The SmarK Rant for NWA Crockett Cup 88 – 04.22.88

The SmarK Rant for NWA Crockett Cup 88 – 04.22.88

Originally written 10.24.25

OK, so this isn’t the full event like the 86 and 87 versions are, but it’s quicker for me to review, and in fact I’ve never reviewed this show before anyway! The version presented by WWE Vault is the Turner Home Entertainment VHS edit, which I never actually owned for whatever reason. It was also never made available on the Network, 24/7 or Peacock that I ever saw.

And yes, I know, I still need to do 87.

Taped from Greenville, SC, drawing 4400.

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross

Round one: Mighty Wilbur & Jimmy Valiant v. Dick Murdoch & Ivan Koloff

It’s the reunion of the Reverse Super Powers! Wilbur was kind of Crockett’s attempt at an Uncle Elmer guy, but he didn’t have anything to offer beyond size. Clipped down to Koloff pinning Jimmy with the Sickle at 1:53.

Round one: Mike Rotunda & Rick Steiner v. Steve Williams & Ron Simmons

Joined with Doc missing a charge on Steiner, allowing Rick to clip the knee and slug away on him before backdropping him out of the corner. Williams pops up with a clothesline and it’s over to Simmons, but Rotunda slams him and drops an elbow for two. Doc and Simmons are an interesting team but they never did anything with them beyond this. Simmons comes back with a shoulderblock on Rotunda for two, but Ron gets trapped in the corner and double-teamed by the Varsity Club before Rotunda wraps him up with a chinlock. Doc comes in and it’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA, as Kevin Sullivan hits Simmons from the floor and Ron gets counted out at 4:29 shown. Lame finish, seemed like a fun match overall. **

Round two: Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson v. Kendall Windham & The Italian Stallion

Joined with Windham working on Tully’s arm with a hammerlock, and it’s over to Stallion for more of the same on Arn. But AA hits him with a shot to the gut, and then Tully catches Kendall with his head down and drops an elbow on him to take over. Windham with a rollup for two, but Arn comes in with the spinebuster to cut him off again. Clipped to Windham making the hot tag to the Stallion and he runs wild on the Horsemen and slams Arn for two, but walks into the DDT and gets pinned at 3:15 shown. *1/2

Round two: The Road Warriors v. Shaska Whatley & Tiger Conway Jr

The Jivetones double-team Hawk in the corner, but Hawk presses Conway and it’s over to Animal. Clipped to Conway working him over and bringing in Whatley for a double-team legsweep, but Animal just brushes them both off and Hawk comes in with a shoulderblock on Shaska for two. And he goes up with a flying clothesline to finish at 2:19 shown. Total squash here. *

Round two: The Fantastics v. Al Perez & Larry Zbyszko

This was shortly after the Fantastics beat the Midnights on TV in their debut. Joined with the Gary Hart team double-teaming Rogers in the corner, as Larry gets a knee from the apron and comes in with a powerslam. Rogers lands on his feet to counter a backdrop and brings in Fulton, who works the arm on Perez until Al counters with a german suplex for two. Larry with a shoulderbreaker for two to cut off a comeback attempt, and Perez adds a flying forearm. But then Larry comes in for the double-team, and Fulton catches him with a small package for the pin at 3:22 to advance. **1/4

Round two: Sting & Lex Luger v. Ivan Koloff & Dick Murdoch

So the babyface side was supposed to be two differerent teams, with Sting & Ron Garvin and then Lex Luger & Barry Windham, but then Barry turned on Lex and Garvin got hurt early in the tournament, so we get the first teaming of future frenemies Sting & Luger instead. Unfortunately they edit out all the context and brackets from this show, so it’s kind of up to you to follow along with what’s going on and who’s advancing outside of the highlights. Joined with Luger backdropping Ivan off the lockup and hiptossing him into a dropkick, and the heels regroup. Lex hits Ivan with a press slam and brings in Sting for some work on the arm. The heels trap him in the corner and get some punishment in, and Murdoch takes him down with an armbar until Sting slams out of it. Back to the heel corner as Murdoch chokes him out with the Russian chain, and adds an elbow to the throat on the apron. Back in the ring, Sting comes back with the Stinger splash on Murdoch, but he goes for a figure-four and Ivan clobbers him from behind to break it up. Everyone brawls on the floor and Murdoch runs Sting into the railing, but slams him back into the ring and Sting reverses to a cradle for the pin at 5:14 to advance. Good match. ***

