By "Net.cop" Scott Keith

As promised, part II of my "Favorite Angles and the Reasons Behind Them" bit, which I hope will bring some of wrestling's newer fans up to speed on what's been going on for the past 10 years.

This week, the NWA, circa 1988, which created a few of my favorite storylines ever.

1) Why Lex Luger had such a shitty year in 1988.

This is one *long* feud.

It all started in 1986, when Flair defended the NWA World title against Florida champion Lex Luger at Battle of the Belts III. Luger took Flair to the limit and nearly won the title, finally losing out in the third fall of a 2/3 falls match after blacking out from the pain of the figure-four. Flair was so impressed that he had JJ Dillon sign Luger away from Florida early in 1987, and even brought him in personally as an "associate" of the Four Horsemen. At that point, the Horsemen were in their original form of Flair, Blanchard, Anderson and Ole Anderson.

A few months in 1987, Flair began expressing dissatisfaction with the performance of Ole, while Luger racked up victories (figuratively and literally) at a rapid pace, quickly becoming the #1 contender to Nikita Koloff's US title. So a change became necessary, in more ways than one. Ole took a night off to watch his son Brad compete in a college wrestling tournament, almost costing Flair the title with only two people to get him disqualified instead of three. But that's Horseman logic for you. At any rate, Ole was fired (read: Beaten like a dog) from the group and replaced with Lex Luger. Soon after, Luger defeated Nikita Koloff to become US champion.

Both Luger and Flair remained champions until Starrcade 87, at which point it was becoming obvious that the automatic #1 contender would never receive a shot. Luger lost the US title to Dusty Rhodes and after the match gave a famous interview where he declared "I am an athlete" and basically served notice that he was in line for a World title shot. The dissention in the ranks grew faster during the Bunkhouse Stampede matches of January, 1988. On a couple of occasions, Lex Luger, JJ Dillon and Arn Anderson were the last men in the battle royale, at which point Dillon would demand both men eliminate themselves from the match in the name of Horsemen solidarity. Luger went along once, but the second time he snapped and tossed JJ personally, thus officially parting ways with the Horsemen.

Luger's first target was the World tag titles which belonged to Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson. His partner was a natural: Barry Windham, his oldest friend and partner from Florida. Windham and Luger came close to winning the tag titles on numerous occasions, and on the World Championship Wrestling program, even brought Magnum TA out to help them. It only served as a distraction, however, because the Horseman attacked the crippled Magnum in an act of cowardice, before Dusty Rhodes made the save with a baseball bat. This, however, was deemed conduct unbecoming a champion, and Rhodes was stripped of the US title and the title was declared vacant.

Finally, at the first Clash of the Champions, Luger and Windham beat the Horsemen to win the NWA World tag team titles in convincing fashion. A rematch was signed quickly, but it seemed to be only a formality. However, JJ Dillon had other plans. During the rematch, in one of the most shocking turns ever, Barry Windham blindsided his partner out of nowhere, giving the Horsemen the pin and the titles back.

Windham's reward: A very weak US title tournament field which he breezed though, claiming the belt in a one-night tournament by beating Nikita Koloff. Angrier than ever at the betrayal, Luger set his sights on the leader: Ric Flair. Invevitably, the title match was signed.

During the match, Luger pounded on Flair mercilessly, finally getting him in the torture rack despite a tiny cut over his eye. However, Maryland state rules stated that *any* blood was grounds to stop the match, so the match was stopped as Flair was submitting, giving Flair the win over a stunned Luger.

Luger and Flair fought nearly every night during 1988, finally culminating at Starrcade 88, which was supposed to be Luger's final title shot. The DQ rule was waived, so if Flair pulled anything and got disqualified, Luger would win the title. In the end, Flair hit Luger with a chair while Tommy Young was distracted, and Luger's sore knee gave out on him, allowing Flair to get the tainted victory and retain the title in another massive screwjob.

Behind-the-scenes note: Ric Flair was originally supposed to drop the title to Luger, on *several* occasions, vetoing the title change each time and threatening to walk if the ending was booked that way. This in fact may have saved wrestling, because Flair was literally the only thing holding the organization together, and had Luger been made NWA champion and Flair walked, the WWF would have crushed the remains of the NWA within weeks of signing Flair and been given a monopoly on the entire wrestling business. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on your point of view), Flair kept the NWA afloat long enough for Ted Turner to buy out Jim Crockett before Vince MacMahon could. But most people are unaware of just how close the WWF came to being the *only* wrestling federation in America, in a very real sense.

