Sage Cortez
The plan for this Starrcade was quite a bit more than ambitious. Two arenas, two huge main events. The WWF is running quite hot, although not at their peak yet, so the best way for Crockett to proceed is with a two city show. This was an undoubted success, with really hot angles going leading into it. Looking at the card, I think the half from Greensboro suits my tastes better than the half from Atlanta. There is one very notable omission from the show, and that’s the Road Warriors. It also should be mentioned that I’ve never seen the entire show, but rather a lot of matches from it.
– November 28th, 1985, from Greensboro, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia
A snazzy little intro starts things off. I guess they have a disco ball hanging in one of the arenas, which…ha. Bob Caudle and Tony Schiavone will be the hosts/commentators. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and all that stuff. Tony & Bob are stationed in Atlanta, and will be calling the matches from there. Johnny Weaver will be doing interviews from Greensboro. He has quite a few scars on his forehead. The TV Title is the only one not on the line, because it’s vacant. Also, this dude Weaver had CREEPY eyes. After a national anthem bit to make all the Southerners happy, we’re off.
Sam Houston vs. Krusher Khruschev for the vacant NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: I’ve always thought Sam Houston should have had a better career. He was only 22 at the time of this show, but he seemed to have issues with staying sober, so it wasn’t to be. The guy was a good worker. This title has been vacant for some time. 20 minute time limit has been slapped on this as well, and it’s from Greensboro.
Match Review: The referee is wearing some foul yellow suit. Anyway, Khruschev is a lot bigger than Houston., who isn’t very large, but has the wrestling look. Khruschev shoves Houston back into the turnbuckle and taunts him, then brings him back into the ropes, only for Houston to duck and Khruschev to be launches to the outside. They trade punches, and Khruschev picks Houston up by the throat, tossing him to the canvas. Then Khruschev misses an elbow drop and they square off again. Houston reverses a backdrop, and punches Khruschev twice, which upsets him. Houston puts a headlock on Khruschev, then gets flung into the ropes where he can give Khruschev a flying head-scissors after reversing a hip-toss attempt. Khruschev powers out of the head-scissors into a pin, but Houston reverses and puts the pressure back on. Khruschev power lifts Houston over to the turnbuckle, Houston punches him away, leapfrogs the on-rushing Khruschev, and gives him a dropkick and arm drag. Khruschev gives Houston a HUGE flapjack, which gets a 2 count after some non-action. Khruschev gives Houston a big gorilla press slam, and punches him right in the jaw. Houston’s offense is built around a lot of leapfrogs, ducking between guys legs, and that sort of stuff. Athleticism. Khruschev gives him a bearhug, then lets go and gets kicked in the chest. Not that smart. Khruschev gives Houston a bodyslam anyway, and heads to the top rope. Houston dropkicks him, crotching him on the top rope, and Houston punches him over to the apron. Back in now, and Houston lands more punches, then shoots Khruschev into the buckle. Houston gives him THE BULLDOG, but Khruschev grabs onto the bottom rope. Houston thinks he won, but Khruschev gives him the BAH GAWD RUSSIAN SICKLE for the victory and title win at 9:30. Houston’s foot was on the bottom rope, but the referee ignored it. Classic Dusty Rhodes booking there.
My Thoughts: Solid little match, very typical Southern style. If this is what the rest of the show will be like, I’m in for a good one. These two would feud for some time afterward, and I have a link to a TV match of theirs that I’ll be reviewing in the near future. **. It felt like a 20 minute match that got cut off.
Manny Fernandez vs. Abdullah the Butcher (w/Paul Jones) in a Mexican Death Match
Pre-Match Thoughts: From Atlanta. A more simple way to describe this is as a sombrero on a pole match. That’s so typical of Southern wrestling (I like Southern wrestling) that I can’t be bothered to complain about it. Little bit of back story here is that Manny Fernandez has been feuding with Paul Jones for some time. Jones is slightly amusing and tends to wear goofy looking tuxedos. A lunatic attacks Abdullah before the match, while he’s making his entrance. I can think of many worse ways to die. Two notorious bleeders means that, uh…I bet someone’s gonna bleed.
