The dual location saw six matches take place in each location, with the Greensboro Coliseum main event being a steel cage match between defending NWA World Tag Team Champion The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) defended the championship against the Andersons (Arn and Ole).

In 1983, JCP created Starrcade as their supercard to continue the Thanksgiving tradition, bringing in wrestlers from other NWA affiliates and broadcasting the show throughout its territory on closed-circuit television.

The Starrcade show featured a number of professional wrestling matches with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing, scripted feuds, plots, and storylines.

Magnum T. A. was originally scheduled to face Ric Flair at the 1986 Starrcade, but was left temporarily paralyzed and had to end his wrestling career as a result of a car accident.

The NWA decided to have Nikita Koloff, who was engaged in a feud with Ronnie Garvin at the time, turn face as a result and took Magnum T.

Also forming a regular tag team were the newly babyface Nikita Koloff and his former enemy Dusty Rhodes - the Superpowers would go on to win the 1987 Crockett Cup.

Also headed to the WWF shortly after this event was Kruscher Kruschev (Barry Darsow) who would replace Randy Colley in the role of Smash of Demolition in late January 1987 - the resulting "classic" Demolition lineup of Darsow and Bill Eadie as Ax would go on to win three WWF World Tag Team championships, the first of these being the longest reign ever with the belts.