WCW: Starrcade
December 27, 1998
Washington, D.C.
MCI Center

The current WCW champs are as follows:
WCW World Champion: Bill Goldberg (7/6/1998)
WCW U.S. Champion: Bret Hart (11/30/1998)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Rick Steiner & Kenny Kaos (10/26/1998)
WCW World Television Champion: Konnan (11/30/1998)
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Billy Kidman (11/22/1998)

I’m not sure where I want to stick this paragraph, but I think its important to understand before we get started where WCW is at here at the end of 1998. If you’re looking at the lineup on this card and scratching your head as to why it look like this, you’re not crazy. This is touted as the “biggest show of the year” by our esteemed commentators all the time and it sure doesn’t look that way. I mean, how many guys that are under contract are missing from the card due to injuries or renegotiating contracts or for no understandable reason?

For starters, let’s begin with the champions that are not on the show: the WCW U.S. champion Bret Hart and who we understand to still be the WCW tag team champions for better or worse Rick Steiner and Kenny Kaos. Bret’s contract is certainly fine, but he’s apparently out with a groin injury. Why was he given the belt if he wasn’t going to be active? Why not leave it on DDP and make this match with the Giant a title match? Rick Steiner is out after having shoulder surgery and Kenny Kaos is arguing with ex-partner Robbie Rage, so who cares.

There’s also nWo stars that are not on the card: the obvious one being Hollywood Hogan who has “retired to pursue the avenue of becoming the POTUS” to outdo Jesse Ventura, Scott Hall doesn’t have a match, Scott Steiner doesn’t have a match despite being the new leader of the nWo B&W, Buff Bagwell is still in recovery over his neck issues, Curt Hennig is injured, Lex Luger just isn’t wrestling tonight, Sting has been AWOL since Halloween Havoc, and nobody cares about Stevie Ray or Horace.

As for major WCW talent, Booker T who doesn’t seem to have gotten his mojo back since returning from his knee injury, Nash ended Wrath’s win streak, RODDY PIPER (who just left after Wargames), Chavo Guerrero Jr., Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Raven, Kanyon, Meng (you wouldn’t want to see him rip into somebody?).

So yeah, what the heck, WCW? Concerning the constant change of plans over this show, Meltzer writes from the 1/4/99 Observer:

“WCW has changed plans [for Starrcade] so often that many original plans for whatever reason didn’t take place. Most, like Dusty Rhodes as ref for Flair vs. Bischoff, or Miller vs. Saturn being a kickboxing match, were in original formats, but never actually announced to the public. There were WCW produced advertising listing Flair vs. Bischoff as Flair’s career against control of the company, which was the original plan, although that stipulation was also never announced on television. In Japan, they had hyped a Norton vs. Van Hammer IWGP title match, which never took place to the chagrin of the audience watching on PPV there, but to everyone else’s pleasure. While at one point there were plans for Lex Luger vs. Scott Steiner, Luger nixed that match and it was never announced on television although it was on the WCW Hotline. Scott Hall vs. Bam Bam Bigelow was announced on the WCW Saturday Night show, and it also didn’t take place, nor was it ever acknowledged during the broadcast despite being hyped on TV as a last minute special addition to the show. Hall actually suffered a twisted knee at Nitro six days earlier and it was questionable whether he’d be able to wrestle, but was advertised on the Saturday show anyway.”

What a mess. I hope to have more to share on my overall thoughts on 1998 WCW. I think Vince McMahon might have broke Eric Bischoff’s brain.

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan. Due to Eric Bischoff’s request, the Four Horsemen are banned from the MCI Center.

They air an ad for WCW’s appearance on QVC which will emanate from the Philadelphia Spectrum LIVE on Wednesday night from 8-10PM EST. Bret Hart, Scott Steiner, and Chris Jericho make appearances to get you HYPED for QVC. The show was advertised (for the Spectrum crowd only) as having Bill Goldberg against Bam Bam Bigelow, DDP against Barry Windham, and Kevin Nash against the Giant. None of those matches ended up happening for the live audience, if you can believe it. Goldberg, the Giant, and Kevin Nash met in a three-way dance, the Giant also wrestled DDP, and neither Barry Windham nor Bam Bam Bigelow appeared in matches. What a wild four days for WCW: they did shows in Washington DC, Baltimore, Long Island, and at the Philadelphia Spectrum.

