What is this whole World Championship Wrestling thing? We’re about to find out with the Starrcade 1988 review, the first-ever pay-per-view under the WCW label.
Ted Turner spent a lot of money taking over Jim Crockett Promotions, and now it’s time to put that money to good use with the company’s biggest PPV of the year.
Let’s rock and roll with Blake’s Starrcade 1988 review.
- Date: December 26, 1988
- Location: The Scope in Norfolk, VA
Kevin Sullivan and Steve Williams vs. (c) The Fantastics – US Tag Team Titles
Good to see Bill Apter ringside. Fulton almost gets the quick fall on Sullivan after the Lou Thesz press. And then we get the required shot of Jason Hervey with an attractive blonde female in the crowd. Williams now into the match and he’s having no luck. No surprise there considering that it took him 15 MINUTES TO BEAT A JOBBER NAMED ITALIAN STALLION at Clash of the Champions.
More fun double team action from the Fantastics until Williams hits the slam. Sullivan finds his way in and barrels over the top after a missed clothesline on Rogers. DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER to Sullivan and Williams. That should do it. But it doesn’t and now Williams is flat out pissed. He decimates Rogers to take out his frustration.
Big suplex to Rogers gives Williams the near fall. Solid back and forth from this point, including Rogers missing off the top rope thanks to Sullivan getting his knees up. Now we’ve got Rogers getting dissected by both Sullivan and Williams. He finally reverses Sullivan and hits a suplex. Then he gets outta there with the hot tag to Fulton.
But his offense doesn’t do much, as Williams sling shots him off the ropes and scores the pin at 15:50 to win the titles. This wasn’t anything special and didn’t do much for me despite the title change.
• Rating: **
The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) vs. The Original Midnight Express (w/Paul E. Dangerously)
HEAT. We have heat for this one. Makes sense considering how good this feud was. Cornette jumps on the mic prior to the match and wants to beat the hell out of Paul E. The bell rings and Eaton and Lane are throwing Condrey and Rose all around. Then Cornette shacks Condrey with the racket behind Teddy Long’s back. Paul E is not happy about this turn of events.
Pretty much a squash early on. Cornette then gets another racket shot in on Rose, and Paul E adds a sweet touch by ringing the bell on his own. This is what you get when you have two geniuses at ringside. Rose finally gets a tiny bit of offense in, but once again, it’s Eaton and Lane’s teamwork that reigns supreme….until Eaton racks himself in the corner. Rose then delivers the atomic drop to Eaton on the floor.
Onto the Teddy Long special of letting a team beat up on a guy while he has his back turned. CORNETTE AND PAUL E IN A FOOT RACE. Crowd goes wild for that until both sides calm down. Eaton getting worked on pretty good thanks to Teddy Long being an idiot. JR points out that we’ve had two different matches thus far, with each team controlling each half. It’s the little things.
HOT TAG. Lane is in ready to kick with authority. He’s so fired up that he accidentally hits Teddy. That of course lets Paul E come in and belt Eaton with the phone. Rose rolls on top and Teddy counts, but then notices the phone in the ring. TEDDY THEN BECOMES HULK HOGAN. He parades around each side of the ring and asks the fans if they saw the phone use. THEY DID. That doesn’t matter though as Lane and Eaton hit the DOUBLE FUCKIN GOOZLE for the victory at 17:46.
After the match, total beatdown from the bad guys. Cornette also takes a beating until Eaton starts swinging the racket at everyone. Wildly entertaining match because of all the elements involved.
• Rating: ***3/4
BACKSTAGE: Magnum TA interview with the new US tag champs. Good promo work from Sullivan and Rotundo. Even Williams was fine here.
Russian Assassins (w/Paul Jones) vs. Junkyard Dog and Ivan Koloff
Something tells me Ivan and Nikita vs. these two would have been better. And of course that was the original plan until Nikita left the company. Just a strange feeling to have JYD involved in a Russian blood feud. Anyways, if the Russians lose they must unmask and Jones is outta the promotion.
Complete domination from JYD and Ivan. Bob Caudle calling out Teddy Long’s refereeing struggles, and it’s about damn time. Assassins are now kicking some ass. Then JYD ducks the RUSSIAN MISSILE and makes the tag to Ivan. Crowd is going mild. Actually, they aren’t doing anything at all.
One of the Assassins gets something from Jones and sticks it in his mask. Then he headbutts Ivan and pins him at 6:47. Horrible.
• Rating: 1/2*
Rick Steiner vs. (c) Mike Rotundo (w/Kevin Sullivan) – TV Title
Sullivan gets the cage of doom treatment and sits high above the aisle. Heated start for the two former friends. Hervey and attractive blonde female cameo No. 2 on the evening.
A lot of wrestling techniques being used by Steiner. Although, I’m not sure biting someone’s ass is considered a wrestling maneuver. Now we’re getting real truth from the fans as they chant “Syracuse sucks.” This hasn’t been great so far, but it’s the kind of match you’d expect from two collegiate wrestlers.
Steiner with the inside cradle and a near fall, then he delivers a big clothesline. Rotundo wants that timeout. Teddy not giving it to him. Here comes Dr. Death. Powerslam from Steiner gets another near fall. Belly to belly for the pin and the bell rings. Williams was the one ringing the bell, which led to Steiner thinking he’d won the match. Confusion everywhere. Tommy Young comes out to show Teddy Long how a real referee operates. He tells Teddy what happened and Sullivan is out of the cage. Match restarts.
And just like that, Rotundo gets tossed into Sullivan and BOTH refs count the three to crown a new champ at 17:59. Crowd has lost their minds. Steiner grabs the belt and takes off. Crazy sequence to end the match. It needed that after some slow action throughout.
