WCW Starrcade 1996
(Chosen by Matthew Roberts)
Avoiding the obvious WCW/nWo “big” moments, I’ve tried to seek out something that effectively showcased the “a little bit of everything for everyone” approach that made the WCW of 1996-1997 such a juggernaut…and also had a little bit of the general incompetence that eventually helped to derail them. Starrcade 1996 seems to fit the bill.
We start with the traditional fast paced opener as Dean Malenko and Ultimo Dragon clash in a unification bout for the J-Crown and WCW Cruiserweight titles. I could watch either man wrestle all day and not get bored so this is just heaven. We get other Cruiser action as Rey Misterio tackles Jushin Liger, in what was a genuine “dream match” at the time for fans of that style of action, and we also get more Japanese import duty as Akria Hokuto tackles Madusa. A solid undercard of names is also on show as Jeff Jarrett takes on Chris Benoit in a No DQ match and Eddy Guerrero tackles Diamond Dallas Page. Although the ranks of the mid-card would flesh out in the next couple of years (and become, in reality, over-saturated and feature far too many names for all to be used effectively) the names here show that even in these embryonic stages WCW was providing opportunities for “different” guys.
From there we get the “big” names. The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) take on the Faces Of Fear in a match that is far better than you might have expected it to be whilst Lex Luger and The Giant (WWE’s Big Show) have a decent big man match. The main event sees Roddy Piper take on Hulk Hogan. It had appeal at the time, no question. We also knew it would likely be dreadful. And it was. But as a microcosm of what went wrong with WCW in the years to come it’s quite instructive. It was assumed that Hogan’s WCW title was on the line, but with no advanced warning and little fanfare it was decreed a non-title match, not that people at the time seemed to realise when Piper won the match by sleeper-hold. There was naturally outside interference (by The Giant and Ted DiBiase) and we even got what seemed liked a fan genuinely doing an unplanned run-in and The Giant seemingly not knowing what to do about it, holding Piper in a Chokeslam position for what seemed like about an hour.
Of course fans who were around at the time will know things would get much worse in terms of interference-fuelled WCW main events in the years to come. Still, overall this is an entertaining show which does indeed highlight a lot of what made WCW so successful at the time.