done, but they’ve properly built the match. Subtle action creating suspense. Now, we head to a commercial. That commercial hypes…THE POWERS OF PAIN!
Back from that commercial, Nikita runs over Murdoch once, and on the second time of trying, Murdoch takes over with a knee, and an elbow drop. Murdoch covers for 2, gets up, and eats a boot on a failed charge to the corner. Nikita takes him down, and lands his own elbow drop for a 2 count. He tries again, and misses the elbow drop. Murdoch teases hitting Nikita with the belt, changes his mind, and continues to mount his offense. That offense includes a bite, and some of the best worked punches in the business. Then we go to another commercial!
Murdoch slams Nikita, and heads up top. Nikita returns the favor by slamming him down, then gives him some punches in the corner. Nikita hits Murdoch with a running elbow to the chest, and we have 3 minutes left. Nikita charges in again, and accidentally knocks the ref out of the ring. Cornette heads in, lands a racket shot on Nikita, and Murdoch covers, only to receive no count. Now some wrestlers head out from the back to revive the ref, another one runs into the ring, and Nikita kicks out at 2! The wrestlers were the Midnight Express, Barry Windham, and Dusty Rhodes. More on that later. Murdoch drops an elbow, and covers again, only getting 2. Murdoch follows with a swinging neckbreaker, also for 2! This thing picked up! Murdoch powerslams Nikita, and that’s another 2 count. After ANOTHER elbow drop, he covers again, for 2.999! Murdoch has a bloody nose for some reason, and after I notice that, he KILLS Nikita with a piledriver for another extremely close count. The countdown is on, as Murdoch SPIKES Nikita down with a BRAINBUSTER…and the 20:00 time limit has expired!
The previously mentioned wrestlers enter the ring, and the Midnight Express dispatches Windham. Lane takes out Dusty with a kick, and now the Cornette guys are going to try to take Dusty out! Windham rushes in with Cornette’s racket, and saves Dusty!
My Thoughts: That was a great case of slow building extending to great storytelling and an excellent match. Not only was the match strongly worked, but Murdoch was busting out the biggest moves that he could. The time limit was also a bonus, as it allowed the story to progress in a way that it seemed Murdoch was panicking to win the match. That’s something the WWE may want to borrow for one of their lower rate championships. ***1/2 for the match. Nikita worked really hard, but this was a Dick Murdoch show. Recommended. Google it.
Now, there are a few things to mention heading into Bunkhouse Stampede. One of those is that the NWA kept the card under wraps until the last possible minute at which they thought they could sell the show by revealing it. It’s similar to how the big cards are sold today, but that’s extremely unusual for those days. I expect a bad show, to be honest. The Bunkhouse Stampede gimmick is junk, and a cage just makes matters worse. The run time on the card is short, and it hasn’t been built towards very much. However, action picks up quickly after that! Next up, it’s Saturday Night’s Main Event #14, and the Royal Rumble!
Best: Nikita Koloff vs. Dick Murdoch.
Worst: Promotional tactics. Keeping the Bunkhouse Stampede card quiet for so long as people bought tickets…was not cool.
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