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

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

Commentary: Jim Ross and Bob Caudle with Tony Schiavone and Magnum TA doing hosting duties

This show's tagline is True Gritt, yes with two T's. This is officially the first PPV produced by WCW. Turner's buyout of the overstretched Jim Crockett Promotions was completed just the month before. The new regime was still settling in so this show is still presented under the NWA banner. They were slowly moving in the direction of a more WWF/future WCW style presentation, such as having entrance music for all the wrestlers now. This was also the first Starrcade not to be on Thanksgiving. To give it some space from Survivor Series it was pushed back a whole month to Christmastime.

The ongoing change of eras is most apparent in the ring announcer position. Gone is Tom Miller, the voice of the Greensboro Coliseum who had worked every Starrcade to date. In is The World's Most Dangerous Announcer Gary Michael Capetta, who would be the voice of the early WCW years up to the Monday Night Wars era. Though, it sounds like at this stage he hasn't quite hit puberty yet.

NWA United States Tag Team Championship: "Gamesmaster" Kevin Sullivan & "Dr. Death" Steve Williams def The Fantastics (c) in 15:50- Sullivan and Williams are part of the Varsity Club stable, the NWA's current #2 heel stable behind the Four (well, two and a half right now with Arn and Tully in the WWF) Horsemen. The main concept of the Club was that Williams (Oklahoma), Mike Rotunda (Syracuse) and Rick Steiner (Michigan) were all decorated college athletes, but they were lead by....Kevin Sullivan, the ultimate evil manipulator. Much more on them later. The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers) had feuded with The Midnight Express all over territories in the south, and traded the US tag titles a couple of times with them in '88. Sullivan and Fulton start. The Fantastics outspeed the heels. Double monkey flip on Williams. Williams pulls out the strength and gorilla presses Fulton multiple times like a light sack of potatoes. Rogers dodges a Sullivan clothesline and Booker Man goes over the top and out. Rogers flippydos out of a backdrop attempt. Williams catches Rogers with a knee from behind and the Club's power game starts to take over. Rogers manages to get a couple of quick pin attempts and a tag. Fulton gives Sullivan the Flair throw off the top, but then tries to go off the top himself and Sullivan gets his feet up. Williams drops Rogers over the top rope. Rogers goes full face in peril and there's some long chinlock spots as everyone rests up for the finish. Rogers dives over Sullivan to get the hot tag. Stereo sleepers on the heels. Fulton goes for a Thesz Press, but Williams counters it into a Hot Shot and gets the pin and the titles. The heels didn't outright cheat the whole match. Pretty good speed vs power match, but a bit too long for what they were offering. **3/4

The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) def The Original Midnight Express (w/Paul E Dangerously) in 17:46- This was the national wrestling audience's first real exposure to the legend Paul (Heyman) E Dangerously. Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose were the original Express in the early '80s. They reteamed in the AWA while Paul E was working there and started managing them before all three jumped over to Crockett. Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton had become arguably the most successful and easily the most well known version of the Express, with two US tag title and a recent World tag title reign in just the previous year, ironically after Condrey suddenly left Crockett in '87 and left Eaton high and dry without a partner. Since the invaders are always the bad guys, we're in the unusual position of Jim Cornette being a face. The Express backdrop the Originals as soon as they hit the ring. Cornette grabs the mic and wants Paul E's ass. They fight while Capetta goes through the intros. The Originals get whipped into each other in the corner. Commentary is still mocking Cornette even though he's a face in this feud. Habits. Condrey and Lane settle in. Condrey gets thrown out and Cornette gets a racket shot in. Paul E rings the bell, wanting a DQ. Condrey sells the hell out of an inverted atomic drop. Cornette is dancing all over the apron. Racket shot #2 to Rose. Paul E rings the bell again. The Express stay in total control for a solid 10 minutes. Random observation: Lane looks like a pudgier Lex Luger. Well, not pudgier other than almost anyone would look pudgy next to peak Lex Luger. Not that Lane is pudgy. Maybe it's the hair. Anyway. Rose dodges a dive and Eaton crotches himself on the second buckle, finally allowing the Originals to get a breath. The faces regroup but Eaton quickly goes FIP. Paul E gets a phone shot in. Cornette chases him around and through the ring. Eaton dodges a rocket launcher and gets the hot tag. Express on Express donnybrook! Ref Teddy Long (holla) gets wrapped up and tumbles outside. Paul E nails Lane in the external occipital protuberance with the phone and drapes Rose over him. Cornette comes in and give the crowd the one punch KO for Paul E they'd been wanting all match. Long gets back in and counts 2, then sees the phone and shockingly like a responsible official stops the count and asks how the hell did this get in here. While Rose is arguing with him the Express give him the Double Goozle and get the pin! The fight immediately continues, with the heels using the phone and racket to beat the Express down until Eaton gets the racket and chases them off. This was overbooked in all the right ways. ***1/2

