Survivor Series '87

Legacy Review

Survivor Series '87

November 26, 1987 from the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, OH

 

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura

 

After the massive success of Wrestlemania 3 WWF decided to make another attempt to expand their PPV calendar. The proliferation of PPV availability from cable companies the past couple of years also helped. Unlike their last attempt in late '85 with The Wrestling Classic and the cancelled "WrestleVision" series this one will stick, becoming the second of what would be the traditional Big Four WWF/E PPVs, though in short order Survivor Series will be overshadowed by the next two that would come after it. While this show will again be centered around the Hulk Hogan/Andre the Giant feud and their first official encounter since WM 3, there will be a very unique card structure. Rather than normal matches, every match on the card will be large elimination tag team matches, dubbed Survivor Series matches, with each one working its way down to a sole "survivor" or "survivors". Not a new match type, but one that had never been done on this scale before.

 

This is also when WWF decided to play hardball with their scheduling. It was known that Jim Crockett would be offering Starrcade on PPV for the first time rather than just closed circuit TV, so to try to pinch their potential audience Vince McMahon and co decided to also schedule Survivor Series on Thanksgiving night. In an even more hardball move, WWF actively threatened cable companies that if they chose to offer Starrcade instead of Survivor Series, WWF would not let them offer Wrestlemania 4. I know it's hard to believe nowadays, but back then cable companies only had one PPV channel. The threat of being shut out of the potential biggest PPV payday of the year was enough to get most cable outlets to toe the line and choose WWF over JCP. This would be the beginning of a scheduling tit for tat that would go on for the next couple of years, even after the Turner buyout of JCP. It's not at all unlike the constant "counterprogramming" games played by WWE and AEW since the start of TKO WWE.

 

"Macho Man" Randy Savage, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan & Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake (w/Elizabeth) def WWF Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man, "King" Harley Race, Hercules, "Outlaw" Ron Bass & "Dangerous" Danny Davis (w/Jimmy Hart and Bobby Heenan) in 23:28- Savage had his big face turn over the summer while feuding with Honky over the IC title, pretty much just killing time until his planned push to the top next year. Duggan/Race was another ongoing feud as Duggan had recently taken Race's "King" crown for a time. Beefcake and Hercules start. After some back and forth Beefcake gets an early sleeper on. Herc manages to reach over and tag out. Davis and Bass both run in and get hiptossed. Beefcake flips Davis in as he was the one tagged. The face team easily work the overmatched Davis over. Davis manages to get a knee up on Steamboat and tags out to Race. Steamboat catches Race with a high chop off the second rope. He and Race slug it out, then Steamboat does TWO skin the cats back in. Third try Race is the one that goes over the top and out. Race comes back in and hits a belly to belly suplex for a long 2. Steamboat crawls under Race and tags out to Duggan. He 360 clotheslines Race out to the floor. Duggan follows and they brawl on the floor while commentary says they better watch the count. Foreshadowing successful as both guys are counted out and are both eliminated. Both teams have to separate them. Continue in the ring with Roberts and Bass. Savage tags in and gives Bass a running knee in the back. He runs over and hits Honky with an elbow, giving Bass an opening to hit a clothesline. Honky then tags in with Savage safely down. Savage quickly fights back, but they end up in the heel corner. Bass hits a couple of elbows for 2. Big running elbow from Savage. He was going 100 MPH. Blind tag to Beefcake. He hits a high knee on Bass and gets a pin to eliminate him! Herc comes in and pounds away on Beefcake. Honky works on Beefcake's arm as Savage tries to contain himself. The heels keep Beefcake trapped while continuing to pick the arm apart. Beefcake ducks a badly thought out Honky punch and hits an atomic drop. But Beefcake also makes a possible mistake not tagging out, instead going on offense against Honky. Davis hits Beefcake from the apron. Honky hits a short Shake, Rattle and Roll (just the Roll), but it's enough to get a pin and eliminate Beefcake. Back to even 3 on 3. Savage TEARS for Honky but gets caught from behind by Herc. Davis being in allows Savage to try a comeback but he quickly tags back out. Savage runs Honky over with an elbow and quickly tags out to Roberts. Roberts gets Honky in DDT position but Honky squirts free. Knee up in the corner from Honky to turn things around on Roberts. Herc hits Roberts style jabs on Roberts for 2. Now the heels have Roberts isolated and in peril. Davis actually hits some decent shots, but that only fires Roberts up. Short clothesline! Davis gets planted with the DDT, and he's gone. Herc runs right in with a flying clothesline on Roberts. Elbow drops for 2. Honky taunts Savage in so the heels can double team and choke Roberts. Snap mare/fistdrop combo from Honky for 2. Roberts fights out of a chinlock and gives Honky a kneelift. Herc quickly tags in to cut the tag off. Herc also keeps Roberts grounded with a chinlock as the match starts to drag a bit. Roberts jawbreakers Herc to get free and finally gets a tag to Steamboat. Chops for everyone and Steamboat takes a moment to do a hilarious impression of Honky's awful dancing. High chop off the top rope on Herc. He sets Herc up, then tags Savage. Savage elbow! Herc is gone. Honky is all alone against three faces. Savage pounds him across the ring. Honky dodges and Savage crashes into the corner. He pounds away on Savage's back. Savage gets another huge head of steam and hits another running elbow. Steamboat tags in. Ventura wonders if Honky can tag Jimmy Hart. Might not do much worse. Honky's giving it a go, trying a sunset flip on Roberts but Roberts easily counters it. The faces are taking their time to take out their frustrations on Honky. Probably a good idea, it's going to be a long while yet before anyone finally pries that IC title off him, and the guy that will finally do it isn't even on the roster yet. Savage hits the double ax handle off the top rope and atomic drops Honky out to the floor. Honky says screw it, that's enough and walks out, willingly taking a countout loss. 100% in character and exactly how kept the IC title so long. Overall good match to initially get the Survivor Series concept over. SURVIVORS: Savage, Steamboat and Roberts. ***

 

