SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: 23:00 Min.
Recorded live on July 4, 1987, at the NWA’s Great American Bash house show in Atlanta, GA, this ten-man slugfest features these teams:
- The Super-Powers: (“The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes & NWA U.S. Heavyweight Champion Nikita “The Russian Nightmare” Koloff) and The Road Warriors: (Hawk & Animal) & manager “Precious” Paul Ellering,
vs.
- The Four Horsemen: (NWA World Heavyweight Champion “Nature Boy” Ric Flair; Arn Anderson; NWA World TV Champion Tully Blanchard; and Lex Luger); & manager J.J. Dillon. Blanchard’s then-valet, ‘Dark Journey,’ is also at ringside.
Rhodes is generally credited with devising this two-ring, roofed double-steel cage ten-man grudge match concept. The teams pit their initial two combatants in a five-minute one-on-one brawl. A coin toss then determines a handicap advantage, as the other participants enter in two-minute intervals. Hence, one side will enjoy a repetitive handicap advantage until all ten men are inside the two-ring cage.
In 2013, the WWE released this match as part of a collection of War Games matches (in DVD and Blu-ray formats) entitled WWE War Games: WCW’s Most Notorious Matches.
Notes: 1. At the time, Rhodes & The Road Warriors were NWA World Six-Man Tag Champions. 2. For the videotaped July 31st rematch, Dillon is replaced by Ray “Big Bubba Rogers/Big Boss Man” Traylor as the masked ‘War Machine.’
REVIEW:
Competing against the popularity of Vince McMahon’s WWF, the NWA/WCW (aka Jim Crockett Promotions) delivers the goods for fans with this macho entertainment. There aren’t flashy graphics comparable to the WWF, but this match’s video quality is still plenty good. The ringside blow-by-blow coverage from Ross & Schiavone is an extra treat.
Aside from predictable bleeding by multiple players and an obscene finger gesture by Rhodes, this intense first War Games establishes an entertaining formula. Specifically, this excuse for wrestling violence relies on basic storytelling – as in the ruthless Horsemen must stand and fight this time vs. ganging up on outnumbered foes and/or getting a cheap DQ to escape a title loss. Not surprisingly, in order to appease fans, the no-holds-barred War Games heat locked in a repetitive booking scheme for the follow-ups over the next eight years – except for 1991’s plausible twist ending.
Still, this battle’s gritty novelty and spot-on choreography will reward long-time fans who still remember these NWA icons in their prime. It’s a wrestling time machine where seeing the mid-to-late 80’s NWA again becomes a nostalgic gift.
Note: Watch for Ellering’s pugnacious effort challenging Flair (it also happens in War Games # 2 and, briefly, # 3). Just for chuckles, one can only wonder why he never got his own World Title shot against “The Nature Boy,” as seemingly everyone else did.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 8 Stars
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