Starrcade (2019)

Starrcade was a professional wrestling live event and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their Raw and SmackDown brands. It took place on December 1, 2019 at the Infinite Energy Arena in Duluth, Georgia.[1][2]

Starrcade
Promotional poster featuring various WWE wrestlers
Promotion	WWE
Brand(s)	Raw SmackDown
Date	December 1, 2019
City	Duluth, Georgia
Venue	Infinite Energy Arena
WWE Network event chronology
← Previous Survivor Series Next → TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs
Starrcade chronology
← Previous 2018 Next → —

Eleven matches were contested on the card, four of which were shown for the WWE Network special. In the main event of the televised portion of the show, Bobby Lashley defeated Kevin Owens by disqualification.

Part-way through the broadcast, WWE began to stream the remainder of the special on YouTube; it was reported that WWE Network had been experiencing a major service outage predominantly in the eastern United States.[3][4]

Production

Background

Starrcade, a live closed-circuit event, was conceived in 1983 by Dusty Rhodes. The event was originally produced under the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) banner by NWA member Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). The NWA and JCP regarded Starrcade as their flagship event of the year, much in the same vein that its rival, the World Wrestling Federation, would begin to regard WrestleMania two years later. In 1988, JCP was sold to Turner Broadcasting and became World Championship Wrestling (WCW), with Starrcade being held by WCW until 2000.[5][6]

After a 17-year hiatus, WWE revived Starrcade as a SmackDown-branded live event on November 25, 2017.[7][8] On November 24, 2018, WWE filmed a second, co-branded Starrcade event that aired as a one-hour WWE Network special on November 25, 2018.[9][10] On September 17, 2019, WWE announced that its third Starrcade event would air live on the WWE Network on December 1, 2019.[1]

Storylines

Other on-screen personnel

Role	Name
Commentators	Tom Phillips
	Byron Saxton
Ring announcers	Mike Rome
Referees	Shawn Bennett
	Charles Robinson
	Dan Engler

Starrcade consisted of professional wrestling matches that involved various different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands.[11] Storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.[12][13]

Results

No.	Results[14][15]	Stipulations	Times
1^D	Seth Rollins defeated Erick Rowan	Singles match[16]	–
2^D	Shinsuke Nakamura (c) (with Sami Zayn) defeated The Miz	Singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship[16]	–
3	Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) (with Ric Flair) defeated The O.C. (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson)	Tag team match	–
4	The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane) (c) defeated Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, Bayley and Sasha Banks, and Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross by submission	Fatal 4-Way Tag team match for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship[16]	–
5	Bobby Lashley (with Lana) defeated Rusev by forfeit	Last Man Standing match[16]	–
6	Bobby Lashley (with Lana) defeated Kevin Owens by disqualification	Singles match	–
7^D	Aleister Black defeated Andrade (with Zelina Vega)	Singles match	–
8^D	Ricochet defeated Andrade (with Zelina Vega)	Singles match	–
9^D	Randy Orton defeated AJ Styles	Singles match	–
10^D	Roman Reigns defeated King Corbin	Singles match[16]	–
11^D	"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt (c) defeated Braun Strowman by escaping the cage	Steel cage match for the WWE Universal Championship[16]	–
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match D – indicates the match was a dark match

References

1. "Starrcade returns to WWE Network Dec. 1". WWE. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
2. Coulson, Steve (September 18, 2019). "WWE Starrcade 2019 Announced – One Hour WWE Network Special Revealed". WWE Network News. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
3. "WWE moves Starrcade to YouTube amid WWE Network outages". Awful Announcing. 2019-12-02. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
4. "WWE Airs Starrcade On YouTube After Network Shut Down". Ringside News. 2019-12-02. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
5. Molinaro, John (1999-12-17). "Starrcade, the original "super card"". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
6. Meltzer, Dave (November 27, 2003). "Thursday news update: It was 20 years ago today..." Wrestling Observer. Archived from the original on August 10, 2007. Retrieved June 2, 2008.
7. "Starrcade returns to Greensboro this November". WWE. September 18, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
8. "WWE Live presents STARRCADE". Greensboro Coliseum Complex. September 18, 2017. Archived from the original on September 19, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
9. Joseph Currier (November 16, 2018). "ONE-HOUR STARRCADE 2018 SPECIAL LISTED ON WWE NETWORK SCHEDULE". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
10. Geno Mrosko (November 16, 2018). "WWE Starrcade 2018 special to air on WWE Network". Cageside Seats. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
11. Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 18, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
12. "Triple H Conference Call Report: Discusses 205 Live, NXT Takeover: Toronto, Says HBK Working at the Performance Center and More - 411MANIA". 411mania.com.
13. Steinberg, Brian (May 25, 2016). "WWE's 'Smackdown' Will Move To Live Broadcast On USA (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on May 26, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
14. Powell, Jason (December 1, 2019). "12/1 WWE Starrcade results: Live updates on the full event, including the WWE Network broadcast". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
15. Johnson, Mike (December 1, 2019). "COMPLETE WWE STARRCADE 2019 COVERAGE". PWInsider. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
16. "WWE Starrcade". Infinite Energy Arena. Retrieved November 16, 2019.