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RDT Reviews WCW Halloween Havoc 2000

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WCW Halloween Havoc 2000
October 29, 2000
Las Vegas, NV
Reviewed on March 6, 2014

Background: Um…WCW was in full trainwreck mode at this point but they were going in a good direction with Booker T and Scott Steiner feuding for the World Title. This card overall looks like a disaster though. By looking at the results I see a First Blood DNA match, a Kickboxing match and two handicap matches. It’s going to be one of those shows…isn’t it…

WCW though, was nearing its end. Hollywood Hogan has departed a few months earlier. Guys like Scott Hall, Ric Flair, Kevin Nash and DDP are nowhere to be found on the card. Randy Savage is gone. The card is made up of young guys that never got the rub they needed from the generation before them. How bad can this be?

The Card

Video asking fans who’s gonna win between Goldberg and Kronik. Some actually said Kronik.

Apparently this PPV was brought to us by the game WCW Backstage Assault. Backstage Assault is the biggest ripoff ever in regards to wrestling video games. It was just the backstage portion of WCW Mayhem.

Sigh, I have to listen to Mark Madden.

WCW Tag Team Championship
Natural Born Thrillers (Sean O’Haire and Mark Jindrak) vs. Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. The Boogie Knights (Disqo and Alex Wright)

I like how Disqo and Wright look different, but they basically have the same gimmick they had 3 years ago.

Hm…Jindrak now. Why is it Palumbo and O’Haire later? Anyway Madden just said he sees Arn Anderson in Mark Jindrak.

Rey with devil horns! Just sigh.

Madden: Jindrak and O’Haire remind me of a white Harlem Heat. Mark Madden is the worst.

Just realize that’s Stevie Ray on commentary as well.

Konnan is also on commentary calling everyone a piece of crap. Ok then.

Nice springboard bodypress from Jindrak.

It’s notable that Jindrak and O’Haire haven’t completely grasped the art of selling. Jindrak especially looks raw.

O’Haire and Rey get into a weird punching sequence that O’Haire screws up.

Double toss from the outside INTO the ring on Kidman from NBT. That was cool.

This commentary is awful.

Alex Wright with some kind of attack on Rey…which ends up with Wright dumping himself out of the ring.

So many botches. Disqo misses a kick but still hits the Last Dance (Stunner!)

The Natural Born Thrillers retain the title when Sean O’Haire pins Disqo in 10:06. O’Haire nails Disqo with a Sean-Ton Bomb for the win. The botches really took me out of the match. It could have been fun. O’Haire and Jindrak were not ready for this level yet.

Wow talk about exaggeration. Mark Madden says this was one of the finest matches he have had the privilege of calling. Also, hilariously, Rey Jr. is getting beat up with a chair by Alex Wright…and Konnan debates helping him! I mean he does, but your best friend is getting beat up with a chair! Get in there! They hurt Konnan too, apparently injuring his knee.

Sgt. AWOL for the save!

WCW Hardcore Championship
Reno© vs. Sgt. AWOL

Add the The Briscos and The Midnight Express as teams Madden compared Jindrak and O’Haire to.

AWOL is already through a table.

Apparently WCW has instituted old school hardcore rules. Apparently new school rules meant matches started in the back. Um..ok.

Mark Madden: You can get old school hardcore rules anywhere in Vegas for $150. Thanks Mark.

I don’t know how hitting one another with kendo sticks and garbage cans could be boring…but this is.

Reno hits the Roll of the Dice on the floor! That’s Cody Rhodes’ Crossroads for anyone wondering.

Backstage Assault advert RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MATCH.

Reno through two tables. Even that looked boring.

I guess putting people through tables has no effect on anyone.

AWOL decks…Finlay? How random.

Reno retains the title via pin at 10:50. Roll of the Dice on a table. Reno wins. That might have been the most boring hardcore match I’d ever seen. It was basically the definition of going through the motions.

The Perfect Event (Shawn Stasiak and Chuck Palumbo) now attack AWOL. He comes Lt. Loco (Chavo Guerrero) and Cpl. Cajun (Lash LeRoux) for the save!

Hilarious backstage segment. It’s not supposed to be, but here is why it is. The Perfect Event was just in the ring attacking AWOL in their wrestling attire. Well backstage Shane Douglas is telling O’Haire and Jindrak good job on the attack on Konnan earlier, like it is a live backstage segment….except The Perfect Event is there too in different attire. Great planning WCW!

Video showing what happened with Goldberg hitting his head on the ringpost against Kronik.

Backstage, Kronik says that they don’t think Goldberg will show up.

Lt. Loco and Cpl. Cajun vs. The Perfect Event

Bonus match! You know, there doesn’t really seem to be enough time on this show for this.

At Greed, Chavo was normal Chavo. I wonder what the storyline progression was there.

Mark Madden: You know Stevie, as a member of Harlem Heat I know you were used to bad teamwork.

You know Mark, they only won like 7 or 8 (maybe more) World Tag Team titles. For fucks sake.

Apparently the Perfect Event are having problems getting along or something.

Backstage Assault ad AGAIN. In the middle of the fucking match.

Stasiak can’t even taunt naturally.

LeRoux basically no sells a big boot from Palumbo, that even seemed to surprise Tony Schiavone on commentary as he stuttered when it happened.

Mark Madden fawns over Chuck Palumbo’s chain wrestling. I wonder if Mark Madden has ever even watched wrestling before.

Chavo is by far the best wrestler in the ring. By far.

Lt. Loco and Cpl. Cajun win when Loco pins Stasiak in 9:23. Palumbo accidentally superkicks Stasiak into a Loco Tornado DDT. This match was boring and it sucked. Lash LeRoux is awful. Palumbo and Stasiak aren’t ready yet.

Konnan is tending to his knee. He asks other members if the Filthy Animals to take his place, but they all had a match already. Konnan gets mad and says whatever. Ok then.

The Franchise and Torrie Wilson vs. Konnan and Tygress

Torrie Wilson is in sexy Wonder Woman gear for no reason. A positive!

Mark Madden practically admitted to jacking off to Wonder Woman as a kid. Thanks Mark.

Tygress is willing to do a handicap match as Konnan is hurt. Didn’t Konnan say he was coming out?

Why is Tygress even in the ring. She’s already done a horrible armdrag and she can’t even do stomps correctly. Stomps!

Here’s Konnan(from the crowd for some reason)…and Douglas takes him out.

Apparently it’s a back injury and not a knee injury. He still got in the Rolling Clothesline though. Nice selling.

I feel like if DC Comics knew this match existed they would have sued WCW so fast.

Tygress misses a baseball slide. Totally misses. At least Torrie didn’t pretend to sell it.

Tygress is owning The Franchise. I guess Douglas wasn’t getting a main event run.

Tygress gets punched in the face by Douglas. You know it’s bad when I practically cheered that happening. Mark Madden said the punch was justified…and you know what, he’s right.

Stevie Ray calls the Camel Clutch the Boston Crab. Great stuff.

Tygress was in a Crossface Chicken Wing from Douglas, but she escapes by slowly running around the ring and then sending Douglas through the ropes.

Torrie with the Franchiser on Konnan! Good thing I hate Konnan.

Konnan and Tygress win when Konnan pinned The Franchise in 8:38. Konnan pins Douglas after they hit a double Stuff Buster (X-Factor) on Douglas. For some reason Torrie doesn’t break up the pin. Awful. Absolutely awful.

A little storyline behind this next match. Stacy Keibler found out she was pregnant at New Blood Rising (I think). She cheated on David Flair with Buff Bagwell. Now we get a First Blood DNA Match. Believe it or not, I don’t think that’s that terrible. I mean it’s bad, but it’s a creative way to figure out if Buff is the father!

First Blood DNA Match
Buff Bagwell vs. David Flair

“It’s time to find out if Buff Daddy is the real daddy!” Clever one Buff.

The first move is botched. Bagwell tries to slam Flair face first into the turnbuckle, but he lost grasp of David’s head.

Is Buff the face? He yawns, which is a heel thing to do, right?

Flair does his dad’s turnbuckle flip then is thrown off the top rope like his dad. Nice I guess?

Wow he just did the Ric Flair falling face first spot. That was a bit much though.

This match is Buff Bagwell beating up and mocking David Flair. This is practically a comedy match.

Weak chairshot from Bagwell, and David goes over the rope and clearly hides by the apron to blade. Come on.

Buff Bagwell wins in 5:37. Buff Blockbuster…and the ref sees the blood from the chairshot. Match sucked. I don’t even know what the point of this was other than to beat up David Flair a bit. Lex Luger is here….and he turns on Buff Bagwell! Bagwell into the post and he’s bleeding from the mouth. David Flair gets his sample!

Luger and Bagwell were friends again 5 months later.

I sense that because of Flair’s blood, the sample will be messed up or something.

For the record, Mark Madden used the terms spots and angle in this match. Reality Era 11 years early! Take that WWE!

Goldberg’s in the house!

Scott Steiner interview! Booker T will find out that size does matter!

Kickboxing Match for WCW Commissioner Position
Mike Sanders vs. Ernest Miller

Perfect Event is out there with Mike Sanders. I guess that whole angle with the Perfect Even not getting along earlier is being ignored.

I believe this will be contested with two minute rounds, three rounds total. This is what this PPV needed, a Kickboxing Match.

Mike Sanders: “This is no Tyson Fight, no Thrilla in Manilla, no Rumble in the Jungle…just me being dead in your ass.” What the fuck Mike Sanders.

This might be over in 30 seconds! Miller nails a kick to the face. Sanders makes it up at 8. Damn.

Sanders goes down again. Up at 9.

Round 1 is over. This match sucks.

Mark Madden: “Did the Cat bite Mike Sanders’ ear”? Shut up already.

Round 2 is all Miller. Sanders down again! Up at 7.

Miller with the dancing split uppercut! Sanders is down! Palumbo wanted to throw in the towel, but Stasiak doesn’t let him. Sanders is up at 9!

Shane Douglas is out here. I guess he needs to be involved in two shitty matches tonight.

Final round!

Cartwheel kick to Sanders! He still survives. End this shit please.

Douglas nails The Cat with a chain on a fist!

Miller gets up at 9? Ref stopped counting for some reason with 7 seconds left.

Match keeps going?

Mike Sanders wins. The Cat fights Douglas on the outside…and gets counted out. Literally makes no sense. The round was over. None. Zero. Horrible. Horrible. Horrible.

Backstage, Goldberg is tested by some doctors. Goldberg says he’s been a little dizzy since Monday. Even though the post thing happened Wednesday on Thunder.

Mike Awesome vs. Vampiro

That 70s guy!

It takes 30 seconds to see that Vampiro fucking sucks. No selling, and doesn’t even take a back bump correctly.

Vampiro takes out a security lady when he fails to land on his feet in a backdrop into the crowd.

A fan attacks Mike Awesome and Awesome and Vampiro kick the crap out of him. Nice.

Vampiro can’t even stand on a announce table. I wish I was exaggerating how bad this is. Flying clothesline looks terrible.

There is a chair in the ring and they used weapons in the crowd, I guess this is a no DQ match?

Vampiro tries a Van Daminator. Guess what? He fucked that up too!

A clothesline! Seriously. How does that not happen correctly.

Wow. Vampiro almost injures both himself and Awesome with a top rope belly to belly suplex. Vampiro fell of the top and threw Awesome over his head. Just wow.

