Starrcade

For other uses, see Starcade (disambiguation).

Ric Flair wrestled in a World Heavyweight Championship match at ten Starrcade events.

Starrcade was an annual professional wrestling event held from 1983 to 2000 by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and later World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as their flagship event equal to WWE's WrestleMania (although Starrcade was held in November or December, while WrestleMania is held in March or April), and featured the largest feuds of the promotion. From 1983 to 1987, Starrcade was produced by Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), the dominant promotion of the NWA, on Thanksgiving. In 1988, JCP was sold to Ted Turner due to financial problems, and became WCW.^[1][2] After a fiasco in organizing the pay-per-view events because of rival World Wrestling Federation's ultimatum to cable television providers to not carry Starrcade, instead carrying WWF's inaugural Survivor Series on Thanksgiving, WCW held the remaining events in December, with the events from 1988 to 1990 held under the NWA banner.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, it was tradition for JCP to hold major professional wrestling events on Thanksgiving and Christmas, mostly at Greensboro Coliseum. In 1983, JCP created Starrcade as their supercard to continue the Thanksgiving tradition, and spread it across its territory on closed-circuit television.^[3] It popularized broadcasting on closed-circuit television and was financially successful. From 1987, Starrcade was broadcast on pay-per-view, the first NWA event to do so.^[4]

The rights to the event now belong to WWE, Inc. (formerly World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.). In November 2008, WWE 24/7 Classics aired a special as a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the event called The Essential Starrcade. This five-part series counts down the top 25 matches in Starrcade history. In January 2009, WWE Home Video released Starrcade: The Essential Collection as a three disc DVD set.^[5]

Dates and venues

Event	Date	City	Venue	Main event
National Wrestling Alliance
Starrcade (1983)	November 24, 1983	Greensboro, North Carolina	Greensboro Coliseum	Harley Race (c) vs. Ric Flair in a Steel Cage match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade (1984)	November 22, 1984	Greensboro, North Carolina	Greensboro Coliseum	Ric Flair (c) vs. Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade (1985)	November 28, 1985	Greensboro, North Carolina	Greensboro Coliseum	Ric Flair (c) vs. Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
		Atlanta, Georgia	The Omni
Starrcade (1986)	November 27, 1986	Greensboro, North Carolina	Greensboro Coliseum	Ric Flair (c) vs. Nikita Koloff for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
		Atlanta, Georgia	The Omni
Starrcade (1987)	November 26, 1987	Chicago, Illinois	UIC Pavilion	Ron Garvin (c) vs. Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
NWA/WCW
Starrcade (1988)	December 26, 1988	Norfolk, Virginia	Norfolk Scope	Ric Flair (c) vs. Lex Luger for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade (1989)	December 13, 1989	Atlanta, Georgia	The Omni	Ric Flair vs. Sting
Starrcade (1990)	December 16, 1990	St. Louis, Missouri	Kiel Auditorium	Sting (c) vs. The Black Scorpion for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
World Championship Wrestling
Starrcade (1991)	December 29, 1991	Norfolk, Virginia	Norfolk Scope	Battlebowl
Starrcade (1992)	December 28, 1992	Atlanta, Georgia	The Omni	Battlebowl
Starrcade (1993)	December 27, 1993	Charlotte, North Carolina	Independence Arena	Vader (c) vs. Ric Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade (1994)	December 27, 1994	Nashville, Tennessee	Nashville Municipal Auditorium	Hulk Hogan (c) vs. The Butcher for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade (1995)	December 27, 1995	Nashville, Tennessee	Nashville Municipal Auditorium	Randy Savage (c) vs. Ric Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade (1996)	December 29, 1996	Nashville, Tennessee	Nashville Municipal Auditorium	Hollywood Hogan vs. Roddy Piper
Starrcade (1997)	December 28, 1997	Washington, D.C.	MCI Center	Hollywood Hogan (c) vs. Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade (1998)	December 27, 1998	Washington, D.C.	MCI Center	Goldberg (c) vs. Kevin Nash in a No Disqualification match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade (1999)	December 19, 1999	Washington, D.C.	MCI Center	Bret Hart (c) vs. Goldberg in a No Disqualification match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade (2000)	December 17, 2000	Washington, D.C.	MCI Center	Scott Steiner (c) vs. Sid Vicious for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship

National Wrestling Alliance

1983

Main article: Starrcade (1983)

1984

Starrcade (1984): The Million Dollar Challenge took place on November 22, 1984 from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.