The Fabulous Moolah, Rockin' Robin, Velvet McIntyre & The Jumping Bomb Angels def WWF Women's Champion Sensational Sherri, Dawn Marie, Donna Christanello & The Glamour Girls (w/Jimmy Hart) in 20:17- You had no idea WWF had this many women on the roster back then, did you? Not that I blame you. Sherri came over from the AWA in the summer and immediately defeated a face turned Moolah for the women's title. The Dawn Marie in this match is not the same Dawn Marie from the Divas era. The Bomb Angels also signed with WWF from All Japan Women's in the summer and were an immediate sensation, bringing highly athletic joshi puroresu to the American masses decades before it would become more mainstream. The Glamour Girls are announced as the women's tag team champions. Yes, that was a short lived thing at the time. Modern WWE doesn't want you to remember that. They don't have belts either. Sherri loses patience and grabs McIntyre by the hair to start. McIntyre fires back with a crossbody for 2. Moolah tags in and works her foe over. McIntyre works Christanello over, goes up and gives her a victory roll, and Christanello is out. Kai comes in and takes a flying headscissors from McIntyre. Robin gets caught in the heel corner and worked over. She comes back with a clothesline on Marie, hits a crossbody and pins her. Yamazuki comes in and starts up the joshi awesomeness with Martin, doing a nice bridge up out of a pin and getting a cradle for 2. Another rolling cradle for 2. Tateno comes in and hits a couple of high knees. Crossbody for 2. Yamazuki does a lucha style armdrag off the top rope. Sherri tags in and takes a back elbow. Double underhook suplex from Yamazuki for 2. Ventura is now a Bomb Angels fan and isn't afraid to say it. Robin tags in and gets in trouble again. She and Martin take forever trying to pull off a monkey flip spot. Sherri suplex on Robin and Robin's out for the first face elimination. Yamazuki comes in and pummels Sherri with dropkicks. Martin does a full hair pull toss on Yamazuki. McIntyre, who's also looked very good in this match, hits a crossbody for 2. Moolah tags in again to a spattering of boos. She was a heel so long the crowd still isn't sure of her. Martin back elbow on Moolah for 2. Tateno tags in, gets caught in the heel corner but slams Kai off the second rope. Kai dodges a dropkick and hits a flying double ax handle. Kai makes the mistake of trying to take on all the faces at once, giving Moolah an opening to work her over. The Girls sneaky double clothesline Moolah and she's eliminated. Yamazaki puts Martin down and the Angels team up to work her over. McIntyre puts Martin in a Boston crab, then a bow and arrow. She hits a dropkick, but Martin falls into the heel corner and Sherri tags in. Sherri does a double underhook move that drops McIntyre on her head. Kai proper hits Yamazaki with a double underhook suplex. Yamazaki's bridge out of the pin is so good it fools the timekeeper, who rings the bell but the ref waves it off. McIntyre giant swing on Sherri! She gets a victory roll on Sherri and pins her! The champ is out. Yamazaki sunset flip off the second rope on Martin for 2. Martin blocks a slam but Yamazaki tags out. Tateno gets Martin over for a suplex for 2. Kai tags in and tries a ground and pound but gets hooked in a Tateno body scissors. Another McIntyre cradle on Kai for 2. She tries for another victory roll, but Kai's seen it too many times tonight. She counters with a slingshot off the ropes and gets a pin. It's down to the two tag teams, the Girls vs the Angels and all four run in. The Angles whip the Girls into each other. Stereo slams. Martin is slingshot onto Kai! Kai slams Tateno and goes up top. The splash is dodged! Yamazuki crossbody off the top and she pins Kai! Martin faceplants Yamazuki in the mat, then puts her up in a fireman's carry and drops her for 2. The Angels hit a slam/top rope kneedrop combo. Double backdrop. Hart gets dropkicked off the apron to a HUGE pop. Diving clothesline off the top rope from Tateno and Martin is pinned! Good stuff for women's wrestling of the era, with the Bomb Angels looking miles ahead of everyone else. Everyone was working hard, clearly taking advantage of a rare spotlight on a major show. Doing the Jimmy Hart spot right at the end was smart too, it got them a much bigger reaction for the win after the crowd was pretty dead most of the match, not untypical for a women's match of the era. SURVIVORS: The Jumping Bomb Angels. **1/2

 

