wrestling / Video Reviews
Hall’s WCW Starrcade 1992 Review
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...Starrcade 1992
Date: December 28, 1992
Location: The Omni, Atlanta, Georgia
Attendance: 8,000
Commentators: Jesse Ventura, Jim Ross
So this is another Battlebowl show, meaning a bunch of random tag matches (the Lethal Lottery) where the winners move on to a battle royal. That’s all well and good, but there is one more thing going on here that is worth a look. In this case that’s the King Of Cable (named after the ropes because WCW) tournament finals with Sting facing Big Van Vader. Let’s get to it.
The opening video says this is the “tenth annual Starrcade 92”. There have been nine Starrcade 92’s? How did I miss those? We also run down the rest of the card and some of the names are under the wrong wrestlers, again, because WCW.
We get a SPECIAL REPORT from WCW Magazine: Rick Rude is injured and out of the World Title match, meaning Dr. Death Steve Williams is challenging instead.
Commentary hypes up Battlebowl, which will have FOUR tag matches leading to an eight man battle royal. Last year’s was ten tag matches setting up the twenty man battle royal.
Bill Watts and Hank Aaron are in the ring with Tony Schiavone to present Sting with his Battlebowl ring for winning last year. Sting thanks Aaron and hopes to win again while not mentioning Watts. Not a great business move. Well granted Watts would be gone before March so maybe he was right.
Lethal Lottery: Van Hammer/Dan Spivey vs. Cactus Jack/Johnny B. Badd
We don’t even see the names drawn, as these teams were drawn at a recent Clash Of The Champions. The whole appeal of the show is finding out who the teams would be! Why would WCW do….yeah I answered my own question. Anyway Hammer and Jack take turns driving each other into the corner until Hammer slams him down and drops a leg for two. Badd comes in and gets hiptossed into an elbow drop for a quick two.
Back up and Badd gets in a hurricanrana and SPIKES Hammer on his head for two, thankfully with Hammer still on this planet. Jack comes in and charges into Spivey’s boot in the corner and it’s already back to Hammer vs. Badd. Spivey knees Badd from the apron and Hammer doesn’t like the cheating as he and Badd are friends, which has Ventura freaking out as you might expect. A Boss Man Slam gives Spivey two and we hit the bearhug.
We slow down to Spivey and Hammer taking turns working Badd over, with Hammer being less aggressive. Badd gets over for the tag off to jack, who fires off on Spivey, including a discus lariat. Badd is still down so there’s no one for Jack to tag, leaving Jack to get shouldered down. Badd comes back in and elbows Jack by mistake, meaning it’s time for the partners to fight. The big left hand knocks Jack into a rollup to give Hammer the pin at 6:55.
Rating: C+. This was actually not bad, but them again I’m a huge Jack fan and thought Hammer was cool as a kid. You could see that Badd was getting better and much more serious around this time, which led to him being quite the talented star. Nice enough opener here, even if we already have a finish where the team splits up.
Post match Ventura rants about Badd, but can’t even remember that Badd’s finisher is a big left hand rather than a big right hand. Ok now I’m nitpicking but WCW can make that happen.
Larry Zbyszko and Missy Hyatt announce the next match.
Lethal Lottery: Dustin Rhodes/Big Van Vader vs. Kensuke Sasaki/Barbarian
Oh this is going to hurt. Vader and the Barbarian start things off and actually shake hands before trading some shoves. Barbarian’s clothesline has no effect (expect a lot of that) and Vader’s has the same impact. A slam puts Vader down with no trouble so he pops back up to drive Barbarian into the corner. Vader’s headbutt sets up a slam of his own, which also doesn’t have much effect.
More shoulders don’t work so Vader hits his standing body block to knock Barbarian down. The big forearms in the corner have Barbarian staggered but he avoids (I think?) a running boot (Maybe?) and knocks Vader down (that one was pretty clear). Vader is back up with another clothesline and it’s off to Rhodes for a Hart Attack of all things and a near fall. Barbarian is right back up and gets belly to back suplexed, sending him over to Sasaki.
An elbow to the jaw gives Rhodes two but he gets dropped with a clothesline as Ventura is surprised at how physical this has been. Rhodes dropkicks him out of the air and it’s back to Vader with a middle rope body block. A powerslam gives Vader two but Sasaki actually comes back with a dropkick. That just earns him a boot to the face but Sasaki counters a suplex into one of his own for a double down. Rhodes comes back in to clothesline Barbarian, with Sasaki having to make the save. Barbarian accidentally hits Sasaki though and Rhodes gets a rollup pin at 6:57.
