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After two weeks spent covering the WWF/WWE with WrestleMania I and The Wrestling Classic, we’re headed back down south for Starrcade 1985: The Gathering!
STRAIGHT SHOOT RETRO co-host Jeff Schiller and I will watch the third NWA/JCP Starrcade event ahead of time, then come prepared with historical background, questions, jokes and more, for a Google+ Hangout on Wednesday, April 2 at the special time of 7pmET/4pmPT.
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Ways to watch/listen are below. Scroll down for more information on Starrcade 1985: The Gathering.
- Right here, on this very page, live or after-the-fact, through the embedded YouTube video right up above
- Over at the official Google Hangout event page, where you can watch live and even ask questions for me and my special guest.
- On my official YouTube channel, where the video will continue to live after the event. Make sure to SUBSCRIBE.
- The morning after, via audio-only podcast versions of the show embedded above or on iTunes, Stitcher and PodOmatic.
Like previous Starrcade events, the 1985 show was run on Thanksgiving night and blasted out to the public via closed circuit television. Unlike previous shows, however, Starrcade 1985: The Gathering was filmed at not only Jim Crockett Promotion’s home arena, the Greensboro Coliseum, but also at another important venue or the southern territories, The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia. The following year, WrestleMania 2 took a similar approach, broadcasting from not two, but three different arenas.
Starrcade 1985 comes after a startling run of success from WWF, which included the two MTV Rock N Wrestling Connection specials, The Brawl to End it All and The War to Settle the Score, the first-ever WrestleMania and the first wrestling pay-per-view (to my knowledge), The Wrestling Classic. As a result, it’s readily apparent that JCP and the NWA really tried to kick the 1985 Starrcade up a notch, with big names, higher production values, a moustache for Tony Schiavone and naturally, blood, blood, BLOOD.
Check out the full match card below, then make sure to watch the show on the WWE Network so you’re ready for this Wednesday’s STRAIGHT SHOOT RETRO!
- Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship Match: Krusher Khruschev vs. Sam Houston
- Abdullah the Butcher vs. “Raging Bull” Manny Fernandez in a Mexican Death Match
- “Outlaw” Ron Bass vs. Black Bart in a Texas Bull Rope Match
- “Superstar” Billy Graham vs. The Barbarian in a $10,000 Arm Wrestling Match
- “Superstar” Billy Graham vs. The Barbarian
- National Heavyweight Champion Terry Taylor vs. “Nature Boy” Buddy Landel
- National Tag Team Champions The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Arn & Ole Anderson) vs. Billy Jack Haynes & Wahoo McDaniel
- NWA United States Champion Tully Blanchard vs. Magnum TA in an “I Quit” Steel Cage Match
- The Midnight Express vs. Jimmy Valiant & Miss Atlanta Lively
- NWA World Tag Team Champions Ivan & Nikita Koloff vs. The Rock n Roll Express
- NWA World Champion Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes