Do you remember wrestling on Thanksgiving Night?

Now, you must be thinking, wait, "Wrestling on Thanksgiving night honks him off"? Actually, no it doesnt. I figured I changed the mood of the blog a little bit. With Thanksgiving coming up and with me being a huge, huge wrestling fan, I figured I would take this time to look back at one of the great nights of wrestling, Thanksgiving Night. Im 29 yrs. old but I remember growing up as a kid, 2 events on Thanksgiving night that stood out for me. One, was Starrcade and the other The Survivor Series. I always liked both events because to me it had that "big fight" feel to it. Looking back on it now, it was a traditional as a Detroit Lions game on Thanksgiving. Feuds would start or end on that day. Now, I know other organizations like Mid South, World Class, AWA and others had events on Turkey Day but Starrcade and The Survivor Series stood out. Who could forget Flair vs. Race from Starrcade 83? Or what about Magnum T.A. vs. Tully Blanchard, I Quit Match, Starrcade 85? Or even The Road Warriors vs. The Midnight Express, The Skywalker Match from Starrcade 86? Those matches are as good, maybe better today, then they were when they originally took place.

What about The Survivor Series? I remember the days when "Mean" Gene Okerlund would say "The Survivor Series, where teams of 5 strive to survive". Remember those days? Those are some great memories. Hell, even The Gobblely Gooker debuted at Survivor Series 90. Still a memorable moment, even though its somewhat painful to watch Mean Gene and the Gooker "dance" for what seemed like forever. What about Survivor Series 88 when The Mega Powers were sole survivors of there team and see what, the late, great, Randy Savage later said that Hulk Hogan had "Lustful eyes" towards Elizabeth. When you watch Survivor Series 87 even today, you are watching something different. You never saw that many elimination tag team matches in one show.

Sadly, those days are over now. WWE still has The Survivor Series but not on Turkey Day anymore. Starrcade moved from Turkey Day to December in 1988 because of the Survivor Series. You cant even look towards Starrcade and think of the memories because those memories ended when WCW ended in 2001.
You do have TNA Impact Wrestling now. Thats just not the same. You could make the argument that TNA isnt really that good but thats for another blog. I watch TNA on Thanksgiving and I dont mind it but its not Starrcade or The Survivor Series. Remember when Smackdown was on Thurs. and there for would be on Thanksgiving night? I used to enjoy it but still its not Starrcade or The Survivor Series.

Will we see Thanksgiving night wrestling again? You never know. But who thought WCW would go under? Who thought Bret Hart would come back to WWE? Who thought Hart and Shawn Micheals would make peace after The Montreal Screwjob? But as long as we have DVD's and yes, even VHS tapes of those shows, those memories wont die. Thank God for youtube, Thank God for DVD's and VHS tapes and a special Thank God for WWE Classics on Demand. Without any of those things, are memories would be gone. And those memories are too good for them to go away.