The Name on the Marquee: 3rd Annual Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup (04.22-23.88)

-So here’s an NWA supercard consisting of 24 matches held over the course of two days. Naturally, in the pre-DVD era, this would be a gigantic pain in the ass to release to the home video market, so we have to settle for two hours of selected and mostly incomplete matches. Oh well.

-But first, COMING ATTRACTIONS! Starrcade ’86, Crockett Cup ’87, Starrcade ’87, Great American Bash ’87, and The Danger Zone, all now available on home video. Okay, this sounds like a minor area to offer a compliment, but here’s where Jim Crockett’s marketing department absolutely beat the shit out of Vince McMahon’s: Home video ads. Whereas the WWF previews for Coliseum Video would either be (a) a plain list of upcoming titles, (b) a 20-second promo from a wrestler basically saying “Buy this video,” or (c) a brief clip of a match, these previews are slickly produced with narration, music, well-edited highlights and graphics, all assembled to just punch you in the face and scream “You need to buy these videos!”

-And don’t forget, order these videos now and receive the NWA 1988 calendar, featuring oiled-up beefcake shots of Dr. Death and Jimmy Garvin…uh, as well as bikini shots of Missy Hyatt. You can’t do both of those for the same calendar, guys. You just can’t.

-And now our feature presentation.

-We start with night one of the tournament, April 22, 1988. We’re in Greenville, SC.

ROUND ONE: “The Boogie Woogie Man” JIMMY VALIANT & WILBUR vs. DICK MURDOCH & IVAN KOLOFF
-It’s actually The Mighty Wilbur, but the graphic just identifies him as “Wilbur” and that amuses me so much that I’m going to stick with it.

-Wilbur starts with Koloff. Koloff gets shoved down to start. Murdoch tags in and tries a top wristlock. Wilbur is too mighty so Koloff runs in and applies a top wristlock to his other arm. Wilbur overpowers both of them and both opponents get knocked to the mat.

-Valiant & Koloff square off. Backdrop by Valiant, then a right hand. Murdoch tags in and takes control with a high knee and an elbow. Right hand by Murdoch. Koloff comes off the top rope to work the arm. Valiant makes a comeback and tags Wilbur back in. Clothesline by Wilbur. Clothesline by Valiant. Valiant bounces off the ropes and Murdoch sneaks over and hits him with a knee to the back. Koloff takes advantage with a clothesline to get the three-count immediately. What is this, the Survivor Series? 0 for 1.

ROUND ONE: “Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS & RON SIMMONS vs. VARSITY CLUB (with Kevin Sullivan)
-Jim Ross is a happy man on commentary. All four men have detailed collegiate backgrounds so he has just unlimited fodder to discuss.

-Williams gives Rotundo a right hand to start. Rick Steiner tags in and eats a slam. Williams goes for a series of tackles. He can only connect with one, then crashes into the turnbuckles. Right hand, left hand, right hand by Steiner. Backdrop by Steiner. Williams bounces right back up and drills him with a clothesline. Williams & Simmons double-team Steiner in the corner. Simmons, who is easily in the best shape I’ve ever seen him in for this match, gets the advantage until Steiner goes to the eyes. Bodyslam and an elbow by Rotundo get two.

-Simmons fights back with fists. Side headlock grounds Rotundo. Rotundo sends Simmons into the ropes and takes a shoulderblock. Tackle by Simmons gets two. Rotundo makes the tag while being pinned, which is impressive. Steiner chokes away and the Varsity Club trades off distracting the referee and choking Simmons. Four-man brawl erupts and Williams fights off the Club all by himself while Simmons battles it out with Sullivan on the floor.

-…Oops. Simmons is the legal man, so the referee counts him out. Varsity Club wins. 0 for 2. Everybody was just doing the spots they wanted to get in until we arrived at the finish.

ROUND TWO: KENDALL WINDHAM & ITALIAN STALLION vs. ARN ANDERSON & TULLY BLANCHARD (with J.J. Dillon)
-Arn & Tully received a bye to Round Two, while Kendall & the Stallion advanced via forfeit when one of their first-round opponents no-showed. God, I feel like this is a tournament I would have announced for at a field house back in West Virginia.

-Windham slams Tully down. They trade hammerlocks and Windham wins that battle. Tully makes the tag, Arn sprints him and gets armdragged right into an armbar. Arn fights to his feet and slams Kendall, but Kendall hangs onto his arm to keep working it over. Stallion tags in and tease double-teaming, but the faces think better of it and Windham steps out without incident.

-Stallion works the arm until Arn slugs him. Tully tags in and walks right into a series of right hands. Windham tags back in and now they trap Tully in the corner to work him over. Tully gets the upper hand back with an elbow, but gets cradled quickly for two. Arn hauls ass back in and hits a spinebuster. Windham gets to his feet and throws punches to daze Arn long enough for him to make a tag. Stallion cleans house and slams Arn for two. He goes for a backdrop, but Arn counters with a DDT to get the three-count out of nowhere. 1 for 3. Here’s a match that finally got me sucked into the show, with an actual story. Faces work the arm and try to be nice guys, Arn & Tully show aggression so they get aggressive right back. I liked it.

ROUND TWO: ROAD WARRIORS (with Paul Ellering) vs. JIVE TONES
-The Jive Tones are Shaska Whatley & Tiger Conway, Jr. If the name puzzles you, it should be noted that they’re both black. So…there you go. Road Warriors also skipped Round One, while the Jive Tones advanced by defeating Rocky King & Nelson Royal.

-Animal starts with Whatley. Series of punches are no-sold by Animal. He hits a big shoulderblock. Conway comes in and they double-team Animal in the corner until Animal shoves both of them away. Hawk & Conway tag in. Hawk press-slams him and in steps Animal. Conway chops and clubs him. Whatley comes back in and they go for a double-Russian legsweep. Animal just shoves both of them off and hits Whatley flush on the jaw with a dropkick. Flying tackle by Hawk and a donnybrook erupts. In the midst of it, Hawk goes up top and takes Whatley’s head off with a clothesline for three. 1 for 4. SQUAAAAAAASSSSSHHHH.

ROUND TWO: FANTASTICS vs. LARRY ZYBYSKO & AL PEREZ (with Gary Hart)
-The Fantastics are yet another team that skipped Round One, while Zybysko & Perez’s competition included a jobber subbing for Shane Douglas, who quit a few days before the show.

-Perez starts off with forearms to Tommy Rogers. He tries an atomic drop, but Rogers flips around behind him and charges. Larry knees him in the back from the apron. Rogers bounces up and Larry tries a backdrop. Rogers lands on his feet and connects with a dropkick. Fantastics work the arm. Larry tries a slam and Fulton holds onto the arm until Larry makes the tag to get free.

-Perez backs Bobby Fulton into the corner and tries an Irish whip, but Fulton holds onto his arm and just yanks him forward so he lands on his face, which actually looks cooler than the usual Irish whip reversal. Forearms by Perez to start a comeback. Fulton tries a flying bodypress from the second rope, but Perez counters by making it a backdrop.

-Larry tags in and eats a HARD right hand by Fulton. That pisses him off, so he brings Perez back in for double-teaming. They try a double-backdrop, and Fulton cradles Larry while Rogers dropkicks Perez out of the ring, and without his partner to help him, Larry stays down for the three-count. 2 for 5. Another good match where they got some good storytelling crammed into a short period of time. Not to mention I saw some counters & reversals for stuff here that nobody does and might be worth bringing back.

ROUND TWO: LEX LUGER & STING (with Magnum TA) vs. DICK MURDOCH & IVAN KOLOFF (with Paul Jones)
-Okay, there was actually an angle to set this up, and what’s weird is, they’re re-arranging the order of the matches on this tape and we’ll see the angle AFTER this match. Crowd reaction for the faces is that insane, passionate reaction that ceased to exist some time around 1990.

-Luger backdrops Koloff and hiptosses him across the ring. Dropkick sends Koloff out to the floor. Koloff steps back in and locks up. Luger boots him and press-slams him. Sting tags in and works the arm. Koloff backs him into the corner and the heels double-team Sting, but Sting simply ducks out and saves himself. Well, that’s a different outcome than we’re used to.

-Murdoch tags in and takes an elbow to the sniffer. Bodyslam by Sting. Murdoch fires back and Sting gets double-teamed again. Murdoch takes advantage of a little distraction to strangle Sting with the Russian chain. Koloff chokes Sting and Murdoch attacks Sting’s throat with elbows across the apron. Murdoch brings a chair into the mix and attacks the back. Inside, Sting is able to reverse an Irish whip and hits the Stinger splash. Instead of going for a tag, Sting tries for a figure four. Koloff interferes to break it, and that triggers a four-man brawl on the floor.

-Heels get the better end of it and Murdoch brings Sting back up to the apron to slam him back inside, but Sting hangs onto Murdoch and rolls him over for a cradle, and that gets the three-count. 3 for 6. Good match, so it gets a point, but you know what the real treat was here? Sting & Luger were the emerging Next Big Things for the company and EVERYBODY—the fans and the commentators could see it and they supported it. And it wasn’t like when a promotion just sees potential and blindly pushes the living fuck out of the guys because of that potential. It was like a mutually-agreed-upon arrangement. Jim Crockett was holding these guys up and asking “Do you like these guys?” The fans gave an overwhelming response, and they were pushed accordingly. It’s fun to watch stars emerge, and to watch them emerge for the right reasons.

ROUND TWO: MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (with Jim Cornette) vs. SHEEPHERDERS (with Rip Morgan)
-Midnight Express is yet another team that skipped Round One, while the Sheepherders defeated the Cruel Connection in Round One, and then defeated the Lightning Express is Round Two. Wait…let me check that again…Yes, the Sheepherders already wrestled in Round Two. They’re wrestling three times in two rounds of the tournament while four tag teams received first-round byes. Instead of awarding a cup, I think the trophy for the show should have been a little statue of Jim Crockett throwing his arms in the air and shrugging, with a little plaque underneath reading “You know, I just don’t know anymore.”

-It’s a four-man brawl right off the bat. Once we get it down to one-on-one, Lane clotheslines Luke to get an early two-count. Eaton tags in and gets a two-count of his own. Sheepherders double-team him. Butch chokes him and sends him out to the floor. He rams Eaton into the barricade before Lane comes to his aid. A brawl erupts on the floor and the Sheepherders get the better end of that. Elbow by Butch gets one when the referee is blocked off by…Luke. What the hell?

-Rip Morgan, the Sheepherders’ cornerman, distracts the referee while Butch attempts to get the pin. Eaton sneaks in and KOs Butch, and Stan Lane rolls over and gets the three-count from that. I am confused. 3 for 7.

PRINCE OF DARKNESS MATCH: JIMMY GARVIN (with Precious) vs. KEVIN SULLIVAN (with Rick Steiner)
-Garvin immediately traps Sullivan in the corner and lays into him with kneelifts and punches. Sullivan ducks down and gets away. Jimmy waves his finger around to get help from the fans finding Sullivan. Sullivan finds him first and sweeps his legs. They make contact again and Garvin hammers him until Sullivan gets away.

-Garvin looks for Sullivan again and Steiner reaches in and taps Garvin on the leg to confuse him. Sullivan slugs Garvin, Garvin recovers and cradles him quickly for the three-count. 3 for 8. Live crowd loved being part of the match, but watching it on video, you have little to get into.

-Post-match, Steiner attacks the still-blindfolded Garvin. Ron Garvin runs in to make the save, and Sullivan drives a golden spike into his chest, injuring him. Garvin was supposed to be Sting’s partner for the tournament, but had to drop out, which led Sting to recruiting Lex Luger.

BUNKHOUSE STAMPEDE FINALS
-And now, for no adequately-explored reason, we look at the main event of the ill-fated Bunkhouse Stampede in January 1988. It’s a battle royal in a steel cage. In the ring are Dusty Rhodes, Ivan Koloff, Powers of Pain, Lex Luger, Leguin of Doom, Arn Anderson, and Tully Blanchard.

-Powers double-team Animal while Dusty grinds Koloff’s forehead with a belt buckle. Koloff gets the belt away and cuts up Dusty’s arm with it, then chokes him. He ties Dusty’s arm to the ropes and works him over with help from the Barbarian. Meanwhile, Luger attacks Blanchard with some weapon of his own. Blanchard recovers and attacks Animal with a chokehold. Powers of Pain trade off getting hard chops on Lex Luger.

-Arn is straddling the top of the cage and hanging on. Meanwhile, Tully Blanchard is strangling Ivan Koloff with his belt and trying to yank Ivan out the door. Koloff somehow winds up on top of the cage, and Hawk hammers him until he falls off and hits the floor. The clever thing they’re doing here, and I can’t tell if this is editing or good directing, is that you never see how these guys wind up on top of the cage. They keep cutting to guys hanging up there after they’ve already wound up there, so you don’t see what is presumably a lot of cooperation from the “victim.”

-Animal kicks the Warlord out through the door, but loses his footing and stumbles out himself. Lex gets Tully in the torture rack. Tully grabs onto the cage and yanks himself away. Arn comes over and chokes out Lex, then hits a gourdbuster. Barbarian gnaws on Dusty’s arm while Arn & Tully try to use Luger’s body as a battering ram to send him out of the cage. Luger kicks both of them away and throws punches to fight off both of them. All three of them are brawling right in the open door. That brawl goes for a while until everybody falls out of the ring and onto the floor.

-That leaves Dusty & Barbarian. Half of a tag team NEVER wins a battle royal, people. Paul Jones passes something to Barbarian and Dusty gets walloped with it. Barbarian goes to the top and connects with a diving headbutt. Barbarian tries to roll Dusty out through the door. Dusty punches and elbows his way back into the ring. Weird to see Dick Kroll and Earl Hebner as acting referees for this match. This pretty much has to be Earl’s last night on the job.

-Dusty rams the Barbarian into the turnbuckle, and then they both climb the ropes, go to the top of the cage, and lean over it. I think wrestling might not be real, everybody. Dusty hoists Barbarian so he straddles the cage. Elbow causes Barbarian to fall over, but he hangs on a little bit longer. Dusty punches him once more, and Barbarian falls off and hits the floor. Dusty wins the Bunkhouse Stampede to become Bull of the Woods and receives a gigantic cowboy boot for a trophy. Everything I’ve just typed should never be written about a show taking place in NEW YORK FUCKING CITY. 4 for 9. Okay, to my shock, I was entertained by this, I really was. But, oh, that finish.

-We move onto night two of the tournament, April 23, 1988, in Greensboro, NC.

ROUND THREE: ROAD WARRIORS (with Paul Ellering) vs. POWERS OF PAIN (with Paul Jones & Ivan Koloff)
-Earlier in the year, the Warriors/Powers feud had kickstarted in this same venue. Crowd is AMPED for this as a result.

-Barbarian boots Animal. Animal fires back with a powerslam and Barbarian goes to the floor to recover. Back inside, the Powers go for a double-clothesline but Animal knocks both of them off their feet. Barbarian heads back inside and gets clotheslined right back out to the floor. Hawk follows him out and drives Barbarian facefirst into the stairs, then lobs the stairs right into Barbarian’s face.

-Back in, Warlord gets into the match and gets dropkicked down. Elbow by Hawk. Barbarian tries to help and accidentally elbows his own partner. The Powers manage to get a clothesline on Hawk to turn the tide. Legdrop by Warlord gets two. Barbarian heads back in and drives a boot into the face of Hawk for two. Hawk gets tossed to the floor, where Warlord and Koloff do a little additional damage. Barbarian hits Hawk’s leg with a chair. Hawk no-sells it, then rolls back in to eat a powerslam from Barbarian. Warlord heads back in and clamps on a bearhug.

-Hawk gets free but Warlord applies a full nelson. Low kick by Hawk breaks it and Warlord tags out. Barbarian clamps on his own bearhug. Warlord holds up Hawk for a clothesline from the Barbarian, but they’re a heel team so you know how that works out. Animal tags in and dropkicks Barbarian. Powerslam and a high tackle by Animal. Barbarian ducks away from another clothesline and Animal accidentally KOs the referee. Brawl erupts from there and a second referee comes in to count a pin for the Road Warriors. Even the commentators know what’s coming next and can’t even be bothered to pretend that the Warriors have won. “And our stand-by referee comes in and counts the pin and it appears that the Road Warriors have won but what’s this?” Tony says as if he’s falling asleep. Powers of Pain get the victory. 5 for 10. I was entertained by this, I really was, but oh, that finish.

