Sam Houston vs. Khrusher Khruschev - Dull match early on although Sam did break out a nice head scissors. It picks up after Khruschev lifts Houston onto the top rope. Houston got way more offensse in than I expected but the match was still nothing to write home about.

 

Ragin' Bull Manny Fernandez vs. Abdullah the Butcher (Mexican Death Match w/ Sombrero on a Pole) - It takes about 15 seconds for Manny to start bleeding. Abby uses his foreign object and even uses the bell hammer. Manny takes off his boot and hits some pretty brutal shots. He does the same with his leather belt as well. Manny gets Abby over in a monkey flip AND a suplex in the same match. Awesome. This match is fiull of some great spots including the foreign object to the nuts. Shit, I had never seen this match before and this may be my favorite Abdullah match ever. Easy nomination.

 

Khrusher Khruschev Interview Ron Bass vs. Black Bart (Bullrope Match) - Pretty bloody match but the one match I kept comparing it to was the Piper-Valentine dog collar match and this one came up short in every instance. Still, these two beat the piss out of each other. Bass wins and gets JJ Dillon for 5 minutes. Dillon tries to get an early advantage but then makes quick work of Dillon which made the crowd happy but Black Bart comes in and helps JJ get the win with a vicious piledriver. I'll throw this in as a nomination.

 

The Barbarian vs. Superstar Billy Graham (Arm Wrestling Match) - I may throw this on as an extra.

 

Terry Taylor vs. Buddy Landel - Good solid match. I don't think it compares to some of Taylor's high-end Mid SOuth matches but it is easily one of the better Buddy matches I have seen. I am not a fan of the ref bump but the Dillon interference at the end was a nice touch. It goes on the block for now.

 

Arn & Ole Anderson vs. Wahoo McDaniel & Billy Jack Haynes - I love Wahoo. I love the Andersons. I did not love this match. The Andersons do their standard arm work which is great but the match never really picked up steam and wasn't nearly as interesting as the other Starrcade tags I have watched so far.

 

Buddy Landel & JJ Dillon Interview

 

Tully Blanchard vs. Magnum TA (Steel Cage I Quit Match) - This could end up as #1 in the final voting. I didn't watch this match since I have seen it so many times. All time classic and maybe the best Starrcade match of all time.

 

Midnight Express vs. Jimmy Valiant & Miss Atlanta Lively (Atlanta Street Fight) - Man, I love Jimmy Valiant as a character. I do not love him in the ring. After watching Abby-Bull and Bart-bass, I couldn't take this match seriously.

 

Magnum TA Interview

 

Ivan & Nikita Koloff vs. Rock N Roll Express - Another in a long line of great RNR matches. Ivan once again gets his ass handed to him while the faces shine. I also think Nikita works really well in a cage environment because it allows him to do more than we are accustomed to seeing. Robert Gibson plays face in peril but the Russians keep it interesting. The post match ruled as well with the Russians delivering a nasty Russian sickle on Gibson. I liked the RNR tag with Ivan & Khruschev better but this is an easy nomination.

 

Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes - I liked this one better than Starrcade 1984 for some reason. It just seemed to go by faster. The ending would be reversed on TV after the show in one of Dusty's favorite bullshit booking decisions. This is like my 6th favorite match of the show so I won't nominate it.

 

Dusty Rhodes Locker Room Interview

Sam Houston vs. Khrusher Khruschev

 

I liked this match more then Will did, as I think it was better then any of the Kruschev from Mid-South. Houston bumped like a freak and KK was perfectly fine. Not a disc match but pretty good stuff

 

Ragin' Bull Manny Fernandez vs. Abdullah the Butcher (Mexican Death Match w/ Sombrero on a Pole)

 

Yeah this was totally awesome. This is the most Abby bumping I have seen, Will didn't even mention his cornerpost bump and the Bull had a ton of big offense. Lots of blood, and the fork to the nads was nasty. Without a doubt on a disc

Decision Match for the vacant Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title: Sam Houston vs. Krusher Khruschev

 

Greensboro is red hot for Sam Houston to start and he had some real momentum going on at this stage of his career. Sam is still very young though and looks awkward at times but Krusher also was awkward so there were spots like the headscissors deal that could've been better. Krusher's high backdrop on Sam changed the complexion of the match as Sam hurt his back and Krusher started working him over using a bearhug. Sam though came back after crotching Krusher on the top rope and teed off with punches before hitting the bulldog headlock but Krusher got the bottom rope. Sam was celebrating and then got clocked by a Russian Sickle to win although referee Roughhouse Fargo missed Sam's foot also being on the bottom rope. Fun little match but no nomination.

