Ricky Steamboat vs. Tully Blanchard

[7.0] "Steamboat enters, crowd loves him. Claps hands with the faces from the previous match on his way in. Security cant stop crowd from tearing at him a bit heh. Makes a full circuit of clasping hands across the barricade, love when babyfaces do that. Even clasps hands with the ring announcer! Tully gets the dubbed in replacement music and we don't see most of his entrance as the camera stays on Steamboat. Tully does a little heelish "go away" hand flick from the apron. Seems to have the mannerisms down. His black entrance rob with gold accents and red name-text is really cool. Probably my favorite of the night. All night they've been hammering home this "no run rule" so I'm interesting in how it actually has an effect on the match. On announcement, Steamboat's pop and Tully's heat are both good. Love the old "slap the hand instead of a handshake" to start the match to sell they don't like each other. Match starts out with some really good high energy brawling right away. Steamboat especially looks great while striking. Really good Suplex from Steamboat bringing Tully off the apron back into the ring proper. The enerfy here is just like nothing else we've seen tonight. But hmm... Steamboat pulls Tully into a headlock and I don't know if its the camera angle or what but it doesn't look very good and its brought the energy right down. Doesn't last long at least as Tully breaks out, and then goes to the ropes when Steamboat tries to put it back on. Tully drops some elbows on Steamboat's ribcage, commentary reminds us that Steamboat may have come back from injury too soon. Steamboat stands around selling this as Tully keeps his distance for a moment. Some circling and sizing up as Tully eventually comes back in to more blows to the ribcage. Good control segment for Tully follows. Then a well worked gradual comeback from Steamboat. Gordon is great on commentary throughout this match. Really highlights things that ought to be, like how every move Steamboat does is costing him more and more. Another headlock that looks a lot better this time. Once again Tully takes control after getting to the ropes and hitting him in the ribs while tangled in them. Tully hits a really good looking Suplex here. Interesting to see Steamboat constantly hesitating to rope break. Steamboat sells the rib issue well by trying to turn that side away from Blanchard as they circle each other, though the circling segment goes on too long. Blanchard keeps going in to lock up and then backing off. Interesting bit where Tully fients and Steamboat flinches and the crowd goes "oooooo" to that. Tully starts doing little dances and other mocking heel moves. Steamboat points to his hand basically saying "lets wrestle". Gordon points out the ref may not put up with this for long because of the "no run" rule. But Steamboat backs Tully into a corner and goes in for the lockup. That actually ended up being interesting. Steamboat whips Tully, leapfrogs him twice and then powerslams him, all looked really good. Pin attempt fails though. Energy is high again as Steamboat rams Tully's head into the turnbuckle and then chops both sides of his head for another failed pin attempt. Punches while standing on the second rope, Steamboat's punches are so good man its crazy. Tully swings from a almost prone position and misses, Tully's busted open, Steamboat sprays spit on him. Steamboat maintains control, good chops in the corner. Neckbreaker for a pin attempt but it fails again. Tully selling well here that he's stunned and barely surviving. Steamboat uses what commentary points out is Tully's favored move of bouncing the legs off the ropes into a Suplex. Another pin attempt fails. Beautiful dropkick from Steamboat, pin attempt fails. Chop > Tully to the apron > gets up > Steamboat with another (hesitated) chop. Tully gets a foreign object and swings with it but Steamboat dodges, Steamboat lifts him up over the ropes and suplexes him, but Tully hits him with the object during the Suplex. Thereby Tully is able to recover from the Suplex situation faster, Tully charges with a crossbody pin attempt that Steamboat breaks out of. Tully with an uppercut that Steamboat sells like death, Steamboat swings wildly before dropping. Tully sets up for a superplex but Steamboat knocks him off, then hits Tully with a diving splash that just looks excellent. Still not enough though, Tully kicks out. Steamboat attempts a rollup after a whip, but Tully doesn't go down and hits Steamboat with the foreign object. Pin, Tully wins. Great match but as usual I hate JCP finishes! Actually this one wasn't that bad its just the anti-climactic nature of them. This one works as a heel finish though, but I wish I heard some heat from it that indicated that the crowd understood. There's some but, less than I would expect. So um hmm. Pretty good match. No real weak point (I thought the circling segment was but then I realized it was selling the stipulation). I'd rate it like a ***3/4 and a 7.5, but I'll round that 7.5 down to a 7 for Cagematch because I dont feel an 8.0 fits it compared to other 8.0s I've given."

