Legacy Review- From the Vault
Crockett Cup '87- Night One
April 10, 1987 from the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, MD
Commentary: Tony Schiavone
The first Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Tag Team Tournament, Crockett Cup for short, was a resounding success, so Jim Crockett Promotions quickly made it an annual tentpole live event in the days of just one PPV show per year (Starrcade for them), alongside the summertime Great American Bash tour and the end of year Bunkhouse Stampede matches. One difference this year is there would be no cross promotion with UWF (the former Mid-South), so the event was moved from the Superdome in New Orleans to the Baltimore Arena, which will later be the semi-regular home of the GAB when it became a PPV. Ironically, right when this show was taking place JCP was finalizing the deal to purchase the nearly bankrupt UWF, their last major territory acquisition before nearly going belly up themselves. JCP would spend the rest of the year soundly burying almost everything UWF related in a way very similar to the 2001 WCW Invasion in WWF.
For tonight, other NWA territories not already bought out by JCP were invited to send wrestlers over, but the cross-promotion aspect isn't played up nearly as much as it was the first year and most everyone in the tournament is JCP connected one way or another. Pretty much everyone brought in was from their longtime partners in Florida, Dusty's old stomping grounds, plus the token Japanese team. They also changed the event schedule. Last year there were afternoon and evening "sessions" on the same day, this time it's a proper two night show. The first and second round will take place tonight on a huge 16 match card, the rest on night two. Each night will also have a major singles match for some variety. Once again it's a strange 24 team bracket, meaning 8 teams will get a first round bye and there will be an equal number of first and second round matches, barring draws or other double eliminations.
Unlike the last Crockett Cup there is commentary being provided by Tony solo, but I'm not sure if he's live in the arena or if it was recorded later. My guess is live because the mix is awful and he gets drowned out a lot. There is also a bit of history for our ring announcer, as future WCW mainstay Gary Michael Capetta is making his first appearance for the company on a big show.
First Round: The Thunderfoots def Bobby Jaggers & Rocky King in 6:10- Jaggers normally teamed with Dutch Mantell as the Kansas Jayhawks but Mantell got hurt just before this show. Replacing him is King, a jobber who'd worked his way up the ranks and was generally loved in the locker room. Later in WCW he'd manage the Freebirds for a short time as Little Richard Marley, then work as a referee for most of the '90s. The Thunderfoots sound like they should be a babyface Indian team, but they're in fact a short lived masked heel team. King starts out with let's just call him Thunderfoot 1 since there's no way to tell them apart and honestly neither of them matter much in the long run anyway. King absorbs some early shots to hit a springboard crossbody for 2. TF 2 comes in and takes a dropkick as the heels take a powder. Back in King takes a shoulderblock then maneuvers TF whatever into a hiptoss. Jaggers tags in, looking more like Dusty Rhodes in gear and girth than ever, and continues pounding away on him. Another dropkick from King and the TF does a crazy fall the opposite direction of what physics should say and manages to tag out. The faces quickly get TF other on the ropes too. The heels manages to get Jaggers into their corner and choke him with the tag rope. Double back elbow on Jaggers for 2. Standard tag team heel offense from the generic masked heels follows. Random "this match sucks" observation: the Thunderfoots' gear has "Foot" then a couple of lightning bolts under it. Shouldn't that make them the Foothunders? Footbolts? Jaggers avoids a double team, hits a double clothesline and tags out. TF in the ring does a crazy flop after being run into Jaggers' boot then King hits yet another dropkick. And again after that the TF falls in position to tag out. Not brilliant tag team tactics on display here. A TF kicks King in the head and King flat forgets to sell it, then slowly falls down. That gets HUGE boos from the crowd, even in the kayfabe still alive '80s. They literally repeat the spot and TF indeterminate gets the pin with one simple kick. Woof. Not a great opener even before that disaster of a finish sequence, but we've got a long way to go. 1/4*