WWF Tag Team Champions Strike Force, The British Bulldogs, The Killer Bees, The Rougeau Brothers & The Young Stallions def The Hart Foundation, The Dream Team, The Islanders, The Bolsheviks & Demolition (w/every manager on the WWF payroll) in 37:14- That's right, TEN teams in one match. The Strike Force team of Rick Martel and Tito Santana defeated the Harts for the tag titles on weekly TV just a month before this show. Demolition are making their PPV debut here and were poised to become the dominant team in the tag division for the next few years. This is team elimination, so when one member of a team is eliminated so is his partner. The visual as this match starts is insane, with barely a square inch of ring apron not being taken up by someone waiting to be tagged in. Guys have to move and make space when someone hits the ropes so they don't get knocked over. Champ Martel starts out with Volkoff. Martel gets a quick roll up for 2. Volkoff gets Martel down and lifts him up in a one hand choke. Zhukov tags in and misses an elbow drop. Dropkick from Martel. Santana tags in as both sides are sticking with partners so far. Flying forearm! Pin and the Bolsheviks are gone! Ax runs right in and starts pounding on Santana. Now we start getting into rapid fire tags as a lot of guys get their feet wet in this match. Haku and Dynamite have a nice stiff chop off. More quick tags on both sides, too much to keep up with in a written format and still have it readable. It's good stuff though. Ax ducks Jacques trying a springboard crossbody, Jacques splats on the mat, Ax covers, and gets a pin to eliminate the Rougeaus. Again Dynamite and the other Islander, Tama, have some fun stiffing each other. Anvil lifts Powers on his shoulder and Haku comes off the top rope to drop him, but Powers manages to kick out. Valentine gives Roma a shoulderbreaker and suplex but Roma kicks out both times. Gutwrench suplex/legdrop combo from Bravo on Roma for 2. Smash survives a Dynamite clothesline and the Demos get Dynamite trapped on the heel team apron and pound away on him. The ref gets tossed aside, and that earns Demolition a DQ to eliminate them. Getting them out of the match without them taking a pin, I said there were big plans in store for them. We then Bret and Dynamite in the ring together, hell yes. Bret hits a piledriver for 2. Dynamite dodges and Bret posts his shoulder. Tama has an easy time with Powers. Things go a bit worse when Martel tags in. Martel gets the Boston crab on, but in the heel corner and Tama tags out. Anvil absolutely wallops Martel from the blind side, but Martel still kicks out of the pin. Santana hits the flying forearm on Anvil. Bret JUST breaks the pin up. He hit Santana hard enough from behind Anvil covers and gets a pin. A bit of revenge for the Harts as the champs Strike Force are out. It's back even at 3 on 3. Again Powers gets easily knocked around by the heels for an extended period but won't die. Even commentary is amazed he keeps kicking out. Finally he gets a tag to his partner Roma, who also quickly goes in peril. The Young Stallions are not representing themselves well tonight. Finally we get Dynamite and Bret together again for a short period. Haku goes in peril on the heel side, until (of course) Powers gets in again. Now we get Davey Boy and Bret together for a bit. Davey Boy hits a press slam for 2. Haku takes the Davey Boy powerslam but kicks out. Dynamite hits a diving headbutt on Haku but hurts himself. Haku superkick! He pins Dynamite and the Bulldogs are out. Roma actually gets some offense on Haku. For a bit. Powers tries a monkey flip on Bravo but it's blocked into an inverted atomic drop. Once again Powers is in peril for a long time. He even gets caught in a tree of woe in the heel corner, which causes the remaining face teams to run in to try to save him. Bravo hits his signature side suplex on Powers, but doesn't cover. Instead he tags Valentine in to go for the figure four. Powers fights free and tags. Roma sunset flip off the top, and he pins Valentine! The Dream Team is eliminated and it's now even again, 2 teams left for each side. Blair small packages Anvil for 2. Brunzell high knee for 2. Anvil shows his power by literally dragging Brunzell across the ring to tag. Bret outsmarts Roma (not hard) to get the heels back on top again. Roma dodges a Haku dropkick and tags out. Brunzell gets a couple of nearfalls on Haku before Haku tags out to Bret. This match has gone so long the ref's shirt has become untucked. Roma hits a fistdrop off the second rope on Bret for 2. Bret back suplex on Roma for 2. Double headbutt from the Islanders on Roma for 2. Anvil powerslam for 2. Roma rolls under Bret and tags out to Brunzell. Brunzell/Bret midring collision. Tama tries to dropkick Bret onto Brunzell, but Brunzell rolls through it to cover Bret and gets a pin! The Harts are out and the Islanders are the last heel team left. Brunzell celebrates too early and the Islanders are all over him. Tama puts on the Nerve Pinch of Single Handedness +1. Shoulderbreaker from Haku for 2. Haku then puts on the Nerve Pinch of Double Handedness +2. Could probably use the Tongan Death Grip here but that ancient art hadn't been rediscovered yet. Brunzell gets a sunset flip on Haku for 2. I think the ref's exhausted, that count was very slow. Suplex from Haku for 2. Brunzell counters a backdrop and tags out to Powers. Backdrop on Haku. Powerslam from Roma. Tama breaks the pin up, allowing the Islanders to double team. Roma dodges in the corner and tags Blair in. Haku quickly gets him in trouble too. The Islanders are doing a hell of a job hanging in by themselves. Big diving back elbow from Tama. Blair dodges an elbow drop and tags out. A double noggin knocker actually works on the Islanders. Brunzell hits his dropkick but Haku breaks the pin up. Finally, DONNYBROOK! Blair gets his mask on, sunset flips Tama, and gets the pin to win the match even though he wasn't the legal man! Damn good stuff with nonstop action all over, but maybe it went on a tick longer than it really needed to. SURVIVORS: The Killer Bees and The Young Stallions ***3/4

 

With this unusual card structure we get intermission here before the main event. A show like this doesn't need an intermission, but all shows had intermissions then so here we are. As the Jem'Hadar would say, it is the order of things. We get a long video package of "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase (who signed with WWF after Mid-South/UWF finally went belly up in the spring) bragging about his money and lifestyle while also showing clips from weekly TV of him humiliating various plants by challenging them to try to "earn" some money then screwing them over. Kicking the basketball away from the kid trying to get to 15 dribbles is my favorite. A clip from the summer of DiBiase buying out a public pool manager to kick the crowd of kids out for a day is also good. Everybody's got a price. After that commentary breaks down what we've seen already for a while. Ventura is still gushing about the Jumping Bomb Angels, comparing them to Dynamite Kid, Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat.

 

Quick notes going into the main event- Heenan and Andre are still arguing that Andre pinned Hogan early in the WM 3 match and is the "uncrowned champion". This is also Andre's first match since then after taking some time off due to his declining health and to help promote The Princess Bride's release (Andre dropped the "I'm here for your SOUUUUUUUUUL" line during the prematch promo). Muraco has turned face since we last saw him on PPV. Orndorff turned back face after returning from an arm injury in June. Bigelow signed with WWF in the spring after becoming a star in New Japan and is a rare face with a manager (Humperdink). Rude is making his first WWF PPV appearance after jumping over from JCP in the spring while still holding half of the NWA World tag titles. 

 