[10.0] "Totally fantastic match, it's red hot from the word go and these two are matched perfectly, with Steamboat's fiery, grumpy face offense and Blanchard's top level bumping, stooging, and general heeling. Highly underrated, in my view."

[5.0] "I expected more from a bout with these two names attached. They're both very talented but have different enough styles that their encounter should have been more fun. Unfortunately, the injury angle slowed this match down and the brass knuckles finish was a disappointing ending."

[5.0] "Pretty boring. A lot of punching and plopping around. Ricky is great but this is not it. I have seen better from him from this time period. What more can I say? Skip this match unless you really feel compelled to but I did warn you. Overall just okay."

[9.0] "After a cavalcade of mediocre (at best) matches on this show, Steamboat and Blanchard show up to show everyone what actual wrestling is."

[8.0] "Man was Steamboat so ahead of his time. As of 1984, he may have been the best in the world. I don't want to parrot popular opinion, but I feel it's necessary to say. I might not be a big fan of head chops, but Steamboat's technique in every attack he makes is literal perfection. I don't want to take too much away from Blanchard, who effectively plays his part as the inferior, cheating heel well, but Steamboat's aura just blows him out of the water. The little things he does, like the way he might just slightly might hesitate to throw a strike due to the pain in his rib, goes to the show the genius that he was able to showcase in the ring. I loved the match, but man, what's up with these finishes. How many clean finishes have there been on this card? It's getting pretty annoying at this point. Give this match five more minutes and a clean finish and it'd be a 9 easy."

[5.0] "The more Steamboat matches I watch, the more obvious it becomes to me that he was decades ahead of his time. He is such a fantastic athlete, and those arm drags are always beautiful. This is a classic face/heel match, Tully being as stereotypically heel as possible, and Steamboat being as stereotypically sympathetic babyface as possible. I really wish Steamboat would've won, but I suppose that is the entire point of Blanchard being such a dastardly heel. All that said, the match is pretty average."

[6.0] "Nice fight in a very noisy atmosphere. Ricky Steamboat is so athletic and fluid in his movements. Tully Blanchard didn't show much, but did a decent job as heel, notably on this effective finish, which this time was quite understandable. In-ring quality: 1.25/4. Stakes: 1.25/2. Justification: ? /1. Place on card: 1/1. Suspense: ? /1. Bonus/Malus : none Total : 6.5/10. Match seen on WWE Network."

[8.0] "A fantastic match with some incredible heel work from Blanchard. He's mastered to the perfection being a little prick heel and it was on full display here. His facials were great and he was working like a little weasel, trying to damage Steamboat's ribs. Ricky on the other hand was the most likeable guy on the planet and his movements alone were enough to get behind him. They were fluid with their work, had a great spot with Tully spitting into Ricky's face, just for Steamboat to deliver a phenomenal Powerslam to him and return the favor seconds later. Also a flawless execution of the finish with Blanchard cheating to get the win."

[7.0] "3 and a third stars 3 minutes isn't too short but this deserved more imo the story and the talent involved should've made this legendary but didn't still really good though."

[7.0] "Best match on the card so far. A lot of intensity from both men here. Blanchard runs the ropes like Bron Breakker and Steamboat leaps with unbelievable speed to miss him. Loved that pace that was pretty much kept throughout. I didn't like how the finish was booked though."

[7.0] "After a rather lackluster card up to this point, this match was a huge breath of fresh air. This was a very physical matchup with Tully targeting Ricky's injured ribs while playing up his heelish tactics. Steamboat did get a pretty good amount of offense here, and he had the match well in hand until Tully knocked him out with the brass knuckles. Not quite a classic encounter but definitely a good one. ***1/2"

[7.0] "A really good match, but considering the wrestlers involved I'm a little surprised this wasn't even better. Both play their allignment incredibly. Tully is in his great TV Title reign here. This match was a little slow for me at times but good stuff."

"Really good match between two fantastic workers. I have to admit, I was hoping for a little more based on the comments here, but still great. Steamboat is the ultimate babyface and Blanchard was always an amazing heel. 3.75/5."

[8.0] "These two really are in a league of their own. Good storytelling/callbacks, some nail biter near falls, a multiple cheating via foreign object takeout that Tully eventually succeeds with to secure the win. Would have liked to see this one be given another 15 minutes so it could really breathe."

[9.0] "A fantastic slow burn of a match that builds speed as it goes along with wonderful storytelling, the action of a defensive boxing match at moments, overall great wrestling by both competitors, and a finish fit for a heel willing to do whatever it takes to win. My only real nitpick is that Steamboat pulls off a splash early on that has no connectivity whatsoever and the pacing could be tightened somewhat, but given that this is NWAs second closed circuit production, this match is a near miracle on a poor to bland card. Outstanding."

