Best WCW PPVs

While WWE may try to convince fans that WCW was a 13-year-long disaster, the promotion produced a lot of great stories, characters, and matches, especially before the company’s excesses got the best of them — and sometimes even DURING those low points. Some of the best wrestling matches ever happened under the WCW umbrella, like the legendary bouts between Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair.

WCW has also produced some legitimately great pay-per-views over the years, too. Let’s consult the wrestling equivalent of IMDb, Cagematch.net, and see which PPVs they consider to be the best in WCW history.

UPDATE: 2024/05/05 14:30 EST BY ETHAN SCHLABAUGH

World Championship Wrestling easily deserves wrestling fans’ respect as they weren’t only the top competition for WWE during their prime, but were single-handedly pushing the WWE to do something better. The promotion had names like Ric Flair, Sting, Vader, Booker T, Scott Steiner, and many more, looking better than they ever could elsewhere. To celebrate the legacy of one of the best wrestling promotions of all time, here are the top-rated PPV events according to users of the website Cagematch.net.

25 Slamboree ’94 (05/22/1994) – 6.32

A Talent Exchange Between WCW & ECW

World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling worked on a deal in 1994 allowing Terry Funk to wrestle against Tully Blanchard at WCW’s May PPV Slamboree in exchange for Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton appearing at ECW’s When Worlds Collide event.

Matches such as Steve Austin vs. Johnny B. Badd over the United States title and Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham were some spectacular highlights of the card. Sting vs. Vader was the main event where the two men went to war over the vacant WCW International World title.

24 Starrcade ’93 (12/27/1993) – 6.42

The Starrcade Return Of Ric Flair

The biggest selling point of Starrcade 1993 was seeing Ric Flair put his career on the line against Vader, who was in the midst of a 285-day reign with the WCW World Heavyweight title. While the main event did a lot of the heavy lifting, the rest of the card did make attempts to show out. Matches like Lord Steven Regal vs. Ricky Steamboat went amazingly, and Steve Austin vs. Dustin Rhodes was a better-than-expected bout.

After Flair’s victory over Vader, a brief feud against the likes of Ricky Steamboat and Sting would ensue with Flair unifying the WCW World Heavyweight and WCW International World Heavyweight titles.

23 Hog Wild ’96 (08/10/1996) – 6.48

The First Showing Of The New World Order

The first WCW PPV to take place after the infamous creation of the New World Order saw Hollywood Hogan regain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from The Giant. That main event doesn’t leave a great taste in fan’s mouths by the end of the show, so on rewatch it would be better to end the show after The Outsiders vs. Luger & Sting.

The stand-out matches on the card feature a solid performance from Dean Malenko, Mysterio and Ultimo Dragon doing what they do best, and a rare Eddie Guerrero vs. Ric Flair United States title match.

22 SuperBrawl ’97 (02/23/1997) – 6.52

The Night Randy Savage Joined The NWO

SuperBrawl 7 was held at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California. The event is notorious for being one of the lowest-rated main events in WCW’s history, with Hollywood Hogan taking on Roddy Piper for the WCW World Heavyweight title. The match is at a 2.09 score on Cagematch.

The matches that helped the show include Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho for the Cruiserweight Championship and Lex Luger teaming with The Giant to beat The Outsiders for the WCW World Tag Team Championships.

21 Greed (03/18/2001) – 6.53

The Final WCW PPV Event

The final PPV that WCW ever got to run before being purchased by the WWE in 2001 saw a lineup featuring matches such as Scott Steiner vs. DDP, Booker T vs. Rick Steiner, and Dustin & Dusty Rhodes facing Ric Flair & Jeff Jarrett.

Despite the consensus on how WCW’s quality took a dip around this time frame, the show still received decent ratings and a few of the matches also ranked highly among critics, such as the Cruiserweight Tag Team title match featuring Elix Skipper, Kid Romeo, Billy Kidman, and Rey Mysterio Jr.

20 Bash At The Beach ’94 (07/17/1994) – 6.54

Hulk Hogan’s WCW In-Ring Debut

The WCW in-ring debut of Hulk Hogan was the talking point of this PPV with the main event featuring Hulk Hogan pinning Ric Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Critics and fans agree the match was pretty good but wasn’t the best match on the card. That honor would go to Ricky Steamboat and a young Steve Austin fighting over the WCW United States Championship.