Andre the Giant, "The Natural" Butch Reed, King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang & "Ravishing" Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan and Slick) def WWF Champion Hulk Hogan, Bam Bam Bigelow, "The Rock" Don Muraco, Ken Patera & "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff (w/Oliver Humperdink) in 24:07- Rude's wearing his crazy traffic sign tights tonight. I'm not at all a fan of the tassels on Hogan's bandana. It makes him look like a cheap lamp. This is the last PPV for the somewhat underrated pre-Winged Eagle WWF Title belt. When we get to WM 4 the Winged Eagle will have been introduced. Muraco and Rude start with some quick slugging. Orndorff comes in with an elbow off the top rope. Hogan tags in as Rude stays in trouble. Clothesline and triple elbow drop. Hogan sets Rude up for a Bigelow diving headbutt. Press slam from Bigelow. Finally Patera comes in and genius as he is knocks Rude right back into his corner to tag. The faces then get Reed in trouble as it's still all one sided so far. Former foes Orndorff and Hogan team up for a double clothesline on Reed. Hogan drops the legdrop and Reed is the first one out. The faces celebrate one elimination way to much, and behind them Andre strides into the ring. Hogan turns around and sees him. For some reason ref Joey Marella says Hogan tagged out to Patera. The big collision has to wait. Andre, probably rightly, says Patera isn't worth his time and tags out to Bundy. Patera lays into him as it's once again all Hogan's team. OMG gets a knee up on Orndorff to finally give the heel team some momentum. Rude then kills it by taking an Orndorff clothesline and the not yet boogie woogie elbow for 2. As Ventura points out, Rude's had a bad night so far. Patera manages to take OMG down with a crossbody for 2. OMG gets Patera caught in the heel corner. OMG and Patera both go for clotheslines at the same time. OMG clearly wins that, almost legit squishing Patera and getting a pin for the first face team elimination. Hogan comes in and corner clotheslines OMG. Hogan/Bigelow double big boot on him. Big Bigelow/OMG collision. Both sides tag out. Orndorff suplexes and boogie woogie elbows Rude as Ventura says again Rude's had a terrible night. Orndorff calls for the piledriver. Bundy comes in and hits Orndorff from behind. Rude rolls Orndorff up with a handful of tights and pins him to somewhat redeem his night. Orndorff is out. The faces quickly get Rude back down and take turns hitting moves on him. Powerslam from Muraco and Rude is eliminated. Muraco dodges a Bundy kneedrop, sees the target and starts working on Bundy's leg. The about twelfth eye rake from the heels this match turns that around. Muraco tries to slam OMG but that goes terribly and Muraco barely kicks out from getting pinned. OMG hits the 747 and Muraco is gone. Bigelow gets a sunset flip (!) on OMG but OMG butt splashes him to counter. Clothesline from Bundy that Bigelow does a near 360 sell of. Bigelow by default is the only guy left on the face team that can go in peril for a while, because it's not going to be Hogan. After a few minutes of that Andre finally tags in for his first real action of the night. Bigelow rolls past him and tags Hogan! Hogan unloads on Andre as the crowd explodes. They choke each other and slug it out. Buckle shots for Andre. Bundy trips Hogan and drags him out to the floor. Hogan fights Bundy off, then slams OMG on the floor! Bundy stops Hogan from getting back in. Hogan slams Bundy on the floor! But, they kept Hogan out just long enough and he's been counted out! Hogan is gone. Hogan, as usual, is a big baby about it and the refs have to threaten him with giving the match automatically to Andre's team if he doesn't leave. It's down to just Bigelow against all the beef on the heel side- Andre, Bundy and OMG. Ventura says Bigelow should walk like Honky Tonk Man did. Bigelow puts Bundy down with a clothesline and drops an elbow for 2. Diving headbutt for 2. Standing dropkick! Bigelow could move, man. He looks pretty gassed though. Bigelow dodges an avalanche. Slingshot splash! Bigelow pins Bundy! One tree down. Two larger ones to go. OMG works Bigelow over and hits a short clothesline for 2. Bigelow is run into Andre's boot. OMG goes up top. Bigelow dodges! He drapes an arm over and pins OMG! Down to just Bigelow and Andre. Bigelow tries to dodge around Andre, but then does a wild charge in the corner that Andre easily dodges. Kind of suplex thingy from Andre, and that gets the pin to finish it off. Bigelow did his best but it was just too much. Another good match that worked the early Survivor Series formula well, though who they left for the final stretch didn't do it any favors match quality wise. Not that this match was overflowing with great workers to start with. SOLE SURVIVOR: Andre the Giant ***1/4

 

As soon as the bell rings Hogan charges back in and nails Andre with the title belt! What a sore freaking loser, man. Then he does his full end of show celebration like he actually won something tonight. I'm 100% with disgusted Ventura on this one. Ventura: "Only in CLEVELAND would they cheer for the loser!". This was the beginning of the build for the big Hogan/Andre title rematch, which will be on a live The Main Event (Saturday Night's Main Event on a Friday) on NBC in February. That will be the kickoff of the disputed title angle that leads to the WWF Title tournament that takes place at WM 4.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The first Survivor Series comes off very well. Nothing mind blowing or really long term important happens other than the aforementioned early build for the Hogan/Andre rematch, but all the matches are some level of good and are well worth a watch.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B

 

V2.0 posted 7/20/26 

Starrcade '88

Legacy Review

Starrcade '88: True Gritt

December 26, 1988 from the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, VA

 

Commentary: Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

 

This is the first PPV to take place following Turner's purchase of Jim Crockett Promotions. Like the last Clash earlier in the month they hadn't settled on making the name of their top weekly TV show, World Championship Wrestling, the name of the whole promotion yet so for now it's being presented under just the NWA banner. The overall look and feel is still very much as JCP left it for now. This is also the first Starrcade to take place in December instead of on Thanksgiving after JCP had conceded that date to Survivor Series. In fact this is taking place on a Monday, the day after Christmas. Or Boxing Day, as it is in places outside the US. Why it's Gritt with two t's don't ask me. Maybe it's from the same guy that changed Ruby Riot's name in WWE to Ruby Riott.

 

NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Varsity Club def The Fantastics (c) in 15:50- It's Kevin Sullivan and recently heel turned "Dr. Death" Steve Williams representing the Club in this match. The Fantastics had just regained the titles at the last Clash, winning a tournament for the vacant titles. I think I hear a smattering of boos for the Fantastics here in Norfolk. Wonder if it's because they're announced from LA. Fulton starts out with Sullivan. Quick corner chops from Sullivan. Fulton counters a backdrop and hits a Thesz press from the second rope. That move will be a theme in this match, I guess because Lou Thesz is in attendance as JR mentions. We won't get visual proof of that until the main event. The Fantastics quick tag on Sullivan as they get an early edge. Sullivan backs Fulton into his corner and tags Williams in. Fulton quickly backs the hell up. We do get visual proof that superfan actor Jason Hervey is here at another show. Back in the day something produced by Turner could mention an ABC show without having a roomful of lawyers involved. The Fantastics try out some arm work on Williams. Williams and Rogers do some power vs speed stuff. Fulton tries a monkey flip on Williams that doesn't work. Rogers runs in to provide the assist and they pull it off. Williams grabs Fulton and presses him up, multiple times in a really impressive feat of strength, then slams him. Then he annihilates Fulton with a clothesline and the Fantastics regroup on the floor. Back in Fulton manages to catch Williams with a dropkick, then both Fantastics hit a double dropkick. Fulton grabs a headlock, but that just lets Williams back suplex him. Fulton dodges an elbow drop and tags. Rogers catches Williams with a dropkick but soon also gets planted by the much more powerful Williams. Double clothesline from the Club. Rogers ducks a Sullivan clothesline attempt and Sullivan tumbles over the top rope to the floor. Speed run. Rogers does a fancy flip out of a backdrop attempt and hits another dropkick. Things break down with all four guys in the ring. Rogers keeps giving Sullivan shots on the apron, allowing Williams to hit him with a knee in the back from behind. Buckle shots all over for Rogers. Big delayed suplex from Williams for 2, with a bit of standing jogging. Rogers turns on the jets again and slides under Williams with a cradle for 2. Williams straight tackles Rogers to keep him from tagging. The Club work ref Teddy Long to hit some double teams. Rogers gets a flash small package on Sullivan for 2. Rogers then gets a Thesz press (drink!) on Sullivan. Roll and tag to Fulton! He and Sullivan get into an eye gouging contest that Sullivan unsurprisingly wins. Williams wobbles Fulton with a straight right hand to the nose. Bear hug from Williams. Fulton gets desperate and eye pokes free. Tags on both sides. Sullivan gets a boot up on Rogers in the corner. He tries going up top but Rogers slams him off. Rogers then goes up top but Sullivan gets his knees up on a big splash attempt. That last sequence finally got the crowd really into it, they had been pretty quiet to this point. Clothesline from Williams, then he lets Rogers know about it. Clothesline from Sullivan for 2. Williams presses Rogers and drops him on the top rope. Rogers fights out of a chinlock and hits a dropkick. As he turns to tag Sullivan runs him over from behind. Slam and double stomp. Another double stomp for 2. Rogers blocks and hits a suplex on Sullivan. He literally leaps over Sullivan to get the tag to Fulton! Williams nearly legit runs over the kneeling Rogers when he hits the ropes. Mounted punches from Fulton on Williams. Williams tries an inverted atomic drop counter but Fulton blocks it and hits a clothesline! Sleeper! Rogers runs in and puts a sleeper on Sullivan! Fulton loses grip on Williams. He charges for another Thesz press (drink!), but Williams counters it with a hot shot! Cover and Williams gets a clean as a sheet pin for the Club to win the titles! Pretty good stuff. It's pretty much impossible for the Fantastics to have a bad match, and Williams was truly a very impressive physical specimen. ***1/4

