wrestling / Video Reviews
Leighty’s Retro Review: WCW Starrcade 1995
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-Our journey with Nitro has led us this show. It’s been a weird build as Hogan has been all over the place, but is nowhere to be seen as he was “suspended” after beating people with chairs while on probation. For whatever reason WCW has decided to gimmick Starrcade again. For their biggest show of the year they liked to theme the event with things like Iron Man and Iron Team, Battlebowl, and King of Cable. This time we are opening THE FORBIDDEN DOOR years before TK as it’s The World Cup of Wrestling with WCW vs. New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Outside of that we have a new fangled Triangle Match to determine who will face Randy Savage for the World Title later in the evening. For a company with a massive roster, they were making people work a several matches a night in December. Let’s get to it!
-Announce Team: Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan
-Nashville, Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, TN
-Dec. 27, 1995
-Attendance: 8200
-PPV Buys: 75,000
-As the PPV buys show, this show bombed as the previous year with Hogan/Butcher on top did 130,000 and the following year with Piper/Hogan did over 300,000. This would be the lowest Starrcade ever until 2000 came it at 50,000. So, I guess points for trying something new with The World Cup, but the fans didn’t care and cared less when Hogan wasn’t part of the show.
World Cup of Wrestling: Match #1: Chris Benoit (WCW) vs. Jushin Thunder Liger (NJPW)
-These two have wrestled plenty of times so will have no issues with chemistry. Tony mentions they just competed against each other in Europe. Liger shoves off from a side headlock, but gets run over. Armdrag from Liger and another and then he his a dropkick to the knee. Baseball slide connects and Liger hits a cannonball from the apron to the floor. The Tennessee crowd boos Liger and starts a USA chant, so I guess the USA vs. Japan theme is working. Back in the ring they work a knuckle lock and Liger gains the advantage and hits a rolling heel kick. Benoit back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Powerbomb countered into an armdrag and another dropkick sends Benoit to the floor. Liger fakes a dive and Benoit takes his time before heading back into the ring. Suplex from belly followed by a nasty belly to back suplex. Tony notes all seven matches will happen so that pretty much guarantees we are getting a 3-3 split to build to the last match. Benoit with a Liontamer and it’s the legit one and not The Walls that Jericho had to use in the WWE. Chops from Benoit and Liger responds with a flurry of strikes. No matter as Benoit gets a German Suplex into a bridge for two. Liger back with a surfboard and then into a modified Dragon Sleeper and then into a Camel Clutch. Sweet! Benoit gets up and hits an Electric Chair Drop. Again, sweet! Liger counters a suplex into a cross-body but Benoit is out at two. Slam from Liger and he heads up top. Benoit meets him up there and pops the crowd with a superplex. Benoit misses the flying headbutt! Another rolling heel kick followed by a sit-out powerbomb for two. Brainbuster gets two! Liger getting a little cocky on the covers here. Whip reversed and Benoit hits a running clothesline. German Suplex and he rolls with it and hits another one with a release. POWERBOMB that had to suck follows! Kevin Sullivan is here as Benoit hits the flying headbutt. Benoit gets distracted by Sullivan and Liger catches him with a rough looking rana into a pin for the three count at 10:30.
Winner: Jushin Thunder Liger via pin 10:30
-Fun match, bad ending! ***3/4
-New Japan up 1-0!
-Gene is in the back with Eddie Guerrero and he is honored to be representing Team WCW in this event. Such a nice and humble young man here. I bet he has a wonderful son that never ends up in prison.
