Rebellion 2000

Legacy Review

Rebellion 2000

December 2, 2000 from the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England

Commentary: Jim Ross and Tazz

There's a few different things happening for this second UK exclusive PPV of the year. Firstly, it's been moved from its usual October time slot a couple of months later to December. It's also just a week before the next main PPV, Armageddon. Second, it's one of the rare times they get out of the London area for one of these shows, heading up north to Sheffield in South Yorkshire. Third, Tazz is making his PPV debut on commentary as Jerry Lawler didn't make the trip, not too long after he started dabbling in commentary as his body broke down due to injuries. I assume that whole Tazz trying to murder JR thing from over the summer has been cleared up.

The show opens with a black cab driving up with a "Commish" license plate. How do you put a license plate on a cab? The door opens and out comes.....Debra. Ugh. With a camera angle that's supposed to make her look attractive, like we're checking her out. Don't waste my time. Anyway, she's recently been appointed as Assistant or Lieutenant (pronounced leftenant in the UK) Commissioner to real Commish Mick Foley. Foley himself comes out of the cab after. After the requisite pyro and ballyhoo, with enough pyro to do a decent recreation of the Blitz, Foley's music hits and the Commish and his bit of tail come out and make their way into the ring. Foley hypes the main event, then says Triple H demanded to be in the main event and if he couldn't he's not making the show. Complete with Foley Trips impersonation. Foley said that's fine, he can stay home. After what happened to him in Survivor Series, shouldn't he be dead? Or at least still in hospital? Foley then makes the main event no DQ and no countout. Aren't all Fatal Four Ways? Debra manages to get her two lines and four words right so it's a good night for her. Angle comes out to protest and gets brushed off. That took a lot of time to accomplish very little.

Triple Threat Elimination Tables Match: The Dudley Boyz def Edge & Christian and T&A (w/Trish Stratus) in 9:55- Now THERE'S a woman I'd appreciate a "camera slowly checks her out" angle of. T&A are still wearing APA gear to celebrate injuring both of them. Somehow there's still pyro left for the Dudleyz' entrance. This is like the previous Dudleyz' Invitational match, you only have to put one team member through a table to eliminate them. Albert and D'Von start with a quick Albert edge. D'Von hits clotheslines to try to chop the big tree down. Double suplex from the Dudleyz. Bubba Ray chops only piss Albert off. Double back elbow from T&A. They get the first table out. The Dudleyz don't appreciate that. E&C are the smartest team, just parking it on the apron and watching the other two punish each other. The Dudleyz lift the table up. Albert kicks it and it breaks in half! For the record, that doesn't count for an elimination. I also don't think that was intended. Test chokes Bubba Ray in the corner a long time while a replacement table is brought in. T&A try to double backdrop Bubba Ray into the table but D'Von moves the table out of the way. Edge tags himself in on Test. Bubba Ray hits him back, so Edge runs over and tags Test back in. Bubba Ray gets a boot up on Test coming off the second rope and tags D'Von. D'Von suckers Albert in and the Dudleyz reverse 3D him. Things break down into a full on DONNYBROOK. Albert gets on the second rope with Bubba Ray. E&C come from behind and pull Albert down into the table! T&A are eliminated. The Dudleyz and E&C take the fight to the floor. E&C double team D'Von on the floor, putting him in peril. Russian leg sweep from Christian. Edge tells Christian to grab a table, then runs over and pops Bubba Ray on the apron. D'Von baseball slides the table, knocking both E&C guys down! Hot tag to Bubba Ray! Or not, ref Tim White didn't see the tag. That allows the beatdown on D'Von to continue. D'Von ducks a Christian clothesline and side suplexes him. Real hot tag to Bubba Ray! Backdrop for Edge. Hot shot for Christian. Edge gets a spear! E&C want to give Bubba Ray the Whazzup drop! Bubba Ray rolls Christian up and Edge falls into Christian! The real Whazzup drop hits on Edge. Get the tables time. Christian literally tackles Edge to save him from a 3D. Christian takes the 3D through the table and it's over! Reasonably fun match from three teams that knew each other very well. **3/4

Michal Cole is in the back with Lita, but I can't pay attention to the promo, I'm too distracted by the giant stack of beer kegs behind her. That's something you normally didn't see in backstage shots.

 

WWF Women's Championship: Ivory (c) (w/Steven Richards) def Lita in 2:57- Richards gets drowned out by boos at the start of his promo before getting into it. There was a woman in the UK named Mary Whitehouse he'd probably want to take a meeting with. The National Viewers and Listeners Association was the original Right to Censor. Lita spears Ivory as she gets in the ring! Armdrag and shotgun dropkick. Snap mare and dropkick to Ivory's back for 2. Lita comes to almost a dead stop waiting for Ivory to get her boots up in the corner. Back suplex from Lita for 2. Richards gets on the apron and Lita snaps him over the top rope by his tie. Ivory hits some chops in the corner. Lita gets tossed around and choked. Legdrop for 2. Ivory hooks up an arm wringer and hits a northern lights suplex for 2. Flying headscissors counter from Lita! One foot dropkick. Or just a very sloppy one. Twist of Fate! Richards distracts again. Tope suicida from Lita on Richards! She tries to sunset flip Ivory. Ivory drops down, gets leverage help from Richards, and gets the pin! Not particularly good, but it's better than their Survivor Series match. Ivory's game, but her style is very '80s women's wrestling. Lita needs to be in there with someone more modern. *1/2

The beer keg stack does not outshine the Rock. Switching to "candy bum" is a nice local twist.

 

WWF Hardcore Championship: Steve Blackman (c) def Perry Saturn in 6:02- Saturn jumps Blackman before the bell. Blackman reverses a corner whip and dropkicks Saturn in the back. Tazz tries to make "rocketbuster" a thing. Saturn ducks an enzuguri, leading into standing switches, Saturn blocks a roll up and tosses Blackman over the top to the floor. Plancha! Cover on the floor for 2. Blackman suplexes Saturn on the floor. He goes under the ring and gets a trash can, then a couple of pieces of metal that look like inbox trays or something. Saturn takes a couple of shots from them. Blackman wedges the trash can in the corner. Reversal and Saturn drop toe holds Blackman into it! Couple of counters and Blackman takes a shot from one of those metal objects right in the head for 2. Blackman gets a backslide for 2. In a hardcore match? Saturn crucifix for 2. In a hardcore match? Blackman gets tossed again. He tries to skin the cat but Saturn whacks him with the piece of metal again. Saturn goes for a tope suicida but Blackman nails him with the metal as he's coming down! Saturn gets a fire extinguisher out and sets it off in Blackman's general vicinity. That didn't work very well. Now Saturn gets a good old chair and sets it up in the ring. Blackman drop toe holds him into it! Blackman goes out and gets his short sticks. He goes nuts on Saturn with them and hits a side suplex for a long 2. Saturn gets a stick and low blows Blackman with it! Small package for 2. Blackman kicks the chair in Saturn's face and that gets the pin! Solid hardcore stuff. **1/2

Both JR and Tazz call Regal "Steven Regal" before the next match. Regal's prematch promo sounds really genuine and not in character at all.....until he starts running down other British sports icons that don't stack up to him. I like how he says he'll proudly represent Great Britain to those loser Americans, even if they're all on the dole and too skint to have any dosh for Christmas food or presents.

Undertaker motorbikes in.

 

WWF European Championship: Crash Holly (w/Molly Holly) def William Regal (c) in 4:59- After the longish backstage promo Regal takes a mic again after intros. He's a bit cross he's not exactly getting a warm home country welcome. I remember when WWF got Vinnie Jones in for a UK PPV a couple of years prior, he'd be so perfect for a run in right now. After a bit Crash jumps from behind and we're on. Flying headscissors and dropkick from Crash. Regal tosses Crash shoulder first into the corner and hits a powerbomb for 2. Wave! European uppercut. Back elbow and another wave. Tazz tries to say Regal's in "fine fickle". He means fettle. Don't try to speak British if you're from Brooklyn. Crash fights out of a chinlock and gets a nice cradle counter to a hiptoss attempt for 2. Regal puts him back down with a straight kick. Kneedrop for 2. Another European uppercut. Straight lefts in the corner. Back suplex for 2. Another Regal chinlock with some rope leverage game playing. Crash ducks another uppercut into a backslide for 2. Flash roll up for 2. Flying back elbow for 2. Hurricanarana from Crash for 2. Crash tries to float over in the corner but Regal straight drops him. The ref counts 3, but Crash had a foot on the rope. Molly protests to the ref, then sneaks behind Regal and hits a missile dropkick! Crash covers and gets the pin while Chimel was announcing Regal as the winner! Regal stomps Crash down, takes the belt and leaves, apparently oblivious the match was restarted and he was pinned. Crash's win would stand and he did go into the record books as a European champion, albeit a short lived one. Regal would settle any controversy by defeating Crash on the next Raw. Decentish match, but I would have played more into the "Regal can't focus because the crowd is bothering him" angle than doing the swervy finish. **

Angle begs Chris Benoit for some help tonight.

 

WWF Intercontinental Champion "The One" Billy Gunn and Chyna def Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero in 7:26- Gunn recently defeated Guerrero for the IC title on Smackdown, his one and only run with the belt as part of yet another futile, and short, attempt at a Billy Gunn singles push. Chyna's in some really different gear tonight. Almost like she accidentally left her regular gear at home. Guerrero jumps Gunn before the bell. Guerrero flips out of a tiltawhirl attempt and hits a basement dropkick. He works on Gunn's knee a bit. More speed and this time Gunn gets the tiltawhirl slam. While Gunn's arguing with ref Teddy Long about a corner break Guerrero slowly sneaks behind Gunn. Gunn turns around and Guerrero begs off, then offers a handshake. Gunn takes it, then levels Guerrero with a clothesline. Malenko runs in and it's EVERYONE IN THE POOL time. Guerrero and Chyna try to work out their former relationship differences with fists. There's some places that encourage that kind of couples therapy. Stereo press slams from the faces and the Radicalz powder. Malenko gets in the ring with Chyna while Guerrero and Gunn fight on the floor. Hiptoss and clothesline from Chyna for 2. She counters a cloverleaf attempt into a small package for 2. Handspring elbow. Guerrero trips Chyna from the floor. Somehow that was all it took to kill her momentum. Guerrero beats Chyna down in the Radicalz' corner. Double elbow on Chyna for 2. Malenko hooks on a front facelock. Gee, I wonder what's coming. No, they flip the script. Instead of the phantom tag spot Chyna sunset flips Malenko, causing everyone else to run in. The Radicalz double up on Chyna while Long gets Gunn out. Same result, different path. While Malenko is floating over in the corner Chyna puts her foot up and he gets low blowed. DDT from Chyna. Tag to Gunn and we're quickly donnybrooking again. Gunn double clotheslines both Radicalz. Powerslam on Malenko for 2. Jackhammer from Gunn. Fameasser. Guerrero breaks the pin up! Chyna tosses him out again. Sleeper neckbreaker from Gunn on Malenko and that gets the pin. *3/4

 

Kane def Chris Jericho in 8:06- A reminder that this feud started over a spilled cup of coffee. After a standard fare promo Jericho charges in and attacks. Kane weathers the storm and hits a big boot. Jericho dodges an elbow drop and hits a dropkick, then Cactus clotheslines Kane to the floor. The springboard dropkick hits. Jericho tries a crossbody off the top but gets caught and powerslammed for 2. Faceplant backdrop from Kane. He hangs Jericho on his back and stretches him out. Jericho uses the corner to flip over and gets a small package for 2. Kane quickly gets back on offense and goes into slow punchy chokey mode. Side suplex. Kane goes up top. Jericho crotches him and also goes up. Kane fights him off and comes off the top into a dropkick counter. Would have been more impressive if they hadn't done the exact same thing their last match at Survivor Series. Jericho has a comeback flurry and hits an enzuguri. Missile dropkick for 2. Kane goes for what looks like a snake eyes. Jericho slips out and pushes Kane into the corner into a roll up for 2. Walls attempt! Kane fights and Jericho can't turn him over. Goozle! Jericho kicks free and hits a bulldog. Lionsault! Into Kane's knees! He didn't even get his knees up, that was into his knees. Chokeslam and it's over. Meh. This is a textbook wheel spinning feud that didn't do either guy any favors. **1/4

As Kane's leaving Jericho attacks him from behind with a chair! We get a Tony Garea sighting as the refs try to get Jericho away. He hooks on the Walls on the stage! Kane taps. Jericho lets go and leaves.

