WON Back Issue: The History of Pro Wrestling on Thanksgiving
Editor’s note: The following is the December 6, 2010 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, with the lead story being Dave Meltzer’s in-depth look at the history of pro wrestling events on Thanksgiving.
From all of us here at F4WOnline, we hope you and your family have a great Thanksgiving. We’re incredibly thankful for all of the support that our subscribers and readers give us.
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A long time ago….In a galaxy far far, well, not that far away…..
“Starrcade 83, don’t miss your chance to be part of the sports event of a lifetime. See Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. Greg Valentine, first time ever in a collar match. A Flare for the Gold, Ric Flair vs. Harley Race for the world heavyweight championship and Jack & Jerry Brisco vs. Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood for the world tag team title. Starrcade 83, Greensboro Coliseum, a Flare for the Gold, don’t you miss it.”
Tony Schiavone: “Fans, 9 super spectacular matches that night. You’ll see Maniac Mark Lewin & Kevin Sullivan vs. Johnny Weaver & Scott McGhee, The Assassins 1 & 2 with Paul Jones against Bugsy McGraw & Rufus R. Jones, another big tag team match, Dick Slater & Bob Orton Jr vs. Chief Wahoo McDaniel & Mark Youngblood. You’ll also see Abdullah the Butcher there, against Carlos Colon. TV title against the mask, Kabuki with Gary Hart against Charlie Brown from Outta Town. The World tag team title is at stake, Jack & Jerry Brisco taking on Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood w/2 special stipulations we will talk about in just a minute (the title can change hands via DQ and Angelo “King Kong” Mosca as special referee). The collar match you want to see, Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. Greg Valentine. And in the cage, no disqualification, for the world heavyweight championship, former champion Ric Flair taking on Harley Race.
Ric Flair: “Alright Harley, it’s come down to this, brother. You and I in the cage. Two men walk in, you the world heavyweight champion, me wanting it. The people in this part of the country have never seen the world championship change hands. Thanksgiving night, they’re going to see it. Believe it, Whooo!”
A lot of people, when thinking about when Thanksgiving was the biggest night of the year in wrestling, think about Starrcade 83. In many ways, it was the show that launched the modern era of pro wrestling, some 16 months before the first WrestleMania. The event was held not only live at the Greensboro Coliseum, but closed-circuited to 17 locations around the Carolinas as well as into Puerto Rico.
The actual debut of pro wrestling on closed circuit television was in 1971, shortly after John Tolos threw Monsel’s powder in the eyes of Freddie Blassie on KCOP-television’s live Saturday night wrestling show from Hollywood, CA. But that era, when the promotion was on fire in 1971 and 1972, was limited to broadcasting some shows that they knew the Olympic Auditorium couldn’t hold to two or three large movie theaters in the city.
Closed circuit wrestling had been done similarly by the mid-70s in Madison Square Garden during Bruno Sammartino’s second title reign, where when the Garden would sell out well in advance, they would book what was then called the Felt Forum, a 4,000-seat arena that was part of the MSG complex, to get the overflow.
In 1976, there was actually an event much bigger than Starrcade, the Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki fight, which was on closed circuit throughout North America. The wrestling promoters booked the show and in hundreds of closed-circuit locations around the country. The idea was to combine the boxing audience with its biggest draw, and the wrestling audience by using Andre the Giant (against boxer Chuck Wepner) and closed circuit of top stars in the area. There were a number of live events, in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago and Shea Stadium in New York to air the area’s biggest wrestling stars for the undercard that night.
But outside of the Northeast, where the real draw was Sammartino coming back from a broken neck against Stan Hansen and drawing 32,000 fans, and not Ali vs. Inoki, the event was a major financial disappointment.
This was something different, as there was no Ali involved, which meant no mainstream publicity. This was a regional wrestling company booking most of its regular major arenas for a closed-circuit showing of the biggest event it ever produced. The event is still probably the single most memorable and talked about wrestling show ever held in that part of the country. Closed-circuit was hit-and-miss, with the promotion blaming terrible weather, but there were still an additional 30,000 fans watching besides the 15,447 which sold out the Greensboro Coliseum in advance. Flair won the title for a second time, beating Race in a match with Gene Kiniski as referee. Flair vs. Race is generally considered one of the two best memorable wrestling matches in the history of Carolinas wrestling. The other, held eight months earlier in the same arena, was Steamboat & Youngblood vs. Sgt. Slaughter & Don Kernodle in Greensboro. That match was actually responsible for Starrcade. That even sold out the Coliseum, turned away 6,000 at the door (which has been exaggerated as the years have gone by), and was responsible for one of the cities most famous traffic jams, with fans coming from all over the territory for the match. Between the traffic jam and turning so many people away, this led to idea of the first Starrcade. Instead of having their fans who wanted to see what they were promoting as a once-in-a-lifetime event have to drive into town, they would beam the show into their home arenas.
