Thursday, May 1, 2014

The NWA VS. WWE Part 2

We have covered part 1 here:

 http://www.superbowlgreatness.blogspot.com/2014/04/nwa-vs-wwe-head-to-head-part-1.html


Now we continue with part 2.

A Couple of months later in January 1988, the NWA and WWE would once again go head to head on the same day. Jan. 24 to be exact. The NWA, off of Starrcade 87, would hold there "Bunkhouse Stampede" PPV at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island New York, right in the heart of WWE country. Now here's a snippet of what has happened to the NWA since Starrcade 87. The UWF is pretty much done as it has merged with the NWA. Nikita Koloff unified the NWA and UWF TV Titles at Starrcade by beating Terry Taylor. Despite winning at Starrcade over Barry Windham, the UWF champion "Dr. Death" Steve Williams disappeared. He along with Taylor, Eddie Gilbert and Chris Adams, who was briefly in the NWA, vanished. Windham would hold one of the most famous titles that really nobody ever heard of, The Western States Heritage Title. He would challenge Larry Zbyszko at the Bunkhouse Stampede. Meanwhile, the 4 Horsemen broke up soon after Starrcade when Lex Luger lost the US Title to Dusty Rhodes. The Horsemen, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard attacked Luger in Miami after a Bunkhouse Stampede match when Luger refused to go over the top rope and make JJ Dillon the winner. Also, Ric Flair regained the World Championship at Starrcade over Ron Garvin. Now Flair would face Road Warrior Hawk as Road Warrior Animal was in the Bunkhouse Stampede cage match.

Nikita Koloff opened the show by wrestling Bobby Eaton of The Midnight Express to a 20 minute draw so Koloff retained the NWA Television Title. Larry Zbyszko won the Western States Title from Barry Windham. Ric Flair retained the World Heavyweight Championship over Hawk by disqualification. The main event consisted of a Bunkhouse Stampede Steel Cage Match. Dusty Rhodes, Road Warrior Animal, The Warlord, Lex Luger, Tully Blanchard, The Barbarian, Ivan Koloff and Arn Anderson would meet to see who would win a prize full of money and the bunkhouse boot and become "Bull of the Woods." This was a bloody match and the wrestlers came in there bunkhouse gear-blue jeans, sneakers, t-shirts, no tights or robes this night. You could eliminate your opponent over the cage or through the cage door. A memorable highlight was when Luger, Blanchard and Anderson all got eliminated by going through the cage door at the sametime. The match came down to The Warlord and Dusty Rhodes with Rhodes winning by elbowing The Warlord off the cage to win the match and become as he would famously say "MMMOOOOOO, The Bull of the Woods." Watching this show was kind of what the NWA was famous for. It wasnt really fancy as far as glitz and glamour but the NWA was what a lot people thought was an alternative to WWE and its cartoon aspect. The NWA was more blood and guts and a little more risqué, not with sex but with violence.

Which leads us to the first ever Royal Rumble. A brainchild from the mind of Pat Patterson, the Royal Rumble was a first in wrestling. It would be a new twist on a battle royal, whereas a battle royal all the superstars were in at one time, the Royal Rumble would actually start with 2 guys in the ring and then every 2 mins. have another guy enter. Whats interesting about this is that is the only Rumble to have 20 superstars. All the other Rumbles have had 30 except, 2011 where there were 40 superstars won by Alberto Del Rio. The Royal Rumble would take place at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton Ontario, Canada and drew a huge rating(8.2) for the USA Network which held the event. It was also have the contract signing for the rematch from WrestleMania 3 as Hulk Hogan would face Andre the Giant on an NBC special called "The Main Event", Feb. 5.

We start off with a hall of famer and hopefully a soon to be hall of famer as Ricky Steamboat beating "Ravishing" Rick Rude by Disqualification. Steamboat would soon leave the WWE after WrestleMania 4 but watch this match because I dont think Rude and Steamboat a whole lot in WWE. They have a great rivalry 4 years later over the US Title in WCW.  There was infamous segment where Dino Bravo set the World Benchpress record of 715 lbs. I say this is infamous because its noted that Jesse Ventura helped him as Ventura was the spotter for Bravo.
The second match consisted of the Jumping Bomb Angels defeating Jimmy Hart's Glamour Girls of Judy Martin and Lelani Kai.Nothing much here as the Womens Tag Team Championship would soon vanish although this is a 2 out of 3 falls match with the Angels winning in the 3rd fall.
Next,  was the contract signing of the Hulk Hogan/Andre the Giant match on Feb. 5. Ted Dibiase and his bodyguard Virgil, were there with Andre to sign the contract. Hogan signed it and then I could still hear Dibiase saying "Andre, put your stamp of approval on it." He did and rammed Hogan's head on the table and then dumped the table over on him.

Next, was the Royal Rumble match. The first 2 superstars in the Rumble match itself was Bret Hart and Tito Santana. Two great hall of famers and a little backstory on these 2 guys. Bret Hart of the Hart Foundation tag team lost the tag team championships to Tito Santana and Rick Martel, Strike Force in November of 1987. The superstars kept coming in. Guys like "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, One Man Gang, Butch Reed, Hercules, Jake Roberts and the late, great Ultimate Warrior.  The final four would be Don Muraco, One Man Gang, Dino Bravo and Duggan. In the end, Duggan would eliminate the One Man Gang to win the first ever Royal Rumble.

In another 2 out of 3 falls match, The Islanders defeated The Young Stallions (Jim Powers and Paul Roma). Roma injured his knee and his team was beaten 2 straight falls to lose the match. It was just a regular tag match. I dont remember any feuding between these two before or after the match. That concluded the show.

Now, based on some research that I've done and remember being banted about the NWA show only drew 6,000 while the WWE show drew 18,000. To me, the WWE was so big at the time that you can call it a win and success for the WWE but thats me. As far as glitz and glamour, WWE wins, in fact, they've always won on that account. But for in ring action, maybe give it to the NWA. If you want violence, I think the NWA show is for you. But I think the true winners were fans who were lucky enough to watch either show or maybe both at the time. Not only that but the winners are the fans of yesterday and today who can sit back and watch 2 shows that took place on the same day.