Favorite Pre-nWo NWA/WCW Starrcade PPV

[Guest Staravenger]

I figure this could go in two different places, but since it's not really a poll, I thought it would be better off here.

 

A quick little rant of me saying how much I miss the old days of NWA/WCW...before the Monday night Wars that is. I grew up more of a fan of NWA than WWF, mainly because the wrestling was better, and they featured high profile matches on regular TV on a regular basis.

 

Starrcade's first PPV was in 1987 (although it was held from 1983-87) featuring possible one of my least favorite main events of all time...Ron Garvin defending the WORLD TITLE against Ric Flair inside a steel cage. On the undercard, a new-comer named Sting made his PPV Debut, participating in a Six-Man tag to curtain jerk the show.

 

1988's show IMO was one of the better Starrcades. Featuring Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger for the World Title, The Road Warriors vs. Dusty Rhodes & Sting for the tag titles, Mike Rotundo vs. Rick Steiner for the Television Title, and Barry Windham vs. Bam Bam Bigelow for the United States title.

 

1989 was the first Starrcade to be gimmicky, as it was the Iron Man Tournament. Ric Flair, Sting, the Great Muta, and Lex Luger participated in the singles matches, while the Road Warriors, Steiner Brothers, Doom, and the SST participated in the tag team ranks. The show started the tease of Sting's removal from the Horsemen, as well as...nothing much else.

 

1990 is probably my 2nd favorite. Possibly the ONLY PERSON EVER, I really enjoyed the Sting/Black Scorpion angle that ran from August through December. Sure, now all the magic tricks looks funny, but I was eating that shit up like it was gold. The show featured another bizarre twist....a Tag Team tournament featuring teams from around the World, reprisenting the United States, Canada, Russia, Mexico, England, New Zealand, Japan, and some other country. The rest of the card featured a very good match between Doom and Arn Anderson & Barry Windham, and a good opener between Bobby Eaton & Tom Zenk.

 

1991 may have been the most forgetable IMO. It featured a series of Tag Team matches, where the participants were drawn at random, making up odd pairing where enemies teamed with each other. The winning teams went on to a Battle Royale. The rest is just a blurr.

 

1992 featured pretty much the same thing as the first IIRC.

 

1993 would also be on the lower rung of the ladder, with the exception of Ric Flair winning the World Title for an 8th time from Vader. Vader's original opponent was suppose to be Sid Vicious, but a crazy incident featuring Arn Anderson and a pair of scissors changed all that.

 

1994 is the worst. Hulk Hogan vs. Ed Leslie in the main event. I don't need to say anymore, but Mr. T vs. Kevin Sullivan was also booked on the show.

 

1995 I have never seen, but I believe it featured a series of matches between the wrestlers of WCW against a team of wrestlers from Japan (I don't recall what promotion, since by now WCW was not too good).

 

 

Out of the above shows, I'd have to go with 1990, mainly because it was one I enjoyed the most. 1994 would have to be the worst on the list just because of the main event (and a shitty undercard)

[Guest ISJ981]

My favorite pre-nWo Starrcade PPV has got to be Starrcade 1995. I think that it was the most solid show with the Benoit/Lyger opener, the Kanemoto/Wright match which wasn't bad, the awesome Guerrero/Ohtani match, and the triangle match main event with Flair, Sting, and Luger. It was just an entertaining night of wrestling. I'd have to agree with Staravenger in that 1994 was the worst. The only thing I really liked off of it was when Vader squashed Duggan pretty much.

 

My rankings:

 

1. 1995

2. 1988 -> Had a bunch of great matches (MX/OMX, Fantastics/Varsity Club, Warriors/Sting&Dusty, Flair/Luger) and the awesome moment where Rick Steiner beat Rotunda for the TV strap.

3. 1987 -> Wasn't all that bad, puts it above the others.

4. 1992 -> BattleBowl... but it did have Vader/Sting, which was good.

5. 1991 -> Again, BattleBowl, really interchangable with 1991, the good match from this year was Arn/Luger vs. Zenk/Taylor.

6. 1993 -> Nothing that good except for Flair/Vader.

7. 1989 -> I don't remember liking the Iron Man system.

8. 1994

 

*I never saw 1990's edition.

[JHawk 0]

1988, no doubt in my mind. I'd put it over 1995 only because 1988's matches all pretty much meant something long-term, while WCW barely even mentioned Starrcade 1995 except for Flair's title win.

[Precious Roy 0]

I love 95 and the WCW/New Japan competition, plus the triple threat and Flair-Savage match might be my absolute favorite post-Hogan WCW Flair shit. I think that gets my nod.

 

88 was great on the strength of Flair/Luger and a super undercard

 

Other than 94 (an AWFUL show) the rest are pretty much interchangable IMO, but I did love the concept of the 89 Iron Man tournys, even if the matches weren't booked as well as they should have been. If that show had been done right it would probably get an easy nod from me.

[BHK 0]

1995 I have never seen, but I believe it featured a series of matches between the wrestlers of WCW against a team of wrestlers from Japan (I don't recall what promotion, since by now WCW was not too good).

You need to pick it up.

[natey2k4 0]

I do agree that 1994 was an awful show no doubt about it...

 

Sting vs Avalanche

Hulk Hogan vs The Butcher (Ed Leslie)

Kevin Sullivan vs Mr. T

Harlem Heat vs The Nasty Boys

Vader vs Hacksaw..

 

But I actually can say that I enjoyed two matches on that PPV. Enjoyed slightly, but not enough to make the event good.

 

Alex Wright vs Jean Paul Levesque = ** as it was a decent match for too young rookies to put on.

 

Arn Anderson vs Johnny B. Badd = **1/4 as it was decent as well.

 

Sting vs Avalanche may have been 1/2*, and the rest were duds. It was a HORRIBLE show, but I did enjoy those two matches I stated..

 

 

The best Starrcade had to be 1995. What a f'n show.

*Alex Wright vs Koji

*Chris Benoit vs Jushin Lyger

*Eddie Guerrero vs someone

*Flair vs Luger vs Sting

 

I just thought it was an excellent show.

[Guest theoldxpac]

83 is the best, the last three matches are great. Next would be 85, 88 and 95.

[res37618 0]

The best Starrcade? 1992, of course! Simmons vs. Williams for the WCW title = mega-buyrate and the best event in 10 years!

 

Just kidding . . . . .

 

I think the best Starrcade nod has to go to 1988, there was a super-hot crowd that night, and there was really only one bad match (JYD/Koloff vs. Assassins) - the Luger/Flair match was probably the best they'd ever done (with the possible exception of Wrestle War '90), and it's just an all-around good card. The crowd goes BATSHIT when Rick Steiner wins the TV strap, it's crazy.

 

Honorable mention, for me anyway, goes to Starrcade '87 - that show is OLD SCHOOL! There's not one match on the card that I would call "great", but the entire show is just enjoyable from start to finish.