Starrcade Main Event Restructuring

From 1983 until 2000, just mere months before the end of WCW, the NWA and WCW had an annual event called Starrcade, the brainchild of Dusty Rhodes. In the WWF, WrestleMania was the granddaddy of them all. In the NWA and later WCW’s case, Starrcade was the most important show of the year. While half of the main event matches for Starrcade were stellar and iconic, the other half left a lot to be desired. Im going to go through every Starrcade and determine which main event could have used an upgrade or complete rewrite. Some matches will remain intact, while some of those same ones will be a different outcome.

1983

The inaugural Starrcade was aptly titled “A Flair For the Gold,” as it featured Ric Flair himself challenging Harley Race for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The circumstances leading up to this match were very personal. Race did everything he could to make sure Flair would not be a challenger, including putting a bounty on Flair, in which anyone who was able to incapacitate Flair would receive a large sum of money. Dick Slater and Cowboy Bob Orton tool up Race on his offer and brutally attacked Flair. Not to be outdone, Flair than made the challenge to Race and it would be inside a Steel Cage. By night’s end, Flair reigned supreme as the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion. This was perfect and I wouldn’t charge a thing.

Final verdict - Harley Race vs. Ric Flair

1984

This is yet another one I wouldn’t touch. The early years of Starrcade main events in general were great. Ric Flair was back to his dastardly ways and was to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes: Flair and Rhodes were polar opposites and had a feud that went on for years at a time. The Nature Boy was the wheelin’ dealin,’ jet plane flyin,’ limousine ridin’ son of a gun and Dusty was the common man. As for the match, I liken it to the first Rocky movie. The biggest thing about that film was that Rocky, the main character, lost. Dusty lost as well, albeit in different circumstances, but still lost. The story told was that he would eventually get the win, much like Rocky did over Apollo Creed. This brings me to a slight change I will make for the next Starrcade.

Final verdict - Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes

1985

This year, the main event was yet again Flair vs. Rhodes for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. While I am keeping this, I want to make a slight change. While Dusty did eventually win the Title from Flair, it didn’t happen until July, 1986 at the Great American Bash. I personally would have preferred Dusty winning at Starrcade, doing the thing he couldn’t the previous year. Similarly, I’m still pulling for Cody Rhodes to do that very thing by defeating Roman Reigns at next year’s WrestleMania. Unfortunately, Dusty typically received short reigns when he was Champion. The feud Dusty had with Flair led to the formation of the Four Horsemen, who had broken Dusty’s arm in a brutal attack that year. As iconic and important as the Bash was, I think the title change should have occurred at Starrcade. 

Final verdict - Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes

1986

You’re going to notice a theme here, as Ric Flair main evented several Starrcades over the years. In fact, he main evented 10 out of the 18 events, which is over half. 1986 was an interesting year for wrestling, specifically for the NWA for this event. The heavily rumored man to take the World Title from Ric Flair was Magnum TA. Unfortunately, as you know, Magnum was involved in a career ending and crippling accident. The main event for this year’s Starrcade became Flair defending the Title against newly transitioned babyface Nikita Koloff. I’d keep this match and result exactly the same. Under the circumstances, it made the most sense, specifically because of the history of brutal matches Magnum and Nikita had shared. The only other opponent that would make sense was Dusty Rhodes, but they already did Flair vs. Rhodes twice.

Final verdict - Ric Flair vs. Nikita Koloff

1987

This one is definitely going to change. Earlier that year, Ronnie Garvin defeated Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Title. Now, I’m a Garvin fan, but I didn’t see him at this level. Plus, he held it for a very short time. This is the event where he lost the Title back to Flair. The Four Horsemen were really gaining steam here and they started feuding with Barry Windham, who would join the group in mid-1988. My main event for this Starrcade would be Windham defending and losing the World Title to Flair. 

