(Retro) Six Minutes - April 3, 2005

Six Minutes - April 3, 2005
by Doug Maynard

It's early on a Sunday morning. I really need to be
sleeping. Today is a big day and I just got off work
from a crazy night on 3rd shift just a couple of hours
ago. I need to be sleeping, but I can't!

Because I've got Wrestlemania 21 on the brain. We're
just a few hours away from the biggest show of the
year for the WWE. It's the Super Bowl of Wrestling..
and I'm excited and ready.

But I'm not going to talk about Wrestlemania this
morning. There will be plenty of time for that in the
future. I want instead, to reminisce about the true
"Granddaddy of 'em all"... Starcade.

A good two years before Vince McMahon and the WWF
decided to hold an annual "super show" called
Wrestlemania, the folks at Jim Crockett Promotions and
the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) had the idea for
a Thanksgiving tradition... a show highlighting the
best of the best.. and that, my friends, was Starcade
83, also known as "A Flair For The Gold".

Here's a little piece of trivia for everyone. Two
years before they helped make Wrestlemania and the WWE
household names, new WWE Hall of Fame Inductees Roddy
Piper and "Cowboy" Bob Orton were very much a part of
Starcade 83. Piper wrestled Greg "The Hammer"
Valentine in a brutal dog-collar match that is still
talked about today.. and despite taking a brutal
beating (and bleeding profusely from the ear).. Piper
managed to make history and capture the United States
Championship.

As for Orton, he teamed with "Dirty" Dick Slater to
defeat Chief Wahoo McDaniel and Mark Youngblood on
that historic first card.. and was also a part of the
action leading up to the main event between Ric Flair
and NWA Champion Harley Race. Orton and Slater were
Race's designated "bounty hunters" who tried to put
Flair out of wrestling before he could get his title
match against Race. They tried their best and put
Flair on the shelf for a while, but their best wasn't
good enough and Flair obviously overcame the odds and
went on to win the NWA World Championship for the
second of an eventual nine times.

This morning, I just want to take a look back at all
of the Starcades.. and just reminisce a bit about the
highs and lows of what I feel was, in it's time, the
best damn wrestling show ever. No disrespect intended
to Wrestlemania - it's truly the big event every year
without fail now, but without the efforts of Ric
Flair, Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes, The Briscos,
Steamboat and Youngblood, and so many others who bled,
sweat and payed the price for Starcade 83 and 84....
there would probably never have been a Wrestlemania.
I've been lucky in that, through the magic of video
and PPV's, I've been lucky to see every Starcade from
the first in 1983 to the last one in 2000. Some were
good - some were not... but all made an impact. Let's
take a look back at what was causing all this.. the
best thing going for a long, long time.

1983 - Starcade - "A Flair For The Gold" - Greensboro,
NC.

This was the one that started it all. After months of
fighting off bounty hunters, dealing with injuries,
and considering retirement, the former NWA Champion,
Ric Flair was getting his long awaited rematch against
Harley Race.. and it's in the cage. Plus, new heels
Jack and Jerry Brisco defend the NWA Tag Team Titles
against Rick Steamboat and Jay Youngblood. Two
awesome matches that took place inside the cage.
Roddy PIper and Greg Valentine took their feud over
the U.S. title to a new level of brutality with the
dog-collar match I mentioned earlier. It was just an
awesome card from start to finish. If you don't
believe me, look at who was part of the undercard -
Johnny Weaver, Kevin Sullivan, Carlos Colon, Abdullah
the Butcher, The Assassins, Kabuki, Jimmy Valiant,
Mark Lewin, Bugsy McGraw. In a world new to
super-cards and big time events, the folks at Crockett
did everything right with this first show. It was a
doozy and one of the best ever.

Starcade 84 - Greensboro, NC.

I think this one was called "The Gathering". A good
card with a lot of names, but nothing really stands
out for this event. The main event was a NWA
Championship match with Ric Flair defending against
Dusty Rhodes, who just happened to be the new booker
for Crockett at the time of the show. This match is
famous for the "Dusty-Finish" where special referee
Joe Fraizer stopped the match because of a cut on
Dusty's head.

Starcade 85 - Atlanta, GA and Greensboro, NC

The first of two attempts to run two shows as one big
show, What stands out most for me about this show is
Ronnie Garvin, the future NWA Champion, wearing a
dress and teaming with Jimmy Valiant in a streetfight
against The Midnight Express. Arn Anderson made his
Starcade debut in a tag team match with Ole Anderson
against Wahoo McDaniel and Billy Jack Haynes.
Abdullah the Butcher was back for a bloodfest against
Manny Fernandez. And Dusty Rhodes defeated Ric Flair
for the NWA Championship. The decision was later
overturned. The Rock & Roll Express defeated The
Russians to win the NWA Tag Team Titles... and Magnum
TA defeated Tully Blancard in a classic match to win
Tully's U.S. title.

