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-------------------- With the Four Horsemen being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame for 2012, I was looking through old NWA/WCW footage on YouTube.com for a match to use in this week's MATCH OF THE WEEK column entry here at MRTITO.com. I had many matches to choose from that represented the Horsemen but then a "special" match came to me. When I became a full blown wrestling fan in late 1988 after my Uncle showed me Clash of the Champions I, which he had on tape (he loyally taped NWA/WCW wrestling on TBS back then)... I began to borrow from his wrestling video library. And then, he let me borrow an official NWA video that he actually orderd... The Crockett Cup 1988. Each April, NWA owner Jim Crockett began hosting a tag team tournament in honor of his father called the "Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cut Tag Team Tournament". The one I viewed in 1988 was a special one because I'd argue that it helped introduce the wrestling world to 2 major stars that would be a force in WCW for years: Sting and Leg Luger. Before April 1988, Lex Luger, after leaving the Four Horsemen himself, was a tag team partner of Barry Windham. Windham would turn on Luger and actually take Luger's place in the Four Horsemen to form my favorite version of the Horsemen, the Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Ric Flair, and Barry Windham Horsemen which the WWE also promotes as the "best" foursome (see what bad relations with Ole Anderson can get you?). Lex Luger was without a partner heading into the Crockett Cup in which the Horsemen's prized teg team, Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard, were expected to win. Luger tagged up with a babyface wrestler on the rise from the Jim Crockett acquired Universal Wrestling Federation from 1987 and it ended up being the perfect decision for Jim Crockett's promotion at the time. The FINALS of the 1988 Crockett Cup would end up being Sting/Lex Luger vs. Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard. Something to note about the Sting and Luger pairing... They were managed by Magnum T.A. for this evening. Who was Magnum T.A.? Magnum TA was a star on the rise in Crockett's promotion and should have been the Main Event face that would terrorize Ric Flair for years. He was an excellent in-ring wrestler who had loads of charisma. They called him Magnum TA because with that thick mustache, he looked like Tom Selleck from the television show Magnum P.I. (but with an awesome mullet). In October 1986, however, Magnum TA was in a terrible car accident that put him out of wrestling (caused 2 vertebrae to "explode"). In the Crockett Cup 1988 Finals, Luger and Sting gave a great effort, but Tully/Arn seemed to often get the upper hand... But Magnum was the equalizer on the outside. Magnum interfered with the match by pulling Arn's leg on a bodyslam and when Arn confronted Magnum TA about his interference, Lex Luger rolled Arn up for the 1, 2, 3... Crowd went CRAZY! Completely unexpected that Luger and Sting, both still early in their careers, could defeat the accomplished team of Arn and Tully. This match was HUGE for Sting and Luger. Luger would soon receive a main event push and feuded with Ric Flair for the rest of the year. Sting would become a stronger feature on the midcard and he, himself, would get a piece of Ric Flair at Clash of the Champions I that would make Sting further. The Crockett Cup 1988 win made both Sting and Luger into larger superstars... See what GOOD tag team booking can do, WWE?!?!? Let's watch the match that is already in progress... CONTACT MR. TITO - Email: [email protected] - Twitter: @titowrestling - Join LoPForums.com: Feedback Thread BLOG is TITO Archive on LoPForums.com © Mr. Tito 1998 - 2011
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