Gene Okerlund hypes the WCW Hotline. Some old familiar faces are backstage, but you gotta pay $1.69 per minute to find out who and why they are here. THAT COULD BE ANYONE IN WCW.

• WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Billy Kidman (c) vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera

Rey steps on the XXXXXXL LWO t-shirt on his way to the ring. Kidman and Rey BUM RUSH THE SHOW on Juventud for obvious reasons. Over to the corner, Kidman catches Guerrera with a dropkick and whips Rey in for the Bronco Buster. Juventud gets in between Rey and Kidman, but ducks an elbow shot and causes Rey to nail Kidman. Whoops. They start throwing forearms, but then go back to nailing Guerrera. Kidman stands tall and puts Juventud up on the top buckle. They try a Doomsday Device spot with Rey getting the worse of the exchange, but Rey ducks and tries a victory roll on Kidman. However, Kidman blocks and wheelbarrow slams Rey on top of Juventud. Now Rey and Kidman start taking turns trying to pin Juventud. As they start arguing, Guerrera is able to come back with a wheelbarrow bulldog on Kidman and grabs hold of Rey to put him down as well. Way cooler than I could describe. Juvi doesn’t cover anybody though until it’s too late. They do another great spot as Guerrera flips out of a German suplex by Mysterio, Kidman is there to drill him with a clothesline. Rey gives Kidman a Jumping X-Factor for two. We’re five minutes in and these guys just now took a breather. Juventud clotheslines Kidman out and backdrops Rey out onto Kidman. Once they get up, Guerrera delivers a springboard dive on both guys down the aisleway. Back in, Kidman and Rey DOUBLE DROPKICK Juventud on his way down off the top. Rey ends up back on Kidman’s shoulders as Juventud delivers a springboard headscissors to Rey! That gets two. Tenay mentions Kidman has groin and rotator cuff injuries coming into this match.

Kidman gives Juventud the Tornado Bulldog while stepping off the top turnbuckle pad as well as Rey for a two-count. He comes off the top, but Juventud brings up his feet to block the dive. Rey delivers a split-legged moonsault on Kidman for two. Mysterio takes Guerrera to the apron to deliver a headscissors to the floor. HOLY CRAP. Kidman brings Rey back inside with a vertical suplex and follows up with a flying legdrop for two. Somehow, Guerrera made a save there. Kidman powerbombs the crap out of Guerrera for two. Rey then gives Kidman that bulldog out of a sunset flip he’s been doing lately. Juventud grabs Rey and delivers the Canadian backbreaker that we’ve seen Eddie Guerrero do. Both Juventud and Kidman end up on the floor so that Rey can deliver a TOP ROPE ASAI MOONSAULT. Rey brings Juventud back in for the Springboard Headscissors, but he doesn’t cover Juvi. That costs him as he charges into the JUVI DRIVER for 1-2-NO! Kidman still manages to stop the pinfall. They do the spot where Rey gets launched into the corner and headscissors Kidman off the top rope, but Juventud breaks up the pin. There’s the BK Bomb, but the pinfall is broken up again. Rey headscissors Guerrera to the floor and goes with him as Kidman delivers a SHOOTING STAR PRESS onto both guys. This brings out EDDIE GUERRERO to ringside. Ref Charles Robinson does his best to get Eddie to return to the locker room. Meanwhile, it looks like Kidman has Juventud pinned. While Robinson leaves Eddie alone to check on Rey, Eddie runs into the ring and turns the pinfall around so that Juventud is on top of Kidman. Robinson slides in and tries to count the pinfall, but Mysterio dropkicks Juventud back down so Kidman is in position to pin Juventud for the win. (14:57) We take three-way matches for granted nearly 25 years later, but this was still a rare thing to see in 1998. There actually weren’t tons of three-way matches in wrestling back in these days, so to see these three-man spots was seen as innovative at the time. This match was special at the time and viewed by many as a MOTYC. I don’t know that I would place it that high in 2022. In fact, it’s not even my favorite three-way in WCW – that would still go to DDP versus Benoit versus Raven at the Uncensored PPV. These three guys, however, went balls to the wall for the first five minutes, and while they still did incredible things for the rest of the match, the pace certainly died down for the next ten minutes. ***½

After the match, Eddie rips into Rey and Juventud for failing the LWO. I guess Eddie has to do everything on his own and challenges that cream puff pretty boy to a match – RIGHT NOW.

• WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Billy Kidman (c) vs. Eddie Guerrero

Eddie is in his street clothes, which ironically is the same thing Kidman always wears to the ring. He decks Kidman at the bell and gives him a clothesline. The NECK BREAKING POWERBOMB gets two. Eddie just wants to end this and regain the CW title. He applies an abdominal stretch and Juventud helps out with some leverage from the floor until Rey puts a stop to it. Eddie lets go of the hold and chases off Rey. When Juventud puts his arm around Eddie like they’re cool, Eddie shoves Juventud away. Back inside, Kidman does that thing where he’s mad and starts pounding his opponent like he’s the fourth member of Demolition. Eddie applies a modified Lasso from El Paso hold. REMEMBER THAT? Once he’s done with that hold, he forearms Kidman down and tells the crowd to kiss his ass. Onto the floor, Kidman reverses a whip into the guardrail. Juventud helps keep Kidman where he’s at until Eddie can recover. He bounces Kidman’s face off the ringpost and brings him back inside to step on his face. Kidman comes back with a desperate bulldog out of the corner and pounds Eddie with a ten-count corner punch. There’s a sleeperhold, but Eddie immediately drops down for a jawbreaker. Guerrero for some reason attempts the rope-a-dope method. As ref Scott Dickinson looks over to Rey, Guerrero pulls off one of his LUGZ boots and whacks Kidman. Eddie throws his boot at Rey and covers Kidman for two. Time for the Brainbuster to set up the Frog Splash, but Kidman stops him up top for a superplex. That gets two. Eddie takes over with a dropkick to the knee and works the leg. Rey uses Eddie’s boot to keep him from grabbing the bottom rope. Eddie makes this look so easy. He delivers the rope walk headscissors with one shoe on. Guerrero tries another powerbomb, but this time YOU CAN’T POWERBOMB KIDMAN. He stomps away on Eddie and slams him for the Slingshot Legdrop for two. Eddie blocks a top-rope headscissors and lets Kidman go splat. Kidman shoves away a superplex by Guerrero. Hey look, it’s EDDIE’S BODYGUARD (Spyder) on the ring apron. While the ref is distracted, Juventud trips up Kidman. Rey prevents Eddie from giving Kidman a superplex and causes Eddie to get crotched. As Eddie slumps to the mat, Kidman maintains his balance on the top buckle and hits the SHOOTING STAR PRESS for the win. (10:47) This is Eddie’s and the LWO’s last big hurrah on WCW PPV. Oh yes, Eddie will still have WCW PPV matches when he returns from his car wreck injuries, but do you remember any of those matches? No, you don’t. ***

• Norman Smiley vs. Prince Iaukea

We get this Nitro rematch for some reason. Smiley is trying to get over, but he’s all over the place. His selling is weird, he wrestles like a Bob Backlund type, and he likes to dance. It’s hard to figure out just what the heck he’s doing. Our esteemed commentators continue to talk about the upcoming Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff match for some reason. This whole heart attack thing makes no sense, of course. Smiley does his Big Wiggle dance to pop the crowd and hits his cool slam. Sounds like the crowd is either chanting “Goldberg” or “boring”. Either way, it’s not good for these two. Smiley dances on the mat and then applies holds that are interesting to nobody. Dancing is the only thing they will pop for when it comes to Smiley. The CROSSFACE CHICKENWING mercifully ends Iaukea. (11:31) Tony calls this the biggest win of Smiley’s career if you believe that. ½*

Out comes Scott Hall wearing an Outsiders t-shirt. Hey yo and too sweet ensues. He admits 1998 hasn’t been his best year and has nobody to blame but himself. He lost everything he ever cared about, but that’s okay. Talk turns to Kevin Nash (lots of boos). Hall admits Nash has the opportunity of a lifetime tonight. Nash has said Hall needs to prove himself worthy and prove himself to the people, but Hall says he doesn’t have to prove himself to anybody. There’s only one guy that he has to prove something to – and that’s himself. Hall can’t wait to kiss 1998 goodbye because he guarantees 1999 will be his year. Ehh, okay.

We get a video package showing the craziness among Goldberg, Kevin Nash, and Bam Bam Bigelow.

• Saturn vs. Ernest Miller (w/Sonny Oono)

Miller gives Saturn five seconds to leave like this is the first time they have met. Saturn punches Miller and he takes a walk. When Saturn turns his back, Miller runs and slides into the ring only to fall at Saturn’s feet. After Miller takes another powder, he drops to his knee and asks for handshake. Saturn stomps him, but Miller goes the eyes and trips him up to choke Saturn. This goes on for a minute or so. Saturn makes multiple attempts a pinfall, but Miller always finds a way out and finally escapes to the floor. Back inside again, Miller kicks Saturn down and covers for two. Saturn fires back and hits a back suplex. He follows up with a head and arm suplex for another two count. Saturn delivers a swinging neckbreaker and heads up top. Miller moves and superkicks Saturn down. He avoids a T-bone suplex from Saturn and kicks him down again. Miller calls for Sonny Oono to come in the ring, but of course Saturn moves and Miller gets nailed. Miller kicks down Oono, but then walks into the DEATH VALLEY DRIVER as Saturn gets the win. (7:06) Tony considers this also one of Saturn’s biggest wins – despite being a multiple time TV champ. It doesn’t get mentioned, but Iaukea’s TV title win does. ½*

Gene Okerlund brings out Ric Flair for an interview. I wouldn’t have brought him out until it’s time for the Bischoff match, but here we are. Flair is out wearing his robe for the first time since we last saw him wrestle back in March. Gene lets the audience inside the MCI Center know that the Four Horsemen are banned from the building. Bischoff gets his ass kicked tonight, says Flair.

They replay the lengthy Eric Bischoff video package from Nitro.

We catch Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell backstage. Steiner gets in Konnan’s face to say that the nWo Wolfpac is dead. He promised Lex Luger he wouldn’t put hands on him, but the same doesn’t go for Konnan. Lex Luger comes over and holds Konnan back as Steiner and Bagwell exit the room. Luger tells Konnan he’s just got to CHILL. Interesting.

• Scott Norton & Brian Adams (w/Vincent) vs. Fit Finley & Jerry Flynn

I can only guess this match is for the Japanese fans watching. Norton is of course the reigning IWGP heavyweight champion at this time and was set to defend his title on the New Japan Tokyo Dome show on January 4 against Keiji Muto. As for Fit Finley and Jerry Flynn (in his WCW PPV debut), they briefly worked as a tag team in New Japan for their yearly Super Grade Tag League during the month of November, and basically jobbed to everybody they faced. Anyways, it would at least EXPLAIN the combinations of teams here.

Adams and Finley start the match and they unload on each other with big boots and clotheslines. Finley delivers the seated senton, but misses a corner charge. Tag to Norton, he powerslams the crap out of Finley. There’s a tag to Flynn, but Norton runs right through both opponents. Flynn somehow manages to catch Norton with a spinning heel kick in the corner. Adams tags back in and gets chopped down by Flynn. Vincent staggers Flynn into a TOUR OF THE ISLANDS for two. Flynn flips out of a superplex and hits a hook kick before tagging out. Finley hammers Adams with a series of clotheslines and keeps him grounded with a chinlock. Adams fights out and lands a piledriver. Nobody cares. In comes Norton, he tries to twist Finley’s head off his shoulders. Norton leads into a reverse neckbreaker for two. He avalanches Finley who falls out to the floor. This is some STIFF work here. Adams puts Finley back inside for a short-arm clothesline by Norton. SHOULDERBREAKER from Norton gets two. Tag to Adams, a double team back elbow knocks away Finley. Fit surprises Adams with a jawbreaker and then lands a DDT for two. He comes off the second buckle, but Adams brings his boot up and press slams Finley into a gutbuster. OUCH. Both guys tag out. Flynn runs wild on Norton and the match breaks down. Flynn takes out Vincent, but then Norton clotheslines Flynn and POWERBOMBS him for the win. (8:55) They threw everything including the kitchen sink at Finley, didn’t they? Norton looks awesome heading into the January 4 Tokyo Dome show. ¾*

Looks like they started playing Eric Bischoff’s theme song a little too soon. Gene Okerlund brings him out. Bischoff says “hi” to the Clintons and he’s apparently attracted to Chelsea. Yikes. He admits he’s caused pain for a lot of people. He apologizes to the Flair family and most importantly Ric Flair. The man has a bad heart, folks. The only reason Flair would be doing this match tonight is because he’s broke. Well, Bischoff isn’t TOTALLY wrong. Before heading back to the locker room, Bischoff points out he knows more than enough about “kiss stealing”, amirite Ric?