Match Review: Abdullah stabs Fernandez with a spike to start the match, and Fernandez is gushing blood already. LOTS of blood. Abdullah headbutts him and stabs him a few more times, then hits him in the head with a hammer! Fernandez tries to fight back, kicks Abdullah, but Abdullah is just too big I guess. The old ladies at ringside are freaking out over the blood, too. Fernandez gives big ass Abdullah a monkey flip, and clocks him in the head with a cowboy boot. Abdullah’s bleeding too, which the crowd just loves. The claims that Fernandez is fighting for his heritage are cracking me up. Abdullah goes for the hat, and Fernandez clocks him in the nuts, making him take a big bump down to the canvas. Paul Jones is bitching about that, but Fernandez continues to clock Abby with the boot anyway. Fernandez goes for the hat, but gets clocked by Abdullah with the cowboy boot. Abdullah tries again, and Fernandez starts beating him with his belt. Abdullah clocks him again, and kicks him in the chest with his pointed boot. LOT of blood by this point. Abdullah goes to the corner and tries a big elbow drop, but he misses. Fernandez gives him a FLYING BURRITO (that’s the name of his flying forearm), then chops him in the head with the belt buckle wrapped between his fingers. Fernandez tries a suplex, which seems ill advised, but he gives it to him and the crowd loves it. Fernandez goes for the sombrero once again, Abdullah chases with spike in hand, and spikes Fernandez in the nuts with it. If that was real…ow. Fernandez gives him another FLYING BURRITO, and a clothesline from the top rope to hopefully put him down for good. Fernandez heads to the top rope yet again, but misses a huge big splash. Abdullah decides he’d rather kill Fernandez than win the match, so he launches Fernandez into the corner, and tries to follow up with an avalanche, but misses and falls into the ring post shoulder first. Fernandez then climbs up, gets the sombrero, and that’s a victory for him at 9:07. Crowd goes nuts for that!
My Thoughts: It’s really difficult for me to get into matches with semi-racist angles, and it’s even more difficult for me to get into pole matches, but there’s a lot of blood, some really good selling, and the attempts to go grab the hat looked realistic. Abby checks out of the territory shortly after, which is of course no surprise. Considering I liked this, I’ll give it **1/2. Not high on the workrate, but high on blood and a lot of what makes wrestling really good. I generally like Fernandez’s work, so that helps too.
Prior to the next match from Greensboro, new Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Krusher Khruschev cuts a promo. A fucking terrible promo.
Black Bart (w/James J. Dillon) vs. Ron Bass in a TEXAS BULLROPE MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: Few stipulations here. First is the Texas Bullrope stipulation. Both guys are tied to the rope. If Ron Bass wins the match, he gets a 5 minute Bullrope Match with JJ Dillon. It seems like they’re fighting for possession of the rope, which is just weird to me. It also bears mentioning that JJ is still in a stage where he manages mid-card guys. In addition, Bart and Bass formerly teamed up, which makes sense considering that both men rocked that cowboy gimmick. They were another team that was called The Long Riders. JJ’s tuxedo shirt that he’s wearing tonight is amusing. Considering both guys are usually heels, I also must mention that Bart is the heel, and Bass the babyface.
Match Review: Bass gets the side of the rope with the cowbell on it, and he quickly punches Bart with it so that he can get color. Second match with blood thus far. Bass parades Bart around the ring, showing the crowd all the blood, then chokes him. It has to be said that these three blade/hardways haven’t been bitch stuff. They are bleeding like crazy. Bass beats him with the rope for quite some time, and his previous marks are nearly bleeding without him even having been hit! Bart grabs the cowbell and hits Bass with it, so the blood will be flowing now. Bart beats him up, both guys are bleeding like stuck pigs, and I think you can figure out the match for the rest of the way. Both guys punch, choke, grind each other’s foreheads with the rope and cowbell, and FINALLY they do a struggle over the bell. Bass keeps it from hitting him, so Bart charges at him and flies over the top rope. Bass follows him, and punches him with the bell from the ring apron. There’s hardly any commentary on this match at all, except to hype up the Bunkhouse Stampede tour that they’ll be doing in December. Okay! Both men collide in the center of the ring, both get up, and Bass crotches Bart with the rope. Bass hits Bart with a running cowbell shot, gets a 2 count. Bart misses a clothesline, and Bass heads to the second rope and comes off it with a cowbell shot for the victory at 8:34. This quickly segues into…
Ron Bass vs. James J. Dillon in a 5 Minute Texas Bullrope Match
Match Review: I will give my thoughts on the first one at the end of the whole thing. Dillon runs into the ring and kicks Bass repeatedly, takes control of his end of the rope, and I guess Bart is a piece of shit because nobody cared about him in the first place. After a bell shot, a Dillon cover gets a 2 count. Dillon chokes Bass as best he can, and Bass does one of the funniest babyface comebacks I’ve seen from 1985. It’s cheesy as hell. Dillon begs to not be hit with the cowbell, and there it goes right into his facfe. He blades, and it’s a good one. Exactly what people wanted to see. Bart has finally come to on the outside of the ring to see his manager being beaten half to death. Bass shoves the referee, then goes for a cover, but obviously there isn’t going to be any count. BART GETS IN THE RING, hits Bass, AND GIVES HIM A PILEDRIVER. He puts Dillon on top, runs out, and JJ DILLON GETS THE BIG VICTORY AND THE BULLROPE AT 3:29. Well I’ll be damned! The crowd is in stunned silence.
