Greensboro Coliseum Complex, Greensboro, North Carolina
Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, Georgia.
It's often said that Vince McMahon is a genius, but when you think about it, how many of his ideas were truly original?
Sure, he gave us the game-changing Attitude Era, but wasn't that merely an inevitable evolution from the kind of content surveyed by Extreme Championship Wrestling?
Sure, he gave us memorable angles like D-Generation-X, but wasn't that just in response to the unprecedented popularity of the New World Order?
And sure, he gave us Wrestlemania, an event which today holds its own among the likes of the Superbowl as a veritable institution, but before there was 'Mania, it was NWA Starrcade which held the crown of pro wrestling's premier event.
Now in its third year, Starrcade 1985 was the first version of the National Wrestling Alliance's marquee event to take place after the success of Wrestlemania 1. In an attempt to prove that theirs was still the biggest and best, Jim Crockett Promotions upped the ante, running The Gathering from two separate venues and once again beating McMahon to the punch before he had the chance to put Wrestlemania 2 in three venues simultaneously.
Would JCP have better luck with this multi-venue format than the WWF would have months later?
Let's head down to both Greensboro and Atlanta to find out.
Welcome To The Gathering
After a rather spiffy intro that was about a thousand times better than the kind of lame intros WCW would start its PPVs with in the nineties, we got a welcome from our Atlanta-based announcers Bob Caudle and Tony 'The Mustache' Schiavone.
The two hyped tonight's big matches before sending it over to Johnny Weaver, who was handling backstage interviews over at the other Starrcade site, the Greensboro coliseum.
With that, it was onto our opening match.
Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship
Krusher Khrushchev vs. Sam Houston
The crowd adored babyface Sam Houston and that made everything he and Krusher Khrushchev did seem like a big deal.
OK, so this kind of match was very much of its time, but if you can watch it in context rather than through the filter of modern pro wrestling, there was a lot to like here.
After a solid effort, Khrushchev demolished his opponent, smashing his way to victory and repossessing the vacant Mid-Atlantic title.
Your Winner: Krusher Khrushchev
Moving swiftly on...
Mexican Death Match
Abdullah The Butcher (w/ Paul Jones) vs. The Ragin' Bull Manny Fernandez
It was billed as a 'Mexican death match' but was basically a 'sombrero on a pole match' with the obligatory Abdullah The Butcher bloodshedding.
It was OK for what it was, but I can't help but feel like a Mexican death match should have delivered a lot more.
After a few minutes of Basic Blood Spilling 101, Manny Fernandez hit a move called Flying Burrito because that was the sort of thing that was totally acceptable in the 1980s.
In case you're wondering, it was a flying forearm. It allowed Ragin' Bull to knock Abby on his flabby ass, climb the pole, retrieve the sombrero and win the contest.
Your Winner: Manny Fernandez
Backstage, Krusher Khrushchev was interviewed by Johnny Weaver.
Russian sympathizer Khrushchev thanked The Kollofs for helping prepare him for tonight’s match before claiming that his victory proved that Russia had the world's most superior athletes.
This was a decent enough promo from Mr. Darsow, even if the crappy audio did mean that you could hear his every word echoing around the arena.
Texas Bullrope Match
Cowboy Ron Bass vs. Blacktop Bully (w/ James J. Dillon)
Two-thirds of this match involved Ron Bass hitting his former Long Riders partner in the face repeatedly with a cowbell.
Christopher Walkden would have loved it.
Blacktop Bart occasionally fought back, but this was all about him getting his comeuppance in his heated rivalry with Bass and bleeding like the proverbial stuck pig.
The match was pretty decent, though again I can see why some people wouldn’t like it when viewed through the filter of modern wrestling.
After a few minutes of fairly slow action, Bass lept off the top rope with a death-defying Flying Super Cowbell Shot to the Head of Doom and won the match.
Your Winner: Ron Bass
Wasting no time, James J. Dillon immediately got to the ring and started attacking Bass.
Texas Bullrope Match
James J. Dillon vs. Ron Bass
Bass fought back quickly and this one quickly developed into another one-sided ass-kicking until the referee took a tumble.That allowed Blacktop Bart to hit a piledriver and dump Dillon on top of his opponent.
One three count later and we were done here.
