NWA/WCW Starrcade 88': True Gritt

NWA/WCW Starrcade 88': True Gritt

Norfolk, VA - December 1988

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, Ric Flair was enjoying his SIXTH reign as the World Heavyweight Champion, the United States Champion was Barry Windham, the Television Title was held by Mike Rotunda, the Road Warriors held the NWA World Tag Team Championships and the United States Tag Team Champions were The Fantastics. 

Starrcade 88' opens up with the United States Tag Team Champions, The Fantastics, taking on the Varsity Club's Kevin Sullivan and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams. I have not seen many Fantastics matches but was definitely impressed with their tag team work. They kinda reminded me of The Rockers, a natural babyface tag team who could deliver good tandem moves and get sympathy. Dr. Death got a huge pop for his signature multi-press slam, but by the end, the crowd seemed to definitely be behind the babyfaces. Williams and Sullivan were very aggressive, their stiffness adding serious intensity and making Fulton and Rogers even more sympathetic. The match was a little bit too long for me but the crowd was into it. I also didn't care for the finish too much as it was too telegraphed after a match that felt, up until then, very "real" and organic. I'm sure there are some people who absolutely love this match, but I found it to be in that average/slightly above average range. (2.5/5)

Next up - Paul E. Dangerously's Midnight Express vs. Jim Cornette's Midnight Express. Its fun to see Cornette in babyface mode - his energy level is just off the hook, almost Ultimate Warrior-level. The crowd is red hot, which is unsurprising as Cornette's Midnight Express were such a great tag team for such a long time that the audience had realized just how talented they were and, when they stopped outwardly trying to trick and deceive babyfaces at every chance, were very easy to cheer. Its something that we see happen all the time with "cool heels" today or "indie heels" (think Kevin Owens or Randy Orton), but back then it wasn't as common because, well, the lines between face and heel were more defined and the booking and match layouts played within those boundaries. This match has lots of quick tags, some great Dangerously/Cornette stuff, and some good ol' rasslin' out of Eaton and Condrey especially - though the OG Midnights hold their own too. My biggest gripe was just the length - at 17+ minutes, this match didn't leave me wanting more. The pace was so frantic and wild at the beginning that, by minute 11-12, it feels a bit repetitive and even "phoned in," like the competitors and performers knew the feud was so hot that they could milk every moment which almost made the thing a bit bloated. Too much of a good thing, maybe? Its just one of those matches that should've and could've been an all-time classic, but doesn't get there at any time despite having all the time in the world to get there. (3.5/5)

After some words from the Varsity Club, we have another tag match - Ivan Koloff & The Junkyard Dog vs. The Russian Assassins. If the first match was average (or slight above that due to the Fantastics selling and Dr. Death being an absolute beast) and the second tag match of the night was a near-classic, this one is just a bunch of slop. JYD is over enough to keep the crowd interested, but this is definitely one of those matches that, when you watch with modern eyes, is just nothing special at all. Unlike JYD's matches with Rick Rude or Ric Flair from the 80s and early 90s, where the Dog at least had very colorful, strong foils to work against, here he's got to carry two nobodies in masks. Again, Koloff and JYD were big enough stars at this point for the crowd not to completely turn on things, but from bell-to-bell, there is very little to be impressed by. Its a 7 minute match that feels like it goes at least 12. (1/5)

Next up - Mike Rotunda defending the NWA Television Championship against his former Varsity Club stablemate, Rick Steiner. This one got 3.5 stars from the Observer back in the day and I can understand why - Steiner and Rotunda are/were legit grapplers, the crowd is absolutely hot for it, and the finish was a feel-good moment. Plus, Steiner's clotheslines are just forefingers-to-mouth mwah, super stiff and impactful and real. Unfortunately, I didn't watch this "in the moment" when the Steiner/Varsity Club was red hot and this match was the culmination of a months-long feud. I watched this cold and felt it was a bit tedious, not an uncommon adjective for a Mike Rotunda match. Plus, by this point, the NWA had had so many TV Titles match go the full 20-minute time limit that by minute 15, it was fairly obvious that we were either going to get a non-finish or that we wouldn't get one for another 4:57. There is a bit of a shocking moment when the time limit expires and the referee restarts the match after freeing Kevin Sullivan from his cage, so at least they give some variation on the formula, but still, if they had made this a 15-minute match and done the same finish, maybe it would've had more urgency? As it is, minutes 3-19 just don't seem all that different, even if Steiner's big clotheslines look like they might take Rotunda's head off. A hot finish does not a good match make. (1.5/5)