My Thoughts: Alright, so the first match first. I didn’t like it, it was way too long. The commentators didn’t seem to care, so why should I? Maybe this will be a trend for the Greensboro matches. 1/2* for that repetitive trash pile.
The second one, I liked quite a bit more, but it was nothing special. Dillon was a lot more into the match, plus there was the payoff of him being made to bleed. I think it’s simply a matter of “manager vs. wrestler” matches often having more heat than the “wrestler vs. guy who inevitably loses so that his manager has to wrestle” matches. So *3/4 for that one. It was short, to the point, and inevitably the heel won the match. It was necessary to keep JJ strong for what was ahead, so in hindsight it makes sense, provided that Dusty had actually planned for what was ahead.
Superstar Billy Graham vs. The Barbarian (w/Paul Jones) in a $10,000 Arm Wrestling Match, then a REGULAR MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: Back to Atlanta for this. Like the all-caps for the REGULAR MATCH stipulation? Anyway, Graham was one of the best promo guys in the business, and this matchup is just a little bit out there. Considering both guys weren’t very good in the ring at this point, and Graham probably never was, the actual match portion won’t be any good.
Match Review: The arm wrestling portion is silly as hell, but really it’s kind of good. Barbarian claims that his right hand is broken. After a struggle, during which Graham sells to the maximum , Graham wins, and Paul Jones clocks him in the head with his cane.
Now the match is underway, and Graham is busted wide open. Barbarian kicks him very stiffly in the mouth, and starts biting him. That’s gross. Graham is bleeding quite a bit, and for some strange reason the arena lights are dimmed, which makes this a little difficult to watch. Graham’s selling is truly the only thing of note here. Barbarian gives him a big boot, but misses a leg drop and Graham makes his comeback. The crowd is really into it, but Barbarian chops him in the throat and heads to the top rope. Down he comes with a FLYING HEADBUTT, but it misses. Graham puts Barbarian in a bearhug and the crowd goes mild (maybe that failed comeback wasn’t a good idea), and once it seems like Barbarian is going to submit, Paul Jones walks in the ring and hits him with the cane, getting Barbarian DQ’d at 3:02.
Graham grabs the cane, and clobbers that idiot manager with it, until Barbarian knocks him out of the ring. Barbarian launches Graham into the ring post, rams him into the barricade, and hits Superstar with a chair. I guess that’s how you get a heel over.
My Thoughts: That was short and to the point, at least. I suppose they wanted Graham to be on the card, but his match wasn’t any good. The arm wrestling contest was all in good fun, but that wasn’t an actual match. The actual match was poor and didn’t have a clean finish. DUD.
Buddy Landel (w/James J. Dillon) vs. Terry Taylor for the NWA National Heavyweight Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: Landel has made some interesting claims about Crockett’s plans for him after this show. Despite his looking like a Flair clone and sporting the Nature Boy name, I don’t buy it at all. It was too soon. He had a lot of talent, and despite my not really liking his ability on the microphone, he was pretty good in the ring. And everyone knows about Terry Taylor so no comment needed on that front. This was largely a Georgia title so having this match in Greensboro seems strange. In fact, a few of the match placements strike me as a little odd, but I’ll save that until the end of the show.
Match Review: Landel does just about everything before the match the same as Flair. That’s the point, though. They get in each other’s faces, Taylor slaps Landel, and the referee separates them. They lock up again, and Landel goes with a wristlock. Taylor armdrags him, blocks some of his punches, and clocks Landel in the face. Landel gives Taylor a headlock takeover, Taylor reverses into a top wristlock, and takes Landel down. Landel gets up, brings Taylor over to the corner, and chops him pretty damn hard. He eats boot on a charge towards Taylor, and is given a backdrop by the champion. Taylor drops the knee and goes for a cover, which gets a 1 count. Landel eventually gives Taylor a forearm to the jaw, and beats him up in the corner. Landel gives Taylor a snap-mare, and applies a chinlock. Not a lot of heat yet. JJ looks like trash with that bandage on his head. Taylor powers out and gives Landel a back suplex, then a backbreaker. Taylor then lands a leg drop, and gets a 2 count as Landel places his foot on the rope. Taylor lands some chops now, but gets clotheslined by Landel as he runs out of the corner. Cover gets 2. Taylor cradles Landel, but only gets a 2 count. Crowd kinda bought that as a finish. Landel goes back to the chinlock, but Taylor rams him head first into the bottom turnbuckle to break the hold. Taylor stands on Landel’s face and rakes it, which is kind of a heel move, no? Taylor then gives Landel a suplex, for a 2 count. Taylor shoots Landel into the corner, rams his head into the turnbuckle, and it’s time for a ref bump. Landel hits Taylor in the head with Dillon’s cowboy boot, and down the referee goes. Landel then throws Taylor into the referee, and tries to ram him into Dillon, but that fails when Taylor reverses a whip. Landel then crashes into JJ, knocking him to the floor. Over to the corner they go for Taylor’s finish, the superplex…but JJ very sneakily grabs Taylor’s boot, tripping him! Landel lands on top of Taylor, and gets the pinfall victory and TITLE at 10:30.
