The problem with nostalgia is, like the performers it deploys, it gets old. When WWE joylessly brought back Starrcade as a souped-up house show in 2018, they sapped a good portion of its very meaning in presentation alone.
It was was vintage Vince McMahon, in fact - he'd grown out of his anti-WCW bias a few years after it started making him a f*cking fortune and served as the spine of his streaming service, but using his old rival's most prestigious brand as a house show Network hook almost felt like a degradation to its rich history.
Your writer is no fan of Cody nor his unsubtle affection for Atlanta's archives in AEW, but any longstanding wrestling fan would rather see its history lauded rather than let down. As is usually the case in WWE, the maiden edition at least made a bit of effort, before last year's was reduced to little more than the chopped up house show it was destined to become.
Into year three and with all the airs and graces well and truly shot to sh*t, how much further in interest levels could Starrcade 2019 really even fall? Well...
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
