NWA 1987 - A Band of Horses

Starting Notes:
1. The following diary (booking) had its beginning originally published in portuguese at a portuguese forum (Fórum de Pro Wrestling), last year. The same was abandoned, due to lack of time by myself, but will now continue, translated to english.
2. The game save in which the diary is based had two players until it’s abandonment. I took control of Jim Crockett Promotions (or NWA, as you prefer – under Dusty Rhodes), my partner/rival took control of World Wrestling Federation (as Mr. Miyagi, for some reason). Now, the diary will only be a JCP/NWA diary. However, I’ll keep posting news about WWF (mostly signings and special card results), even if they get TEW-fashioned ridiculous. Oh, by the way, expect an important steal by WWF, that can only be blamed on me, and from which I had to workaround from day one.
3. Not really a note. Welcome to the diary. Ooooooh, what a ruuuush!

National Wrestling Alliance: The Context of a Runner-Up – Pro Wrestling Illustrated:
Dominated before by the NWA, as of today (March, 1st, 1987), the wrestling world seems to have a new ruler. Vincent Kennedy McMahon’s WWF surpassed the southern-based promotion and looks determined to put the territorial wrestling system to rest for good.
Featuring stars like Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant and great media exposure, given by partnerships with Music Television (MTV) and a handful of Hollywood mainstays, the former smaller Capitol Wrestling sits currently of its throne. As their main rival, Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) used to follow them on second place. Used to, not because the federation ended, but because officially, as of today, it confirmed its name change to National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). That decision seems to embrace the end of territorial wrestling, indeed.
NWA, the alliance, will still count with its several promotions, other than NWA, the federation. However, it’s on that promotion that all the chips will continue to be gambled. Inside and out of the ring, it’s time to embrace the change.
Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen should probably keep their place as the pillars of the company. The group is now renewed, with Lex Luger recently occupying Ole Anderson’s spot, joining Flair, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. Dusty Rhodes, while long affirmed as a respected veteran, should be mainly relegated to smaller roles in the ring, probably associated to Nikita Koloff.
Nikita has, in fact, recently been playing a positive main role as an anti-Cold War soviet. He featured in the main event of Starrcade 1986 (November), having a shot at Ric Flair’s NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship. The result: a double DQ, much to the ire of the Nature Boy’s biggest foes: Nikita, Dusty, Barry Windham, Jimmy and Ron Garvin and The Road Warriors.
Other than the main event, though, Starrcade gifted NWA’s enthusiasts with other big bouts, like the Skywalkers Scaffolding Match between The Road Warriors and The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey, at the time – Condrey has since been substituted by Stan Lane), concluding with a nasty fall from Jim Cornette. During the show, The Rock n’Roll Express celebrated the conquer of the NWA World’s Tag Team Championships after a Steel Cage Match against Arn and Ole Anderson. Manny Fernandez and Rick Rude are now the holders of said belts.
Starrcade isn’t scheduled to be the only highlight of NWA’s 1986, however. Marquee events like Bunkhouse Stampede and Great American Bash will continue to take part of the company’s schedule, that will also feature the second edition of The Crockett Tag Team Cup in two months (May). For the following months, the NWA plans to keep the fans buzzing. March and April will feature a supercard each: WrestleWar and SuperBrawl. Along with World Championship Wrestling as a weekly TV show, these compose NWA’s programming.


Promotion Details

 

Upper Midcarders

- Bobby Eaton – Heel – Old School Heel – Regular – MW – 28 – w/Jim Cornette; 

- Dick Murdoch – Heel – Redneck – Brawler – HW – 40; 

- Ivan Koloff – Heel – Comrade – Brawler – HW – 44 – w/Paul Jones; 

- Jimmy Garvin – Face – Old School Face – Regular – HW – 34 – w/Precious; 

- Lex Luger – Heel – Old School Heel – Brawler – HW – 28 – w/J.J. Dillon; 

- Manny Fernandez – Heel – Old School Heel – Regular – HW – 34 – w/Paul Jones; 

- Rick Rude – Heel – Old School Heel – Regular – MW – 28 – w/Paul Jones; 

- Ricky Morton – Face – Rock Star – Regular – LW – 30; 

- Robert Gibson – Face – Rock Star – Regular – LW – 28; 

- Ron Garvin – Face – Bad Ass – Regular – HW – 41; 

- Stan Lane – Heel – Old Shool Heel – Regular – MW – 33 – w/Jim Cornette. 

