Starrcade '83

Legacy Review

Starrcade '83: A Flare for the Gold

November 24, 1983 from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC

 

Commentary: Gordon Solie and Bob Caudle

 

Welcome to the true granddaddy of them all. This is the show that invented the entire concept of the live broadcast closed circuit TV, later PPV, wrestling supercard. During the early '80s, the Greensboro, NC based Mid-Atlantic Wrestling run by Jim Crockett Promotions was in the process of becoming the top territory in the NWA system. The opening was there because the NWA's longtime top territory run by Sam Munchick in St. Louis found itself in the middle of a power struggle following Munchick's retirement in '82. To anchor this show, it was decided that this would be the official crowning of Ric Flair as the new top man in the NWA, and he would do it against the outgoing top NWA star and the biggest wrestling star of the '70s outside WW(W)F's Bruno Sammartino, record seven time World champion Harley Race. The fact Flair was a JCP guy also helped them get the edge in becoming the top territory, just as St. Louis was Race's home. The show's tagline is, naturally, a pun on his name. They really should have just gone for "Flair" instead of "Flare". The date and location were easy choices: Thanksgiving Day, a longtime top draw day on the calendar for wrestling in the days before the NFL took it over completely, and the promotion's home arena, the Greensboro Coliseum, which already hosted an annual Thanksgiving JCP show. Also an easy choice was the lead commentator, the already legendary Gordon Solie. Joining him is regular lead JCP color commentator Bob Caudle, always one of the most underrated men ever in the booth in my opinion. He'd never be called spectacular, but he was always rock solid. A pro's pro.

 

The official WWE copy has no intro, we go straight to the wrestlers in the ring for the first match. 

 

The Assassins (w/Paul Jones) def Bugsy McGraw & NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Rufus R Jones in 8:12- Jones' Mid-Atlantic title was the top title within the territory, but would quickly become redundant as JCP's national expansion took hold in the coming years. Assassin #1 is longtime Assassin and territory legend Joseph Hamilton, while Assassin #2 is future WWF wrestler Hercules Hernandez. McGraw was also a fairly decent midcard star in most southern territories in this period. A1 and McGraw start. Is McGraw wearing boat shoes or are those sneakers? Either way it's nearly unheard of to see someone not wearing normal wrestling boots in this period. Basic start with McGraw taking a crazy weird bump off a shoulderblock, but then he comes back with a hiptoss. Both guys miss elbow drops. Slam for McGraw and he goes for A1's mask. A1 gets the hell out of town. Reset lockup with no tags. McGraw hits an elbow and goes for the mask again. Slugfest that McGraw wins. He's so fired up he spins around on the spot. Yeah, he's a weirdo. A2 tags in as Solie mispronounces Tony Shiavone's name (Sha-PHONEY). Or it was a subtle dig. Yes, young Tony is here as the backstage interviewer tonight. A2 gets a shoulderblock but also gets hiptossed and slammed. Jones tags in and starts going into his funky jive '70s offense. It's OK, I speak jive. The hard camera goes nuts for a second, like someone walking by pushed it. McGraw tags back in and nearly gets trapped in the heel corner but fights out. He and A1 do some posturing again. Both teams swap cranking some arm wringers. A1 tries to punch Jones' head and only hurts his own hand. Some more double hand chops from Jones and A1 begs off. While down in the corner A1 gets something from Jones and rakes Jones' face with it, then hides it in his sleeve. Jones starts to funk up off punches from A2 and fights over to tag. McGraw cleans house and we get a mini donnybrook. A1 blind tags in before McGraw gives A2 a backdrop. A1 rolls McGraw up and gets the pin! Hey, the faces flat let themselves get outsmarted there. Not exactly a hot opener. 3/4*

 

After commentary does their first stand up in front of a backdrop that looks like the presentation board for a middle school kid's science fair project we cut to Tony in the face locker room, saying they're going to peel back the curtain like never before at a wrestling show. 