First Round: Bill Dundee & The Barbarian def Tim Horner & Mike Rotunda in 7:12- Rotunda and his former US Express tag partner/real life brother in law and best friend Barry Windham are both making their major show JCP debuts in the Cup, though via separate paths. Rotunda was on a stopoff back in Florida before signing with JCP full time and is the reigning NWA Florida Heavyweight champion. This is one of those shows where it's "Rotundo" instead of "Rotunda" but I always go with the generally accepted one. Barbarian and Rotunda start out with some lockup gamesmanship. Shoulderblock standoffs, which is a win for Rotunda. He gives Barbarian a couple of uppercuts, then puts him down with a shoulderblock. He then takes advantage of Dundee arguing with ref Earl Hebner to hit a legdrop a bit south of Saskatchewan. Horner tags in and tries to do some arm work. Barbarian laughs, scoops him up like he's a child and slams him. Dundee tags in and walks into a couple of armdrags and a dropkick. They trade arm wringers and Horner does a fancy little flippy bit all around Dundee for another takedown. Dundee keeps backing off, trying to slow Horner down. Barbarian tags in and tries to bait Horner into a test of strength, then says frak it and just pounds on him. Press slam, with Dundee hilariously coaching Barbarian to turn around and drop him in the ring, not on the floor. Horner counters a backdrop attempt and tags out. Rotunda comes in with a dropkick. He tries some arm work on Barbarian and gets a bit further than Horner did. Dundee kicks Rotunda in the back from the apron and Rotunda runs into Barbarian. The heels gets Rotunda isolated in their half. Standing big boot from Barbarian, followed by a clothesline for 2. Powerslam for 2. Rotunda gets tossed to the padless floor and Dundee runs him into the barricade. The is the first JCP show I can remember seeing with a more "modern" style barricade. Another big boot from Barbarian back in for 2. Barbarian puts on a weird chinlock that's almost a smother. Arm drops and Rotunda fights back up. Double clothesline. Barbarian is up first and slams Rotunda, then he goes up top. Rotunda dodges the headbutt! Tag to Horner! He hits a springboard crossbody on Barbarian. It looks like he's got a pin but both Dundee and Rotunda run in, distracting Hebner. Horner gets a sleeper on Barbarian. Dundee whacks him in the head, possibly with a foreign object, and Barbarian covers for the pin. Good stuff all around. Kind of weird seeing Rotunda work such a high energy style considering how he'll get later in his career. ***
First Round: Shaska Whatley & Teijho Khan def Lazer Tron & Jimmy Valiant by DQ in 5:56- Khan made his pro debut the previous year and soon joined the Paul Jones Army. He's portraying an Asian despite being white and not having a drop of Asian blood in his body, a not unheard of thing in wrestling history. Basically he's as Asian as Elizabeth Warren is Cherokee. Lazer Tron is Hector Guerrero under a mask with a *very* '80s name. Tron currently holds whatever version of the NWA Junior Heavyweight title is currently in circulation, it's hard to keep track. Incidentally, the device Tron has on his chest is the exact sensor that's used as part of the home Lazer Tag game that was available in toy stores at the time, and fairly hot too. I remember really wanting one as a kid but never got one. Old foes Valiant and Whatley start things off. After putting Whatley down with one punch Valiant takes off his bandanna and chokes him with it. Whatley is run into Tron's raised forearms (did ref Pee Wee Anderson check to see if those were loaded?), does a crazy delayed flop and Valiant covers for 2. Tron dodges Whatley's charge in the corner, resulting in another crazy flop that lets Whatley tag out. Tron literally has to position Khan while trying to whip him out of a headlock, not a good sign. They get a good speed run going and Tron hits a dropkick. That's enough for Khan and he tags back out. The