WCW Starrcade 1991

1991 was an interesting year for Starrcade. WCW had recently disassociated itself with the NWA for 1991 – as well as lost its biggest star, Ric Flair – though the two are somewhat unrelated. Traditionally, Starrcade was considered NWA/WCW’s ‘WrestleMania’ – their flagship blowoff show – but for 1991 they decided to run a concept show. Devised by Dusty Rhodes, wrestlers names were entered into a lottery (the ‘Lethal Lottery!’), and drawn at random (though actually rigged) to set up ten tag matches throughout the night. The winners of the matches would then advance into a two ring battle royal (BattleBowl!), the winner of which… wins. And that’s it. No blowoff matches, no undercard – just the Lethal Lottery and BattleBowl for the biggest show of the year.

In reality, after the break from the NWA, WCW initially sought to shift the flagship banner away from Starrcade – associated so closely with the NWA days – to SuperBrawl. They would waver on that decision many times in subsequent years – in ’93 using Starrcade as the flagship for its 10^th Anniversary – until finally settling back on it in ’96, by which time they were in fierce competition with the WWF, and no one but wrestling geeks gave a shit about their history with the NWA anymore.

From Norfolk, Virginia; Your Hosts are Jim Ross, and Tony Schiavone – along with Eric Bischoff, Magnum TA, and Missy Hyatt doing the drawings.


Opening Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match: Michael Hayes and Tracey Smothers v Jimmy Garvin and Marcus Bagwell: Hayes and Garvin normally team as the Fabulous Freebirds - establishing the concept of this show right away. And confirming that the drawings were rigged, in case anyone was still wondering. Bagwell and Smothers start off, and get into a shoving match. They do a long feeling out process, until Bagwell starts unloading with dropkicks and armdrags - but forgets to lock an armbar, letting him roam free. Well, they were marketing him as a rookie at that point, so that's understandable within the context. Tag to the veteran Garvin, and he properly handles Smothers, putting him on the floor after the first criss cross. Back in, Garvin gives him a slimy handshake... and then atomic drops him back to the floor, in a nice bit. Wristlock, and with Smothers subdued, he tags Bagwell back in. He does his best to hold on to the wristlock, but Smothers fights him, so he goes to an armbar. Smothers keeps wrestling out, and both guys tag - giving us the Freebirds faceoff. They do a couple of stalemate sequences - to establish that they're partners, and know each other too well - but unfortunately it doesn't build anywhere, as they both tag back out. Smothers quickly nails Bagwell with a savate kick, but misses an elbow, and Bagwell with a flying bodypress for two. Four-way brawl breaks out, and as the Freebirds argue with each other, Bagwell catches Smothers with a fisherman’s suplex for the victory at 12:45. Certainly no classic, but the storyline of Bagwell making rookie mistakes, and needing Garvin's help, was worked well - in what was an otherwise forgettable tag match. *

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match: Steve Austin and Rick Rude v Big Josh and Van Hammer: Austin and Van Hammer start, and Hammer slams him, and hits a suplex for two. He misses a blind charge, however, and Rude tags in. Quick diving forearm takes control, and they cut the ring in half on Hammer. He gets the tag off to Big Josh who... who stands on Rude... but shockingly that bit of technical mastery doesn't get the job done, so he goes to a series of armbars. Rude with a flying axehandle for two, and he grabs a chinlock. Austin with one of his own, but a miscommunication allows the tag to Hammer. Powerslam! Side suplex! RAM JAM! Okay, no. But a diving shoulderblock leads to a four-way brawl, and Rude sneaks in with the Rude Awakening for the pin at 12:56. Wow, no wonder they clipped it down to only a few minutes for the Turner Home Video release. Really dull - mostly filled with choking and chinlocks during the heat segment, despite the level of talent on the heel side. DUD.

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match: Larry Zbyszko and El Gigante v Richard Morton and Dustin Rhodes: Rhodes and Zbyszko start, and Rhodes dominates the first criss cross with a kneelift. Zbyszko bails to Gigante, and Rhodes' dropkicks don't phase him. He tries a slick drop-toe-hold, but he can't even wobble him, and Gigante... grabs an armbar. God, if Gigante had literally any charisma at all, he would have been a superstar. Not that both WCW and the WWF didn't try, mind you. Zbyszko in with a swinging neckbreaker for two, but he gets cradled for two. Dustin with the bulldog, but Larry tosses him off, and wants to tag Gigante back in. He has issues with Zbyszko's patronizing white-man ways, however, and Larry eats a dropkick from Rhodes at 5:54. Wow, Morton literally did nothing here. This was another one that was brutally clipped on the Home Video version. Not that it was a classic, either - but seriously, you can't leave a six minute match intact? ¼*