 

Kevin Sullivan & Mark Lewin (w/Gary Hart) def Johnny Weaver & Scott McGhee in 6:42- Sullivan was primarily working in Florida at this time and was already doing the weird occult leader stuff he'd become known for. Weaver was a popular elder statesman in JCP, doing commentary while also winding down his in ring career. Sullivan and McGhee start. Quick takedown from Sullivan into a speed run. McGhee hits a couple of dropkicks and Sullivan quickly tags out. Lewin looks like an old school bodybuilder. He'd been around forever at this point, and was one of Sullivan's lackeys in Florida. While Sullivan and Weaver go into a stalemate criss cross Solie says "some people have accused Sullivan of being a druid". Dude, you don't know the half of it. The faces work over Lewin's arm a bit. McGhee does a nice walk up Lewin's back to break up an arm wringer. Now the heels work Lewin's arm over. Lewin looks like a guy that learned how to wrestle in the '50s. Very much seeing that style. Sullivan distracts the ref from seeing McGhee tag and the heels use the opening to hit some double teams. McGhee tries to fight back and Sullivan cuts it off with a headbutt. McGhee manages to give Sullivan a buckle shot and tags out. Weaver bulldog on Sullivan. Lewin reaches over from the apron to break the pin up. Weaver goes for the bulldog again. Sullivan pushes him into the corner and tags out. McGhee gets in the ring to protest, allowing more double teaming. Sullivan and Hart from the floor stretch Weaver's arms out, then Lewin hits a kneedrop off the top rope onto the arm. The ref comes over, and that gets a slightly surprising pin. The fighting continues after the bell as Lewin gets a spike from Hart and hits McGhee with it, busting him open big time. Angelo Mosca runs in to make the save and gets taken out too. The heels continue beating on a gushing blood McGhee. Mosca recovers and chases the heels off. Bleh match, but definitely a good heat getting beatdown after. *1/2

 

Now Tony is in the heel locker room. Harley Race says Greensboro is the absolute last place he'd ever want to be on Thanksgiving or any other day. He says that his friends here are giving him some great insight into Flair's current weaknesses. 

 

Abdullah the Butcher def Carlos Colon in 4:29- If you had a big show you wanted a special attraction for in this period, you got Abby. Probably second only to Andre the Giant before he signed that ironclad WWF contract. Colon was an Antonio Inoki level wrestling god in his native Puerto Rico. Apparently this match has been BANNED from PR because it would be just too dang violent for them. Lockup and Abby goes right to the spike. No time wasting tonight. Clothesline/elbow drop combo from Abby for 2. After some more typical Abby offense Colon fights out of the corner to get his first offense in. Colon takes Abby's spike out of Abby's pants and hits Abby with it! Abby's busted open. More spike shots from Colon. The ref is letting it all go even though I'm pretty sure this wasn't announced as no DQ. Legdrop and elbow drop from Colon for 2. Abby's kickout squashes the ref under Colon, then Abby "inadvertently" drops an elbow on the ref for good measure. Colon starts working on Abby's leg. Figure four! Hugo Savinovich, the future WWF Spanish commentary mainstay who was working as a manager at the time, runs into the ring and hits Colon with a bag of something in the head. Abby covers and gets the pin. Bad night for babyfaces so far. It's an Abby match, but I've seen worse ones. At least they kept it short. *

 

Tony is in the back with Angelo Mosca, who got his arm cut open while trying to save McGhee from his beating earlier. Tony asks if he'll still be OK to guest ref the tag title match later tonight. Mosca says yes. He uses a lot more words but that's the gist. A still completely bloodied McGhee is sitting half conscious behind him. Um, shouldn't he be with a doctor?

 

Bob Orton Jr & Dick Slater def Wahoo McDaniel & Mark Youngblood in 14:46- Now we're getting into some bigger names. Mark is the younger of the Youngblood brothers, just 20 years old and still pretty green. He's teamed with old man Wahoo because they both have Native American gimmicks. The graphic that comes up for them is *hilarious*, Wahoo looking at Mark like he's saying "Don't fuck this up, kid". Bob Orton is the first name coming up tonight that will soon find some level of stardom in WWF, and he won't be the last. Slater is one of the most underrated guys of the era, a great mid to upper midcarder all across the southern territories. He even gets a run with the US title in '84. After (I stress after) the bell rings ring announcer Tom Miller tries to announce a special guest but his mic goes out. He finally gets it working again and says Dusty Rhodes is here. After that the bell rings again to really start the match with Wahoo and Slater in. Lots of caution into a lockup that neither guy wants to break. Wahoo corner whip and Orton jumps over the top rope onto the apron! The faces get the edge with some arm work on Slater. We get a great over the ring looking down camera shot, the same kind WWF/E would later use in some ladder matches. Slater gets a double leg takedown on Mark and jackknife cover for 2. Another Slater leg takedown while in a hammerlock, but Mark pushes him and Slater flies all the way over the top rope. The heels try to argue that was a deliberate over the top throw, which would be a DQ (hate that rule), but ref Tommy Young says nah. Slater schools the kid into a Russian leg sweep for 2. Orton hits a knee to the back, lifts Mark all the way over his head for a backbreaker, then tosses him away like garbage. Mark dodges an elbow drop. Orton tries to run but Mark chases him. Back in Mark gets a hiptoss and Orton bails backwards to tag out. The heels stop everything to talk things over, then Orton stays in after all. Criss cross and Slater blind tags in. Orton literally stops Mark so he can lift him up, then hits another backbreaker with a follow up elbow drop from Slater. Gutwrench suplex from Slater for 2. He tosses Mark out to the floor, where Orton jumps all over him. He drops Mark back first onto the guardrail. Wahoo comes over and helps Mark drag himself back in the ring. Running kick from Slater when he does. Mark fights out of a chinlock and hits a shoulderblock, but then runs into an Orton big boot. The heels work to keep Mark in peril. Slater gives us the night's first suplex, giving us the patented Gordon Solie "suplay" call. Mark counters out of a Slater piledriver attempt. Midring collision. Orton almost cuts it off but tag to Wahoo. He comes in firing off chops on everyone. Inverted atomic drop on Orton. Slam/elbow drop combo for 2. Orton gets a tag to Slater, then trips Wahoo so Slater can stomp away on him. Slater back suplexes out of a Wahoo headlock for 2. Double back elbow from the heels as Wahoo is now officially In Peril. Kneedrops from Orton for 2. Slater goes for an elbow off the top rope, but Wahoo ducks and Orton takes it! An atomic drop from Wahoo sends Slater into the corner for Mark to tear into. Orton charges in with a knee to the back that sends Wahoo out to the floor as things break down. Another heel blind tag. Mark fights them off with dropkicks. Wahoo and Slater get into it on the floor. Orton dodges a wild dropkick attempt. The heels set Mark up on top. I can't say for sure that Orton invented the superplex, but he's the earliest guy I remember seeing use it and in these days it's most definitely a finisher. Orton hits the superplex! Wahoo tries to break the pin up, but he's a half second too late as Orton picks up the win. Bad sport Wahoo then beats the heels down even though they didn't cheat one bit to win, they were just plain better tonight. The heels fight back and hit some shots on Wahoo's arm to hurt it. Mark was pretty useless and Wahoo only ever brought so much, but Orton and Slater were on it in every way. ***

 

Tony gets the first comments of the night from Flair, which are pretty generic. He wishes Jay the elder Youngblood and Ricky Steamboat luck in their tag title match. Then they get to talk, which is.....not a good idea. If you thought Steamboat was rough on promos, marvel at Jay Youngblood's complete deer in headlights look his entire promo.

 

Cut to Dusty Rhodes in the crowd. Dusty gives a full energetic Dusty promo, which we don't hear hardly any of because the audio keeps cutting out. Live TV problems. 

 

