Starrcade '85

Legacy Review

Starrcade '85

November 28, 1985 from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC and The Omni in Atlanta, GA

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bob Caudle, based in Atlanta but they also cover Greensboro remotely. A lost looking Johnny Weaver handles interviews from Greensboro. The headline here is Tony's mustache is back.

The tagline for this show is "The Gathering". After bringing in so many of Dusty's guys from Florida the year before, this year Crockett and the NWA decided to branch out to another large southern territory, Georgia. And to take it a step further, the show would take place at two different locations. Unlike other multiple arena shows, this one doesn't have all matches from one arena then go to all the matches from the other, they alternate every match.

If you're a fan of lots of blood in your wrestling, this is the show for you.

NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship: Krusher Kruschev def Sam Houston in 9:30 (Greensboro)- The title was vacant going into this match. Kruschev is a young Barry Darsow, AKA Demolition Smash, AKA Repo Man, AKA The Blacktop Bully. Houston was good enough to get hired by WWF a year and a half after this, but not good enough to be anything more than a jobber with a name there. Big high pitched pop for Houston. Ring Gearhead alert: the ref is dressed in all bright mustard yellow from head to toe. The pants are bell bottoms. Hello '70s. Houston is Zack Sabre Jr thin, but minus the contortionist skills. The first few minutes is lock up, do a few moves, stop, stare, reset, repeat. Kruschev legit accidentally slips out of a headscissors so he puts himself back in. Kruschev takes control by dropping capitalist pig Texan on face many time. Kruschev goes up top but Houston hits him with a dropkick, making Kruschev crotch himself. Houston hits his bulldog finisher but Kruschev gets his foot on the ropes. Kruschev recovers, hits a Koloff Russian Sickle, and gets the pin even though Houston's foot was on the ropes because Bright Mustard Ref didn't see it. With the territory going more national this title was slowly dying and would be gone by the next Starrcade. **

Mexican Death Match: "Ragin' Bull" Manny Fernandez def Abdullah the Butcher (w/Paul Jones) in 9:07 (Atlanta)- They say "Mexican Death Match", but it's really a sombrero on a pole match. No pins, countouts or DQs, only way to win is to climb the pole and grab the ($200?) sombrero. Abby's got a big scabbed over chunk of skin missing from the top of his head. Abby attacks Fernandez with his spike before the bell and busts him open. Get your band aids ready, there's going to be a lot of that tonight. Abby grabs the bell hammer and uses it as a weapon before going back to Spikey.....OK, I can't read Spikey without hearing it in the Buffy Bot's voice, I'm going to stop. Fernandez monkey flips Abby! And it looked correct! I had no idea Abby had it in him. Fernandez pulls off his boot and uses it as a weapon, busting Abby open. Tommy Young is physically holding Paul Jones back outside. Abby tastes his own blood before missing an elbow. Much like El Giagnte, when Abby is on like this his selling is perversely entertaining. Fernandez suplexes Abby! Wow. That's impressive no matter which way you slice it. Fernandez goes for the pole but gets the spike to his nadgers for his trouble. Fernandez dodges an Abby charge in the corner and Abby posts himself, allowing Fernandez to get the sombrero and win. Way, way better than it had any right to be. **1/4, with an extra quarter for Fernandez wrestling half the match in his sock feet, including coming off the top rope.

Kruschev and Weaver take turns stumbling through an awful, overlong promo spot. Is it just me or does Kruschev not sound the least bit Russian? Darsow could have at least tried an accent.

Texas Bullrope Match: "Cowboy" Ron Bass def Black Bart (w/JJ Dillon) in 8:34 (Greensboro)- Bass and Bart were a tag team in Florida and Crockett called The Long Riders before breaking up. Bass is "Cowboy" instead of "Outlaw" here because he's a babyface. If Bass wins he gets 5 minutes with Dillon. This is a rope strapped to the wrists match, with the added addition of a cowbell in the middle of the rope. And that bell gets a workout. Bass immediately grabs it and starts waffling Bart with it, and Bart is bleeding. Bass makes what looks like a "I have till 5, referee!" gesture, but he's just telling Dillon "five minutes". Bart grabs the bell and starts nailing Bass with it, and Bass is now bleeding. I don't know if something's on the bell or they're just busting each other open hardaway but it's gushing out. Bass hits Bart with the bell off the 2nd rope to win. This was 8 minutes of two guys hitting each other with a cowbell. 3/4*

