WCW Starrcade ‘95
December 27, 1995
Nashville, TN
Reviewed on April 27, 2014

Background: There’s little point in going over the background of WCW 1995 leading up to this event. While yes, WCW was coming on strong with Nitro doing well against RAW earlier on, and Hulk Hogan had given them the national recognition they were looking for (the short term gain that eventually turned into a huge long term loss) none of that really matters for Starrcade 1995.

How does that make sense? Because Starrcade 1995 is a war between New Japan and WCW.

You’ve gotta give Eric Bischoff credit. He did everything he could to make WCW different that the WWF and it couldn’t be more evident here. The New Japan vs. WCW war was a really cool idea that actually serves as the prototype for the nWo later in 1996.

Here’s what you need to know: Seven New Japan vs. WCW matches, best of seven. Winner gets a big Cup.

The Card

World Cup of Wrestling Match 1
Chris Benoit (WCW) vs. Jushin Liger (New Japan)

I’m hyped for this.

Benoit was just named as a Horseman.

I like Liger’s rolling spinning heel kick.

Surfboard from Liger. One of my favorite holds.

Crowd randomly erupts on a Benoit superplex. Not sure why the crowd went crazy there.

Jushin Liger pins Chris Benoit in 10:29. Kevin Sullivan provides a distraction, and Liger gets a botches hurricanrana for the three. Good match, although it was getting really good right as it ended. I guess considering who was involved it could be considered disappointing. 1-0 New Japan.

Mean Gene with Eddy Guerrero. Talking about the Benoit-Liger match. This is bland face Eddy.

World Cup of Wrestling Match 2
Alex Wright (WCW) vs. Koji Kanemoto (New Japan)

I guess WCW didn’t want to bring out their best seven. I mean, how else does Alex Wright get a spot?

We get a USA chant. You know Alex Wright is German.

It’s kinda clear early on that Wright isn’t in Kanemoto’s league.

Nice kick combo with a spin kick from Kanemoto.

Definitely a botch there with Alex Wright running from an over the top bodypress…which Kanemoto just hit where Wright stopped running.

Nice moonsault from Kanemoto.

That dropkick that not hit as Kanemoto came off the top.

Koji Kanemoto pinned Alex Wright in 11:44. Jackknife pin for the win. Alex Wright was still pretty raw here and it showed. Not a bad match though, pretty decent. New Japan leads 2-0.

WCW HOTLINE!

World Cup of Wrestling Match 3
Lex Luger (WCW) vs. Masahiro Chono (New Japan)

Luger’s a heel here…but people are cheering him I guess because WCW is down 2-0. Which is smart match placement to be fair.

What a boring match. Chono and Luger skipped the importance of selling somewhere in their career.

That’s not fair I guess. Luger looks like he’s trying at least.

Ha, the famous Dusty and Heenan getting on Schiavone about the Mafia Kick call. Great stuff.

Lex Luger makes Masahiro Chono submit in 6:41. Torture Rack for the win. Commentary owned. Match did not. A whole lot of nothing happens with Chono and Luger selectively selling movies. 2-1 New Japan.

Sting interview. Okerlund brings up that Kensuke Sasaki beat Sting for the US Title a few months ago, which Sting hilariously responds too. They also talk about the Triangle Match later for the World Title shot.

World Cup of Wrestling Match 4
Johnny B. Badd (WCW) vs. Masa Saito (New Japan)

Sonny Oono trashes Kimberly, which ends with him telling Badd to control his woman because we (the Japanese) do. Good heel stuff, I laughed.

I think it’s interesting that two Johnny B. Badd valets in a row did Playboy. Kimberly here, and Sable later.

Johnny B. Badd wins by DQ in 5:52. Saito tosses Badd over the top rope to get the DQ. Pretty much a waste of time. A lot of choking and chopping…then of course a finish with the dumbest rule in pro wrestling. Series tied at 2.

Luger interview. More hype on the Triangle Match.

World Cup of Wrestling Match 5
Eddy Guerrero (WCW) vs. Shinjiro Otani (New Japan)

Really cool variation of the monkey flip from Otani.

Really nice fold up powerbomb from Eddy on Otani.

Awesome height on the springboard dropkick from Otani!

Sick German from Otani.

Eddy busts out the Flying Edge into a Sitout, which is really nice.

Springboard corkscrew press from the top from Eddy to the outside! Nice!

Shinjiro Otani pinned Eddy Guerrero in 13:43. Some crazy pinning combinations lead to Otani holding Eddy down for one. You don’t see that finish a lot, and I liked it. Really good match that was a bit slow at the beginning, but picked up perfectly. 3-2 New Japan.

Savage interview. TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!

