Ric Flair battles Ron Garvin for the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship in a Steel Cage Match. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard defend the NWA Tag Team Championship against The Road Warriors. The Rock & Roll Express face The Midnight Express in an unforgiving Scaffold Match. Dusty Rhodes battles Lex Luger in a Steel Cage for the NWA United States Championship with "The Dream's" career on the line and much more!
11-26-1987
2h 27m
THIS
HELLA
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Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Writer:
Virgil Runnels
Production:
National Wrestling Alliance, Jim Crockett Promotions
Richard Morgan Fliehr, known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler. Regarded by multiple peers and journalists as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair has had a career that has spanned almost 50 years. He is noted for his tenures with Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), WWE and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Much of his career was spent in JCP and WCW, where he won numerous titles. Since the mid-1970s, he has used the monikers "The Nature Boy" and "Slick Ric". Flair is also a founding member of the original Four Horsemen stable alongside Tully Blanchard and The Andersons, managed by JJ Dillon. A major pay-per-view attraction throughout his career, Flair headlined the premier annual NWA/WCW event, Starrcade, on ten occasions, while also co-headlining its WWE counterpart, WrestleMania VIII (8), in 1992, after winning that year's Royal Rumble. PWI awarded him their Wrestler of the Year award a record six times, while Wrestling Observer Newsletter named him the Wrestler of the Year (an award named after him and Lou Thesz) a record eight times. The first 2-time WWE Hall of Fame inductee, first inducted with the class of 2008 for his individual career and again with the class of 2012 as a member of The Four Horsemen, he is also a member of the NWA Hall of Fame, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. Flair is officially recognized by WWE as a 16-time world champion (8-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, 6-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and 2-time WWE Champion), although the number of his world championship reigns varies by source, ranging from 16 to 25. He has claimed to be a 21-time champion. He was the first holder of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (which he also held last). As the inaugural WCW World Heavyweight Champion, he became the first person to complete WCW's Triple Crown, having already held the NWA\WCW United States Heavyweight and NWA\WCW World Tag Team Championships. He then completed WWE's version of the Triple Crown when he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship, after already holding the WWE Championship and the WWE World Tag Team Championship on previous occasions.
Lawrence Wendell Pfohl, better known by his ring name Lex Luger, is an American former professional wrestler, television producer and football player currently working with WWE on their wellness policy. He is best known for his work with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and WWE. Luger is a three-time world champion, having held the WCW World Heavyweight Championship twice and the WWA World Heavyweight Championship once; a record-tying five-time NWA/WCW United States Heavyweight Champion who owns the records for consecutive days and total days as champion; and the 1994 WWE Royal Rumble winner (with Bret Hart). Although he never won a championship in WWE, he headlined multiple pay-per-view events for the organization. Pro Wrestling Illustrated voted Luger the Most Popular Wrestler of the Year in 1993.
Virgil Riley Runnels, Jr., better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was an American professional wrestler, booker/writer, and trainer who most notably worked for the National Wrestling Alliance, NWA Championship Wrestling from Florida, Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), and WWE. Rhodes is considered one of the greatest wrestlers and talkers in the history of professional wrestling. Rhodes was a three-time NWA World's Heavyweight Champion, and during his time in Jim Crockett Promotions' Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, later known as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), he was a NWA United States Heavyweight Champion, and multi-time NWA World Television, NWA Tag Team and NWA World 6-Man Tag Team Champion. He also won many regional championships, and is one of seven men inducted into each of the WWE, WCW, Professional Wrestling, and Wrestling Observer Newsletter Halls of Fame. His sons, Dustin and Cody, both pursued careers in professional wrestling, performing for WWE and AEW. Following his retirement from wrestling, he made occasional on-air appearances on WWE television and pay-per-views and worked as a backstage booker/writer and producer in WWE's NXT developmental territory. Billed as "the son of a plumber", Rhodes did not have a typical wrestler's physique; his character was that of the "common man", known for the personality exhibited in his interviews. WWE chairman Vince McMahon remarked that no wrestler "personified the essence of charisma quite like Dusty Rhodes".