Vampiro attempts to throw Awesome’s face into a table…but just lets go early and Awesome doesn’t complete the move. What? How?

Mike Awesome hits a really hard forearm on Vampiro in the ring. Vampiro doesn’t sell it. It’s so sad that this match would be one of those that would show a kid that wrestling isn’t real.

Mike Awesome pins Vampiro in 9:49. Awesome Bomb from the top for the win…followed by that terrible music. That was one of the worst matches I have ever seen, and by far the worst match on the show, which is saying something. Vampiro is absolutely terrible.

Mark Madden says that underneath the gimmick, Mike Awesome is one of the best wrestlers in the world. Well no shit (although that’s a little bit of exaggeration). It’s almost like the gimmick should go.

Great, a General Rection interview.

General Rection came back for everyone or something.

Vampiro being helped out. Tony Schiavone says that this is one of the most awesome spots we’ll ever see.

WCW Canadian (US) Championship: Handicap Match
Lance Storm© and Jim Duggan vs. General Rection

Major Gunns is being held captive by Team Canada. If General Rection wins, he wins the title and Major Gunns back.

Not usually a fan of the Handicap Match for the title idea, but it’s more unusual when the team has the title.

Lance Storm’s promo was the 2nd bright spot after Torrie’s outfit.

I assume the Misfits In Action theme is dubbed on the WWE Network. Because it’s awful.

At least the crowd is into it by chanting USA.

Duggan looks horribly out of shape here.

Stevie Ray asks on why she’s called Major Gunns. I think he seriously doesn’t know.

Just curious, any reason we just didn’t get Storm vs. Rection here?

Nice superkick from Storm.

Duggan is the legal man, but ref counts a pin on Storm anyway. Duggan embarrassingly stomps and misses Rection and gets Storm. It looked so bad, Schiavone tried to sell it as maybe Duggan meant to hit Storm.

Storm and Rection mess up a headlock spot. I’m gonna assume that wasn’t on Storm.

Crazy ref bump in all this too.

Duggan with a piledriver! Rection kicks out and sends Duggan onto the ref.

Primetime Elix Skipper is here, but Gunns knocks him off the apron. This distracts Storm.

General Rection wins the title when he pins Jim Duggan at 10:07. Duggan misses Rection with the 2X4 and Duggan gets knocked down. Duggan clearly throws the 2X4 out of the ring, only it doesn’t make it, so he clearly shoves it out. Rection hits No Laughing Matter for the win. Another really bad match. The Lance Storm match isn’t even good.

Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett

Story here is Jarrett has been mocking Sting and saying he has no heart.

Jarrett interview: He’s gonna show a metamorphosis or Sting’s career, from a nobody to a has been to a never was. I do think that’s a good line.

Sting with a chair! I guess this is no DQ.

This is all Sting early on.

Here comes someone dressed as the old Sting. Apparently it is specifically 1989 Sting.

2000 Sting hits 1989 Sting with a Scorpion Death Drop on the floor. Ok then.

Now we have 1990 Sting! Hair doesn’t work here!

1990 Sting botches going over the top rope. Well he got thrown over eventually.

Hiptoss on the stage on the 1990 Sting.

2000 Sting with a Scorpion Death Drop on the stage on 1990 Sting.

Wolfpac music! Wolfpac Sting in the house!

2000 Sting beats up Wolfpac Sting with a baseball bat.

2000 Sting Scorpion Death Drops Wolfpac Sting on the stage.

Jeff Jarrett gets his first offensive move in with a baseball bat shot!

It took three fake Stings and a bat, but Jarrett now has firm control of the match.

Sting’s making his comeback!

Scorpion Deathlock….NWO STING COMING THROUGH THE CANVAS.

Real Sting gets dragged into the hole…but he emerges and has bloodied the NWO Sting.

Two Stinger Splashes and the lights go out.

We get another fuckin’ Sting from the rafters! The wig almost falls off.

