JerryvonKramer Posted August 31, 2011 Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 With WWF, it's always been clear that Wrestlemania is "the big one", but with WCW Starrcade never seemed to have that same special night feel to it. Always seemed like just another PPV, especially as for many years they devoted it to experimental tournaments and gimmicks. I was thinking about this and for me I think it's Superbrawl, but what do you think? Superbrawl, for some reason, was almost always had a good card with really good matches on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted August 31, 2011 Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 Starcade followed by Halloween Havoc. Those shows have longer history and in the case of Starcade it was the first big show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted August 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 I know that technically the answer is Starrcade. But do you know what I mean when I say that it never felt like a really big deal? In the 90s at least. Starrcade never feels like "the show" in the same way that Wrestlemania does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 31, 2011 Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 Starrcade felt like a big show until they started overthinking it. 1989-1992 was theme overload and it killed the name. Even with occasional good shows after that, it was never the same. The answer is that they didn't have one. WCW changed leadership and direction 2-3 times a year -- if not more -- for most of their existence. Under Bischoff, they were more stable, but even he had exactly one angle that they planned out long term in advance. There's no real answer to this question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted August 31, 2011 Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 Your answer is : because they didn't produced the PPV's well enough. Plus the Battle Bowl gimmick over the years kinda hurt the perception of Starrcade being this major PPV to me. Didn't Bischoff disagree with the idea Starrcade should be the biggest PV of the year anyway ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted August 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 I guess a better question might be: what was consistently WCW's best annual show? Again, I'd say it was Superbrawl, but if you include Beach Blast as being the same event as Bash at the Beach, that would be a talking point. Also, something needs to be said for Fall Brawl/ War Games here too: for ages, they seemed to book feuds to the War Games match as a point of climax. That's another thing about Starrcade, feuds wouldn't end there and they weren't built towards there. I've been thinking about this of late: WCW seemed to be a product geared towards TV RATINGS, so it was always like they'd use the PPV to get you to watch Nitro rather than use Nitro to get you to buy the PPV. Weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 31, 2011 Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 There was nothing consistent about WCW, which was the whole reason, even during bad times, to keep watching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted August 31, 2011 Report Share Posted August 31, 2011 Also, something needs to be said for Fall Brawl/ War Games here too: for ages, they seemed to book feuds to the War Games match as a point of climax. That's another thing about Starrcade, feuds wouldn't end there and they weren't built towards there. They did build Piper vs Hogan for Starrcade 96, and Hogan vs Sting at Starrcade 97 had been build basically for 14 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted September 1, 2011 Report Share Posted September 1, 2011 Your answer is : because they didn't produced the PPV's well enough. Plus the Battle Bowl gimmick over the years kinda hurt the perception of Starrcade being this major PPV to me. Didn't Bischoff disagree with the idea Starrcade should be the biggest PV of the year anyway ? Bischoff treated Halloween Havoc as the second biggest show and Starcade as the biggest show. The two biggest payoffs Bischoff ran were at Starcade with Hogan/Piper and Hogan/Sting. If you go a little past his reign, Goldberg lost his first match at Starcade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Slickster Posted September 1, 2011 Report Share Posted September 1, 2011 Your answer is : because they didn't produced the PPV's well enough. Plus the Battle Bowl gimmick over the years kinda hurt the perception of Starrcade being this major PPV to me. Didn't Bischoff disagree with the idea Starrcade should be the biggest PV of the year anyway ? I know on the Starrcade DVD he said that December PPVs had a history of lower buyrates than other months due to the holiday season. That doesn't explain why they chose to blow off Hogan-Piper, Hogan-Sting, and Goldberg-Nash at Starrcade, though. Also, it doesn't explain why he just didn't switch Starrcade and World War 3 on the PPV calendar. From 1995-1999, I'd say WCW's 'Big 5' annual PPVs in order of importance were: Starrcade, Halloween Havoc, Bash at the Beach, SuperBrawl, and The Great American Bash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted September 1, 2011 Report Share Posted September 1, 2011 It does annoy me that Vince has rights to all those names and we can't get a Starrcade pay-per-view. But then the world wouldn't have BRAGGING RIGHTS or something, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJH Posted September 1, 2011 Report Share Posted September 1, 2011 I don't get Bischoff's stance vs. Starrcade as being accurate: Sting/Hogan. That was the big match of the nWo run and they consciously held it off until the end of the year (well, the end of the next year). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Posted September 1, 2011 Report Share Posted September 1, 2011 Also, something needs to be said for Fall Brawl/ War Games here too: for ages, they seemed to book feuds to the War Games match as a point of climax. That's another thing about Starrcade, feuds wouldn't end there and they weren't built towards there. WrestleMania has been either the beginning or middle part for a lot of feuds in recent years too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted September 2, 2011 Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 Also, something needs to be said for Fall Brawl/ War Games here too: for ages, they seemed to book feuds to the War Games match as a point of climax. That's another thing about Starrcade, feuds wouldn't end there and they weren't built towards there. WrestleMania has been either the beginning or middle part for a lot of feuds in recent years too. Backlash was all about tying up loose ends from Wrestlemania, which is why it was usually one of the WWE's better PPVs every year. This is also why having Extreme Rules in April is stupid. Having to shoehorn in some "extreme" stipulation only detracts from the focus on post-WM score-settling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Morris Posted September 2, 2011 Report Share Posted September 2, 2011 It does annoy me that Vince has rights to all those names and we can't get a Starrcade pay-per-view. But then the world wouldn't have BRAGGING RIGHTS or something, I guess. I dunno, if Starrcade was ever revived in WWE, it would become just another show. Vince really doesn't show interest in making anything but Wrestlemania or SummerSlam as a "must-see" PPV these days... and while the Royal Rumble is a popular PPV, I've always felt that has more to do with fans liking the Rumble match and having interest to see who wins to get the title shot. Survivor Series used to be portrayed as a bigger deal but now it's just another PPV. I know King of the Ring didn't last long as a PPV but it was generally treated with importance. Today, we get two shows treated as must-sees, the Rumble living on a popular match and everything else is just there. If Starrcade were revived, it would be no different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 Didn't Bischoff disagree with the idea Starrcade should be the biggest PV of the year anyway ? I think this came from his book. His thought was that the consumer would be too occupied by the holiday season and would be less likely to purchase a PPV in December. He thought halloween Havoc was the biggest show of the year. Although 1996 and 1997 would disprove this. Although Starrcade 1995 was barely promoted on Nitro so maybe it was legit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artDDP Posted September 17, 2011 Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 Didn't Bischoff disagree with the idea Starrcade should be the biggest PV of the year anyway ? I think this came from his book. His thought was that the consumer would be too occupied by the holiday season and would be less likely to purchase a PPV in December. He thought halloween Havoc was the biggest show of the year. Although 1996 and 1997 would disprove this. Although Starrcade 1995 was barely promoted on Nitro so maybe it was legit I think 1997 was just a nod to that "tradition rules" stuff WCW was running to counter the NWO. By 1998 I think the only person who talked about Starrcade being WCW's "big show" was Tony Schiavone. WCW seemed to put way more effort into promoting the Bash at the Beach cards from 1996-1998. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted September 20, 2011 Report Share Posted September 20, 2011 From 1995-1999, I'd say WCW's 'Big 5' annual PPVs in order of importance were: Starrcade, Halloween Havoc, Bash at the Beach, SuperBrawl, and The Great American Bash. Hogan only wrestled on one of those GAB shows (98). I think it's safe to say if Hogan wasn't booked on the card that Bischoff et. all didn't think it was important, though part of that could have been the mentality that the GAB name could draw with the traditional fanbase. Slamboree was the other one that Hogan was only on once in that time frame (95). I think in Eric's mind Road Wild/Hog Wild would have been on that list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted September 21, 2011 Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 Also, something needs to be said for Fall Brawl/ War Games here too: for ages, they seemed to book feuds to the War Games match as a point of climax. That's another thing about Starrcade, feuds wouldn't end there and they weren't built towards there. They did build Piper vs Hogan for Starrcade 96, and Hogan vs Sting at Starrcade 97 had been build basically for 14 months. There's a lot of back-and-forth in here, but I'd agree with those: Starcade in 1996 and 1997 were the biggest shows of the year, and treated as such. Prior to and after that... it's more of a mixed bag. It clearly was JCP's biggest show. To a degree, TBS continued that... but the company also seemed to get burned out by the end of the year, and not have a good idea of how to make it the biggest show. Then it went into the mode that all PPV's were the same, some just had bigger matches given where they were in promoting feuds/storylines. Then starting in 1994, the "Big PPV's" were the ones with Hogan on them. The funny thing about Starcade 1994 is that it was suppose to be the biggest of the year, and was going to be Hogan-Sting. And Hulk did a great job of changing it and getting a new contract. That really is the only reason Starcade wasn't the biggest show of 1994. In 1995, it seemed like they put more focus on Nitro at the end of the year, and the PPV's were almost an after thought come Starcade that it was oddly put together. No chance of being the biggest show of the year. 1996 & 1997 turned that around. 1998... they were screwed up by that point. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artDDP Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 John, are you saying that Fit Finaly & Jerry Flynn vs. Brian Adams & Scott Norton wasn't one of the biggest matches in the history of our sport? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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