10 Biggest WCW PPVs, Ranked By Attendance

The first “official” WCW PPV came in 1991, with the company being NWA affiliated prior to that. From there, the promotion began to rise steadily, bringing in some of the biggest names in professional wrestling, with them acting as competition to the hold WWE had over the business.

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Each year, WCW’s PPV calendar grew, to the point where they were matching WWE in terms of how many events they produced per year, which showcased just how successful they were becoming as time progressed. Some of these shows had large attendances, though the most-watched shows weren’t always necessarily the best in terms of quality.

10 Starrcade 1998 - 16,066

Starrcade was often billed as WCW’s biggest yearly show, though the 1998 event wasn’t overly great, as it was capped off with Goldberg losing his undefeated streak and WCW World Heavyweight Championship at the hands of a stun gun wielded by Scott Hall, and his opponent, Kevin Nash.

The event took place at the MCI Center in Washington D.C, and drummed up a crowd of over 16,000 fans who witnessed a historic yet unpopular moment.

9 World War 3 1997 - 17,128

As per usual, the World War 3 match on this show wasn’t overly enthralling, though fans were still clearly interested in the event as The Palace at Auburn Hills brought in over 17,000 fans.

Scott Hall would be the one to win the World War 3 match on this occasion, overcoming The Giant in the finish. There were a few other notable bouts too, including Curt Hennig vs Ric Flair and Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio.

8 Starrcade 1997 - 17,500

At WCW’s biggest yearly event, Hollywood Hogan took on Sting in what was one of the more highly anticipated matches in WCW history, which was very likely why this event drew so many people.

Unfortunately, WCW screwed up the finish, with a botched ending in which the referee was supposed to do a quick three count, but didn’t. This led to Bret Hart somehow having the power to restart the match and become the referee, leading to Sting overcoming the dastardly heel. Fans were happy to see Sting win, but it should have been done far better than this, especially with the huge attendance.

7 World War 3 1998 - 17,670

Even though the World War 3 concept never really worked, it was still one of the shows which drew the highest attendance, likely due to the fact that the match type was so unique, with three rings holding 60 men in an over-the-top-rope battle royal.

This would end up being the last World War 3 event, with 17,670 fans packed into The Palace of Auburn Hills in Michigan to watch it.

6 Spring Stampede 1999 - 17,690

This was one of WCW’s better shows of 1999, and it saw Diamond Dallas Page win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in a moment which should’ve arguably come much sooner, given his popularity.

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The 17,790 fans in attendance also saw Scott Steiner vs Booker T, Goldberg vs Kevin Nash, and Rey Mysterio vs Billy Kidman.

5 Slamboree 1999 - 20,516

In terms of the conventional WCW PPV calendar, Slamboree 1999 was the one with the highest attendance, drawing over 20,000 fans into the TWA Dome. However, the event wasn’t good, with the cagematch.net rating regarding it as one of the worst editions of Slamboree ever.

Even the high profile matches on the show such as Roddy Piper vs Ric Flair, Goldberg vs Sting, and DDP vs Kevin Nash were all let downs. This was an example of a higher attendance not necessarily equating to quality.

4 WCW/New Japan SuperShow 2 1992 - 50,000

NJPW’s annual January 4th Tokyo Dome shows started with this event, making it a hugely iconic and notable occasion, with the company producing the yearly Wrestle Kingdom event in the years since. WCW worked alongside NJPW for this show.

Out of all the WCW and New Japan Super Shows, this brought in the lowest attendance of 50,000. The main event saw Sting team up with The Great Muta to take on The Steiner Brothers.

3 WCW/New Japan SuperShow 3 1993 - 63,500

Although this would mark the final of WCW/NJPW SuperShow, NJPW would continue the tradition of hosting a show at the Tokyo Dome on January 4th in every subsequent year. Unfortunately, The Steiner Brothers vs The Hell Raisers was pulled from the show, though this likely didn’t affect the attendance of a huge 63,500.

Elsewhere on the card, Sting took on Hiroshi Hase, The Great Muta battled Masahiro Chono, and Ultimo Dragon fought Jushin Thunder Liger.

2 WCW/New Japan SuperShow 1 1991 - 64,500

The “Forbidden Door” is often discussed in modern day wrestling, but it has been opened many times in the past, with WCW and NJPW working together to produce this huge Tokyo Dome event which brought in a huge 64,500 fans.

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There were some big matches on the card too, as Sting battled The Great Muta, and Tatsumi Fujinami took on Ric Flair in a Champion vs Champion Winner Takes All match.

1 Collision In Korea 1995 - 165,000 & 190,000

WCW’s foray into North Korea is one which often gets ignored by many, largely due to the fact that North Korea is such an isolated state in the modern day. Though the numbers are contested and disputed, there is no denying that well over 100,000 people attended this enormous two-day event.

This holds the distinction for being the highest attended professional wrestling show of all time, though with WCW no longer in existence, there is no one around to boast that fact. Day Two of the show saw Antonio Inoki defeat Ric Flair in a blockbuster clash.