Product Code Database
Starrcade was a recurring professional wrestling event, originally broadcast via closed-circuit television and eventually broadcast via pay-per-view. It was originally held from 1983 to 2000, first by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 1983 to 1990, with the 1983–1987 events specifically held by Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) under the NWA, and then held by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1988 to 2000.
Starrcade was regarded by the NWA and WCW as their flagship event of the year, much in the same vein that its rival, the WWE (WWF), regarded WrestleMania. As a result, the buildup to each Starrcade featured the largest feuds of the promotion. In 2001, the WWF acquired WCW, and the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002.
WWE revived the event in 2017 as a house show with portions of the events in 2018 and 2019 airing as WWE Network specials. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an event was not held in 2020 and no further events were scheduled.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, it was tradition for JCP to hold major professional wrestling events on Thanksgiving and Christmas, mostly at Greensboro Coliseum. In 1983, JCP created Starrcade as their supercard to continue the Thanksgiving tradition, and spread it across its territory on closed-circuit television. It popularized broadcasting on closed-circuit television and was financially successful. From 1987, Starrcade was broadcast on PPV, the first NWA event to do so.
Starrcade was held for the final time as a WCW event in 2000: the promotion would be acquired by the WWF in 2001, and the brand would become dormant. In 2002, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (with its "WWE" abbreviation becoming an orphaned initialism in 2011). In 2017, WWE revived Starrcade for a SmackDown-branded non-televised house show on November 25, 2017. The following year, WWE's Starrcade house shows began to be held as WWE Network specials and featured both the Raw and SmackDown brands. An event did not occur in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented WWE from holding shows outside of its normal weekly television programming and PPVs. WWE resumed live touring in July 2021, but a Starrcade event was not scheduled for that year.
| WCW/nWo co-branded event | SmackDown-branded event |
| 1 | November 24, 1983 | Greensboro, North Carolina | Greensboro Coliseum | Harley Race (c) vs. Ric Flair in a steel cage match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship with Gene Kiniski as the special guest referee | ||
| 2 | November 22, 1984 | Ric Flair (c) vs. Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship with Joe Frazier as the special guest referee | ||||
| 3 | November 28, 1985 | Ric Flair (c) vs. Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship | ||||
| Atlanta, Georgia | Omni Coliseum | |||||
| 4 | November 27, 1986 | Greensboro, North Carolina | Greensboro Coliseum | Ric Flair (c) vs. Nikita Koloff for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship | ||
| Atlanta, Georgia | Omni Coliseum | |||||
| 5 | November 26, 1987 | Chicago, Illinois | UIC Pavilion | Ron Garvin (c) vs. Ric Flair in a steel cage match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 6 | December 26, 1988 | Norfolk, Virginia | Norfolk Scope | Ric Flair (c) vs. Lex Luger for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 7 | December 13, 1989 | Atlanta, Georgia | Omni Coliseum | Iron Man tournament - final: Ric Flair vs. Sting | ||
| 8 | December 16, 1990 | St. Louis, Missouri | Kiel Auditorium | Sting (c) vs. Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship with Dick the Bruiser as the special guest referee | ||
| 9 | December 29, 1991 | Norfolk, Virginia | Norfolk Scope | Battlebowl | ||
| 10 | December 28, 1992 | Atlanta, Georgia | Omni Coliseum | Battlebowl | ||
| 11 | December 27, 1993 | Charlotte, North Carolina | Independence Arena | Vader (c) vs. Ric Flair in a Retirement match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 12 | December 27, 1994 | Nashville, Tennessee | Nashville Municipal Auditorium | Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Brutus Beefcake for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 13 | December 27, 1995 | Nashville, Tennessee | Nashville Municipal Auditorium | Randy Savage (c) vs. Ric Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 14 | Starrcade '96 | December 29, 1996 | Nashville, Tennessee | Nashville Municipal Auditorium | Hollywood Hogan vs. Roddy Piper | |
| 15 | Starrcade '97 | December 28, 1997 | Washington, D.C. | MCI Center | Hollywood Hogan (c) vs. Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship | |
| 16 | Starrcade '98 | December 27, 1998 | Washington, D.C. | MCI Center | Bill Goldberg (c) vs. Kevin Nash in a no disqualification match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship | |
| 17 | Starrcade '99 | December 19, 1999 | Washington, D.C. | MCI Center | Bret Hart (c) vs. Bill Goldberg in a no disqualification match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship | |
| 18 | Starrcade (2000) | December 17, 2000 | Washington, D.C. | MCI Center | Scott Steiner (c) vs. Sid Eudy for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship | |
| 19 | Starrcade (2017) | November 25, 2017 | Greensboro, North Carolina | Greensboro Coliseum | AJ Styles (c) vs. Jinder Mahal in a steel cage match for the WWE Championship | |
| 20 | Starrcade (2018) | November 24, 2018 | Cincinnati, Ohio | U.S. Bank Arena | AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe in a steel cage match | |
| 21 | Starrcade (2019) | December 1, 2019 | Duluth, Georgia | Infinite Energy Center | Kevin Owens vs. Bobby Lashley |
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