Trish tries to mouth off at Lita backstage and gets a drink in the face. Lita knocks her around backstage and pulls her top off. No one's complaining. They continue fighting into Ivory's locker room, who's also in her bra. That's less good. Better than Mae Young though.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: Right to Censor (c) (w/Val Venus) def The Hardy Boyz in 8:08- Tazz tries "rocketbuster" again. Still going nowhere pal. After intros the Hardyz get up on the ropes to pose and let the RTC jump them from behind. They maneuver around to get the RTC on the floor and hit stereo planchas! Now we finish posing. Buchanan loses his tie and untucks his shirt. That has to be a violation of RTC bylaws. We settle back in with Buchanan knocking Jeff around. Jeff tries a couple of flash moves that don't work but manages to get a flying headscissors. Goodfather MURDERS Jeff from the apron with a clothesline. I'll say it again, in this period Jeff was the best there was at taking a beating since Ricky Morton. Jeff stays in peril as the RTC quick tag him. He and Buchanan have a collision in the middle of the ring that Buchanan didn't seem to know was coming. Matt also blind tagged himself in and takes it to Buchanan, who looked so beyond lost there. Matt hooks up for the Twist of Fate. Venus gets on the apron to distract ref Teddy Long. Goodfather comes in with a tag belt, but takes Buchanan out! Legdrop off the second rope from Matt. Goodfather pulls Matt out of the pin and whips him into the post. Matt gets double teamed in the RTC corner. Goodfather works on Matt's arm for a bit, then everyone forgets about it. Matt manages to get a DDT counter. Matt leaps for a tag but Goodfather catches him to just cut him off. Matt dodges the no more hos train, which was in the RTC corner and also takes out Buchanan. Tag to Jeff. Shotgun dropkick. Buchanan comes in for more double teaming. Jeff springboard moonsault on both of them! Everyone in. Poetry in Motion hits on both RTC guys. Jeff low blow legdrop. Matt hits the Twist of Fate on Goodfather! Jeff swanton bomb! Long's distracted in the corner, allowing Venus to hit a Money Shot on Jeff. Goodfather covers and gets the win. The RTC might be the hot heel gimmick of the moment, at least among the decision makers backstage, but they're quickly outliving what little usefulness they ever had in the ring. *1/2

E&C use Christian's hurt ribs from going through a table earlier as an excuse to not help Angle tonight. At least the excuse is plausible this time. Elsewhere, Taker is walking. He turns a corner and there's Benoit. The other Radicalz jump Taker from behind! They all attack Taker's knee.

 

The Undertaker def Chris Benoit in 12:18- Kind of amazing, this is the only PPV match and only one on one match Benoit and Taker ever had. Taker's music hits but no one comes out. Benoit takes the mic, says the American Bad Ass left his ass in America, and demands a forfeit. The music hits again. Still nothing. Chimel starts to declare Benoit the winner. Music hit #3 and Taker limps his way down the ramp. I'm relieved he left the Godfather's gold pants he wore at Survivor Series in the US, those just looked wrong on him. As soon as Taker hits the ring Benoit attacks the knee. He drapes Taker's leg over the middle rope and goes nuts on it. Taker tries to slug back. Benoit runs into a back elbow and a boot up in the corner. Gorilla press from Taker! Not a usual move from him. He pounds Benoit in the corner while still selling the knee. Benoit kicks back on the knee but Taker shrugs it off. Old school hits with Taker still fighting the knee after. Benoit drags Taker down from the floor in the corner but Taker pulls him into the post with his legs. As Taker's getting back in Benoit tackles him back to the floor. Dive off the apron. Taker catches him and posts his back. Cover back in for 2. Taker continues to stay focused on Benoit's back. Bear hug! Another not typical move from Taker. Benoit headbutts out but runs into a big boot for 2. Taker tiltawhirl scoops Benoit up. Benoit wiggles free and basement dropkick's Taker's knee, then goes back to trying to pick the knee apart. Benoit wraps up a step over toe hold and gets a couple of near falls off it. Taker hits some gut shots and starts to slug back until he takes another dropkick in the knee. Another step over toe hold. Taker counters free and plants Benoit's knee on the mat! Benoit does a kind of enzuguri on Taker's bad knee to get him back down. This time he puts on the full figure four! I've been waiting for that. More near falls. Taker fights and reverses it. Benoit crawls over for a rope break. Slugfest that Taker wins. Benoit ducks a punch and hits a back suplex, then gets back on the knee. He goes up top. Diving headbutt into the knee! He goes for the figure four again. Taker wraps up a Paul Smackage to get the shock win! Classic finish, I love it. It's a shame these two never had a shot on a regular PPV. This wasn't anything like a blowaway great match, but they had a solid game plan and good chemistry and likely a much better match in them. Bonus points for that finish too. ***

 

Fatal Four Way Match for the WWF Championship: Kurt Angle (c) def The Rock, Rikishi and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in 8:51- Never a good sign for your title reign when you're the champ and come out second out of four guys. Rock gets a big pop. Austin's just about blows the roof off the damn place. Austin's in and it's on, Austin with Angle in the ring while Rock and Rikishi go to the floor. Austin hits a spinebuster on Angle for 2. Suplex for 2. Rikshi trips Austin from the floor so Austin slugs away on him. Rock gives Angle a Samoan drop for 2. He momentum tosses Angle out to the floor. While Angle's still in the air Rikishi transfers into the ring. Rock and Austin pound away on him. Angle tries to sneak away while that's happening. Rock sees and charges him down on the ramp. Austin Thesz Press on Rikishi. Elbow drop for 2. Rock rolls Angle back in the ring and Austin Thesz Presses him! Angle and Austin go back to the floor while Rock slugs on Rikishi in the ring. Austin chokes Angle with a TV cable. Rikishi gets Rock in the corner and gives him an avalanche. Rock's in position. Rikishi goes for a stinkface but Rock pushes him away. Spinebuster! Pad off! People's Elbow! Angle breaks the pin up! Angle covers Rikishi! Austin breaks that up. Now AUSTIN covers Rikishi and Rikishi kicks out. For the first time in the match the heels take the edge. Austin and Rock drags themselves up and slug back. The heels are tossed out. Rock and Austin are in the ring alone. They realize this and stare down. Here they go! Kind of Hogan and Warrior facing off in the '90 Rumble vibes. Austin hits the Stunner! With a classic insane Rock oversell. Angle breaks the pin up. Rikishi legdrops Angle while trying to cover Rock! Rikishi covers and Rock kicks out. Angle and Rikishi try to double up on Austin but Austin clotheslines them both. Mudhole stomps on Angle. But Rock's waiting behind him. Rock Bottom on Austin! Rikishi pulls Hebner out of the ring just before 3! Angle Slam on Rock! Hebner's still on the floor. By the time he gets back Rock kicks out! Austin rolls Angle up for 2. Here come Edge and Christian. Austin quickly fights them off. Rock Bottom on Rikishi! Edge just barely gets in the ring in time to grabs Rock's foot to break the pin up. Now the Radicalz are out. Stunner on Rikishi! The Radiclaz drag Austin off. Angle Slam on Rikishi! Rock and Austin are still fighting on the floor and Angle gets the pin! And quickly gets the hell out of town. Fun, if short, house show style four way main event. ***1/2

Austin and Rock fight the Radicalz off, with Benoit and Guerrero both coming back for seconds, to send the crowd home happy. Austin and Rock argue a bit. Rock starts to leave but Austin brings him back in to plead his case. Then Austin says fuck it, let's have a beer. Rock thinks about it then joins in. That war is coming, but not today.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Another fairly fun UK house show on PPV. After a big rough patch near the start of them they've settled into a decent groove for these shows. JR and Tazz sounded like they were having fun with each other on commentary their first time out, which always helps.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+

World War 3 '98

Legacy Review

World War 3 '98

November 22, 1998 from The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, MI

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay

After a four year run this would turn out to be the final World War 3 60 man three ring battle royale. The concept never really took off, mainly due to too many people being involved and it lacked the hook that the Royal Rumble had with surprise entries during the match. The November PPV would become Mayhem starting the next year.

The opening video actually tries to list off every single wrestler that'll be in the big battle royale. They're making more of an effort than I will. Then we get footage of Goldberg arriving in his limo. They want to prove he's in the building since he inexplicably doesn't have a match scheduled tonight. In the open Tony mentions that Hogan is strangely *not* in the building tonight. It's not strange for Hogan to miss a B PPV, but it is strange he's missing a chance to earn a world title shot. Mean Gene forgot his bow tie, which is a weird look.

One more thing before we dive in, it's difficult to pinpoint exact dates for these things and reports conflict based on who's telling them, but multiple sources say this is the first PPV with Kevin Nash officially on WCW's creative team. Based on how things play out here and the shows immediately after I'd say that's likely accurate.

Wrath def Glacier in 8:22- Glacier's getting back on PPV for the first time in exactly a year, and it's right back against one of his old foes from one of '97s biggest Feuds That Will Never End. Wrath has been getting a return from injury undefeated push, mainly thanks to his new finisher the Meltdown (a nod to his WWF days as Adam Bomb). The crowd reactions show the face/heel alignments have swapped since the previous feud, confirmed by Glacier stalling like hell at the start. Lockup and Wrath pushes Glacier right out of the ring. More Glacier stalling on the floor. Wrath no sells some shots and hits a big chop. Glacier powders again. A running knee sends Glacier off the apron into the guardrail. Wrath then whips Glacier over the barricade into the crowd. Chops in the crowd. Clothesline with a 360 sell back in. Mudhole stomps in the corner. It continues to be all Wrath while commentary gushes over all his body parts. Another clothesline for 2, and for some reason Wrath puts his feet on the ropes for leverage. Why? Back to the floor and Wrath chokes Glacier with a TV cable. I've got a lot of questions for whoever laid this match out. Glacier ducks in the corner and gets a hook kick in that Wrath actually sort of sells. Another kick that barely makes contact. An Ice Pick attempt is blocked. The Meltdown hits and we're done here. Complete and total squash. I give it two more months max before this big Wrath push stalls out. 1/4*

Extended Bret Hart video package where he rants about everyone he hates (in WCW) that desperately tries to channel awesome '97 heel Bret Hart but never gets anywhere close.