Tully Arthur Blanchard is an American-Canadian professional wrestler and manager signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and was the manager of FTR, and was a member of The Pinnacle stable. Blanchard is currently appearing in AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). He is best known for his appearances with Jim Crockett Promotions and WWE in the mid-to-late 1980s as a member of The Four Horsemen and The Brainbusters. Championships held by Blanchard over his career include the NWA World Television Championship, NWA World Tag Team Championship, WWF World Tag Team Championship, and NWA United States Heavyweight Championship. He was inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame in 2009 and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012.
Martin Anthony Lunde better known by his ring name Arn Anderson, is a former American professional wrestler and author. His career has been highlighted by his alliances with Ric Flair and various members of the wrestling stable, The Four Horsemen, in the NWA/WCW. He currently serves as the senior producer for WWE's Raw brand. On March 31, 2012, Anderson was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fameas a member of the Four Horsemen.
Michael James Hegstrand was an American professional wrestler. He is best remembered as Road Warrior Hawk, one half of the tag team known as The Road Warriors (WCW) or The Legion of Doom (WWE), with Road Warrior Animal. ) was an American professional wrestler. He was best known as Road Warrior Hawk, one half of the tag team known as The Road Warriors (The Legion of Doom in WWE), with Road Warrior Animal. Outside The Road Warriors, Hawk was a sporadic challenger for world heavyweight championships on pay-per-view from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s. He headlined the 1993 edition of ECW's premier annual event, November to Remember While the Road Warriors never officially broke up, Animal started making an increasing number of solo appearances after they left WWE as Hegstrand struggled with drug and alcohol addiction and generally did not appear at many wrestling shows during this time. In 2001 Hegstrand was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that stopped him from wrestling for a short while. He was able to overcome its effects and returned to a regular working schedule later on.
On June 22, 2002 International Wrestling Superstars, Road Warriors Animal & Hawk defeated The Headshrinkers for the World Tag-Team Championship. That victory also led to Team USA winning the Animal and Hawk made a surprise appearance on Raw on May 12, 2003 when they took on Kane and Rob Van Dam for the World Tag Team Championship. Although Hawk and Animal came up short in their attempt to become three-time champions, it was clear that Hawk had defeated the demons that had once kept him from competing, and The Road Warriors had hopes of returning to WWE.
Later in 2003, Hawk made an appearance with the All World Wrestling League, a take-off of the 'original' Big Time Wrestling that was owned by The Original Sheik who died earlier that year; it was run by the sons of The Sheik, Eddie and Tom Farhat. They decided to book Hawk for an event in Holt, Michigan; that event was the second to last time Hawk wrestled. Two weeks before he died he wrestled his final match with Ted DiBiase in Oshawa, Ontario against Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Marcus "Buff" Bagwell.
Death and legacy
Hegstrand died on October 19, 2003 in the early morning in his home in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. He was 46 years old. His friends said that he and his wife Dale had recently bought a condominium near their current home and were packing their boxes the night before. Hegstrand said that he felt tired and went to take a nap. When his wife checked on him at about 1 a.m., he had died of a sudden heart attack. At the time of his death, Hawk and Animal were working on a book about their careers.
Animal returned to WWE in mid-2005 and decided to dedicate his entire run to Hegstrand, including his tag team title victory with Heidenreich at The Great American Bash.
On the March 28, 2011 episode of Raw, it was announced that the Road Warriors would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2011. On April 2, 2011, the night before WrestleMania XXVII they, along with Paul Ellering were inducted into the Hall Of Fame by Dusty Rhodes.
Road Warrior Hawk was included, along with his tag team partner, Road Warrior Animal, in the Attitude Era, in the game WWE '13.
Joseph Michael Laurinaitis is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring names, Road Warrior Animal and Road Warrior Hawk. He is the brother to John Laurinaitis, who was formerly WWE's Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and former general manager of both Raw and Smackdown brands of the WWE. Along with the late Road Warrior Hawk, Laurinaitis was one-half of the tag team known as The Road Warriors or also dubbed as The Legion of Doom.
