Earlier today (yesterday by the time you read this), Matthew Michaels, editor extraordinaire, messaged me and asked me to table my TLC 2010 PPV. December 17 is apparently the date of the last Starrcade ever held and he wanted to do a Starrcade based day. Well, since I prefer old school wrestling anyway, my arm wasn’t too hard to twist. Here are my Top 10 Starrcade matches ever.
10. Gerald and Jack Brisco vs. Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood – 1983 (*** ½).
This is the first match present from the first Starrcade, which also doubles as the best the show ever managed to be. Besides Steamboat, these guys are largely forgotten, which is a damn shame. Youngblood was a great, athletic face, almost a precursor to Ricky… but he isn’t the star of the match, even though at this point he’s as good or better than Steamboat. Enjoy an absolute classic of them vs. Sgt. Slaughter and Don Kernodle:
Gerald Brisco remains famous as one of Vince’s stooges, and he’s a perfectly good wrestler, but Jack Brisco, Jack is something else. A former NWA Champion, he is simply one of the best pure wrestlers ever and it is on his back that the fabled Florida wrestling of Eddie Graham was built.
So, with this many greats, why is the match so low? It wasn’t a main event match, so they didn’t get a ton of time, especially since they were trying to play to their spot on the card and not overshadow a major title change and a huge blood feud. These guys were very good here, but they surely had great in them.
9. Shinjiro Otani vs. Eddie Guerrero – 1995 (****).
In 1995, the NJPW junior style was just beginning to take hold in WCW. Eddie is relatively young here, but still coming off his Black Tiger sting of awesomeness and playing a very good, young babyface. Otani is one of the better workers in the world, a prick heel who’s nickname was the “bitchmaster.†A young Eddie would take a lot of his evil ways from Otani, but here is a mostly clean match where they worked a fast paced style and told a good, crisp story. Here’s one of their encounters from Japan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3upx1e3vEc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JJBnNtIJsQ&feature=related
8. Rock n Roll Express vs. Russians – 1985 (**** ¼)
The Rock n Roll Express, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, were the ultimate babyface, pretty boy tag team. With flash moves, amazing selling, and perfectly timed comebacks, they were absolutely beloved.
Of course, during the Cold War, there were no heels like the Russians. Ivan Koloff and his huge, monster of a nephew Nikita were absolute destroyers who got absurd heat picking on the pretty boy all-American team.
Here’s their fast-paced, innovative match from Starrcade 1985:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR-ECTabd3g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ojb4GhFczg&feature=related
7. Ric Flair vs. Vader – 1993 (**** ¼).
Flair, long the NWA’s most hated heel was returning to the promotion (now WCW) in 1993 from his stint in the WWF, only to find Vader the man now. Well, to be the man, you gotta beat the man, so Flair goes to reclaim his title as the man as one of the best giants ever faces one of the best wrestlers ever. To add drama, Vader is seconded by Harley Race, the man Flair first displaced as the face of the NWA.
Here’s a great one from each man from this era. First Flair:
Then Vader:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lroeFjXK4co&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm7N2MmYC5w&feature=related
6. Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas vs. Barry Windham and Brian Pillman – 1992 (**** ½)
Here we have Steamboat’s second and final appearance on the list, this with a different partner, a young Shane Douglas. Shane, a great athlete who’d become a quite good worker, is easily outclassed as the rookie here, with Steamboat and Windham, two of the best workers in the world, are joined by Pillman who would fast join them in that category. There’s amazing heel work and selling here, as everyone plays their role to perfection. For the record, Windham is the one guy in the world who I think matched up with Flair better than Steamboat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR4oqYVNRh0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bwh9cnxpUE
Later, Windham would be replaced by some guy named Steve Austin in this feud:
5. Roddy Piper vs. Greg Valentine (Dog Collar Match) – 1983 (**** ½)
Roddy Piper was a huge deal in the NWA before he ever got to WWF to be the main foil for Hulkamania and here is the culmination of his bloody feud with Valentine. The merits of this match are often debated, but I fail to see why… it is, at its purest, the epitome of the 80s blood feud pre-national expansion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pt-CsgQiOY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLaEBqN2i-Q
4. Sting vs. Vader Starrcade 1992 (**** ½)
And then there’s the Sting vs. Vader feud. Many call this the quintessential big man vs. little man match, but they’re wrong. It’s not about Vader’s power advantage, but about him being a physically dominating monster and Sting using all his reserves to overpower him. The only question is whether this or their great American clash epic is the better match.
Here’s a match that shows how tough Vader is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmK8mt4QWBg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jfNP586vxs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pf0LSzSook
And a great one from Sting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d42Fi-Eqff4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD87M2oS4ks&feature=related
3. Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger 1988 (**** ½).
Now we come to the best match of Lex Luger’s career and probably Flair’s best performance ever- his other great matches had opponents who rivaled him in quality- this is a carry job, though an energetic Luger tries really hard. This one is all about the evil veteran vs. the virtuous rookie and it’s a truly excellent storytelling and psychology based match.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-n2no8KA8U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yZ4WzaFTyE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktqiy0z42yQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugedPANrEwQ&feature=related
2. Ric Flair vs. Harley Race – 1983 (*****).
And here’s the match that made Ric Flair what he is, with one of the top five opponents of his career (in no order: Race, Windham, Funk, Steamboat, Kerry Von Erich). Race was the NWA Champion of the past, passing the torch to Flair, who would be the future, in an absolutely epic match.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5doKQ7fEdk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01VAVZ4Xsu0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbGpw-2PgoA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApFcTTGtCvE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDY89ynQ_xQ&feature=related
1. Magnum TA vs. Tully Blanchard (I Quit) –1985 (*****)
Here we have what might be my favorite match ever. One of the perfect in-ring stories ever, these two developed a hatred and saw it through to its bloody end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvVNzCI-GxQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bixOaQfF4YY&feature=related
