Starrcade '94: Triple Threat
1994 World Championship Wrestling pay-per-view event
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Starrcade '94: Triple Threat was the 12th annual Starrcade professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It took place on December 27, 1994, from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The main event of the show was WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan defending the title against his friend-turned-rival The Butcher. The show also included Jim Duggan defending the WCW United States Championship against Big Van Vader and Johnny B. Badd defending the WCW World Television Championship against Arn Anderson.
| Starrcade '94: Triple Threat | |||
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| Promotion | World Championship Wrestling | ||
| Date | December 27, 1994 | ||
| City | Nashville, Tennessee | ||
| Venue | Nashville Municipal Auditorium | ||
| Attendance | 8,200 | ||
| Buy rate | 130,000[1] | ||
| Tagline | It's A Triple Threat! | ||
| Pay-per-view chronology | |||
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| Starrcade chronology | |||
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Aspersions were cast on the inclusion of The Butcher (Ed Leslie) in the main event, which was seen as a political maneuver on the part of Hulk Hogan (Leslie's real-life best friend). The match was received negatively by industry journalists, with Wade Keller calling it "one of the low points of WCW".
WCW closed in 2001, and all rights to their television and pay-per-view shows – including the Starrcade series – were bought by WWE. In 2015, all WCW pay-per-views were made available on the WWE Network.
Event
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentators | Tony Schiavone |
| Bobby Heenan | |
| Interviewer | Gene Okerlund |
| Ring announcer | Gary Michael Cappetta |
| Referees | Randy Anderson |
| Nick Patrick | |
| Jimmy Jett |
The Honky Tonk Man was originally advertised for the show, scheduled to challenge Johnny B. Badd for the WCW World Television Championship, but hours prior to the start of the event, he was fired by WCW's Eric Bischoff for refusing to put over Johnny after learning that he was to lose to him during their planned match. Instead WCW chose Arn Anderson to replace the Honky Tonk Man, wrestling and losing to Johnny. At the time of the show, Harlem Heat had won the WCW World Tag Team Championship prior to the event, but the match had not been broadcast on television yet so Harlem Heat were not presented as the champions. This would be the last appearance in WCW of Jean-Paul Levesque as he would depart from the company and join the WWF in 1995, becoming Hunter Hearst Helmsley, whose gimmick was that of a snobby aristocrat character.
Reception
The involvement of The Butcher (Ed Leslie) in the main event of WCW's flagship pay-per-view garnered particular criticism. Stuart Carapola of PWInsider wrote that "Starrcade 1994 saw [Hulk] Hogan defend the WCW World Title against his best friend [Leslie], who leapfrogged over everyone else in WCW despite being badly out of shape and greatly diminished from the wrestler he was."[2] Wade Keller reported that Leslie's main event positioning was viewed as the result of Hogan making "a political move to help a buddy, not doing what was best for business".[3] Keller called the match "awful", "one of the low points of WCW", and a "sharp turn away" from the "good pay-per-view main events" that the company was then known for presenting, while noting that Leslie "wasn't over".[3]
Dave Meltzer awarded the Hogan vs. Butcher match ¾ of a star out of a possible five: no match on the card received a rating higher than 2¼ stars.[4] In reviewing the event, Scott Keith of 411Mania wrote: "Welcome to rock bottom, as Hogan's egomania results in the main event of the biggest WCW show of the year involving [Ed Leslie]." He cautioned viewers to watch at their "own risk", while offering the "strongest recommendation to avoid."[5]
Results
| No. | Results[6][7] | Stipulations | Times | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vader (with Harley Race) defeated Jim Duggan (c) | Singles match for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship | 12:06 | ||
| 2 | Alex Wright defeated Jean-Paul Lévesque | Singles match | 14:03 | ||
| 3 | Johnny B. Badd (c) defeated Arn Anderson (with Col. Robert Parker and Meng) | Singles match for the WCW World Television Championship | 12:11 | ||
| 4 | The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) defeated Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) (with Sister Sherri) by disqualification | Tag team match | 17:49 | ||
| 5 | Mr. T defeated Kevin Sullivan | Singles match | 03:50 | ||
| 6 | Sting defeated Avalanche by disqualification | Singles match | 15:26 | ||
| 7 | Hulk Hogan (c) (with Jimmy Hart) defeated The Butcher | Singles match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship | 12:07 | ||
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