Starrcade Returns: 7 Greatest Matches in the NWA/WCW Event's History

Starrcade was so often the Ric Flair show.

The 16-time world champion headlined the NWA (and later WCW) mega event 10 times. And Flair annually made the most of that grand stage. The list of best Starrcade bouts is brimming with The Nature Boy's performances.

And now, some 17 years since the last Starrcade, WWE has decided to revive the event. Sort of.

WWE announced that a Nov. 25 live show in Greensboro, North Carolina, will borrow the old pay-per-view's name. But where Starrcade was NWA and then WCW's biggest event of the year, this version will be a untelevised nostalgia trip.

As Sami Zayn prepares to clash with Kevin Owens and Flair's daughter Charlotte gears up for a Steel Cage match against Natalya, the memories of what Starrcade once was are sure to emerge.

Flair was a part of several of the show's classic bouts. And with or without him, the PPV often hit its highest notes when it was most brutal. Cage matches, bloodshed and outright hate power many of Starrcade's greatest contests ever.

The following is a ranking of those bouts, ordering them by the power of the story, the excitement of the action and how memorable the wrestlers were able to make it all.

Honorable Mention

• Ric Flair vs. Harley Race: 1983 (Steel Cage)
• Ric Flair vs. Sting: 1989
• Rey Mysterio vs. Juventud Guerrera vs. Billy Kidman: 1998

Starrcade didn't waste time in getting going. The main event for the inaugural event was a home run.

Flair toppled the hard-nosed Race inside of a steel cage to claim the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

The Nature Boy had more action-packed bouts, but his triumph over Race had plenty of emotion. Bloodied and drained, Flair survived an intense, slow-paced battle that was a clear passing of the torch.

Flair continued his Starrcade success in 1989 against his archrival Sting. They always clicked against each other and did so here in the climax of the Iron Man tournament.

Both men had better matches at the PPV, though.

Mysterio, Guerrera and Kidman delivered a dizzying, electric opening bout for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. Other matches on this list have it beat in terms of story, but on action alone, this clash deserves recognition. 

7. The Rock 'N' Roll Express vs. The Andersons (1986)

The Scaffold match between The Midnight Express and The Road Warriors is the more famous tag match from Starrcade 1986, but an undercard bout outclassed it.

The rival teams of The Rock 'N' Roll Express and Arn and Ole Anderson played their parts perfectly.
Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson were engaging babyfaces who made it impossible not to pull for them. The Andersons laid on viciousness and underhanded attacks in a world-class heel showing. 

The long, dramatic Steel Cage match for the NWA World Tag Team Championship ended with Morton's blonde locks stained with blood, with the champ prevailing. 

The Four Horsemen's history with Morton and Gibson elevated the emotion here. The babyfaces were among the faction's victims beforehand and looked to be on their way to being former champions if it weren't for a gutsy performance from Morton. 

The bout featured several close saves, but Arn was unable to make the final one. Gibson dropkicked Morton on to Ole to seal the victory in the best tag match Starrcade has seen to date.

6. Eddie Guerrero vs. Shinjiro Otani (1995)

Eddie Guerrero and Shinjiro Otani did the WCW cruiserweights proud in 1995 as they showed just how breathtaking the division could be.

Guerrero met the smug, nasty Otani at Starrcade during the World Cup of Wrestling, a clash between WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling. 

This match was a showcase of technical prowess with bursts of high-flying. Guerrero and Otani built on their previous collisions in Japan with a show-stealer. A missile dropkick to the back of Guerrero's head and a hurricanrana from the top rope were among the highlights.

The match was not blessed with the build and animosity of Starrcade's very best, and a roll-up finish didn't provide the dramatic punch that other bouts did.

5. Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger (1988)

In a clash between veteran versus upstart, Flair tried to fend off Lex Luger and keep hold of the NWA world title.

Not known for churning out classics, Luger did so here. This is arguably the best match of his career, the time he most looked like the megastar promoters believed he would be. 

Luger was a charging bull, bowling over and outmuscling The Nature Boy. Flair, though, proved crafty and waited for a slip-up and pounced. The champ then hobbled Luger's knee, a Flair specialty.

A limping Luger's leg buckled as he held Flair in the Torture Rack. With his feet illegally on the ropes, Flair took advantage and stole the win. 

The ending built on the story the two warriors told beforehand and was surely memorable. The Starrcade matches above this one on the list, however, offered more emphatic climaxes or more intense journeys to the end.

4. Sting vs. Vader (1992)

In Sting and Vader's memorable rivalry, their Starrcade battle ranks among the best showings.

In a rematch of the 1992 Great American Bash WCW world title bout, The Stinger looked for payback against the man who took away his gold. This time around, the gladiators clashed in the finals of the King of Cable tournament.

Sting showed surprising power, matching muscle with the colossus. He was able to topple Vader with a powerslam after a bout that outshone the night's two world title contests. Writing for PWTorch, Brian Hoops called it a "great match that is a must-see." 

Vader outdid himself only a year later.

3. Ric Flair vs. Vader (1993)

Credit: WWE.com

Ric Flair conquered Vader at Starrcade 1993.

Vader looked unstoppable in the early going, the dominant beast smashing into Flair several times over. 

The WCW world champ threw the challenger into the guardrail, and his manager Harley Race wasn't afraid to take cheap shots. Flair, though, thrived as the gutsy gunslinger shooting his opponent down.

Flair outsmarting and outlasting Goliath to claim the WCW World Heavyweight Champions proved to be one of 1993's best matches.

But even as vicious as Vader got with his offense, this match couldn't keep up with the grab-you-by-the-throat violence that Starrcade's top matches delivered in '83 and '85.

2. Roddy Piper vs. Greg Valentine (1983)

Roddy Piper and Greg Valentine painted a macabre masterpiece with dog collars, blood, bruises and a busted eardrum.

Theirs was a deeply personal feud that saw them meet in a bout where they were tied to each other by way of a chain hooked to the dog collars they wore. Their willingness to go all out against each other created a classic. 

They choked, whipped and battered each other in a stunner of a hardcore bout.

In a 2015 interview with Benjamin Raven of MLive.com, The Hammer recalled what he and Piper pulled off that night. "That was such a good match, so rough and so intense. It was hard to pull our punches in that huge chain, so we said 'screw it,' and just clobbered each other," Valentine said.

Two years later, another pair of rivals would outdo them, maximizing the drama of their own bloody fight.

1. Tully Blanchard vs. Magnum TA (1985)

No time limit. No pinfalls. No escape.

Tully Blanchard and Magnum TA's seething feud came to a head inside a steel cage in an I Quit match that is as unsettling in its savagery as it is moving in its storytelling.

Magnum TA's NWA United States Heavyweight Championship was on the line, but that was secondary. This was personal. A war to end a rivalry that had grown increasingly personal and physical. 

The simplicity of what unfolded engaged. This was a dogfight between two snarling animals, and it was magic.

Blanchard's manager, Baby Doll, tossed a wooden chair into the cage and the heel broke it, making essentially a prison weapon of a wooden shard. Ultimately, his rival used it against him. Magnum TA cut open Blanchard, and after making his opponent quit, seemed to contemplate something worse, something even more brutal as his next move.

The bit of mercy Magnum TA showed punctuated an already dramatic contest.

Magnum TA reflected on the bout in a 2013 interview with Mike Mooneyham of The Post and Courier. "We were pushing the boundaries so hard of just portraying the most brutal and competitive contest that we could. We both pushed each other to a level of excellence that was an all-time high for me," he said. 

It was an all-time high for Starrcade, too.