Kevin Owens and Bobby Lashley having an on-the-spot match as the main event of the televised portion of Starrcade felt like a middle finger to the progeny of Dusty Rhodes, not least considering Cody's current propensity for avoiding all of this sort of sh*t in his own company.
"No-one cares about the two of you and your stupid relationship" was the babyface version of Lana's troll material just seconds earlier - characters being used in kayfabe to try and talk around the company's creative deficiencies. It got a pop, just like the announcement from 'KO' that he'd take Rusev's place, but WWE were careful to end one match and start another before this kicked off. Of course they were - it allowed for a disqualification finish in an unplanned replacement match when Rusev broke another restraining order and decked his love rival.
Vince McMahon supposedly prides himself on only providing better replacements when he has to make changes to his televised cards. Company policy even, based on the last few years. Did he forget Starrcade was actually on the air?
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but 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 in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. 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 sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
