The Third Annual

Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament The Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament (also known simply as the Crockett Cup) is a professional wrestling event produced every April by the professional wrestling promotion, National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The event features ...

, also referred to as the Crocket Cup (1988), was an event held over two nights: April 22 and 23, 1988. Scheduled to feature 24 teams, the tournament included a few changes to the original lineup and ended up with only 22 teams. The team of

Sting and Lex Luger The professional wrestling tag team of Sting and Lex Luger were best known for competing in Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), which later became World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA). The team debuted in 1988 and di ...

was formed specifically for the 1988 Crockett Cup and ended up winning the tournament by defeating Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard in the finals.

Production

Background

The

was created by

Jim Crockett Jr. James Allen Crockett Jr. (August 10, 1944 – March 3, 2021) was an American professional wrestling promoter. From 1973 to 1989, he was part owner of Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), a wrestling company affiliated with the National Wrestling Allian ...

of Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) in honor of Crockett's father, JCP founder

Jim Crockett Sr. James Allen Crockett Sr. (June 2, 1909 – April 1, 1973) was a professional wrestling promoter and professional sports franchise owner sometimes known as Jim Crockett Sr., or to people within the business simply as "Big Jim". Early life Crockett ...

The tournament format was single-elimination with a promoted prize of $1 million (U.S.) awarded to the winning team.

Storylines

The 1988 Crockett Cup shows featured a total of 21

professional wrestling matches Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers are portrayed as either

heels The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exert ...

(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. Lex Luger, scheduled to partner with Barry Windham in the tournament (as they had been the

NWA World Tag Team Champions The NWA World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship created by the National Wrestling Alliance. From 1948 to 1982, the NWA allowed member promotions to create their own territorial version of the "NWA World ...

), lost his teammate. Windham turned on Luger just two days before the tournament. The betrayal caused Luger and Windham to lose the title to Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, and Windham became the new fourth member of the Four Horsemen, actually taking a spot Luger had been kicked out of months earlier.

The Super Powers The Super Powers were a tag team in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in the 1980s. The name was because an American and a "Russian" made up the team while the Cold War was still going strong. History Dusty Rhodes had been teaming with Magnum T. ...

( Nikita Koloff and

Dusty Rhodes Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. (October 11, 1945 – June 11, 2015), better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was an American professional wrestler, booker, and trainer who most notably worked for the National Wrestling Alliance, Jim Crocket ...

) were also removed from the tournament. Rhodes received a 120-day suspension on April 15 for hitting Jim Crockett with a baseball bat on the March 26 edition of '' World Championship Wrestling'', and was also stripped of his NWA United States Heavyweight Championship. Koloff was then given a match for

Ric Flair Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), 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 spanni ...

's NWA World Heavyweight Championship, to take place on the second night of the tournament. On the first night of the tournament, between the first and second rounds, Jimmy Garvin defeated Kevin Sullivan in a Blindfold match. Sullivan and Rick Steiner perpetrated a post-match attack on the still blindfolded Garvin. Garvin's brother,

Ronnie Ronnie may refer to: *Ronnie (name), a unisex pet name and given name * "Ronnie" (Four Seasons song), a song by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe *"Ronnie," a song from the Metallica album ''Load'' *Ronnie Brunswijkstadion, an association football stadium ...

, attempted to save Jimmy, but during the course of the ensuing brawl, sustained a chest injury due to Sullivan's Golden Spike. This left

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

also without a partner for the tournament, with the announcement later on that Lex Luger and Sting would team up, a partnership that would continue off and on for nearly 15 years. All of these events left the final tournament field at 22 teams.

Aftermath

The Crockett Cup tournaments ended after 1988 until 2019, the NWA and Ring of Honor teamed up with the Crockett Foundation to resume the tournament (but on a much smaller scale), which is linked to the original tournaments. The NWA (now owned by

Billy Corgan William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter, guitarist, and only permanent member of the rock band the ...

and his production company, Lighting One Inc.) have held the tournament yearly (except in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Lex Luger would feud with Ric Flair over the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, receiving a title shot at the Great American Bash. The Fantastics' feud with the Midnight Express over the

NWA United States Tag Team Championship The NWA United States Tag Team Championship is a name used for several secondary tag team championship used by various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) members since 1958. There are eleven different versions of the NWA United States Tag Team Champ ...

would reach a climax at the Bash in a match with the two teams with Jim Cornette suspended in a cage wearing a straight jacket. The Powers of Pain would flee for the WWF before the Bash events began due to their refusal to lose a series of scaffold matches with the Road Warriors. Dusty Rhodes would return from his suspension after the tournament (kayfabe through the efforts of Houston promoter Paul Boesch) but would not regain his United States title.

Event

Tournament participants

Results

Tournament brackets

The Garvin/Sting and Luger/Windham teams splitting up resulted in the following: *¹ The Midnight Express defeated The Sheepherders in the final second-round match. Earlier in that round, The Sheepherders defeated Armstrong and Horner. This filled the empty 23rd spot in the bracket. *² Anderson and Blanchard received a bye to the semifinal round to make up for the empty 24th spot in the bracket.

References

{{Portal bar, 1980s, United States 1988 in North Carolina 1988 in professional wrestling 1988 in South Carolina Jim Crockett Promotions shows Professional wrestling in Greensboro, North Carolina Professional wrestling in South Carolina National Wrestling Alliance shows

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...