The Russian Assassins (w/Paul Jones) def The Junkyard Dog & Ivan Koloff in 6:47- If the Ruskies lose they have to unmask and Jones has to retire. The guys under the masks are The Angel of Death and Jack Victory. JR calls Koloff and JYD "wrestling's odd couple". Um, yeah. Nikita Koloff was originally supposed to be in this match, but he had scaled back to part time for personal reasons so Ivan turned on Jones and reconciled with comrade nephew Nikita to take his place. JYD rolls Assassin 1 up and goes right into the crawling headbutts. Twice Jones pulls an Assassin's foot out to break up a pin. JYD is working in slow motion. Koloff comes in and chokes Assassin 2, then gets a Sickle off the 2nd rope. Assassin 1 makes the save. Koloff gets a sunset flip but the ref is distracted. JYD misses a fall down headbutt. The Assassins go for their Russian Missile finisher but JYD dodges and it fails off the launching pad like an early North Korea test. Hot tag to Koloff. Jones gets on the apron, so Koloff suggests he remove himself with his fist. All four guys are in. In the confusion Jones sticks an international object into one Assassin's mask. He gets in, headbutts Koloff, and gets the pin. About what you'd expect. *1/4

NWA World Television Championship: Rick Steiner def Mike Rotunda (c) (w/Kevin Sullivan) in 17:59- A lot of people forget Rick Steiner was building a damn fine singles career before his brother started wrestling. This was arguably the hottest feud in the NWA going into this show. Steiner and Rotunda were the original members of the Varsity Club under Sullivan. Steiner was playing a sort of Eugene like character. Not full on handicapped, but not the sharpest tool in the shed. Eventually he got tired of the other members of the Club looking down on him, turned on Rotunda to turn himself face, and this is the big blowoff. This was actually Rotunda's second run with the TV title, but it would be forgivable if fans had forgotten that because his first one was back in 1982. He had also been champ for nearly a year, since January. Steiner is still using the Varsity Club music. Ring Gearhead note: both guys are in amateur singlets. Also, they're doing the old "manager is locked in a cage above the ring" bit with Sullivan. Steiner throws Rotunda across the ring with one arm to get out of an arm wringer. Steiner works a headlock. Steinerline! Rotunda wants a time out. Steiner wins another mat wrestling exchange. Normally I love some mat wrestling, but they're going at such a snail like pace. Much slower than they're capable of. In other words, it's a Rotunda match. Rotunda keeps trying to pull Steiner's hair. A Steiner cross body gets 2 and Rotunda steps out again. I get the psychology of the match that Rotunda is trying to psych Steiner out, but there's glaciers that move faster than this. The crowd starts a ACC vs Big East war with "Syracuse sucks" chants. Rotunda uses Steiner's momentum to send Steiner flying outside and he hits hard on the floor. I'd call that a .7 Cactus Jack bump. Rotunda drops him over the guardrail Rock style then works a chinlock with his foot on the rope. Steiner tries to fight back but Rotunda kills him with a clothesline. A desperation Steiner sunset flip gets 2. At the 5 minutes left call, Steiner gets a small package for 2. STEINERLINE! Steve Williams comes to ringside. A Steiner powerslam gets 2. Belly to belly! While Long's counting a sure 3 Williams rings the bell before he gets there. Steiner thinks he's won. Rotunda thinks it's the time limit. Utter confusion. The guys in charge of the cage lower it and let Sullivan out. Tommy Young comes down and confers with Long. While Sullivan is on the apron Long restarts the match. Steiner dodges a charge and Rotunda crashes into Sullivan. Steiner drops on top of him and gets the win! HUGE pop! Steiner runs around the ring celebrating. An absolutely wonderful moment. I don't think all the bells and whistles at the end were really necessary, but it didn't detract from the match either. Once it got going it got pretty decent, but it was forever before they got out of first gear. **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- Bigelow had just left WWF, and this is one of two very brief stints he would work in NWA/WCW in between New Japan tours, who he had committed to working with first. Bigelow pushes Windham out of a lockup to show his power. Windham isn't used to wrestling a bigger man so he tends to just punch a lot. Bigelow gets him in a fireman's carry position and drops Windham down on his shoulders. Windham takes a powder. Bigelow no sells a side suplex, and no sells some punches. The crowd's going pretty crazy for that. Bigelow press slam. Bigelow does the mounted punches in the corner, and Windham has a great Greg Valentine like delayed fall. Windham goes over the top and out off a dropkick. Some more Windham punches and Bigelow goes tumbling out, hitting his knee on the floor. Either he hit for real and cried out in pain, or they completely forgot about it because it's not worked at all later in the match. Bigelow does a slinghot big splash over the top rope! Windham doesn't kick out, Bigelow just gets up at 2. Dunno about that one. Bigelow goes up top for the biggest of big splashes but Windham gets out of the way and there's no water in the pool. Windham gets a huge diving lariat. Bigelow gets posted outside. Windham locks in the Claw. Windham bodyslams Bigelow! Impressive. He goes up top for an elbow but Bigelow dodges. A Bigelow cross body sends them both tumbling out. Bigelow gets posted again. Windham gets back in before the 10 count, Bigelow doesn't. It's not the worst finish in this spot, as it was the wily Windham using any way he could to beat the bigger monster. This wasn't the best pairing, as Windham had to work completely out of his normal style with the bigger Bigelow. Still, it's watchable. **3/4