Bam Bam Bigelow challenges Barry Windham for his United States Championship in the next match. This one is a bit weird because Windham was a Horseman, which would make one believe he was the heel, but Bigelow, despite being a babyface in the WWF in 87' and upon debuting in WCW, just isn't nearly as over with the crowd as one might expect. I think there's just something about Bigelow's look that made him a natural heel, PLUS Windham actually takes the brunt of the offense in the early going, meaning that he's the one drawing sympathy from the Virginia crowd - who may have also seen Bigelow as a "WWF Guy" and Windham as the NWA's resident monster. The first two-thirds of the match are not great as these two just can't seem to find a rhythm. Towards the end, Bigelow inexplicably allows Windham out of a would-be pinfall victory, something that looks like a miscue but is played up on commentary as just a flat-out act of cockiness. In other words, the opposite of what a babyface should do. Bigelow goes to the top rope and misses his big splash and Windham rallies, the crowd in full support of the Horseman. If this was designed to be a double-turn, it would've gone down as one of the all-time great ones, but I don't think it was. Windham ends up winning via countout - another bizarre twist in an overall odd match that might even be worth if a view...if it wasn't at least 5-6 minutes too long. Another disappointing bout. (1.5/5)

The NWA World Tag Team Championships are on the line next with The Road Warriors defending the titles against Dusty Rhodes and Sting. Again, my lack of knowledge of the storyline building up to this match kind of blurred things for me and probably made it less special because, reading up on it, the Warriors turn on Dusty Rhodes was a huge deal at the time. Unfortunately, as attention-grabbing as it was, the Norfolk crowd is still split and Dusty gets the smallest pop of anyone in the match. As one would expect, this is a wild, fast-paced brawl with lots of big signature spots out of all four men. There's also a ton of no-selling because everyone involved was kind of known for shrugging off moves and firing up rather than actually bumping or registering damage. Still, at least it isn't boring - which is more than I can say for the previous match, which had no real reason to stretch beyond 15 minutes. This match, on the other hand, would've been something special if they had developed some sort of finish and not the BS disqualification that ends things after 10 minutes. (2.5/5)

Main event time - Lex Luger challenging "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. This is Ric Flair in 88', in Norfolk, against a mega-over Lex Luger at a time when Luger was still hungry, motivated, and probably more willing than ever to get led through a match rather than play any "get my shit in" politics or nervous about how he would look in a loss. In other words, the recipe is right for an all-time classic and this match is that. While I'm not going to rate it as high as Flair's masterpieces against Steamboat and Funk from around this same era (which are flawless affairs), it is not that far from it. Some reviewers have called it the textbook "Flair vs. Power Wrestler" match and that's both a knock against it for being prototypical and formulaic and also a compliment to how successful the formula was (Flair  relied on it for years and years to come, including against Hulk Hogan in 94'). That summary also is a bit of a disservice to Luger, who gets a ton of mileage out of his intensity, emotions, and underrated ability to believably go from selling knee damage to no-selling anything based on adrenaline. Its easy to see, watching this match, why Luger was slated to be The Next Big Thing. This match is smoother than their WrestleWar 90' match, but also stretches a bit longer and I wasn't a huge fan of Luger's long dominant stretch at the start. Fortunately, Flair is brilliant throughout, even if his strategy - which involves a lot of stalling, taunting, and cowardice - doesn't necessarily make for a non-stop, action-packed match. The finish of the match is what put things over the top for me and nudges it into rarefied territory. With Flair reeling, Luger attempts a Torture Rack but the damage to the knee (at one point Flair was even able to use a chair on it behind the ref's back - which played beautifully to the extra stip that, if Flair was DQ'd, he would lose the title) is too much and Flair ends up covering him with extra leverage from the ropes! It is an unclean, classic heel finish - but, unlike many of the big matches that feature dirty finishes from NWA in the 80s, it wasn't overbooked with run-ins and extra bullshit! It is just Flair straight-up outsmarting Luger and the ref and leaving with the gold. (4.5/5)



With a Kwang Score of 2.42-out-of-5, Starrcade 88' is a two-match show - but the two matches are, arguably, two of the best bouts of the decade. I'm not as high on the Midnights vs. Midnights match as others, but I also didn't live through the feud growing up, meaning I was considerably less emotionally invested as the fans in the building (who went absolutely insane for nearly every second of the match). I enjoyed the main event considerably more, likely because of the undeniable awesomeness of Ric Flair in the late 80s. Anyone seeking a Ric Flair showcase but wary of actually sitting down for a 40-60 minute epic against Ricky Steamboat should look no further than this match, which is considerably better than Flair's matches against Dusty Rhodes (and, I'd argue, better than the Starrcade 83' match against Harley Race). Speaking of Dusty Rhodes, his tag match (with Sting) against the Road Warriors is fun for what it is, but really nothing else on this show is worth checking out.

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand