Starrcade (1991)

Starrcade '91: Battlebowl -- The Lethal Lottery was the ninth annual Starrcade professional wrestling pay-per-view event. It was the fourth Starrcade event produced by World Championship Wrestling, and it took place on December 29, 1991 from the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia. The event featured the Battlebowl battle royal and its "Lethal Lottery" tag team qualifying matches. 40 wrestlers were chosen at random to form 20 tag teams. The teams would then compete in qualifying matches, and the winning team advanced to the 20-man Battlebowl Battle Royal to determine the winner.

This was the first Starrcade event to not feature Ric Flair (Due to Flair being in the WWF).Sting won Battlebowl, and his victory led to a feud with Lex Luger over the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. This was also the first Starrcade after WCW left the NWA.

Background

Before Starrcade, Sting was in a feud with both Rick Rude and Lex Luger. On July 14, Lex Luger won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, and vacated the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship because of this. Sting won a tournament to become the new WCW United States Heavyweight Champion on August 25, and this put Sting in contention for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Luger saw Sting as a threat, and had Abdullah the Butcher and Cactus Jack attempt to injure Sting. On October 27, Rude made his return, and he made Sting his first target. Finally, at Clash of the Champions XVII, Luger ambushed Sting, and injured his knee. This allowed Rude to win the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship from Sting later that night.