[6.0] "Mixed feelings about this show. Even if there's a tournament, it's miles away better organised, then at the previous Starrcade event. Bunch of very variable but short matches, Steiners, Japanese and Soviet guys did put a super-effort to make it memorable. Also very entertaining Street Fight. Other matches on undercard are pretty mediocre. I don't understand the overwhelming hate for Black Scorpion gimmick itself, but the main event is easily worst Starrcade ME for the time being, unfortunately. All in all, the show is a huge step forward in comparison with '89, but the whole concept and ME don't give a chance to anyone I believe to rate it as a decent show. 6/10"

[4.0] "A few decent matches on the undercard but the whole event was built towards the stupid Black Scorpion blowoff and they somehow managed to make the storyline even worse by cutting Ric Flair off at the knees and managing to have an awful Sting-Flair match. 1990 was a stinking year for the company ever since Sting blew his knee and they rushed the Luger turn, and this event summed up the whole Ole Anderson era beautifully."

[3.0] "This was an awful show. Beautiful Bobby and the Z-Man open the show with a completely forgettable match, which sadly is one of the best things on the show. The Pat O'Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament kicks off next with the Steiner Brothers of the United States taking on Col. DeKlerk and Sgt. Krueger of South Africa. After all the effort they put into building DeKlerk and Krueger on the last Clash, they're squashed in a couple of minutes here. The Pat O'Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament continues with Konnan and Rey Mysterio of Mexico vs. Chris Adams and Norman Smiley of the UK in a poor match where their distinct styles do not mesh at all. The Pat O'Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament continues with another terrible match between the Great Muta and Mr. Saito of Japan and the Royal Family from New Zealand. It's time for the final (also bad) match of the Pat O'Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament next, as Salman Hashimikov and Victor Zangiev of the USSR faced off against Danny Johnson and Troy Montour of Canada. Interestingly, Hashimikov and Zangiev appear to be amateur wrestlers with little to no professional training. It could have been an interesting angle if WCW chose to explore it, but they were just thrown out there with little comment. Michael Walstreet battled Terry Taylor in a dull match, followed by another bad match, this time featuring the Skyscrapers against the Big Cat and the Motor City Madman. Ricky Morton and Tommy Rich took on the Fabulous Freebirds in a poor match that was only notable because the Freebirds turned on their manager. The Pat O'Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament returns as the Steiner Brothers face Konnan an Rey Mysterio in another match. It appears that Konnan and Mysterio just don't know how to adjust to other styles. The other Semifinal of the Pat O'Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament is next as the Great Muta and Mr. Saito took on Salman Hashimikov and Victor Zangiev in a dull match that still managed to be one of the better matches in the tournament. Lex Luger and Stan Hanson had a decent bull-rope match for the United States Heavyweight Championship. Doom and The Four Horsemen battled to a no contest in a street fight for the World Tag Team Titles that also managed to be the match of the night. The Steiner Brothers and the Great Muta and Mr. Saito had a good match to close the Pat O'Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament. Finally, Sting and the Black Scorpion had a terrible Steel Cage Match for the World Heavyweight Championship to close the show."

[3.0] "Once again they decided that what Starrcade needed was a long tournament with none of the matches really standing out. This Pat O'Connor Memorial kills the whole show with lots of random guys that the crowd didn't care about and short, filler matches that were just a chore. And even if there is some decent stuff like Eaton vs Zenk, Lex vs Hansen and Doom vs The Horsemen they don't register as much as they would if they were given more time and weren't interrupted by this slog of a tournament. Plus I have no idea why matches like Rotunda vs Taylor or The Freebirds vs Morton & Rich were included in this, as they added almost nothing to the show and only took away the time from the bouts that could have used more of it. And on top of that the main event with Flair not being able to wrestle like himself, so he wouldn't give away Scorpion's identity buried the whole contest and made it go with a snale's pace. The worst match on the show and it just made the impression of the whole PPV even worse than it already was."

[3.0] "This is a pretty rough show, but there's a string of three solid matches towards the end there that save it from total disaster. My favourite was definitely Hansen and Luger, which I thought was a really fun brawl despite the silly finish. Unfortunately, everything prior to that is pretty weak. The international tag tournament is what takes up the majority of the show, and it's a fun idea, but it doesn't really work out. It's a lot of teams that aren't over with the crowd and whose styles clash pretty badly, having matches that are, for the most part, much too short to have much substance. The main event is the payoff to the atrocious Black Scorpion angle, which would have to be one of the most absurd storylines I have ever seen in wrestling. On the bright side, it does often fall in to 'so bad it's good' territory, so you can still get entertainment out of it (the spaceship entrance here was hilarious), but it all concludes in a pretty horrible wrestling match, so it's probably not worth sitting through it all unless your curiosity gets the best of you. I've certainly seen worse shows, but the fact that this was Starrcade makes me feel obligated to be pretty harsh on this occasion even if there are a few good matches."