heels get Tron stuck in their corner, until Tron does the telegraphed dodge and Whatley takes Khan out. Double atomic drop on Whatley from the faces. Khan takes one and collides with Whatley again. After a reset Tron ducks and the heels collide again like a couple of goofs. They finally manage a successful double team on Valiant. That gets Valiant in peril with his patented spasm selling. Whatley's strut is a sight to behold too. Valiant dodges an elbow drop and tags out. Tron lasers his way through the heels (sorry, I had to). He rolls past Whatley and hits a flying forearm, but Valiant and Khan start fighting in the ring too. Tron backdrops a charging Whatley over the top rope to the floor right in front of Anderson, and he has no choice but to call for the bell thanks to that stupid over the top DQ rule. Lame finish. But somehow, despite having three eternally useless guys and Hector hampered by the Lazer Tron gimmick, this wasn't nearly as bad as the opener. *
First Round: Ron & Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious) def Ricky Lee Jones & The Italian Stallion in 2:22- Jimmy Garvin had just turned face and paired back up with the other Garvin, Ron. They teamed together semi-regularly in multiple territories. On screen they were portrayed as brothers, but in real life Jimmy was Ron's stepson. Jones is actually Ricky Gibson, older brother of Robert Gibson of the Rock N Roll Express. This is technically face vs face but the crowd wants nothing to do with the Stallion/Jones team. Code of Honor handshakes all around because this is face vs face, then Ron starts with Jones. We stay with a very distant hard camera shot for the first part of the match for some reason. Pretty even start as neither team can get an edge. Since they're all good guys neither team will press an advantage when they get their opponents into their corner. I suspect that won't last too long. Ron hits a backdrop on Jones for 2. Stallion gets a dropkick on Jimmy for barely 1. Sunset flip from Jimmy, and that gets a pin! Cagematch lists this match as going over 10 minutes, so I'm not sure if something got seriously clipped here because they're usually pretty reliable. For what was shown there wasn't a lot happening and they didn't have enough time to make anything happen. 1/2*
First Round: Denny Brown & Todd Champion def The Mulkey Brothers in 3:21- Champion is another guy that had recently made his pro debut under the JCP banner and would be a semi-regular face in WCW for years. His looking similar to '80s movie star Dolph Lundgren didn't hurt his career any I'm sure. The Mulkeys were a very short lived jobber tag team that as far as I know really were brothers, Randy and Bill. Capetta announces them as MULKEYMANIA and they're super duper over in Baltimore, so they've clearly got a Tomoaki Honma style lovable loser thing going on. Kokeshi make you happy. One Mulkey, I don't know which is which and Tony's sparse commentary isn't helping, starts with Brown and the crazy crowd reactions continue. Cheers for all Mulkey offense, boos every time Brown does anything. Champion hits a slam/legdrop combo to big boos. The Mulkey tries to fight out of a chinlock but much larger Champion gets him back down. Finally Tony tells us this is Randy Mulkey. Thanks for that. Randy gets a flash roll up for 2! Bill tags in for a go with Champion. It doesn't go well for him. Brown continues the punishment. Bill gets a hiptoss and armdrag! Double Mulkey back elbow on Brown for 2. Double backdrop for 2. Bill hits a suplex! Long 2 count! Brown counters with a suplex that Bill almost hits his head coming down on. Oklahoma roll and Brown gets the pin, killing the Mulkeymania dream stone dead in the first round. The crowd doesn't like that at all. I don't think it would have hurt anything to have given them a win in the first round and let them be destroyed in the second. *1/2
