Starrcade '86

Legacy Review

Starrcade '86: The Skywalkers

November 27, 1986 from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC and The Omni in Atlanta, GA

 

Commentary: Bob Caudle and Johnny Weaver (Greensboro), Tony Schiavone and Rick Stewart (Atlanta)

 

Last year's two city experiment went off without a hitch so we're back to it one more time this year, once again with half the show in JCP's traditional home and the other half in their adopted home, and again switching arenas with each match. There is one difference this year, instead of one commentary team in Atlanta trying to also do Greensboro remotely they've got a commentary team in each arena this time. Which unfortunately means we have Johnny Weaver in the booth half the night. The show's full tagline is "Night of the Skywalkers", but it's usually shortened to just "The Skywalkers". It's not a Star Wars reference, it's a reference to the scaffold match on the card. At four hours long this would turn out to be the longest Starrcade ever.

 

The show opens up with a very '80s style laser show in the Omni. The scaffold structure is already up and will stay up all show. We then smoothly transition to Tom Miller in Greensboro for the formal intro. The two arena hookup working very well again. After the National Anthem (dude holding his hand over his stomach thinking that's where his heart is will never not be funny) the connection is tested further with both commentary teams doing a bit of ballyhoo. I want to say this Rick Stewart guy used to do commentary in the old Georgia territory but I can't remember for sure. He doesn't last long in the big leagues regardless.

 

Nelson Royal & Tim Horner def Don & Rocky Kernodle in 7:30 (Greensboro)- We don't get intros for this match, the bell rings and we're off. And Weaver is already stumbling over himself. Rocky and Horner start out with some solid back and forth stuff. I think this is face vs face but don't hold me to it. I know the Kernodles are faces. Don powerslams Horner for 2. Royal tags in and the match's elder statesmen go at it. Royal gets Don in an abdominal stretch. Don crashes in the corner and Royal gives him a knee to the gut. Horner tags in and cradles Don for 2. After a hiptoss from Don we get a bit of a reset. Royal hops on Don's back with a sleeper. Don easily carries him over to tag out to Rocky. Rocky comes in with a sunset flip off the top rope for 2. Royal dodges a wild Rocky crossbody attempt and covers for 2. Powerslam from Horner for 2. Small package for 2. Both guys try for leapfrogs at the same time and hit heads! Looked like a corner kick from all the World Cup I've been watching lately. Don comes in and gives Horner a VERY delayed suplex for 2. Backdrop from Don, but Horner dodges the diving headbutt follow up. Royal wants a tag but Horner hits a dropkick instead for 2. Speed run and Don hits a clothesline. Don crawls over and tags out. Rocky press slams Horner for 2. Both guys do some spiffy roll up counters and Horner ends up on top, and gets a 3 count! Rock solid stuff all around. **1/2

 

Brad Armstrong and Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious) 15:00 time limit draw (Atlanta)- The eternally underrated Brad Armstrong of the Armstrong wrestling family (along with dad "Bullet" Bob Armstrong and brothers Road Dogg and ref Scott Armstrong) is making his Starrcade debut after arriving in JCP earlier in the year. Garvin gets the first full entrance of the night as that's slowly becoming more and more common for everyone. Tony actually gets up from commentary to do all the ring intros in Atlanta, and he does a fine job of it too. As usual real life husband/wife tandem Garvin and Precious have a kiss before things get going. Long rough lockup stalemate. Another one in the corner as it's super intense early, these guys want to tear into each other. Quick mat sequence that Armstrong has the edge on, followed by a headlock/headscissors standoff. Long top wristlock fight. Precious is yelling so loud the commentary mics are picking her up. The wristlock fight finally ends with another stalemate as this has been completely 50/50 so far. After a reset we're right back in the wristlock fight. This time Armstrong wins it into an ARMBAR. Both guys trade arm wringers. Armstrong grabs a headlock and Garvin uses the tights to try to get a cradle pin. Garvin gets a leg takedown and works on that a bit, while yelling "HE AIN'T GOING NOWHERE!". Garvin wraps up a kind of modified cloverleaf and again reiterates his belief that Armstrong's mobility is somewhat hampered. Armstrong does a nice counter into a chinlock on the mat. Speed run and Armstrong gets a drop toe hold into another armbar. Precious gets up on the apron to distract ref Scrappy McGowan (yes his real name, or at least his ref name) and that allows Garvin to hair pull Armstrong into a headscissors. Armstrong slowly works into the handstand escape. More speed and Armstrong gets a hiptoss, then another headlock takedown, but that gives Garvin an opening to get him back in the headscissors. Another Precious distraction lets Garvin choke a little. Armstrong escapes and works a headlock for a bit. Scrappy catches Garvin using the trunks to try to get a pin again. Tony gives the 10 minute call on commentary. That's the ring announcer's usual job, and tonight in Atlanta he is the ring announcer. Garvin finally back suplexes out of the headlock. Kneedrop on Armstrong for 2. Garvin tosses Armstrong out onto the still unpadded floor. Precious gives Armstrong a mouthful while Garvin gives him some stomps in the head as he tries to get back in. Pain from two sides. Tony says 3 minutes left. Seems a bit quick to me but whatever. Armstrong gets back in and Garvin snap mares him over for 2. He drops Armstrong on the top rope for 2. Backbreaker for 2. Midring collision at 2 minutes left and both guys are down. Garvin tries a slam but Armstrong falls on top of him for 2. Garvin gets a knee up in the corner and Armstrong goes down hard. Cover for 2 as we hit one minute left. Another Garvin cover for 2. He puts on a desperation sleeper. Armstrong quickly armdrags out. Garvin his a knee to the gut and small packages Armstrong for 2. Armstrong reverses it for 2. Slam from Garvin and he goes up top even though there's almost no time left. As Armstrong dodges his big splash the bell rings for the time limit. Good stuff. The wrestling was pretty basic for most of it, but both guys' intensity and hard work more than made up for it. They never for a second felt like they were stalling or dogging it for the time limit. ***

