Crockett Cup

The Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament (also known simply as the Crockett Cup) was a tag team professional wrestling tournament held annually in the month of April from 1986 through 1988. Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), headed by Jim Crockett Jr., hosted the Crockett Cup, held in honor of Crockett's father, JCP founder Jim Crockett Sr. The tournament format was single-elimination, with a US$1 million (kayfabe) prize awarded to the winning team.

The Crockett Cup events were headlined by matches for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

List of winners

• 1986: The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk)
• 1987: The Super Powers (Nikita Koloff and Dusty Rhodes)
• 1988: Lex Luger and Sting

1986

1st Annual Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament
Promotion	Jim Crockett Promotions
Date	April 19, 1986
City	New Orleans, Louisiana
Venue	Louisiana Superdome
Attendance	3,500 (afternoon) 13,000 (evening)

The first Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament was held on April 19, 1986. The tournament featured 24 tag teams.

Participants

Teams shown in bold received first-round byes.

Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard Giant Baba and Tiger Mask The Barbarian and Baron Von Raschke The Batten Twins (Bart and Brad) Black Bart and Jimmy Garvin Dino Bravo and Rick Martel Bill Dundee and Buddy Landel The Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn and Stan Lane) The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers) Manny Fernandez and Jimmy Valiant Ronnie Garvin and Magnum T.A. Chavo and Hector Guerrero

Sam Houston and Nelson Royal The Italian Stallion and Koko Ware Bobby Jaggers and Mike Miller Wahoo McDaniel and Mark Youngblood The Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey and Bobby Eaton) D.J. Peterson and Brett Wayne The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk) The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton) The Russian Team (Ivan and Nikita Koloff) Buzz Sawyer and Rick Steiner The Sheepherders (Butch Miller and Luke Williams) Terry Taylor and Steve Williams

Bracket

First round

Second round

Quarter Finals

Semi Finals

Final

Road Warriors

McDaniel/Youngblood

McDaniel/Youngblood

Jaggers/Miller

Road Warriors

Midnight Express

Houston/Royal

Batten Twins

Houston/Royal

Midnight Express

Road Warriors

BYE (double-DQ)

Anderson/Blanchard

Fantastics

Fabulous Ones

Fantastics

Fantastics

Sheepherders

Guerreros

Sheepherders

Sheepherders

Rock 'n' Roll Express

Road Warriors

Garvin/Magnum

Russian Team

Fernandez/Valiant

Barbarian/Baron

Fernandez/Valiant

Russian Team

Taylor/Williams

Taylor/Williams

Dundee/Landel

Taylor/Williams

Bravo/Martel /forfeit/

BYE (draw)

Garvin/Magnum

Garvin/Magnum

Sawyer/Steiner

Stallion/Ware

Sawyer/Steiner

Garvin/Magnum

Baba/Tiger

Peterson/Wayne

Bart/Garvin

Bart/Garvin

Baba/Tiger

Non-tournament matches

• Jim Duggan defeated Dick Slater to retain the Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship (afternoon)
• Ric Flair defeated Dusty Rhodes by disqualification to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (evening)

1987

2nd Annual Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament
Promotion	Jim Crockett Promotions
Date	April 10 and 11, 1987
City	Baltimore, Maryland
Venue	Baltimore Arena
Attendance	9,300 (April 10) 13,000 (April 11)

The second Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament was held over two nights, April 10 and 11, 1987. The tournament included 24 tag teams.

Participants

Teams shown in bold received first-round byes.

Arn Anderson and Kevin Sullivan Brad and Bob Armstrong Giant Baba and Isao Takagi The Barbarian and Bill Dundee Tully Blanchard and Lex Luger Denny Brown and Chris Champion Manny Fernandez and Rick Rude Jimmy and Ronnie Garvin Mike Graham and Nelson Royal Tim Horner and Mike Rotunda The Italian Stallion and Ricky Lee Jones Bobby Jaggers and Rocky King

Steve Keirn and George South Teijho Khan and Shaska Whatley Lazer Tron and Jimmy Valiant Wahoo McDaniel and Baron von Raschke The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) The MOD Squad (Basher and Spike) Bill and Randy Mulkey The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk) The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton) The Russian Team (Ivan Koloff and Vladimir Petrov) The Super Powers (Nikita Koloff and Dusty Rhodes) The Thunderfoots (#1 and #2)

