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Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WCW World War 3 ’98

WW399

WCW World War 3 98
November 22, 1998
Auburn Hills, MI
Reviewed on March 1, 2014

Background: 1998 was the beginning of the end for WCW (it was probably really Starrcade 97…but whatever). With the WWF having their best year in probably 10 or 11 years, they had turned the tide and had been winning the Monday Night ratings war. This was still before WCW was dead in the water though, and they certainly still had the talent to overtake the WWF.

WCW had just been relieved of one of its biggest talent acquisition failures as The Warrior had just finished up. Hollywood Hogan also would be gone at this point…running for president!

I’m not sure what the official story is, but it is accepted that Kevin Nash was the booker at this point. Watching this show, I understand why (although I don’t actually think the booking of Nash is that awful here).

Even the card itself though…showed that WCW would probably never regain the lead. For example, Goldberg. WCW’s 1998 cash cow. He’s not on this Pay-Per-View. In fact, Chris Jericho ran an entertaining angle against Goldberg for months, hoping to put on “the greatest squash match of all time”. Jericho’s wrestling Bobby Duncam Jr. here.

It is also interesting to point out that one of WCW’s calling cards was that they had great action in its undercard, then big names in the main event. You see at this point, that while some of the undercard is solid, it isn’t nearly at the level as 96 or 97 (or even earlier in 98) WCW.

Also, the main event is in fact not the World War 3 Battle Royal…but a US Title match between Bret Hart and Diamond Dallas Page. Just a quirky decision there. I get putting Page in the main though, he has been in every main since Bash At the Beach.

The Card

The opening is something I would expect for a WCW Playstation game. That’s not a bad thing though.

Here comes a limo!

Oh, Goldberg’s here? I’m so confused since he isn’t on the match card.

Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay are your announcers.

Talking about Hogan not being here…and perhaps we’ll see him on Nitro! Already advertising Nitro.

Mean Gene Okerlund: WCW HOTLINE!

Wrath vs. Glacier

Sub-Zero vs. Smoke match coming up.

I like Wrath’s theme. I’m guessing this is post-Vandenberg Wrath, as he doesn’t even have that cool entrance attire.

I guess Glacier is the heel?

Wrath shoves Glaicer out of the ring. Crowd says that yeah, Glaicer is the heel.

Glacier hits some kicks. I’m sure Glacier is a legit martial artists, but he really never learned how to use those skills in professional wrestling. Glacier always looks really stiff before doing any martial arts moves and it usually takes away from his matches. Steve Blackman was really good at this.

Mike Tenay tells us that Wrath is going to be on the Mortal Kombat TV show. Shocking.

Wrath actually looks pretty good here. Surprised Vince didn’t give him a bigger run when Wrath was Adam Bomb. Not saying it would have been successful, but his size makes him seem like a WWF guy.

Glacier just did this terrible hook spin kick. Looked horrible.

Wrath pins Glacier in 8:22. Wrath blocks Glacier’s thumb spike submission and hits the generic big man finisher…the Pump Handle Slam! (The Meltdown). Best Wrath and Glacier match I’ve ever seen. Wrath actually looked solid. This was a glorified squash.

Bret Hart promo video. I always thought Bret Hart was at his best playing a bitter heel. He talks trash about guys like Lex Luger, Chris Benoit and DDP. Anyone who says Bret Hart can’t talk stopped watching him after 1996.

Stevie Ray vs. Konnan

NWO music! At this point it could mean anyone, and in this case its Stevie Ray. I guess this is a NWO B Team vs. Wolfpac B Team match?

I always thought Konnan had some unique moves…but I never saw any psychology from him whatsoever. His rolling clothesline is something you didn’t see a lot of guys do.

Stevie Ray’s offense usually includes a lot of clubbing blows and the random kick. And that’s what we get here.

A lot of rest holds 5 minutes in.

I never liked how often WCW would talk about other storylines and ignore the match in the ring. Right now they are talking about Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Goldberg. Hey, why isn’t that match on this card?

Stevie Ray defeated Konnan by DQ at 6:55. Vincent accidentally hits Stevie Ray with the slapjack. Konnan does some punches, than hits the ref out of anger or something to cause the DQ. Then Booker T comes out to save him, which angers Stevie Ray because he’s tough and doesn’t need help. Boring match, stupid finish.

Ernest Miller and Sonny Oono vs. Perry Saturn and Kaz Hayashi

How the hell did Perry Saturn get involved in this? Wasn’t he just fighting Raven?

The Kaz Hayashi-Perry Saturn theme mash-up is just strange.

Is there a weirder team out there for a PPV match than Perry Saturn and Kaz Hayashi?

Some time killing early on. Ernest Miller tells Hayashi to leave in 5 seconds then turns his back on him. Kaz tags in Saturn. Funny I suppose.

Miller beats up Kaz, and then tags in Oono. Hayashi no-sells Oono’s offense and Oono offers him money. I guess this is a comedy match then?

Saturn vs. Miller is pretty good. Saturn always had a good array of suplexes. Also a nice legsweep by the Cat when Saturn went for a side kick.

Cat sends Oono in to fight Saturn and of course Saturn gets the advantage.

This match has no flow whatsoever…and way too much Sonny Oono.

Oono just missed three chops to the ground and let Hayashi tag in Saturn. Looks a lot worse than it reads.

Ernest Miller and Sonny Oono def. Perry Saturn and Kaz Hayashi when Oono pinned Saturn in 8:04. Saturn is about to suplex Oono, and the Cat hits him with a kick to the throat. Oono lands on him to get the win. Match had no flow or chemistry whatsoever. Also, was the point to make Saturn and Hayashi look awful? Because that’s what it did.

Chris Jericho and Lee Marshall!

WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Juventud Guerrera© vs. Billy Kidman

This should be good!

Both Kidman’s and Juvi’s themes are awesome.

I guess Juvi is part of the LWO! Eddy Guerrero comes out to explain that Juvi is in the LWO!

Rey Mysterio Jr. comes out with a LWO t-shirt to say that he should have the Cruiser title shot, but because Juvi is champ, Rey shouldn’t have the shot. Guerrero explains that you need to make sacrifices for family.

Early rocker dropper form Juvi. He then hits a flying headscissors which Kidman sells like a million bucks.

Juvi is now a full blown heel after the LWO thing.