• Denny Brown defeated Mike Davis to win the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (5:38)
• Brian Adias defeated Mr. Ito (4:00)
• Jesse Barr defeated Mike Graham to retain the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (11:43)
• The Assassin and Buzz Tyler defeated The Zambuie Express (Elijah Akeem and Kareem Muhammed) (with Paul Jones) in a Tag Team Elimination Match (5:26)
• Manny Fernandez defeated Black Bart (with James J. Dillon) to win the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship (7:35)
• Paul Jones defeated Jimmy Valiant in a Tuxedo Street Fight Loser-Leaves-Town match (4:35)
• Ron Bass (with James J. Dillon) defeated Dick Slater by disqualification to retain the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship (9:12)
• Ivan Koloff and Nikita Koloff defeated Ole Anderson and Keith Larson (with Don Kernodle) (15:28)
• Tully Blanchard defeated Ricky Steamboat to retain the NWA World Television Championship and win $10,000 (13:17)
• Wahoo McDaniel defeated Billy Graham to retain the NWA United States Championship (4:18)
• Ric Flair defeated Dusty Rhodes to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and win $1 million (12:12)
  • The match was stopped when referee Joe Frazier stopped the match due to a cut on Rhodes' forehead.

1985

Main article: Starrcade (1985)

1986

Starrcade (1986): Night of the Skywalkers took place on November 27, 1986 from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina and The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia.

• Tim Horner and Nelson Royal defeated Don and Rocky Kernodle
• Hector Guerrero and Baron Von Raschke defeated Shaska Whatley and The Barbarian
• Wahoo McDaniel defeated Rick Rude (with Paul Jones) in an Indian Strap match
• Jimmy Valiant (with Big Mama) defeated Paul Jones in a Hair versus Hair match with Manny Fernandez locked in a cage
• Tully Blanchard (with James J. Dillon) defeated Dusty Rhodes in a First Blood match to win the NWA World Television Championship
• The Rock 'n' Roll Express defeated Ole Anderson and Arn Anderson in a Steel Cage match to retain the NWA World Tag Team Championship
• Brad Armstrong fought Jimmy Garvin (with Precious) to a draw
• The Russians (Krusher Khruschev and Ivan Koloff) defeated The Kansas Jayhawks (Bobby Jaggers and Dutch Mantel) in a No Disqualification Match to retain the NWA United States Tag Team Championship
• Sam Houston defeated Bill Dundee by DQ to retain the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship
• Big Bubba Rogers (with Jim Cornette) defeated Ron Garvin in a Street Fight
• The Road Warriors (with Paul Ellering) defeated The Midnight Express (with Jim Cornette and Big Bubba Rogers) in a Skywalkers match
  • The Road Warriors won the match by knocking Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey off of the scaffold.
  • After the match Ellering chased Cornette up the scaffold; this led to Cornette suffering a severe knee injury when he fell from the underside of the scaffold and Rogers, who was supposed to catch him, failed to do so. Cornette did not land properly and had to be carried out of the ring.
• NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair and NWA United States Champion Nikita Koloff wrestled to a double disqualification.
• Note: Magnum T.A. was originally scheduled to face Ric Flair at the event, but was left temporarily paralyzed and had to end his wrestling career as a result of a car accident, and Nikita Koloff, who was engaged in a feud with Ronnie Garvin, turned face as a result and took Magnum T.A.'s place.

