Dark Pegasus Video Review: Starrcade ’88: True Gritt

Starrcade ’88: True Gritt by J.D. Dunn This would be the first ever WCW PPV as the company had just been bought out by Ted Turner before the show. December 26, 1988. Live from Norfolk, Va. Your hosts are Jim Ross and Bob Caudle. Opening Match, U.S. Tag Titles: The Fantastics vs. Kevin Sullivan & Steve Williams. This was supposed to be the Fantastics taking on the Sheepherders in a revival of their UWF feud, but Vince signed the Sheeps away to become the Bushwhackers. The Fans come out hot as Fulton hits Sullivan with a Thesz Press. Williams catches Fulton with a military press, though, and the heels take over. We’re clipped to Williams holding a bear hug. Fulton fires back and gets the hot tag to Rogers who cleans house on Sullivan. His splash finds Sullivan’s knees, though, to cut off the comeback. The heels continue to cut off the ring, forcing Rogers into the face-in-peril role. Rogers dives over Sullivan to make the hot tag back to Fulton. The match breaks down into a brawl. Rogers tries to put out Sullivan with a sleeper, but Williams and Fulton are the legal men. Dr. Death catches Fulton going for a Thesz Press and drops his throat across the top rope to pick up the win and the titles at 9:49 (of about 15:00). *** The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) vs. The Original Midnight Express (w/Paul E. Dangerously). If ever you wanted a prime example of a Cornette-booked tag match, this is it. This is one of the matches resulting from the surprisingly hardcore angle where Paul Heyman brought his “Original Midnight Express” (Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose) from the AWA to the NWA studios and attacked Jim Cornette and his new Midnights (Lane & Eaton) during a squash match. That also leads to one of my favorite stories about Corny because he was so surprised by the attack that he screamed out “Jesus Christ!” on morning TV, causing the NWA powers-that-be to chide him for using inappropriate language. He responded, “Well, David Letterman said it the other night.” To which they responded, “This isn’t David Letterman.” Not to be outdone, Corny shot back, “Hell no! People watch David Letterman!” Anyway, this is all Cornette’s team early as they beat the OME all around the ring, in the ring, above the ring and everywhere in between. Rose falls to the floor, allowing Cornette to get a racket shot in. Dangerously rings the bell in protest. More asskickings courtesy the real Midnights. Eventually, Eaton misses a charge and crotches himself in the corner. He plays face-in-peril for a while until the OME misses a Rocket Launcher. Lane gets an enzuigiri on Condrey as things break down. Paul E. sneaks in and smashes Lane with the cellphone, but referee Teddy Long sees the cellphone pieces left behind and refuses to count. Rose tries to argue, allowing the Midnights to hit the Double Goozle for the win at 12:12 (of 17:46). Prime Cornette-style tag wrestling. ***3/4 Junkyard Dog & Ivan Koloff vs. The Russian Assassins (w/Paul Jones). If JYD and Koloff win, the Assassins have to unmask and Jones has to retire. The masked Russian Assassins are the Angel of Death — the man who was supposed to main event Starrcade two years later before they realized how stupid that would be — and Jack Victory — former manager of Steve Corino. JYD dominates the Assassins early, but Paul Jones keeps pulling their legs under the ropes to break the counts. Koloff gets a sunset flip, but Teddy Long is tied up with the other Assassin. A heel doubleteam backfires, and Assassin #2 misses a Russian Missile (charge in the corner). The faces whip the heels together, and Ivan hits the Russian Sickle. The other Assassin loads up the mask, though, and headbutts Ivan for the win at 6:48. Not bad, considering the participants. ** NWA World TV Title: Mike Rotunda (w/Kevin Sullivan & Dr. Death) vs. Rick Steiner. Most everyone remembers this one if you were watching around this time. Steiner joined with Sullivan’s Varsity Club, forming a team with Rotunda. Rotunda and Sullivan liked to torment their partner until, finally, Steiner snapped and turned babyface. Doc wound up replacing him, which actually worked out for everyone because Rick was able to bring in his little bro. Kevin Sullivan is locked in a cage above the ring for this one. Steiner spills to the floor early, and Rotunda keeps him grounded with a series of chinlocks. Rotunda misses a dropkick as we approach the time limit. Steiner hits a Steinerline and pummels Rotunda in the corner. A powerslam gets two, and Doc rings the bell to trick Steiner into thinking he’s won. Teddy Long inquires about the time limit, but Gary Capetta assures him that it wasn’t he who rang the bell. Tommy Young runs down and restarts the match. Rotunda attacks, but Steiner tosses him into Sullivan and falls on top for the win and the title (and