The NWA: The Crockett Era Trivia Quiz

Answer: Stan Lane

The original duo of Condrey and Bobby Eaton held the NWA Tag Team Titles for six months during 1986. In March 1987, Condrey literally left one night and never returned leaving a hole in the team. Immediately Stan Lane, who had been teaming with Steve Kerin as "The Fabulous Ones" for several years, was brought in as a replacement.

This was a rare situation where the second version of a team was just as successful as the first. To this day many consider Lane and Eaton one of the all time best tag teams.

Answer: "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer

Wearing a doo rag and furry boots, carrying a steel chain and even barking like a dog Buzz Sawyer was one of the more colorful characters of the 1980s. He also was one tough dude and had stints in just about every major federation, including a micro one in The WWF. The late, great Buzz Sawyer was many things but he was never managed by the dastardly Paul Jones.

Answer: Krusher Khruschev

When Nikita Koloff began to focus on a serious run at The NWA Heavyweight Title held by Ric Flair, Ivan brought in Krusher Kruschev. The reason was that The Koloffs were the NWA Tag Team Champions and special permission was given so that any two of the three could defend the belts. This is called "The Freebird Rule".

Answer: "Taped Fist Match"

Very similar to a traditional boxing match, a "Taped Fist Match" consists of ten three minute rounds and the match ends when a wrestler cannot make it to his feet before a ten count. Despite, Garvin's extensive boxing experience, it was the heel Blanchard who won the majority of these bouts during "The Bash" of 1986.

Answer: Ole & Arn Anderson

"The Minnesota Wrecking Crew" Ole and Arn Anderson did not manage to win The NWA Tag Team Titles together during The Crockett Era. They did hold The National Tag Team Titles from April 1985 until the titles were phased out in the spring of 1986. The Andersons were a constant thorn in the side of The Rock & Roll Express but never did manage to defeat their rivals.

In fact it was their loss in a "Steel Cage Match" at "Starrcade'86" that led to manager J.J. Dillon's dissatisfaction with Ole Anderson whom he blamed for the loss.

Answer: Steve Williams defeated Big Bubba Rogers for The UWF Heavyweight Title

In the spring of 1987 to combat The WWF juggernaut, promoters Jim Crockett of The NWA and Bill Watts of The UWF decided to merge and share talents. So the 1987 "Great American Bash" featured wrestlers and matches from both federations. By late 1987 Crockett brought out Watts and The UWF was dissolved along with its championships. Ironically one of the key additions was the rising star known as Sting who would have a breakout year in 1988 and become one of their top stars for many years.

Answer: "The Dusty Finish"

Still used to this day in wrestling, "The Dusty Finish" is unique because it basically increases the intensity of an angle but maintains the status quo. It is usually used when a face is pursuing a heel with a title and with whom he has a vendetta with.

The heel will be disqualified due to interference either from his manager or an associate. Also the heel may gain a pin fall using some illegal or underhanded means. The villain having cheated is hated even more but still in possession of his title. Meanwhile the hero is loved even more and has garnered more support in his quest because he was screwed.

Answer: Barry Windham

For the first half of 1987, Barry Windham presented Ric Flair with one of his toughest challenges. The two fought so often to a 60 minute draw that promoters began to make the time limit of their bouts 90 minutes. Believe it or not they actually lasted to that time limit a few times as well.

When Flair left for The WWF in July 1991 he had actually offered to drop The WCW Heavyweight Title to Windham out of respect.

Answer: Manny Fernandez

During the summer of 1986 Valiant challenged Jones and his goons to a series of Hair vs. Hair bouts. Valiant defeated former ally Shaska Whatley and shaved him bald in July 1986. Just a few weeks later it was Valiant was lost his locks when Jones defeated him and took the clippers to his head. Finally at Starrcade'86, with his wife's hair on the line, Jimmy Valiant succeeded in beating his rival Jones and making him a cue ball. Manny Fernandez managed to hold on to his mane during this war, probably because he switched sides in the middle of the feud.

