Why I chose this moment in history: Starrcade was supposed to be the NWA then WCW's answer to Wrestlmania and 1983's Starrcade was the first of it's kind. I figured if Wrestlmania is / was the creme de la creme of WWE / WWF it's important to watch the competitor's equivalent.I chose this match because . . . well I didn't want to chose this match I had another in mind but this was the main event to the first starrcade so I felt obligated to.
Hipster side fact: Starrcade was the brain child of Dusty Rhodes
Match of the day: Harley Race vs Ric Flair
(Could only find small clip) watched the rest on WWE Network which if no one has told you was only 9.99
Winner (31 year spoiler alert): Ric Flair
Quote of the match: "If Race can go the hour and Flair cannot get the pinfall then Race retains the title." A state the obvious statement about a title match with a 60 minute time limit and Race as the reigning champion. There were a lot of quotes like that such as "Whoever has the most intensity will win." The announcers sounded more like baseball comentators than wrestling annoncers not sure if that was the norm for the time but boy was it dry.
Opinion / Observations:
- I've made plently of comments on how arenas and other aesthetic points but I had no illusions that the 1983 show would have the same look as a modern day wrestlemania or any wrestling show for that matter. Flairs weird laser light show and fog machine bonanza proved me right.
- Even though the venue seemed small and underwhelming the fans . . . still more jazzed than the TNA fans at Genesis. Flair recieved a huge pop as his music played.
- Race got a lot less love . . . and fog. No fog, no lasers no theme music but plenty of boos.
- There was no need to put a sixty minute time limit on this match they would have taken sixty minutes regardless from beginning to end it was glacially slow.
- Was informative letting me know how much the belt weighed like eleven times, 10 lbs of gold if you're curious.
- Ric Flair's chops were loud and profound as always so much so he slapped the spit and quite possibly the taste out of Race's mouth.
- His Wooos were equally loud and the ladies were really loving it.
- Race tried to put Flair into a pile driver position, it failed but it didn't stop Flair from flopping around on the floor like a fish out of water.
- There was a lot of bleeding, all over the place even on one of the cameras. I'm assuming they cut themselves or had enough blood packets to film the next saw movie. Ric Flair bleeds every time he sneezes as far as I've noticed.
- Less impressive move a second rope diving headbutt
- At one moment the special referee Gene Kiniski legit was pulling people by their hair to get them off their opponent, not used to a special referee not having their own agenda, this guy was just enforcing the rules at whatever cost.
- Flair used a cross body from the top rope for the win, just shy of the sixty minute mark.
Other show observations:
- You can definetly tell Bob Orton is Randy Ortons father even with the weird perm thing he was rocking at the time.
- And you can also tell while as Dusty Rhodes challenged the winner of the cage match, that he loves him some poppin yellow aviators, and talkin mad jive.
- The match I had truthfully wanted to review was the dog collar match between Rowdy Roddy Piper and Greg Valentine.
- The match started with a tug of war between the chain.
- This match was much faster than the main even though ironically no time limit.
- Also sold their moves much better in my opinion, guess it's easier when you're beating someone with a metal chain using it as a whip and choking people with it.
- I've heard of people working an injured leg, shoulder, back but never an ear. Throughout the match Valentine was working on Piper's previously injured ear aparently throwing off his equilibrium and whatnot.
- And the gratuitous bleeding again (or first took place if you look at the order of matches) maybe Flair and Race thought they had to top the blood spree.
- Piper ended up with the win
- But Piper was not to be deterred he won the battle and the war because he was the one left standing in the middle of the ring whipping the chain back and forth . . . it was kind of badass.
- My point being I thought this match was leaps and bounds better than the main event. Not sure if when the middle is better than the finale it's a good sign but I suppose it doesn't really matter the placement as long as there's something interesting to watch. Everything needs a beginning middle and end including this post so I bid you adieu.
