Sage Cortez
Starrcade is upon us! This was quite possibly the biggest day in the history of wrestling. It certainly was to this point, and for some years after. After a lot of dirty tactics in terms of distribution, Crockett was finally able to put on his show. I don’t know entirely what to expect. The matchups look very good, but there aren’t very many of them. Also, as is quite obvious to everyone, Flair is getting his title back. Some of the big matches may not be in much doubt, but some of the other ones are, and let’s get to the show!
– November 26th, 1987, from UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois
CHI-TOWN HEAT. That’s what the opening graphic says, so I’ll be referencing that pretty often. Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone will be on commentary! The tune of BADSTREET USA hits, and this show’s on the road!
Eddie Gilbert, Rick Steiner, & Larry Zbyszko (w/Baby Doll) vs. Sting, Michael Hayes, & Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious)
Pre-Match Thoughts: Nice to see Baby Doll once again, but she seems like she doesn’t want to be there. For the most part, this is a UWF match with UWF storylines. Not even going to attempt to cover them. The light show at the entrance way is a pretty neat touch. The heels got a jobber entrance, but considering this is kind of a PPV (covered in other articles), that’s not out of the ordinary. The crowd is HOT for this.
Match Review: The crowd chants that Larry sucks, and I can’t disagree with that! According to JR, Sting turned on Eddie Gilbert and Rick Steiner. Maybe it’s the opposite, but the match starts with Steiner giving Sting two huge clotheslines. Sting evades Steiner on the third attempt, and Steiner flies out of the ring onto the cement floor. No pads out there. Sting flies out with a plancha, and damn, the cameraman nearly got killed. Sting flies back into the ring with a missile dropkick on Steiner, then all six men get in the ring. All of the heels get dropkicked, all get thrown into each other, and the ring is now cleared. Gilbert took a hilarious bump on the floor after getting hit by Garvin, too. That ruled. Steiner and Hayes are in the ring now, and Hayes goes to work on Steiner’s left arm. Garvin tags in, and gives Steiner a backdrop. Zbyszko makes his first legal entrance, and gets booed immediately. Garvin takes him down with a few shoulderblocks, and tags in Hayes. Hayes hits Zbyszko with an elbow, struts around the ring, and that gets the crowd even more into it. Here comes Gilbert, and Hayes takes care of him too. Sting tags in to deal with Gilbert, and hits him with a shot from the second rope. Sting also gives him a clothesline, but Gilbert comes back with a bodyslam. Steiner re-enters the ring, only to be given an arm drag. Garvin tags in, tries a sunset flip, and that gets 2. Steiner drives him back to the corner, tags in Zbyszko, and he distracts the referee so that Gilbert can put the boots to Garvin. Zbyszko gives Garvin a powerslam for 2, then tags Gilbert, who dishes out an atomic drop. He also gives Garvin a backbreaker, for a close 2 count. Gilbert follows with a bodyslam, but misses an elbow drop, and has to tag in Steiner. Steiner looks roided to the gills, and he gives Garvin a great looking powerslam for 2. He puts a bear hug on Garvin, then tries a charge to the corner, but misses. Steiner tags Zbyszko, and he stops Garvin from tagging. Larry Z locks Garvin in an abdominal stretch, but he reverses it into a hip toss and finally tags in Sting. Sting knocks around all of the opponents, but Zbyszko rakes his eyes, and Gilbert attacks from the second rope as the referee is distracted. He also throws Sting over the top rope, and it’s safe to say I wouldn’t want to take that bump. Back inside, Gilbert suplexes Sting, and covers for another 2 count. Zbyszko makes another switch in, and has his suplex blocked. Sting delivers it to him, but Steiner comes in and gives Sting a sleeper. Sting ducks down and drives Steiner into the turnbuckle, then Zbyszko makes another tag and Sting rams him into the turnbuckle. He’s going through the gauntlet here! With two minutes left, Hayes and Gilbert tag in. Hayes gives Gilbert a backdrop, and now everyone’s in the ring. Hayes gives Zbyszko a bulldog, and Zbyszko puts his foot on the bottom rope. Crowd bought into that finish. Hayes puts a sleeper on Zbyszko, but Gilbert breaks it up with a double axehandle from the top rope. 1 minute left, and Steiner tags in. He puts a bear hug on Hayes again, and turns it into a BELLY TO BELLY SUPLEX for 2. Gilbert comes in during the countdown, Hayes puts a small package on him, and it gets 2. Hayes pins Gilbert with a sunset flip, and the referee rings the bell for the time limit of 15:00. DAMN.