Title vs Mask Match for the NWA Television Championship: Charlie Brown (From Outta Town) def The Great Kabuki (c) (w/Gary Hart) in 10:35- I could have some fun with this, but I'll just say it straight up- Charlie Brown is Jimmy Valiant in a mask. Valiant lost a loser leaves town match to Kabuki a few months back, and in classic fashion he showed up soon after wearing a mask claiming to be completely different person, but it's so obviously him (it's the beard) everyone was in on the joke. Similar to how Dusty would occasionally be the Midnight Rider in similar situations. Hence the stips tonight. If Brown loses he has to unmask, and if he does indeed turn out to be Valiant both Brown and Valiant will be suspended FOR LIFE. Kabuki is actually the kayfabe father of the Great Muta. He fires off some green mist before Brown attacks him. Kabuki falls out of the ring, but Brown stays on him and runs him into the post. Chairshot from Brown! It's on the floor so it's OK. He tosses the chair into the ring to distract, then crotches Kabuki on the post. Back in Brown does some dancing around that looks absolutely nothing like Valiant's dancing. Hart is arguing with the ref, so Brown hits a Greco Roman Nut Stomp behind his back. Thumb to Kabuki's throat. Brown hooks on a sleeper. Kabuki goes down and we lay there for a bit. Finally Kabuki gouges Brown's eyes to get free. The sleeper is back on! Kabuki goes down again, but Hart puts one of his feet on the ropes to save him. Kabuki starts stringing some strikes together and puts a claw on. Brown boogies up and punches out. He hits a couple of high angle backdrops, which I wasn't sure was deliberate until he did it a second time the same way. Another kick from Kabuki puts him back down. Kabuki goes up to the second rope. When he comes down he just puts the claw on again. After another long "fight" Brown fights out again. Now Kabuki goes up TOP just to put the claw on again. Yeesh. We finally get some arm drops, then a near fall. Off the top this time Kabuki hits a chop for 2. Another chop to the head. Kabuki decides to go for the mask before winning the match. Brown starts to boogie up again. He dodges a Kabuki kick in the corner, then drops and elbow and gets the pin to win the title! There's no denying Valiant's offbeat charisma kept the crowd invested, but he was pretty much useless in the ring, as we'll be seeing again the next few Starrcades. 1/4*

 

Take two with Dusty, this time backstage instead of in the crowd. Everything functions this time. Dusty makes it clear he wants next for the World title. 

 

Dog Collar Match: "Rowdy" Roddy Piper def NWA United States Heavyweight Champion Greg Valentine in 16:08- These two have had a blood feud over the US title over the past year. Piper defeated Valentine in April, then Valentine won the title back in May in a match where Piper was busted open over his ear, causing real ear damage. In common NWA and later WCW practice the title isn't on the line here because of both the gimmick and the deep personal issues involved. Dog collar matches were kind of Piper's thing during this period, one of the Omni shows uploaded to the WWE Vault channel also has him in a dog collar match. The bell rings and both guys lean back for leverage with their freaking necks. Already this looks dangerous as hell. They slowly use the chain to pull themselves in. Piper gets the first shot with the chain on Valentine's arm. Another work in. Valentine takes some swings with the chain but Piper dodges them. This time they walk in and go nose to nose. Slugfest! Both back off and try to chain leverage again. Piper gets a shot on Valentine's hammy with the chain, then goes NUTS pushing Valentine into the corner! More shots with the chain. Piper pulls Valentine in with the chain for a punch. Reverse Valentine flop! Straight chain to Valentine's crotch. Full Valentine flop! He's second only to Flair in history with his great delayed flops. Valentine fires back with elbows to Piper's head, then hits some chain punches. He's going after Piper's ear again. Snap mare with the chain and Valentine wraps it around Piper's eyes. Piper catches Valentine on the nose with the chain, the hits a kneelift. He wraps the chain around Valentine's mouth! And nose! Piper wraps the chain around the post as a fulcrum and pulls back to choke Valentine with it. Bites on Valentine's forehead. Valentine's busted open. Another chain pull into a punch as Valentine is gushing pretty good. Valentine straight chokes Piper with his hands to get some control back. Piper rolls to the floor and they trade chain shots out there. Valentine gets a chair but Piper uses the chain to knock it out of his hands. He gets on the apron and uses the chain to pull Valentine back up. Valentine catches Piper on his injured ear with the chain on the apron. There's Valentine's opening. He gets all over Piper ear. Chain, post, chairs. Everything on the ear. Piper's bleeding from there. Piper slowly staggers back in the ring and is clearly messed up from having his ear damaged again. Valentine stays all over it with more chain shots. Valentine actually tries for a wrestling move, hooking up for a suplex. Piper gives him a chain shot to the gut to break it up. More shots to the ear put Piper back down. Elbow drop for 2. Another running elbow drop for 2. Valentine goes for another one. Piper yanks him down with the chain. Piper is ALL OVER Valentine! Full wild man. More chain shots to Valentine's head. Piper catches him on the back of the head with it after Valentine goes down. Chain assisted fistdrop to Valentine's head. Valentine gets back on the ear to turn things around again. Piper fires back with his short jabs. A big haymaker puts Valentine on his knees. Valentine gets back up and chokes Piper with the chain. Clothesline and Piper slowly goes down. Kneedrop from Valentine for 2. Another suplex fight. Piper hits it! Both guys are down after that, nearly done. More slugfest after getting back up. Valentine hooks on a sleeper. We get arm drops but Piper isn't done. He slowly wraps the chain around his fist while still in the hold. Chain punch to Valentine's head to get free! Valentine hits an elbow off the second rope. He goes up there again. Piper yanks him down with the chain! He goes nuts on Valentine with the chain again, covers and wraps Valentine's legs up with the chain, and gets the pin to win! Solie mistakenly says he won the title, but it wasn't on the line. An enranged Valentine tosses Piper over the top rope and chokes him with the chain, then beats him some more before leaving. A masterpiece of brutality, one of the most famous matches in JCP history. Piper famously suffered legitimate hearing loss in his left ear from both this and the previous match. Both these guys would move to WWF in '84, correctly seeing they were about to explode. Piper would become the company's top heel in short order and be Hogan's first major foil as champ as the Rock N Wrestling era really got going. After being US champ at this first Starrcade, Valentine would walk into the first Wrestlemania as Intercontinental champ. ****

