The 10 best Starrcade matches ever

WWE recently announced that they would bring back the Starrcade name for a Smackdown live event on November 25, 2017. Starrcade was the signature show for the NWA and, later, WCW. The first Starrcade took place on November 24, 1983, preceding the first WrestleMania by 16 months and was the first major wrestling show to be broadcast on closed-circuit television, the precursor to pay per view.

The last show that bore the Starrcade name took place in December 2000, and during the 18 years that it was held it was host to a number of great matches. In honour of its rebirth, I rewatched a whole host of matches and have come up with a list of the 10 best ones.

#10 Harley Race vs Ric Flair (NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Steel Cage Match) – Starrcade '83

The main event of the inaugural Starrcade was the match that really put Flair on the map. It wasn't his first world title victory but it took place on a much bigger stage and was the passing of the torch from Race to Flair. The show did have the tagline 'A Flair For The Gold' after all, even though the poster for the event had a typo and read 'A Flare For The Gold'.

The match itself was the epitome of an old school encounter, with both men working over the head and neck of their opponent and using the cage when they got the chance. The only real issue with the match was guest referee Gene Kiniski, who kept trying to break the men apart, despite there being no disqualifications.

There used to be a joke that if Flair hit a move from the top rope he would win the title, and that started here. After a clash of heads between Race and Kiniski, Flair hit a cross body and won his second world title. The lasting image is Flair, bloody but victorious, his legendary career in full swing.