After the bell, Sting gives Steiner a STINGER SPLASH, and the other two heels vacate the ring to put an end to this.
My Thoughts: I actually have quite a few thoughts on this match, which is surprising for a less than super meaningful opener. One is that Sting immediately seems like a future star. Not because I know he became one, but because of his look, his athleticism, and the way he carried himself. Rick Steiner looked very similar. Another thought is that the timing here was way off. The finish turned out to be flat, and the referee didn’t do a very good job either. This was obvious when all the wrestlers rushed into the ring with 10 seconds left, after a short rest period. Shit happens, I suppose. Will be seeing more of all six guys in the future! **1/2. Was this CHI-TOWN HEAT? Yes.
So, after that match, Schiavone tells us that Jack Gregory, Bob Caudle, Magnum TA, and Missy Hyatt will also be part of the broadcast tonight. Sounds good! Backstage, Missy Hyatt is near the dressing rooms. Harharhar. She didn’t have much to say.
Barry Windham (NWA Western States Heritage Champion) vs. Steve Williams for the UWF Heavyweight Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: Windham having a purple light and smoke show isn’t very manly. Going to be difficult to get him cheers. I still don’t, never will, and never want to find out what the point of the Western States title was. This is a babyface match, and they high five each other at the start of it. That takes the drama out of the equation, and for a mid-card match? I don’t get it.
Match Review: A criss-cross starts things, and Williams gives Windham a hip toss. He follows that with a big press slam, or rather an attempted one, as Windham gets down. He cradles Williams for 2, then they engage in some amateur wrestling stuff. Go-behinds and shit. It continues for a bit, and the crowd seems quite bored. They tumble to the outside, and Windham suggests they get back in the ring. I hate this respect. Williams gives him a back suplex, then Windham follows with a gutwrench suplex. He tries to get out of a headlock with a back suplex, but Williams holds onto it even through an arm drag as well. Not the second one, though. Windham gives Williams a shoulderblock, tries another, and Williams like…leapfrogs into Windham’s head. Headbutt to the crotch is what that was. Windham allows Williams to get up, which gets Windham booed. I thought this was a Philadelphia crowd for a moment. After Dr. Death holds his balls for a while, Windham breaks a head-scissors attempt. Windham takes Williams down with another shoulderblock, then tries a cross body, only to fly over the top rope. Ouch. Windham climbs back into the ring, and Williams catches him with an OKLAHOMA ROLL, a nice pinning combination leading to Williams winning at 6:51.
My Thoughts: What the hell was that? I’m not sure what to make of that match. Nothing happened, then both guys showed respect during the match until the very end. That’s massively confusing in all aspects. Most sadly, I’m sure these guys could tear the house down if given a chance, and they weren’t given that chance. 1/4*. CHI-TOWN HEAT quality? No fucking way.
The Midnight Express (NWA United States Tag Team Champions, w/Jim Cornette & Big Bubba) vs. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express in a SKYWALKERS MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: From my perspective, these matches are always awesome. It’s the freakshow aspect that I like most about them. As we know, this match is happening because the Midnight Express stopped the RnR’s from retaining their tag team championships against Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. It’s about time these teams faced each other on a Starrcade. This is a non-title match.