Final verdict - Barry Windham vs. Ric Flair

1988

The main event for this year was Ric Flair vs. Lex Lugar for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. My scenario is the same match and the same finish, yet with a twist. In late 1987, Lex was kicked out of the Four Horsemen after refusing to let manager JJ Dillon win a battle royal. A few months later, Lex and Barry Windham had won the World Tag Team Titles from Horsemen members Arn Anderson and Tulley Blanchard. To add more fuel to Lugar’a feud with the Horsemen, Windham turned on him and joined. I’d have Lugar defeat Flair for the Title in mid-1988, when he would drop it back to Flair at Starrcade. So, it’s the same match and result, but with Flair winning the Title from Lugar.

Final verdict - Lex Lugar vs. Ric Flair

1989

I’m having trouble on how to go with this one. The NWA decided for this year to do a round robin style iron man tournament for the singles main event bracket and the tag teams. The four men chosen for the singles tournament were NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair, Lex Lugar, Sting, and the Great Muta. While I like the idea and specifically because the last match and main event was Flair vs. Sting, it wasn’t a Championship match. Not only that, Flair was just coming off a very personal and brutal feud with Terry Funk. I’m tempted to make this Flair vs. Sting for the Title but I almost want to go with Flair vs. Funk, moving their match to Starrcade. Then you could have the on-and-off friends Sting and Lugar against each other, while putting Muta against maybe Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. 

Final verdict - Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk

1990

The main event for this show was Sting defending the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against The Black Scorpion. When the storyline of this masked mystery man started, it was a different person and by the time it reached its climax, creative had no idea who it would be and it was just awful. At match time, even though the mask was on, everyone knew it was Ric Flair. So, the main event was Sting vs. Flair but it was marred by this disaster of a storyline. Simplified, Sting vs. Flair itself was alluring and didn’t need nonsense like that. The backstory was already there. They had a classic two years prior when Sting was a promising upstart. In 1989 for a brief time, Sting was even a member of the Four Horsemen during Flair’s babyface run. They turned on him and kicked him out when he dared challenge Flair for the Title. Sting did indeed win it from Flair at the 1990 Great American Bash. This main event at Starrcade stays, as does the result, but without the awful Black Scorpion attached to it.

Final verdict - Sting vs. Ric Flair

1991

The entirety of Starrcade this year was Battle Bowl, with no championship being decided, most notably the World Heavyweight Championship. I should also note that WCW had officially begun by this time, which meant there were World Titles for the NWA and WCW. Another notable thing missing was Ric Flair himself, now in the WWF. Back to Battle Bowl! Random tag teams were put together in matches, with the winners of each match going on to a Battle Royal. The last two men left were Sting and WCW World Heavyweight Champion Lex Lugar. Sting eliminated Lugar to win. By this point, the two were in a bitter feud. My change to the main event would be to have Lex defend and retain against Sting, as in a couple month’s time, Sting would eventually win the belt from Lex and the Total Package would go to the WWF. I actually enjoyed the Battle Bowl concept but Starrcade was the wrong setting to me.

Final verdict - Lex Lugar vs. Sting

1992

WCW decided to go with Battle Bowl again. While the NWA and WCW World Heavyweight Championships were decided this time, the main event was the Battle Bowl Battle Royal. Not only was this the main event, but the Sting vs. Vader match overshadow both World Title matches, which consisted of Masahiro Chono vs. The Great Muta for the NWA Title and Ron Simmons vs. “Dr. Death” Steve Williams for the WCW Title. Simmons was on a great run aa Champion, having defeated Vader earlier that year, most notably becoming the first black man to win a World Title. Here’s what I would do. Between Halloween Havoc and Starrcade, I would have done the Battle Bowl on televised WCW shows, culminating at November’s Clash of the Champions, where the winner would earn a WCW Title shot at Starrcade. That winner would be Sting. In mid-December, two weeks before Starrcade, I’d have Vader regain the WCW World Heavyweight Title from Ron Simmons, thanks to Steve Williams, thus setting up Simmons vs. Williams at Starrcade, with the main event now being Vader vs. Sting for the Championship. 

Final verdict - Vader vs. Sting

1993

The main event for this one was Vader vs. Ric Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. I wouldn’t change a thing. The match was great, it got a huge reception, and there was some history there. This was ten years after Flair defeated Harley Race and ironically, Race was Vader’s manager at this time. There’s really not much else I can say as this was perfect.

Final verdict - Vader vs. Ric Flair

1994

This is probably the biggest “2hat we’re they thinking?” moment in the history of Starrcade. Earlier that year, the unthinkable happened as long tenured WWF megastar Hulk Hogan came to WCW. He soon debuted and defeated Ric Flair for the World Heavyweight Championship. But who did he defend the Title against at Starrcade? Was it a big name like Flair? Was it a huge monster to slay like Vader? Nope? It was Hulk Hogan vs. The Butcher, formerly known as Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake. The Butcher had come to WCW with Hogan and Jimmy Hart but turned on his long time friend to join Kevin Sullivan and Avalanche (Earthquake) to form the Three Faces of Fear, which evolved into the Dungeon of Doom. Without discussing this nonsense further, and going right for the change. The main event will be Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Title.

Final verdict - Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair

1995

During this year, WCW had a deal with New Japan Pro Wrestling to have various superstars of each promotion face each other in seven matches to determine the winning company. The main event was the WCW World Title match with Macho Man Randy Savage defending against Ric Flair. Savage had wrestled Yoshihiro Tenzan earlier that night while Flair had just wrestled Sting and Lex Lugar to determine the number one contender before this bout. I have no problem with Savage vs. Flair but Savage just won the Title at Word War 3 the month prior and losing it this quick was dumb in my opinion. Savage won the Championship in the 60-man battle royal but it was controversial due to Hulk Hogan being perceived as eliminated but never was. What I would do here is keep the number one contender Triple Threat Match and it’s ending the same but have Flair’s Title shot come a few months later at SuperBrawl. Meanwhile, whether realistic or not due to Hogan’s creative control, the main event would be Savage vs. Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Title with Savage going over clean. 

Final verdict - Randy Savage vs. Hulk Hogan

1996

Yet again, I’m at a crossroads here for the main event. Hulk Hogan did the unthinkable earlier that year and turned heel to create the New World Order with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. Shortly thereafter, he defeated The Giant to become the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. After a defense against Randy Savage at Halloween Havoc, a man from Hogan’s past came out to front him, and it was none other than Rowdy Roddy Piper, setting up a match between the two at Starrcade as it’s main event. The problem was, the Title wasn’t on the line, which is probably why Piper went over and the nWo was red hot at the time. Don’t get me wrong, because this is a great main event. The reason I’m at a crossroads is because I almost feel like they should have had this match at World War  the month earlier, while going with Hogan vs. The Giant faster at Starrcade. Then again, Hogan/Giant doesn’t have as much drawing power as Hogan/Piper. I think solution would be to have Hogan/Piper at World War 3 with Piper winning, thus granting him an immediate Title shot at Starrcade, that way the Title would be on the line at Starrcade and Hogan would retain.

Final verdict - Hulk Hogan vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper

1997

Ah, 1997! This Starrcade main event is tempered for all the wrong reasons. It was all set! Despite a brief hiccup that year, Hulk Hogan and the nWo were unstoppable. On the other side, Sting had gone quiet not long after the nWo began and a miscommunication caused tension between him and WCW. Sting appeared sporadically in the rafters and began his descent into The Crow. The announcement was made for Starrcade ‘97’s main event, Hulk Hogan vs. Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The less we dwell on the match the better. The match and the outcome was the right decision, and the buildup was incredible. How it played out, on the other hand, is another story. Here’s my change. Sting squashes Hogan in a straightforward match with no shenanigans or any other nonsense added. Simple and to the point!

Final verdict - Hulk Hogan vs. Sting

1998

If you want to talk about controversy regarding a Starrcade main event, look no further than this one. Goldberg was on top of the world as WCW World Heavyweight Champion and an incredible undefeated streak. By this point, the nWo became so big that it split into factions. Hulk Hogan led the Hollywood side while Kevin Nash led the fan favorite Wolfpac side. Nash won the World War 3 battle royal, earning himself a shot at the Title against Goldberg at Starrcade. Due to interference ranting from Bam Bam Bigelow to Wolfpac wannabe the Disco Inferno to Scott Hall with a cattle prod, Nash ended Goldberg’s streak and won the World Title. Unfortunately, it was all for nothing as days later, the nWo factions were reunited when Nash laid down for Hogan. It was unfortunate as one, people were actually looking forward to a big match like Hogan vs. Nash, it would have been nice to him to get a short run with the gold, and it made the Title look like garbage. In the end, I'd have Nash go over somewhat clean.

Final verdict - Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash

1999

I’m honestly not sure what to do with this one. It was Bret Hart vs. Goldberg for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. As a whole, I feel WCW completely dropped the ball with Bret Hart. Two things that should never have happened was Hart turning heel and being a member of the nWo. I’m not even sure I’d have this be the main event. Then again, when I do these fantasy bookings, I have a rule that when real things happen and affect the story, I adjust accordingly and go generally with what happened. I’d keep it babyface vs. babyface where Goldberg goes over the gets a second World Title reign. You could still do the spear from Goldberg where Hart wore a metal plate underneath his shirt without him necessary being a heel. That really was the only bright spot of Hart as a heel in WCW. That, and the gem of a promo about El Dandy of all people. 

Final verdict - Bret Hart vs. Goldberg 

2000

By the time the year 2000 came along, WCW was just the drizzling shits, and just mere months away from closing and being bought out by rival company WWF’s owner Vince McMahon. The main event was Scott Steiner in his full “Big Poppa Pump” persona, which was wildly entertaining, vs. a past his prime Sid Vicious for the WCW World Heavyweight Title. I’d get rid of this because their match at January, 1999’s Sin pay-per-view was infamous for the awful scene of Sid’s gruesome leg break. It’s still one of the most difficult and disturbing things to watch, not just as a wrestling fan, but in general. Removing this match from Starrcade doesn’t affect it happening at Sin. Obviously, it’s a horrible thing that happened but like I said on my rules of fantasy booking, real life unfortunately must happen. Instead, I’d have the main event be the last very deserving man to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title, Booker T, defending and dropping it to Scott Steiner. Here’s where I’d give Steiner the belt, at a huge and deserving stage.

Final verdict - Booker T vs. Scott Steiner

Ultimately, I did change a lot but kept most of the matches, adding a few modifications. It was fun to go back and look at all of these. To date, I think this may be the longest blog I’ve ever done, considering I covered 18 Starrcade main events. I can’t even imagine doing the entire cards. There were a bunch that were flawless that needed no changes and just as many included Ric Flair. 

The Snake’s Evil Comes Full Circle

 

     Jake “The Snake” Roberts is one of the greatest wrestling characters in the history of professional wrestling. His dynamic yet subtle charisma, along with the snake he brought to the ring, made him a household name. He was a master at ring psychology and that went much further than maneuvers in the ring. He played mind games and didn’t have to yell to get his point across. He spoke softly so people had to pay attention. In his personal life, he’s had many ups and downs, with more downs unfortunately. He battled his demons and still does to this day. Many even credit Diamond Dallas Page for Jake even being alive. Today, I’d like to discuss his character, specifically him as a heel, and how he started in the WWF until the end of his first run in 1992. 

     Jake debuted in the WWF in late 1985 as a heel. The evil de displayed was that of a snake, a huge python named Damian, that he would use to intimidate and terrorize his opponents with. After his matches, ending with his devastating DDT finisher, he would take the snake out of its bag and put it on his fallen opponent. While this was indeed scary for the audience, it want until WrestleMania 2 that the evil of this character was brought to life. He took on enhancement talent George Wells. It was business as usual after Jake handily defeated Wells and brought out Damian. However, here’s the kicker, and apparently this was Wells’ idea. Wells started foaming at the mouth from the fear he felt. That visual helped people look at Jake as a huge threat. If true, we need to acknowledge Wells for really putting Jake over, not just in the sense of an in-ring win for Jake, but for the character as a whole.

     Shortly after this in the early Spring of 1986, he entered into a feud with resident wrestling babyface, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. Jake had to up the ante a bit to come across as more sinister. He did just that by attaching Steamboat at ringside. He then pulled the padding off the floor, revealing concrete. Then then proceeded to deliver the DDT to Steamboat head first to the concrete floor. The two had a tremendous feud. While Jake had his snake, Steamboat needed an equalizer, so for their penultimate match, he brought out a Komodo Dragon. 

    Jake was so good and got over so well that fans started rally behind him. Most of that reasoning had to do with the WWF wanting him to work with Hulk Hogan in a Championship feud. Whether it was Hogan or not, the plan was cancelled, as there was a fear Jake’s growing popularity might overshadow Hogan’s. Even if Hogan had politicked, it was ultimately the right move as this might have affected the upcoming Hogan/Andre the Giant feud. Seeing how popular he was getting, the WWF decided to ride with Roberts’ popularity and turn him babyface, which was started by the Honky Tonk Man. 

     After taking on the Honky Tonk Man at WrestleMania III, he go into a rivalry with Ravishing Rick Rude which lasted throughout most of 1988. In my opinion, thus begins the seeds that would slowly grow the next few years eventually back into his heel persona, several times as sinister as before. In order to get that way, he needed to go through some things. This was step one. Rude made things personal by going after Jake’s wife Cheryl, between hitting on her to wearing her face on his tights. This got under Jake’s skin big time.

     It took a couple of years and a various feuds before step 2 came along. Jake’s next feud was with Andre the Giant. While Jake clearly couldn’t match Andre in size and strength, he had the psychological advantage. Andre was deathly afraid of snakes, which Jake exploited. It’s interesting how the use of something that made him hated as a heel caused him to be loved as a babyface and for him it was his opponents’ fear of snakes. Andre was once so visibly scared that he deliberately eliminated himself from the 1989 Royal Rumble. Jake moved on to feud with “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, which, incidentally, was part of the babyface turn of the Big. Bossman. He briefly feuded with Bad News Brown in the Summer of 1990. Shortly after that, step two came around in the form of Rick Martel. 

     On the set of the Brother Love Show, Rick Martel, now being in the middle of his model gimmick, attacked Roberts. He then blinded him by spraying him with his new cologne he called “Arrogance.” This led to a feud that would last all the way through WrestleMania 7the following year. The Snake and The Model captained opposing teams at the Survivor Series. Martel’s entire team survived. Slowly, Jake’s eyesight got better but he wasn’t done with Martel by  long shot. When they finally did face each other at WrestleMania, it was contested in a blindfold match. Jake won after a DDT. Being blinded for a few months took its toll on him, though.

     Just when we thought he was doing better, he got into a dispute with Earthquake. They were set for a match but Earthquake, because of his fear of snakes, refused to enter the ring until the snake was put under the ring. Moments later, Earthquake attacked Jake from behind, pushed him into the ring, and tied his arms in the ropes, all while manager Jimmy Hart supported Earthquake. The big man then grabbed the snake in the bag from beneath the ring. Roberts looked on horror as the big man used his Earthquake Splash on Damian. He did it again and left. When officials finally got Roberts untangled, he took a look in the bag as the inevitable happened. Damian was dead. He was so distraught and brought to tears that his companion of many years was gone. 

