Starrcade '93

Legacy Review

Starrcade '93: 10th Anniversary

December 27, 1993 from the Independence Arena in Charlotte, NC

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura

You can tell this is a really big show- Ventura is wearing a suit! They jump right on the hype train for the main event, showing Vader's early arrival at the arena (wearing his Ribera steakhouse jacket) and in-ring mid-afternoon warm up to show he's ready for business. Meanwhile, Flair's not only not at the arena, he hasn't even left home yet! We cut to Flair's house where Mean Gene is with him saying goodbye to his family like a solider that's leaving for a suicide mission. Reid, David and young Ashley (Charlotte) are all there. Current wife Beth says goodbye at the door, and Flair and Okerlund have a short walk and talk to the limo. All this does a really good job of making the match and this show seem like a big deal and sell the stakes of Flair possibly losing his career.

Pretty Wonderful (w/The Assassin) def 2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Alexander Bagwell (w/Teddy Long) in 11:45- The short lived, badly conceived Paul Roma as a Horseman experiment is thankfully over and he's back in his very natural heel role. The heels charge right in during their entrance and it's on. The faces clear the ring. Reset with Roma and Bagwell. Crossbody and armdrag by Bagwell. Arm work on Roma. He escapes and tags, but Orndorff walks right into an armdrag. He recovers with a forearm and kicks Scorpio all the way to the ramp. Scorpio breaks out some flippydo. Flying headscissors. Bagwell splash for 2. Atomic drop on Roma, who gives a very Rude-like sell. More picking apart of Roma's arm. Bagwell slaps a sleeper on Orndorff. While the ref is tied up with Scorpio, Roma breaks it up with an ax handle off the top rope. Triple backbreaker, huge elbow drop and arrogant cover for 2 by Roma. Orndorff hits a back suplex. Scorpio breaks the pin up. Roma with a powerslam. Bagwell dodges a splash off the top and gets the tag to Scorpio. Scorpio dives in Orndorff's vicinity and Orndorff sells it. Scorpio goes up top. Roma tries to stop him but Bagwell intercepts. Scorpio ax handle off the top. Assassin gets on the apron and takes a shot. He loads his mask up, taps Scorpio with a headbutt, and Orndorff covers for the pin. Nothing special but they kept it moving. They also had a bit of a hard time getting everyone in the right place for that finishing sequence. **1/4

Back to Flair and Okerlund in the limo riding to the arena, where they discuss in more detail what it would mean to Flair if he lost tonight and had to hang it up for good. 15 years later he'd still have a hard time making that call.

 

The Shockmaster def Awesome Kong (w/King Kong) in 1:34- Lord, what did we do to deserve this? The Kongs jump Shockmaster as soon as he hits the ring. Double clothesline. Double team avalanche. The ref lets it all go and the opening bell never rings. One Kong gets out, but the Kong left in the ring is the one with "King" on his tights, clearly the wrong one. Commentary even notices then covers by hilariously claiming that maybe they put the wrong tights on in the locker room. Shockmaster gets a boot up in the corner and hits a clothesline. Crossbody! He actually got off his feet! A single body slam gets the pin. Thankfully they kept it short. This was Shockmaster's last major appearance. DUD

Flair's limo arrives at the arena.

WCW World Television Championship: Lord Steven Regal (c) (w/Sir William) and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat go to a 15:00 time limit draw- Usual Regal stalling at the start. He fights off Steamboat's attempts at a leg takedown in the corner. Long lockup. Regal gets a shot on Steamboat's arm and Steamer spends a long while shaking it off. Half the audience already knows this is going to time limit. Regal gets a leg takedown and starts working the arm. Steamboat counters and flips Regal over by the arm. Steamboat leg takedown and jackknife cover for 2. Speed run and criss cross. Steamboat counters Regal's sunset flip counter for 2. Regal grabs an ankle and starts cranking it. Steamboat gets to his feet and hits an enzuguri. Chop off the top for 2. ARMBAR! 5 minutes left. Steamboat continues to work the arm oblivious to the time. 4 minutes left. Steamboat works a hammerlock into a cradle for 2. He adds in a headscissors. Regal works out and hits a huge European uppercut. 3 minutes left. Steamboat finally notices the time and lays in the chops. Both guys roll out and fight on the floor. Steamboat catches William coming in with the brolly and chases him around, running into a Regal dropkick. 2 minutes left. After some back and forth in the ring Steamboat hits a Japanese armdrag and DEEP armdrag. Regal counters with a headscissors. Steamboat works out and they barely get the bridge up spot pulled off. More counters. Steamboat hits a double underhook suplex for 2. One minute. Regal rolls out again. Steamboat follows with chops. He gives the heels a double noggin knocker and rolls Regal back in. He sets up for the crossbody off the top, but Regal dodges it with about 10 seconds left! Steamboat manages a desperation German suplex but the bell rings for the time limit mid-move. Solid draw. Give them more time and a real finish and it likely would have turned out pretty good. **3/4