Match Review: Three of the four men climb up, but Bubba attacks Morton and gives him the BUBBA SLAM. Haha. He got big cheers for that. Now, it’s Gibson having to fight with Lane and Eaton. Eaton rams Gibson’s face into the scaffold, and now Bubba’s trying to climb up too! Morton hits Bubba with the tennis racket until he falls down, then climbs up and hits Lane in the knee and head with it. Gibson nearly tumbles down to the ring, but his falling down allowed Morton to go hit Eaton with the tennis racket as well. Gibson is busted open, but he keeps kicking guys in the head. Eaton has some powder, and he throws it in Morton’s face. Eaton is also bleeding, but he can’t be stopped. Morton dangles off the edge, but drags his legs back up. Lane holds Gibson in place for some double teams, but Lane is hit on accident. This is insane. Eaton eats another racket shot, then bumps on the scaffold after a punch. Then, the railing on the scaffold breaks, which nearly causes Gibson to fall all the way down to the arena floor. Wow. Gibson hits Eaton with the railing, and now the tennis racket is gone, but so is the railing on that side. Cornette throws the racket up to Eaton, and he hits Gibson with it, but now the Midnight Express has a problem. Lane is dangling from the underside of the contraption, and Morton’s following him. So, something is about to happen, I do believe. Lane tries to escape from Morton by swinging away like these are monkey bars, but he eventually just falls down. Weak. Eaton is up there alone, and it’s just a matter of time for him too. He dangles from the bottom in similar fashion to Lane, and gets kicked down for a Rock ‘n’ Roll Express victory at 10:23.
Cornette is extremely pissed, so he sends Big Bubba up there. Yes! Gibson climbs down quickly enough, but Morton cannot. Morton hits him in the nuts, runs down, and that’s it. AWFUL.
My Thoughts: I think it’s so foolish to have talents like these four put in a do-nothing match like this. I guess that’s how they wanted to use their talent, but I think it’s absolutely absurd. It was also much worse than last year’s scaffold match, and I’d rate this *. Granted, the scaffold match does bring in eyes to see what happens, but those teams are better than that. CHI-TOWN HEAT quality? Sort of. The crowd liked it!
So, in the back, Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes are interviewed, as workers take the scaffold down. Hayes isn’t getting much time to talk, but they want to challenge the winner of the NWA Tag Team Championships match later on. Next up, it’s Steve Williams turn. His interview is not good at all. They got the scaffold down pretty quickly!
Terry Taylor (UWF TV Champion, w/Eddie Gilbert) vs. Nikita Koloff (NWA TV Champion) in a TITLE VS. TITLE MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: Unification matches don’t happen often in wrestling, but here we are. Nikita seems to have lost some muscle definition. Apparently, Taylor stole Nikita’s title to set this match up. Alrighty then.
Match Review: To kick if off, Nikita shoves Taylor back repeatedly, but not down. That’s unfortunate. Taylor takes Nikita down with an arm drag, but the Russian gets back up to his feet like nothing happened. He takes Taylor down with a shoulderblock, and Taylor stalls for time for a little bit after that. He puts a wristlock on Nikita, but what’s that going to do? Nikita reverses, takes Taylor down and into an armbar, then Taylor tries to escape by going to the ring apron. Nikita pulls him back in, as 5 minutes have elapsed. Haven’t noticed. Nikita rams Taylor into the turnbuckle, then whips him across to the other corner. Back to the arm Nikita goes, and after some punch attempts by Taylor, down Taylor goes. He gets up, Nikita brings him back down. Rinse, repeat. Finally, they break, and let’s see what happens now. Nikita slaps Taylor, and gives him a backdrop for a 2 count. Taylor takes a rest outside the ring, which makes Nikita angry enough to drag him back in by his hair. Nikita throws Taylor into the buckle again, but gets his charge blocked, and Taylor tries to pin him with his feet on the ropes. It only gets 2, though. Nikita puts Taylor in a hammerlock, then turns it into a half nelson, trying to get a pin…but Taylor puts his foot on the ropes. It’s time for this match to pick up, I’d say. Taylor thumbs Nikita in the eye, with 10 minutes gone. He misses an elbow drop, and gets taken down again. Nikita persists with the armbar, and no-sells some shots from Taylor after it’s broken. Nikita takes Taylor down with a chokehold, and looks for the SICKLE, but misses and hits the turnbuckle. Taylor kicks him out of the ring, rams him into the guardrail, then rams his shoulder into the ring post. Gilbert contributes some of that as well, then Taylor hits Nikita with a knee drop back in the ring. After another, he