StarrCade

StarrCade was the primary pay per view of the NWA, and later WCW from 1983 until 2000 (Making it older than the legendary WrestleMania). Perhaps the highest moment in StarrCade history was in December 1997 when Hollywood Hogan lost the WCW/nWo World Heavyweight Title to Sting after holding it for over a year. The following year, rookie world champion Bill Goldberg's undefeated winning streak came to an end when he was defeated by Kevin Nash with help from Scott Hall who jabbed Goldberg with a taser gun to let Nash win the match. Ric Flair was usually the "flag ship", as he headlined 9 StarrCade's.

History

StarrCade '83 was the first StarrCade. It was held on November 24, 1983 in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was called "A Flair For the Gold" since Ric Flair was in the main event against NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race in a cage match. Flair won the title. The other big match on the card saw Roddy Piper defeated Greg Valentine in a dog collar match.

StarrCade '84 was held on November 22, 1984. It was called the "Million Dollar Challenge" as the main event was NWA World Champ Ric Flair defending his title against Dusty Rhodes with $1,000,000 on the line. Flair won the match. Other matches saw NWA US Champ Wahoo McDaniel defeated Superstar Billy Graham and NWA TV Champ Tully Blanchard defeated Ricky Steamboat with $10,000 on the line.

StarrCade '85 was held in two cities at the same time with screens in each one for the fans in attendance to see the other town's matches. The cities were Greensboro, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia. It was called "The Gathering" and was held on November 28, 1985. The main event saw NWA Champ Ric Flair disqualify due to interference from Ole Anderson and Arn Anderson to keep his title against Dusty Rhodes. Other big matches were Magnum T.A. winning the NWA US Title from Tully Blanchard in an I Quit cage match filled with blood, and the Rock 'N Roll Express winning back the NWA Tag Titles from Ivan Koloff and Nikita Koloff in a cage.

StarrCade '86 was called "Night of the Skywalkers" due to a scaffold match. It was held on November 27, 1986 and it was held in the same two cities format as 1985. The main event saw NWA Champ Ric Flair and NWA US Champ Nikita Koloff fight to a double disqualification. The Road Warriors won the scaffold match by throwing Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey off the scaffold. They also threw manager Jim Cornette off the scaffold and he blew out his knees.

StarrCade '87 was called "Chi-Town Heat" as it was held in Chicago, Illinois on November 26, 1987. The card featured two cage matches: Ric Flair won the NWA Title back from Ron Garvin and Dusty Rhodes defeated NWA US Champ Lex Luger to win the title. The card also featured several UWF wrestlers who had just arrived when Jim Crockett, Jr. purchased their company. Among them was future WCW legend, Sting, and Rick Steiner.

StarrCade '88 was called "True Grit" and was held on December 26, 1988. The main event saw NWA Champ Ric Flair defeat Lex Luger in a No Disqualification match. NWA Tag Champs the Road Warriors battled Sting and Dusty Rhodes to a double disqualification.

StarrCade '89 had a different format. It had two tournaments to name the "Iron Man" and the "Iron Team". It was called "Future Shock" and was held on December 13, 1989 in Atlanta, Georgia. Sting won the Iron Man tournament and the Road Warriors won the Iron Team tournament.

StarrCade '90 included a tournament among the other matches. It was called "Collision Course" and was held on December 16, 1990. NWA Champ Sting defeated the Black Scorpin in a cage and unmasked him as Ric Flair. Rick and Scott Steiner won the Pat O'Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament.

StarrCade '91 was held on December 29, 1991 in Norfolk, Virginia. It was called "Battle Bowl" because all of the matches were "drawn" to see who would wrestle who in tag team matches and the winning teams had to fight in a battle royal called Battle Bowl. Sting won Battle Bowl in a night that saw several enemies forced to team up.

StarrCade '92 had another Battle Bowl but had regular matches too. It was held on December 28, 1992 in Atlanta, Georgia. The Great Muta won Battle Bowl. Other matches saw WCW Champ Ron Simmons defeat "Dr. Death" Steve Williams by disqualification and Sting defeat Vader to win the King of Cable Tournament.

StarrCade '93 was held on December 27, 1993 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The main event saw Ric Flair regain the WCW Title from Vader in a match that if Flair lost, he had to retire. Steve Austin also won the WCW US Title from Dustin Rhodes in a 2 out of 3 falls match.

StarrCade '94 was held on December 27, 1994 in Nashville, Tennessee. WCW Champ Hulk Hogan defeated The Butcher (Brutus Beefcake) and Vader defeated WCW US Champ Hacksaw Jim Duggan to win the title.

StarrCade '95 involved several wrestlers from New Japan Pro Wrestling. The angle was to see who had the better wrestlers, WCW or NJPW. It was held on December 27, 1995 in Nashville, Tennessee. Ric Flair defeated Sting and Lex Luger in a triangle match to get a title shot at WCW Champ Randy Savage. Flair defeated Savage for the title with the help of the Four Horsemen. WCW won the competition matches with NJPW 4 to 3.

StarrCade '96 was held on December 29, 1996 in Nashville, Tennesse. The main event saw Roddy Piper defeated Hulk Hogan. Eddie Guerrero also won the vacant WCW US Title over Diamond Dallas Page with the help of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.

StarrCade '97 was held in Washington, DC on December 28, 1997. This was the highest buy rate for a StarrCade. The main event saw Sting's first match in over a year as he defeated WCW Champ Hulk Hogan of the nWo for the title with Bret Hart as the referee. Future star Bill Goldberg defeated Steve McMichael on the undercard.

StarrCade '98 was also held in Washington, DC. It was on December 27, 1998. The main event saw WCW Champ Bill Goldberg's huge winning streak ended by Kevin Nash as Nash won the title with the help of Scott Hall's taser. Eric Bischoff defeated Ric Flair with the help of Curt Hennig.

StarrCade '99 was held on December 19, 1999 in Washington, DC. This card was booked by Vince Russo so it was really crazy. WCW Champ Bret Hart defeated Bill Goldberg in a No Disqualification Match in the main event. WCW US Champ Chris Benoit defeated Jeff Jarrett in a Ladder Match. Sting and Lex Luger fought to a double disqualification.

StarrCade 2000 was the last StarrCade, as WCW folded in March, 2001. It was held on December 17, 2000 in Washington, DC. The main event saw WCW Champ Scott Steiner defeat Sid Vicious. Bill Goldberg also defeated Lex Luger.

Also See

External Links

StarrCade results:

http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wcw/starrcad.html http://www.geocities.com/shoeswrestlingpage/PPV/WCW/Starrcade.html

Categories: Professional wrestling