Ventura argues that retirement really ain't that bad, and maybe by losing Flair will really be winning. We're getting into Game of Rassilon logic here.

Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne def Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce in 7:48- Payne turned face between Battlebowl and here. Jack gets a nice pop. Pierce and Payne start. Full speed shoulderblock collision that staggers both guys but no one goes down. Pierce knocks Payne down with a tackle. Payne counters with a shoulderblock and slam. Both sides swap. Slazenger and Jack do some back and forth brawling. Pierce breaks a pin up and we're everyone in early on. After things calm down Slazenger face plants Payne. Payne gets a sunset flip (!) on Pierce for 2. The heels double team and everyone's in again. Cactus Clothesline on Pierce! Jack flips Slazenger to the floor! Payne backdrops his partner over the top onto Slazenger! There's the closet thing to a big Foley bump for this match. Payne hooks Pierce in the Paynekiller. Slazenger recovers enough to break it up. Payne double clotheslines both heels. Jack avoids a double team. Kick wham double underhook DDT and good night. *1/2

Mean Gene does what he was paid to do in WCW, shill the hotline. They're running a poll to see if all title matches should be two out of three falls. After that NASCAR driver Kyle Petty (the noise you hear is my friend Cody booing him) joins Okerlund to talk about his dad Richard's retirement in context of what Flair faces tonight. Yeah, the difference is Flair could still go, while Richard Petty, who was great in his day, had been riding around getting lapped for a good 5 or 6 years before he finally hung it up.

 

Two out of Three Falls Match for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: "Stunning" Steve Austin (w/Col. Robert Parker) def "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes (c) in 16:16- FIRST FALL: Good counterwrestling start. They do a speed run and Austin runs into a bionic elbow, then powders. When he gets back in Dustin outwrestles him again. They crank it up again. Dustin counters a powerbomb attempt into a backslide for 2. Austin rolls out again. Slugfest on the floor. Austin gets whipped and goes OVER the guardrail about four rows deep! Damn, that was a hard splat on the concrete. Of course he's right back up, calling for a time out. When they get back in Austin offers a handshake. Dustin pops him in the mouth. Well that's just rude. Austin gets a cheap shot in the corner. Back elbow for 2. He tosses Dustin to the floor. Dustin sunset flips back in for 2. Sloppy Dustin dropkick. Slugfest. Austin hits a back suplex. A shoulderblock puts both guys down. Dustin catches a leaping Austin. Austin grabs the top rope to fall on Dustin for 2. Dustin dodges a knee off the second rope and goes into full comeback mode. Bionic elbow. Diving clothesline. Powerslam for 2. Parker gets on the apron. Dustin throws Austin into him! But Austin went over the top rope, and the ref call for the bell and a DQ. Dustin hops out and posts Austin while the ref tries to get him to stop for the between falls rest period. Parker is carried out.

