Classic Review: WCW Starrcade 1994

Widely accepted as the worst Starrcade in history, which takes some doing as Starrcade is more a beloved brand name than an event with a consistent history of real quality, Starrcade ‘94 was the first of the Hulk Hogan era of World Championship Wrestling, and the first of three consecutive Starrcades to take place at Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium.

With Hogan came a boat load of post-peak (to put it nicely) WWF guys that Hogan liked having around as he looked to build at least a solid foundation on the roster loyal to him, as it was Hulk who was the clear outsider in Atlanta.

That meant that he gave his best good friend, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, now “The Butcher,” a spot opposite the Hulkster himself for the Starrcade main event. It took an entire five months, but Hulk Hogan managed to prove he was clueless at best, actively hostile toward WCW’s overall success at worst.

But I doubt I’ve watched this show in 25 years, and my tastes and sensibilities have changed a lot since then. I don’t expect to come out of this thinking there’s a ton of secretly great wrestling on the show or whatever, but I’m open to anything being better than its reputation.

So off we go back in time, 30 years ago this month, for the Grandaddy of ‘em All! Sometimes grandads aren’t so great.

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WCW Starrcade
December 27, 1994
Municipal Auditorium - Nashville, TN

• The show is hyped as a “Triple Threat,” with an alleged three main events: Hulk Hogan vs Beefer Butcher, Sting vs Avalanche, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Vader. Hey, if you don’t really have a main event worth a damn, just say you have three! And yes, Hogan’s grimy fingerprints are truly all over this show. It has Mr. T! It has Honky Tonk Man¹! And the recently-arrived “Macho Man” Randy Savage² is here to either shake Hogan’s hand or slap him in the face.

• We’ve got Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan calling the matches, and they’re joined up top by Mean Gene Okerlund. Heenan and Okerlund had been brought in as guys who could help get wrestlers over on TV, which was a truly great chess move by Bischoff. And so was signing Hogan, to be clear; I may hate what happened to WCW with him in, but that’s a personal taste thing and I do accept that. Hogan, even long past peak drawing days, brought a level of attention to WCW that WCW was not going to get with anyone else. It was an immediate boost, then a slow decline from the end of ‘94 after they’d burned too hard through the Flair feud and into him going away in early ‘96, before he bit the bullet, turned heel, and sent them flying. There are downsides, but Hogan took them to a level they weren’t possibly going to achieve otherwise, twice, once on arrival and later with the nWo.

• Anyways, Heenan has never seen so many pickup trucks as he saw here in Nashville. Also mules and a dirty bloodhound. Mean Gene says Starrcade ‘94 is “the most spectacular thing he’s ever been involved with.” What a phenomenal liar.

• Dave Sullivan is dressed as Santa Claus out in the crowd.

• Aaron Tippin is here to sing the national anthem in a Tampa Bay Lightning sweater. He’s an actual professional so he does a nice job singing that bad song.³

• Back to Tony and the boys, who must speak on Hogan vs Butcher and the Randy Savage deal. Then we get a look back at a recent Saturday Night where Savage told Hogan he’d see him at Starrcade and left the question open.

• Hey! Let’s spend more time with Tony, Bobby, and Gene! Did you know they have a Hotline? Well they do! Yesterday, Pro Wrestling Illustrated had their awards deal where WCW bought a bunch of stuff for their guys. Heenan tears up the magazine with Hogan on the cover. Let’s go to video of Bill Apter and Nick Bockwinkel giving Hogan the award.

• Alright let’s go to a match!

Hacksaw Jim Duggan (c) vs Vader

WCW United States Heavyweight Championships

What made me want to watch this show again was this match, after watching their Dec. 10 Saturday Night match, which ruled. Like, I’ve seen this match for sure, but I don’t remember anything about it specifically, really. Been a long time. So maybe this also rules!

Duggan again does not have the American flag with him, it’s clear that he takes Vader too seriously to lug around a second prop, and the board makes for a much better weapon. This fight starts in the aisle, as Vader rushes out to attack Duggan, and Duggan puts the fists to him fast, then goes after Harley Race in the ring, so that Harley can take a goddamn bump over the top to the floor, because Harley Race isn’t going on camera if he can’t take a bump.

Vader’s mask is already off. Duggan again going after him, but Vader fires back. Duggan sends Vader into the rail, sternum-first, and the big man is down. Duggan engaging the crowd, who are fired up early in standard PPV audience fashion.

Have seen standard accepted thoughts reviews of the Duggan-Vader matches people are like, “Ugh Duggan doesn't sell for Vader like everyone else did.” Yeah? That's what makes it awesome? That makes Duggan cool here? He's a huge, brawny, heavy-fisted bumpkin taking the fight to an all-time asshole bully. Vader isn’t able to just push Duggan around. And it works on a '“styles make fights” level, too; Duggan, with his mindset and effective-if-limited skill set, matches up against Vader in a way that someone like Sting doesn’t. It’s not saying Duggan is better than Sting, but he’s different than Sting. So of course this isn’t a Vader-Sting match. Why would it be? That’s not Sting.

When Vader crawls into the ring, Duggan is right there on him. These matches also stand out for the time because they are not wasting any time, this is all action. Basic, brawling, fistfight-type stuff, no resting, no waiting.

Duggan clotheslines Vader back out to the floor. Vader is getting absolutely demolished this time around, even though he tried to take it right to Duggan. Duggan has the experience of facing Vader once and knows what worked and what didn’t. He believes that raw aggression works, and then Heenan starts to break it down on commentary⁴, basically saying that Duggan not having or displaying any fear for Vader — which is usually something that fuels Vader, the fear his opposition has for him — has thrown Vader totally off.

Duggan scoops, holds, and slams the hell out of Vader, then drops an elbow for two. He tries another pin after just punching Vader repeatedly in the face.

Vader’s really great when he sells, by the way. He has the aura and reputation that makes it stunning and almost sad, even as a heel, that he’s getting his ass kicked, which probably comes naturally from the fact that Vader was well-known as sort of an emotional softie in real life.⁵ Sort of like how as Gary Cooper got older, his eyes carried with them a sadness that evoked something from his performances that wasn’t on the page.