Round two: The Sheepherders v. The Midnight Express

This is an odd pairing, with both teams strong heels. Another point about the lack of context, as the Sheepherders had already advanced in the second round, but due to bizarre bracketing changes, got immediately matched with the Midnights later in the night for some reason. This show was really a mess. Luke slugs it out with Bobby Eaton, but Butch breaks it up and the MX retreat to the floor to figure out what to do. Back in the ring, Butch works Bobby over in the corner and they take it to the floor for a brawl, but Stan gets the tennis racket and hits Butch for the pin at 2:44 shown. *1/2

Prince of Darkness match: Jimmy Garvin v. Kevin Sullivan

This is the blindfold match gimmick, although it only runs 1:55 before Jimmy catches him with a quick one and pins him. DUD. Afterwards, the Varsity Club attacks Jimmy, but Ron Garvin comes in to save and gets injured as a result, which makes no sense because they already showed the match where he was replaced by Lex Luger earlier in the tape. This match was supposed to air BEFORE the Sting & Luger one earlier.

Off to Greensboro for the remainder of the tournament, although Tony notes we’re only getting one quarterfinal match and then the rest is the semi finals and finals.

Quarterfinals: The Road Warriors v. The Powers of Pain

Animal powerslams Barbarian and sends him to the floor to talk it over with Paul Jones. Back in, Animal hits both Powers with a clothesline, and then Hawk comes in and clotheslines Barbarian to the floor. They brawl on the floor and Hawk tosses the stairs at the Barbarian as JR calls Paul Jones “the winner of the Johnny Cash Man in Black award for wearing the most black.” Meanwhile he’s wearing a white shirt. Back in the ring, Hawk hits Warlord with a dropkick and drops the fist on him, before Barbarian finally gets a clothesline from behind to take over. Warlord with a slam for two off that. Barbarian with the KICK OF FEAR for two. They take Hawk to the floor and slam him out there, with Barbarian adding some shots with a chair and a powerslam gets two. Barbie with a bearhug on Hawk, but the Powers collide and Hawk makes the hot tag to Animal. Powerslam on Barbarian, but the ref is bumped and everyone brawls. Barbarian misses a diving headbutt and Animal clotheslines him for the pin at 8:40 thanks to a second ref, but the first ref revives and calls for the DQ because Animal clotheslined him, sending the Powers to the semi-finals via Dusty Finish. I guess that was the best you could hope for in terms of the Warriors doing a job here. **1/2

Bullrope match: The Midnight Rider v. JJ Dillon

Yes, it’s the disaster that was the Midnight Rider storyline in 88. JJ tosses powder in the Rider’s face right away and chokes him out in the corner, and then goes for the mask, but Rider hits Dillon in the huevos and then beats on him with the cowbell. And with Dillon busted open and beaten, the Rider drops an elbow and pins him at 4:20. DUD. And then another masked man attacks the Rider, who is apparently “The Texan”, I assume Dick Murdoch under a mask, but we literally never saw the guy again and the entire Rider angle was scrapped soon after.

Semi-Finals: Sting & Lex Luger v. The Powers of Pain

Sting hits Barbarian with a crossbody out of the corner for two while Magnum TA stares down Paul Jones on the floor. Really, putting Magnum in the corner of Sting & Luger 100% telegraphed the result of the tournament. Sting and Barbarian do a test of strength. “The greatest part of the NWA is still yet to come!” notes JR, a few months before the company went out of business and sold to Ted Turner. Sting takes Barbarian down with a monkey flip and it’s over to Lex, who hits Barbarian with shoulderblocks while he goes aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh and then works the arm. But then Barbarian catches Sting with a powerslam and puts him on the floor with a clothesline. Back in, Warlord misses an elbow and it’s back to Luger as the babyfaces slug on the heels in the corners. Warlord tries a slam on Luger, but Sting dropkicks them over and Lex gets the pin at 5:40. Well they kept it short at least. *1/2

