10 Wrestling PPV Matches Allocated Far Too Little Time
1. Sting Vs. Lex Luger - WCW StarrCade 1999
Match Length: 05:25
Why it was too short: Lex Luger was hardly one of wrestling's iron men - but he and Sting, and their storied history, deserved far better than this Russo-penned gross approximation of a WWF Attitude Era-style undercard outing. Between them, the two WCW legends had headlined four iterations of WCW's banner event.
The match started well enough. Luger kicked and punched the bejesus out of Sting at a frantic pace, the comeback for which was built nicely. Sting gained the advantage shortly afterwards, at which point the match quickly descended into the usual Russo farce.
Naturally, there was a swerve involved. This emanated from the mind of Vince Russo, after all. Sting knew not to trust Elizabeth, whose can of mace he replaced with silly string.
Miss Elizabeth had a shocker. She telegraphed the swerve at least twice, which made Sting look like an idiot for even pretending to go along with the ruse. Unbelievably, she then tried to hoodwink the referee into believing Sting had bent the rules - not that they mattered a jot to Russo - after he'd seen Elizabeth cheat in plain sight.
In the intro video, WCW even had the cheek to refer to StarrCade as the Grandaddy Of Them All. While strictly true - it does predate WrestleMania - this had the air of a rib, given the extent to which Russo willingly devalued everything it once stood for.