World Cup of Wrestling: Match #2: Koji Kanemoto (NJPW) vs. Alex Wright (WCW)
-Kanemoto is the reigning IWGP Light Heavyweight Champion and I read some controversy as NJPW considered this a match for the Title, but WCW didn’t. Lockup and Wright shoves off. Another go and again, nothing doing. Wright gets a hammerlock, which Koji reverses. Wright with a trip and then an armbar that he takes to the mat. Koji escapes and Tony lets us know these two also wrestled earlier in the year in Europe. Koji goes to work on the knee and applauds himself. Wright with an enziguiri followed by some Euro uppercuts. He goes back to the arm as Bobby mentions the Japanese contingent has been here for weeks training in the Smokey Mountains. Tony: “Nobody wrestles in the Smokey Mountains.” Shot at Cornette? SMW had just ended so it’s possible I guess. Wright with a crossbody that sends them both to the floor. Baseball slide sends Koji into the railing and then Wright hits a dive over the top rope. Koji slams the mat in frustration. Back in the ring Alex gets a chinlock but Koji escapes and fires off chops in the corner. Nasty spinning kick catches Wright flush. He lays Alex on the top rope in the corner and fires off more chops and hits a dropkick. Dropkick sends Wright off the apron to the floor. Wright avoids a possible dive from the top, but walks to the opposite side and Koji hits a crossbody over the top. Koji plays to the camera, which lets Alex send him into the railing. Koji takes his time on the floor. He avoids a suplex back in the ring and gets a double arm suplex into a bridge for two. Moonsault from the top but Koji lifts off the pin. Wright floats over in the corner and gets a German Suplex into a bridge for two. Running elbow in the corner as Wright is showing some good fire and emotion here. World’s Strongest Slam followed by the slingshot splash for two as Koji gets his bottom foot on the rope. Wright up and they both try a dropkick which leaves them both down. Wright off the top with a crossbody for two, but Koji back with a spin kick. Slam followed by a twisting splash. Koji up and Wright catches him with a dropkick on the way down. Now Wright gets the missile dropkick and follows with a superplex for two. Wright tries to float over in the corner again, but Snake Eyes and Koji gets the jackknife cover for the pin at 11:43.
Winner: Koji Kanemoto via pin at 11:43
-Fun little match that deserved a better crowd, but you have to work to the crowd. Result makes sense as WCW being down 2-0 makes for a better story than it being 1-1. ***1/4
World Cup of Wrestling: Match #3: Masahiro Chino (NJPW) vs. Lex Luger (WCW) (w/ Jimmy Hart)
-Crowd loves Luger as he is back to fighting Japanese for America! Luger starts fast and gets a Gorilla Press, but drops Chono like The Warrior instead of a traditional slam. Luger misses a clothesline and Chono gets a series of forearms followed by a big boot to the face. Luger bails and regroups with Jimmy Hart as Chono flexes in the ring. We get some stalling before both get back in the ring and Luger hits a knee to the ribs. He sends Chono from one corner to the other and lays in the boots. Suplex is blocked and Chono hits a snap suplex. Chono uses his boot to choke Luger in the corner and the crowd wakes up enough to give us a weak “USA” chant. Sleeper from Chono but he breaks and brings Luger down with a forearm. STF but Luger is able to crawl to the ropes. WCW commentary was always great at putting over how dangerous that move was and I bought it back then. Mafia Kick from Chono! Dusty: “He kicked him in the mush. It has nothing to do with The Mafia. Hell, what are you talking about?” Tony breaking as Dusty went on that rant was fantastic. Luger catches Chono coming off the top with a “Sicilian Elbow,” as Dusty continues his rant. The Torture Rack finishes at 6:41.
Winner: Lex Luger via submission at 6:41
-Boring though the commentary provided some fun. Chono dominated and Luger got The Rack and the win. *1/2
-NJPW up 2-1 now!
-Gene is backstage with Sting and Gene reminds Sting he lost the US Title to Sasaki not long ago and then we get to the Triangle Match where Sting has a chance to compete for the World Title.
World Cup of Wrestling: Match #4: Johnny B. Badd (w/ Kimberly) (WCW) vs. Masa Saito (NJPW)
-Heenan notes he used to manage Saito in the old AWA. Sonny grabs the mic and tells Kimberly she should be home doing dishes and cooking as that is what is wrong with this country. Kimberly cuts a promo and Sonny tells Johnny to control his woman. This is just a wild pairing! Saito with a clean break and he bows at Badd. Johnny works the arm, but Saito is out easy. He takes Johnny down to the mat and works a Cobra Clutch and then into a headlock and then into a chinlock. He pulls Badd down by the hair. He fires off chops which fires Badd up and he responds with his own. They start trading heavy strikes and it’s pretty sweet as they are slapping the piss out of each other. Saito lands a blow to the throat and chokes Badd on the bottom rope. Sonny uses the Japanese Flag to choke. Saito Suplex gets two! High clothesline gets a two count. Saito takes the ref and Sonny gets some more choking with the middle rope. Side Russian Leg Sweep gets two! Badd starts firing off right hands and hits a knee-lift. He heads up top and hits a double ax. Up top again and a sunset flip gets two. Badd goes to his boxing background and knocks Saito on his ass. Suplex gets not even one which has Badd shocked. Sonny on the apron and Badd goes after him. Saito and Sonny end up dumping Badd to the floor and that’s a DQ at 5:50.
Winner: Johnny B. Badd via DQ at 5:50
-I liked the match better than the previous one, but that was a crappy ending to keep Saito from doing a job. *
-Saito stares Kimberly down after the match, but Badd makes the save and sends Saito to the floor. He hits the somersault dive to the floor before heading back in to pose with Kimberly.
World Cup of Wrestling: Match #5: Shinjiro Otani (NJPW) vs. Eddie Guerrero (WCW)
-We are tied at 2-2 so the winner forces a must win for the other team in the final two matches. Eddie controls early with a side headlock, but Otani goes to the hair. Hammerlock from Otani and he gouges at the eyes and mouth. Cool! Otani backs Eddie to the ropes and gouges the face again. Again, cool! Eddie with an enziguiri and Otani gets in the ropes to back Eddie away. Otani with a trip and hooks a leg lock and transitions to back control. Eddie switches out and gets a chinlock. Eddie floats over on a backdrop, but gets caught with a monkey flip. Otani tosses Eddie in the air, but he gets a head scissors on the way down to send Otani to the floor. Standing dropkick from Eddie followed by a slam. Slingshot senton and Eddie follows up with a Boston Crab. He transitions to a Half Crab, but Otani gets to the bottom rope to force a break. Powerbomb into the pin gets two! Ouch! BRAINBUTSER which gets Heenan marking out gets two! Running clothesline in the corner as Eddie is in his bag right now. He misses a charge in the corner and Otani follows with a springboard dropkick that sends Eddie to the floor. Otani springs off the ropes and lands a blow to Eddie on the floor and poses. Back in the ring he hits a dropkick Bobby asks Dusty what he is thinking if he was Eddie right now. Dusty: “I’m thinking I lost a lot of weight brother.” Tony is dying on commentary and I can’t blame him. I forgot how much I loved these three on commentary! Belly to back suplex from Eddie gets two. Otani with a nasty German Suplex for two! He springs off the ropes again and gets a spinning heel kick. Hard slam and he heads up top again. Eddie fights up top and gets a rana from up there for two. Splash Mountain gets two. The crowd is finally getting into a match and it’s because these two are beating the tar out of each other. Otani gets a heel hook, but Eddie gets to the ropes to break. Otani makes sure to hold until four before the break. Bryan Danielson was somewhere taking notes. They head to the floor and Eddie gets a slam. He springs off the top and hits a turning crossbody! Sweet! Otani brings Eddie back into the ring with a suplex and crawls to his feet. Spring dropkick right to the BACK OF EDDIE’S HEAD! DAMN! Otani is bleeding from the mouth or nose. Otani sets for a Dragon Suplex but Eddie elbows out. Rana into a pin, but Otani rolls with him and that is countered by Eddie which is finally turned into a roll-up by Otani for the three count at 13:43.
