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Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WCW Starrcade ’96

Starrcade1996

WCW Starrcade ‘96
December 29, 1996
Nashville, TN

Background: The Wrestlemania of WCW: Starrcade.

WCW was absolutely rolling. The nWo angle was perhaps the hottest thing in wrestling ever. WCW was kicking the WWF’s ass in pretty much every way. And WCW looked to continue that trend with Starrcade, putting in the main event slot a huge main event of WCW World Champion Hollywood Hogan vs. Roddy Piper. The WCW style was always awesome in-ring action at the top of the show, star power later. And it worked for a while.

You really see all the pieces come together for this one. Temporary international stars such as Jushin Lyger. The international WCW Cruiserweights such as Ultimo Dragon and Rey Mysterio Jr. The workhorses from ECW in Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. Midcard WWF guys like Jeff Jarrett. And of course, the top guys. The Hogan, Nash, Hall, Luger, Giant tier. Amazingly WCW was missing a lot of guys for this one too (No Steiners, no Harlem Heat, no Jericho).

So let’s see how the granddaddy of them all came together in 1996.

The Card

A lot of the hype for the main event (“the match of the decade”) is that Hogan never beat Piper (why did no one care here about that build-up but everyone shit on when the Warrior used that logic 2 years later). They must be just counting pinfalls, since Hogan beat Piper by DQ at the Wrestling Classic.

J-Crown Championship vs. Cruiserweight Championship
Ultimo Dragon (J-Crown) vs. Dean Malenko (Cruiser)

Japan vs. America I

The J-Crown is like 8 belts. Ultimo Dragon looked bad ass with them.

Great hold for hold wrestling early on….makes sense since these two were both top 10 in the world as technical wrestlers at this point.

Crowd solidly behind Malenko. Dragon was still a heel here.

Funny announcer quarrel about a half-crab. I love it when Dusty and The Brian get on Schiavone.

Nice STF/Crossface. It’s practically the opposite of John Cena’s STF in terms of how bad ass it looks.

Dragon with the backflip fakeout to Suicide Dive. I love that spot. Shame no one understood it in Dragon’s WWE 2003 run. I blame the 619.
Really enjoying this one. Match is slowly building the pace.

Admittedly a little too much with the leg grapevine here. Kinda killed the crowd.

Great series of reversals lead to a Malenko powerslam! Crowd popped for that.

Tombstone from Malenko! Nice false finish!

Ultimo Dragon pinned Dean Malenko to unify the titles in 18:30. Match gets really hot with big moves and reversals. A great sequence ends with Dragon hitting a trap Dragon suplex for the win. Gave this 18 minutes and other than the slow part in the middle, this was really good. Great way to start Starrcade. Also it is worth noting that Malenko was really over.

WCW Women’s Championship
Akira Hokuto vs. Madusa

Hokuto is wearing a gas mask?

Vacant title. Is this a tournament final? I have no idea. I don’t even remember a WCW Women’s Title.

Lee Marshall is brought in as an expert on Women’s wrestling. Sure…

USA vs. Japan II

Hokuto busts out a Scorpion Deathlock. Odd finish steal there.

Horrific floatover DDT from Madusa.

Weird Tornado DDT from Madusa where Madusa landed on her feet first. No idea if that was intentional.

Botched counter to a powerbomb…if it even was supposed to be countered. This match sucks.

Akira Hokuto wins the title by pin in 7:06. Sonny Oono attacks Madusa with the American Flag…then Hokuto hits a sloppy brainbuster for the win. A lot of blown spots. Bad match. The title wouldn’t last either. And the Brian points out Japan 2, USA 0. Tough way to start with two heels winning.

Piper with an insane promo. Sky Low Low and Jurassic Park made this promo. He goes on about Icons. Then we get into instruments. This is nuts. Roseanne Barr makes the promo too.

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Jushin Liger

Japan vs. USA III.

This is a dream match I believe.

Handshake. Liger really isn’t a heel like Dragon and Hokuto.

This is a weird match that Liger just dominates.

Jushin Liger pins Rey Mysterio in 14:16. Liger Bomb kills Mysterio’s comeback. Apparently this is a Japanese style, but it kinda killed the crowd. Rey basically got squashed. Dragon vs. Malenko was a lot better. This was okay I suppose, I mean it was wrestled well at least.

