The crazy thing is this show still drew a huge buy rate. People really wanted to see Nash and Goldberg and the Flair/Bischoff match.
As for the card, there's a few reasons for this. Bischoff didn't believe in over stacking cards for some reason. Starrcade 1997 was also underwhelming.
The other is a series of people being out. Sting was in rehab, Scott too, Hogan ran out his dates, etc.