Texas Bullrope Match Part Deux: JJ Dillon def Ron Bass in 3:29- As soon as the ref counts three Dillon has his shirt off and is in the ring, attacking Bass with, what else, the bell. He chokes Bass with the rope but Bass hulks up, more bell shots, and Dillon's bleeding. The ref takes a shot. While he's down Bart comes in, hits Bass with a piledriver, and drapes Dillon over him to get the win. NR

Superstar Billy Graham def The Barbarian (w/Paul Jones) by DQ in 3:02 (Atlanta)- Before the match proper there's an arm wrestling match. Graham is getting seriously old but, in Booker T speak, he's looking JAKKED. Graham sells the hell out of the arm wrestling. Typical stuff. Barbarian gets ahead, Graham comes back and wins, Jones whacks Graham in the head with his cane. The match proper immediately starts. And Graham is bleeding. Barbarian hits headbutts and bites the cut. Graham looks ancient but is moving around better than he did the previous year. Barbarian misses the headbutt dive off the top. Graham locks in the babyface bear hug. Jones comes in and whacks Graham in the back for the obvious DQ. Afterward Barbarian beats Graham up in Suzuki territory outside. For those keeping score Barbarian is the first guy since the opening match not to bleed. *

NWA National Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel (w/JJ Dillion) def Terry Taylor (c) in 10:30 (Greensboro)- For those of you who might be (understandably) confused about the "National" title vs the "US" title, the National title was the Georgia territory's title, the same level as the Mid-Atlantic title. Landel is trying to be Ric Flair lite. Same nickname, same hair, cheap knockoff robe. Up to this point he had been treated like a joke. Terry Taylor you know, especially if you've read my previous reviews you know how much respect I have for him. Dillon isn't out at the start to sell the previous match(es). Some clean break gamesmanship to start, ended by a stiff slap from Taylor. They go into some really stiff mat wrestling sequences. Someone must have told them the cameras were going to be staying in closeup because they're making it look good. Landel lays in some chops but Taylor fights back. Everything in this match is at 100% intensity. Dillon finally shows up with his head bandaged. Lots more back and forth leads to some near fall attempts. Commentary puts over Taylor's superplex. In 1985 the superplex was like the One Winged Angel is today- a super finisher no one got up from. Ref bump! Dillon makes to nail Taylor with his shoe (who uses a shoe, honestly?), but Taylor reverses the whip, causing Landel and Dillon to collide. Taylor hoists up Landel's carcass, carries him halfway across the ring and sets him up for the superplex. But a recovered Dillon grabs his foot, causing him to fall with Landel on top of him, and Landel gets the 3 and the title. Crockett would finalize their acquisition of the Georgia territory (including taking their TV time on a little station called WTBS) in '86 and merge the National and US titles before the next Starrcade. ***1/4

NWA National Tag Team Championship: The Minnesota Wrecking Crew II (c) def NWA United States Tag Team Champions Wahoo McDaniel & Billy Jack Haynes in 9:28 (Atlanta)- Re: the National vs US tag titles, see above. The US titles aren't on the line here. This is the Starrcade debut for the legend known as Arn Anderson. He's so young he almost has a full head of hair. Almost. Ole and Arn were kayfabe uncle and nephew, and they looked similar enough to pull it off. This is the short lived revival of the original Minnesota Wrecking Crew that Ole was a member of, the most dominant tag team ever through the end of the '70s. Arn sells some of Haynes power stuff to start. Ole tags in and we're in hoss mode for a bit. Arn tries to sucker punch Wahoo on a rope break but Wahoo beats him to it. Man, Arn is so young here. The Andersons manage to get Wahoo into their corner and take control. Wahoo goes full face in peril, with textbook tag wrestling from the Andersons to keep him isolated. The Revival approves. Wahoo finally slips away and gets the hot tag, but the Andersons aren't on the ropes for long. They start to dig into the heel cheating playbook. While Tommy Young is holding Haynes back, protesting prior cheating, Ole trips Wahoo up in the Andersons' corner, Arn covers him, and Ole holds Wahoo's foot down out of the ref's view to get the pin. Crockett wouldn't even bother merging the National tag title later, they just quietly killed it off when Ole got hurt early the next year. ***3/4