Top rope legdrop from Kidman. I really thought Kidman was going to be a star in pro wrestling watching him in 1998.

The Kidman vs. Juvi battles (and there are a bunch of them in 1998) is really a representative of the last great days of the WCW Cruiserweight division.

Kidman hits a perfect dropkick as Juvi was coming off the top. Great timing.

Juvi hits a perfect top rope hurricanrana to the outside! Very nicely done.

This match seems slow-paced compared to their Bash at the Beach 98 encounter. Maybe to put over that Juvi is a heel now?

Wow. Juvi tosses Kidman into a 2nd ring, and then does a double springboard dropkick! He kinda falls on the second jump, but it was still impressive enough.

Wow again. Kidman sends Juvi from one ring to another with a hurricanrana, then leaps ring to ring with a cross bodyblock. Great innovation with the two rings.

More double ring action. Juvi does a springboard hurricanrana…sending Kidman into a different ring again!

Juvi misses the 450…but he lands on his feet. Hurricanrana for a really close two count! (Looks like Kidman didn’t kick out in time). Juvi slaps the ref…but doesn’t get DQed.

Billy Kidman pins Juventud Guerrera in 15:27 to win the title. Rey Jr. holds Kidman on the top rope and Juvi crashes to the mat on a hurricanrana attempt. Kidman hits the Shooting Star Press for the win. Great match. Great spots from ring to ring.

Eddy Guerrero tells Rey Jr. to make a choice, in the LWO or out? Rey Jr. says no and runs from the LWO members in the ring.

Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner

Buff Bagwell and some guy dressed as a NWO referee come out with Scotty Steiner.

The NWO is beating down on Rick Steiner in the back. The Giant drags Rick out to the ring. Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell beat down on Rick Steiner.

Rick manages to make a comeback, but he’s selling the attack from the NWO.

Tony Schiavone mentions that it would be nice to see the Steiners go at it 1 on 1. I couldn’t agree more. Almost like they should save it for a PPV or something.

Scott Steiner and Rick Steiner wrestled to a no contest. Hey it’s DA MAN. Goldberg’s here to make the save. The World Champ makes the save on a middle of the card match. Not like he should be defending the title or anything.

Kevin Nash vs. Scott Hall

Hall comes out with various NWO members.

Eric Bischoff is out here before Nash comes out.

Bischoff orders the NWO members to beat the crap out of Scott Hall. Nash runs out to make the save!

Big Outsiders chant breaks out. Hall makes a peace offering, but Kevin Nash leaves Hall in the ring. So I guess we aren’t getting the match?

Kevin Nash vs. Scott Hall was cancelled.

WCW TV Championship
Chris Jericho© vs. Bobby Duncam Jr.

Of all the wrestlers in WCW, why does Bobby Duncam Jr. of all people get a TV title shot?

Ralphus is a stroke of genius.

Gotta be honest, you can tell Jericho doesn’t want to be there. The nixing of the Goldberg angle was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Jericho and a WCW run.

Jericho busts out one of my favorite submissions, the crossbow surfboard.

Bobby Duncam Jr. feels like the homeless man’s Curt Hennig.

Jericho is doing all he can to make the match entertaining. Jumps off the railing with a clothesline. Missile dropkick. I just don’t see why anyone should care about Duncam.

Jericho goes for the Lion Tamer and the crowd erupts. They boo when Duncam breaks it.

Chris Jericho retains when he pinned Bobby Duncam Jr. in 13:19. Jericho nails Duncam Jr. in the back of the head with the TV title for the pin. Jericho tried, but Bobby Duncam Jr. offered a whole lot of nothing. Match was pretty boring.

World War 3: The 60 Man 3 Ring Battle Royal

Winner gets a WCW World Title match at Starrcade!

I’m going to just name some random guys here.

Apparently you can be pinned in this match too. How about that.

Alex Wright is out first!
Barry Darsow!
Bobby Blaze!
Chip Minton!

I swear they should have hyped Chris Adams as Stone Cold’s trainer.

Hogan, Horace Hogan brother!

BARRY HOROWITZ!

Other than Jericho, so far Juvi has been the best heel on the show.

Wow The Renegade was really out of shape at this point.

Super Calo!
Villiano V…but not IV!
Kendall Windham!

I see most of the top WCW guys in this, only missing Sting and Ric Flair. I know Randy Savage was injured.

It’s hard to keep track of anything in these. Breakdown: 60 men, 3 rings. 1 WAR!

I’m rooting for Horowitz.

Normal Smiley was the first to go!

Kevin Nash is practically dumping his entire ring out.

Scott Putski is gone. WWF almost built their Lightheavyweight Division around him!

You can eliminate anyone by just throwing them from the ring. Over the top rope doesn’t matter.

Kevin Nash took out his whole ring in like 3 minutes. He stands there awaiting the other two rings.

We’re down to 35 people. 1 person in ring 3 (Nash).

We’re fighting down to 20 men for 1 ring.

The Giant begins to dump some, but then the entire ring jumps on him!

In WCW terms, Wright/Both Guerreros/Benoit/Saturn/Disco/ vs. The Giant is a huge advantage for the Giant.

Rey Jr. is the last man eliminated before we come down to 1 ring!

I like all the hype about Nash’s strategy. All he did was just dump people as fast as possible.

Saturn and Miller eliminate one another and go at it, bad blood from earlier! Down to 18.

So long Alex Wright and Chavo!

And there goes Eddie! And Disco Inferno!

And Kidman! Down to 13 just like that.

Nash and The Giant go at it. I predict those will be the final two. Or Nash and Hall.

Outsiders double team the Giant. Crowd gets into it.

Lex Luger dumps Stevie Ray.

Mongo dumps Scott Norton and Nash dumps Norton.

Nash, Giant, Hall, Booker, Benoit, Malenko, Wrath, Luger, Konnan and Scott Steiner left.

Bam Bam Bigelow shows up, and Goldberg comes out to attack Bigelow! It’s almost like they should have had a match or something.

8 guys left. I lost count somehow, but Scott Steiner is gone.

Oh, Wrath is gone too.

Booker T is gone, 7 left.

Konnan, Nash and Luger for the Wolfpac. Benoit and Malenko for the Horsemen. Giant and Scott Hall in there as well.

Konnan eliminates himself trying to get rid of Hall.

Nash becomes the ring general to 5 on 1 the Giant, which the crowd erupts for.