 

Mexican Death Match: "Ragin Bull" Manny Fernandez vs. Abdullah the Butcher

 

Yeah this is exactly what you want here as you have two of the best bleeders of all-time just bleeding like complete motherfuckers. Abby was relentless using the fork on all parts of Manny's body even his nuts and then you have Manny who uses great punches, thrusts, leather belt, and even his cowboy boots to make Abby start leaking. Abby also bumping like crazy for him on a monkey flip then a nice suplex and of course trying to climb the pole then getting knocked off back into the ring. This was a total war before Abby nuked his shoulder into the pole and Manny climbed up top to get the sombrero to end this awesome match. This is a slam dunk nomination.

 

Next we get promo by Krusher with Johnny Weaver and it's not good.

 

Texas Bullrope Match: "Cowboy" Ron Bass vs. Black Bart

 

I saw where you guys compared this to the Dog Collar Match and yeah you could make that comparison but I won't since this is presented way differently than that was and a totally different gimmick match all together. Bass opens up Bart within a minute with the cowbell and the blood is flowing like wine yet again here on this show. It wasn't long before Bart came firing back with his cowbell and opened up Bass so we got double juice and both men just waylaying each other with the cowbell. I loved the shots of Dillon at ringside scared to death because he knows that if Bass wins then his ass would be next. This is no frills just beat your ass with a bell action here both inside and outside the ring as where one went the other one followed. Just like the Omni mat was covered in blood the previous match the Greensboro mat is covered in blood quickly here. Bass jumps up on the ropes and just smashed Bart with the bell to win the match. Again this is a total war and it's just two guys beating each other with cowbells so it's not as dynamic as the Abby/Bull match but still a fairly easy nomination nonetheless in my eyes.

 

Texas Bullrope Match: "Cowboy" Ron Bass vs. J.J. Dillon

 

Now Dillon gets 5 minutes with Bass as per the rules so Dillon comes in taking off his tuxedo shirt and starts pounding Bass with the cowbell then chokes Bass with the rope but Bass fires it up and just destroys Dillon with the cowbell rendering him a bloody mess with the Greensboro fans going nuts. Bass would accidentally knock down Roughhouse Fargo allowing Bart to come back in the ring and he dropped Bass with a piledriver then laid Dillon top to win. Fun for what it was and I dug the finish.

 

$10,000 Arm Wrestling Match: Superstar Billy Graham vs. The Barbarian

 

I hated they wasted Barbarian on this gimmick but SBG was at least over so that helped some. Everyone knew what was going to happen here and it did with Barbarian & Paul Jones attacking SBG as he almost had this won. SBG juiced after being hit with Paul's cane and his blood looked kinda pinkish which was odd.

 

Superstar Billy Graham vs. The Barbarian

 

Now we get them wrestling proper and Barbarian really works over SBG until Barbarian missed his diving headbutt allowing SBG to catch Barbarian in a bearhug while Paul Jones is hilarious at ringside trying to get Barbarian to break the hold. SBG has Barbarian ready to go but Jones runs in and uses the cane on SBG for the DQ. SBG gets the cane though and he attacks Jones but Barbarian sends him to the floor and posts him for good measure then they brawl on the floor for a bit.

 

National Heavyweight Title: Terry Taylor © vs. "Nature Boy" Buddy Landell

 

Landell is alone as Dillon is still getting cleaned up from earlier. I thought these two had really good chemistry going back to the Mid-South days a year earlier and this was no different here. After all the blood we just had for the last 3 matches this was a welcomed change of pace to see guys do some actual wrestling. Both men throw some good punches especially Budro who just clocked Terry with a right hand. Dillon would show up in his tuxedo and all bandaged up as Landell had Taylor in a headlock on the mat. Budro really looked good here throwing a sweet desperation clothesline on Taylor out of the corner and just looking really crisp in everything he did. Taylor was fine but something just seemed off to me maybe because he knew what his future was going to be or something. Taylor just bashed Budro's head into the turnbuckle before Budro threw him off into Roughhouse Fargo. Dillon took his shoe off and wanted Budro to use it but Taylor throw Budro into Dillon then caught him with the five-arm. Taylor sets up Landell for the Superplex but when he goes to hit it, Dillon takes his leg out and Fargo makes the count giving Budro the title. Budro was really fun here but Taylor seemed like he was going through the motions.....I liked their Omni match better from 3 1/2 weeks earlier so I'll go no on the nomination.

 

National Tag Titles: The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Arn & Ole Anderson) © vs. Billy Jack Haynes & Wahoo McDaniel

 

BJH & Wahoo were the US Tag Champs here but their titles weren't on the line although it would've been a nice touch to make it titles vs. titles. BJH was an odd fit in this match and in this territory all together and of course it wasn't long before he was gone because he was pissed about his payoff from this match. BJH does throw some good punches though and is fired up before tagging in Wahoo who lights the heels up with chops. Wahoo would get isolated though by the Anderson's and they worked over his left arm which was his chopping arm in some smart offense. The armwork was effective and BJH was fine working the corner trying to get Wahoo going and he tried using his other arm before getting the hot tag to BJH. Haynes comes in and works over the Anderson's before Wahoo joined him for the 4-way brawl then when Wahoo tagged back in he got tripped up by Ole for a nearfall but kept fighting back with chops until getting tripped up again and Arn covered him for the pinfall which made it look like the first trip was supposed to be the finish. Yeah this had some fine action but it was a little disjointed and then the finish looked weird.

 

Then we go to Johnny Weaver in Greensboro where he interviews Landell & Dillon about their successes earlier on and this was fun.

 

I Quit Steel Cage Match for the US Heavyweight Title: Tully Blanchard © vs. Magnum TA

 

This is what it's all about with lots of hatred, violence, & blood to go with the legendary finish. Magnum was coming into his own at this time of his career and Tully was such a great opponent for him. Slam dunk nomination if there ever was one.

 

Atlanta Street Fight: The Midnight Express ("Loverboy" Dennis Condrey & "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton) vs. "Boogie Woogie Man" Jimmy Valiant & Miss Atlanta Lively (Ronnie Garvin)

 

Gotta love the MX in their tuxedos and of course Ronnie Garvin in drag. The babyface rampage early on was awesome as Lively was throwing powder like crazy and Valiant was just taking it to Condrey who juices immediately and Eaton not too far behind. Eaton taking that hiptoss to the floor was an insane bump because the Omni floor was some hard ass concrete. Valiant locks on his sleeper on Condrey but Dennis would break free and they threw powder in Jimmy's eyes then get juice out of him while Lively gets powder thrown on him as well. The MX are using their belts while Lively is using the purse and gets pantsed as they are trying to prove it's Garvin. MX gets stripped clean of their shirts as Valiant gets sent to the floor so Corny comes in and just nails Lively with the tennis racket which brings out the juice from him. This is just all out insanity as everyone is getting beaten bloody before Lively just KOed Eaton as he dove off the top rope and covered him for the win. Valiant then attacks Corny and they strip him in the ring showing off his boxer shorts with hearts on them. Wild fucking match here and I think it should move forward because of the uniqueness and the craziness.

 

Next we get a promo from a bloody Magnum with his newly won US Heavyweight Title and this is good.

 

Steel Cage Match for the NWA World Tag Titles: Ivan & Nikita Koloff © vs. The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton)

 

Don Kernodle at ringside to counter Krusher was a great touch. This starts off differently than most RnR matches as the Russians work over Morton early which usually the RnR matches are all RnR on offense from the start. Gibson would come in though and now the match takes on a normal tone as the RnR trade off working over Ivan bloodying him up which is really fun as Ivan is great at selling and bumping for them. Nikita would tag in and the tone completely changed as Nikita caught Gibson in a bearhug and dropped him face first into the cage starting off the Koloff control section. Also a different touch in this match from normal is Gibson working FIP as Morton does it 98% of the time. Gibson now juices from the shots at the cage and is really good at working FIP which is out of his comfort zone. Gibson would dropkick Ivan knocking down Earl Hebner as well and the match takes a turn where Gibson tags in Morton and Hebner actually sees it so when Morton got an O'Connor Roll on Ivan he made the count to give the RnR the titles. The Russians attacked Kernodle on the floor then threw a bloody Morton over the cage to the floor allowing them to use the chain on Gibson then a double Russian Sickle off the top rope which Gibson sold like a gunshot. This was a damn good match and moves forward as a nomination.

 

NWA World Heavyweight Title: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair © vs. "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes

 

This is maybe the most historic matchup in this feud and one of those matches that even though it wasn't the greatest match, it was a polarizing match of the era. These two had already met at Starrcade 84 with a shitty finish there so this a rematch and unlike that one there was an actual blood feud going here. I was at the Omni that night although being 6 years old I still remember how heated this was and how just about everyone wanted to see Dusty kill Flair. The work of the match was the basic Dusty/Flair stuff except no blood from Dusty although Flair would juice of course. The main focus of the work was on Dusty's left leg of course and Flair did a good job working on it. The ref bump was par for the course for this series and the Andersons interfering was pretty much a lock but Dusty coming back and beating the odds to pin Flair was great. The fans live left thinking Dusty won the title and the Omni was jumping then of course the decision was announced on TV two days later but it didn't stop the people from coming because IIRC their first rematch at the Omni which was on Christmas Day another show I was at, had more people and was even more heated. This wasn't the best match on this show as for as in the ring work but it was in a different world as far as historic significance. I know Will didn't nominate this but there is enough in the match to warrant the nomination and the historic significance demands a nomination.