No DQ
Jeff Jarrett vs. Chris Benoit

This spawned from Jarrett kinda being in the Horsemen but not really.

I think Jarrett is supposed to be the face and Benoit the heel…but it surely isn’t working out that way crowd wise.

Not really a lot happening. A lot of punching and kicking. I wonder if Benoit isn’t doing tech stuff because it’s a no DQ match.

Schiavone makes it a point that Benoit doesn’t get DQed for throwing Jarrett over the top rope. That stupid rule was still in place?

Arn Anderson walked by Benoit. Does that mean he’s pro Jarrett in the Horsemen?

Big pop for Double A though.

Dungeon of Doom out here. No idea what’s going on.

Jeff Jarrett pinned Chris Benoit in 13:48. Anderson DDTs Jarrett…and Kevin Sullivan smashes a wooden chair over Benoit’s head! When Double A tosses Jarrett back into the ring, Jarrett’s hand ends up on Benoit for the pin. I actually that finish is a little creative, but the booking and people involved was all over the place. Match was pretty lame as well. Nothing happened. Strange.

Mongo is out here to talk Horsemen or something. The Horsemen are unstable. Flair’s not even around anyway. Debra talks too. I don’t care.

We get some insight into Sting, who just turned crow. No idea who’s side he’s actually on at this point.

WCW World Tag Team Championship
The Outsiders© vs. The Faces of Fear

The Faces of Fear? Seriously?

Nick Patrick is the referee. I’m sure that note will have no effect on this match whatsoever.

So who do we cheer for here? The Outsiders?

Meng and Hall with a solid start. Good physicality.

Nash seems motivated here. Weird match to be motivated for though.

Now we’re getting some slow Nick Patrick stuff.

Weird legal man stuff. Meng was on the apron despite being the legal man. I’m sure that’s been broken tons of times.

Syxx is out here. Takes Jimmy Hart’s megaphone then leaves chasing Hart.

The Outsiders win when Nash pins Barbarian in 11:52. Jackknife for the win. Match made no booking sense. Outsiders were the faces for some reason…but had a crooked referee in their pocket. WCW announcers were rooting for the Faces of Fear. I would say wrestling wise this was a lot better than it had any right to be. Probably because it had a lot of Scott Hall, who was still trying at that point.

Dibiase and Hogan promo. Just running down Piper here. Hogan doesn’t understand time zones though. Hogan mentions that the belt stays with the nWo. That’s important here.

WCW US Championship Title Tournament Final
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Eddy Guerrero

Some story here…the nWo had been interfering and helping DDP win matches to get him to join. Nothing to do with Guerrero.

It’s a bit weird to see DDP has a cocky heel and Guerrero as an underdog face in WCW.

It’s also weird to see Eddy Guerrero dominating DDP in a WCW match. They were at two totally different levels 12 months later.

Pretty solid back and forth match here.

I do think DDP and Eddy’s styles don’t really click though. I assume solid back and forth is the best you’d get here.

nWo is out here. Hall though hits Page with the Outsider’s Edge!

Eddie Guerrero wins the title and pins DDP in 15:20. Eddie hits the Frog Splash after the Outsider’s Edge for the win. nWo beats up Eddy too, although he put up a good fight. Guerrero wrote in his book that he hated this finish as it looked like the nWo beat Page and not Guerrero…and he was 100% right about it. Match was fine.

The Giant vs. Lex Luger

Giant is nWo here…which I didn’t think made too much sense. Luger is now the face of WCW as Sting is off brooding and Piper is really Piper and not WCW.

Really long lock-up to start, then punches and kicks everywhere.

Luger brought his selling ability with him tonight. Which against the Giant, he should.

I think it’s crazy how the Giant used to just throw dropkicks like it was nothing.

Funniest ref bump I ever saw with Giant powering out of a pin and Luger landing on the ref.

Nick Patrick interferes and kicks Luger’s leg when he had the rack! He’s nWo!

Sting is here. But who’s side is he on?

Syxx ruins another rack attempt.

Sting drops a bat in the ring and tells both Luger and the Giant something, presumably that there is a bat in the ring.