 

Baron von Raschke & Hector Guerrero def The Barbarian & Shaska Whatley in 7:25 (Greensboro)- Either this is heel vs heel or Raschke is having an extremely rare run as a face. He does get a pop on his intro so I guess that confirms that. Full 2v2 brawl at the start. The heels get whipped into each other. Whatley bumps off it while Barbarian casually steps out to the floor instead. Whatley stays in and Guerrero stays all over him. A Whatley headbutt finally turns things around for the heels. Barbarian hits a chop off the second rope. Guerrero rolls under a big boot, then tries a crossbody but Barbarian catches him and drops him on the top rope. Guerrero dodges a charge and Barbarian flies through the ropes to the floor! Raschke holds Barbarian and Guerrero hits a plancha! That's a big time high spot for 1986. Whatley hops down, jumps Guerrero and runs him into the post. Barbarian drops Guerrero on the guardrail that's about two miles away from the ring. Why is there so much ringside space in Greensboro? No such thing as a ringside seat, just closest to the ring. Back in Guerrero stays in peril. Backdrop and big headbutt from Barbarian. Double backdrop on Guerrero for 2. Whatley argues the count and just barely holds Guerrero back from tagging. Barbarian chokes Guerrero with the tag rope. Another go and this time he hits the big boot for 2. Whatley sets Guerrero up for a backdrop. Guerrero spits in his face, turns and tags! Raschke goose steps his way in and cleans house. Claw on Whatley! Barbarian breaks it up. DONNYBROOK! Raschke dodges Whatley in the corner, drops an elbow, and gets the pin. That could have been a lot worse considering who was in there. Raschke's about done and looks it, so Guerrero working almost the whole match made sense. *

 

Johnny Weaver is outside Dusty Rhodes' closed locker room. Dusty's refused to talk to any media leading up to this show to stay focused. Weaver gives it another try but Dusty tells him to leave him alone. 

 

No DQ Match for the NWA United States Tag Team Championship: Ivan Koloff & Krusher Kruschev (c) def The Kansas Jayhawks in 9:10 (Atlanta)- Other NWA territories had versions of US tag titles, but in late '86 JCP decided to create their own version for the first time, which would end up being the definitive version and last well into the WCW years. To give them some prestige from the start instead of creating them out of the blue JCP unified the old territory Mid-Atlantic tag titles with the National tag titles they inherited from the Georgia territory, both of which had pretty much been sitting on a shelf for months, to create the new title. This is a rematch of the finals of the tournament that was held to crown the inaugural champions. The Jayhawks are Bobby Jaggers and a very strange babyface Dutch Mantell. Mantell (looking like Albert needing an all over shave) and Ivan start. Quick start with Mantell hitting a backdrop and the Jayhawks knock him around while quick tagging. Ivan gets a flash roll up on Jaggers but Jaggers gets him back in a hammerlock on the mat. Ivan is able to reach out and gets a tag to Kruschev (future Demolition Smash Barry Darsow). The Russians get Mantell in the wrong corner for a bit. Mantell responds by getting Kruschev into their corner. Kruschev dodges a Mantell drop toe hold attempt and tags out. Corner dodge and Ivan posts his shoulder. Double back elbow from the Jayhawks for 2. Kruschev trips Mantell from the floor, then drags him out and gives him a shot on the commentary table. Mantell gets crotched on the guardrail. Or I guess it was on the knee, he's selling the knee. Ivan comes off the top rope with an elbow to Mantell's back. Mantell ducks a double clothesline and double clotheslines the Russians! Tag to Jaggers. Double noggin knocker on the Russians. Clothesline on Ivan for 2. EVERYONE IN THE POOL! Ivan sets up to hit Jaggers off the top rope with his chain. Mantell gets his whip and lashes Ivan in the foot, dropping him onto the top rope. Apparently the whip is called "Sue Baby". I don't want to know. Indiana Jones never named his whip. Kruschev takes a whip in the leg. He fights Mantell off on the floor, hits Jaggers with the chain, and Ivan covers for the pin to retain. Decentish, but didn't play into the no DQ stips as much as it could have. **

 

One more note on title histories because you know I'm obsessive when it comes to them- the NWA National title from Georgia was unified with the US title in September to deactivate that one as JCP tried to clean up their title structure a bit. The Mid-Atlantic title was still out there, I'll get to that here in just a bit.

 

Indian Strap Match: Wahoo McDaniel def "Ravishing" Rick Rude (w/Paul Jones) in 9:05 (Greensboro)- Rude's early career tour of the southern territories landed him in JCP in September, where he paired up with Manny Fernandez and Paul Jones against Wahoo. Rude's music starts with a woman saying "Ricky, you're sooooooo ravishing. Where did you come from?". That's hilarious. The soft lounge music fits him almost as well as the stripper rag he'll have in WWF. Rude makes a big show of disrobing like usual, then Wahoo gives him what can only be described as a playful little shot with the strap. Rude doesn't stall any more, cinches in and the bell rings to start. Rude tries some forearms but Wahoo clotheslines him with the strap, then chokes him with it. Rude tries a headlock of all things. In a strap match. He gets a pretty ugly headlock takedown (on Wahoo, not him) and mounts Wahoo but it doesn't go anywhere. Rude then pounds on Wahoo a little in the corner. He tries one half hearted strap whip then chokes Wahoo with the strap. More shots in the corner as I think Wahoo is bleeding. Right on cue. Slam from Rude and he wraps Wahoo up to go for corners. One, two, then Wahoo stops him and fights out. Wahoo's up with strap assisted punches. Man, Wahoo's getting soft in his old age, he's going super easy on Rude. None of his usual stiffness. Compare to his strap matches earlier this year with Garvin on the Great American Bash tour. Rude takes some full strap whips. He's also bleeding now. Wahoo wraps him up to go for corners. Rude manages to stop him at 3. Quick elbow .Rude goes up to the top rope and hits a fistdrop. He tries to wrap Wahoo up again but Wahoo stops him before he gets anywhere. Rude goes up top again and Wahoo flips him off with the strap, then drops an elbow. Another wrap up and Wahoo gets up to three corners. Jones tries to stop him but Wahoo chops him off the apron. Rude hits Wahoo from behind, sending Wahoo into the final corner. Commentary thinks it's over but the bell didn't ring. Rude ties Wahoo up on the ropes and he and Jones pound away on him until H Guerrero and Raschke make the save. Huh, guess that was the end. Hey, there's the bell! Finally. Ugly finish, ugly match. Rude wasn't ready for prime time yet and Wahoo was getting pretty past it. In fact this would be his final Starrcade as we start slowly transitioning from prime JCP to early WCW the next year. 1/2*

 

Ivan Koloff says they're looking forward to winning many "American dollars" in the upcoming Bunkhouse Stampedes. Glad he specified. No one wants those Canadian loonies. Also, winning that much money might get them in serious trouble with the Party. Communists aren't allowed to better themselves financially. Unless they have the right Party connections of course.They also blame Dusty Rhodes for poisoning comrade Nikita's mind with all that capitalism crap.

 

NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship: Sam Houston (c) def Bill Dundee by DQ in 10:24 (Atlanta)- As other redundant territory titles fall by the wayside, another one rises up to replace them. Central States was based in Kansas City and was one of the original NWA territories. When the promotion fell into financial difficulty they became the latest acquisition by the ever expanding JCP in their battle to keep up with the WWF's increasing nationalization. JCP vacated the title when they bought Central States out, then Houston won a tournament under JCP's banner to crown a new champion. It takes forever for the bell to ring for the start for some reason. Rough lockup and Dundee tosses beanpole Houston into the ropes. Arm wringer tradeoff and Dundee hair pulls out of an armbar. Corner whip reversal from Houston and he gets a flying headscissors. A couple of armdrags and a dropkick from Houston. Dundee hides in the corner and wants a TO. When he gets up he gets another hair pull takedown. Houston hits some strikes and gets a headlock takedown. He goes for the bulldog but Dundee blocks. That leads to some roll up counters and this time Dundee pulls tights. Fully going into the heel 101 playbook. And again as Dundee tights pulls Houston to the floor. Houston hits an atomic drop on the floor that sends Dundee flying over the barricade into the miles of foul territory. He flips Dundee back into the ring for 2. Dundee gets Houston down, goes up top and hits a fistdrop. He takes his time covering and Houston kicks out. Elbow to the back of Houston's head for 2. Dundee starts dancing around and hitting jabs, then struts around a bit. Another slow cover for 2. Dundee gets a Boston crab on. Houston fights out and they end up in the ropes trying to counter each other. Dundee chokes Houston on the bottom rope and tosses him out again. Dundee walks part of the top rope to hit a double ax handle as Houston gets back in for 2. Front facelock from Dundee. Houston backs Dundee into the corner and starts the comeback flurry. Back elbow for 2. Houston hits a slam but Dundee dodges a kneedrop. He sees the target and starts working on Houston's knee. Houston pushes free of a spinning toe hold and ref Scrappy goes down. Somehow Dundee gets Houston's boot off and hits Houston with it. But Scrappy was already up and saw, and he calls for the bell. Weak finish. Both guys were working with intensity and crispness, but beyond that there wasn't a whole lot of "there" there. The less said about what happened with the Central States title after this the better. *1/4