Bracket

First round

Second round

Quarter Finals

Semi Finals

Final

Russian Team

Armstrongs

Armstrongs

Anderson/Sullivan

Armstrongs

Luger/Blanchard

MOD Squad

McDaniel/Baron

MOD Squad

Luger/Blanchard

Luger/Blanchard

Baba/Takagi

Baba/Takagi

Brown/Champion

Brown/Champion

Mulkeys

Baba/Takagi†

Rock 'n' Roll Express

Keirn/South

Graham/Royal

BYE (draw)

Rock 'n' Roll Express

Luger/Blanchard

Super Powers

Road Warriors

Khan/Whatley

Lazer Tron/Valiant

Khan/Whatley

Road Warriors

Midnight Express

Stallion/Jones

Garvins

Garvins

Midnight Express

Midnight Express

Super Powers

Fernandez/Rude

Thunderfoots

Jaggers/King

Thunderfoots

Fernandez/Rude

Super Powers

Barbarian/Dundee

Horner/Rotunda

Barbarian/Dundee

Super Powers

† The Rock 'n' Roll Express were unable to compete due to an eye injury to Ricky Morton. Baba and Takagi won the match by forfeit.

Non-tournament matches

• Ole Anderson defeated Big Bubba Rogers in a Last Man Standing Steel Cage match (April 10)
• Ric Flair defeated Barry Windham to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (April 11)

1988

3rd Annual Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament
Promotion	Jim Crockett Promotions
Date	April 22 and 23, 1988
City	Greenville, South Carolina (April 22) Greensboro, North Carolina (April 23)
Venue	Greenville Memorial Auditorium (April 22) Greensboro Coliseum (April 23)
Attendance	4,440 (April 22) 6,300 (April 23)

The third and final Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament was held over two nights, April 22 and 23, 1988. Scheduled to feature 24 teams, the tournament included a few changes to the original lineup.

Lex Luger, scheduled to partner with Barry Windham in the tournament (as they had been the NWA World Tag Team Champions), 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 (Nikita Koloff and Dusty Rhodes) 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'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, 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 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.

Participants

Teams shown in bold received first-round byes. Entries crossed out were scheduled teams that were split up.

Johnny Ace and John Savage Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard Brad Armstrong and Tim Horner Chris Champion and Mark Starr Tiger Conway Jr. and Shaska Whatley The Cruel Connection (#1 and #2) Joe Cruz and Ricky Santana The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers) Ronnie Garvin and Sting The Green Machine and The Terminator The Italian Stallion and Kendall Windham Rocky King and Nelson Royal

Ivan Koloff and Dick Murdoch Lex Luger and Sting Lex Luger and Barry Windham The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) Mighty Wilbur and Jimmy Valiant Al Perez and Larry Zbyszko The Powers of Pain (The Barbarian and The Warlord) The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk) The Sheepherders (Butch Miller and Luke Williams) Ron Simmons and Steve Williams The Twin Devils (#1 and #2) The Varsity Club (Mike Rotunda and Rick Steiner)

Bracket

First round

Second round

Quarter Finals

Semi Finals

Final

Ace/Savage

Armstrong/Horner

Midnight Express

Armstrong/Horner / Sheepherders

Cruel Connection

Sheepherders

Midnight Express1

Luger/Sting

Koloff/Murdoch

Wilbur/Valiant

Koloff/Murdoch

Luger/Sting

Luger/Sting

Powers of Pain

Powers of Pain

Champion/Starr

Champion/Starr

Twin Devils

Powers of Pain

Road Warriors

King/Royal

Conway/Whatley

Conway/Whatley

Road Warriors

Luger/Sting

Anderson/Blanchard

Anderson/Blanchard

Stallion/Windham

Machine/Terminator

Stallion/Windham

Anderson/Blanchard

BYE2

BYE2

BYE2

Anderson/Blanchard

Fantastics

Cruz/Santana

Perez/Zbyszko

Perez/Zbyszko

Fantastics

Fantastics

Varsity Club

Varsity Club

Simmons/Williams

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.

Non-tournament matches

• Jimmy Garvin defeated Kevin Sullivan in a Blindfold match (April 22, between first and second rounds)
• The Midnight Rider defeated J.J. Dillon in a Bullrope match (April 23, between quarterfinal and semifinal rounds)
• Nikita Koloff defeated Ric Flair by disqualification, with Flair retaining the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (April 23, between semifinal and final rounds)