Starcade 97: (almost) Ten Years Later

[Dr. Marzvon Zombie M.D.]

This to me was the beginning of the end for WCW.

[eDemento2099]

whiteyfats said:

It's been almost ten years since, what in my opinion, has to be the biggest letdown in wrestling history.

Discuss

The build-up to the Sting-Hogan match was great. The match (particularly its conclusion) may have been disappointing, but the build-up redeems that.

Having said that, in my opinion, the absolute biggest letdown in wrestling history was the InVasion angle, which was booked terribly right from the start.

[Agent P]

lisajennifer said:

Eddie Guerrero over Dean Malenko

nWo b-team over Steiners & Traylor

Saturn over Benoit

BAGWELL (freakin' BAGWELL) over Luger

I'd include Goldberg over Mongo, but nobody gave a damn about Mongo, and nobody gave a damn about Goldberg yet.

That's the first four matches out of five with the heels winning.

Not to annoy you more, but Goldberg wasn't officially a baby face or a heel at the time, so you could count his win to either side.

[I'm The Cool One]

if you look at it from a "pro wrestling" stand point and not an "insider politics BS" standpoint, SC97 was pretty damn good and made sense... i mean, nWo payed off Nick Patrick. He was in their pocket. Bret Hart had just come to the company, so they can just drop the whole "you have to be a ref to make the count" schtick. crowd popped for Hart, let it be. Nick Patrick was obviously going to do what he could to keep sting from winning, so no one really expected sting to win it. huge buildup for the main event, it wa a good match. sting carried hogan to something mildly exciting. and in the end, there was a new champion. reamember, you've got to look at it from a FANS perspective, not an IWC smarks perspective.

[teala]

This was the first PPV I saw as well, and while the Stinger winning made me happy temporarily, I remember being really pissed off as the show was going on. Over time though, I pretty much just forgot about the show unless someone else brought it up. When the only memorable things about the show are the buyrate and botched booking, you know it was an artistic failure.

[El Dandy]

The way Bret was brought in was ridiculous. They shouldn't have even acknowledged that Bret was coming into WCW until the main event at Starrcade with Bret making an appearance at the end to issue a challenge to the reigning champion to close the show and lead to a major teaser to entice viewers to watch Nitro the following night.

Instead, we get Bret to ref a comedy match with a non-wrestler against a has-been. They didn't know what to do with Bret right from the start.

[teala]

I would have actually preferred Bret to work with a mid-carder (ie Eddie Guerrero), elevate him, and then he could move on to the main event picture after a few months.

[El Dandy]

It certainly would have helped elevate some mid-card talent at that time, but coming off what appeared to be the biggest 'angle' or 'shoot' in the history of the sport at that time, they had to really market Bret straight into the main event picture, and of course, they screw that up.

Anyone remember Bret's debut match? He was wrestling some nWo jabroni (I forget who) and Brian Adams turned on Bret and joined the nWo.

[Mongo & Pepe: Back in Black]

krazyeman said:

lisajennifer said:

Eddie Guerrero over Dean Malenko

nWo b-team over Steiners & Traylor

Saturn over Benoit

BAGWELL (freakin' BAGWELL) over Luger

I'd include Goldberg over Mongo, but nobody gave a damn about Mongo, and nobody gave a damn about Goldberg yet.

That's the first four matches out of five with the heels winning.

Not to annoy you more, but Goldberg wasn't officially a baby face or a heel at the time, so you could count his win to either side.

I'd say Goldberg was a heel at this point. Didn't he steal Mongo's Super Bowl ring?

[Mozenrath]

marzvon said:

This to me was the beginning of the end for WCW.

Man, they had a lot of those. ;D

[Deleted]

blu3blazer1 said:

krazyeman said:

Not to annoy you more, but Goldberg wasn't officially a baby face or a heel at the time, so you could count his win to either side.

I'd say Goldberg was a heel at this point. Didn't he steal Mongo's Super Bowl ring?

Depends on your point of view. I've also heard Debra gave it to him.

[Bub (BLM)]

thestinger said:

When you say "Starrcade was horrible" you mean the finish to the main event, right?

I thought DDP vs. Hennig was pretty cool.

That's because Curt Hennig was never some ass that wouldn't put anyone over. Hogan should have taken note, as doing the same could have launched WCW into the stratusphere. WCW was already winning the ratings war, but alot of that had to do with the general excitement surrounding the 15 month build of Sting vs. Hogan. When the time finally came, the time fans had been waiting on for over a year, and Hogan's ego ruined it. Fans, including myself at age 14, were so pumped to see Sting kick the everliving shit out of Hogan. Instead, Sting got his ass kicked and then won in a fashion in which it looked as though he screwed over Hogan and Hogan went down fighting. WTF?

[Deleted]

There's pretty much no way to defend the Sting-Hogan booking. At this point the whole buzz around the NWO was dying down and WCW had to start giving us something new.

Instead we get a finish that made no sense and confused everyone.

If you look at ratings and buyrates, right after this PPV they start to go down.

[Spankymac is sick of the swiss]

I think Starcade 97 is one of the most overly lamented dissapointments ever. Aside from Bischoff/Zybysko and Sting/Hogan, I don't think there was really a bad match on the card. It's even exaggerated in one of my favorite books, Death of WCW. In what was supposed to be WCW's revenge show, RD says that the nWo won the majority of the matches. This isn't true. In 5 head to head WCW vs. nWo matches, WCW won 3(Hennig/DDP, Bischoff/Zybysko, Sting/Hogan). I never got that.

[Johnny]

The first PPV I ever saw live and loved it. Why did I love, CUZ I WAS NWO 4 LIFE!

[Hiroshi Hase]

chuckymac314 said:

I think Starcade 97 is one of the most overly lamented dissapointments ever. Aside from Bischoff/Zybysko and Sting/Hogan, I don't think there was really a bad match on the card. It's even exaggerated in one of my favorite books, Death of WCW. In what was supposed to be WCW's revenge show, RD says that the nWo won the majority of the matches. This isn't true. In 5 head to head WCW vs. nWo matches, WCW won 3(Hennig/DDP, Bischoff/Zybysko, Sting/Hogan). I never got that.

Yeah, I didn't mind or hate it as much as the majority did and seeing as WCW won the 3 important matches (WCW Title, US Title, Control of Nitro) it had a happy ending at least to me.

[Madagascar Fred]

the WORKRATE!!!!111!!!! on that show was pretty awful, except for the usual suspects (Eddie, Benoit, Malenko)...the "entertainment factor" was rather lousy as well (for what COULD HAVE been)

and the ending to one of the most-awaited wrestling matches ever was just irritating and plain retarded...thanks Hulk!

[Corporate H]

This reminds me: whatever happened to "This Week In Wrestling History"? I loved that segment.

[Agent P]

bencrocker said:

This reminds me: whatever happened to "This Week In Wrestling History"? I loved that segment.

Okay...

Krazy E-Man presents...This week in wrestling history

On September 11th, 1997 the legendary Terry Funk retired for the third time as a part of WrestleFest.

That night in the main event, Funk faced WWF Champion Bret Hart. After a hard fought battle, Hart came out victorious. But the true story of the night was the special guest referee. The man who was afraid that he wouldn't be booked-Dennis Stamp.

[messiah]

johnnysb said:

The first PPV I ever saw live and loved it. Why did I love, CUZ I WAS NWO 4 LIFE!

Holy sh--swerve!