 

Hair vs Hair Match: Jimmy Valiant (w/Big Mama) def Paul Jones (w/Manny Fernandez) in 4:00 (Greensboro)- I am pleased to inform you that this is the honest to God final blowoff of the Valiant/Jones feud that's been going for literally years. I am even more pleased to inform you that this is Valiant's last ever match at a Starrcade. The latest developments over the course of the Great American Bash tour during the summer were Valiant won a match to shave then Paul Jones Army frontman Shaska Whatley bald, then Jones defeated Valiant later in the tour to shave Valiant bald. Since then Fernandez became the latest in a series of guys to turn on Valiant during the course of this feud. Music starts up for intros then we have an abrupt edit. Guess it was edited out of the official WWE copy. Music rights fees I'm sure, it always is. Oh, Tom Miller informs us it's not Valiant's hair on the line this time, it's Big Mama's. Guess he didn't want to have to grow it back again if he lost again. Fernandez is also supposed to be suspended in a cage during the match. Earl Hebner checks in to ref the rest of the Greensboro portion. We spend forever on Hernandez stalling on getting into the cage until the face locker room empties to force him inside. The cage is then raised up while Jones tries to stop it. Once Fernandez is all the way up the bell rings to start. Valiant jumps Jones from behind and knocks him around. Hiptoss from Valiant. Valiant looks more out of control than ever with his offense. While Hebner is forcing a corner break Jones gets some knucks out of his tights and lays Valiant out with them. Valiant, as usual, is bleeding. Jones drops some more shots and covers for 2. When Valiant puts his foot on the rope to break up a pin Jones sees the target and tries to drop a knee on the leg. Valiant gets his leg out of the way and Jones knees the mat! OK, that was well done. Jones gets his international object out and nails Valiant with it again. Another 2 count. Jones tries for some kind of leg hold but Valiant pulls him back head first into the mat. Slow slugfest that Valiant wins. Sleeper! Valiant sees Jones get the knucks out again, pushes Jones into the corner, picks up the knucks and hits Jones with them. Valiant covers and gets the pin to a huge pop! As soon as the bell rings Valiant already has the shears in his hand and goes to work on Jones' hair. Well, it's far from the worst match these two have had. I'm also inclined to go easy on it because I'm happy it's all over. 3/4*

 

As soon as Fernandez is out of the cage he attacks Valiant, and is soon joined by his tag partner Rude. They double DDT Valiant on a chair, then help get mostly bald Jones out. Fernandez and Rude were about to get a huge push in the tag division. In fact they'd win the World tag titles barely two weeks after this show.

 

Intermission time in the arena means promo time on TV. But not wrestler promos this time, promos for future JCP events. First up is a long and strange hype video for the upcoming Bunkhouse Stampede matches, JCP's battle royales with legal weapons for large purses. The whole thing is framed with Nelson Royal describing the match as a cowboy around a campfire telling a nighttime story. I'd say after a day of cattle rustling but his clothes are way too clean. The constant guitar noodling behind the whole thing is almost as bad as Rollergator. My fellow Rifftrax fans know what I'm talking about.

 

After a formal intermission Tony sets up the next hype video, this time for the second annual Crockett Cup coming in April. This one is less weird, it's a straight highlight package of the inaugural '86 edition. They also say the '87 Cup will be two nights this time instead of having afternoon and evening shows the same day, a good move. It'll also be in Baltimore instead of the Superdome in New Orleans. No cross promotion deal with Mid-South/UWF this year. Ironically when the Crockett Cup rolled around in '87 it would come at almost exactly the same time JCP ended up buying out UWF.

