3 Ups And 4 Downs From WWE Starrcade 2018
Downs...
4. WWE’s Version Of History
We’ll give WWE their due for resurrecting an old NWA/WCW classic title later, but if we’re going to give credit, we also have to point out the shortcomings.
In this case, it’s WWE’s limited and sanitized history that it presents. If fans are counting on WWE to provide them with an accurate representation of history, then they’re in for a surprise.
In WWE’s world, Starrcade is Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Sting, Harley Race and Eddie Guerrero. Announcer Tom Phillips did reference a handful of classic steel cage matches in a useful bit, but that really was about it. There was no mention of the hundreds of other wrestlers who have competed, such as the Road Warriors, Steiners, Midnight Express Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan or Vader.
Simple things, like noting how many times the United States Championship changed hands at Starrcade (the kind of useless trivia WWE loves to word-vomit during PPVs) would have been helpful to add context.
It’s a cool concept, and this isn’t meant to dismiss it, but WWE was a step or two away from making it mean something rather than just branding a house show. So this is a slight “down” for that.