The SmarK Rant for Crockett Cup 1986 - 04.19.86
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The SmarK Rant for Crockett Cup 1986 – 04.19.86

By Scott Keith on 17 January 2021

The SmarK Rant for the Crockett Cup 86 – 04.19.86

This show has been sitting there in Hidden Gems on the Network, taunting me forever. 4 hours and a bit is a lot to take on, but hey, I’ve got the weekend off.

So of course, the Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament is the legendary two night show held in the New Orleans Superdome in April of 86, featuring a few different NWA members sending teams, with some decidedly wonky seeding and results at times, and the winners getting $1,000,000. And of course tournaments like the Dusty Classic are paying direct homage to this one.

Taped from New Orleans, LA, with a PRISTINE handheld camera. Like wherever they found the tape, good for them. They did 3500 people for the afternoon session, and then 13,000 for the night one.

Unfortunately this isn’t complete, as we just pick things up six matches into the first round, and WHAT a first round match they picked to start things with!

Round One: The Fantastics v. The Fabulous Ones

Stan Lane & Steve Keirn are just introduced as “The Fabs” here so I’m wondering if there was some legal issue with the name at this point. They’re also immediately playing heel, which is a smart move. The Fantastics were UWF tag team champions at this juncture, while the Fabs were hanging around Florida. Fulton works a headlock on Lane and the Fantastics double-team the arm before Rogers rolls him up for two. Keirn claims that this near-fall was a result of pulling the tights, just to reinforce who we should be booing. Keirn comes in with an armbar, making sure to pull the hair on the way down, but Tommy flips out of it and it’s back to Fulton so he can work on Keirn’s arm. We get a funny spot as Keirn rolls him up to reverse out of the armbar and gets two, but he hangs onto Lane’s hand on the apron and ends up pulling on him too hard and yanking him into the ring! Well, hard to argue with the ref on THAT one. Fantastics retain control of the arm, but finally Keirn rakes the eyes and goes back to Lane, and he too walks right into an armdrag. The Fantastics switch off behind the ref’s back and Lane stooges them out, but I feel like their credibility is damaged already in the match. Lane escapes with his WHITE GUY KARATE and kicks Fulton to the floor, and Rogers claims that he went over the top and thus it should have been a DQ. That’s weak sauce, just man up and deal with it. Back in, Lane with a neckbreaker and Keirn bites Fulton in the corner like some kind of, I dunno, ALLIGATOR MAN, and then rips at his eyes as well, like he’s trying to, I dunno, SKIN HIM or something. Keirn with a stungun and thankfully there’s always time to strut, but Fulton makes a comeback and slugs him down. So Keirn yanks down the tights to the delight of the female front row, and allows Lane to cut off the tag and then throw Fulton over the top rope for REAL this time. See, now that one Rogers should be griping about. Back in, Fulton gets fired up, but Keirn slugs him down for two. Bobby with a sunset flip on Lane for two, but Keirn cuts off the tag again and rolls up Fulton with a blatant handful of tights for two. Fulton gets fired up again, but Lane cuts him off AGAIN and then spits on Rogers for good measure. Keirn and Fulton collide for the double-down and it’s HOT TAG Tommy Rogers. And he runs wild, distracts Lane, and allows Fulton to roll up Keirn for the pin at 14:30 to advance to the second round. Hot opener for this version of the show but nothing mind-blowing. ***1/4

Round One: Rick Steiner & Buzz Sawyer v. The Italian Stallion & Koko B. Ware

We’re way down the bracket in the first round again here. Rick Steiner is VERY young here, as he and Sawyer are representing the UWF at this point. Buzz was TV champion here after being given the belt by Dick Slater in a memorable angle. Koko backdrops Buzz out of the corner and dropkicks him to the floor, and then works on a headlock back in the ring. Buzz escapes with a suplex and brings in Steiner, who at this point has no gear besides boots and disturbingly tiny shorts, not even debuting his trademark earguards yet. Like Tay Conti would look at those shorts and think it was a bit revealing. Koko fights off the heels and slugs away on Buzz as this is taking a while to get going, to say the least. Buzz gets a pair of leapfrogs and he’s proud of himself, so Koko hits him with a bodypress for two and brings in the Stallion. He goes to a headlock on Buzz that goes on for a long time. Over to Koko, but the ref is distracted and Buzz takes him to the floor for a suplex to take over. That was an awkward looking suplex, like he was thinking about a brainbuster but then changed his mind mid-move. Back in with a suplex for two, and Buzz goes to a bearhug on the mat. Koko fights out with a rollup for two, but Steiner takes him down with a side slam again for two and continues the bearhugging. Koko fights out, so Buzz puts him down and goes to the top, but misses a flying splash and Italian Stallion gets the saddest hot tag I’ve ever seen. Like no one cares. And Buzz quickly powerslams and pins him at 15:13 like a complete geek. Way too long, nothing happening match. *

Round One: Jimmy Garvin & Black Bart v. David (DJ) Peterson & Brett (Wayne) Sawyer

Bart works on Sawyer in the corner for a bit, but Brett comes back with a headscissor takedown and it’s over to Gorgeous Jimmy. Peterson comes in with a headlock and quickly gets caught in the heel corner, but he fights back on Bart and the babyfaces trap him in the corner and work on the arm. But then Brett gets caught in the heel corner and also worked over before making what appears to be a hot tag to Peterson. And then he promptly misses a dropkick and the heels go to work on him before Garvin finishes with a brainbuster at 6:06 to complete what was basically a squash. ½*

Round Two: The Midnight Express (3rd seed) v. Sam Houston & Nelson Royal

So onto the next round, with the various unseeded teams from the first round now facing the real stars. Houston & Royal advanced by beating The Battens from Central States in the first round, for those keeping track. Sam Houston gets a bit of shine on the Express, but Nelson Royal comes in and gets hit from behind from Bobby and pinned by Dennis at 1:47 and that’s that. DUD

Round Two: Ron Garvin & Magnum TA (2nd seed) v. Rick Steiner & Buzz Sawyer

That seems like pretty high seeding for Garvin & Magnum. They trap Rick in the corner and work on his arm to start, but Magnum gets CLUBBERED in the heel corner and Buzz chokes him out and engages in various skullduggery. Rick goes to a chinlock, but TA runs him into the corner to break, so Buzz comes in with a delayed suplex for two. Magnum rolls him up for two and gets a backslide for two, but still can’t tag. Garvin gets a hot tag and slugs away on the UWF heels, and Magnum puts Rick away with a belly to belly at 5:22. This was pretty messy and not much to it. *1/2 But I gotta say, we’re getting some crazy interesting combinations of guys!

And now we switch to the evening session, which I’m assuming is complete since the first part was less than an hour. Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone go over the rules for the tournament, as we learn that over the top rope is illegal, but piledrivers and coming off the top rope are legal.

Round Two: The Road Warriors (1st seed) v. Wahoo McDaniel & Mark Youngblood

Wahoo and Youngblood beat the awesome twosome of Mean Mike Miller & Bobby Jaggers to advance past the first round, and I’m thinking that they’re not advancing any further. Just a hunch. Also I have no idea what the Warriors’ entrance music is supposed to be, but it’s unique. Animal misses an elbow on Youngblood, but the Warriors still work him over in the corner anyway. Over to Wahoo and he does a pretty good chop exchange with Hawk and takes him down for one. Hawk with the test of strength, but Wahoo fights out of that, so Animal comes in with a back elbow for two. Wahoo chops him down and it’s back to Mark, so Hawk quickly hits him with a shoulderblock and no-sells his offense. Flying clothesline finishes at 4:20. Well that was a bit of a disaster. ½* Also the finish saw Hawk pinning Youngblood and Wahoo just came in and stood there while it was happening!

