NWA/WCW Starrcade 87'
Chicago, IL - November 1987
CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the NWA World Heavyweight Champion was Ron Garvin, the United States Champion was Lex Luger, the Television Champion was Nikita Koloff, and the Women's Champion was Debbie McCombs (though, she does not appear anywhere on this card). The NWA World Tag Team Champions were Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson, while the US Tag Team Titles were held by The Midnight Express.
NWA Starrcade 87' begins with an establishing shot of the UIC Pavilion and music that sounds not unlike the beginning to the song "She's A Beauty" by The Tubes. Tony Schiavone and Jim Ross are looking dapper in tuxes and almost immediately send things to the ring for our opening contest - The Fabulous Freebirds and Sting vs. Eddie Gilbert, Rick Steiner, and Larry Zybysko (with Baby Doll). You gotta love the pre-match intros as Gilbert as announced from coming from "Every woman's dream" while Sting is announced as coming from "Every man's nightmare." To be honest, I was unaware that the Freebirds were ever babyfaces. Jim Ross notes that the arena is jam-packed, but you can see dozens of empty seats throughout the building. Steiner and Sting start things off, the Dog-Faced Gremlin looking a little different without the singlet. Sting is over huge despite looking green as gooseshit. The babyfaces clean house and the crowd erupts. As the Freebirds come in, Steiner takes a back body drop and then tags in Zybysko to try to change the pace. A "Larry Sucks" chant starts up and Garvin gets to work. Hayes comes in, does some paltry offense, and gets a big pop for his moonwalk. Eddie Gilbert comes in and the match slows down a bit, Gilbert hoping for a timeout. Hayes applies a wristlock and then tags the Stinger back in, the crowd popping huge. Sting delivers an ugly, ugly clothesline and then applies a basic wristlock before Gilbert slams him and escapes. Sting then performs a not-so-great arm drag on Steiner before tagging out to Garvin. The heels take control, beating down on Jimmy Garvin. Rick Steiner, who looks absolutely massive here, delivers an awesome powerslam at one point, but misses a splash in the corner and is forced to tag in the Living Legend, who applies an abdominal stretch. Garvin finally gets the hot tag to Sting, but he can't really capitalize and, when the ref's back is turned, Gilbert tosses him over the top rope (which would normally be a DQ at this time). Sting gets back in the ring, but the heels maintain control. Zybysko attempts a suplex and Sting counters. The crowd has definitely cooled down a bit, this much reaching its 12-minute and possibly going just too long after a fun first half. Rick Steiner applies a headlock, but Sting escapes by dropping to his knees and sending Steiner into the buckle. Zybysko comes in and Sting sends him into the opposite buckle with 2 minutes remaining. Sting tags in Hayes, but the match becomes a wild brawl with the faces taking everyone out. Hayes makes the cover, but Zybysko's got his leg on the rope. Hayes attempts a sleeper, but Gilbert breaks it up with one minute left. Rick Steiner comes in with absolutely no urgency and applies a bear hug, eventually turning it into a belly-to-belly suplex. Hayes kicks out, though, and Gilbert comes in. Hayes attempts a roll-up and then a sunset flip, but neither work as time runs out and the match is declared a draw with the heels and faces basically just giving up on the match and walking away from each other. The only guy who even sells disappointment is Zybysko. The match started out hot, meandered in the middle, and then ended the worst way possible. (2/5)