covers for a 2 count. He also tries a sunset flip, but Nikita blocks it with a punch to the face. That doesn’t stop Taylor, though, as he tries a suplex, only for Nikita to block it and give him one. 15 minutes have passed. Nikita gives Taylor 4 in the corner, and Taylor gives him an inverted atomic drop for 2. Nice cheating attempt, but he got caught. Earl Hebner does his tough guy act, and counts 2 after a Nikita roll-up. Close call. Nikita then reverses a piledriver into a backdrop, then chases a running Taylor around the ring. Hm. Taylor tags Nikita with a knee, and Gilbert hits Nikita with a steel chair to the knee as he gets in the ring. Dirty cheaters, those two. Taylor puts a figure-four on the NWA TV Champion, and uses the ropes for leverage as well. Eventually, Taylor gets caught, and is forced to break the hold. Gilbert gets dragged onto the apron as that goes on, and Taylor runs into him. Nikita hits the SICKLE to a massive ovation and covers…to become unified TV Champion at 18:56.
My Thoughts: Nikita was so far over it was ridiculous. That being said, the match was super slow, and it was a detriment to the quality of it. That’s partially on Taylor, because that’s how he works, but it’s unfortunate things turned out that way. Certainly wasn’t my favorite match in the world, but at least the right guy won. The ending came out of nowhere, and generally when that happens, the match isn’t so great leading into it. That’s just my opinion though. 3/4*. Where was the CHI-TOWN HEAT?
The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) vs. Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson (w/JJ Dillon) for the NWA Tag Team Championships
Pre-Match Thoughts: This match is infamous, and most everyone knows why that is. However, I haven’t watched it in a long time, and am heading in with a clean slate. I also have my own opinions on the booking based on what I’ve been watching, and knowledge of the future. This is a massive match, and the Road Warriors are as over as anyone you could imagine. The crowd is salivating over the idea of them winning the belts.
Match Review: Arn and Hawk get into a shoving match early, until Hawk grabs a hold of Arn’s neck, anyway. Hawk misses a charge to the corner, but slams Arn down from the top rope in super impressive fashion. JJ calls time, and let’s see how long this takes to pick back up. Fortunately, not long at all. Hawk reverses a headlock into a wristlock, and drops a leg on that arm as well. Arn takes another break, and now the managers are getting together. Haha. Tommy Young tells the wrestlers to focus on the match, and that’s what they’ll do. Hawk shoves Tully down, clotheslines him, and Animal presses Tully in the air to shove him back into the ring. That was awesome. Tully leaves again, Hawk chases, throws him back in, and lands a dropkick for 2. That dropkick looked as real as it gets. Animal tags in for the first time, and misses a charge to the corner as well. Tully goes up, tries a flying bodypress, and Animal catches him for a powerslam. That gets 2. Arn tags back in, avoids a charge of Animal’s, and gets clotheslined into next week. This is great stuff. Tully rushes in, gets taken out, and Animal poses for the crowd, which they love. Hawk tags in, puts Arn in a bear hug, and Tully rushes in for some double team action. Hawk clotheslines both of them, covers Blanchard, and gets a 2 count. The Road Warriors then do a strange double team, which amounts to Hawk press slamming Tully into Animal’s arms for a bear hug. Okay. While Animal has him locked up, Hawk gets in a shot to the face, and Animal gives Tully an inverted atomic drop to finish that all off. Tully tries to come back with some chops, but Animal lands some in response, in addition to a dropkick. Arn tags in, and he’s TIRED OF THIS SHIT. Animal was going to take him out, but Arn slowed down and ducked out of the ring while running the ropes. Arn tries for a piledriver inside the ring, but Animal reverses into a backdrop. Then Animal gives Arn a press slam, and both teams switch their guys. Hawk tries a press slam on Tully, but Arn gives Hawk a dropkick to the leg. Tully begins to go to work, dropping elbows on that leg, and tags in Arn. Arm rams Hawk’s leg into the ring post, and Tully has every intention of using a chair on it, which he does when Tommy Young isn’t paying attention. Arn follows that with a DDT, and that gets a close 2 count. Tully switches in, and Hawk cradles him, but they wind up in the ropes. Arn comes back in, and gives Hawk a hilarious spinning toe-hold, but Hawk kicks him into the corner. Here comes Tully again, and he goes with a figure-four. This damn move is in every decent wrestling match! Arn tags in, tries some pins, but can only get 2 on those. Eventually, Hawk hits Arn with a knee to the crotch, and Animal finally makes the tag in.
