'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
WWE Starrcade took place on Sunday, December 1, at the Infinite Energy Arena in Duluth, Georgia. Although the event was supposed to air live on the WWE Network, some technical issues led to the stream being made available on WWE’s YouTube channel.
During the night, fans got to see some big dark matches, including a Universal Championship match between ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman inside a steel cage, and an Intercontinental Championship match between Shinsuke Nakamura and The Miz.
Only three matches from the show were aired live, but overall the show did a lot to build on some rivalries and storylines that can help develop some good segments on RAW and SmackDown this week.
In this article, we'll look at the 4 things WWE got right at the Starrcade event.
#4 Street Profits vs The O.C.
The broadcasted portion of Starrcade began with The Kevin Owens Show, featuring Ric Flair. Even though the segment had some technical and mic issues which prompted things to break a little and caused the crowd to chant "we can't hear you" at the start, things soon cleared up.
Flair spoke about his time in the company and how Starrcade has featured many of the biggest names in the industry.
However, The O.C.’s Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows couldn’t sit back too long and arrived to ruin the proceedings. They spoke about how Starrcade should just be about their careers as the best tag team in the world.
The Street Profits came out next and challenged The O.C. to a match. After a decent fight, The Street Profits picked up the victory to resume their rivalry with The O.C.
WWE had done well earlier to throw The Street Profits in a feud with The O.C. immediately after their debut but took them out of it at an odd time. This could mark the return of the feud which can help both teams grow on RAW before getting into the Tag Team Championship scene.
#3 Kick-started the rivalry between Randy Orton and AJ Styles
We saw this rivalry shape up on Monday Night RAW, as Randy Orton was one of the four men who stood up to AJ Styles and The O.C., demanding a shot at the United States Championship.
During the Fatal 4-way match between Rey Mysterio, Ricochet, Orton, and Drew McIntyre, The Viper seemed to have gained the upper hand after delivering an RKO to McIntyre before he was attacked by The O.C. to prevent him from becoming the #1 contender.
Later on, when Mysterio squared off against Styles, Orton emerged to exact revenge the very same night and cost Styles his championship.
At Starrcade, the company did the right thing by kickstarting their feud and giving them a match in front of a good crowd. This will allow both men to get comfortable, as this time it seems like Styles will be playing the heel while Orton will be the babyface.
Even though it would have been more interesting to watch them feud over the United States Championship, we’re sure this is still much more than we could have bargained for. It will be interesting to see where the company takes this rivalry on the next episode of RAW.
#2 The Kabuki Warriors retained their titles
Starrcade’s biggest aired match was between the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, and three of the best female tag teams we’ve seen in WWE. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross, Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair, and Sasha Banks & Bayley squared off against The Kabuki Warriors.
It was a good match as we saw some return action from Bliss and many high points from all the Superstars involved. Several tags took place during the match, which showed that the company booked the match to give all the Superstars some good ring time. In the end, Asuka caught Cross in the Asuka Lock for a submission victory to retain the titles.
This was a good match which was booked well as the company protected both teams with the top champions from taking the fall. We’ve already seen Bayley and Banks receive a lot of missed bookings recently, while it seems like Lynch and Flair will be challenging for the titles one-on-one sooner than later.
The Kabuki Warriors entered to a new theme, which sort of gave the result of the match away as the company wouldn’t invest in a new theme song before making them lose their titles. Hopefully, we’ll see a good long reign from the villainous champions.
#1 Kevin Owens spoke on behalf of the WWE Universe
If the company does not end the Rusev, Bobby Lashley, and Lana storyline anytime soon, it's most probably going to suffer from a drop in ratings.
The most hyped match of the event was a Rusev vs. Lashley Last Man Standing Match, which gave fans hope that the story will end soon. However, Lana came out and revealed that the restraining order she filed against Rusev would not allow him to come near her or compete, allowing Lashley to pick up a forfeit victory.
This brought out Kevin Owens, who spoke on behalf of the fans and said that nobody cared about their relationship, and made fun of Lana dropping her accent.
With RAW needing a new male face, it was the right move to have Owens appear once again during the night and speak on behalf of the WWE Universe, making a bigger babyface connection with the fa.
This had made him get more backing during his time on SmackDown in his feud against Shane McMahon, and it was the right move to have him come out to face Lashley in an impromptu match.
As expected, Rusev went against his restraining order and attacked Lashley, leading to a disqualification. However, KO benefited the most from this entire segment.
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
