Starrcade '84: Flair/Rhodes

[zephyrs]

The match lasted maybe 5 minutes, with special referee Joe Frasier calling the match due to Rhodes' cut.

Was this supposed to be the finish, or did the match legitimately need to be stopped.? The match was very short, and that cut looked pretty bad.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

The match lasted maybe 5 minutes, with special referee Joe Frasier calling the match due to Rhodes' cut.

Was this supposed to be the finish, or did the match legitimately need to be stopped.? The match was very short, and that cut looked pretty bad.

It was a play on boxing and how matches are stopped due to cuts. Frazier was a great boxer, and the angle was that he was confused about the rules of pro wrestling vs. boxing. He stopped the match because he thought Dusty was bleeding too bad. Rhodes wanted to continue, but wasn't allowed to, hence costing him a million dollars and the WHC.

But the cut wasn't any worse than any other blade job. The match lasted 12 minutes by the way, not five.

 

[spaldoni]

It was a play on boxing and how matches are stopped due to cuts. Frazier was a great boxer, and the angle was that he was confused about the rules of pro wrestling vs. boxing. He stopped the match because he thought Dusty was bleeding too bad. Rhodes wanted to continue, but wasn't allowed to, hence costing him a million dollars and the WHC.

But the cut wasn't any worse than any other blade job. The match lasted 12 minutes by the way, not five.

This is exactly right. The feud continued and led to a much better match at Starrcade 85.

 

[FlairFan2003]

This was a "screw job" ending to cost Rhodes the match. Flair reluctantly agreed to have Frazier, a bada#$ boxer, as special guest ref, since Dusty didnt want any interrferrence or cheating by Flair (this was before the formation of The Horsemen but it was the beginning of the lengthy Flair-Rhodes fued). Frazier stopping the match due to the bleeding (which is common in boxing) even though Rhodes protested was designed to infuriate the crowd but give Dusty an out in losing. It also gave Flair a major win and the million dollar purse the winner was promised fo the match without technically cheating himself (although he was a bad guy at this time).

Rhodes and Flair continued feuding through the early months of 1985 until Flair slowly started turning hero again, leading to his World Title Match vs Nikita Kolloff at a stadium show in Charlotte (the very first ever Great American Bash). Not sure why the turned Flair back to heel so quickly (maybe Dusty wanted back in the main event picture, though he was still very high on the card) but in any event Rhodes attempted to save Flair from a post match beatdown by The Russians after another win over Nikita, but after Dusty chased off The Russians the Andersons, long time rivals of Dusty and previously linked to Flair as "cousins" in the storyline, came out to confront Rhodes. Put on the spot, Flair chose The Andersons and the ensuing beatdown of Dusty was one of the great moments for inducing pure fan hatred in wrestling history. Fans attempted to climb in the ring and jump over the guard rails to attack the heels as they exited, Arn Anderson stating he needed stitches in his head from the beer bottles fans threw at him as he went to the locker room. Rhodes' leg was broken in the storyline, leading to a lengthy angle where Dusty spent the summer and fall re habbing to come back and get his revenge, which amazingly happened at Starrcade (note the sarcasm).

In terms of match quality, the SC 85 match was far superior, that's a great match, though again Dusty got screw jobbed out of the title, in much worse fashion this time.