Animal lands a dropkick, and runs the ropes only to be tripped by Tully. Hawk goes to deal with Tully, and chases him around the ring. Tully knocks Tommy Young out of the ring, and then Animal backdrops Arn over the top rope. Hm. Hawk and Animal gives Tully a double clothesline, and set Arn up for the DOOMSDAY DEVICE, WHICH THEY LAND. Animal covers, and we have NEW CHAMPIONS at 13:24! Hardly noticed is that Earl Hebner made that count, not Tommy Young. Shortly after the match, Young awards Arn & Tully the victory! Huh. The Road Warriors take the belts, but they have not won them.
My Thoughts: This booking was so bad I could hardly believe it. Knowing that the NWA is in some financial trouble due to some expansion related mistakes, I cannot believe that Dusty would decide to run that finish with his most loved act. Now I do know that there are some reasons to not give the Road Warriors the titles. One is that they aren’t necessarily full time. Two is that they’re better off chasing the titles, which should allow the company to draw some nice houses. The last reason is that they’re so over the titles don’t really add to their act. However, the risk in the logic of that last reason is that a team can lose their momentum if they never become champions. Which, as we now know, did not happen for the Road Warriors. Instead, they were inexplicably turned heel, and then became champions anyway, while being cheered. Goes to show that the Road Warriors just weren’t any other regular tag team. ***1/4 for the match. I was very entertained until the finish, which fell a bit flat. The convolution was just part of it falling flat. The work between the four wrestlers didn’t come together as well as the rest of the match did. At least this match was befitting of being called…CHI-TOWN HEAT. One last thing that I nearly forgot to mention, is that the Horsemen needed to stay strong. Can lose one belt here, can’t lose another set of belts. I cannot recommend this match because of how it ended.
Jack Gregory and Magnum TA are in the back, and they’re hyping up the rest of the card, as the workers in the arena construct the steel cage for the final two matches. They throw things over to Bob Caudle, who interviews the new, awesome TV Champion…Nikita Koloff! Nikita puts over Taylor’s quality as a wrestler, and says that he believes in Dusty Rhodes as well. That was a great interview. Lastly, JJ Dillon has something to say. He has his mind on the upcoming match, and who could blame him? He’s been feuding with Dusty forever.
Dusty Rhodes vs. Lex Luger (w/JJ Dillon) for the NWA United States Championship in a STEEL CAGE MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: There are two extra stipulations here. One is that if Dusty loses, he will have to retire from competition for 90 days. Retire isn’t the word I’d use, but that’s the word they used. Another extra stipulation is that Johnny Weaver is in possession of the key to the cage. Considering this isn’t a match with escape rules, the point of that is to ensure JJ stays out.
Match Review: Our combatants lock up, and Dusty hits Luger with an elbow to keep him from ramming Dusty into the cage. Dusty mocks Luger with some posing, which angers Luger enough for him to drive Dusty into the corner. Dusty fires off some punches on Luger, and another elbow to put him down. Dusty gives him an atomic drop as well, and goes for…the SLEEPER. Luger jumps onto the apron to break it, and we’re back to square one. Luger puts a headlock on the challenger, and then runs Dusty over with a shoulderblock. Dusty goes for a sleeper again, but Luger reaches the ropes. Now, I don’t see the point of having a cage match where guys can reach the ropes to break holds. But that’s just my opinion! Luger tries an elbow drop after a takedown, but misses and Dusty goes to work on the arm. 5 minutes have passed, as Dusty persists with an armbar. Luger reaches the ropes to break the hold, then misses a charge at Dusty. Back to the arm we go, with a hammerlock this time. This is yet another very slow match. Luger hits Dusty with something I didn’t see, to turn the momentum. He launches Dusty into the cage, and the challenger is now gouged open. Into the cage he goes again, and Luger covers for 2. Dusty’s blading is extremely realistic, as he did it over the eye, causing blood to flow down over one side of his face. Luger hits an elbow drop for a 2 count, and we’re 10 minutes in. I like the time announcements. Dusty comes back with a dropkick, but he’s still hurt and can’t get up first. Luger gives Dusty a backbreaker, and gives the sign for the TORTURE RACK. He puts Dusty up in it, or tries to, and he can’t lift his fat ass up in position for it. Dusty winds up on the ring apron, where Luger chokes him. Luger puts him in an armbar now, and the crowd is digging the match, for reasons I cannot completely comprehend. The armbar continues forever, until Luger lets it go. It takes forever to get to that point, though. A while meaning way too damn long. Dusty is fired up, and starts to land shots of his own. After an elbow, he gives Luger a DDT for a 2 count. Luger misses a clothesline, and Dusty locks on the SLEEPER for real. Outside the ring, JJ attacks Johnny Weaver with a chair, and grabs the key to the cage! He wants to get in the ring, but he can’t open the lock. So, he throws the chair into the ring. Luger tries to pick it up, but Dusty DDT’s him on it, and pins to become new United States Champion at 16:24!
My Thoughts: There were a number of massive flaws in that finish. I’m not sure if this was intentional, but JJ grabbed the key for ultimately no reason at all. He couldn’t open the cage. The DDT onto the chair also looked extremely contrived, as Luger was bent down to pick it up for quite a long time. Another problem was that there had already been one Dusty finish on this card, and the crowd reacted as if they thought another one was coming due to how the match finished. The biggest flaw was the booking, though. Dusty should not have pinned Luger. They had every intention of turning Luger, but it’s best to turn a guy when he’s strong. That could have been accomplished, and I think people would have cheered him even with the knowledge that he had beaten Dusty. Unfortunately, as is becoming usual with these long Dusty matches, this one was not good. Also, sadly for the crowd, it was another match with minimal action. That’s three now, and arguably four if the scaffold match is taken into account. It was slightly better than the Taylor/Nikita match, but not by much at all. *, and almost all of that is for a finish that made the crowd happy. This wasn’t Omaha heat much less CHI-TOWN HEAT.
Ric Flair (w/JJ Dillon) vs. Ron Garvin for the NWA Heavyweight Championship in a STEEL CAGE MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: So weird to see Flair as a challenger. Garvin’s reign has been quite non-descript, and I don’t think anyone was surprised by how this match finishes. There was an air of inevitability surrounding this thing.
