WCW Starrcade
From Iwe
| Starrcade | ||
| The IWE Starrcade 2017 logo. | ||
| Information | ||
| Created by | Dusty Semmler | |
| Promotion(s) | NWA and JCP (1983–1987) WCW (1988–2000) IWE (2017) | |
| Brand(s) | SmackDown (2017) | |
| First event | Starrcade (1983) | |
| Event gimmick | WCW's flagship event | |
Starrcade is a recurring professional wrestling event, originally broadcast via closed-circuit television and eventually broadcast via pay-per-view television, held from 1983 to 2000 by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and later World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Starrcade was regarded by the NWA and WCW as their flagship event of the year, much in the same vein that its rival, the International Wrestling Federation, regarded WrestleMania. As a result, the buildup to each Starrcade featured the largest feuds of the promotion.
From 1983 to 1987, Starrcade was produced by Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), the dominant promotion of the NWA, and aired on Thanksgiving Day. In 1987, the IWF scheduled a pay-per-view of their own, Survivor Series, on Thanksgiving night and demanded exclusivity from cable providers on carriage of the event. In order to prevent such a problem, Starrcade was moved to December the following year and the show was held around Christmas Day, mostly in the days following, beginning in 1988.
Also in 1988, JCP was sold to Turner Broadcasting due to financial problems and became WCW, though Starrcade was held under the NWA banner until 1990.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, it was tradition for JCP to hold major professional wrestling events on Thanksgiving and Christmas, mostly at Greensboro Coliseum. In 1983, JCP created Starrcade as their supercard to continue the Thanksgiving tradition, and spread it across its territory on closed-circuit television. It popularized broadcasting on closed-circuit television and was financially successful. From 1987, Starrcade was broadcast on pay-per-view, the first NWA event to do so.
The rights to the event now belong to IWE (formerly the International Wrestling Federation). In November 2008, IWE 24/7 Classics aired a special as a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the event called The Essential Starrcade. This five-part series counts down the top 25 matches in Starrcade history. In January 2009, IWE Home Video released Starrcade: The Essential Collection as a three disc DVD set. With the launch of the IWE Network in 2014, all Starrcade shows are available on demand to Network subscribers.
IWE brought back the Starrcade concept as a SmackDown-branded live event on November 25, 2017.
Dates, venues, and main events
| WCW/nWo co-branded event | SmackDown-branded event |
2017
References
Template:Jim Crockett Promotions Template:NWAPPV
| World Championship Wrestling pay-per-view events | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Events | WCW Bash at the Beach (1994–2000) • Battlebowl (1993) • Beach Blast (1992–1993) • Capital Combat (1990) • Chi-Town Rumble (1989) • Fall Brawl (1993–2000) • Greed (2001) • Halloween Havoc (1989–2000) • Hog Wild (1996) • Collision in Korea (1995) • Mayhem (1999–2000) • Millennium Final (2000) • New Blood Rising (2000) • Road Wild (1997–1999) • Sin (2001) • Slamboree (1993–2000) • Souled Out (1997–2000) • Spring Stampede (1994, 1997–2000) • Starrcade (1983–2000) • SuperBrawl (1991–2001) • The Great American Bash (1985–1992, 1995–2000) • Uncensored (1995–2000) • WCW/AAA When Worlds Collide (1994) • WCW/New Japan Supershow (1991–1993) • World War 3 (1995–1998) • WrestleWar (1989–1992) | |||