 

The next match involves one of the two hottest feuds in the company right now, and neither involve a top title or are main event level. The Midnight Express and Jim Cornette turned face as part of a large heel/face reshuffling Dusty did during the fall desperately trying to get some fresh creative juices going, most of which were total misfires. After they dropped the World tag titles to the heel turned Road Warriors (the biggest face/heel turn misfire) in October they were confronted by faces from the past, the "original" Midnight Express team of Randy Rose and Dennis Condry. The latter's abrupt JCP departure in spring '87 is what led to Stan Lane teaming with Bobby Eaton. Managing the Original Midnights is none other than the future legend himself Paul E Dangerously, AKA Paul Heyman, getting his first real national exposure. Dangerously managed the Original Midnights in the AWA before they moved over here and they're being presented as invading outsiders.

 

The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) def The Original Midnight Express (w/Paul E Dangerously) in 17:46- Full on jump start as soon as both teams are in the ring while everyone's still got their entrance gear on and the generic for both teams dubbed over music is still playing. Double backdrop on the Originals and they bail. Cornette gets in the ring and wants Dangerously RIGHT NOW. CORNETTE'S JACKET IT OFF! Shit's serious now. Dangerously takes his jacket off too, but the Originals hold him back. Gary Michael Capetta uses the gap to get his intros in. I don't think the bell rang to start the match yet come to think of it. The Midnights waste no time getting the Originals back in the ring the hard way while the bell does ring to officially start things. The Originals get tossed around and tossed out again. Cornette's still trying to bait Dangerously into a fight. Full reset/start proper with Lane and Condrey. Lane punches Condrey out to the floor and Cornette gives him a tennis racket shot! Dangerously has a fit about that, even ringing the bell himself saying it should be a DQ. When things calm down Lane and Condrey lock up again. Lane counters mounted punches with an inverted atomic drop and Condrey goes to the floor again favoring his groinal area. The Midnights whip out one of their fancy double teams on Rose. Back elbow from Eaton and he punches Rose out to the floor. Rose gets his racket shot from Cornette! Eaton punches see saw Rose in the ropes. Lane gives Rose a post shot on the floor. Back in Rose begs off and tries to call a TO. Long Lane/Rose speed run and Lane hits a crossbody for 2. Condrey tags in and offers a handshake. Lane reaches for it, then gives Condrey a back kick to the gut. Eaton tags in, but Condrey pounds on him to where he can't even get in the ring. Eaton gives Condrey a buckle shot from the apron, then goes up top and hits an elbow drop. After a reset Eaton gives Condrey a couple of shots in the gut and hits a bulldog. Rose tags in but still can't get anything going. Lane blocks a monkey flip attempt. More double teams from the Midnights. Rose dodges in the corner and Eaton crashes in crotch first. That finally gets the Originals on offense for the first time all match. Eaton takes an atomic drop on the floor in the vicinity of the post. The Originals hit a couple of back elbows back in. Rose hits a fistdrop off the second rope down to the floor. Short clothesline from Condrey back in. Dangerously gets a cheap shot in. Cornette chases him around and through the ring! That's almost a match going on around the proper match. Eaton fires back with a swinging neckbreaker on Condrey, but doesn't get close to a tag as Rose tags back in. Modified front facelock from Rose. Eaton backdrops out of a piledriver attempt. Again he can't tag and Condrey pummels him with knees in the back. Then he really tortures Eaton's back with the dreaded back rake. Lane gets suckered in, allowing another Originals double team. The Originals start focusing on Eaton's gut/ribs area. Powerslam from Condrey. The Originals go for the rocket launcher. Eaton dodges! Tag to Lane! Karate kicks for everyone. Double noggin knocker on the Originals. Standing enzuguri on Rose! He covers. During the scrum to break the pin up ref Teddy Long gets caught in it and they all tumble out onto the apron. Dangerously comes in and hits Lane with his phone! Cornette gets in and takes Dangerously out! Rose is covering Lane and Long gets back in. He counts 2....then sees the remains of the phone! He stops counting and asks Rose about it! A smart ref? Who would have thought. He and Rose argue about it. The Midnights hit Rose with the double goozle! Lane covers and gets the pin! The fight continues with the Originals laying out the Midnights to keep the feud going. Unfortunately by the time the scheduled rematch came around at Chi-Town Rumble in February Condrey will have flaked out again, leaving the company and killing pretty much all the heat this feud had. Tonight though, very good match with Cornette and Dangerously adding a ton with their interactions. ***3/4

 

