WCW Starrcade 1994

By 1994 – after a return to form in ’93 promoting Starrcade as its flagship event – WCW had once again demoted its longest running series to filler status. Having blown their Hulk Hogan/Ric Flair dream match load in Hogan’s WCW debut back in July – and already drying up all of the opportunities for rematches to the point that Hulk had put Flair ‘into retirement’ at the previous pay per view – the buildup going into Starrcade mainly focused on Hogan battling the evil Dungeon of Doom, specifically former best friend/member ‘The Butcher’ – best known for their WWF relationship, where he wrestled as Brutus Beefcake.

As a kid, WCW didn’t exist to me until Hulk Hogan signed with them in the summer of ’94, and I started tentatively tuning in – though mostly only whenever the Hulkster was on – as the dream match with Flair was a good lure, and he was one of the few stars they had I was familiar with. My local video stores stocked very little WCW – mostly sticking to more popular WWF shows – and I wasn’t familiar with them other than occasionally coming across Saturday Night while channel surfing, and realizing it wasn’t WWF programming. Going into Starrcade, I wasn’t intrigued by any of the matches (the Dungeon of Doom storyline didn’t even do much to captivate the imagination of a nine year old), but very interested in the news that Randy Savage would make an appearance – promising to either ‘shake Hogan’s hand, or slap his face.’ Savage jumping ship is what effectively legitimized WCW as an alternative to the WWF for me, and was a crucial signing for them in what would become the Monday Night Wars.

From Nashville, Tennessee; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan.


Opening WCW United States Title Match: Jim Duggan v Vader: Duggan cleans house to start, even taking out manager Harley Race - who takes an over the top bump. Brawl on the floor sees Vader taking a whip into the rail, and inside Duggan continues the assault - dominating Vader. Bodypress gets two, and Duggan nonchalantly slams him for two. Quick chinlock, and a clothesline gets two. 2^nd rope flying elbowdrop misses, however, and Vader dumps him - getting his first offensive move of the match – some six minutes in. Inside, Vader with the body shots, but the Vaderbomb only gets two, when Duggan's in the ropes. Slugfest goes Vader's way with an earrigner, but a flying moonsault misses, allowing Duggan a lariat. Another slugfest - this time for Duggan - but the 3-Point Stance gets two when Harley Race breaks it up. Vader with a 2^nd rope bodypress, but Duggan counters with a powerslam. 3-Point Stance again, but Vader dodges him, and a face eraser erases Duggan's US Title (from his waist!) at 12:06. Solid back and forth brawl, though it made Vader come off incredibly weak. Remember, this was the monster that Ric Flair couldn't figure how to tie-up only a year ago; the one who had a year long reign of terror with the title, who destroyed Sting, and nearly killed Cactus Jack - but Jim Duggan throws him around like a ragdoll (previous opponents would spend an entire match trying to figure out how to get Vader off of his feet; Duggan slams him in the opening minute - and he needs Race's help to escape the finisher. Considering that they were moving Vader into a program with Hulk Hogan next, you'd think they would want to put him over a bit more definitively. In fact, to new WCW viewers like myself - who weren't familiar with the 'monster Vader' back story - I didn't see him as a threat to Hogan at all, since he barely could get through Jim Duggan, who I still saw as a glorified jobber from my WWF conditioning. * ¾

Alex Wright v Jean-Paul Levesque: Here's a case of WCW's random gimmick lottery changing a guys life forever, as Levesque gets saddled with the gimmick of a French snob. You wouldn't think that would go anywhere (oh, and it didn't), but this Levesque kid then jumped to the WWF when his contract expired in early '95... where they stuck him with the exact same gimmick (down to the outfit) - only this time modified it to a Connecticut snob, and changed the name to 'Hunter Hearst Helmsley.' Maybe he owned the costume, and that made it easier for everyone - I don't know. That part remains a mystery. Anyway, that didn't get more than mildly over, either - but his eventual association with Shawn Michaels - and tweak of the name to 'Triple H' sure did. So, basically, when you chant for 'Triple H' you can thank WCW for putting that one in your mouth... and the lack of creativity on the WWF's part when everyone signed the dotted line in 1995. And your mouth. Levesque tries to ground him with an armbar to start, but Wright with a dropkick, and a well executed headscissors takedown to counter. They fight over mat-based headlocks and armbars - the theme being that Levesque will lock a hold, and Wright will do some sort of bridge of scissor combo to escape – until Levesque traps him in the corner and unloads on him. Spinheel kick, and a crisp snap suplex get two. Wright tries to bail to the floor, but takes a baseball slide on the way back in - as Levesque works the count. Inside, Jean-Paul with a powerslam for two, and he grabs a chinlock. Wright wrestles out, but walks into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, but Levesque misses a flying elbowdrop. Wright with a diving back elbow, and a hiptoss gets two. Levesque needs time to comprehend the fact that he just had to kick out of a hiptoss nearly fifteen minutes into a pay per view wrestling match, though, so they do a double knockout. He can't regroup after that, however, and Wright rolls him up at 14:03. There it is - the secret code to wrestling: try the hiptoss when they least expect it. Triple H clearly learned a difficult lesson there, but he would take it to heart, and go on to become the bigger star. Decent match - a bit overlong - but well worked, as they were pushing Alex Wright, and Levesque, likely knowing he wasn’t going to renew his upcoming contract, worked hard – mixing in stuff he usually didn’t use, like spinheel kicks, and flying elbowdrops – likely hoping to get picked up elsewhere. * ¼

WCW Television Title Match: Johnny B. Badd v Arn Anderson: This was supposed to be Honky Tonk Man getting a rematch after the time limit draw at Halloween Havoc, but he bailed on WCW literally just before the show, leaving them to shoehorn Anderson in, and us without ever knowing who would win that fight between Elvis and Little Richard. Arn tosses him around to start, but gets caught in an overhead armdrag, and a dropkick puts him on the floor to regroup. Inside, Badd tries a ten-punch count, but gets spinebustered, and Anderson continues to work the back with a rope-assisted abdominal stretch. Sleeper, but Badd reverses, and hits a headscissors takedown. Flying sunset flip gets two, and he tries a monkey flip, but Anderson supermarket sweeps him, and nearly gets the victory - with two feet on the ropes. He celebrates as if he did, but that premature display of bravado, allows Badd to schoolboy him at 12:11 to retain. Good wrestlers; bad match – but that’s not entirely surprising considering they just threw Anderson in there. The result was a slow, plodding, and generally unmotivated match. ¼*

Harlem Heat v The Nasty Boys: Harlem Heat had actually defeated current WCW Tag Champions Stars and Stripes for the titles a few weeks before this, but due to WCW's taping cycle system, the show wouldn't air until January - so technically they're not the champions yet - and Stars and Stripes don't even warrant inclusion on the show. That sounds like goofy WCW shit - but that was fairly common practice in pro-wrestling before the Monday Night Wars. WCW gets an especially bad rap with it because they tended to abuse the system - taping so far in advance that sometimes people ended up with negative title reigns. Big brawl to start, with the Nasties cleaning house, before Jerry Sags and Booker T start all proper-like. Booker with a diving forearm for two, but he gets powerslammed, and the Nasties clean house again. All four spill to the floor, and back inside, Brian Knobs and Stevie Ray botch a cross corner clothesline. Knobs with a bulldog (that's ballsy - would you seriously let the dude who just botched running slam your face into the mat, full force?), and a single-arm DDT. Booker T tags, so Knobs gives him one, too, and the Nasties cut the ring in half, working the shoulder. It spills outside again, though, and Stevie brawls Sags all the way to the entrance area - where he suplexes him on the rail. Inside, Booker with a leg lariat and the axekick, allowing the Heat a turn at cutting the ring in half on Jerry Sags. Sags finally breaks out of the endless array of nerveholds and bearhugs, and the tag to Knobs sets up another four-way brawl. The Nasties hit a flying elbowdrop, but that draws in Heat manager Sherri for a flying splash, and that's a disqualification at 17:49. Afterwards, the Nasties shove Sherri's face into their armpits, since they're virtuous and upstanding gentlemen. Match was long and unfocused – frequently switching gears from a Street Fight to straight tag match – and with a bad ending to boot, as they didn't want to put the Nasties over their next tag champs, but didn't want to job the Nasties either, leaving us with a lame DQ. DUD  

Kevin Sullivan v Mr. T: Sullivan's main issues at the time were with 'brother' Dave and Hulk Hogan (Sullivan was the leader of the Dungeon of Doom), though, again, Starrcade wasn't being used as the main blowoff show at that point - hence a pointless match with Mr. T. T was actually in rough financial shape at this point, and asked old friend Hogan to get him the booking. He was so hard up, he came directly from his other job at Foot Locker, not even having the time to change before the match, and wrestling in uniform. Sullivan tries to lure him into a tie-up, but T hiptosses him, as Santa Claus starts making his way down the aisle. T with body shots in the corner, but Sullivan dumps him, throwing him into the camera crew. They weakly brawl out there, until Santa makes his way over, bops Sullivan with his goody bag, and T gets the pin at 3:50. Oh, and Santa turns out to be Dave Sullivan! Ho ho ho, good one, WCW. T had no business out there (he wasn't in the shape he was in ten years ago), and this was one of those affairs where, if a non-fan were watching with you - you would be embarrassed by association. -*