     As if the feud wasn’t intense enough, Earthquake entered the set of Prime Time Wrestling, adorned in chef hat and apron. He approached Mean Gene Okerland and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan with a large plate of hamburgers that he called Quake Burgers. Soon after, it was revealed that he made the burgers out of the remains of Damian. Jake eventually got his match and win over Earthquake, but it’s pretty clear that it destroyed his psyche. This was step 3 and when you put these incidents together, it makes sense how Jake ended up going back to his evil ways in the Summer of 1991. Between someone messing with his wife, someone blinding him, and another killing his beloved pet as he watched, something was about to give. Another hint is that when he got a new snake, it had an even more demonic name; Lucifer!

     The Ultimate Warrior was embroiled in a feud with the Undertaker and needed help connecting to the dark side in order to conquer the dead man. The Warrior turned to Jake for guidance. Jake had Warrior go through various tests to prepare for the Undertaker, even going so far as to bury him up to his neck in a cemetery. But this wasn’t the worst of it! The last test was when Jake really took things too far. He locked the Warrior in a room with a bunch of venomous snakes. That sealed the deal and Jake was back to being his evil self. Jake then aligned with the Undertaker and his manager Paul Bearer. The Warrior soon moved on to continue to help Hulk Hogan against Sgt. Slaughter and company. 

     SummerSlam 1991 was dubbed “The Match Made In Heaven/The Match Made In Hell. The later was Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior in a handicap match against the Triangle of Terror. The Match Made in Heaven was the long awaited wedding of “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth, which took place after the show ended. After the beautiful ceremony, it was time for the party. They received many gifts from people and were very happy. A mysterious box appeared and when the couple opened it, a cobra was in the box, scaring everyone. Suddenly, Jake “The Snake” Roberts and the Undertaker appeared, terrorizing the guests. Savage was incredibly angry while trying to consume a very frightened and distraught Elizabeth, vowing revenge. Little did we know, this was just the beginning.

     One fateful night on Superstars in November, 1991, Jake attacked the Macho Man again. He tied him into the ropes and brought a snake from his bag, which was revealed to be a king cobra. It latches into Savage’s arm and bit. I had just turned 11 weeks ago and can tell you that I, among many young fans, was traumatized. It was an intense sight to see. Elizabeth was at ringside frightened and being berated by Roberts. Rowdy Roddy Piper was on commentary with Savage before Jake lured him out of the booth. Piper tried to help, consoled Elizabeth, and made sure a stretcher was brought out for Savage. It was a scary site and Jake was now the ultimate heel, evil as can be.

     Jake was to lead a team going into Survivor Series, which oddly enough would include former opponent Earthquake. They were to take on a team captained by Sid Justice. When Sid got injured, they instead took Jake out of the match to even the odds. They should have just reinstated Randy Savage at that point instead of waiting a few days later for “This Tuesday In Texas.” Savage had retired at WrestleMania earlier that year after a loss to the Ultimate Warrior. Roberts lost to Savage at the latter show but the attacks continued.

     It lead to another rematch on Saturday Night’s Main Event in February, 1992, which Savage won. A week later on Superstars, a video was shown if what went down after the match. After Jake left the ring following the loss, he waited in the back for Savage and Elizabeth to come through the curtain, wielding a steel chair. He was prepared to hit either. So, just went we thought he couldn’t get anymore evil, he was prepared to hit a defenseless woman with a chair. Fortunately for the couple, something stopped Jake from hitting them. That something, surprisingly, was the Undertaker. This lead to the dead man becoming a good guy, at least in terms of wrestlers. Jake’s fate was now sealed as the Undertaker defeated him at WrestleMania 8, even after Jake hit him with a DDT on the exposed concrete. 

      Since this was the end of Jake’s first run in the company, it all came full circle, as he started and ended with the most evil intentions. He proved time and time again that you cannot trust a snake, which is ironic considering Jake’s theme by the point had him sinisterly using the words “trust me” just before the opening chords.