The SmarK Rant for NWA Crockett Cup 87 Night Two – 04.11.87

The SmarK Rant for NWA Crockett Cup 87 Night Two – 04.11.87

Originally written 12.19.25

Taped from Baltimore, MD, drawing 13,000.

Your host is Tony Schiavone

Quarterfinals: Brad & Bob Armstrong (unseeded) v. Tully Blanchard & Lex Luger (#8)

Brad takes Tully down with a hiptoss and Tully immediately claims a back injury and backs off. Brad slugs away in the corner and gets another hiptoss before taking him down with a headscissors and sending him to the floor. Back in the ring, Brad works a headlock on Tully and then escapes an atomic drop attempt before smoothly taking him down with an armdrag. Over to Bullet Bob and he also works the arm, and it’s back to Brad as they isolate Tully in the corner and Brad gets two. The Armstrongs do some cheeky cheating behind the ref’s back and hold the armbar, while Tully struggles for the tag and the ref gets distracted by Bob and misses the tag to Luger. They keep hauling Tully back to the corner and beating on him, but Tully finally weasels his way over to the corner and brings in Lex at 10:00 into the match, drawing a giant reaction from the crowd. Lex overpowers Brad and draws a huge pop for that, since he was the NEW HOTNESS there in 1987 and all over PWI. Lex and Brad do another lockup and Brad takes him down this time, so Lex bails and the crowd is equally excited about that. Back in, it’s over to Tully, and Brad hits him with a missile dropkick for two, but then Brad gets thrown over the top behind the ref’s back and the Horsemen take over while Bob is GRAVELY OFFENDED at the injustice here. Tully gets some shots on the floor, and back in with a back suplex on Brad for two. Lex with a back elbow for two and a suplex for two. Brad with a backslide on Tully for two. Atomic drop on Tully and the Horsemen collide off that, and it’s HOT TAG Bullet Bob and he runs wild on Luger. He’s throwing chops , but JJ trips him up and everyone brawls as Brad dropkicks Lex out of the ring. Bob has the pin on Tully with the ref distracted, but JJ comes in and helps with a double clothesline for the pin at 17:47 to advance to the semis. Best match of the tournament by far to this point. ****

Quarterfinals: The Road Warriors (#3) v. The Midnight Express (#4)

Hawk destroys Bobby and sends him running to the floor, where Cornette declares that they’re fighting for a million dollars, or “$333,333 a piece!” That’s an underrated banger of a joke on two levels, first that Cornette is assuming he gets a third of the money for his team winning, and also that Big Bubba is STANDING RIGHT THERE and presumably gets nothing! Back in the ring, Hawk beats on Stan as well and Bubba threatens to get involved on their behalf before the ref talks him out of it. “You’re a chicken shit!” notes someone at ringside. The Warriors double-team Bobby in the corner and Hawk gives him a WICKED chop, which Bobby rightly sells like death and then runs away from Animal. Back in, Animal catches him with a powerslam for two and then nails Stan off the apron, and Cornette has to pep talk his team again with promises of a MILLION DOLLARS. Hawk with a gut wrench on Lane and a flying clothesline for two, but Bobby breaks it up and then comes off the top with his own elbow to take over. Stan chokes him out on the ropes and Bobby uses Cornette’s belt to add more choking, plus a shot from the racket for good measure. Bobby with some shots on Hawk in the corner and Stan necks him on the top rope before Bobby adds a high knee and then antagonizes Animal. So Animal runs in and the Express double-teams Hawk some more and tosses him over the top rope. Back in, Bobby uses the racket again while the idiot ref sees nothing and boots Hawk down while claiming innocence, and Stan adds a savate kick for two. It’s HOT TAG Animal finally and he backdrops Bobby and adds a dropkick, but Eaton falls into the ref and takes him out. It’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA and Cornette throws a fireball at Animal, so the Warriors grab the racket and retaliate until the ref disqualifies them at 12:28 for a rather stunning upset. So the Warriors are OUT and the Midnights go to the semi-finals. These two immediately went together like peas and carrots. ***1/2. The crowd is of course NOT HAPPY with this decision by the referee and lets them know.

Quarterfinals: The Superpowers (#2) v. Rick Rude & Manny Fernandez (#1)

Rude spends too much time posing, so Nikita shoves him from behind and threatens to SICKLE him. Rude tries a whip out of the corner and Nikita flexes at him, so Rude beats on him with knees and still can’t budge him. Next up, Rude tries a full nelson on the bad neck and manages to get Nikita down to his knees and in some trouble until Nikita powers up again. Nikita slams out and threatens another Sickling, but Rude wisely runs away and brings in Manny. Dusty hits him with a bodypress and drops the elbow on him, and Manny retreats to the corner off that. I always forget that Dusty and Manny used to be tag team champions not all that long before this. Manny drops knees on Dusty’s head and chokes him out on the ropes to take over, and then Rude runs him into the post as we desperately need Jesse Ventura on commentary to go “DONG!” for comedic effect. Back in the ring, Bull with a back elbow to put Dusty down for two. Rude slugs away and Paul Jones gets a shot in the corner, allowing Rude to slam Dust and go up top with a flying fist for two. Manny with a chinlock and Dusty fights out of that and hits him with a clothesline for two. We get a quick brawl, and Manny with a flying bodypress, and Dusty rolls through for the pin at 9:44. To be fair, if Dusty Rhodes rolls on top of you, you’re not getting up from that. Decent match but it never really took off. **1/2

Semi-Finals: Giant Baba & Isao Takagi (#5) v. Tully Blanchard & Lex Luger (#8)

Baba works on Tully’s arm to start and Lex comes in for the double-team, but Baba chops them both down and goes to work on Lex’s arm. Over to Takagi and Lex takes him and works the knee with a kneebar for two. Over to Tully to continue the leglocking, but Baba gets the tag and chops him down. Baba with more chops on Tully to cut off a comeback attempt from the Horsemen and Takagi comes in to double-team him. Baba with the big boot on Tully for two, but Lex breaks it up. Takagi misses a blind charge and Lex tries the rack, but can’t get him up, so he just drops him and pins him at 8:53. Good lord, I can see why they completely removed the Japanese team from the home video. -*

Semi-Finals: The Superpowers (#2) v. The Midnight Express (#4)

Nikita chases Bobby to the floor and then hits Lane with a hiptoss in the ring to chase him back to the corner while Cornette claims various shenanigans and malfeasance. Can’t trust a commie. Over to Dusty and he throws elbows while a rather loud contingent of heel fans chant “Dusty is a pig”. That’s kinda rude. Dusty hits Bobby with elbows in the ropes until he falls to the floor, and then Dust hiptosses him on the concrete and Stan has to give his partner a quick back massage. Back in, Dusty hits everyone with elbows, including Big Bubba, which draws a huge pop and drowns out the group that feels like Dusty is actually a pig. But I’m glad both sides of the argument are being presented so that people can make their own decision. Nikita goes to work on Stan’s arm, but Bobby cuts him off and drops an elbow to take over. Stan with a swinging neckbreaker and Bobby comes in with a neck vice. Cornette: “HE SAID YES!” Teddy Long: “No he didn’t! He didn’t say yes!” Bobby continues with a chinlock and Nikita fights up, so Bobby necks him on the top rope to put him down again and uses the racket to choke him out. Nikita clotheslines Bobby for two to fight back, but the Express collide and Nikita hits a Sickle on Bobby and pins him at 11:12 to advance to the finals. SHOCKING. WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED THIS? **1/2

