This is a supplement to Year in Review – Jim Crockett Promotions in 1987.
JCP had an all-time run in ’86, a roster of well-defined and utilized wrestlers that were pretty much all good. As they brought in a bunch of new talent in ’87, some guys were bound to be undefined, underutilized, and in some cases (only some) not very good.
New promo bumpers air throughout the year to ensure the viewer knows that despite the new faces, the Nature Boy and American Dream remain THE GUYS. Here are some thoughts about all the guys.
The Crockett Crew: Heels
Manager James J. Dillon treated everything like a business transaction as he oversaw the championship reigns of NWA World Champ Ric Flair and plenty others from the rest of the team. They were hyper-competitive alpha males who hid behind numbers and negotiations, who kicked one of their own out for wanting to spend more time being a father.
Ric Flair is the constant and continues being the guy you’ve heard about. By the start of ’87 he was over three years into the BIG World Title run and he wasn’t completely stale, but the loss of Magnum T.A. completely eliminated his most compelling rival. With Dusty overused and no newcomers deemed ready, Flair feuds with the Garvin Family and the usual Dusty friends.
He is all in on making things work: he lets Barry Windham and Brad Armstrong shine as they’re introduced, hams it up as he harasses poor Precious, though Ron Garvin delivered its’ Flair’s weekly psychotic breakdowns that make him cool more than anything.
Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson are on their own big runs this year too, showing versatility in singles and tags and carrying plenty of feuds from Dusty to Barry to Rock & Roll. Arn might be more associated with the TV Title but ’87 is Tully’s year as champ, and he’s got his own hooks: 8 minutes of Diet Flair or a flurry of punches followed by a slingshot suplex and a dickish handshake. He’s always in his own world as his own World Champ.
Tully & Arn become an tag team over the summer, though Arn is making his legend cutting epic promos, dropping Ole, and feuding with Barry Windham. “Tony Schiavone, I dont want to come out here and toot my horn but…. toot toot!”
“I’m gonna make Tully Blanchard bleed,” says Ole Anderson – the original Rock. Ole’s career was legitimately winding down here so he isn’t around much, but they make the most out of his exit from the Horsemen and when he ia around it is genuinely incredible babyface work. He might have been difficult but the man knew how to do wrestling.
If you thought Lex Express was a lot, the intro of Lex Luger is right here – less bus, more unproven body guy appropriating the biggest stable in the company and everybody acting like that’s just cool. And it kind of works, which everybody should be proud of. He’s presented as a genetically gifted prick laser focused on becoming a huge star, which expands the Horsemen story and gives him a big year: star of the future, new Horseman, U.S. Champ, Dusty Rhodes feud… BABYFACE!
He’s better than legend promotes and the way he adapts is genuinely impressive even if the machine is clearly working around him sometimes. It’s also fun to see him just GO FOR IT on promos, imitating the Horsemen as a Lex Luger would. “We’re from opposite sides of the track, Dusty … You grew up fighting and scratching … I grew up with Mercedes Benz and Porsches. You grew up in the back of a pickup truck. I grew up with.. looks down Mozart, Beethoven. Tlovkasky!”
Jim Cornette led The Midnight Express and bodyguard Big Bubba Rogers with quick-quitted promo brilliance and an absolute spoiled piece of shit attitude. He’ll rant about integrity and sportsmanship while Eaton is rubbing his closed fist in a man’s face (3/21), he’ll threaten a man’s livelihood while bragging about his mom’s money.
Bubba spent most of the year headlining UWF shows as their champion before he dropped it to Dr. Death and they stopped running shows. Going into this watch I had no idea how good Bubba got so quickly – if Flair and Tully got hurt, Bubba could’ve pulled something off.
Sweet Stan Lane (formerly of The Fabulous Ones) replaces the departing Loverboy Dennis Condrey and brings a swagger, thrust kick, and butterfly suplex to team. I prefer Condrey’s direct approach, but Lane doesn’t detract – like Luger, here for cash but so bored he can’t help but show off his athletic gifts. Eaton casually remains the most amazing wrestler ever, an aloofness mixed with arrogance that makes his studio matches fun and arena matches epic.
Dick Murdoch, livid that his old tag partner Dusty took on “some Communist” (Nikita) as a partner, goes heel again early in the year. He joins up with some other Communist – Ivan Koloff – and breaks Nikita’s neck. His TV appearances are scattered this but when he shows up he is slobbering with a missing bottom tooth doing backdrop suplexes and brainbusters and it’s very good.
The Crockett Crew: Babyfaces
We should talk about Ron Garvin first though, because as a voiceover explains: “The last 5 years, only two men have been World Heavyweight Champion: Dusty Rhodes and Ric flair. But from the ashes, has arisen a warrior! Ron Garvin.”
Garvin goes after Flair 7/25, wins the title 9/25, and loses it 11/26. They give it their best, helped by the way they spent ’85 and ’86 keeping him credible: the guy who can knock you out with one punch and now he’ll knock out Flair. He is CONFIDENT and calls Flair a “mere challenger.” He is HONORABLE: “I’ll be damned if you see me sitting in a bar some night telling some floozy or some geek that I used to be World Champion.” He is ATHLETIC: a hype video shows him swimming, jogging, lifting weights, and knocking guys out to smooth jazz (11/7). And he is COOL: he wears a leather jacket!!
Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin becomes more important, turning babyface and attacking Jim Cornette then challenging Flair during the Bash. Flair wins a date with Precious, and Ron coming to her aid kicks that whole feud off as Jimmy moves into a spot as a new Fabulous Freebird. Jimmy is awesome, but heel Jimmy is more fun.
Dusty Rhodes runs the show and is your aging cowboy who endorses Ronnie and feuds with Luger as he tries to hold onto glory. He’s still cutting outstanding promos, absorbing a crowd’s love, and reminding you – sometimes to others’ detriment he’s the very best. On one show he wears a t-shirt, cream tweed jacket, and red drawstring sweatpants. It’s all a wrestling experience, a legend at work.
Nikita Koloff remains kind of relevant, still U.S. Champ and winning the Crockett Cup with Dusty. He drops the title to Luger, but beats Tully for the TV Title right away. Nikita played the odd role of a fake Russian admirably, but the promos were occasionally embarrassing and the quick shift to babyface kept him from really advancing in-ring.
“WELLLLL..” – The Road Warriors‘ and manager Paul Ellering tour more with All Japan, so though TV appearances are sporadic they remain a huge act and the promise of what THEY will do to the Horsemen in WarGames is what sells it. They’re billed as the International Tag Team Champions all year after a win in Japan, and the decision to finally go after Arn & Tully’s World Tag Titles at Starrcade in Chicago feels huge – oops.
Barry Windham comes in just READY TO GO, leaving the WWF with tag partner Mike Rotundo in the and quickly establishing himself in Crockett territory testing Flair’s cardio and winning the U.S. Tag Titles with Ron Garvin. Besides Ronnie he seems like the only other natural choice for champion but goes in tons of other directions: warns Luger about the Horsemen, feuds with the Midnights, wins the Western States Heritage Title, tours with UWF, feuds with Arn, and works a match based around a nut shot at Starrcade.
The Rock & Roll Express of Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson regain the NWA World Tag Team Title in June, though they don’t capture the attention or heights they had during the Morton/Flair feud from ’86. Their matches with Lane & Eaton, Ragin’ & Ravishing, and Arn & Tully are classic tag team wrestling.
The UWF Crew: The New Class!
Sting is first introduced via UWF TV clips (9/12), then debuts in the studio (10/17) a little uncoordinated but athletic and charismatic and going AAAAAOWWWW! His over-excited promos lean more charming than campy, and energy delivers: it feels natural when he challenges Flair a month in. “My temperature is not a normal 98.6 you know… it’s around a 104 baby, and I’m feelin’ REAL good – AAAAOOWWW!”
“A lot of promoters around the country, they blackballed the Freebirds, and the reason why is ’cause we done wrapped too many chairs around people’s heads.” The Fabulous Freebirds of Michael PS Hayes, Terry Gordy, and Buddy Roberts returned to Georgia for a big 6-man tag with the Four Horsemen at the Omni, while the classic Badstreet USA video gets airtime too. Once Terry and Buddy bounce it’s more rock & roll than ass-kicking.
Young “Dr. Death” Steve Williams arrives looking like the Next Big Thing, though he isn’t featured enough and eventually finds more money in Japan. Murdoch and Eddie Gilbert break his arm and their feud spans the Bash and UWF TV, while UWF’s Jim Ross provides update from the University of Oklahoma and Coach Switzer, a vibe that endures. Steve conquers Bubba in Oklahoma City (7/11), and a month later he’s sprinting to the ring and savagely squashing opponents. He does a catapult INTO THE MAT!!
Kevin Sullivan takes his subtle Satan act to the Turner network, arriving (8/22) a Boston-accented babyface asking his friend Dusty to return to Florida to tag against the Sheepherders, then cutting long weekly promos that are so off-putting the people chant for heels. He bullies opponents, reads fables, and begins saying he doesn’t care about titles.
As JR says once, “Kevin Sullivan makes me uncomfortable. He sounds like a psychoanalyst.” Instead of silence there is a VIBE, and it pays off as he begins recruiting young wrestlers like some cult leader. He settles on three: Rick Steiner accepts immediately, Mike Rotundo fights it but relents, and by the end of the year Sullivan wants Dr. Death himself.
Terry Taylor and “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert take the “First Family” to JCP, and they’re a mismatched duo who come off just dopey enough to stick with it. Taylor already had some runs here as a babyface, but returns in a role that takes getting used to but fits… the kind of stuff you could see Buddy Landel maybe doing. Gilbert seems short even here, but pops off the screen and is a clear star.
Ron Simmons played Dr. Death in the Orange Bowl and now he’s here introduced with the classic Crockett struggle of whether to define this impressive Black man as a football star or former food stamp recipient. Very cool to see young Ron either way.
Larry Zbyszko with Baby Doll calling out everybody including Dusty and Flair is on brand and actually doesn’t feel too ridiculous, even with his terrible neckbreaker finish.
Just as “Gentleman” Chris Adams is introduced, he returns to World Class in August.
The Tag Teams
Tag Champs for half the year “Ravishing” Rick Rude & “Ragin’ Bull” Manny Fernandez had both little chemistry and complemented each other perfectly. The physical Rude arrived in his robe looking pretty enough to get signed by Vince six months into the year, while Manny found a role that clicked for him so well he had trouble finding something else after.
Before they were the silly Bushwhackers, The Sheepherders were bloodthirsty psychopaths hanging with the future John Laurinaitis doing a New Zealand anti-American gimmick. Good promos, and sometimes high-end wrestling – their Crockett Cup matches show how talented they were.
David Crockett calls The New Breed a combo of the Road Warriors, Midnight Express, and Rock & Roll Express – I never saw it. Sean Royal and Chris Champion are the future, which means forced references and impressions. Royal works singles for half the year as Champion heals an injury, and pretty much all of it is low quality.
Brad Armstrong & “White Lightning” Tim Horner don’t catch fire as singles guys have a couple fun bits, Horner as a brief Ole Anderson protegé and Brad feuding with the actual Ric Flair. They win the UWF Tag Team Titles and go on to not catch fire as tag guys. Pair of good boys though.
’86 jobber all-stars Mack and Jim Jeffers become The MOD Squad of Spike & Basher and it’s more a small territory act but Basher did do a wheelbarrow reverse spinebuster (6/20) once that I lost it for. The Kansas Jayhawks do armbars and elbow drops and exit midway through the year.
The Supporting Cast
Jones sticks to Manny Fernandez & Rick Rude early in the year, but soon aligns with Ivan Koloff who had lost Nikita and Krusher Khruschev but now had Vladimir Petrov, the Russian Assassin… from Ivan’s past. He stunk! The Barbarian (already good) is Jones’ other main guy and briefly forms “The Super Warriors” with Uncle Ivan until The Warlord embraces his natural habitat and begins to tag with Barb.
Jones’ Army’s rivals were all types of babyfaces, though a regular crew of undercard guys I’ll break in two: the ugly and the pretty.
The ugly was the oddballs like “The Boogie Woogie Man” Jimmy Valiant, Master of the Claw Baron von Raschke, and Bugsy McGraw. Valiant slowed down after the Paul Jones feud and teams with Hector Guerrero under a mask as Lazer-Tron, a comic book gimmick that flops as it just doesn’t feel natural in JCP, especially when David’s screaming how it’s FOR THE CHILDREN!!! Hector took part in an even bigger flop in ’90.
On the advice of an off-screen Red Bastien, Paul Jones blind recruits Mighty Wilbur who ends up being a friendly hillbilly – the kind of gimmick that was stale in 1985 WWF. The turn on Jones happens quick and is a pop and footnote more than anything.
Tim Horner, Brad (and Bob) Armstrong, Barry’s scrawny brother Kendall Windham (great crossbody, too many armbars), and Ricky Santana comprise the pretty undercard. Santana would go onto success in Puerto Rico but spends his time here used as an excuse for the JCP heels to very poorly reference his ethnicity.
Other notables besides the commentary stylings of mustache Tony Schiavone, excited David Crockett, and Oklahoma Jim Ross are the referee lineup: Tommy Young and the soon-to-depart Earl Hebner hold down the arenas, while Scrappy McGowan (!) newcomer Teddy Long handle the studio. “Ricky Santana walks out here, the minority that he is…” – GOD DAMNIT, FLAIR.
Magnum T.A. and Missy Hyatt are both around as occasional commentators and hosts, and a whole lot of wonderfully unimpressive punks act as jobbers and enhancement talent.
The Gladiators get hyped an entire show (3/28) as a new Road Warriors and they beat down Bill and Randy Mulkey in the final match only to slip and lose, giving The Mulkey Brothers a gimmick (Mulkeymania!) to last a lifetime – and they didn’t even really leverage it, because they’re just a couple of fellas!
Larry Stephens bounces off the ropes, sees Big Bubba Rogers, stops (1/17). Keith Steinborn sells a spinebuster like it just busted (10/24), which I appreciate though Arn seems tired of the over-the-top bumping a minute later.
Darrell Dalton looks like a tattoo artist and Bob Riddle a punk rocker, Chance McQuade is a jerk, Mike Force a stocky muscular fellow, and Alan Martin looks just like like Art Garfunkel. Tommy Angel takes a great Gourdbuster bump too.
Rocky King is great in his limited feature roles including TV matches with Flair and Matauda, and a minor shoutout to Cougar Jay eating a full rotation on a Terry Gordy crossbody.
Major shoutout to Mike Jackson, balding and hairy oldAlabama Jr. Heavyweight Champ who wrestles to this day doing the same stuff he was doing here that blew people’s minds and made his jobber matches more competitive than the norm.
Those Who Made it Worth It
Best Acts
1. The Four Horsemen and J.J. Dillon
2. Arn Anderson
3. Jim Cornette & The Midnight Express
4. Dusty Rhodes
5. “Star of the Future” Lex Luger
6. Ron Garvin: Bound for Glory
7. THE ROAD WARRIORS!!!
8. TV Champ Tully Blanchard
9. The Rock & Roll Express
10. Paul Jones & his Army
Best Wrestlers
1. Ric Flair
2. Arn Anderson
3. Barry Windham
4. Tully Blanchard
5. Ricky Morton
6. Ron Garvin
7. Brad Armstrong
8. Dusty Rhodes
8. Bobby Eaton
10. Rick Rude
Top Tag Teams
1. The Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard)
2. The Rock & Roll Express
3. The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane)
4. Rick Rude & Ragin’ Bull
5. The Road Warriors
Top Trends
1. UWF Talent Enters the Territory
2. The Pivot without Magnum T.A.
3. A New Four Horseman: Lex Luger
4. Midnight Express switches Loveboy for Lane
5. Arn & Tully Team Up
6. Ron Garvin & Jimmy Garvin: Family First
7. The New Fabulous Freebirds
8. Ole Anderson Slows Down
9. Kevin Sullivan Recruits Talent
10. Jim Ross Starts on Commentary
Top 10 Coolest Quotes
10. “There’s room in the limousine for Lex Luger.” – J.J. Dillon, 1/31/87
9. “I’ve been beaten three times in my life… so IT’S NOT IMPOSSIBLE! YOU MIGHT DO IT!” – Ric Flair on Jimmy Garvin, 7/4/87
8. “That’s why we’re the Horsemen! Not because we got T-shirts that day we are, but because we’re one family!” – Arn Anderson, 7/4/87
7. “I said good job Ronnie, good job, and I turn around… and there’s nothing but dust going down the highway. He ran another six!” – Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin after a six-mile run
6. “Stars are in the Sky, or stars are in Hollywood… the reason the Horsemen are what they are is we get it done in the ring better than anybody!” – Arn Anderson, 11/28/87
5. “My temperature is not a normal 98.6 you know… it’s around a 104 baby I’m feelin REAL good AAAAOOWWW!” – Sting, 10/17/87
4. “You saw him use probably 20 moves, more moves than over half the roster knows. The man is a wrestling machine!” – David Crockett, 2/15/87
3. “Tony Schiavone… and the WHOLE WORLD… LET THE GAMES BEGIN!” – Road Warrior Hawk, 6/20/87
2. “In the NWA, if you have the credentials, you have the ability, and you work hard, you’re gonna get a shot at those titles… and believe me, it’s not like that everywhere.” – Mike Rotunda, 2/21/87
1. “You’re going to pay next Wednesday in Jacksonville, Florida! There’s going to be a steel cage around the ring – the wired fence! A cyclone fence they call it…” – Baron von Raschke, 3/7/87