 

Stevie Ray (w/Vincent) def Konnan by DQ in 6:55- NWO Hollywood vs NWO Wolfpac here. Both guys play to the crowd before locking up. Ray quickly pounds Konnan down in the corner. Konnan pops out with his rolling clothesline. Basement dropkick and Konnan wraps Ray up on the mat with a sort of sitting abdominal stretch. Ray superkick that Konnan clearly blocks half a foot from his face. Clothesline for 2. Konnan gets tossed out and Vincent gets some shots in. Ray kills time with a chinlock. Konnan slowly works his way into a backslide for 2. Another Ray clothesline. Konnan dodges an elbow drop to kick off the comeback. Vincent gets on the apron. Whip reversal and Ray gets hit with the SLAPJACK OF DEATH. Konnan doesn't cover, instead choosing to lay in some extended ground and pound on Ray. He ignores the ref's call to break, and quick trigger ref calls for a DQ. Missed the slapjack shot, DQ's over some punches. Sheesh. Booker T, back from injury, runs in and backs Konnan off. Booker helps his brother up, but Ray shoves him off, says he doesn't need his help, and walks away. If you told someone "Stevie Ray vs Konnan" and nothing else this would be pretty much what they'd expect, with the added bonus of a stupid shit finish. DUD

 

Ernest "The Cat" Miller and Sonny Onoo def Perry Saturn and Kaz Hayashi in 8:04- It's a borderline miracle Saturn isn't wrestling ex-Flock members anymore. I have no idea what the story is here and why manager Oono is in the match but I'm confident in saying it's not worth remembering. From what I can glean from commentary Hayashi was aligned with Miller but turned on him to turn face, and Saturn is the rando not doing anything else he picked up as a tag partner tonight. Works for me. Oono and Miller have their own karate entourage with them but they thankfully never become involved in the match. Miller and Hayashi start. Miller does his stupid "you have five seconds to leave before I beat your ass" thing. Saturn swaps in while Miller's back is turned. Miller turns around into a Saturn punch and quickly bails. Hayashi tags in and wants Oono. Oono still has sunglasses and a towel on while on the apron. He doesn't want to get in. Hayashi says screw it and attacks Miller. Miller hits a slam and celebrates. Back kick from Miller. Another slam and now Oono tags in, still with sunglasses on. He lays in some kicks that Hayashi no sells. Oono pulls some money out and offers it to Hayashi. Hayashi kicks it out of his hands. Oono crawls through Hayashi's legs and tags out. Miller kicks Hayashi back into his corner and he tags Saturn in. Chops and half and half suplex from Saturn. Miller does some more heel punchy kicky stuff and acts like it's something amazing. His sweep kick underneath a Saturn high kick attempt wasn't bad, I'll give him that one. Miller tags Oono. Oono wants nothing to do with Saturn. Miller forces him in. Oono hits one kick and tags back out! Miller refuses to get in so I guess it's no tag. Oono walks into a Saturn STF. Now Miller gets in. Guess it was a tag. Double dropkick on Miller from the faces. Miller begs off to give Hayashi an eye rake. Oono gets a bunch more kicks in on Hayashi. Commentary has no idea who's supposed to be legal on the heel team as Miller kicks Hayashi from the apron. Hayashi jawbreakers Miller and tags out. Saturn snap suplex on Miller. Hayashi tags right back in and immediately ends up in the heel corner again. Even commentary says that was a dumb move to tag back in so quickly. Hayashi rolls away from Oono fist drops and tags Saturn. Oono begs off. Miller tries to come from behind but takes a belly to belly suplex. Saturn grabs Oono. Miller hits Saturn with a roundhouse kick to the face, Oono falls on top of him, and gets the pin. Freaking hell what a mess. DUD

We're off to a rocking start tonight, folks. I don't think this will break WCW's recent streak of bad PPVs.

Mean Gene stops Juvy during his entrance for the next match to check out the shirt he's wearing as a cape and sees it's an LWO shirt! LWO leader Eddie Guerrero comes out and says Juvy has seen the light and joined the group. Rey Mysterio, also an LWO member, then comes out pissed off thinking this is the reason Juvy got a title shot instead of him. Eddie asks Mysterio if he has a family and kids, Mysterio says he does, and Eddie says sometimes you make sacrifices for them. He tells Mysterio this is what's best for the LWO family. Mysterio still isn't convinced and leaves in a huff.

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Kidman def Juventud Guerrera (c) in 15:27- Juvy defeated Kidman for the title on the last Nitro, the third title swap between these two since August. The crowd isn't sure what to make of Juvy after that last bit. Some basic back and forth to start. Juvy bragging over a shoulderblock leads to some slugfest. Fameasser from Juvy. He's definitely trying to heel it up with the crowd. Juvy dodges Kidman in the corner and gets a flying headscissors, but then runs into a Kidman spinebuster. Slam and slingshot legdrop from Kidman for 2. Counter roll up from Juvy for 2. Alabama slam and elbow drop for 2. Kidman reverses a corner whip with Juvy doing a Bret bump and Kidman follows up with a clothesline. Top rope fight. Juvy fights Kidman off. He goes for a tornado DDT. Kidman blocks it so Juvy snaps him over the top rope instead. Juvy tries coming off the top rope but Kidman dropkicks him in midair for 2. Kidman tosses Juvy out. Plancha! Juvy goes up top and flying headscissors Kidman off the apron to the floor! Slow cover back in for 2. Juvy hits a brain buster for 2. Basement dropkick. Springboard missile dropkick and Kidman goes to the floor again. Juvy kinda weak springboard dive to the floor. They were on the wrong side to do too much. Slingshot legdrop back in from Juvy for 2. Juvy tosses Kidman into an adjacent ring. He DOUBLE springboards into a dropkick! He damn near slipped off the second rope but managed to keep it together just enough. Pop up dropkick from Kidman. He hits a back suplex for 2. Juvy dodges a wild corner dive. Inverted atomic drop. He calls for the 450. Juvy starts to climb one side, then decides to walk across to the other corner and Kidman has to follow. Commentary tries to say he was adjusting to Kidman's rolling away but Juvy definitely moved first. Kidman crotches Juvy on the top rope. He uses the ropes to headscissors Juvy back to the middle ring! That's why Juvy had to move. Now Kidman walks across both sets of ropes into a crossbody for a LONG 2. Juvy backdrops Kidman over the top rope and he lands gut first on the adjacent ring's top rope! Juvy walks across the ropes into a hurricanrana off the top. Kidman kicks out at ONE! Juvy calls for the Juvy driver. Kidman counters, Juvy recounters and hits the driver! Juvy takes forever to get up then doesn't cover. He drags Kidman to the corner. He goes for the 450, sees Kidman dodging and lands on his feet. Hurricanrana with a cradle from Juvy for another very long 2 that I'm not sure Kidman really kicked out of or not. Juvy let go before 3 as much as Kidman kicked out. Juvy argues with Lil' Naitch and even slaps him a little. Kidman counters a powerbomb into a faceplant for 2. Wheelbarrow German from Kidman! He drags Juvy into the corner. Kidman goes up top for the SSP but gets crotched. Mysterio sneaks behind while Juvy positions on the top. Mysterio grabs Kidman's pants to keep Juvy from hurricanranaing him! Shooting star press! Kidman gets the pin and wins the title back! The first half of the match was a bit disjointed due to Juvy trying to play heel now but they got rolling good like they know how in the second half and using all three rings was a nice touch. ***1/4

The entire LWO comes out to see what the hell's going on. Man, I don't remember there being this many in the group. They always did keep a lot of Mexican wrestlers on the roster though. Pissed Eddie gets a mic and tells Mysterio either you're in or you're out, tell me now. Mysterio tears off his LWO shirt and throws it in Eddie's face! He runs away as the whole LWO chase him to the back. See, if Mysterio had just learned to sacrifice for the sake of family a bit better in these early days maybe Dom wouldn't have turned out so bad. Eddie tried to teach him. Multiple times.

The next scheduled match is, once again, Rick Steiner vs Scott Steiner. This match has become Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown. Scott makes his entrance with his platonic partner Buff Bagwell, in one of his silly hats, and also some goof in a ref shirt that also has a whistle and is wearing a ref beanie that I guess Scott's hired to ref this match that somehow got WCW's permission. Rick's music hits and no Rick. We cut to the back and the rest of NWO Hollywood are beating him down. Giant drags Rick to the ring and Scott and Bagwell do a two on one beatdown on him with the ref goof hopping around and blowing his whistle. Rick gets some shots back on Scott. The ref pulls him off and Scott low blows him. The beatdown on Rick continues and I wonder why the hell this is still going on. This ref guy somehow is managing to be even more annoying than Bagwell. That's a hell of an accomplishment. Finally GOLDBERG runs in to make the save! Scott gives him a middle finger! Goldberg spear! He hooks up for the jackhammer. Bagwell hits him with a chair from behind. Bad move, dumbass. The ref leaps on Goldberg's back and tries to choke him. Goldberg easily fights him off, presses him and tosses him into the adjacent ring. Rick and Goldberg hug and end scene. If this was at the start of the feud this might have been OK, but it's been MONTHS of this shit. Any way to try to avoid Rick and Scott having a proper one on one match they've taken. Yes they got one in at Halloween Havoc but it was so interference filled it barely counts. The only positive thing about this is it would be the last time they'd try to fool us that this match might actually happen. And it showed that Scott vs Goldberg is a potential money match.

Didn't like the last bait and switch "match"? Well here's another one. NWO Hollywood's music hits again and Scott Hall comes out. He's scheduled to take on former Outsiders partner and NWO Wolfpac leader Kevin Nash again, a rematch from Halloween Havoc where Nash had the match won but walked away and took a countout loss for no discernible reason instead. He's got all of NWO Hollywood with him. After they all get in the ring Eric Bischoff comes out. He and Hall had been butting heads lately. Bischoff says it's survey time, and survey says.....GET HIM! NWO Hollywood attack Hall! Nash runs out to save his buddy. He clears the ring out with Hall's help until they're the last two in the ring. The crowd chants "Outsiders". Nash and Hall look at each other. Hall puts up a too sweet. Nash thinks about it, shakes his head, and walks away. Hall's a sad red nosed puppy. Seriously, how much did he drink before the show? This was the first real sign the NWO civil war was starting to peter out.

 

WCW World Television Championship: Chris Jericho (c) (w/Ralphus) def Bobby Duncum Jr in 13:22- Duncum had just made his WCW debut the week prior and defeated Jericho by countout, signalling the potential for a big introductory push. He didn't exactly have a huge pedigree, having spent time in GWF, ECW and All Japan but never doing much of note. He's got a look that's kind of a cross between Barry Windham, Stan Hansen and Magnum TA. His dad was also a wrestler, a longtime territory heel in the '70s and '80s and was even part of the early Heenan Family in the AWA. That lets Heenan gush about Duncum Sr from the booth. Jericho has some fantastic maroon red tights for this match. Lockup and Duncum gets a slap in. Another lockup and Duncum tosses Jericho out, where he takes solace in the large folds of Ralphus. Standing switches and Jericho gets a leg takedown. He rolls Duncum into a bow and arrow. Another stalemate reset. This feels like an '80s match, but not in a good way. Jericho tries to flippydo out of an arm wringer but Duncum takes him out with a clothesline. Apron suplex from Duncum. Jericho jawbreakers out of a chinlock. Kick exchange that Duncum wins. He straight up tackles Jericho into the ropes. Jericho gets tossed to the floor. Duncum grabs his bullrope, decides he'd rather not, then pushes Jericho over the guardrail. Jericho diving clothesline off the guardrail! Missile dropkick from Jericho back in for 2. Duncum lifts chinlocking Jericho on his back and drops him on the top turnbuckle. Shoulderbreaker from Duncum for 2. He starts working on Jericho's arm and tries a cross armbreaker. Jericho locks his fingers and gets to the ropes. Jericho gets a hot shot. Springboard dropkick! Jericho gives Duncum some shots on the floor and runs him into the stairs. Arrogant cover! Jericho hooks on a front facelock that's barely on the face. Duncum pops out of the corner with a clothesline for 2. Jericho hits some chops in the corner that wake Duncum up. He responds with his own chops. Faceplant and clothesline on Jericho for 2. Duncum blocks a sunset flip and spinebusters Jericho for 2. Clothesline from Jericho. Quick Lionsault! That gets a 2 count. Senton. I like the "Jericho 4, Goldberg 0" sign someone has. Facts are facts. Duncum hits a superplex for 2. Roll up from Jericho into a Liontamer attempt! Duncum is able to fight him off and flat *plants* Jericho in the corner. Vader bomb elbow drop for 2. He lifts Jericho up. Ralphus grabs Duncum's foot, causing Duncum to drop Jericho on the top rope and down to the apron. I'm not sure Ralphus did Jericho any favors there. He was always a bit thick. Duncum grabs Ralphus but has a hard time lifting all of Ralphus' girth up. Jericho comes from behind, nails Duncum with the belt, and gets the pin. Man, that was as unmotivated as I've ever seen Jericho outside his recent elder years. Duncum did not look ready for prime time either. He'd be depushed pretty quickly before the West Texas Rednecks came together in early '99. **

