NWK reviews Starrcade 1989

[NWK2000]

Going into the PPV, my thoughts

I've seen part of this PPV before, and any show that's smart enough to make use out of its top single and tag team wrestlers in a Round Robin tourney is good enough for me.


Alright, so we get breakdown of the scoring system for each tournament
Pinfall or Submission: 20 pts
Countout: 15 pts
DQ: 10 ptfs
Draw: 5 pts apiece

Singles competitors

The Great Muta
Sting
Lex Luger
Ric Flair

Tag Teams

Doom (w/Woman)
The Road Warriors (w/Paul Elleringy)
The Wild Samoans w/ Oliver Humperdink
The Steiner Brothers

Doom (w/ Woman and Nitron vs The Stiener Bros

-Great babyface in peril stuff, won by the Steiners in a confusing count out finish.
4.5/10

Sting vs. Lex Luger

-Pointless cowardly heel stuff at the very beginning by Luger, even going as far as to walk out of the match before Sting stopped him
-Man Sting's offense is over. Also surprised at the amount of high flying
-Luger wins by cheapness in the last 30 seconds, awesome
7/10

Doom (w/ Woman and Ntron) vs The Road Warriors (with Paul Ellerling)

Average match, Hawk blocks a piledriver on Animal with a clothesline
5/10

The Great Muta (w/Gary Hart) vs Ric Flair

- A huge brawl breaks out between the Anderson brothers and Gary Hart's other clents
-Too quick a match to break Muta's streak, although I'm sure it creates a plausible unpredictablity
3.5/10

The Road Warriors vs The Stiener Bros

-Standard brawl, until Hawk blocks a move on Animal with a clothesline again, except in the pinning situation Scott's shoulders were up and not Animal's, so that leads to a controversial pin. Props to Cornette on commentary for explaining that Stiener's amateur background prevailed
6.5/10

Sting vs Great Muta (w/Gary Hart)

- Props to Jim for saying that Muta's loss may effect him mentally, but Funk countering with saying Sting has gone longer.
- Cattle Mutilation by Muta, hmmm.
-Unexpected win with a Superplex by Sting
7.5/10

Doom vs The Wild Samoans

- Doom legitimately changes their strategies, relying on blind tags and scientific wrestling.
- Humperdink pushes the Samoan onto Doom during a double knockout, leading to the win.
-6.5/10

Lex Luger vs Ric Flair

Very high impact brawl, lots of drama one of the few times a draw has been a satisfying ending in my mind
7/10

Samoans vs Stieners

-Half the match is stalling, and it ends in a top rope DQ
1/10

Lex Luger vs Muta

Props to Luger for selling the leg the entie time
-Muta sells surprise when Luger kicks him with the good leg
-Green Mist leads to DQ
6.5/10

Road Warriors vs. The Wild Samoans

Lots of brawling, and once again we end with a Hawk Clothesline to end it, and the Road Warriors win the tag team tournament
5/10

Ric Flair vs Sting

-Classic stuff you'd expect from Flair Sting
8/10

Final thoughts

The tag team matches were expressly awful for the most part, the singles matches were great though. Great stuff for those of us who have ever wondered what a round robin tournament formula woud look like. Other than that, not worth a DVD buy.