First Round: George South & Steve Keirn and Mike Graham & Nelson Royal 20:00 time limit draw- Keirn wrestled the '86 Cup still in the Fabulous Ones team with Stan Lane. With Lane now otherwise engaged (more on that later), he's been teamed up with jobber South here. Apparently it was a pretty last second deal too, with the Fabulous Ones originally being advertised. Pretty Florida feel here, as that was the primary territory for both Keirn and Graham. This is again face vs face with some Code of Honor handshakes to start. Graham and South start with some back and forth. Graham goes a drop toe hold into some leg work. Royal tags in and stays on that target. There's already some "boring" chants floating around the arena. They haven't seemed too pleased about the Fabulous Ones not teaming up. South gets a flash small package on Graham for 2 to end the leg work portion of the program. Keirn gets trapped in the wrong corner but since this is face vs face they let him go. Royal doesn't seem happy about it, pointing at Keirn and yelling something that clearly ends with "motherfucker". After tagging in Royal still seems bent out of shape about something. Trying to get some juice into this thing because it badly needs it. The endless corner stalemates don't help any. Against the ropes Royal gives Keirn a straight Greco Roman knee to the groin! Right in front of Hebner too but he doesn't do anything about it. Royal tries to work on Keirn's leg but Keirn fights out of it. I'm honestly having a hard time telling if this is all planned or if they're having some real life issues in there. Graham tags in and things seem to go smoother as he does start working on Keirn's leg. Keirn counters into some arm work on Graham while jawing at Royal. South holds an armbar for a couple of minutes before Graham slams out, but he's quickly right back into it. At this point the crowd's so dead they don't even have the energy to chant "boring" anymore. Tags and Royal tries to liven things up by heeling away on Keirn again. This time Keirn hits a shot against the ropes to take the edge and pounds away on Royal. Inverted atomic drop. After South tags in Royal backs him into the corner and gives him a knee to the nads. South sunset flip on Graham for 2. Once again Graham goes to the leg work. Fuck, we're only 10 minutes in. It's felt like 30. Keirn tags back in and hits a hot shot on Graham. Press slam from Keirn for 2. Graham takes a crazy bump off a corner whip. Kern gives him a shoulderbreaker and South covers for 2. South is at least trying to sell the leg that was worked on earlier. He hits a diving clothesline on Graham and covers for 2. Kerin hits an atomic drop, and Graham turns around and punches him as he goes down. Keirn shrugs it off and tosses Graham out to the floor. Keirn suplexes him back in as we mercifully get the 5 minutes left call. Kerin hits some shoulderblocks but goes down too in what I guess was supposed to be a 50/50 collision. Tags on both sides. Royal gives South about the worst Thesz press you've ever seen. I guess that's what that was supposed to be. Keirn comes in and cheap shots Royal from behind. That goes absolutely nowhere as the other two keep going like nothing happened. Royal flops over the top to the floor off a corner whip. Everyone in the ring looks like they want this to be done as much as the rest of us do. Graham hits a couple of suplexes on Keirn for 2. Capetta gives the two minutes left call and the crowd POPS for that! Holy crap that's fantastic. Baltimore doing their best Chicago impression during this match. Keirn literally just walks around after hitting Graham with a knee before tossing him out again. Behind Hebner's back he tosses Graham over the top rope and then flops down like he just got hit, but again the setup goes absolutely nowhere. Everyone argues and does some more weak brawling. The crowd counts down with Capetta's final 10 second countdown like it's the Royal Rumble as thank God this is over and both teams are eliminated. I want to say this died a slow death, but it was dead on arrival and for some insane reason kept lurching on for the entire time limit. The crowd didn't care, there was clearly no plan at all, and Keirn in particular looked like he didn't want to be there at all without his regular partner. A slow motion disaster of the worst order. DUD
The draw gives the Rock N Roll Express a bye into the quarterfinals. That's one reason this travesty was allowed to go all the way to the time limit, the RNR Express couldn't compete at all because Ricky Morton was injured, but they were trying to keep anyone in the arena from knowing about it until the last possible second.