The Russian Assassins (w/Paul Jones) def Ivan Koloff & The Junkyard Dog in 6:47- Another turn misfire from the fall, Ivan Koloff turning face. He was originally supposed to reteam with Nikita Koloff for this match, but Nikita had left the company to be with his ailing wife. JYD, recently signed from WWF, is Nikita's emergency replacement. The masked Assassins are Dave Sheldon (AKA the Angel of Death) and WCW one off masked man extraordinaire Jack Victory. If the faces win this match then the Assassins have to unmask *and* Paul Jones will have to retire. Both Koloff and JYD have chains normally as part of their entrances. Chain overload. JYD starts with call him RA1. JYD rolls him down and immediately goes into some crawling headbutts. RA1 takes a crazy bump in the corner off a whip and JYD clotheslines him. Jones puts his guy's foot on the ropes to save a pin. RA2 tags in. A JYD punch sends him 360 over the top to the floor. Again Jones moves a foot to save his guy from a pin. Koloff pounds away on RA2. Choke takedown. Russian hammer I think that was called when Nikita Koloff was using hit. RA2 uses an eye rake to turn things around. Koloff gets a boot up in the corner and hits a sickle off the second rope. RA1 saves the pin with minimal effort and tags in. Koloff gets a sunset flip, but Long is distracted by RA2. Koloff uses JYD's head as a weapon (smart) and the faces hit a double clothesline. Snap mare from JYD but he misses a diving headbutt. The Assassins get him in peril. The Assassins take each other out on an attempted double team, but they quickly get JYD in trouble again. JYD dodges what I guess was the Assassins finisher, JR calls it the Russian Missile. Failure off the launch pad, like an early North Korean missile test. Tag to Ivan. The Assassins get whipped into each other. Koloff hits one Assassin with a sickle. But the other one loads up his mask with a piece of metal from Jones, headbutts Koloff, and gets the pin. Bleh. It's not a good state of affairs when pretty much over the hill Ivan Koloff is the best worker in the match. This would turn out to be Ivan's last major match with the company. Somewhat ironically after being saved from the retirement stip here Jones would leave the company and retire soon after this. 3/4* 

 

NWA World Television Championship: Rick Steiner def Mike Rotunda (c) (w/Kevin Sullivan) in 17:59- This is the other hottest feud in the company right now. Steiner was a fall turn that worked, turning face and leaving the Varsity Club after they abused him no end for being less than all there mentally. In other words, for being a Steiner. The fact he liked to draw a face on his hand, call him "Alex" and have full conversations with him didn't help. That turn instantly made Steiner one of the hottest stars in the whole company. Fans were also desperate to see Rotunda relieved of the TV title, which he'd held since January and was approaching record reign length territory with. Steiner is still coming out to the Club's music. JR saying he talked to Alex before the match made me chuckle. Sullivan is going to be suspended in a cage for this match, which leads to the usual prematch arguing. Fortunately not too much of it. This looks like an amateur match with both guys wearing that gear. It's clearly not at the start though, when shoving leads to an all out slugfest. Rotunda goes down and quickly rolls out to the floor. Back in Rotunda cranks some arm wringers. Steiner easily shoves him off and gets a fireman's carry takedown. He cranks a headlock and powers through all of Rotunda's escape attempts. Speed run. Steiner hits the brakes after ducking a leapfrog. STEINERLINE! He killed Rotunda with that! Rotunda's able to roll out again and calls a TO. When Rotunda finally gets back in Steiner grabs the headlock again. Off the ropes Rotunda gets a drop toe hold. He tries to follow up on the mat but Steiner counters into a hammerlock. While there he also takes the opportunity to bite Rotunda's ass. Guess catering wasn't fully stocked before the show. Rotunda gets a leg takedown into a headlock. Steiner blatantly pulls Rotunda's hair to escape. That gets Rotunda all kinds of riled up. No one is supposed to out cheat him. Another Steiner headlock. Rotunda powers Steiner over into a belly to belly suplex! Steiner dodges an elbow drop. Headlock/headscissors exchange and reset. Both guys jockey in a corner lockup break and Rotunda eye pokes Steiner over ref Long, who's worked every match so far tonight. Steiner gets a head of steam off the ropes and hits a crossbody for 2. The crowd getting more behind Steiner gives Rotunda an excuse to stall even more than usual, stepping out and arguing about the crowd getting on him. When we finally get back going Steiner goes back to the headlock. On another speed run Rotunda uses Steiner's momentum, and hair, to send him FLYING through the ropes to the floor! That was absolutely full speed. We don't see from the camera angle but JR says Steiner landed head first, which wouldn't surprise me any. There's also now 10 minutes gone in this short 20 minute time limit match. Rotunda drops Steiner on the barricade. And snaps him over the top rope. Backdrop from Rotunda back in as he finally starts to build some offensive momentum. And then grabs a chinlock. Of course. He plays the rope leverage game a bit until Long catches him. Strikes from Rotunda and he starts almost begging Steiner to swing back. Steiner does. A Rotunda back elbow puts him back down. And back to the chinlock. When Steiner gets free Rotunda plants him with a diving clothesline. Sunset flip from Steiner for 2. 5 minutes left in the time limit. Steiner dodges a dropkick. He grabs a (very slow) small package for 2. Steinerline! The momentum's completely changed now. Mounted punches from Steiner. Steve Williams saunters to ringside. Steiner hits a backdrop. Powerslam for 2. Belly to belly suplex! As Long's counting a sure pin Williams rings the bell before he gets to 3! Cheap ass House of Torture tactics. That's the last group you should take inspiration from. I flat stopped watching New Japan for a while partially because of them. Anyway, Steiner thinks he won while Long tries to figure out what the hell because Williams skedaddled. Long calls for an administrative time out to figure things out. Tommy Young even comes out to ringside to help. As the refs confer we see Sullivan was released from his cage and he's on the apron arguing. Finally Long says restart the match. Sullivan grabs Young as they continue to argue. Steiner pushes Rotunda into Sullivan! Cover and Steiner gets the pin to win the title! HUGE pop! That was seriously a roof shaker. Steiner runs around the ring like a madman celebrating as the Club is FURIOUS. It had too much Rotunda stalling and overbooking to really be good, but it's solid enough and Steiner's win is a hell of a moment. **1/2

 