-Something I’m starting to wonder about the Dusty Finish. When it got to the point when it was happening all the damn time, did Dusty have his own little term for it that he’d use and everyone would just immediately know what finish he wanted, or would be go into detail about what everybody was supposed to do and pretend like this was a new, original idea each time?

TEXAS BULLROPE MATCH: MIDNIGHT RIDER vs. J.J. DILLON
-Dusty got himself suspended for 90 days for attacking Jim Crockett earlier in the month, and suddenly, along came a mysterious rotund man in a mask calling himself the Midnight Rider.

-Dillon immediately throws powder into the Rider’s face, then rams the cowbell into Rider’s body. Dillon chokes Rider with the bullrope. Rider hits an elbow on Dillon. Dillon goes low with the cowbell and Dillon goes for the mask. Rider gets a low-blow of his own to stop that, then whacks JJ across the face with the cowbell. He grinds the bell across JJ’s face to open him up. I think that’s the brilliant thing about this match. You can blatantly blade on camera and it constitutes a spot on the match.

-Rider keeps whacking Dillon across the face with the bell and chokes him with the rope. Rider just keeps beating on JJ’s face & back with the bell until he’s out cold and Rider pins him easily. 6 for 11. For what this was, it was actually really fun. Post-match a HUGE masked man called The Texan runs in and attacks Rider. Steve Williams runs in and tries to make the save, but the Texan just beats the hell out of him. Rider winds up saving Williams (well, of COURSE he does) and clearing the ring. We never did find out who the Texan was.

SEMI-FINAL: LEX LUGER & STING (with Magnum TA) vs. POWERS OF PAIN (with Paul Jones)
-Sting dodges a blow from Warlord. Sting goes for a flying headscissors, but Warlord is so strong that he just stays upright. Barbarian tags in and chops Sting. Irish whip, but Sting hits the second rope and comes off with a bodypress. Meanwhile, on the floor, Magnum TA steals Paul Jones’ riding crop and whips him with it.

-Test of strength by Barbarian & Sting while JR just goes on and on and on about how young all four men are and what a bright future the NWA has. Monkeyflip by Sting, and he dropkicks Barbarian out to the floor. Back inside, Luger tags in and shoulderblocks Barbarian, then slams him. Arm wringer by Luger; Sting tags in and applies one of his own.

-Barbarian sends Sting into the ropes and powerslams him. Boot to the face by Barbarian, and Sting falls over the top and onto the floor. Bodyslam by Warlord. Elbow misses and Sting makes the tag to Luger. Luger cleans house and it’s a donnybrook. Warlord lifts Luger for a bodyslam, but Sting dashes over and dropkicks Warlord in the stomach. Warlord stumbles backward and Luger lands on top for the three-count. 7 for 12. Great energy from all four guys.

SEMI-FINALS: FANTASTICS vs. ARN ANDERSON & TULLY BLANCHARD (with J.J. Dillon)
-Tully starts with Rogers. They trade blows and atomic drops. Dropkick by Rogers and Tully goes to the wrong corner. He gets pinballed by the Fantastics and stumbles out to the floor. Back inside, he gets backdropped and rolls right back out to the floor.

-It takes a knee to the back from Arn on the apron to turn things around. Arn tags in and whips Fulton into the corner. Arn stays with the back and drives boots into Fulton. Fulton goes for a backslide, but Arn makes the tag while going down. Tully sneaks in and tosses Fulton out to the floor. He rams Fulton into the edge of the ring. Anderson hits a vicious clothesline. Fulton tries to get back in and gets pounded on the apron. He sunset flips Tully on his way back in and can only get two.

-Arn tags in and runs into right hands from Fulton. Tully & Arn double-team him in the corner to block the comeback. Inverted atomic drop by Tully. Abdominal stretch by Arn. Tully comes in and clamps on a chinlock. He yanks Fulton by the hair and drops him backfirst on the mat. Fulton’s had enough and rakes Tully’s eyes. Rully dashes over and tags Arn. Arn tries a backdrop and gets faceplanted.

-Hot tag to Rogers and he’s a house of proverbial fire. Dropkicks and punches abound until Arn KOs Tommy Rogers with “an illegal shoe” from JJ Dillon to get the win. 8 for 13. Good match, lame finish, that’s your theme for the night.