First Round: The Armstrongs def Ivan Koloff & Vladimir Petrov by DQ in 4:20- The slow dissolution of the old Russian Team continues after Nikita Koloff's seduction by the riches of capitalism (quite rightly). After Starrcade '86 Krusher Kruschev (Barry Darsow) departed for WWF to become Demolition Smash. His first replacement teaming with Ivan was, very strangely, the very southern Dick Murdoch. They held the US tag titles until Murdoch got hurt just before this show and were stripped. Petrov was a not all Russian (though no one in the team really was) former bouncer that had recently been recruited by JCP to train as a wrestler. He didn't last long. On the other side, Brad Armstrong is teaming with his dad "Bullet" Bob, still going strong well into his 50s. Ivan and Brad start. Speed run and Brad gets a monkey flip. Brad shrugs off an elbow to the gut and the Armstrongs do a double arm wringer double chop double team. Bob atomic drop on Ivan. Petrov knees Bob in the back from the apron, then tags in and does what little he can. Double back elbow from the Russians and Ivan hits a legdrop for 2. The Russians hit a weak double slam for 2. Petrov puts on that most reliable of holds for a learning power wrestler, the bear hug. Bob's attempts to get out push them into the Russian corner and Ivan tags back in. Midring collision. Tag to Brad. Backdrop and dropkick on Ivan. Dropkick for Petrov. Crossbody on Ivan. Petrov breaks the pin up as things break down. Petrov uses the chain, but right in front of ref Anderson, drawing an obvious DQ. This is another match that the shown time is much less than the Cagematch listed time. 3/4*
First Round: The MOD Squad (w/Bill Dundee) def Baron von Raschke & Wahoo McDaniel in 4:47- A former East German dictator and a no nonsense Indian walk into a bar.... Talk about an odd couple tag team. The MOD Squad were real life brothers that were a pretty regular midcard tag team across the southern territories in the '80s but this is their only semi-major show appearance. Capetta introduces them as the Florida tag team champions. Dundee has his yellow Elvis suit on to transfer from wrestler to manager for this one. He makes the mistake of getting in Wahoo's face and gets chopped down. After the heels confer Spike starts with Wahoo and also gets chopped down. After hitting a shoulderblock Spike runs into another chop. Raschke tags in and looks about 100 years old. He cranks a headlock on Basher. Basher tries to grab some hair to get free but that's not going to work on Raschke. Off a whip Basher pushes Wahoo into Raschke, knocking Raschke off the apron. Wahoo doesn't even notice, then he snap mares Spike so far over Spike is able to tag out to Basher. Again, not great tag tactics at play here. The heels get Wahoo in peril and Dundee gets a cheap eye rake in. Wahoo finally has enough, hitting a very Ric Flair style backwards low blow on Spike and he casually strides over to tag out. Raschke does as much of a hot tag run as he can. He starts goose stepping and slaps the claw on Basher. Dundee gives Spike knucks or something similar, he hits Raschke and the MODs take the win. 1/2*
So ends the first round. Honestly, it was kinda crap. But, we haven't seen any of the top teams yet thanks to all the byes so things should start picking up now.
Before the opening second round match starts Capetta announces Ric Flair to the ring to cut a short promo for his title defense on night two, and so the night one crowd can see Flair even if only for a moment.
Second Round: NWA World Tag Team Champions Manny Fernandez & "Ravishing" Rick Rude (w/Paul Jones) def The Thunderfoots in 3:24- Fernandez and Rude took advantage of the RNR Express still being beat up from barely surviving the Andersons at Starrcade and upset them for the titles a couple of weeks later. Young Teddy Long is the ref for this match. This is heel vs heel, the first of several of these matchups in the second round. The bell rings and TF initial quickly tries to hide from Fernandez in the corner. Fernandez takes some forearms in the corner, this turns it around and hits a hiptoss. He then cranks away on the TF's arm. Rude continues that program. While holding an ARMBAR he looks into the camera and calls out the Road Warriors. That's never smart. The other TF tags in and thinks getting Fernandez in a headlock is an accomplishment. Fernandez responds by giving him a back elbow. Suplex from Rude for 2. The TF manages to eye rake Fernandez into a slam, then misses an elbow drop. Fernandez gets in the wrong corner for a half second and we go into a full on DONNYBROOK. Rude plants the TF left in the ring with a DDT, which is what the Rude Awakening was at the time, and gets the pin. The finishing move at least got a pop. Acceptable squash over an expendable team to get the champs going, but it probably went on a bit too long for what they were doing. 1/2*
