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The scoring system presented some very interesting possibilities, and we ended up getting some pretty intriguing matchups with some of the names involved: the four singles wrestlers were NWA World Champion Ric Flair, US Champion Lex Luger, TV Champion The Great Muta, and Sting, and on the tag team side we had World Tag Team Champions The Steiner Bros, the Road Warriors, Doom, and the Samoan Swat Team, who were taking the place of the Skyscrapers, who were scheduled to be a part of the Iron Team Tournament, but ended up missing the show when Sid Vicious suffered a punctured lung at the hands of Scott Steiner a few weeks before this show. In an interesting minor detail, Jim Ross would be handling play-by-play for the show with Terry Funk doing color for the singles matches and Jim Cornette doing color for the tag matches, and I like that they brought them in to lend their expert insights on their respective specialties. So let’s get started with…
The First Half
Iron Team Tournament Match 1: Doom vs Steiner Bros
For those who have never seen them, Doom (at this point, at least) were a couple of big, muscular black guys in masks, and we weren’t supposed to know that they were Butch Reed and Ron Simmons even though it was painfully obvious to anyone who had been watching the NWA for any length of time. This was a fun little power match that started with the Steiners suplexing Doom around until Scott took a spill to the floor, where he caught a beating from one of Doom and Woman’s bodyguard Nitron. Scott played face in peril for a bit before making the hot tag to Rick, who came in and started murdering Doom with clotheslines. Nitron grabbed Rick’s ankle from the outside so Rick went after him, and this led to a pier six brawl on the outside, but Rick beat the count to pick up the win.
Iron Team Score: Steiners 15, Road Warriors 0, Doom 0, SST 0
Iron Man Tournament Match 1: Sting vs Lex Luger
One of the flaws of the round robin format rears its ugly head here, as this was a match that I don’t believe had happened before and had the potential to be a big money main event down the line, but they threw it out there as the second match on the card, in a match that had a 15 minute time limit and was almost guaranteed to have some kind of screwy finish. Sting was so full of energy back then, and it was great the way he would pop the crowd like unbelievable whenever he started exploding with his offense, but when you go back and watch this stuff it makes it very noticeable later in his career when he slowed down and adopted a more methodical style.
Sting took control right away and didn’t let up until about five minutes in when Luger caught Sting coming off the top rope and turned it into an inverted atomic drop, in what was a pretty impressive power move that I would say you had to see to appreciate. He started working over Sting’s ribs with gutbusters before throwing him to the floor and whipping him into the rail, but Sting started making the big comeback with two minutes remaining. They wound up outside the ring on the ring apron and they both tumbled over the ropes and back into the ring, but Luger wound up on top and held the ropes for the win.
Iron Man Score: Luger 20, Sting 0, Flair 0, Muta 0
Iron Team Tournament Match 2: Doom vs Road Warriors
Due to poor luck of the draw, Doom wound up wrestling the first two matches of the tournament in a row against the Steiners and the Road Warriors. Don’t you hate it when that happens? Anyway, with this being the clipped home video version of the show, we go right from about a minute in to Hawk making a hot tag and Animal coming in and cleaning house. One of Doom (I can’t tell which) went for a piledriver on Animal, but as he was setting up the move, Hawk came off the top rope with a clothesline and Animal covered for the win.
Iron Team Score: Road Warriors 20, Steiners 15, Doom 0, SST 0
Iron Man Tournament Match 2: Ric Flair vs The Great Muta
Muta was the undefeated World Television Champion at this point. I would love to see what Flair and Muta could do with 15-20 minutes, but this was unfortunately a very short match. Flair caught Muta in the figure four about a minute in, at which point Buzz Sawyer and the Dragon Master of Gary Hart’s J-Tex Corporation came out to interfere but were intercepted by the Andersons, who were at ringside watching Flair’s back in the case of just such an eventuality. Muta got out of the figure four and went for the moonsault, but Flair got the knees up, then caught Muta with an inside cradle for a very quick and anticlimactic first loss for Muta. Muta went into Starrcade 89 undefeated and is now 0-1 for the evening.