WORLD TITLE: RIC FLAIR (Champion, with Barry Windham) vs. NIKITA KOLOFF
-Barry has JUST joined the Horsemen and the heat for him is off the charts. It always fascinates me that this is the most famous and renowned incarnation of the Horsemen because this particular combo ended up lasting…what, four or five months?

-Hammerlock by Koloff to start. Flair drops down and drop-toeholds him to get free. Koloff rolls around and applies a hammerlock of his own. Flair gets to his feet and Koloff turns it into a wristlock. Flair tries a boot and Koloff no-sells it. Right hands in the corner by Koloff. Flair hangs onto Nikita and hits an inverted atomic drop. Kneedrop by Flair. Another one misses. Nikita yanks him into the corner and whips Flair’s leg into the post. Figure four by Koloff. Flair makes the ropes. He tries to hide in the corner, but Nikita London bridges him and keeps working the leg. He hurts himself in the process somehow and Flair capitalizes.

-Flair takes the fight to the floor and tries to ram Koloff into the post. Koloff blocks and reverses, then sends Flair into the barricade. You bet Flair’s busted open. More punching by Koloff. Right hands and chops by by Flair to try to get something going, but Koloff just punches him back down. More punching by Koloff, and then some biting. Koloff accidentally elbows the referee down…Wait, they’re going to do the Dusty Finish twice in the same show?

-No, it’s a false alarm, Tommy Young allows the match to continue. Kicks by Flair, but a Russian sickle by Koloff sends Flair over the top and onto the floor. Koloff tries to suplex back in, but Flair blocks it and makes it back in on his own. Clothesline by Nikita gets two. He charges at Flair and Flair tosses Koloff over the top rope to get disqualified. 9 for 14. Flair’s “broomstick formula” makes it a keeper.

CROCKETT CUP FINALS: LEX LUGER & STING (with Magnum TA) vs. ARN ANDERSON & TULLY BLANCHARD (with JJ Dillon)
-Luger singlehandedly clears the ring. Side headlock is clamped onto Arn. Arn tries to overpower Luger to break it, but that doesn’t work. Luger lifts him with a choke and tosses Arn into the corner, then dropkicks him out of the ring. Horsemen get into an argument with the referee about what constitutes a legal tag, and the commentators note that it’s actually a brilliant little ploy for Arn to get some extra resting time.

-Tully tags in and winds up getting his arm worked over by both opponents. Press slam by Sting. Tully goes to the wrong corner and gets triple-teamed by Luger, Sting, and Magnum. Sting & Luger switch off without tagging, beating the Horsemen to the punch with illegal tactics. Luger keeps working the arm of Arn Anderson. Luger even does a Horsemen-like block of an attempted tag with a punch to Tully’s face.

-Sting tags in and tries a Stinger splash, but Tully yanks him out of the way. He throws Sting over the top rope and drives him into the barricade. Back inside, backbreaker by Tully gets two. He rips and pulls and Sting’s face and chokes him. Arn chokes Sting with the tag rope. He tags in and hits the spinebuster on Sting for two. Tully throws punches and atomic drops Sting right into Arn Anderson’s knee. Arn tries to do some stomping, but Sting catches and holds the boot.

-Sting gets to his feet and clotheslines Arn down. Tully tags in and Sting connects with the Stinger splash. He goes for the scorpion deathlock. Tully tags out while in the hold and Anderson clotheslines Sting down. DDT gets two. JR & Tony get into a neat discussion about possible statistics that you could keep if you wanted to “score” a tag team match.

-Hot tag to Luger and he goes to town until falling victim to a spinebuster for two. It’s a four-man brawl and Magnum hooks Anderson’s leg to trip him up. Arn goes after Magnum and Luger sneaks up behind Arn and rolls him up for three to win the tournament, and…one MILLION dollars. 10 for 15. Good story here, with the ex-Horseman knowing exactly what his ex-friends would try and consistently beating them to it.

-End of show. Off to Game Show Utopia.

The 411: Well, here's what you're dealing with if you're trying to make up your mind. The wrestling is good, but you have to contend with a bunch of abrupt finishes that don't make any sense. So if good finishes are important to you, pass it. If you just care about good matches, it's a keeper.
Final Score:  6.6   [ Average ]