NWA Starrcade 1987 Review

NWA Starrcade 1987 Review
January 21, 2014 (edited December 21, 2024)
By Ryan Porzl

Starrcade VHS Cover

Event: Starrcade 1987
Tagline: Chi-Town Heat/Glory Bound
Date: November 26, 1987
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Live or Tape: Live
Arena: UIC Pavilion
Attendance: 8,000
Announcers: Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross
Interviewers: Bob Caudle & Missy Hyatt
Broadcast: Pay-Per-View

To say the least, 1987 wasn't a very good year for the boys and girls over at Jim Crockett Promotions. The company entered the year on a bad note as they lost the man who was supposed to be their Hulk Hogan in Magnum TA after he retired due to a car accident on October 14, 1986. Without Magnum, the promotion was stuck with a sixth year straight of Ric Flair as champion and it was getting stale. To make matters worse, outside of Barry Windham, Flair didn't have any other fresh credible challengers for the title so he was stuck defending the title against midcard acts like The Garvins or tag team wrestlers. The promotion bought out Bill Watt's UWF (Universal Wrestling Federation) in April and proceeded to fuck the whole thing up by burying it's talent and titles by making them secondary to their titles at a time when the angle and talent could've freshen things up. A NWA/UWF inter-promotional storyline could've breathed some much needed new life to the NWA. The only saving graces was they managed to get many young wrestlers like Sting and Rick Steiner who would be important for NWA/WCW down the line along with Jim Ross as well as the fact they didn't fuck up their invasion as royally as the WWF did with the WCW/ECW invasion in 2001.

Meanwhile, Jim Crockett was pissing away money trying to buy out any NWA territory he could to strengthen his promotion so he could do battle with the growing WWF while also trying to expand and tour the country like the WWF was doing only not as well. He was also wasting money with limos, private jets, and office parties which cost him tons of money that he needed along with keeping the UWF offices in Texas open and relocating himself and Dusty Rhodes there for some reason while brother David continued running the Carolina offices.

Finally the shit hit the fan at Starrcade 1987. The first problem was Crockett taken the event out of the reliable Carolinas and Georgia and holding it in Chicago despite not having much history there. While the event nearly sold out, it still paled to the crowds they were getting in the southeast. In fact, Starrcade '87 drew half what the previous Starrcades were doing in the Greensboro Coliseum and the Omni. The second was that Crockett decided to have this be his first event on Pay-Per-View. Having lost a lot of money that year, Crockett gambled everything on this event the same way Vince did with the first Wrestlemania. Unfortunately, Vince knew this and decided to throw a wrench in the plans by having the first Survivor Series also on Pay-Per-View on Thanksgiving night. Desperate to salvage the event, Crockett tried to move the event to the afternoon but Vince proceeded to threaten cable companies that they wouldn't get Survivor Series or Wrestlemania IV if they carried Starrcade. In the end, only a few cable companies honored their deal with Crockett and the event was fucked before it even began.

We start with the intro then Schiavone and JR open the show.

Sting, Michael Hayes, and Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious) vs. Eddie Gilbert, Rick Steiner, and Larry Zbyszko (w/Baby Doll)- The only story here is Sting was a member of Hot Stuff International but eventually left and began feuding with Gilbert and Steiner. Sting and Steiner were the red-hot prospects with a world of potential at this point.

Steiner jumps Sting to start with a Steinerline. A second connects as well. A third misses as Sting ducks and Steiner goes through the ropes to the floor. Sting follows with a suicide dive which gets a huge pop but the camera largely misses it. Back in, Sting hits a missile dropkick. All six men are in the ring with Steiner and Zbyszko taking dropkicks from Hayes and Garvin. They get irish whipped into each other and bail to regroup. The fans are going crazy. Back in, Sting gets a wristlock and tags Hayes who comes off with a second turnbuckle double ax handle on Steiner's arm. Hayes gets an arm wringer and elbows the arm a few times. Tag to Garvin who continues the arm work by kicking the arm. Garvin whips Steiner to the ropes and hits a back body drop. Tag to Zbyszko and the fans don't like him not that I don't blame them as they chant “Larry sucks”. You think he sucked then, wait until you listened to his commentary.

They tie up with Zbyszko whipping Garvin to the ropes but Garvin comes off with a shoulder block. Garvin comes off the ropes and catches Zbyszko with another shoulder block. Garvin runs the ropes again, Zbyszko's drops his head too soon, and Garvin comes off the ropes with a kick. Tag to Hayes who nails Zbyszko with a punch. Hayes whips Zbyszko to the ropes and catches him with an elbow. Hayes showboats and moonwalks as Zbyszko tags Gilbert. Hayes gets a side headlock but Gilbert whips him to the ropes, drops down, Hayes jumps over, and grabs the ropes to stop himself and do some more showboating. Hayes punches Gilbert into the wrong corner and Sting hits him with an ear clap. Hayes gets a wristlock and tags Sting which the crowd LOVES! Sting comes off the second rope with a forearm on Gilbert's arm. Sting works on the arm with an arm wringer and armbar. Gilbert whips Sting to the ropes.