Rating: B. This was fun just due to how hard hitting the whole thing was, but having the finishes of the first two matches being that similar doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence. You really can’t have Barbarian miss a charge into his corner and get bulldogged instead of his partner (accidentally in this case) knocking him into a rollup? Either way, nice hard hitting match here.
Then Vader knocks Rhodes down anyway. Ross is LIVID over the lack of sportsmanship, even though it makes sense to beat up someone in the same main event.
Lethal Lottery: Barry Windham/Great Muta vs. 2 Cold Scorpio/Brian Pillman
Windham and Pillman are challenging for the Tag Team Titles later in the show. Scorpio and Windham start things off with an exchange of tosses. Scorpio’s dropkick into an armdrag keeps up the fast start so it’s off to Muta to slow things down. Muta fires off a big kick and Scorpio realizes this isn’t going to happen so he brings Pillman in instead. They trade some rolls and Muta hits a dropkick into a headlock.
Windham comes in and takes Pillman into the corner, where it’s time to trade chops. It’s back to Muta for a jumping spinning kick to Pillman so Scorpio comes in to take him down with a clothesline. A splash hits knees though and Windham comes back in for a double dropkick. The power drive elbow connects for Muta and he works on the ankle. Back up and Scorpio knocks him down for a slingshot 450 (of course) and everything breaks down. Windham’s implant DDT sets up Muta’s moonsault (not making the best contact) for the pin on Scorpio (who almost kicks out) at 6:59.
Rating: B-. This was a bit of a weird one as the Windham/Pillman bit didn’t last long and was the focal point of the match. At the same time, Scorpio was all over the place and felt way ahead of his time out there, especially for someone of his size. I’m not sure what to make of this one as it definitely felt random, but at least it was entertaining.
We draw the last names and this time there are a bunch of wrestlers who aren’t picked, which does add some more drama.
Lethal Lottery: Sting/Steve Williams vs. Erik Watts/Jushin Thunder Liger
Oh boy this is going to be something. As the defending Battlebowl champion, Sting’s spot was guaranteed. Watts is the son of the company’s boss and has absolutely no business being in this spot (yes he gets A LOT of heat for that but it should be remembered that he didn’t demand the spot and it wasn’t his idea, making it not his fault). Sting and Liger start things off and the fans certainly approve as Sting is by far the most popular name in the company.
Liger cartwheels away from a monkey flip attempt but can’t hit a dropkick so they stare at each other a bit. Williams comes in so Liger escapes a suplex and gets his eyes raked. It’s off to Watts for some armdrags and gets clotheslined down for his efforts. A running crossbody gives Watts two so Williams chops the skin off of his chest. Liger comes back in and gets blasted with a clothesline.
It’s back to Sting to drive him ribs first into the corner for two before Williams gets to drop him throat first across the top rope. The Stinger Splash misses but Sting just hands it off to Williams, who grabs a half crab. Sting comes back in for a half crab as he and Williams are showing some nice chemistry here. Liger’s desperation sleeper is broken up with a belly to back suplex and Sting is back in for two off a regular suplex.
Liger manages a bulldog to Williams and Watts comes in to strike away. Watts sends him into the ropes and we get the most remembered part of Watts’ career, as his dropkick bumps into Williams on the way up and just kind of falls down. It was bad timing, but it didn’t help that Watts was so tall and lanky. Again, something that would have been better with more experience but Watts was thrown into this spot way too early. The STF doesn’t work for Watts and Williams gives him a hot shot for the pin at 9:10.
Rating: C+. The more I see of Watts, the sorrier I feel for him. He just did not belong here and that’s not his fault. Other than that, Sting and Williams were a decent team and if Sting hadn’t been the biggest star in the company, it could have been worth looking into the two of them working together. Liger was doing what he could here but he was wrestling a glorified handicap match.
We go over the eight Battlebowl qualifiers.
Schiavone and Zbyszko preview the NWA World Title match.
NWA World Title: Masahiro Chono vs. Great Muta
Muta, the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion, is challenging and forearms Chono up against the ropes. That means they stare each other down again so Muta grabs a headlock takeover. Back up and an enziguri sends Chono out to the floor, followed by a running shoulder to send him outside again.
Muta comes back in with an abdominal stretch, which is reversed into an arm hold. That’s escaped as well and Muta grabs a figure four necklock as the fans are almost eerily silent. Chono escapes again and Muta gets pulled into a hammerlock as this is just dying. Muta gets in an Indian Deathlock, with Ventura wondering what they call that in Japan.