They do it! Giant is gone!

Luger and Nash get rid of Benoit, while Hall gets rid of Malenko. Luger vs. Nash vs. Hall. 3 WWF 94 mainstays.

Kevin Nash wins the 60 Man Battle Royal, last eliminating Lex Luger at 22:31. Luger tries to rack eliminate Hall, but Nash hits a big boot and both Luger and Hall go over the top. Weak ending as Luger didn’t go over the top well. I don’t particularly like the World War 3 Battle Royal in general as there are way too many guys who don’t have a chance in hell, but I do actually like the way this was booked, which I’ll explain later in the conclusion of this review. Short version, if you are going to want Nash to be strong for Goldberg, dominating the Battle Royal was a good way to make it happen.

WCW US Championship
Diamond Dallas Page© vs. Bret Hart

Michael Buffer is out to announce the main event!

DDP is wearing the US Title upside down….

DDP dives over the top rope on to the Hitman to get this thing going.

Bret does subtle small things as a heel that he doesn’t do as a face. I like how Bret wrestles with a sense of arrogance as a heel, like a “it’s obvious I’m better than you” style. Hard to explain.

I do like that the Diamond Cutter can be done at any point. It makes for a lot of great fakes and can suddenly get the crowd into it.

This match has been pretty disappointing so far. I think it is a combo of DDP not being a great wrestler, and WCW Bret Hart just not being the same Bret Hart.

Bret going for a tombstone and DDP reversing it into his own tombstone was a nice spot.

Match is picking up. Nice belly to belly from Page. DDP then busts out this weird piledriver-pedigree spot. A pancake maybe?

I actually like DDP’s version of the sharpshooter, the going down to one knee part of it. Looked kinda of cool.

The Figure Four around the ring post is one of my favorite moves in wrestling ever. Such an effective visual.

Bret continues to methodically work on the leg of Page. For whatever reason, this is missing the mark. It’s the standard Bret Hart match, but the crowd just can’t get into it.

DDP just busted out the post figure four. Turnabout is fair play!

DDP has a chair! Charles Robinson tries to grab it, and Bret shoves Page into Robinson, knocking him out.

Diamond Dallas Page pinned Bret Hart to retain the title in 18:31. NWO ref from earlier comes back. Bret nails Page with brass knucks and locks in the Sharpshooter, to which the NWO ref calls for the bell and awards the US title to Page (NWO ref has authority then?). WCW ref Mickie Jay says no, and Page nails Bret with the Diamond Cutter. 1…2…3. Finish is okay I guess. To be honest, match was lacking. It looked like two guys just going through the motions.

Very up and down card. Opener was better than it had any right to be, but I wouldn’t call it good.

Konnan vs. Stevie Ray was whatever and had a crap finish.

Miller and Oono vs. Hayashi and Saturn was non-sensical and stupid. And it buried Saturn. Why not just do Saturn vs. Miller?

Cruiser Title match was very very good. Juvi’s heel turn was great and he played it well.

Now here is where I have a lot of issues with the show. I’m sure both Scott Steiner vs. Rick Steiner and Kevin Nash vs. Scott Hall were big matches for this show. Both didn’t happen. Both were non-matches. And to be fair, that’s pretty bs.

Chris Jericho vs. Bobby Duncam Jr. was a waste of space. Poor Jericho. 13 minutes too!

60 Man Battle Royal was what it was. I only really like one version of this match (the first one, 1995). That being said, it is booked rather well. While we can debate till we are blue in the face about Nash being the man to eventually beat Goldberg and all, if that is the route they are going, then Nash needed to dominate this match. And he did. I think Nash last eliminating the Giant on his own would have been a better finish, and the actual finish was a bit weak, but it was doable. Nash was also mega over here.

Nash being mega over makes me wonder why the World War 3 Battle Royal didn’t close the show. It would have made perfect sense.

The US Title Main Event was a bit lackluster and felt like both men was just going through the motions. The finish is okay I suppose. Unfortunately I think Bret Hart had been booked into oblivion at that point and he’s not cared for as a heel, even though he plays it quite well. I do think Hart vs. Page could have been a main event feud for WCW, and I guess this is the closest they’ll get.

A lot of stupid crap was a foreshadowing of WCW’s future. It’s an okay PPV at best. Undercard really needed some work and the main events were passable…but that’s it.

Final Grade: C

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WCW Slamboree ’98

slamboree98

WWF Slamboree ‘98
May 17, 1998
Worcester, MA
Reviewed on August 27, 2014

The WWF was coming back!

Eric Bischoff had probably thought he won the war 7 months prior when he signed Bret Hart, the then-WWF Champion, in late 1997. Somehow though, led by Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mr. McMahon, the WWF came storming back and a month prior had taken the TV ratings lead. Bischoff panicked. While WCW did hotshot some big main events on Nitro already, now it was really go time. The WCW title changed hands on the Nitro after Spring Stampede, which was the week after the WWF re-took the lead. In the months after this Goldberg would win the WCW Title on Nitro, the ultimate hotshot move.

Bischoff seemed to be ignorant toward who was drawing for the WWF. It probably hurt him that Austin and Mick Foley were main eventing, two guys Bischoff had let go from WCW over the last few years. It led to Bischoff stating that Vince’s character was the reason for the ratings…and actually challenged him to show up at Slamboree (with loads of legal issues obviously). It will go down as one of the most bush league things WCW had ever done.

It was WCW’s own damn fault for being in this spot. The terrible booking ruined Sting’s run after over a year of build-up. Then Randy Savage caught fire and somehow he got ruined too. Bret was already directionless…although to be honest it looked like he didn’t give a damn at this point (which’s he’s admitted no less).

WCW wasn’t quite in 2nd place yet, but the companies were neck and neck. The WWF was on the rise. WCW was falling. With proper booking WCW could perhaps make a move to squash the WWF…but it would be hard.

Notably, Slamboree is run in a “WWF town”, Worcester, MA (where Foley would win World Title #1 in December). I think that explains the two main events.

The Card

Cool intro music!

The main WCW storyline was that the NWO was splintering, and no one seemed to know who’s side was on who’s. The biggest thing is that Giant (he dropped the “the” for some reason) joined the NWO before this PPV. Yet still him and WCW-bred Sting are facingThe Outsiders for the Tag Titles.