Lex Luger pins the Giant in 13:23. Luger gains control of the bat and beats the crap out of the Giant. Pin afterwards. Huge pop. This was WCW’s first win over the nWo…which storyline wise is fine…but it’s interesting of all people the Giant was the first nWo member to lose. Match could have been A LOT worse. Pretty solid considering who was involved. Giant looks angered as the announcer’s say the nWo left Giant high and dry.

Hollywood Hogan vs. Roddy Piper

Story matters here, because it’s a huge problem with the match. Piper showed up when Hogan beat Savage at Halloween Havoc. This led to the Eric Bischoff in the nWo reveal. In the match build, remember that Roddy Piper got to choose the terms of the match. Because he for some reason chose a NON-TITLE match. And WCW is hiding that by the way. Hogna mentioned the title earlier. The crowd thinks this is for the title.

Crowd is really hot for this. As they should be.

Hogan sells a lot for Piper. Match is very punchy-kicky of course. Not much else these two can do at this point.

Really punch-kick-punch-kick. I mean, I guess this match wasn’t done for workrate reasons.

Piper comeback…and the Giant is here!

Ref clearly sees the Giant there, come on.

Random fan in the ring!

Piper somehow kicks Hogan while up for the chokeslam, then knocks Giant over the top.

Roddy Piper beats Hollywood Hogan via sleeper in 15:27. Crowd erupts. And Piper doesn’t win the title. Because it’s non-title. Bizarre. Match sucked as well. Post match has Hogan and Giant arguing, and Hogan blames Giant for dropping the ball. Hogan the celebrates with the title. Um..he lost the match?

Pretty disappointing Starrcade all things considered. It gets some extra credit for DDP and Sting developments, but loses a little for the non-title main event and general horribleness of the main event. Dragon vs. Malenko was great and Eddy vs. Page was solid, but everything ranged from disappointing to meh. Benoit vs. Jarrett and Faces of Fear vs. Outsiders were just flat out confusing.

I’d say Dragon vs. Malenko alone had it in C+ territory, but the overbooked nWo stuff hurts the second half of the show. nWo interfered in the last three matches…is one clean finish too much to ask? I mean, this is supposed to be the big show of the year, right?

Final Grade: C

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WCW Fall Brawl ’96

wcwfallbrawl1996

WCW Fall Brawl ‘96
September 15, 1996
Winston-Salem, NC
Reviewed on September 7, 2014

WCW is getting its ass kicked.

Not by Vince. Oh no, at this point WCW had left Vince and the WWF in the dust ratings wise. They were about 10 weeks into their eventual 84 week streak.

It’s because they were getting their ass kicked by the NWO.

For two months the NWO had been destroying WCW in one of, if not the best, angle in North American pro wrestling at that point. Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were the most destructive group in wrestling and had beaten up WCW at pretty much every turn. Ted Dibiase joined them shortly afterwards, and then The Giant followed.

On paper the Giant joining was brilliant. It showed that any top guy would join the NWO, and it helped plant the seed that Sting could join. The Giant had no previous ties to the WWF, unlike Hall, Nash, Hogan and Dibiase. Of course, the Giant in the NWO didn’t quite work out and they used him to be that “first loss” at Starrcade, and then he left and re-joined WCW. If they kept the NWO as a group that only allowed top members and no one would want to leave it would have been great, but Giant leaving showed that it wasn’t the end-all be-all to join.

Still, the major angle, is Sting joining the NWO? Him doing so could kill WCW dead! He attacked Luger afterall! (Not really).

The only way to decide this war? WAR GAMES!

The Card

We get a pretty awesome overview if the dominance of the NWO over the past few weeks.

Bobby Heenan points out that War Games was created for the Four Horsemen and is confident the NWO will be wrestling their last match tonight. It’s pretty awesome that WCW felt this was the big comeuppance for the NWO. I’ll explain why later.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

You know, for all that WCW didn’t create new stars bs, what do you call DDP?

It’s hard to see Chavo go toe to toe with DDP, knowing where both would go in a couple years.

Pretty good start. It’s weird that Chavo was a better worker when he started than he was later.

Weird timing spot which was impressive as Chavo actually delayed standing on the top rope (not corner). Still technically a botch again.

DDP tosses Chavo from one ring to the other. I love spots like that.

Semi-botched sidewalk slam. Ah well, it was good enough.

Incredible spinning gutwrench powerbomb from Page. Wow. (Ok, the landing was a bit off but still looked great.)

Diamond Dallas Page wins by pin in 13:07. Page goes for the Diamond Cutter, but Chavo reverses into a backslide. Page blocks the backslide by stomping on Chavo’s foot, and gets the Cutter for the win. Big reaction too. Pretty awesome opener and a great start to the show.

WCW SPECIAL REPORT. Goes over the NWO angle at this point. Which is pretty incredible at this point.

Submission Match
Scott Norton vs. Ice Train

Watching the first Nitro, it’s interesting what a big deal Norton was…and where he is at this point.

The story here I think is the Fire and Ice team breaking up.

Ice Train is managed by Teddy Long! Holla Holla!

Not a bad start though. Standing frog splash from Train was nice.

This seems more like an “I Quit” Match as the ref has a microphone.

Ice Train makes Scott Norton submit in 7:08. Scott Norton has Train trapped in an armbar, but Teddy Long tried to interfere. Norton takes care of him but gets trapped in a Full Nelson and he taps out (so much for the microphone?). Not horrible or anything, there was solid power stuff in here.

AAA World Championship
Konnan© vs. Juventud Guerrera

They call it the Mexican Heavyweight Title, but my research (read: wiki) says the AAA title.

No one knows who Juvi is at this point. Konnan is known as he joined the Dungeon of Doom. He was also the US Champ for a while. He is in his gangsta look he would have for basically the rest of his career.

Yellow is not a good color for Juvi.

Pretty sweet release German suplex where Juvi flips over.

Konnan sends Juvi flying!

Konnan just stands that as Juvi does this triple jump spin kick (two leapds on the 2nd ring, then one from the 1st). Weird that Konna just stood there.

Great aerial stuff early on.

Nice powerbomb on the floor!

Mike Tenay says Juvi gives up 50 pounds of weight. Konnan is not 215, and Juvi was listed as 165.

Pretty badly botched headscissor-like move from one ring to the other.

Juvi makes up for it with more crazy flying.

Backdrop over the top rope and Juvi ends up hanging on the other rope! Nice!

Bad moonsault. Konnan seems to take exception and powerbombs Juvi. Pretty sick.

Damn rolling Germans from Konnan. I actually thought Benoit invented that.

Odd rest spot where Juvi just walks arounf and Konnan talks to Jimmy Hart.

Pointless backflip from Juvi? Leads to him getting dropkicked by Konnan.

I know I trash Konnan a lot, but this is the best Konnan match I’ve ever seen and it’s in spite of Juvi, not because of him.

450 is even slightly off, and doesn’t finish anyway.

Konnan busts out a Muscle Buster…but that doesn’t finish. Juvi might have missed some spots, but he’s taking moves like a champ.

Konnan pinned Juvi in 13:45. Splash Mountain Bomb! Nicely done and it’s over. Very good match only hampered by Juvi missing some spots and some weird spots in general (like Juvi’s backflip). Everything else owns though. Best Konnan match I’ve ever seen.

Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit

Jericho’s awful 1st theme!

Jericho had just debuted. The story here is simple: two guys just looking to have a great match.

Benoit is super over here.

Tony says he expected Mongo instead of Benoit here. Thank goodness it’s Benoit.

Benoit puts Jericho in the Lion Tamer! I wonder if Jericho was using it at this point.

Jericho looks great early on against Benoit.

Jericho with a crazy springboard back elbow to the outside from Jericho!

I believe this is the match where booker Kevin Sullivan said he wanted Benoit to have 90% of this match. Then Benoit and Jericho just did it 50-50 anyway.

Nice back jumpkick from Jericho.

Backsuplex to the outside with a twist! Some crazy ideas here.

Pretty perfect Swan Dive from Benoit. I like it better than his Diving Headbutt (the difference is how they land, although surely they’ve been called differently each time).

Jericho Tombstones Benoit!