I Quit Steel Cage Match for the NWA United States Championship: Magnum TA def Tully Blanchard (c) (w/Baby Doll) in 14:43 (Greensboro)- These guys had traded the title a couple of times during the year and had built up a blood feud, hence the stips here. To say Crockett and the NWA had high hopes for Mangum TA is a massive understatement. They saw him as nothing less than not only the next great babyface foil for Flair, but the guy that would stand toe to toe with Hulk Hogan himself in the coming NWA/WWF war for the nationalization of wrestling. I'm not sure it would have played out that way, but the guy had The Look. Tully was in the orbit of the guys that would soon become the Four Horsemen, but the group hadn't officially formed just yet. His robe game is an A+ tonight though. Baby Doll is introduced as "a perfect 10". Think we need Shawn Spears' verdict on that. And here's Earl Hebner reffing this match. There's a mic in the ring for the "I quit". Not long after the bell they're brawling on the mat like it's a real fight. Tully fights off a cage shot then uses the cage to come off the top rope in the middle of the ring. TA takes the first shot into the cage, getting a little cut open but not much. Not even .1 Muta. The crowd is going nuts for TA. Tully uses the tights to pull TA into another cage shot and now he's busted open. Tully tries to force feed him the mic. TA comes back and gives Tully a couple of cage shots. Tully hits the cage arm first and gets busted open there hardaway. Before long he has a sleeve of blood. More fighting on the mat like they legitimately want to kill each other. Tully shouts out "OH SHIT!". Tully pounds the mic into TA's forehead where he's cut open then tries to get him to quit. TA turns around and gets his own mic shots in. Tully screams like a stuck pig while he's yelling NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Tully gouges TA's eye. Not a little gouge either. More mic shots. Tully throws Hebner into the cage and Baby Doll tosses a wooden chair into the ring. Not steel. Wood. Tully breaks it up, takes a piece that's broken off into a sharp point like a stake, and tries to jam it into TA's head. TA fights it off. He picks up that same sharp piece of wood and DIGS IT RIGHT INTO TULLY'S HEAD. Tully quickly submits while blood pours down his face. See kids, you don't need florescent light tubes, flaming truck beds, plate glass or miles of barbed wire to have a match of pure, insane brutality. This is as epic a blowoff for a feud you will ever see. There's some out there that call this the Match of the Decade. I can't do that when it's in the same decade as Flair/Steamboat, but it definitely deserves the full monty. TA was tentatively scheduled to win the world title from Flair at the next Starrcade, but his car had a violent disagreement with a telephone pole in the fall of '86, ending his wrestling career.  *****

Atlanta Street Fight: Jimmy Valiant & Miss Atlanta Lively (w/Big Mama) def The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) in 6:36 (Atlanta)- What we have here is the textbook definition of a cooldown match. This is the Eaton and Condrey version of the Express. "Miss" Atlanta Lively is....a dude. In fact, it's Rugged Ronnie Garvin, who had been feuding with the Midnights, in drag. I guess he's a lumberjack and he's OK. Valiant's first two Starrcade matches came in at a quarter and a dud. The mere presence of Bobby Eaton should make this one better, right? (he says like AVGN staring at a pile of games that must have one good one in there somewhere) The Midnights are wrestling in tuxes because it's a "come as you are" street fight. This one is pure chaos and hard to recap. The Midnights pull a Suzuki-Gun before the bell. Condrey gets Valiant outside but Eaton gets a face full of powder from Lively. Valiant fights off Condrey with a chair, and Condrey is bleeding. The Express switch off, and somewhere in there Eaton gets cut open. The way guys are blading on this show I could believe it was just the air. Valiant gets his sleeper on Condrey but Eaton gets him out. Valiant gets a face full of powder and starts bleeding. Not from the powder. I think. The Midnights pull Lively's pants down in an attempt to expose h(er)im. Well, (s)he's definitely exposed, but exposed as in proving it's a guy. As if.....everything....wasn't already a giveaway. Valiant makes the save but gets dumped outside. Cornette gets a racket shot in and Lively, as is contractually obligated on this show, is bleeding. Lively catches Eaton off the top in the throat with a Not Hand of Stone and gets the pin. Afterward the faces strip Jim Cornette. Nope, Eaton couldn't save this one. Valiant's matches are awful, but at least they're entertaining awful. DUD