And we get some Bischoff stuff about the challenge to Vince. Vince of course never brought up this on RAW, which was the smart thing to do.

WCW Television Championship
Fit Finley © vs. Chris Benoit

Story here: Booker T has been bringing life to both his singles career and the TV title ranks with his reigns…but somehow Finley took the title from him. Benoit beat Booker to get this match.

Crowd gets into it early on a Benoit chop.

Odd mistake on a bridge sequence. The start of the match has taken the crowd out of it. I think that chop was letting on this was gonna be a hard hitting contest and then we got some technical holds, which the fans weren’t expecting.

I probably haven’t seen enough Finley from the late 90s, because from the looks of this he pretty much sucks. (He was solid in the mid 2000s).

Benoit nails Finley with a chair right in front of the ref. I guess no DQ?

Benoit goes for a suicide dive but Finley puts up the chair, leading to Benoit going in head first. A cool spot for its time, but admittedly I now cringe anything Benoit takes a chair shot to the head in any way. Nevermind this was done tons better at Royal Rumble 2001.

Benoit is pretty over here. Finley just wasn’t the guy to get heat on him.

Here comes Booker T! Benoit turns his attention too.

Finley nails Benoit in the back of the head (and it looked like he actually kicked him) with a baseball slide.

Finley retains by pin in 14:52. Tombstone Piledriver! Finley wins it and the crowd hates it. Finley would lose the title to Booker I believe shortly thereafter, leading to the critically acclaimed Best of 7 series between Booker and Benoit. Finley kinda disappears with random appearaces until 2006. Surprisingly bad match. I would have never guessed it but it just didn’t click between these two.

Jericho with Lee Marshall. Jericho was the evolutionary Zack Ryder for the record.

Lex Luger vs. Brian Adams

A pretty surprisingly departure from workrate leading to the big names for this show. Lex though kept dropping down the card ever since Road Wild 1997 where he lost the WCW title to Hogan. He was still pretty over at this point though.

Pretty slow offense from Luger on the outside. It’s like he couldn’t even be bothered to actually follow through on moves.

Yikes. Brian Adams almost fucks up a piledriver. Looked horrible. He didn’t even kick his legs out the whole way.

Lex Luger wins by submission in 5:05. Torture Rack for the win. Pretty uninspiring offense everywhere. Very bad match. Unless you like random kicking and punching everywhere with no rhyme or reason. Luger was over though, fans popped for the Rack.

Saturn speaks. Originally the Flock was supposed to wrestle Goldberg in a gauntlet match to see if the Flock would stay together or disband. But this was the lead up to Saturn’s turn on the Flock, as he says he wants Goldberg one on one, and if the Flock doesn’t like it too bad.

Cruiserweight Battle Royal
Super Calo vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr., vs. Ciclope vs. Damien 666 vs. El Dandy vs. El Grio vs. Juventud Guerrera vs. Marty Jannetty vs. Billy Kidman vs. Evan Karagias vs. Lenny Lane vs. Psychosis vs. Silver King vs. Johnny Swinger vs. Villiano IV

Story here: Chris Jericho had become one of the best performers on either show. He was booked brilliantly too. He injured Rey Jr. at Souled Out, unmasked Juvi and forced Dean Malenko into a sabbatical after beating him and talking trash about his family. Jericho had been collecting trophies of the people he’d beat and humiliate, such as Juvi’s mask.

Chris Jericho announces all the participants (hilariously burying them all). Best one might be “if Silver King wrestles 12 more matches he gets upgraded to Gold King” and “representing Villiano 1 through 62, Villiano IV!”

Odds are this comes down to Kidman vs. Guerrera. Chavo would be a dark horse. Everyone else was just there. I mean Marty Jannetty?

Chavo should have never stopped using the Tornado DDT. Brilliant move.

Psycohsis’s bump into the ropes was always awesome.

Down to Chavo, Kidman, Ciclope, Psychosis and Juvi.

Kidman gets rid of Chavo.

Psychosis terrible telegrapshs his elimination. Juvi dumps Kidman.

Ciclope wins at 8:27. One of the greatest WCW swerves of all time. Juvi and Ciclope shake, and Juvi eliminates himself. Ciclope unmasks…and it’s DEAN MALENKO. Crowd pops HUGE!

WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Chris Jericho © vs. Dean Malenko

Malenko kicks Jericho’s ass early on.

Jericho actually gets the upperhand with a nice slingshot.

Jericho yells that “this is a conspiracy!”

Jericho was such a tremendous heel. As soon as he gets the advantage the fear is gone and he’s an arrogant jerk again. Put over Jericho huge too.

Jericho slaps Malenko. Total arrogance.

Malenko nails Jericho off the top rope with a gutbuster, but messes it up and injures his knee a bit.

Dean Malenko makes Chris Jericho submit in 7:02 and wins the title. WE GOIN TO TEXAS! Crowd pops HUGE when Jericho taps out. The match actually wasn’t all that great, but the whole angle was so well done that really, who gives a shit. Awesome moments all around. This was the angle that showed that Chris Jericho could be a top star. And, the aftermath was done correctly, as with all due respect to Malenko, the star to be made here was Jericho. He’d get the belt back on a technicality (Malenko wasn’t an official participant in the match!), leading to ANOTHER great moment at Bash at the Beach 1998. Too bad WCW didn’t like money.

Vinnie Mac cam! Was there really any surprise they got sued?

Bowery Death Match
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Raven

Story here: I actually don’t completely remember. I know Page and Raven had problems from the Flock vs. Benoit series in late 1997 and it led to this. There was a triple jeopardy match between the three at Uncensored. It was odd as the Raven feud seemed to be between Page being near the top of the card. I mean, he’d be wrestling Hogan and Rodman in two months.

This is a cage with a roof, but with Last Man Standing rules. There are weapons in the corner. It’s basically the TNA Clockwork Orange House of Fun Match.

Raven also came out with a Riot Squad for protection from “fans”. I believe this was an extension of when Goldberg beat him for the US title, as the fans threw Raven back into the squared circle.

A VCR is in the ring!

Raven takes an awesome into the cage bump by way of noose.

Page tries to hang Raven of the cage top. Jeez.

VCR TO THE HEAD OF RAVEN!

In all seriousness somehow this match sucks too. Just weapon hit, 10 count, weapon hit, 10 count etc. Schiavone also says that there are a lot of RPMs behind a cookie sheet shot. Safe to say Tony didn’t watch NASCAR.