The crowd got the wig!

Real Sting puts the 5th fake Sting through the Announcer’s Table with a Scorpion Death Drop.

Scorpion Deathlock on Jarrett…where ANOTHER fake Sting smashes a guitar over Sting’s head. Oh, this is a bloodied fake Sting. So this is Sting #4.

Real Sting recovers easily…and Scorpion Death Drops the fake Sting.

Jeff Jarrett pins Sting in 14:38. Jarrett comes in and smashes Sting (the real one) with a guitar! 1…2…3! What was the difference between this guitar and the last one? Ok so wow. What the fuck was that? Why couldn’t we just run Jarrett vs. Sting? It probably would have been a solid match. This might have been the stupidest match I’ve ever seen. I don’t even know who this was supposed to put over, or what the point was. I’m so confused.

Plus they need to fix the ring.

Booker T interview. He respects Goldberg, so he wants to go on against Scott Steiner now so buy Goldberg a little more time to get cleared so he can face Kronik. I’m sure those 15 minutes are everything.

WCW World Championship
Booker T© vs. Scott Steiner

I feel bad for Michael Buffer.

Scott Steiner beats up an agent in the back because he wanted to go on last and main event.

Steiner just looks scary as hell beating up Booker.

Steiner’s trying to go into the crowd to beat up fans.

Booker with a nice leapfrog to spinkick combo!

Steiner is threatening Stevie Ray. I actually like that. It makes sense…he’s Booker’s brother afterall.

Steiner scarily threatens the ref when he only gets a 2 count.

Steiner with a Samoan Drop from the 2nd rope. Nice.

Booker’s making the big comeback!

Midajah pulls Booker on the top rope, crotching him. Booker recovers and gets a missile dropkick.

Axe Kick!

Steiner nails Booker with a lead pipe. Then he takes out the ref.

Steiner Recliner…then Steiner takes out ref #2.

Booker T retains by DQ at 13:26. Steiner takes out another ref right as he calls for the bell. For the record a chair was used earlier, so why the DQ? To be honest, this match is not bad at all. Best match of the night (that’s not saying anything though). But it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t particularly good, but it wasn’t bad. Really makes Steiner someone to be feared.

I like how Jarrett runs out to calm Steiner down. I’d guess Steiner had a beatdown planned, but with only 10 minutes or so left on the show Jarrett had to run down to cut that short for the main event!

Career Threatening Handicap Match
Goldberg vs. Kronik

Brian Adams promo. Cause that’s what this show needs. Kronik says there is no match, Goldberg isn’t cleared.

Hard to believe this was once Crush. Doesn’t really look like him.

Here comes Goldberg!

Here we go! Goldberg has to beat them both.

Adams gets a table!

Double Chokeslam though the table…no! He spears Clarke though the table! 2 minutes in he pins Clarke!

Goldberg thinks he won…I guess it wasn’t clear he needed to beat both. Adams attacks him from behind.

Goldberg wins when he pins Adams in 3:35. Um.it was 3 minutes. I get it was a Goldberg match, but come on. I guess it was the 2nd or 3rd best match on the show.

Okay.

This show felt like it went on forever.

This shit is the absolute worst. It was horrible. Absolutely horrible. Opener was below average with potential. Hardcore match was boring. Bonus tag sucked. First Blood DNA was bad. Kickboxing Match was awful and made absolutely no sense. Awesome vs. Vampiro was one of the worst PPV matches I had ever seen. US/Canadian Title Handicap Match was bad. Jarrett vs. Sting was unnecessarily stupid. Booker vs. Steiner was decent. Main event was rushed.

I haven’t seen all the WCW PPVs, but I have a feeling this one may be the worst.

It’s amazing how much better Greed was than this.

It doesn’t surprise me that this won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards for worst major show.

It does surprise me that they even made it to March of next year.

