#57 – Starrcade 86
t’s our second annual Thanksgiving spectacular as we travel to David Crockett’s house for dinner and review Starrcade 86.
t’s our second annual Thanksgiving spectacular as we travel to David Crockett’s house for dinner and review Starrcade 86.
Nice. I was hoping you guys would review an old StarrCade or Survivior Series for Thanksgiving. StarrCade 86 was the first NWA tape I ever rented from Blockbuster in the early 90’s. I use to rent it so much that the manager told me I was the only one who ever rented it and asked if I wanted to buy it which I did and still own to this day. The oversized video box still sticks out like a sore thumb in my video collection. Thanks guys.
Hope you enjoy it. Make sure you check out last year’s review of Starrcade 87.
When I was a little boy I lived in a very small town in Kentucky. There was this mom & pop type video store. This along with the Crockett Cup 87 were my two favorite rentals. I prob. watched each at least a dozen times.
I think everyone who watched wrestling at this time has memories of watching the same tape over and over again. Sometimes I think we have too much stuff to watch now.
QUESTION FOR EVERYONE! What was the name of the video store from which you rented Starrcade ’86?
For me it was either Stars & Stripes Video or Betaville.
Videoland in Sebree, KY owned by the Jones family. It did have a tanning bed also. I always rented bad Nintendo & Super Nintendo games there. I always noticed the original “I Spit on Your Grave” coverbox, and “Monkey Shines” coverbox.
That’s random, you check out pro wrestling while your mom gets a tan, in the same store.
My mom never got tanned…mine would get her hair cut while I went next door to the video store and eyed the tapes and then would go across the street to Kroger to look at PWI.
The showtime video in my little town use to have a gatefold-slipcase version
of Friday the 13th.
Prime Time Video. It was located next door to the baseball card shop and down the block from the pizza place. Fridays consisted of placing the order for a pizza, going to pick out videos and then picking up the pizza. This happened every weekend until the big Pharmor opened up and put Prime Time Video out of business. I remember asking the guy behind the counter if they got the new release of Starrcade 88 for about 52 weekends in a row. Only in my adulthood do I now pick up on his sarcasm as he would say “not this week kid”.
Hollywood Video. I didn’t rent that one until my late teens.
I never rented Starrcade ’86, but I was close to the owner of our mom and pop
Video store. So one day I gave her a 100.00 and for 2.00 a piece I was lucky to get all the early Summer Slams and Survivor Series and some rare Coliseum tapes. I was very very lucky to have gotten
These……………
Starrcade ’85, ’86, ’87, ’88, GAB ’88, ’89. BTW my starrcade ’86 does not have
Rude v. Wahoo.
Video Emporium and Showtime video, both mom and pop type stores. The
ones that had everything you could imagine. Sad big corp. took over. O well
Now its their turn to fall.
Netflix rules them all.
Amen, I love me some netflix….
When I was little I used to have my own made up wrestling promotion. I would draw & make up my own wrestlers (sometimes gimmicks based on real wrestlers) They would have their matches by way of those big LJN? WWF Action figures or by way of Video Game (early on that would include the Championship Wrestling video game on Nintendo, then the World Championship Wrestling…eventually Wrestlemania Challenge,etc) Let’s just say the best wrestler out there was named Chocolate Sauce…his career almost ended way too early when Death Trap made his debut and took the title. Talk about scary. haha.
I had notebooks full of made up wrestlers. Most of the tag teams had express in the name. Chocolate Sauce sounds awesome.
In highschool algebra I wrote story lines for WWF……in 2001 I wrote
A story sim to what they did w/ Big Show in NWO (2002)… Also wrote
A Story where Flair reformed the 4 Horsemen to bring class and old school
Back to WWF
Solve this algebraic equation…
[y + Ric Flair turns on Sting](x) = [2/Jim Cornette nails you with a tennis racket](y)
Rented (and dubbed) my copy from Blockbuster video. Their prize possession there was the two tape 4 hour Best of Starrcade 83-87. Also, WM2 was not the first multi-city supershow. Starrcade 85 was also from Greensboro and Atlanta and Ali-inoki was broadcast in several US cities which also had cards of their own, though none of the US matches were shown back in Japan.
Great show as always!
I often dubbed things from my VHS player to my Beta player. Even made my own NWA VHS game like the WWF Video Board Game I still have. I don’t think I ever got to see the best f Starrcade tape, but don’t think I cared too much since I had seen most of them.
I’m 18 now, but when I was like 8 or 9, my step-dad gave me a few old tapes. This was one of them, and I cannot wait to listen to this!