• Rating: **1/2
Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Oliver Humperdink) vs. (c) Barry Windham (w/JJ Dillon) – US Heavyweight Title
This is an intriguing match. Bigelow was out of the WWF after WrestleMania IV, and here he winds up challenging in a big title match. Awesome staredown early. Big gutbuster spot that sends Windham retreating to the outside to recoup. More offense from Bigelow sees the same sequence. Windham can’t believe it.
Seriously, the heel work of Windham here is nothing short of brilliant. Such a talented dude. Windham throws Bigelow out and he holds the knee. JR notes that Bigelow has had knee surgeries (which he did after leaving the WWF), which adds another commentary wrinkle that you don’t get on MONDAY NIGHT RAW these days.
More power from Bigelow and he goes up top for the flying headbutt. Windham moves out of the way.
Windham starts his comeback with the lariat and then we get to the claw. Bigelow somehow gets out and Windham lands a slam. Windham up top for the flying elbow but now Bigelow moves.
Both men go flying to the outside and let us all remember there were no mats. Ouch. Then Tommy Young counts out Bigelow at 16:17. Windham is still your champion in a decent but not overly great match.
• Rating: **1/2
BACKSTAGE: Magnum with Steiner and his TV title belt. Sound cuts out quite a bit but Steiner was awesome with the comedy. Funny stuff.
Sting and Dusty Rhodes vs. (c) The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) – World Tag Team Titles
Brawl happens before Gary Michael Cappetta can even introduce the teams. SHOW GARY SOME RESPECT. Good action early before Hawk starts stomping a mudhole in Sting in the corner. But Stinger fights back and hits a powerslam. Animal shows some power and press slams Sting. Then Sting counters with the flying body press over the ropes to the outside. That’ll put butts in the seats. Actually it did.
Dusty into the contest and he wraps Animal’s leg around the post. Feats of strength time with Hawk and then Dusty goes for the figure four. Hawk will have none of that and then we get the vicious face rake on Dusty. And the Warriors are breaking Dusty in half at this point. Finally a huge tag to Sting and he’s got Animal on SPAGHETTI LEGS.
Sting goes for the Scorpion Death Lock but Hawk immediately forces the break. That leads to Sting getting thrown outside, and like any good face, Dusty kicks Animal in the balls to avoid the double team. Sting catches Animal with the flying cross body but then Ellering stops the count to force the DQ at 11:20.
Of course it was a shit finish. I didn’t particularly enjoy this.
• Rating: **
Lex Luger vs. (c) Ric Flair (w/JJ Dillon) – NWA World Heavyweight Title
Does anyone know if the Maryland State Athletic Commission has snuck into the building for this one? Let’s hope the hell not. If Flair gets DQ’d, Luger wins the title. So there’s your setup.
Flair stylin’ and profilin’ early on before Luger dumps him out with a clothesline. He looks a little shaken up after that. Luger overpowers a few holds from Flair and JR hypes up Luger’s improvement at his counters. I love JR. Love him. He could make a paper sack sound good. Not saying Luger was as good as a paper sack, but you get the point.
Powerslam by Luger sends Flair scurrying. Good heel tactics from Flair to take the advantage, but HAMMER LOCK time from Lex. We make our way back to the outside and Luger continues working on the arm. Flair gets tossed into the post and the fans aren’t reacting to Luger’s offense all in this match.
Back in the ring and more work on the arm. Flair regains control and Luger is now on the outside. Flair throws him into the rail and then delivers the chop from hell. Tommy Young threatens to DQ him. GOOD TRY TOMMY. We work our way to Luger locking on the sleeper. Inside cradle from Luger after a Flair figure four attempt gets two and a half.
We go up top and Luger hits a suplex for another two and a half. Luger then locks in the figure four on Flair. Ref bump and Luger hits a cross body on Flair and had him covered for three, but naturally Young didn’t get to the count until Flair kicked out. Match is really starting to escalate with a lot of good near falls.
Luger with a series of slams and then Dillon is up on the apron to distract Luger. This leads to Flair grabbing a chair on the outside and crushing Luger’s knee with it. Dillon had Young occupied and never saw it. Luger’s leg is toast and Flair is all over it. Figure Four is locked in and JR says it’s only a matter of time. Luger fights it as the crowd is exploding with Luger chants. We get the reverse and both men are down and out.
Dillon instructs Flair to work on the leg some more and he does. Flair goes up top and somehow Luger press slams him to the mat. Luger hulking up now and lands the military press before falling down. Flair sends him back outside and the sunset slip gets a two. Luger still hobbling and more slams for everyone, especially Flair. Luger locks in the Torture Rack but his leg buckles and Flair falls on him and props the legs on the ropes to get the win at 30:59.
Phenomenal match. This equaled the Sting match from the first Clash, and once again showed that Flair was a cut above everyone. They told the story of Luger never quitting despite getting his leg worked over.
• Rating: ****1/2
Blake’s Starrcade 1988 Awards
- Best Match: Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair
- Starrcade 1988 MVP: Ric Flair
- Overall Starrcade 1988 Rating: 8.0/10
- Thoughts: Consider this: Dusty had originally booked RICK STEINER to beat Flair in a five-minute squash in the main event to win the title. Instead, we got a four-and-a-half star showcase. One of many reasons why Dusty was fired after this show. This was certainly a turning point for the company. Flair is on top and he made Sting and Luger look like stars during the year. Plus, the Turner acquisition changed the game and allowed for new opportunities. An awesome show with the Flair/Luger and Midnight Express battle, and it sends WCW into 1989 with a huge boost of momentum.
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