[2.0] "Sadly most of the tournament matches were quite forgettable, the best one of them was the final match but even that was just average. Doom and the Horsemen had a solid brawl. The main event was pretty bad and this show overall was also definitely bad."

[5.0] "This was a fine show, but I hope for more from a Starrcade. Half of this show is a Pat O' Connor memorial tournament that is a nice idea but doesn't really mean anything at the end of the day. Steiner Bros help carry this show and the tag tournament. At least this show ends the Black scorpion saga; which is what this show is infamously known for."

[5.0] "This wasn't the best Starrcade put on PPV by WCW. A silly tag team tournament with no stakes, along with a few meaningless matches, really brought this one down as the Sting/Black Scorpion came to a fizzle when Ric Flair was unmasked as the Black Scorpion."

[6.0] "A couple of good matches and a couple of decent matches made this a 6 for me, despite there admittedly being some trash thrown in too. I don't think you can call this awful based on the US & Tag title matches alone."

[7.0] "Decent PPV, good but not great. Solid opener with Z-Man/Bobby Eaton, the Street Fight tag team match is incredibly fun to watch, tag team tournament was meh overall but at least Steiners vs. Muta/Saito was good. Main event is surreal to watch when you know Flair is the Black Scorpion and he's trying his best not to wrestle his style."

[4.0] "The show has some good stuff such as the bullrope match and the street fight, and a few okay matches like the opener, the angle with the Freebirds/Rock 'n'Roll Express or Rotunda's bout, but otherwise it was not fun to watch. The fact that we had EIGHT tournament matches didn't help, making the show feel twice as longer. It has a few recommended matches, but overall I can't say I'd recommend this show."

[5.0] "Somewhat of a mixed-bag Starrcade. The non-tournament undercard was somewhat unremarkable, while the tournament's quarterfinal and semifinal rounds were a bit too rushed due to the time constraints (though a few teams, including the Steiners, Saito/Muta and Hashimikov/Zangiev, were able to look good). Toward the end of the show there were three very good matches - Luger vs. Hanson in the bullrope match, Doom vs. Anderson/Windham in the street fight and Steiners vs. Saito/Muta in the tournament final - before ending with a whole lot of Black Scorpion stupidity in the main event."

[3.0] "A very poor show that is plagued by, as always, far too many matches being booked for the time available."

[7.0] "The World Tournament is a great idea, maybe in the wrong event. Starrcade should be the showcase of WCW with all the feuds getting to their end there. But at least most of the tag team matches of the tournament are excellent (I am disappointed for the Canadian team). Only the final was worthy, but the Mexican team and the Soviet one were great. Doom vs the Horsemen was a good fight, Luger vs Hansen very physical. The main event is the end to the extremely stupid Black Scorpion story. It's impossible right now to not know who was it but at least it gave Sting a serious contender. Not one of the best Starrcade but it's different than usual. I'm surprised to see it valued as an unworthy event."

[7.0] "Another common theme for my ratings: I prefer southern-style "wrasslin'". Sorry, WWF guys! Anyway, this was a unique event that saw a bunch of interesting stuff: Bobby Eaton in singles action against the Z-Man; various teams from around the globe (Konnan and Rey Misterio, Chris Adams and Norman Smiley, Mr. Saito and the Great Muta, Salman Hashimikov and Victor Zangiev, et cetera). And then you had staples to the NWA like Sting, Flair (as the goofy Black Scorpion -- glad that's dead), The Steiners, Arn Anderson and Barry Windham, Doom, etc. It was a really cool, packed event. I'll have to go against the grain again and recommend this event. :)"

[5.0] "There's a cluster of pretty good matches towards the end, and the tournament is at least creative and yields some really unusual combinations. Much of the tournament isn't that great though, plus the main event is weak and surrounded by the incredibly goofy Black Scorpion baloney. If you add to the equation a truly, truly, truly horrible performance by the Freebirds, who were actively terrible by this time, and I can only put this event in the middle, and I still feel like I'm being generous."