Semi-Finals: Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson v. The Fantastics

This was a pretty weak final four all things considered, but these two had a GREAT match in the 86 Crockett Cup, arguably the best one of the tournament. Yeah I said it, fight me. The Fantastics pinball Tully in the corner and send him running to the floor. Back in, Fulton gets caught in the Horsemen corner and double-teamed, as Arn whips him into the corner and goes to work on the back. Bobby gets slammed on the floor and Arn adds a clothesline out there, but Tommy heads over to pump Fulton up and get him back in the ring. Fulton with a sunset flip back into the ring, on Tully, for two. Tully puts him down again with a cheapshot to the gut and Arn comes in with the abdominal stretch, but Fulton gets a hot tag and the Fans hit double dropkicks on both Horsemen. Rocket Launcher on Arn, but Tully saves, and Arn grabs the HUSH PUPPY OF DEATH from JJ Dillon and knocks out Rogers to advance to the finals at 6:30 shown. They cut a lot out here but it was solid enough as shown. **1/2

NWA World title: Ric Flair v. Nikita Koloff

Unfortunately this isn’t 86 Koloff, it’s 88 sad Koloff with hair grown out while he works through the pain of his wife dying of cancer. Koloff works the arm and we’re clipped to a significantly sweatier Flair retreating to the corner, so we must be deep into the match. Nikita slugs away in the corner and Flair takes him down with an atomic drop and drops a knee on him. Another kneedrop misses and Koloff yanks him into the post before putting him into a figure-four. Flair makes the ropes, but Koloff yanks him back and works the leg again, only for Flair to kick him into the corner to escape. They fight to the floor, but Koloff runs him into the post and slugs away on him in the corner. Flair Flip and Ric tries to throw chops, but Koloff no-sells them and beats Flair down again. But the ref gets too close and Nikita accidentally bumps him, but he goes up and hits Flair with a flying clothesline for two. Nikita clotheslines him to the floor and suplexes him back in, but Flair tries a rollup and Koloff blocks it and puts him down with the Sickle for two. Another try, but Flair backdrops him over the top rope for the DQ at 8:28 shown. The full match runs 30:00 so again, lots edited out of this one. Just your basic Flair v. Broomstick match here. ***

Crocket Cup finals: Sting & Lex Luger v. Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson

So yeah, given the field this was the obvious and really only finals you could come up with. Luger is all riled up and full of piss and vinegar and the announcers are like “Maybe he should let Sting start while he calms down”. Luger works a headlock on Arn and tosses him into the corner before chasing him to the floor with a dropkick. Over to Tully and Sting works his arm until Tully runs away, but Sting hits him with a press slam. Luger works on Arn’s arm with a hammerlock and cuts off the ring to double-team AA, but Sting misses the Stinger splash thanks to Tully yanking Arn out of the way. Tully tosses Sting over the top behind the ref’s back and works him over on the floor. Back in the ring, Tully with a backbreaker for two. Arn with the spinebuster for two. Sting fights back with a clothesline to counter a big boot and then hits Tully with the Stinger splash, but Arn breaks up the Scorpion with a DDT. But it’s hot tag Luger and he runs wild, but Arn gets a spinebuster for two. It’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA but Magnum trips up Arn and Luger gets the pin at 11:34 to win the $1,000,000. Geez, with Crockett giving out that kind of prize money, it’s no wonder he went broke by the end of the year. Maybe the Young Bucks should talk TK into booking his own Crockett Cup so they can win that kind of money. This was every Horsemen v. Good Guys TV match you’ve ever seen. ***

Kind of a weirdly booked and edited tournament here. Stuff out of order, no context until the very end, and a winning team that led to nothing because both guys were doing entirely different stuff at the time. I’m not surprised they got rid of it for good after this.