My Thoughts: This was a good match. Not perfect or anything like that, but both guys have ability in the ring and put together a good match. The finish made sense. **1/4. Would be dishing more out if it was longer. Took a bit off because yet again, a screwy finish, and in light of what happens later, it makes no sense. Regarding Landel, he had a drug problem and wound up being stripped of the title, which was then given to Dusty Rhodes. The claim was that Dusty and Landel wrestled in New Mexico, but that’s a phantom match.
Wahoo McDaniel & Billy Jack Haynes (NWA US Tag Team Champions) vs. The Andersons for the NWA National Tag Team Championships
Pre-Match Thoughts: Only the latter titles are up for grabs, this is not a unification match. The championships that Wahoo and Haynes have are from Florida. This is in Atlanta. I’ve never seen Haynes wrestle in this company.
Match Review: Seems like Caudle and Schiavone are into this match. Arn and Haynes start, and I noticed that Haynes is roided beyond belief. Haynes puts Arn in a headlock, and gives the Enforcer a shoulderblock. He follows that up with an effortless gorilla press, and Ole tags in. Haynes and Ole trade punches, during which Haynes clearly gets the better of it, and Wahoo gets a chop in for good measure. Haynes tags in Wahoo, who chops Arn and Ole to his pleasure. After dropping an elbow on Ole, Arn tags in to save his partner. Arn refuses to do a clean break and gets chopped. That wouldn’t feel good. Wahoo takes Arn over with a headlock, Arn reverses into a head-scissors, and gets some control for the first time. Wahoo gets out, but Ole tags in, and they work over Wahoo a big. Ole puts an armbar on Wahoo, but Wahoo chops him. Ole holds the leg so that Arn can tag in, and stomp on Wahoo’s arm. Arn stomps away at his own leisure, and tags in Ole, who does the same thing. Ole slams Wahoo, and lands an elbow drop. Cover gets 2. Arn tags in, Haynes runs into the ring, and the Anderson take the opportunity to double team. Wahoo chops Arn very hard, still can’t tag Haynes, and Ole comes into the ring. Wahoo does the same to him, and finally makes the tag to Haynes.
The Anderson both attack Haynes, but he fights out as the crowd goes INSANE. They were red hot from the start for this one. Haynes puts the boots to Arn, but Ole grabs him from behind. Now Arn responds with some punches, and Wahoo tags into the match. Wahoo lands a big chop, and geets a 2 count, but a lot of people bought that finish. Ole trips Wahoo from the outside, and Arn falls on top for a 2 count. Bought that one a bit too. Wahoo very stupidly comes towards the Anderson corner, Ole gets on the floor and trips him, then holds onto Wahoo’s legs, leading to the Anderson winning by pinfall at 9:28.
My Thoughts: That was nearly 10 minutes? I hardly even noticed. Good tag match, with a lot happening after the hot tag. The crowd was into the match, and so was I. Psychology was good and the formula was right, so I’d slap it with a **3/4 rating. Think this is one of multiple tag matches worth checking out if you want an introduction to the Andersons.
Buddy Landel and James J. Dillon have an interview spot after intermission, which was presumably to build the cage in Greenboro for the two big matches there.
Magnum TA vs. Tully Blanchard (w/Baby Doll) in an I QUIT STEEL CAGE MATCH for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: Clearly we need to take a look at how things got to the point where these two need to get it on like two men should do.
Blanchard beat Magnum for the US Title earlier in the year, in Charlotte. Baby Doll was dressed like a cop, and passed Tully an object to hit Magnum with. Then shit got crazier and crazier on TV. Pull apart brawls and the like, all of the time. We have the incident with the Andersons attacking Magnum on Tully’s behalf. After the attack, we have this, at 3:10…
Then, a few months later, we have Magnum, er…telling Baby Doll that she’s gonna find out what it’s like to be with a real man. And forcing himself on her while David Crockett screams over and over that she likes it. Then Baby Doll slaps the shit out of Magnum and he nearly tears off her clothes, so Tully shows up and they brawl. One of the most realistic looking brawls that I’ve ever seen at that.
Now that’s professional wrestling, brother. Tully, with his scumbag and faux classy thing going against the #2 babyface in the company. I don’t like saying this about someone who was so good in their role and in one of the best feuds in wrestling history, but Tully could have been even more than what he turned out to be at his best.