Chris Benoit pins Chris Jericho in 14:36. Back Superplex for the win! Great match! Jericho looked like a star here and surely WCW will capitalize on someone who looked like the next Shawn Michaels here! (lol…at the push part). Great match though. A great back and forth contest.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Rey Mysterio Jr.(c) vs. Super Calo

I was once told that Super Calo was named that way as shorthand for supercalifr-whatever. Bobby Heenan then makes that joke immediately.

Super Calo is like a power cruiserweight, if that makes sense. I liked that roll through on the slam.

Mike Tenay says Super Calo is named after a Mexican rap group. Thank goodness.

Nice missile dropkick off the top to the outside by Calo!

Ridiculous somersault senton from the inside out from Calo!

Really surprising that Super Calo has been on the offensive basically the whole match.

Funny botch where Super Calo doesn’t go over the top rope…but Rey tries his damnest to get him over. The ref helps!

Rey Mysterio with the greatest hurricanrana off the apron I’ve ever seen in my life. I can’t explain it. It was nuts.

Rey Mysterio Jr. retains by pin in 15:47. Double springboard hurricanrana finish for the win! Another great match…but it had ONE flaw, which was NO one was buying Calo winning this thing. As a result, it felt pretty long. Oddly Calo had 80% of the offense too. Still great though.

WCW World Tag Team Championship
Harlem Heat© vs. The Nasty Boys

I expect the match quality to drop quite a bit here…

How great was Sherri Martel? She could play so many roles.

Kinda surprised the Nasties never had a random ECW run.

CLUBBERIN! How can someone be the master of CLUBBERIN?

Match is pretty boring. Only excitement so far was Sags chasing Sherri.

That might have been the worst looking roll up by Sags ever.

Nice piledriver from Sags!

Harlem Heat retain when Booker T pins Knobbs in 15:31. Sherri whacks Knobbs with a cane and that’s that. WAY too long. Match was pretty horrid and only big spots were involving Sherri. Fans reacted though, so there is that.

We get a Savage interview! One of the best of all time for sure.

The Giant vs. Randy Savage

Giant joined the NWO, Savage is still a defender of WCW here.

Giant still has the creepy music he had before…then it turns into the NWO theme.

Giant had the potential to beat Nash’s sidewalk slam…but opted for a weak backbreaker sadly.

Boston Crab from the Giant just seems like an odd visual.

Savage slams the Giant! That would lose its luster years later as everyone slammed him.

The Giant pins Randy Savage in 7:47. Savage drops the big elbow, but Hogan is out here! He goads Savage to the entrance and the Outsiders beat Savage up with a chair. Giant distracts Nick Patrick, and then gets the win when the NWO rolls him back into the ring. Pretty bad all around. It was just 7 minutes of the Giant beating up Savage and a terrible finish.

War Games
WCW vs. NWO

The story here is simple: the NWO is here to take over WCW. This is another battle in the war…but it’s a big one as War Games is one of WCW’s primer match types.

Also, Mike Tenay asks Ric Flair which Horseman has replaced Sting in the match, but Flair doesn’t answer the question. All three of them, Luger, Anderson and Flair, are acting like Sting joined the NWO on Nitro. Sting then shows up and says it wasn’t him. Luger doesn’t believe him. This is all fantastic.

Rules are simple. There was a pre-match coin toss (usually always won by the heels, as it was here). Two men start, one from each team. The team that won the coin toss gets to bring man #2 first, then so on and do forth. When all 8 men are in, you can only win by knockout or submission (or as Michael Buffer says it, surrender or submission…)

We start with Scott Hall for the NWO and Double A for WCW.

Crowd is super hot for this. I think a lot of people thought WCW was winning this.

The announcer’s hype up the coin toss deal with a minute left. Sadly…they find out the NWO has won. Kevin Nash is next.

Outsiders beat the crap out of Double A for the next couple minutes.

Lex Luger shows up early to even the odds. I wonder how that’s legal? Anyway Luger regains control for WCW.

Here comes Hogan! NWO has the advantage once again.

Crowd goes bonkers when Double A and Luger beat up Hogan, but the Outsiders end that.

Huge “We want Flair” chants…so here he comes! HUGE reaction.

Hogan vs. Flair faceoff! When Flair gets a punch in the crowd roars!

Brass knucks for Flair! Flair has taken over!

WCW is owning…but then Sting shows up for the NWO…and everyone is dismayed. Some boos there. Some people definitely bought it.

