NWA (JCP) Starrcade 1984 (Version II)

From Greensboro, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Gordon Solie and Bob Caudle

Opening NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Mike Davis v Denny Brown: Davis grabs a side-headlock right away, but Brown snaps off a pair of headscissors takedowns, then armdrags him into an armbar. Davis tries escaping, so Brown tosses him around with a northern lights suplex and a fireman's carry, but gets tripped up during a criss cross, and goes crashing out of the ring. Davis helps him back in, but doesn't relent - delivering a pair of bodyslams and a backbreaker for two. Inside cradle gets two, but Brown counters a corner whip with a springboard forearm, and he backdrops the champion. Dropkick gets two, but another attempt at criss crossing again does not work out well for the challenger, and Davis grabs a bridging side suplex, but Brown gets the shoulder up during the bridge to win the title at 5:38. Good, fast paced stuff - though too short to really get going. ** (Original rating: *)

Brian Adidas v Mr. Ito: They trade hammerlocks to start, until Ito grabs a standing side-headlock, which Adidas reverses into a mat-based version. Ito counters into an armbar, but Adidas reverses, and hangs onto the hold through a bodyslam attempt. Ito escapes, but gets caught in an airplane spin at 3:10. Three minute matches worked in the Attitude Era because guys went right into the spots, but watching three minutes of armbar reversals followed by a low impact airplane spin out of nowhere doesn't quite make for a great match - even if they were executing their stuff nicely. ¼* (Original rating: ¼*)

NWA Florida Title Match: Jesse Barr v Mike Graham: They trade off on the mat, but Graham is quickly able to take control with a drop-toehold into an anklelock. Barr counters into a chinlock, but Graham armdrags out for two. Barr grounds him with an overhead wristlock, but Mike fights free, so Barr starts wrenching the arm on the ropes. Cross corner whip is reversed, however, and Graham hooks another drop-toehold, but Barr blocks a figure four attempt. Test-of-strength goes the champs way, but Mike fights through Barr's attempts to illegal leverage, and counters into another armbar. Figure four, but Jesse quickly gets the ropes to escape, and grabs a headlock. He hangs onto it through multiple escape and counter attempts, until Graham is finally able to hook a kneebreaker, and grounds him in a leglock. He shifts back to the figure four, but again, Barr is in the ropes. Graham throws a sunset flip for two, and a rollup is worth two - reversed by Barr for two. Graham with an atomic drop, but Jesse sweeps him off of his feet as he follows into the corner, and retains with two feet on the ropes at 12:00. This felt more like the first twelve minutes of a much longer match. It heated up at the end, but overall very slow - though a lot of that is just the style of the times. * (Original rating: *)

Tag Team Elimination Match: The Zambuie Express v Buzz Tyler and The Assassin: Big brawl to start, with Tyler and Assassin cleaning house. The dust settles on Kareem Muhammed in with Buzz, and Tyler knocks him out of the ring with a closed fist out of a criss cross. Both men tag, and Elijah Akeem pounds Assassin in the corner, but gets reversed, and pinballed before bailing. Tags back to Kareem and Tyler, and Kareem chokes him on the ropes. Akeem takes a phony looking cheap shot from the apron, and tags in, but Buzz slugs him off. They spill to the floor for a double-countout at 4:18, leaving Kareem and Assassin - Assassin quickly splashing him for the pin at 4:40. I'm not sure why this even needed to be an Elimination match. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

NWA Brass Knuckles Title Match: Black Bart v Manny Fernandez: Both guys trade punches in the early going, until Bart gets him on the ropes, and grabs a headlock. More punching draws blood from the challenger, but Manny manages a backelbow, and knocks Bart to the floor for more punching. That busts him open as well, and back in, Fernandez works the cut with more punching. Fistdrop (fancy punching!) gets two, and a 2^nd rope fist (flying punching!) is worth two. Bart turns the tide with more punching, and drops an elbow for two. Bart goes for his lasso, but takes too long getting it, and Fernandez rolls him up for the pin at 7:35. This was basically all punching. Like, seven minutes of uninterrupted punching, punctuated by a rollup. And, yeah, I get that it's a Brass Knuckles Title match, but knowing that doesn't make it any more entertaining to watch. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Loser Leaves Town Tuxedo Street Fight: Jimmy Valiant v Paul Jones: Man, add something on a pole, and you've got Vince Russo's wet dream. Jones tries running, but Valiant attacks, and chokes him with his own corsage. He rips off Jones' jacket, and chokes him with his own cummerbund, then tears the vest off. He gets the pants and shirt off, and grabs a sleeper to finish, but gets distracted by Jones' entourage, and JJ Dillon whacks him with a spike to allow Paul the pin at 4:35. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

NWA Mid-Atlantic Title Match: Ron Bass v Dick Slater: Slater pops him with a backelbow, but stops to chase JJ Dillon around, and we get lots of stalling as both guys challenge the other to move first. Bass finally engages him, but gets taken down in a side-headlock. He rakes the eyes to escape, but Slater catches him in an atomic drop, so Bass bails. Dick headbutts him on the way back in, then snapmares him down, but the referee stops him from stomping - allowing Bass a kneelift. He pounds his challenger in the corner, and hits a vertical suplex for two, followed by a bulldog. Dick slugs back, and snapmares him down for a bootrake, so Bass rakes the eyes, and tosses him to the floor for JJ to abuse. Back in, Slater shoves the referee in the heat of the moment, and gets disqualified at 9:12. Bad ending to a dull match. ¼* (Original rating: DUD)