Winner: Shinjiro Otani via pin at 13:43
-This was fantastic as that in the work and got this crowd into this match by the end. Easily the best match in this World Cup. ****1/4
-Gene is with Savage and he doesn’t care about the Triangle Match right now as the pressure is on him being down 3-2 and then it will be on Sting. He notes he, Luger and Sting are all on the same team right now and then it goes away.
World Cup of Wrestling: Match #6: Tensan (NJPW) vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage
-I always thought it was weird to put Savage in this as he is The World Champion and should have been afforded the advantage of resting. The other option would be to put Flair in the field either in Savage’s spot or I kind of wished it was Saito vs. Flair. I guess it makes sense to have Flair get the advantage because he’s the heel. Lockup to start and Savage backs Tensan into the corner and offers a clean break, but gets punched. Heenan brings up a good point as Savage has to win here which is different than later in the night when someone has to beat him to win the World Title. Clothesline from Tensan gets a two count. Tensan goes to the eyes and then stomps away in the corner. Savage sends Tensan head first into the top buckle, but Tensan just shakes it off and pounds Savage down in the corner again. He goes back to the eyes and then hooks a nerve hold. Thankfully, he releases and just goes back to throwing strikes. Savage fights back by raking at the nose and eyes, but again, Tensan just shakes it off and hits a spin wheel kick. Double chop as The WCW World Champion is getting dominated! I know Savage is great at taking a shit kicking, but maybe don’t look this weak. Tensan beats Savage to the floor and then back into the ring. Modified Samoan Drop as we see the Spanish Announce Team and man, did they get awful seats. Diving headbutt from the top gets two. Tensan with a slam, but misses a moonsault. Savage with a clothesline to the back that sends Tensan over the top which could be a DQ. No matter as Savage drops Tensan gut first on the top rope and hits The Flying Elbow for the pin at 6:53.
Winner: Randy Savage via pin at 6:53
-No drama here as Savage was never losing and probably smart they made this the 6th match with Savage needing to win. Tensan dominated from the opening bell before Savage hit a clothesline, a release suplex and then the Flying Elbow. The crowd popped for the finish. *
-Funny bit as Tony and Dusty are turned around from their desk to talk to the camera while Brain is obvious and then knocks things off the desk and gets tangled up trying to turn around. They are doing a great job of breaking Tony tonight.
-Gene is backstage to plug The Hotline and then brings in Ric Flair. He will style and profile and then Sting and Luger need to beat the man to be the man. Wooos all around!
World Cup of Wrestling: Match #7: Kensuki Sasaki vs. Sting
-Sting brings The US Flag out with him and I am disappointed he didn’t break out the Great American Bash 1990 look. Sasaki is the WCW US Champion as he beat Sting for the Championship. Sasaki jumps Sting before the bell and chokes him on the middle rope. Slam from Sasaki gets two and he follows with a reverse chinlock. Sting breaks rather easily and fires off chops and right hands. Stinger Splash early in this one! Sasaki reverses a whip and gets a running bulldog as the crowd chants for Sting. Clothesline and another, but the third one misses and Sting hits a dropkick. Back in the ring, Sting gets caught with a power slam. Brainbuster! Sasaki works an arm for a bit and then gets an armdrag take over for a two count. Scorpion Deathlock from Sasaki which is kind of cool to see. Sting powers out but Sasaki is back with a leg drag. Sting with an enziguiri but Sasaki is up first and puts Sting on the top rope. He tries to hit another power slam, but Sting fires up, hits a clothesline, plants Sasaki on his face and gets The Scorpion for the submission at 6:54.
Winner: Sting via submission at 6:54 -This was okay, but suffered the same way the Luger and Sting matches earlier in the show did. This was better than those two matches though. ** -Team WCW heads down to celebrate with Sting though it took Luger a bit to get there in a nice character touch. Gene is out to join them and present Team WCW with The World Cup of Wrestling as the crowd chants USA. Savage is missing for some reason!