We get some “We Want Sting” chants. And there are some who definitely knew the real deal here.

The NWO wastes away Flair, Luger and Anderson…but here comes the REAL Sting!

Sting destroys EVERYONE! Stinger Splashes everywhere!

“Is that good enough for you? Is that proof enough?” Genius. Sting walks out on WCW, and WCW doesn’t last long.

NWO wins when NWO Sting and Hogan make Luger submit in 18:15. A Scorpion Deathlock and a Front Headlock get it done. While not the best War Games from a match quality perspective (not a drop of blood!), it told a tremendous story and set the wheels in motion for the red hot Sting story arc for the next 15 months. This showed that only Sting could deal with the NWO, no one else. Brilliant. This is the main reason why WCW made bucket loads of money the next two years.

NWO and WCW go at it a big, and Savage tries to help, but the Giant takes him out. The PPV ends with another big NWO beat down. They even spray paint Miss Elizabeth when she comes out to help Savage…which is a nice touch. We get a Hogan promo too to hype up the Hogan-Savage Halloween Havoc match.

Overall, a great show! The only thing that was bad was the tag title match and Giant vs. Savage. Everything else ranged from decent (the submission match) to pretty good to great. Great matches, good wrestling, and a really well done storyline with WCW not trusting Sting. Historically, it was a huge moment that helped carry WCW through 1997 as the #1 promotion in the US over the WWF.

This PPV tore the hearts out of WCW fans. The Four Horsemen and WCW lost War Games? Sting left us? What will we do?

Just brilliant.

Final Grade: A

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WCW Great American Bash ’96

GAB_96

WCW Great American Bash ‘96
June 16, 1996
Baltimore, MD
Reviewed on May 11, 2014

WCW was coming on strong now. WCW had more than held its own since launching Nitro opposite of RAW every Monday Night. Eric Bischoff used every tactic he could to get the upper hand on the WWF…and it worked. Reveal RAW taping results? Did it. He even put the show on at five minutes before the hour…just to get the lead-in advantage. But the biggest change happened when Scott Hall showed up on Nitro in late May. Hall was one of the WWF’s top guys from 1993 through 1995. Kevin Nash showed up a few weeks later…and in 1995 he was THE top WWF guy. Let history show that the Nitro right before this show, the June 10th edition, would be the last victory in the Monday Night ratings war for the WWF until April 13th, 1998.

WCW had more than Hall and Nash though. It had the best matches. It had some of the biggest stars in wrestling (Hogan, Savage, Flair etc.). It had fresh main eventers (The Giant). Overall it was just a more compelling company at that point. Vince had several lawsuits going on against WCW, even some involving Hall and Nash, but it didn’t matter (although it would matter for a segment on this show).

The 1996 edition of the Great American Bash was the first PPV that was a part of 83 weeks of dominance from WCW.

The Card

There’s a lot going on with this show. Bobby Heenan has a team going up against a Randy Savage team tonight. I actually forgot about this.

The Steiner Bros.(c) vs. Fire and Ice

Fire and Ice is Scott Norton and Ice Train. Norton would gain some fame for his run in the nWo and Japan. Ice Train…actually I have no idea what he did after feuding with Norton.

An okay power match so far. It seems like Ice Train is WAY out of his league here though.

Yikes Scott Steiner drops Scott Norton on his head with a suplex. That was almost a broken neck.

Admittedly a great spot where Norton locks in an armbar. When Rick Steiner tries to break it, Norton no sells a bunch of kicks to the face. It was pretty bad ass.

The Steiners win when Scott pins Norton in 10:29. Flying Bulldog…then a horrible Frankensteiner for the win. Not a good start when the first finish is botched. Match…was okay. A good point was that it was non stop action, not one rest hold. The bad point is several botched moves.

Some hype for the Falls Count Anywhere match between Kevin Sullivan and Chris Benoit. Not really digging the promo though. Somehow Sullivan is making it NOT about Benoit, but more about Ric Flair and Arn Anderson.

WCW United States Championship
Konnan© vs. El Gato

Seriously? This is the best we can do in WCW 1996 for WCW’s 2nd biggest singles title?

El Gato is Pat Tatanka.

