[2.0] "The final match isn't uninteresting, but the rest is truly mediocre--or even bad. Basing one of the company's major shows on a double tournament of this kind is already a challenge in terms of format, but when the wrestling quality is poor and the stakes are low, the result is something even worse than WrestleMania IV. Match quality: 2.5/6.5. Non-match angles and segments: 0/3.5. Bonus/penalty: none. Total: 2.5/10. Show watched on the WCW YouTube channel."

[5.0] "I might be in the minority of liking tournaments on wrestling shows, but round robin is a difficult format to do it in as opposed single elimination. This night showed that the wrestling three matches spread out over three hours is something some people can do (Flair and Sting) while others cannot (Road Warriors and Wild Samoans). Putting both a singles and tag tournament on the same show was also a strange choice, as they would've worked better separately with some of the participants crossing over (as an example, Flair and Sting as a team in a tag tournament then opponents in a singles one would've added some intrigue)."

[5.0] "Unfortunately, this year WCW management decided to make Vince's error with WM4. Full tournaments are not suted for this type of shows at all. But if Vince had at least a world title on the line, Starrcade '89 gives us completely no heat for the tournament. No prize, no title. Apart from that, there is still some of the best wrestling of the decade. Flair vs Luger and then vs Sting are highly recommended. 5/10"

[5.0] "The great run of shows for WCW through 1989 comes to a skidding halt at their biggest event of the year. The tournament concept is complete death and despite there being a few good matches, there's absolutely no heat going into them and not defending the belts is criminal. Flair is a great wrestler, not so much as a booker."

[4.0] "4.1 out of 10 man this is just average asf I like the idea of the iron man tournament but oh my goodness there is nothing on the line here no stakes no title nothing so this tournament feels and is useless the story they isn't great either I mean there a couple of decent matches here and there but this is starrcade should be more than just that wrestlemania 7 1991 is better than starrcade 7 1989 good job wcw you messed it up."

[5.0] "My main problem with this is that there were no real stakes in any of the tournaments. Not a title, a title shot or even a trophy - you just get called an Iron Man. The matches also suffered from this as some of them were slower and were draining the energy out of the other ones that had a potential for the bigger crowd reactions. Luger vs Flair was the best match of the show for me as the crowd wasn't tired yet at that point, but when you look at Sting and Flair in the main event you can clearly see that the fans were exhausted at the end of the show. Nevertheless some of the bouts were decent and none of them were particularly awful, but I don't think that this formula for a PPV really worked."

[4.0] "For being WCW's Wrestlemania, there have been A LOT of forgettable Starrcades. This nonsensical tournament amounted to nothing and it really served no purpose. Watch it once, and move onto the next ppv."

[5.0] "While on paper I liked the idea of the Iron Man tournaments, the concept was clearly flawed and hurt the show overall. The singles tournament was solid (outside of the very disappointing two minute match between Flair and Muta, which was one of the matches that I was most interested in) but unspectacular, but the Wild Samoans absolutely killed the tag tournament. They had three awful performances that brought down the entire show. I'm not sure if they didn't have the cardio to wrestle three times in such a short period of time or if it was simply a lack of interest (perhaps both), but they looked increasingly terrible throughout their three matches. Even ignoring that, the majority of the other matches peaked at 'fine', as many of the competitors were clearly hamstrung by the format of the tournament, either due to the fairly short time limit imposed on matches or because of needing to conserve their energy for later. This show likely would have been much better if the tag tournament was scrapped entirely (and perhaps raise the time limit of the singles tournament to 20 minutes) and those matches replaced with something else that would have more effectively broken up the pace. As it stands, this was a largely mediocre event that, while ambitious, failed to live up to its potential."