a HUGE pop) at 6:51. One of the great mark-out moments in wrestling. **3/4 U.S. Title: Barry Windham (w/JJ Dillon) vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Oliver Humperdink). Bam Bam had just come over from the WWF here. This is an awkward match for Windham because his offense works as a monster, but here he’s forced to play a cowardly monster, if such a thing exists, because Bigelow routinely overpowers him. It’s a case of the offense not fitting the character quite right. Bigelow dropkicks him over the rope, but it’s incidental. Barry fights back and tosses Bammer to the floor, injuring his knee. Bigelow knocks him down and slingshots into a splash, but he wants to end it with the diving headbutt. It backfires, of course, as Windham moves out of the way and hits the flying lariat. Barry lays in some more punishment and applies the Claw. Windham decides to let it go and slams him, but Bigelow rolls out of the way of an elbow. Bammer misses a swing, and both men go to the floor off a Windham crossbody. Bigelow misses a charge and posts himself, giving Windham the lame countout victory at 16:13. Both of these guys are capable of great matches. Just not with each other. This was a smidge above average. **1/4 NWA World Tag Titles: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) vs. Dusty Rhodes & Sting. The Roadies turned on Dusty Rhodes, somehow convinced Sting that they had nothing against him, turned on Sting, and beat the Midnight Express for the titles. Well, who else would be the logical challengers? It should be noted that Rhodes’ blade job when the Roadies turned on him was one of the things that made him fall out of favor with management and led to him leaving for the WWF a few months later. The Roadies are still mighty popular, so the heel turn didn’t really stick for very long. Sting dominates early, showing with his exuberance why he was the easy choice to take the mantle from Flair. The Roadies come back and try to rip out Dusty’s eyeball. Sting gets the hot tag and hits Animal with the Stinger Splash. Sting hits Hawk with a crossbody off the top. ONE, TWO, THRE-Ellering pulls the ref out of the ring to save the titles by DQ at 11:17. Great match, all things considered. A better finish would have helped, though. **** NWA World Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair (w/JJ Dillon) vs. Lex Luger. Luger had been chasing the Horsemen since being turfed from the group almost one year earlier. This would be the big blowoff. Luger turns Flair into his bitch for at least ten minutes straight. I mean Flair gets absolutely no offense of consequence. Any time he does get something going, Lex no-sells it and goes back to what he was doing. Mostly, he winds up working over Flair’s arm with armbars and hammerlocks for reasons I’m not quite certain of because Luger doesn’t have any big arm submission moves in his repertoire, nor is he a “defensive” wrestler. A clothesline kills Flair dead, but he gets his shoulder up at the last second. Luger finally misses a charge around 13 minutes in, allowing Flair to take over. Flair tosses Luger into the railing and stomps on his gut. Luger fires back and applies a sleeper, but Flair backdrops him to counter. Luger gets a close two off a superplex and locks in the figure-four leglock. Flair makes the ropes, and Tommy Young gets bumped on a backswing. Flair tosses Luger over the top ropes, which would be a DQ and title loss, but Young is busy jawing with JJ Dillon. Luger stays on top, pummeling Flair in the corner. FLAIR FLIP! PRESS SLAM! Luger powerslams him and signals for the Rack, but JJ hops up on the apron and distracts Young long enough for Flair to smash Luger’s knee with a chair. Flair clips the knee and slaps on the figure-four! Luger reverses the hold. Flair lets loose and goes back to the knee, but Luger catches him on top and slams him off. See, now what could Flair possibly hope to accomplish up there? Luger goes all “Hogan” on his ass and hits a clothesline for two. A powerslam gets two and sets up the Torture Rack, but his knee buckles, and Flair lands on top with his feet on the ropes for good measure at 31:02. Epic storytelling and great work from both men. Perfect finish too for what they were going for. I’m not sure why Flair didn’t just put Luger over here with it being the biggest show of the year. That’s one area where Vince walked all over the NWA in the 1980s — giving the fans what they wanted at the big show. Maybe Luger’s best ever. ****1/2

The 411: Say what you will about Dusty's booking, he knew how to put the right people in the right places at the right time. The Horsemen were one of the hottest things in wrestling, and the Midnight Express/Midnight Express feud was very well-booked. With the exception of a few matches, this was a highly entertaining show. Thumbs up.
Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]