I recently watched Starrcade 1994

Schiavone and Heenan on commentary, with Okerlund. This is in Nashville, Tennessee.

We get the match everyone has been clamoring for, Hulk Hogan vs. the Butcher (Brutus Beefcake) as, of course, the main event.

On WCW Saturday Night, Randy Savage showed up. Apparently, at this PPV, he will meet Hogan and either shake his hand or slap his face. Frankly, that is more interesting than the actual main event.

A promotional poster reading “One Historic Night! Too Intense to believe! 3 Main Events!” featured the faces listed in the wrong order of match placement on the card and the three faces to represent each match were also the winners of all three matches – way to give it away, guys!


Opening match is for the US Title: Hacksaw Jim Duggan (champ) vs. Vader, w. Harley Race.

This was supposedly, according to the promotional posters, one of the three main events, and yet it is opening. Okay. Between that and the fact that Vader won a triangle match to become the #1 contender and yet now has to defeat Duggan to retain that #1 ranking and supposedly get his title shot, no wonder Vader is getting fed up with WCW. Well, serves Vader right for not being buddies with Hogan.

Vader wins after bout ten and a half minuets when he shoves Duggan, who runs into the 2x4 that Harley Race, standing on the apron, is holding (I have no idea how the ref didn’t see that) then Vader gives Duggan the reverse wheelbarrow slam for the win.

This was a pretty good match. One of the better matches involving Duggan that you’ll see, largely because of Vader’s selling for Duggan. In fact, he really sold too much and didn’t look that strong in victory, especially as he needed help to win after getting beat on for probably the majority of the match. Duggan never was generous about selling, though. Even though this was one of the best Duggan matches, it's also one of the worst Vader matches to this point,


We then see Hulk Hogan getting awarded the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Wrestler of the Year award. Are you kidding?!?! I believe this was voted on by the fans, and I read somewhere that Bret Hart finished second. I’d much rather Hart had won, then we wouldn’t have to see Hogan’s acceptance speech here. Also, Hogan didn’t even wrestle the first half of the year, and didn’t really wrestle a whole lot when he did come back, but of course he’s going to win this award. Sigh.


We then get a lousy promo from the Three Faces of Fear (Butcher, Avalanche, and Kevin Sullivan)


Next match is Alex Wright vs. Jean-Paul Levesque

Levesque (the heel here) is of course Triple H, bad French accent and all. And Wright is a teenager that WCW discovered on their tour of Germany.

First of all, I will say that I really enjoyed this match overall. However, these guys lose the crowd soon, partly because WCW decided to schedule two totally green wrestlers whom nobody has ever heard of in the grandaddy of all PPV’s, partly because these guys slow things down early with a lot of mat wrestling, and partly perhaps because they’re doing things backwards, with the face slowing things down rather than the heel. Anyway, while there were a lot of rest holds and mat wrestling, there was also enough cool stuff to keep my interest. Wright wins after about 14 minutes when Levesque misses a corner charge and Wright does a backflip over him then rolls him up for the pin.


Next match is for the TV Title: Johnny B Badd vs. Arn Anderson

When Arn comes out, they play Honky Tonk Man’s music. Okay, I know it was originally supposed to be Honky challenging Badd for the title (I think this is almost a last minute replacement as Honky either quit or was fired) but come on, WCW, get your act together for a change and play the right entrance music! Or none would be fine.

This was a decent match, especially considering that it was thrown together at the last minute. To some extent I think Arn (who, like a lot of other non-Hogan guys, was pretty fed up with WCW at this point) phoned it in a bit, but still a pretty good match. Nothing great, and a cliched ending, but solid enough. One odd spot was when Arn delivered his spinebuster then…decided not to cover for…reasons. Heenan said that he must be disoriented. I guess so.


Then as see those PWI awards again as the Tag Team of the Year is…the Nasty Boys?! Well, to be fair, this was a pretty weak year for tag teams, and they did have some good matches with Cactus Jack and his partners. And heck, it could have been worse. The Bushwhackers could have won the award.


Next match is the Nasty Boys vs. Harlem Heat.

I don’t even know who the tag team champs are at this point. I think it’s really Harlem Heat, but Tony mentions it being Stars & Stripes, so this is probably more confusion caused by WCW’s ridiculous taping cycles.

The Nasties win when Sister Sherri comes off the top rope, trying to hit one of the Nasties but hits her own guy instead, earning Harlem Heat the DQ loss. I have no idea why she did that in plan sight of the ref (pretty dumb) but that means we sat through a dull 18 minute match for a DQ ending. Great. After the match, Sherri got a Pit Stop, which was kinda cool. This match was below average though, with poor psychology and went on too long and had a dumb ending.


Next, we go back to the PWI awards to see that Sting has won the Most Popular Wrestler award. What, does WCW own PWI or something? Also, why do they have a Wrestler of the Year award and a Most Popular Wrestler award? Wouldn’t that be the same thing?


Next match is Kevin Sullivan vs. Mr. T.

Sigh. Mr. T comes out in the same ridiculous Zebra stripe shirt with matching nightcap that he wore at Halloween Havoc. Tony says that this is the first time Mr. T has wrestled, because I guess Wrestlemania doesn’t count? Okay, Tony. They start brawling, with T throwing some stiff looking punches. Someone should tell him this is wrestling, not boxing. They spill out onto the floor. Should have been a double countout, as both guys much have been outside the ring for about 2 minutes. But why bother paying attention to rules. Mr. T falls onto a cameraman, Sullivan tries to pull T’s short off over his head but it gets stuck at his wrists, they both somehow get inside the ring and Jimmy Hart hands “Santa” (who is actually Dave Sullivan) his megaphone and “Santa” gets on the apron and clobbers Kevin with it (which the ref somehow misses) and Mr. T covers the prostrate Kevin for the win…with his shirt still stuck over his wrists. So the face won with blatant, heel style cheating. What an absolute disaster of a match. Terrible. The best thing I can say about it is that it was short. Mr. T had no business in a wrestling ring in 1994. The A-Team had been off the air for several years now and Mr. T wasn’t much of a star at this point, anyway, but I guess he was buddies with Hogan so there you go. After the match, Kevin attacks Evad/Santa and I have to say, the visual of Santa Claus getting piledriven was actually the best part of this match. The crowd was dead for this one, and I can’t blame them. Also, it was weird to have a professional wrestler who’s getting a bit of a push (Kevin) lose to a non-wrestler. Another head scratching WCW decision.


Then Hulk Hogan (w. Jimmy Hart, being interviewed by Gene Okerlund) cuts a rant of a promo that sounded heelish. He also promises to throw out the rule book this time. Since when have you ever followed the rules, Hogan??


Next match is Sting vs. Avalanche (w. Kevin Sullivan)

Avalanche is of course Earthquake.

This match was awful. It’s a WCW PPV, so you know that means we have to have a ref bump. Another ref comes in an Sting wins via DQ after Hogan comes out with a chair to protect Sting. I’m not sure why the DQ was called. If it was for Kevin Sullivans interference, the ref should have called for the bell much sooner. Maybe the ref just said “this sucks, let’s end it”. Probably the worst Sting match I’ve seen to this point. After Hogan runs in the Ring, Heenan says “I’m sick of Hogan.” Amen, brother!!!


We go back to the PWI awards, and WCW has won ANOTHER award! Jimmy Hart is manager of the year. How do those PWI people sleep at night?


Now we get the main event that everyone in the world has been anxiously awaiting: Hulk Hogan (WCW Heavyweight Champ) vs. the Butcher!!!

Hogan wins with a leg drop. What a shocker!

In hindsight this had no business being a PPV main event, but in fairness, this matchup probably didn’t seem all that bad at the time with the tried and true angle of Hulk Hogan’s best friend turning on him (ever think the problem might be you, Hulkster?) though it obviously doesn’t get any points for originality and I think that the first time the masked man attacked Hogan Butcher was right there so it couldn’t have been him, but whatever.