Sting v Avalanche: Avalanche is John Tenta, in a desperate attempt by WCW to capitalize on his WWF success as Earthquake. They would do this over, and over, and over again with WWF imports - before finally cluing in when Kevin Nash and Scott Hall jumped over in '96. Can you imagine the impact they would have had if they had debuted as 'Engine,' and 'Cuban Knife'? I think that's a big reason Vince McMahon didn't even bother burying them on the way out – especially Nash, who bombed so badly as WWF Champion the year before - just figuring WCW would misuse them, and that they wouldn't get over anyway. Staredown to start, and Avalanche challenges him to a test-of-strength. The usual heel cheap shot follows, and Avalanche works him over in the corner. Sting fires back, kicking violently at the leg, but he can't mount an offense, as Avalanche casually swats him away, and slams him. Standing side-headlock, but Sting kicks at the leg again, only to eat a clothesline and a powerslam. Bearhug, but Sting shoots at the leg again. He tries a bodyslam, but Avalanche comes down on him for two. Powerslam again, but Sting catches him with a clothesline as he goes for the running butt-splash. Flying chop, and a series of dropkicks stagger him - and the Stinger Splash takes both Avalanche and the referee out. Bodyslam, and Sting locks the Deathlock, but Kevin Sullivan (Avalanche's fellow Dungeon member) runs in. The referee is out though, so they have their way with Sting - including the butt-splash - but Hulk Hogan runs in to put a stop to people having their way with butts, and the referee throws it out at 15:26 - officially calling it a disqualification win for Sting. Really bad match - as Sting tried to work some psychology in by attacking the leg, and finishing with the Scorpion Deathlock - but Avalanche no-sold everything, plodded through his bland, repetitive offense, and then they went with the run-in finish. Note the distinct tonal difference from the WWF's style, as Hogan is headlining up next, but they trot him out here to make the save. That works within the storyline, but comes off as awkward, as now the crowd has seen the main eventer for the first time, and he has to head back to the locker room, and then literally make his entrance again. That kind of shoddy booking would never happen in the WWF - where if they had to use a Hogan-style run-in, they would have put the Sting match on much earlier. The WWF always had seamless formatting, but WCW came off as disorganized, and bushleague. DUD.

Main Event: WCW World Title Match: Hulk Hogan v The Butcher: So, Hogan's longtime best friend turns on him, breaks his leg with a pipe, and joins the evil Dungeon of Doom. Not a horrible storyline, really, though one that's not fondly remembered, mostly because hardcore WCW fans had a though time accepting Hogan, and thought he 'ruined' Starrcade by trotting his best buddy into a main event slot with him. Though, as noted elsewhere, WCW was trying to distance themselves from Starrcade as their flagship show years before Hogan signed on - and would actually draw their biggest Starrcade numbers later, with Hogan on top, and Starrcade as their banner show. In a good example of the poor formatting I was referring to earlier, Avalanche and Kevin Sullivan accompany Butcher - despite having just went back through the curtain. Hogan overpowers him to start, but Butcher goes to the throat to takeover. To the floor, Butcher chokes Hogan with a cable, but walks into an atomic drop, and Hogan weakly posts him. He makes up for it with a solid chair shot, though. Inside, Butcher chokes away, and a powerslam hits. 2^nd rope flying chop misses, and Hogan bites and backscratches. Hmm, maybes Linda Hogan was right about the two of them. We're a hairpull away from a catfight. Butcher nails him in the middle of the ring (oh yeah!) off of a backdrop attempt (oh...), and grabs a nervehold, and the Sleeper looks to finish. This may be the only time I've ever actually seen anyone use a resthold to setup a resthold, but good for them. Butcher stupidly lets go to try for a pin, but HULK UP!! Legdrop gets the pin at 12:07, but Sullivan and Avalanche hit the ring, so Randy Savage makes his teased appearance, and, of course, helps Hogan fight them off. Match was absolutely horrible - coming off like these two putting on 'one last match' on the retirement tour, and not at all main event level – Starrcade, or otherwise. It had solid pacing before the restholds dominated the end, but Hogan's inability to Hulk Up out of a submission (you'd think he'd have thought of that, after some ten years of doing the routine) hurt the match, as Butcher had to let off his finisher, and try an awkward pinfall attempt to allow Hogan to do his big kickout spot. The multiple 'Hogan' chants throughout the match clearly indicated that Hogan wasn't irrelevant to the fan base at this point (though they would get sick of his act later), and the fans enjoyed it – particularly the reunion with Randy Savage. ¼*

BUExperience: It started off well enough in the undercard, but man did it go downhill. Certainly not the most prestigious Starrcade, though WCW would once again elevate it to its WrestleMania-type A-show a few years later, in 1996 – this time once and for all. As for this one, however – no historical relevance, a poor main event, bad formatting, a lousy atmosphere, and essentially no redeeming factors do not add up to a good show. DUD