The Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup (1988) Review

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(More customer reviews)Thanks again to WWE Classics On Demand, I got to watch a classic event in the '88 Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament. For those that don't know, this event wasn't your usual 3-4 hour one day event but a two day tag team tournament with special non-tournament matches each night. This years tournament was more special in that each night was held in a different venue with the first night in Greenville, SC & the second night in Greensboro, NC. Now since this was a two day event & not just one show, WWE showed the VHS presentation of this show that had the selected matches from the first day in Greenville were edited while the selected matches from the second day in Greensboro were shown in full. Also just like the previous year, this tape also included a special treat.
Day One - Greenville, SC:
Jimmy Valant & Mighty Wilbur vs. Ivan Koloff & Dick Murdock - This was nothing noteworthy past how Wilbur was too strong & kept overpowering both men forcing Ivan & Dick to focus on the "weak link" in Valant.
Steve Williams & Ron Simmons vs. Varsity Club - This was a "power vs. wrestling" match as Williams & Simmons relied on their football background with various shoulderblocks & tackles while the Varsity Club tried to rely on their wrestling skills with Kevin Sullivan playing an important factor in the very end.
Italian Stallion & Kendal Windham vs. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard - This was a good showcasing for Kendal as he was able to keep up with Arn Anderson & heavily work over his arm before the Horsemen were able to capitalise on one mistake made by Stallion.
Road Warriors vs. Jive Tones - The Jive Tones were the team of Pez "Shaska" Whatley & Tiger Conway Jr. but this was nothing more than a physically dominat performance by the Warriors.
Fantastics vs. Al Perez & Larry Zbyszko - With the Rock N' Roll Express gone from the NWA at this time, the Fantastics were their perfect replacements as a team since this match was the classic formula of Bobby Fulton being heavily worked over building up for the comeback before being able to squeak away with a victory.
Sting & Lex Luger vs. Ivan Koloff & Dick Murdock - Knowing the history of Luger & Sting today, it's very ironic that this is the first time they teamed together due to various circumstances surrounding their other originally scheduled partners & it should also be noted that Magnum T.A. was their manager. Luger showed his power & athleticism early with both a powerslam & standing dropkick before the team of Koloff & Murdock targeted Sting by choking him with the russian chain & Murdock even attacking sting on the outside with a chair before Sting was able to get a quick reversal for a victory.
Midnight Express vs. Sheepherders - Before they became one of the most famous comedic teams in WWE history by just calling licking people's faces & moving their arms up & down, the Bushwackers were known as heels called the Sheepherders but past that little historical factor...this was way too short, nothing noteworthy, and a complete waste of the ONLY Midnight Express match on this tape.
Prince Of Darkness Death Match: Jimmy Garvin vs. Kevin Sullivan - This was a glorified blindfold match & if you've seen one of these types of matches then you've seen then all because in the act of selling the fact that they "couldn't see", they relied on their managers (Precious for Garvin & Rick Steiner for Sullivan) along with Garvin having the crowd support to direct him to Sullivan...this was nothing special.
Day Two - Greensboro, NC:
Road Warriors vs. Powers Of Pain - Their stiff (and that's putting it lightly) feud continued here between these two alike teams as Animal showcased the superior strength on both Powers Of Pain while Hawk made it clear he wasn't above playing dirty himself by attacked the Barbarian on the floor with the wooden ringside steps. The Powers Of Pain had to double team Hawk to gain an advantage & continued to work him over thoughout the bout before "all hell broke loose" with the referee being in the wrong place at the wrong time coming back to haunt the Warriors in the end.
Bullrope Match: Midnight Rider vs. James J. Dillion - For those who don't already know the story behind the Midnight Rider, it was the typical "masked wrestler" storyline where everyone knows who is under the mask but nobody can prove it. In this case, Dusty Rhodes was suspended from the NWA & if the Rider was to be revealed as Dusty Rhodes when he would be suspended for a year & it should be noted that this wasn't the type of bullrope match where you had to touch the turnbuckles to win the match, it could be won with a regular pinfall or submission. Dillion threw powder to get an early advantage but once Dusty...I mean The Midnight Rider was able to recover, this was a glorified squash match as Dillion was bleeding from being cut open by the cowbell & being beaten on by the Rider. Stay tune afterwards for another heavyset mask man named "The Texan" coming wearing chaps with the initials "D.M." on them to come after Dusty before Steve Williams showed up as well.
Sting & Lex Luger vs. Powers Of Pain - This was a watchable back & forth match between both teams with both having their moments looking strong but nothing really noteworthy.
Fantastics vs. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard - The Fantastics got the early advantage here before the Horsemen had to result to taking advantage on Fulton on the outside. Arn & Tully did what they did best & cut the ring in half & worked over Fulton building to the "hot tag" which pay off when he made the tag to Tommy Rogers before Anderson had to use a very sneaky tactic (with the help of J.J. Dillion) to advance the Horsemen in the tournament.
NWA Champion Ric Flair vs. Nikita Koloff - It should be noted that Barry Windham accompanied Flair to ringside as he joined the Horsemen days earlier before walking to the back leaving Flair alone in this match. Koloff used Flair's own strategy against him by focusing on Flair's leg early on & even using his own figure four against him while also making Flair bleed by throwing him headfirst in the outside ringpost before delivering more punishiment to Flair thoughtout the match with nothing Flair was doing having any effect incuding a thumping series of chops to his chest that was no-sold. I have to be honest in that I'm not a huge fan of Nikita Koloff's wrestling but Flair was able to make him look like a million bucks here as this match was dominated by Koloff with Flair heavily selling the punishment throughout the match with the ending having a heavily emphasis on the golden rule that you have to beat the champion, he doesn't have to beat you. Eventhough it was a heavily one sided match, this developed into a good encounter.
Sting & Lex Luger vs. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard - This was the finals of the tournament & it's very ironic that this was the second year in row that both Luger & Blanchard made it to the final match but this year they are against each other unlike how they were partners last year as Horsemen members. Luger got the better of both Tully & Arn in the very beginning to the point where Arn didn't want to get back in the ring & tried to make a tag on the floor. Sting & Luger dominated early on & Luger used Arn's own "Anderson family" tactics against him by heavily working over his arm before the Horsemen were able to recover due to a missed Stinger splash. Sting was then heavily worked over including a moment when Sting got his second wind & put Tully in the scorpion deathlock before Anderson broke it with an impactful DDT. In the end, Magnum T.A. gave the Horsemen a taste of their own medicine helping his team of Luger & Sting to the victory.
Now just like the presentation the previous year had a special bonus of Magnum T.A. matches, the special bonus on this tape is the Bunkhouse Stampede match from January of that year.
Steel Caged Bunkhouse Stampede Match: Dusty Rhodes vs. Lex Luger vs. Road Warrior Animal vs. Ivan Koloff vs. Arn Anderson vs. Tully Blanchard vs. Barbarian vs. Warlord - For those who don't know what a Bunkhouse Stampede match is, it's a combination of a street fight & a battle royal where you come "dressed as you are with whatever you got" with the object being to eliminate everyone in the ring until your the final survivor. However this one is a special version where your surrounded by a steel cage so you have to eliminate people by throwing them out through the door or pushing them over the top & out of the cage. With this being a multiman match that even Jim Ross admitted was hard to call with a bunch of the guys bleeding heavily, tag teams like the Powers Of Pain working together along with the Horsemen who targeted their former member in Lex Luger, various weapons like boots & weightbelts being used as weapons along with the cage itself. A very unique match but definately something watching.
In the end, I have to say that just like the previous years Crockett Cup presentation that you have to take into concideration a bunch of things such as how limited VHS was back then to how DVD is today along with the fact that this was a two day event so you can't squeeze everything into this tape. However some of the unimportant clipped matched in the beginning could have been sacrificed for either highlights or the complete matches such as the Varsity Club/Fantastics match or the Midnight Express' match against Sting & Luger which I'm sure was way better quality than the only match they had on this tape being the dud (and that's putting it lightly) had against the Sheerherders. I really enjoyed the second day matches that were shown in full while the only clipped match I really saw some value in was the Simmons/Williams vs. Varsity Club match. However I will say that the Bunkhouse Stampede match will make up for the clipped matches so with non of these matches making their way to DVD yet, this is an event I would recommend for a reasonable price if your a fan of the NWA during this time.


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