Thanksgiving: The 5 Best Matches in the First 5 Years of NWA Starrcade

Before there was WrestleMania, there was Starrcade.

Starrcade, a creation of Jim Crockett Promotions and their booker Dusty Rhodes, was the show of shows every year in the South. 

It was hyped as a Thanksgiving tradition and it was one that wrestling fans in the early '80s looked forward to.  After a good Thanksgiving dinner, people weren't thinking about Black Friday sales, they were thinking about Rhodes, "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Tully Blanchard, the Rock and Roll Express and others kicking ass.

Starrcade was at its best in the first five years with the Thanksgiving date and being located in the promotion's hometown of Charlotte (except for 1987 when they moved to Chicago—the beginning of the end).

Here's the top five matches during that period. 

5. Starrcade 84: Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes with Joe Frazier as Guest Referee

Of course, this match has a special meaning now due to Frazier's recent passing, but it is also the first match at Starrcade between the two biggest rivals during this era.

The two would have a rematch the following year with Rhodes winning the match and the World title.

There was no better feud in the NWA than Flair vs. Rhodes.  It wasn't just the two of them as the feud would extend to add names like the Four Horsemen, Magnum T.A., the Road Warriors, the Rock and Roll Express and Nikita Koloff.

4. Starrcade 83: Roddy Piper vs. Greg Valentine in a Dog Collar Match

The original Extreme Championship Wrestling was partially known for hardcore violent matches, but years before that Starrcade had a few wars as well.

One of the most violent was at the original Starrcade when a pre-World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment Roddy Piper and Greg Valentine had a brutal dog collar match.

During the match, Valentine actually broke Piper's left eardrum and it cost Piper 50 percent of his hearing.  Piper discusses this in depth on the  Born to Controversy: The Roddy Piper Story DVD the WWE put out in 2006.

3. Starrcade 85: Magnum T.A. vs. Tully Blanchard in an 'I Quit' Match

Piper and Valentine's legacy of violence was continued at Starrcade 85 with Magnum and Blanchard.

This was one of the first "I Quit" matches in pro wrestling and it was was a bloody affair.

This was also the match, along with the best-of-seven series with Koloff, that helped put Magnum T.A. on the map.  He was on the way to being the next big star before a tragic car accident ended his career.

These days, "I Quit" matches greatly lack what this one had.

2. Starrcade 86: Road Warriors vs. the Midnight Express in a Scaffold Match

This wasn't the first-ever scaffold match, and it wasn't a particularly good match (scaffold matches rarely are), but it is one of the matches that fans think of when they think of Starrcade.

It's definitely the match Jim Cornette likely thinks of.  Cornette blew his knee out when he climbed up the scaffold and dropped off.

The late Ray Traylor failed to catch Cornette and that was that.

The Midnight Express would return to the scaffold the following year against long-time rivals the Rock and Roll Express, but the interest wasn't the same.

1. Starrcade 83: Ric Flair vs. Harley Race

It was the main event of the first Starrcade and it showed how simple booking can result in something special.

The feud between Race and Flair began after Race won the title from Flair in June of that year. Race then offered a bounty to have Flair put out of professional wrestling. In August, prior to the event, Bob Orton Jr. and Dick Slater attacked Flair, appearing to inflict on him a career-ending injury.

Flair announced his retirement, but returned shortly after.  The first Starrcade was titled "A Flair for the Gold" as Flair went after the title.

Wrestling legend Gene Kiniski was the special guest ref and Flair won with his rarely successful crossbody block off the top.

The win, and the victory speech that followed, helped make Flair the legend he would become.