Shining a Spotlight 12.27.07: Starrcade '97

Posted by Michael Weyer on 12.27.2007

On its tenth anniversary, a look back at how WCW ruined what was supposed to be its ultimate night of glory and set the stage for their own downfall.

Hindsight is 20/20. As a history major, I've understood that. You really need distance to properly judge things and events, a long distance is usually best. True, sometimes that judgment can be a bit off but it's still necessary. That's something that's true no matter what you're judging, especially when it's an event that set in motion one of the most incredible collapses in history.

Starrcade, for those too young to remember, was the NWA/WCW answer to Wrestlemania. No, that should be corrected. It was created for Thanksgiving 1983 and thus pre-dated ‘Mania by a year and a half. It was a Thanksgiving staple until 1987 when Jim Crockett made the mistake of trying to take it to Chicago as a PPV event only to have Vince McMahon counter with the first Survivor Series, forcing Crockett into such a financial hole he had to sell to Turner. Starrcade was then moved to December but retained its place as the high point of WCW's year, the time programs came to a head.

Starrcade '97 was supposed to do just that. It was coming off the most successful year WCW would ever have, a year where they dominated in the ratings and house shows. It was going to feature a top-line card of great matches and the introduction to WCW of the hottest free agent around. It was all to be headlined by the main event, the payoff to the angle the company had spent over a year building up. All told, it was the perfect time for WCW to administer the mortal blow that would put the WWF down for good.

Instead, they blew it. They blew it and blew it big-time and set themselves off on that long slippery slope that would lead to their demise a little over three years later. WCW could have done it differently that night but failed and in doing so, pretty much set the course for their own fate. To see how and why, you need to go back a bit to how it all got started.

While everyone has written about how the New World Order angle went out of control and helped hasten WCW's destruction, it's often overlooked how well done the whole thing was at the start. For the first time, well, ever, WCW actually managed to make a major money-making program work perfectly. Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were presented as invaders from the WWF, heralding the long-time battle fans wanted to see between the two companies. Having Hulk Hogan turn heel after a decade of being the most popular guy in wrestling and joining the group was another bold move that paid off dividends. It appeared no one could stand up to the NWO as they added more members, won titles and trashed everyone who got into their way. When Eric Bischoff joined and openly revealed himself as the guy in charge of WCW, it seemed the group was unbeatable. They kept that going as they bossed around and got their way and fans kept tuning in to see them fight as they waited for WCW to fight back.

A key reason the NWO went like this was that Sting, WCW's main stand-up player, had been removed when the group had an imposter Sting attack Lex Luger right before Fall Brawl '96. Insulted that no one believed in him, Sting walked out on his team at War Games and declared himself a free agent. He traded in his usual blond hair, colorful makeup and bright tights for his "Crow"-influenced trenchcoat and white makeup. He hung in the rafters watching the goings-on with a blank expression, showing no hint as to his true intentions. He watched as the NWO kept on growing with members like Randy Savage and WCW stalwarts were pushed down by them. Through it all, he ended up becoming the hottest babyface in the company despite not saying a word or wrestling a single match.

At "Uncensored '97," the NWO won a complicated challenge match that would give them the right to challenge for any title at any time they wanted. It was right after that match that Sting finally took action, rappelling down from the ceiling and laying waste to Hall, Nash, Savage and Hogan with a baseball bat and his new Scorpion Death Drop move that had the fans going crazy. The stage was set but amazingly, WCW decided to hold off on it and put off the big payday coming. They had slightly bigger things on their plate.

See, by this point, Bischoff had truly become convinced that the NWO would last forever and was making plans to give it his own show. He tried it out with an edition of "Nitro" that had the NWO dismantle everything with the WCW logo and put on their own matches and commentary, capped off by Bischoff doing a big in-ring ceremony celebrating Hogan complete with a ring. It was meant to show the power of the NWO but the fans didn't agree as the ratings for that show dipped shockingly low. Bischoff was smart enough to see that an NWO show wouldn't work and ended that experiment. Unfortunately, he wasn't smart enough to see that this was just a sign of what should have become obvious to everyone which was that the fans were getting a bit tired of the major NWO push.

However, it did seem that things were being built up to the big showdown at Starrcade which would finally have the Sting-Hogan title match everyone had been waiting for. More importantly, it would see the WCW debut of Bret Hart. Only a month after the most infamous public double-cross in the history of the industry, Hart would come into WCW with a major contract and more heat than he would have had without the Montreal incident. True, having him be the special referee for a match between Bischoff and Larry Zybsko for control of Nitro seemed a bit off for his first appearance but it was still a huge deal. Signing on one of the biggest stars WWF had seemed to show that WCW was riding high. All they needed to do was to make it all work and that's where the problems came in.