 

World War 3 Battle Royale- First time the WW3 match doesn't main event the show. As in previous years the winner of this match will earn a World title shot, and this year it will take place at Starrcade. An added rule this year like other battle royales WCW has had this year is you can be eliminated by pin or submission as well getting tossed out of the ring, over the top rope or not. Good luck with that with so many guys in the rings. It never happens anyway. As always I'm not going to list everyone in this thing, it's the whole damn roster and there's no notable ringers that have been brought in this year. As usual with so many guys and the total chaos that brings I'll just skim the match until we get down to the final 10. For the first time ever there's a counter on the screen to show how many guys are left. An overdue idea, but I'm dubious how well it'll work. Things get going a little quicker this year, thanks to Kevin Nash almost singlehandedly clearing out his entire ring, tossing over a dozen guys himself in a serious Superman run. Did I mention that Nash is on the creative team now? Just thought I'd bring it up again. No reason. After that things bog down again like usual. I like how Giant gently sets Alex Wright on the apron and commentary is amazed that Wright "held on" to keep from being eliminated. Everyone left in Giant's ring try to gang up on him but he fights them off. When it gets down to 20 the bell rings and everyone is told to go to the center ring. They're sticking to that better than previous years. Giant eliminates a bunch of guys then tosses Kidman on top of them. Nash and Hall team up to pound away on Giant to the delight of the crowd. Slowly we get down to 10: Nash, Hall, Giant, Lex Luger, Chris Benoit, Wrath, Booker T, Konnan, Dean Malenko and Scott Steiner. Bam Bam Bigelow comes in through the crowd! Everyone gangs up to get him out of the ring and security come out to get rid of him. Goldberg runs in and attacks Bigelow! There's a massive scrum of Bigelow, Goldberg and about 20 security guys. While that's happening the counter went from 10 to 8. Commentary says it was Wrath and Steiner eliminated. Heenan then praises the camera work. The camera work that completely missed those two eliminations? Security is still dragging Bigelow away. Booker gets eliminated, again missed by the cameras. Everything stops again as those remaining break up into their respective groups: three Wolfpac, two Horsemen, and Giant and Hall. You'd think Hall would be a little more peeved at Giant after his Hollywood excommunication earlier. Or maybe he drunk enough in between he doesn't remember it now. Hall ducks and Konnan pretty much eliminates himself. Nash calls for everything to stop again. He wants everyone to gang up on Giant. They do and, despite Giant's best efforts, dump him. The crowd was happy about that. Five left. Luger finally takes his shirt off. Guess he's serious now. Luger and Nash eliminate Benoit. Hall tosses Malenko. It's down to Nash, Luger and Hall. The Wolfpac guys try to corner Hall....until Nash hits Luger right before Hall attacks. No alliances here. Luger puts both Nash and Hall down with the formerly steel plated forearm. Torture Rack attempt on Hall. Nash charges from behind and knocks both of them out! Nash wins and will get the title shot! He's never gotten a real World title shot in WCW yet so it's not a horrible pick, even taking his role in booking into account. The match overall was a pretty typical WCW battle royale, as in nothing special at all. It's not the *worst* World War 3 match at least. 3/4*

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Diamond Dallas Page (c) def Bret "Hitman" Hart in 18:31- After coming oh so close to dethroning Goldberg at Halloween Havoc DDP turned his attention to the US Title, defeating Bret for the title on Nitro. As I mentioned in my Halloween Havoc review, I would have had DDP win WW3 to get a rematch and then be the one to take Goldberg down at Starrcade because the crowd was clearly wanting it. DDP comes in with the belt on upside down. If this was Bret Hart from just a year or two prior this would have the potential to be a classic, but a year into WCW it's clear Bret is mentally broken from what happened in Montreal and would never be the same again. Bret tries to stall on the floor so DDP kicks things off with a plancha! Guardrail shots for Bret. Slugfest back in that DDP wins. He tosses Bret out again and we get some more ringside knockaround before switching rings. Bret snaps DDP over the top rope. Elbow to the back of the head. DDT from Bret for 2. DDP blocks a suplex into a small package for 2. Bret does some more heel WCW punchy chokey stuff and hooks on a chinlock. DDP blocks a hiptoss and hits a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Bret quickly escapes from a Diamond Cutter attempt. DDP goes for a baseball slide. Bret kinda dodges, eye rakes DDP and gives him a stair shot. Inverted atomic drop and clothesline back in. Russian leg sweep. Bret scoops for a tombstone. DDP reverses and hits it for 2. Backbreaker from Bret, followed by the snap legdrop for 2. Gut headbutt. European uppercuts. Whip reversal and soft Bret bump. DDP grabs a waistlock. Bret tries to fight it but DDP hits a belly to belly suplex. Discus clothesline and front piledriver from DDP. Bret ducks a clothesline and slow motion Cactus clotheslines DDP out to the floor. Bret gets something out of his tights. DDP comes in with a tackle off the top rope for 2. The international knucks fall off and Lil' Naitch picks them up. DDP gets Bret down and hooks on his own Sharpshooter! Or at least tries to. Still better than Rock's though. Bret gets to the ropes. DDP limps around a little bit. Bret straight low blows DDP to get free in the corner. Come on Naitch. Gut stomp. Bret starts working on DDP's knee, which commentary reminds us Bret had previously injured. Post shot for the knee. Post wraparound figure four! A Bret Hart staple. After some more softening up Bret hooks on the figure four proper in the ring. With some extra rope leverage that Naitch quickly catches. The knee work continues. DDP uses that to push Bret over the top to the floor. Another stairs shot for Bret. DDP put on the post wraparound figure four! After he figures out which side goes where. DDP gets a chair and brings it into the ring. Naitch grabs it away and Bret pushes both DDP and Naitch down. Bret gets the knucks back. Oh hell, that freaking goon with the ref gear from the Steiners thing is back in trying to take the chair away. After DDP gets rid of him Bret waffles DDP with the knucks. Sharpshooter on. The NWO ref calls a submission and THE FREAKING BELL RINGS?! For frak's sake there is no way this guy is an official ref. Fire that damn timekeeper. A proper ref runs in takes the belt away from Bret. Diamond Cutter! Naitch counts 3! Mostly OK match with a way overcooked ending. Bret would stay on DDP and defeat him to win the title back on Nitro a week later. **1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The run of crap PPVs continues. Only one borderline good match, several duds, and if that wasn't bad enough they pulled a full bait and switch on not one but two previously booked matches, and not minor ones either.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+

Survivor Series 2000

Legacy Review

Survivor Series 2000

November 19, 2000 from the Ice Palace in Tampa, FL

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

The big news going into tonight is, exactly one year after the attack, Triple H has admitted that he is the one that paid Rikishi to run Steve Austin over at least year's Survivor Series to try to protect his WWF Championship. Presumably losing said title to Big Show later that night was all part of the plan. Turning on Austin to do the reveal also cut Trips' burgeoning face run short, but there really wasn't room for him on that side of the aisle. As long term reveals go it's one of the worst ones, Austin himself has called it the worst angle he was ever involved in and that's from someone that spent years in WCW, but it does get the ball rolling on the Austin/Trips story so in that it's not *completely* useless.

WWF Hardcore Champion Steve Blackman, Crash Holly and Molly Holly def T&A and Trish Stratus in 5:06- Molly had just made her WWF debut a couple of weeks prior and is being billed as yet another Holly cousin. Nothing but cousins in that family apparently. T&A all come out wearing APA shirts to remind us they're responsible for knocking the APA out of action. This is "Chyna rules", meaning anyone can wrestle anyone else regardless of gender. Blackman and Albert start with some spunky back and forth. Blackman gets his sweep kick in. Albert catches Crash coming off the top rope but Blackman dropkicks him down into a 2 count for Crash. Albert murders Crash with a clothesline. A double team attempt goes awry as Trish kicks Albert in the little A-Trains. Molly tags in and Trish bails. Chase around the ring and Trish tags Test coming back in. Molly quickly backtracks and tags Crash. Crash hurricanrana for 2. Test gets a big boot. Double faceplant from T&A. Test goes for a pumphandle slam. Crash escapes and pushes Test into Albert. Trish tags herself in, much to Test's dismay. She goes for an elbow drop but Crash dodges it. Tag to Molly. Hiptoss and slam on Trish. Molly drops some elbows. Chops. Test pulls Molly down by the hair from the apron. Molly recovers to suplex Trish and tags Blackman. Or not, ref Teddy Long supposed tag team expert didn't see the tag. They did a good job not making that obvious. Trish works Molly over. Albert tags in and presses Molly. Crash and Blackman run in to save her. DONNYBROOK! The guys quickly take their fight to the floor while the women stay in the ring. After some maneuvering Trish hits Molly with a bulldog off the top rope for 2. Molly goes up top, hits a sunset flip, and that gets the pin. Nothing hugely special but it had energy throughout with no dead spots. **

WWF Champ Kurt Angle asks his buddies Edge and Christian if they're OK in these warmer climes, then checks to see if they're available for some help tonight. E&C back out by claiming Christian got mono from some bad chili. Angle's not worried because he has Taker's number anyway. Meanwhile, earlier tonight on Heat Lo Down and Tiger Ali Singh were denied access to the arena because they weren't on the list. Yeah, I'd keep Singh out any way possible too.

 

Survivor Series Match: The Radicalz (w/Terri) def "The One" Billy Gunn, Chyna, Road Dogg and K-Kwik in 12:41- After coming into the WWF together just after the Rumble, then feuding with each other and splitting off, the Radicalz are now back together. Quite the ride for them this year. They're also now working as Triple H's cronies. Eddie Guerrero is still the Intercontinental champ, while Dean Malenko continues to tote around the virtually ignored Light Heavyweight belt. On the other side, even though they're all teaming together all traces of DX have mercifully finally been erased. We wouldn't see it again until the first Triple H/Shawn Michaels DX reunion tour in 2006. K-Kwik, who you might know today as R-Truth, had spent about a year in the short lived WWF developmental territory Memphis Championship Wrestling and had just made his main roster debut, forming a new tag team with Road Dogg. With that move, Dogg has transitioned from country to rap. And finally, with a renewed Billy Gunn singles push we get a new Billy Gunn gimmick. Out is Mr. Ass, in is The One. Spoiler: it won't help. I like the Radicalz' coordinated black and yellow gear. Saturn and Gunn start. Lockup! Saturn pounds Gunn down in the corner. Gunn responds with a clothesline. Gunn/Chyna double suplex. Chyna hits some forearms. Powerslam for 2. Flapjack. She goes for the handspring elbow. Saturn catches her and goes for a suplex. Chyna low blows to get free. She goes over and pops her ex Guerrero off the apron just because. DDT on Saturn. The pin breakup leads to everyone running in. In the confusion Guerrero nails Chyna with the IC title belt, Saturn covers and Chyna is gone. Dogg comes in, gives Saturn a weak ass slam and covers for 2. He really can't be bothered anymore. Saturn hits a back suplex. Guerrero comes in with a slingshot senton. Dogg gets trapped in the wrong corner. Guerrero hits a basement dropkick to cut off the dancing jabs. The Radicalz work on Dogg's knee for a bit. Dogg gets a superplex on Guerrero and tags Gunn. Gunn quickly also gets trapped in the heel corner but manages to fight his way out. Press slam on Guerrero. Sleeper/reverse neckbreaker from Gunn and he eliminates Guerrero. Gunn gets Malenko up in a press but Saturn clips his knee. Kwik tags in. He goes right into dodge mode, bouncing and flipping all over the ring. He really could move in his younger days. He and Malenko lose their place for a second before Kwik hits a leg lariat. Flying headscissors and Japanese armdrag. Benoit plants Kwik with a German suplex and gets a pin, ending the K-Kwik highlight tape. Dogg comes in and again quickly goes in peril. Saturn hits a northern lights suplex for a pin and Dogg is eliminated. It's Gunn vs 3 now. Gunn tries to fight all three guys but the numbers are too much for him. After a bit he hits a fameasser outta nowhere on Malenko and pins him. Jackhammer from Gunn on Saturn. Benoit breaks the pin up. Benoit's headbutt off the top rope hits. Gunn kicks out! Benoit's furious. Gunn gets a back elbow. He lifts Benoit up for a suplex, but Saturn grabs his foot from the floor and we get the Wrestlemania 5 finish to end it. I'm pleasantly surprised, I figured a Gunn's singles push would mean he'd buzzsaw through all three guys. Perfectly solid and average Survivor Series match. SURVIVORS: Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn **1/2