SECOND FALL: Austin is busted open and bleeding good. Dustin tosses him back in and gives him an ax handle off the top rope for 2 as the ring lights go out. GIVE ME MY SPOTLIGHT! Best Batista gimmick ever. Dustin hits a suplex. The lights come back on. He goes up for mounted punches on Austin with a huge spot of Austin's blood on his thigh. Austin counters with a double leg takedown, grabs a handful of tights, and gets the pin and the title! Well. If they were going to do that finish and have Austin win two straight falls, why do the 2/3 fall match at all? Apart from that and the short second fall and abrupt ending, it tried really, really hard to be good but was never quite able to get there. **1/2

 

WCW International World Heavyweight Championship: "Ravishing" Rick Rude (c) def The Boss in 9:08- This was supposed to be the British Bulldog losing yet another title match in WCW, but he was released after Battlebowl due to some real life legal troubles. He'd return to WWF in mid-'94. For his replacement, WCW got another guy they had just signed from the WWF, the artist formerly known as the Big Boss Man. Right now the only difference is Boss is in a black shirt instead of a blue one. There'd be many name and gimmick changes for him over the next couple of years, but more on that in future reviews. In a way this matchup is a bit ironic, as Rude had left the WWF just when Boss Man started going through the Heenan Family to get revenge for Heenan insulting his momma. Jawing start. Boss is all kinds of fired up. Very rough lockup with Boss almost looking like he's trying to shoot wrestle Rude. Rude hides in the corner. Boss spits on him! Another rough lockup and more stalling. Finally Rude gets a cheap shot in the corner and starts working Boss over. Boss comes back with a mile high backdrop and big boot. Pillar to post beating as Tony talks about WCW getting a new commissioner at the start of the new year, name to be determined. They go outside and Rude gets slammed on the floor. Boss lifts Rude up in a suplex on the floor, which hooks Rude's legs upside down on the top rope. Boss gives him a few shots before Rude gets untangled. Boss bear hug. Rude bites out. Boss catches Rude coming off the top rope. Faceplant. Rude dodges and Boss gets crotched in the ropes. Sunset flip from Rude, and that gets a clean pin. I don't know if it was him being unhappy about getting a title with no real existence, problems with Bischoff or what, but Rude has absolutely been dogging it during this title run, in contrast to his tremendous pre-injury US title run. *

Promo for Superbrawl IV in February, which is advertised as "double Thundercage".

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Sting and Road Warrior Hawk def The Nasty Boys (c) (w/Missy Hyatt) by DQ in 29:11- To the shock of no one the Nastys stall the hell out of the start. After Sting and Knobbs finally get going it only takes a few moves for Knobbs to roll out. Hawk presses Sting down to the floor on both Nastys! Both sides swap and Hawk no sells Saggs forearms. After a short heel corner beatdown Hawk pops out with a double clothesline. The Nastys powder again, and when Saggs gets back in Hawk pounds him down. Enzuguri for 2. Knobbs' arm gets worked on. Hawk does his usual shoulder posting and fall to the floor spot. Saggs dives on him and hits him with a chair. Hyatt gets a stiff slap in. The Nastys spend the next few minutes picking Hawk's arm apart. They work the phantom tag spot in. Almost immediately Sting gets the real tag and cleans house. The Nastys go to the ramp again and decide to take a walk. The faces chase them down and drag them back to the ring. Knobbs gets his knees up on a Sting splash off the top rope. Legdrop off the second rope that Sting half rolled away from and he gets nailed right in the head. Ref Nick Patrick quickly checks on him. Ugly. Sting gets thrown out, takes a rail shot and a whipping from Hyatt. Some guys are into it. Back in the Nastys break out Nasty Rest Hold 1A: The Abdominal Stretch of Horrid Time Stretichiness. Capetta gives us the 20 minutes call, only 10 minutes to time limit. It's a 30 minute limit instead of 60. Saggs hits a pumphandle slam. Knobbs busts out Nasty Rest Hold 1B: The Double Chinlock of Killing Time Until We Can Go Home. And then the abdominal stretch comes out again. 5 minutes left. Sting is still in peril. Ugly Knobbs splash off the second rope. 4 minutes left. Knobbs says "one more time", goes for another splash and this time Sting gets his boot up. Hawk gets knocked off the apron and can't tag. Hawk says screw it and nails Knobbs from behind. 3 minutes left. Tag to Hawk. Hawk rampage. Ugly ass powerslam. DONNYBROOK! Stinger Splash on Knobbs! He goes for the Scorpion but Hyatt distracts from the apron. Sting gives her a mouth full of whip, lets Knobbs run into her, and rolls Knobbs up. Patrick counts despite the fact neither guy is legal and Knobbs kicks out. Doomsday Device! Hyatt runs in for the cheap, blatant DQ. Almost 30 minutes of a Nasty Boys match for that weak ass finish. If they'd kept it to 15ish and did that during the Sting hot tag run it, well, would have still sucked but not quite as bad. The whole second half of the match felt pointlessly tacked on. 3/4*