1987

Main article: Starrcade (1987)

1988

Main article: Starrcade (1988)

1989

Main article: Starrcade (1989)

1990

Main article: Starrcade (1990)

World Championship Wrestling

1991

Main article: Starrcade (1991)

1992

Starrcade (1992)
VHS cover featuring Sting and Ron Simmons
Information
Promotion	World Championship Wrestling
Date	December 28, 1992
Attendance	8,000
Venue	The Omni
City	Atlanta, Georgia
Pay-per-view chronology
Halloween Havoc (1992) Starrcade (1992) WCW/New Japan Supershow III

Starrcade (1992): BattleBowl/The Lethal Lottery II took place on December 28, 1992 from The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia.

Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.

• Dark match: Brad Armstrong defeated Shanghai Pierce (7:30)
  • Armstrong pinned Pierce after a Russian Legsweep.
• Van Hammer and Danny Spivey defeated Johnny B. Badd and Cactus Jack (6:51)
  • Hammer pinned Jack with a school boy cradle after Badd punched Jack.
• Big Van Vader and Dustin Rhodes defeated Kensuke Sasaki and The Barbarian (6:56)
  • Rhodes pinned Barbarian after Barbarian accidentally clotheslined Sasaki and Rhodes applied a school boy cradle on the unaware Barbarian.
• The Great Muta and Barry Windham defeated Brian Pillman and 2 Cold Scorpio (6:59)
  • Muta pinned Scorpio with a Moonsault after a lifting DDT to Scorpio from Windham.
• Steve Williams and Sting defeated Jushin Liger and Erik Watts (9:08)
  • Williams pinned Watts after a flapjack onto the top rope caught Watts in the throat.
• Shane Douglas and Ricky Steamboat defeated Barry Windham and Brian Pillman to retain the NWA and WCW World Tag Team Championships (20:02)
  • Douglas pinned Pillman with the belly to belly suplex.
• Sting defeated Big Van Vader to win the King of Cable tournament (16:50)
  • Sting pinned Vader with a scoop powerslam in mid-air after Vader attempted a move off the top rope.
• Ron Simmons defeated Steve Williams by disqualification to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (15:12)
  • The match originally ended in a double-countout, but it was changed to a disqualification, due to Williams attacking Simmons.
  • Williams was a last-minute replacement for Rick Rude, who was injured.
• Masa Chono defeated The Great Muta to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (12:49)
  • Chono forced Muta to submit with the STF.
• The Great Muta won the BattleBowl battle royal to win the BattleBowl ring (14:01)
  • Muta last eliminated Windham to win. The battle royal consisted of the winners of the first four tag team matches.

1993

Main article: Starrcade (1993)

1994

Starrcade (1994)
Information
Promotion	World Championship Wrestling
Date	December 27, 1994
Attendance	8,200
Venue	Nashville Municipal Auditorium
City	Nashville, Tennessee
Pay-per-view chronology
Halloween Havoc (1994) Starrcade (1994) SuperBrawl V

Starrcade (1994): Triple Threat took place on December 27, 1994 from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.

Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.

• Vader defeated Jim Duggan to win the WCW United States Championship (12:06)
  • Vader pinned Duggan after a Face Eraser.
• Alex Wright defeated Jean-Paul Levesque (14:03)
  • Wright pinned Levesque with a roll-up.
• Johnny B. Badd defeated Arn Anderson to retain the WCW World Television Championship (12:11)
  • Badd pinned Anderson.
  • Anderson replaced The Honky Tonk Man, who had just left WCW.
• The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) defeated WCW World Tag Team Champions Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) by disqualification (17:49)
• Mr. T defeated Kevin Sullivan (3:50)
  • T pinned Sullivan.
• Sting defeated Avalanche by disqualification (15:26)
• Hulk Hogan defeated The Butcher to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (12:07)
  • Hogan pinned Butcher after the Leg drop.