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: Barry Windham (c) (w/JJ Dillon) def Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Oliver Humperdink) by countout in 16:17- If you think this is an odd looking matchup, I don't blame you one bit. Bigelow came into JCP in September following a fairly successful midcard WWF run, one of two very short stints he'd have in WCW the next couple of years in between New Japan runs, where he preferred to work. As I've mentioned in more detail on previous reviews Windham and Flair are the last Four Horsemen standing in the company after Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard jumped to WWF, and for now they're just being called the Horsemen, minus the Four. Along those lines, this show would also be the final major one for JJ Dillon as the Horsemen's manager and in the company period. Early in '89 he also left for the WWF to take what would be a longtime front office job with no TV appearances. Tommy Young takes over as ref for the rest of the night. Rough lockup and clean corner break to start. Another rough lockup and a barely clean break on the ropes. Windham is all kinds of fired up. Next lockup Bigelow shoves Windham across the ring. Next time in the corner Windham has enough and starts hitting punches. Bigelow scoops Windham up onto his shoulders, holds him there a long time, then drops him down on said shoulders. Windham is hurt bad and goes outside to recover. Back in Windham offers a knucklelock to get a kick in. Back suplex. Bigelow pops right back up! Windham turns around into him and gets the hell out of town. Speed run back in and Bigelow runs Windham over with a shoulderblock. Windham goes to an eye rake to try to get Bigelow on the defensive. But Bigelow then completely no sells punches and hits a press slam. Again Windham rolls out and tries to slow things down. Bigelow backs Windham in the corner and hits some mounted punches. VERY delayed flop out of the corner from Windham! Fantastic. A Bigelow dropkick sends Windham over the top rope back out to the floor. Headbutt from Bigelow. Back kick that was as much a superkick as Bigelow could do. Delayed suplex for 2. Windham punches to the gut finally seem to do some damage on Bigelow and Windham tosses him out to the floor. Coming back in Bigelow gives Windham another headbutt from the apron. Bigelow slingshot splash! He covers but muffs a bit by getting off Windham before Windham kicks out. I don't think that was intentional but commentary acts like it was. Another press slam and Bigelow goes up top. Windham dodges the big splash! He lands some punches on a wobblelegged Bigelow. The diving lariat hits! But instead of covering Windham decides to celebrate. He gives Bigelow a straight up Japanese style backdrop suplex. Now Windham hits mounted punches. Another dropkick sends Bigelow to the floor again. Post shot for Bigelow. Back in Windham calls for the Claw. And it's on! After almost going down Bigelow fights back up and falls backward into the corner for a break. Windham slams Bigelow! He goes for a LONG distance elbow drop off the top rope. Bigelow dodges! A Windham crossbody attempt sends both guys tumbling over the ropes to the floor. Bigelow atomic drops Windham into the post, but then Windham dodges and Bigelow runs into the post. Windham gets back in the ring just before the 10 count. Bigelow doesn't and is counted out. Weak finish. I suspect someone refused to do the job there despite the fact there was no way he was winning given his Japan schedule. I've made no secret of my love of Windham in this period ("gushed" would not be unfair), but this just didn't come together at all. Styles that didn't mesh. **

 

To my earlier point, there'd be no follow up to this as Bigelow would be off to New Japan just weeks later. He came back for another short WCW run in '90 but for that one they wouldn't make the mistake of putting him in any major feuds or title matches.

In the back tonight's interviewer Magnum TA and new TV champ Steiner have a fantastic and *very* Steiner exchange:

"A lot of guys are going to be coming for that belt."

"Who?"

"You know, the other wrestlers."

"When?"

"Soon, coming up here in the future."

"Really?"

"Yeah!"

"I'll beat 'em."

 

NWA World Tag Team Championship: "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes & Sting def The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) by DQ in 11:20- I'm sure in Dusty's mind this was also one of the hottest feuds in the company, but it's just....not. Mainly because no one wants to boo the Roadies no matter how awful they act. Sting is really a "we've got nothing else for him to do" hanger on here as they continue to be very slow to capitalize on the momentum he got from his draw with Flair at the first Clash. Sting's white and blue gear for this match is pretty damn sweet. The Roadies take their shoulder pads off and we're right into a jump start. Stereo dropkicks from the faces clear the ring. Again I think we've held off on ringing the bell so Capetta can do his full intros. As the bell rings there's a small but loud "LOD" chant. Sting starts out with Animal. Animal tries a cheap shot in the corner but Sting dodges. Speed run and Sting takes a shoulderblock, but then hits a dropkick that sends Animal outside. Sting cranks away on an arm wringer. Dusty tags in and goes right to the bionic elbows, then gouges at Animal's eyes as has been the theme of this feud. Hawk tags in and takes some Dusty elbows. Sting bites on Hawk's arm while cranking arm wringers. Hawk eye rakes free and mudhole stomps Sting down in the corner. Sting manages to connect with a wild punch. Powerslam on Hawk. Big elbow drop. Hawk stretches out to get a tag to Animal. He press slams Sting with ease. He tries to drop Sting on the top rope. Sting lands on his feet! Clotheslines on Animal. Animal goes to the floor. Sting goes up top and dives onto Animal on the floor! That was a HUGE dive for the time. Sting continuing to set new standards. Dusty leg takedowns Animal and wraps his knee around the post, but then he lets Animal escape and tag out to Hawk. Hawk wants a test of strength. Dusty fakes Hawk out with a leg takedown and he goes for a figure four. Animal and Sting both run in before it's on. Hawk takes Dusty to the floor and gouges at the eye the Roadies hurt previously. Standing dropkick from Hawk back in. More attacks on the eye. Punches start to fire Dusty back up. Dusty standing dropkick! Animal gets back in and gets back all over Dusty. The Roadies keep him in peril. Hawk puts on a sleeper. Dusty jawbreakers free. Tag to Sting! He faceplants Animal. Corner floatover and dropkick to Animal's back. Stinger Splash to Animal's back! Scorpion Death Lock! Hawk quickly breaks it up. DONNYBROOK! Hawk tosses Sting over the top rope and the Roadies go to work on Dusty again. Sting comes back in with a top rope crossbody on Animal! Ellering grabs Young to break the count up. Young calls for the bell, DQ'ing the Roadies. Another weak finish. Yet again Sting comes up short in a title match post Flair draw. The match was fine for the time and booking call with Sting unsurprisingly looking phenomenal again. Get that man a title run at some level, stat. ***

 

This whole Dusty/Road Warriors feud was hugely important historically, as it's the one that got Dusty fired by his new Turner overlords. When the feud kicked off on weekly TV the Roadies took a spike off one of their shoulderpads and tried to gouge Dusty's eye out with it. That would have been fine in the JCP days, but Turner saw his network and his new wrestling acquisition as family programming and wanted the blood and extreme violence toned down. Large corporations move slow however. Right after Starrcade there had been enough HR meetings to make the decision to let Dusty go. A new head booker would take over at the same time as the WCW name did, which I'll get to here in a bit. For Dusty, first thing he went back to his old stomping grounds in Florida and tried to get a new territory style startup going. When that didn't come together he finally took a swing at a WWF run starting in the summer of '89.

 

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) (w/JJ Dillon) def "The Total Package" Lex Luger in 30:59- This is a rematch from the last PPV, the Great American Bash. After losing that match on the feeblest of technicalities Luger continued to hound Flair the rest of the year, though nothing new or particularly interesting story wise has happened in the ensuing months. One change for this match is Flair can lose the title on a DQ. Bell rings, Flair rope hit warm up and he gives Luger a "WOOOOO" right in his face. Luger pushes out of a headlock and looks for a big shoulderblock, but Flair grabs the ropes to hit the brakes and struts around. Fantastic. Maximum Flair mind games. After some rope break jockeying Luger pushes Flair off again. Again Flair hits the brakes. Luger runs up and clotheslines him 360 over the top to the floor! Guess we're ignoring the stupid over the top rope rule for that because that was obvious. Flair takes a bit to regroup on the floor. Back in Flair does his hammerlock workaround. Luger reverses it. Flair gets to the ropes, then has some words for Luger. Off the ropes Luger runs Flair over with a shoulderblock. Flair uses Luger asking for a knucklelock to hits a few shots. Speed run and Luger hits a powerslam. Press slam from Luger. When Flair lands he's absolute dead weight. So well done. Arm wringer from Luger with Flair selling it out to the cheap seats. Corner whip and Flair goes shoulder first into the top turnbuckle! He tries a chop but it doesn't faze Luger one bit. Flair backs off all the way to the floor. Luger stalks him but Young cuts him off and says to keep it in the ring. Another corner whip sends Flair shoulder first into the corner again, and we get a mini Flair Flop. Luger cranks a hammerlock on the hurt arm. Flair escapes but bounces right off Luger coming off the ropes. Hiptoss from Luger. Flair finally goes to desperation mode and eye pokes Luger to get some space. Corner chops fire Luger back up. He wants more! Flair backs off again. They go to the floor and Luger wraps Flair's bad arm around the barricade. Post shot for Flair's shoulder. Back in Luger cranks an ARMBAR. Another long speed run and Luger hits a clothesline for 2. Delayed suplex from Luger for 2. Flair dodges an elbow drop. He starts laying in forearms with his good arm as momentum starts to shift. He tosses Luger out to the floor. Guardrail shot for Luger. Chops on the floor. When Flair gets back in he and Young get in one of their little shoving matches. The crowd gets excited thinking there might be a DQ, clearly not knowing that's business as usual for those two. Back in Flair hits the snap mare/kneedrop combo. Another snap mare and Flair hits a double stomp. That's a new one from him. More chops from Flair as he looks like he's fully enjoying himself right now. But Luger fires up again. Flair's less happy now. More chops get Flair nothing. Luger jabs back. He puts a sleeper on Flair! After a fight Flair manages to back suplex free. Flair tries to go for a quick figure four with no setup work. Luger counters into a small package for 2. Another chop and snap mare and Flair goes up top. Luger catches him, but instead of slamming Flair off he sets Flair up. Superplex! Luger covers and Flair *just* kicks out! Luger puts on a figure four! Flair manages to reach out and grab a rope, but Luger pulls him right back off and Young lets the hold stay on. Flair gets a better hold of the rope and this time Young breaks it. Luger hits punches in the corner. Young hooks his arm to try to stop it and get a corner break. Luger "accidentally" back elbows Young down. That gives Flair an opening for an eye rake and he tosses Luger over the top out to the floor. Luger pops right back up, goes up top and hits a crossbody! Young is slow to count and Flair kicks out! Luger blocks a hiptoss into a backslide for 2. Mounted punches from Luger. Corner whip and Flair Flip! He falls back into the ring. Another suplex from Luger for 2. Flair tries to chop back and again it does nothing. Pecs of steel. Another press slam from Luger. Powerslam. Luger calls for the Torture Rack. Dillon gets on the apron and Luger grabs him. That let Flair escape to the floor. He trips Luger from there. Dillon has Young distracted and Luger hits a chairshot on Luger's knee! Get your backpacks kids, time to go to school. Flair is relentless and Luger sells it like his leg is completely destroyed. He can't even stand up. Kneedrop right on the knee. Figure four! Big "Luger" chant from the crowd. He fires back up! Luger reverses the hold! Flair lets go. Luger still has trouble even standing. Flair gets right back on the knee. Another kneedrop on the knee. Flair goes up top. Luger drags himself up and slams Flair off! Luger collapses after and Flair tosses him out. Luger gets right back up on the apron. Flair tries to snap Luger over the top rope but Luger no sells it! He gets back in all fired up, limping but walking! He manages to hit another press slam, but then goes back down. Flair tosses him out again. Luger quickly fights back up again. He comes back in with a sunset flip for 2. Flair tries a running flying forearm but Luger is nothing but a brick wall. More mounted punches from Luger. Corner whip and clothesline from Luger for 2. Another powerslam and Luger calls for the Rack again. He gets Flair up in the Rack! But before Flair can submit Luger's knee gives out! Flair falls on top of him, puts his feet on the ropes for extra leverage, and barely gets a pin to retain! Absolutely tremendous match. Compare this to the GAB match and you can see how much Luger has grown and learned working with Flair the second half of the year. A lot of people have argued that Luger should have won here, in fact that's what Dusty wanted but he was overruled due to the fact he was about to be sacked, but I say this was the right call, especially with what's coming for Flair in '89. ****1/2

Back to the future (not the movie). It would be Flair that took over the head booker position after Dusty's firing, his first shot doing anything officially on the creative side. He would turn out to be an inspired choice, as we'll see as we get into '89. One thing that worked in Flair's favor- usually there would be a lot of built in resentment from other wrestlers for someone that's been in his position as the top guy for so long, especially in those days, but by all accounts Flair was pretty much universally loved in the locker room. At least for now. Things change when you're the guy making the booking decisions.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- A fairly solid show with a tremendous main event, as the past JCP and soon to be WCW work through a very clear transition period. With a fresh creative mind at the top and a roster motivated by that and new ownership, WCW's 1989 will be one for the ages.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B-

 

v2.0 posted 11/9/26