 

Louisville Street Fight: Big Bubba Rogers (w/Jim Cornette) def NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Ron Garvin in 11:50 (Atlanta)- This is "Louisville" because that's where Rogers (future Big Boss Man) is being billed from even though he's legitimately from Cobb County, GA. This is pin or 10 count KO rules. Rogers has spent most of the year as the bodyguard for Cornette and the Midnight Express as he was still in training to wrestle himself. The by now completely redundant Mid-Atlantic title would finally be quietly euthanized just before the end of the year. Since it's a street fight Garvin's in his jeans and tank top while Rogers is wrestling in his usual ringside heavy suit. Tommy Young is in to ref the remainder of the Atlanta matches. Garvin tries some stick and move on the big man at the start. Rogers offers a test of strength. Garvin offers a few more punches instead that finally put Rogers down and he quickly rolls out to consult with Cornette. Off a lock up Rogers grabs Garvin's jeans and tosses him out to the floor. Back in Rogers hits a couple of clubbing blows and goes to toss Garvin out again, but can't seem to decide which side to do it on and finally decides on the side with the announce table. That was ugly. Garvin's ass hits the table on the way down. On his way back in Garvin picks up a cup of water or coke, then tosses it in Rogers face! That gives Garvin the opening to get some more shots in. After he's taken enough Rogers steps through the ropes for some more advice. Coming back in Garvin puts him in a front facelock, then goes to a straight choke which is legal in this one. They tie up again in the corner and Rogers squashes Garvin there, then hits a kneelift. Rogers has a roll of quarters or something in his hand from Cornette to hit Garvin with. After the last shot the coins go everywhere in the ring. Garvin's bleeding off that too. Garvin beats a couple of 10 counts and Rogers slams him. Big splash for 2. Garvin beats another 10 count. He gets a rope out of his boot and chokes Rogers. Then he uses it to try to hog tie Rogers like he's a calf! That doesn't work so he ties Rogers to the top rope instead. Now Rogers is bleeding a bit. Another clubbing blow and kneelift from Rogers. He hooks on a bear hug. Garvin headbutts free, then lands some more punches. Rogers goes 360 over the top rope to the floor! Thankfully since it's no DQ they don't have to give any lip service to the over the top rope rule. More punches and Rogers flops out to the floor again. Garvin follows and continues laying in shots. Rogers turns things around with another kneelift. He rolls Garvin back in and climbs up top. Garvin slams him off the top rope! Cover and Young gets squashed on the kickout. Garvin hits a piledriver! Cornette racket shot on Garvin! Young gets up and both guys are out for a 10 count. Since there MUST be a winner, we do the "first guy to his feet wins" thing. Cornette gets in the ring to try to help Rogers and Young tosses him back out! Rogers then pulls Young down so he doesn't see Garvin on his feet. Cornette trips Garvin, and Rogers gets up and is declared the winner! Bit of a "bullshit" chant for that. This had a very oil and water feel for most of it, but they persevered and got it pretty decent by the end. **3/4

 

First Blood Match for the NWA World Television Championship: Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) def "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes (c) in 7:30 (Greensboro)- Another feud that's been going off and on for well over a year that's finally mostly wrapping up here. First it was over the TV title, then the National title, and now they're back to the TV title. Also our first Four Horsemen match of the night. The momentum Blanchard had rising up the card in '84-'85 has started to stall out in the last year. Dusty ended the long first reign of Blanchard's fellow Horseman Arn Anderson in September to win this title for the third time. We follow Dusty out of his locker room and all the way into the arena for his entrance. I hadn't mentioned, there's actually a primitive entrance stage set up in Greensboro, the first time we've had that at a Starrcade. Dusty's got "Tully" cut into his hair above his ears to show how super cereal he is for this match. He's also wearing a Magnum TA shirt as a tribute. HAHAHAHA Dillon tries to put amateur wrestling headgear on Blanchard before the match starts to keep him from getting cut open! Hebner stops that real quick. Nice try though. Dillon then tries to put Vaseline or something on Blanchard's forehead. Hebner gets a towel and wipes that off, and none too gently. Dusty finally has enough and pops Dillon! And Dillon's busted open! Regardless of how the actual match goes all these preliminaries have been fantastic. So much fun. That's actually smart psychologically too, it shows Dusty can bust you open anytime with one shot from his elbow. The bell rings to start while Blanchard is on the floor trying to help Dillon wipe his blood off. Dillon is freaking gushing, man. His forehead is totally covered. In the ring Dusty gets the first couple of shots and Blanchard quickly backs up to get some space. Lockup and both guys are clearly looking to finish it early, targeting each other's forehead and both playing defense. Dusty does some of his strutting around and lounges in the corner to rile up Blanchard. Again Blanchard plays defense when Dusty loads up to hit him in the head. After another exchange Blanchard bails all the way to the floor to keep from getting hit. He's like a soccer team parking the bus and playing for a 0-0 draw in a group stage match. Again, writing this while in the midst of World Cup watching. Back in Dusty finally manages to land a headbutt, which staggers both guys. Dusty shifts gears and lands a stomp on Blancahrd's knee, probably to try to keep him from running. In the corner Blanchard covers up and goes for Dusty's leg. Dusty blocks that and finally lands an elbow off it but it doesn't bust Blanchard open. Again Dusty shifts to targeting Blanchard's leg for a bit. Blanchard again rolls out before another shot can be landed on his head. Blanchard tries again back in but still can't land much offense. He finally manages to snap mare Dusty over, drops an elbow then rakes at Dusty's face trying to cut him open. Dusty gets up and puts Blanchard back down with more shots. Dillon grabs Blanchard's foot in the corner and in the course of events Hebner goes down. Dillon gives Blanchard his Shoe of Death and Blanchard goes to the second rope with it. Dusty catches him and the shoe drops harmlessly to the mat. Suplex from Dusty and that knocks Hebner down again! Dusty gets the shoe, teases, then tosses it away. Elbow to Blanchard's head! Full ground and pound from Dusty. Blanchard's bleeding! But Hebner's still down. Behind Dusty Dillon wipes Blanchard's forehead off and rubs Vaseline on it. Blanchard nails Dusty with a roll of coins! Again coins go all over the place. Both arenas for that now. That busted Dusty open. Hebner gets up, the first thing he sees is Dusty bleeding, and he calls for the bell! Blanchard wins the title back! Dusty is FURIOUS! The psychology through all of this was sound, but it didn't exactly lead to an entertaining match. I do like it when the heels get genuinely clever though. **1/2