Sting leap frogs Gilbert, comes off the ropes, and connects with a clothesline. Sting works over the arm but Gilbert bodyslams out. Tag to Steiner who comes in but Sting catches him with an armdrag takedown and continues to work over the arm. Steiner muscles Sting into the ropes but that allows Sting to tag Garvin. Garvin holds Steiner for Sting to elbow. Steiner reverses a whip into the corner but lowers his head which allows Garvin to come out of the corner with a sunset flip for 2. Tie up allows Steiner to muscle Garvin to his corner and tags Zbyszko who works over Garvin in the corner. Zbyszko distracts the ref which allows Gilbert and Steiner to get a few cheap shots in. Zbyszko gets a powerslam for 2. Garvin gets rammed into Gilbert's knee and Zbyszko tags Gilbert. Garvin tries to crawl back to his corner but Gilbert catches him, hits an atomic drop, and follows with a knee to the back.

Gilbert stomps on Garvin and hits a backbreaker but Baby Doll accidentally distracts the ref which gives Garvin time to get his foot on the rope at 2. Gilbert connects with a bodyslam but the elbow drop misses. Tag to Steiner who continues to work over Garvin. The announcers are putting over Steiner and his potential which I agree with. Steiner rams Garvin into the corner and works him over as Garvin tries to fight out with no success. Steiner whips Garvin to the ropes and catches him with a beautiful powerslam for 2. Steiner applies a bearhug for a bit and muscles Garvin into the corner. Steiner punches the stomach and whips Garvin to another corner. Steiner charges but crashes and burns as Garvin moves out of the way. Steiner tags Zbyszko and prevents Garvin from tagging out. Zbyszko whips Garvin to the ropes and catches him with an abdominal stretch. Garvin eventually hip tosses out of it, punches Zbyszko, and makes the hot tag to Sting.

Sting goes medieval on the heels asses for a bit. Eventually, Zbyszko rakes the eyes to regain control. Zbyszko holds Sting as Gilbert comes off the second turnbuckle with a punch. Gilbert stays in illegally. Steiner distracts the ref as Gilbert tosses Sting over the top rope to the floor. Back in, Gilbert connects with a suplex for 2. Knee drop finds it's mark and Gilbert tags Zbyszko. Sting blocks a suplex is blocked and gets his own. Fans rally behind Sting as Zbyszko recovers first and tags Steiner who drops an elbow on Sting to stay in control. Ring announcer Tom Miller announces 12 minutes have gone by with 3 minutes left. Even though the NWA brought up how much time went during a match, you can tell where this match was going. Steiner whips Sting to the ropes and catches him with a sleeper hold. Sting tries to escape and eventually is able to ram Steiner into the corner to get out. Tag to Zbyszko but Sting reverses a whip into the corner.

Both are down with 2 minutes left. Gilbert tags in while Sting makes the hot tag to Hayes. Hayes whips Gilbert into the corner and catches him coming out with a back body drop. Hayes punches Steiner and Zbyszko coming in. Now all six men are in the ring with Hayes, Garvin, and Sting getting mounted punches in the corner which the crowd loves. Hayes nails a bulldog on Zbyszko with Zbyszko doing a nice sell job but the ref notices Zbyszko's foot is on the rope at 2. Hayes hooks in a sleeper hold. Steiner distracts the ref which allows Gilbert to come off the top rope with a diving forearm to break the hold. One minute left in the match. Steiner tags in, punches Hayes' stomach, and gets the bearhug with 45 seconds left. Steiner hits a beautiful belly-to-belly suplex with 30 seconds left but it gets 2. Tag to Gilbert who whips Hayes to the ropes but lowers his head and Hayes small packages him for 2 with 15 seconds left. All six men are in with 10 seconds left. Gilbert whips Hayes to the ropes but lowers his head too early and Hayes gets a sunset flip but the time expires and it's a draw at 15:02. Eh, close enough. After the match, Sting nails the stinger splash on Steiner.

Thoughts: *** Good and fun opener that never slowed down or got boring. Hell, even Zbyszko spared us his stalling tactics. Sting and Steiner shined the most and even in 1987, you can tell they had something special. Some of the heel beatdown was a little dull but my only complaint is that Sting should've pinned Gilbert to end the feud since the NWA clearly had plans for him. I didn't get going to a time limit draw.

Schiavone and Ross welcome us to the show and take us to Missy Hyatt.

Missy Myatt wants to welcome everyone to Starrcade 87 and brings up the NWA World Title match.

Schiavone and Ross bring up that we have 5 title matches scheduled for Starrcade 1987.

UWF Heavyweight Championship: Steve Williams (c) vs. Barry Windham- The parade of fucked up booking truly begins. Here's a good example of the UWF getting buried as their Heavyweight Title match is the second match on this show. Seriously? The UWF Title should've been the co-main event or the main event in a unification match. Not only was Williams wasted but so was Windham. Say what you will about WWF fucking up the WCW/ECW Alliance but at least Vince had enough sense to put WCW World Championship matches high on the cards. If it were up to me, Windham would've been in the main event and won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Windham showed in his matches with Flair that he was a great wrestler in his prime, has good mic skills, a good look, charisma, and seven years experience. He deserved better than the second match. Williams has his Sooners jersey on which probably makes JR giddy.

 
They shake hands to start and criss-cross the ropes. Williams drops down to the canvas, Windham jumps over, comes off the ropes, and Williams catches him with a hip toss with Windham taking a nice bump. Williams irish whips Windham to the ropes and presses him over his head. Williams presses Windham until Windham escapes and gets an O'Connor roll for 2. Williams gets a waistlock but Windham reverses into his own and takes Williams down. They roll around a bit but they stalemate and get back up. Windham gets an armdrag takedown and the two roll out of the ring as the crowd is shitting on this match. They go back in with Windham applying a side headlock but Williams escapes with a belly-to-back suplex. Windham stalls in the corner before hitting a gutwrench suplex. They stall a bit more as they're going for the whole “we're friends and we'll have a scientific match” type match. Williams hooks in a side headlock.