 

Midcarders 

- Bobby Jaggers – Heel – Cowboy – Brawler – HW – 39; 

- Jimmy Valiant – Face – Old School Face – Regular – MW – 44; 

- Kevin Sullivan – Heel – Occult – Brawler – HW – 37 – w/Dark Journey; 

- Mike Graham – Face – Bad Ass – Technician – LW – 35; 

- Mike Rotundo – Face – Old School Face – Technician – MW – 28; 

- Ron Simmons – Face – Bad Ass – Brawler – HW – 28; 

- The Barbarian – Heel – Savage – Brawler – HW – 28 – w/Paul Jones; 

- Tiger Conway Jr. – Heel – Dancing Fool – Regular – LW – 38; 

- Vladimir Petrov – Heel – Comrade – Brawler – HW – 29 – w/Paul Jones. 

 

Lower Midcarders 

- Basher – Face – Bad Ass – Brawler – MW – 30; 

- Denny Brown – Face – Old School Face – Cruiserweight – LW – 27; 

- Johnny Ace – Heel – Old School Heel – Regular – HW – 24; 

- Lazer Tron – Face – Masked Grappler – Luchador – LW – 32; 

- Spike – Face – Bad Ass – Brawler – MW – 32; 

- Tommy Angel – Heel – Old School Heel – Regular – MW – 26. 

Openers/Jobbers

- Bill Mulkey – Face – Underdog – Regular – LW – 29; 

- Randy Mulkey – Face – Underdog – Regular – LW – 31; 

- Rocky King – Face – Old School Face – Regular – MW – 33; 

- The Terminator – Heel – Monster – Brawler – HW – 22; 

- Tim Horner – Face – Old School Face – Technician – MW – 27. 

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Tag Teams

- Awesome Twosome (Manny Fernandez & Rick Rude) – Heel; 

- Jimmy Valiant & Lazer Tron – Face; 

- Mulkey Brothers (Bill & Randy) – Face; 

- The Garvins (Jimmy & Ron) – Face; 

- The Horsemen (Lex Luger & Tully Blanchard) – Heel; 

- The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane) – Heel; 

- The MOD Squad (Basher & Spike) – Face; 

- The Road Warriors (Animal & Hawk) – Face; 

- The Rock n’Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) – Face; 

- The Russian Team (Ivan Koloff & Vladimir Petrov) – Heel; 

- The Super Powers (Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff) – Face. 

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Grupos
- Paul Jones’ Army (Ivan Koloff, Manny Hernandez, Rick Rude, The Barbarian & Vladimir Petrov) – w/Paul Jones; 

- The Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Tully Blanchard) – w/J.J. Dillon. 

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National Wrestling Alliance – Títulos e Troféus

 

NWA World Heavyweight Championship 

- Ric Flair [6] – def. Dusty Rhodes – Agosto de 1986; 

NWA United States Championship 

- Nikita Koloff – antes vago – Agosto de 1986; 

NWA World Television Championship 

- Tully Blanchard [3] – def. Dusty Rhodes – Novembro de 1986; 

NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (< Middleweight) 

- Denny Brown [3] – def. Steve Regal – Setembro de 1986; 

NWA World Tag Team Championships (Unified)

- Awesome Twosome – def. Rock n’Roll Express – Dezembro de 1986; 

NWA Jim Crockett Sr. Tag Team Cup 

- 1986: The Road Warriors.