 

Kane def Chris Jericho in 12:35- This all started because, I kid you not, Jericho accidentally spilled some coffee on Kane. He should be used to hot things on him. After that it became Kane got jealous of Jericho's good looks because of his hideous scars that no one could ever see. Quick slugfest to start with Kane getting the upper hand. Jericho does a dropkick that barely brushes Kane in the chest and Kane goes 360 to the floor. Baseball slide from Jericho. Jericho goes for a running dive, but gets himself all tangled up in the ropes and damn near goes down head first on the floor! It's a freaking miracle he didn't. Kane was right there for emergency protection too. Typical ringside brawl follows. Jericho's springboard dropkick kinda hits and Kane kinda sells it. Jericho throws the stairs into Kane. Interesting reversal of the usual. Back in Kane catches Jericho coming off the top and powerslams him for 2. Faceplant and Kane beats Jericho down in the corner. Jericho fights out of a back suplex attempt but a clothesline puts him back down. Big boot from Kane. He hangs Jericho from his back by the mouth, then goes over and takes a top turnbuckle pad off. Jericho fights out of a buckle shot, then Kane blocks it. Goozle and Kane tosses Jericho over the top to the floor. More typical ringside brawl. Kane presses Jericho back in. He goes up top but Jericho crotches him. Kane fights Jericho off the top rope, then comes off. Jericho dropkicks him in midair! He blocks a Kane big boot and gets a leg takedown. Missile dropkick from Jericho for 2. Kane takes a shot into the exposed turnbuckle and Jericho rolls him up for 2. Walls! Kane fights, then gets to the bottom rope. Jericho drags him back to the center. He goes into a weird transition of leg holds on the mat before Kane fights him off. Not sure what that was supposed to be but it was a mess. Bulldog from Jericho. He goes for the Lionsault. Kane has to visibly move over several feet to get in position, but then he goozles Jericho on the landing! Chokeslam! It's done. Very strangely sloppy and disjointed match from two guys normally known for their smoothness in the ring. *3/4

 

WWF European Championship: William Regal (c) def Hardcore Holly by DQ in 5:06- Holly had just made his return after his arm was accidentally legit broken by a wayward Kurt Angle moonsault. He ducks the lockup and slugs away. Regal responds with some European uppercuts. Nice Regal drop toe hold into some mat riding. Regal hiptoss, Holly armdrag and stalemate. Reset lockup. Regal runs Holly's shoulder into the post, then posts Holly's bad arm. He starts picking away on it. Holly tries to counter into a suplex but Regal cranks the arm again. Wave! Cross armbreaker from Regal. Holly slowly inches his way over to the ropes. Regal stomps Holly out of the ring, waves again and struts a little. Top wristlock from Regal back in. Speed run and Holly gets a crossbody for 2, but his arm is still hurt. He gets behind Regal and tries a German suplex. Regal gives him a sneaky style low blow out of the ref's view. He ties Holly in the ropes and pounds away on him. Holly fights free and hits some clotheslines. He tosses Regal over the top to the floor. Holly gets the belt, whacks Regal with it right in front of the ref, and we have a DQ. Holly continues some ground and pound and tosses the ref away before leaving. This never came together and that finish is weak sauce. I guess Holly knew he couldn't win and didn't want his arm broken again/they didn't want Holly to lose so soon after coming back. The crowd didn't give a shit about any of it either. *

In the back clueless Angle lets another attempt by Trish to flirt with him sail right over his head.

 

The Rock def Rikishi in 13:00- This is the big blowoff match for "I did it for the Rock". Rikishi initially claimed all credit for the attack on Austin a year ago, and said he was only trying to help fellow Samoan Rock out. Rock did not at all appreciate that. Rikishi then tried to help Rock in his title match with Angle at No Mercy. Rock lost the title that night and blamed Rikishi for it. Since then Rikishi's been attacking Rock with his HHH appropriated sledgehammer every chance he got. Now you want some crazy history? This is not really their first PPV singles match. Then IC champ Rock, as Rocky Maivia, defended against a masked Rikishi as the Sultan back at Wrestlemania 13. That was the match the Chicago crowd turned hard on plucky rookie babyface Rock and WWF finally realized he wasn't working and needed a course change. On his entrance Rock sprints in like the Ultimate Warrior and it's on! Belly to belly suplex! Rock goes out and gets a chair. Ref Tim White takes it away from him and Rikishi hits a superkick. Rock's comeback is cut off with a back elbow and legdrop. Slow Rikishi beatdown. Another comeback gets killed with a side suplex. Measured stomps from Rikishi. Speed run and Rock momentum tosses Rikishi to the floor. They do the usual ringside knockaround and White ends up getting squashed and going down. Rikishi goes under the ring and gets the sledgehammer. Rock cuts the shot off with a punch. Rock Bottom! Very slow crawl by both Rock and White and Rikishi kicks out. Rock starts laying in the smackdown punches. Rikishi cuts it off with a headbutt. Diving headbutt. Samoan drop from Rikishi. Butt splash for 2. Corner avalanche and Rock is in position. After much moment milking Rikishi gives him a stinkface. Rock pops up with a clothesline that Rikishi 360 sells! Rock ducks a superkick. Spinebuster! Pad off. People's Elbow! Again Rock is slow to cover because of all the damage, but when he does Rikishi still stays down for the 3 count. After the bell Rikishi gives Rock a superkick, hauls him into the corner, and gives him one, two, THREE Banzai drops. Rikishi goes Ken Shamrock and knocks out a couple of refs, starts to leave, then comes back for a fourth Banzai drop because why the hell not. Despite the postmatch attack this was pretty much the end of the ill-fated attempt to try to turn Rikishi into a top heel. He and Rock would cross paths a few more times the next few months but nothing on this level. The match itself was OK but no more, though Rock was again clearly working hard to try to make it all work. **1/2

Commissioner Mick Foley crashes the Triple H/Radicalz locker room to let them know that the Radicalz are banned from ringside in the main event, and that match is now no DQ. Trips is cool with all of it.

 

WWF Women's Championship: Ivory (c) def Lita in 4:55- Ivory defeated Lita for the title in a four way match on Smackdown at the start of the month. She's now with Right to Censor and is in her Scariest Amish Schoolmom Ever phase. Jump start as Lita tosses Ivory around. Hiptoss. After a very poor speed run Lita gets a kick and enzuguri. Counters and Ivory blocks a roll up. Lita clothesline for 2. Ivory gets Lita down in the corner and we see Lita is bleeding bad over her left eye. Commentary thinks one of Ivory's giant platform boots might have busted her open. Ivory legdrop and elbow drop for 2. Northern lights suplex for 2. Lita gets a flying headscissors counter, then hits a standing hurricanrana for 2. We get a replay showing it was actually an accidental straight punch that busted Lita open hardaway. RTC leader Stephen Richards comes out. Ivory gets tossed out right in front of him. Lita goes to the top rope and dives onto both of them! Crossbody off the top back in from Lita for a long 2. She goes up top for the moonsault. Richards pulls Ivory out and Lita splats on the mat. Richards distracts the ref while Ivory gets the belt. Lita ducks the belt shot! She hits a side suplex. Shirt off! She goes for the moonsault again. Ivory puts the belt up as a shield! Cover and Ivory gets the pin. Lita's probably legit loopy after, she's slow to get up and gets help to the back to an ovation from the crowd. The first half was all kinds of slow and sloppy but the stretch run saved it a bit, and it's still sadly by far the best women's match on PPV in a good long while. Lita gushing blood, intended or not, made her look like a badass. *1/4

Kane is walking backstage. Jericho jumps him with a chair! Noisy pipes falling! Jericho uses those and a 2x4 Jim Duggan left lying around as weapons before the officials gaggle drags him off.

 

WWF Championship: Kurt Angle (c) def The Undertaker in 16:55- Kurt Angle is hitting his one year anniversary in WWF and is celebrating, rightly and truly, the greatest rookie year in WWF history to this point (it will be topped in a couple of years by a guy whose name rhymes with Bork Laser). It's mentioned in passing before the match that this is also the 10th anniversary of Taker's WWF debut. This is actually their second PPV match, they had a very underwhelming one back in July at Fully Loaded. Taker's got some weird ass gold pants on tonight. Those look like he swiped them out of Godfather's wardrobe because he's not using them anymore right now being in RTC. Angle stalls forever on the floor before the bell. Taker hops out, gets a chair, and tosses it at Angle's feet. Angle takes it. Hebner gets it away, but Angle takes it back and whacks Taker with it! Bell to start. Angle beats Taker down in the corner, but completely punches himself out and has to back off to catch his breath. Taker easily weathered the storm and slugs away on Angle. Big boot. Legdrop (Hogan combo). Taker covers but pulls Angle up at 2. Too soon. Slam, elbow drop, another cover and again he pulls Angle up at 2. Old school hits. Angle grabs the ropes off a whip and bails. Back in Angle ducks a punch and hits a German suplex for 2. Taker gets 360 clotheslined to the floor. Angle comes off the apron but Taker catches him and posts his back. Back in Angle dodges a boot in the corner and attacks Taker's leg, wrapping it around the rope. Taker tries to slug back but Angle stays on picking the knee apart. Taker gets a takedown into a Fujiwara armbar! Here come Edge and Christian. Good to see Christian got over his mono. Angle's tapping but Edge has Hebner distracted. Christian snaps Taker over the top rope. Taker shakes it off. Goozle on Angle! Angle kicks the leg he's been working on to get free. Leg takedown into a leg scissors. Diving clothesline from Angle for 2 and he wraps the leg up again. After several attempts Taker manages to fight out, but then he decides to hop out to go after E&C. Hebner then goes out to toss E&C out. Taker chokeslam on Angle! Cover but Hebner's still in the aisle. He runs back in but Angle had enough time to kick out. Taker's pissed. Angle comes behind and rolls Taker up for 2. Taker clothesline for 2. Russian leg sweep for 2. Angle gets back on the knee with some apron shots. Figure four! Angle gets some nearfalls before Taker reverses. Angle screams at almost a Ric Flair level and crawls to the ropes. Taker does a nice scoop, swinging Angle from a side suplex position up into a powerslam for 2. Another scoop. Angle wiggles off Taker's shoulder and gets another leg takedown in the corner. Post wraparound figure four! Hi Bret Hart. After Hebner forces a break Taker lays in the rapid fire body shots. He hot shots Angle onto the top turnbuckle for 2. Angle hits a blatant low blow that there's no way Hebner could have missed but JR tries. Angle scoops Taker into Tombstone position. Taker reverses it! Angle fights it, flips over the ropes and onto the apron. Taker punches him off. Angle goes under the ring. Taker grabs his foot and drags him out. Or did he? Last Ride! Taker covers. Hebner stops at 2! What? He seems to be pointing to Angle's face. Angle comes out from under the other side of the ring! Roll up on Taker! Handful of weird ass gold pants and Angle gets the pin! Commentary is flummoxed. The other Angle gets up and we see that he's almost but not quite entirely unlike Angle. It's not mentioned on TV, but it's Angle's younger but larger brother Eric, who was also an amateur wrestler and had just signed into WWF's developmental system. The match was definitely better than their last time out. It was good to see Angle get out of all brawling mode and start to do some more proper wrestling. You can see the pieces slowly being put together for their future classics. Can't back that finish up though, but like this card placement that's pretty much Angle's first title reign in a nutshell. **3/4

Angle runs down the aisle, right past the altar, down the ramp, out the door, straight into his car and tears off.

 

Survivor Series Match: The Dudley Boyz and The Hardy Boyz def WWF Tag Team Champions Right to Censor and Edge & Christian (w/Val Venus) in 10:04- The RTC team of Bull Buchanan and the Goodfather dethroned the Hardyz as tag champs on Raw a couple of weeks prior. Jeff comes out wearing a long sleeve shirt that's practically a sweater and he's clearly favoring one of his arms. He lost to Venus in the preshow match. I'm not sure if it's a legit injury or just selling something from earlier but he gets through the match fine though he definitely has dangly arm a few times. Buchanan and Bubba Ray start with their usual back and forth. D'Von hits his back elbow and tackle. Big boot from Buchanan. D'Von gets caught in the wrong corner and goes in peril. He manages to hit Christian with a reverse DDT. Edge and Matt tag in. Matt takes all the heel team out. Neckbreaker on Edge for 2. EVERYONE IN THE POOL! The face team hits a chained quadruple DDT. The Hardyz shirts are off and they have Dudleyz camo shirts on under! Proper teammates. They hit Poetry in Motion on Edge. Now the undershirts are off. Venus pulls Matt off the top rope. Edge hits Matt with the Edgeomatic, a new move then, and eliminates him. D'Von and Jeff double up on Edge. D'Von clothesline for 2. Christian blind tags in but D'Von double clotheslines E&C. Off a Buchanan distraction Christian hits the Unprettier and D'Von is gone. Bubba Ray flies in and attacks Christian. I can see why he'd be pissed, there's no one to get the tables now. Backdrop and clothesline. Jeff hits a springboard moonsault. Christian throws Jeff into the post. Buchanan press slams him. Jeff dodges in the corner and tags. Bubba Ray has moves for all of the heel team. Dodge and Edge spears Buchanan! Bubba Ray covers to eliminate Buchanan. Bubba Bomb on Edge. Christian's splash off the top rope hits Edge! Cover and Bubba Ray eliminates Edge. Back to even numbers. 2v2 donnybrook with Jeff's arm still seeming to be a minor issue. Goodfather hits Bubba Ray with a DVD and eliminates him. Jeff tries to fight but the two on one quickly wears him down. The match gets a bit sloppy for a minute. Christian gets posted. Swanton bomb! Christian is gone! Goodfather goes for the no more hos train. Jeff dodges. Venus gets on the apron. He and Goodfather take each other out! Jeff covers Goodfather and gets the improbable win! It's short for a Survivor Series match, but fun. They fit in all they could, and Jeff looked great in getting the comeback win injured arm or no. SOLE SURVIVOR: Jeff Hardy ***

All of RTC jump Jeff after the bell. Well, not Ivory. The rest of the face team runs into make the save and we get all the moves they didn't get to in the match. Twist of Fate. 3D. Whazzup Drop. Then the tables are out, RTC go through them, and everyone's happy like Honma's dishing out Kokeshis. Kokeshi make you happy.

 

No DQ: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Triple H no contest in 35:09- Austin looks calm on his entrance but is all business. Vest off in the aisle, up the steps, double finger to HHH, in the ring and it's on. It's all Austin to start. HHH goes to the ol' eye poke to turn the tide. Knee to the gut from Austin. He starts going after HHH's back, which has apparently been as issue lately. HHH hits the facebuster. Austin Thesz press! Right hand flurry and elbow drop. HHH rolls out for some space. Austin doesn't want to give it. HHH gets knocked around up the aisle. Austin lifts up some metal girding sitting on the floor as part of the stage and goes for HHH. HHH blocks it to knock Austin down. Now it's Austin's turn to take some shots around the stage and tech area. They go through a curtain into the backstage area. Well, for a second, then Austin slugs HHH back through the curtain. HHH blocks and hits a suplex on the floor. Back to ringside and Austin goes into the stairs. Austin gets tossed over the Spanish announce table. Whip reversal and HHH takes a stairs shot. Austin takes the entire timekeeper's corner apart to stomp a mudhole in HHH there. Monitor shot for HHH. HHH is busted open. Austin picks up the beer cooler (which has leaked or dumped over and poured water all over that area), decides nah and mudhole stomps HHH some more. Austin opens the cooler, retrieves a beer, cracks it open, hits HHH with the cooler, then sits down and takes a swig. Well he has been out a while, probably needs to pace himself. Austin crunches the empty beer can on HHH's head. Another beer out and another drink. HHH takes some more shots into the stairs. And we're finally back in the ring. Austin gets the bell. HHH jumps him coming back in. Roll around brawl in the ring. Quick low blow from HHH. Coming off the ropes Austin ducks a clothesline. Kick wham STUNN....NO, HHH reverses it into a neckbreaker! Very nice. Measured elbows from HHH and he squashes Austin's head against the ring post. Clothesline from the apron. Cover for 2. Austin's comeback is cut off with a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Austin spinebuster! HHH dodges an elbow off the second rope. Back out to the floor. HHH tosses the bell back in the ring while he knocks Austin around. He sets up a Pedigree on the stairs, but right next to the announce table so we can see what's coming. Austin backdrops HHH through the announce table! He slams HHH on the remains of the table! HHH begs off back in the ring. Austin blocks a kick and hits more stomps. HHH drags himself up by the ropes while Austin waits to strike. STUNNER! Austin doesn't cover. He goes out and gets a chair. He wraps it around HHH's ankle. We've seen this before. Austin invented Pillmanizing. Then Austin changes his mind and puts the chair around HHH's head! HHH rolls out before he can be killed. Slugfest up the aisle back toward the stage. Through the curtain to backstage again. HHH gets whipped into a vending machine. The Radicalz attack! Well, it's not ringside. While they attack Austin HHH escapes the building. All the refs and officials come in to try to break it up. We cut to a shot of HHH getting in his car to leave. Austin and Benoit slug it out while all the other Radicalz get held back. Benoit runs outside and Austin follows. HHH is still there in his car while Benoit and Austin continue to fight in the parking lot. Benoit runs away, but loses track of Austin. HHH tells Benoit to find him. Benoit runs back into the building. HHH peeks out of the passenger side of his car and gets back in. A forklift grabs HHH's car and lifts it up! Austin's got a forklift! He drives HHH's car across the parking lot, then says he's got a ride for HHH. He lifts the car up more! And more! HHH is begging Austin not to. "Austin don't....HOLY SHIT!" Austin drops HHH's car down on its roof! That's it, HHH is dead. Or at least seriously, seriously injured. End show. I suppose that means the match is over too. Does "death of opponent" count as a referee's decision? Second straight Austin PPV match that's ended with attempted vehicular homicide. They definitely wanted that to be more of a fight than a match, which both fit the story and was needed with Austin being more mobility hampered than ever after this last injury. They mostly pulled it off fine but it was nothing near spectacular. They definitely have a great match in them, as they'll prove in the not too distant future. The ending definitely lets it down, that's another one for the "legendary crap in wrestling" highlight reel. **3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- In contrast to the great run Summerslam has been on, this continues the recent trend of less than stellar Survivor Series. Part of that is due to the less than conventional stories that they've done the past few falls. This one does come out a bit better than the last couple, but that's more due to the fact most everything on the show falls squarely in the average category with nothing really good but nothing really awful. They need to move on from the Austin being run over story pronto because it's drug everything down the past couple of months.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C

Halloween Havoc '98

Legacy Review

Halloween Havoc '98

October 25, 1998 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay

The Night the PPV Feed Died

Despite the looming disaster that everyone saw coming in Hogan/Warrior II, by WCW's standards this is a very stacked card on paper. Almost Wrestlemania level. As I've gone over in detail in the past before, one of WCW's biggest problems was not having a definitive top WM level show, just whatever PPV they randomly felt like stacking up. However, as commentary goes over in the open they decided to add on a whole bunch of matches at the last minute. That will be important later. The Halloween Havoc set is always a good one. They've recycled those crypt-like structures to hold the trons for years now and they never get old. The giant pumpkin is also good, though the even larger gargoyle holding it with steam billowing out it's nose is on the good/hilariously bad border. 

 

Tony thinks we're cutting to David Penzer to kick things off, but instead it's the Nitro Girls for the first time ever on PPV. I think the general consensus is they could stay on Nitro. After that we're *still* not going to the first match. Instead Mean Gene brings out Rick Steiner, who will definitely absolutely no question finally have his one on one match with brother Scott later tonight. Buff Bagwell comes out during Rick's promo. He reminds Rick that he and Scott have broken up, and he's even left the whole NWO. He offers to be in Rick's corner tonight. Rick's initially reluctant but eventually he says yes. One born every minute.

WCW World Television Championship: Chris Jericho (c) def Raven in 7:49- Raven's been in a downward spiral after the forced breakup of the Flock, not winning a match since. He takes a mic after Jericho's entrance, says this match was thrown in at the last second without him being informed and as such he's not going to bother wrestling tonight. Jericho then takes the mic and says that's cool with him, but it also doesn't matter because he'd kick Raven's ass in two minutes anyway while also calling the Flock a bunch of stupid idiots (not wrong there). The provocation works as Raven charges in right into Jericho stomps. Jericho pulls Raven's leather jacket off and whips him with it. Clothesline. Arrogant cover! Raven hits a Cactus clothesline! He drops Jericho gut first onto the stairs, then runs up them and hits a dropkick. Back in Jericho hits a hot shot. The springboard dropkick sends Raven back to the floor. Jericho dives off the apron. Raven dodges and Jericho goes head first into the guardrail! At full speed too. Raven takes a whip into the guardrail. Back in Raven eye rakes Jericho and chokes him with his flannel shirt. Then he bites Jericho. Sleeper. Jericho back suplexes out and hits a senton. He goes over and takes the top turnbuckle pad off. Didn't have to undo any zipties, glad to see WCW's made that easier. Both guys reverse whips and hit kicks at the same time. Powerbomb from Raven. He slingshots Jericho into the exposed buckle! Diving clothesline for 2. Raven ducks a Jericho back kick and hits a belly to belly suplex for 2. Standing switch. Jericho rolls out of a German suplex attempt and goes for the Liontamer! He slowly gets it on but Raven manages to get to the ropes. Evenflow! Jericho kicks out! Raven's shocked and Jericho sneaks behind him for a roll up for 2. Low blow from Jericho. German suplex for 2. Kanyon, Raven's only friend left, comes out and gets on the apron. Jericho gets whipped into him. Raven hooks up for Evenflow again. Jericho counters into the Liontamer! Raven taps! Really good for the time they got, they used every minute they had fully. ***1/2

NWO Hollywood's music hits. Here come Bischoff and Hogan. Hogan's wearing an NWO Monday Nitro shirt. That really was going to be a thing way back in early '97 before the initial NWO-run Souled Out PPV bombed so bad the idea was dropped. Guess Hogan saved at least one of those shirts from the Devil's Anus all the championship shirts for Super Bowl losers fall into. Hogan talks about murderizing his own nephew Horace Hogan last week but mostly says nothing of note. Total waste of time, especially with doing it in the arena instead of backstage.

For those keeping track we're a couple minutes shy of 30 minutes into the show and so far have had one less than 8 minute match.