Starcade 1986 - Greensboro, NC and Atlanta, GA (Night
of the Skywalkers)

Two shows in two different cities again. They hadn't
learned from the previous years fiasco. The
highlights of this show, for me, were the Rock & Roll
Express beating the Andersons and Tully Blancard
defeating Dusty Rhodes to win the NWA Television
Championship. A Scaffold match took place pitting the
Road Warriors (with Paul Ellering) against The
Midnight Express (with Jim Cornette). I don't
remember too much of the match, but I do remember
Cornette falling from the scaffold and injuring his
leg. Also, Ric Flair took on Nikita Koloff in a
defense of the NWA Championship.

Starcade 1987 - Chicago, IL

The NWA's first attempt at PPV, although it may have
been WCW by now. I'm not sure. Another scaffold match
was on the bill as the Rock and Roll Express defeated
The Midnight Express. Tully Blancard and Arn Anderson
(The Horsemen) wrestled against the Road Warriors.
Dusty Rhodes beat Lex Luger to win the U.S. title.
And Ric Flair defeated Ronnie Garvin in the cage to
regain his NWA World Championship that he had lost to
Garvin a couple of months earlier.

Starcade 88 - Norfolk, VA

It was definitely WCW at this point. A rather bland
card with a lot of star-power and names, but nothing
really stands out for me on this show. Ric Flair
carried Lex Luger to a thirty minute match and
defended his title in the main event. Oh yeah -
Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane (The Midnight Express)
defeated Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose (The Original
Midnight Express) in a classic tag match to climax
their feud over the Midnight Express name. I think
Dusty was still the booker at this point, although Ole
may have been. It was one of them.

Starcade 89 - Atlanta, GA

This was colossal bomb of a show. Instead of several
great matches, the show featured Singles and Tag Team
round-robin matches where the wrestlers were awarded
points. The Road Warriors won the tag team "Iron Man"
events by defeating The Steiners, The Samoans & Doom.
Sting won the singles "Iron Man" competition by
beating Lex Luger, Ric Flair and The Great Muta.

Starcade 1990 - St. Louis, MO

Two things stand out about this show. A helluva
street-fight between the teams of Doom (Ron Simmons &
Butch Reed) versus Arn Anderson & Barry Windham. This
ended in a no-contest. Plus, the end of the infamous
"Black Scorpion" storyline.. where the Scorpion was
unmasked by NWA Champion Sting and revealed to be Ric
Flair. Also, a tag team tournament was held - the Pat
O'Conner Invitational - with the Steiners taking home
the win.

Starcade 1991 - Norfolk, VA

The first Starcade wihout Ric Flair. He was in the
WWF at this point, having been fired/quit a few months
earlier in July by a moron named Jim Herd. This was
"The Lethal Lottery" where wrestlers are picked at
random and made to team. This was the WCW PPV debut's
of Jushin Liger and Bryan Clark (as the Nightstalker).
Sting beat Lex Luger to win the big battle royal at
the end of the night.

Starcade 1992 - Atlanta, GA

It's "The Lethal Lottery" again, bu tat least this
time, there were some additional matches as well. NWA
Champion Masa Chono beat The Great Muta. Ron Simmons
defended the WCW Championship against "Dr. Death"
Steve Williams. Sting beat Vader in the finals of the
"King of Cable" tournament. And Muta won the big
"Lethal Lottery" event, defeating Barry Windham in the
end.

Starcade 1993 - Charlotte, NC

It's back to basics and a return to greatness for WCW
and Starcade as Ric Flair makes his return to his
show.. and took on Vader in a brutally stiff match to
regain the WCW World Championship. Also making an
impact was an up-and-comer named Steve Austin who
defeated U.S. Champion Dustin Rhodes 2 out of 3 falls
to capture the WCW United States Championship.

Starcade 1994 - Nashville, TN

WCW decided they had Hulk Hogan and didn't need Ric
Flair. They put Hogan and his long-time flunkie, Ed
Leslie in the main event. As you may have guessed,
the show sucked. But this show is notable for the WCW
PPV debut of a young man named Jean Paul LeVeque, who
lost a match to Alex Wright. LeVeque is known better
these days as WWE World Champion Triple H. Also, Mr.
T. showed up and got a win over Kevin Sullivan.
Flunky-mania runs rampant in the WCW.

Starcade 1995 - Nashville, TN

This show is notable for the inter-promotional battles
between wrestlers from New Japan Pro Wrestling and WCW
over the "World Cup of Wrestling". There were some
fantastic matches and the show had a real
international feel to it. WCW beat New Japan 4-3 to
win the "World Cup". Also, Ric Flair rose once again
to the top of the promotion, beating Lex Luger and
Sting in a triangle match and then going on to defeat
Randy Savage to capture the WCW World Championship -
which I believe was Flair's 10th.

