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The show's focus was the second-ever "Lethal Lottery" / "Battle Bowl" tournament, where randomly pairedtag teams competed for a spot in the Battle Bowlbattle royal at the end of the night. Unlike the previous Starrcade, it was only a 16-man tournament with 8 finalists in a single ring battle royal. It also sawRon Simmons defend theWCW World Heavyweight Championship against"Dr. Death" Steve Williams; the team ofShane Douglas andRicky Steamboat putting theWCW World Tag Team Championship on the line against the team ofBrian Pillman andBarry Windham; andMasahiro Chono defend theNWA World Heavyweight Championship againstThe Great Muta. In addition,Sting faced off againstBig Van Vader in the finals of the "King of Cable" tournament.

It was the last WCW Pay-Per-View for announcerJim Ross, who left for theWorld Wrestling Federation (now WWE) shortly thereafter.

This was also the last Starrcade featuring championships from theNational Wrestling Alliance, WCW would leave the NWA for good in September, 1993.

In 2001, WCW, including all rights to their television and pay-per-view shows, was bought by WWE. In 2014, all WCW pay-per-views were made available on the WWE Network.

Storylines

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The event featured wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds andstorylines. The first match of the "Lethal Lottery" was drawn at random as part of theClash of the Champions XXI show on November 18, 1992, which paired upJohnny B. Badd andCactus Jack to face the team ofVan Hammer andDanny Spivey, who won as part of the Starrcade show.^[2]Sting won the first BattleBowl at the 1991Starrcade and thus was guaranteed to be one of the 16 wrestlers in the tournament.

Event

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Other on-screen personnel
Role:	Name:
Commentator	Jim Ross
Commentator	Jesse Ventura
Interviewer	Tony Schiavone
Battlebowl Commissioner	Larry Zbyszko
Ring announcer	Gary Michael Cappetta

Ron Simmons was originally scheduled to defend theWCW World Heavyweight Championship againstRick Rude, but Rude was injured in the weeks prior to the show and had to be replaced by"Dr. Death" Steve Williams instead. The "King of Cable" tournament was an eight-man tournament conducted to celebrate the 20th anniversary of wrestling airing onTBS Superstation.

Reception

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J.D. Dunn of 411Mania gave the event a rating of 5.0 [Not So Good], stating, "Bill Watts got fired almost immediately following this show, and Verne Gagne's coffee boy Eric Bischoff would take over and surprisingly not get fired himself after a dismal 1993. I appreciate that Watts tried to bring back realism and sportsmanship to WCW, but he booked to his tastes and not the audience when it came to who to push, and that came back to bite him. The show, like a lot of early 1990s WCW shows, had a hebetudinous pace and deathly atmosphere. The two matches worth seeing are on the Essential Starrcade, so no need to pick this one up.Thumbs down."^[3]

Aftermath

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Ron Simmons would lose theWCW World Heavyweight Championship two days later back toBig Van Vader inBaltimore, MD, on the same site Simmons had defeated Vader on August 2.

Rick Rude appeared at the event distraught over being unable to challenge for the WCW World title and even more upset over WCW’s decision to strip him of theWCW United States Championship if he failed to defend by January 23, 1993. A tournament that was to begin the following month to determine a number one contender would eventually become a tournament final to determine a new champion, won byDustin Rhodes. When Rude returned he would feud with Rhodes over the title. Rude’s next shot at a World title came atFall Brawl '93: War Games, where he defeatedRic Flair to win theWCW International World Heavyweight Championship.

Results

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No.

Results^[4]^[5]

Stipulations

Times

1^D

Brad Armstrong defeatedShanghai Pierce

Singles match