Second Round: The Super Powers def Bill Dundee & The Barbarian in 6:07- The Super Powers are Dusty Rhodes teaming up with reformed communist Nikita Koloff, still in tribute to the injured Magnum TA. Nikita is in a neck brace (can't remember the story there but I'm willing to bet it's Horsemen related), but that's not stopping him wrestling. He's still the US champ. Dusty and Barbarian start. After the lockup Dusty starts right up swinging punches and dancing. Dundee tags in for a try and gets spun around into a bionic elbow. After some floor recovery time Dundee walks right into Dusty jabs. Barbarian tags back in and wants Nikita. I have to say, the work they've done on Nikita's face turn has paid off, the reaction he gets when he tags in is insane. He and Barbarian have some power lockup stalemates. Shoulderblocks with no one moving. Nikita flips the script with a quick standing dropkick! Nice. The heels again regroup on the floor. Back in Barbarian goes to the universal equalizer, an eye rake, to get Nikita in the wrong corner where Dundee chokes him. The heels work Hebner to double team and choke some more. Bear hug from Barbarian. Hebner gets worked some more for Dundee to hit a punch off the second rope and Barbarian covers for 2. Dundee tags in and his punches only piss Nikita off. Everyone runs in as things fully break down. Nikita hits Barbarian with the Sickle! Dusty slams Dundee off the top rope. Sickle for Dundee and Nikita covers him for the pin. Decentish. I cannot overstate how bonkers over Nikita is now his face turn has had a few months to settle in. **
Second Round: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) def Shaska Whatley & Teijho Khan in 3:46- The Roadies kick off their defending champion campaign, winning the first Cup last year right at the start of their full time JCP run. They're announced as the "International tag team champions". Sure. Is it from that JCP International branch that later became the WCW International branch that made the WCW International World title? Anyway, the heels jump before the bell, which is not a good move because you're just going make the Roadies even angrier than they normally are. Hawk hits Whatley with a flying tackle. Animal dropkick for Khan. The heels roll out to rethink their choices with some A+ selling from Whatley. Reset with Khan and Hawk. I don't like the kid's chances. Hawk drags him up into a Canadian backbreaker and drops him. Animal barely gets Khan up for a press slam. Khan dodges an elbow drop and tags out. Animal takes a double back elbow and gets (very gently) pounded down in the heel corner until he gets out by shoving both guys across the ring. Khan stays on him with what little he was capable of. Double suplex from the heels. Animal gets his knees up on a Khan big splash and tags out. Dropkick from Hawk. Neckbreaker. Fistdrop. A powerslam gets the pin. Too much heel offense, this should have been a Roadies squash and move on. *1/4
Second Round: The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) def Ron & Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious) by DQ in 6:20- There's been a change on the Midnight Express roster. Dennis Condrey suddenly left JCP in March for reasons still not known today. To replace him JCP turned to Stan Lane, who as I mentioned before had already been part of a successful tag team with Steve Keirn as the Fabulous Ones in Florida. This would be the version of the Midnights that got the most national exposure, staying through the early years of WCW, and in my mind they're pretty underrated too. Once they got in their groove they knocked out an insane run of great matches all over the place, just like the former Eaton/Condrey combo. We join this in progress with all four guys brawling in the ring as the bell rings. Sadly that means we don't get a feel of the crowd reaction for Lane's first intro as a Midnight member, which I was really curious about. The Midnights are whipped into each other and Jimmy gives them a double noggin knocker while Precious chases Cornette around the ring. Eaton drags Cornette into the ring to get him away from Ron! Ron has Cornette's shoe and hits Lane with it! That ricochets Lane into Eaton, who had Cornette's tennis racket and was looking to hit someone with it. The heels finally roll out for a full regroup while the faces brandish the weapons in the ring. Cornette screams and runs away from Precious, trying to hide behind his team while also wielding his other shoe at her. So great. "Bobby, you've got to do something about that because I don't like being embarrassed!'