Nelson Scott Simpson is a retired American professional wrestler. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, he wrestled as "The Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff, which was a play on the nickname of fan favorite "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes (in fact, it was Rhodes who gave him the nickname). Nikita was brought into the National Wrestling Alliance by his "Uncle" Ivan to prove Soviet superiority. Their ultimate goal was to dethrone NWA World champion Ric Flair. A physical marvel, Koloff was also hailed as the Russian Road Warrior. He was billed from Moscow in the Soviet Union, and then from Lithuania after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Wallace Stanfield "Stan" Field is an American professional wrestler, trained by Ric Flair, who started wrestling in 1974 in Championship Wrestling from Florida. For a brief time in Florida, he was nicknamed Nature Boy. He is best known as one half of The Fabulous Ones, the Midnight Express and the Heavenly Bodies.
Robert Lee "Bobby" Eaton is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, who made his debut in 1976. Eaton is most famous for his work in tag teams, especially his days as one-half of the team 'The Midnight Express' with the ring name "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton. Under the management of Jim Cornette, Eaton originally teamed with "Lover Boy" Dennis Condrey and, later on, with "Sweet" Stan Lane. He has also worked with a number of other tag team partners, including Koko B. Ware, Steve Keirn, Chris Benoit and "Lord" Steven Regal. In his career, Eaton wrestled for extended periods of time for various wrestling promotions: Mid-America Wrestling, Continental Wrestling Association, Mid-South Wrestling, World Class Championship Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions, World Championship Wrestling, and Smoky Mountain Wrestling. He has also made brief guest appearances for Extreme Championship Wrestling and NWA Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, in addition to appearances for a considerable number of independent wrestling promotions over the years. He currently performs part-time, teaming with either Lane and/or Condrey under the Midnight Express name.
Barry Clinton Windham is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and the son of wrestler Blackjack Mulligan. He is best known for his appearances with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In NWA/WCW, he was a one-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, a one-time United States Heavyweight Champion, a one-time Television Champion, a one-time Western States Heritage Champion, a four-time NWA (Mid Atlantic)/WCW World Tag Team Champion and a one-time NWA United States Tag Team Champion with Ron Garvin. In WWF, he was a two-time World Tag Team Champion with his brother-in-law, Mike Rotunda. On March 31, 2012, Windham was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the Four Horsemen. In his last World Championship Wrestling run, Barry Windham was originally brought back to WCW by Eric Bischoff who had him turn on Ric Flair. Barry was then loosely associated with Bischoff's nWo Hollywood for a while before forming a tag team with Curt Hennig. At SuperBrawl IX, Hennig and Windham defeated Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko in the finals of a tag team tournament to win the vacant WCW World Tag Team Championship. Barry reinjured his knee during this period but would return as part of "The West Texas Rednecks" in mid-1999. They were supposed to be a heel group to feud with rapper Master P's "No Limit Soldiers" but the southern fans of WCW cheered the Rednecks, going against what WCW management and booking had hoped for, and the angle was eventually dropped. The group consisted of his brother Kendall Windham, Curt Hennig, and Bobby Duncum Jr.; Duncum was replaced by Curly Bill after he was injured and shortly before the group was disbanded and the Rednecks storyline was dropped. On August 23, 1999 edition of Nitro, the Windham brothers defeated Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) to win their final WCW World Tag Team Championship, before losing the titles back to Harlem Heat at Fall Brawl 1999. Both Barry and Kendall were shortly after released by WCW. By the end of 1999, they all had left WCW and Barry worked for Ted DiBiase's promotion WXO and World Wrestling Council (WWC), where he won the latter's World Tag Team Championship in Puerto Rico with brother Kendall. Windham worked as a producer for WWE. In 2007, he appeared on the Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen DVD. Barry was also seen during the 2007 WWE Hall of Fame broadcast, sitting next to former partner John "Bradshaw" Layfield. In June 2007, Windham did the introduction of SuperBrawl Windham has a son named Callan and a daughter named Abigail with his ex-wife, Kebra. He is also the maternal uncle of present-day WWE wrestlers Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas. On October 26, 2011, it was reported that he was hospitalized for either a very serious stroke or a massive heart attack and was in an ICU unit. He was found at his ranch by his brother-in-law Mike Rotunda.His family confirmed that Windham suffered a heart attack. His father Blackjack Mulligan posted a message to Facebook saying "I have a son near death". He was later moved to a facility in Orlando, Florida for a MRI on his neck due to the fall he took from the heart attack.