Your Winner: James J. Dillon
Arm Wrestling Match
The Barbarian (w/ Paul Jones) vs. Superstar Billy Graham
Back at Starrcade ‘84, Superstar Billy Graham had turned up looking like crap and doing a silly karate gimmick for a horrible match with Wahoo McDaniel.
Tonight, he arrived looking more like the Billy Graham for an arm-wrestling match with The Barbarian.
Fun flashback: remember when Dusty Rhodes was doing commentary for WCW and it always sounded like he called Barbarian ‘The Ball Bearing?’
I mention that because its easier than trying to review a worked arm-wrestling match.
Credit where it’s due, Graham and Ball Bearing really did sell this like they were arm-wrestling as though their lives depended on it and were pretty convincing, but it was still just arm-wrestling.
Billy Graham won and I don’t know what else to say about that.
Your Winner: Superstar Billy Graham
Paul Jones immediately attacked Billy Graham and that apparently led us right into a match.
Superstar Billy Graham vs. The Barbarian (w/ Paul Jones)
The actual wrestling match was OK, but again it wasn’t particularly special.For the third match in a row, we got plenty of blood because this was the 80s and it was the law.
As the end came, Graham locked on a bear hug, Jones then hit him with his cane and that was that.
Your Winner via Disqualification: Billy Graham
Post-match, the two brawled out in the crowd.
National Wrestling Alliance National Championship
NWA National Champion Terry Taylor vs. Buddy Landel (w/ James J. Dillon)
This was another competent match, albeit one that never really kicked up into the kind of high gear you’d probably hope for.
That seemed to be the big issue with almost everything on this show so far. Most of it was fine, but for the NWA’s biggest show of the year you’d probably expect more.
The end came with a win for Nature Boy thanks to Dillon’s interference.
Your Winner and NEW National Champion: Buddy Landell
No time to waste, the NWA were cramming as much into this show as possible.
National Wrestling Alliance National Tag Team Champions
NWA National Tag Team Champions The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Ole & Arn Anderson) vs. NWA US Tag Team Champions Wahoo McDaniel & Billy Jack Haynes
One thing I will point out is the randomness of the theme music on this show. McDaniel and Haynes came out to a very obvious rip off of 1999 by Prince. It was so weird, so unsuitable, and yet so perfectly 80s.
The other weird thing about this show was the commentary. Not just in this match but throughout the entire event, there were entire minutes were neither Caudle nor Schiavone said a word.
Occasionally, they’d chip in with a remark or two but then it was right back to radio silence from our announcers, making for a very odd viewing experience indeed.
Anyway, neither the Ill-fitting entrance music nor the lack of commentary could take away from what was otherwise a very solid match that could have benefited from having a few more minutes tacked onto it.
Otherwise, this was one of the better matches on the card, coming to a close with a win for the Andersons thanks to some shady heel shenanigans.
Your Winners and Still National Tag Team Champions: The Minnesota Wrecking Crew
Backstage, Johnny Weaver interviewed James J. Dillon and Nature Boy Buddy Landell.
In one of the better interview segments from the last three Starrcades, Dillon bragged about being the ‘Bullrope’ champion and about how he knew all along that Landell was championship material.
For his part, Nature Boy insisted that he’d modelled his life after Tully Blanchard, The Andersons, and Ric Flair. He also called himself the ‘world’s national champion’ which I’m not sure is accurate.
Anyway, this was pretty decent stuff from a confident and cocksure Landell.
Steel Cage ‘I Quit’ Match for the National Wrestling Alliance United States Championship
NWA United States Champion Tully Blanchard (w/ Baby Doll) vs. Magnum T.A
At no point did this ever feel like a choreographed wrestling match. It felt like a straight-up fight to the death between two men who legitimately wanted to kill each other.
The blood let cane thick and fast and would have added even more to what was already an incredible performance had so many other wrestlers not bled unnecessarily later on in the show.
Not that it mattered.
The violence was off the charts, the intensity and emotion was something else, and the whole thing was awesome from start to finish.
Speaking of the finish...
Tully Blanchard got a wooden chair into the ring somehow but then smashed it up rather than using it on his opponent. It looked like an odd move at first but then he took a spiked piece of the broken chair and tried to stab Magnum T.A in the eye with it.
Magnum fought back, took control of the spike and jammed it into his rival’s head until the champion surrendered.
Amazing.