Greatest stepdad ever.
Did Black Cat say broccoli pudding in the intro? Is that a thing? Did I hear that wrong? I MUST have heard that wrong. It sounds too disgusting to be real.
100% true story here: last night I had a dream I was making out with a girl only to find out later that it was the fiancee of – you guessed it – Nikita Koloff. I spent the rest of the dream ducking and dodging the enraged Russian through the city of Milwaukee as he tried to take my head off with his Russian sickle. Footnote: I’ve never actually been to Milwaukee. Not once. Conclusion: dreams are bullshit.
Anyways, I couldn’t believe when I downloaded the pod two hours after awakening that Koloff would be such a featured topic of discussion on your podcast. Long story short, I’ve decided to cancel my mail-order Russian bride. Sorry Svetlana.
Love the wrestling Christmas carol idea. If possible, I’ll even try to throw in a John Wayne “True Grit” reference. Seriously Black Cat, how the hell did you not know that?
Well I should go. This Wild Turkey is making me sleepy.
I stole most of the recipe titles I think from a Paula Deen website after googling “southern thanksgiving dinners,” the source of the broccoli pudding recipe.
Milwaukee’s a fine town. Perhaps you were watching an Super Brawl before bed?
PLEASE send in your Christmas carols! Before Saturday if possible!
This is the fourth Starrcade you guys have done (compared to three WrestleMania’s and two Survivor Series). I wonder what Federation you guys prefer… 🙂
Great show as always gentlemen!
My fav is the World Wildlife Federation
Please tell me you didn’t need to add up the numbers to figure this one out 🙂
I know you guys are NWA fans, but come on! Why not show some love to the northern fans?
Actually, I just did the math.
NWA/WCW – 23 episodes
WWF – 23 episodes
Misc/Other – 12
IN YO FACE. 😉
Fair enough, fair enough, BUT (and yes, that’s a big but 😉 ) I was only looking at the “Superbowl” of each company. Therefore, back in yo face, gangsta! 🙂
Great show guys! One of the best yet. The audio clips at the end of the show are priceless. I really appreciate the extra long holiday shows. I almost killed my entire drive home today just listening to the show. A great antidote for a very boring drive.
Thanks, I was very proud of those clips.
So, as a loyal listener to the second greatest Old School Wrestling Podcast (the best is JCP weekly, the Mello Yello experience)…I was completely blown away when I saw the new title to episode 57, Starrcade 86. When this event occured, I had just become an avid wrestling fan about a year before, and it brings back so many memories of when I was a kid, and how I loved this era of Jim Crockett’s Mid Atlantic/NWA. The heat of the booking, along with the outstanding workrate of the wrestlers involved in the organization was second to none in the history of pro wrestling. Ric Flair said it best “Their (WWF’s) top guy, Hulk Hogan, couldn’t get on the first match of an NWA event back then.
The video store I rented this one from was called Highway Video, which was off of Montauk Hwy on Long Island, NY. Back in the day, although from a working class family, I did have two VCRs, and was given one of them in my bedroom, so I could watch all the pro wrestling I wanted to. I would take mine out into the living room and dub all the classics, the 87 JC Sr Memorial Cup, the Great American Bash 85, 86 and 87, Starrcade 86 and 87, all the WWF releases, etc… My parents would never think of ordering a PPV event back then though. The first PPV I ever got I paid for myself, which was the first Superbrawl in 1991.
During the big events on JCP, I used to love how the lights would go out through whole arena, and then the spotlight would shine on the entrance, with the smoke billowing, and there would be a small buildup and then the faces (25 cents) would enter, and the arena would pop (another 25 cents). The WWF wouldn’t do that, because they would have their cameras on the audience cheering loudly with their merchendise on the backs of all throughout the crowd.
Obviously I am getting off the subject here. One thing I dont think was mentioned, which was the dark match. Tim Horner and Nelson Royal defeated Don and Rocky Kernodle. Getting back to the video release, Starrcade 86 wasn’t a great card, comparable to all the other shows in that era, but the buzz and energy from the crowd and the production of the video was pure fire. That main event was played way too many times before then. We all saw Ric Flair vs Nikita Koloff throughout the years. Magnum T.A., as everyone knows, was groomed to contest with Ric Flair on this card, and possibly win the title. The scaffold match was a great gimmick match, but was poorly executed. My favorite match on this card was easily the cage match between Ole and Arn and the Rock N Roll Express. The contrasting styles between the two were the true yin and yang of tag team wrestling, which we discussed last episode. Then the Dusty/Tully match was great, along with the Ron Garvin/Big Bubba street fight. Other then that, I think the build up to this event on NWA Saturday Nights was so classic, there will never be another time in wrestling like this. Thanks again guys…..
One note, I do cruise through Youtube for classic wrestling, like all others that listen to this website, and I did find a classic event from 1986, a WWF card called The Big Event. It was the famous Toronto, Canada event that had the Hulk Hogan/Paul Orndoff showdown. This was actually a Coliseum Home Video release that I was not aware of till the other day. The entire card is on Youtube. Perfect for your medium.
Thanks for the Big Event tip.
I think Dre would’ve killed me if I mentioned the dark match. He already wanted to skip the Central States title match.
I was on my way, along with my wife and daughters, to the Winston-Salem, Greensboro area, Flair country, for Thanksgiving with my inlaws. I had my iPod on listening to the OSW podcast while my family listened to music that I’m sure would’ve made me want to stick something sharp in my eye. I was happily listening to you guys describe one of the best starcades ever when you began to talk about the main event, Ric Flair vs. Nakita Koloff. When the podcast came to the part where Nakita’s junk fell out of his shorts and Tommy Young put it back in I laughed so hard that tears were rolling from my eyes and I almost drove off the side of the highway. My wife yelled “what are you laughing at?”. I told her that I was listening to the OSWP and she said “oh no, that again?”. Later, as we were going to bed I tried to tell her what was so funny and she just looked at me like I had slapped her mother and said “you are such a child”. You guys are definitely right, women don’t understand that jokes about junk and farts are ALWAYS funny. Hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving and I can’t wait for the next episode.
I’ll take a screen capture for you to show her. Maybe she needs to see it to really understand the humor.
Mr. JamGlad,
Trust me, your better half will never understand the days gone by of pro wrestling. I lose sleep to watch classic pro wrestling on Late Fri night and early dawn Sat morning just so I dont get insluted for acting like a child during normal adult hours.
Just as we dont understand baking cookies, tupperware parties, and the waiting room inside the outside of the bathroom, they will never understand standard and metric, regular and synthetic, and the Old School Wrestling Podcast.
I can hear her now, “that’s disgusting, get that out of my face!”. And that would be just as funny as the pic itself.
I rented it from the RaceTrac gas station in Richmond Hill, GA. I’m sure I rented it before then, as I didn’t move to Richmond Hill until 1990. Before that, I lived in Glennville, GA. I cannot remember where we rented our movies there, but I know we did, because I remember watching wrestling tapes when I lived there. Probably at the grocery store…
Grocery store/gas station video stores ruled. I wish Netflix streaming could somehow replicate this experience.
This is probably my favorite Starrcade ever. I’m totally glad you guys reviewed this one.
I know I rented this when I lived in Glennville, GA, but I have no idea where we rented our videos from in that town. Probably the grocery store. In 1990, we moved to Richmond Hill, GA and I know for a fact that I rented the clamshell VHS version of this from the RaceTrac gas station there. I rented all my ‘rasslin tapes from that gas station after 1990.
When I was in college, my neighbor came over to my house and said “I know you like wrestling. My brother is getting rid of a bunch of his stuff. Do you want these?” “These” were 2 VHS tapes. 1 was the WCW “Danger Zone” compilation hosted by Missy Hyatt and Magnum T.A. (this tape, by the way, is 100% brilliant. Magnum and Missy are so stiff they’re practically robots). The other was the clamshell case VHS of Starrcade 1986. It was one of the best days of my life. Later, that tape would get eaten by my VCR. This was one of the worst days.
I bought a bootleg of the “New Zealand” version from some dude on the internet about 6 years ago.
Robert did you ever notice on the Danger Zone tape that Magnum and Missy sit curiously closer and closer to one another as their segments progress?
Where was Missy’s hand? And Missy is always sitting closer and closer to whoever she is sitting by.
Well, I think there was a reason Magnum was stiff. Maybe two now that I think about it.
The opening theme was much better than last show’s.
Was Starrcade ’85 in more than one location? I heard since Starrcade ’85 was held in 2 locations, Vince had to 1-up them by having Wrestlemania 2 in three locations.
About 20 minutes into the podcast, Black Cat, you say stuff was falling down in your office. You mean to tell me you really weren’t at the dinner table?
Black Cat are you eating meat now?
I LOVE the angle where the good guy is cheated in a hair vs. hair match but he sits and takes the haircut like a man anyway. It’s such a good way to show how honorable the good guy is.