Lawrence "Larry" Whistler is a professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Larry Zbyszko. Zbyszko is perhaps best known for his feud with his mentor, wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino during the early 1980s. Zbyszko's ring name has in the past been misspelled Zbysko or Zybysko. The correct spelling of the name, Zbyszko, is derived from the name of Polish wrestler Stanislaus Zbyszko.
Thomas Edward "Eddie" Gilbert Jr. was an American professional wrestler and booker, better known by his ring name, "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert. Gilbert married wrestling valet Missy Hyatt in October 1987. The couple divorced in 1989. Gilbert was also briefly married to Debrah "Madusa" Miceli in 1992. On February 18, 1995, Gilbert died of a heart attack in his apartment in Isla Verde, Puerto Rico. Ken Wayne and Jason The Terrible found Gilbert in his apartment. His father, Tommy Gilbert, stated that injuries to Eddie's chest and heart muscle had occurred in a serious car crash in 1983 and could have been a factor; Eddie's alleged use of painkillers since the accident could also have contributed to his heart condition. The Eddie Gilbert Memorial Brawl was held in his memory from 1996 to 1999.
Robert Rechsteiner is an American professional wrestler, better known under his ring name Rick Steiner. Steiner is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling, where he was an eight time World Tag Team Champion (seven times with his brother Scott and once with Kenny Kaos). In addition to tag team success, he was also a one time United States Heavyweight Champion and a three time World Television Champion. In addition to WCW, Steiner also found success in the World Wrestling Federation, where he and Scott won the World Tag Team Championship twice.
Steve Borden, better known by the ring name Sting, is an American professional wrestler and former bodybuilder, currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as the mentor of Darby Allin. He is regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, having cultivated a legacy over a career spanning five decades. Throughout his career, he won a total of fifteen world championships.
Sting is widely known for his time spent as the public face of two major American professional wrestling promotions: the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling (WCW), which was bought by the WWE in 2001, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, now Impact Wrestling). Although the WWF had purchased WCW, Sting did not sign with them at that time. Prior to WCW, he also wrestled for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), and Mid South.
Sting's 14-year association with WCW and its predecessor, Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), began in 1987. He quickly rose to main event status and has been described as the WCW counterpart to the WWF's Hulk Hogan. Dubbed "The Franchise of WCW", he held a total of 14 championships in the promotion – including the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on six occasions, the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship on two occasions, and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on one occasion – and made more pay-per-view (PPV) appearances for the company than any other wrestler. Against Hogan, Sting headlined the highest-grossing PPV event in WCW history, Starrcade, in December 1997. Upon the acquisition of WCW by the WWF in March 2001, Sting and his long-term rival Ric Flair were chosen to perform in the main event of the final episode of Nitro. Sting would later face Hogan and Flair in their last televised matches, defeating both.
Following the expiration of his contract with WCW's parent company, AOL Time Warner, in March 2002, Borden held talks with the WWF, but ultimately did not join the promotion and instead toured internationally with World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) – winning the WWA World Heavyweight Championship – before joining the then-upstart TNA in 2003.[1] Over the following 11 years, he won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on one further occasion and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship four times. As a result, he became the only wrestler to have won the NWA, WCW, and TNA World Titles in a career. He was also the inaugural inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame in 2012.
Michael Seitz is an American retired professional wrestler and former musician. Seitz is best known for leading The Fabulous Freebirds under the ring name Michael "P.S." ("Purely Sexy")Hayes and for his role as an announcer under the name Dok Hendrix in WWE. He currently works with WWE as one of the senior producers. He then became a backstage road agent (producer) and color commentator for WWE. Initially appearing for one night on the September 23, 1999 broadcast of SmackDown!, Hayes became a color commentator on Sunday Night Heat alongside Michael Cole and Kevin Kelly from 2000 to 2001, although he was mostly used on the international broadcasts of that show. At WrestleMania X-Seven on April 1, 2001, he competed in the gimmick Battle Royal, but was eliminated by The One Man Gang.
In October 2006, Hayes became the head creative writer for the SmackDown brand after Alex Greenfield's departure from the company. He can be seen on the second season of WWE Classics on Demand series Legends of Wrestling.