. Restart in the ring with Ron and Eaton. Eaton pounds on Ron in the corner but gets backdropped after a whip reversal. Both sides swap and Jimmy and Lane do a similar sequence, except with Jimmy hitting a back elbow and dropkick. Eaton comes back in for a try. The new Midnights already have good chemistry considering they barely started working together. Lane kicks Jimmy in the back from the apron to finally get the Midnights on top. Lane whips out his patented karate kick. He whips Eaton into back elbowing Jimmy for 2. Jimmy leapfrogs and the Midnights run into each other. Tag to Ron, who comes in and unloads with the Hands of Stone. One of those sends Eaton out to the floor. Ron sets up for a piledriver out there but Cornette hits him with his racket! Jimmy tries to lift Ron back in, but he's not in time and the Garvins are counted out. Cornette's Racket of Death strikes again. Solid match, they did as much as they could in the time allowed. There's definitely a better one in there. **1/2
Second Round: Giant Baba & Isao Takagi def Denny Brown & Todd Champion in 6:10- I regret to say extremely washed up Baba is here another year. Last year he teamed with Tiger Mask II (Mitsuharu Misawa), which on paper should have helped but really didn't. This year he's paired up with Takagi (no relation to Shingo Takagi), a former sumo who would have a let's say checkered personal life in later years. No one knows how to pronounce Takagi's name right. Well, Baba probably does but no one gives him a mic. Takagi flips Champion out of a headlock to start, then Champion gets a headlock takedown. Baba and Brown exchange some shots. A Baba overhand chop puts Brown down. Slam from Takagi for 2. He armdrags Brown down into an armbar. Lots of clean corner and rope breaks as this is another respectful face vs face match. I do like how the tournament is not being predictable with nothing but face vs heel matchups, makes it feel more real. The crowd again seems to be getting restless as the lack of quality action. Arm work all around with nothing at all of note happening. Baba works Champion into a kind of Russian leg sweep, then hooks on a front facelock. Champion is then the first guy to not respect a rope break. Baba no sells everything and hits another overhand chop. Swinging neckbreaker from Baba. Champion wins a slugfest with Takagi and gives him some knees in the corner. Takagi reverses a corner whip and actually goes down into a 3 point stance before hitting an avalanche on Champion. Baba gives Champion the Big Boot of Instant Death and it's over. Not pretty. 1/4*
Because of Morton's injury the Japanese team will be the beneficiary of a bye to the semifinals. If that's announced on this night it's cut out of the Vault copy, but they won't be able to avoid it anymore the next night if it's not.
Second Round: The Armstrongs def Arn Anderson & Kevin Sullivan in 5:33- Talk about an odd pairing. Earlier in the year the Four Horsemen kicked out Ole Anderson, turning him face. Arn's team with Tully Blanchard wasn't a set in stone thing yet even though they had teamed together at the previous Crockett Cup. Ric Flair was originally planned to be in the tournament teaming with Arn, but they scheduled a title defense on night two for him instead. As a last resort they brought in Sullivan from Florida, also soon before he'd sign with JCP full time. This is the first time he and Arn have ever teamed. We start out with easily the best options in this one, Arn and Brad. They have a very nice back and forth sequence to start. Arn gets caught in a drop toe hold. He eye rakes Brad before he can do too much leg damage and stomps him down on the apron. Tony mentions the announcement about the RNR Express, so I guess their injury forfeit was announced in the arena between matches tonight. Would have been nice if that was kept on this copy. Brad hits a crossbody off the top rope for 2. Fun's over as Sullivan tags in. He and Brad have a stiff chop exchange. Bob tags in and also deals out some chops. Arn hits a slam/kneedrop combo on Brad for 2. Sullivan does some arm work as the heels keep Brad isolated. Brad manages to escape from Arn and tag out. Arn quickly backs off the old man coming after him. He tries to trap Bob in the wrong corner but Bob quickly fights out. Sullivan hits a clothesline on Bob with a mess of a sell. Bob hits the brakes after an Arn leapfrog and unleashes punches. Sullivan trips Bob from the floor. Bob and Sullivan exchange slow strikes. Brad tags in with a flurry on both heels as things break down. Brad gets tossed to the floor. He comes back in with a sunset flip on Sullivan, and that gets the pin! Arn is the greatest tag wrestler ever and carried many guys to tag titles. Even he couldn't carry Sullivan to one win. The Armstrongs are the first team that wrestled in the first round to make it out of the second. All my digs at Sullivan aside, this was a damn good if short match with everyone doing their part. Even Sullivan. The Arn/Brad stuff in particular was by far the best thing so far tonight. ***1/4
