Starrcade 1997-The End

Starrcade 1997 was the culmination of year long hype between Hulk Hogan and Sting. I believe Starrcade 97 did the highest buyrate in WCW's history. Too bad when it was all over it would be one of the signs of the beginning of the end. What was a somewhat loaded card on paper turned out to be everything but and by the end of the night, you were not really cheering as much as you were eyerolling.


First thing off the bat was a great Crusierweight match between Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero. These two could have good matches in there sleep. Very good way to start off the show. Something that I didnt understand was that The Giant vs. Kevin Nash was a heavily hyped match and it didnt take place. Scott Hall came out and was beaten up by The Giant and that was it. No match or anything. Randy Savage had wrestled in a 6 man tag match with Scott Norton and Vincent against The Steiners and Ray Traylor. What I would have done is have Savage against The Giant and have Norton, Vincent and whoever else was in the NWO against the Steiners and Traylor. Now Kevin Nash was injured or not medically cleared to wrestle which is fine. I think a wrestlers safety comes first but not having a heavily hyped match left a bad taste in peoples mouth. At least have a replacement guy. Either Savage or Scott Hall who were not even on the card.

Now I cant complain about the US Title match between Curt Henning and DDP. No problem with that because I think Henning and DDP are two great wrestlers. They had good matches with each other and DDP won the US Title so a title change is good on a PPV. Now after this, it gets really interesting. Larry Zbyszko vs. Eric Bischoff. Another match that I was looking forward too. It was a match for control of Monday Nitro. Zbyszko fighting for WCW and Bischoff for the NWO. If Bischoff won, the NWO would have control of Monday Nitro calling NWO Monday Nitro. In fact, the week before Starrcade, the NWO took over Nitro. Not just any old take over but they changed everything. They changed the sets, the banners, the graphics, everything to the NWO. In fact, they must have spent about 20 mins. doing all this in fact, I believe they actually lost that quarter hour to Monday Night Raw. I believe this takeover was a dry run to see how NWO Monday Nitro would pan out. It didnt and the quarter hour. At the time Bret Hart who left WWE would be the special referee. Zbyszko won but it looked guy each guy was spent afterwards. I dont even think there was a pinfall, Hart just awarded the match to Larry. Bischoff hit Zbyszko with a steel plate and thats when Bret Hart attacked Scott Hall and Bischoff. The point is that Hart raised Larry's hand but you didnt know why. I dont think it was ever announced that Bischoff was DQ'd, thats what was a little confusing. I dont even think Bret Hart ever even saw Bischoff hit Larry with the steel plate. Just very confusing.

Now, the main event. Hogan and Sting had a big fight feel to it. You could see why as it was a year in the making. The ending might go down as one of the worst endings I've ever seen. First off, Nick Patrick makes a fast count to Sting only it was a regular count. There wasnt anything fast about it. Just a regular 3 count. No sooner does that confusing scenerio happen, Bret Hart is already at ringside. To me, he got there wayy to fast as he wouldnt let them ring the bell as a playoff of the Montreal Screwjob. So now, you have Bret Hart down at ringside way to fast plus the fast count which wasnt. Bret Hart was a legal referee that night and as soon as Sting got the Scorpion Death Lock on Hogan Hart rang the bell and I dont even think Hogan tapped out.Between the fast count, Bret Hart being at ringside and Bret signalling that Sting was the new champion happened way too fast. Something that might take 5 mins. to convey happened probably in half that time.  Just a very lethargic ending to what should've been WCW in there finest hour.


So between:

1)Kevin Nash not wrestling and not having his scheduled match with The Giant

2) The confusing way the Bischoff/Zbyszko match  ended.

3) The fast count that wasnt

4) And Bret Hart being at ringside way to fast

ruined Starrcade. And it left a bad taste in my mouth and I'm sure a lot of people who paid good money to see Starrcade. Now granted, WCW started Thunder and had good ratings for both shows in 1998 but I think a very successful Starrcade 1997 could have put the WWE further back and who knows what would have happened.

How to help the NBC Sports Network?

It has come to my attention that the NBC Sports Network isnt doing well in the ratings. Now, not having the NHL did hurt NBCSN but considering that this NBC SPORTS NETWORK, you would think that just the name NBC would pull in some viewers. I mean on NBC Sunday Night Football, they do plug the NBC Sports Network with there shows "The Lights" and "The Dan Patrick Show" but nothing seems to be working. The ironic thing is that considering that how much people have turned off "SportsCenter" and how many dont like what "SportsCenter" has become you would think that the ratings for "The Lights" would be a little higher. Frankly, I would change the name of the show. "The Lights" really doesnt work for me. There not lights, there highlights. Its like if you want to tell somebody to watch ESPN, you wouldnt tell them to watch PN, you'd tell them ESPN. They have cancelled "NBC SportsTalk" do to lousy ratings and will replace it with a show hosted by Michelle Beadle and Dave Briggs called "The Crossover." It starts Jan. 28 at 6pm and hopefully it will be a rating success. They do have the NHL, College Basketball and College Football. I do wonder how the college football games do because they dont have the big conferences like ESPN or even FOX. Hopefully, the NHL and "The Crossover" will help NBCSN but if it doesnt, I do have a couple of ways to help them out.

1) Use the NBC Sports Vault. This too me is a no brainer. I would think that there are a lot of people who like the old days of NBC Sports with Curt Gowdy and Dick Enberg? How about the "NFL '84"?  Who wouldnt like to see the old days of the NBA on NBC or the MLB on NBC?  The  MLB Games of the Week on NBC were events at that time. And lets face it, who wouldnt want to see the NFL on NBC from its heyday? Use everything in the NBC Sports Vault. They could air Super Bowls, NBA Finals. What about a history of the NFL on NBC? There is a lot of history that they could uncover.  I mean I would think they would do the same rating as if they had live sports maybe even a little better.


2) Get the Sports Packages. Now they've lost the MLB package to FOX and ESPN and I dont think they could be able to get the NBA until 2022 or around there. I would really pay and even overpay for anything I could get my hands on. Problem is that I dont think anything is available right now. They did pick up soccer but I think that a niche sports, honestly. I guess they could get the Big East package although its probably getting less appealing by the day Maybe try to get a bowl game or two from ESPN. Obviously, not the BCS but maybe even some of the lesser bowls.

3)Bring Wrestling/MMA or both to NBCSN. I know that's a stretch and there might not be many fans of either sport out there but it couldnt hurt putting either wrestling/MMA or both on NBCSN. Even though I'm not a fan of MMA it does draw and there are a lot of fans. Pro Wrestling isn't drawing the ratings it did back in 1998 or 1999 but people do watch including yours truly. Pro Wrestling does draw and the WWE is already on USA Network and show 2 specials on NBC so I would think even though people might not respond to it, it would still do a decent rating.

4)Broadcast the niche Sport. What made ESPN have a cult like following when it first started was because they would broadcast sports that nobody ever televised or even heard of. How popular did Austrailian Rules Football become when it aired on ESPN? NBCSN should air some of that. Air some badminton or whatever niche sport has a cult like following. I dont know which sports do but I do some research on it.


So those are just a couple of ideas. Do you guys have any ideas as to help NBC Sports Network?