Starrcade 1992

This was the "Bill Watts" Starrcade and his finger prints were all over it. Firstly you had Ron Simmons as champion. Simmons (who fit the Watts mould perfectly because he was (a) a former football player and (b) black enough to get a push as the new Junk Yard Dog) faced Steve "Doctor Death" Williams for the WCW title in a match which didn’t go to a finish. Then you had a last minute substitution in the tag title match (presumably the missing man – Steve Austin – had a falling out with Watts shortly before the show and Watts said ‘screw you’ and changed the match). You also had an all Japanese match (between two hard workers, only one of whom was at all over with the fans) for the traditionalist’s title – the NWA strap. Finally, you had a Sting vs. Vader match which no doubt was as stiff as hell. Oh, and Erik Watts was on pay per view. That’s always a giveaway. I’m going to pick the Steamboat/Douglas vs. Pillman/Windham tag title match because, although not the Hollywood Blondes that were advertised, it must’ve been a damn good match. It was his team with Steamboat which gave the world about the only hint that Shane Douglas really could cut it in the ring.

Starrcade 1993

1993 became a terrible year for WCW after Bill Watts was canned. Watts, though he filled his cards with a lot of cheap workers, was a workrate guy who didn’t believe in nonsense. Once he was gone it was nonsense (and cheap workers with crappy gimmicks) all the way. Starrcade came a few short months after the Shock Master debacle, after Paul Roma was made a member of the Four Horsemen and the likes of the Cole Twins, the Colossal Kongs and the Equaliser were given big pushes. Starrcade 1993 was meant to be the night the babyface Sid Vicious became The Man in WCW with a win over the unstoppable monster Vader. Sid, as most people know, went a bit bonkers while on tour in England and had a hotel fight with Arn Anderson. With Sid out of the way and the show taking place in Charlotte, NC it seemed the obvious choice to make Ric Flair the number one contender. The only match on the show which even deserves consideration for a DVD retrospective is Flair vs. Vader. I’m not giving too much away when I say this was a great match and almost certainly the last truly great Starrcade main event.

Starrcade 1994

If 1993 was a bad year for WCW because the bookers brought in a lot of cheap no-talents, 1994 was a bad year because Hulk Hogan brought in a lot of expensive no-talents. The main event – Hogan vs. Butcher (the artist formerly known as Brutus Beefcake) – was beyond terrible. The show was billed as having three main events – Hogan-Butcher, Sting vs. Avalanche (formerly Earthquake and a friend of Hogan’s) and Vader vs. Jim Duggan (another friend of Hogan’s). The michevous side of me wants to pick an undercard match between Alex Wright and Jean Paul Levesque simply because it has the future Triple H losing to the future "Boogie Knight". But with my practical hat on I’m going to pick the TV title match between Johnny B Badd and Arn Anderson because the Rule of WCW which said about picking a Blanchard or Steamboat match if you were ever in any doubt also extends to Arn Anderson.

Starrcade 1995

They went back to the old "gimmick tournament" format for the first non-Hulk Starrcade of the Hulk Hogan era. The World Cup of Wrestling saw seven matches between WCW and New Japan talent. Due to the brevity of the matches (several of the wrestlers were working twice on the show) we can allow ourselves two bouts – Jushin Liger vs. Chris Benoit from the World Cup tournament and Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage for the WCW title. Neither match meant much though because, with hindsight, we see WCW in a holding pattern. In December 1995 it is very unlikely they knew that the nWo was just around the corner (just as it is unlikely that in December 1993 they knew Hulk Hogan would arrive in seven months time) but the product has a disposable air about it. Of course, nothing mattered in WCW if it didn’t involve Hulk Hogan so Flair or Savage (or whoever) holding the world title just meant keeping it warm for Hulk’s next run.

Starrcade 1996

This was the year that the Starrcade revival began. Yes, the undercard was of the calibre one expects to find from this era – lots of cruiserweight action, Benoit, Page, Guerrero and Jarrett all at their best – but it was the main event which spiked the buy rates. It was a special main event. It was a Starrcade main event. Hollywood Hogan vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper. It didn’t matter that neither man had the energy nor the inclination to work a decent match. It was beautifully built up and no doubt spectacularly presented. Starrcade was suddenly the biggest show of the year once again. It was almost certainly the worst match on the show but Hogan-Piper has to be included.

Starrcade 1997

This was the 1996 show taken to the next level. For 15 months they had built to the main event of Sting vs. Hogan. Sting hadn’t wrestled in all that time and had morphed from the multicoloured superhero of the early 90s into the dark and brooding Crow-esque Sting. He was also more popular than ever as he waged his silent war with the nWo. Not only does this match have to be on the DVD but they have to tell the entire Sting story to build up to it. Interestingly, this was Hogan’s last ever Starrcade appearance though that was never part of any grand plan. It just worked out that way. What was a plan, however, was the way that all the good vibes and all the money generated by the Sting-Hogan match was pissed away by those at the top of WCW (principally Hogan and Nash) who wanted to stop Sting encroaching on their turf.