Michael Buffer says “Hulkmania” instead of “Hulkamania”. I think he’s doen tht before, yet nobody at WCW has bothered to correct him. Also, Hogan gets introduced twice. Either because hey, he’s Hulk Hogan, or because those dummies forgot that he’d already been introduced. Just a disaster of a PPV all around.

Also, this match seemed more like 2 buddies just messing around than a major event. It was also ridiculous as Butcher chocked Hogan with a cable, yet no DQ. Hogan hit Butcher with a steel chair – twice -and no DQ. The other two Faces of Fear entered the ring, and no DQ. Okay, whatever.

Then you’d got Tony Schiavone saying nonsense like “we’ve never seen Hogan act like this” when doing something like biting Butcher. Give me a break! He does that all the time! Or saying him pushing a ref is uncharacteristic. Is there another Hulk Hogan that I’m unaware of?

The best thing about this match, and in fact this whole PPV, was Bobby Heenan. He was hilarious, especially in articulating his hatred of Hulk Hogan.

After the match, in the locker room, Okerlund is interviewing Hogan when Vader storms in an runs down Hogan and says he’s scared of him and (justly) demands a championship match then leaves (or is escorted out). Okerlund then asks WCW president Nick Bockwinkle about this intrusion, and Bockwinkle says that Vader did win the triangle match to determine the #1 challenger, then went out and won the US Championship, then he really just kind of stops saying anything coherent and Hogan toadie Okerlund tells him to get lost, as I guess he didn’t say what Okerlund wanted to hear.


Overall, a rather poor PPV and perhaps the worst Starrcade ever(?) I thought the first 3 matches were decent, though not great by any means, and the rest of the show just stunk.

You mean Starrcade 1999 is even worse?! 
One feels sorry for Vader, as well as a lot of other good wrestlers who weren't buddies with Hulk.

They did tease a Lévesque-Regal tag team during this presentation. I'd have loved to have seen that, though you're right that WCW probably would have screwed it up.  Lévesque did remind me a bit of Regal here.

Wright was 19 when he signed with WCW, after they saw hi wrestle, in Germany. He was a pedigree wrestler, son of British wrestler Steve Wright, who was a mainstay of the CWA, in Germany, as well as wrestling all over the world, including matches against Tiger Mask (Sayama). WCW never really played that up, since Steve Wright never really wrestled in the States (or at least for any length of time), but the old man was good and Alex could go, but had to adjust to the American style and the fact that a lot of WCW guys couldn't work, period, let alone work European spots. Had Benoit been there, at that point, they could have torn up the ring. Regal would have been a better opponent for him. JPL/HHH was still pretty green, not that long out of Kowalski's school and switching gimmicks from Terra Ryzing, which he used when he came into WCW (and the name he had, when he was IWF tag team champion, with Perry Saturn).

PWI was considered a competitor to the WWF Magazine and did not have access to the WWF events and performers, like they did in the NWA/WCW promotions. The fans of the magazine tended to skew heavily to Other-Than WWF. According to Stu Saks, on the Kayfabe Memories message board, the votes were legit, with fans choosing the winners. Of course, PWI reporting would obviously skew heavily to WCW and the indies, still in existence. So, yeah, the wins by WCW were likely legit and WCW (and Crockett and Georgia, before) always gave them access for awards presentations. PWI used to have regular spots on TBS, in the Georgia days and were often there in the Crockett days.

Wrestler of the Year was given to the best all-around wrestler of the year, in terms of success. Most Popular Wrestler was the most beloved, regardless of their win-loss record. They also had a Most Hated Wrestler and there were regular stats, in each issue, for Most popular and Most Hated. There was a time when Hogan was on both lists. Wrestler of the Year usually went to the wrestler who had the biggest match or matches of the year. Flair won it several times, usually beating out Hogan, though Hogan won in 1987, 1991 and 1994. Hogan won Most Popular several times, including 1985, 1989 and 1990. He won Most Hated in 1996 and 1998.