The Muta Lock has Chono in more trouble but he escapes again, allowing Muta to kick him outside. Back in and Muta hits a backbreaker but it’s too early for the moonsault. Muta bangs up the knee on the landing and of course Chono is right on it. Back up and they both miss dropkicks to leave them both down. A rollup gives Muta two but Chono pulls him into the STF to retain at 14:31.
Rating: C-. They weren’t exactly lighting up the ring there but it was another case where the match could have been worse. The problem here is the fans weren’t interested in the slightest because, shockingly, no one but the NWA cared about the NWA World Title in 1992. It didn’t help that these were people who wrestled part time in WCW at best. The quality of the match (which was just ok) wasn’t the problem. The issue is the fans weren’t interested because they weren’t given a reason to be interested. That’s been a problem in wrestling forever and it continues to this day.
We hear about a tournament for the #1 contendership to the US Title but if he’s still injured, he will be stripped of the title. This brings out Rude, who rants about a doctor costing him the World Title shot. He rants about Sting not getting stripped of his title and he’s not letting that happen. Rude was indeed stripped of the title, which would be won by Dustin Rhodes and then vacated again after a match with Rude, meaning there was no champion all summer. Because WCW.
WCW World Title: Ron Simmons vs. Steve Williams
Simmons is defending and JR goes nuts about their football careers, as apparently they played against each other in college. Ventura actually talks about wrestling by complaining about the Rude situation, which bugs Ross again. They shake hands to start and Simmons grinds away on a headlock. With that not working, they go to the three point stances and Simmons leapfrogs him into a clothesline. Points for Florida State’s psychology department.
The armbar has Williams in more trouble so he forearms his way out, which has Simmons angry. Back up and Williams goes to the hair to get out of another armbar and they go nose to nose. Naturally this means another armbar before Simmons goes to the top for some reason, only to miss entirely. Williams wraps the leg around the post and grabs a hideous half crab.
A kick to the leg lets Williams put on a leglock as JR gets to talk about football again. Simmons fights up and they slug it out until Williams picks him up for a backbreaker. A clothesline cuts Simmons off again and let’s crank on the leg some more. Back up and a three point shoulder takes out Simmons leg, as does a second (So that’s six points?). Simmons pops back up to cut off a third and hits the spinebuster, allowing him to hit Williams with his own three point shoulders to the leg. The third misses though and Simmons crashes to the floor where they brawl for a double countout at 15:45.
Rating: D. Why? That’s the only thing to say here, as Williams was done with WCW after this show and went back to Japan, while Simmons would lose the title to Vader two days later. It’s not like there was any rematch to build towards and there wasn’t a feud set up here. Did they really care that much about the football deal? Either have Vader win the title here or let Simmons have a dominant win. I have no idea what the thinking was here and that’s on top of the match being really dull, the second match in a row.
Post match Williams beats up Simmons even more and tries to cover him, which is enough for Simmons to win by DQ. Ventura is livid as this company finds new levels of stupidity.
We recap the Tag Team Title match, which started when Barry Windham snapped and turned heel by attacking the champions. Brian Pillman was his friend so let’s have a title match.
Zbyszko and Schiavone talk about the issues Windham and Pillman had earlier in the Lethal Lottery. Why do I have a feeling that it won’t mean a thing in the match?
Hold on though, as we have to CLARIFY why Williams was disqualified. Apparently it’s because he came off the top rope to attack Simmons and somehow….never mind. Sweet goodness this company surviving for another eight and a half years after this is astounding.
Tag Team Titles: Barry Windham/Brian Pillman vs. Shane Douglas/Ricky Steamboat
Steamboat and Douglas are defending. These are the UNIFIED titles, with the WCW and NWA Tag Team Titles being brought together and all four belts are still here, as we’re still supposed to care about the NWA. Also, to show you how out there WCW was, Steamboat’s theme song has lyrics about him being a “family man”. How do you even write a song about that?
Pillman and Douglas flip away from each other to start and trade knockdowns until Pillman blocks an O’Connor roll. Back up and Douglas hits a dropkick followed by a double version to Windham. The champs clear the ring so it’s the angry Windham coming in to face Steamboat, with the fans certainly approving. Steamboat quickly grabs a front facelock before it’s back to Douglas for a chinlock.
It’s back to Steamboat for a right hand to knock Pillman off the apron, followed by a clothesline to put Windham on the floor. There’s the slam on the exposed concrete and another slam on the ramp gives Douglas two. The chinlock goes on again but this time Windham jawbreaks his way to freedom. Pillman comes in for the faceplant, only to get dropkicked to the floor, with Pillman slamming face first into the barricade.
Back in and Pillman dropkicks Douglas off the top, with Douglas banging up his knee on the floor. Windham comes in off the top with a forearm to the back, with no reference to the DQ rule, likely because something about the NWA or whatever. Or they just screwed up. Douglas gets the alternating beatings, including a catapult to send him throat first into the bottom rope. Windham sends him outside for a beating on the floor…and here is Steamboat with a chair to bash Windham, who has a great “WHAT WAS THAT” look as a result.
Back in and Pillman cuts Douglas off again with a belly to back suplex for a bunch of near falls. Windham comes off the top again with a right hand and JR praises him as my head hurts over the rules around here. I mean, when you can have a decision reversed because someone came off the top after a match was over, an explanation might be warranted. Anyway Pillman gets in a suplex and splash for two as Steamboat is drawn in again, meaning the villains get to cheat some more.
Douglas finally suplexes his way to freedom and falls into a tag to Steamboat, meaning the chops abound. A powerslam cuts Steamboat off in a hurry though and a belly to back suplex makes it worse. Pillman throws Steamboat over the top behind the referee’s back, with commentary saying that would have been a DQ, because now they’re paying attention.
Pillman’s headscissors gets two and it’s back to Windham, with Steamboat putting a finger in his face. Windham misses a top rope forearm and gets faceplanted, allowing Douglas to come back in and really clean house. Everything breaks down and Steamboat crossbodies Windham onto the ramp. Back in and Douglas grabs the belly to belly on Pillman to retain at 20:01.
Rating: A-. The tag team division was a real gem at this point, though having Steamboat in there so often helped a lot. This was a pair of awesome teams (even though you might not have expected it given the pairings) having one heck of a match and I could have gone for more of it. Douglas and Steamboat could both sell like crazy and a ticked off Windham was a fun Windham. I got way into this and it was an instant classic.
We recap the King Of Cable finals, with Vader facing Sting again. So this has a long backstory, as Vader went after him earlier in the year and absolutely massacred him in this very arena but didn’t win the World Title due to a DQ. Then Vader beat him up even worse to win the title at the Great American Bash, making him the one that Sting couldn’t beat.
The idea here is that Sting knows he has to do something different to beat Vader here and his plan is to outlast him. Vader attacked him in the lead up so Sting broke a 2×4 over Vader’s back. These two could have a spelling bee and it would be entertaining, so this should be great.
King Of Cable Finals: Sting vs. Vader
Harley Race is here with Vader, who drops to his knee for a pose at Sting during the staredown. An early shove has Sting down so he slugs away to no avail. Some slams have Sting in more trouble, with a gorilla press hot shot making it even worse. In an effort to keep things even, Vader does it again to another top rope and Sting is in trouble on the floor.
Back in and Sting hits a rolling Liger Kick of all things, followed by a jumping enziguri to the face. One heck of a release German suplex sends Vader flying (that looked awesome) and a Cactus Clothesline puts him on the floor. That’s enough to take Vader’s mask off so Sting takes him down with a slingshot dive (wiping Race out in the process), with Vader popping back up. Back in and Vader hammers away with the big rights and lefts before cutting the Stinger Splash off with a raised boot. You can hear the fans rising and falling with every move here and it’s just awesome.
Some boots to the face and a DDT plant Vader, followed by a super DDT for the same result. The Scorpion Deathlock is quickly broken as Vader goes outside, where he avoids the Stinger Splash against the barricade. Back in and Vader hits his own corner splash and the regular version gets two, with the cover being pulled so far back that Sting slips out. Vader grabs a seated abdominal stretch, with Sting fighting up for two off a backslide. Sting tries a sunset flip and avoids Vader’s sitdown splash to get a needed breather.
Back up and Vader just punches him straight in the face for another knockdown. Sting’s belly to back suplex doesn’t even let him come back, meaning the chinlock goes on again. That’s broken up so Vader just unloads on him with rights and lefts in the corner to put Sting in even more trouble. Vader picks up what used to be Sting to put him on top, where he punches Vader down before collapsing as well.
The frustrated Vader fires off more forearms in the corner and Sting tells him to bring it, while blocking and avoiding as much as he can. Vader’s punches start slowing down and Sting starts nodding before firing back with rights of his own. A big right hand drops Vader and Sting gives him a Samoan drop for two. One heck of a top rope splash gives Sting two but Race offers a distraction.