Windham nails a belly-to-back suplex but Williams keeps the hold on and turns it into a chinlock. Windham gets out and tries to armdrag out but Williams keeps the hold hooked in as some fans yell “boring”. Windham eventually fights out and hooks in a side headlock of his own. Williams whips him off the ropes but Windham hits him with a shoulderblock. Windham runs the ropes while Williams drops to the canvas. Windham jumps over, comes off the ropes, and Williams tries to catch him with an O'Connor roll but no effect. Windham runs the ropes, leapfrogs Williams, and then the big moment comes as Windham comes off the rope and runs into Williams' crotch as Williams attempted a leap frog. Williams proceeds to wither in pain but I'm sure Windham getting a close look at Williams' nuts wasn't a picnic. We gets a very awkward moment as the fans want Windham to finish Williams but Windham is a good boy and wouldn't do that to his friend so he just stands around. After a minute, we resume with Windham getting a side headlock takedown. Williams reverses with a head scissor but Windham escapes with a hand stand. Windham gets another side headlock but Williams whips Windham off the ropes. Windham hits a shoulder block and runs the ropes but misses the high crossbody and takes a painful bump over the top rope and to the floor. Windham gets back in but Williams gets the Oklahoma roll to retain at 6:50 to boos.

Thoughts: 1/2* This match was a disaster outside of some good bumps Windham took. The technical stuff was good but it's not the type of stuff you do in a near 7 minute match because the match never gets going since you don't have enough time to pick up the pace. The fans completely crapped all over this match and didn't give it a chance. The low blow didn't help and the waited period reminded me of mixed martial arts fights where they try to give someone time to recover and the fans are restless. The finish came out of nowhere which didn't help. To be fair, I do wonder if the low blow spot hurt things and they decided to end the match early since this was the only match on the show to go less than 10 minutes. It's sad because both men deserved way more than what they got here. The UWF Heavyweight Championship, along with the UWF, was dropped shortly after this with no warning. $4 Million well spent, Jimmy Crockett, even though he reportedly wasn't able to pay Bill Watts all that.

Scaffold Match: The Rock n' Roll Express vs. The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette & Big Bubba)- I love the Midnight Express' entrance music. “The Chase” ripoff not that WWE Network version. The Midnights are the NWA United States Tag Team Champions but this is non-title. These two teams go back but the big story going in was the Midnights attacking the RnR and injuring Morton before a tag team championship defense against Anderson and Blanchard which resulted in the Horsemen winning the titles.

The teams take forever to get on the scaffold until finally doing so after a few minutes. However, Bubba jumps Morton, whips him to the ropes, and catches him with a bubba slam leaving Gibson in a two-on-one situation. Gibson tries to fight Lane while Eaton is climbing the scaffold but gets rammed into the railing. The Midnights work over Gibson with chokes and stomps. Eaton slams Gibson face first into the scaffold. Bubba tries to climb the scaffold but Morton nails him with Cornette's racket repeatedly and starts climbing to a big pop. Morton hits Lane with the racket to even things out. Morton swats Eaton with the racket and slams him face first onto the scaffold. Morton continues to hit Eaton with the racket while Gibson tries to push Lane off. Gibson is cut on the forehead. Eaton tosses powder at both Morton and Gibson while Lane tries to push Gibson off. Eaton is now busted open. Eaton tries to kick Morton off but can't.

The Midnights then double team Gibson but heel miscommunication results in Eaton punching Lane to a pop. Morton gets the racket back and hits Eaton with it. Gibson punches Eaton and Morton follows by slamming Eaton's head to the scaffold. Eaton rakes Morton's eyes as Gibson chokes Lane on the railing. Eaton hits Gibson from behind. Lane tries to push Gibson over but can't. Eaton's got the racket and hits Morton a few times with it. He then goes to Gibson but Gibson nails him with a piece of the railing. Lane climbs on the side of the scaffold but Gibson hits him and stomps his hands. Cornette throws the racket up to Eaton who uses it on Gibson. Morton punches Lane until Lane climbs under the scaffold. Eaton works over Gibson with the racket until Gibson regains control and uses the racket on Eaton. Morton follows Lane and the two fight under the scaffold. Lane eventually loses his footing and is hanging off the scaffold until he finally falls off to a pop. Eaton regains the racket and hits Gibson with it. He tries with Morton but Morton punches him in the stomach and gets the racket. The Rock n' Rolls double team Eaton until he starts dangling underneath the scaffold and finally falls off to give the Rock n' Roll Express the win at 10:23 to a big pop. After the match, Big Bubba climbs up to challenge Morton only to get low blowed to a good pop.

Thoughts: *1/2 It's a scaffold match so you can't expect a lot. This was alright (especially for scaffold match standards) but got repetitive pretty quickly as they recycled stuff from the year before like the powder and Cornette's tennis racket. That said, I liked the beginning of having Bubba jump Morton to create some drama and it was creative. I also liked the use of the railing as a weapon from Gibson. I like Dusty Rhodes but I don't know what he was thinking by booking these teams in a scaffold match. I know they wrestled a million times already but there had to be a better match then this. Why put two fun, fast-paced teams on a scaffold where they're severely limited? This would be it for The Rock n' Rolls as they left in early 1988 and only worked the NWA sporadically in 88 while mostly spending the next few years in AWA, All Japan, and Memphis.

