Nikita Koloff as a big face in late 80s WCW

[Dave at the Movies]

What an extremely smart move by Dusty. Just goes to show how good of a booker he was sometimes.

He was so ahead of the time by realizing the Evil Russian heel wasn't going to last much longer so he jumped the gun and took a chance and tagged with Koloff and turned him face.

They got a guy with a Russian gimmick from the Soviet Union over as a face.

BRILLIANT!!

["Nature Boy" Ric Moranis]

Grew up watching mostly JCP in that era. What also has to be considered is that Nikita had that HUGE Best of 7 with Magnum TA for the U.S. title not too long before the car wreck. Magnum's wreck left no singles wrestlers on the face side built up strong enough to take on Flair at Starrcade '86, except Dusty, and they probably didn't want to do Dusty-Flair for the NWA Title at the third straight Starrcade.

So it was out of necessity, plus the first big, somewhat friendly Reagan-Gorbachev summit happened in October '86 (around the time of Magnum's car wreck), so it was a play on current events.

Also, in that territory, the heels were generally cheered anyway. With the exception of the Road Warriors on the face side...Dusty booked himself (usually as the #1 face), and then Magnum & Rock & Roll Express on top (cheered by kids, and screeching girls/women), so you had A LOT of older dudes cheering for The Four Horsemen, Midnight Express, and even Nikita Koloff when he was feuding with Magnum. Koloff was SUPER over with that segment of the crowd by the time they turned him face. Especially the smarks who probably knew he was just some dude from Minnesota that was friends with the Road Warriors anyway.

The adults cheering heels was something I couldn't understand as a kid, but I remember being in Greensboro Coliseum and hearing grown-ups cheering for evil Russian Nikita Koloff against Magnum TA, and I was too young to get it.

[willywonka666]

I started watching right after this, but I've seen youtube clips and read articles and they played it very well.

it's really cool when two wrestlers on opposite sides wind up having respect for each other and it leads to face turns.

[The Varsity Club]

more of a fan of his as a heel...seem to lose the killer instinct when he turned face

[fg76]

Anybody remember when his (then) wife was dying of cancer (not funny, btw) and he got of roids, and grew his hair back out and talked about being the "new Nikita" and that went on until about Summer 1988 when he vanished. Probably because he wife had died, and then he shows back in in 1991 on the juice again and bald - but never really could relaunch his career again as a face or a heel during that era.

[skulldouggory]

I just finished watching Wrestling Relics Volume 3 on DVD, and it had the Nikita vs Luger Cage Match during the Great American Bash tour in 1987. I was impressed at how over Koloff was, it was pretty smart booking to get him that over when the cold war was still in peoples minds. Dusty was the only person who could do it, behind the scenes and as an ally of Nikita on screen.

It was miles ahead of anything the WWF did with their Russians.

[johnnyk9]

When him and Sting reconcile after the way their feud went, that was an awesome mark out moment

[neal]

Nikita turning face was one of the few logical face-turns in wrestling that surprised me.

[defdave]

It was impressive, but it also went along with society at the time. The tensions between US and the Soviet Union at the time were softening up. Reagan and Gorbachev's talks were becoming more cordial and the overall feel in the country was "things between us are getting better".

If anybody was a fan of GI Joe back then as well, you may remember something similar happening in the comics and cartoons at the time. The "Oktober Guard" (a Soviet para-military group of sorts) was becoming chummy with the American GI Joe forces.

Also, if anybody remembers Billy Joel's concerts in Moscow and Leningrad back in '87 and the media coverage surrounding that. It was just another sign of things slowly easing up between us.