Vader crushes Sting again and hits a chokeslam, followed by a middle rope splash. Unfortunately Vader bounces off of him and he just stares, leaving Race all the angrier on the floor. Vader goes up again and dives at Sting, who catches him in a powerslam for the quick pin at 17:40.
Rating: A. I absolutely love this match and I have since I first saw it. There is a reason you still hear this kind of a match called the Sting/Vader formula, as there might never have a better hero vs. monster pairing. This was about Sting hanging in there as long as he could and FINALLY catching the frustrated Vader going too far. It was a story that tied back to their previous matches and this was Sting’s first time pinning Vader. Their feud would continue for a long time and it would keep being awesome, but they never topped this one.
NFL legend Paul Hornung talks about the importance of winning a ring. This was another thing that made sense on paper but had no business on a wrestling show. I’m assuming it was a way for Sting and Vader to have a breather but there was nothing else they could have aired?
Battlebowl
Dan Spivey, Dustin Rhodes, Great Muta, Barry Windham, Steve Williams, Vader, Sting, Van Hammer
Yes, this really is the main event after those two matches. Vader tackles Sting on the ramp and they brawl out there, with the other six fighting on the ropes. We get all eight inside and get a regular wide shot of the ring, plus two mini shots of various corners. Thankfully those are dropped when you realize there are only eight people in the ring so it’s not that hard to tell what is going on. Windham saves Sting from Spivey as there is just nothing going on here.
Muta saves Sting as well and gets a rant from Ventura, but Vader saving Williams from Rhodes gets nothing. Sting has to save himself from Spivey and you can tell they’re getting tired as a bunch of them are in their third match of the night. They all pair off into the four corners and Rhodes and Windham go through the ropes to brawl on the ramp. Van Hammer is backdropped out for the first elimination as Rhodes bulldog Windham, which really doesn’t mean much.
Sting knocks Spivey out to the ramp, which counts as an elimination as well. The match finally gets going, at least until we lose the big stars as Sting and Vader eliminate each other. Windham and Rhodes (an actual feud) pair off while Muta kicks at Williams. Windham’s big DDT plants Rhodes as commentary thinks Windham might have a broken nose.
Rhodes catches Windham on top and slams him back in, with Ventura not getting that one at all (fair). Back up and Windham sends Rhodes and Williams out at the same time, leaving us with Windham vs. Muta. A suplex has Muta in trouble and a superplex puts him down again. Muta skins the cat and hits a dropkick for the win at 11:08.
Rating: D+. This was one of those things that was just not very interesting because it didn’t feel important. They kept hyping up the idea of winning a ring or whatever but getting a prize for beating seven other wrestlers, many of whom had wrestled that much earlier in the night, doesn’t come off like it matters. At the same time, Muta would wrestle a house show match the next day, then come back to drop the NWA World Title to Windham in February, and then would leave for over a year. In other words, it’s another case of international agreements making for weird results and I have no idea why they’re necessary.
Commentary wraps up the show and Ventura complains about Rick Rude being stripped of the US Title to end the show.
Overall Rating: C. What a bizarre show. You don’t often see a show with a pair of matches that great and pretty much nothing else to support them. The four qualifying tag matches range from ok to good, but they mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Then you have two pretty bad and VERY dull World Title matches, followed by two instant classics and a main event that could have been a dark match. The New Japan commitments or whatever you want to call them dragged this show way down as it was just a bunch of stuff the WCW fans didn’t care about. Fix that and this show is much better, but definitely check out that one two punch of back to back matches as they’re both great.
Results
Van Hammer/Dan Spivey b. Cactus Jack/Johnny B. Badd – Rollup to Jack
Dustin Rhodes/Big Van Vader b. Kensuke Sasaki/Barbarian – Rollup to Barbarian
Great Muta/Barry Windham b. Brian Pillman/2 Cold Scorpio – Moonsault to Scorpio
Sting/Steve Williams b. Erik Watts/Jushin Thunder Liger – Hot shot to Watts
Masahiro Chono b. Great Muta – STF
Ron Simmons b. Steve Williams via DQ when Williams attacked Simmons after the bell
Ricky Steamboat/Shane Douglas b. Barry Windham/Brian Pillman – Belly to belly suplex to Pillman
Sting b. Vader – Powerslam
Great Muta won Battlebowl last eliminating Barry Windham