Second Round: Tully Blanchard & Lex Luger (w/JJ Dillon) def The MOD Squad (w/Bill Dundee) in 6:31- Luger was the big new thing on the block, someone JCP saw huge future things in and right at a time they were desperate for a hot young prospect after Magnum TA's career ending injury. After cutting his teeth in Florida the past couple of years he signed with JCP at the start of the year, turned heel and became Ole Anderson's replacement in the Horsemen. For now. Blanchard is also the reigning TV champion. Another heel vs heel match this round here. Dundee didn't bother changing out of his wrestling gear into his Elvis suit this time. Luger disrobing gets a big high pitched pop. I'd even call it a shriek. Blanchard starts with I think Spike. Quick forehead jab from Spike. Blanchard does a workaround into a hammerlock and Spike quickly goes to the ropes. Luger works on Spike's arm, then hair pulls him back down. Dundee is FURIOUS Luger might be cheating. While he's distracting ref Teddy Long Spike hair pulls Luger down, but Luger quickly counters into a headscissors. We get a shot of Dillon already with his Shoe of Death off threatening Dundee with it. Both sides are definitely having fun with the heel vs heel setup. Basher tags in and quickly takes a Luger armdrag, then complains about a tights pull. Basher's able to get the edge on Blanchard. While Long's distracted Dundee gives Blanchard a long eye/face rake from the floor. Dillon then goes over and holds Spike's legs to try to keep him from getting involved. Luger tags in and hits Spike with a back elbow, then a slam. The Horsemen team keep Spike isolated for a bit. The Squad then get Luger isolated and choke him behind Long's back. I think they're swapping without tags too. Dundee and Dillon are still nearly going at it on the floor. Blanchard works Basher over and he falls all the way to the floor. Blanchard tries to suplex him back in but Basher falls on him! Dundee might have tripped him, we couldn't see. Luger breaks the pin up to trigger the final donnybrook. Blanchard takes Basher down in the corner, drops an elbow off the second rope and gets the pin. Dillon finally pops Dundee as the pin is happening too. Nothing amazing wrestling wise, but they kept the pace up all match and watching the two heel groups constantly try to out cheat each other was amusing. **1/4
Steel Cage Match: Ole Anderson def Big Bubba Rogers in 7:00- After all the tournament matches we're getting a singles grudge match to close things out for tonight. Rogers was the bodyguard for Jim Cornette and the Midnight Express, but the story here is the Horsemen hired him to take out Ole so now Ole is looking for revenge. This is more like a Texas Death Match than a regular cage match, to win you have to knock your opponent out so he can't answer the 10 count. As soon as his intro's done Ole jumps Rogers and gives him an early cage shot. Another cage shot. After some weak back and forth slugging Ole uses his shirt to give Rogers another cage shot. Rogers gets desperate and goes to the Greco Roman Nut Punch to turn things around. No DQ. Kneelift from Rogers. Ole takes a cage shot. Rogers continues to pound away and chokes Ole on the ropes. Ole's bleeding, the first guy all show. Unusual blood restraint from JCP tonight. It's not even that much blood either. Ole fires back and hits knees to the gut. Rogers puts Ole down with his own knee shot, then he chokes Ole on the mat. That gives us our first count of the match with Ole up at 8. Ole takes another big cage shot. He barely drags himself up at 9. Rogers gives him the cheese grater spot. Ole fires up after that and puts Rogers down with kicks out of the corner. The back and forth slugging continues. Ole has enough and gives Rogers a kick in the groin, then puts him down with a back fist. Rogers chokes Ole with his suspenders. When Ole goes down Rogers goes up top. Ole dodges a big splash! Piledriver from Ole! Rogers just barely can't get up in time and it's over. Kind of a dull brawl but not horrible. Rogers is still learning. **
OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Bit of a slog, this one. Definitely not what you'd expect from peak or just past peak JCP, and it's a LOT of matches to get through in one show even if they are all kept short. Fortunately now all the riff raff is gone night two should be much better.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+
