Crockett Cup (1987)

Crockett Cup (1987)
Cover for the official VHS tape.
Promotion	Jim Crockett Promotions
Date	April 10, 1987 April 11, 1987
City	Baltimore, Maryland
Venue	Baltimore Arena
Attendance	9,300 (April 10)[1] 13,000 (April 11)[1]
Event chronology
← Previous Starrcade Next → The Great American Bash
Crockett Cup chronology
← Previous 1986 Next → 1988

The Second Annual Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament, also referred to as the Crocket Cup (1987), was an event held over two nights: April 10 and 11, 1987. The tournament included 24 tag teams.[1][2] The tournament was won by "The Super Powers" (Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff), who defeated Lex Luger and Tully Blanchard in the finals. Their victory was dedicated to Magnum T. A., who was forced to retire due to a near-fatal car accident.

Production

Background

The Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament was created by Jim Crockett Jr. of Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) in honor of Crockett's father, JCP founder Jim Crockett Sr. The tournament format was single-elimination with a promoted prize of $1 million (U.S.) awarded to the winning team.

Storylines

The 1987 Crockett Cup shows featured a total of 25 professional wrestling matches with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers are portrayed as either heels (those that portray the "bad guys"), faces (the "good guy" characters) or tweeners (characters that is neither clearly a heel or a face) as they follow a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches as determined by the promotion.[3]

Aftermath

Stan Lane was announced as the replacement for Dennis Condrey (who suddenly left JCP) in the Midnight Express on April 4, 1987 on an episode of World Championship Wrestling, and would win the vacant NWA United States Tag Team Championship in May of 1987. After the tournament ended, Rick Rude would leave JCP for the WWF and the NWA World Tag Team Championship would be won by the Rock & Roll Express in a phantom match in Spokane, Washington when Ivan Koloff "substituted" for Rude. Manny Fernandez would also leave JCP for the AWA.

Jim Crockett completed his purchase of Bill Watts' UWF in April, 1987, but it would take a few months for the UWF wrestlers to make their way to JCP television, though some of them went to WWF, including Ted DiBiase and (earlier) Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Crockett also took over operations of Championship Wrestling from Florida and some of their wrestlers would begin to be on JCP's TV programs, including Mike Rotunda and Kevin Sullivan.

Event

Tournament participants

Team	Notes	Ref(s).
Arn Anderson and Kevin Sullivan	Arn was originally supposed to team up with Ole Anderson, but the Horsemen kicked Ole out of the group prior to the tournament.	[1][2]
The Armstrongs (Brad and Bob Armstrong)		[1][2]
Giant Baba and Isao Takagi	First-round bye	[1][2]
The Barbarian and Bill Dundee		[1][2]
Tully Blanchard and Lex Luger	First-round bye, Blanchard held the NWA World Television Championship	[1][2][4]
Denny Brown and Chris Champion		[1][2]
Manny Fernandez and Rick Rude	First-round bye. Held the NWA World Tag Team Championship	[1][2][5]
The Garvins (Jimmy and Ronnie Garvin)		[1][2]
Mike Graham and Nelson Royal		[1][2]
Tim Horner and Mike Rotunda	Rotunda held the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship	[1][2][6]
The Italian Stallion and Ricky Lee Jones		[1][2]
Bobby Jaggers and Rocky King	King replaced Dutch Mantell	[1][2]
Steve Keirn and George South		[1][2]
Teijho Khan and Shaska Whatley		[1][2]
Lazer Tron and Jimmy Valiant	Lazor Tron held the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship	[1][2][7]
Wahoo McDaniel and Baron von Raschke		[1][2]
The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane)	First-round bye	[1][2]
The MOD Squad (Basher and Spike)	Held the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship	[1][2][8]
The Mulkey Brothers (Bill and Randy Mulkey)		[1][2]
The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk)	First-round bye, held the NWA International Tag Team Championship	[1][2][9]
The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton)	First-round bye	[1][2]
The Russian Team (Ivan Koloff and Vladimir Petrov)	Petrov replaced Dick Murdoch who was suspended for 30 days for performing a brainbuster on Nikita Koloff on a concrete floor.	[1][2]
The Super Powers (Nikita Koloff and Dusty Rhodes)	First-round bye, Koloff held the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship	[1][2][10]
The Thunderfoots (#1 and #2)		[1][2]

Results

Non-tournament matches

• Ole Anderson defeated Big Bubba Rogers in a Last Man Standing Steel Cage match (April 10)
• Ric Flair defeated Barry Windham to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (April 11)

Tournament brackets

First round

Second round

Quarter Finals

Semi Finals

Final

7

Anderson/Sullivan

–

The Armstrongs

W

–

Armstrongs

W

10

Russian Team

04:14

–

The Armstrongs

17:46

8

Luger/Blanchard

W

9

MOD Squad

W

–

McDaniel/von Raschke

04:48

9

MOD Squad

8

Luger/Blanchard

W

8

Luger/Blanchard

W

5

Baba/Takagi

08:38

5

Baba/Takagi

–

Brown/Champion

W

–

Brown/Champion

03:58

–

The Mulkeys

W

5

Baba/Takagi

W

4

Rock 'n' Roll Express

00:00

–

Keirn/South

Draw

–

Graham/Royal

20:00

–

BYE (draw)

N/A

4

Rock 'n' Roll Express

N/A

8

Luger/Blanchard

17:29

2

Super Powers

W

3

Road Warriors

W

–

Khan/Whatley

–

Lazer Tron/Valiant

04:35

–

Khan/Whatley

W

3

Road Warriors

12:17

6

Midnight Express

W

–

Stallion/Jones

W

–

The Garvins

02:13

–

The Garvins

6

Midnight Express

W

6

Midnight Express

11:10

2

Super Powers

W

1

Fernandez/Rude

W

–

The Thunderfoots

–

Jaggers/King

05:54

–

The Thunderfoots

W

1

Fernandez/Rude

09:39

2

Super Powers

W

–

Barbarian/Dundee

W

–

Horner/Rotunda

08:37

–

Barbarian/Dundee

2

Super Powers

W

† The Rock 'n' Roll Express were unable to compete due to an eye injury to Ricky Morton. Baba and Takagi won the match by forfeit.[11]

References

1. "2nd Annual Crockett Cup". Wrestling Supercards & Tournaments. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
2. Cawthon, Graham (2013). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 3:Jim Crockett and the NWA World Title 1983-1989. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1494803476.
3. Grabianowski, Ed (2006-01-13). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
4. Gary Will and Royal Duncan (2006). "(United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) NWA/WCW TV Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. pp. 19–20. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
5. "NWA World Tag Team Championship Title History (1975-)". Wrestling Title Histories by Royal Duncan and Gary Will. Solie's Title History. Retrieved November 15, 2008.
6. "Florida Heavyweight Title". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
7. Gary Will and Royal Duncan (2006). "(United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 21. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
8. "NWA Florida Tag Team Title". Wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
9. "NWA International Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
10. "2002 Wrestling Almanac and Book of Facts". The ... Wrestling Almanac and Book of Facts. Ambler, PA: London Publishing: 120. 2002. ISSN 1043-7576. This match was the final bout in a best-of-seven series to fill the vacancy created in May 1986 when Magnum T. A. was stripped of the title for attacking NWA president Bob Geigel.
11. Cawthon, Graham. "1987 Jim Crockett Promotions ring results". The History of WWE. Retrieved August 23, 2009.