Match Review: Flair and Garvin lock up, and break cleanly to my surprise. After locking up again, they trade chops. That’s what I want to see. Garvin gives Flair a hip toss, and they trade chops again, with Garvin getting the better of them. There’s a loud “Garvin sucks” chant reverberating through the arena, as Garvin hits Flair with more, harder chops. Eventually Flair falls down, gets tossed into the turnbuckle, and backdropped. Garvin continues to beat up Flair, by landing a headbutt and more chops. Garvin gives Flair 10 in the corner, and another backdrop. He follows that with the GARVIN STOMP, which is one of my favorite wrestling moves. They trade chops yet again, and Flair goes down. He hits Garvin with a low blow, knocking him down too. Flair gives Garvin an inverted atomic drop, and 5 minutes have passed. Flair follows with a knee drop, and covers for 2. He works on Garvin’s left knee, digs at his face, all the heel tricks somebody would need. Flair follows with a knee-breaker, and a FIGURE-FOUR. The crowd loved that. Flair cheats by using the ropes for leverage, which seems like a good idea to me. It’s a cage match, after all. Garvin finally reverses the hold, at which point the whole thing falls apart. Flair knocks down Garvin with some kicks, 10 minutes into this contest. Jim Ross puts over the match big time, and for good reason. This is a nice contest. Garvin continues to block Flair’s attempts to throw him into the cage, then throws Flair into the fence himself. Of course, Flair gets busted open, and it looks like a large gash as well. Garvin continues to work over Flair by using the fence, then bites the challenger. That is gross. Flair tries to leave the cage, but cannot, so Garvin rams his head into the top of the fence. More chops follow, but Flair comes back with an elbow and heads to the top rope. Of course, Garvin slams him down to the canvas. Garvin locks on his own figure-four, but isn’t getting many cheers for doing so. Garvin breaks it, then the two men trade chops once again, perhaps for the last time. Garvin heads up to the top rope, and comes down with a flying bodypress for a close 2 count. He tries a backslide which gets another 2 count, as we’re in the finishing stretch. Garvin grates Flair’s face against the fence, chops him yet again, and the two men head up to the top rope. Flair gets crotched on the top rope after a headbutt, and now Garvin is going for a repeat of Detroit…the TOP ROPE SUNSET FLIP! Flair grabs the ropes to block it, which gets 2. Garvin rolls him over for another near fall, and Garvin heads over to the corner for 10 punches. Flair drives Garvin backwards, knocking him into Tommy Young. That’s just great. Garvin hits Flair with the HANDS OF STONE, and goes for the cover…which gets a 2 count. After some rope running, Flair catapults Garvin into the cage, and covers…for the victory at 17:38! Big ovation for Flair’s win. JJ raises 5 fingers in the air, shouts that Flair is a five time champion…and that’s the show!
My Thoughts: Flair chasing the title didn’t last for very long at all. I liked this match a lot more than most people do. I enjoy the chop wars, I liked the finish a lot, and it’s about time that things return back to normal. I think it’s unfortunate that the crowd jeered Garvin. He deserved better than that. This wasn’t great, but it was good and I don’t think it was deserving of the scorn that it receives. ***. CHI-TOWN HEAT? Yeah, for some reason on Garvin, anyway.
The obvious problem that the NWA has now is that there is no challenger for Flair. People didn’t expect them to break up the Horsemen, but they did so that Luger could become a challenger. After all, that was the only option they had. The US Title picture is similarly confusing, and with Dusty having that belt, I expect some sort of cop out thing to happen when he loses it. Overall, things are going downhill business wise in spite of the talent additions that have been made. My opinion of the creative aspect is that this is just about as low as it gets during the 80’s too. There are screwy finishes all over the place, ref bumps all over the place, and it has a very negative impact on the card. This year has been tough to get through, but fortunately, it is nearly over. I feel bad for the fans who were there for this card, as the entertainment value was minimal, and there were numerous boring matches. In news that may be welcome to some, I believe this may be the last time I go with a running joke based on the tagline for a show. Survivor Series is next!
Wrestling Time: 1:38:36. That’s more than WrestleMania III with 30 minutes less PPV time to work with. It’s nice to put on a WRESTLING card, but the WRESTLING has to be good, and this wasn’t.
Best: Ric Flair getting the title back. This was absolutely necessary.
Worst: Barry Windham vs. Steve Williams. This match was a sick joke, and for two extremely talented guys to have put that together, it is a shame.
Card Rating: 4/10. Not criminally bad, but wasn’t worth the trouble of watching it. Completely undeserving of being CHI-TOWN HEAT.