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match: Diamond Dallas Page and Mike Graham v Bill Kazmaier and Jushin Liger: Graham and Liger start, going into a nice reversal sequence off of an armbar. Liger catches him with a headscissors takedown - though Graham botches the 'takedown' part by tangling himself up in the ropes on the way out. Inside, Liger tries a handspring elbow, but Graham doesn't seem to understand why the weird masked dude is cart wheeling at him in the middle of the wrestling ring (where chinlocks happen!), and blows his mark - leaving Liger to fall flat on his ass. Liger gets sick of trying to revolutionize American wrestling, and bails to Kazmaier - who does a much more traditional throw and pose combination. Tag to Page, and Kazmaier slams him around a bit, hitting a gutwrench powerbomb for two. 2^nd rope flying splash misses, however, and Dallas chokes away. Tag to Liger, and Page catches him with a Russian legsweep for two, but Liger throws a spinkick. Tag to Graham, and Liger hits an enzuigiri. Flying chop, and he slaps on a surfboard - wowing the crowd. Graham catches him with an impressive reversal into a Boston crab, and they do a primitive pinfall reversal sequence. Test-of-strength ends when Liger sentons at him, and then viciously unloads a series of kicks. To the floor, Liger with a somersault plancha, and a suplex back in gets Liger two. Backbreaker, and a 2^nd rope moonsault gets two - leading to the old standby: the four-way brawl. In the chaos, Kazmaier press slams Liger onto Page, and gets the pin at 13:08. Liger was way, way ahead of the others - as Graham's failure to sell most of his offense illustrated - and the overall result was a very disjointed match, though everyone worked hard, and it was well paced. *

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match: Lex Luger and Arn Anderson v Terrance Taylor and Z-Man: Anderson and Z-Man (Tom Zenk), start off, but Anderson plays mind games, stalling on the floor to frustrate him. He gets caught with a loose enzuigiri, and tags to Luger. Z-Man dominates him with dropkicks, and tags Taylor in to help cut the ring in half. Snapmare/neck snap combo get two, and he hits a swinging neckbreaker for two. Taylor goes to a hammerlock, and tries a sunset flip, but Luger tags Anderson on the way down - in a nice bit. Arn gets caught with a backslide for two, and a Vaderbomb gets two. Z-Man hits a well executed flying bodypress for two, but eats a DDT off of a mistimed criss cross – as manager Harley Race was supposed to trip him up, but Zenk bounced off of the wrong side of the ropes, and had to recalibrate. Luger with a suplex, and a powerslam for two, but Taylor gets the tag. He's a house of arson, and schoolboys Luger for two. Bodypress gets two. Backslide for two. Gutwrench powerbomb for two, so Anderson runs in, and, say it with me now: four-way brawl. Luger with the piledriver to finish at 10:25. Well paced back-and-forth tag match – a bit sloppy at times – but these four worked well together, actually coming off like properly assembled teams, as opposed to the standard disjointed Lottery mess. * ¾  

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match: Cactus Jack and Buddy Lee Parker v Ricky Steamboat and Todd Champion: In a great bit, when Parker's name gets called as Cactus Jack's partner in the heel locker room, Abdullah the Butcher loses it, and starts bashing his head viciously into the lockers - as Abdullah had wanted to team with his buddy, Cactus. Figuring him dead, The Butcher heads to the ring himself... while Parker crawls out, too. The referee won't have any doctoring of the incorruptible lottery system, however – sending Abdullah home – so Butcher nails the crawling cop a couple more times for good measure. Kind of a dick move, leaving your friend with a disabled partner, and all, but, really, no partner would probably be better than Buddy Lee Parker as a partner. Abdullah was just trying to help. Because that’s what friends do! God, didn't you go to 2^nd Grade? Back in the ring Steamboat starts with Cactus, and Cactus takes a backdrop to the floor. Steamboat follows with a tope, and inside an enzuigiri. Champion tags in with a 2^nd rope axehandle, and a chinlock. He gets dumped, and Jack drops the Cactus elbow off of the 2^nd rope. Inside, he grabs a chinlock of his own. Champion with a powerslam for two, as Champion finally makes it to the ring apron. He tags in, but he's still dead, and Steamboat finishes him with a flying bodypress at 7:48. Really dull match, as they worked long chinlocks to kill time until Parker could finish crawling to the ring for the finish. Cute angle, but it would have been better served with Jack having an actual match with Steamboat in the interim, instead of trading chinlocks of Champion. ¼*

