2022 was quite arguably the most tumultuous year in WWE history. Most notably, the unthinkable happened when Vince McMahon announced his retirement. While Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan took on shared responsibility as the co-CEOs at the tip-top of WWE, an even more immediate impact felt by fans saw Triple H take the reins of both creative and talent relations.
Helmsley’s presence was felt in a series of surprise returns from late summer through the fall. Moreover, Survivor Series saw the emergence of the first ever War Games matches on the WWE main roster after decades of the company owning that intellectual property. That’s not to mention the choice not to run a December PPV, not to mention canceling the Day 1 New Year’s show.
Between Triple H’s sensibilities as a wrestling traditionalist and the changes to the PPV calendar, the question arises—should WWE bring back Starrcade, the former flagship annual PPV of WCW?
The History Of Starrcade
Starrcade predates WrestleMania, with its first iteration going down in 1983, and immediately establishing itself as a truly top tier annual event. Over the years, the event saw main events like Harley Race vs. Ric Flair and Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes, as well as legendary undercard attractions like the Dog Collar Match between Roddy Piper and Greg Valentine and the I Quit Match between Magnum TA and Tully Blanchard. Later, Flair would represent tradition against monster heel Big Van Vader, and the year-and-a-half-plus Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan angle would come to a head at Starrcade 1997. Starrcade also infamously played host to the end of Goldberg’s streak at the hands of Kevin Nash, as well as the end of Bret Hart’s full-time wrestling career when Goldberg gave him a stiff kick to the head.
While Eric Bischoff has, on his podcast 83 Weeks, denied that he viewed Starrcade as the biggest show of the year (alternately putting more weight on Halloween Havoc and Bash at the Beach), the consensus among fans still placed Starrcade as The Grandaddy of Them All. As the longest continual running PPV under the NWA and WCW banner, it certainly earned its place in history.
WWE Has Revisited Starrcade
WWE actually has promoted its own Starrcade-branded events. Starrcade was a SmackDown house show in November 2017. The company did broadcast this show via the WWE Network in 2018 and 2019, but it was contextualized as more of a novelty show—largely inconsequential to ongoing storylines—than a proper PPV-style event.
Indeed, WWE seemed mostly concerned with tapping into nostalgia. In 2017, Goldust shed his garb and signature entrance music in favor of returning to his old school WCW gimmick as The Natural to callback to not only his own earlier WCW performances, but his family’s—and specifically his father’s—history with the event. Moreover, the 2017 edition emanated from WCW stronghold, Greensboro, North Carolina, and 2019’s happened in Duluth, Georgia, another area favored WCW and Jim Crockett Promotions.
A New Vision For Starrcade
Triple H finally bringing War Games to the WWE main roster seems to bespeak his commitment to wrestling history and his own past enjoyment of the traditional style Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, and others were historically known for. Reviving Starrcade would be a natural extension of representing that aesthetic.
More than a specially promoted house show or quietly marketed WWE Network special, though, the Starrcade brand deserves to be recognized with a proper PPV event. The PPV calendar is already crowded, and it seems The Game means to be more critical about promoting fewer events more soundly. Nonetheless, running Starrcade, particularly in its traditional spot around the holidays (it originally happened in November, then moved to December to not conflict with Survivor Series) would be a powerful way of tapping into old school wrestling nostalgia at a time of year when the general public is already predisposed to feeling nostalgic.
To offer Starrcade a distinctive identity, it would only make sense to focus on tapping into the past. WWE is no stranger to bringing back part-time legends to work matches here and there. Additionally, they could conceivably could tap into some of the ethos of another WCW PPV, Slamboree, by focusing its new vision of Starrcade on legends past returning to work matches with each other, or with current talents. There have been rumblings about WWE seeking to move its Hall of Fame proceedings away from WrestleMania weekend, given how crowded the two-night structure of the event has made the weekend. Starrcade’s history as a premium event and this focus on nostalgia could make it fitting new home for when inductions would happen.
The future of the Starrcade brand is unclear. The nostalgia-based smaller events WWE ran from 2017 to 2019 served a niche audience and casually took advantage of the intellectual property at WWE’s disposal. Like so many things, Starrcade’s continuity was disrupted by the pandemic in 2020. As the world continues to settle back into sense of normalcy, there’s a real opportunity for WWE relaunch this event under a new vision.