 

NWA World Tag Team Championship: Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood def The Brisco Brothers (c) in 12:59- This is another culmination of a nearly year long feud that's seen the title change hands three times between these teams so far. The Briscos, Gerry and Jack, were natural heels in JCP because they were seen as outsiders, their normal home territory being Georgia. Both are generally considered among the best technical wrestlers in the world, and Jack was even a two time World Heavyweight champion. Yes, this is the same Gerry Brisco that later worked backstage in WWF/E and was one of Vince's Stooges during the Attitude Era. As mentioned before, Angelo Mosca is the special guest ref for this match in his PWI shirt. I'm very impressed with Gerry standing unflinching on the top rope during the entire intro. Crazy balance. Jack and Steamboat start. Jack heels it up early by celebrating a clean lockup break in the corner. Speed run and Jack dodges a Steamboat chop. The Briscos do some arm work on Steamboat. Steamboat drop toe holds Gerry to escape but Gerry tags out while going down. Steamboat does a great flip over Jack out of a hammerlock and gets the first DEEP armdrag. Jack quickly begs off and tags out. Gerry does not clean break in the corner. Mosca does some law laying down with him. Steamboat blocks a buckle shot, hits his own, and chops Gerry down. Jay tags in for the first time and works a headlock on Gerry. Now Mosca forces Jay to clean break in the corner. Gerry tries to slam out of a front hammerlock but Jay hangs on. That leads to some near fall counters. Both faces take turn hitting shots on Gerry's arm from the top rope with continued tremendous over the top selling from Gerry. Jay sees a tag opening and runs over to knock Jack down before Gerry can tag him. Smart. Gerry cuts Steamboat off with a kick after a tag and finally gets a tag out. Jack snaps Steamboat over the top rope. Snap mare/kneedrop combo and Jack puts Steamboat in a chinlock. Another speed run and Jack gets a backdrop, followed by a double underhook suplex. Amateur cradle attempt for 2. Hiptoss from Jack into an arm scissors. Steamboat uses that to deadlift Jack up and slam him! Tags on both sides. Jay knocks a slightly lost looking Gerry around. Gerry blocks a suplex and hits his own to turn things around again. Double team 3 point stance tackle on Jay. Jack drops a knee right on the back of Jay's head. Jay barely gets a foot on the rope to break the pin up. Suplex from Jack for 2. Nice abdominal stretch cradle from Jack for 2. Jack decides to complain about the count with some shoving. He's forgetting that's not a regular ref and the wrong guy to do that with. Mosca shoves him down! Chop from Jay and tag! Steamboat comes in with a fistdrop off the top rope. More chops, including a leaping chop. Double team chop from the challengers. Steamboat press slams Jay onto Gerry, and that gets the pin to win the titles back! The Briscos take their frustration out on Mosca, then Jack puts Steamboat in a figure four to let Gerry hit some shots on him. Mosca cuts it off and the new champs fight the Briscos off again. Damn good stuff with the Briscos brilliantly playing complete dick heels. ***3/4

 

The tag titles would end up being vacated just a month later when Steamboat decided to "retire". I'm not sure what brought it about, but it'd last less time than a Terry Funk retirement as he was back in the spring of '84, where his singles breakout would start by winning the US title. I'm not saying he was that desperate to get away from Jay Youngblood, but..... Draw your own conclusion. Meanwhile, the Briscos would move to WWF in '84, which set off a hugely consequential chain of events for the territory system that I'll get into more next Starrcade. After wrestling a bit there they retired from the ring not long before the first Wrestlemania. Gerry would stay, Jack wouldn't as he had become disillusioned about where the business as a whole was going.

 

Cage setup time in the arena means promo time on TV. We get a run of promos in the face locker room from tonight's winners there. Jay Youngblood still sounds lost. Imagine being the worse promo in a team with Ricky Steamboat. 

 

While the cage is being set up let's recap how the main event came together. Flair won his first "test run" World title in September '81 over Dusty in Kansas City. I say test run because that's exactly what it was, the NWA testing to see if he would work and draw as the touring world champ. Of course being those days the test run reign lasted over a year and a half, minus the multiple unrecorded title changes that took place during it (Solie spends this whole broadcast calling Flair a two time champ, that's how mixed up it already was). Flair still had doubters, including reportedly Race himself, but overall convinced the right people he was the man to move forward with as the top guy. Crockett now being NWA president probably helped a bit in that. That first reign ended in June '83 at Race's hands in Race's hometown of St. Louis, extending his NWA World title win record to seven. Flair immediately started lobbying for a rematch. In order to extend things to Starrcade and get Race even more heel heat, he ducked Flair by offering a $25,000 bounty to anyone that could put Flair out of action permanently. The bounty was collected by Orton and Slater, who injured Flair's neck with a spike piledriver. Flair initially said he had to retire due to his neck injury, but of course slowly clawed his way back as the weeks got closer to Starrcade, and the big money match was on. All in all it was a nearly perfect angle to build up this first ever live TV supercard. It truly feels like what it is, one of the biggest matches in wrestling history.

 

For some reason they decide to do the National Anthem now instead of back at the start of the show. The entrances for the main event are suitably epic, one of the first time entrances were really a Thing with a capital T. The entire arena goes dark. To kick off Flair's entrance there's a small laser show accompanied by Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which has an *ahem* interesting history but was mostly known then and now as the signature music from the movie 2001, which was scored with all classical pieces. It would later become Flair's regular entrance music. Flair then comes out with a spotlight on him as the only light and even a small bit of pyro. His robe looks amazing sparkling in that light just on SD TV, I can't imagine what it looked like in the arena. After that there's a phenomenal shot from behind Race as he comes in looking toward the ring with some colored lighting going off in the arena. Commentary being completely silent during all of this only makes it even more epic.

 

