While Vince McMahon Jr. signed his players to exclusive contracts and gimmicked them up, Jim Crockett Jr. used his role as NWA President to power through scheduling conflicts and have access to a wide array of talent from Flair and Dusty to Murdoch and McDaniel to Brad Armstrong and Bullet Bob.
JCP in the 80s was usually more about great performances over matches – just watching Tully Blanchard do his thing in multiple scenarios is incredible, even if the actual scenario itself doesn’t always hit. Something as simple as “Ric Flair and Tully Blanchard stare in disbelief at Dusty Rhodes” is worth seeking out just to see the masters at work.
Here is a little more about those masters, broken up by heels, babyfaces, and the rest of it.
The Heels
This was a legendary year of performances from all five: Flair’s World Champ shtick, Tully’s duck-and-diving routine, The Andersons’ beatings, and J.J. giving everything an aura of seriousness while not being afraid to look like a total dumbass. Everything he said and everything the Horsemen did sold the very concept of a dominant heel wrestling stable/corporation while delivering world class professional wrestling that got everybody involved over.
JCP heels were usually part of some kind of team, so right underneath the Horsemen were The Midnight Express with Jim Cornette and eventually Big Bubba Rogers, The Russian Team of Ivan & Nikita Koloff and Krusher Khruschev, Paul Jones’ Army of freaks.
Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey are the most unassuming greatest tag team of all time, capable of classic tag matches in the arena but also the most fun squash matches in the studio with Eaton giving off the vibe of a lazy jock just testing out new moves on these crash dummies and high-fiving his rich buddy after he does.
That rich buddy is the regrettable G.O.A.T., Jim Cornette who is on the run of his life in 1986. He cuts 30 of the greatest promos of all time in this year and his smarmy act is a great complement to the Horsemen’s tough guy stuff. His introduction of the future Big Bossman in Big Bubba Rogers as his bodyguard doesn’t seem necessary at first, but soon Bubba is ready to have main event matches and just crushing Cornette’s foes with impressive big man offense.
Ivan Koloff has a run here as legendary as that one where he won the WWWF Title from no less than Bruno, and it’s really just because of his week-to-week longform promos where Nikita Koloff stands behind him like a star in waiting. The act is comical and generic, but in THIS world it kind of works.
Paul Jones’ Army included at various times The Barbarian, Baron von Raschke, Ragin’ Bull, Shaska Whatley, and Teijo Khan. None of the wrestling is pretty but it has a purpose, with Jones constantly feuding on the undercard with Jimmy Valiant. Jones really is an incredible promo and if Cornette and J.J. aren’t in JCP he’s easily managing a World Champion. He gets some of Valiant’s friends to turn to the dark side while Valiant snags Baron to the good fight.
Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin and his real-life wife Precious joined the circus in the Spring to round out the midcard, while Bill Dundee and “Nature Boy” Buddy Landel brought a different kind of energy to the show. Black Bart, Ron Bass, and “Mr. Electricity” Steve Regal all did their unassuming things too.
The Babyfaces
This is one of Dusty’s great years among many, by 1986 an aging cowboy who’s best days might be past him but who remains a supernova of charisma, the most over wrestler you have ever seen. The people don’t just pop for him – they root for him and believe in him, this tubby man who has lived in the gutter and always stands for what’s right.
Dusty and Magnum T.A. were the big dogs in 1986, beating up bad guys and raking in cash. They remind you of that… a lot. Magnum’s 10-second belly-to-belly suplex squash matches are the greatest most efficient beautiful matches, and his feuds with Tully and Nikita both pretty much perfectly position him as The Guy with good wrestling and great brawling.
The Road Warriors were still in their rookie years but already the coolest wrestlers ever, with the most hilariously dominant squash matches. The bar fight atmosphere of JCP is not what it was without Hawk, Animal, and Paul Ellering, though it also doesn’t quite hit unless The Rock & Roll Express are there to balance the bad boys with a pair of fellas that the teenage girls will scream their hearts out for – some wanted Mad Max, some wanted Pretty in Pink.
Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson pretty much perfected the babyface tag shtick in matches with the Horsemen and Midnights, while Ricky has a go at singles competition and over-delivers.
Ron Garvin, Wahoo McDaniel, and Dick Murdoch all provided a proper Uncle vibe to the midcard, though Wahoo is too old and Murdoch too sporadic to really deliver. Garvin ascends up the ranks though with some of the creepiest, nastiest squash matches ever. These things have to be seen to believe, like if they filmed Stu Hart’s sessions in The Dungeon or something. His low key good guy attitude keeps his momentum building all year, culminating in an INCREDIBLE Street Fight with Bubba Rogers at Starrcade ’86.
Keeping the undercard heels busy was “Boogie Woogie Man” Jimmy Valiant, who sometimes felt like a guy that could headline all the shows until the bell actually rings. Sam Houston, Brad Armstrong, Tim Horner, Hector Guerrero, and Italian Stallion all work as guys who might be something and might not be.
The Warlord is introduced later in the year as a babyface managed by Baby Doll before he makes the obvious jump to Paul Jones, and Dutch Mantel & Bobby Jaggers come in as the Kansas Jayhawks to beef up tag division. Denny Brown is your NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Champion too, whatever that means.
We should probably mention The Fantastics here too, who were not full-time with JCP in 1986 but had like 4 of the best tag matches ever at the Crockett Cup in 1986.
Tertiary babyfaces include the JCP management, headed by one Jim Crockett Sr. who shows up every few months to make very serious announcements or proclamations. He’s no actor but for the role it kind of works, another re-enforcement of how official this all is. His brother David provides very middling but occasionally endearing commentary, a performance that was probably more off-putting than good but had its’ moments: namely, anytime he’d scream “DOUBLE DROPKICK!”
And of course, Tony Schiavone.
The Jabronis & Oddballs
Jackson is a balding guy in a singlet with real Foxcatcher energy, and the locker room clearly dearly respected him as he’s always given a bunch of offense. The Mulkeys had a way of taking flat back bumps onto the TV studio’s concrete floor that willed them into some fans’ hearts before a sort of breakout in 1987. And perhaps most notable of all, Tully Blanchard gives Ray Traylor a slingshot suplex!
There is also an experiment in Joe “Nighthawk” Coltrane, a football guy who they trained to wrestle and did bad promos and bad wrestling and disappeared quickly.
Those Who Made it Worth It
Top Wrestlers
1. Ric Flair
2. Tully Blanchard
3. Arn Anderson
4. Ricky Morton
5. Dusty Rhodes
6. Ron Garvin
7. Ole Anderson
8. Bobby Eaton
9. Magnum T.A.
10. Sam Houston
Top Tag Teams
1. The Midnight Express
2. The Minnesota Wrecking Crew
3. The Rock & Roll Express
4. The Road Warriors
5. The Russian Team
Top Managers
1. Jim Cornette
2. J.J. Dillon
3. Paul Jones
4. Big Bubba Rogers
5. Paul Ellering