If you factor in expectations and the fact that there is a multi-billion dollar organization behind WCW, this PPV may be worse than Heroes of Wrestling.

Horrible.

Final Grade: F

RDT Reviews WCW Halloween Havoc ’98

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WCW Halloween Havoc ‘98
October 25, 1998
Las Vegas, NV
Reviewed on November 24, 2014

Off the heels of the destruction of the War Games gimmick…Hogan vs. Warrior! A lot has been made about this match over time, mainly that Hogan had Warrior brought in to get his win back. Whatever. Let’s just be surprised that this match didn’t main event the show.

The Warrior was the latest in line for an attempt by WCW to overtake the ratings war that the WWF was more or less winning. If WCW just had Goldberg wrestle top or even near top guys (like Jericho) I think WCW would have been more competitive. Instead, he’s stuck wrestling Meng in World Title matches somehow. Goldberg’s PPV title defense list so far: Curt Hennig in the semi-main at Bash at the Beach (understandable though), a battle royal victory at Road Wild (less understandable) and a no-show at Fall Brawl (completely unacceptable). That does change here though, for what it is worth.

Still, WCW was on a long road down…and things would get worse before they got better.

Note: I am reviewing this PPV as if the power doesn’t go out before the main event. Yes, many PPV subscribers lost connection to the show. Probably because it set for a three hour slot, and this running time here reads 3:15.

The Card

Hogan-Warrior hype video. I don’t even understand it all really. You are telling me they couldn’t have used Goldberg in Warrior’s place for this feud? That would have drawn HUGE.

The Halloween Havoc ’98 set is awesome.

The Nitro Girls? Um…this isn’t Nitro. How about we don’t waste time? Jeez.

Rick Steiner interview with Mean Gene. This is a PPV right? How about some matches?

Buff Bagwell is out here. Apparently he’s sick of Scott Steiner. He wants to help out Rick. I mean I know how this turns out…but its OBVIOUS Buff is gonna betray him, isn’t it?

Rick Steiner is a dumbass.

Eight minutes in…and we have a match!

WCW Television Championship
Chris Jericho© vs. Raven

Kinda funny background. Two guys who got over as heels basically putting together their own programs in 1998 was Raven and Chris Jericho. Raven just finished his feud with Saturn. Jericho was in the midst of trying to get a PPV match with Goldberg. We’re told this was just added…which means two of the most talented acts of WCW ’98 weren’t even on the card.

Raven also has a losing streak gimmick going on. I hate that idea as guys on losing streaks shouldn’t be getting title shots.

Jericho’s actually playing the face here. Raven decides he doesn’t want to wrestle, but Jericho wants to please his Jerichoholics. Jericho’s promo is a foreshadowing of his 2000 style.

Jericho gets impaled on the steel railing. Action packed from the start.

Raven hits a dropkick after running up the steps, and Jericho yells “HELP ME!” Awesome.

Some great sequences. Raven actually ducks Jericho’s back jump kick which leads to a belly to belly.

Fans really getting behind Raven here.

Jericho survives the Evenflow!

Chris Jericho retains by submission in 7:49. Raven crashes into Kanyon on the apron, but almost gets a 2nd Evenflow…until Jericho counters into the Lion Tamer. Quick tap out. Announcers talk about someone like Raven tapping out quickly, implying he just quit the match.

Seriously, a Hogan promo?

Meng vs. Wrath

Somersault off the apron from Wrath! He should have used that when he was Adam Bomb.

Wrath pins Meng in 4:23. Impressive Meltdown for the win. Wrath gets a good pop too. Meng didn’t seem to really be, er…trying, but this probably was Wrath’s best workrate run. The fans were into him…until Nash squashed him.

#1 Contender to the Cruiserweight Championship
Juventud Guerrera vs. Disco Inferno

This match has a really stupid ending that isn’t realized until Nitro the next night. Just note that the Cruiserweight Title match is tonight.