Ref takes a hit to the back of the head with a trash can!

The Flock are here and they fight through Raven’s Riot Squad? Okay?

For some reason Van Hammer was waiting under the ring to attack the Flock.

Riot Squad in the ring! They attack Page…and they are Kidman and Horace! No one really cares.

Page takes out Horace with a Diamond Cutter, and takes out Kidman with a cool Cutter where Kidman was hanging from the top of the cage.

Page survives an Evenflow.

Diamond Cutter by Raven! He might beat Page with his own move and that’s a really believable finish.

DDP wins in 14:35. DDP survives again. Raven goes for a chair shot, but Page ducks and hits the Daimond Cutter. Page JUST gets up in time. It was done well where fans weren’t sure if it was a draw or not, so well done there. I understand the cage’s purpose, but the cage turned this into a boring uninspiring hardcore match. And some weird Riot Squard booking where Van Hammer got involved. I mean the hell? Should have been a lot better than it was.

A Riot Squad member handcuffs the Flock to the cage and then beats up Raven. And it’s Mortis! Mortis unmasks, which is a first. He is angry because Raven didn’t let him into the Flock. He copies the Tommy Dreamer chairshot from ECW and Raven sells it beautifully. Fans don’t know what to make of all of this. Apparently he has always been one of the “fans” that’s attacked Raven. This led to a weird match with a billion Mortis’s at the Great American Bash though.

Vinnie Mac cam!

We get some storyline about Giant and Sting. It’s pretty non-sensical, which I will get to.

Eddy Guerrero vs. The Ultimo Dragon

I believe if Dragon wins this match, Chavo Guerrero Jr. is freed from Eddy Guerrero.

Where was the Dragon in that Cruiserweight Battle Royal?

Shame Eddy Guerrero wasn’t all there personally at this point. He’s another who would have been the best heel in the business at this point. Of course Guerrero would redeem himself years later.

Pretty cool test of strength sequence from both.

Schiavone actually brings up a good reason why Eddy and Ultimo weren’t in the Battle Royal earlier. That they both were involved in this family issue and it mattered so much to both that they wanted to be 100%. I’m fine with that.

The crowd is dead for this. The Ultimo Dragon sadly was just a guy at this point. The thing is the heat is with Chavo in this storyline.

The fans come alive as a fat white guy takes his shirt off in the crowd.

Pretty cool inverted airplane backbreaker from Ultimo there.

Pretty cool reversal from Eddie. Dragon had him in the Dragon Sleeper, but Eddy flipped over and locked The Dragon his own move.

Eddy Guerrero pins the Ultimo Dragon in 11:09. Eddy holds the ropes on the Dragon Sleeper, and Chavo kicks his hand off. Dragon though accidentally spin kicks Chavo off the apron. Eddy nails Dragon with a suplex and the Frog Splash for the win. Chavo then beats the crap out of the Ultimo Dragon because he lost. It’s great character development for Chavo, as this was the moment that he snapped and he got over. Match was pretty disappointing considering who was involved. But it was decent enough.

Vince McMahon locker room! I mean seriously. Why not throw up one for Stone Cold while you are at it.

WCW US Championship
Goldberg© vs. Saturn

Saturn lost to Goldberg last month, and is out to prove himself…WITHOUT the Flock.

Saturn with a nice dropkick off the apron and Goldberg crashes into the guardrail. Maybe Saturn will become the one in 87-1!

Springboard dropkick off a chair by Saturn. And we get a weird taunt from Saturn. Weird because he was supposed to be turning face.

Goldberg retains in 7:01. Saturn goes for another springboard but Goldberg spears him in midair! Jackhammer ends it. Pretty entertaining Goldberg squash! Not bad at all! I wonder if this was Goldberg’s best match at this point.

Pretty awesome Raven Great American Bash promo.

Eric Bischoff vs. Vince McMahon

I covered the storyline for this in the background info. It’s a waste of time, but eventually Bischoff has Vince counted out because Vince obviously didn’t show up. I hope the lawsuit was worth it. I wonder if Michael Buffer was ever embarrassed doing this stuff for WCW.

Bret Hart vs. Randy Savage

Story here: Savage finally left the NWO for good. This happened because he beat Sting for the WCW Title at Spring Stampede, but Hollywood Hogan won it from him the next day with surprising help from Bret. There’s a lot of who’s side is who on and stuff, but this is the precursor to the Black and White vs. Wolfpac stuff.

Roddy Piper is the referee. I don’t really know why to be honest.

Savage actually still has NWO music. So he didn’t really leave. He just would transition to the Wolfpac.

Buffer actually announces Savage is wearing Red and Black of the Wolfpac. So I don’t know where the transition happens, but the Outsiders are in the main event.

Bret trying to smash Savage with the steel steps seemed so un-Bret Hart like.

We get some fighting in the crowd action.

Overall you can just see the passion gone from Bret Hart. He’s just going through the motions here.

Also, Bret Hart doesn’t fit as a heel here. The only time being a heel worked for him was the Pro-Canada deal. That only worked because he really believed a lot of the things he was saying.

Sharpshooter…but here comes Miss Elizabeth!

Savage reverses the Sharpshooter into his own…which seems odd.

Liz gets in and shoves Piper.

For some reason Bret nails Piper in the back of the head with brass knuckles. Ok?

Hollywood Hogan is here! He trips up Savage and slams his leg in the ringpost.

Bret Hart makes Savage submit in 16:38. Sharpshooter wins it. I guess Bret is part of NWO Hollywood now? The motivations don’t make a lot of sense for anyone to be fair. Bret wanted a title shot in all this. Match was decent. It was clear Bret didn’t care and Savage was past his prime as a worker here. Also, on Nitro Piper reversed this decision, for whatever that’s worth.

WCW World Tag Team Championship
The Outsiders © vs. Sting and Giant

Story here: Giant joined the NWO on Nitro and offered a shirt to Sting. No idea why this match is still happening…but it is. You’d think Sting would back out.

I THINK based on watching that Nash and Hall are Wolfpac at this point. Nash and Hall come out in Red and Black, so tells you how much I knew about the story.

Scott Hall seems to stumble on his way out. They come down with Dusty Rhodes and it looks like they are holding Hall up, which is embarrassing. He seems fine once he hits the ring though.