A year and a half is a very long time for a wrestling angle to run. Yes, the New World Order was hot with its invasion of WCW and attacking everyone to get control. But the whole point of an invasion angle is that sooner or later, you have to have the other side take the fight to the opposing force for a final encounter. Instead, Bischoff allowed the NWO to always win, to never let the WCW guys get any decent headway. He'd have Lex Luger beat Hogan for the title but lose it just five days later. At least Luger got that as the Steiners were denied a chance to regain the tag titles and the Four Horsemen were made to look like losers when Nash made fun of Arn Anderson's heartfelt retirement speech and the Horsemen were denied a chance to get payback. Time and again, the fans were made to see WCW as losers against the NWO which was not a good way to sell the inevitable showdown. Not that Bischoff seemed that interested in giving it really.

The reasons why Bischoff was just so stubborn at letting the NWO go on were myriad. Part of it was ego as this was the first major angle WCW had managed to make work so Bischoff wouldn't want to mess with it. That's a common problem for promoters throughout wrestling history, they just hate to mess with what works and will keep on doing it, even when fans get tired of it. In this case, there was also the fact that, as much as he'd deny it, Bischoff was being played like a fiddle by the talent and allowed them to keep on calling their shots and refusing to go with plans. Bischoff was too busy having fun being on top to see the long-term damage this could do and allowed them to run their own stuff, leading to more problems.

In his defense (there's a statement you don't often hear in regards to Easy Eric), the man mainly playing Bischoff was a virtuoso. Say what you will about his personality, his abilities or his ego but the fact is that when it comes to backstage politics, Terry Boella might very well be one of the most brilliant strategists in the history of wrestling. Hogan knew this could be his last chance at the major main event scene and was not going to let it pass him by without a fight. He began by making noises over how he didn't think Sting was right to beat him after spending a year away from the ring. As Hogan told it, having Sting come back after 14 months and beat him right out wasn't right. Of course, one can easily see the hypocrisy as Hogan beat Ric Flair for the WCW title in his very first match in the company after a year away from wrestling. But as I said, Hogan was good at spinning things his own way with the bosses.

Still, Bischoff held to his guns that Sting would go over here. The build-up to Starrcade seemed to show that would be the plan as fans flocked to the MCI Center in Washington on December 28th to witness the final blow-out between WCW and the NWO that would pay off big time and push WCW even higher. What they got instead was a card that not only failed to live up to expectations but dashed many hopes.

From the very beginning, the card was marked with a problem. For weeks, the build-up had been for a showdown between Nash and the Giant which promised to be a major big-man fight and was even promoted as a co-main event. But as the show began, it was announced the matchup would not be taking place. Supposedly, Nash had called the office that morning to report he had suffered chest pains that had grown into a mild heart attack. Of course, most everyone else figured Nash just didn't want to show up and job to the Giant. That he had spent weeks complaining about it seemed to bear it out so he was allowed to just not show up with no punishment at all. Scott Hall made a brief appearance after the opening of Eddy (that's how they spelled it then) Guerrero retaining the Cruiserweight title against Dean Malenko. Hall made a few noises about Nash not coming in with the Giant entering and beating him up rather than do the obvious Giant-Hall replacement match. WCW never did directly address Nash's absence, stealing one of the big events of the night which was not a good sign.

As the card went on, it became clear that the big revenge arc against the NWO was not happening. Randy Savage, Scott Norton and Vincent (better known as Virgil, Ted DiBiase's flunky) beat Ray Traylor and the Steiner Brothers in a six man tag while perennial mid-carder Buff Bagwell got tons of interference to help beat Luger. There was one case of a WCW guy going over when Diamond Dallas Page beat Curt Henning for the US title. It was going to be Henning and Flair for revenge on Henning turning on the Four Horsemen a few months earlier but Flair and Bischoff began their infamous fight that led to Flair pushed off. So Page was dominated by Henning before hitting a Diamond Cutter from nowhere to get the title, not exactly a good way to sell him as a top face. Even the non-NWO bouts seemed poor with Goldberg (then a nothing heel) beating Steve McMichael in five minutes while Saturn forced Chris Benoit to submit in a ten minute match that didn't show either man at his best.

For Bret's big debut, the match between Bischoff and Zybsko was about as ugly as you can imagine going back and forth with the fans wondering if Bret was going to side with the NWO as Bischoff kept saying he would. Instead, when Scott Hall interfered, Bret punched him down and put him in the Sharpshooter while Zybsko choked out Bischoff and Bret awarded him the match. That didn't seem a great introduction to WCW for Bret and in fact, can now be seen as an omen for his misuse by the company.

But all that didn't matter as the main event came. Hogan came out to his usual air guitar bit and arrogance, talking with ref Nick Patrick in what seemed more detail than usual. After months of coming out in surprise appearances via a cable from the ceiling or popping out from under the ring, Sting simply walked down the aisle, pausing every now and then to stare at the crowd. The two faced off as the fans finally came alive, buzzing over the big showdown. At long last, Sting was going to wipe the floor with Hogan and win the title. It was the only possible outcome after all this, the only way the angle could end and was obviously what was best for the company.

