Remembering when wrestling supercards were a Thanksgiving tradition
Thanksgiving for me during my teens and early 20s was more about dropkicks than drumsticks. Back then, there was always a major wrestling event on Thanksgiving night.
Unfortunately, that tradition ended nearly 20 years ago. Thanksgiving episodes of Smackdown (before the show moved to Friday nights three years ago) and TNA Impact just aren’t the same.
Some classic matches took place on Turkey Day in the 1980s. Three of them occurred on the same night at Jim Crockett Promotions’ inaugural Starrcade in 1983, which was shown on closed-circuit television. Before WrestleMania came along in 1985, Starrcade was the closest thing to a Super Bowl of wrestling.
In the main event, Ric Flair won the NWA world heavyweight title for the second time by defeating Harley Race, as the belt changed hands for the first time in a steel cage. Also on that card in Greensboro, N.C., Roddy Piper defeated Greg Valentine in a dog collar match, and Rick Steamboat and Jay Youngblood defeated Jack and Jerry Brisco for the NWA world tag team title.
Prior to the days of closed circuit and pay-per-view broadcasts, Georgia Championship Wrestling held a big tag team tournament on Thanksgiving night at The Omni from 1979 to 1983. I was always envious of the fans in Atlanta who were able to go to those shows after finishing off their pumpkin pie, while I had to wait to find out who won until Saturday, when Gordon Solie would announce it on the TBS show.
In 1981, when there was cooperation between promoters from different territories, the WWF (which was run by Vince McMahon Sr.) sent its tag team champions, Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito, to Atlanta to compete in the tournament. Fuji and Saito made it to the finals, where they were defeated by Georgia fan favorites Bob and Brad Armstrong. Something tells me that wouldn’t have happened if the current WWE chairman had been in charge.
Starrcade took the concept of a major wrestling show on Thanksgiving to another level through 1987. It was moved to December thereafter because WWE forced cable companies to make a choice between Starrcade and the Survivor Series on Thanksgiving night, and the cable industry went with the more mainstream WWE.
My favorite Starrcade match was the Magnum T.A.-Tully Blanchard “I quit” match in 1985. It remains was one of the most intense matches I have ever seen. There is no doubt in my mind that Magnum would have eventually been NWA champion had he not had his career ended in 1986 due to suffering serious injuries in an auto accident.
The main event of that ’85 show was a grudge match between NWA world champion Flair and Dusty Rhodes, who was out for revenge after suffering a “broken leg” at the hands of Flair and the Andersons. I was convinced that Rhodes was going to win the belt – back when winning the belt was still a big deal – and he seemingly did. Fans at The Omni went home that night believing that Rhodes was the champion. However, it was later revealed on television that the decision had been reversed.
The 1986 Starrcade was dubbed “The Night of the Skywalkers,” as The Road Warriors faced The Midnight Express in a scaffold match. Midnight Express manager Jim Cornette took a bump off the scaffold and legitimately blew out his knee.
I was unable to watch the first four Starrcades, but I was obsessed with finding out who won, so I would call the local papers in North Carolina and/or Georgia to get the results. I did watch Starrcade ’87 on closed circuit at the Baltimore Arena. Flair regained the NWA title from Ronnie Garvin that night to become a five-time champion. I could have watched Flair and Garvin wrestle each other every night. Their matches were always intense and physical, as they used to chop the heck out of each other.
WWE came up with the Survivor Series in 1987 to go head to head with Starrcade, and it cornered the wrestling pay-per-view market on Thanksgiving from 1988 to 1990 before moving the event to another night. The Survivor Series consisted entirely of team elimination matches during the event’s early years, and it had the star-studded roster to pull it off.
The 1990 Survivor Series had two memorable debuts – but for vastly different reasons. The Undertaker, who, oddly enough, was billed as Cain The Undertaker, was the mystery member of “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase’s team. With his ghoulish look and mauling style, Undertaker instantly got over as a monster heel.
Also making his first appearance was The Gobbledygooker. For weeks, WWE showed a gigantic egg on television and announced that it would hatch at the Survivor Series. Like many fans, I believed a big-name wrestler defecting from the NWA was going to pop out, but instead it was a guy (Hector Guerrero) in a turkey costume.
And speaking of guys in a turkey costume, that Thanksgiving tradition has been renewed by TNA, which will feature its second annual Turkey Bowl tonight on Impact. For the uninitiated, it’s a tournament in which the winner gets a check and the loser is forced to wear a turkey suit.
It ain’t exactly Flair versus Race, is it?
Comments
Is a wrestler's debut when he first makes an arena appearance or when he appears on TV for the first time? Everyone always talks about Undertaker's debut being at Survivor Series, but I actually saw him a few days prior to that at a TV taping in Rochester, NY. No one at that point knew who Cain the Undertaker was (obviously), but the match then appeared on TV the weekend right after Survivor Series. I always wondered if they did voiceovers after the taping or if they were talking about the havoc he caused at Survivor Series before it actually had happened.
I really enjoyed your post as I recall many of the same things. Happy Thanksgiving.
RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: WWE's basic philosophy about house shows is that if it didn't happen on TV, it didn't happen.
Posted by: Bradley | November 27, 2008 9:42 AM
Man, Starrcade '87, "Chi-Town Heat"! I was in the Baltimore Arena too. Lex Luger gets beaten in the cage when J.J. Dillon throws the chair in and Dusty DDT's him on it, leading to Lex being kicked out of the Horseman shortly thereafter.