Hayes made occasional appearances on WWE programs: on the December 7, 2007 episode of SmackDown, Hayes was a guest of MVP's VIP Lounge. Hayes promoted the new Triumph and Tragedy of WCCW DVD and reinforced its anti-drug message. However, Hayes ended up being attacked by MVP before being saved by Rey Mysterio, Jr.
In October 2013, Hayes took a leave of absence from WWE for personal reasons,but he returned to work on December 2, 2013.
On August 1, 2014 Hayes appeared in a short segment on the online series JBL and Cole Show in which he stared at a "Free Birds, call to enquire" flier. In February 2015, Hayes partook in a WWE.com interview alongside Arn Anderson with Michael Cole to discuss Triple H and Sting's match at WrestleMania 31.
On April 2, 2016, Hayes was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame with the Fabulous Freebirds. Hayes accepted the award alongside Jimmy Garvin.
In 1987, on the back of the popularity of the "Badstreet USA" theme, Hayes recorded and released an album, Off The Streets. He also performed live concerts to promote the album with his backing band, the Badstreet Band. The July 1988 issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated (written circa March 1988) contained a bcolumn by writer Dave Rosenbaum in which he visited the box office for a Badstreet Band show and surveyed what sort of people would actually go to Hayes' concerts.
In 1992, Hayes performed a duet with music producer Darwin Conort called "Freebird Forever" on the WCW album, Slam Jam 1.
In 2011, Hayes paid tribute to his Freebird brother Terry Gordy, who died of a heart attack caused by a blood clot in 2001, with a song entitled "Freebird Road". His music video was an emotional and stirring trip down memory lane as a Freebird and shows shots of him at Gordy's grave.
James Williams is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin. A member of The Fabulous Freebirds, Garvin is best known for his appearances with promotions including the American Wrestling Association, World Class Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling.
Paul Ellering is an American professional wrestling manager, professional wrestler and dog musher. He is currently signed with WWE to a legends contract. Ellering spent most of his wrestling career managing the Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk), working with them from 1983 to 1990 and again on occasion between 1992 and 1997. In addition to being their on screen manager he actually handled the team's affairs outside the ring as well, including contract negotiations and travel arrangements. Ellering and the Road Warriors were inducted into both the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011. Five years later, in June 2016, he returned to the ring at NXT TakeOver: The End as the manager of The Authors of Pain, a heel tag team making their debut. Ellering has been labeled as one of the greatest wrestling managers of all time.
Prior to becoming a manager he was a professional wrestler, but due to injuries retired in 1983 to become a full-time manager, only wrestling on special occasions. In the late 1990s he was involved in a storyline where he actually turned on the Road Warriors and managed Disciples of Apocalypse as they fought the Road Warriors. After retiring from full-time activity in wrestling, he raced in the Iditarod and John Beargrease Dog Sled Race.
Raymond "Ray" Washington Traylor, Jr. was an American professional wrestler. Traylor was best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name Big Boss Man, as well as for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling as The Boss, Guardian Angel and Big Bubba Rogers. During his appearances with the WWF, Big Boss Man held the WWF World Tag Team Championshiponce and the WWF Hardcore Championship four times. In the summer of 2000, Boss Man disappeared from the WWF's primary television shows, wrestling mainly on Jakked and Heat, where he had a minor feud with Crash Holly until suffering a legit injury in January 2001. When he returned on the December 20, 2001 of SmackDown, he formed a team with Booker T, after Vince McMahon ordered him to be Booker's enforcer. on the December 27 episode of Smackdown, Bossman and Booker T defeated Stone Cold in a handicap match. on the January 7, 2002 episode of Raw, Bossman and Booker T was defeated by Stone Cold & The Rock. on the January 17 episode of Smackdown, Bossman lost to Diamond Dallas Page. At the Royal Rumble (2002), Bossman competed in the Royal Rumble match where he was eliminated by Rikishi. On the January 24 episode of Smackdown, Bossman lost to Rikishi. The team quietly split in late January 2002, and Boss Man returned to Jakked/Metal and Heat. On the February 2 episode of Metal, Bossman defeated The Hurricane. On the February 2 episode of Metal, Bossman defeated Perry Saturn. In April, he formed a short-lived tag team with Mr. Perfect after both were drafted to the Raw brand. On the March 23 episode of WWF Jakked, Bossman and Mr. Perfect lost to The APA. On the April 1 episode of Raw, Bossman and Mr. Perfect lost to The Hardy Boyz. On the April 14 episode of Heat, Bossman lost to Bradshaw. On the April 28 episode of Heat, Bossman defeated Crash Holly. On the May 6 episode of Heat. Bossman lost to D'Lo Brown. On the May 20, 2002 Heat taping, he lost his final WWE match to Tommy Dreamer.