Iron Man Score: Luger 20, Flair 20, Sting 0, Muta 0
Iron Team Tournament Match 3: Steiner Bros vs Road Warriors
This is one of those dream matches that actually happened several times, yet never in the featured position it probably could or should have. However, if the announcers are to be believed, this is the first time the two teams met in the ring. As you might expect, this turned into a pretty even match with neither team getting more than a minute or so of offense before the other team turned the tide with a big move. The match ended with the infamous German Suplex spot, in this case Animal held Scott from behind and Hawk came off the top rope with a clothesline, and Animal used the momentum from the move to suplex Scott, but Scott got his shoulder up at 2 while Animal’s remained down, so for one of the very few times in history, the Road Warriors suffered a clean pinfall loss. They were smart about how this was booked in the sense that they realized they wouldn’t get a classic with 15 minutes to work with, so they booked a finish that was flukey enough that they could have come back for a rematch since the Steiners didn’t get a decisive win, but they never did since the Road Warriors were gone not too long after this.
Iron Team Score: Steiners 35, Road Warriors 20, Doom 0, SST 0
Iron Man Tournament Match 3: Sting vs The Great Muta
These two had a bit of history, as Sting had been the TV Champion, and these two had a match at the Great American Bash that went to a controversial finish, again with the damn German Suplex spot, except both men got a shoulder up this time. The title was held up pending a rematch which was won by Muta, and I’ve heard that it was some kind of controversial finish, but having never seen the match I can’t say for sure. Anyway, these two had some really good matches, though this time around it seemed pretty obvious they were doing whatever they could think of to kill time. Muta popped me (and apparently a then-eight year old Bryan Danielson) by catching Sting in Cattle Mutilation. Muta went for the moonsault again but Sting moved, however Muta had learned to watch for this sort of chicanery from the first match and landed on his feet, then caught Sting with a spinkick to the ribs. Muta went up top, but Sting caught him and hit a superplex for the clean win, so Muta went into Starrcade 89 undefeated and is now 0-2 for the evening.
Iron Man Score: Luger 20, Flair 20, Sting 20, Muta 0
Halftime Analysis
At the halfway point of Starrcade 89, here’s how the Iron Man Tournament is shaping up: Ric Flair, Sting, and Lex Luger are tied with 20 points apiece, with the Great Muta in last place with 0. Though there is a three way tie for first place, Flair and Luger actually have an advantage in this situation as they both have two more matches to wrestle while Sting only has one, so Sting has one less opportunity to score points than Flair or Luger. At this point, Luger and Flair only need some combination of wins that will gain them an additional 25 points to clinch the tournament. As for Muta, there is no possible way he could win the tournament at this point, but he could still have an effect on the outcome, as if he can score a win over Luger or suffer some loss that nets Luger less than the full 20 points, it could hamper Luger’s chances of winning even were he to score some kind of win over Flair.
Over in the Iron Team Tournament, the Steiners currently have the lead with 35 points, with the Road Warriors in second with 20, and Doom and the Samoan Swat Team both in last with 0. The difference there, however, is that the SST have yet to wrestle, while all three of the other teams have already wrestled twice, so the luck of the draw was very benevolent to them. If they can use their fresh start in the second half of the show to pick up some quick victories over tired opponents, they could have a very easy night. On the other hand, all the Steiners need is a DQ win or better over the Samoans to clinch the tournament, and if the Steiners and SST draw then we could see a tied outcome between the two teams. On the other hand, if the Steiners lose their match to the SST and the Road Warriors win, then they still have a shot at coming away with the tournament win. Much like Muta in the singles tournament, it is no longer possible for Doom to win the tournament, but if they can end up costing the SST points in their match, that could have an effect on the outcome of the tournament as well.
Of course, you probably figured all this out on your own if you’re playing along at home, but how often do we get to do detailed analysis like this in wrestling? Thank you for indulging me. Back to the show.