World Cup of Wrestling Match 6
Randy Savage (WCW) vs. Tensan (New Japan)

Savage is the Champ. Probably one of the more obvious results you’ll ever see here.

Randy Savage pins Tensan in 6:55. Savage seemingly botches a suplex or some attempt of one into the ring…then hits the elbow off the top for the win. Finish came out of nowhere and I think was Savage’s only offense. Just a boring 7 minutes of Tensan beating up Savage before the quick comeback. Bad match. Anyway, we are tied at 3!

I think Bobby Heenan is drunk.

Ric Flair interview. Weird that he’s not part of the WCW team here…but Alex Wright is?

World Cup of Wrestling Match 7
Sting (WCW) vs. Kensuke Sasaki (New Japan)

There is some history here. Sasuke is the US Champ…and he beat Sting for it.

Sting makes Sasaki submit in 6:52. Scorpion for the win. Had the exact same formula as the last match, which is pretty lame. Crowd popped huge for the Scorpion. WCW wins 4-3.

Triangle Match: Winner gets a WCW World Championship Match
Sting vs. Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair

Interesting dynamic in this match as only two are in the ring, and someone will be on the apron and needs to be tagged in or out.

Not nearly sure on this, but this has to be one of the first type of three way matches on a national stage. I know WWF didn’t have one until 1996.

We start with Sting and Flair.

Typical good Sting vs. Flair stuff. This is probably going to be three matches in one, which I am fine with.

Flair shoves Sting into the corner and Luger gets tagged in. Interesting that we get 1991 face Luger here.

Flair works on the leg, of course.

Flair always got the best matches out of Luger. Kinda similar to Bret Hart and the British Bulldog.

Flair tags in Sting and I like the logic, forcing “best friends” Luger and Sting to go at it.

Ric Flair wins by countout in 28:03. Flair sends Luger and Sting to the outside when they were the legal men…and gets the countout win when Luger “inadvertently” pulls Sting back outside. Finish furthered the story at least. The match is pretty good though, as it’s basically three one on one matches. Very well done. I really like the tag dynamic for the three way for whatever reason.

WCW World Championship
Randy Savage© vs. Ric Flair

Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage: The only match to be a world title match on Wrestlemania and Starrcade.

There’s a Jimmy Hart dynamic here too. He hates the Horsemen. He was aligned with Luger, but when Flair won he came to ringside. So I guess he’s just gold digging and will align himself with the Horsemen if needed. Fine I guess, lol.

Flair had to be the best heel in the business at this point. He’s just cheating everywhere and it’s awesome.

Chaos begins with Jimmy Hart tossing the megaphone in…but Savage gets control and hits him with it…and Flair is bleeding everywhere!

Ric Flair wins the title by pin in 8:41. The Horsemen show up and cause all kinds of problems. Arn Anderson nails Savage with brass knuckles and Flair gets the pin. Crowd pops huge for the pin, showing that WCW is still Flair country even if he’s a heel. Not a bad match, even though Flair himself hated the finish (“I didn’t win the title, they won the title”), but I thought the finish was okay, although disappointingly not clean. Match was decent. A little short.

Starrcade 1995 is a strange show. Let’s break it up in parts.

The concept: The USA vs. Japan War seems out of place. I get WCW was trying to maximize their agreement with New Japan, I just don’t think this concept works in 1995. It doesn’t help that we don’t get the best Japanese guys either. No Great Muta? The WCW team is pretty random too. Why didn’t Flair wrestle in it but Alex Wright did? Was there really no one better than Alex Wright? Also, no surprise that Guerrero, Benoit and Wright all lost and Luger, Savage and Sting won (Badd won through BS). I think this idea works perhaps in the early 90s, but 1995 was pushing it. Starrcade only had 90k buys, which had to be disappointing. Of course, no Hogan was probably a factor there too.

But, you have to give WCW credit for trying something new. Especially since this idea was the prototype for the ultra popular nWo later. No point in shoving out the same old formula if you don’t have to.

The matches are hit or miss. Benoit-Liger, Guerrero-Otani, Triangle are hits. Tensan-Savage, Sasaki-Sting and Saito-Badd are misses. Main event was okay for what it was.

Unfortunately, this show has almost no historical value at all outside of the idea that this served as the prototype for the nWo. The Flair-Savage-Sting-Luger main event scene sounds awesome…but Hogan would overshadow them all in the coming months so it wouldn’t matter. And while Evil Japan still had a presence in WCW (Starrcade 96 even began that way), this invasion didn’t really lead to anything significant.

Mostly a well wrestled show, but the concept doesn’t work enough for me. Would have preferred a clean finish in the main event of the biggest PPV of the year too.

Final Grade: C+