Starrcade

For the 1991 and 1992 shows promoted in Japan as "Starrcade", see WCW/New Japan Supershow.
For other uses, see Starcade (disambiguation).
Ric Flair wrestled in a World Heavyweight Championship match at nine Starrcade events.

Starrcade was an annual professional wrestling event, originally broadcast via closed-circuit television and eventually broadcast via pay-per-view television, held from 1983 to 2000 by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and later World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Starrcade was regarded by the NWA and WCW as their flagship event of the year, much in the same vein that its rival, the World Wrestling Entertainment, regards WrestleMania. As a result, the buildup to each Starrcade featured the largest feuds of the promotion.

From 1983 to 1987, Starrcade was produced by Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), the dominant promotion of the NWA, and aired on Thanksgiving Day. In 1987, the WWF scheduled a pay-per-view of their own, Survivor Series, on Thanksgiving night and demanded exclusivity from cable providers on carriage of the event. In order to prevent such a problem, Starrcade was moved to December the following year and the show was held around Christmas Day, mostly in the days following, beginning in 1988.

Also in 1988, JCP was sold to Turner Broadcasting due to financial problems and became WCW, though Starrcade was held under the NWA banner until 1990.[1][2]

From the 1960s to the 1980s, it was tradition for JCP to hold major professional wrestling events on Thanksgiving and Christmas, mostly at Greensboro Coliseum. In 1983, JCP created Starrcade as their supercard to continue the Thanksgiving tradition, and spread it across its territory on closed-circuit television.[3] It popularized broadcasting on closed-circuit television and was financially successful. From 1987, Starrcade was broadcast on pay-per-view, the first NWA event to do so.[4]

The rights to the event now belong to WWE (formerly the World Wrestling Federation). In November 2008, WWE 24/7 Classics aired a special as a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the event called The Essential Starrcade. This five-part series counts down the top 25 matches in Starrcade history. In January 2009, WWE Home Video released Starrcade: The Essential Collection as a three disc DVD set.[5] With the launch of the WWE Network in 2014 all Starrcade shows became available on demand to Network subscribers.

Dates, venues, and main events

Event Date City Venue Main event(s)
National Wrestling Alliance
Starrcade '83: A Flair for the Gold November 24, 1983 Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro Coliseum Harley Race (c) vs. Ric Flair in a Steel Cage match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade '84: The Million Dollar Challenge November 22, 1984 Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro Coliseum Ric Flair (c) vs. Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade '85: The Gathering November 28, 1985 Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro Coliseum Ric Flair (c) vs. Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Atlanta, Georgia The Omni
Starrcade '86: Night of the Skywalkers November 27, 1986 Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro Coliseum Ric Flair (c) vs. Nikita Koloff for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Atlanta, Georgia The Omni
Starrcade '87: Chi-Town Heat November 26, 1987 Chicago, Illinois UIC Pavilion Ron Garvin (c) vs. Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
National Wrestling Alliance/World Championship Wrestling
Starrcade '88: True Gritt December 26, 1988 Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk Scope Ric Flair (c) vs. Lex Luger for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade '89: Future Shock December 13, 1989 Atlanta, Georgia The Omni Ric Flair vs. Sting
Starrcade '90: Collision Course December 16, 1990 St. Louis, Missouri Kiel Auditorium Sting (c) vs. The Black Scorpion for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
World Championship Wrestling
Starrcade '91: Battlebowl/The Lethal Lottery December 29, 1991 Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk Scope Battlebowl
Starrcade '92: BattleBowl/The Lethal Lottery II December 28, 1992 Atlanta, Georgia The Omni Battlebowl
Starrcade '93: 10th Anniversary December 27, 1993 Charlotte, North Carolina Independence Arena Vader (c) vs. Ric Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade '94: Triple Threat December 27, 1994 Nashville, Tennessee Nashville Municipal Auditorium Hulk Hogan (c) vs. The Butcher for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade '95: World Cup of Wrestling December 27, 1995 Nashville, Tennessee Nashville Municipal Auditorium Randy Savage (c) vs. Ric Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade '96 December 29, 1996 Nashville, Tennessee Nashville Municipal Auditorium Hollywood Hogan vs. Roddy Piper
Starrcade '97 December 28, 1997 Washington, D.C. MCI Center Hollywood Hogan (c) vs. Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship with Bret Hart as special enforcer
Starrcade '98 December 27, 1998 Washington, D.C. MCI Center Goldberg (c) vs. Kevin Nash in a No Disqualification match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade '99 December 19, 1999 Washington, D.C. MCI Center Bret Hart (c) vs. Goldberg in a No Disqualification match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Starrcade 2000 December 17, 2000 Washington, D.C. MCI Center Scott Steiner (c) vs. Sid Vicious for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship

See also

References

  1. ↑ Molinaro, John (1999-12-17). "Starrcade, the original "super card"". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
  2. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (2003-11-27). "Thursday news update: It was 20 years ago today....". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
  3. ↑ "Flair defeats Race for wrestling title". Greensboro Daily News. 1983-11-25. p. D3. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
  4. ↑ Hoops, Brian (2007-12-18). "Specialist – 20 Years Ago: Detailed look back at Starrcade '87 with Flair vs. Garvin". PWTorch. Retrieved 2008-05-24.
  5. ↑ Starrcade: The Essential Collection (DVD). World Wrestling Entertainment. 2009.
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