The Lapsed Fan: Dave Meltzer on Starrcade 89

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As part of The Lapsed Fan wrestling podcast's Starrcade Memorial Tour, the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer weighed in with his recollections of each event. Here, Meltzer discusses Starrcade 1989.
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[@travismcdonald6576]

These are great. People rag on Meltzer for being a bad talker, but he's had quite a successful run being the emeritus wrestling journalist.

[@waxoftriple9]

This might have been right around the time I really started watching NWA/WCW. Sting getting booted from the Horsemen is one of my oldest memories of the promotion.

[@jamminmusicman]

great review ... this is one of my favorite Starcade's

[@freewilliam93]

11:26 BAWbaba I swear Dave has done this in other shows and i laughed my ass off at it so when it hits me again its triple daja vu.

[@andrewisjesus]

People hate Meltzer for his love of Japanese wrestling, but they continued the legacy started by the NWA. WWF turned into a goofy kids product in the 90s, and WCW was a joke until nitro. Japan was the only place to see old style, NWA style angles and in ring work for adults

[@1sportsfan]

Very informative, Dave... but allow me to add that as far as the actual matches and Starrcade Iron Man / Iron Team tournaments... the matches were all very solid if not great... 15 minute time limits and 12 matches in 3 hours left no room for filler... if there was any disappointment it was that the Skyscrapers of Sid and Danny Spivey had to drop out because Sid was injured after a Scott Steiner clothesline on the most recent Clash (NY Knockout where Flair beat Funk in I Quit match). So Skyscrapers were replaced by The SST which weren't even the original SST by my memory... I don't even think they were called The SST (Samoan Swat Team) at that point, more or less called "The Samoans"... surprisingly, SST actually won a match over Doom in the tournament and held up decently against The Steiner Brothers and The Road Warriors... but how much better would have these tag matches been if The Midnight Express took over the 4th spot instead of The SST?? As it was, having four "bruiser" tag teams all against each other, hampered the tag division greatly. The highlight of that tournament was, in fact, The Steiners pinning The Road Warriors clean... sure on a "cheap double suplex shoulder up at the last moment pin" but a clean win nonetheless. This one match was really the "changing of the guard" from Road Warriors to the Steiners as per the dominant team in the NWA/WCW and really, the whole wrestling world. (Demolition in WWF were viewed by informed fans as "Road Warrior wannabes". As per the singles tournament, yes it was odd to see The Great Muta lose three matches in a row... he was put in the "spoiler role" according to Jim Ross by the time he fought Luger. Muta "could have" rolled with the punches and stuck around for a while... he did have a few more matches ... but he was , more or less, gone within 3 months... too bad... but Muta always seemed to have a nice relationship with NWA after that. Yes, Dave is correct... Muta's big match on TBS was a clean victory over Steve Casey on Clash 6. Iron Man tournament seemed like a Sting over Flair "changing of the guard" type deal also... didn't play out that way all together but somewhat. Luger was "middlin'" ... overall, a great card. If anything the wrestling fans themselves at the time should be ashamed because they "could have" supported NWA/WCW much more than they did... they were being forced to watch Zeus and Brutus Beefcake in WWF PPV main events... but they bought that instead of supporting Flair, Sting, The Steiners, etc. Shame on you, 1989 wrestling fans. So there you have it. - MIKE

[@30907bng]

Very well put together,you were definitely on point with all of your assessments.

[@dantegood2195]

Mike Messier I think Dave's point was that the action was ok, but none of the matches had any meaning or significance in that goofy tournament set up. Starrcade was supposed to be the culmination of heated programs, and not a silly gimmick idea that no one gave a crap about

[@1sportsfan]

+The Prophet of Rage thanks. appreciate it my friend. look up my self named website. I had an interview for WWE Creative once. now I make films and act

[@1sportsfan]

+Dante Goodman people have said that but basically the whole flair funk angle just finished at the clash. the steiners vs doom and muta vs sting feuds had all run into overtime. the tournament marked the end of the year and the end of the decade. to me, it was great. if a fan already knew the running story lines and could do simple math, it was a great tournament.

[@plague-rat]

Dave "You Know" Meltzer.

[@730smoke631]

Saito biggest Japanese name in US in 80s AWA champ also WWF tag champ w/Fuji ...

[@marcpjoyner]

Dave has every excuse in the book for Flair/Steamboat not drawing except the truth. The general public just weren’t that interested in the feud.

[@bassclay100]

iron tournament was horrible should have muta vs flair streak vs title gary hart runs in after the match with sawyer dragon master then sting and the anderson run in u could still have the whole arn grabs sting arm for the 4 horsemen sign.

[@wvucheerjr]

Im really disappointed in these. Not hating, but how much of that 27 minutes was actually about starrcade? I think its too short to be an entire review of the year (which is what it ended up being) and definitely wasn't a full starrcade review.

[@Sephiroth766]

These clips are all part of a bigger podcast that he does with another partner where they themselves run down the card and give their thoughts on it. They did the same for all Wrestlemania's until 2015.