Steel Cage Match for the NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Rock 'N' Roll Express  (w/Don Kernodle) def Ivan & Nikita Koloff (c) (w/Krusher Kruschev) in 12:22 (Greensboro)- RNR debuted in Crockett in the summer of '85 and had feuded with all variations of the Soviet trio from day one, including a couple of tag title changes. Expected high pitch pop for RNR. Morton and Nikita start with a power vs speed standoff. Ivan crotches Morton on the top rope and gives him a cage shot. Mild tag to Gibson, who busts out the dropkicks. RNR work quick tags on Ivan. Ivan gets busted open from some cage shots. Ivan finally gets to Nikita to tag out. Nikita picks Gibson up in a bear hug and drops him into the cage. Gibson's bleeding, and he's also playing Ricky Morton while Morton is on the apron. It's still fairly early days for RNR. Long beatdown from the Russians, but it never drags as Morton keeps trying to make saves. Gibson slides under Ivan's legs and hits him with a dropkick, but Hebner's been knocked down too and can't count. Gibson gets a sneaky tag to Morton while running the ropes that Hebner does see. Morton schoolboys Ivan and gets the 3! The Russians go into a full vodka-fuled rage at losing. They beat Gibson down, and while Morton is trying to climb the cage Nikita pushes him up and over the top all the way to the floor! Kruschev gets in and all three beat on Gibson some more with the people's chain before the face locker room runs in and makes the save. RNR win the titles, the Russians keep the heat. That's how you do it. **** 

NWA World's Heavyweight Championship: "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) in 22:06 (Atlanta)-This is a rematch of the Starrcade '84 main event that ended in less than spectacular fashion. In the lead up to this match the Andersons started to help Flair out, including assisting in an assault that (storyline) broke Dusty's ankle, creating the genesis of the Four Horsemen. During his "injury" recuperation Dusty gave his legendary "hard times" promo. Sadly unlike the previous Starrcades there's been no prematch promos. Flair is now up to full 100% FLAIR. Simple jacket instead of a robe for Dusty this time. He's a common man, see? Dusty struts around at the start, Flair looks deadly serious. The chops are out early. Dusty lays in with some punches and elbows, and Flair takes a powder. Flair tries some more chops but bounces off Dusty on a shoulderblock attempt, and bails again after some more elbows. Flair chops Dusty down in the corner, and gets a kick in on Dusty's injured ankle, causing Dusty to take a breather. Dusty gets control back and starts working Flair's knee. Flair: OH GOD! Flair uses the ol' eye poke to get out. He tries a suplex but his knee gives out. Dusty gets back on the knee, including posting it. Another chop fest. Dusty throws Flair off the top. They trade figure four attempts but both fight out. Flair Flip! Flair gets posted and busted open. You really think that Flair wouldn't blade on a show where 75% of the wrestlers bled? Dusty goes up top and kind of belly flops on top of Flair for two. You almost needed a spatula to get Flair off the canvas after that. Dusty works the cut. FLAIR FLOP! Flair dodges a kick and Dusty kicks the turnbuckle with his bad ankle. Figure four! Dusty reverses it and no sells Flair's chops. Tommy Young takes multiple shots and gets knocked out of the ring. Dusty locks in a figure four. Arn Anderson runs in. Dusty fights him off, but Ole Anderson comes in from behind him and knocks him cold. The backup ref runs in and Flair covers, but only gets 2! Dusty gets a Paul Smackage and the 3, winning his third world title! Perfectly typical mid-'80s Flair match, and a vast improvement over last year. ****1/4

Tony's in the face locker room for Dusty's victory celebration. Dusty says this is for all the blue collar workers out there. But, the celebration is short lived as the mother of all delayed Dusty Finishes is about to kick in. The week after, Tommy Young, with the support of the NWA brass, reversed the decision and declared Rhodes the winner by DQ. Rather than vacating the title they handed it back to Flair, and the title change was erased from the history books. Dusty would officially win his third world title during the Great American Bash tour in July of '86, but Flair would take it right back just two weeks later. The original Four Horsemen (Flair, Tully, and the Andersons with Dillon managing) would also officially form almost immediately after this show.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: This is a great comeback after the turd that was the '84 show. In answer to the first Wrestlemania and Hulkamania, Crockett was expanding and consolidating all the southern territories under the NWA banner, and needed a killer show. Apart from the Valiant match, which is forgivable as you know what you're getting there, the undercard was watchable and the big matches delivered, topped off with an all time classic between Magnum TA and Tully Blanchard. The multiple arena experiment worked reasonably well. There were no prematch and only a couple of postmatch interviews, likely due to the logistics involved, and commentary was sparse at times due to Tony and Caudle doing it all from Atlanta. Both crowds stayed hot despite only seeing every other match in their arena. If you're making a list of the best Starrcades, this one needs to be on there.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A