Konnan is wearing the stupidest mask.

There’s some good Konnan offence to start. I don’t say that often.

Konnan retains in 6:03 by pin. Ugly sunset flip to the outside to El Gato. Konnan then got a jackknife pin in the ring for the win. It had a good start…then sucked the rest of the way. Not really a good start to this show.

Sting mocks Steven Regal…and it’s pretty funny to be fair.

Lord of the Ring Match
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Marcus Bagwell

This is for Page’s Battlebowl ring…I think?

It’s jarring to see Page as the chicken-shit heel and Bagwell as the good guy.

Page hilariously misses? a kick and sells it like a mullion dollars…even if it wasn’t a million dollar move.

DDP pins Bagwell in 9:39. Diamond Cutter for the win. Okay back and forth match…but three okay matches isn’t the way to start a PPV.

Jimmy Hart is questioned about his allegiance to The Giant or Lex Luger. He’s with the Giant here. Giant’s early promos were pretty funny. He does look badass as World Champion here though.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Dean Malenko© vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Rey Jr’s debut here.

I like that Rey began with the technical wrestling…and not Malenko.

Really good sequence to start with a double nip up.

Nice over the head sunset flip from Rey.

Malenko expertly works on the arm. He does a hold I never seen that I can’t explain, pulling the arm then kicking it away.

Malenko traps Rey’s arm in the guardrail then kicks the guardrail. Ouch!

Malenko counters the hurricarana by flipping Rey back to his feet then leveling him with a clothesline! Nice!

Malenko with my favorite hold, the surfboard! Then he turns it into a pin! Only two though.

Malenko is dominating this match…but it’s a great way to put over Rey’s resilience.

Perfect springboard somersault to the outside from Rey!

Dean Malenko retains by pin 17:50. Mysterio is on a roll hitting a lot of high flying spots…but a hurricanrana turns into a stiff powerbomb! Malenko uses the ropes as well for the pin. Great match that has kicked this PPV into high gear. Malenko looked great and Rey looked great. This match is also the match that kicked the Cruiserweight division into high gear. There were talks of ending the division before this.

Lex Luger interview. He’s already a tag and TV champ. Will he add the World Title tonight?!

Big Bubba vs. John Tenta

Enzugiri from Big Bubba!

Awkward fall from Tenta that had Bubba land on him.

John Tenta pins Bubba in 5:24. Big slam to win. Basically the opposite speed wise of the match before. Match was slow…and not good. Tenta can barely move here.

We get an interview with Steve McMichael and Kevin Greene. I always thought it was weird Greene became this part time wrestler, but he wasn’t horrible.

Falls Count Everywhere
Kevin Sullivan vs. Chris Benoit

A blood feud spawning from the Dungeon of Doom vs. the Horsemen.

They don’t even get into the ring, as Benoit attacks in the aisleway and they end up going through the crowd.

In the men’s bathroom now! HE PUT HIS HEAD IN THE COMMODE!

Now out of the bathroom, Sullivan knocks Benoit down the steps in the crowd. Really entertaining brawl.

Benoit and Sullivan both try spots on the table…but it doesn’t break either time. Clearly a non-gimmicked table.

Chris Benoit pins Kevin Sullivan in 9:58. Benoit hits a superplex off the top using the table to stand. Pin gets three. Arn Anderson comes down to stop Benoit from beating down Sullivan…but then attacks Sullivan, showing allegiance to the Four Horsemen. That gets a huge reaction. Really good brawl here, even if some of the bathroom stuff was kinda funny. Even though this match wasn’t the first WCW Falls Count Anywhere match, it has a lot of influence on the later WWF Hardcore division. Still, at the time some people called this one of the greatest matches they’d ever seen…but I wouldn’t go that far. Just a really good brawl with some originality.

Reunited Horsemen interview. But there are only three of them!

Bobby Heenan managing the Horsemen kinda owns.

Sting vs. Lord Steven Regal

Story here: Regal thought the WCW Championship committee overlooked him and he wanted to make a statement.

Here’s someone who got lost in the shuffle when the nWo showed up: Steven Regal.

Regal was such a good unique heel even then. He just had a style no one else used.

Regal had some awesome heel taunts as well.

