WCW Starrcade (1996)
From Iwe
| Starrcade (1996) | ||
| Promotional poster featuring Lex Luger and Bobby Walker | ||
| Promotion | World Championship Wrestling | |
| Date | December 29, 1996 | |
| City | Nashville, Tennessee | |
| Venue | Nashville Municipal Auditorium | |
| Attendance | 9,030 | |
| Tagline(s) | Not Your Typical Warm, Fuzzy Holiday Special | |
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||
| ← Previous World War 3 (1996) | ← Next Souled Out (1997) | |
| Starrcade chronology | ||
| ← Previous Starrcade (1995) | ← Next Starrcade (1997) | |
Starrcade (1996) was the fourteenth annual Starrcade professional wrestling pay-per-view event. It was the ninth Starrcade event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and it took place on December 29, 1996 from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The event featured the New World Order (nWo) stable, which formed in July.
The main event was between Hollywood Hogan and Roddy Piper. Piper debuted to WCW earlier in the year to oppose the nWo, and challenge Hogan to determine who the bigger icon was. Other matches featured Lex Luger and The Giant, Diamond Dallas Page and Eddie Guerrero for the vacant WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, The Outsiders and the Faces of Fear for the WCW World Tag Team Championship, and Ultimate Dragon and Dean Malenko to unify the J-Crown Championship and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. In 2015, All WCW pay-per-views were made available on the IWE Network.
Contents |
Storylines
The event featured wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
The main feud heading into Starrcade was between Roddy Piper and Hollywood Hogan. At Bash at the Beach, Hogan, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash formed the New World Order (nWo), a group of rebels who terrorized, and aimed to take over World Championship Wrestling. Since then, the group increased in members and power, winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW World Tag Team Championship. Piper returned to WCW at Halloween Havoc, and confronted Hogan. Piper claimed to be as big an icon as Hogan and wanted Hogan to admit it. After Hogan did, he insulted Piper when Piper was on his way out of the ring, implying Piper was going to use the women's bathroom. The show went off the air while they were arguing in the ring. In the following weeks, Eric Bischoff claimed that he attempted to get in touch with Piper regarding a match, but said that Piper was not interested since he had said his peace. Finally, Piper showed up on Nitro and accused WCW Executive Vice President Eric Bischoff of secretly working for the nWo. This was revealed to be true as the nWo came out, attacked Piper, and declared their alliance with Bischoff. The match between Piper and Hogan was made for Starrcade.
Event
Aftermath
Reception
WCW earned $113,040 in ticket sales with an attendance of 9,030. The pay-per-view received a buyrate of 0.95, which is the equivalent of approximately 380,000 buys. The event was released on VHS in the United States on April 15, 1997 by Warner Home Video.
Results
| No. | Results | Stipulations | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Ultimate Dragon (J-Crown) (with Sonny Onoo) defeated Dean Malenko (Cruiserweight) | Title Unification match for the J-Crown and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship | |
| 2 | Akira Hokuto (with Sonny Onoo and Kensuke Sasaki) defeated Madusa | Singles match for the inaugural WCW Women's Championship | |
| 3 | Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Rey Mysterio, Jr. | Singles match | |
| 4 | Jeff Jarrett defeated Chris Benoit (with Woman) | No Disqualification match | |
| 5 | The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) (c) (with Syxx) defeated The Faces of Fear (Meng and The Barbarian) (with Jimmy Heart) | Tag team match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship | |
| 6 | Eddie Guerrero defeated Diamond Dallas Page | Singles match for the vacant WCW United States Heavyweight Championship | |
| 7 | Lex Luger defeated The Giant | Singles match | |
| 8 | Roddy Piper defeated Hollywood Hogan (with Kyle DiBiase) by submission | Singles match | |
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
| |||
Women's Championship Tournament
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||
United States Heavyweight Championship Tournament
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||