Magnum TA is in the back with Rick Steiner. We get this priceless exchange:
Magnum: "Lots of guys are going to be gunning for that title."
Steiner: "Who?"
Magnum: "You know, the other wrestlers."
Steiner: "When?"
Magnum: "Soon."
Steiner: "Really?.....I'll beat 'em."

NWA World Tag Team Championship: "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes & Sting def The Road Warriors (c) (w/Paul Ellering) by DQ in 11:20- The Roadies finally won the tag titles after nearly a year of chasing from the Midnight Express just before Halloween. They then promptly turned heel by turning on both Sting and Dusty over the following few weeks. When they attacked Dusty Animal used a spike off his pads to try to gouge one of Dusty's eyes out, which was one of the incidents that lead to Dusty's departure and jump to WWF in early '89 as it violated the new Turner regime's strict no blood policy. The Roadies attack as soon as their pads are off but the faces fight them off. Capetta still does full in ring intros and we get the full THIS IS STIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING before Sting was really anybody. Well, he had already had his famous time limit draw with Flair at the first Clash so he was rapidly becoming somebody. In fact he gets a bigger pop than Dusty. Animal and Sting start off with a basic speed vs power sequence. The faces work Hawk's arm. Hawk powers out and unloads some heavy artillery on Sting until Sting catches him with a (possibly slightly inadvertent) very stiff right hand. Sting no sells being dropped throat first over the top rope. He then goes up top and FLIES with a huge crossbody to the floor on Animal a good 10 feet away! Welcome to the future, kids. We don't have flying cars but we have lots of flying wrestlers. Dusty posts Animal's knee and goes for a figure four, which causes all four guys to run in. Hawk goes for Dusty's wound from the earlier attack. If not for the new no blood policy I guarantee Dusty would be gushing here. Dusty starts no selling and hits a dropkick. The Roadies double team to shut him down. Hawk locks in a sleeper. Dusty jaw jacks his way out and gets the tag to Sting. Stinger Splash on Animal! Sting locks in the Scorpion Death Lock but Hawk makes the save. DONNYBROOK! Sting hits a crossbody off the top but Paul Ellering pulls Tommy Young out just before he counts the 3. Young calls for the DQ. Surprisingly there's no post match continuation. The Roadies just pick up and leave. This feud must not continue. Dusty would soon be fired and WWF bound, Sting is heading toward his first singles title and megastardom, and the Roadies would actually flip back face to feud with the Varsity Club because they were so badass people were cheering for them anyway. This was a fantastic sprint. Stick on about 5 more minutes and a definitive ending and we'd probably be talking about an all time classic. ***3/4