Disco in the Cruiserweight division is rather meh…although I believe he did the weight limit gimmick deal. I just don’t understand why we have Disco going for the Cruiser title when you have guys like Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero on the roster.

Disco busts out a macarana. Great stuff.

Very good back and forth match here.

Disco Inferno pins Juventud Guerrera in 9:39. Jumping piledriver downs Juvi for the pin! I’ll get into why this was stupid after Disco vs. Kidman. This was quite a good match though. Pretty good start to the PPV wrestling wise at least.

NITRO GIRLS AGAIN?!

Scott Steiner comes out to challenge Rick Steiner and Buff Bagwell for the Tag titles. For some reason Steiner can replace Scott Hall in the Hall and Giant tag team. Whatever. FREEBIRD RULES!

Scott Steiner agrees that if Bagwell and Rick win the titles, he’ll face Rick one on one.

Fit Finlay vs. Alex Wright

Apparently Fit Finlay ended Alex Wright’s dad’s career with a broken leg 15 years ago or something.

Alex Wright pins Fit Finlay in 5:09. Neckbreaker out of nowhere for the win. Boring match. If you told me Finlay would be an upper midcard guy in WWE eight years later I woulda called you crazy.

Ernest Miller interview about him being the greatest.

Saturn vs. Lodi

I guess this is a spinoff of the Saturn vs. Flock feud?

Saturn’s new look just doesn’t work.

Saturn got no reaction. What a shame. He was mega over a month ago.

Saturn pins Lodi in 3:50. Death Valley Driver for the win. Total squash. Not sure why it was on PPV. Lodi was a bit funny trying to keep track of his signs I guess.

Nitro Girls a third time. It’s not fucking Nitro.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Billy Kidman© vs. Disco Inferno

Kidman beat Juvi for the title the night after Fall Brawl. Disco is here due to his win earlier tonight.

Disco nails the piledriver…but it’s not enough.

We get a macarana driver attempt, but Kidman facebusters Disco out of it.

Kidman retains in 10:49. Shooting Star Press for the win. Not as good as Disco-Juvi earlier, but still good. Here’s why’s it’s stupid. Kidman would defend the Cruiser title on Nitro against….

Juventud Guerrera! Whatever.

WCW World Tag Team Championship
The Giant and Scott Steiner © vs. Rick Steiner and Buff Bagwell

Chucky references. Oh goodie.

It takes about four minutes for Bagwell to turn on Rick. Rick looking like an idiot was a big reason he didn’t get over from this. He was getting a great reaction before all this too. It would only get worse for Rick sadly.

Rick Steiner wins the title in 8:24. What? Rick Steiner makes the comeback and hits a Top Rope Bulldog on the Giant to win the title! HUGE reaction!

Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner

Buff Bagwell comes back in a disguise and nails Rick Steiner with a slapjack. The disguise was totally unnecessary.

Rick Steiner pins Scott Steiner in 5:00. Top rope bulldog for the win. Really disappointing for a grudge match. It still only goes downhill for Rick…unless you were a Judy Bagwell fan.

Scott Hall vs. Kevin Nash

Story here: The Outsiders broke up when the NWO factions split, with Hall picking Hollywood.

In my opinion, this should have happened at Starrcade.

Hall was doing his “drunk” angle at this time. It actually leads to Hall pretending he’s wasted to get a cheap shot on Nash.

Early Hall dominance….then a Hall promo. Wasting time for sure.

Nash eventually takes control…then beats the crap out of Hall for a good five minutes.

Scott Hall wins via countout in 14:19. Nash hits two Jackknife Powerbombs (he fucks up each though)…tells Hall to suck it…then walks out. Not sure if that was ever explained. As we will see with Hogan-Warrior later, this was a match that was a lot better years ago in the WWF with Vince calling the shots (Summerslam ’94). It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t good either.

Nitro Girls for the fourth time.

WCW United States Championship
Bret Hart © vs. Sting

Another match that shoulda been slated for Starrcade!