2) The Varsity Club.

In 1987, Rick Steiner was involved a very bad car accident that not only left him physically injured, but also a little messed up in the head as well. That same year, Florida champion and longtime babyface Mike Rotundo entered the federation, still a little uncertain of himself.

Kevin Sullivan decided to take advantage of both situations.

Kevin "recruited" both men, each well-known collegiate athletes, as the Varsity Club, dubbing himself the "Gamesmaster." He first unveiled this scheme as Rotundo was wrestling TV champion Nikita Koloff on national TV. Sullivan interfered with the referee out, giving Rotundo the shocking win and the TV title. Sullivan was able to convince naive Steiner to come along for the ride with little trouble, even giving him the now superfluous Florida title held by Rotundo.

But Rotundo was obviously the favorite of Sullivan. He constantly belittled Steiner in favor of the TV champ, relegating him to the role of flunky and blaming him when the Steiner-Rotundo team failed to win the Crockett Cup in 1988. Sullivan even went so far as to hire Steve Williams as a new member of the team due to Steiner's perceived ineptitude, lowering him even further down the totem pole. To make matters worse, Steiner had a habit of talking to his imaginary friend "Alex," which Sullivan thought was ridiculous. But then, look who's calling who ridiculous.

Finally, Sullivan simply fired him from the group and had the Varsity Club beat him up for good measure. The inevitable TV title match was signed between Steiner and Rotundo for Starrcade 88. Steiner won the match (with two referees counting the pin at the same time for good measure) despite the interference of Sullivan and Steve Williams.

Rotundo and Steiner had a rematch for Chi-Town Rumble 89, at which time Steiner introduced his brother, Scott, to the wrestling world. However, he had Rotundo in the sleeper and laid back, essentially pinning himself and giving Rotundo the title back. But at Great American Bash 89, Mike Rotundo and Kevin Sullivan met a team which would soon become the most dominant of the next decade: The Steiner Brothers.

The Varsity Club also crossed paths with another tag team: The Road Warriors. Williams and Sullivan, who had won the US tag titles at Starrcade 88, demanded a shot at the World champion Road Warriors, despite the fact that both teams were heels at the time. Given a choice, the fans quickly decided that the Road Warriors were their favorites, which essentially turned them face again. The Varsity Club lost that match, so replaced Sullivan with Mike Rotundo and tried again. With an extra advantage.

At the "Ragin' Cajun" Clash of Champions, the Road Warriors defended against Williams and Rotundo. Teddy Long's refereeing had been suspect for a few weeks, and he was on probation. During the match, the Warriors had a Varsity Club member pinned, but Long refused to count the pin. A bit later, Rotundo cradled Hawk and Long counted three, despite the fact Hawk clearly kicked out at two. Teddy Long's heel turn was complete and the titles belonged to the Varsity Club.

Behind-the-scenes note: Originally, Dusty Rhodes decided that Rick Steiner would *not* beat Mike Rotundo for the TV title at Starrcade 88 as planned. Lex Luger would then be injured by the Varsity Club soon after and be unable to compete that night. Steiner would then take his place, beating Ric Flair in a match booked to last only five minutes and win the World title! This was the booking decision which prompted Flair to demand that either something be done about his booking or else he'd walk. Soon after, Ricky Steamboat was signed and things got drastically better for Flair and the NWA.

Personal note: The above two angles are, for me, the most frustrating angle ever and the most satisfying angle ever, respectively. I cannot describe how atrocious the booking for the Flair-Luger feud was in retrospect. Luger was put through the wringer, with his best friend turning and constant Horsemen attacks leading up the title match. All the laws of wrestling say that he should have walked out of Baltimore as the World champion, but Flair's demands stopped that from happening. It may have saved the NWA, but it destroyed Luger's career, as he never really recovered from the constant screwjobs and non-resolution of the war.

On the other hand, Rick Steiner beating Mike Rotundo for the TV title was one of the most uplifting moments of my life, and was a terrific match and feud to boot. It's a perfect example of how the blowoff match is supposed to work, with everyone feeling good at the end. Plus the feud created the Steiner Brothers, which is not a bad side effect.

Hope you enjoyed the history lesson. Until Dusty books Judgement Day to end with a second God running in after the first is knocked out, I remain the net.cop...