1995

Starrcade (1995)
Promotional Poster featuring Sting and The Great Muta
Information
Promotion	World Championship Wrestling
Date	December 27, 1995
Attendance	8,200
Venue	Nashville Municipal Auditorium
City	Nashville, Tennessee
Pay-per-view chronology
World War 3 (1995) Starrcade (1995) SuperBrawl VI

Starrcade (1995): World Cup of Wrestling took place on December 27, 1995 from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.

Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.

• Dark match: Diamond Dallas Page defeated Dave Sullivan
• Dark match: The American Males (Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Scotty Riggs) defeated The Blue Bloods (Lord Steven Regal and Earl Robert Eaton)
  • Riggs pinned Eaton.
• Jushin Liger (with Sonny Onoo; NJPW) defeated Chris Benoit (WCW) (10:29)
  • Liger pinned Benoit with a hurricanrana.
• Koji Kanemoto (with Sonny Onoo; NJPW) defeated Alex Wright (WCW) (11:44)
  • Kanemoto pinned Wright with a roll-up.
• Lex Luger (with Jimmy Hart; WCW) defeated Masa Chono (with Sonny Onoo; NJPW) (6:41)
  • Luger forced Chono to submit with the Torture Rack.
• Johnny B. Badd (with Kimberly Page; WCW) defeated Masa Saito (with Sonny Onoo; NJPW) by disqualification (5:52)
  • Saito was disqualified after tossing Badd over the top rope.
• Shinjiro Otani (with Sonny Onoo; NJPW) defeated Eddy Guerrero (WCW) (13:43)
  • Ohtani pinned Guerrero.
• Randy Savage (WCW) defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan (with Sonny Onoo; NJPW) (6:55)
  • Savage pinned Tenzan after a Flying Elbow.
• Sting (WCW) defeated Kensuke Sasaki (with Sonny Onoo; NJPW) (6:52)
  • Sting made Sasaki submit to win the "World Cup of Wrestling" for WCW 4-3.
• Ric Flair defeated Lex Luger and Sting by count-out in a Triangle match (28:03)
  • Flair became number one contender to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
• Ric Flair defeated Randy Savage to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (8:41)
  • Flair pinned Savage after Arn Anderson hit him with brass knuckles.
• Dark match: One Man Gang defeated Kensuke Sasaki to win the WCW United States Championship
  • Gang pinned Sasaki after a splash.
  • Sasaki kicked out of the pinfall, but referee Randy Eller still made the three-count and Gang celebrated with the title belt. Moments later however, a false finish was called, and the match was restarted. Sasaki then pinned Gang to retain the title.
  • Although highlights of the bout were later shown on WCW Saturday Night, the restarting of the match and Sasaki's subsequent win were not shown or ever acknowledged by WCW.

1996

Main article: Starrcade (1996)

1997

Main article: Starrcade (1997)

1998

Main article: Starrcade (1998)

1999

Main article: Starrcade (1999)

2000

Main article: Starrcade (2000)

See also

Professional wrestling portal

• Jim Crockett Promotions
• List of WCW pay-per-view events
• National Wrestling Alliance
• World Championship Wrestling

References

1. ^ Molinaro, John (1999-12-17). "Starrcade, the original "super card"". SLAM! Sports. http://slam.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingArchive/dec17_starrcade.html. Retrieved 2008-06-02. 
2. ^ Meltzer, Dave (2003-11-27). "Thursday news update: It was 20 years ago today....". Wrestling Observer. http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/headlines/default.asp?aID=9053. Retrieved 2008-06-02. 
3. ^ "Flair defeats Race for wrestling title". Greensboro Daily News. 1983-11-25. p. D3. http://www.midatlanticgateway.com/Resource_Center/thanksgiving/1983.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-02. 
4. ^ Hoops, Brian (2007-12-18). "Specialist - 20 Years Ago: Detailed look back at Starrcade '87 with Flair vs. Garvin". PWTorch. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/The_Specialists_34/article_23994.shtml. Retrieved 2008-05-24. 
5. ^ Starrcade: The Essential Collection (DVD). World Wrestling Entertainment. 2009.