WCW Starrcade 1993

For 1993, WCW – after spending the last couple of years turning their traditional flagship show into a platform for Dusty Rhodes’ BattleBowl gimmick – decided a return to form was needed for the 10^th Anniversary show. As in the old days, they booked Starrcade as the capital blowoff event of the year – focusing on building feuds, and a major main event.

From Charlotte, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura


Opening Match: Pretty Wonderful v 2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Bagwell: Roma and Orndorff were still being billed separately at this point - but 'Pretty Wonderful' is too awesome a team name not to use whenever possible. They charge right in, but the faces clean house. Bagwell and Paul Roma start, and Bagwell catches him with a bodypress for two. The faces work an armbar, cutting the ring in half, but Roma slams his way into a tag. Paul Orndorff kicks the shit out of Scorpio, but gets caught in a botched headscissors takedown. He was going for a pinfall attempt over it, however he didn't get the shoulders properly pinned, and so the referee didn't count - leaving them awkwardly sitting there in 'I'm fighting to kick out' position when there was nothing to kick out of - before quickly saving face by turning it into a headscissors submission, and tags to Bagwell. Bagwell splashes him for two, and grabs a sleeper, but Roma dives in off of the top to break it up. Roma with a series of backbreakers for two, and Orndorff with a side suplex for two. They cut the ring in half - working well with suplexes, and powerslams – but Roma misses a flying splash to allow the tag to Scorpio. He's a house of arson, and unloads with dropkicks. He tries the headscissors again, but manager The Assassin refuses to see another botch, and headbutts him from the apron, allowing Orndorff the pin at 11:45. Scorpio’s ‘high flying’ stuff was sloppy – which isn’t unusual for him – but it was a generally well worked tag match. *

Awesome Kong v The Shockmaster: By this point Shockmaster was past the Star Wars chunk of his career - trading in his Storm trooper helmet for a construction one. You'd think that would necessitate a name change, but no. Construction Worker 'Shockmaster' is what they were going with. Awesome Kong is some four hundred pound masked blob, and he and tag partner (King Kong – since only ripping off George Lucas would be stupid) jump Shockmaster on the way in, hitting an avalanche. Splash by Awesome, but Shockmaster SHOCKS UP!! Bodypress! Slam! Okay, that's it – pin at 1:34. Yeah, DUD - though thankfully kept short.

WCW Television Title Match: Steven Regal v Ricky Steamboat: Regal had picked up the title from Steamboat back at Fall Brawl. Regal stalls to start - which makes psychological sense, given there's only a fifteen minute time limit - and Steamboat has to beat him. When they do tie-up, Regal immediately supermarket sweeps him, grounding the high flying dragon, and tying him up on the mat. Regal forces him to waste time wrestling out of various armbars and headlocks - which he knows a wrestler of Steamboat's caliber can do - but which he also knows is running down the clock, and won't get Steamboat any closer to the title. Which is what it was all about in those days. Steamboat tries to throw some rollups and cradles in, but Regal easily counters, easily locking Steamboat back into wear down holds. Steamboat escapes with an enzuigiri, and hits a flying chop for two - but then makes his big mistake: he locks an armbar. Regal's 'resthold' use was well warranted here - for reasons noted above - but Steamboat had finally taken control, and needed to be the aggressor, and with the time limit running down, an armbar is a poor use of offense. He turns it into various pinning combinations, but Regal is not near worn down enough to fall prey to them, slugging his way out, and bailing to the floor - another place he would retain, should the match end by countout. Inside, Regal dodges a headscissors, but gets caught in a butterfly suplex - so he bails again. Steamboat forces him back in, but misses a flying bodypress, and the time limit expires in Regal's second time limit draw in a row on pay per view. Though, that's one hella wacky time limit at 15:14. Match was a brilliant psychological display from Regal, though Steamboat - who is a fantastic wrestler; one who could write a book on ring psychology - fell short here. ** ¼ They really should have made a play to sign Jerry Lawler back in the early 90s. The TV Title would have been his best friend. Once he won it – all he'd have to do is his endless stall routine every week, and he'd have been champion for life. Or, like, until 2001.

Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne v Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce: Tex and Shanghai would become better known as the Godwinns in the WWF. Payne and Pierce start off, trading shoulderblocks, as Jesse Ventura questions Payne's choice of t-shirt. Both guys tag, and Cactus with a DDT for two, but they seem lost out there. Payne tags back in, and Tex quickly catches him with a bulldog, and both guys tag. Cactus clotheslines him to the floor, and it quickly breaks down into a four-way brawl, allowing Payne to backdrop Cactus onto Tex. Inside, Payne goes for an armbreaker submission, but gets double teamed, but a miscommunication allows Cactus the double-arm DDT on Pierce for the victory at 7:48. Really disjoined tag match, as there were several points when it seemed like they wanted to work something, but the wrong man was in for whatever they had planned, and so they had to stop, adjust, tag, and start over. Jack and Payne were better suited to wild brawls than standard tag matches, anyway. DUD.

WCW United States Title 2/3 Falls Match: Dustin Rhodes v Steve Austin: This was set up at Halloween Havoc, as Rhodes retained the title - but not before Austin got a false finish victory, with two feet on the ropes. They fight over the initial lock-up to start, with Austin bailing into the ropes to avoid losing cleanly. Rhodes grounds him a couple of times, so Austin bails to the floor to regroup - working the count, and frustrating Rhodes. Inside, Austin ambushes him off of a test-of-strength, but Rhodes out wrestles him on the mat, putting Steve on the floor to rethink strategy again. They run several more 'Austin gets outwrestled - bails to the floor' sequences, so Austin tries to pull him out for a brawl, but Rhodes gets the best of that, too, throwing him over the rail. Austin regroups, and tries the next strategy: offer a handshake - but Rhodes sees through it, and outright decks him. This is pre-Stone Cold, however - and if there's one thing Steve Austin won't stand for, it's ungentlemanlike behavior from a fellow Texan - so he unloads on Rhodes. Elbowdrop, and a back elbow for two. Dustin catches him with a sunset flip for two, and a poorly executed dropkick, but he gets caught up with Austin's manager, and hit with a side suplex for two. Austin counters a slam with a bodyblock for two, but the still not-FU elbow misses. Rhodes starts firing elbows, and a diving clothesline hits. Powerslam for two, but manager Robert Parker gets involved again, so Rhodes throws Austin into him – and that's a disqualification at 14:00. Even the road crew must have thought that was lame, as the house lights actually die at that point - leaving them wrestling in the dark until someone can get a spotlight onto them. Rhodes tries to put him away with a flying clothesline, and a suplex gets two - as Jesse jokes that it's 'turned into a dark match.' Ten-punch count in the corner, but Austin supermarket sweeps him, grabs a handful of tights, and wins the title at 15:54 - just as the lights come back on. Looks like they went home early, figuring the lighting problem was fucking them over – though not too early for me. Match wasn’t poorly worked, just dull, and clumsily booked – as a disqualification would be fine at that stage, but the execution fell short (Ooh, Rhodes is such a badass! He threw Austin into Parker!) was about the lamest path possible. Why not book Rhodes – frustrated with Austin’s bailing, and heel tactics – to unload on him with a chair, losing a fall by DQ, but weakening Austin badly enough to score a pin, then have them fight tooth-and-nail over the last fall. ¾*

WCW International World Heavyweight Title Match: Rick Rude v The Boss: This was supposed to be Davey Boy Smith facing Rude, but he got into an altercation defending his wife/lifelong instigator Diana Hart-Smith's honor in a bar, and WCW turfed him during the legal fallout. The Boss is Ray Traylor - best known for his WWF work as The Big Bossman - shortly after his WCW debut. Boss tries to psyche him out to start, but he's only a security guard in this gimmick, so, really, who's he kidding? No wonder he's so pissed off - demotion from law enforcement officer to rent-a-cop would do that to anyone. Well, that, and the fact that his name is on a WCW contract now, and not a WWF one. That's a real demotion. Slow start, as Rude dodges Boss's overzealous attacks, suckering him into the corner, and working him over. Criss cross allows Boss to send Rude to the stratosphere with a backdrop, and a big boot hits. Backbreaker gets one, and a bodyslam for one. Rude bails to the floor, but Boss follows, slams him out there, then suplexes him into a tree of woe on the outside of the ropes - in a nice bit. Inside with a bearhug, but Rude goes to the eyes, and a sunset flip retains for Rude at 9:08, in a perfect example of WCW's ridiculous booking practices - as they slotted Boss in as a replacement, hoping to give him good placement after his debut - but had no plans to change the title, and therefore had to job him in his first major appearance for the company. Traylor was a perfect example of WCW's gimmick hell - along with other defectors like Earthquake and Brutus Beefcake – all of whom went through a combined total of approximately twenty gimmick changes within a one year span, as WCW tried to rip-off whatever success they had in the WWF (The Big Bossman becomes 'The Boss,' Earthquake becomes 'Avalanche,' etc...), as opposed to coming up with anything original. As for the match – certainly not offensively bad, or anything – just dull, as they didn’t want either guy to look bad (notice, Boss jobbed to a fluke sunset flip – not the Rude Awakening finisher), leaving them without much direction. ¼*

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: The Nasty Boys v Sting and Hawk: This was thrown together, after changes to the main event reshuffled the card. Sting and Brian Knobs start, but Knobs stalls. The strategy works, as the takes control, but Sting catches him off of a criss cross, and dumps him. The Nasties try to regroup, but Hawk press slams Sting over the top, onto both champions to break up their concentration. Jerry Sags squares off with Hawk, but eats a clothesline, and bails. Inside, Hawk slugs away, and hits a standing dropkick. Diving shoulderblock, and fistdrop connect - but Sags bails again. Inside, enzuigiri gets Hawk two, and Knobs tags in. Hawk works the arm, and the challengers try to cut the ring in half with an armbar on Knobs. Hawk misses a blind charge, however, and gets pasted with a chair (though not a real steel chair - a weak, non-folding plastic chair, straight out of some 3^rd grade art class), and inside the Nasties work him over - targeting the shoulder he injured on the blind charge. It's mostly stomping and armbars, but still, pretty wicked psychology for a Nasties match - and nice to see them working something other than the lower back for once. Tag to Sting, and he's a house of arson. He dumps both Nasties, and they take a walk, deciding to retain by countout, but Sting drags Sags back in, only to have a flying splash hit the knees. Knobs with a 2^nd rope flying legdrop, and a standard version gets two. Suplex for two, and Sags hooks a leveraged abdominal stretch - as the Nasties cut the ring in half. Standard Nasties offense finally emerges, as they target Sting's lower back -  locking on reverse chinlocks, and hammering away. Hawk finally gets the tag, but it quickly breaks down into a four-way brawl - with Sting completely forgetting that whole 'heat segment' thing to join in. Stinger Splash, but Nasty manager Missy Hyatt stops the Deathlock. Doomsday Device, but Hyatt runs in again, and we have a disqualification at 29:11. Looks like that was supposed to be a time limit draw, but someone missed their mark - though fudging the timekeepers numbers (as we saw earlier) is common in wrestling. This would have been fine at about the ten to fifteen minute range - and likely much more intense - but as is, far too long for what they were going for - especially with that finish. They just didn't have the combined move sets to pull it off - plodding around for ages between spots - likely having to work an extended match to fill time due to various departures leaving WCW with holes in the card. ¾*

Main Event: WCW World Title v Career Match: Vader v Ric Flair: The original booking had Sid winning the World Title here, but he got into a brutal, real-life fight with Arn Anderson during WCW's tour of Europe in late October - stabbing Anderson with a pair of scissors. He was released (going into wrestling exile for a year, until the WWF picked him up again), and so they shuffled Ric Flair into the main event - with his career on the line in his hometown. Overall, a much better result than Sid as WCW Champion - ultimately setting up the dream match showdown with Hulk Hogan, who would join WCW in June of '94. Vader overpowers him to start (no shit!), leaving Flair to have to use less conventional methods than a collar-and-elbow tie-up to take the advantage. He tries to lure him into a chase (that way able to nail him on the way back in), but Vader doesn't fall for it. Vader twists him into a test-of-strength, so Flair fires off chops - but they don't even faze Vader, so Flair bails to regroup. Inside, Vader pummels him with body shots in the corner, and hits a press slam. To the outside, Vader presses him onto the railing, but misses a blind charge into the rail, and Flair posts him. Manager Harley Race – the very man Flair defeated for the World Title at the first Starrcade jumps him, however - and Vader suplexes back in. Headbutt, and Vader unloads with some more stiff body shots. Flair flips to the floor - mostly to escape Vader – but the seasoned veteran knows he has to be inside to win the title - and keep his career. He hustles back in, but gets hammered again, and Vader powerslams him for two. 2^nd rope flying clothesline, but a 2^nd rope splash misses, and Flair gets a flying chop. Another, as he tries to take Vader down, and the third finally takes Vader off of his feet. Shindrop, but Vader's right back up with a clothesline. Superplex, and a devastating elbowdrop, but a splash misses. Flair charges again - but running into Vader is almost like having him run into you - knocking Flair to the floor. Race abuses him out there, as Vader intelligently works the count - which will allow him to retain. Flair beats it in, so Vader hits an avalanche to beat the moxie out of him. Flair won't stay down, however, and unloads with a flurry of chops - knocking Vader down. He targets the knee - ramming it into the ringpost – and he whacks it with the art-class chair for good measure - both to setup the figure four finisher, and to try to take away Vader’s ability to stand. To the floor, Flair keeps hammering, and inside Vader has trouble maintaining a vertical base - as does Flair. Figure four, but Vader shoves him off - only to miss the Vaderbomb! Flair jumps right back on the leg, and this time the disoriented Vader can't counter the figure four... but he does make the ropes. Vader knocks the wind out of him with an elbow, but misses the flying moonsault, giving Flair two. Punch v Chop fest, and Flair hooks the bag leg off of a criss cross, cradling Vader for an awkward pin at 21:18, ending the year-long reign of terror, and recapturing the WCW World Title - two and a half years after vacating it when he bailed to the WWF. This was a great moment, as Flair broke down into tears (before that was a cliché), and winning the title in front of his hometown was the perfect ending to the 10^th Anniversary show. This was actually voted the best match in the history of Starrcade a few year back when the WWE put out that ‘Essential Starrcade’ collection, and, while I wouldn’t go that far – it is certainly a very good match, and a suitable main event. Well paced, but falls short due to a weak ending, and came off fairly pasteurized – not really taking advantage of the creative brilliance of the participants – with generally repetitive offensive portions. *** ¼  

BUExperience: If not for the half hour gridlock that was the Tag Title bout, this might be enough to very tepidly recommend – but as is, it’s really a one match show. That match has actually become less historically significant over time – as Flair turned into a figure of self parody, Vader flamed out, and WCW itself no longer exists – but in the moment, it certainly seemed like a giant, history making moment, with Flair finally coming home, and slaying the dragon.

The crowd responded accordingly – especially after sitting through an entire night of heels going over in every single major match, a definite misstep for a blowoff show of this caliber – though in each case understandable booking as they weren’t going to switch the Television Title back to Steamboat after Regal had just won it, they wanted to justify Austin’s singles push with a title run, The Boss was a replacement, and Sting/Hawk was thrown together at the last minute. That makes enough sense, sure – but certainly underwhelming to the casual fan ordering this show in 1993. *