Starrcade 1998

The Goldberg winning streak had been both a blessing and a curse for WCW. The fans loved it – it turned ordinary squash matches into must-see-TV and made Goldberg into a star. It was only a matter of time before Goldberg won the world title and he did so on Monday Nitro. A panic move on Bischoff’s part which came in response to a ratings blip. Yes, the moment of victory was awesome television but business is business. The 1996 and 1997 shows proved the value of building to the big match over a period of time (ok, the Piper match was only a two month build but Piper literally and figuratively didn’t have the legs that Goldberg had and stretching the programme for six months would’ve been too risky). Had WCW been patient and built everything to Goldberg vs. Hogan for the title at Starrcade they would’ve topped the massive buyrate earned by the previous year’s show. But instead they gave the belt to Goldberg six months earlier, on a whim, and his entire reign was played out in the shadow of Hogan’s main event programmes with DDP, Rodman/Malone/Leno and Warrior. Starrcade 98 instead gave is Goldberg defending the world title against Kevin Nash. Nash is alleged to have struck a deal with Hogan that he got to beat Goldberg first if he gave the belt to Hogan shortly afterwards. I know – it sounds so silly to we grownups but things like that mattered to guys like Hogan and Nash. So Goldberg’s winning streak came to an end and no one in WCW had either the ability or the inclination to use this as a way to further develop Goldberg. Since WWE loves to point out WCW’s errors the main event is a cert for the DVD.

Starrcade 1999

The first Starrcade of the Vince Russo era saw a main event with a Montreal finish and lots of short, gimmicky and fairly crappy undercard matches. For the second year in a row we have Goldberg losing in the main event – this time to Bret Hart in the bout that ended Bret’s career. For sheer curiosity value I’d want that match included. It probably wasn’t any good and the finish sucked and it absolutely wasn’t a fitting way for Bret’s career to end but its car crash TV and is at least more interesting than Shane Douglas, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, & Asya vs Jim Duggan, Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotunda, & Rick Steiner.

Starrcade 2000

The final Starrcade (at least until possibly 2005) features Scott Steiner vs. Sid Vicious in its main event. I remember seeing some of the TV shows during WCW’s dying days and Steiner was head and shoulders above everyone else. He was the one guy on Nitro who looked like he belonged in WWF. He had a presence which more than made up for the limitations his new physique imposed. He couldn’t work the way he used to but his hard hitting style at least made WCW main events watchable. A far cry from the lazy matches of Hogan or Nash. So Steiner vs. Sid makes it into our collection if for no other reason than to show that there was still life in WCW right up to the end. Steiner’s later venture into WWE was a disaster once he wrestled his first match but in 2000 he had enough left in his tank to back up the awesome persona of Big Poppa Pump.

I’ve not yet mentioned Easter eggs but if I can have one match as an Easter egg it is Kronik vs. Big Vito and Reno because, as my source for Starrcade facts and figures puts it, "for some reason the match ended when Reno pinned Vito". This collection should be a celebration of WCW as seen through the slices of time captured by each annual Starrcade and nothing perhaps sums up WCW than "for some reason the match ended when Reno pinned Vito."

The Ultimate Starrcade Collection – Match Listings

NWA Tag Titles - Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood and the Brisco Brothers (1983)

Grudge Match – Abdullah the Butcher vs. Carlos Colon (1983)

NWA TV Title – Tully Blanchard vs. Ricky Steamboat (1984)

US Title Match - Wahoo McDaniel vs. Superstar Billy Graham (1984)

US Title Match – Magnum TA vs. Tully Blanchard (1985)

NWA World Title – Ric Flair vs. Nikita Koloff (1986)

US Title Match – Dusty Rhodes vs. Lex Luger (1987)

The Midnight Express vs. The Original Midnight Express (1988)

Iron Man Tournament Final – Ric Flair vs. Sting (1989)

US Title Match – Stan Hansen vs. Lex Luger (1990)

Lethal Lottery Match - Sting & Abdullah the Butcher vs. Bobby Eaton and Brian Pillman match (1991)

Battlebowl – 20 man battle royal (1991)

World Tag Team Titles - Steamboat/Douglas vs. Pillman/Windham (1992)

WCW World Title – Ric Flair vs. Vader (1993)

World Television title – Johnny B Badd vs. Arn Anderson (1994)

World Cup of Wrestling – Jushin "Thunder" Liger vs. Chris Benoit (1995)

WCW World Title – Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage (1995)

Non-Title match – Hollywood Hogan vs. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (1996)

WCW World Title – Hollywood Hogan vs. Sting (1997)

WCW World Title – Bill Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash (1998)

WCW World Title – Bill Goldberg vs. Bret Hart (1999)

WCW World Title – Scott Steiner vs. Sid Vicious (2000)

It looks a lot – 22 matches – but with WWE cutting most of the ring entrances out on past releases we’re pared down to around six hours of matches. That gives three or four hours (on a three disc release) for highlight packages, Easter eggs, new interviews, classic interviews and angles.