 

Scaffold Match: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) def The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette and Big Bubba Rogers) in 7:00 (Atlanta)- This isn't the main event, but it might as well be based on how much it was hyped up leading up to the show. Scaffold matches were invented in Memphis with the first one in the early '70s and a couple more taking place in the early '80s. The Midnights and RNR Express had one as part of their original feud in Mid-South in '84. This is the first one to be held under the JCP banner. This has never been one of my favorite gimmick matches, I think when you've seen one of these you've pretty much seen them all. The rules are you have to knock your opponents off the scaffold and down into the ring (or to the floor if you're feeling particularly brutal and want to recreate the Pit II stage fatality from Mortal Kombat II), so the big selling point here is the perceived chance to see someone fall nearly to their death. In practice of course everyone usually found the safest way possible to make the sky/mat transition. And the promised spectacle did sell tickets for this show, I won't deny that. The Roadies waste no time climbing up the scaffold on their entrance. The Midnights are a little more reluctant. Crazy side note, Hawk is actually working this match with a broken leg. Fortunately all he has to do it walk around the scaffold and his gear is covering up whatever cast he's wearing for it. After intros the Midnights slowly and reluctantly make their way up. I do love Condrey's US flag shirt. How did he get away with that as a heel? Cornette goes to commentary and calls the match "ludicrous" and "stupid" and I have to agree. The Midnights finally get up, try to wobble up on their feet, and we're on. Now for these guys to try to work on a narrow scaffold that's as high as the ring lights. Not a whole lot you can do other than some weak brawling. Both Midnights have powder and throw it into the Roadies' faces. That gets them the edge for a bit. Hawk teases going off the support structure and down onto the bare floor. That'd do a lot more than break his other leg. Eaton works himself down to the underside of the scaffold trying to drag Animal down. He saves himself by swinging onto the support structure and climbs back up. It's the Roadies back on offense again and both Midnights are bleeding. Condrey slowly works himself down the support structure. Hawk follows so he can't get back up that way. Hawk then goes down with him and they both tease falling. Now Eaton gets shuffled down the support structure. All four guys use the support rungs as monkey bars and dangle under the scaffold! Condrey goes down! Animal kicks Eaton and Eaton goes down! The Roadies win! Like I said, the safest way possible. After the bell Ellering chases Cornette up the scaffold. Cronette gets trapped up there between Ellering and Animal. He decides to also take the underneath route. Cornette dangles.....AND FALLS! That fall absolutely destroyed his knee for real, and you can see it on his face. Rogers was supposed to catch him, but....missed. For what it was that was fine. If you ever watch one scaffold match in your life, and you should only watch one as they're all the same, this is the one you should go for. **

 

Next up is some more future show hype, this time for the Great American Bash with highlights from the '86 tour. I'm so glad two of those shows are available now, but they show clips from shows beyond those two, leading me to wonder what else might be out there. Though I'd prefer to get something from the '87 GAB tour first as there's nothing released from it right now as I write this, especially because it was on that year's tour that War Games was first introduced.

 

A second intermission? "We've already had first intermission, what about second intermission?" Shut up, Pippin. We get the credits roll during this intermission instead of at the end of the show.