Every major match had a storyline, but the key was that Flair had become the area’s biggest star in the 70s, and on September 17, 1981, became the first wrestler based in the Carolinas to win the NWA world heavyweight title, when he beat Dusty Rhodes in Kansas City. However, on June 10, 1983, in St. Louis, Race regained the title. There was politicking over who would beat Race for the title, which mostly came down to Flair and David Von Erich. At the time Flair was clearly the stronger candidate, and they ran a series of angles for months. Race came into the territory in July for defenses against Flair in most of the major cities, and after disputed finishes, announced he would never defend against Flair again. He then put up a $25,000 bounty to anyone who would injure Flair and put him out of action. Dick Slater and Bob Orton Jr. gave Flair a stuff piledriver, putting him out of action. Flair even did a retirement speech with a neck brace in one of the most memorable interviews of his career, only to come back chasing Slater and Orton Jr. around with a baseball bat, and then working around the territory in grudge matches beating both men. Race agreed to one last title shot, with no DQ, in a cage.
An interesting note regarding that show. Dusty Rhodes, who was at the show, but didn’t wrestle, and was soon to take over as booker of the territory, came up with the actual name “Starrcade.” Gordon Solie, the Florida and Georgia announcer, who did not broadcast in the territory, was flown in to be the lead announcer even though he wasn’t fully familiar with all the wrestlers and their angles. And forgotten in history, is that the head booker of the territory, who set up all the angles, was not even there for the event, as Dory Funk Jr. was in Japan for the annual All Japan Real World Tag League tournament.
The show was nearly ruined. A far bigger story than Starrcade and the first closed circuit event was going on in pro wrestling. Vince McMahon Jr., Vince McMahon Sr., and Jim Barnett (their Director of Operations at the time) all resigned from the NWA at its 1983 convention, as a prelude to the WWF’s national expansion. They were attempting to sign every big star with the strategy that they take the top draws in the local areas, and buy the television time slots in the existing areas, and then run in those areas using the local stars and a crew of national stars. It didn’t work out exactly like that everywhere, as many wrestlers liked who they worked for, including Flair, but that was the idea. McMahon Jr. had a secret meeting with Race right before Thanksgiving, offering him a big guarantee to bring what most fans believed to be the legitimate world heavyweight title to WWF, where no doubt he’d drop it in a unification match with Hulk Hogan, who McMahon had just signed to be his flag bearer and was about to make champion.
Race, who was part owner in a money losing regional promotion in Kansas City, as well as a traditionally strong St. Louis promotion that had just started a decline, turned it down out of loyalties to the companies he owned, his partners, and the people who trusted him for so many years to hold the championship. Race claimed he told McMahon, while in a bathroom where the secret discussion was taking place, to look in the mirror. McMahon didn’t understand where he was going, but Race said that every day when he wakes up, the first thing he has to do is look in the mirror. And if he signed that deal, he’d have no respect for the reflection for the rest of his life. One version of the story Race used to tell, but now when asked changes the subject (as noted by Race’s high placing in the recent WWE DVD) is that McMahon was so furious, as they were walking out of the bathroom with the deal dead, McMahon charged and tried to tackle Race, who quickly reversed and subdued him. Whether true or not, the story, minus the physical aspect, was identical to the story Howard Cosell, the legendary sportscaster told, when he was approached by McMahon to be his lead announcer at that same time, and Cosell gave it no consideration and turned down McMahon, noting McMahon snapped and laid into him verbally like he couldn’t believe.
THANKSGIVING FLASHBACK – November 24, 1983
Greensboro Coliseum – Starrcade ‘83 A Flare for the Gold
Rufus R. Jones & Bugsy McGraw b The Assassins (Jody Hamilton & Ray “Hercules Hernandez” Fernandez)
Kevin Sullivan & Mark Lewin b Johnny Weaver & Scott McGhee
Abdullah the Butcher b Carlos Colon
Dick Slater & Bob Orton Jr. b Wahoo McDaniel & Mark Youngblood
Charlie Brown (Jimmy Valiant) b Great Kabuki to win the NWA TV title and retain his mask
Roddy Piper b Greg Valentine in a dog collar match
Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood b Jack & Jerry Brisco to win the NWA world tag team titles with Angelo Mosca as referee
Ric Flair b Harley Race to win the NWA title in a cage match with Gene Kiniski as referee
Attendance: 15,447 sellout
Closed-circuit attendance: 30,000
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