Answer: A Broken Chair Leg

Magnum was able to get possession of a broken chair leg and used that to get a submission from his rival. The victory started Magnum's second reign as U.S. Champion and solidified his status as a rising star. Indeed Crockett and Rhodes had big plans for Terry Allen but his career was ended in an automobile accident in October 1986. To this day Allen still walks with a slight limp and sometimes uses a cane.

Answer: Rock & Roll Express

The Crockett Cup was a 24 team tag team tournament with a one million dollar prize to the winning team, no wonder Crockett went bankrupt and had to sell! In 1986 the mighty Road Warriors defeated Ron Garvin and Magnum T.A. In 1987 Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff defeated Lex Luger and Tully Blanchard and in its final year, 1988, Luger and Sting defeated Blanchard and Arn Anderson.

Answer: Ivan Koloff and Krusher Khruschev

Ironically, the communist duo of Koloff and Kruschev defeated the late Bobby Jaggers and Dutch Mantel aka The Kansas Jayhawks to become the first titlists. The duo held the belts for three months before dropping them to Barry Windham and Ron Garvin in December 1986. Immediately following the loss Kruschev aka Barry Darsow went to The WWF where for the next four years he portrayed Smash of Demolition and the the infamous Repo Man.

Answer: July 26, 1986

On July 26, 1986 at one of the last shows of the 1986 "Great American Bash" tour Rhodes pinned Flair in an epic Steel Cage Match to win his third NWA Heavyweight Crown. Unfortunately his reign was short as Flair regained the strap just two weeks later on August 9, 1986.

Answer: Lose a series of Scaffold Matches

One of the most dangerous matches ever created was the infamous Scaffold Match where the participants wrestled some twenty or twenty five feet above the ring. The bout ended when both members of one team took a nasty spill off the structure and onto the ring below. Losing one of these bouts is tough, losing a series like the Powers of Pain were asked to do during the 1988 "Great American Bash" tour is like Russian Roulette. Fearing permanent injury they opted to walk when they could not get out of the angle.

Answer: The Midnight Express

Morton was attacked by longtime rivals, The Midnight Express, which now consisted of Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane. Gibson chose to wrestle his foes alone however the injured Morton couldn't stay put and ran into the ring to help his partner. Arn and Tully punished Morton's shoulder until Gibson had the contest stopped. Just two months later Morton and Gibson gained revenge on Lane and Eaton by defeating them at Starrcade '87 in the last ever Scaffold Match.

Answer: The Clash of Champions

On March 27, 1988 the first ever Clash of Champions took place and in the main event Sting battled NWA Champion Ric Flair to a 45 minute draw. This incredible match is the bout which many consider the match which started Sting's path to glory. The Clash events continued long after Crockett sold to Ted Turner, the last one took place in August 1997.

Answer: Shove a spike in his eye

In December 1988 The Warriors attacked Rhodes on television and "temporarily blinded" him by gouging a spike in his eye. This may have been okay with The Crocketts but they had sold to Ted Turner who had Rhodes fired for this the following month. Turner apparently did not like the violent nature of the incident and wanted very little blood in his matches.

This was a stark contrast to Rhodes and The Crocketts who used blood in just about every key contest.

Answer: Mike Rotunda

In late 1987/early 1988 Kevin Sullivan dubbed himself "The Games Master" and formed "The Varsity Club" with Mike Rotunda and Rick Steiner. Although both wrestlers were gifted athletes it soon became apparent that Sullivan favored Rotunda which caused Steiner to leave in November 1988.

Answer: Nikita Koloff

Taking place during the 1986 "Great American Bash" tour the best of seven series for the vacant U.S. Title was one of the highlights. Nikita actually led the series three bouts to none but Magnum valiantly fought back to even the series before dropping the final match.

Answer: Tony Schiavone and David Crockett

The legendary duo of Tony Schiavone and David Crockett hosted a show called "World Championship Wrestling Saturday Night" from April 1985 thru December 1988. In early 1988, Jim Ross was added and just three weeks after selling the business in December 1988, Crockett was removed. Turner then renamed The NWA World Championship Wrestling in early 1989, completely erasing a name that had stood for over 80 years.