The Road Warriors get screwed out of the tag titles for throwing Arn (he jumped!) over the top rope.
And that great match between Flair and Garvin. What a huge pop for flair when get got the pin at the end. First time I had ever heard a crowd pop for the heel when he won, and I was one of them! What a dumb mark I was! Of course I kind of miss those days though. Thanks for the trip down memory lane Kev!
Posted by: Pat O. | November 27, 2008 9:58 AM
Funny you mention Flair. From B Hart's book: The other wrestlers hated Flair for numerous reasons.
1. Flair's chops legitimatley hurt. Bret's quote "When you hurt each other for real YOU'RE THE MARK
2. Flair couldn't tell a story. "Every match of his was the same like Hogan"
3. Race despised him. Thought he was only over because he brown nosed the Crocketts.
Posted by: eric | November 27, 2008 11:05 AM
always remember when I was very young going with my father and grandfather downtown on Thanksgiving night to the Memorial Hall and sitting in the bleachers and cheering on the wrestlers. Of course we would stop at the diner across the street and get a snack, and watch the "show" which would start there as two wrestlers would start a fight and everyone would sit and eat and watch them verbally abuse each other, and that would sell more tickets and hype what would be happening later. I could never figure it out that once the evening was over, and once I had stood with Dad and Gramp and waited for those same wrestling enemies to leave, and perhaps snatch an autograph or two ... that those same two men would drive away in a car together, and not look upset at all. Have not thought about this in over 50 years. Thanks for these Thanksgiving memories.
Posted by: John | November 27, 2008 3:34 PM
I'm thankful for your blog Kev. Happy Thanksgiving.
Posted by: Mr. Bronson | November 27, 2008 10:16 PM
In the 80's, there was a bar in Highlandtown called Larry's Last Chance Saloon, which was basically somebody's basement, that always showed the PPV's. I remember rushing thru Thanksgiving dinner, and me and my buddies heading their to watch the Survivor Series every year. I remember Kerry Von Erich, who was Intercontinental champ at that point, getting pinned by Mr Perfect in an elimination match, and then on Saturday's "Superstars" episode, Perfect pinning him again to regain the title. Didn't realize at the time that Vince was taping "Superstars" episodes about a month ahead of time
and Perfect had actually won the title before the Survivor Series. Would have liked to been at a taping back then. Would have been at least 5 hours at the arena.
Posted by: Matt | November 28, 2008 2:23 PM
Oh , how times change . It's just not fair .
Hope you had a good holiday Kev .
Posted by: the artist formerly known as jack in hebron | November 28, 2008 3:09 PM
You sure about Race hating Flair? Everytime I see a interview where Flair is talking about Harley Race, he's speaks so highly of him. On this months legends program on WWE 24/7, Flair tells the story of what really happened the night of Starrcade 83.
Posted by: Greg | November 28, 2008 5:00 PM
Back in the mid-eighties, WWF taped "Wrestling Challenge" shows on a couple of occasions at the civic center in Salisbury. I recall they taped three shows in an evening which like Matt said took awhile, 4-5 hours.It seems to me these shows aired within two weeks of the taping. I remember the 'Main Event' on one of those evenings was a Hogan-Orndorff title match which somehow the Hulkster barely managed to win. During their time in town, they also filmed a segment with George ';the Animal' Steele roaming around the Salisbury Zoo meeting and greeting his pals.
Posted by: Mr. Eli | November 29, 2008 9:44 AM
Mr. Eli : you and I both know Geo. Steele would be the main attraction at the Salisbury Zoo !
Posted by: the artist formerly known as jack in hebron | November 29, 2008 6:01 PM
I remember watching the events at my grandparents house after the meal. Of course, the picture was "scrambled"...but the audio was normal. For a few seconds the screen would be still enough to see what was going on. Now that was dedication.
You know you're old if you ever watched scrambled TV. Especially, the adult stuff on Super TV.
Posted by: Ian | November 29, 2008 9:57 PM
Those Starrcades were awesome. The buildups were always great, with Tony Schiavone reporting from the control center. The Road Warriors throwing the pumpkins (representing Beautiful Bobby and Loverboy Dennis' heads) off of the scaffold was a true classic.
I always enjoyed the video montages afterwards also, with all of the still-framed photos set to the song "Far From Over" by Frank Stallone.
When I was 15 I would have given anything to attend "The Gathering" or "The Night of the Skywalkers." Those were the days. Another great tradition ruined by Vince McMahon.
Posted by: The Iron Geek | November 30, 2008 2:54 AM
Artist: George the 'Animal' Steele and his, as Vince would say ":green tongue lapping about" would have to be the main attraction at this particular zoo.
Posted by: Mr. Eli | November 30, 2008 8:46 AM
Before the Survivor Series, the WWF held a card at the Capital Center on the day before Thanksgiving (or maybe it was on Thanksgiving, it was a long time ago). The main event was the Turkey Tournament. It was a reverse battle royal in a cage -- the last person left in the cage was the loser. I remember it was Greg Valentine, and he got pelted with beers and sodas thrown into the cage.
Also, some of you might remember that NWA held the Crocket Cup Tag Team Tournament in Baltimore one summer. I remember that the Mulkeys got their "first win" at that event. God, to be back in the days when tag team wrestling wasn't just filler.
Posted by: mstrchef13 | December 2, 2008 10:13 PM