Round Two: Ivan & Nikita Koloff (8th seed) v. Jimmy Valiant & Manny Fernandez

Shaska Whatley cuts a lengthy promo on Valiant before the match, accusing him of being a YELLOW DOG, although given Jimmy’s ridiculous yellow and black gear here he’s not far off. Noted Russian sympathizer Eddie Gilbert is accompanying the Russians tonight, as we cross over with the UWF and Gilbert’s ongoing storyline at that point. Valiant and Fernandez beat the Paul Jones duo of Barbarian & Baron Von Raschke to begin the tournament, although I suspect they’re out of their league now. Nikita is sporting a shiner here for some reason, even though he didn’t have a first round match. Nikita immediately demands a test of strength with the Bull, but Manny fights out of that and then gets a sunset flip on Uncle Ivan for two. Valiant comes in with the low stomp and Manny adds a trip to the post, allowing Valiant to do the ol’ thumb to the throat before slugging him down for two. Double elbow gets two for the babyfaces. Manny misses a dropkick and it’s over to Nikita, who drops Manny on the top rope and beats on him in the corner. Ivan drops a leg for two and goes to a bearhug, and then Nikita switches in for one of his own as they hold the Bull in the corner. Ivan goes to the top rope and Manny slams him off and makes the hot tag to Valiant as the crowd goes NUTS, and he gets a sleeper on Ivan. But the ref is distracted and Nikita breaks it up, hits a Sickle from the apron, and Ivan gets the pin at 9:00 to advance for Mother Russia. This was a fun match and Valiant was crazy over. **1/4

Round Two: Dino Bravo & Rick Martel (5th seed) v. Terry Taylor & Steve Williams

The Montreal contingent is a no-show for reasons I’m not clear on, with the claim being that Dino Bravo is in the hospital with appendicitis, so the UWF team advances by forfeit after beating the team of BILL & BUDRO in the first round, which I’m sad we didn’t get to see.

Round Two: The Rock N Roll Express (6th seed) v. The Sheepherders (9th seed)

The Sheepherders beat the Guerreros in the first round, another one I’d like to have been included. Robert gets trapped in the heel corner to start, but the RNR quickly double-team Luke out of the ring. Back in, Robert tries a wristlock on Luke and gets nailed from behind by Butch, but Ricky comes in with dropkicks to clear the ring. Back in, Luke beats on Ricky in the corner, but a crossbody gets two. Robert comes in and hits the corner on the blind charge, and Luke goes to work with an armbar. The Herders trap Robert in the corner and toss him for a shot to the post, and back in Luke gets a forearm off the middle rope for two. Robert comes back with a dropkick and it’s HOT TAG Ricky as he cleans house to set up the double dropkick, but Jack Victory comes in to break it up…at which point Ricky grabs the flag and nails the Sheepherders in front of the ref, drawing the DQ at 7:00. Whoops. So the Sheepherders advance to round 3. Crowd is not fond of that booking. **1/2

Round Two: The Fantastics v. Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson (4th seed)

This should be fun! Tully and Arn were just a rando Horsemen team at this point and not, you know, TULLY AND ARN. Tully was National champion and Arn was TV champion, so they had matching belts at the very least. Rogers and Tully slug it out in the corner to start and Tully loses that badly as he flails back into the corner for a breather. Tully gets a cheapshot and tries an atomic drop, but Tommy no-sells it and dropkicks him to the floor. Arn claims he was tagged on the way by but the ref isn’t buying it and forces Tully back into the ring again, which is helped by Tommy slingshotting him in. The Horsemen regroup again and Arn works a headlock and slugs Rogers down, but Tommy comes back with dropkicks to put him on the floor again. Over to Fulton, who works a hammerlock on Arn, but Tully comes in with a knee behind the ref’s back and they beat on Fulton in the corner. It’s so cool to hear the match without commentary so you can get touches like Tully yelling “ARN GIVE ME A KNEE!” before running him into it. They toss Fulton and run him into the railing, but Bobby comes in with a sunset flip on Arn for two and the Horsemen put the boots to him again. Bobby fights back, so Tully dumps him and Arn gives him the BOOT LACES to the eyes, with JJ adding a poke to the eye as well. Bobby’s selling is so fantastic, pardon the pun. Back in, Arn slugs away and hits the spinebuster for two, but Fulton fights back and so Tully switches off and slugs him down for two. Then he works the count while blatantly pulling the tights but positioning himself so the ref can’t see. What a master class this is. Back to the floor and Tully tries a suplex out there, but Bobby escapes and frantically goes for the corner, only for Arn to cut him off again. AA misses a knee in the corner and it’s HOT TAG Rogers, but he walks into the gourdbuster! That gets two, but he goes for a slam and Bobby dropkicks them over and Tommy gets the pin at 11:28 to advance to the third round. Tremendous old school NWA tag team action! I really loved the story of the match was so clear and simple that you didn’t even need commentary to follow. ****1/4