 

Steel Cage Match for the NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Rock 'N' Roll Express (c) def The Minnesota Wrecking Crew in 20:20 (Greensboro)- The main event for the Greensboro portion of the show. The RNR Express are on their third title reign, having taken them back from their forever rivals the Midnight Express back in August. The RNR Express are so bonkers over in Greensboro you can barely hear Tom Miller's intro for them over the crowd. The Express apparently asked for the cage to keep the other Horsemen from interfering. Ole and Gibson start and Ole wants to TEAR into him. Ole tries to get Gibson trapped in the wrong corner, and when that doesn't work they sucker Morton in to hit some double team shots behind Hebner's back. Gibson fights Arn off and rams him into the cage backwards. Again Gibson avoids the wrong corner, gets Ole over to his side and tags Morton in. Arn and Morton have a small reset before leaning into each other. Arn blocks Morton giving him a cage shot. Morton keeps trying to crank the pace up and Arn keeps backing off to slow it down. Arn dodges and Gibson crashes into the corner knee first. While Gibson's sitting on the top rope Arn runs his leg into the cage. The Andersons have a target, and that's never a good thing for their opponents. Ole tags in and starts working away on Gibson's leg. Arn rams Gibon's knee into the mat. Gibson pushes out of a spinning toe hold and Arn goes face first into the cage! Crazy double bump off that from Arn. Ole tags in, cuts off Gibson tagging and gets back on the knee. Both Andersons continue the destruction of Gibson's knee. Gibson manages an enzuguri! He gets free from Arn and tags out to Morton! Morton's hot tag run is quickly cut off by the Andersons and Morton is the first one properly run into the cage tonight. Now it's Morton's turn to be in peril. He tries to fight back on Ole but he's in the wrong half of the ring and Ole easily tags out. Arn bites on the cut Morton got from the cage shots, then gives him the old cheese grater spot. Ole does a bit of work on Morton's arm, which is always Ole's preferred target. Morton's bleeding pretty good now too. Ole sends him shoulder first into the top turnbuckle, then puts on his arm tearing off armbar. No one did an ARMBAR like Ole Anderson, not even Chris Jericho's best ones from the List. Hammerlock slam and kneedrop on the arm from Arn. Arn tries coming off the second rope but Morton catches him coming down! And gives him a DDT! Ole quickly gets in to cut a tag off and runs Morton arm first into the cage. Shoulderbreaker from Ole for 2. Morton ducks an Arn clothesline and hits a kneelift! Arn grabs Morton's tights to again keep him from tagging out. Ole cranks a spinning toe hold type hold on Morton's arm. While both guys are on their knees Morton tries to slug back but still can't get away. Now he tries some hammy kicks and punches on Ole. Again the Andersons keep him from tagging and double team beat him down. Arn hits the World's Greatest Spinebuster! Gibson breaks the pin up! Ole goes up top and drops a knee on Morton's arm. Another shoulder dislocating ARMBAR. Morton has another flurry. Midring collision! Ole gets to Arn and Arn gets to Morton. He switches gears and cranks on Morton's neck. Morton starts to string some comeback punches together. Down goes Arn! Ole JUST runs Morton over into the cage before he can tag out! Morton flash small package on Ole! Arn quickly runs in to break it up, triggering Gibson to run in too as Hebner loses control and we go full on DONNYBROOK. Gibson dropkicks Morton's back as Ole was holding him up, Morton falls on Ole and gets a pin out of nowhere to retain! The furious Andersons continue the beating but the RNR Express crawl out of the cage to get the hell out of town, too beat up to even celebrate their win but win they did. Absolutely brilliant tag wrestling from four of the best to ever do it. ****3/4

 

As I mentioned earlier, the team of Manny Fernandez and Rick Rude would upset the obviously still beat up and probably shouldn't have been defending yet RNR Express for the titles a couple of weeks after this. The RNR Express would win them back in April in a famous phantom match that never actually happened because Rude had left for the WWF.

 

On the other side, Ole Anderson would be kicked out of the Horsemen and turn face in February, as well as start flirting with on again/off again retirement. He'd also later take over as WCW's head booker for a time while Dusty was off in the WWF. We can thank him for, among other things, the Black Scorpion.

 

The main event of Starrcade '86 was long planned to be the coronation of Magnum TA as the new top babyface star in the NWA. JCP and NWA brass thought he was the guy they could put up against Hulk Hogan in the continued nationalization battle. I'm very dubious as to how that would have played out, but that was the plan. But it would become little more than one of the biggest what ifs in wrestling history, as everything changed one night in mid October. That night Magnum, driving at night in heavy rain, lost control of his car and crashed into a light pole. Doctors were unsure if he would ever walk again, to say nothing of wrestling. Fortunately he was able to eventually regain full mobility, but his wrestling career ended that night. Plans for the biggest show of the year would have to change, with barely over a month to change them, which in those days was almost no time at all. It'd be like having to rebook a Wrestlemania main event a week or two before the show today. The decision was made to have Magnum's most recent rival who had just defeated Magnum in a best of seven series to win the US title, Nikita Koloff, turn face to take Magnum's place in the main event. The on screen story was Magnum won Nikita's respect during their feud and Nikita wanted to honor his fallen comrade. It also happened to coincide with a period of cooling US/Soviet Union tensions as, little anyone knew at the time, the USSR was fully on the path that would lead to its collapse a few years later, so in that context it kind of worked. Spirit of glasnost and all that.

