WWE Starrcade Review - December 1, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kevin Owens Hosted The Kevin Owens Show with Ric Flair

Flair was in the main event of the very first Starrcade event in 1983, so needless to say, his presence on this show was fitting. Owens didn't say much and Flair just rambled on for a few minutes about his daughter Charlotte and WWE being the best form of sports entertainment out there before he was interrupted by The O.C. I figured they'd have more of a back and forth with either Flair or Owens, but instead, Street Profits came out on the babyfaces' behalf and challenged Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows to an impromptu match. This could have been better, but they were also obviously limited with the time they were given.

The Street Profits def. The O.C.

I honestly would have preferred to see this saved for Monday's Raw instead of wasting time on an hour-long special, but it was a solid (albeit slightly formulaic) tag team match for what it was. Street Profits were over in front of this crowd and picked up the win. I'm glad Street Profits maintained momentum, but it feels like The O.C. have lost more than they've won since becoming the "best tag team in the world" back at Crown Jewel. All said that, this was worth it alone for the visual of Street Profits dancing with Flair afterward.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors def. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross, Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair, and Smackdown Women's Champion Bayley & Sasha Banks in a Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Match

This marked Bliss' first taste of in-ring action since the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view almost two months ago. It never felt like the tag titles were truly in jeopardy of changing hands with this basically being a house show, but it was a fun our-way with entertaining action, nonetheless. This would have been the perfect time to revisit Asuka vs. Lynch by having Asuka pin Lynch for the win, but Cross getting pinned instead was understandable because she was the most expendable of everyone involved.

Bobby Lashley def. Kevin Owens by Disqualification

Lashley was originally supposed to face Rusev in a Last Man Standing match, but they used the fake restraining order nonsense as an excuse to not do it. Talk about false advertising. Owens replaced Rusev, and while the matchup they had was serviceable, there wasn't anything special about it. Rusev interfered and caused the contest to be thrown out, but at least the crowd was into their brawl that closed the show.

Overall Show

WWE Network was having issues throughout the entire broadcast, but at least the company was kind enough to air the event live on their YouTube channel as a backup. Starrcade was exactly what many of us expected to be: a predictable yet enjoyable hour-plus of wrestling. Nothing seemed to serve a purpose for the most part (though a few feuds were furthered), but on the bright side, I like whenever WWE airs extra content on the Network like they did here. It's not worth going out of your way to watch, but it was decent. On a side note, it was nice to hear Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton back together on commentary for the first time in a while.