Movatterモバイル変換

The event featured wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds andstorylines. Wrestlers portrayedvillains,heroes, orless distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.^[6]

Hollywood Hogan as theWCW World Heavyweight Champion

The mainfeud heading into Starrcade was betweenRoddy Piper andHollywood Hogan. AtBash at the Beach, Hogan,Scott Hall andKevin Nash formed theNew World Order (nWo), a group of rebels who terrorized, and aimed to take overWorld Championship Wrestling.^[7] Since then, the group increased in members and power, winning theWCW World Heavyweight Championship and theWCW World Tag Team Championship. Piper returned to WCW atHalloween Havoc, and confronted Hogan. Piper claimed to be as big an icon as Hogan and wanted Hogan to admit it. After Hogan did, he insulted Piper when Piper was on his way out of the ring, implying Piper was going to use the women's bathroom. The show went off the air while they were arguing in the ring.^[8]^[9] In the following weeks, Eric Bischoff claimed that he attempted to get in touch with Piper regarding a match, but said that Piper was not interested since he had said his piece. Finally, Piper showed up onNitro and accused WCW Executive Vice PresidentEric Bischoff of secretly working for the nWo. This was revealed to be true as the nWo came out, attacked Piper, and declared their alliance with Bischoff. The match between Piper and Hogan was made for Starrcade.^[10]

Event

[edit]

The first match was betweenUltimate Dragon andDean Malenko tounify theJ-Crown Championship and theWCW Cruiserweight Championship. The match started back and forth, with both exchanging holds. Ultimo Dragon gained the advantage with thesingle leg Boston crab and theSTF. Malenko fought back withsuplexes, and applied theankle lock. He then targeted the left leg of Ultimo Dragon. They then went back and forth until Ultimo Dragon missed amoonsault, and Malenko applied theTexas cloverleaf. After Malenko performed abrainbuster, they exchanged holds, and Ultimo Dragon pinned Malenko with a bridgingtiger suplex to win the match, and unify the two titles.

The second match was betweenAkira Hokuto (accompanied bySonny Onoo andKensuke Sasaki) andMadusa for theWCW Women's Championship. The match started back and forth. Hokuto applied thedouble choke, and performed aNorthern Lights suplex. Madusa performed atornado DDT and apowerbomb. After Hokuto performed asuperplex, Madusa sent her outside with adropkick. Onoo came in, and hit Madusa with a pole. Hokuto pinned Madusa after amissile dropkick and aNorthern Lights Bomb to win the match and the title.

Other on-screen personnel
Role:	Name:
Commentators	Tony Schiavone^[1]
	Bobby Heenan^[1]
	Dusty Rhodes^[1]
	Mike Tenay^[1] (for the Malenko/Ultimo Dragon Match)
	Lee Marshall^[1] (for the Madusa/Hokuto match)
Interviewer	Gene Okerlund^[1]
Referees	Randy Anderson^[1]
	Mark Curtis
	Scott Dickinson
	Nick Patrick^[1]
Ring announcers	Michael Buffer
Ring announcers	David Penzer

The third match was betweenJushin Thunder Liger andRey Mysterio Jr. Liger had the early advantage with adelayed vertical suplex and a powerbomb. Mysterio performed aheadscissors takedown, but Liger performed a suplex off the apron. They then went back and forth. Mysterio performed aspringboard moonsault and aspringboard legdrop. Liger fought back with adiving headbutt. Liger pinned Mysterio after aLiger Bomb to win the match.

The fourth match was aNo Disqualification match betweenChris Benoit andJeff Jarrett. The match started back and forth until Benoit performed abelly to back suplex, and applied thesleeper hold. Jarrett fought back with a belly to back suplex, and abelly to belly suplex.Arn Anderson came down as Jarrett performed aback body drop. Jarrett and Benoit exchanged attacks asKevin Sullivan came down. Sullivan hit Benoit with awooden chair as Anderson performed aDDT to Jarrett. Jarrett then pinned Benoit to win the match.

The fifth match was betweenThe Outsiders (Scott Hall andKevin Nash) andThe Faces of Fear (Meng andThe Barbarian) for theWCW World Tag Team Championship.Nick Patrick, the referee, was biased towards The Outsiders. The match started back and forth until the Faces of Fear double-teamed Nash. Nash fought back after The Barbarian missed adiving elbow drop. The Outsiders dominated The Barbarian until the Faces of Fear double-teamed Hall. After performing abig boot, The Barbarian applied thenerve hold on Hall. Hall fought out with a belly to back suplex, and Nash tagged in. Nash pinned The Barbarian after a big boot and aJackknife Powerbomb.

The sixth match was betweenDiamond Dallas Page andEddie Guerrero in the final match of a tournament for theWCW United States Heavyweight Championship, which had been vacated after the nWo refused to return the belt after stealing it from then-reigning championRic Flair. After starting back and forth, Guerrero gained the advantage with aslingshot senton, and applied thearmbar. Guerrero performedmounted punches, but Page dropped him on the top turnbuckle. Page had the advantage, and applied theabdominal stretch. They then went back and forth until Hall, Nash andSyxx came down. The Outsiders, who had been interfering in Page's matches for several weeks to help him win and join the nWo, interfered against Page this time. Hall performed anOutsider's Edge on Page, and Guerrero pinned him after afrog splash to win the match and the title. After the match, Hall, Nash and Syxx beat down Guerrero and stole the title belt again.

Roddy Piper, before his match withHollywood Hogan at Starrcade

The seventh match was betweenThe Giant andLex Luger. The match began with Luger delivering punches, and The Giant pushing off Luger. The Giant dominated Luger after performing aclothesline. Luger fought back with kicks after The Giant missed abody avalanche. The Giant continued to attack, but missed a dropkick. Luger performed clotheslines, ahangman's neckbreaker and ascoop slam. Luger then applied theTorture Rack, but Syxx came down, and performed aspin kick to Luger.Sting came down, and left abaseball bat in the ring. Luger performed alow blow to The Giant, and pinned him after several attacks with the bat to win the match.

Themain event was betweenHollywood Hogan (accompanied byTed DiBiase) andRoddy Piper. The match started back and forth. After Piper performed a clothesline and kicks, Hogan left the ring. Piper followed, and sent Hogan's head into the guard rail. Piper then whipped and choked Hogan with abelt. DiBiase distracted Piper, and Hogan fought back, sending Piper's head into the guard rail. Hogan kicked Piper's hip, and applied the abdominal stretch. They exchanged attacks, and The Giant came down. He attempted to perform achokeslam to Piper. At this point, a fan interrupted the finale by jumping the safety barrier and hitting Ted DiBiase. The Giant was confused by the event and continued to hold Roddy in the chokeslam position. Hogan and refereeRandy Anderson ran over and subdued the fan, by kicking him several times in the ring corner until security arrived.After the incident was over, the match continued and Piper reversed the chokeslam hold bybiting The Giant on the nose. Piper then applied the sleeper hold on Hogan, causing him to pass out, and won the match.^[1]

Aftermath

[edit]

After Starrcade,The Giant was removed from theNew World Order (nWo) for failing to help Hogan win his match. The Giant was also unhappy with how he was never given a match forHollywood Hogan'sWCW World Heavyweight Championship despite winning theWorld War 3 battle royal.^[10] AtSouled Out, The Giant faced Hogan for the title, but the match ended with nWo members beating down The Giant.^[11]Roddy Piper continued hisfeud with Hogan after, and they faced each other atSuperBrawl VII for the title.Randy Savage interfered, helping Hogan win the match, and their feud ended.^[12] Throughout 1997, WCW seemed to revolve aroundSting, whose character was changed to become an avenger, frequently seen observing from the rafters. The storyline was built towards his match with Hogan for the title at the followingStarrcade.^[13]^[14]

Reception

[edit]

WCW earned $113,040 in ticket sales with an attendance of 9,030.^[15] The pay-per-view received a buyrate of 0.95, which is the equivalent of approximately 380,000 buys.^[16] The event was released onVHS in the United States on April 15, 1997 byWarner Home Video.^[17]

Arnold Furious of 411Mania gave the event a rating of 6.5 [Average], stating, "This is a great show until the nWo stuff kicks in. While a few months beforehand it was fresh and different now it was getting irritating. While it was nice that they let some of the cruisers go and have fun in the early going (Malenko-Dragon & Liger-Mysterio) you have to think that was because they weren’t deemed important enough for the nWo to care about them. Once the show got into the more important matches the nWo was everywhere and had their fingers in every pie including DDP-Guerrero, which had nothing to do with them at all. A couple of good cruiserweight matches doesn’t make a show great as anyone who watches TNA will testify but it makes the show passable enough to get a mild thumbs up. I’d watch most of the last two matches on fast forward though because they suck."^[18]

Results

[edit]

No.

Results^[1]

Stipulations

Times

Ultimate Dragon (J-Crown) (withSonny Onoo) defeatedDean Malenko (Cruiserweight)

Title Unification match for theJ-Crown and theWCW Cruiserweight Championship