WCW Starrcade 1996 (1996 TV Special) User Reviews

I enjoyed it.

[callanvass · 7/10 · 10 June 2016]

Live from Nashville, TN

Attendance: 9,030

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes & Bobby Heenan

Cruiserweight Unification Match

Dean Malenko (C) Vs Ultimo Dragon (W/Sonny Onoo)

The Ultimo Dragon wins the title. This was one hell of an opener with a title switch I didn't see coming. It kinda deflated the crowd a bit, but overall, they were the winners. They got to see this terrific opener. If it wasn't for a slow start, I'd give this four stars.

***3/4

Women's Championship

Akira Hokuto (W/Kensuki Sasaki) Vs Madusa

Hokuto wins the title after Sonny Onoo interferes. I wasn't too impressed by this match. Hokuto pulled out a couple of cool manuevers, but that's about it.

*3/4

Rey Mysterio Jr. Vs Jushin "Thunder" Liger

Liger wins with a Liger bomb. I'm loving the quality of wrestling tonight! This is another outstanding match on this show. They went toe to toe with move after move. I was surprised that Liger got the win, but Japan winning seems to be a theme tonight.

***3/4

Chris Beniot (W/Woman) Vs Jeff Jarrett

The ending to the match is pretty chaotic! Konnan and Hugh Morrus try to take Woman to the back, but she kicks Morrus in the nuts. Meanwhile, Arn Anderson DDT's Jarrett on the floor. Kevin Sullivan drills Beniot from behind with a wooden chair. Jarrett somehow finds a way to win. This was a good match. It had the right intensity, and Jarrett actually did a decent job of playing a face here.

**3/4

Steve McMichael and Debra come out for an interview. McMichael says Beniot had Jarrett handed to him on a silver platter, but he still couldn't get the job done. Man Debra was a heat magnet. That woman almost got boos as loud as Vickie Guerrero

Tag Team Championship

Scott Hall & Kevin Nash (C) (W/Syxx) Vs Meng & The Barbarian (W/Jimmy Hart)

Hall and Nash retain after Nash delivers a powerbomb to The Barbarian. As expected, this was a pretty mediocre match. It was a drastic departure from the quality wrestling that was opening the show. The nWo had some cool aspects to it, but also some annoying ones.

*1/2

United States Championship

Diamond Dallas Paige Vs Eddie Guerrero

Eddie wins the title with the help of Scott Hall. Eddie tries to fend off an attack from the nWo, but he can't quite do it. Syxx takes away the title. The last 5 minutes of this match are really good. The rest of it isn't so hot. One memorable thing about this match is DDP's face turn.

**1/2

Lex Luger Vs The Giant

The referee gets knocked down. Lex Luger has it won with The Torture Rack, but referee, Nick Patrick comes down and nails Luger in the knee to stop it. Syxx interferes as well. Sting comes down and scares Nick Patrick away and leaves a baseball bat in the middle of the ring. Luger gets to the bat first and nails The Giant with it a few times to pick up the upset victory over The Giant.

Thoughts: The match wasn't that great, but boy was the finish exciting, and the crowd popped huge for it. Normally, I'd complain of overbooking, but it was really exciting so it doesn't matter here.

*1/2

"Hollywood" Hulk Hogan (W/Ted Dibiase, Vincent & Miss Elizabeth) Vs "Rowdy" Roddy Piper

Piper fends off The Giant and beats Hogan by submission with the sleeper hold. After the match, The Giant and Hogan get into an argument. Even though it wasn't for the title, Piper beating Hogan was a huge deal. It was quite amazing that Hogan put over Piper relatively clean. The match itself was pretty ugly, but the ending gave you a nice feeling.

*

Overall, this is a memorable PPV. It features some solid matches and some fun storytelling. WCW was red hot at one point.

7/10

Contains Luger's best single match and totally weak Main Event

[amanwhorocks · 7/10 · 22 January 2014]

1. WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Ultimate Dragon Vs. Champ-Dean Malenko - Wow, clear victory for heel Ultimo. Nice job. 8.5/10

2. WCW Women Title Match: Akira Hokuto Vs. Champ-Madusa - Really poor timing after the screw. 6/10

3. Chris Benoit Vs. Jeff Jarrett - Kinda strange match and ending. Jarrett won over Benoit with help by Sullivan and Arn "Goof" Anderson. 6.5/10

4. WCW tag Team Title Match: Champs-The Outsiders Vs. Faces of Fear - Outsiders retained clearly ove most toughest tag Team. 6.5/10

5. WCW U.S. Heavyweight Title Match: Diamond Dallas Page Vs. Eddie Guerrero - Final of the Tournament. Eddie won by help the Outsiders. 7.5/10

6. Giant Vs. Lex Luger - This is best Luger's single match. No doubt about it. Crowd went crazy, when he beat Giant. 8/10

7. Rowdy Roddy Piper Vs. Hollywood Hogan - Technically that was primitive. Two stiffs battle each other. The most interesting thing was fan fighting through security. Pajpá won. 4/10

GOOD event, could of been better though

[ThePrototype · 20 October 2004]

This event was pretty good, the Woman's match was good, the Liger/Msyterio match like most matches these two have had was good. Dean Malenko and Dragon put on a decent match. WCW United States Title: Eddie Guerrero vs. Dallas Page could of been better, so could of the tag team match.

The main event (Hogan VS Piper) started out of World War 3 the month earlier, where Piper called out Hogan for a match, in the end Hogan and the nWo at the time attacked Piper's injured hip (right where the scare is) then before Hogan leaves the ring he signs the match contract leaving Piper in the ring trying to stand up.

The match started with Hogan on the outside refusing to enter the ring, so Piper decided to chase him around outside.

WCW Cruiserweight Title/WCW Cruiserweight/Super J Cup Titles: Ultimo Dragon vs. Dean Malenko

Very good match, both men are great workers, both men work hard in the match, and pull of a good one. 4/5.

Jushin Liger vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Like all matches, this one didn't disappoint, I am a huge Mysterio and Liger fan, and I enjoyed this match. Liger had just came off having a tumour removed, so he didn't move too well during the match, but still managed to put on a very good match. 5/5.

Lex Luger vs. The Giant,

This match was a dud, Luger over sold again, tried to get Giant up like he did at World War 3. Once he got him in the rack, Nick Patrick kicked Luger in the back of the knee making him drop The Giant, he and another nWo member attacked Luger. As Sting entered the ring, Patrick was sucking up to Sting by patting him on the back, but was shoved down by bat. Sting went over to Ginat whispered something in his ear he did the same to Luger. The left the bat in the ring for either to use it, Luger got their first, but Giant ended up standing on it. 2/5

WCW Tag Team Titles: The Outsiders vs. The Faces of Fear 3/5.

WCW Women's Title: Madusa vs. Akira Hokuto

Pretty decent match, both women worked well, I think there could of been more wrestling moves, and less of the womens hair pulling and stuff. 4/5.

WCW United States Title: Eddie Guerrero vs. Dallas Page Fairly decent match 3/5

Jeff Jarrett vs. Chris Benoit 4/5.

WCW World Champion Hollywood Hogan vs. Roddy Piper (non-title match) 3/5.