Round Two: Black Bart & Jimmy Garvin v. Giant Baba & Tiger Mask (7th seed)

Yes, that is Misawa under the mask here. Tiger Mask exchanges headlocks with Garvin and then dropkicks him to the floor before following with a baseball slide and doing a back roll off it, immediately getting himself over with the crowd. Over to Baba, who chops away on Bart and hits a Russian legsweep. Garvin comes in and tries to fight him off, but Baba runs him into the corner and gives him a piledriver. Over to Tiger Mask, who backdrops Bart and drops an elbow for two, but the heels trap him in the corner and get the heat on him as Bart gets a suplex for two. Garvin drops him on the top rope and Bart chokes him out in the corner, and Garvin gets a small package for two and a slam for two. TM fights back with kicks and Baba comes in and stomps Garvin down and then hits Bart with more chops as he goes flying all over the ring for Baba. Mask comes in with a flying bodypress for two, and Baba adds a big boot to finish at 7:55 and advance. Tiger Mask got over pretty quickly but the crowd wasn’t really into the Japanese moving forward. **

And with that the second round is complete.

Carrying on now with the quarterfinal round, plus two singles matches.

Taped from New Orleans, LA at the Superdome, drawing 13,000 people to the evening session. And yes, as pointed out in the comments, young Bruce Prichard is the ring announcer for the show.

Quarterfinal #1: The Midnight Express (3rd seed) v. The Road Warriors (1st seed)

Also as noted in the comments yesterday, we have switched from a strictly handheld video camera for the first show to a more traditional hard camera + handhelds setup for the evening show. Condrey tries a headlock on Animal and gets overpowered as a result, and then tries a dropkick and misses, allowing Animal to hit his own and chase him out of the ring. Back in, Dennis decides it’s time to flex at the Warriors to reassert his dominance, but Hawk comes in and kicks his ass anyway and chases both Express to the floor. Back in, Condrey tries a piledriver on Hawk, but you know how that goes. Clearly a better gameplan is needed here. Eaton comes in and immediately runs away from a Hawk clothesline, so Animal throws him back into the ring and then Hawk clotheslines him out to the floor again! Tremendous comedic timing from Eaton there. Finally Condrey slams Hawk and sets up for a Rocket Launcher right away, but Hawk casually catches Bobby and slams him, and then follows with a shoulderbreaker and the Warriors double-team him in the corner and chase the Express out of the ring AGAIN. Next up, Condrey hits Animal with a cheap knee to the gut and rakes the eyes to finally get some heat on him, and then Cornette trips up Animal and the Warriors win by DQ out of nowhere at 8:10. Talk about a nothing match, as the Midnights never even got any offense and the match was 90% the heels running away to the outside. ½*

Quarterfinal #2: Ivan & Nikita Koloff (8th seed) v. Terry Taylor & Steve Williams (10th seed)

Winner of this gets the Road Warriors in the semi-finals, I think. The brackets are pretty wacky for this tournament to be honest. Taylor trades wristlocks with Uncle Ivan to start and gets a monkey flip out of the corner as the Russians retreat to the outside and collude with Eddie Gilbert. Back in, Team Stampeding Roosters double-team Ivan in the corner and Doc gets a LONG press slam on Ivan, holding him up there for a 10 count before dropping him. That gets two. Taylor works on the arm while the ref is asking him if he gives up yet. “What do you say, Russian, what about now?” He’s a COMMIE! Of course he’s gonna lie about whether he wants to give it up! I’m also amused at Carl Fergie not even calling him by name, just reducing him to “Russian”. Nikita yells at the ref about his cultural insensitivity while Taylor gets a visual pinfall on Ivan (or “Russian” as the ref calls him) and Team Doc & Cock continue working the arm in the corner. We get a funny spot as Nikita is yelling at the ref from the neutral corner and gets so wrapped up in the argument that he forgets to go over and wait for the tag, which of course is when Ivan escapes the armbar and tries for the tag. Doc cuts off the tag and slams Ivan for two and goes back to the arm again, taking Ivan back into the corner of Team Murder Most Fowl. Bet you didn’t think I could come up with three funny names for the team before the Russians got the heat. Showed you. Finally Ivan rakes the eyes of Doc and brings Nikita in, and he’s got that BDE going tonight as they flex at each other. So they do the dramatic lockup and shoulderblock battle, but Nikita stops to flex again and Williams dropkicks him out of the ring to a YOOGE pop. Back in, Nikita demands a test of strength and of course Doc isn’t going to let this challenge to the manhood of AMERICA stand while Nikita yells nonsense fake Russian insults at him. I swear that Nikita was just yelling the stuff that the masks in Crash Bandicoot do. But it SOUNDED convincing! The test of strength goes nowhere, so Nikita kicks him in the gut, like delivering a knee to the HEARTLAND OF AMERICA, and the Russians take over in the corner and beat him down. Ivan goes up and Doc slams him off and follows with a dropkick for two, but Ivan puts him down with a neckbreaker and Nikita drops an elbow for two. Nikita with the facelock to cut off the ring, but Doc powerslams Ivan for two and makes the hot tag to Taylor. Ivan immediately cuts him off, however, and Nikita comes in with a slam and tosses him to the floor to take over again. As god is my witness, I thought roosters could fly! Back in, Ivan proceeds to kicking him in the head, but Taylor gets a bodypress for two with time running down. Nikita goes to the bearhug and they beat Taylor down in the corner again, as Ivan gets two and HOT DAMN this is the most accurate timekeeper countdown I’ve ever heard. He’s dead on with my own stopwatch app. And they continue beating on Taylor until time expires at 20:00. Unfortunately the match had a first and second act and then never actually went anywhere after that, but this was still tremendous fun and a surprise highlight of the show. ***1/2 And then the Russians (including Gilbert’s Dollar store Russian Gorchenko) triple-team Williams while Eddie Gilbert demands the crowd show some respect for real men. Duly noted.

Quarterfinal #3: The Fantastics (unseeded) v. The Sheepherders (9th seed)

Now the one that we’ve all been waiting for. The Fantastics do the pledge of allegiance for ‘MURICA to really get the babyface heat, and immediately clean house on the Herders with dropkicks. I’ve always found that whole pledge thing kind of creepy, actually. The Herders quickly trap Bobby in the corner and go to work on him, but he fights back with dropkicks and the Herders regroup on the floor. Back in, Rogers gets a headlock on Luke and follows with a sunset flip for two. Butch comes in and Fulton works him over in the babyface corner, but Luke slugs him down, only for Bobby to comes back with an atomic drop that sends Luke into Butch and puts them on the floor again. Back in, Bobby gets tossed, but he fights back with dropkicks on Butch outside and they all have a brawl on the floor that ends with Fulton going headfirst into the post and wearing the CRIMSON MASK. Back in, he fights back with a clothesline on Butch, but the heels cut off the ring and Luke bites the cut for the easy heel heat, sending Bobby to the floor again. They send him into the railing as he does the Ricky Morton sell for the front row, looking right at the crowd with his bloody face to draw sympathy. Back in, Butch brings the flag in, but Bobby runs Luke into him and it’s HOT TAG Rogers, and now Luke is bleeding. Tommy goes after the cut and gets a flying fist before slugging away on the cut, but the ref gets wiped out in the chaos. Everyone slugs it out and Bobby goes after Jack Victory, but he gets laid out from behind and sent into the post again. Back in, Butch nails Tommy with the flag and the Herders double-team him and brutalize him, but Fulton saves and the Fantastics double-team with the flag themselves until a second ref comes out and calls for the bell at 14:38 to eliminate both teams. And they keep brawling and bleeding all over until the heels run away. Also notable, Mad Maxine comes out to help the heels, and she was supposed to be the big heel women’s wrestling star against Wendi Richter before dropping off the face of the earth. Anyway, I’m gonna be the one to say it: It was really good, but it’s nowhere near the five stars that Meltzer gave it at the time, and I was actually kind of disappointed. I liked the Tully and Arn match WAY better overall. ***1/2

Quarterfinal #4: Tiger Mask & Giant Baba (7th seed) v. Magnum TA & Ron Garvin (2nd seed)

So with a draw and a DDQ in two of the quarterfinals, that means there won’t be a semi-final round and the winning team here faces the Road Warriors for the Cup. I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that this is gonna be a style clash of epic proportions. Tiger Mask works on Garvin’s arm to start, but Ronnie takes him over with a half crab. Magnum comes in with a headlock on Mask and Garvin rolls him up for two. Over to Baba, who takes Garvin down with an armbar and they fight over that on the mat. Magnum comes in and Tiger Mask dropkicks him and drops an elbow for two, and Baba goes to a facelock as this match has ZERO heat so far. Baba with a neckbreaker for two and Mask gets a dropkick for two and he goes to a chinlock and this match is going NOWHERE. TA fights back with a sunset flip for two, but Baba rolls him up for two and you haven’t lived until you’ve seen Giant Baba doing a schoolboy on Magnum TA. Over to Garvin and he chops away on Baba and gets nowhere, and suddenly it’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA for no apparent reason. The AJ guys collide and Magnum rolls up Baba for two, but Tiger Mask dropkicks TA and adds a senton for two. Tiger goes up and tries a bodypress and I think Magnum was supposed to catch him in a belly to belly but instead he just kind of drops him and pins him at 9:55 to advance to the finals. Woof that was bad. *

UWF North American title: Hacksaw Jim Duggan v. Dick Slater

This was a weird period for the UWF because Watts had rebranded Mid-South as UWF, but they hadn’t done the tournament for the UWF World title yet so the North American title was left as the big belt for another week or so. This match is actually the result of a really clever angle, as Dick Slater was TV champion and then won the North American title as well (and yes he WAS booking, why do you ask?) and so decided to give the TV title to Buzz Sawyer. So Bill Watts forced Buzz to defend the TV title against Hacksaw Duggan, but then switched the contract and in fact tricked Slater into signing a deal where Buzz was defending the NORTH AMERICAN title on his behalf instead, and Duggan beat Buzz to win the title, leaving Buzz as the TV champion and Slater with nothing. And then they retired the North American title and Terry Gordy won the UWF World title tournament, leaving Duggan also with nothing and everyone unhappy. Duggan gets a cheapshot in the corner to start and feigns innocence about it, then clotheslines Slater out of the corner and chases him to the floor while the crowd yells very mean names at him. Geez, the guy’s already named “Dick”, cut him a break. Back in, they fight over a wristlock and Slater misses an elbow off that, and Duggan beats on him in the corner again. Finally Slater rakes the eyes and tosses him to take over, and Duggan takes a dramatic bump into the railing and knocks it over, landing in the front row. Back in, Slater goes to a chinlock on the mat. Slater goes up and Duggan nails him on the way down and slugs away to make a comeback, and a kneedrop gets two. They trade atomic drops and the ref is bumped on purpose by Slater, allowing him to go to the top and hit the elbow for two. Duggan comes back again, hits the three point stance, and retains the title at 9:09. This was a pretty lazy non-effort from both guys but wasn’t terrible or anything. *1/2