NWA World title: Ric Flair v. Barry Windham

Here’s why we’re all here. Flair takes him down with a headlock and goes for the arm to start, but Barry kips up and they battle over a top wristlock. Barry wins that fight, so Flair takes him to the corner for chops and Barry shrugs that off. Ric tries it again and Barry laughs it off and slugs away in the corner in response before dropkicking Flair for two. Barry with the headlock and he trips up Flair to send him to the floor, as Ric plays it off like he’s the smart one for leaving. Back in the ring, Windham controls on the mat, but he tries a bodypress and Flair hotshots him to take over. Flair drops a knee and tosses him and they brawl out there, with Flair’s chops working this time, and then Flair necks him on the apron and puts the boots to him. Flair with the armbar and he grabs the ropes while Tommy Young is helpless to intercede because he can’t see anything. Flair drops a knee for two, but Barry slugs back until Flair goes down with a Flair Flop. Barry pummels him in the corner and follows with a hiptoss, but the dropkick misses and Flair gets the figure-four. Barry desperately pulls on Tommy Young’s shirt to get leverage, but that results in Tommy seeing Flair using the ropes and he forces the break. And then Barry hits the lariat out of nowhere for a double down, but can’t make the cover. Flair elbows him to the floor and Windham takes a wicked bump onto the railing, but Flair wants a piledriver out there and Young tells him to quit fucking around and get back in the ring. Windham with a sunset flip back in the ring, which gets two, and a backslide gets two. Flair runs away to the floor and back in for a slugfest, which Barry wins, and that gets two. Barry continues beating on Flair, and Ric retreats to the apron, so Barry suplexes him back in and floats over for two. Barry goes up and misses a flying elbow, and Flair goes for the figure-four, but Barry cradles for two. Barry slugs Flair right over the top rope and to the floor and runs him into the railing. Barry tries for a piledriver out there after Flair previously teased one, but Ric backdrops out of it and Barry takes the bump on the concrete. Back in, Flair with a flying bodypress, but Barry rolls through for two. If Barry was as big as Dusty, the match would be OVER! Barry whips Flair into the corner for a Flair Flip and chases him outside, but Flair goes TO THE NUTS and hauls him back in for a suplex on the apron. Windham reverses out of that and gets a sleeper, ramming Flair into the corner to maintain the hold, but Flair falls into the ropes. So Barry calmly drags him back to the middle of the ring, but he tries a splash and Flair gets the knees up by instinct. Flair to the top again, but he decides to lecture the front row and Barry slams him off and puts him in the figure-four! Flair powers up, so Barry repeatedly punches him in the face to put him back down again, until Flair finally gets a cheapshot to escape. Barry keeps coming with a powerslam for two. He tries another figure-four, but Flair fights out and they tumble to the floor off a bodypress. Back in, Windham goes up with a missile dropkick for the apparent pin, but Flair was in the ropes and Tommy Young makes an agonized decision to call it off and continue the match. So Windham hits the lariat and Flair is super duper out, but again he’s in the ropes and it only gets two. So Windham hits him with a floatover suplex for two, but Flair runs him into the corner and they do the pinfall reversal sequence until Windham gets the backslide for two. Windham with a rollup out of the corner, but Flair grabs the tights and rolls through for the pin at 25:49. This was INCREDIBLE and the reason to watch this show. *****

Crockett Cup Finals: Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff v. Tully Blanchard & Lex Luger

Magnum TA of course joins us at ringside for the most telegraphed babyface win ever. Even by Dusty’s standards. Dusty grabs a headlock on Tully to start and threatens him with the elbow, so Tully backs off and brings Lex in. He of course wants Nikita and flexes imposingly at him. Well, it was 1987 and that was one of his only highspots. That and yelling while missing an elbow. So Nikita wins a lockup battle and then does his own flexing, which granted looks kind of dumb with a neck brace on. They fight over a suplex and neither one gets anywhere with that, so they do the test of strength instead and Nikita wins that. Back to Tully, and Nikita sends him flying out of the ring with an atomic drop and then back in for a bearhug, but Luger hits him from behind to break it up. Tully pulls out the slingshot suplex, but Nikita lands on his feet, takes out JJ Dillon on the rebound, and then backs off after laying waste to the heels. He follows with his own suplex on Tully for two and takes him down with the Russian Hammer, then takes him to the floor with a Cactus Clothesline! At this point, JJ gets revenge by ripping off Nikita’s neck brace, and the Horsemen go to WORK on the neck back in the ring. Lex drops him on the top rope for two and Tully beats on him in the corner, then Luger follows with a vicious short clothesline for two. Lex drops knees on the neck and Tully gets two and goes to the chinlock. Nikita fights over towards Dusty, but the Horsemen cut him off and THEY BE CLUBBERING, TONY! Lex with the facelock to cut off the ring and Tully throws Nikita over the top rope behind the ref’s back, which allows JJ to hit Koloff with his shoe for good measure. Back in, Tully slingshots Nikita under the bottom rope to really hurt the neck, and that gets two. Tully goes up with an elbow from the middle, but Nikita hits him on the way down, and it’s HOT TAG BOOKERMAN. Elbows for everyone and he spears Tully, but charges and hits the floor. Oh damn, THAT’S why there was that earthquake on the eastern seaboard reported in 1987. Tully tries a piledriver back in the ring, but Dusty flies in from the top rope with a bodypress and gets the pin and the $1,000,000 at 17:30. In the Observer at the time, Dave noted that many people weren’t super happy with Dusty putting himself over yet again, but between Magnum TA and Mrs. Crockett they weren’t gonna give a fake cheque to a heel team and the Road Warriors had already won the year before. Really, what other choice was there? Hard work from everyone here. Except Dusty, but standing on the apron and getting the hot tag is literally the best use of him anyway. ***1/2

Second night was way better, with a classic main event match and an underrated banger from the Armstrongs to open the show. Thanks to the WWE Vault for finally giving us the full version instead of the hacked up VHS release!