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Views from the Hawke’s Nest: NWA Bunkhouse Stampede 1988

January 24, 2015 | Posted by TJ Hawke

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Views from the Hawke’s Nest: NWA Bunkhouse Stampede 1988

January 28, 1988

Uniondale, New York

Commentators: Jim Ross & Bob Caudle

Nikita Koloff© vs. Bobby Eaton (w/Jim Cornette) [NWA World Television Championship]
Eaton and Cornette got heat for hugging each other, because homophobia. Koloff dominated for a while. Eaton used headlocks to slow Koloff down. The action spilled to the floor, and Koloff got the advantage briefly. Eaton poked him in the eye though and then worked Koloff over in the ring. He relied on the hammerlock for this heat segment. Koloff hit a couple of elbows and then hit the lariat. Windham came back with the Divorce Court though. More hammerlock. There are two minutes left in the time limit. One minute. 45 seconds. Koloff finally escaped the hammerlock. 30 seconds. Koloff fought back. 15 seconds. LARIAT. The time limit expired.

Cornette tried to save the match by taking bumps for Koloff’s glare after the match. Lane and Eaton attacked Koloff with the racket after that though.

Boo this match. They did nothing of note as soon as Eaton took control and that lasted for close to fifteen minutes I’d wager. Koloff’s lack of urgency in the final seconds also came across as really stupid.
Match Rating: DUD

Barry Windham© vs. Larry Zbyszko (w/Baby Doll) [UWF Western States Heritage Championship]
Larry could get nothing going early on. It took him close to ten minutes to slow down Barry. He got control by going after the left leg, which had apparently been injured going into the match. Windham later fought back and applied a sleeper. They brawled on the floor. Fifteen minutes had gone by at this point. Larry got control briefly and worked Windham over some. After a ref bump, Windham got a schoolboy: 1…2…3? But Baby Doll did the count. Windham was very confused. Larry hit Windham with Baby Doll’s shoe: 1…2…3

There were some moments of decent here, but this was needlessly long and boring. Windham came across like a real idiot for thinking he won right after the ref bump. This show is not off to a good start!
Match Rating: *

Ric Flair© (w/JJ Dillon) vs. Road Warrior Hawk (w/Paul Ellering) [NWA World Heavyweight]
WWE warned us that there were issues in the original recording of this match. We’ll see how much that affects my experience.

Hawk obviously dominated the match at the beginning. This matchup actually seems quite good on paper, but I’m still surprised it’s a PPV world title match. Flair went for the eyes after a while, but it didn’t work. A low blow right in front of the referee did work though. Explanation? Flair then worked over Hawk. He targeted the left knee. He eventually applied the figure four, but Hawk reversed the pressure. Hawk then made a comeback, but he was a bit hobbled. REF FUCKING BUMP FFS. Hawk sent Flair over the top rope, but the ref was out. They got back in the ring. Hawk hit a superplex for a phantom pinfall. Dillon hit Hawk with a chair, Hawk went after Dillon. Flair hit Hawk in the head with the chair: 1…2…NO! Hawk then no-sold a suplex. FFS, Flair hit Hawk with a chair in front of the ref. DQ. Fuck this show.

The dynamic of this match was strong, and they should have had a really easy time having a good match. Instead, the overbooking kicked in when it mattered and then they had an absolutely awful finish. Just dumb booking.
Match Rating: **1/4

You know the finishes to these matches are bad because the commentators are trying to explain them still.

Steel Cage Bunkhouse Stampede
Arn Anderson vs. Dusty Rhodes vs. Ivan Koloff vs. Lex Luger vs. Road Warrior Animal vs. The Barbarian vs. The Warlord vs. Tully Blanchard
This is basically a battle royal but in a cage as far as I know.

It was a cage match with too many guys. They all were wearing street clothes because it’s a FIGHT. There was just a lot of brawling for the longest time. It was not fun to experience. The crowd popped when Dusty started whipping everyone with a belt. Ivan Koloff was the first eliminated. Animal was trying to eliminate Warlord. He ended up eliminating Warlord and himself though. The Brainbusters tried to eliminate Luger, but all three of them got eliminated in the process. Barbarian and Dusty for the match. Dusty eventually eliminated Barbarian to win the money and the giant boot.

Instead of trying to articulate my feelings on this match with words, I choose to use this picture instead:

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