March 4, 2002 Observer Newsletter: Pride goes head to head with WWA

It’s been a long time since there were major shows put head-to-head with a PPV in the United States. There was actually a short period of time, when PPV was in its infancy and the WCW vs. WWF war was still mired in that old school do anything to hurt the opposition, even if it hurts yourself, mentality when it was commonplace. Eventually, because the wrestling industry would have never stopped, the cable television industry forced a truce.

The first time was Thanksgiving of 1987. Jim Crockett Promotions planned its first-ever PPV event, Starrcade, its traditional big show of the year. Starrcade had been successful for years, dating back to its inception in 1983, as a closed-circuit event, mainly to the various arenas around the Carolinas. By 1985, when Crockett took over the promotion of Atlanta, after buying the contract for TBS from Vince McMahon and the subsequent folding of Ole Anderson’s Championship Wrestling from Georgia, Starrcade became so big it was held in two locations.

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