We look back to Monday Nitro, 12/14/98 when Chris Jericho beat up a fake Konnan.

• WCW World Television Championship: Konnan (c) vs. Chris Jericho (w/Ralphus)

Chris Jericho comes to the ring with the WCW TV belt, which he STOLE. He’s wearing a SWEET black sequined jacket tonight. He admits he has no idea what “rowdy rowdy” and “bowdy bowdy” means and then cuts a classic Superstar Billy Graham promo almost verbatim from a time long ago. Jericho lets Konnan know he needs to pull up his pants already. Hey look, it’s Baltimore Ravens cheerleader Stacy Keibler in the audience wearing an nWo Wolfpac t-shirt. How cool for her. “Jericho sucks” chants start up. Basically the guys with the most heat tonight are Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero. Jericho knocks down Konnan with a spinning heel kick and heads up top, but Konnan is waiting for him pulling on his own junk. Out to the floor we go, Jericho avoids a leap off the apron and throws Konnan into the guardrail. Jericho drags the steel steps over to Konnan. They go back and forth and Jericho sends Konnan into the ringpost. Back inside, Jericho hits the suplex and the “C’MON BABY” pin gets two. Chinlock time. That’s one weak chinlock from Jericho. Konnan “escapes” and runs into a knee. He brings up a boot to block a dive from the top by Jericho. We’ve seen that at least three times tonight. Konnan hits the Rolling Clothesline and delivers a spinebuster out of the corner gets two. Jericho stops Konnan with a jawbreaker and clotheslines him down for the Lionsault for 1-2-NO! He sends Konnan out to the floor and goes for a plancha, but Konnan moves and Jericho bounces off those ring steps. OH BOY. Back in, Konnan covers for two. As Konnan leaps for the K-Factor, Jericho trips him up for the LIONTAMER. That was sweet. The crowd erupts in favor of Jericho. Konnan blocks the hold, but Jericho catapults him into the corner. Ref Billy Silverman gets bumped and Jericho whacks Konnan with the TV title belt. Cover, 1-2-NO! Konnan hits the K-FACTOR and applies the TEQUILA SUNRISE for the win to regain the title. (7:27) Konnan beat Jericho way too quickly and basically NO-SOLD Jericho’s whole act. I’m not a fan of the way he’s treated over the next few months, but I get it. Jericho just has much bigger plans in mind. **

We check in with the WCW.com table. Lee Marshall is still here in case you’re wondering. Lee asks the Giant a question about DDP that pisses him off. Real smart, Lee. Tony was looking forward to seeing Lee Marshall take a Chokeslam. RUDE.

• Ric Flair vs. Eric Bischoff

This is Flair’s first TV match since March 9, 1998. Charles Robinson is *your* referee. Bischoff is about to get his ass kicked. Lots of punching, chopping, kicking, and face stretching. This is a mugging – not so much a wrestling match, as you can imagine. Bischoff complains his knee is hurting. Not smart. Tony believes he’s lying which he is. Bischoff catches Flair in the temple with one of his kicks. To the floor, Bischoff bounces Flair’s head off the guardrail to bust him open. Yes, you read that right. Flair blades for this match. All Bischoff really has in the ring are kicks. Flair gives Bischoff a serious low blow one after the other. Off comes Bischoff’s shirt for some wide open chops. Robinson gets thrown away and Flair delivers SHATTERED DREAMS to Bischoff. Heenan – “What did you *think* was going to happen, Eric?” Flair starts dishing out suplexes and rips at the knee. He applies the FIGURE-FOUR and the crowd goes nuts. With the referee down, out runs CURT HENNIG down to the ring wearing a blue suit. He puts some brass knucks onto Bischoff’s hand and Bischoff KO’s Flair to get out of the hold. Bischoff lays on top of Flair and gets the win. (7:08) Hennig helps Bischoff back to the locker room with his hand held high. Look, I get it. Flair made Starrcade a huge deal from the Jim Crockett days. He deserves a better dancing partner to have a better match, but this is the deck of cards he was dealt in 1998. To be honest with you, I don’t hate it! In the short term, it looks really bad, but I’m all about CONTEXT with these reviews. It got Bischoff even more heat and set up the Nitro rematch where Flair baits Bischoff into giving up control of the company. You take the loss here to get something BIGGER. *

