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Honestly speaking, if you can't fit Starrcade 2019 into your daily schedule, I would ask you not to bother. I wouldn't necessarily say that it was a bad show, but honestly, it was a pretty uneventful show.
It almost felt like half the show consisted of the 8 women in the Tag Team Championship match, making their way to the ring. Of course, we only got to see a glimpse of the action as the main event that actually had stakes wasn't even served to us.
But there's a certain degree of professionalism that you can expect from the WWE roster, that I thought was the hallmark of Starrcade. It was a glorified WWE Live Event and little more, but as anyone who's ever attended a Live Event knows, they can be pretty fun too.
So with that said, I present the best and the worst from this week's show.
#1 Best: Alexa Bliss returns to the ring again
Alexa Bliss hasn't gone away for too long but I was glad to see that she was healthy enough to return to the ring again this week. I think the time away from the ring has also made her more popular with the fans who were absolutely ecstatic to see her return again!
Even though it was pretty clear from the very start that nothing of importance would happen across the event and also that Nikki Cross would be the one to submit in the match (everyone else was far too valuable), it helped that this was the only match with actual stakes. The Women's Tag Team Championships were on the line and it was a fun match.
Becky Lynch was clearly the most popular babyface in the match. But the second-most was Alexa Bliss!
#1 Worst: Ric Flair's microphone isn't audible
Ric Flair is arguably the greatest promo in the history of the business. I mean sure, you could name a lot of other worthy contenders for the throne, but you have to admit that he's at the very top of the list for sure!
And then you have Kevin Owens, who's arguably the greatest promo of the current era. So, when you put Ric Flair and Kevin Owens in the very same ring for a promo segment, you know that it will be a fun affair!
And then to the shock and dismay of the audience, they couldn't hear Ric Flair at all. Kevin Owens had to surrender his microphone to Flair and I wonder if there was a back-and-forth planned between the two men that had to be canceled because of this embarrassing botch.
It was a cringe-worthy way to open the show!
#2 Best: Rusev crashes the main event
I was quite surprised to see that we would be getting a match between Bobby Lashley and Rusev at Starrcade because it is a pay-per-view worthy contest for sure. I mean especially after the massive build for the event, with the storyline that features Lana, it only makes sense for us to get a huge payoff contest. Instead, we got Kevin Owens and Bobby Lashley at the last minute.
Look, I like Kevin Owens and Bobby Lashley and their match was okay, but there was no reason for me to be invested in the said contest. This is why I was glad when Rusev showed up from the back at WWE Starrcade and took the fight to Lashley. 'Chants' of Rusev Day rang out and the whole arena was absolutely thrilled to see him return.
Believe it or not, Rusev is very 'over'! Let's hope that WWE capitalizes on his momentum and fan support.
#2 Worst: Not giving us the bigger matches
How can you have The Fiend vs. Braun Strowman in the Starrcade match card and not televise it? If the purpose is to get people to tune in to the WWE Network and watch a special event, then it makes all the sense in the world to give them a match they would be invested in and would ideally want to watch.
Randy Orton and AJ Styles were on the card too as were Seth Rollins and Rowan, in a singles match. It almost seems like WWE picked the three least exciting matches in the card and showcased them to us, on the Network.
Bear in mind that Starrcade used to be WCW's biggest pay-per-view and so, it still has a lot of brand recall. A card this weak will only result in the interest in the brand name diminishing every single week.
#3 Best/Worst: The Street Profits vs. The OC
So, Ric Flair said during the opening segment that nobody in the back was around 36 years ago. Out came Karl Anderson who is certainly over 36 years old, as part of The OC to take on the Street Profits in a nice little tag team contest.
It was just another match with no stakes and no consequences, which is why it is in the Best/Worst section of the article. Any heat that was built for the contest came from Kevin Owens who roasted The OC and reminded them of a time when they still had hair!
On a side note, I really liked the chemistry between Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton this week and was glad to see them get screen time. The match ended with The Street Profits celebrating with Ric Flair which was fun.
I know I started this article with Alexa Bliss. I will end it with her as well!