Hall with a “yeah, we missed you too”. Seems like a WWF reference to me.

Survey time!

Hey at least Sting is in the main event!

I can’t think of why Sting would still team with Giant now that he’s NWO. Whatever.

Scott Hall makes fun of Giant. Pretty smart booking that will be unveiled later.

Kevin Nash gets a huge pop when tagged in.

Fans are behind the Wolfpac in general. “Let’s go Wolfpac” chants.

Sting terrible takes a big boot. I was once told by a friend of mine that it was okay that Hogan beat Sting at Starrcade because Sting was suddenly a shell of his former self. I don’t know if I believe that, but I don’t remember a lot of great Sting 1998 matches.

Wolfpac now use heel tactics on Sting (abdominal stretch, partner grabs the arm). How confusing.

Wrestling in 1998 would be a lot less embarrassing if everyone didn’t point to their dick every 2 minutes.

Giant goes for a top rope splash…but misses.

Giant and Sting win the title when Giant pins Nash in 14:46. Nash goes to jackknife Giant, but Hall nails Nash with the title belt! Hall turns! Sting is shocked as well, although I mean, I have no idea what outcome here would have made Sting happy. Giant wants Sting to join the NWO as the PPV comes to a close. Match was pretty decent and well booked too. Hall and Giant never go at it which is smart booking here. Sure, everyone’s motivations were all screwed up (for the last time, why would Sting want to be in this match?) but at least we had a direction here. It led to Sting joining the Wolfpac.

Weird PPV as the usual awesome undercard actually wasn’t awesome at all. It wasn’t even good. But I have to give some credit to Slamboree 1998. Chavo Guerrero Jr., Mortis/Kanyon, Saturn, and especially Chris Jericho show some promise with storylines here. Chris Jericho steals the show and gives Slamboree a boost by himself with the Malenko-Jericho angle going off as well as it did. The main events were decent, which is better than the usual WCW bad. We could have done without the Bischoff-Vince thing for sure.

Too much silliness and not enough good stuff to get it into B range. But not all bad either.

Just listen to that pop for Dean Malenko!

Final Grade: C+

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews ECW Living Dangerously ’98

Living_Dangerously_1998

ECW Living Dangerously ‘98
March 1, 1998
Asbury Park, NJ
Reviewed on August 28, 2014

“ECW!”

“ECW!”

So, are we too late?

No one doubts that ECW revolutionized the business, but four PPVs in ECW was slowly growing but not nearly at the level of the big two. Unfortunately for ECW, that show on USA called RAW began to look quite similar. As most who experienced ECW would tell you, ECW peaked in 1995. It’s not to say that it wasn’t a solid show in in 1997 and 1998, but nothing was really something that blew you away anymore. Sure Sabu was nuts and Taz was a bad ass…but I mean Stone Cold was a bigger bad ass and Mick Foley just as insane.

Still, as wrestling was in the rise, it could only be a good thing for ECW (hindsight note: probably not true). Sure the show didn’t stick out as much…but it still was different overall.

The Card

ECW always would start like an Attitude RAW or Smackdown, with someone coming to the arena. In this case, it’s our pissed off TV Champ, Taz!

I believe this is the debut of the old school WCW ramp being in ECW.

The FBI vs. Jerry Lynn and Chris Chetti

The FBI’s Network dubbed music is pretty something. It’s originally the N-Trance remix of “Stayin’ Alive”.

This is when Chris Chetti was being pushed as the first Graduate of the House of Hardcore. He was pretty bland but had a solid heel turn in 1999 (he always had an awesome finish, the double springboard moonsault). Jerry Lynn was still a lower card guy here, he wouldn’t get made by RVD until a year later.

Guido with some good chicken-shit dancing there. It looked ridiculous.

Guido actually gives Chetti the Italian “FU” taunt while in an armbar. Good stuff early on.

Jerry Lynn goes airborne to the floor! Chetti follows up with a springboard double clothesline. Real fun stuff so far.

I never get why the whole distract the ref so the manager can attack thing happened in ECW. It’s no DQ in ECW!

Tracy Smothers clearly calls out a spot for Tommy Rich to get on the apron. I mean, Guido was the star of the team anyway.

Tracy Smothers kinda killed this match. Offense was pretty boring.

Jerry Lynn in to save it!

Well, maybe not, the FBI and Lynn botch some flapjack to I think what was supposed to be a double DDT.

Jerry Lynn and Chris Chetti win in 8:19 when Lynn pinned Smothers. Clusterfuck, then Rich runs in and accidentally nails Smothers with the flag. Lynn gets the pin after taking out Rich. Smothers shoves Rich afterwards. I forgot the payoff here, but it seems like the wrong team one unless the FBI was breaking up here. Still, a decent match overall with a fun beginning.

We see videos of W*ING Kanmura and Masato Tanaka, as they are to go at it. It makes the next deal confusing…even though Joey Styles asks if anyone has seen Kanmura.

Masato Tanaka vs. Doug Furnas

Lance Wright comes out with Doug Furnas…STILL pushing the WWF vs. ECW angle that should have ended for good at November to Remember with RVD vs. Dreamer. Also, Doug Furnas? Seriously? That’s who the WWF is bringing in?

Furnas was always a solid hand, even if he was one of the most boring wrestlers ever. I liked his long term partner Phil Lafon though.

Tanaka comes out with a FMW flag. ECW and FMW were kinda working together at this point.

Good powerslam from Furnas!

They work a really boring figure four spot.

Tornado DDT off the top is botched. Not sure what happened but Tanaka didn’t land right for it.

Tanaka runs into Furnas and falls. Horrible botches here. Furnas tries to save it by dropping Tanaka on his head a couple of times.

Furnas goes for some pins and Wright tells him not go for some pins to punish Tanaka.

They screw up again! Tanaka off the ropes and both men come to a standstill!

Masato Tanaka pinned Doug Furnas in 5:46. Tanaka finishes with a weak Roaring Elbow and the crowd seems surprised that’s the finish. Wright gets angry that Furnas lost and berates him because he was “nearly a WWF Legend” as Wright namedrops every WWF suit out there. Furnas doesn’t seem to care and he lays out Wright. Furnas puts an ECW shirt on and tells Wright to tell Vince to kiss his ass. Yeah like Doug Furnas has leverage there. Anyway, match was horrible. I didn’t know Masato Tanaka has a side to him that’s pretty terrible. Or Furnas. Not sure who’s fault it was.

Joey Styles tells us that Sandman vs. Sabu was taped earlier but PPV censors refuse to air it. Jason and Nicole Bass make Joey Styles play a tape of Tommy Dreamer showing up. Ok? Jason says Beulah left Dreamer.

Rob Van Dam vs. 2 Cold Scorpio

Scorpio was on the WWF payroll here, in-between his Flash Funk and JOB Squad days. Not sure if this was the return or if he came back to hype this at all.

RVD wears an awesome Louie Spicolli tribute shirt.

In a lot of ways RVD took Scorpio’s position on the card as dominating TV Champ. So in ECW history this is like a weird type of dream match. Joey is trying to hype it that way.

Mat wrestling is pretty slow to start. I think the problem isn’t the match, but that the fans were pretty bored from the last match.

I think there was a botch by RVD, but Scorpio made it look cool with a knee to the face. By the way, how did Vince screw up Scorpio the way he did? Guy had natural charisma.

Bridging sequence seems slow…only it ends in a really cool way with Scorpio flipping to his feet.

Match picks up on the outside. RVD misses a stage moonsault but lands on his feet.

Match isn’t really jelling and we get a “This match sucks” chant. Not sure why it’s all technical wrestling because that’s the wrong way to go with these two by far.

Scorpio Bomb! Time for this to pick up!

Nice moonsault from Scorpio!

Four Star Frog Splash! Hey, it wasn’t his finish yet.

Somersault legdrop! Nice moves, but this is just spot after spot now.

Split Legged Moonsault is the rich man’s version of Starship Pain.

Pretty crappy looking Van Daminator on the stage. I’m so disappointed in this match.

Scorpio with a piledriver on the stage/ramp whatever. Some randomly good stuff in this horribly disjointed match. Scorpio does a reverse Tombstone on the stage next.

In one of the stranger ref bumps, ref holds RVD back and Scorpio dropkicks him, leading to RVD landing on top of Scorpio. Top rope splash then misses…but hits the ref.

Wow! RVD mocks Scorpio then does a PERFECT 450 Splash…only Scorpio moves. What a shame! Would have been a great finish.

Scorpio barely makes his 450…but it’s Sabu!

Arabian Skullcrusher to Scorpio! Scorpio kicks out. Here comes The Sandman! He’s chasing Sabu!

I see where Kofi Kingston stole the Thunder in Paradise From.

Rob Van Dam pins Scorpio in 27:10. RVD rolls Scorpio up in a tight package off a hiptoss for the win. How underwhelming! Crazy as I’ve seen this match before and liked it, and it was known as the beginning of RVD’s “great worker” run. But uh…the match pretty much sucked. I’ll give it some credit though as there were some cool spots, like RVD’s 450 and awesome Split Legged Moonsault. There was a nice spin kick off the top in there as well. It was a long 27 minutes.

Scorpio attacks RVD after a handshake after RVD was being an arrogant jerk. Sabu comes back in to attack Scorpio. They are about to table Scorpio but Sandman makes the save. We get the worse looking “Frankensander” in the history of the business, and Sabu’s feet break the end of the table. That gets an “ECW!” chant. Yikes. Fans give Scorpio a nice ovation at the end though. Scorpio and Sandman share some beers.

We get a promo vid about Lance Storm and Chris Candido…and their issues which has a World Tag Team Title run in there…but also a Triple Threat storyline.

Hardcore Chair Swingin’ Freaks vs. The Dudley Boyz vs. Spike Dudley and New Jack

Joel Gertner time!

Gertner is awesome. Here’s a gimmick you’ll never see on WWE TV.

I really wonder where he came up with these limericks.

Yeah I’m sure D-Von is 169 pounds. The ECW Super Cruiserweight Champion of the World! (His words, not mine!)

Balls Mahoney looks like a homeless Bam Bam Bigelow with hair.

Why are we getting armdrags by Axl Rotten. Joey Styles calls him the most underrated wrestler in ECW. Really now?

Spike and New Jack are no where to be seen. It’s 3 on 2 with the Dudleyz and Big Dick Dudley against Rotten and Mahoney. HERE COMES NEW JACK!

By the way, here is someone who might be the most underrated worker in ECW. New Jack. Seriously. Guy is one of the best garbage wrestlers ever and always had the crowd in the palm of his hand.

I have no idea but I’ve always been entertained by New Jack killing the Dudleyz. You know he did this for like 2 years straight and people loved it. Wait till we get to Heatwave 99!

Spike Dudley has shown up!

One of the craziest moments in ECW history here. The Dudleyz lie on tables and New Jack and Spike jump off a balcony that had to be at least 15 feet high! While of course things have topped that now, there was NOTHING like that on a wrestling PPV at that point. Even now it just looks deadly. I remember reading about it in Pro Wrestling Illustrated and it just seemed like the damnest thing.

We get a terrible Tornado DDT by Spike. Better than Tanaka’s earlier though.

New Jack and Spike Dudley win in 13:25. Spike and Jack double guitar shot the Dudleyz, then Spike drops Bubba with the Acid Drop. 187 Chair Splash later wins it. If you don’t like garbage wrestling this isn’t for you, but like the four way at N2R, this was just fun garbage with a ridiculous balcony dive. I enjoyed it. What can I say.

So many hype videos. This one of Justin Credible…getting beat up by Mikey Whipwreck? Really showcasing Credible injuring him, but it started odd. We then see the mean streak in Justin Credible leading up to the feud with Dreamer.

We got a porn star! Jenna Jameson in the house. We get her first interview with Justin Credible!

Credible tells her off because he says he has Beulah! That’s actually great build of a confident character right there.

Justin Credible vs. Tommy Dreamer

Now Jenna wants to interview Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer just outright kisses her. Sure Beulah loved that…

Actually storyline wise she probably wanted a piece of that.

Dreamer looks ready tonight. Great Tree of Woe chair dropkick.

Drop toe hold into a chair…but it was the back part of the seat. Never saw it done that way. Looked like it hurt.

Here comes Beulah! She fakes being with Credible then low blows Credible and spikes Jason with a DDT!

Nicole Bass ragdolls Beulah…AND WE GET A WARDROBE MALFUNCTION FROM BASS. FOR FUCKS SAKE.