#1 Contender Triangle Match: Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair vs. Sting
-This was the early days of doing multi-man matches so weird deal as it’s not all three men in the ring at once, but instead two men in with one on the apron and needing to be tagged. A coin toss determined that Sting and Flair are starting this with Luger on the apron. The crowd is finally full throat into a match which makes sense as it’s Sting vs. Flair. Lockup to start and Sting offers a clean break and then yells. Flair throws the first chop, but gets slammed down with a Gorilla Press and then a clothesline gets a two count. He immediately goes for the Scorpion, but Flair gets to the bottom rope and bails to the floor. Back in the ring Flair gets a hammerlock and is able to take Sting to the mat. He runs the arm off the top rope and then fires away with chops and a right hand in the corner. Back to the hammerlock as Luger is cheering on his best friend from the apron. Another chop and a strut, but Sting stares him down. Dropkick from Sting and another Gorilla Press Slam. Mounted punches in the corner and then Sting bites at the forehead. They head to the floor and Flair has nothing for Sting out there so he begs off back in the ring. Hip-toss sends Flair across the ring, but he avoids a dropkick. Flair taunts Luger as he drops a knee on Sting. Dusty goes on a rant as he has never heard the phrase “playing possum.” Schiavone brings up Flair as The Black Scorpion and how nobody will ever forget. Don’t remind me. I hate what they did to what should always be a fun match with Sting/Flair. Luger gets drawn into the ring which lets Flair dump Sting over the top and to the floor. Back in the ring Flair drops a knee and goes for multiple covers, but Sting is out. Bobby hypes this match by noting the three men have won The World Title 17 times at this point and we won’t see that anywhere else. Now, we have Cena with 17 reigns by himself. Sting no sells a suplex and ends up bringing Flair off the top with a superplex. Sting covers, but catches Luger trying to come in to break up the pin. Uh oh! Flair catches Sting from behind with a knee that sends him into the corner and Luger gets the tag to finally get in the ring after 10 minutes plus of Sting/Flair. Flair bails and wants no parts of Luger, so Luger hunts him down in the aisle and brings him back to the ring. Luger with a Gorilla Press Slam and now he gets the mounted punches in the corner as Dusty asks if a weasel is an animal. Luger gets a two count, so Flair goes to the eyes to draw a pop from the crowd. Chop block to the back of the knee! Flair smells blood and immediately goes to work on the knee including using a chair as the ref was with Sting. Chop in the corner which knocks Luger on his ass. Flair struts and then plays games with Sting to bring him into the ring and then drops a knee to Luger’s balls as the ref goes after Sting. Classic! Figure four and of course Flair uses the ropes for leverage. Flair slaps Luger in the face which is pretty stupid and yep, Luger flexes and reverses the hold. Flair escapes and wants a suplex to the ramp, but Luger blocks and gets a suplex back into the ring for two. Flair up top, but Luger slams him down and makes sure to fall as well to sell the knee. Chops from Flair and Luger again, just stares at home. Flair charges and bounces off user. Flair gets backed into the corner and then slaps Sting on the chest to bring him into the match. Eighteen minutes of work from Flair before he finally tags out. Sting and Luger slow this thing down as they discuss what they want to do here. Handshake which the crowd boos! Funny! After about 60 seconds we finally get some action as Heenan asks when these two last locked up and even I knew it was SuperBrawl II in 1992. I am so excited to get my Retro Review series to 1992. Nothing is happening as they are selling the fact they don’t really want to face each other. Finally, at 20 minutes Luger starts to pound Sting down in the corner. Sting back with mounted punches in the corner and then a clothesline. Another one and Luger calls timeout as he falls to the mat in the corner. We get another lull as they continue to sell the idea they aren’t sure what to do against each other. Luger charges and gets caught with a boot. Whip to the corner, but Luger comes running out with a clothesline. I kind of figured the crowd would be into seeing these two go at it, but this is sucking the life out of crowd and me. We need Flair back in this match. Sting off the top with a cross-body and I think that’s how he beat Luger for the World Title at SuperBrawl II. Vader Bomb from Sting, but Luger gets the knees up. Cool idea from Sting! He drops a series of elbows and gets a two count. Another run of elbows and Sting is right next to the ropes so doesn’t even get a one count. Sting starts his comeback and this crowd does not care! Scorpion gets a tepid response, but Luger is able to get to the ropes. Things get interesting as Luger punches Sting right in the little Stinger. Inverted atomic drop from Luger! Sting gets a small package for two. Sunset flip for two! Snap suplex from Sting leaves both men down as they sell the exhaustion of not only this match, but working earlier in the show. Stinger Splash! Sting misses a second one and the crowd actual wakes up for The Torture Rack. The ref gets knocked down, which Flair is right there to capitalize and clips Luger and throws Sting over the top rope. Flair wakes up the ref and actually takes the double count-out to advance as Luger holds Sting back at nine from getting back in the ring at 28:02.