NWA World title: Ric Flair v. Dusty Rhodes

Oh hey it’s another Flair-Dusty title match in 1986. **1/2

Sorry, I suppose I should actually review it first. Force of habit. Baby Doll is with Dusty and you know the New Orleans crowd is on something because they’re catcalling her. Go home, Superdome, you’re drunk! They trade hammerlocks to start and the dainty Baby Doll bellows advice from ringside like a curling skip at a bonspiel. HARDER! PUSH HIM HARDER! That one would be funnier if you were Canadian, granted. Dusty takes her very loud advice and slugs Flair to the floor, and then back in Flair walks into a bionic elbow and retreats to the corner. He also tells Baby Doll to shut up, which is what we’re all thinking, I’m pretty sure. Flair with chops in the corner and he hits a kneedrop, despite the sage advice of Baby Doll, who was screaming WATCH IT DUSTY, DUSTY MOVE! Whatever he’s paying her isn’t enough. Flair tosses him and Dusty takes a leisurely bump to the floor and manages to gig himself on the way down, at which point Flair sends him into the post and I’m guessing that’s where he was supposed to have been busted open. Back in, Flair misses a kneedrop and Dusty wraps the leg around the post and then goes to work on it, but Flair uses the ropes for two. And Tommy Young pulls him off the ropes! That’s some Joey Marella-level refereeing there. Not cool. Dusty tries to work the knee again, but Flair rakes the eyes and they trade chops this time. Flair gets a sleeper so Dusty can have his contractually obligated 3 minute rest period, but actually breaks free after only 30 seconds this time. Flair goes to work on the knee and gets the figure-four, but Dusty reverses and Flair breaks the hold. So now Dusty goes after the knee, but they fight to the floor, where Flair meets the post and yeah, now he’s bleeding as well. Dusty works him over and gets his own sleeper, putting Flair down for two. Suplex gets two. Dusty gets his own figure-four, but Flair makes the ropes, so Dusty hits him with a shoulderblock and poor Tommy Young goes flying out of the ring while Dusty gets a visual pinfall. Flair then pulls off Dusty’s own boot and nails him with it, but that only gets two. And then Baby Doll gets involved and Flair goes after her, but Dusty grabs his boot and hits Flair for the DQ at 20:31 in defense of his manager or whatever she was supposed to be at that point. As I was saying. **1/2

Crockett Cup final: The Road Warriors (1st seed) v. Ron Garvin & Magnum TA (2nd seed)

So not exactly a grueling trip to the finals for either team, and really this tournament was SCREAMING for the Russians to be facing the Warriors here, but they’d get better about booking the next two. TA hits Animal with a dropkick to start and they fight over a wristlock, which goes nowhere. Garvin comes in and slugs it out with Hawk, and he ends up getting stomped down in the corner. Hawk quickly goes to a chinlock and then hits Ron with a press slam, but he goes up and misses a flying clothesline and Garvin cradles him for two. TA comes in and hits Hawk with a dropkick for two, but the Warriors double-team him in their corner and Animal puts the boots to him and pounds the back. This sets up a bearhug, and then Hawk comes in with a gutwrench for two on Magnum for two. Canadian backbreaker gets two. Animal comes in with a chinlock and Magnum fights out of that, so the Warriors double-team him again and cut off the ring. Magnum tries a sunset flip and Hawk slugs out of that, but he misses a legdrop, so Animal comes in again and powerslams TA for two. Magnum comes back with the belly to belly out of nowhere for two, but Hawk makes the save, and it’s hot tag Garvin. He puts Hawk down with headbutts and tries for an abdominal stretch, but Hawk escapes, so Garvin hits him with the Hands of Stone. But his hand had previously been broken and he hurts himself on the move, and then Animal sneaks in behind the ref’s back, clotheslines him, and gets the pin at 9:50 to win the first Crockett Cup. Pretty good tag match with the Warriors playing subtle heels. *** And then Jim Crockett’s mom presents the money and Cup to “The Road Runners” as we wrap it up. Hopefully the cheque was sponsored by Acme.

I’d say that for the time, it was an excellent show overall, with the Fantastics stealing the show, and I’m glad I finally watched the whole thing. Hopefully they do something similar with the 87 and 88 versions and put them on the Network someday, but I’m not holding my breath.