 

After Flair's entrance a tribute video for Magnum plays that can probably be best described as cheesy and is definitely sappy, but it's still soon enough after the accident emotions were still running pretty high so you can forgive it. 

 

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) and NWA United States Heavyweight Champion Nikita Koloff double DQ in 20:00 (Atlanta)- The crowd clearly hasn't fully embraced Nikita yet in this forced role. Some "Nikita" chants during his entrance (mostly high pitched) mixed in with pretty loud boos (mostly low pitched). But the same guys booing Nikita sound like they're booing Flair too. They have a staredown during Young's instructions, the bell rings and here we go. Nikita easily shoves Flair out of the first lockups. After the second time Flair teases locking up again, then backs up and steps out to the floor. Back in Nikita cranks a knucklelock. Flair backs him into the corner and hits some chops that have zero effect. Flair steps back out and goes over the guardrail and all the way nearly into the crowd to rethink. Coming back in he gives Nikita a short "WOOOO". Top wristlock fight that again Nikita pretty easily wins. When Flair gets up he shouts "Now you get your butt kicked!". He backs Nikita into the corner and tries a hiptoss but Nikita blocks it. Reversal and Nikita hits the hiptoss. Another Nikita hiptoss, followed up with a slam that tosses Flair across the mat. Another one of those. Nikita poses and Flair begs off. It sounds like the crowd might be getting a bit more behind Nikita now. Off the ropes Flair runs into a bear hug. Flair goes down and Nikita gets a near fall off of it. Nikita backs Flair into the corner and hits a couple of shoulderblocks. Flair dodges a charge and Nikita goes shoulder first into the corner. Flair then hits a delayed suplex. Nikita pops back up! Flair backs the hell up, to the floor and again over the guardrail. Back in Nikita cranks a headlock that Flair tries to side punch out of but can't. He backs Nikita into the corner and hits some chops that finally start to stagger him. Shoulderblock standoff, then Nikita literally plucks Flair out of the air by the throat and takes him down. Tony says that's the "Russian hammer". Well if that's a new signature move it won't last long. Nikita loads up for a Sickle. Flair dodges and Nikita tumbles over the top rope to the floor! Flair grabs Nikita on the apron and posts his knee. Here we go. Chop block in the ring. Sharpen your pencil and get your Trapper Keepers kids, we're going to school. Flair mixes a couple of chops in with more knee shots. Figure four! With added rope leverage behind Young's back. Powerful Nikita still manages to reverse it and Flair lets go. Corner shots from Flair start to fire Nikita back up. He is still selling the knee a bit. Nikita shoulderblock. Off the ropes again Flair tosses him back out to the floor. They go over and Flair runs Nikita into the scaffold support structure. About time someone used that. Nikita is on the floor blading for all he's worth, it's all caught on camera. When he gets back in he's bleeding. Snap mare/kneedrop combo from Flair for 2. Back suplex for 2. He pounds away on Nikita's cut. Again that just fires Nikita up. Shoulderblocks and another toss slam from Nikita. Another hiptoss. Flair Flip! He falls all the way to the floor right in front of a cameraman. This time Flair takes a shot on the scaffold and goes down into blading position. You knew Flair was going to bleed eventually. More scaffold shots for Flair. Back in Nikita runs Flair's shoulder into the corner. Strike exchange and Flair Flop! Flying tackle from Nikita and Young gets knocked out of the ring. Nikita hits the Sickle! He crawls over and covers but there's no ref. Scrappy is out but he's checking on Young. Nikita tries to pull Young back up by his shirt collar. That lets Flair hits Nikita with a knee in the back. Scrappy comes in to count and Flair gets 2. Flair ducks and Nikita Sickles Scrappy! It's full on ref murder tonight. Nikita chokes Flair in the corner. The recovered Young tries to stop it but Nikita tosses him aside. Again Nikita tosses Young across the ring. Young says that's it and calls for the bell. Eventually both locker rooms empty to break the fight up. Young confirms on the mic that it's a double DQ, modern online reports vary on that. Given the circumstances I guess that was as good as you could have hoped for, and it set it up for the feud to continue as they tried to figure out where to go from here after the Magnum accident turned all long term plans upside down. The match itself was pretty typical "Flair vs big man" formula that'd he'd later perfect with a much more able partner, Sting. ***3/4

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Not as great as Starrcade '85, but nowhere near the disaster '84 was. Overall it's OK. They definitely could have trimmed some fat off the card to get it closer to a normal 3 hour runtime and the show likely would have been better for it. The last two matches are worth your while though, especially the sensational World tag title match. This would be the last time the two arena experiment would be tried, it'll be back to normal single arena shows next year. This is also the last Starrcade to take place in either Greensboro or the Omni as JCP would start to try to branch out even further next year.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C

 

v2.0 posted 6/29/26