Your Winner and NEW US Champion: Magnum T.A
Before the next match, Jim Cornette made his Starrcade debut to introduce his boys, The Midnight Express.
The Midnight Express (Beautiful Bobby Eaton & Loverboy Dennis Condrey w/Jim Cornette) vs. Jimmy Valiant & Miss Atlanta Lively (w/Big Mama)
Together with Jimmy Valliant (making his third Starrcade appearance), they all created a chaotic mess with almost no redeeming qualities.
Sure, this was a straight-up comedy match and that would have been fine if, you know, it had actually been funny.
There weren’t many laughs, but there was a lot of mess.
Thankfully, it was kept quite short and ended when Miss Atlanta Lively kind of just lied down on top of Dennis Condrey for the win.
Your Winners: Miss Atlanta Lively and Jimmy Valiant
Afterward, the good guys stripped Jim Cornette down to his knickers.
Our New US Champion
Backstage, Johnny Weaver interviewed Magnum T.A.
The new US Champion cut a compelling promo, declaring that he’d be ready to defend “the fighting champion’s belt” against anyone on the roster.
Between that match and this promo, it was easy to see why people had such high hopes on Magnum becoming The Next Big Thing.
Steel Cage Match for the National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship
NWA World Tag Team Champions Ivan & Nikita Koloff (w/ Krusher Khrushchev) vs. The Rock 'n' Roll Express
This was a quality match but it really didn’t need the cage match stipulation, especially since we’d already had an all-time classic less than thirty minutes earlier, and especially since referee Earl Hebner enforced traditional tag rules throughout.Even despite all that, this was a great effort from everyone involved and the crowd absolutely ate it up.
A Ricky Morton roll-up sealed the deal for him and Robert Gibson earning them the titles.
On another note, Don Kernodle was at ringside for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express. So far, he’d appeared at all three Starrcade shows and yet never once wrestled a match. As far as I know, he was still an active competitor at this stage of his career.
Your Winners and New World Tag Team Champions: The Rock n Roll Express
Post-match, the Russians got their revenge by beating the Rock ‘n’ Roll express to a pulp and taking out anyone who tried to help the. We champions.
Finally, it was onto our main event of the evening.
National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nature Boy Ric Flair vs. The American Dream Dusty Rhodes
It was far superior to the 1984 effort but there was still something about it that didn’t quite meet the expectations might have for it.
I mean, don’t get me wrong:
It was Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair, so it was always going to be very enjoyable. What’s more, it didn’t suffer from the same terrible Smokin’ Joe Frazier ending that Rhodes/Flair ‘84 did, but it just didn’t quite feel like the all-time Classic that it perhaps could have been.
Towards the end, referee Tommy Young got bumped, prompting a run in from the Minnesota Wrecking Crew to attack Dusty. Flair capitalized by making the cover as a new referee ran in, but alas he only got a two count.
Dusty then rolled up his opponent, and one three count later we had a new champion.
Your Winner and New World Heavyweight Champion: Dusty Rhodes
Afterward, a bunch of babyfaces ran in to congratulate the new champion and douse him in champagne.
Dusty Did it For the Blue Collar Workers
The champagne continued to flow backstage as Tong Schiavone got an interview with the new champion.The American Dream dedicated his match to the textile workers as well as ‘the auto workers and the car workers,’ who were apparently two different sets of people.
He then vowed to remain champion for a long time, bringing this ace promo, and this show, to an end.
All in all, Starrcade 85: The Gathering wasn’t a bad show. Only the weirdness with Miss Atlanta Lively and Jimmy Valiant was outright poor, but with very few exceptions almost everything else settled around a level of mediocrity.
Man though, what exceptions they were.
Tully Blanchard vs. Magnum T.A. deserves all the credit it gets and is genuinely one of the best matches this fan has seen in years.
Elsewhere, the world tag team title match was exhilarating stuff, and though Rhodes and Flair’s second Starrcade main event wasn’t a classic, it was still very entertaining.
Watch for those matches but don’t feel bad about skipping everything else.
Other WCW Starrcade reviews:
- NWA Starrcade 1983
- NWA Starrcade 1984
- WCW Starrcade 1996
- WCW Starrcade 1997
- WCW Starrcade 1998
- WCW Starrcade 1999
- WCW Starrcade 2000
Other 1985 pro wrestling reviews:
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