Taped fists should be added to the NWA employee manual when it comes to street fight apparel. Also, a belt must be worn with the jeans, the thicker the better. Knee pads are encouraged as Dre suggested, but the number of knee pads you wear is optional. Matching knee pads are not a requirement.
I liked “Dusty’s” explanation of how he got the scar on his tummy, especially since it involved a car ride from St. Louis to Kansas City that took 24 hours.
If you would’ve asked a 17-year-old Hardcore Badass about the velocity in which an average man would fall from a scaffold, I could’ve told you. Alas, that knowledge has escaped me.
You gotta think that Tommy Young could’ve just communicated to Nikita Koloff that he needed to make an adjustment to fix his wardrobe malfunction.
Was that Condrey or Eaton in that promo toward the end? If it was Eaton that had to have been his best ever.
Thank you to maxpower for answering my question about Starcade ’85.
Another comment on this episode mentions 85 was at two locations.
You did catch me breaking podcast kayfabe when I mentioned something was falling down.
Yes, I did abandon my vegetarianism last February. Robert aka Atomic Elbow is now our resident vegan/vegetarian.
I believe Nikita shouldn’t be allowed to stuff is wang back in his pants because it would break kayfabe. If you’re that beat up would you really be concerned about your junk?
The was Condrey. Eaton could never pull that off.
I kind of feel like I need to jump in to Tommy Young’s defense here. He didn’t actually touch Nikita’s ding-dong. At least not that I could see. He just grabbed the bottom of the singlet and pulled it over, like a parent tucking a child in under a blanket that has been kicked off during a particularly bad dream. Sure, this is bad news for Tommy Young, but it’s not like he was waving Nikita’s “Li’l Russian Nightmare” around or anything.
Pretty stoked that I get to be the “resident vegan”. I live here now. I’m hiding under the ring.
So are you saying he can just lift up his trunks and his woohoo just falls back into place?
Good to know there’s tempeh bacon under the ring whenever I need it. We’re out of nutritional yeast (NOOCH) in the breakroom, btw,
I’m confident you’ll get there…just remember the Kentucky accent.
This was supposed to go on BC’s comment below.
Click Fail.
An amazing episode.
Between Ric Flair impressions, Dusty’s story about spilling coffee during the 24 hour drive from KC to St. Louis, Nikita’s junk and Black Cat’s Jim Cornette impression. I cried laughing several times.
I thought about trying to do the physics equation that you guys talked about…but I was a music major.
I’m going to keep working on my Corny impression. I feel a lot of pressure considering Dre’s awesome Dusty impression.
Jook and Dre,
I got my christmas carol done, do I post it here and now?
email it to blackcat at flairchop.com! Thanks!
I want to know what is Your Fav Starrcade event and your Fav match and why?
Starrcade 87 is my favorite Starrcade event and favorite match is either Andersons vs Rock n Roll from 86 or Dusty/Luger from 87. Need to rewatch 84 & 85, as I might prefer Rhodes v Flair.
My fav Starrcade is ’86 just the overall feel and it was my very first starrcade ever. my fav match is either Luger/Flair from ’88, or Sky Walkers match due to Corney’s fall. Starrcade ’84 Dusty/Flair match felt like a set up for the following Starrcade. Flair cut a interview, but didn.t turn complete heel. Rhodes said its a shame and somewhere some day im gonna get joe fraizer and my rematch. They do not do things like this any more. i remember WM V was planned out nearly a year ahead…. Glad i was born when i was.
Also have much love for the 1993 edition of Starrcade. its also the only true WCW version i liked.
NWA had the best commercials for their tapes… Starrcade ’86 and GAB ’86
were the best. Flair tapping on the camera lens saying hey you… who won
who lost my lips are sealed.
No joke….Mid-late 80s NWA commercials ruled.
you have just entered the Danger Zone………… Hey remember the calander from 1988-1989?
I just listend to this podcast an loved it. I am from Greensboro NC and love the blast from the past
Take One Video sold all the wrestling videos for 99 cents when they shut down , I am set for life!
I went to an antiques fair in Newcastle, England last week and this guy was selling a set of drawers. I bought the drawers and when I got them home and was checking them out, the last drawer had a false bottom and underneath I found vhs tapes of Debbie does Dallas, Starrcade 86 and Starrcade 90. Result!!!
I’ve just been watching ‘Mission impossible : rogue nation’, and all I could think about during the fight scene in the opera backstage was the night of the skywalkers match, or, how night of the skywalkers should have been 😀