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) (w/JJ Dillon) def "The Total Package" Lex Luger in 30:59- Before the match Tony calls Flair "Mr. Starrcade". He's not wrong. This is the 6th Starrcade and Flair has been the world champion or challenger in the main event for every single one so far. Not even Hogan did that with Wrestlemania (Hogan was knocked out of the WM 4 title tournament in the 2nd round). This is a rematch from Great American Bash '88 where they did the old "excessive bleeding stoppage" finish. Flair can lose the title on a DQ here. Flair gives Luger a WOOOOOOOO right in his face and we're off. Luger whips Flair and gets ready to knock him down with a shoulderblock, but Flair grabs the rope to stop himself and celebrates. He tries it again but this time Luger clotheslines him over the top and out. Flair has a think. Luger puts on a hammerlock and Flair goes to the ropes. Flair then yells at Luger for not breaking quick enough. Mind games. Luger offers a test of strength and Flair uses it to get a shot in. Luger shrugs off some chops and spins Flair into a powerslam, with Flair screaming all the way around. JR gets the plane crash story in. Flair goes into the top turnbuckle shoulder first a couple of times with about a .5 Flair Flop (sadly the only one in this match) on the second one. Luger starts working it. Flair goes to the desperation eye poke to finally get some breathing room. Luger no sells more chops, throws Flair out, follows him and posts his shoulder. Luger gets a couple of near falls off power moves, then tries an elbow drop but Flair dodges and finally starts to get a little momentum. He throws Luger out and gives him a guardrail shot. Flair gets into a shoving match with Young. Dillon reminds him of the DQ stip and calms him down. Some more chops from Flair only fire Luger up. Sleeper! Flair side suplexes out of it. The figure four/small package counter gets 2. Luger nails Flair with a superplex and gets a great near fall that the crowd bit on. LUGER hooks in a figure four. Flair gets to the ropes. While they're in the corner Flair unintentionally intentionally knocks Young down and throws Luger over the top. Luger bounces right back up and hits a crossbody off the top rope. Young is still recovering and by the time he gets there Flair is able to kick out at 2. Flair flip! But he doesn't get all the way over and lands back in the ring. Another powerslam and Luger calls for the Torture Rack. Dillon gets up on the apron. Flair takes advantage of the distraction to waffle Luger's leg with a chair. Everyone on the bus, we're going to school. It must be the Ted Turner years, a Luger "oh shit" is bleeped out. Figure four! Luger hulks up and reverses it. Flair goes back to the knee, but then makes the mistake of going to the top rope. We know how that ends. Luger press slams him but his knee gives out after. Flair tries a running forearm but Luger no sells it and Flair bounces right off. Luger gets Flair up into the Rack but his knee gives out. Flair lands on top of him, gets his feet on the ropes for insurance, and gets the 3! As usual with '80s Flair it's tremendous stuff, but Luger kept up with him every step of the way. They could have easily gone with the title change here and let the chips fall where they may, the time felt ripe for it. But, it's Flair, hard to argue with keeping it on him. It would still be a while before Luger would win a world title, but he would go on to own the US title for most of the next 3 years and, like many others here, had an all world 1989 in terms of match quality. ****1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It's not what I would call a blowaway show but it's a very solid one. Almost everything is in the average to good range and there's no real turds. The Express on Express feud was tremendous, setting up a couple of years of Cornette vs Dangerously mischief, Steiner's win is an all time great moment, and the last two matches are must see. Despite their financial trouble Crockett and the NWA set themselves up very well for the future during 1988, establishing Sting and Luger as legitimate main event players while still riding the peak years of the greatest there's ever been. All of that would pay huge dividends for the new WCW in '89. This would also be the last traditional Starrcade for a while as WCW would experiment with ideas like the King of Cable tournament and Battlebowl the next several years during this show, and other PPVs like Great American Bash, Superbrawl and Bash at the Beach would start to rival Starrcade in importance.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE- B