Product: WCW/NWA Starrcade 1989 [VHS]
Rating: 5.0
The Best Starrcade Ever
It's been 20 years since this event happened & to this day, I still regard this event as the best Starrcade event of them all. This was a really unique event as this event was center around two tournaments that would occur in one night. It was an Iron Man/Team tournament with the top wrestlers that the NWA saw as "top of the food chain". In the Iron man tournament, the participants will be NWA Champion Ric Flair, Sting, United States Champion Lex Luger & Television Champion The Great Muta. The Iron team tournament featured The Road Warriors, NWA Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers, Doom & New Wild Samoans who replaced the Skyscrapers due to Sid's injury. The rules were to gain points based off how you win and the man & team with the highest amount of points at the end of the night would win the tournament. The point system: 20 points for a pinfall or submission victory, 15 for a countout victory, 10 for a disqualification victory, 5 for a time-limit draw and 0 for a loss. Again, I have the original copy instead of the edited VHS release so I saw the entire card so I don't know what has been edited on the tape.The Steiner Brothers vs Doom. This was a good match that had both teams using the brawling/wrestling style throughout before the match got out of control near the end to the point where all four men were brawling on the floor till Rick Steiner made it back in the ring before the ten count to give the Steiners 15 points.Sting vs Lex Luger. Out of all their matches together including their 1992 title match, this was their best encounter as they went back & forth with Sting's fast paced/power offense meshing well with Luger's strength. The ending was sort of weak but it didn't take away from what was a great match between these two & again their best clash. Luger gets the 20 point victory.The Road Warriors vs Doom. A nice back & forth encounter between these two teams with everyone holding their own with their brawling offense before the Warriors got the 20 point victory.Ric Flair vs The Great Muta. This was Flair's shortest match in his NWA career as I think it was less than five minutes but the highlight was the wild brawl between the Horsemen & Gary Hart's stable of wrestlers. Flair wins & gets 20 points.The Steiner Brothers vs The Road Warriors. This was a dream match for me as this was the only time I can remember these two teams going at it as this was one of the stiffest matches in professional wrestling history to the point where Jim Cornette & Jim Ross (who were commentaring) pointed out how stiff both teams were being with a unique ending that allowed both teams to remain strong & nobody being effected by it. Steiners get 20 points.Sting vs The Great Muta. This didn't top their Great American Bash encounter from earlier in the year as it lacked the intensity that made their matches famous but this was still a good match with Muta using plenty of submission holds to control Sting while Sting had to fight from behind to get the 20 point victory.New Wild Samoans vs Doom. This was just an average match between these two teams as Doom seemed desperate to get a victory here before the Samoans' manager pushed one of the Samoans onto one of the Doom members to get the 20 point pinfall victory.Ric Flair vs Lex Luger. This was my favorite encounter between these two as it didn't last too long like most of their matches which lead to the action being non-stop throughout instead of both men stalling for time. The ending featured Flair locking in the figure four on Luger but the time ran out before Luger submitted which lead to both men getting the 5 point draw.The Steiner Brothers vs The New Wild Samoans. Another average match that was better for the Samoans than the Doom match but it really didn't top the Steiners/Warriors encounter with the ending coming when Scott Steiner tossed one of the Samoans over the top rope that caused a disqualification victory & 10 points for the Samoans.Lex Luger vs The Great Muta. Luger never had a great reputation as a wrestler but he did a great job of selling his injured leg from the Flair match which created nice storytelling here before Muta got disqualified for using the mist so Luger can get the 10 point victory.The Road Warriors vs The New Wild Samoans. This was an enjoyable back & forth encounter between both teams before the Warriors got the 20 point pinfall victory resulting in them gaining 40 points to win the Iron Team Tournament.Sting vs Ric Flair. This didn't top their previous Clash of the Champions classic match or even their lost Great American Bash '90 encounter where Sting won the title but they still delivered a great main event despite wrestling numerous times by this point which lead to Sting getting the upset win & gaining 20 points totalling in 40 points to win the Iron Man Tournament. The aftermath featured the Four Horsemen in Ole & Arn Anderson along with Flair welcoming Sting into the Four Horsemen.Again, this was really one of those classic wrestling cards that if you can get your hands on it, you will not regret it.