[8.0] "The first minute of this match is more captivating than the entire card previous to it. One of the stories of the match is perhaps Steamboat came back to the ring a bit too soon after a sabbatical/intended early retirement. There are moments when Ricky needs time to gain his wind and the only thing this accomplishes is effectively killing momentum/flow within the match; c'mon Ricky, what were you thinking? Aside from those ill advised hiccups - and the fact that it really did look like there was NO foreign object during the finish; definitely good! 7.75 rounded up."

[8.0] "That was a great match with some excellent storytelling. I I really liked how Steamboat called back to the previous rib injury he had sustained, causing Blanchard to capitalize on it. I felt the back-and-forth action was really clean and both wrestlers looked like stars. The dirty finish made sense as it gives Blanchard a boost as a heel, and I felt was well choreographed. 8/10"

"The way this match is constructed is very creative & elevates an already amazing pairing to their maximum potential. I don't know how absurd this sounds but this is my favourite 80s WCW match."

[7.0] "A very solid match with clear and effective heel vs babyface roles. Tully is a coward and a cheater (with a stipulation that he can lose his title on a count out or disqualification to go alongside this) and Ricky is, as always, the clean cut hero. Ricky is also situated as the underdog as he attempts to overcome a rib injury. The match is well worked and it really feels like the two despise each other. The finish feels pretty abrupt and comes just as things were really starting to become exciting, but that aside this is a lot of fun."

[8.0] "Tully can lose his title on a DQ or count-out loss, so he's forced to try and work this one straight. Steamboat's coming into this with damaged ribs and he sells his injury masterfully. After a quick feeling out, Steamboat starts to feel gassed, and Tully senses this and starts stalking Steamboat like a snake. Tully has concealed weapon in his trunks and he teases using it. He finally does when Steamboat is attempting a sunset flip. Steamboat gets nailed with the unknown weapon and Tully steals a win. The story-telling here was fantastic and they didn't have to have to hammer everything into the audience's heads to make their point. This had a frantic pace and a hell of a lot of work rate, with many near-falls in the finishing stretch. My only complaint is that I wished they wrestled for longer, as this felt that it ended just as it was getting started. I could easily watch them go at it for another ten minutes and not get bored."

[8.0] "Finally something great on the show 2 hours in. Blanchard started off by targeting Steamboat's injured ribs which I always appreciate. The spit exchange was done very well and I was firmly behind Steamboat. As far as the finish is concerned, I think if you only watch this match you wouldn't mind it but after seeing all the other bad finishes it just feels like another bad finish on the show. Great match overall but I wish it went for some more time. [***3/4]"

[6.0] "it was a good match for that time, but it didn't make much of an impression on me. nevertheless, over the years, perception changes a lot"

[7.0] "This match was very good except the finish that disturbed me a lot but obviously with these two, the in ring was very good, nothing was wrong in what they did together. So I really liked it, Steamboat can't do a bad match. ***1/2"

[7.0] "This isn't a great match, and lord knows Ricky Steamboat will have and has already had plenty better, but on a dire Starrcade that needed an injection of anything worth watching, this match was a welcome relief. The two men work hard, and put on a good show focused around Ricky's damaged ribs, building for a nice, psychologically sound encounter. Ricky is the ultimate underdog babyface, and you couldn't ask for better to face the villainous Tully."

[7.0] "Ricky Steamboat comes into this fight injured as Tully deliberately injured his ribs before the match. Tully works on Ricky's ribs and uses brass knucks for a screwy finish. The pace of this match was great though, Ricky Steamboats intesnity and workrate is off the charts. Tully can go a little soft on moves."

[5.0] "This was basically nothing. Nothing incredible here. Everything is too plain and the finish is simply whack. Even for 80's wrestling standards it was pretty low imo."

[7.0] "Match is kind of overhyped but it's the best thing on an otherwise forgettable Starrcade card. Good wrestling all the way through from two all-time greats but nothing that you look back as defining. ***1/2"

[8.0] "Tremendous action, great storytelling, pretty good selling, exemplary move execution, weak finish. ****1/4"

[8.0] "A great heated battle with some great heel work by Blanchard. Steamboat looked so smooth and slick when on offence. Blanchard did some nice work on the back of Steamboat, who sold everything really well. There was a nice pace to the match and intensity. Great heat for the match throughout...... ****"