Match Review: The lights come on, and the opponents lock up. Magnum swings at Tully, they get tangled up in the ropes while struggling to hit each other, and Tully winds up on top. He rakes Magnum’s eyes, gives him some European uppercuts, and they brawl in the middle of the ring. Magnum gets the better of it, and knocks Tully back into the cage. He goes to ram Tully’s face in the cage, but Tully blocks it, and gives Magnum a low blow. He kicks Magnum, elbows away, and launches the challenger into the cage. And there’s the blood! Magnum is only leaking a little out right now, and the camera work does a great job of giving the impression he’s in serious pain. Magnum fights out of a chinlock to the fans delight, but dirty Tully knees him in the gut. Magnum shoots Tully into the ropes, and drops Tully throat-first on the top rope. Looked like it hurt. Tully boots Magnum in the gut, and I may not be doing a proper job of getting the emotion over here, but it’s serious. Tully throws Magnum into the cage wall again, and grabs the microphone trying to make him quit. Magnum won’t. Magnum is able to launch Tully into the cage, though! Twice!
Magnum exposes Tully’s busted open face to the camera, and that’s far worse than any of the other bladejobs before. Unfortunately the camera shows him passing his blade to Baby Doll. Magnum tries to make him quit, but uh…no. Both men are on their knees, punching each other, and it’s not apparent that Tully is bleeding from his arm too. Magnum BITES HIM ON THE ARM, Tully screams out OH SHIT, and this match is getting bloodier and bloodier by the second. That rip on Tully’s arm is serious. Tully boots Magnum in the head, and tells Magnum to quit again. He won’t, so he BASHES THE MICROPHONE INTO MAGNUM’S BLOODY FACE. Tully goes for a cover on Magnum shortly after, and realizes that he can’t win that way. Good psychology in that. He launches Magnum into the cage once again, and heads to the rope, coming down with a FLYING FIST. Back to the microphone, and Magnum isn’t ready to quit yet. Or ever. HE WANTS THAT BELT. Tully drops the elbow once, but misses on the second try. Magnum gets some control now, and elbows Tully in the face.
Magnum now has the microphone, and Tully is giving the most chilling “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” screams in response to Magnum’s question. So, not yet. Tully has to do it again while Magnum is jamming the microphone into his face. Still no. The way these guys are grabbing each other, coupled with Baby Doll’s facial expressions, just about makes the whole thing. They trade punches once again, Magnum tries to get him to quit, and Tully kicks the microphone away from him. Magnum punches Tully in the corner, but takes a huge inverted atomic drop from the champion. Tully bashes Magnum in the head with the mic repeatedly, but Magnum still won’t quit. The crowd is really into this, so after Tully gives an elbow drop, they start to clap, trying to bring Magnum back. Tully throws the referee down, and Baby Doll grabs a wooden chair. Tully BREAKS THE CHAIR, and bends one of the pieces of wood into a SPIKE. He’s trying to kill him! Magnum is trying his best to prevent this, but Tully gets that stake into Magnum’s head for a few seconds. Magnum shakes, and shakes, and gets that sumbitch away from his head. Magnum takes the stake, AND PLUNGES IT INTO BLANCHARD’S FOREHEAD. TULLY SCREAMS “YES, YES, YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS” and Magnum TA becomes the NEW United States Champion. 14:43 the time.
The crowd went apeshit for that whole deal, coupled with Magnum’s celebration. Magnum wants to keep punishing Tully with the spike, but he leaves that piece of shit lying in the ring, puts that belt over his shoulder, and walks out. COOL AS FUCK.
My Thoughts: I don’t really know where to start. I suppose I’ll start with how realistic I thought the match was. In a real fight, when you get tired, you start grabbing hair and pulling at each other’s faces. That happened. The bladejobs were gory. The anger seemed real. The match seemed real. I’ve watched a lot of wrestling matches, but from a pure violence standpoint, this might be the best. ***** and if you haven’t seen it, get out from the rock you’re living under, because this is one of the best wrestling matches in history. Highest recommendation.
Jimmy Valiant & Miss Atlanta Lively (w/Big Mama) vs. The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) in an Atlanta Street Fight
Pre-Match Thoughts: Miss Atlanta Lively just so happens to be Ron Garvin dressed in drag. If you’ve never seen Valiant do his shtick, check out an old episode of World Championship Wrestling. It’s funny stuff. Anyway, the feud came about because Jim Cornette couldn’t keep his mouth shut about people like Jimmy Valiant. Or something like that. The Midnight Express are wearing tuxedos, so either they’re going to have them ripped off or one of them will be bleeding a lot. Condrey’s is white, so I’m guessing it’ll be him.
