[3] The main rivalry heading into the event was between Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

[4] On the January 21 edition of World Championship Wrestling, Steamboat returned to WCW as Eddie Gilbert's surprise partner against Flair and Barry Windham in a tag team match.

On January 28 edition of World Championship Wrestling, it was announced that Flair would defend the title against Steamboat at Chi-Town Rumble.

At Starrcade, Varsity Club defeated The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers) to win the NWA United States Tag Team Championship.

Later that night, Road Warriors retained the NWA World Tag Team Championship against Sting and Dusty Rhodes by intentional disqualification.

On January 28 edition of World Championship Wrestling, it was announced that Road Warriors would defend the title against Sullivan and Williams at Chi-Town Rumble.

[4] On January 14 edition of World Championship Wrestling, Dangerously announced that he would force Cornette out of NWA.

[5] A secondary rivalry heading into the event was between Barry Windham and Lex Luger for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship.

Later that night, Luger was defeated by Ric Flair in a title shot for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

[4] Windham and Luger's rivalry dated back to April 23 edition of World Championship Wrestling in 1988, when Windham turned on Luger during a NWA World Tag Team Championship title defense against Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard and joined Four Horsemen.

[6] On January 28 edition of World Championship Wrestling, it was announced that Windham would defend the United States title against Luger at Chi-Town Rumble.

[5] Another secondary rivalry heading into the event was between Rick Steiner and Mike Rotunda for the NWA World Television Championship.

On January 28 edition of World Championship Wrestling, it was announced that Steiner would defend the TV title against Rotunda at Chi-Town Rumble.

[1][2] The third match was a Loser Leaves NWA match pitting the Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) and their manager Jim Cornette against Original Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose) and their manager Paul E. Dangerously.

Cornette tripped Dangerously outside the ring while Eaton and Lane delivered a Double Flapjack to Rose to win the match.

[1][2] The fifth match pitted Barry Windham defending the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship against Lex Luger.

Luger dominated Windham for much of the earlier part of the match by performing his power moves, the then action spilled to the ringside.

Sullivan and Williams' NWA United States Tag Team Championship was not on the line, despite being the champions.

Animal fought Williams while Hawk performed a Flying Clothesline on Sullivan to win the match and retain the titles.

[1][2] The main event featured Ric Flair defending the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Ricky Steamboat.

[1][2] Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair continued their rivalry for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at Chi-Town Rumble.

On April 2 Clash of the Champions VI: Ragin' Cajun, Steamboat defeated Flair in a two out of three falls match to retain the title.

As a result, Hayes joined Hiro Matsuda's group Yamazaki Corporation and began a rivalry with Luger.

[5] At WrestleWar, Hayes defeated Luger, with the help of Terry Gordy to win the United States Championship.

On April 2 Clash of the Champions VI, Road Warriors lost the belts to Club members Mike Rotunda and Steve Williams.

Club members Kevin Sullivan and Dan Spivey attacked the special guest referee Nikita Koloff, resulting in a disqualification loss for Rotunda and Williams.