Traylor was assigned to train developmental wrestlers in Ohio Valley Wrestling, before being released from WWE in 2003.
International Wrestling Association of Japan (2004)
Traylor's final matches were in the International Wrestling Association of Japan, where he competed in a tournament for the vacant IWA World Heavyweight Championship. He made it to the final by defeating Freddie Krueger before losing to Jim Duggan.
Traylor had two daughters, Lacy Abilene Traylor and Megan Chyanne Traylor, and was married to Angela, his childhood sweetheart.
In July 2004, Traylor ran for Commission Chairman for Paulding County, Georgia. He was the owner of a Dallas, Georgia storage company called RWT Enterprises.
Traylor died of a heart attack on September 22, 2004, aged 41 at his home in Dallas, Georgia. He was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016, with his wife and daughters accepting the award on his behalf.
James Morrison is an American retired professional wrestler and manager, better known by his ring name, 'James .J. Dillon'.
J.J. Dillon had an extensive wrestling career. He broke into wrestling at the age of 29, starting out in the early 1970’s as a referee transitioning into a wrestler and then a manager winning many championships and managing a variety of wrestlers throughout many different territories around the country. He made his Madison Square Garden debut on April 23, 1984 when he challenged Tito Santana for the WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, losing by pinfall after a flying forearm by Santana.
He is most remembered in pro wrestling as a manager. He guided many wrestlers to singles and tag-team titles in the NWA. Dillon, who became manager of Tully Blanchard, achieved his greatest success as the manager of the Four Horsemen which consisted of "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, Blanchard, Arn Anderson , Ole Anderson, Lex Luger and Barry Windham. After leaving WCW in February 1989, Dillon served as a front office executive for WWE until 1997. On April 21, 1997, he returned to WCW as an on-camera commissioner, a position which lasted until fall 1998. In 2003, Dillon had a short stint as an NWA representative in TNA.
In 2009, he made a one-night appearance at Deaf Wrestlefest 2009 to team with "Beef Stew" Lou Marconi and "Handsome" Frank Staletto in a six-man tag team match against "Franchise" Shane Douglas, Dominic Denucci and Cody Michaels.
On December 29, 2019, Dillon joined the Board of Directors of the International Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame. On March 3, 2021, Dillon returned to TNT to act as manager for Tully Blanchard on an episode of AEW Dynamite.
James Mark "Jim" Cornette is an American author and podcaster who has previously worked in the professional wrestling industry as an agent, booker, color commentator, manager, promoter, trainer, and occasional professional wrestler. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest managers in wrestling history, due to his extraordinary mic skills.
During his career, he has worked for the Continental Wrestling Association, Mid-South Wrestling, World Class Championship Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions, World Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation (now called WWE), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (now called Impact Wrestling), and Ring of Honor. From 1991 to 1995, he was the owner and head booker of Smoky Mountain Wrestling, and from 1999 to 2005, was the co-owner, head booker, and head trainer of Ohio Valley Wrestling. During the later years of his career, Cornette focused primarily on backstage positions and transitioned away from his role as an on-screen manager.
In 2017, Cornette retired from managing. During a transitional period prior to the retirement, he worked as an on-screen "authority figure" character in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Ring of Honor, promotions where he also held backstage positions. Cornette has also had an extensive commentary career, most recently serving as a color commentator for Major League Wrestling, What Culture Pro Wrestling, and the National Wrestling Alliance. Cornette is a member of the NWA, Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Memphis, and Professional Wrestling Hall of Fames. Cornette is also noted for his long-standing real-life feud with fellow professional wrestling booker Vince Russo; in June 2017, Russo filed a restraining order (EPO) against Cornette for stalking. The Cornette vs. Russo feud has been featured on two episodes of Viceland's Dark Side of the Ring series.