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match: Sting and Abdullah the Butcher v Brian Pillman and Bobby Eaton: See, now if you think Abdullah was pissed at Buddy Parker for drawing the wrong card, he really hates Sting - who tried to kill him with an electric chair only a couple months back at Halloween Havoc. Normal people would have gotten over that kind of triviality by now - but not weirdos like Abdullah the Butcher. Not surprisingly, Butcher attacks Sting with his kendo stick before the bell even rings - only for Pillman to make the save. It all leads to a four-way brawl outside the ring (keeping within party lines), and inside, Eaton and Sting start, with Eaton targeting the knee. Sting backdrops him onto the ramp, however, and follows with a tope. Dropkick, but Eaton rakes the eyes on the way back inside. Chinlock - aided by Abdullah – who doesn't seem to get the concept of BattleBowl. Eaton even tries to tag Abdullah, but that gets him tombstoned (sloppy one, though - it was more like 'dropped onto his hands from a tombstone-like position'), so Butcher tries to save Eaton. He attacks Sting with the kendo stick, but Sting dodges, and hits Eaton with a flying bodypress at 5:55. All angle, no wrestling. Pillman didn't even get a chance to tag in. ¼*

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match: Vader and Mr. Hughes v Rick Steiner and The Nightstalker: Nightstalker is Bryan Clark, very early in his career. Steiner and Vader start (good choice), and Vader uses his size to dominate. Short-clothesline, but Steiner catches him with his own off of a cross corner, and a belly to belly suplex. They spill outside, and Rick throws a nice bodypress off of the apron, but gets caught, and posted. They fight over a suplex - with Rick winning, and suplexing him back in, but he gets caught in the wrong part of town, and Hughes tags. He misses a blind charge (well, the dude is wearing shades inside at night - maybe he is actually blind), and Steiner with a well executed German suplex. Double knockout leads to Nightstalker tagging, but he flying clotheslines Hughes right into his home corner, and a tag. Vader kills Nightstalker with a splash at 5:05. Energetic tag match, keenly keeping the more experienced Steiner in for the bulk, and allowing him to both throw and get thrown around the superheavyweights. *

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match: Johnny B. Badd and Arachnaman v Scott Steiner and Firebreaker Chip: Arachnaman is the recently deceased Brad Armstrong, under a mask, doing a Spider-Man knockoff gimmick. One that would, in fact, draw legal action from Marvel Comics, as it was such a blunt rip-off of the Spider-Man character, but I guess they figured no one was watching. That was usually a pretty safe bet, after all. Badd and Chip start, and Chip gets a couple of well executed overhead armdrags off of a criss cross. He showboats, however, and eats a back elbow, and Badd goes into the Golden Gloves routine. Chip tries a springboard bodypress for two, so Badd bails to Arachnaman. Steiner tags - waking the crowd up - but he goes right to an armbar. I think even he senses that that was a bad call, as he quickly lets off, and hits a powerslam, then dumps Arachnaman. Tag to Badd, who tries to dazzle Steiner with fists of fury, but gets spinebustered, and hung up to dry in the corner. Pumphandle slam, and Chip comes in with... a chinlock. Dude, and you wonder why they were popping (some of them were pooping – not even bothering with this match, and hitting the bathrooms) when you tagged out? Steiner tags back in, and hits a double-underhook powerbomb, and Arachnaman gets the tag. He goes with Chip, grabbing a chinlock, as the crowd sits on their hands - waiting for Steiner to do something again. They get their chance, as Chip with a Boston crab (a crab? On the spider?!), but Steiner gets bored, tags in, and starts suplexing everything in sight. Northern Lights suplex on Arachnaman finishes at 11:16. Another dull match, as Badd would become quite good in later years, but was still inexperienced (punch, punch, punch, chinlock), and no one seemed to be in the mood to try - even the crowd, who only bothered cheering whenever Steiner bothered doing something. ¼*, for a couple of nice spots from Steiner - even if the match as a whole was disjointed, and tediously boring.

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match: Ron Simmons and Thomas Rich v PN News and Steve Armstrong: Simmons and Armstrong start, and Ron immediately press slams him. Many shoulderblocks follow. Rich tags in, and hits a backdrop, but misses an elbowdrop, and News tags in. He blocks a slam by being fat, as the fans chant for Simmons - apparently equally offended by PN News' derogatory character, and its implications on the African American community. Bulldog by Simmons for two, and more shoulderblocking. Both guys tag out, and Rich uses his wrist-tape to choke away, but Armstrong responds in kind. Clothesline with the wrist-tape, and Rich bails to Simmons, who shoots him a, 'did you seriously just sell a clothesline off of a piece of athletic tape?' look, before coming in. I mean, duct tape, sure. But otherwise, that's just ridiculous. He takes control, and brings Rich back in to finish his business, but he misses a Stinger Splash. Armstrong chokes him out in the corner, and a swinging neckbreaker gets two. Rich sneaks off a tag to Simmons, and he's a house of arson. Powerslams for everyone, and a spinebuster for Armstrong finishes at 12:01. This one was also trimmed down to nothing on the VHS release - though considering the participants - maybe the editors were simply making a comment on the booking, as it should have been a simple squash for Simmons, with his super-duper-rocket-in-the-pooper push. ¾*

Main Event: BattleBowl: Okay, rules are simple: Two-ring battle royal (because when doesn’t WCW need an extra ring?), with everybody starting in ring one. The object is to knock guys into the second (attached) ring, and then those guys have their own battle royal. The winner of each ring will then show down. Okay, so, not exactly simple - but them's the rules. Participants: Marcus Bagwell, Jimmy Garvin, Steve Austin, Rick Rude, Dustin Rhodes, Richard Morton, Bill Kazmaier, Jushin Liger, Lex Luger, Arn Anderson, Ricky Steamboat, Todd Champion, Sting, Abdullah the Butcher, Vader, Mr. Hughes, Scott Steiner, Firebreaker Chip, Ron Simmons, and Thomas Rich. Typical battle royal action to start - Vader and Sting go to war, Arn Anderson and Rick Steamboat battle on the ramp way – nothing notable in the first part. Thomas Rich is the first to go, though, really, that's not horrible strategy - as he was in the last tag match, and now he can rest up by himself in ring two, while all the others kill themselves in the first ring. Bagwell ends up in there next, and indeed, the fresher Rich wrecks him. Really, the whole 'BattleBowl' concept of is flawed to begin with - but I'd probably break the Internet with a rant on that one. Sting and Rude - who were in the midst of a superhot feud - do a double elimination into the second ring, leaving Lex Luger and Vader alone in the first. Vader with an avalanche, but a second runs into boot, and Luger wins Ring #1 - getting a rest. Meanwhile, in the other ring, Rude and Sting continue to slug it out, Ron Simmons does a double elimination with Mr. Hughes, Steamboat dumps Vader - and we end up with Sting, Austin, Rude, and Steamboat. Sting and Steamboat team up to Stinger Splash the heels, and Austin's the first to go. At this point Steve Austin was actually the lowman on the totem pole - so makes sense. Steamboat dumps Rude next, but Rick grabs him while he's skinning the cat back in, and pulls him to the floor, leaving Sting as the winner of Ring #2. Or, the king of the losers, as common sense might call him in this situation. He goes for Luger, but Rude jumps him on the way, and drops him with the Rude Awakening for good measure. That leaves Luger with a healthy advantage, and he hits a running forearm smash right away – though this was before the whole 'loaded metal plate' angle. Inverted atomic drop, and Luger unloads his plodding array of kicks and punches. Onto the floor, Sting rams him into nearly every bit of rail WCW has, and inside he SURFS UP!! He takes out manager Harley Races, though the Stinger Splash misses, and Luger dumps him, but Sting holds on. Fists of fury, and a bulldog hit. Clothesline, and Sting wins BattleBowl at 25:10. Standard battle royal, but it was less about the match than a set up for the Sting/Luger stuff - though their a mini-match was dull, and kicky-punchy. Harley Race worked the best spot in it (a suplex, with Sting), and he was the long retired manager by this point. Overall: long, boring, and not worth a half hour of your time. ¼*

BUExperience: As noted in the introduction, this was during a period when WCW was trying to move away from Starrcade as their flagship show, and re-focus on SuperBrawl. And, indeed, Sting and Luger continued to feud, with Sting’s blowoff for the WCW Title coming at SuperBrawl II, a few months later.

As a show, it was certainly an interesting concept (I first saw the VHS sitting in our local library, of all places, sometime in 1994 – and the promise of a ‘Lethal Lottery,’ and ‘BattleBowl’ were certainly enough to entice a nine year old into checking it out), but – even though the drawing was fixed – most of these guys weren’t set tag teams, and their matches came off feeling disjointed, and incoherent. Commercially, it was also a tough sell – as it sounds neat – but without a single match announced going in, what’s the incentive to buy Starrcade? They would have been much better off building at least one feud to be blown off at the event – or at least announcing the Lottery matches in advance.

It might be recommended as a curiosity – but they ran the concept three more times, so it doesn’t even have that going for it. DUD.