Match Review: Garvin is really into this drag thing, like he’s getting his rocks off or something. It makes the whole deal. Garvin sprays hair spray into Eaton’s eyes, and Valiant takes Condrey to the outside at the start. The way Garvin walks around limp wristed is cracking me up. He chokes Eaton with a necklace, Valiant hits Condrey with a chair, and like I said, he’s already bleeding. These guys are brawling like crazy, and Eaton gets hit with a roll of quarters or something that Valiant has in his hand. Eaton takes a really hard hip-toss bump on the concrete, and it looks like he’s bleeding too. Garvin and Valiant are able to beat up Condrey now, as Eaton crawls back into the ring only to be knocked right back out. Valiant puts a SLEEPER on Condrey, and at some point Condrey breaks it by punching him in the face. Garvin also gets punched in the face, and starts bleeding. It’s a bit difficult to tell because of that stupid wig he’s wearing, though. Valiant gets busted open while getting his ass kicked, and Garvin has a purse in his hands, which he finally hits Eaton with. Condrey pulls down Garvin’s pants, which pisses Valiant off and he makes his big babyface comeback. Valiant chokes Eaton with his tuxedo, and starts to rip it off. I knew it! Valiant gets tossed out of the ring, and Cornette climbs in the ring, and WHACKS Garvin in the head with his tennis racket. Eaton comes off the second rope with the power of the FLYING FIST, and the Midnights kick Garvin’s ass even more. Valiant tries to make another comeback, but they toss him out again. Here he comes again, and this time, I think HE’S GOT THE POWER OF THE BOOGIE BROTHER. He punches Eaton and Condrey, starts choking Condrey, and during all of this the referee has taken a few bumps. The ME’s give Valiant a double clothesline and Eaton goes for the ALABAMA JAM, but Garvin cracks him right in the face on his way off the top rope and pins him at 6:36.
The crowd completely lost their shit to that finish, but it’s not over yet! Cornette runs in the ring and attacks Garvin, which was pretty stupid because now he and Valiant are now TEARING HIS CLOTHES OFF. Crowd loved that. The Midnight Express finally saves Cornette, and there’s the big payoff babyface win to make the crowd happy.
My Thoughts: Garvin’s blading was so bad that there were paper towels in the ring trying to keep him from bleeding out, it was also the sixth match in which there was blood on this card. That’s bad. This match was not bad, I enjoyed it greatly. It was another fun match on a card that is rapidly piling them up. I can see how some people may not like it, but it was a lot of action packed into 6 minutes, and I don’t know how anyone could think it sucked. It was thought to be wild enough to put on a WWE DVD, after all. **1/2.
After that, we head back to Greensboro where Magnum TA cuts an excellent promo. He challenges Nikita Koloff, Buddy Landel, and Arn Anderson. Anywhere, any time.
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (w/Don Kernodle) vs. Ivan and Nikita Koloff (w/Krusher Khruschev) in a STEEL CAGE MATCH for the NWA World Tag Team Championships
Pre-Match Thoughts: I couldn’t find a video of the title change that put the belts back in the hands of The Russians. Kernodle is in the challengers corner because in the first place, he was in the role that Krusher Khruschev is in. Once Nikita showed up, Ivan and Nikita shortly turned on Kernodle. To be honest, I’m not sure how the RnR’s ever got so over with female fans. They’re not exactly great looking, but perhaps by the standards of Southern men at the time, maybe they were. Pinfall or submission is needed to win this match.
Match Review: Morton and Nikita will start this match, which doesn’t bode well for the challengers at all. I’ve noticed that the cage isn’t exactly tall. Nikita shoves Morton down to the mat, and gives him a big shoulderblock. Morton ducks under an elbow and hits Nikita with a dropkick, which was nicely done. Both guys are quite athletic. Nikita gets some control and rams Morton into the turnbuckle, then tags in Ivan, who goes to work. Or not. Morton gives him a cross-body, which gets 2. Ivan crotches Morton on the top rope, also gets a 2 count. The announcers hype the upcoming TV Title tournament, but I’ve never seen or found anything from it. Gibson tags in and the RnR’s give Ivan a double dropkick, and Gibson gives him a knee drop. Cover gets 2. Morton tags in, drops the fist, cover gets 2. Gibson in, rollup, cover for 2. Gibson comes off the second rope with an elbow, also gets 2. Quick covers are good here and make complete sense within the context of the match. Ivan misses a clothesline, and Gibson subsequently rams him head-first into the cage. Morton hits Ivan in the head to the delight of the crowd, and now he’s bleeding. Morton heads up top, lands a FLYING FIST, pin gets 2. Gibson tags in with the same and gets 2. Weird to see Nikita obeying the rules as opposed to the RnR’s doing it. Nikita tags in, and puts Gibson in a bearhug…then rams him head-first into the cage. Now Gibson is busted open.
