Chris Cooley Presents The WWE Vintage Collection: Eps 82/83: The Brainbusters vs. The Road Warriors, Windham vs. Bigelow, Hennig vs. DDP, Duggan vs. Vader, Nash vs. Goldberg, and More

Chris Cooley Presents The WWE Vintage Collection: Eps 82/83: The Brainbusters vs. The Road Warriors, Windham vs. Bigelow, Hennig vs. DDP, Duggan vs. Vader, Nash vs. Goldberg, and More

In this edition of the Vintage Collection, we combine two episodes in one, and bring you a look at the first big Pay-Per-View in wrestling. Not WrestleMania, but Starrcade.

Starrcade first began in 1983, and that’s we were begin.

Episode #82

MATCH#1: NWA Tag Team Championship
Jack/Jerry Brisco (c) vs. Ricky Steamboat/Jay Youngblood
DATE OF MATCH: November 24, 1983

A future WWE Hall of Fame Tag Team against another WWE HOF’er in Steamboat, and Jay Youngblood. This match shows the quality of the Tag Team division in the NWA at the time.

Steamboat and Youngblood manage to pull out the victory after Jerry Brisco allows himself to get distracted by the referee, after a series of near falls.

For those who missed this edition of the show, you can watch this match on the Starrcade: The Essential Collection DVD in stores now.

YOUR WINNERS: Ricky Steamboat/Jay Youngblood

MATCH#2: Unification Match
NWA Television Champion Nikita Koloff vs. UWF Television Champion Terry Taylor w/Eddie Gilbert
DATE OF MATCH: November 26, 1987

I don’t hear enough of the Koloffs. I enjoy watching matches involving either Ivan or Nikita. This match is no exception, although it was a little funny seeing Terry Taylor without the red bit in his hair.

The match ends with Eddie Gilbert interfering one too many times, and getting knocked off by his own man, allowing Koloff to get the rollup and unifying the titles.

This match signalled the final leg in the merger between the UWF and the NWA. Taylor was the only person in the history of the UWF, to hold the TV Title on more than once occasion (4).

YOUR WINNER: Nikita Koloff

MATCH#3: NWA United States Championship
Barry Windham (c) w/J.J. Dillon vs. Bam Bam Bigelow w/Oliver Humperdink
DATE OF MATCH: December 26, 1988

The 1988 Starrcade bought us such matches as Flair/Luger and the Road Warriors against Dusty and Sting. Those two matches can be seen on the Starrcade DVD. This match comes from the same event.

The match ended in a count out victory for Windham, after avoiding an attack by Bigelow, which sent him crashing into the ring post, and unable to return to the ring by a count of ten.
Windham was originally friends with Lex Luger, after he left the Four Horsemen. However, the son of BlackJack Mulligan soon wanted to raise the four fingers, and turned on the Total Package. This is what lead to the Flair/Luger NWA Championship match at the same event. Also, it was Lex who ended up defeating Barry for the United States Championship, in February of 1989.

YOUR WINNER: Barry Windham

MAIN EVENT: NWA Tag Team Championship
Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard) w/J.J. Dillon vs. Road Warriors (Animal/Hawk) w/Paul Ellering
DATE OF MATCH: November 26, 1987

Chicago, Illinois. Home of the Road Warriors. Can the Horsemen survive Starrcade and walk out with the Tag Team Gold?

Tully sends the referee out of the ring, and the Warriors start to take over. Double Clothesline by the LOD. Hawk heads to the top rope... Doomsday Device! A second referee comes in and counts the three! The Road Warriors are the new Tag Team Champions! But wait, the original referee is back in, and says that before the pinfall was made, Animal threw Anderson over the top rope, which in the NWA means a Disqualification, and also means that the Four Horsemen retain the titles, much to the dismay of Animal and Hawk.

This match can be viewed on Starrcade: The Essential Collection, out now on DVD.

YOUR WINNERS via DISQUALIFICATION: Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard

Episode #83
MATCH#1: WCW Womens Championship
TOURNAMENT FINAL
Akira Hokuto w/Sonny Onoo vs. Medusa
DATE OF MATCH: December 29, 1996

For those who don’t remember, Medusa was known as Alundra Blayze. The same Alundra Blayze who dumped the WWF Women’s Championship into a rubbish bin on a live WCW Monday Nitro.