The Second Half
Iron Team Tournament Match 4: Doom vs Samoan Swat Team v2.0
Samu was not at Starrcade 89 for some reason (presumably the same reasons he pulled some of his other disappearing acts), so for this show Fatu (who you Attitude Era junkies might remember as Rikishi) ended up teaming with the Samoan Savage, aka Islander Tama aka the Tonga Kid. This was another short match, though a stiff one between two heel teams, which was a situation that didn’t happen often since, as Jim Cornette theorized, if the fans don’t like either team they’re not going to care who wins. Doom worked over the Samoan Savage, but he made the hot tag to Fatu who came in and cleaned house before a pier six broke out. Fatu and one of Doom ran head to head, but Fatu staggered backwards into the ropes, where his manager “The Big Kahuna†Oliver Humperdink shoved him from outside the ring, and Fatu landed on top of Doom and scored the pin, earning 20 points right out of the gate and shutting Doom out of the tournament completely.
Iron Team Score: Steiners 35, Road Warriors 20, SST 20, Doom 0
Iron Man Tournament Match 4: Ric Flair vs Lex Luger
These two have a ton of history together, going back to Luger’s debut in the NWA as a member of the Four Horsemen. Eventually, Luger got booted out for getting too big for his britches and not having the team patriotism that was expected of him. Luger ended up chasing Flair all throughout 1988 before they finally had their climactic final confrontation in the main event of the previous year’s Starrcade, which Flair won. I believe this is their first meeting since that occasion, only this time the heel/babyface roles have been reversed. The Starrcade 88 match was a 30-minute plus classic, but with only 15 minutes to work with, I wasn’t sure they (meaning Flair) would be able to pull it off. Turner Home Entertainment must have agreed with me, because this match got clipped to about 5 minutes left in the match, at which point Luger was working Flair over with a series of power moves. The remainder of the match was actually pretty entertaining, as Flair again made Luger look like a monster before making a nice comeback at the end. Flair caught him in the figure four, but time expired before he could get Luger to submit, so both men walked away with an additional 5 points.
Iron Man Score :Flair 25, Luger 25, Sting 20, Muta 0
Iron Team Tournament Match 5: Steiner Bros vs Samoan Swat Team v2.0
The obsessive clipping of the matches that apparently don’t matter continues, as we cut to the Samoans working over Scott until Rick finally got fed up watching it and came in to start a big brawl, but as the referee was trying to get Rick out of the ring, he saw Scott tossing one of the Samoans over the top rope out of the corner of his eye and disqualified the Steiners. At this point, the Samoans sneaking in the back door to win the tournament looks like a very real possibility.
Iron Team Score: Steiners 35, SST 30, Road Warriors 20, Doom 0
Iron Man Tournament Match 5: Lex Luger vs The Great Muta
Luger is still selling the knee after his little time out in the figure four earlier on. Another clip job here, and we come back to Muta kicking away at Luger before catching him in an Indian Deathlock. Luger would escape and keep trying to make some kind of comeback, but Muta would then KILL him with a stiff chop or kick, and amusingly enough Muta was actually getting cheered for beating up Luger. I knew I had some faith in those 80s fans. Luger finally started mounting a comeback, but with about a minute left Muta just said screw it and blew mist in Luger’s face to get himself disqualified. The moral of the story: if you’re in a no-win situation, just cause as much damage as possible on your way down. Muta, who entered Starrcade 89 undefeated, finished the night at 0-3, and would go on to drop the TV Title a week or so later to Arn Anderson. I wonder who he pissed off.
Iron Man Score: Luger 35, Flair 25, Sting 20, Muta 0
Iron Team Tournament Match 6: Road Warriors vs Samoan Swat Team v2.0
Going into this final match in the Iron Team Tournament, the Steiners have 35 points, so the Road Warriors need to pin the Samoans to take the tournament, while the Samoans have 30 so as long as they don’t lose, they’ve at least clinched a tie with the Steiners, which would then lead to a tiebreaker match between the Steiners and the Samoans to determine the tournament champion. I’m glad they cleared that up because nobody had mentioned what would happen if we had a tie up to that point. But a bigger question here is which team can no-sell the other the best? This actually turned into a pretty formulaic match: Road Warriors control early, Samoans take the advantage on Animal in the middle portion, Animal makes the hot tag and Hawk comes in, beats them up, then hits the top rope clothesline on Samoan Savage for the win. Road Warrior pick up 20 points and win the tournament, and the Steiners came into the ring to congratulate them on their victory.