We've got a Champion vs. Champion next - the Western States Heritage Champion Barry Windham challenging the UWF Champion, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams. Both guys are babyfaces here so the match begins with a handshake before the old school 'rasslin begins. Williams tries to deliver his multi-pump guerrilla press slam, but Windham escapes, using his speed to counter Williams' strength. We get some mat wrestling, Windham somehow holding his own against the very talented Williams. The crowd immediately turns on it, though, loud cat calls of "Boring!" getting picked up by the cameras. Back to the ring they go, the crowd unhappy that these two are wrestling a scientific match. I could understand the criticism if this was minute 6 or 7, but this is like minute 2. Williams applies a headlock and keeps it locked on as Windham tries to escape with a series of hip tosses. Were these fans expecting a bloodbath? They finally get a pop when Williams tries a leapfrog and Barry Windham essentially headbutts him in the crotch. Williams sells huge and the crowd boos as Windham refuses to capitalize and allows William to get back on his feet. Williams' selling is ridiculous and goes on for at least 30-40 seconds. Windham applies a headlock, but Williams counters it and these two go back to just a basic tie-up and some ropes running. Windham attempts a crossbody but Williams ducks and he goes flying over the top rope and onto the floor. And then we get one of the flattest finishes I've seen in a long time. When Windham returns to the ring, Williams rolls him up and gets the 3 count, essentially taking advantage in a way that Windham had not moments earlier. The crowd boos, which could be expected and is definitely deserved. I guess the best that can be said about this is that it is at least different. (1/5)
The Rock n' Roll Express take on United States Tag Team Champions, The Midnight Express, in a non-title Scaffold Match next. A year prior, the Midnight Express lost a scaffold match and Jim Cornette had injured both of his knees falling from the top so I'm curious if he was willing to take another fall a year later. Not only is Cornette in the corner of the Midnight Express, Big Bubba was still around at this point - though he'd be in the WWE by the end of the year, if I'm not mistaken. Before the match begins, Bubba attacks Ricky Morton, which leaves Gibson having to defend himself 2-on-1 at the top of the scaffold against Lane and Eaton. Rogers tries to make his way up the scaffold too, but Morton beats him off with Cornette's racket. Morton is finally on the scaffold, racket in hand, and he wails on Eaton. As is the case with most scaffold matches, the action isn't all that much more than punches, kicks, and stomps (and much of it is delivered from both knees), though Eaton does get bloodied and all four guys do some hanging at various points. JR notes that the worst thing that could happen to you in a match like this would be to lose sight and it made me wonder if anyone's ever thrown salt in someone's eyes during a scaffold match as that would've probably gotten a huge pop in the 80s. Eaton grabs the racket and he and Lane get to work on Ricky Morton, but when tries to use it on Gibson, Gibson strikes him with a loose part of the scaffold! That was actually a neat twist. Cornette tosses another racket up to the scaffold and Eaton catches it and goes to town on Gibson as Stan Lane hangs under the scaffold. Morton tries to knock him off and prevent him from getting back onto the scaffold, but in order to do so, Morton starts climbing down the side too and now both Lane and Morton are under the scaffold. Meanwhile, atop the scaffold, Gibson strikes Eaton with the racket and Eaton looks terribly dazed. Stan Lane drops from the scaffold but the camera misses it and Morton makes his way to the top to help his partner. Eaton gets stomped and punched to the edge of the scaffold and drops down as the crowd goes wild. Big Bubba Rogers makes his way up the scaffold too and he and Ricky Morton square off. Morton punches him in the balls and climbs down the scaffold. To add insult to injury, he puts on Big Bubba's jacket and hat. Not a great match - not even a good match, really - but scaffold matches are never good. What is shocking, though, is that if a match like this was held today, one would imagine that any number of wrestlers would actually take the fall on their back or chest-first rather than on their feet because of how high the bar has been raised in pro-wrestling in the past 30 years. (1.5/5)
Backstage, The Freebirds and Precious cut a promo about how great Starrcade is. Being unfamiliar with this era of the Freebirds, its odd to hear Garvin give such an earnest, babyface promo. Dr. Death shows up next and delivers a total mess of a promo about how Barry Windham didn't take advantage when he had a chance and a bunch of other mangled verbiage that had nothing to do with anything.
Terry Taylor makes his way down the aisle next, accompanied by Eddie Gilbert. His opponent is Nikita Koloff, still a babyface at this point but also still disliked by at least a little bit of the crowd because of his allegiance to the USSR. This is a UWF/NWA Television Championship unification match, with Taylor representing the UWF and Koloff repping the NWA. Its pretty amazing that, a year later, the WWE would raid so much of the NWA's talent - specifically Taylor and Bossman and, in late 88', Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson too (I'm also not sure when the Hebners would join the WWE either but I'm guessing it was around then). Anyway...Taylor tries to make this a wrestling match, but Koloff no sells all of his offense. Taylor eventually applies a wristlock, but Koloff counters it into an armbar. To their credit, the crowd is with them despite there not being a ton of action. The truth is, though obviously limited, Koloff had presence and credibility and that could (and still can) get you pretty far. It doesn't hurt that Taylor's bumping and selling is great and his facial expressions make it clear how worried he is about losing his title. Around the 7-minute mark, Taylor rolls to the outside and the match seems to have dipped considerably, but wisely they re-ignite the crowd by having Koloff slap the taste out of his mouth when he comes back in the ring and then deliver a huge back body drop for good measure. Can you imagine a modern WWE match keeping fans engaged for 10 minutes with literally 2 high spots? Taylor eventually gets an upperhand when Koloff runs into his feet, but Taylor only gets 2 despite putting his feet on the ropes for leverage. Koloff regains control and applies a half-nelson/hammerlock combo. Taylor is able to escape by putting his foot on the rope and then raking the eyes of the Russian. At this point, Taylor's offense finally seems to be having an effect, but every time Taylor might gain control, Koloff re-applies an arm submission. Taylor tries to mount a comeback with some headbutts and punches directly to Nikita's skull, but Koloff no sells those too and looks to be even angrier. Again, this is a simple, simple match - but its done well and the crowd is eating it all up and by the time you get to the 15 minute mark, it feels like a genuine war. Maybe most impressive is that Terry Taylor, despite not really getting in a ton of offense, manages to get the upperhand by simply outlasting Koloff's onslaught. Koloff, the larger, dominating wrestler, doesn't have the stamina and endurance and his fatigue is what ultimately gives Taylor the opportunity to take control (plus a little bit of help from Eddie Gilbert on the outside). After nearly losing via a figure four leglock (the move is finally broken when Hebner catches Gilbert giving leverage to Taylor), Koloff manages to not only get some revenge on Hot Stuff but also land his Russian Sickle on Terry Taylor for an absolutely dynamite finish that gets a massive pop from the crowd. Considering that the support for Koloff was somewhat muted at the start of this match, the fact that it ends with such a huge pop proves how good this was. Maybe not a match for everyone and maybe not a "must see," but definitely very good. (3.5/5)
NWA World Tag Team Champions, Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson of the Four Horsemen, defend the straps against The Road Warriors in the next match. The Road Warriors' pop is deafening, as one might expect in Chicago. The match starts off hot with Arn Anderson getting press slammed in the first minute. A little later there is a great sequence that sees Tully trying to avoid a boot from Hawk only to get clotheslined instead. Blanchard tries to escape the match, but is sent back in by Animal and then chased down the aisle by Hawk. Tully attempts a splash from the top but Animal catches him mid-air and powerslams in another great spot. The Warriors were known for their no-selling, but what really works here is that they sell just enough for the heels to get some distance and make magic with cut-offs, bumping, and pinballing. It would be boring or repetitive by minute 5 if Tully and Arn weren't clever enough to add variations to each sequence, doing the little things to make their feeding into the Road Warriors different from the last time. The heels finally get a "leg up" when Hawk attempts a press slam on Tully and Arn kicks out his knee, Tully and Arn finally getting some meaningful offense in. Tully delivers a nasty chairshot to Hawk's knee that looks about as real as it gets. Double A then hits him with a DDT at the ten-minute mark. Tully attempts a figure four, but Hawk nearly counters it with an inside cradle. There's a noticeable gaffe when Anderson attempts another figure four and Hawk momentarily forgets to kick him off. Blanchard is