We go back to the booth with Schiavone and Ross as they talk about the UWF Heavyweight Title match and the Scaffold match.

Bob Caudle interviews Jimmy Garvin, Michael Hayes, and Precious. Garvin isn't disappointed that they didn't win because they didn't lose either. He thought it was a good match and is excited to be apart of Starrcade 87. Garvin brings up the match and mentions they want to challenge the tag team champions. He says he's got goosebumps thinking of Ron. Garvin then rambles on with pro-NWA, pro-Starrcade, pro-Ron Garvin, pro-Dusty Rhodes stuff. Garvin predicts Ron will retain and Rhodes will win. Just goes on and on. Shut up already. This promo started well but went downhill pretty quick as Garvin just rambled.

Caudle then brings in “Dr. Death” Steve Williams. He gives Windham credit and gave him a heck of a wrestling match. Windham had a chance to capitalize. He says Starrcade is the biggest thing. He will go 210% in the ring to protect this belt because he is the wrestling machine of the world. Apparently, he didn't fight hard when the NWA abandoned the title shortly after. Decent promo but Williams wasn't known for mic skills.

NWA/UWF Television Title Unification: Nikita Koloff (NWA) vs. Terry Taylor (UWF) (w/Eddie Gilbert)- With plans in place to shitcan the UWF as a whole, we get a unification match for the TV Title. Too bad we didn't get that for the heavyweight title. Anyway, there was a story involved with Taylor and Gilbert doing a heel beatdown on Koloff before stealing the NWA TV Title on the October 3^rd World Championship Wrestling and then later would lay him out later on before draping the title over him on TV after demands for them returning the title.

We get a nice staredown while both men are wearing their respective titles. Fans chant “Nikita” before they tie up and Koloff shoves Taylor off. Another tie up and Koloff shoves him again. They go nose to nose. Third tie up with Koloff muscling Taylor to the corner before breaking. Another tie up with Taylor getting an armdrag but Koloff gets back up quickly which startles Taylor. Taylor gets a side headlock but Koloff whips him to the ropes, braces himself, and Taylor bounces off Koloff. Taylor muscles Koloff into the corner but does nothing and breaks. Another tie up with Taylor muscling Koloff into the corner. Punch is blocked and Taylor backs off. Another tie up with Taylor getting an arm wringer but Koloff no-sells it and reverses with a wristlock. Koloff gets an arm wringer with the momentum seeing Taylor flipping to the canvas and Koloff continues to apply pressure. Koloff works an armbar as Taylor gets up and jumps over the top rope and to the apron.

However, Koloff pulls him back in and goes back to the armbar. Taylor gets back up, muscles Koloff to the ropes, and headbutts out of the armbar. Taylor tries to ram Koloff into the corner but Koloff blocks and rams Taylor to the top turnbuckle. Taylor gets whipped to another corner and collapses out due to the impact. Koloff gets another arm wringer. Taylor tries to punch out but it doesn't work and Koloff forearms the arm and transitions to a hammerlock. Taylor gets back up and reverses with his own hammerlock but Koloff nails him with his elbow to escape. Koloff takes Taylor down and goes back to the hammerlock but Taylor eventually reaches the ropes. Koloff goes for a pin but Taylor reaches the ropes at 2. Taylor rolls out of the ring to regroup with Gilbert. Back in, the two argue at each other until Taylor pushes Koloff and Koloff slaps Taylor. Koloff grabs the arm and starts hammering it with forearms.

Koloff whips Taylor to the ropes and gets a back body drop for 2. Taylor bails again for a bit but Koloff pulls him back in and works him over. Koloff whips Taylor to the corner and charges but Taylor gets his knee up. Taylor rolls Koloff up with his feet on the ropes for 2. Koloff comes back by taking Taylor down with the hammerlock. Koloff tries to turn it into a pin but Taylor reaches the ropes for the rope break. Koloff tries to go back to the arm but Taylor rakes the eyes and works over Koloff in the corner. Taylor gets a snapmare but misses an elbow drop. Koloff takes Taylor down and hooks in the armbar. Taylor eventually gets up and to the ropes. As the ref goes to break it up, Taylor hits Koloff with a headbutt. Taylor tries to work over Koloff but Koloff is no-selling the offense. Koloff knees Taylor in the stomach and whips him to the ropes. Koloff catches Taylor coming out of the corner by taking him down with a choke.

Koloff goes for the Russian Sickle but Taylor dodges and Koloff runs into the ringpost. Koloff falls to the ring apron and Taylor stomps him until he falls to the floor. Taylor follows and rams Koloff to the guardrail. Taylor breaks the count and goes back out to work over Koloff. Taylor rams Koloff shoulder first into the ring post and then wraps the arm around the post. Back in, the fans are loudly chanting “Nikita” as Taylor snaps Koloff's arm onto the top rope. Taylor distracts the ref long enough for Gilbert to slam Koloff's arm on the apron. Taylor gets a snapmare and follows with a knee drop. A second knee drop gets 2. Koloff gets back up but elbows Taylor with the bad arm doing more harm than good. Taylor wraps the arm on the top rope in the corner. Koloff reverses an irish whip but lowers his head and Taylor attempts a sunset flip but Koloff punches him off. Taylor attempts a suplex but Koloff reverses with his own.

Taylor recovers first and goes back to the arm. Taylor starts hammering on Koloff but Koloff starts to come back and works over Taylor in the corner. Koloff goes for the mounted punches in the corner but argues with the ref which allows Taylor to hit an inverted atomic drop. Taylor goes for the pin but the ref notices Taylor's foot on the rope for leverage and stops the count. Taylor starts arguing with the ref which allows Koloff to get a schoolboy for 2. Taylor regains control and starts stomping the back of the head. Taylor goes for the piledriver but Koloff blocks and back body drops Taylor off. Koloff hits Taylor with some punches and Taylor bails out of the ring. Koloff heads out to chases him but Taylor gets back in the ring and knees Koloff trying to get in. Taylor distracts the ref which allows Gilbert to hit Koloff's knee with a chair. Taylor stomps the knee and applies the figure four leglock. Gilbert grabs Taylor's arm behind the ref to apply more pressure.

Koloff's shoulder fall down but gets them back up at 2. As the ref asks Koloff if he quits, Gilbert grabs Taylor's arms again to put more pressure as Taylor gets another 2 count. Taylor gets another 2 count but the ref catches Gilbert grabbing Taylor's hands and the hold is broken. Taylor argues with the ref which allows Gilbert to choke Koloff. However, Koloff starts to recover and pulls Gilbert to the apron. Taylor charges but Koloff dodges and Taylor crashes into Gilbert. Koloff nails the Russian Sickle to unify the titles at 18:58 to a good pop.

Thoughts: * Dull, boring, and disappointing match. It stared fine and ended fine with some good crowd reactions at points especially the finish. However, once the arm work started, this match became painfully boring to watch. It's matches like this that make me hate watching late 80s/early 90s NWA/WCW where guys spend way too much time on doing arm work that amounts to nothing and is boring. Even worse is that the arm stuff could've meant more given Koloff uses the russian sickle and Taylor uses the five arm but both guys attacked the left arm despite being right handed and it didn't play into them using their signature finisher. I also don't get the booking here as why spend nearly 20 minutes on armbars? Do something else. Maybe they didn't want the same match back to back, but this should've been more like what we get from the Road Warriors and the Horsemen: powerful babyface who beats the crap out of the heel while the heel outwrestles the face and doing underhanded tactics. The match was also a little too slow as well and never picked up despite going nearly 20 minutes. Taylor left after this match as he went to World Class for a bit before making the biggest mistake of his career by joining the WWF where he became the Red Rooster.

NWA World Tag Team Championship: Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (c) (w/JJ Dillon) vs. The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering)- Now we're in the “Four Horsemen Show” portion of the show which the company was becoming by this point.

Hawk and Anderson start with Hawk choking Anderson and Anderson coming back with a knee to the stomach. Hawk reverses a whip to the ropes but charges into Anderson's knee. Anderson climbs the top turnbuckle but Hawk presses him and nails a gorilla press slam. Anderson bails to regroup. Back in, they tie up with Anderson gets a side headlock but Hawk muscles out with the momentum sending Anderson the canvas and Hawk leg drops the arm. Anderson bails and teases a fight with Ellering and then Blanchard but nothing happens. Back in, Anderson tags Blanchard. Tie up with Hawk shoving Blanchard. Blanchard charges but hits the brakes as Hawk gets the boot up. Blanchard charges again but Hawk catches him with a clothesline. Blanchard bails but Animal presses him and tosses him back into the ring to a big pop. Blanchard bails but Hawk chases him and throws him back in the ring. Hawk whips Blanchard to the ropes and hit an awesome dropkick for 2.

Tag to Animal who whips Blanchard to the corner. Animal charges but Blanchard gets his knees up. Blanchard climbs the ropes and comes off but Animal catches him and bodyslams him for 2 as Anderson breaks the pin. Tag to Anderson who stalls on the apron. Anderson teases a tie up but actually kicks Animal and works him in the corner. Anderson gets whipped to the corner but hits the brakes and climbs the second rope. Animal charges the corner but Anderson does an up and over of the corner. Animal rebounds with a clothesline and Anderson bails. Blanchard comes in but gets caught and the Horsemen bail to regroup. The crowd is going nuts. Back in, Anderson kicks Hawk and punches him in the stomach. Hawk reverses an irish whip and drops to the canvas. Anderson jumps over Hawk and comes off the rope where he gets caught in a bearhug but Blanchard breaks it up. The Horsemen double team Hawk.

Hawk gets whipped to the corner but rebounds with a double clothesline on both Horsemen to a big pop and pins Blanchard for 2. Tag to Animal with Hawk pressing Blanchard in the air and throws him to Animal and catches him in a bearhug. Animal keeps the bearhug on for a bit and hits an inverted atomic drop. Blanchard tries to chop Animal but he doesn't sell it and Animal chops Blanchard and hits a dropkick. Tag to Anderson who gets a side headlock. Animal whips Anderson to the ropes and drops to the canvas. Anderson jumps over and grabs the ropes to stop and rolls out. Animal chases Anderson around the ring. Back in, Anderson jumps Animal as he goes in and goes for a piledriver but Animal back body drops out. Gorilla press slam connects. Tags to Hawk and Blanchard with Hawk pressing Blanchard but Anderson clips Hawk. Blanchard works over the leg for a bit and tags Anderson. Anderson stomps the leg, drags Hawk to the ring post, and slams the leg on the post.

