Tag Archives: outsiders

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 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 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-