[1.0] "Boring match with a confusing ending. Many on cagematch criticize Koloff in this match. But, in my opinion, he did better than the other three participants. At least his lariat looked impressive. The match lasted 6 minutes, but it felt like a very long half hour."
[5.0] "It's not a bad match by any means, there's just not any heat at all on either side of the ring. Hell, the major tag at the end of the match was even cold. But the work in the ring is sufficient/competent enough. What really makes this match weak is the poorly produced ending. The wrestlers seem to bungle a bump out of the ring and a foreign object being placed into a mask is barely caught on camera. Overall, the match just feels like it's there on the card to extend the show's time."
[3.0] "Actually not horrendous considering who was in this match. Koloff is completely done at this point and I hated this babyface run. JYD is atrocious but the crowd are loving him. Putting that aside it's still a poor match but it didn't outstay its welcome."
[5.0] "It was alright - simple, but effective. JYD was really over with the fans and it was nice seeing him in NWA - he got some of his usual offense in and even though it wasn't the technical masterclass they got the crowd entertained. Nothing incredible, but it did its job."
[2.0] "1 star the first starrcade's first match was a tag team match with the assassins in it they were like filler wrestlers starrcade 1988's 3rd has the russian assassins in it they are the assassins but russian that's it oh yeah shouldn't not have been on this show"
[2.0] "This match kinda sucked. It was only a few minutes long and stayed in its first gear the whole time. Didnt really need to be on the card at all."
[3.0] "They certainly try hard here and there are definite bonus points for effort. The match is just untidy though. Nothing seems to click. Koloff does his best but he's too old and sluggish to make up for the talent gap to the opposition. JYD is ok playing face in peril, but that's all he's got left now. Not a horrendous match but clearly a step down from the strengths of other matches on the card."
[4.0] "I didn't think this was horrendous, but it was pretty dull. It didn't help that it followed two other tag team matches that were considerably better. Koloff was definitely beyond the point where he should have been wrestling at this point, but it could have been a lot worse, and they kept it mercifully brief, so I can't hate on this all that much."
[4.0] "Without being horrible, this match wasn't great. Nothing much of interest happened, and the end was bizarre. The Russian Assassins' manager gives something to one of them who was outside the ring (and who was NOT the legal man), uses it against Ivan Koloff and makes the fall. And the referee performs the fall totally normally. In short, a totally forgettable match and probably the worst match of this show. [*3/4]"
[2.0] "Here's that bad match I made reference to in that show review. This was better than I thought it would be actually; which goes to show that my expectations were in hell. To be fair this was a little thrown together, as Ivan Koloff went from going to face Nikita Koloff to having to turn face and a tag match got made; this all stemming from Nikita leaving to be with his sick wife. There was nobody in this match I actually enjoy watching."
[2.0] "Three tag team matches in a row to open Starrcade 1988 and this was, by far, the lesser of the three.. I loved JYD back in the day, but he was past his prime here and I van Koloff hadn't seen him his prime in about a decade. The Russian Assassins were the Angel of Death and Jack Victory, neither of which were Russian, but that's why they wore masks, I'm sure."
[3.0] "This was ok considering who was in there but that is about as good as i can say for this. Paul Jones was such a weird manager especially in an era of GOATS."
[1.0] "Not too good unfortunately, nobody looked very good in there. JYD and Koloff will always have value but they weren't really near their prime now, and these Assassins didn't amount to much here."
[4.0] "Wasn't bad but wasn't anything great either, Koloff is just old and basically a chore to watch. The rest of the participants tried their best but considering who was in this i didn't expect much at all"
[3.0] "Very basic and meandering tag match. Not as bad as I thought it would be but definitely not one to go out your way to watch. Ivan at this point was just sloppy looking with pretty terrible punches and the Assassins were meh."