On the outside, Blanchard hits Hawk's leg with a chair while Anderson distracts the ref. Back in the ring, Anderson hits the DDT but Hawk press him off at 2. Tag to Blanchard who goes for the figure four leglock but Hawk reverses into a small package for 2. Blanchard does some legwork. Tag to Anderson who goes for the spinning toe hold but Hawk kicks him off and into the turnbuckles. Anderson prevents Hawk tagging out and tags Blanchard. Blanchard applies the figure four leglock for a minute until tagging Anderson. Anderson tries to pin Hawk for 2 by grabbing his wrists. Anderson jumps but Hawk gets his knees up and Anderson gets crotched. Hot tag to Animal who whips Anderson to the ropes and hits a dropkick. Blanchard comes in but Animal nails him with an elbow. Animal runs the ropes but Blanchard trips him coming off. Hawk chases Blanchard around ringside and back in the ring where Blanchard runs into referee Tommy Young.

Anderson charges at Animal but gets back body dropped out of the ring. The Warriors whip Blanchard to the ropes and hit a double team clothesline which sends him out of the ring. The Warriors catch Anderson coming in and hit the doomsday device for the pin and the titles to a huge pop. But it's a fucking Dusty finish as referee Tommy Young tells referee Earl Hebner about Animal back body dropping Anderson over the top so they reverse the decision and the Horsemen win by disqualification at 13:27. After the match, The Warriors refuse to return the belts and leave with them while the fans rightfully chant “bullshit”.

Thoughts: **** Very fun and great match aside from the bullshit finish. The teams worked well together with the Warriors bringing the strength and power while the Horsemen were more technical, underhanded, and took very good bumps. The match told a great story with the Warriors destroying the Horsemen to the delight of the crowd until the Horsemen get an opening to take advantage. As for the finish. What the fuck!? I'm a big Dusty Rhodes fan but what was he drinking, smoking, snorting, and injecting to do that fucking finish? How did he think it was a good idea to not only not have the hometown heroes win the belts but to tease the fans and then disqualify the Warriors? It's sad as Rhodes was a great booker when he was on but you can tell that he was starting to lose it. Even sadder, this match was great for 99% only to blow it with the finish.

Jack Gregory and Magnum TA talk about the result of the Tag Team Championship. Magnum says it's the greatest he's ever seen as the Road Warriors dished out more punishment than any human being can withstand but Anderson and Blanchard are still the World Tag Team Champions. Gregory brings up the United States Championship with Magnum bringing up it's a title Rhodes has never held but it's also critical for Dusty Rhodes as he won't be able to compete for 90 days and says that could end anyone's career. He says Rhodes is geared up cause he's the best he's going to have ever been. Gregory brings up the World Heavyweight Champion with Magnum saying if Garvin can put Flair down again, he'll prove he's the one and only World Heavyweight Champion.

Bob Caudle interviews Nikita Koloff with Koloff saying it's been a great night. He says in the near four years he's been a wrestler, he's had many tough matches and acknowledges Taylor is a great wrestler since he was UWF TV Champion. Koloff says he takes nothing away from Taylor but he could not be more happy as he has two belts and there's only one TV Champion. Solid promo but kind of went on a bit long.

Caudle then interviews JJ Dillon who says he can breath a little sigh of relief as Blanchard and Anderson turned back the challenge of the hometown Road Warriors. He admits it was an anxious moment because in his opinion the Road Warriors are the number one challengers but the belts are safely with them. Dillon brings up being a part of Ric Flair's training and how this can be a turning point in his career but he also says he's been totally occupied with the situation regarding Dusty Rhodes. He says Rhodes has been his nemesis for seven years and with each charge he's learned a lesson in defeat. Dillon says seven may be his lucky number tonight because he's never been more confident as Lex Luger is a perfect athlete while Rhodes is back to the corner. Very good promo and enjoyable. Not sure if Dillon gets enough credit for his promos.

Tony Schiavone and Jim Ross discuss the upcoming United States Title match.

NWA United States Championship vs. Career/Steel Cage: Lex Luger (c) (JJ Dillon) vs. Dusty Rhodes- The career stipulation is if Rhodes loses then he can't wrestle for 90 days. Johnny Weaver is the keeper of the cage key. Speaking of Weaver, he also has a small part in the story as he taught Rhodes the sleeper hold or Weaverlock leading up to this match which led to Luger and Dillon bringing in Luger's former trainer in the legendary Hiro Matsuda. An angle then came on TV where Matsuda demonstrated the Japanese version of the sleeper on referee Tommy Young only to then apply it on Weaver for a long period when he confronted them. Things get silly as Schiavone says this is the most important match in Rhodes' career. I'm all for selling the importance of the match but if he loses, he'll only be gone for 90 days. I've seen wrestlers retire for shorter periods.

They circle to start and then tie up with Luger muscling Rhodes into the corner until the referee breaks them up which I don't why since it's a cage match and they're usually No Disqualification. They circle again with Luger kicking Rhodes and working him over with forearms. Luger tries to ram Rhodes to the cage but Rhodes blocks it and hits the bionic elbow. Luger poses for the hell of it and Rhodes responds by struting and posing. Luger muscles Rhodes into the corner and hits a punch but Rhodes comes out with jabs and nails the flip, flop, and fly. Luger goes for a punch but Rhodes ducks and hits an atomic drop. Rhodes applies the sleeper hold but Luger gets to the ropes and Rhodes breaks it up. Again, don't know why. Luger comes back with a side headlock but Rhodes eventually makes it to the ropes. Rhodes whips Luger off the ropes but Luger comes off with a shoulder block. Luger runs the ropes, Rhodes drops to the canvas, Luger jumps over, comes off the ropes, and Rhodes catches him with a sleeper hold but Luger gets to the ropes again.