Mikey Whipwreck is in. Whippersnapper to Bass.

Tommy Dreamer pins Justin Credible in 8:58. Dreamer finishes Credible with a Dreamer DDT. I actually enjoyed this one. It was nothing great, but it was putting Credible over by showing he could hang with Dreamer. Told a solid story. Then again Nicole Bass’s shirt dropping almost killed me right then and there.

We get history of how Bam Bam Bigelow went from losing the ECW World Title to Shane Douglas to turning on Taz and joining the Triple Threat.

ECW World Television Championship
Taz© vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Story here: Bam Bam looked to Taz to get revenge on Douglas…only to turn on him.

Sidenote: Bigelow’s hometown is Asbury Park, NJ. And the fans love him.

Taz just armdrags Bigelow over his head. Great display of power. Doing a good job of not making Taz the underdog, something that killed him in the WWF.

Taz LEVELS Bigelow with a clothesline. Didn’t expect that.

Taz suplexes Bigelow on his head into the crowd and a row of chairs! Pretty sick.

Bigelow kind of misses his big moonsault, but gets an arm and it seemed just passable. Joey Styles kinda saves it on commentary by being honest about it.

Taz drops Bigelow face first through a table, which was an odd spot to say the least.

We get a choke him out chant. So much for the Bigelow getting cheers deal. Weird.

Now Bam Bam chants. So confusing.

Match has slowed to a crawl with some weak brawling on the outside.

Taz gets them back into it by taking shots and demanding Bigelow bring it…when Bigelow falls down on a kick attempt.

Crazy ECW moment #2! Taz locks in the Tazmission! Bigelow taps but the ref didn’t see it…then Bigelow drops back…and they go flying through the ring!

Bam Bam Bigelow wins the TV title in 13:37 by pin. Bigelow pulls Taz from the hole and pins him for the title win! Admittedly a genius finish! Taz was on such a hot streak that he couldn’t lose and they let him lose in way where he would lose no credibility whatsoever! The fans absolutely popped when they saw the ring break as well. Match slowed a bit at the end, but it was pretty solid and SHOULD have main evented this show.

Paul E. yells at Joey Styles to buy him time, then demands he play the Sandman-Sabu Cane match that was taped earlier that censors said not to air on PPV! Styles argues, then calls for it.

Dueling Canes Match
Sabu vs. The Sandman

I covered this feud mostly for the November to Remember review. They were still going at it at this point.
One of the weirdest openings to a match, Sabu attacks Sandman…only somehow Sabu is so well disguised…that’s it’s actually Rob Van Dam? Then the real Sabu attacks Sandman. Somehow that was well done. Especially since Sabu and RVD look nothing alike other than body build.

Nice guardrail corner table splash from Sabu on Sandman.

Triple Jump Moonsault on the ramp! Nice, even if Sandman was trying to roll away.

Creative ref bump. Ref standing behind a propped table and Sabu hit it, nailing the ref.

RVD comes flying in and takes out Sandman as he was propping Sabu on a table, leading to the table breaking. RVD is still in Sabu costume. It’s so good that if I were just watching and not paying attention I’d think it was the real Sabu.

The Sabus take Sandman out with a double legdrop through the table on the ramp!

Sabu pins The Sandman in 9:21. Sabu rolls Sandman in for the pin. I liked this match! So much better than that crap at N2R ’97. The RVD as Sabu thing was pretty creative. The spots hit and seemed to be in a rhythm. And when Sabu and Sandman’s stuff hit, its good stuff. There are two issues with this though. One: why did the censors not want this aired? It wasn’t that crazy and the New Jack stuff was FAR worse. Two: after the opening minute there wasn’t a cane to be seen in a dueling canes match. Still, liked the match. Pretty good overall with a solid finish too.

Styles complains about not following the format and that we were supposed to have Al Snow vs. John Kronus. Oh no!

Dream Partner Tag Team Match
Chris Candido and ? vs. Lance Storm and ?

Funny note, the corner of the ring with the hole has caution tape around it. Sounds perfect for a five star classic! The hole is still clearly there.

Francine looks incredible. Absolutely incredible.

Shane Douglas is Candido’s partner of course.

There are tons of styrofoam heads in the crowd if anyone is wondering who Storm’s partner is going to be.

There’s a funny convo in the ring with Douglas and the ref…where it seems like Douglas is disgusted that there’s a hole in the ring. I don’t blame him!

Lance Storm’s partner is…Sunny!

Yeah, this is a horrid idea. Styles thinks its genius because Candido and Douglas won’t hit Sunny. So I guess Storm is okay with the handicap match then?

Sunny turns on Storm about 2 minutes in by hitting him with a cookie sheet. You know if you wonder why Lance Storm never got over as a top face it was probably because of this stupidity. Sunny hilariously falls into the hole at one point.

Lance Storm yells that he’s gonna give Candido head. Here comes Al Snow!

The rave party thing does look cool.

We have heads being thrown into the ring and the camera spinning around. I’m gonna be sick.

Al Snow throws Douglas into the hole.

Al Snow and Lance Storm win in 4:49 when Snow pinned Douglas. Snowplow for the win. Crowd pops huge for that horrific main event. The Al Snow stuff is cool though, so I will give them that. Not sure why this couldn’t be the semi-main though, as Bam Bam winning the TV title would have left the crowd happy. But I mean that was a farce of a match for a main event.

Strange show. Gotta give credit for ECW giving it everything it’s got though. It was definitely a big effort from everyone. And there was good stuff here! Credible vs. Dreamer was decent sans Nicole Bass. Bigelow vs. Taz had a great holy shit moment and a good story too. New Jack and Spike Dudley also provided a holy shit moment. Even Sabu vs. Sandman was fun. Hell if the opening matches were better and RVD vs. Scorpio wasn’t so disappointing and long (20% of the show!), this could have gotten the best grade for any ECW PPV so far. But it was so that’s that.

But then there’s the main event. How do you close the show on a match like that? I mean it was really a glorified angle, no? The whole thing was ludicrous. Lance Storm picking Sunny as a fake to just pick Al Snow even makes no sense. It’s a surprise partner. Just pick Al Snow! It didn’t help that Joey Styles was making him out to be a nobody though hyping up the match with Kronus though.

Good effort ECW, but too much disappointment, no really great matches and a shit main event doesn’t let me boost it into that B range.

Final Grade: C+