Other matches that happened include Lord Steven Regal retaining the World Television title against Johnny B. Badd and The Stud Stable of Bunkhouse Buck & Terry Funk beating Arn Anderson & Dustin Rhodes.

19 Halloween Havoc ’97 (10/26/1997) – 6.56

A Rey Mysterio Vs. Eddie Guerrero Classic

Some PPVs get a high rating from Cagematch users because something important happened on this particular show, rather than being an overall great PPV. Halloween Havoc ‘97 certainly has some good stuff, including Randy Savage vs. Diamond Dallas Page and Yuji Nagata vs. Ultimo Dragon in one of the few singles bouts they had, along with a non-title cage match stinker between Roddy Piper and Hollywood Hogan.

But the real draw for fans here is the classic Cruiserweight Championship match, where Rey Mysterio Jr. — in his iconic Phantom-inspired gear — put his mask on the line for a title shot against his rival, Eddie Guerrero.

18 WCW WrestleWar ’92 (05/17/1992) – 6.60

The Last WrestleWar Event

WCW’s final WrestleWar show featured a massive main event between Sting’s Squadron of himself, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat, and Nikita Koloff facing off against Paul E. Dangerously’s Dangerous Alliance in a WarGames match.

With WrestleWar being finished after this show, the May slot gained Slamboree, and the WarGames match itself became a Fall Brawl tradition. Dave Meltzer rated the main event five stars and Cagematch users gave it a 9.03/10.

17 Souled Out ’98 (01/24/1998) – 6.65

Bret Hart’s WCW In-Ring Debut

The nWo highlighted show, Souled Out, came to be in 1997 with Nick Patrick officiating every match and nWo members Eric Bischoff and Ted DiBiase on commentary. The sequel event the following year was instead a joint production between WCW and the nWo.

Leading into the show, the talk of the town was Bret Hart finally getting to wrestle inside a WCW ring against “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. The match was decent for what the two technicians could pull off. The eight-man tag and No DQ matches from the start of the show also hold up quite well.

16 Starrcade ‘92 (12/28/1992) – 6.67

The Second BattleBowl Match

In 1991, WCW made a misstep in devoting the entirety of Starrcade ‘91 to its BattleBowl/Lethal Lottery concept, where randomly paired tag teams fight for a chance to enter a battle royal at the end of the night. It didn’t go over well, but WCW repeated the gimmick for the 1992 edition but managed to produce a show more in line with the Starrcade tradition.

While the Lethal Lottery thing ended up working better in 1992, two matches earned the PPV’s high rating. First was the Tag Title match as Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas defended against Barry Windham and Brian Pillman, followed by the final match of WCW’s King of Cable Tournament, a tremendous bout between Sting and Big Van Vader.

15 Chi-Town Rumble (02/20/1989) – 6.73

Ric Flair & Ricky Steamboat Put On A Clinic

The second WCW pay-per-view saw a legendary main event between Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair. Flair had just retained his World title against Lex Luger at Starrcade and Steamboat returned to WCW on television as a surprise partner for Eddie Gilbert, facing off against Flair and Barry Windham.

The show was heavily carried by the main event, but a couple of other matches were worth the time to watch, such as Lex Luger vs. Barry Windham and The Road Warriors vs. The Varsity Club.

14 Fall Brawl ’97 (09/14/1997) – 6.73

Curt Hennig Betrayed The Four Horsemen

WarGames events always did fairly well for WCW, even if they weren’t the greatest matches. Fall Brawl 1997 luckily featured a decent one, as the nWo faced The Four Horsemen, with the nWo winning after Curt Hennig turned on his team to join the New World Order.

Other matches to check out on the card include Alex Wright facing Ultimo Dragon, The Steiners vs. Harlem Heat, and Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho, a feud that never disappointed.

13 WCW WrestleWar ’91 (02/24/1991) – 6.79

The First WCW WarGames Match

WCW’s WrestleWar received high regard when it aired with such names as Dave Meltzer calling it the best show he’d seen live since 1989’s The Great American Bash in his March 4th, 1991 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

The show itself featured matches like Lex Luger vs. Dan Spivey, Terrance Taylor vs. The Z-Man, and Itsuki Yamazaki & Mami Kitamura vs. Miki Handa & Miss A, which all received three stars and above from Meltzer. The main event was a rare five-star rating from Meltzer with the famous War Games match between Zbyszko & The Four Horsemen facing Sting, Brian Pillman, and The Steiners.

12 Beach Blast ’92 (06/20/1992) – 6.96

The Home Of Two Classic 30-Minute Bouts

The debut edition of WCW’s Summer PPV Beach Blast sent fans home happy with a spectacular main event between The Steiner Brothers, Steve Williams, and Terry Gordy that resulted in a time-limit draw. Another impressive match was the Iron Man match between Rick Rude and Ricky Steamboat, non-title even though Rude was the United States Champion.

Beach Blast was also historic for the fact that it was the first PPV to be held after Bill Watts assumed control of WCW and enforced many of his new rules such as top rope maneuvers would result in a disqualification.

11 SuperBrawl 2 (2/29/1992) – 7.00

Lex Luger’s Final WCW Match Until 1995

Even though the main event is a surprisingly weak World Title bout between Sting and Lex Luger, SuperBrawl 2 has an otherwise fairly consistent card that justifies such a high rating.

For example, there was a great 20-minute bout between Rick Rude and Ricky Steamboat for the US belt and a short but sweet brawl between Ron Simmons and Cactus Jack. And, in true WCW fashion, the high-flyers steal the show in the opener as Flyin’ Brian Pillman won back the Light Heavyweight Title from Jushin “Thunder” Liger in a classic.

10 The Great American Bash ’96 (06/16/1996) – 7.01

Steve McMichael Joins The Four Horsemen

By virtue of being the pay-per-view right before the company kicked off its biggest storyline ever at the following show, The Great American Bash ‘96 has got to be one of WCW’s most underrated PPVs. Opening with an awesome and nasty sprint between The Steiner Brothers and Fire & Ice, this edition of GAB also has Sting taking on Lord Steven Regal and a severely overlooked tag match where Kevin Greene and Steve “Mongo” McMichael acquit themselves very well against Arn Anderson and Ric Flair.

Then there’s the main event, a surprisingly great World Title match between The Giant and Lex Luger, two stars whose in-ring skills aren’t exactly favored by Cagematch users.

9 Starrcade ‘88 (12/26/1988) – 7.13

The First PPV Under The WCW Banner

Starrcade was always WCW’s biggest show of the year, and the 1988 edition was one of the best ones thanks to consistent match quality. While few Cagematch users are fond of Lex Luger, his main event bout against Ric Flair on this show is considered by many users to be Luger’s best match ever.

Along with Dusty Rhodes and Sting teaming up against The Road Warriors and a mat-work-heavy bout between Rick Steiner and Mike Rotunda for the TV Title, there’s a lot of great stuff that’s easily overlooked. One of the big forgotten gems on this show is a US Title match between Barry Windham and Bam Bam Bigelow.

8 Spring Stampede ’99 (4/11/1999) – 7.26

The Best Part Of WCW’s 1999

Late 2000 to early 2001 had some pretty decent shows, but for Cagematch users, Spring Stampede ‘99 was the last truly great WCW pay-per-view.

It’s astounding because this one followed a run of seriously lackluster shows, including Uncensored with its nonsensical First Blood Cage Match. But Spring Stampede opens with an awesome Juventud Guerrera/Blitzkrieg match and delivers nice hardcore brawls, tag team matches, and other mid-card bouts before ending with a surprisingly good four-way match that ended with DDP capturing the World Title.

7 Halloween Havoc ’93 (10/24/1993) – 7.24

An All-Around Great Show

Pre-Hulk Hogan 1990s WCW is severely underrated, and 1993 had an awesome array of talent on its roster. Halloween Havoc ‘93 certainly shows that roster off, as it’s got Dustin Rhodes vs. Steve Austin for the US Title, Rick Rude vs. Ric Flair for the International Title, and the only televised bout between English legends Davey Boy Smith and Lord Steven Regal.

The main event here, however, is an expectedly brutal Texas Deathmatch between Big Van Vader and Cactus Jack.

6 Starrcade ‘96 (12/29/1996) – 7.25

The Majority Of The Card Makes Up For The Main Event

The main event of Starrcade ‘96 is an overhyped and underwhelming non-title match between Roddy Piper and Hollywood Hogan, but the rest of the card is rather solid and does a good job of bringing the event up as a whole.

It’s got Jushin Liger taking on Rey Mysterio Jr., an underrated match between The Outsiders and Faces of Fear for the Tag belts, and a killer opener where Ultimo Dragon defends the J-Crown and Malenko defends the Cruiserweight Title in a winner-take-all match. Despite the common criticisms of WCW during this era, they did have some consistent PPVs.