These cage shots look pretty realistic to me, and the crowd is awfully heated about them. Ivan tags in and elbows Gibson, then kicks him in the face. He also runs Gibson into the cage, and drops an elbow. Only got a 2 count. Nikita tags in, and bites Gibson’s forehead. Gross. Nikita gives Gibson a big scoop slam, and the Russians take an opportunity to cheat and switch when the referee gets distracted. Ivan goes for a pin, and gets 2. He elbows Gibson in the back, but misses a charge and gets crotched on the ropes. Gibson doesn’t go for the tag yet, which seems pretty foolish. Ivan gives him a big boot, and a leg drop. Still can’t get more than 2. Ivan tries another leg drop, which misses, but he has an opportunity to tag Nikita and takes it. Nikita puts a chinlock on Gibson, which gives the camera a chance to zoom in on Gibson’s cut. Gibson tries to fight back, but Ivan tags in again and stops him. Ivan gives him a headbutt, and a knee to the head, which gets 2. Why does a foot on the bottom rope matter in a cage match? Nikita comes in and rams Gibson into the cage, and capitalizes on the following distraction by choking Gibson. Ivan very stupidly gets dropkicked, and of course the referee falls down so he can’t make a cover. Pandemonium ensues and Nikita gives Gibson the RUSSIAN SICKLE, but now it turns out that the official can’t count a pin for the Russians! Gibson finally makes a tag, nobody sees it, but it doesn’t matter as Morton runs in, cradles Ivan, and gets the pinfall victory! New champions, the time 12:22.
The crowd goes apeshit, but this isn’t over by any stretch. The Russians decide they want to beat the RnR’s up, and Nikita pushes Morton off the cage DOWN TO THE FLOOR. Morton very sneakily bladed at some point there which is a nice touch. I never saw it. I guess it was when Ivan catapulted him into the cage after the pin. POST MATCH BLADING. The crowd took Morton’s demise as being a death fall. Khruschev has entered the cage, and ATTACKS GIBSON WITH A CHAIN. That pretty much puts him out, but the Russians have every intent of killing him. They give him a DOUBLE CLOTHESLINE DOOMSDAY DEVICE, which Gibson takes by LANDING ON HIS HEAD. The camera pans over to Kernodle, who’s busted wide open. Ivan beats Gibson to death with the chain, and all these guys run out from the back to save the RnR’s. Nikita beats up a few of them, and the Russians make their retreat. Wow.
My Thoughts: What does it matter if you win a title when you get destroyed after the match? That’s probably the most hollow title win I’ve seen, yet at the same time it was near perfect in the execution of the angle. When you see parents shielding their kids so they don’t get beaten up by Nikita…you just know how good it is. The feud between the two is basically over, with the RnR’s having won the battle and being obliterated afterward. ***1/2 for the whole thing. The Russians lost the match in the only way that could keep them extremely strong going into a feud with the Road Warriors. Should I also mention that I love Dusty’s booking during this period as long as the program didn’t involve himself? Because I do.
Dusty Rhodes vs. Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: I refer people to my last NWA column to see what led this match to take place that year. The Atlanta crowd is on fire for this.
Match Review: Dusty mocks Flair’s strut at the start of their match, which is unsurprising. They do a little chop war, Dusty gets the better of Flair, and punches him. The crowd loves it, and some idiot is hollering within audible range of a microphone. I think this is going to hurt my enjoyment of the match. Flair takes a powder outside of the ring, and eventually comes back. The same thing as before happens again, but this time, Dusty shoulderblocks Flair, and hits him with a big elbow. Then Flair goes to the outside once more. Tony plugs ‘Fan Appreciation Day’ in Greensboro, like he couldn’t have done that any sooner. It’s just annoying, like the moron who keeps screaming and driving me insane. Dusty puts Flair in a hammerlock, and takes him down. Flair goes for Dusty’s ankle, which is encased in a weird looking boot, but can’t quite get to it. Yet Dusty backs up. Flair hits Dusty a few times, takes him down with a snap mare, and drops a knee. Cover gets a 1 count. Flair kicks Dusty in the leg, and Dusty retreats to the outside. Selling that leg big time. Flair attacks Dusty when he gets on the apron, but Dusty elbows him right in the back of the neck. Four times. He stomps on Flair’s right leg, and pulls him away from the ropes so he can elbow drop that leg. Dusty grapevines the leg, and by this point it is very clear this is not Flair’s usual match. Dusty hasn’t given him anything resembling his usual stuff, or offense for that matter. Dusty teases giving Flair an elbow drop to the knee again, which he shortly does. Flair gouges Dusty’s eyes, and goes for a suplex, but his leg gives out and he can’t give it. Of course Dusty’s injured leg doesn’t give out until HIS suplex is completed. Dusty elbow drops the knee again, and they’ve been sitting on the canvas for quite some time at