The event solely featured the Iron Man and Iron Team tournaments. The participants were Sting, Lex Luger, Ric Flair and The Great Muta for the Iron Man tournament, and Doom, The Steiner Brothers, The Road Warriors and The New Wild Samoans (replacing The Skyscrapers due to Sid Vicious' injury) for the Iron Team tournament. This event varied from other Starrcade events by only featuring the tournaments, only showcasing a small amount of wrestlers, and not featuring title defenses. The event led to a feud between Sting and Flair after a brief alliance as members of the Four Horsemen stable.

In February 1988, Sting was given a push to main event status by placing him in a feud with Ric Flair and Four Horsemen. This continued until October 1988, when Sting began a feud with The Road Warriors. Throughout 1989, Flair had notable feuds with Ricky Steamboat and Terry Funk over the NWA World Heavyweight Championship while Sting feuded with The Great Muta over the NWA World Television Championship. At The Great American Bash in July, the alliance between Flair and Sting began. After Flair defeated Funk in the main event, he was attacked by The Great Muta, and Sting came out to help Flair. Sting and Flair feuded with The Great Muta and Funk afterwards, and the feud continued until Halloween Havoc in October, when they defeated The Great Muta and Funk in a Thunderdome match.

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Wikipedia