Unfortunately, everyone in attendance overlooked one very important fact: That Hulk Hogan has long been unable to see that what's good for the business and what's good for himself are not always the same thing.

The match began with a stare down and a lockup and then a test of strength followed by a headlock worked for two minutes. If that sounds dull reading, imagine seeing it all happen. Sting dropkicked Hogan, sending him outside but simply stood in the ring allowing Hogan to rest and walk around as the crowd grew more and more restless. Hogan got back into the fight and was soon dominating, beating Sting around with a crotch drop across the ring barrier and chopped him. The crowd was getting more and more upset as Hogan clearly was getting the upper hand on WCW's big name and Sting seemed helpless against that. Hogan finally slammed him down, went off the ropes and dropped the leg. He covered Sting as Patrick knelt and made the three count.

The crowd stared in shock as Sting, the hero, the man who had spent all this time chasing Hogan and ready for the big match had lost cleanly. The announcers immediately said that the count had been fast but it wasn't. Indeed, it actually seemed a bit slower than usual. Before the bell could be rung, Bret came out to stop it, saying "This isn't going to happen again," which would have been more effective if the mic had caught it all. When Hogan tried to leave, Bret threw him back into the ring where Sting suddenly seemed fired up, doing his old yell and thumping his chest. He went at Hogan, flinging him into the corner and hitting him with the Stinger Splash and then the Scorpion Deathlock. Bret almost immediately signaled for the bell and the crowd cheered as Sting was given the title and all the faces came out to celebrate, the seemingly perfect end.

But it wasn't. Not one bit. Because the image of Sting being clearly pinned still remained in the minds of the fans, marring what should have been a straightforward victory. Now, exactly what happened remains mostly unknown but the common thinking is that Hogan used his clout to make the ending as far away from a clean job as possible. In his autobiography, Bischoff says the plan was for Sting to kick out in the first cover, Hogan would knock him down for another and Patrick would do a fast count. As far as Bischoff is concerned, Sting just messed up and failed to kick out at the first one. Of course, most everyone else thinks that one way or another, Hogan got to Patrick and convinced him to do what it took to give Hogan a win. Of course, Bischoff brings up that if he had thought that, he would have fired Patrick on the spot and it doesn't explain Bret coming out so soon or the match ending like that. So it would appear that this ending was the plan, to give the show of Hogan trying to cheat back to victory but Bret saving the day from a WCW stalwart.

If this was the plan, then it was bad, bad, bad in every way possible. For fourteen months---fourteen months----WCW had set this up as the ultimate showdown of the man the fans hated versus their hero, the champion of WCW out to reclaim the big belt and put the NWO down. For fourteen months, Sting had been presented as the man who terrified Hogan and had him running scared badly. Having Sting beat Hogan decisively to win the title was the only logical outcome to the whole thing, the only result that made sense and would have the fans approval. Instead, WCW blew it big time by having their hero seen as a loser who needed help to restart the match and get the desired result. Sure, they may have celebrated but it was nowhere near what would have been if the expected outcome of Sting trashing Hogan had gone on instead.

It was only made worse about a week later when on the first "Thunder" broadcast, executive JJ Dillon stripped Sting of the title due to the controversial ending and by the end of a rather convoluted series of events, Hogan had the belt back. Thus, not only did Sting's win not go down as planned but instead of having him be champion and lead WCW against the NWO, the belt was put back on Hogan and it went back to business as usual with the NWO winning all the time. It was the first clear sign to everyone that Bischoff was refusing to accept that the fans were getting tired of the NWO winning and ready for WCW to fight back as he kept on doing everything that worked before, figuring it would keep on working. Against this routine, it's no surprise at all that within a few months, WWF would be fighting back hard and the Monday Night War would take a different turn.

Ten years later and it's still amazing to see how one night could change a company's fortunes so drastically. Yes, the following Starrcade and the "Fingerpoke of Doom" would really start the downfall. But on this night, WCW had its absolute best chance to take an insurmountable lead in the ratings war, one that may not have put WWF out of business but at least had them down for a while and kept WCW's fortunes faring for the entire year. Instead, they messed up the program that had been a year in planning while bungling the much-hyped debut of the hottest free agent alive. Between Hogan's refusal to cede the spotlight and Bischoff all too willing to let him do what he wanted, WCW turned it's highest buy-rate PPV ever into the beginning of its end. It's a lesson to be learned for every would be promoter and booker out there. Because as a history major, I also know what happens to those who don't heed the past. I do believe there's a couple of companies today that can be looked at to bear that one out.


Usually I plug other columns but I imagine it may be light with the holiday week. So simply check out everyone and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year and holiday season. See you all next year. For the last time of 2007, the spotlight is off.