Starrcade was eventually broadcast via pay-per-view television.
Starrcade was an annual professional wrestling event , originally broadcast via closed-circuit television and eventually broadcast via pay-per-view television , held from 1983 to 2000 by the National Wrestling Alliance ( NWA ) and later World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) . In 1987 , the WWF scheduled a pay-per-view of their own , Survivor Series , on Thanksgiving night and demanded exclusivity from cable providers on carriage of the event . From 1987 , Starrcade was broadcast on pay-per-view , the first NWA event to do so . Starrcade ( 1997 ) was the fifteenth annual Starrcade professional wrestling pay-per-view ( PPV ) event .