 

Wrath def Meng in 4:23- Meng refuses to let Wrath get in the ring unmolested so Wrath drags him out to the floor. Canonball senton off the apron from Wrath! Back in Meng likes the buckle shots he gets. Back and forth brawl. Meng no sells a clothesline. Wrath hits a clothesline off the second rope that puts him down. Tackle from Wrath. He hooks up a pumphandle to go for the Meltdown (move name calling back to his Adam Bomb days). Meng counters free and hits the kick OF FEAR (yes that's what it was called) for 2. Neckbreaker from Meng for 2. We get some more pretty dull back and forth brawling. Meng hits a back suplex for 2. Corner clothesline and inverted atomic drop. Wrath gets a sunset flip. That leads to a counter run ending with Wrath hitting a uranage for 2. He hauls Meng up for the Meltdown and that gets the pin. Bleh. 3/4*

 

Disco Inferno def Juventud Guerrera in 9:39- The winner of this gets a shot at Kidman's cruiserweight title later tonight. Disco is clearly too big for the cruiserweight division. In fact it's an open secret that he's using trick scales to "make weight" but no one's stopping it. Lockup and it's a quick Disco edge. He ducks a kick and hits a side suplex. Chops from Juvy and he gets a flying headscissors. They have an ugly sequence where Juvy leaps up for a fameasser but Disco blocks it, both guys clearly look lost, then they repeat the spot with Juvy hitting the fameasser this time. Juvy monkey flips Disco to the floor. Flying headscissors through the ropes. Back in Disco hits an inverted atomic drop and clothesline. Setup slam and elbow off the second rope for 2. After a chinlock Juvy rolls over a knee to the gut attempt into a cradle for 2. Leg lariat from Juvy. Disco backdrops Juvy over the top but Juvy lands on the apron and cutters Disco over the top rope. Disco sees a springboard move coming and gets the hell out of town. Juvy adjusts and hits a plancha, then weirdly lays on Disco on the floor for a long while. Counter run back in the ring and Juvy hits a half assed hurricanrana. More counters and Disco gives Juvy a hot shot, followed by a running neckbreaker. Disco counters a sunset flip and decides to do that oh so '90s dance move, the macarena. It's like looking in a time capsule. Juvy uses that to get a cradle for 2. Disco does a giant swing with maybe three rotations, then collapses right into Juvy's crotch because he's dizzy. Suplex from Disco. He goes up top and gets crotched. Top rope hurricanrana from Juvy. Leg lariat off the top for 2. Bulldog for 2. Disco counters Juvy, hits a leaping piledriver, and that gets a very sudden pin. Very disjointed match but it had a few small moments. *3/4

Nitro Girls interlude #2. After that Scott Steiner comes out with a mic, which is always dangerous. After trying out all his new catchphrases he offers Rick and Bagwell a tag match against him and the Giant, with the added bonus of they'll put the tag titles on the line. Officially the tag champs right now are Giant and Scott Hall, but the NWO always had whoever defend through a very loose interpretation of Freebird Rules. Giant comes out and confirms his willingness. JJ Dillon interrupts and confirms that's what they want to do. Dillon then asks that IF Scott and Giant lose and lose the titles, will Scott then agree to finally face his brother one on one? Scott says hell yes because there's no way he and Giant can lose. But......isn't that match already scheduled? We're adding an already scheduled match as a stipulation to an impromptu match? This is either extremely confused or we've done some kind of time travel where the consequence happens before the action. Also what's with having to do all these promos in the arena instead of backstage?

 

Alex Wright def Fit Finlay in 5:09- Commentary mentions something about Finlay injuring Wright's dad to retire him but then it's never brought up again. This is the second straight match it's almost impossible to tell who's supposed to be the heel and who's the face. If either. Wright does some messing around and a roll before the lockup. Finlay gets an arm takedown. Wright kips up and does a lucha style top rope armdrag. Finlay puts on a nerve pinch and hits an elbow to the nose. European uppercuts from Finlay. Wright responds with his own as the crowd chants "boring". He drops Finlay on the top rope. Short clothesline from Finlay. He gets a leg takedown, slingshots Wright into the ropes, then holds onto the legs and Wright's back gets stretched over his knees. Wright gets tossed over the top rope and Finlay runs his back into the apron. More "boring" chants as Wright slams Finlay on the floor. Finlay drops Wright on the guardrail. Sunset flip from Wright back in. Another uppercut from Finlay. Wright hits a crossbody and both guys tumble over the top rope to the floor. Back in Finlay casually sidesteps a Wright missile dropkick attempt. Corner dodge and Finlay posts his shoulder. Wright hits a neckbreaker and we have another sudden finish. Finlay lays in the ring for a bit after talking to the ref so I'm not sure if he didn't get hurt and they had to cut it short. Not exactly a showcase of the best of European style wrestling. *

 

Saturn def Lodi in 3:50- This is yet another unannounced impromptu match. After Saturn defeated Raven at Fall Brawl to disband the Flock, Saturn is now feuding with...ex-Flock members. Textbook definition of "creative has nothing else for you". I guess this is also revenge for that short period where Saturn had to be Lodi's slave. Saturn comes in dressed like someone you'd expect to find at the Blue Oyster. After the bell Lodi wants to make sure his precious signs are safe. Saturn is impatient. Lockup and Saturn goes right into arm wringers. Hammerlock tradeoffs and Lodi hides in the ropes, then runs off to get his signs from the ring assistant. Speed run back in and Saturn hits a facebreaker. Russian leg sweep. Lodi powders again. Saturn apron suplexes him back in and hits some chops. Corner whip and Lodi runs AGAIN. Saturn attacks him in the aisle and Lodi runs back into the ring. Belly to belly suplex from Saturn. Clothesline. Fisherman's buster. DVD and it's over. Complete squash that should have stayed on Nitro. Or Thunder. 1/4*

Nitro Girls interlude #3.

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Kidman (c) def Disco Inferno in 10:49- No one benefited more from the Flock's breakup than Kidman, who could stop being a useless goon and start showing he was actually a pretty damn good wrestler. He's actually in his second title reign, he and Juvy had traded it back and forth a few times the past couple of months, which made Disco's win earlier even more of a shock. Disco knows where his towel is. By amazing coincidence I just recently started reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy again. Lockup, Disco gets a hiptoss, Kidman dodges an elbow drop and hits a dropkick. Drop toe hold from Kidman into an ARMBAR. Disco hair pulls to try to get out with Kidman kipping up. Kidman pulls Disco's hair to get him down in return, then barely hits a slingshot flying headscissors. Disco drop toe holds Kidman into the ropes. Running neckbreaker for 2 and Disco knocks Kidman around a bit. A low bridge sends Kidman flying to the floor, all the way into the aisle. Kidman hits a bulldog on the floor. Back in Disco dodges a splash off the top rope. After the mandatory chinlock Kidman fights back with a misdirection clothesline. Disco hits a faceplant and stomps Kidman down in the corner. Back suplex for 2. Kidman dodges an elbow drop off the second rope. Sit out spinebuster for 2. Powerslam for 2. Disco dodges a dropkick. I've never, ever understood the logic of how that hurts the wrestler that misses. Kidman tries to counter but Disco gets him back down and hits the leaping piledriver, but he's gassed and both guys are down. Disco slowly manages to cover but it's enough time for Kidman to kick out. Disco is beside himself. Kidman tries for another bulldog but Disco counters it in midair. Front suplex for 2. He hooks up for the piledriver again and decides to whip the macarena out again. Kidman counters in midair into a faceplant. Shooting star press! Kidman gets the pin to retain! Not too shabby, though having Disco on offense for 90% of the match was certainly a choice. Not a good one. The cruiserweight division of '96-'97 is well and truly gone and I don't think it's coming back. **3/4

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Rick Steiner and Buff Bagwell def Scott Steiner and The Giant (c) in 8:24- Giant is still smoking. Man, I figured that had run its course by now. Guess not. Though it does have the cover of drunk Scott Hall being an infinitely worse gimmick. Bagwell's out in jeans. This is his first official match since April because of his neck injury. Commentary wonders if Bagwell's mom Judy is the one that made him see sense. Sadly that's far from the last time you'll be hearing her name. While everyone discusses who starts Giant cuts it short by jumping Rick. Big chop. Atomic drop. Scott declines tagging in. Giant hits a back suplex and now Scott tags in. He hits some running kicks and tosses Rick out. Giant gives Rick a headbutt on the floor. Back in Scott continues the beatdown. Rick ducks a clothesline, hits an inverted atomic drop, and lays in some ground and pound. Mounted punches. Rick blocks Scott's attempted atomic drop counter and hits another clothesline. Bagwell wants in. Rick says OK. Scott ducks a double clothesline. Bagwell kicks Rick right in the ghoolies. Oh my God what I shock I never ever saw that coming. Bagwell rejoins his NWO comrades, mugs for the camera as usual, and leaves. Scott gives Rick a straight low blow right in front of ref Lil' Naitch. Commentary talks about how Bagwell "fooled everyone". Please. We get a very extended and very dull two on one beatdown on Rick, which includes low blow #3 on him, again from Scott. Scott hooks Rick up and Giant goes up top. He has a hard time finding his footing. Once he does he unleashes the world's largest missile dropkick! Rick dodges and Scott takes it! Steinerline! Steinerline! Top rope bulldog on Giant! Rick covers and gets the pin to win the tag titles by himself! No one had been taking them seriously for months anyway so what the hell. Commentary wonders who Rick will pick as his partner. I'm not getting into that now but let's say that it didn't do the already credibility damaged tag titles any favors. The match itself had some OKish moments, but that long stretch of Rick getting beat down after the way too obvious Bagwell turn was dull as hell and drug the whole thing down. 1/2*

 

Rick Steiner def Scott Steiner in 4:46- Scott doesn't want to get back in the ring so Rick goes out and collects him. Giant makes a token effort to stop it but vacates the premises pretty quickly. Scott wants a time out in the ring. Rick gives him a punch instead. Clothesline. He runs Scott upside down into the corner. ANOTHER low blow from Scott. For fuck's sake find something new. Belly to belly suplex and clothesline from Scott. Rick catches Scott leapfrogging and tosses him! Straight belly to belly suplex. A guy in a mask and suit hops the rail and takes security out. Stevie Ray is also out though we only get a glimpse of him. He gives the guy in the mask his SLAPJACK OF INSTANT DEATH. The masked guy takes everyone out, including Naitch. The bell rings for what's assumed to be a DQ. The guy takes his mask off and it's Bagwell. That was a quick change to get into that suit and in position. Scott covers and Bagwell uses the unconscious Naitch to count. Rick kicks out! Scott hits a top rope Frankenstiner. Another forced count. Rick kicks out again! Bagwell tosses Naitch out of the ring. Rick clothesline on Scott! He takes Bagwell out. Top rope bulldog on Scott! Nick Patrick runs in and counts 3! I guess that earlier bell was inadvertent. With all the overbooking this was about as good as it was going to get. Typical WCW to never do a proper Steiner blowoff, everything had to be a mess. *1/4

 

Scott Hall def Kevin Nash by countout in 14:19- Kind of buried on this card is another long delayed blowoff, this time of the Outsiders breakup from earlier in the year. This should be a much bigger deal. As mentioned earlier they're still doing the horrendous drunk Scott Hall gimmick. Hall tosses his drink in Nash's face and jumps him. Nash gets knocked around the ringside area. Hall hits him with the mic and gives him a cable choke. Nash is bleeding from somewhere. I initially thought the mouth but I'm not sure. Hardcore anti-blood Turner means no one on commentary mentions it and the cameras show as little as possible. As Nash gets checked over and cleaned up by medical Hall gets a mic and brags. Nash pushes medical away and gets back in. Hall continues to wail away on him. Slam and Hall calls for the Razor's Edge. Nash pushes out, sending Hall into the corner. Hall lays in some more shots. Nash wants more. Corner clothesline from Hall. Nash reverses a corner whip and hits a side suplex. On knees slugfest. Nash hits a knee to the gut and finally starts to build some momentum. He hooks up for the jackknife. Hall quickly gets the hell out of town. He gets back in and we have a pretty hard reset and lockup. Nash wins that. Hall goes into his usual early match arm work. Nash uses that to hit a short clothesline. Faceplant. Nash hits a ton of his corner knees, switches corners and hits a ton more. More slow Nash beatdown as the match is starting to crawl and the very pro-Nash/Wolfpac crowd is getting pretty restless. Hall gets some ineffectual swings in. Big boot from Nash. The straps are down. Jackknife! Nash asks one more? He hits a second one, then stands over Hall and gives him a crotch chop. Then, against all logic and reason he steps out of the ring, walks up the aisle and leaves, taking a countout loss. The hell was that? This was the antithesis of the mid '90s WWF intra-Kliq matches when they would try really hard for each other. 3/4*

Nitro Girls interlude #4.

