Quick Observations

[goodhelmet]

--Our good friend Ealr Hebner was a referee in the NWA (unless it was his twin brother)

 

--Jim Crockett Sr.'s widow had no idea what Nikita Koloff's name was.

 

--The over-the-top rule was really annoying. At one time, they showed clips of about 3-4 tag teams in a row progressing through the tournament because of screwy means.

 

--Nikita Koloff wearing a brace to the ring is the dumbest idea ever. it is like a big old bullseye for the opponent.

 

--The Lex Luger-Ric Flair matchup was much better than the Ric Flair-Sting matchup.

[Loss]

Ric Flair faced Barry Windham at Crockett Cup '87. What matches did you watch? Yeah, Dave Hebner was in the NWA, and Koloff wearing the brace is just like Kobashi having his knee taped up in 6/9/95, depending on which match you're talking about. I only remember him wearing a brace at the '87 Great American Bash.

[goodhelmet]

I could have sworn he faced Luger. I'll watch it again. Then again, I may have my shows screwed up since I have watched about 30 hours of NWA in the last week or so.

 

As for the brace and the knee taped up, I agree except that a guy with a taped up leg doesn't seem to be in as critical as a position as a guy wrestling with a neck brace. But no, Koloff had the brace on prior to the match.

 

So, Dave was working NWA while Earl was WWF?

[Coffey]

Earl Hebner is one of my, if not the, most hated men in the business. He takes me out of every single match that he's refereeing because his count elimates near falls.

[sek69]

I guess it's probably due to him getting old, but what distracts me when Hebner's reffing is while he still takes bumps like a pro he sets them up in a way where he might as well announce it over the PA that a ref bump is forthcoming. It seems to be most obvious in RAW main events where he positions himself in a way that the only reason he'd be standing where he is would be for a ref bump.

[Loss]

At the Crockett Cup '87, Flair faced Windham and Luger teamed with Tully Blanchard in the tournament. Most of the matches are clips until you get to the finals. Flair faced Luger on the following shows:

 

Great American Bash 1988

Starrcade 1988

Starrcade 1989

Wrestle War 1990

Capital Combat 1990

Clash XII

 

Flair wrestled Sting on the following shows:

 

Clash I

Great American Bash 1990

Starrcade 1990 (with Flair as Black Scorpion)

Clash XXVIII

 

If Koloff had his brace on prior to the match, you probably saw the Luger match that is also on the Bash '87 commercial release. That took place on July 11, 1987, seven days after the first War Games, and saw Luger use a chair on Nikita after working his neck the whole match and ripping off the brace, to win the title. That match went 30 minutes and I've been wanting to track the thing down in full for ages (if it does indeed exist), as what was shown on the commercial release was surprisingly good.

 

I also think Flair/Jimmy Garvin, also from the Bash '87 tape, is a much better match than people give it credit for. Gotta love Flair screaming "Oh God! Oh shit!" loudly every time he gets suplexed, taking some insane bumps in and off the cage, Garvin's crazy-ass selling and even seeing a fan make it into the cage to try to kill Flair.

[Coffey]

I guess it's probably due to him getting old, but what distracts me when Hebner's reffing is while he still takes bumps like a pro he sets them up in a way where he might as  well announce it over the PA that a ref bump is forthcoming.  It seems to be most obvious in RAW main events where he positions himself in a way that the only reason he'd be standing where he is would be for a ref bump.

Just another reason why I hate him. I've been waiting for him to leave the ring for longer than I've been bitching about Lawler/Ross on commentary.

 

Ugh.

[goodhelmet]

Yeah, Dave Hebner was in the NWA,

Just to clarify, it was Earl Hebner in the NWA at the time.

[Guest cawthon777]

Yeah, Dave Hebner was in the NWA,

Just to clarify, it was Earl Hebner in the NWA at the time.

Correct. We didn't see Earl in the WWF until the infamous Hogan / Andre match on NBC.