Match has had a great story, with Regal working on the arm and using cheap tactics anytime Sting makes a comeback.

Sting makes Steven Regal submit in 16:30. Sting superman comeback…but it had a nice small varation. Regal actually counters the Stinger Splash by getting his knees up…but falls to the Scorpion anyway. Pretty good match here, it definitely made Regal look like he was at a comparable level to Sting. Too bad Regal wasn’t pushed much later in the year.

Legends of the Gridiron vs. Legends of the World of Wrestling
Ric Flair and Arn Anderson vs. Steve McMichael and Kevin Greene

This was an extension of the Flair vs. Randy Savage feud. Savage was suspended for something and couldn’t wrestle…but was in Greene and McMichael’s corner here.

This might be Debra McMichael’s debut.

Sorry to spoil the ending, but there is some great commentary here. Tony talks about a story that Mongo signed with the Packers of the Bears for money. I like forshadowing.

There’s some funny stuff with Flair and Greene in here. Flair tricks Greene into the three point stance before stepping on his hand. Greene later tosses Flair out and does the Flair strut.

It’s kinda jarring to see Steve McMichael put a Figure Four on Ric Flair.

All the women at ringside chase each other to the back. This also will be significant soon.

Watching this re-enforces the idea to me that Kevin Greene would have been a decent full time wrestler.

Some expert heeling from Anderson and Flair…but Savage attacks Anderson. Benoit comes out to attack Savage.

Debra is back out here with a briefcase!

Ric Flair and Arn Anderson win when Flair pins Greene in 20:51. Debra shows Mongo that the briefcase is full of money and a Horsemen shirt! Of course Mongo accepts, and smashes the briefcase over Greene’s head and Flair gets the pin. Very well done, and there’s your 4th Horseman! Match wasn’t good, but it had entertaining moments and Greene isn’t even a wrestler, so it’s all good. But the finish was what mattered, and it was good.

Ok this next segment is one of the most revolutionary segments in professional wrestling history. Eric Bischoff comes out and talks about the interruptions that’s taken place on Nitro, that being Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. Nash and Hall come out. Nash and Hall made a challenge for a three on three. Bischoff says it will be at Bash at the Beach. Bischoff asks them both if they work for the WWF, which they both say no. That ended some lawsuits right there. Bischoff refuses to tell Hall and Nash who team WCW is, that it will be revealed on Nitro. Hall gets pissed and nails Bischoff. Nash then powerbombs Bischoff through a portion of the stage. This was HUGE at the time. Nothing had been seen on national wrestling TV like it. WCW as we knew it would never be the same, as the nWo era had been in full gear now.

WCW World Championship
The Giant© vs. Lex Luger

Seeing the Giant with the WCW World title makes me think about what a waste it was when the nWo just buried him.

Match starts with Luger running into a big boot of the Giant. I don’t know why, but I thought that owned.

Sting chases Jimmy Hart away…so it’s a real 1 on 1 now!

The Giant retains by pin in 9:58. Luger goes for the Rack, and has him up…but collapses (and Giant lands on his head…that could have been a lot worse). Chokeslam for the win. Um…I mean it’s obvious this match was boring and sucked right? I mean that’s the ceiling for Giant vs. Luger (I liked their Starrcade match better to be fair). Right man went over though, Giant was the man at the time.

This show constantly gets brought up as one of the greatest PPVs ever and in that first hour I wasn’t sure why. Then Malenko vs. Mysterio practically created the Cruiserweight division. Then Benoit and Sullivan had their great match. Then Sting and Regal had a good match. Flair and Arn did entertaining stuff. Nash and Hall changed the business. A lot of damn good stuff happened here.

The positives definitely outweigh the negatives…but this still isn’t nearly the greatest PPV ever. It’s very good, but there was too much crap to really get there (Big Bubba vs. John Tenta? Page vs. Bagwell?). I don’t think Sullivan vs. Benoit is the five star classic people said it was (still, it was very good). Maybe if the main event was better, it would be close to the elite, but Giant vs. Luger was pretty bad.

I would normally say this is in the B, B+ range…but the historical value of this show is quite high. The Hall and Nash stuff alone just blew everyone away at the time. And that Rey Mysterio guy kinda became a big deal.

Final Grade: A-