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Bret "Hitman" Hart (c) def Sting in 15:04- Another dream match coming too late and in the wrong era of WCW. Sting's grown a goatee. Completely forgot about that. He's dyed it jet black too. Lots of stalling from Bret both before the bell and after. Finally Sting has enough, jumping Bret in the aisle and dragging him in. Mounted punches and a clothesline. Bret begs off. Inverted atomic drop from Sting. Bret slugs back and hits a DDT for 2. He hits his own inverted atomic drop, the #2 move of the night after a straight low blow, and a clothesline. Gut headbutt and snap legdrop for 2. Bret goes into his heel WCW punchy/chokey mode. He hits a bulldog. Sting gets a small package for 2. Bret Russian leg sweep. He comes off the second rope, but Sting counters with a leg takedown and hooks on the Scorpion Death Lock! But they're close to the ropes and Bret easily grabs one. Speed run. After landing from a leapfrog Bret grabs his knee. Sting tries to attack it but the ref backs him off. That was Bret's plan, as he gets some knucks out of his tights. Before he can use them Sting clotheslines him down. He sees the knucks, takes them and puts them on. He goes to hit Bret but the ref hooks his arm. Bret uses that opening to hit a *sigh* low blow. Think they've run that into the ground for months after tonight. Gut stomp and backbreaker from Bret. Elbow off the second rope. He tosses Sting out and beats him around the aisle. While Bret's giving Sting shots on the apron the ref tries to back him off. Then the ref gets close to Sting and takes a back elbow. After the ref goes down Bret legdrops him in the back of the head! OK, that's kind of funny. Sting goes into a comeback flurry. They have to do a lot of obvious positioning because the ref went down right in the middle of the ring and refuses to move. Bret gets crotched (again sigh) on the top rope and Sting hits a superplex, with both of them landing on the ref's legs. Look, I know you're supposed to be out but at least do a subtle little roll to give the guys some room to work. Sting hits a Stinger Splash to Bret's back, but apparently overshot and hit the post. He's draped over the top rope, completely out. Bret goes out and, after considering a chair and the belt, takes Sting's bat and works Sting over with it. Bat shot off the second rope. Bret drags the ref up, puts Sting in an academic Sharpshooter, we get the arm drops and it's over. Yet another Bret Hart WCW disappointment, something we're getting sadly used to by now. *1/2

Sting is still out and not moving at all in the middle of the ring so the ref calls for medics. After a couple of minutes they come out, and we stay with it as they strap Sting to the backboard, stretcher him to the back, into the ambulance and the ambulance driving off. Another 5+ minutes gone, circle that for later.

We get another replay of Hogan taking his nephew Horace Hogan out with a chair on Nitro last week, the old "look at what I'm willing to do to my family, what will I be willing to do to Warrior" tack. Horace needed 11 stitches on his head after.

 

Hollywood Hogan def The Warrior in 14:20- Here we go, what WCW is calling the "rematch of the decade", in this case the Wrestlemania 6 title vs title main event from 1990. It's the third or fourth match they've called that the last couple of years but who's counting. This whole thing has already been a debacle, from Warrior's over 20 minute debut promo on Nitro to baffling and horrible backstage segments where Hogan saw reflections of Warrior in a mirror when Warrior wasn't there. On the plus side, amazingly this isn't in the main event slot when you could easily see WCW doing that so small mercies there. They knew how ass this was going to be too. Warrior pauses after coming out then does his usual run to the ring. Hogan, no shock, stalls forever on the floor. The crowd, despite their hatred for Hogan, doesn't seem fully behind Warrior either. They go nose to nose in the ring. Hogan jaws, Warrior jacks his jaw and the bell rings to start. Circle and circle and finally lockup. Hogan hits some forearms and puts on an arm wringer. Warrior reverses it, hits a shoulderblock and Hogan rolls out. Stall and more circling. Warrior wants a test of strength but gets another lockup instead. Corner slugfest. Hogan chokes Warrior down, then knucklelocks him and drags him to the center, giving him the test of strength he wanted. And there they stay for a while. When Warrior fights back up Hogan switches to another arm wringer. They work in the criss cross spot they did every time during the build to and in their WM match. It stands out because you almost never saw a criss cross other than when they did it, and they did it EVERY SINGLE TIME. Hogan stops the crissing with a scoop slam. Warrior pops right back up and hits his own slam. He clotheslines Hogan 360 to the floor. Back and forth brawl on the floor and Hogan gets posted. Back in everyone maneuvers around to get in position and Nick Patrick goes down. Hogan gives him a knee. Pretty weak after the Bret Hart legdrop on the ref the last match. Hogan gives Warrior a few shots, hooks him up and calls for help. Giant runs in. Warrior dodges and Hogan takes a Giant big boot. Warrior fights Giant and the other NWO goons off. He covers Hogan but no ref. Hogan hits a back suplex. Patrick's up enough now to count 2. Weightlifting belt whipping time, that heel Hogan staple. After some words from Patrick Hogan puts it back on. Slam. Warrior dodges elbow drops, then rolls the other direction into Hogan, tripping him. They look unsure after that so I'm not sure if that was intended or not. Hogan dodges the big splash. More weak slugfest. Warrior takes Hogan's belt off and gives him some whips back. He wraps the belt around his fist and punches Hogan, then drops it. Hogan goes into his tights and gets a plastic bag out. We see a lighter. He's furiously trying to light something up. He makes to throw the flash paper at Warrior, but he didn't light it properly and there's nothing there. Total failure. Guess it happens to guys at his age. Warrior still reacts like it hit him. Hogan finally manages to get the damn thing lit in his hand, and Warrior kicks it away. Freaking hell. That's the blown spot this match is most known for. Hogan's since taken responsibility for not lighting the paper properly, a rare admission of error from him. It's bad, but it hitting right in no way would have saved this match. That was supposed to be the finish, or lead to it, so they have no idea what to do now. Warrior hits a couple of double ax handles off the top rope. Hogan's bleeding. He hits another gorram frakking frelling low blow on Warrior, enough is enough of that shit on this show. The legdrop hits. Horace Hogan is now out with a chair. Warrior dodges another legdrop and starts Warrioring up. Forever clotheslines. Bischoff is also out, gets on the apron and ties Patrick up. Literally, he's got him in a damn headlock. Horace comes in with his chair. He hits Warrior! Well, if it wasn't for Bagwell that'd be the most obvious turn on this show. Hogan covers and gets the pin to the total apathy of the crowd. He got his win back. He and Horace hug. Horace pours lighter fluid all over Warrior. Security run in and get the heels out before anything else in this match can misfire. This is well known as one of the most famous disasters in wrestling history, and its reputation is well earned. The blown flash paper spot gets the headline, but the whole match start to finish is a train wreck. MINUS FIVE STARS

After barely two months, that's essentially the end of Warrior in WCW. Despite the exorbitant amount of money WCW spent bringing him in they saw what they were getting for their investment and decided taking the salary cap hit was preferable to more of that. He'd make one last appearance on Nitro in early November and that was that. Warrior would fully retire right after. He wrestled one return match for an indy in Spain in 2008, but never appeared again for a major company until his WWE Hall of Fame induction in 2014. After appearing on the Raw after that Wrestlemania he died the very next day.

Now we get to the other thing this show is most known for: the show has run long, so during the main event most PPV providers cut the feed to keep up with their own schedules, leaving buyers in the dark as to who won the match. The internet was taking off, but it's still something only a small percentage had access to check the results later that night or the next morning. It's no surprise either, with the multiple Nitro Girls segments, several in-arena promo segments that always take longer than backstage ones, 3-4 matches that were added to the card the day of the show for no good reason, and the long segment of Sting getting stretchered out. Due to this, WCW was forced to show the entire main event free on Nitro the next night, as much as basic cable is free, and refund money.

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Goldberg (c) def Diamond Dallas Page in 10:28- DDP got the pin in the mockery of War Games at Fall Brawl to get this shot. There's extra story layered in as DDP was one of Goldberg's mentors when he broke in with WCW. Buffer's in Vegas so he goes into Buffer overdrive, listing off the Nevada Athletic Commission members, the attending physicians, the ref, the individual security guys, the truck drivers, and the guy working concessions in area 10-B. Probably a family friend. Goldberg gets the full security escort entrance. We're officially up to 154-0. Once again, it's a relief that they at least got the right match in the main event. The crowd is HOT for this one too, despite the shit they've had to sit through, and fairly split. They go nose to nose. Goldberg easily wins a couple of lockups. DDP gets an armdrag. Another rough lockup and both guys tumble through the ropes to the floor! Back in Goldberg gets an arm takedown. DDP tries to trip while he's down there but Goldberg flips over to escape, showing impressive agility. Another staredown and this thing is INTENSE. Goldberg gets the first real shots in and tries to put on a cross armbreaker. DDP gets a quick rope break. Jawbreaker from DDP. Early Diamond Cutter tease. Goldberg pushes free, sending DDP all the way out to the floor! DDP stays out there for a minute to have a think. Back in DDP fight out of a hammerlock into a drop toe hold. Really nice chain wrestling sequence there. He hits the ropes, tries a shoulderblock but bounces right off Goldberg, and goes out to the floor again! This time he snaps Goldberg over the top rope. Swinging neckbreaker. Russian leg sweep for 2. DDP works a front facelock to try to wear Goldberg down. Goldberg fights up, hits some knees and flips DDP over. Big Goldberg forearm. He ducks a DDP punch and hits a kidney punch. Suplex from Goldberg. Side suplex for 2. He hooks an armbar on and rolls into another armbreaker attempt. DDP takes another rope break. DDP gets a flying headscissors. No effect and Goldberg pops up with a superkick. DDP dodges a spear and Goldberg flies shoulder first into the post! DDP clothesline off the top for 2. On a speed run Goldberg uses his good arm to hit a uranage. DDP is still up first and makes the Diamond Cutter sign. Spear! Goldberg is down too with his hurt arm. He tries for the jackhammer but can't lift DDP up. Another try. DDP counters out! DIAMOND CUTTER! Huge pop for him hitting that. But DDP is too hurt to follow up right away. He crawls over and manages to cover. Goldberg kicks out! DDP hooks up for a suplex attempt. I'd call that a tactical error. Goldberg reverses. Jackhammer! 155-0. After the match Goldberg helps DDP up and they hug it out, with Goldberg still selling the arm. That is by far the best WCW main event in years. DDP carried Goldberg to his best match ever. Goldberg's streak had reached such mythic proportions it has a fantastic atmosphere with a red hot crowd that cared about both guys. Ideally this would have been the template and road map for WCW's recovery. Of course, with Bischoff running things and Hogan and Nash dominating backstage politics it was not to be. ***3/4

A good argument could be made for DDP winning here. Goldberg was still riding his streak momentum but a good chunk of the crowd clearly wanted DDP to win. I think if I was booking it I would have left it as is, but then have DDP win World War 3 to justify getting another shot then take Goldberg down at Starrcade. It turned out that would be what would happen, but not with DDP.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Good to nearly great matches bookend so it's not completely awful, but the bulk of the card is one degree of bad or another, most showing their impromptu nature, and is topped off by a legendary disaster. Hogan/Warrior II is one of those horrible matches everyone should still watch once just to see how bad it can be. DDP/Goldberg is also must watch to see what could have been if WCW had stayed on that course.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+