I’m not even sure if Bret is NWO here. He didn’t use NWO music here.

Mike Tenay says this won’t be a technical wrestling match. I guess he’s never watched Bret Hart or something.

This is marketed as the Sharpshooter vs. the Scorpion.

Pretty boring first half…even though there’s nothing really wrong with this match. Just seems like two guys going through the motions.

Bret legdropping the ref is a highlight of the match.

Bret Hart wins when Sting doesn’t answer the ref in the Sharpshooter in 15:09. Bret beats the crap out of Sting with a baseball bat then locks him in the Sharpshooter. How un-Bret Hart like. Also pretty boring and disappointing for a dream match like Bret vs. Sting.

Sting does a stretcher job and wouldn’t be seen until March or so.

Hollywood Hogan vs. The Warrior

We are shown Horace Hogan getting beat down by NWO Hollywood. I would think Horace isn’t a big enough name to interfere here…

The opening sequence isn’t that bad!

Really weird criss crossing off the ropes spot leading to a bodyslam from Hogan…which Warrior no sells!

Random ref bump…and Hogan adds a kneedrop for no reason. Really hasn’t been that awful so far.

The famous logroll spot. Hogan misses two elbowdrops, and Warriors rolls into him with…a roll attack?

It only goes downhill from here. Hogan tries to light some flash paper to throw a fireball at Warrior…and instead it blows up in his face.

Hollywood Hogan pinned The Warrior in 14:07. Horace Hogan comes in and nails Warrior with a chair shot for the Hogan victory. The opening sequence was decent but it went downhill from there. Sharply downhill. Warrior and Hogan do a whole lot of nothing for the last 11 minutes with highlights being a logroll spot, a failed fireball spot and a match as important as this one ending with Horace Hogan involved in the finish. That doesn’t even consider the many missed kicks and messed up bumps taken (specifically by Warrior). Horrible. One of the worst PPV matches ever. Luckily, WCW didn’t put it as the main event!

WCW World Championship
Goldberg © vs. Diamond Dallas Page

I never liked the security for Goldberg. If you are so tough, why need security?

Pretty cool lockup that goes flying out of the ring.

Goldberg completed a backflip…but Page smartly trips him a second time! Great spot!

Nice drop toehold from Page. Great match so far!

Flying hurricanrana from DDP!

Page calls for the Diamond Cutter….and gets speared! Goldberg got him good too!

One of the most iconic moments in WCW history…Goldberg goes for the Jackhammer…only for Page to twist it into the Diamond Cutter! Page can’t capitalize though.

Goldberg retains by pin in 10:29. Page suplex gets turned into the Jackhammer for the win. Easily Goldberg’s best match ever, and arguably Page’s as well. Perfectly complimented the ideas of Goldberg the destroyer against the underdog Page. If there’s an argument to say that you could have built a company around Page, this match would be the launching point of the argument. Great match. It also tremendously helped the PPV.

I can’t give this PPV too much credit as there was a lot of bad and waste. Less is more would be a perfect description of this show. We don’t need the Nitro Girls four times. We don’t need matches like Saturn vs. Lodi or Finlay vs. Alex Wright. We don’t need non-sensical cruiserweight division booking. What we do need is more main events like Goldberg vs. Page and more openers like Raven vs. Jericho. Overall, the card was pretty good and a hell of a big improvement over Fall Brawl.

There’s only so much you can do though when one of the worst PPV matches of all time is on the card though. Warrior vs. Hogan was a joke. Nash vs. Hall wasn’t much better. Page and Goldberg saved this main events for sure.

Fun fact: Warrior made one more appearance on Nitro the next night…and it was the last time Nitro beat RAW for a full night.

But good thing for WCW is that they didn’t keep the Warrior on TV. His time had past.

Sadly in a few months Hogan wouldn’t realize his had as well.

Final Grade: C+