Starcade 1996 - Nashville, TN

Akira Hokuto defeated Madusa to become the new WCW
Woman's Champion. That title didn't last for long.
Ultimo Dragon and Dean Malenko has a great match for
the Cruiserweight title. The Outsiders beat Meng &
The Barbarian. Eddie Guerrero won the U.S title by
beating Dallas Page. Roddy Piper used a sleeper to
beat WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan in a non-title
match. My question is still this... why would the
main event of the biggest show of the year...
involving the World Champion... be a non-title match.
I guess only when it's Hogan.

Starcade 1997 - Washington, DC

Bret Hart made his WCW debut, acting as the special
referee between nWo boss Eric Bischoff and "The Living
Legend" Larry Zbyszko. Goldberg began to make a big
impact with a win over Steve "Mongo" McMichael. DDP
beat Curt Hennig to win the U.S. title.. and Sting
beat Hulk Hogan to win the WCW title in a messed-up
fiasco finish. Hogan pinned Sting. Bret Hart came
out and claimed the count (by nWo referee Nick
Patrick) was fast. It wasn't. Bret nailed Patrick and
restarted the match. Sting then won. It effectively
destroyed Sting's credibility by winning the title
like that...

Starcade 1998 - Washington, DC

Two things stand out. Eric Bischoff beat Ric Flair
after being handed brass knucks by Curt Hennig. Ric
would get revenge the next night on Nitro, but this
night was a slap in the face to the legacy of the
"Nature Boy". And "the streak" and WCW World Title
reign of Bill Goldberg was ended by "Big Sexy" Kevin
Nash (along with a little help from Scott Hall and a
stun-gun).

Starcade 1999 - Washington, DC

Nothing stands out too much on this cluster-f*ck of a
show. I take that back. Madusa beat Evan Karagias to
win the Cruiserweight Championship. Kevin Nash beat
Sid Vicious in a "power-bomb match"... and Bret Hart
and Bill Goldberg had a fantastic match that ended
when Roddy Piper stopped the match and tried to award
it to his friend, Bret Hart, via the orders of Vince
Russo.

Starcade 2000 - Washington, DC

The final Starcade. The strong points for this event
was probably the Six-Man ladder match with Three Count
defeating The Jung Dragons. Terry Funk beat Norman
Smiley to win the Hardcore title. Kevin Nash and
Dallas Page (The Insiders) beat Chuck Palumbo and
Shawn Stasiak to win the WCW World Tag Team titles.
WCW Champion Scott Steiner beat Sid Vicious to retain
his title.

A lot of memories. Some good matches. Some not so
good matches, but still... Starcade is gone now, but
never forgotten. The WWE needs to resurrect this PPV
- the name anyhow, and pay homage to the event that
really started it all. Since a tribute to ECW is in
the works with a PPV coming in June, wouldn't it be
feasible to have a WCW tribute PPV too at some time in
the future? If the ECW PPV makes money for the WWE...
and we know it will, why not do a WCW tribute show as
well.. and what better name than Starcade?

Anyhow, I just wanted to take the trip down
memory-road for a few hours this morning. Now, let's
get back to the future. I want to make a prediction
about the extra match added to the Wrestlemania PPV
tonight. And recap my earlier predictions as well.

The new match - a 30 man Battle Royal with 15 stars
from Smackdown and 15 stars from Raw. No idea what
the winner receives, but still, it gives the undercard
wrestlers a chance to be on Wrestlemania and make some
bucks.. so it's cool. My prediction for the winner...
if he doesn't end up wrestling against Hulk Hogan in
an unscheduled match - it'll be Mohammad Hassan
winning the Battle Royal. If Hassan ends up in a
match, then the winner of the Battle Royal will be
Carlito Caribbean Cool. And yeah - that'll be cool.

As for the rest of the matches, my predictions are:

Batista beats HHH to win the World Championship.
JBL over John Cena to retain the WWE Championship.
Christian wins the "Money In The Bank" ladder match
over Edge, Benoit, Shelton, Y2J & Kane.
Trish beats Christy to retain the Women's title.
Kurt Angle over HBK.
No Contest between The Big Show and Akebono.
The Undertaker keeps the streak alive and takes down
Randy Orton.
Rey Mysterio "cheats to win" and gets the pin on Eddie
Guerrero.

And I guess that will do it for this morning. I'm
going to bed now. Remember, Wrestlemania 21 is just a
few hours away. I'm going to a friend's house tonight
to watch the PPV.. and then it's on to work for me to
do the 3rd shift thingee tonight (and I'm going to be
a tired and grouchy son-of-a-gun so customers, watch
out!). But I'll try and get a recap of my thoughts of
the PPV up later in the week.

Pope John Paul II and Terri Schiavo - Rest In Peace

I'm Doug and I'm outta here. Questions and comments -
drop me a line at Doug28352@yahoo.com. See ya next
time. Have a great day!