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Starrcade '97 - MCI Center - 12.28.97 |
Starrcade '97 was the night WCW killed all their momentum. They'd been dominating the ratings for well over a year with arguably the hottest angle of all time coupled with a miles-deep roster, and had just taken away yet another top WWF star. This time it was Vince's franchise player, Bret Hart. To be fair, Vince helped broker the deal, citing the inability to pay Bret the amount he'd agreed to. But with all those factors, plus the loooooong-awaited in-ring return of Sting (who'd adopted a Crow-inspired gimmick and hadn't wrestled a match in over a year), Starrcade '97 should've been WCW's WrestleMania III. It should've been the PPV that launched WCW into the mainstream stratosphere, solidifying them as wrestling's number-one brand, and been the big payoff to the nWo storyline: the returning WCW hero conquers the villainous invaders and restores balance to the besieged company. But nope, Hulk Hogan and his ego got in the way. Again.
The two masters Eddy Guerrero and Dean Malenko kicked things off for the Cruiserweight Title. These guys couldn't possibly have a bad match, so this was a fine opening contest. While it wasn't at the level of their ECW classic series, it still got 15 minutes and had strong action, plus had the role reversal with Eddie as the heel and Malenko as the no-nonsense babyface. Good stuff so far.
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Eddy vs. Dean was always a fine showing. |
Not-so-good stuff followed it, as The Steiners & Ray Traylor faced Randy Savage, Scott Norton & Vincent. How odd to see Savage and Elizabeth on the heel side and Dibase managing the babyfaces. This wasn't much of a six-man. Scott Steiner had some good moves as usual but he was already an over-muscled, bloated oaf by this point. I'm not sure why he felt the compulsion to get so big. The action here was mostly clumsy, with everyone well past their prime. Jeezus Elizabeth looked amazing in the 90s. Savage's top-rope elbow however did not.