this point. Flair gets to his feet, and gets shoulderblocked. Then the second time of asking, Flair puts Dusty in a sleeper. Dusty runs towards the turnbuckle and drops, causing Flair’s face to bash into it, then he rams Flair’s leg into the ring post. Both men are standing now, and Flair chops all the sweat off Dusty. Dusty does the same to Flair, takes him down with a terrible snap mare, and misses an elbow drop. Flair climbs to his feet, and goes to the top rope. WHY? Dusty slams him down to the canvas, and goes for a figure-four, but Flair kicks him away. Flair finally trips Dusty, but gets kicked away on his figure-four attempt. Twice, in fact. Every time Flair tries to beat up Dusty, Dusty does something to him. It stinks. Dusty shoots Flair into the corner and he flips to the outside, then Dusty rams Flair into the ring post. And into the steel barricade. Flair gets color (blood), and crawls back into the ring. He throws Dusty over the top rope, but Tommy Young doesn’t see it. Dusty gives Flair a cross-body off the top, but cover only gets 2. I guess Young had something in his eye. Flair bumps off an elbow, and Dusty takes Flair to the corner for a 10 punch combo. Flair then falls down and the crowd gets heated. Dusty gives Flair a double shot to the eyes, shoots Flair over the ropes, and Flair comes off the top rope only to get punched in the gut. Dusty tries a kick with his messed up foot and misses, then Flair works on Dusty’s ruined left leg for about a minute. Flair slaps on the FIGURE-FOUR, and the crowd buys that it’s over. If only. Dusty reverses the figure-four, and Flair breaks it. Dusty becomes impervious to Flair’s chops, which isn’t any different than things have been all match, and Dusty clotheslines Flair. He covers and only gets 2, as Flair pushes Dusty onto Tommy Young’s back. Dusty then pulls Flair into Tommy, and he takes a spill to the floor! Dusty tries for a figure-four, can’t do it, but gets it on the third try. ARN Anderson run in, so does Ole, and Ole hits Dusty with a knee to the back! Flair goes for a cover, a referee runs in, and only counts 2! Dusty then cradles Flair on a bodyslam attempt, and gets a 3 count at 22:06. The pop approaches top five pops territory.
Some of the babyfaces from earlier on the Atlanta half of the card run out to celebrate with Dusty, but Arn, Ole, and Flair are quite upset. To me, the way Dusty sold his win rang really hollow and didn’t come off as a big moment. He quickly goes to the back, and the ring announcer announces the decision, which makes the crowd happy, although not as happy as I would have thought. Dusty cuts a promo in the back, gets sprayed with champagne, and the promo delivers to some extent. The celebration doesn’t.
My Thoughts: I think everyone knows the story about how the decision was reversed, but in the context of the card, with many other decisions reversed, why in the hell was that the only reversed decision? I’ve always found that to be a flaw with main events that have screwy Dusty finishes. Another thing is, why would you do that to fans who paid their hard earned money to see the match? Is that supposed to get people back in the building? For those that don’t know the story of how it was reversed, basically Tommy Young claimed that he saw Ole and Arn Anderson run in and therefore the match was ruled a disqualification in favor of Dusty Rhodes. It doesn’t make much sense, but that’s what it was. It was a total copout and borderline offensive to the people who paid to watch that. Book a screwy finish that has a payoff that night, please.
Now as for the match, I didn’t like it at all. I felt that Flair got absolutely nothing, and it wasn’t in the way that his formula match worked, which made it worse. Dusty could have given him something, it needed more drama around Dusty’s bum ankle. It seemed listless and like both guys were going through the motion, but this is very much 22 minutes of Flair getting his ass kicked coupled with the pleasure of losing. I’ll begrudgingly give this **1/4, because it was an interesting finish within the context of the business, and the work was fine, although it didn’t cater to my tastes and what I thought the match should have been.
The show closes after that, with Tony and Bob summing things up, leading into a highlight package.
It goes without saying that the WWF was a much better company in terms of production values, but this is so much better in terms of wrestling quality. To some degree the earlier matches can be chopped off, besides Fernandez vs. Abdullah, and you’d have an amazing show. Instead you have a really good show that is fun to sit through. It seems less than ideal for Landel and Haynes to have been out of JCP within a few weeks time, because it seems like there were plans for them. Perhaps the wrestlers were used to wrestling longer matches, and that may have reflected in their work, but only one or two matches were actually terrible. And this has one of the best matches in wrestling history!
Best: Magnum TA vs. Tully Blanchard
Worst: Superstar Billy Graham vs. Barbarian. It did have some funny moments, though.
Card Rating: 8/10