Following a distraction, Sonny Onoo (who ironically has an interview with James Guttman up at ClubWWI.com for your listening pleasure) enters the ring, and nails Medusa with an American flag, which allows Hokuto to hit a Missile Dropkick, into a Northern Lights Bomb, and Akira becomes the first WCW Women’s Champion.

YOUR WINNER: Akira Hokuto

Akira Hokuto will always go down in WCW history, as the only Women’s Champion in the history of the company. After defeating Medusa at the Great American Bash in June 1997, not only did Medusa have to ‘retire’ as a pre-match stipulation if she lost, but Hokuto was never seen in WCW again, and the Women’s Championship was retired.

MATCH#2: WCW United States Championship
Curt Hennig (c) vs. Diamond Dallas Page
DATE OF MATCH: December 28, 1997

Originally, Ric Flair was scheduled to wrestle Hennig for the title, but due to an attack by the champion and the nWo, Flair was unable to compete, and DDP was subbed in.

After an attempted Hennig Plex was blocked by Page, DDP was able to hit his patented ‘Diamond Cutter’ and get a victory against the nWo, and become the new United States Champion.

YOUR WINNER: Diamond Dallas Page

Also at the 1997 Starrcade, Sting defeated Hollywood Hulk Hogan to capture the World Heavyweight Championship, and Larry Zbyszko beat Eric Bischoff by Disqualification, in a match to detertmine who would have control over Monday Nitro.

MATCH#3: Pat O’Connor Memorial International Tag Team Tournament Final
The Great Muta/Mr. Saito (Japan) vs. Rick/Scott Steiner (USA)
DATE OF MATCH: December 16, 1990

A former NWA Champion, Pat O’Connor passed away in August of 1990. Known for being a former trainer, and booker in the Kansas City area (the PPV was held in St. Louis), a Tag Team Tournament would be named in his honour.

The Tournament consists of 8 teams, representing 8 different countries. The teams were:

Rick/Scott Steiner (USA), Sgt. Krueger/Col. DeKlerk (South Africa), Konnan/Rey Misterio Sr. (Mexico), Chris Adams/Norman Smiley (UK), Mr. Saito/Great Muta (Japan), Rip Morgan/Jack Victory (New Zealand), Victor Zangiev/Salman Hashimikov (USSR) and Troy Montour/Danny Johnson (Canada).

USA defeated Mexico and Japan defeated the USSR in the semi-finals, to create this final match.

The finish saw Saito lock in a Sleeper Hold on Scott, but a blind tag from Rick, led to the downfall of the Japanese team, as the future Dog Faced Gremlin hit a sunset flip from the top turnbuckle, to get the victory for Team USA.

YOUR WINNERS: Rick/Scott Steiner (USA)

MATCH#4: WCW United States Championship
‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan (c) vs. Vader
DATE OF MATCH: December 27, 1994

This was the opening match of Starrcade ’94, an event which included the PPV debut of Jean-Paul Levesque, who later on become Triple H in the WWF.

Duggan looks to finish off Vader once and for all, but misses him with a spear attempt, and hits a board held up by Harley Race, who is on the outside. Vader then connects with a Face Eraser, and becomes the new United States Champion.

YOUR WINNER: Vader

MAIN EVENT: WCW World Heavyweight Championship
No Disqualification
Goldberg (c) vs. Kevin Nash
DATE OF MATCH: December 27, 1998

The Main Event of Starrcade 1998, pitted Goldberg’s 173-0 winning streak, and his World Heavyweight Championship, against Kevin Nash who earned a shot by winning World War 3 a month earlier.

It took the Disco Inferno, Bam Bam Bigelow, Scott Hall and a taser, in order for Kevin Nash to break the streak, and win the World Title.

YOUR WINNER: Kevin Nash

The next night, not knowing that Hall had interfered, Nash offered Goldberg a rematch for the following week. However, Bill was arrested on suspicion of stalking Miss Elizabeth, and the ‘retired’ Hollywood Hogan was offered the shot instead. That match, was held on January 4, 1999. Not only was that the night, Tony Schiavone handed RAW the win in the ratings that week, with his famous quote “We understand that Mick Foley, who wrestled here one time as Cactus Jack, is going to win their world title" "Ugh, that's gonna put some butts in the seats.". But WCW’s title match, included the infamous ‘Fingerpoke Of Doom’ incident, in which Hogan poked Nash in the chest, and Big Sexy went down like he’s been shot, allowing Hogan to regain the title.