Take The Book #3: WCW Starrcade 1993!

1993 was a big year for World Championship Wrestling. Ric Flair returned to WCW after being in the WWF for just over a year. They had a lot of good talent to work with and throughout the year had put together some entertaining feuds. So, when Starrcade 1993 happened a lot of people were left disappointed, and I was one of them. Thus, I thought about what I would’ve done to make the show bigger and better. After all, Starrcade was regarded as being WCW’s biggest event of the year.

Before I begin, let me just say that I would’ve done months leading up to the event totally differently. Sid Vicious would’ve stayed with the company and the same goes for the British Bulldog. Also, the Hollywood Blondes wouldn’t have had split up in October. Just thought I’d make that clear as I rebook Starrcade 1993!

Opening Contest: Harlem Heat vs. Marcus Alexander Bagwell & 2 Cold Scorpio
This wouldn’t be a match with a story behind it. Instead, it would just be an opener to get the crowd riled up for the rest of the pay per view. I feel like these four would be able to put together a match and not hurt the show at all. I’d have Harlem Heat go over to give them big momentum going into 1994 since they would play a big role that year and for a few years after.

Second Contest: Ron Simmons vs. Ricky Steamboat
Lets face it, Simmons as babyface was getting really stale by late 1993. I would turn him heel a few months before the show. I feel like as a heel he was more of a threat and would freshen him up. A feud with Steamboat would be simply Simmons looking to cripple the old man on the block. He would feel that in order to get respect from the wrestlers and fans, he would need to destroy a well respected man in Steamboat. Thus, they meet at Starrcade with Steamboat wanting to be respected despite his age and show that he has enough left in the tank to hold his own. I’d have Steamboat go over here by sneaking a victory over Simmons. If it comes as a fluke it helps both men. Steamboat proving that he can still find ways to win and Simmons just losing his focus at the wrong time. It seems like a win/win situation to me.

Third Contest: Brian Pillman vs. Arn Anderson
Since the Blondes had a feud with the Horsemen back in the summer, I feel like I would be able to revisit the feud in December. As I have said, Starrcade is the biggest show of the year and Pillman would want to beat a staple of the WCW brand on the biggest show. These two would have a good back and forth match with Pillman pulling out the victory. This victory would establish him as an upper card mid card guy as we head into 1994. WCW needed to develop younger talent at some point, so why not now?

Fourth Contest: WCW Television Champion Lord Steven Regal vs. Sting
Yeah, I might be wasting Sting by putting him on the under card, but I feel like it helps the overall card. Regal had always been ripping on the American fans and what better way than to have a top babyface in Sting compete in a match against Regal to beat some respect into him. Regal would lose this non-title contest because Sting can’t be losing to under-card guys since he is a main event player.

Fifth Contest: WCW United States Champion Dustin Rhodes vs. Paul Orndroff
The way the feud would begin is with Orndorff insulting Dustin’s father Dusty and say that Dustin will never amount to anything close to what Dusty did in the business. This would give Dustin the task to prove to Orndorff and to any of the other doubters that he is a man who can excel in the business. Orndorff is a remarkable heel who can get some great heat, and by having Rhodes pin him is going to be very beneficial.

Sixth Contest: WCW World Tag Team Champions The Nasty Boys vs. Maxx Payne & Cactus Jack
This feud would start a month earlier. There wouldn’t be a stipulation attached to this, but rather this would just be a brawl with very few actual wrestling moves being used. I’d want the titles to stay on the Nasty Boys so I’d have them lose by disqualification. They would get to a point in the match where they felt threatened and they would purposely get disqualified.

Seventh Contest: WCW International Champion Rick Rude vs. The British Bulldog
I’d simply set this up with Bulldog pinning Rude on Saturday Night, possibly in a tag match. Since he would’ve pinned Rude he would be awarded a title shot. However, when it comes to the match I wouldn’t have Bulldog prevail over Rude. Rude as a heel champion would balance out the card since the other top title will be on a non heel. Plus, Rude had only been champion for about four months and Rude would have a really good, long title reign.

Eighth Contest: Ric Flair vs. Steve Austin
I feel like this is a match that should have had happened in 1993, but they never had a singles match in WCW. This would go along with the Pillman/Anderson match from earlier in the show. It would have a bigger role, though, since these two are the main event guys of their respected tag teams. I’d hope for this to be a classic match with these two going at it for at least twenty minutes. Austin would beat Flair in the middle of the ring and become a big heel to be reckoned with in 1994.

Main Event: WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader vs. Sid Vicious
I’m not that big of a fan of this main event, but Sid as a babyface has always been a draw and fans have responded to him. I’d try to keep this as short as possible because big guy matches never really entertain people. Of course, you don’t want to make it too short because that could damage Vader. I’d probably have it go for about ten minutes with Sid avoiding a Vader Splash off the middle rope and connecting with a choke slam to pickup the win. Sid would go into 1994 as the WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

That’s how I would’ve done Starrcade 1993. I find it kind of interesting to think about how WCW would look different when Hulk Hogan would arrive to WCW. Perhaps I will explore that sometime in the future based off of this show.

What do you think? Would you change anything?

Thanks for reading.