[6.0] "This show was fine. There's almost nothing good on it, but almost nothing bad either. It's just a steady stream of bland as guys try to fill time without exerting themselves too much. We open with the Steiner Brothers taking on Doom in what is probably the best match on the tag team side of things for this show. It's not great, but it at least works well as a wrestling match. We then get Lex Luger vs. Sting in another decent match. So far, things are going well. We then get the Road Warriors vs. Doom, and the cracks are starting to show. It's not bad, but definitely is a step down from the previous matches. This takes us to the biggest disappointment of the night (yes, even more than the realization that we have to watch the Wild Samoans wrestle three times), as Ric Flair defeats the Great Muta in under two minutes while everyone is distracted by a wild brawl outside the ring. Things get back on track with the Steiner Brothers vs. the Road Warriors in another decent match. Sting then defeats the Great Muta in another decent match, before the wheels start to come off in the form of the Wild Samoans vs. Doom. Whoever thought it was a good idea to clump all of the Wild Samoans' matches together should be stretched by Stu Hart. We then get an actually good match as Lex Luger takes on Ric Flair in the second best match of the night. The Wild Samoans get their best match of the night, against the Steiner Brothers, next. It's still not good. Lex Luger then wrestles the Great Muta in a match that has a great story, but sub-par wrestling in it. The Road Warriors and the Wild Samoans then stink the place out, before we get the Match of the Night in the form of Ric Flair vs. Sting."

[4.0] "There is some good stuff on this show, but my God is this show a chore to get through with the damn Round Robin tournaments. A singles tournament with Sting, Luger, Flair, and Muta, and a tag tournament with Steiner Brothers, Doom, Road Warriors, and the New Wild Samoans (replacing the Skyscrapers due to Sid being injured) are all that take place on this show. WCW had a bad habit of fucking with Starrcade in this era and trying to do a big gimmick on the show; as is also seen next year. I do think the right people won each tournament with Sting winning the singles and the Road Warriors winning the tag; and the over-arching stories are relatively good. It's wild (pun intended) how pushed the New Wild Samoans are on this show; they were a decent team who were never gonna get over with the comparative name. I love that the newly retired (thanks to his I Quit match with Flair) Terry Funk commentated with JR for the singles matches, and Jim Cornette did the tag matches."

[5.0] "I remember enjoying this more as a kid than I do now as an adult. I don't think the iron man tournaments were necessary, making this one of the more forgettable Starrcades. It just wasn't necessary and didn't do much for anyone other than Sting."

[8.0] "A unique approach to a PPV by doing the round robin thing, but a fun watch nonetheless. I actually prefer this Sting/Flair match more than anything they've ever done before, Steiners/Road Warriors was cool to see in what was a passing of the torch moment, even Luger/Muta was good and testament to how awesome Muta was at the time. I just wish it was the Midnight involved instead of SST."

[5.0] "I appreciated WCW's nod to puroresu by holding a pair of round-robin tournaments, and doing them in one night could have been special if not for some highly questionable booking. My issue was less with the winners and losers and more about which matches received more time than others. Often, the worst matchups seemed to get the most time and good matches that could have used more time were cut short. Unless I missed it, there was also never an announcement about what the tournament winners received (other than bragging rights). A future title shot or the ability to choose their next opponent would have been an easy solve."

[5.0] "A very meh show. The standout for me was Luger vs Flair but even that wasn't blow away good. Doing the two tournament idea ended up being pretty much a disaster as you kept seeing the same guys over and over and the match quality was largely poor."

[5.0] "I don't like the idea of using Starrcade for two (same) tournaments. The problem is with the tag team tournament, with Fantastics and Midnight Express at the place of Doom and Wild Samoans it would have been more interesting. The Iron Man Tournament has short matches and tired wrestlers, I don't feel that Great Muta was treated right. The main event is the only relevant fight because of the story between Flair and Sting. The rest is standard. The bad thing is they didn't learn the lesson with the Lethal Lottery and the Battlebowl years later."

[9.0] "I can't recall any other event like this in wrestling history, but while I can't say the format is flawless it is actually pretty good and provides a lot of interesting and cool combinations. My personal favorite matches were between Flair and Luger, and then between the Steiners and Doom, but beyond that it's just cool to see everyone adapting their strategies and interacting with each opponents differently as the match goes."