The WCW`s Starcade 1990 Pay Per View is best known for Ric Flair revealing himself to be the Black Scorpion and wrestling Sting for the World Heavyweight title in a steel cage match. That angle and match will be talked about for years to come. What is a less remembered is that the card had another unique event, The event was called the Pat O`Connor Memorial tag team tournament. The tournament was an 8 team Olympic style tournament, where there 8 teams all represented their countries. It was a foregone conclusion that the tournament was going to be won by The Steiner Brothers, who were representing in the United States.

In 1989 The Steiner Brothers did the unthinkable. They overtook The Road Warriors as the most popular tag team in WCW, and when the freshness of The Steiner Brothers wore off, they not only sustained their popularity, the brothers  grew in popularity. If you were a fan of WCW in 1990, you probably found it hard to belief that Rick and Scott Steiner did not wrestle for the WCW tag titles on the companies biggest show of the year! The Steiners won WCW tag team titles at the end of 1989 and held them for around six months before losing them to Doom. At Starcade 1990 Doom was originally scheduled to defend their titles against Ric Flair and Arn Anderson, but after Doom injured Ric Flair when he was walking to his limo. Flair had to pull out of the match and was replaced by fellow horseman Barry Whindham, which opened the door for Flair to be wrestle  against Sting for the WCW title in the main event as the Black Scorpion.

When discussing the teams who participated in the tournament, you will have to start with The Steiners. The team who represented the United States, won the tournament, and was the most popular team in the company. After losing the WCW tag team titles in 1990, The Steiners won them back, when they beat The Freebirds in early 1991. Throughout the 90`s The Steiners were huge stars in WCW,WWF,ECW and Japan. During the Monday night Wars the team split up and, Scott Steiner became Big Poppa Pump. This led to Scott Steiner becoming an even bigger star as a singles wrestler, receiving huge pushes in WCW, The WWF and TNA.

The team who lost in the finals to the Steiner, was not a full-time tag team. The team consisted of two huge singles stars. The Great Muta and Masa Saito were chosen to represent Japan. Both wrestlers were huge stars in both Japan and the United States. In the 80`s Saito replaced Toru Tanaka as Mr. Fujis tag team partner, and the pair won the tag team titles twice. In  late 1989 Saito returned to the United States as a good guy, and feuded with Larry Zbyszko for the AWA world title on ESPN. In early 1990 Saito broke through and defeated Zbyszko for the title at the egg dome in his home country of Japan, before losing it back in  a rematch at Superclash 4. Saito would make another Starcade appearance in 1995, when he represented New Japan against WCW in a seven match series. The Great Muta wrestled for WCCW, Florida Championship wrestling and WWC Puerto Rico, before becoming a huge star for WCW in 1989. That was the year when Muta won the companies television title and had A major feud with Sting over the title.  Muta was so dynamic that the villain managed by Gary Hart started to get cheered by the fans.  In early 1990 Muta lost his WCW TV title to Arn Anderson, before returning home to Japan.  Through New Japan Muta would make appearances for WCW as A special attraction, and would remain extremely popular with WCW fans throughout the 90s.

During the cold war many American and Canadian born wrestlers, would wrestle as Russian bad guy characters. By 1990 the cold war was over, and in this tournament the country of Russia was represented by real life Russians and free style wrestling standouts Salman Hashikov and Victor Zangiev. The pair gained a huge buzz when they joined New Japan Wrestling in 1989. A promotion  Having actual Russians who were also great freestyle wrestlers in a professional wrestling company was huge news. After losing to Muta and Saito in the semi-finals, the pair would leave New Japan and professional wrestling entirely, with the exception of a short run in UWFI, which was also a Japanese promotion.

Mexican superstar Konan made his official WCW debut wrestling representing Mexico that night. Konan was already signed by WCW, and was previously winning against underneath wrestlers at the TV tapings.  Konan had also already made his WCW house show debut before Starcade, when he beat  Bobby Eaton, the wrestler won the WCW television title that night. WCW had Konan lined up for a big push, and were planning on having him team with Brian Pillman. Konan`s first WCW run was brief, and he left the company in early 1991 after being signed by the WWF.  Konan had a deal with the WWF that allowed him to wrestle in Mexico where he was a huge star, and he was allowed to bring in his own opponents who wrestled his style. Konan was undefeated against his handpicked opponents, who he wrestled on WWF TV tapings and house shows. Konan was fired by the WWF after a disagreement with management and after appearing with ECW in 1995, Konan returned to WCW in 1996, where he stayed until the company closed, as A member of the Dungeon of Doom, The NWO, The Wolfpac, a member of Master P`s no limit soldier`s and the Filthy Animals.  Konan`s partner that night was Rey Mysterio SR, the uncle of the great Rey Mysterio JR. Mysterio SR had a good career in his own right, becoming a star in both Mexico and Japan. The pair lost to the Steiners in the semi-finals.

