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The WWE Network will broadcast the 2019 Starrcade event this Sunday from Duluth, GA. While what matches will be featured on the broacast at 7 PM EST has not been confirmed, the current advertised lineup features:
*WWE Champion Bray Wyatt vs. Braun Strowman - Steel Cage match.
*Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin.
*Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton.
*WWE Women's Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors vs. Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair - Texas Tornado Match.
*The Miz vs. WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura & Sami Zayn.
*WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions The New Day vs. Revival.
*Rusev vs. Bobby Lashley with Lana.
*AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens.
*Also advertised as appearing are Andrade & Zelina Vega, The Street Profits. Gallows & Anderson, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Ricochet, Aleister Black and more.
This will be WWE's third Starrcade incarnation and the first to be streamed live on the WWE Network. The 2017 edition, held in Starrcade's original host city, Greensboro, NC was taped but never aired. The 2018 edition, held in Cincinnati, was broadcast in part as a taped WWE Network Starrcade special.
Created in 1983 by Dusty Rhodes as a supershow for Jim Crockett Promotions, Starrcade holds a nostalgic place in the hearts of old school wrestling fans and was held on PPV from 1987 to 2000. It had traditionally been centered in Greensboro until 1987, when the decision was made to move it to Chicago to originate it from a "big city", a decision that was criticized at the time by fans. When Turner Broadcasting purchased Crockett Promotions, creating WCW, Starrcade was shifted to December but retained the positioning of being the company's biggest show of the year. WCW held their final Starrcade event in December 2000, headlined by Scott Steiner vs. Sid Vicious.
In 2017, WWE revived the Starrcade event at the Greensboro Coliseum, the original home of the event back in November 1983, billed as the first Starrcade event in the venue in twenty years. In playing off the main event of the original Starrcade, which featured Ric Flair vs. Harley Race in a steel cage, that Smackdown brand event featured two steel cage matches, with WWE champion Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and WWE Smackdown Women's champion Natalya vs. Charlotte Flair, Ric Flair's daughter, headlining. WWE also released specialized merchandise for sale only at the event, playing off the history and nostalgia of the show.
The Starrcade return idea came from Michael Hayes, who pitched the idea in June 2017, realizing that WWE was running Greensboro over Thanksgiving weekend 2017 and that they could seize upon the importance of the timing and the tradition in the market by having the show branded as a "Starrcade" event, playing off the old assets that WWE now owned. Vince McMahon personally approved the idea, with the show was announced several months later. That Starrcade show was specifically written by Hayes with an eye on paying tribute to names who were important to to the market during the Jim Crockett Promotions era, with throwback graphics for the show, and names like Ric Flair, The Rock N' Roll Express, and Dustin Rhodes (competing for the first time with his old WCW "The Natural" moniker in a WWE ring) making special appearances.
The Starrcade event was a success, bringing WWE a huge bump in live attendance in comparison to their previous event in Greensboro as the market reacted to the show as something special. WWE alsi saw a huge response to the event on social media, with far higher interactions vs. WWE social media material for a "typical" live event. WWE released specialized merchandise for the event and was happy with those sales as well. We had reported last year the company intended to bring the name back.
WWE brought the event back last year, holding it in Cincinnati, Ohio at the U.S. Bank Arena, headlined by Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose and WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe in Steel Cage Matches.
To read PWInsider.com's Starrcade 2017 coverage, click here.
To read PWInsider.com's Starrcade 2018 coverage, click here.
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