The runners up for Tag Team were The Headshrinkers (aka the Samoan Swat Team), followed by Public Enemy and the Rock N Roll Express.

George Napolitano's magazines had better access to the WWF and were not, apparently, considered competition (they were mostly newsprint mags). They tended to feature more WWF coverage.

Bill Apter did a lot of ringside photography at WCW events, going back to Crockett. You would see him on PPVs, usually kneeling at ringside, waiting for a good shot.

Bashed in the USA, which I revisited last night, is certainly a good name for a tape, so I give Coliseum 10 out of 10 for marketing.






Mr. Perfect hosts the tape, and he will discuss his stamp collection. I did like how some Coliseum segments showed us another side to the wrestlers.

The Big Boss Man battles Razor Ramon in a reasonably entertaining bout, but it felt a little like they lacked chemistry. At least we got a conclusive win as Ramon pinned Boss Man, albeit with his feet on the ropes.

Tatanka & High Energy battle Rick Martel & Money Inc. This has, erm, a high energy to it (sorry) as an arrogant model, a rich heel and a taxman are heels you love to hate. IRS pins Koko for the win.

A profile of Shawn Michaels featured 3 of his matches: against Kamala, Skinner, and Virgil. Michaels and Kamala battle to a double count out in a surprisingly solid bout; in a rare heel-vs-heel encounter, Michaels and Skinner haved a good bout, which I wish had went longer (Michaels wins via pinfall); and Michaels beats Virgil via pinfall, those two had some good chemistry.

I like battle royals, mainly for the intrigue of not knowing who’s gonna go at it early on, and the chance to see heel vs heel scraps. We have a 40-man battle royal, which includes some enhancement talent. Tatanka survives a triple-team by IRS and the Beverly Brothers to win. Incidentally, I never understood it when a heel and a heel tag team would go after the babyface. Surely, logically if IRS and the Beverlys had eliminated Tatanka, then the Beverlys would have turned on IRS? Wouldn’t it have made tactical sense for IRS and Tatanka to become strange bedfellows and eliminate the tag team threat first?

It reminded me of the 1988 Royal Rumble, where Butch Reed and the Hart Foundation went to town on Tito Santana. Reed gave Bret and Neidhart a high-five during their attack on Santana. Erm, Butch, you do realise that if you help them eliminate Santana, they, as a tag team, will turn their attention to you? Even as a kid, WWF logic made no sense at times…

In a fascinating segment, Bret Hart showcases his artistic skills and does some sketches.

Bret Hart defended his IC Championship against Rick Martel. For whatever reason, I never felt these two managed to have any chemistry (another match of theirs featured on a Coliseum tape). The same applied here. Bret wins via DQ after Shawn Michaels interferes.

The Beverly Brothers beat the Natural Disasters via count-out in a match I forgot the minute it ended.

We end with Undertaker vs. Yokozuna (pre-WM IX). It lasted minutes and Undertaker wins via DQ after Yokozuna uses the salt bucket.

It’s hard to recommend this one. The Shawn Michael profile just about makes it worthwhile, and if battle royals are your thing, then that’s a bonus. Everything else is merely okay or avoidable, but those bouts failed to live up to my expectations.

RIP to Sika, one half of the Wild Samoans and the father of Roman Reigns. Coincidently, I've been watching a bunch of Wild Samoans matches recently and have been enjoying them immensely.  

Found this on facebook and I believe it

Also Goldberg kind of comes off as a bit of a douchebag in Episode 2. Like he doesn't care that he's hurting people because he doesn't understand Kayfabe

I finally did finish watching this a few days ago.  I mostly agree with what you've written.  The Bam Bam match was solid as long as you discount the very lengthy chinlocks.  The recycled matches vs. Shawn and Martel were the best matches on the tape.  Yes, they're recycled but if you don't have access to them elsewhere, then very worthy additions to the tape.  The matches with Crush and Bomb were indeed mediocre, but at least they weren't overlong. The IRS match stunk. The Jeff Jarrett match was pretty good. The Yoko match was okay, I guess but skippable, IMHO.