Before getting to the main event, here's some Starrcade 10th anniversary stats because at heart I'm a stats guy: This is the 11th Starrcade, and the 9th to be main evented by Flair. The only two he didn't were '91 and '92 when he was in the WWF. Even in the '89 Iron Man tournament Flair and Sting were the last match, and '90 counts because Flair wrestled the main event as the Black Scorpion and was unmasked. Debates on how stupid it was to have Flair be the Scorpion, while valid, are beside the point here.

 

Title vs Career Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair def Big Van Vader (c) (w/Harley Race) in 21:18- Flair's got all the pyro, including a huge pyro waterfall. He gets a massive hometown pop. Real big fight feel here, the kind WCW hasn't had for a long time. Vader shoves Flair across the ring out of lockups. After three of those Flair rolls out for a think. Vader starts to chase, realizes what he's doing and stops. Smart. Back in Vader lays in some potatoes, grabs a knucklelock and cranks Flair's wrist. Short clothesline. "You ain't man enough!". Flair turns Vader around and hits some chops in the corner. From the camera angle you can clearly see Flair tell Vader "shove me". Vader does. Corner pound down and press slam from Vader. Flair goes to the floor again and Vader follows. He presses Flair and drops him on the guardrail. Flair dodges and Vader crashes into the rail! Chops! Race pops Flair and Vader suplexes him back in. More corner potatoes. Flair Flip! He falls on the ramp and staggers down into the rail. Huge Vader clothesline back in. Flair tries to chop back but it's having no effect. Vader powerslam for 2. Clothesline off the second rope. Flair took a stiff shot somewhere and is bleeding a little from his mouth, but he's got a ton of fight left in him. He dodges a Vader splash off the second rope! Flair ax handle off the top rope. A second one that pretty much missed. A third one puts Vader down. Kneedrop. Vader's up with a clothesline. He places Flair up on the top rope. Superplex! Vader drops an elbow to the gut and Flair sells it to the rafters. He dodges another Vader splash, but runs into a tackle. Flair gets tossed outside again. Race stomps on him. More chops on Vader that are shrugged off. Flair dodges an avalanche! After some corner whip reversals Vader hits the avalanche. Race screams at Flair to quit. Flair goes to the desperation eye poke and slowly punches Vader down. The mask is off. Flair drags Vader to the corner and posts his knee! While Race has the ref tied up Flair gives the knee a chairshot! Brawl on the floor with Flair getting the upper hand for the first real time. Charishot to Vader's head! More punches in the ring. Flair bites Vader! He picks the knee apart some more. Vader fights off the figure four. Flair dodges a Vader bomb! Figure four! Race gets on the apron as the crowd goes nuts. Vader gets to the ropes. Flair is all fired up, but runs straight into a big boot. Another elbow to the gut. Vader climbs up top. VADERSAULT! FLAIR DODGES! He covers, but catches Race climbing to the top and gets out of the way just in time. Race headbutts Vader! Flair running forearm and chops. He runs into another tackle, but pops back up, clips Vader's knee, works him over, and stacks him up for a pin and the title! MASSIVE roof busting pop from Flair's hometown crowd! Officially they call it Flair's 11th world title. Vader's dominant reign ends at 3 days short of a full year (he did swap the belt back and forth with Sting during a UK tour in March, but I'm not sure those are officially recognized). The match was absolute magic, with the greatest of all time and the greatest big man of all time doing their stuff and telling a phenomenal story of Flair taking down the unbeatable monster. ****3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- WCW ends a very rough 1993 with both their match of the year and moment of the year. As great as Vader was as champion, one of the year's few bright spots (the Hollywood Blondes and Cactus Jack are others that come to mind), getting Flair back on top gave the company a shot in the arm that they'd ride the first half of '94 leading to the debut of a rather large free agent signing midyear. And to think this was going to be Sid's spot until he got fired. The rest of the show is take it or leave it.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C