• Diamond Dallas Page vs. The Giant

DDP and Giant take turns blowing spit wads at each other to start. Giant may have been spitting gum though. Nicorette gum, maybe? Anyways, this is the swan song of the Giant on WCW PPVs. He’s still got a few weeks to go in WCW. DDP actually manages to get Giant over the top rope to the floor. Giant pulls him into a clothesline and headbutts him over the guardrail. There’s a convenient trash can next to DDP. He picks it up and blocks a punch from the Giant with it. Giant doesn’t really care. He pulls DDP into the ringpost several times. Giant picks up DDP and throws him over the top rope to get back in the ring. DDP makes some desperate attempts to come back, but Giant is now working the legs. He goes to the eyes to get away and catch his breath. Giant makes him pay with a slap across the chest. More Giant offense. He lifts DDP up into the air and applies a bearhug. WOW. Giant gives up on the hold. DDP elbows him back and tries a Diamond Cutter, but Giant shrugs him off and powerslams him for two. Giant doesn’t want to pin him just yet. Back to the bearhug. DDP earclaps and bites his way out. He almost manages a sunset flip, but Giant pulls him up into a Billy Robinson backbreaker. OUCH. DDP gets shoved off into the ropes and bounces back with Giant’s hiptoss countered into a DDT. Tenay says DDP calls that the “Diamond Dream”. That gets two. Giant launches DDP onto ref Billy Silverman. Hey look, here comes BRET HART with a steel chair. DDP goes for the Diamond Cutter, but hits the deck as Bret Hart whacks Giant in the head. DDP sneaks in a low blow on Bret to take him out. DDP then delivers a couple flying clotheslines. He goes up top for the third, but flies down in the goozle. Not just any goozle, but Giant places him up in the corner for the Super Chokeslam. However, DDP manages to counter the chokeslam on the way down with the DIAMOND CUTTER. (12:45) The single best finish we’ve seen tonight, folks. *½

• No-DQ Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Goldberg (c) vs. Kevin Nash

Both guys take turns showing off how popular they are. By crowd reaction alone, Goldberg wins by a long shot. Strong tie-up finds Nash in the corner. Goldberg manages a back suplex to escape a headlock and Nash rolls out. Back in, Nash pounds Goldberg into the corner and delivers his famous knees and elbows. Goldberg pushes the boot choke away and grabs a kneebar, but Nash makes the ropes. Nash gets knocked on his butt and pulls Goldberg into the corner. Goldberg ducks the Big Boot and comes back around to hit Nash with the Spear! He grabs Nash for the Jackhammer, but he uppercuts the balls. Nash gets the Side Slam for two. He follows up with the Bossman Straddle for another nearfall. Short-arm clotheslines gets two. Goldberg counters the suplex with a spinning neckbreaker. Double-arm suplex sets up a reverse kick. Powerslam off the shoulder gets two. Here comes DISCO INFERNO. Spear to Disco. BAM BAM BIGELOW runs in and attacks Goldberg, but he takes a clothesline out to the floor. As Goldberg sets up for a Spear on Nash, SCOTT HALL dressed in a security shirt jabs a cattle prod in Goldberg’s chest! See ya later, Scott. With Goldberg “stunned”, Nash easily delivers the JACKKNIFE POWERBOMB for the 1-2-3. (11:20) The streak is over at 173 and Nash wins his first WCW world title. Who cared more about the streak though? Did WCW fans or just WCW itself? I think if you had to do such a cartoonish finish, you could have never showed this finish again on TV, and easily brought Goldberg back to unbeatable prominence. There’s nothing wrong with a guy who RARELY loses. I mean, think about Andre the Giant for a moment. **½

Final Thoughts: It’s certainly not the worst PPV of WCW 1998 and it’s not even the worst Starrcade. It’s better than Starrcade ’97 for crying out loud. Say what you will about the finishes of the two matches I’m about to mention, but you had lots of interest in the WCW world title match and in the biggest grudge match of the show in Flair v. Bischoff going into the PPV. The two cruiserweight title matches and the last four matches were certainly varying degrees of entertaining. There’s the “trifecta of sucktitude” in the middle there that’s hard to get through. Once you’re on the other side of that, I don’t think it’s the worst thing ever. Of course, the big problem is ending the streak. Call me crazy, but even all problems mentioned at the beginning of this recap, I’m going with a “solid thumbs in the middle” for Starrcade 1998.