Conrad Thompson, podcast host and promoter of the Starrcast wrestling fan convention, confirmed during a media conference call on Thursday that the upcoming Starrcast III event from Thursday through Sunday will be the last event of its kind for the foreseeable future.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The first of the three conventions took place in Schaumburg, Illinois (just outside of Chicago) in August/September 2018 to coincide with the All In event that was being promoted by Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks. That pay-per-view wound up being a precursor to All Elite Wrestling, and Starrcast once again returned during Double or Nothing weekend back in late May in Las Vegas. The third convention will once again take place in Schaumburg as part of the upcoming All Out weekend.
“I know I say this, or I said this after the first one, but this is the last one I have scheduled. Like I don’t have any other, I don’t have a whole other building. I knew when I was doing Vegas, that I was going to do Chicago, but I don’t have anything like that up my sleeve right now. I think after this, you know, and obviously that could change. Plans change, as we say on my shows all the time, but I think after this, it’s just stick to the podcast for a while,” Thompson said.
As of right now Thompson is the co-host on four wildly popular wrestling podcasts — Something to Wrestle With (with Bruce Prichard), 83 Weeks (with Eric Bischoff), Grilling JR (with Jim Ross) and What Happened When (with Tony Schiavone). Thompson recently announced he was launching a fifth podcast with Arn Anderson, and described himself as “Switzerland” in the upcoming war between WWE and AEW
“I got two guys on the AEW side, and two guys on the WWE side, and then Arn Anderson,” Thompson said. “So me and Arne are sort of Switzerland right now, I guess.”
Along with a handful of AEW-centric panels, Starrcast III’s lineup will include panels with CM Punk, Dean Malenko, Madusa, Colt Cabana, Jon Moxley, Joey Ryan, Diamond Dallas Page and Mick Foley. Thompson spoke in-depth about Punk’s involvement in the event, given how he rarely involves himself in wrestling events anymore. Thompson said he reached out to Punk because he wanted a “bulletproof” main attraction after booking both Ric Flair and The Undertaker for previous Starrcasts fell through
“… I felt like I needed to do something that was bulletproof and something that nobody saw coming, and it’s sort of, amongst wrestling convention promoters, the white whale out there, was CM Punk,” Thompson said. “I got his email address, and we exchanged a few emails over the course of several months, and then after sounding like no deal was going to come together very quickly one did, and we are thrilled that CM Punk is dusting off the microphone to join us. So I think him being involved in anything wrestling related has got people super, super interested in Starrcast, and we’re excited to have him.”
A good portion of Starrcast’s main stage events will air live via the Fite TV streaming service, starting on Thursday day with the All Out official press conference/weigh-in.