Luger hammers away on Rhodes and gets a snapmare but misses the elbow drop. I always like Luger's elbow drops. Rhodes comes back with an armbar which Luger can't escape. Luger eventually muscles Rhodes into the corner and nails a few punches. Luger whips Rhodes to the corner and charges but Rhodes moves out of the way and Luger crashes into the corner with the same arm Rhodes was working on. Rhodes goes back to the armbar and drops a few elbows on the arm. Rhodes takes Luger down and applies a hammerlock. Rhodes eventually releases the hold and stomps on the arm. Rhodes gets Luger in the corner and hammers the arm until Luger hits Rhodes and takes control with kicks and stomps. Luger tosses Rhodes to the cage. Rhodes gets raked on the cage and is busted open as Luger rains down punches in the corner. Luger tosses Rhodes into the cage for 2. Luger continues to punch Rhodes into the corner as Rhodes did a nice blade job. Snapmare and that kickass elbow drop gets 2. Luger works over the back and poses. Rhodes reverses an irish whip and catches Luger with a dropkick. Luger recovers first and hits a backbreaker. Luger signals for the torture rack which gets a pop.

Luger goes for the torture rack but Rhodes grabs the cage to block it. Luger rakes Rhodes into the cage and chokes him on the rope. Luger snaps Rhodes off the ropes and pins for 2. Luger applies an armbar as the fans rally behind Rhodes and takes him down. Luger grabs the ropes to add pressure. Luger gets Rhodes up and hammers the arm and reapplies pressure. Fans rally behind Rhodes as Luger takes Rhodes down and continues the armbar. Eventually, Luger gets up and sends Dusty to the corner where he punches Rhodes and works over the arm. Rhodes starts the comeback as he no-sells and hits the jabs and a bionic elbow. Crowd loves it. DDT gets 2. Luger comes back with an eye rake. Rhodes gets whipped to the ropes but dodges a clothesline, hooks in the sleeper, and jumps on Luger's back to a pop. Dillon nails Weaver with the chair and gets the key but can't unlock the cage. Luger escapes and the ref gets hit when Luger accidentally rams him in the corner in an attempt to get Rhodes off. Dillon throws a chair into the ring. Luger goes to grab it but Rhodes DDTs him on the chair and gets the win and the championship at 16:28 to a good pop. Afterwards, Rhodes embraces Weaver.

Thoughts: ***1/2 Very good match with some nice moments. Rhodes bled very well and the arm work made sense since Rhodes wanted to prevent Luger from doing the torture rack. The crowd was into it. The finish was great too and made sense. Luger originally won the title when Dillon threw a chair into the cage for Luger to use against Nikita Koloff but this time it was their downfall. It also made sense for Luger to be slow to pick it up since he was just coming off having the 280 pound Rhodes on his back with all his weight applying a sleeper hold so he's going to be slow. The only weaknesses of the match was the rope breaks despite it being a cage match and Luger's arm work which didn't make much sense as he was better off working over the back. I love the idea of Rhodes as United States Champion but it's too bad he never got a big rivalry with it. I also love how the Superpowers exchanged titles. Leading up to Starrcade 1986, it was Rhodes as World TV Champion (though he lost it on that show) and Koloff as the United States Champion. Now a year later, Koloff is the World TV Champion while Rhodes is the United States Champion.

Schiavone and Ross preview the World Heavyweight Championship match

NWA World Heavyweight Championship/Steel Cage: Ron Garvin (c) vs. Ric Flair (w/JJ Dillon)- This match is pretty well known for the wrong reasons. The NWA wanted Flair to drop the title and win it back at Starrcade for whatever reason. However, no one on the roster would agree to it in fear they would come across as a lame duck champion since Flair was getting the belt back right away. Enter Ron Garvin. At 42 years old, Garvin knew this was his one and only chance to be the World Champion and decided to take it. Things got worse as fans refused to accept a midcarder like Garvin as the World Champion and many wrestlers refused to put him over or make him look good since they knew he was losing the belt back to Flair so the whole thing was fucked. What's even more pathetic is the NWA had a few better choices. One could've been Steve Williams vs. Flair in a title unification match which could've created some buzz if booked right. Another would be my choice which is Barry Windham defeating Flair to win the World Title. Nobody wants to bring this up but Flair was VERY stale as world champion by the end of 1987. Since Windham had all the tools and wrestled Flair in many critically acclaimed matches, he could've won the title and the NWA could've enter 1988 with a fresh and talented champion while Flair can take a break and allow the NWA to build some new stars. But no, the Earth would stop turning if Flair wasn't the champion.

Anyway, on to the match. As is well-known, the fans boo Garvin and cheer Flair. They circle to start and tie up with Garvin muscling Flair to the corner and breaking the tie up. Again, why? They tie up again with Flair getting Garvin in the corner and chopping him but Garvin responds with his own chop. They tie up again with Flair chopping Garvin in the corner and Garvin countering with his own chop. They tie up again in the corner with Flair hitting Garvin with more chops and then Garvin throws Flair in the corner and hits him with chops and biels him out. They trade more bitch slapping chops with Garvin knocking Flair down. The fans start chanting “Garvin sucks” (which I don't disagree with) as Garvin gets a side headlock. Flair whips him to the ropes but Garvin comes off and catches him with a shoulder block. Back in the corner where Garvin goes back to chopping because we haven't had enough and Flair does a flair flop.