Steel Cage Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair def Harley Race (c) in 23:49- We have another special guest ref for this match, former World champ Gene Kiniski, who does his damndest to wreck the whole bloody thing at times. There's much finger pointing between the two before the bell while Kiniski gets the 10 Pounds of Gold belt out of the ring. Pure intensity right from the start. The bell rings and Flair lets off a small "WOOOO" before that was really a thing. Lockup and Flair grabs a headlock into the first takedown. Race escapes, and Kiniski starts slapping Flair's hand telling him not to use closed fists. Flair looks legit annoyed by it. Race tries a cheap shot on the next lockup. Flair fires right back with a chop and elbow. Another headlock from Flair that grinds Race down. In the ropes again Race hits a knee and Kiniski physically drags him away from Flair. Flair responds with his own knee to the gut on the ropes on the other side, then he snap mares Race over into a chinlock. Race pushes out of a headlock and gives Flair the classic high knee. Flair dodges another Race signature, the falling headbutt. Big Flair chop with a full Race spit sell for 2. Back to the headlock. Flair uses that and a front facelock to try to grind Race down some more and maybe catch a quick pin. Race gets back up and uses that position to hit a suplex. Flair dodges an elbow drop. He goes for a slam but Race falls on top of him for 2. Kneedrop from Race. He chokes Flair on the ropes with his knee and Kiniski physically drags him away again. That time was more justified. Shots to the back of Flair's neck with Flair doing his classic to the cheap seats selling. More knee choking and Kiniski pushes Race off. Race hits a piledriver. He doesn't cover right away, instead taking his time to drop an elbow and Flair kicks out at 2. Commentary calls him out for taking too long on that one. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. Race runs the top of Flair's head into the cage! First cage shot. We get that awesome over the ring looking down camera shot again as Race hits a powerslam for 2. Flair starts fighting back with punches to the gut. Counter headbutt from Race that puts Flair down again. The diving headbutt hits. Another cage shot for Flair. I think Flair's busted open. He is, and Race goes right for it. Kiniski completely grabs and traps Race's arms to get him out of the corner. Flair uses that opening to punch race, much to Kiniski's ire. Dude, you were literally holding him for Flair to hit. What was he supposed to do? Another chop and elbow as Flair starts getting come momentum. Now Kiniski hooks Flair up in the corner by the arms and Race headbutts him. OK, I guess that's one for either side now. Flair counters a corner whip and Race goes face first into the turnbuckle! Now Race is bleeding and Flair starts to feel it. Cage shot for Race. Snap mare/kneedrop combo. Flair hits a piledriver! Unusual one for him. He goes right to the cover but still only gets 2. Double underhook suplex for 2. Another cage shot for Race. I like how Flair is throwing him right into the support pole, not just the cage part. A Race headbutt to the gut puts Flair down again. He gives Flair a bit of cheese grater on the cage before Kiniski pulls him away again. Big cage shot for Flair. Flair tries to swing back. Race headbutt. Flair pops right back up swinging again, despite Kiniski literally grabbing his hand trying to force it open. Elbow drop from Flair and he gives Race some ground and pound to the cut. Then struts around! Another thing that was still developing but slowly getting there. Back suplex from Flair. Figure four! Race fights and gets it reversed, and they end up in the ropes. Another headbutt from Race. He goes for another suplex but Flair shifts his balance and falls on top of him for a long 2 count that we didn't see because they cut to a crowd shot. Rare misfire, the camera work has been generally superb tonight. Another headbutt puts Flair down. Race goes to the second rope. The diving headbutt hits! But Race scrambled his own brains with that one, and when he gets it back together to cover Flair kicks out. Another suplex hookup and this time Race hits it for 2. Race starts gouging at Flair's cut, seemingly getting desperate. Kneedrop to the cut. Flair takes another cage shot and flops down on the apron, seemingly almost done. Race uses his boot to choke him there. Kiniski pulls him away by the hair! Race goes for another suplex. Flair blocks it and hits it! Race dodges an elbow drop. Race headlocks Flair, then headbutts Kiniski. Honestly not sure if that was intentional or not, but it puts Kiniski down. Flair gets free and tries to tackle Race but Race blocks it. Flair fights out of the corner and goes up to the top rope. Crossbody! Pretty off target since that's not Flair's wheelhouse but still. Kiniski had to roll out of the way so he gets back in position, and Flair gets the pin to win the title back! Magnificent match. It's a bit slow paced, especially for today's viewers, and Kiniski inserted himself way too much, but that didn't stop two all time greats putting on one of the most important main events ever that lived up to its billing. It's a shame Race's peak was before there was true national wrestling TV, because he deserved to be seen much, much more at his best than he was. ****1/4

 

After the bell the face locker room empties to celebrate with Flair in the ring. His current wife/future alimony check also makes an appearance. The torch has officially been passed and a new era is here for JCP, the whole NWA and all of wrestling. They're still sorting out the pacing for these type shows, as there's nearly 20 minutes of both in ring and backstage celebration following the main event, with multiple celebratory promos from Flair. Almost like a sports postgame show. His comments with Steamboat backstage are really interesting knowing what the future would eventually hold for them. Dusty also pops in backstage to lay down the official challenge. We also go to the heel locker room where Race promises to not go softly into that good night. He kind of would though, as his days as a main eventer were pretty much over.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The new era of live TV supercards couldn't have gotten off to a much better start. There's not much happening on the undercard, but that's normal for the time. It's the top matches that sold these shows, and those absolutely delivered. Starrcade is here to stay. One great thing about this period's NWA, particularly JCP, is they were way ahead of the curve in terms of general wrestling style, emphasizing athleticism and, for lack of a better word, workrate well before anyone else. At this point WWF was still stuck in a slower '70s style and would be until Randy Savage arrived to start shaking things up, and the AWA pretty much never got out of the '60s.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+

 

v2.0 published 4/13/26