Ivan Koloff and Nikita Koloff v Ole Anderson and Keith Larson: Big brawl to start, controlled by Anderson and Larson. The dust settles on Ivan and Keith, and Larson shoulderblocks him for two, then plants a dropkick. He and Ole pinball Ivan in the corner, and they take turns working his arm through a series of quick tags. They decimate his arm for seven full minutes before poor Ivan is finally able to rake Ole's eyes, and get the tag off to big Nikita. Nikita pummels Anderson in the corner, and slaps on a bearhug, but Ole escapes - only to have the tag cutoff by Ivan. He bodyslams Ole for two, and Nikita hugs him like a bear again. Ole manages to get the tag upon escaping this time, and Larson comes in hot, but misses a dropkick, and Nikita tags out. Four-way brawl breaks out, and Ivan bops Larson with a chain for the pin at 15:28. This was a lot more modern than the other matches on the card thus far, and I enjoyed the psychology of it - even if Ivan did totally forget all the arm stuff by the end. * ½ (Original rating: DUD)

NWA Television Title v $10,000 Match: Tully Blanchard v Ricky Steamboat: Big slugfest to start, and the Dragon snapmares him over for a fistdrop. Tully tries running, but Ricky vertical suplexes him back in, and drops a chop for two. Chinlock, but Tully escapes, and punches him in the ribs. Backbreaker follows, and Tully stays on the ribs with a couple of punts, and a backelbow. He stomps the ribs in the corner, so Ricky fires off a headbutt, and grabs a chinlock. Tully gets into the ropes, and swipes at ribs as Ricky breaks the hold, then drops his challenger with a side suplex for two. Chinlock, but Ricky reverses, so Tully grabs the ropes. Criss cross ends in Steamboat hitting a crisp powerslam for two, and he unloads a chop for two. Ten-punch in the corner draws blood, and Ricky hits a swinging neckbreaker for two. Slingshot suplex gets two, and a standing dropkick is worth two. Tully tries bailing, so Steamboat side suplexes him back in from the apron - only for Blanchard to bop him with a set of knux, and hit a bodypress for two. Kind of thought that would've been the finish. Superplex, but Ricky shoves him down to block, and hits a flying splash for two. Sunset flip, but Tully cracks him with the knux again, and this time it's enough to retain at 13:15. Again, another much more modern style match then the headlock-fests on the undercard, and both guys were working really well together - stringing together nice sequences loaded with crisp exchanges. ** ½  (Original rating: *)

NWA United States Title Match: Wahoo McDaniel v Billy Graham: Graham looks like such an old man at this point. Test-of-strength to start, controlled by the champion, but Graham uses the hair to escape. Billy shoves him around for a bit, but Wahoo rakes the eyes, and starts chopping. Billy reverses him into the corner to allow a full-nelson into a cover for two, and an elbowdrop is worth two, but he runs into a big chop, and Wahoo retains at 4:18. Barely a match. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Main Event: NWA World Title v $1,000,000 Match: Ric Flair v Dusty Rhodes: I'd rather have the million dollars, frankly. Boxer Joe Frazier acts as the special guest referee for this one. Criss cross ends in Dusty catching him with an overhead elbowsmash, and he grabs a headlock, but Ric into the ropes, and chops him. Dusty responds with a series of jabs, and somehow Frazier is able to contain himself, and not roll around the ring laughing. Another criss cross (featuring an actual leapfrog from Flair!), and the champ snapmares him to setup a kneedrop for two. Again, but this time Dusty dodges the knee, and slaps on a figure four. Ric gets the ropes to force a break, and grabs an overhead wristlock, but Rhodes reverses, and press-slams him. Cross corner whip sees Flair flip to the floor, and Dusty vertical suplexes him back in for two. Frazier's count looks so goofy, as he just kind of pats the mat like he's afraid to piss it off, or something. Dusty slams Ric off the top, but misses an elbowdrop, and Flair tries a sleeper, but Rhodes bucks him off to the floor. They slug it out down there, and Ric gets the best of it by ramming his challenger into the post - drawing blood. Back in, Ric zeroes in on it, but Frazier holds him back to check the cut. He ultimately allows them to continue, and Ric snapmares Rhodes over - hammering the cut. Ten-punch in the corner, but Frazier has enough, and stops the match due to blood loss - Flair retaining at 12:09. Enough has been said about that finisher over the years, including my thoughts on it in the original review, and it still stands as one of the worst finishes in history - especially on what was supposed to be the biggest show of the year. On top of that, the match up to the point was nothing special, and only started becoming dramatic and interesting once Flair opened him up - and they stopped it only a minute or two after that! ¾* (Original rating: DUD)

BUExperience: Though I liked a lot of the individual matches better this time around, the show as a whole is still a total stinker, with no classic matches, little historical significance, and cheap finishes up and down the card on what is supposed to be the biggest blow off show of the year – capped off with one of the worst booking decisions of all time in the main event.

DUD