Garvin hits Flair with an elbow. Garvin whips Flair to the corner and catches him coming out with a back body drop. Man, Flair's already running through his bits before the 5 minute point. Garvin gets a wristlock and drops Flair with a headbutt. Garvin works the arm and puts Flair in the corner for another chop and the mounted punches in the corner. Garvin whips Flair to the corner and catches him coming out with a back body drop. Sheesh, we're not even 5 minutes in and they're already repeating spots. We now get the shitty Garvin Stomp which is one of the most fake looking moves in wrestling history but it gets a pop. Garvin sends Flair to the corner and slaps him in the face. The two then bitch slap each other with Garvin winning. Flair hits a low blow to make the comeback and follows with an inverted atomic drop. Flair puts Garvin in the corner and works him over with punches and chops. Snapmare and a knee drop follow.

Flair pins for 2. Flair sets Garvin's leg on the rope and hits a seated senton. Flair works over Garvin in the corner then follows with the shinbreaker and the figure four which gets a pop. Flair holds on to the ropes for added pressure and gets a few 2 counts. Garvin eventually rolls over and reverses the pressure until Flair make it to the ropes. Flair works over Garvin with Garvin on the ground and then in the corner. Flair tries to whip Garvin into the cage but Garvin blocks it twice. Flair kicks the knee and tries again but Garvin blocks. Flair goes for the irish whip but Garvin reverses and Flair crashes into the cage. Garvin follows by throwing Flair into the cage again. Flair gets raked onto the cage and thrown again. Flair is bleeding as Garvin starts biting him. Flair tries to climb out but gets stopped, then rammed on the top of the cage, and finally falls to the canvas and does another flair flop. Garvin chops Flair in the corner but Flair fights out with a kick and elbow.

Flair climbs the top rope and, of course, Garvin grabs him and throws him off. Garvin applies the figure four leglock and gets a few 2 counts. Flair eventually makes it to the ropes and referee Tommy Young makes him break it despite it being No DQ. Garvin continues to work over the leg. Garvin sets Flair up in the corner and hits him with chops but Flair gets out and sets Garvin up in the corner and chops. Flair tries to toss Garvin to the cage but Garvin blocks and tosses Flair in. Garvin climbs the top rope and hits a diving high cross body for 2. Flair comes back and whips Garvin to the ropes, hip toss is blocked, and Garvin gets a backslide for 2. Garvins rakes Flair on the cage and hits some more chops. We now get the Ric Flair cage bit as he tries to escape but Garvin grabs his trunks to stop him. The two fight on the ropes with Flair getting rammed on the top of the cage and headbutted, loses his balance, and gets crotched on the ropes.

Garvin goes for the top diving sunset flip. Flair drops to his knees and grabs the ropes for 2 as referee Tommy Young notices and forces Flair to let go which makes no sense cause it's No DQ. The momentum allows Garvin to get the sunset flip for 2. Garvin gets a few chops in the corner and goes for the mounted punches in the corner. Flair grabs Garvin and rams him into Tommy Young in the corner. Garvin hits the knockout punch but Young's a second late to count and Garvin gets 2. Garvin goes for the irish whip but Flair reverses, Garvin jumps but Flair grabs him and rams him face-first to the cage for the 3 and the title at 17:38 to a good pop. Oh boy, Flair's champion again. How original. Nothing against Flair but the NWA needed a fresh champion at this point instead of a seventh year with Flair.

Thoughts: * Dull and boring match. Flair bled well and the finish was cool but that's it. Not much else to say. It didn't take Flair long to go to his usual stuff. The chops got repetitive. Tommy Young's officiating was very annoying as he kept trying to establish order in a No DQ match which made no sense. To anyone who thinks Flair can carry a broomstick to a 3 star match, I will point out his matches with the Garvins cause those matches throw that theory out the window and splatters it on the concrete. I said it on the Great American Bash 1987 review and I'll say it again. Flair needs to be carried by an exciting asskicker or charismatic individual who can fill the blanks and bring the action and the Garvins couldn't do that. Flair winning was probably the right call but things were really stale with Flair by this point and as we find out years later, living and dying off Flair would bite them in the ass.

Schiavone and Ross sign off as we go to stills of the event.

Final Thoughts and Verdict
Starrcade 1987 delivered some good action but a lot of mediocre matches. I recommend the tag matches and the United States Championship match while the Scaffold match was fine for Scaffold match standards. Along with those matches, I did like how the PPV format made the show more easier than the 86 Starrcade as 2 ½ to 3 hours is perfectly fine for a supercard and it didn't need 4 hours. That said, this event also displayed everything that was wrong with the NWA/Jim Crockett Promotions at the time with Flair being the world champion for the millionth time to the Road Warriors losing in their home city in a bullshit finish to the Horsemen all over the main matches to burying the UWF to Barry Windham & Steve Williams being wasted. The booking was a disaster in many ways and something the promotion didn't need as they would find out things could get worse in 1988....a lot worse.

Thumbs in the Middle

Starrcade 1987 Facts
First Starrcade to be held outside of Greensboro, North Carolina

Final Starrcade on Thanksgiving Night. All Starrcade's after this would be held in December.

Final Starrcade under Jim Crockett Promotions.

Second Starrcade to feature Ric Flair winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in a steel cage match. 1983 was the first.

The only Starrcade to feature UWF Title matches

Last Starrcade to be announced by Tony Schiavone until 1991

First Starrcade announced by Jim Ross. He would announce all of them until 1993

First Starrcade not announced by Bob Caudle

First Pay-Per-View held by the NWA/WCW

Last Starrcade to have a Scaffold Match