Iron Team Final Score: Road Warriors 40, Steiners 35, SST 30, Doom 0
Iron Man Tournament Match 6: Ric Flair vs Sting
With Lex Luger in the lead, Flair needs a pin or countout to win the tournament while Sting needs to pin Flair, if they go to a draw Luger wins. More history here, as Sting and Flair had a famous 45 minute time limit draw in the main event of the first Clash Of The Champions in 1988, where Sting had Flair in the Scorpion Deathlock as time expired, and with the perception that Sting was very, very close to becoming World Champion on that night, he became a top guy pretty much over the course of that match. Since then, Sting and Flair had become allies while battling Terry Funk and the Great Muta, and with the return of the Andersons they had formed a new Horsemen unit with Flair, Sting, and the Andersons.
Flair dominated the early part of the match, with the story being that Sting spent the whole match getting worked over by Flair and fighting to stay alive. Sting started to make a comeback, but made the mistake of going for a sunset flip and Flair just bent down and drilled him in the face. Flair tried suplexing Sting to the floor, but Sting reversed it and brought Flair back into the ring, and from there it was back and forth for the last couple of minutes, and there was a lot of drama as the clock ran down, as people waited to see if either man would be able to beat the other before time ran down. Finally, with mere seconds to go, Flair went for the figure four on Sting, but Sting cradled him and scored the win.
Sting had won the Iron Man Tournament, but had committed a grave transgression in the process, as no Horseman who knows his place ever tries to upstage Ric Flair, and by actually cleanly beating him in the middle of the ring, Sting had done just that. The Andersons menacingly got in Sting’s face after the match, but ended up raising Sting’s hand in victory, standing by their fellow Horseman…for now. Within a couple of months, Sting would come looking for a World Title shot and would be dismissed from the Horsemen in the usual fashion, but for this one night at least, for the first time, Ric Flair was not the Horseman standing tallest at the end of the night.
Iron Man Final Score: Sting 40, Luger 35, Flair 25, Muta 0
Final Analysis
In terms of following one story arc that lasted the length of the entire show, Starrcade 89 was a lot of fun to watch. Based on the way things could potentially play out, even if you had an idea of who would win each tournament, you really had no idea the way things would actually shake out in the end. I don’t know if anyone at the time seriously expected Sting to win the Iron Man Tournament, but he did and it was this victory that started him down the path to winning his first World Title about six or seven months later. When talking about setting things up, you had a perfectly scripted scenario to set up another Steiners-Road Warriors match down the line, as the Steiners had scored an (albeit flukey) win over the Road Warriors, but the Road Warriors ended up winning the entire tournament despite the loss. Based on each team getting over in some fashion, you could have revisited that down the line if the Road Warriors had stuck around.
Another cool thing about this tournament is that we had reasons to see some pretty interesting matchups we might not have gotten otherwise. There were no storyline reasons for the Steiners to wrestle the Road Warriors, or for Luger to wrestle Muta, or for the SST to wrestle Doom, but because of the format you got these unique matches.
However, the matches themselves were limited in a number of ways. For example, in order for certain point totals to work out the way they wanted, you ended up with some finishes that came off as a little weird, such as the Steiners getting themselves disqualified against the SST. Also, the 15 minute time limit on all the matches severely hampered anybody’s ability to really put together any kind of serious classic. The closest we got was Flair vs Sting, and the rushed nature really took the luster off what could have been a great first match between the Steiners and Road Warriors.
In the end, I’ll say there was more good than bad in this show, and since it was a fun concept and everybody still worked hard in spite of the handcuffs that were put on them, I’ll go ahead and recommend this one.
Thanks as always for reading, and I’ll be back before you know it with the 1990 edition of Starrcade, but until then you can send your feedback to stupwinsider@yahoo.com or catch me on Myspace at www.myspace.com/stupwinsider, where I have all my past work archived and chime in with stuff that doesn’t go up on PWInsider. Also, for you Elite members, I’ve been doing Starrcade-themed hotlines over in the Elite section, so go check those out if you’re interested as well. Take care, everybody!
