" Wrestling " ? Not a lot of wrestling to be found in the Atlanta Street Fight between Jim Cornette's Midnight Express ( Dennis and Bobby ) and STREET PEOPLE, U.S.A. represented by Jimmy " The Boogie Woogie Man " Valiant and Miss Atlanta Lively (Ron Garvin in drag.) Blood flowed freely and everything that could be used as a weapon was. Lively/ Garvin blasted a partially tuxedo clad Bobby Eaton with his patented Knock Out punch for the pin. After the match, " Big Momma ", Jimmy Valiant's then wife, LONG BEFORE VINCE McMAHON EVER THOUGHT OF IT... was going to have Jim Cornette kiss her rear end.

" Nature Boy " Buddy Landel won the National Heavyweight title from Terry Taylor that night. As Taylor was going for a superplex, James J. Dillon pulled Taylor's foot of the middle turnbuckle, causing Buddy Landel to fall on top of him, and become the NWA National Champion.

The " I QUIT " match. Sixteen years have passed since STARRCADE '85 and this is STILL one of the most talked about matches in wrestling history. Tully Blanchard, the reigning U.S. Heavyweight champion , accompanied by the lovely Baby Doll, would defend against former champion Magnum T.A. , with the stipulation that to loose the match, one of the guys had to say the words " I QUIT! " Perhaps you COULD find another match that was this brutal, but to be honest, you'd have to look pretty damn hard. This event was held in a steel cage and Magnum and Tully used the microphone to bash each others face in and choke each other to near death. The end came when Baby Doll threw a wooden chair in the ring and Tully broke it into pieces. He took a wooden leg, now splintered into a dangerously sharp piece of wood and INTENDED to carve a road map on Magnum's forehead. Magnum fought back and got the wooden stake away from Blanchard before Tully could do any damage, and carved Tully like a Thanksgiving turkey. " DO YOU QUIT??? DO YOU QUIT ??? " Magnum screamed at Tully. " YESSSSSSSSSS!!!! YESSSSSSSS!!! " Tully yelled as the sharp wood pierced his forehead. I will be the first one to admit... Tully, you NEVER said " I QUIT! ", but you STILL went down to Magnum T.A.

The NWA World tag team titles were on the line, in a steel cage match, with champions Ivan and Nikita Koloff defending against the Rock and Roll Express. Ricky and Robert brought Don Kernodle with them to the ring, to offset any attempted interference from Krusher Kruschev. Kruschev did however, SMASH ( this has gotta stop...lol) Kernodle outside the ring, but to no avail as Ricky and Robert rock and rolled their way to a title victory that night. I guess I should say that after Ricky and Robert won, Kruschev entered the ring and helped The Koloffs BULLY the Rock and Roll Express, but... nevermind... lol.

Main event time. For the most prestigious title in ALL sports, the NWA World Heavyweight title, The " Nature Boy " Ric Flair and The " American Dream " Dusty Rhodes. No strangers to each other, Dusty was vowing to win the belt from Flair and avenge his broken ankle suffered six weeks earlier at the hands of Flair and the Andersons. Flair was simply going to squash Dusty's " AMERICAN DREAM " of a common man winning the greatest prize in sports. After 25 minutes or so of WRESTLING, ( which is what JCP did best) Dusty Rhodes won the title from Ric Flair, despite Ole and Arn Anderson's efforts on Flair's behalf. However, as reported later, Tommy Young, who was the head referee for the match, was on the floor after a bump, and saw Ole and Arn attack Rhodes. Later that night, he reversed the decision, giving Dusty a DQ win, but not the title.

Everyone involved with STARRCADE '85... thanks for the memories.

NEXT MONTH:

Great American Bash on tour 1986