finally able to sinch it in on their third attempt. I like that it took multiple attempts as it adds credibility to the struggle and the idea that a wrestling match isn't just guys taking turns delivering moves to each other. Hawk finally gets the hot tag to Animal, but its an imperfect sequence as the timing seems a bit off. Tommy Young ends up on the floor in the melee as the Road Warriors hit the heels with a double clothesline. They hit Anderson with the Doomsday Device and get a 3 right in the middle of the ring! But wait...it was Earl Hebner who made the count, but Tommy Young is waving off the finish as Tommy Young is arguing that Animal back-body dropped Anderson over the top rope, which is a DQ. The crowd absolutely hates the reversal, chanting "Bullshit" and booing the announcement. That was pretty great, though the BS ending does kind of hurt it as it seems like this could've been the big moment when the Warriors finally got the titles. (3.5/5)
Dusty Rhodes challenges Lex Luger for his United States Championship in a steel cage match next. Rhodes has also promised that, if he loses, he will not compete for 90 days - which is kind of an odd stipulation. I guess its more believable than a straight-up Retirement stipulation, but also way, way lower stakes. Luger is a Chicago native, but the crowd clearly favors longtime hero Dusty. The live crowd is invested in this much, but neither guy is a great technical worker and Luger isn't all that great a seller or bumper either. Rhodes gets a ton of mileage out of a very limited moveset, fan empathy, and getting color, but its still not enough to keep this interesting or exciting from beginning to end. There are enough little moments to keep this from being a total disappointment - Dusty's clever use of submissions early and focused work on Luger's arm, the struggle Luger has putting Dusty up for the rack (botched or not), the red hot finish - but there's not enough connective tissue and, at 16 and a half minutes, it just goes on too long. (2/5)
Main event time - Ric Flair challenging Ron Garvin for his NWA World Heavyweight Championship in an Anything Goes Cage Match. Garvin is, alongisde David Arquette and Vince McMahon, often cited as one of the worst World Champions ever, but, based on what I know/have seen (which is not necessarily all that much) about the NWA in the 80s, its not so much that Garvin wasn't a decent hand or not over but that he wasn't good enough and wasn't over enough. The reason Garvin was given the title, according to legend, is because the NWA wanted to re-crown Flair as champion at the biggest show of the year (a show that was historically up against Survivor Series 87') and Garvin was either the first choice or the first guy to agree to a limited run. Regardless, the match doesn't really have much heat to the start and there is an audible "Garvin Sucks" chant. Unlike the previous year's match against Nikita Koloff, Flair doesn't go overboard with his bumping and selling - which actually detracts the match a bit as Garvin's shine is just not all that impressive. Things pick up when Flair takes over and gets to work Ron's knee and the final third of the match, leading up to the finish, is quite strong (with a great callback to the way Garvin won the title months earlier). If only they had found a way to make the first half of the match more interesting, this would probably be cited more as an all-time great Flair title match. I wouldn't go as far as to call this a carry job as both guys end up bloody messes and Garvin's chest chops are rightfully the thing of legend, plus the finishing sequence is incredibly well-executed and needs both guys to have perfect timing to work the way it does. An above-average match, no doubt, but not an all-time classic to me. (3/5)
Starrcade 87' is, somewhat surprisingly, a show that looks better on paper than it actually is. You've got Sting, Luger, Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, the Rock n' Roll Express, the Midnights, the Road Warriors, Tully and Arn all over this card! The star power on this show DWARFS the star power on Starrcade 86'. Unfortunately, despite featuring superior talent, much of the talent is wasted in poorly booked matches that work against the talents featured. Sticking the Rock n' Roll Express and the Midnight Express on a scaffold prevents them from putting on the mat classics they could perform in their sleep, while Dusty and Lex are forced to carry 15+ minutes. The opening match kicks the show off hot, but ends with one of the worst finishers I've seen this year. Windham/Williams is a disaster when it could've been exceptional. Koloff/Taylor is the only match that actually exceeds expectations and even that bout is likely to bore many modern fans. With a slightly sub-average Kwang Score of 2.36-out-of-5, I'm going with a...
FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver
NWA World Tag Team Champions, Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson of the Four Horsemen, defend the straps against The Road Warriors in the next match. The Road Warriors' pop is deafening, as one might expect in Chicago. The match starts off hot with Arn Anderson getting press slammed in the first minute. A little later there is a great sequence that sees Tully trying to avoid a boot from Hawk only to get clotheslined instead. Blanchard tries to escape the match, but is sent back in by Animal and then chased down the aisle by Hawk. Tully attempts a splash from the top but Animal catches him mid-air and powerslams in another great spot. The Warriors were known for their no-selling, but what really works here is that they sell just enough for the heels to get some distance and make magic with cut-offs, bumping, and pinballing. It would be boring or repetitive by minute 5 if Tully and Arn weren't clever enough to add variations to each sequence, doing the little things to make their feeding into the Road Warriors different from the last time. The heels finally get a "leg up" when Hawk attempts a press slam on Tully and Arn kicks out his knee, Tully and Arn finally getting some meaningful offense in. Tully delivers a nasty chairshot to Hawk's knee that looks about as real as it gets. Double A then hits him with a DDT at the ten-minute mark. Tully attempts a figure four, but Hawk nearly counters it with an inside cradle. There's a noticeable gaffe when Anderson attempts another figure four and Hawk momentarily forgets to kick him off. Blanchard is finally able to sinch it in on their third attempt. I like that it took multiple attempts as it adds credibility to the struggle and the idea that a wrestling match isn't just guys taking turns delivering moves to each other. Hawk finally gets the hot tag to Animal, but its an imperfect sequence as the timing seems a bit off. Tommy Young ends up on the floor in the melee as the Road Warriors hit the heels with a double clothesline. They hit Anderson with the Doomsday Device and get a 3 right in the middle of the ring! But wait...it was Earl Hebner who made the count, but Tommy Young is waving off the finish as Tommy Young is arguing that Animal back-body dropped Anderson over the top rope, which is a DQ. The crowd absolutely hates the reversal, chanting "Bullshit" and booing the announcement. That was pretty great, though the BS ending does kind of hurt it as it seems like this could've been the big moment when the Warriors finally got the titles. (3.5/5)
Dusty Rhodes challenges Lex Luger for his United States Championship in a steel cage match next. Rhodes has also promised that, if he loses, he will not compete for 90 days - which is kind of an odd stipulation. I guess its more believable than a straight-up Retirement stipulation, but also way, way lower stakes. Luger is a Chicago native, but the crowd clearly favors longtime hero Dusty. The live crowd is invested in this much, but neither guy is a great technical worker and Luger isn't all that great a seller or bumper either. Rhodes gets a ton of mileage out of a very limited moveset, fan empathy, and getting color, but its still not enough to keep this interesting or exciting from beginning to end. There are enough little moments to keep this from being a total disappointment - Dusty's clever use of submissions early and focused work on Luger's arm, the struggle Luger has putting Dusty up for the rack (botched or not), the red hot finish - but there's not enough connective tissue and, at 16 and a half minutes, it just goes on too long. (2/5)
Main event time - Ric Flair challenging Ron Garvin for his NWA World Heavyweight Championship in an Anything Goes Cage Match. Garvin is, alongisde David Arquette and Vince McMahon, often cited as one of the worst World Champions ever, but, based on what I know/have seen (which is not necessarily all that much) about the NWA in the 80s, its not so much that Garvin wasn't a decent hand or not over but that he wasn't good enough and wasn't over enough. The reason Garvin was given the title, according to legend, is because the NWA wanted to re-crown Flair as champion at the biggest show of the year (a show that was historically up against Survivor Series 87') and Garvin was either the first choice or the first guy to agree to a limited run. Regardless, the match doesn't really have much heat to the start and there is an audible "Garvin Sucks" chant. Unlike the previous year's match against Nikita Koloff, Flair doesn't go overboard with his bumping and selling - which actually detracts the match a bit as Garvin's shine is just not all that impressive. Things pick up when Flair takes over and gets to work Ron's knee and the final third of the match, leading up to the finish, is quite strong (with a great callback to the way Garvin won the title months earlier). If only they had found a way to make the first half of the match more interesting, this would probably be cited more as an all-time great Flair title match. I wouldn't go as far as to call this a carry job as both guys end up bloody messes and Garvin's chest chops are rightfully the thing of legend, plus the finishing sequence is incredibly well-executed and needs both guys to have perfect timing to work the way it does. An above-average match, no doubt, but not an all-time classic to me. (3/5)
Starrcade 87' is, somewhat surprisingly, a show that looks better on paper than it actually is. You've got Sting, Luger, Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, the Rock n' Roll Express, the Midnights, the Road Warriors, Tully and Arn all over this card! The star power on this show DWARFS the star power on Starrcade 86'. Unfortunately, despite featuring superior talent, much of the talent is wasted in poorly booked matches that work against the talents featured. Sticking the Rock n' Roll Express and the Midnight Express on a scaffold prevents them from putting on the mat classics they could perform in their sleep, while Dusty and Lex are forced to carry 15+ minutes. The opening match kicks the show off hot, but ends with one of the worst finishers I've seen this year. Windham/Williams is a disaster when it could've been exceptional. Koloff/Taylor is the only match that actually exceeds expectations and even that bout is likely to bore many modern fans. With a slightly sub-average Kwang Score of 2.36-out-of-5, I'm going with a...
FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver
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