Winner: Ric Flair via count-out at 28:02
-This was so weird as it was basically a 10 minute Sting/Flair match, 10 minutes of Luger/Flair and then 7 minutes of a bad Sting/Luger match before the silly ending. This was way before 3 way matches went mainstream so they didn’t have the formula yet, but still, this should have been better. Just very boring as they couldn’t even get the southern crowd into the match. Flair/Sting was fun for an abbreviated match between them and Flair/Luger was solid, but blah to the final 10 or so minutes. **
WCW World Heavyweight Championship: “Macho Man” Randy Savage (c) vs. Ric Flair
-Flair is already in the ring, but we get the special introductions from Michael Buffer. Jimmy Hart is out with Flair to be in his corner. Tony asks if Flair ever had to wrestle two straight matches, but he should be fine considering he was on the apron the last ten minutes of the previous match plus all the time it is taking for this one to get going. This feud carries WCW house shows earlier in the year when they feuded over Flair attacking Savage’s dad. Savage gets a backslide for two as both men want to end this one quickly. Flair with a chop in the corner but Savage blocks a right hand. He peppers Flair with punches in the corner as we see Mr. Wonderful, wearing a neck brace, standing in the aisle. Sadly, none of that ever got paid off. Flair with an inverted atomic drop and he tries for the figure-four, but Savage kicks him away. Savage comes off the top to the floor, but Flair side steps and lands a punch to the gut. He sends Savage into the railing as security forces Wonderful to the back. Flair sends Savage shoulder first into the post and hits another stinging chop. He goes after the bandaged arm as he rams it off the railing. Savage crawls back into the ring, but Flair gets a hammerlock and uses the ropes for leverage. Flair wearing red and yellow boots and kneepads against Savage is cool for some reason. This crowd is still sleeping as Flair continues to work the arm. Savage gets a brief comeback, but gets caught with a sleeper. Savage is able to drop out of it and lands a right hand for a two count. Another two count! This is not the awesomeness I usually get from these two. Still weird this ran this match only a few days earlier on a taped Nitro. That match was much better than this one and my review is here. We get actual noise from the crowd as Savage heads up top, but he misses and Flair tries to use Hart’s megaphone. Savage avoids and blasts Flair, but the ref is still with Hart. Flair is bleeding as Savage hits the Flying Elbow. Pillman and Benoit are here as the ref is still being distracted. Savage takes care of them, but Pillman holds the ref so Arn can come in and decks Savage with a foreign object and a BLOODY Flair gets the pin and World Title at 8:41.
Winner and New WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Ric Flair via pin at 8:41
-The crowd sucked! The match was nowhere near what these two can deliver and the interference at the end was bordering on comical as the ref had to play dumb too much and then be held down by someone not even in the match. *1/2
-Pillman beats Savage with the World Championship belt to continue his loose cannon gimmick. Man, Flair tapped a gusher in a place where it really wasn’t needed as the match ended only a few minutes later.
-Tony says there won’t be an interview due to Flair’s condition. I assume they didn’t want to put him on camera with that much blood pouring from his head. Tony, Bobby, and Dusty close things down to cover for Flair not being able to do an interview.
-Thanks for reading!
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