According to the sages, as Spring approaches, a young man's fancy turns to love. However, with the Spring, most wrestling fans' thoughts turn to Wrestlemania.
I had been thinking about how much pay-per-views had changed the business over the years when I ran across an old issue of Sports Review Wrestling that had been packed away in a box at my parent's house years ago. I had bought the magazine while I was in college, and only recently had the box of stuff that I had returned home with over seventeen years ago resurfaced from that nightmare that is my old room in my parent's basement (now their storeroom.)
I sat down with the magazine and looked at the cover. There was Ric Flair, in his prime, blood all over his white-blonde hair, holding up that famous NWA World Heavyweight belt (known to belt fans as the "dome globe" belt). Also on the cover was a bittersweet photo of Ricky Steamboat and the late Jay Youngblood, as well as the infamous Roddy Piper-Greg Valentine Dog Collar Match, in which Piper tried to "take revenge" on Valentine in an angle that developed when Piper almost beat out Mick Foley in the ear-loss department during a match several months earlier in which Valentine won the NWA U.S. title.
The show had been in Greensboro, North Carolina. It represented the height of the Jim Crockett Promotion' territory, before it completely merged with the World Championship Wrestling promotion in Georgia to become the WCW known today. Since the match had been just down I-85 from my home town, it was in easy access, and just about everybody that was a wrestling fan back then (and there were a hell of a lot of us in the Tarheel State back then even before it was "cool") knew that something special was going to happen that night. We had no idea that it would actually change the business forever.
When I opened up the kayfabe mag, one of the first things I saw was an article on a young, healthy Terry "Magnum T.A." Allen, done while he was still in Bill Watt's old Mid-South promotion. It saddened me to think that "Maggie Mae" (as Dusty Rhodes called him) would have his career cut short all too soon in a tragic car accident that almost paralyzed him for life. At the time, Magnum was teaming with Mr. Wrestling II, just before Watts would have Wrestling II turn heel on Magnum and give him the push to the top of the area.
According to the article, 15,447 people saw Starrcade 83 live in the Greensboro Coliseum, while over 30,000 watched the match on "closed circuit" locations in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The match was also carried in other outlets around the globe. The late Gordon Solie, Dean of Wrestling Announcers, called the action on the closed circuit broadcast of what was truly the NWA's "Super Card."
Kevin Sullivan and Mark Lewin vs. Johnny Weaver and Scott McGee
This was the first match of the night. While Sullivan and Lewin left the "Satanism" angle that had raised the ire of fans in Florida behind for this match, Lewin did resort to the infamous "spike" which bloodied McGee. Angelo Mosca, now a face in the Mid-Atlantic area, ran in for the save, having been "injured" previously by Lewin's spike.
Carlos Colon vs. Abdullah the Butcher
Until I finally met the infamous Butcher in 1999, I would have never believed that someone able to work the matches that he did could be such a polite, articulate man who shared my appreciation for good food and find cigars. Colon, the WWC (Puerto Rico) champ and Abby actually worked most of this match, which was notable for not being the same high degree of bloodletting that their feud had inspired in the WWC area. The match ended when Hugo Savinovitch, Abby's heel manager in Puerto Rico, interfered.
The Assassins vs. Rufus R. Jones and Bugsy McGraw
The Assassins (Troy Hamilton and Hercules Hernandez) were managed by "#1" Paul Jones, who had become a hated heel manager in the Mid-Atlantic area. The masked men defeated the face duo of Jones and McGraw. While Jones remained popular in the Mid-Atlantic area throughout his career, McGraw never quite seemed to get over here as he did in Florida.
Wahoo McDaniel and Mark Youngblood vs. Cowboy Bob Orton and Dick Slater
Although Orton and Slater went over in this match, it was a good learning experience for a young Mark Youngblood, Jay's brother and son of Texas legend Ricky Romero. While the fans were strongly behind the veteran McDaniel and the younger of the Youngbloods, the team never reached the level that Steamboat and Jay did during their time together. They did make a very good transitional team during their time as NWA Tag Team champions.
"Downtown" Charlie Brown (Jimmy Valiant) vs. The Great Kabuki
This was the culmination of Jimmy's angle under the hood in the Mid-Atlantic during his feud with Gary Hart. Folks in this area would remember Valiant's attics as the "man from outta town" for some time.
Roddy Piper vs. Greg Valentine (Dog Collar Match)
Piper was "out for revenge" following his U.S. Title loss (and almost loss of his ear) in a match that was almost unmatched for brutality until the creation of ECW. This match was "hardcore" before that term was widely used in the wrestling business, and the reputation from this match would follow Piper and Valentine all the way to the WWF.
Ric Flair vs. Harley Race
This is on my list as one of the greatest matches of all time. It had everything. It had history between the opponents, who happened to be two of the greatest that ever climbed in the ring. It had the mystique of being an NWA World Title Match in a cage, which was unheard of at the time. It had great psychology as both men had the crowd on their feet through the entire match. It had the emotion of the home-town crowd as the decidedly pro-Flair audience got to see the NWA Title come back to the Nature Boy from the hated Harley Race, who had hired Bob Orton and Dick Slater to "take Flair out" in the angle before the match. It was Ric Flair at his best.
Rick Steamboat and Jay Youngblood vs. Jack and Jerry Brisco
Angelo Mosca was the special referee for this match in which the Briscos, long-time faces that had become hated heels in the Mid-Atlantic because of their feud with Youngblood and Steamboat, dropped the NWA Tag Team belts to the team that would hold those titles so many times. I remember even as a "smart" mark being saddened by this match, as the Briscos had been long-time favorites of mine in the Florida area for years. Jack had been a popular NWA World Heavyweight champion, and Jerry had held the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title, so becoming NWA Tag Team champs was pretty impressive to the fans. Unfortunately, they had turned heel in the process, a fact that Gordon Solie would bemoan during his commentary. The future "stooge" of Vince McMahon and his brother were heels because of their attitude, but still wrestled like faces, which made the match-ups with Steamboat/Youngblood interesting to me. Sadly, Jay Youngblood would become one of many talented young wrestlers that would die tragically young in the 1980's and 1990's, including David, Mike, Chris and Kerry Von Erich, Gino Hernandez, Buzz Sawyer, and Brian Pillman.
Unfortunately, for those of us who still long for the days of regional promotions, Starrcade '83 was the predecessor of the Pay Per View shows that dominate the business now. It was also the beginning of the consolidation of many of the old NWA regions that were represented on the card. Soon the Mid-Atlantic, Georgia and Florida territories would merge to become WCW. World Class would withdraw from the NWA, as would the Calgary Stampede area. The Central States territory, AWA, and others would close as well, leaving only a few independent promoters to keep the NWA going, and Turner Broadcasting and Titan Sports would become the kings fighting over the hill. However, we fans didn't know all that at the time. We merely enjoyed the fact that North Carolina's favorite "adopted son" Ric Flair had regained "the ten pounds of gold" and the NWA title was back home in the Mid-Atlantic area again.