One of the wrestlers representing Great Brittan was Gentleman Chris Adams. Adams had previously been  a huge star in WCCW teaming with Gino Hernandez as the Dynamic Duo, in  A classic feud with the Von Erich`s. Previously  Adams had also formed A very successful tag team with Terry Taylor to win the UWF tag team titles. Adams got a huge ovation from the live crowd At the time Adams was wrestling for the USWA, where he and his wife Toni were  involved in very hot feud with Adams student Stunning Steve Austin and Jeannie Clark, which was aired regularly on ESPN.  Despite the response Adams received from the crowd, and how hot the feud was on ESPN, WCW did not sign Adams after the event, although in early 1991 they brought in Austin. Adams would return to WCW in 1997, when he was a member of the Blue Bloods, and he feuded with Vampiro and Glacier. Adams Partner was Norman Smiley, who previously was pushed in Florida and Japan.  Shortly after losing to the Mexican team in the first round, Smiley himself would start wrestling in Mexico and became a huge star there! After a pitstop in ECW, Smiley entered WCW full time in 1997. Screaming Norman Smiley became a huge fan favorite in WCW, where he won the hardcore title twice.

There is not a lot of information on Troy Montour from team Canada. Montour is A native Canadian who wrestled in Canada and was part of the tournament. Montour`s Canadian partner Danny Johnson was not a big name, but he was a very accomplished wrestler, whose father and brother were both professional wrestlers.  Johnson received pushes in Japan and his native Canada, and in his native country he also did jobs for the AWA and Jim Crockett promotions. Johnson also did jobs for WWWF TV in New York. Johnson received small pushes for Bill Watt`s Tri-State wrestling, the Funks western states wrestling, and Nick Gulas`s Mid-America wrestling, where he teamed with his brother,  before getting a big push in Los Angles where he won the TV and the tag team titles. The duo lost in the first round to the Russian team in their only WCW appearance.

New Zealand was represented by RIP Morgan and Jack Victory who wrestled as the Royal family.  Morgan and Victory were already established veterans and receiving solid bottom mid-card pushes, when the WCW put them together as The New Zealand Milita in the middle of 1989.  The  duo would receive a solid push as a mid-level tag team, and that push continued when they changed their name to The Royal Family and were managed by Lord Littlebrock at the end of 1989. After A nice run the duo left the company and went their separate ways in April of 1990. After returning at Starcade in a loss to Muta and Saito in the first round of the tournament, The Royal family stayed with the company for a second run until July of 1991, receiving bottom mid-card push this time around. After leaving WCW for a second, the Royal family remained as A team and got a good push on Global wrestling from Texas, which aired on ESPN.  In 1992 the duo received A WWF tryout defeating Jim Cooper and Josh Allen as The Maulers, but they did not get signed by the WWF.  There final appearances as team, was again as The Maulers,  in the Smokey Mountain tag team title tournament, when they beat Johnny and Davey Rich in the first round and lost to The Fantastics(Bobby and Jackie Fulton) in the semi-finals.  After splitting up as a team Morgan had a long successful run in Europe and Victory had a long successful run in ECW, where he stayed until the company folded.

The South African team who lost to the Steiners in the first round were Col Deklerk(Ted Petty) and Sgt. Kruegar(Ray Apollo) Both of these wrestlers were huge northeast indie stars, as well being stars in Japan. The WCW had brought them both in individually for tryouts that summer. Apollo tried out as Ray Apollo and Petty tried out as The Cheata Kid. After the tryouts Petty wrestled Tim Horner in a series of September house shows, doing jobs for Horner under the name Mario Savoldi. When planning the tournament, booker Ole Anderson found a spot for them as a team. That November the duo appeared on The Clash of Champions to beat Kaluah and The Beast in the African qualifier, for the final spot in the tournament. Kaluah was veteran Larry Hamilton who was pushed in Florida, Memphis and Continental, as well as Japan and Puerto Rico. The beast was Bill Tabb who did jobs for The WWF, Jim Crockett promotions, Mid-South, Continental and the AWA, before getting his break in Florida, where he wrestled as the Black Assassin teaming with Incubus, and having success with the same gimmick in Japan. After the Clash Apollo fulfilled a commitment he made in Japan and returned for starcade. While Apollo was in Japan Dusty Rhodes replaced Anderson as the booker, and Rhodes decided to not use the pair past Starcade.the . Ted Petty would become Rocko Rock of Public Enemy, getting pushes in the WWN, ECW,WCW and The WWF. Ray Apollo would get a push in Europe, before replacing Matt Bourne as Doink The Clown in 1993. Apollo would wrestle as Doink until 1995.

When I originally saw The Pat O`Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament in 1990, I thought it was a lot of fun to watch . I still love the idea today. I think this tournament was a more entertaining way to watch The Steiners, then watching them wrestle in standard match, that was not for the world tag team titles would have been.  It was also a lot of fun to see Chris Adams and Maso Saito wrestle at Starcade, after watching them wrestle in very exciting feuds on ESPN that same calendar year. The tournament was also responsible from bringing back the Great Muta for A night! The Steiners can add the honor of being the only team to ever win The Pat O`Connor Memorial Tag team title to their list of accomplishments. The tournament was not brought back for Starcade 1991.