Post by blackscorpion on Nov 29, 2013 17:15:27 GMT -6
www.kayfabe.info Presents ...
Starrcade History - Chapter 1
The Crockett Years
For decades, the two biggest days of the year on the pro wrestling calendar were Thanksgiving and Christmas. Each, or both, of those holidays featured what would be the equivalent of the Superbowl for football fans or the World Series for baseball fans, and so on...
Until the destruction of the territorial system by the national expansion of the WWF, each region's promotion saw the culmination of the territory's major angles in the most anticipated time of the year.
Starrcade was " the grand-daddy of them all " and promoted by the most prominent territory of the National Wrestling Alliance, Jim Crockett Promotions; also known as the Mid-Atlantic area. It began in 1983 as a celebration of the 10th year of Jim Crockett Jr. running the company that his father founded in 1935 (though some records, like our own, indicate 1933; Wikipedia claims 1931...)
Although the promotion itself would not last another 5 years, the Starrcade event continued after the Crocketts sold their promotion to Turner Broadcasting in November of 1988, with the company subsequently renamed World Championship Wrestling and separated from the NWA. Upon the sale of the company, the story lines of Crockett's booker, Dusty Rhodes, all came to an end at the 6th annual Starrcade event that took place in December of that year, on the day after Christmas. It was the only Starrcade not to be held on Thanksgiving Night.
The Turner-owned WCW continued to promote the Starrcade event until the year 2000, three months before the demise of that company.
This year marked the 30th Anniversary of the first Starrcade, which sold out the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina and saw Ric Flair regain the World Championship from Harley Race inside a steel cage with former champion Gene Kiniski as the special referee.
Those of us who are from a different era lament the loss of the territories and we associate the word "WrestleMania " with the decimation of what the pro wrestling business was to us. Aside from the holidays, this time of year brings some of us back to a different time and place. On Thanksgiving Night, especially, we recall the classic Crockett Starrcades that took place from 1983 through 1988.
Starrcade '83: A Flair for the Gold
November 24, 1983
Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro Coliseum
Ric Flair promo after he lost the NWA Title to Harley Race in the summer of 1983:
NWA Champion Harley Race issues a bounty on Ric Flair!
Rick Steamboat & Jay Youngblood challenge champions Jack & Jerry Brisco for the NWA World Tag Team Titles:
Clip of Roddy Piper -vs- Greg Valentine - Dog Collar Match:
Ric Flair challenging NWA World Champion Harley Race for the title in a steel cage:
Flair & Race, 25 years after Starrcade '83:
Starrcade History - Chapter 1
The Crockett Years
For decades, the two biggest days of the year on the pro wrestling calendar were Thanksgiving and Christmas. Each, or both, of those holidays featured what would be the equivalent of the Superbowl for football fans or the World Series for baseball fans, and so on...
Until the destruction of the territorial system by the national expansion of the WWF, each region's promotion saw the culmination of the territory's major angles in the most anticipated time of the year.
Starrcade was " the grand-daddy of them all " and promoted by the most prominent territory of the National Wrestling Alliance, Jim Crockett Promotions; also known as the Mid-Atlantic area. It began in 1983 as a celebration of the 10th year of Jim Crockett Jr. running the company that his father founded in 1935 (though some records, like our own, indicate 1933; Wikipedia claims 1931...)
Although the promotion itself would not last another 5 years, the Starrcade event continued after the Crocketts sold their promotion to Turner Broadcasting in November of 1988, with the company subsequently renamed World Championship Wrestling and separated from the NWA. Upon the sale of the company, the story lines of Crockett's booker, Dusty Rhodes, all came to an end at the 6th annual Starrcade event that took place in December of that year, on the day after Christmas. It was the only Starrcade not to be held on Thanksgiving Night.
The Turner-owned WCW continued to promote the Starrcade event until the year 2000, three months before the demise of that company.
This year marked the 30th Anniversary of the first Starrcade, which sold out the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina and saw Ric Flair regain the World Championship from Harley Race inside a steel cage with former champion Gene Kiniski as the special referee.
Those of us who are from a different era lament the loss of the territories and we associate the word "WrestleMania " with the decimation of what the pro wrestling business was to us. Aside from the holidays, this time of year brings some of us back to a different time and place. On Thanksgiving Night, especially, we recall the classic Crockett Starrcades that took place from 1983 through 1988.
Starrcade '83: A Flair for the Gold
November 24, 1983
Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro Coliseum
Ric Flair promo after he lost the NWA Title to Harley Race in the summer of 1983:
NWA Champion Harley Race issues a bounty on Ric Flair!
Rick Steamboat & Jay Youngblood challenge champions Jack & Jerry Brisco for the NWA World Tag Team Titles:
Clip of Roddy Piper -vs- Greg Valentine - Dog Collar Match:
Ric Flair challenging NWA World Champion Harley Race for the title in a steel cage:
Flair & Race, 25 years after Starrcade '83: