Clash of the Champions XXXIII

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XXXIII

August 15, 1996 from the Denver Coliseum in Denver, CO

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Rey Mysterio Jr (c) def Dean Malenko in 12:07- As usual for the cruisers Mike Tenay joins the booth. I think this is Malenko's second or third rematch since dropping the title to ReyRey. Is it just me or are both these guys' music the same thing? Not that much of WCW's music was very distinctive anyway. Malenko jumps Mysterio from behind while the ref is sticking the belt in the camera as WCW liked to do. Quick suplex. Mysterio slides out and plays keep away with Malenko. A springboard dropkick knocks Malenko off the apron. Baseball slide into a flying headscissors on the floor. Crazy speed/counter run back in with Mysterio hitting a moonsault for 2. A spinning kick sends Malenko back to the floor. Mysterio loads up a dive but Malenko removes himself from the target area and we get the 619 spin before it was a thing. Malenko gets back in and runs right into a drop toe hold. Ripcord knee from Malenko and he hot shots Mysterio. Brain buster for 2. Mysterio springs around and gets a cradle for 2. Malenko says enough of this malarkey and grounds Mysterio for a bit. After Mysterio escapes Malenko gets what I guess is a glancing blow on his leg and we go to commercial. Good news fans: Hog Wild t-shirts and Hog Wild DENIM JACKETS are still available! Back to the match with Malenko in control. He goes for another mile high hot shot but Mysterio lands feet first on the ropes, then slips out of a suplex, grabs a waistlock, and Malenko counters into a clutch for 2. Crazy counter run there. Slam from Malenko and he puts on a leg bar. Mysterio takes a rope break. Malenko tosses Mysterio up and straight back down again. Heenan goes into a funny bit where he thinks Mysterio is flying higher because of Denver's altitude. Like how the Rockies jack so many home runs at home, it's not because any of them can hit. Mysterio momentums Malenko down to the floor. Senton plancha! Mysterio does a moonsault off the guardrail! He launched badly and damn near landed on his head on the floor on that. Springboard missile dropkick back in for 2. Springboard hurricanrana. Malenko rolls into the ropes. Mysterio goes up top. Malenko fights up with him and gets Mysterio on his shoulders. The super gutbuster hits! The ref counts 3, but Mysterio got a foot on the rope at 2! The bell rings and Malenko gets the belt but the ref waves it off and says it was 2. Mysterio victory rolls Malenko from behind and gets the pin! Another great cruiserweight opener, slightly hurt by the commercial and a few rough patches. I think they've got something with this division. It's also easy to see how Mysterio quickly became huge, he was doing things no one had seen at the time, at least in the US. ***1/2

Glacier promo! We've moved on from just the (pretty cool) logo to shots of the man himself doing martial arts things. In another few months he might actually have a match.

 

VK Wallstreet def "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan in 3:48- Two guys very much past the sell by date at this point in their careers. Duggan charges with the 2x4 and Wallstreet bails. Arm wringer exchange and Wallstreet hides in the ropes. Duggan uses that to pummel him with buckle shots. After a hip toss and clothesline Duggan gets in a 3 point stance and Wallstreet bails again. He looks under the ring for some reason. Probably trying to find someone in Little People Land to audit. He snaps Duggan over the top rope and goes right to Rotunda Rest Hold 1B: the chinlock. After a bit Duggan jawbreakers out. Spin slam. Duggan gets wrist tape out and unspools a bunch with the ref trying to stop him. Wallstreet rolls him up, gets a handful of tights and gets the pin. Low end Nitro match. 1/2*

The Nasty Boys get a TV spot to say they're ready to get back into the tag title picture. Fortunately, they wouldn't.

 

Konnan def Ultimo Dragon (w/Sonny Oono) in 2:57- Tenay is in again for this one. WCW still can't decide if it's Ultimo or Ultimate, it changes by the minute. It's a weirdly put together matchup this, because Dragon, a natural face, is a default heel here because Oono is managing him, but Konnan was in the process of turning heel since losing the US title. He cheated to beat Chavo Guerrero on the last Nitro. Cautious start and Konnan jaws with some fans. Mat stalemate. Konnan hits a straight right that drops Dragon hard and looked more than a little on the snug side. He puts Dragon into some kind of Paradise Lock variation (no way Konnan knows the actual Paradise Lock, way above his wrestling IQ) and tugs on Dragon's leg while he's in it. Shoulderblocks from Konnan along with some mocking. Dragon rolls out to confer with Oono. Speed run back in and Dragon dropkicks Konnan's back to send him out. Oono gets kicks in! Konnan doesn't like that at all, but Dragon uses the opening to jump him from behind. Moonsault from Dragon back in, into a magistral cradle for 2. German suplex. Konnan reverses into a cradle, pulls tights and gets the pin. Same finish two matches in a row. Half the crowd still doesn't get it and cheers Konnan. *

Ice Train is in the Compuserve room chatting when Scott Norton attacks him! He saw Train was about to click a clear malware link in an email.

The next scheduled match is Meng vs Randy Savage. Meng makes his way in, but Savage no-shows. The NWO had beat him down on Nitro, including Hogan laying the chair to him, so Meng wins the match by forfeit. Afterward Mean Gene is in the ring with the slightly updated Dungeon of Doom. Why they hell they're still around post-NWO, you've got me. Kevin Sullivan wants credit for seeing through Hogan right from the start. I think we'd call that "right by accident". There's a frakking leprechaun running around on the floor during the promo. I.....I've got nothing, folks. I don't remember that at all and it's so random it's one of those things that you aren't sure you're really seeing what you're seeing. It almost feels like I'm watching the show while concussed. Plus, there's no such thing as leprechauns. Buffy rules.

 

Medusa def Bull Nakano (w/Sonny Oono) in 2:42- This is a rematch from Hog Wild, minus the attempted motorcyclecide. Medusa gets the early shots but Nakano dodges a dropkick and does the hair tosses. Oono distracts the ref and Nakano gets some nunchuck shots in. Clothesline and weak splash. Horrible springboard reverse crossbody from Medusa, she almost completely missed Nakano and almost landed on her head. A twofer. Slingblades for 2. Nakano counters a sunset flip with a butt splash for 2. She gets on the second rope but Medusa dropkicks her to the floor. Medusa comes off the top rope. Nakano moves and Oono takes it. Nakano uses the opening to jump from behind. Attempted heel double team and Oono kicks Nakano. Medusa rolls her up (without tights so it's slightly different than the last two finishes) and wins. The heels hug after the bell so they're still good. Sadly that's better than their Hog Wild match. *1/4

 

Eddie Guerrero def Diamond Dallas Page in 4:20- This match is for DDP's "Battlebowl title". Not the "Lord of the Ring" ring, he doesn't have that with him and it's not mentioned. Did WCW lose it? I hope WCW lost it, that would be the most WCW thing ever. DDP wins the lockup but Guerrero kips right back up. Speed run. Guerrero gets a flying headscissors and dropkick. DDP dodges and Guerrero posts his shoulder. DDP stomps Guerrero not on the shoulder. Heenan gets antsy on commentary, screaming at DDP to go after the hurt shoulder. I have to agree. Instead, it's a gutwrench gutbuster from DDP. Side suplex for 2. Long chinlock with rope leverage. Finally Guerrero armdrags out. Slugfest. Guerrero hits a heel kick. Springboard senton for 2. DDP hits a jawbreaker. Powerbomb for 2. They fight on the top rope. DDP falls back in. Frog splash! Guerrero gets the quick pin! Commentary says he wins the "Battlebowl title", laughingly calling it Guerrero's first WCW title. DDP offers a handshake....and hits Guerrero with the Diamond Cutter! He tosses the ref aside. Running Diamond Cutter! Chavo Guerrero runs in to try to save his uncle. DDP fights him off. SUPER Diamond Cutter! I think DDP's made his point. Pretty decent match considering the time and that half the match was a chinlock. There's definitely a really good match in here. **

 

The Giant (w/Jimmy Hart) def Chris Benoit (w/Woman and Elizabeth) in :23- Woman's having trouble getting Benoit's vest off and that's trapping him in the corner. Giant runs in with a dropkick! Chokeslam and it's already over! Just a quick squash to get Giant back on track after losing the World title. Commentary speculates on whether Woman did that on purpose or not. Of course WCW chooses Benoit as the Horseman to eat the squash instead of Mongo. NR

 

Triangle Match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: Harlem Heat (c) (w/Sister Sherri and Col. Robert Parker), The Steiner Brothers and Sting & Lex Luger no contest in 13:22- Parker comes out by himself after all the other entrances and argues a bit with Sherri early in the match, but it never goes anywhere, at least not tonight. Everyone stares down before Booker and Scott start. Scott gets the first shots. Booker hits him with a hook kick. He goes up top but Scott throws him down and crotches him. Luger clotheslines Booker while he's straddling the top rope! He recovers a bit on the floor. Scott tags Luger in. Ray and Luger go back and forth for a bit. Rick blind tags Luger. Steinerline! Steinerline! He hits the bulldog off the top rope! Luger breaks the pin up. Rick's not happy about that and they shove. Ray uses the opening to hit Rick with a superkick. Commercial. We're back with Rick powerslamming Booker. Sting blind tags in much to Rick's dismay. Sting hiptosses Booker over the top to the floor. Back in Sting press slams Booker. Man, every time I see those two in there together I wish for that peak Sting/peak Booker singles match. There's just a different energy when it's those two in there. Sting and Luger work Booker over a bit. Ray comes in to save and Booker tags him. After a bit of beatdown on Sting Scott blind tags in on Ray. Sting and Scott reset and lock up. Scott works Sting's arm a bit. Sting nails him with a hot shot. Clothesline off the top for 2. Rick breaks the pin up and he and Luger argue again. Scott hits Sting with a reverse DDT. Double underhook powerbomb. Now Luger breaks the pin up and he and Rick argue again. Tags and now Rick and Luger are legal. Back and forth pounding. HIGH angle release German suplex from Rick! Scott tags in and hits a belly to belly suplex. He tries coming off the second rope. Luger catches him and tries to work him around into the Torture Rack. Rick clips Luger's knee! DONNYBROOK! Booker and Scott fight in the ring while everyone else goes at it in the aisle. The Outsiders come out and get involved in the aisle fight but never get close to the ring. Scott hits the Frankensteiner on Booker! Ref Nick Patrick counts two....then sees the Outsiders and calls for the bell! He throws the match out due to "outside interference". Scott is furious. There's some moments, but this match only existed to continue to advance the heel referee Nick Patrick angle. Like at Hog Wild I'm still puzzled by WCW's refusal to put the tag belts on the Outsiders. *3/4

Mean Gene stops Patrick and asks for an explanation. Patrick cuts what's actually a fairly good heel promo, explaining himself in a way that's clearly wrong but he believes it. As Patrick's leaving Okerlund tries to ask him where he got all those nice suits he's been wearing recently. Patrick walks off without answering.

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: WCW United States Heavyweight Champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (w/Woman and Elizabeth) def Hollywood Hogan (c) by DQ in 8:23- Flair's got that sweet white ice robe from Hog Wild again. Love it. Hogan makes a show of taking his bandana off and mocking Flair's "Slick Ric" with his bald head. Flair answers with the real thing. Unlike Hog Wild no epic stall from Hogan tonight. Flair works a headlock for a bit. Hogan hits a shoulderblock followed by some more mocking. Another Flair headlock. This time Hogan lifts him onto the top rope. Flair slaps Hogan! That sets Hogan off. Lockup and Hogan does his little chain wrestling piece. Flair ducks a clothesline and hits chops. Hogan rolls out. Flair follows and hits a double ax handle off the apron. Hogan stalls on the floor and reset. Test of strength knucklelock. Flair bites Hogan's hand! They fumble around a bit. Flair Flip down to the floor! Hogan follows with a rail and post shot. The back rake! Back in Flair does the flip again, but this time ducks a clothesline on the apron and floors Hogan with a punch. Flair delayed suplex. Hogan hulks up! Heel Hogan hulking up? Yup. The whole bit. Point. 3 punches. Big boot. Flair dodges the legdrop! Figure four! Hogan tries to reverse but Flair rolls through it to get back on top. Hogan pulls the ref down. Here comes the Outsiders. They attack Flair. The Horsemen, Sting and Luger all run out and chase them off. Commentary for some reason thinks Hogan gave up in the figure four, but Flair wins by DQ. Very flat finish that the crowd didn't react to at all outside the run ins. I think they (WCW, not the crowd) realized that Hogan doing the full hulk up as a heel was a very bad idea, but they were still figuring this heel Hogan thing out. *1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The Clash as a Contractual Obligation Show in the Nitro/monthly PPV era continues, though there was some effort made in this one to make it seem more important. Still, nothing of note happens except maybe some incremental movement in the Nick Patrick angle, and the only match worth watching (Mysterio/Malenko) has better versions elsewhere.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+

Summerslam '98

Legacy Review

Summerslam '98

August 30, 1998 from Madison Square Garden in New York City

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

The tagline for this show is "Highway to Hell", playing off the ongoing Austin vs Undertaker/Kane feud, with a really cool stage setup in the classic MSG stage spot. The entrance is a giant iron gate, like a cemetery gate, with red light behind it and the actual highway on the floor. This show is Summerslam's 10th anniversary, and with it comes the first logo change in the show's history, a pretty crappy one that would only last the one year. Also making its PPV debut tonight- the modern WWF/E padded ringside barricade. No more classic guardrails, at least until NXT comes along. Tony Chimel is doing ring announcing on PPV for the first time, as Howard Finkel is otherwise engaged tonight.

WWF European Championship: D'Lo Brown (c) def Val Venus by DQ in 15:24- Brown's announced European home town tonight is Helsinki, Finland. He's still wearing the chest protector, milking that old pec injury for all its worth. Roll around lockup at the start with a surprising clean break and an even more surprising low 5 slap. Another roll around lockup. This time Brown takes a cheap shot, then hides in the ropes. Venus forearms the chest protector and hurts himself. Brown Vader-style tackle with the protector, followed by an avalanche. Venus dodges another and hits a Russian leg sweep. Dropkick and Brown rolls out. Long speed run back in, lots of good counters, and Venus ends it by planting a spinebuster. We get a shot of Edge in the crowd again. Clothesline from Venus, but he misses the follow up splash. Brown quickly counters a sleeper with a back suplex. Hard Brown corner whip. Slugfest. Venus ducks a clothesline and hits an exploder suplex. Clothesline from Brown. Slam and legdrop for 2. Sloppy spinning heel kick for 2. Elbow off the second rope for 2. After a suplex fight Brown gets a takedown and puts on a cloverleaf. He can't hold on and lets go before Venus gets to the ropes. Venus dodges a senton off the second rope and goes into comeback flurry mode. He tries coming off the second rope. Brown catches and powerbombs him! Nice. Slow cover for a long 2. More counters and Brown hits a DDT for 2. They go up top and Brown fights off a superplex. He tries coming off the second rope but Venus catches and powerslams him for 2. After some rather odd maneuverings in the corner Venus hits a double underhook suplex. He goes up top for the Money Shot. Brown gets his knees up! Brown goes for a powerbomb but can't hold Venus and legit drops him. Another try. This time Brown pulls it off, a running Ligerbomb-like powerbomb. He goes up for the frog splash. Venus dodges! Venus fires up with punches. He takes Brown's protector off! Powerslam from Venus. He puts the protector on and goes up top. The ref tries to stop him, grabs Venus' foot, and Venus falls down and gets crotched! That's on the ref. Venus recovers to hit an inverted atomic drop and clothesline. The ref tries to stop him again and Venus tosses him aside. Brown grabs Venus and gets the protector off him as the ref calls for the bell, DQ'ing Venus. Venus takes his frustrations out on the ref and gives him the Money Shot because that's what you did in these days. Quality opener, bordering on good, but it had some very blatant rough spots and that ending was crap. It was refreshing how the whole match stayed in the ring too, very much a contrast in this era. **3/4

Michael Cole is in the back with the hearse Austin destroyed earlier in the night on Heat. Mankind is there also. Mankind and Kane are still the tag champs, but recently Kane turned on Mankind to realign himself with Taker (don't ask, it's Russo). He's hoping Taker and/or Kane were in there. No such luck. Mankind is disappointed his planned exit ride for Kane is no longer available, but he's still got his sledgehammer so he's good. Triple H hadn't copyrighted sledgehammers yet.

 

Handicap Match: The Oddities (w/Luna Vachon and The Insane Clown Posse) def Kaientai (w/Yamaguchi-San) in 10:10- The Oddities are Kurrgan, Giant Silva, and Cartman obsessed Golga (John Tenta/Earthquake with a mask). In other words, Golga is by far the best worker in the group and he's nearly a decade past whatever prime he had. Their entrance is cut out on the Network copy for rights reasons, ICP played them down. Since their last PPV appearance Light Heavyweight champ Taka Michinoku has turned heel and joined Kaintai following their feud with (and attempted castration of) Val Venus. Taka and Golga start. Golga no sells buckle shots. Kaientai all bump around for the first of many times tonight. Golga goes around and steals Yamaguchi's brand new shoes! They stink apparently, as confirmed by all Oddities members. Golga pours water in them! Yamaguchi runs in and gets taken out. Kaientai have a discussion before getting back in. Kurrgan offers to fight Funaki on his knees. They get going and, shockingly, Kurrgan's power is too much. Kaintai all jump in and get fought off again. Yamaguchi ends up in the middle of a tug of war and all of Kaientai goes down again. Silva tags in and Kaientai run from him. Taka loses rock paper scissors, gets in....and tags Togo! Togo makes a quick sign of the cross and dives in....right into a choke slam. Kaientai try to pile on the kaiju and all get fought off. Silva stacks Kaientai up in the corner and corner whips them into each other, then presses Taka down onto all of them. Golga powerslam on Togo. Funaki and Teioh double dropkick him. They slam Golga! All of Kaientai hit moves off the top rope onto Golga. More Kaientai group offense. Golga ends it with a quadruple clothesline! He dodges splashes, rolls and tags Kurrgan. Everyone in the pool! Luna cuts Yamaguchi off and slams him. Everyone in Kaientai gets choke slammed! Golga covers all four of them and gets the pin! The video immediately cuts off again because of another ICP song. No it's not technically a "good match", but I really don't get the hate this match gets. It's no masterpiece for sure, but it's a fun comedy match thanks to Kainetai bouncing around like bouncy rubber balls and I enjoy watching it. *1/2

Earlier in the night on Heat, Jeff Jarrett shaved Fink's hair off (what there was of it), one of many people he's done that to recently. DX made the save.

 

Hair vs Hair Match: X-Pac (w/Howard Finkel) def Jeff Jarrett (w/Southern Justice) in 11:11- After months (years?) of crusty staleness Jarrett is finally slowly starting to morph into the more attitude filled version we know mostly from his later WCW years, slap nuts. One step was losing Tennessee Lee (Col. Robert Parker), who was no longer with WWF. Commissioner Slaughter tosses Southern Justice before the match starts. Fink is out with Pac, and in DX gear! He does the crotch chop! And tells Jarrett to suck it! Fantastic. Jarrett jumps from behind and we get an extended back and forth start. Pac hits a spinning heel kick and 360 clotheslines Jarrett to the floor. Springboard dive to the floor! Pac casually dodges Jarrett's sunset flip back in. Why didn't more guys do that? Speed run. Jarrett slides under and hits a dropkick. Another dropkick sends Pac to the floor. Jarrett lifts Pac into atomic drop position and runs his crotch into the post! The beatdown continues in the ring with enthusiastic Pac selling. Pac gets a boot up in the corner but runs into a powerslam for 2. Pac tornado DDT and a slow cover for 2. He hits some corner kicks. Jarrett slaps on a sleeper. Pac goes down and they do the arm drops. Pac fights out and puts on his own sleeper. Jarrett lifts him and crotches him on the top rope. Pac fights off a back superplex and goes for a reverse crossbody. Jarrett dodges and Pac splats on the mat. Cover for 2. More back and forth. Pac hits a glancing spinning heel kick and both guys go down for a while. Not sure that went as planned. Jarrett slaps on the figure four. Pac tries to reverse but Jarrett fights it off. After a couple of near falls Pac grabs the rope. Jarrett goes for it again and Pac pushes him into the corner. Back suplex. Bronco buster! Put me on the list of people that aren't a fan of that move, just for the record. Jarrett gets a back elbow. Crossbody off the top rope. Pac rolls through it for 2. Jarrett leaps, but Pac catches and powerbombs him for 2. Jarrett dodges in the corner and stacks Pac up for 2. Pac reverses for 2. He goes for the Bronco buster again. Jarrett puts his foot up and Pac's crotch runs right into it. Third shot there tonight. He's going to need an ice pack after this match. Fink gets on the apron, arguing the low blow. Jarrett punches him! X-Factor! Slow cover. Jarrett kicks out! Southern Justice are back out. It's a Jarrett match, you know what's coming. Pac dodges the guitar shot, nails Jarrett with it, and gets the pin. Jarrett definitely had an extra spring in his step compared to the rest of this WWF run to this point. ***

After the bell the New Age Outlaws run Southern Justice off. The Headbangers and Droz, also Jarrett haircut victims, come out to help and the ritual sacrifice of Jarrett's hair takes place.

 

Mixed Tag Team Match: Sable and a mystery partner def "Marvelous" Marc Mero and Jacqueline in 8:26- Sable comes out alone, then gets a mic and says "let me introduce you to my partner"....."YOU THINK YOU KNOW ME". It's Edge! Edge comes down through the crowd to make his PPV in-ring debut. He was undefeated in WWF to this point. He gets a nice reaction too. The guys start. Mero gets the quick edge....er, advantage. Damn, gotta watch that wording for Edge matches now. Edge hits a tiltawhirl flying headscissors and some Japanese armdrags. Mero tags out. Sable is all kinds of fired up to get in. Jacqueline is all kinds of fired up to avoid Sable. She quickly bails and tags right back out. Edge hits Mero with a flapjack. Jacqueline grabs his foot. Mero with a kneelift. The heels take turns choking Edge on the ropes. Edge counters the TKO into a DDT. Tags. Sable quickly takes Jacqueline down and pounds on her. Corner kicks and a hair toss. Sable with a shot for Mero! They run around the ring and Mero blocks Sable. Sable low blow! She sets Mero up for a Sable bomb. Jacqueline attacks from behind. Sable hits Jacqueline with a TKO! Mero breaks the pin up. They argue on the floor and Jacqueline again attacks from behind off the apron. Back in Sable dodges and Jacqueline takes Mero out. Angry forearm from Sable and she tags Edge. Edge running plancha on Mero! Jacqueline jumps on his back. Edge gets her on his knee and spanks her! Back in Edge hits a crossbody off the top for 2. He hangs Mero on the top rope and drops him with a neckbreaker. Jacqueline gets Mero's foot on the rope. Mero wipes Jacqueline out and Edge rolls him up for 2. Samoan drop from Mero. He goes up top. Edge hits the ropes and he's crotched. Tag. Sable goes up and hurricanranas Mero! Jacqueline tries a splash off the top but gets Mero! They really need to work on their teamwork. Edge plants Mero with his finisher at the time, Downward Spiral. Then he gets Sable up in a wheelbarrow, drops her on Mero, and Sable gets the pin! Very nice PPV debut for young Edge. As usual Sable looked very rough at smaller points in the match but hit all her big stuff right. **

Cole is in the back with Mankind, who's devastated that he's lost his sledgehammer. He tells Cole he might as well give up and forfeit the tag belts right now. Cole says people paid to see him and that sets Mankind off even more. Vince steps in, convinces Mankind that defending the tag titles by himself will make him a LEGEND, this match is his kind of rules, and finds him some weapons to replace the lost sledgehammer. Mankind says what the hell, immortality is something he's always been interested in, and he has 13 words for DX: "HOW MUCH WOOD COULD A WOODCHUCK CHUCK IF A WOODCHUCK COULD CHUCK WOOD?". Once again, Mick Foley, criminally underrated promo game. He was one of the absolute best.

 

Lion's Den Match: Ken Shamrock def Owen Hart (w/Dan Severn) in 9:15- This is a follow up to Owen and Shamrock's match in the Hart Dungeon at the last PPV. I'm pretty sure this one really is live though. This takes place in the MSG Theater, adjacent to the main arena, which is a cool venue with a bit of an indie show vibe, especially with how the audio is miced up. The Lion's Den itself is a mini MMA style cage. The door is locked and we're on. Owen is quickly backed into the cage and some back and forth mat grappling follows. Shamrock takes a cage shot and both guys trade some ground and pound. Back suplex from Shamrock. He gets a rear naked choke on. Owen low blows out. Clothesline from Shamrock, followed by knees to Owen's face. Something caught Owen flush as he's bleeding from the mouth a bit. Shamrock rips Owen's shirt off and chokes him with it. Leap off the cage from Shamrock and he kicks Owen. Hiptoss slam. Owen dodges and Shamrock goes face first into one of the cage beams. Enzuguri! More cage shots for Shamrock. Owen backbreaker. Shamrock backdrops out of a piledriver, then fights off the Sharpshooter. Owen leaps, but Shamrock catches and powerbombs him. Huge Shamrock clothesline and some more kicks. He comes off the cage again. Owen catches and powerslams him! Belly to belly suplex. The Sharpshooter is on! Shamrock crawls up the cage to get out of it. Tornado DDT from Shamrock. More kicks and clotheslines. Owen counters into a dragon sleeper, which is apparently supposed to be some kind of MMA choke Severn taught him. Shamrock walks up the cage to get out. Ankle lock! Severn walks out on Owen as he taps out. Like the Dungeon match, a unique spectacle that they pulled off well. ***

 

Falls Count Anywhere Handicap Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship: The New Age Outlaws def Mankind (c) in 5:17- Mankind comes out to give it a shot on his own. The NAO bring out a dumpster, a callback to their feud with Foley and Terry Funk during Wrestlemania season. They run right into Mankind cookie sheet shots. Bang bang! Mankind and Gunn both get chairs and sword fight with them. Mankind wins. Before he can do anything else Dogg grabs the chair from behind and the NAO jump all over Mankind. They pummel him with baking sheet shots. Gunn gets backdropped over the top to the floor. Mankind running knee on Dogg with the baking sheet! Swinging neckbreaker on Gunn on the floor and cover for 2. Dogg cuts off a Cactus Elbow. Double team on the floor and Mankind is thrown backwards into the dumpster side. The NAO set up a table in the ring corner. Mankind reverses and Gunn goes through it! NAO double team neckbreaker for 2. They set chairs up and powerbomb Mankind through them for 2. Mankind refuses to die. The NAO get Mankind's tag belt out, spike piledrive him on it, and that gets the pin. After the bell they toss Mankind in the dumpster. Kane is in there! With the sledgehammer! Hey, we found it. Sledgehammer shot on Mankind in the dumpster! JR acts like Kane just murdered him even though we couldn't see anything. Pretty solid plunder brawl match considering the unusual booking. On one hand it's disappointing they didn't do more with the falls count anywhere stip, but on the other hand a short match fit perfectly with Mankind trying to go it alone. **1/4

 

Ladder Match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship: Triple H (w/Chyna) def The Rock (c) (w/Mark Henry) in 25:58- Officially this is WWF's third televised ladder match, the first one in three years, the first that wasn't Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon, and all three have been for the IC title. Triple H gets the full DX Band playdown for his entrance again, with Trips putting Chris Warren on his shoulders and tearing apart the drum set after. Lots of "Rocky sucks" and boos for Rock's entrance. Ref Mike Chioda hooks the belt up (correctly, Shawn doesn't need to come out and angrily fix it) and we're on. Rock throws some very clear F bombs on camera before taking the first shot. HHH hits a huge clothesline and does some ground and pound. Facebuster. Rock hooks up for the Rock Bottom but HHH fights out. Rock backdrops out of a Pedigree attempt, sending HHH to the floor. Rock goes for the one and only ladder. I miss the days there weren't 47 ladders all around the ring. HHH jumps him from behind and knocks him around what little aisle there is at MSG. They get back in without the ladder. Speed run and HHH hits the high knee. He goes for the ladder and Rock jumps him from behind. Down goes the ladder! First ladder bump and it's not even in the ring yet. Rock sets the ladder up against the ring apron. Double whip reversal and HHH goes into the ladder! Followed by a quick Rock clothesline. Now the ladder is in the ring. Rock sets it up and starts climbing. HHH comes off the top rope onto Rock's back! The ladder falls on top of HHH! That didn't miss his head by much. HHH swings the ladder into Rock! Then drops it on him! Rock stops HHH climbing and HHH tweaks the knee Rock had hurt earlier in the night on Heat again. Rock goes to work on it. He drops the ladder on HHH's knee! Then puts HHH leg inside the ladder and stomps it! Then nails the ladder with a chair! Knee posting with the crowd starting to get much more 50/50, there's some dueling chants happening. Rock sets the ladder up on the floor from the steps to the barricade, then drops HHH's knee on it! He sets the ladder back up in the ring and starts slowly climbing. The ladder is getting a bit rickety after all that damage. HHH very slowly gets back in (with Rock having to do some very obvious stalling), pushes Rock off the ladder, and then pushes the ladder clear out of the ring. He sets it up against the barricade. Rock blocks a ladder shot. Takedown and Rock slingshots HHH into the ladder! Long delayed Trips flop and he goes face first into the Spanish announce table! Fantastic. Some more brawling in the entrance aisle follows with the ladder ending up on the floor there. HHH sets up for a Pedigree into the ladder. Rock backdrops him onto the ladder! Henry gets the backup ladder from under the ring and slides it in. Rock sets up and climbs. HHH has to fight through Henry (leading to more Rock stalling) but eventually gets in and pushes the ladder down, sending Rock to the floor. HHH baseball slides the top of the ladder into Rock's face! Rock is busted open. HHH starts to climb. Now Rock pushes the ladder, but instead of going with it HHH leaps and goes straight down! Rock props ladder 1 up on top of the corner. Whip reversals. Rock adjusts midmove and plants HHH with a DDT instead. He sets up ladder 2 and starts climbing. HHH climbs the other side. Slugfest. Rock tosses HHH down into ladder 1! But on the rebound HHH runs into ladder 2, knocking it and Rock down! Chyna hands HHH a chair. Rock picks the ladder up. HHH chairshots the ladder into Rock's face! More chair to ladder shots with Rock under it. Rock slams HHH onto the ladder, then strikes the pose. Everyone knows what's coming now, and Rock gets a HUGE pop for it. The crowd has fully turned. People's Elbow with HHH on the ladder! There are now "Rocky" chants echoing around MSG with no "sucks" to be heard. HHH gets the ladder up and climbs. He fights Rock off, then tries to dive onto him, but dives right into a Rock Bottom! Rock climbs. HHH tights pulls him down. Pedigree! Henry throws powder in HHH's face. HHH climbs anyway, feeling his way up. Rock climbs the other side. Punches and HHH slides down. Chyna comes in and low blows Rock! The decks are clear! HHH climbs.....reaches.....and gets the belt to win! Rock's title reign ends at 264 days, the longest IC title reign since Mr. Perfect's second reign in '90-'91, and thanks to Attitude Era title hotshotting it would be by far the longest for over 5 years. Those are two completely made men in the ring right now. Absolutely incredible match, and all the better for being completely different than the previous legendary ladder matches. The Shawn/Ramon matches were a little more high spot oriented, while this match was all about brutality and airtight psychology. The only criticism is the slow climb stalling was pretty obvious at several points. ****1/2

 

WWF Championship: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (c) def The Undertaker in 20:52- Despite Kane aligning with Taker again Taker is still officially a face and this is a respectful face vs face match, which is reportedly at odds with how Russo wanted it to go. Taker has even promised Kane will not get involved. Even with all that Taker's look and presentation continues to get closer to Ministry of Darkness Taker. Austin gets the big show glass shatter entrance again. It works right this time. Since the last PPV Austin has also gotten the personalized smoking skull title belt. Austin jaws before the bell, then tries some stick and move. Taker tosses him in the corner and goes to work. Austin fires back. Taker clothesline. Double bird from Austin and they lock up. Arm wringer tradeoff. Austin ducks a short clothesline into a roll up for 2. Drop toe hold from Austin that commentary is shocked by (JR saw Austin in WCW, he should know better) and Austin works Taker's arm a bit. Backdrop counter kick from Austin but then he strangely goes down. I think Taker's head hit him in the chin as he was going up. They fumble a little, redo the spot, and Taker hits a suplex. Speed run. Austin tries a Thesz Press but Taker catches and hot shots him! Taker starts working Austin's back. After a bit Austin rolls out. He pulls Taker down and starts attacking his knee. Back in Taker hits the flying clothesline. He goes for old school. Austin flips him off the top rope and goes back on the knee. Kane makes his way out. Austin sees him. Kane starts to get in the ring, but Taker tells him no and to leave. Surprisingly Kane does. Austin attacks with more knee work, then goes out to make sure Kane really does leave. Taker goozle! Chokeslam from the apron into the ring! Austin 360 clotheslines Taker out and the knee gets tweaked again. They brawl all around the ringside area, and into the crowd! At any point here now that brawl through the crowd will become mandatory in every WWF PPV main event for a while. Taker backdrops Austin on the floor and clotheslines him over the barricade back to ringside. Austin attacks back in. Taker backs out of a Stunner attempt and falls over the top back to the floor. He sets up the Spanish announce table. Austin gets draped over it. Taker goes up top. Legdrop off the top down onto the table! The table doesn't break! Taker and Austin slide off it down to the floor. Hebner turns the table over to check on them and THEN it comes apart. Of course. Taker slides Austin back in and covers. Austin kicks out! Austin dodges a Taker avalanche but Taker stays in control. Double clothesline. Austin comes back up slugging. Thesz Press! Not a very good one though. Austin's clearly not right. Corner whip and Austin Bret bumps. He tries to Stunner Taker on the rebound but they collide and go down. Not sure that went to plan. Chokeslam! Taker calls for the Tombstone. Austin squirts free. They have some slow motion counters (again Austin doesn't look right) and Taker lifts Austin and drops him crotch first on the top rope. Russian leg sweep. Taker hooks up for old school again. Austin low blows him as he's coming down! Stunner! Austin gets the pin! After the bell a shocked and pissed Taker still stays a good sport and hands the belt back to Austin. Taker and Kane watch from the entrance as Austin celebrates (and has some trouble climbing the ropes to pose) as the show ends. Austin famously got knocked loopy at some point during this match. It's hard to tell where, I think it was early, but it doesn't really start to affect him until late when it's clear he's not entirely there. Still good though, but it could have been even better. ***1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- If you wanted to point to a single show where WWF solidified its late '90s rise not only past WCW, but into mainstream culture, this would probably be the one. It still stands up as one of the greatest Summerslams ever, and probably the best overall show WWF put on in '98 with, very unusually for a Russo-led show, a heavy focus on wrestling instead of angles.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A-

Hog Wild '96

Legacy Review

Hog Wild '96

August 10, 1996 from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, SD

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes

After having mixed at best results with holding Bash at the Beach '95 on an actual beach (great looking location, horrible wrestling, massively inflated claimed attendance), we're once again heading outdoors for a PPV, this time for WCW's first ever August PPV and the first of what would be regular trips the next few years to the famous Sturgis Rally. The years after this would be named Road Wild instead of Hog Wild. Not being a motorcycle guy at all myself, this location does less than nothing for me. Bischoff and Hogan were both motorcycle guys though, so here we are. The crowd in attendance are all rally attending bikers using their bikes as seats which leads to an....interesting atmosphere. They've also already sat through a full show of wrestling, with WCW holding a 2 hour, 8 match live edition of WCW Saturday Night on TBS just before the PPV started. Location uniqueness aside, this would be a big show anyway as it's the first PPV after the monumental events of Bash at the Beach '96 and the formation of the NWO, who've continued to terrorize WCW since. Rumors are rampant that, in a logical progression of the story, a possible 4th man may be joining the group tonight.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Rey Mysterio Jr (c) def Ultimo Dragon (w/Sonny Oono) in 11:35- Mike Tenay joins the booth for this match. The red hot Mysterio defeated Dean Malenko for the title on the Nitro after Bash at the Beach. In the start of what would become a major show tradition, Mysterio is in Spider-Man gear tonight. Cautious start with Dragon swinging a kick and a couple of mat stalemates. Mysterio armdrags out of an armbar and puts on a modified cloverleaf. Dragon works over into a cruicifix for 2. There's a non-PG doll being tossed around by the crowd. Didn't I see her win the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship a couple of times? I'm sure someone from Turner took care of that real quick. Mysterio slides under Dragon, but Dragon quickly catches him with a spinning heel kick. Long counter run, both guys go for springboard moonsaults and land on their feet, takedowns, and stalemate. Dragon hits some rapid fire kicks and a dropkick. Great Muta-style handspring elbow. Ligerbomb from Dragon! For some reason he doesn't go for a pin. Bold strategery, Cotton. Instead Dragon puts on a figure four with no prep work. Mysterio slowly gets to the ropes for a break, then goes outside to shake it off. Tenay mentions the recent J-Crown tournament in New Japan, saying Dragon defeated Jushin Liger in two and a half minutes (true) and inaugural WCW Cruiserweight champ Shinjiro Otani (also true), but he fails to mention that Dragon lost in the final to The Great Sasuke. Back in Dragon puts Mysterio into a kind of torture rack and airplane spins him a bit. Heenan calls it a "coat hanger", which is worth a chuckle. He drops Mysterio down and again doesn't go for a cover. Surfboard from Dragon. Mysterio escapes into a cover for 2. Dragon goes for another handspring elbow but Mysterio dodges. Springboard dropkick to Dragon's back that sends him to the floor. A baseball slide sends Dragon off the platform the ring is on and all the way down into the dirt. Mysterio dive all the way down there! Man, someone on WCW's production team needs to be smacked upside the head with a wet fish for missing almost all of that. Back in Mysterio hits a hurricanrana off the top rope. He tries another springboard but Dragon counters with a dropkick. Dragon plancha! Back in Dragon hits a German suplex for 2. Springboard moonsault. Moonsault off the top for 2. He goes for another Ligerbomb. Mysterio counters into a hurricanrana. Dragon blocks a super hurricanrana off the top. Mysterio goes for it again, hits it, and gets the pin. Good match, but spotty and missing something. Neither guy seemed very comfortable working in this atmosphere. ***

Tonight's hotline shill: Mean Gene has names of non-WCW wrestlers that have been seen wandering around backstage at Hog Wild, and ANY OF THEM could be the NWO's fourth guy.

 

Scott Norton def Ice Train in 5:05- Fire & Ice explode! I'll give you a couple of days to try to find someone that cares. Train is walking in with a taped up shoulder, his own fault because for some reason he decided to get lippy with the Giant during the preshow. After an initial back and forth slugfest I'll summarize the majority of the match: Norton works the hurt arm, Train pounds back with the good one, Norton goes back to the hurt arm, rinse and repeat. After a powerslam/clothesline flurry from Train, Norton hits an arm slam, puts on as much of a Fujiwara armbar as he was capable of, and Train submits. 1/2*

Heenan's running gag about expecting the bike rally to be all bicycles is pretty damn funny. It'd be nice if Dusty actually let him finish a joke instead of constantly shooting them down.

 

Madusa def Bull Nakano (w/Sonny Oono) in 5:21- This is billed as the "Battle of the Bikes". Oono comes in riding a bike rather than Nakano, while "bike enthusiast" Medusa is on hers. What makes this a "Battle of the Bikes"? No idea. I guess we're just supposed to know. WCW was horrendous about explaining these things before matches sometimes. The ref has a sledgehammer. Did he take that from Oono? While they're arguing Nakano attacks Medusa with nunchuks and tosses her around by the hair. Arrogant one foot cover from Nakano, followed by a clothesline. Tony starts to explain the bike thing, apparently the winner of this match gets to smash the loser's bike with that sledgehammer, but barely gets into the explanation before Dusty interrupts him about something completely different. Dusty is not having a good night, he's stepping all over everyone. Medusa comes back with slingblades for 2. Nakano tries for a Scorpion Death Lock, then settles for stretching Medusa out. Top rope DDT for 2. Medusa messes up Nakano's spiked hair while in a chinlock! I'm 100% certain that was a rib between these two longtime rivals/friends. Medusa hits a hurricanrana for 2. Spinning heel kick. Nakano dodges a second and hits a big clothesline. Medusa German suplex! That gets a 2 count. Nakano hits a back suplex with a bridge for 2. Medusa sunset flip for 2. Another back suplex from Nakano with all four shoulders down. Medusa gets a shoulder up as the ref counts 3. Nakano thinks she's won and gets the sledgehammer. She takes a shot on the seat of Medusa's bike. Medusa goes out to save it, gets the sledgehammer, and starts wailing away on Oono's bike. Doing almost no damage. You know bonus level 1 in Street Fighter II when you can rip apart a car in 20 seconds? This is the opposite of that. Finally Medusa tips the bike over in frustration, hits it again with the sledgehammer, and manages to get one small piece of fiberglass off. Good enough I guess. The match wasn't nearly on the same level as the classics these two put on in the past. 3/4*

Backstage in the Compuserve room, the Steiners try to use computers. It goes as well as you'd expect.

 

Chris Benoit (w/Woman and Elizabeth) def Dean Malenko in 26:55- Jimmy Hart is with Malenko on his entrance. They seem to agree on something and Hart walks off. I think it's some kind of agreement with the Dungeon of Doom to take Benoit out but, again, commentary never explains. Dusty would probably only interrupt it anyway. They jaw a bit after the bell before Benoit grabs a quick takedown. Extended intense back and forth brawling opens things up. After a few minutes of that Malenko hits the first big move, a delayed suplex for 2. Neckbreaker/elbow drop combo. Benoit gets some more beatdown in, hits a legdrop and big chops. He tries for a knucklelock leverage pin. Malenko bridges and kips up, kicking off a crazy great rapid fire cradle tradeoff for near falls. They have a bit of difficulty with the bridge up spot. Some more crazy counters follow, then a much smoother bridge up spot and Malenko gets a backslide for 2. Hiptoss from Malenko into a short arm scissors. Benoit uses it to lift him up and drop him down. The Shawn Michaels/British Bulldog spot, they worked that into every one of their matches. Snap suplex from Benoit. Abdominal stretch, with a tights pull. Malenko spins around to armdrag out. Another slugfest with haymaker swinging. Speed run and simultaneous crossbody collision! Malenko flips over the top rope, goes up top, but Benoit blocks the double ax handle and hits another snap suplex. The headbutt off the top hits! Malenko kicks out! Benoit goes for a tombstone but Malenko reverses and hits it for 2. Malenko gets a boot up in the corner and goes for the Cloverleaf. Benoit small packages him for 2. Crossbody against the ropes from Malenko and they tumble over the top to the floor. Benoit gets posted. They go up top and Benoit hits a superplex. With a huge snap that caused him to hit his own head on the landing. HUGE release German suplex from Malenko! He let Benoit go right at the apex, absolutely perfect. Benoit gets a flash small package for a long 2. Short clothesline for 2. Malenko ducks, hits a clothesline, bounces off the ropes and falls on Benoit for 2. Belly to belly suplex from Malenko for 2. Benoit northern lights suplex for 2. German for 2. 5 minutes left call. Benoit puts on a high angle Walls of Jericho style Boston crab. 4 minutes left. A back elbow sends Malenko to the floor. Benoit plancha! Gedo clutch from Benoit back in for 2. 3 minutes left. Malenko blocks a German into a roll up for 2. Backslide fight that Malenko wins for 2. Benoit powerbomb for 2. 1 minute left. One minute? What happened to 2? Penzer counts worse than the self-destruct system on Spaceball One. Malenko hits a superplex for 2 at 30 seconds left. Oklahoma roll for 2. Powerbomb for Malenko, but the bell rings for the time limit. Ref Nick Patrick says there must be a winner and orders a 5 minute overtime. Benoit jumps Malenko from behind and hits a back suplex for 2. Tiltawhirl backbreaker for 2. Benoit puts Malenko in the Cloverleaf! He drags Malenko to the center of the ring, but Malenko refuses to submit so Benoit lets go. 3 minutes left. Again. Malenko hits an enzuguri. Head collision and both guys are down. 2 minutes left. Hey, Penzer figured out which one was 2! Benoit puts on a legbar. Malenko escapes and gets Benoit in a small package, but again the bell rings for the time limit. Patrick says there absolutely positively must be a winner, so we're going to DOUBLE OVERTIME! If there must be a winner why are we faffing around with time limits and not just saying we go until there's a decision? The biker moron crowd boos the call to keep going, but they've been barely paying attention to this awesome wrestling anyway. Malenko tries to catch Benoit with an eye poke. Backdrop from Benoit. Malenko hits a dragon screw leg whip. Benoit ducks a clothesline and hits a dragon suplex for 2. He goes for another. Malenko escapes, switches, Malenko tries to roll Benoit up but Benoit stacks him up for 2. Malenko dodges a dropkick. The Coverleaf is on! Malenko switches it over into an STF. Woman tries to get in. Malenko grabs her arm. Benoit rolls Malenko up, puts a foot against the rope and gets the pin. Tremendous wrestling, which is no less than you'd expect from these two, but the booking with all the overtimes was pretty dumb and the finish was anti-climatic after all that, and that hurt the match. It would have played much better in front of a crowd that actually cared about, y'know, wrestling. ***3/4

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Harlem Heat (c) (w/Col. Robert Parker and Sister Sherri) def The Steiner Brothers in 17:53- The biker crowd is immediately all over Harlem Heat. I'll let you draw your own conclusions as to why. Scott and Booker start. Or try to. Heat is still getting into it with the crowd. Now everyone's revving their motorcycle engines while Heat stalls on the floor. Finally Scott and Booker get going when Scott attacks Booker from behind. Double underhook powerbomb. Ray runs in and takes a suplex. Rick Steinerline! Heat roll out while the Steiners strike their pose and the crowd is as happy as they've been all night. Back in Scott and Booker do a long speed/counter sequence ending with Scott hitting a press slam. Mounted punches and Booker rolls out again. Rick and Sherri get into it a bit. Ray tags in and Heel 101s Scott down to huge boos. Scott hits a northern lights suplex. Rick tags in. More speed, Rick hits the ropes really bad, his head almost went under, and hits a Steinerline. Booker hits a side suplex on Scott. Scott belly to belly for 2. Rick blocks a Booker suplex and hits one. He shouts "Shut up bitch!" to Sherri, which gets a big pop. Ray hits Rick from behind on the apron to send Rick Steiner in peril. For a minute at least. Rick catches Booker leapfrogging and powerslams him for 2. Tag to Scott. He puts Booker in an STF. Ray breaks it up. After Rick tags back in Ray pulls the top rope down on him, sending Rick tumbling to the floor and in peril again. Ray gives him a big boot on the floor and posts him. Sherri gets a small bit of revenge with a back rake. Watch it, Hogan's a heel now, that's his big move and he doesn't like other people stepping on his stuff. Booker misses a kick and gets tangled in the top rope. Rick knocks him down to the floor, but can't get the tag and Ray is back on him. Bicycle kick. The lights come on as the sun starts going down. Ray chinlock with arm drops. Booker does the elbow miss spinaroonie and hits a swing kick. Ray backbreaker and suplex for 2. Rick dodges a Booker kneedrop off the second rope and gets the hot tag to Scott. Steinerlines for everybody. DONNYBROOK! Both Parker and Sherri get powder ready. Parker accidentally throws his into Booker's face, but fortunately for them they had Sherri as a backup and she gets Scott with it. Parker hits Scott over the head with his cane, and Booker covers for the pin. That is not a popular result in Sturgis, no sir. There's so much trash being thrown you'd think the NWO was already out there. Pretty nothing match, but I'll give them a small bump for pulling off that semi-complex finish without making a big mess of it, a rarity in WCW tag matches. *3/4

We get footage of people riding motorcycles, as well as other shots of various bike rally goings on. WCW's really going all in on this.

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) (w/Woman and Elizabeth) def Eddie Guerrero in 14:17- Flair's got a sweet ice-themed white robe tonight. I don't remember ever seeing that one before or after this show. Seeing him with the US belt on is so weird. If WCW wasn't so hell bent on pushing Giant to the moon they could easily have kept the World title on Flair to drop to NWO Hogan, would have been a hell of a dynamic flip and probably been a pretty fun match. We get some pre-bell shoving. Lockup stalemate to start and Flair gives us a WOOOOO. Huge Flair bump off a shoulderblock. Guerrero shoves and Flair bumps off those too, then Flair gets shovey with the not Tommy Young ref. Guerrero slap and Flair bumps off that! He rolls out to recover. Great start. Flair takes his time getting back in. Since the sun set that chopper they're using to get the overhead shots has gotten extra loud. Speed run and they have a couple of pretty bad and ugly miscommunication botches. Both guys end up down and Guerrero rolls out to possibly legit shake something off. We've gotten the good and the bad so far in this match. Corner chop exchange and Flair rolls out again. Back in Guerrero does the rope walk headlock floatover. Flair tries to pull hair but Guerrero kips up off it. Chops stagger Flair. Backdrop and Flair begs off. The lights go out! Hey, have all the bikers turn the headlights on their bikes on and we can have an impromptu CZW show. Flair gets an eye poke and chop, and goes into slow beatdown mode as the techs work to get the ring lit again. Guerrero fires back in the corner and hits mounted punches. Flair Flip! Guerrero dropkicks Flair off the apron! Flair gets back in and Guerrero 360 clotheslines him right back out. More Guerrero chops set off a HUGE Flair Flop. Flair eye poke. The women have the ref distracted and Flair gives Guerrero a low blow. Guerrero hits a crossbody for 2. Sunset flip off the top. Flair tries to counter punch but Guerrero dodges it. Drop toe hold from Guerrero and he puts on a figure four! Flair takes a near fall, then gets to the ropes. Guerrero knucklelocks Flair, then breaks out some lucha by leaping up to the top rope and coming off with a hurricanrana! Another chop exchange. Guerrero DDT for 2. Flair begs off again and Guerrero mocks his strut a bit. Eye poke from Guerrero! He goes up top and hits the frog splash! But he hit his knee on the way down! Uh oh. After a couple of counters Flair hits a HUGE clothesline, then slaps on the figure four. He gets both rope and Woman leverage help. Guerrero's shoulders go down and he gets pinned! Like their run in Slamboree's Lethal Lottery matches there were some communication issues, but both guys were way too talented to let that get in the way of a good match. ***1/2

 

The Outsiders def Sting and "The Total Package" Lex Luger in 14:36- Re: my point with Flair above, if they had kept the tag belts on Sting and Luger just a bit longer the NWO could have all walked out with gold tonight. Would have been the right call. The classic NWO music makes its PPV debut. The bikes are getting revved again. The crowd finally wakes up fully for these last two matches, but still it would have been a much better atmosphere for both of them if they were in front of real wrestling fans. The Outsiders do rock paper scissors and Hall starts with Luger. Sting gets a toothpick flick before they get going. Ref Nick Patrick has to force a break on the lockup. Hall does some arm work on Luger with a couple of takedowns and bragging about it after. Luger blocks and hits a hiptoss. Kneelift and slam. Ultra super mega cocky Nash wants in and gets the tag. But he doesn't want Luger, he wants Sting. He spits on Sting! Sting tags in. They stare down. One Nash punch floors Sting. A Sting punch staggers Nash. Nash blocks a slam. Sting goes into stick and move mode and gets some traction. After an eye poke Sting gets the slam on Nash. He knocks Hall off the apron. Nash catches Sting leaping in the corner and drops him with snake eyes. Hall gets a return shot in as Sting goes in peril. The NWO keep Sting trapped in their corner with Nash doing his patented corner knees and elbows. Short clothesline from Nash. Hall catches a crossbody and hits the fallaway slam. The NWO continue the good teamwork to keep Sting isolated and working Luger in to double team. Can't fault it. Sting manages to slowly chop Nash down but the tag is blocked. Midring collision and Sting does his "accidental" fall into Nash's groin that you can see coming a mile away he's done it so often now. Hall cuts the tag off. Nash hits a big boot. Hall does the Diesel fist pump from the apron, wanting the jackknife. But Nash does the Razor Ramon pose, tells Hall to go ahead and finish it and tags him in. Hall hooks Sting up for the Razor's Edge. Sting backdrops out and gets the tag to Luger. Luger cleans house. Sting runs in and Stinger Splashes Nash! They brawl on the floor and Sting hooks Nash up in the Scorpion Death Lock. While that's going on, in the ring Luger has Hall set up for the Torture Rack. But when he lifts Hall, Patrick takes a shot in the head. Patrick falls down into Luger's knee, knocking him down! Hall covers and Patrick does a fairly fast count for three! What the hell? Patrick is still holding his head as he raises the Outsiders' hands. Solid formula tag stuff, with the added historical importance of being early in the NWO angle and kicking off Nick Patrick's evil referee arc. Should have been for the tag titles though. **3/4

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hollywood Hogan def The Giant (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) in 14:56- They're still getting Hogan's heel look down. These two worked a lot together when Giant was first getting going and all the matches were abominably awful (while guys like Sting and Flair were actually carrying Giant to decent matches), let's see if a role reversal helps any. MEGA stall to end all stalls from Hogan to start the match. When the bell rings Hogan is halfway up the aisle. He slowly works his way back in. Giant no sells punches and Hogan goes right back out. Hogan's constantly shouting at fans to "shut up", clearly making sure they get that he's supposed to be the bad guy now. Back in Hogan tries to shoulderblock Giant, bounces off, and he's out again. Giant back suplexes out of a headlock and guess what? Yup. Larry Zbyszko is taking notes on how to stall more from this match. When Hogan gets back in he tells Giant to bring it, then hides in the ropes. Giant grabs him anyway and the not Nick Patrick ref pulls him off. Yet more stalling. They slooooooooooowly knucklelock into a test of strength. That goes on forever. After about an hour relative time Giant grabs a top wristlock. Hogan hair pulls into an ARMBAR. Another hour of arm work and hair pulling follows. Giant fights out with headbutts and Hogan falls out to the floor. He pulls Giant out with him and posts him. Back rakes! Hogan's #1 heel offensive move. Giant blocks another post shot and posts Hogan. Back in Giant does the corner whip/gut kick combo that he did like 500 times in their previous cage match. Backbreaker. Slam, and the follow up elbow drop mises. Giant no sells punches. HE'S HULKING UP ON HOGAN! POINT! Three chops. Big boot! Giant calls for the chokeslam. The Outsiders are out. Hall runs in and gets taken out. Chokeslam on Hall! Nash tries a megaphone shot and gets cut off. Chokeslam on Nash! Hogan has the belt. He whacks Giant with it, covers and gets the pin and the title for the NWO! Commentary is aghast, flummoxed and generally horrified. Welcome to the next two years of WCW main events. The role reversal didn't help any as this was just as bad as their previous matches, moving at a sub-glacial pace for most of it as Hogan was working out how to work as a heel for the first time ever with a significant audience, and his solution seemed to be stall, stall and more stall. But no matter how bad it was, it's hugely important in WCW history. 1/4*

After the bell the NWO celebrate. Brutus Beefcake/The Booty Man/Zodiac/The Man With No Whatever/etc etc comes out with a giant birthday cake for Hogan, and wearing an NWO shirt. Hogan takes the mic. He brags about winning the title for the NWO, then calls Flair out for how emotional he got when the NWO took Arn Anderson out. Hogan says they never mix business and friendship. Then he puts Beefcake over as his best friend he's been hanging with for the past 20 years, then says the NWO will never make the mistake of mixing business and friendship. He says something to Nash....and the NWO attack Beefcake! Guess he's not the fourth guy after all. Hogan finishes him off and they toss the trash out. Afterward Hogan says that if he's willing to do that to his best friend for the sake of business, what will he do to Flair? By the way, while all this is going on the Giant is still laying down napping in the exact same spot he landed in from the belt shot. Nash finds the present that was stuck in the cake. Hogan tears it open. It's a can of black spraypaint! Hogan opens it up and in another iconic moment, for the first time sprays the NWO letters onto the world title belt. Another new low as far as commentary is concerned. End show.

 

Word is, Sean Waltman was scheduled to debut on this show as the 4th man in one or the other of the NWO matches, but WWF got tricky with his release papers and Bischoff didn't want to risk anything as he was still a bit gun shy of Vince's lawyers after implying that Hall and Nash were still working for WWF when they first debuted. Instead, Ted DiBiase in his WCW debut would be revealed as the 4th man and the NWO's money man the next week on Nitro.

Years later, when archaeologists unearthed the buried remains of WCW's trips to and shows from the ancient motorcycle metropolis of Sturgis, the Giant was still lying there.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Another roller coaster show bouncing back and forth between quality matches and not so good ones. The crowd as a wrestling crowd was pretty awful, but there must have been a lot of money exchanged because WCW would come back to Sturgis regularly afterward. The last two matches are crucial if you're watching through the history of the NWO, especially the main event no matter how bad the actual match was.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+

Fully Loaded '98: In Your House

Legacy Review

Fully Loaded '98: In Your House

July 26, 1998 from the Selland Arena in Fresno, CA

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

Before even the WWF Attitude signature we open with Jerry Lawler accosting Sable to try to get a glimpse of her bikini for tonight. We have some changing screen innuendo fun and Lawler's reaction is....

 

 

Val Venus def Jeff Jarrett (w/Tennessee Lee & Southern Justice) in 7:50- Months after his much hyped WWF debut with one of the signature gimmicks of the Attitude Era, Venus is making his PPV debut and is still billed as undefeated. He teases fully stripping down after his entrance and gets interrupted by Lee. Southern Justice are the repackaged Godwinns now acting as Jarrett's muscle. Spoiler: they weren't really brothers. Nothing is real anymore. Ref Tim White tosses them out before the match starts. Kainetai's music hits and they make their way down to the ring. White also gets rid of them, but Yamaguchi-San goes over and joins commentary. Jarrett is just a hanger on here (his current WWF run in a nutshell), as the real feud is between Venus and Kainetai after it's been revealed that Yamaguchi's wife was once one of Venus' co-stars in his former career. Pure Russo. That feud would lead to the infamous attempted ritual castration of Venus, one of the most controversial Raw segments of the era. Jarrett and Venus struggle with the basics at the start and Jarrett gets his strut in. Yamaguchi is deliberately hard to make out, but it sounds like he's doing dialogue from South Park's Black Friday trilogy, "Oh, your American penis SO BIG. Japanese penis, very small". Venus gets a drop toe hold and does his crotch thrust pose over Jarrett. JR finally reins commentary back in to actually, you know, call the match. Jarrett ducks a crossbody but on the follow up Venus hot shots him for 2. Running knees to the gut and a Russian leg sweep from Venus. Jarrett tries a sunset flip but Venus blocks it. Jarrett hits a powerbomb and clotheslines Venus 360 to the floor. Lee gets a kick in. Jarrett baseball slide. Chopfest back in the ring. Jarrett blocks a uranage into a DDT. Sleeper. Venus gets out and puts on his own sleeper. Jarrett back suplexes out. Belly to belly suplex from Venus. After a bit of speed he hits an inverted atomic drop and clothesline. Venus perfectplex for 2. Jarrett dodges in the corner and hits a crossbody off the top for a long 2. Venus hits a powerslam. He goes up top for the Money Shot. Lee knocks him down and Jarrett hits a superplex. Figure four attempt into a small package for 2. Lee gets on the apron. Jarrett gets run into him and Venus rolls him up for the pin. They had a lot to overcome, including themselves at the start, but got going OK after a bit. Being paired up with the very over Venus finally got the crowd to care a little about Jarrett for the first time in a while. After the bell Venus cuts a promo on Yamaguchi about how he "can't measure up to the Big Valbowski". **

 

WWF European Champion D'Lo Brown (w/The Godfather) def X-Pac (w/Chyna) in 8:26- This is part of the continuing issues between the Nation and DX. Brown defeated Triple H for the title the previous week on Raw, with a big assist from the Rock. No worries for Trips, he already had bigger places to be. This gave birth to one of my favorite great but mostly forgotten about gimmicks ever- whenever he was European champion Brown would have a different European city as his hometown for his intros. Not yet though, tonight it's still Chicago. Unless there's a Chicago in Europe I never noticed. He's also still wearing the huge chest protector for the torn pec that clearly healed weeks ago. Brown uses the protector to hit a shoulderblock at the start that puts Pac down hard, with typical Brown mocking after. The crowd is very into things. Pac hits armdrags, kips up and gives Brown a crotch chop. They go speed. Pac hits a hiptoss and spinning heel kick. Brown responds with his own spinning heel kick for 2. Lawler is still going on about Sable. That intro was pretty short, he might not have had time for some bunk time and is still worked up. Pac misses a dive in the corner and Brown hits a clothesline for 2. During a long chinlock the crowd starts to get bored and chants for Chyna. Pac takes a HARD whip into the turnbuckles. Brown snap mare and legdrop. Chops from Brown. Pac dodges in the corner but Brown ducks Pac's spinning heel kick. It's a spinning heel kick kind of match. Brown slam and elbow off the second rope for 2. Pac jawbreakers out of another chinlock but gets killed with another clothesline. Brown's moonsault misses, with the chest protector doing more harm than good on that landing. Pac hits the ropes, ducks a clothesline, and hits a back kick. Bronco buster. Both the seconds get on the apron. Godfather hits Pac from behind while the ref is with Chyna, and Brown hits the Sky High spinebuster to win. Didn't do a lot for me. *1/2

We get a quick shot of the enigmatic, mysterious Edge in the crowd. JR: "Well, everyone's here". It's a blink and you'll miss it PPV debut for the future legend. After that we go to Kevin Kelley and Tom Pritchard in the WWF.com room with breaking news! The Undertaker has not arrived at the arena yet! So unlike him.

 

Faarooq and Scorpio def Bradshaw and Terry Funk in 6:51- Flash Funk has gotten some of his old name back. Before the match Funk (Terry) announces that this will be his last match in WWF for 6 months "or so". Bradshaw looks none to pleased at this information. It turned out it'd be his last WWF match for a very long while. After taking a few months off he'd head back to ECW for a bit, then end of life WCW for his last run there. His next WWF/E appearance wouldn't be until 2006 as part of the ECW revival. Bradshaw and Scorpio start. JR mentions they've both qualified for Brawl for All. Oh GREAT, that's here isn't it. Fortunately it was all on Raw, not PPV, so I'm not getting into it. It sucked, that's as far as I'll go. Bradshaw runs Scorpio over with a shoulderblock. Scorpio slides under and hits a dropkick, followed by a hurricanrana. Faarooq tags in but has to pull Bradshaw away from Scorpio. Big Bradshaw corner clothesline. Tackle off the top rope for 2. Funk tags in to a small pop. Neckbreaker for 2. Faarooq backbreaker for 2. Bradshaw runs in with a big boot. He tags in and comes off the top. Faarooq catches and powerslams him for 2. Scorpio hits a kneelift and powerslam. He goes up top. Funk falls into the ropes on the apron to knock him down. Bradshaw goes up and hits a back superplex for 2. Powerbomb from Bradshaw that hits despite Scorpio's attempt to fight it. Funk tosses Scorpio out and whips him into the rail. He gets on the second rope. JR thinks he's going to moonsault, but instead Funk does a simple dive that Scorpio doesn't seem sure what to do with. Funk rolls Scorpio up and Faarooq makes a very late save. Scorpio goes up top and hits a reverse splash for 2. Legdrop off the top for 2. Everyone in the pool! Scorpio hits the 450 splash and gets the pin. Afterward Bradshaw gets pissed at Funk for losing and takes him out, then Scorpio and Faarooq for good measure to turn heel. *

 

Mark Henry def Vader in 5:03- Boom! No hesitation full body charge right after the bell and no one moves. Another one. Henry tries to slam Vader, legit loses his grip, scoops again, gets it, and drops an elbow. Vader rolls out and you can clearly hear him shout "FUCK!". JR tries to cover by saying he's mad he let Henry get him. No, I don't think that's it. Back in Henry continues the onslaught of horribly green wrestling with very pulled weak shots in the corner. Shoulderblock and another big elbow drop from Henry. Legdrop for 2. Sunset flip (!) from Henry and Vader squashes him. Vader big splash for 2. Here come the corner potatoes. He's not laying too hard into Henry though, surprising after what happened earlier. Avalanche and short clothesline from Vader and he tosses Henry out. Whip into the stairs. More potato shots back in. Vader slam and splash off the second rope for 2. Henry comes back with a powerslam. Big splash and it's over. One of Henry's worst matches. Vader was constantly having to visibly reposition him and loudly call spots, and Henry kept looking unsure of what he was doing, especially whenever he had to run. Maybe being in there with someone of Vader's reputation scared him, but considering how it went Vader went easy on him. 1/4*

Back to the WWF.com room and Taker is still not here. Kelley says there's people out searching for him. Did they get Leslie Nielsen? He has experience Taker hunting. While Kelley's talking Kane's music hits. Nice touch of him jumping when the pyro hits. I laughed. The new tag champs of Kane and Mankind come out with Paul Bearer. Bearer gloats at Taker's imminent no-show because he's scared of Kane. The former tag champs the New Age Outlaws interrupt. Road Dogg challenges them to a rematch on Raw. When they get no answer, they attack. The officials gaggle runs out to break the brawl up. Another Raw segment on PPV that feels totally out of place.

 

The Disciples of Apocalypse (w/Paul Ellering) def LOD 2000 in 8:50- This feud continues with no end in sight. Since we last saw the LOD, Sunny has been fired from the WWF (reportedly due to her issues with rising star Sable, drug problems and no-showing shows), while Paul Ellering has been brought back in, but to oppose LOD rather than mange them again. He's got the moniker of "Mr. Dot Com", which I guess is a swipe at internet fans but I don't know if anyone but Russo got the joke. This is also toward the start of the angle where Hawk's real life drug problems would be brought on screen, a bad move for everyone. Animal immediately gets caught in the DOA corner, which is good because I don't have to bother trying to figure out who's Skull and who's 8-Ball. JR certainly doesn't. After about a million elbow drops Animal ducks a bunch of shots, hits a double clothesline and tags. Hawk clothesline off the top rope. The LOD hit a Hart Attack! Nice. Hawk neckbreaker. After that is the inevitable Hawk posts his shoulder spot. He falls to the floor and immediately gets jumped on. Ellering even tries to get involved. He's enthusiastic, I'll give him that. Don't know if he's accomplishing anything more than that. JR questions his sanity on commentary. Other than that it's a pretty typical bland Hawk Road Warrior in peril run with the usual stuff from these teams. Eventually Hawk dodges, hits clotheslines and tags. Animal runs wild. The Doomsday Device hits! The pin is broken up. Ellering takes a shot. The DOA swap guys, plant Animal with a DDT, and get the pin. What you'd expect from late '90s LOD and the DOA. 3/4*

Vince comes out with his usual stooge entourage, including Commissioner Slaughter who's been stoogified and is now with the group. Vince says don't blame him if Taker no shows, he's just the promoter. He gets his brainy specs out to confirm on the official card from the program (man I miss those), where it does indeed say "card subject to change". Not only that, if a wrestler can't make it beyond the promoter's control, he can name a suitable replacement. And here he is....THE BROOKLYN BRAWLER! Eh, Austin could still win.

 

Dungeon Match: Owen Hart def Ken Shamrock in 4:53- This is another early foray into what would be a staple of the COVID era in wrestling, the cinematic match. This is "live" (pretaped) from the actual famous Dungeon in the basement of the Hart family home, where Stu Hart trained all his kids how to wrestle, as well as many of the other greats of multiple eras. It's submission only rules and Dan Severn is the guest referee. Shamrock gets a dramatic entrance through an upper floor door, down the stairs and down the hallway. The cut to a closeup of Severn shouting "Let's fight!" is pretty much a giveaway this is pretaped and edited. They start off with some mat wrestling. Literally mat, the floor of the Dungeon is nothing but a thin mat over the floor. Stalemate. Shamrock kicks Owen into the wood paneled wall and tosses him. More runs into the wall. Owen gets a low blow and manages to do a spinning heel kick in the tight space. Shamrock gets run face first into the wall. German suplex from Owen! They're going for it, that's for sure. Owen takes some hard shots into the wall. He leaps up, grabs a pipe on the ceiling, kicks Shamrock, then uses the position to hurricanrana him! Shamrock throws Owen into one of the weight racks on the wall. Some of that looks like film cans too. Don't hurt those, history needs those. Shamrock tries to use the same ceiling pipe but Owen grabs and powerbombs him. He throws Shamrock up into the pipe! Then runs his head into the ceiling! Another hole joins the many already up there. The Sharpshooter is on. Shamrock tries to counter out into the ankle lock but Owen escapes. Owen ducks a kick and Severn gets hit! Owen grabs a weight and waffles Shamrock with it! Shamrock is out. Owen puts on a part of a crossface to try to make it look convincing, then uses the unconscious Shamrock's arm to make it look like he's tapping out! Severn calls it. Fun little unique match that both guys worked hard to make work, and they kept it short so it didn't overstay its welcome. **3/4

 

Two out of Three Falls Match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship: The Rock (c) and Triple H (w/Chyna) go to a 30:00 time limit draw- Both guys come out with their full groups but everyone is tossed except Chyna. Big "Rocky sucks" chant on his entrance. Back to normal after the small pop he got at King of the Ring.

FIRST FALL- Lots of jawing after the bell. A crotch chop sets Rock off. Slugfest. Commentary is talking about the time limit a lot. I mean a LOT. Foreshadowing much? HHH gets knocked around, then comes back with clotheslines. Chyna gets a shot in to a big cheer. Rock backdrops out of an early Pedigree attempt.. HHH tosses him over the top and they brawl in the aisle. Rock gets slammed on the floor. They work back toward the ring with Rock desperately trying to get some space. HHH takes a stair shot. Rock corner whip back in and clothesline for 2. HHH swinging neckbreaker. Suplex and kneedrop. Corner beatdown tradeoff with both guys hitting big chops. Trips flip! Rock suplexes him on the floor. Mark Henry is out. He splashes HHH on the floor! Billy Gunn comes out to chase him off. In the confusion Rock whacks HHH with the IC title belt. HHH kicks out! Rock swinging neckbreaker for 2. After a chinlock HHH's comeback is cut off with a clothesline. Back out and HHH takes a rail shot. Rock chokes him with a TV cable. Back in Rock goes for his spinny DDT, has a little difficulty but manages to get around and hit it. Another chinlock with arm drops. Again HHH's comeback is cut off. He fires up again and hits corner elbows on Rock. Harley Race high knee. Rock with a hot shot! Now Godfather is out. The NAO come out to block him and they all leave. Corner stomps from the Rock. Ref Mike Chioda takes umbrage at Rock ignoring his instructions and they argue. For a while. But it's another Rock ploy! Brown is out now. HHH fights him off and whacks him with the European title belt. HHH walks into a Rock Bottom! That gets the first fall.

SECOND FALL- There's a full one minute rest period between each fall for this match. The bell rings to restart with Rock still in control. More floor beatdown. HHH comes off the rail with a clothesline. Rock gets slingshot onto the Spanish announce table. Setup slam back in. People's Elbow! Finally that has a name now. HHH kicks out! Clothesline from HHH and both guys are down. Brown's still out there. He gets on the apron. Chyna runs over, pulls him down and pops him. Pac runs in. X-Factor! HHH covers. Rock kicks out! HHH gets a chair. Rock takes it away, swings, but HHH ducks and he nails Chioda! Chyna takes the opening and comes in. Low blow on Rock! She DDTs Rock onto the chair! HHH covers and gets the pin!

THIRD FALL- As soon as the bell rings to restart HHH covers the still prone Rock again, but there's no ref! Chioda was being helped to the back. Hebner runs in and counts, but Rock's had enough time and kicks out. Fink says there's 2 minutes left. Good, nice to see WWF doing time left calls for once. They go back out and Rock gets whipped into the apron and clotheslined. HHH facebuster back in and huge clothesline for 2. 1 minute left. Rock ducks a clothesline and plants HHH with a Samoan drop! Slugfest. HHH blocks a Rock Bottom. The Pedigree hits! But Hebner waves off the count. The time limit's expired, but the timekeeper leaves Hebner hanging and rings the bell late, confusing the crowd. Both groups run in and brawl a bit before leaving. For an initial test run to see how HHH and Rock would handle a main event like match, that held together extremely well. Imagine how much better they'll be with some more seasoning. All the overbooking with both groups getting involved worked as well in the context of the larger Nation/DX feud. ***1/4

Back to the WWF.com room. Taker is here! We have footage as proof! Damn shame for Brooklyn Brawler, he could have had the night of his career. After that we get a video recap of the Sable/Jacqueline feud leading up to tonight's bikini contest. After Sable finally dumped Marc Mero, Mero brought Jacqueline in as her replacement. Sable didn't like that and the catty bitch fight was on. The whole video feels like watching a Jerry Springer episode. Russo trash TV at its height.

Before the contest starts Dustin Runnels (Goldust no more) interrupts to say a quick prayer. Honestly as a Christian this offends me more than anything because the mocking tone is patently obvious. Not from Dustin himself, from the segment in general. Lawler is unimpressed. After Dustin leaves MC Lawler quickly gets things going. Nothing much to say here, especially as I've never been into either of these two. Now if it was Sunny, train wreck or no she was always nice to look at in her prime. Jacqueline wears little, and even flashes a nipple at one point that has to be pixelated out. I assume it wasn't on the live broadcast. Sable, after a "this is all Mr. McMahon would let me wear" tease, wears even less. In fact it's her famous "handprints over boobs" outfit. Vince comes out to cover Sable up and shuffles her away. Mero tries to argue Jacqueline wins by DQ because Sable's handprints weren't technically a bikini.. That'll have to be referred upward to the International Bikini Athletic Commission. The whole segment was blatant trash TV T&A, with Sable's "outfit" bordering on softcore porn. Not preaching, just observing.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: WWF Champion "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Undertaker def Kane and Mankind (c) (w/Paul Bearer) in 17:28- The elaborate feud between these four guys continues. Kane and Mankind are 100% on the same page. Austin and Taker less so. The center of the feud right now is what side is Taker on, Austin's or secretly Kane's. It doesn't help that an Austin/Taker WWF Title match has already been signed for Summerslam, thanks to a #1 contender's match on Raw where Taker won dressed as Kane. Taker has new music here, the first version of what would be his Ministry of Darkness music. Which is, ultimately, where all this is going, hence the questions around where Taker's head it at. Taker stops Austin in the aisle during his entrance, but the staredown is short as they're jumped from behind by the champs. Big brawl on the floor. After they get in the ring Austin flips Taker off before going to work on Mankind. Mankind runs Austin into Kane's knee. Thesz Press on Kane. Kane blocks a Stunner. He rolls out and goes up the aisle. Austin charges and hits him with a running clothesline. Double noggin knocker on the heels. Taker tags in to the slight surprise of commentary. Russian leg sweep on Kane. Taker flips Austin off! Austin likes it! Avalanches from Taker on Mankind. Old school hits. Mankind punches back and they trade shots in the corner. Blind tag to Kane. Kane chokeslam on Taker! Taker goes in peril with beatdowns from both heels. Corner running knee from Mankind. Double underhook DDT. Austin saves the pin. Cactus Clothesline! Kane pops Taker when he hits the floor. Mankind sets up for the Cactus Elbow. Austin pushes him off the apron into the Spanish announce table! Foley out here doing crazy bumps barely a month after almost dying in Hell in a Cell. Taker backdrops Mankind on the floor, but Kane uses that to nail him with a clothesline. Taker DDT on Mankind back in. Kane pushes Taker into a tag to Austin! Austin goes nuts. DONNYBROOK! Mankind throws a chair in, but Austin gets it and whacks Kane in the head. Hebner's distracted, and by the time he counts Kane kicks out. Kane big boot. Austin gets tossed over the top rope and Mankind jumps him as soon as he hits the floor. Beatdown around the announce tables. More beatdown in the ring as Austin is now in peril. Mankind drops an elbow for 2. Double clothesline. Kane cuts the tag off. Slam and legdrop for 2. Taker steps in the ring and stares at Hebner while Austin gets choked down in the heel corner. Chokeslam from Kane. Mankind wants the Tombstone. Austin escapes! Stunner on Kane! Mankind runs in and puts the Mandible Claw on Austin! Stunner on Mankind. Taker's just chilling on the apron while all this is going on, not a care in the world. Kane tries to hold back Austin from tagging. Taker hesitates, then finally puts his hand out and gets the tag. He wails away on both champs. Chokeslam on Kane. One for Mankind. Tombstone on Kane! Austin cuts Mankind off, and Taker gets the pin! New champs! Taker takes both belts and leaves alone, with an upset Austin looking on as the show closes. They'd end up dropping them back to Kane and Mankind on Raw before Summerslam. The match had moments, but overall didn't come together as well as it could have. **1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- A pretty typical B PPV just marking time until Summerslam. The Rock/Trips match is worth checking out if you're tracking the important steps in their careers.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

Bash at the Beach '96

Legacy Review

Bash at the Beach '96

July 7, 1996 from the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, FL

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes

Welcome to the night that changed the face of wrestling forever.

 

The question of the night, other than who will the Outsiders' partner be in the "hostile takeover" match, is where is Eric Bischoff? No one knows and commentary is super worried about it. There's extra security all over the arena to keep the Outsiders from crashing the show before their match. You can tell this is an important night: Dusty's wearing dress pants instead of jeans.

Rey Mysterio Jr def Psychosis in 15:18- Mike Tenay joins the booth for this match and generally befuddles both Heenan and Dusty by calling moves. These guys were already familiar rivals, having both been trained by Rey Mysterio Sr and they've been feuding off and on in Mexico since their debuts. Mysterio offers a handshake. Psychosis slaps him! No Code of Honor in lucha libre apparently. Mysterio opens up by armdragging Psychosis to the floor. Back in Mysterio gets a takedown into a single leg crab. Psychosis transitions into a bow and arrow. Both guys trade off arm work on the mat before Psychosis takes a rope break. Speed run with counters and a Psychosis spinning heel kick sends Mysterio to the floor. Tope suicida! Psychosis planted his head on the bottom of the guardrail on the way down. Heenan: "He bent one of his horns!" They check on each other on the floor before continuing. Psychosis hits a slam and legdrop for 2. Legdrop off the top rope for 2. Legdrop with Mysterio draped across the bottom rope. Big Psychosis running clothesline and he puts on a headscissors. Mysterio tries to use speed and agility to work an advantage but Psychosis is one step ahead with strikes every time. They both end up on the apron. Mysterio monkey flips Psychosis into the post! Hurricanrana off the apron to the floor! Mysterio springboard hurricanrana back in into a stack up for 2! The crowd's awake now. Mysterio does a bit of leg work. He ties Psychosis up in the ropes and hits a dropkick. Psychosis gets a drop toe hold into a headscissors. He lifts Mysterio up and drops him on the top rope with a hot shot! Hell of a crazy ass bounce off the rope by Mysterio there. Psychosis hits a reverse DDT and Mysterio rolls out. Psychosis drops him on the rail. Senton off the top to the floor! Enzuguri back in for 2. Camel clutch from Psychosis. More speed/counters and Mysterio hits another hurricanrana. Springboard apron dropkick from Mysterio. He hurricanranas Psychosis off the apron from the top rope! Mysterio springboard moonsault back in for 2. A couple of Mysterio dropkicks send Psychosis out again. Springboard corkscrew to the floor! Mysterio hit the rail pretty hard with his knee but he's good. He tries another hurricanrana back in but Psychosis counters into a powerbomb for 2. Psychosis face first buckle bomb. He sets up on the top for Splash Mountain. Mysterio counters it into another hurricanrana! That gets the pin! Welcome to the WCW cruiserweight era. Incredible match that showed Mysterio, even this young, wasn't just a flashy spot guy, he knew how to put a match together. ****1/2

 

Carson City Silver Dollar Match: John Tenta def Big Bubba (w/Jimmy Hart) in 8:53- From that to this. So what is a Carson City Silver Dollar Match? Well, first I'll remind you this show is in Daytona Beach, FL, nowhere near Carson City. It's essentially a loaded sock on a pole match. There's a sock on a ridiculously long pole, like over 20 feet high, that's loaded with silver dollars. Get it and you can pummel your opponent with it. Tenta chases Bubba around to start and Bubba stalls on the floor. After a quick exchange Bubba stalls some more. Tenta gets him down and takes a look at the pole he doesn't have a prayer in hell of climbing. Bubba jumps him and climbs up to the top rope to think about the pole. Tenta throws him down and steps over him. He goes up and Bubba back suplexes him off the ropes. Bubba gets crotched on the top rope and falls to the floor. Tenta finally gets smart and starts working on the straps holding the pole up. Bubba hits him with his belt and chokes Tenta out with it. In full view of the ref so I guess it's no DQ. Why go out of your way to climb that ridiculous pole when you can just get an easier weapon anywhere else around the ring then? Bubba gets some tape out of his pocket. How did that get there? Yano planting things again. Bubba tapes Tenta to the rope. but only one arm. More belt shots. He gets some scissors from Hart and starts cutting some more of Tenta's hair, which is what started this feud in the first place. Tenta low blows Bubba, gets the scissors and cuts himself free. He uses the scissors to cut the straps on the pole. Bubba attacks him before he can finish and gives him a spinebuster. Now Bubba finally shows some intelligence and tells Hart to climb the pole. Hart takes his jacket off and does. Tenta hits Bubba with a powerslam. Hart gets the loaded sock, and falls right into the waiting arms of Tenta. Sock shot for Hart. Sock shot for Bubba and it's over. DUD

 

Taped Fist Match: Diamond Dallas Page def "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan in 5:39- DDP's Lord of the Ring Battlebowl ring is on the line in this one. The taped fist match starts with....a lockup and basic wrestling. Of course. A shoulderblock sends DDP out to the floor. DDP stalls a bit, then snaps Duggan over the top rope. Now DDP finds some of Yano's tape in his tights, and tapes up Duggan's feet around the ring post! While ref Nick Patrick is getting Duggan free DDP gets some shots in, then pulls the tape off Duggan's fists! Now that's smart. When Duggan gets up his punches stagger DDP anyway. Guess it would have been worse with the tape. DDP does the seesaw in the ropes while taking Duggan shots before falling to the floor. Duggan gives him rail and post shots. Once again DDP is in super selling mode tonight. Duggan suplexes DDP back in. DDP blocks another suplex with the ropes and gets an arm takedown. He goes up top. Duggan falls in the ropes and DDP is crotched. Duggan faceplants him. Buckle shots and Duggan 360 clotheslines DDP to the floor. Dusty just now realizes that the tape on Duggan's fists is gone, gets confused and Tony has to explain to him what happened three minutes ago. I think Tony knows how Biden's staffers feel now. DDP hits the Diamond Cutter outta nowhere and it's over. DDP was trying enthusiastically but yet again was getting next to nothing from who he was working with. 3/4*

 

Dog Collar Match: The Nasty Boys def Public Enemy in 11:25- There's more gimmick matches on this show than there was at Uncensored. These two teams have been going at it for a while, usually in some kind of hardcore matches and tonight is no different. After the collars are on both teams stand off and stare for a really long time before commencing the festivities. They quickly go to the floor and we get the split screen that Dusty famously dubs the "Double trouble Bash at the Beach bubble". A conveniently placed trash can gets emptied out and used as a weapon. Trash is all around the ring. And a bunch of stuff from inside the trash can is laying around too. Oh, I slay myself sometimes. Anyway. Knobbs and Grunge work up to the stage and start brawling in the sand. "Now there's a rubber shark!". Yes, a rubber shark is used as a weapon. In a wrestling match. Flair probably would have bladed off it. Sags and Rock also get into it on the artificial beach. Sags has a surfboard! As Tony rightly points out, that's a much better weapon than a rubber shark. There's chairshots flying around too. And a life preserver! Knobbs gets a cover for 2. Apparently it's also falls count anywhere. I love how WCW carefully lays the rules out before the match begins. Rock climbs up the lifeguard stand and hits a senton. He goes up there again. Sags pulls the whole stand down! Their chain gets caught under it for a bit. Knobbs and Grunge are fighting by the crowd and Dusty randomly says "I think it's illegal to walk your dog on a beach in Florida". Sags drops a table on Rock. Piledriver from Sags on the floor! Sags flops on the table in the aisle and it suffers from premature breakage. Super ironic with what's about to happen. Rock dives off the rail and finishes the job. They work back toward the ring. Sags sets another table up in the ring. PE set Sags up on the table. Rock goes up top. Sags uses the chain to yank him off. Rock falls and BOUNCES off the table that doesn't break! I AM THE TABLE! That looked painful. I'm pretty sure that was supposed to be the finish. They're forced to improvise from here on out, and as you can imagine with these two teams it's not pretty. Sags sets Rock on the table, wraps the chain around his elbow, and drops the elbow from the second rope. The table still doesn't break! Check on the bottom, I bet there's a "Made in Japan" label on it. Everyone says screw the table, let's try something else. Knobbs hangs Grunge over the ropes by the chain. Sags whips Rock and he gets clotheslined by that chain! Ugly hit. That looked almost worse than the big bounce off the table. Sags drops an elbow and covers for the pin. The fight continues after the bell. Rock dumps Sags over the top rope onto the table and the damn thing finally breaks. Mission accomplished. PE look legit pissed off as they leave. Serviceable chaos plunder brawl, but pretty much the floor for this type of match. I get there were extenuating circumstances but still that end run was ugly. Commentary had a ton of fun calling it even if most of it was nonsensical. **1/4

Tony says we still don't know who the third man is. Heenan: "Should be the table!".

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Dean Malenko (c) def Disco Inferno in 12:04- Inferno, long an undercard heel joke who garnered more "go away" heat than anything else, has been going through a face turn. Malenko quick marches his entrance. This isn't his usual iceman all business look, this is his "I'm going to fuck this kid up six ways from Sunday" look. He points and jaws at Inferno, then slaps him! Quick toss to the floor. Rail whip. Malenko is all over him. Post shot. Back in Inferno shoves and Malenko kips up off of it. HARD corner clothesline. Spinning heel kick for 2. Malenko brain buster! That gets a 2 count. Well, probably not much brain to hurt up there. Plus all the hair product is a natural cushion. Commentary gushes over the fact Inferno has survived this long. Malenko does some ground work and stays completely in control. Saito suplex. He puts on a leg bar and does some knee work, then hits a snap mare/basement dropkick combo for 2. STF from Malenko. Inferno reverses a corner whip. Malenko floats over in the corner and rolls Inferno up for 2. The beatdown continues until Malenko's morale improves. Inferno starts to fight back with some corner shots and a clothesline. Hot shot from Inferno! He hits a skull crushing finale like faceplant for 2. Malenko gets a headbutt to the gut and tosses Inferno out again. Another rail whip. Malenko wraps Inferno up on the mat again. Inferno slowly fights over and just gets the sole of his foot against the rope. Malenko climbs the second rope and drops a leg for 2. Inferno fires back again with a flurry of elbows in the corner. Malenko uses a corner whip to leap the ropes and go up top. Inferno blocks the double ax handle! Neckbreaker! Malenko gets a foot on the rope. Inferno backdrop for 2. Swinging neckbreaker. He stops to dance, then quickly remembers where he is and covers for 2. Solid character work and development here. He's trying to learn. Malenko hits a springboard dropkick to the back of Inferno's head. He goes for the cloverleaf but Inferno small packages him for 2. Desperation Inferno clothesline for 2. Malenko blocks a hiptoss and murders Inferno with a straight right. Backslide fight. Malenko hits a double underhook powerbomb. He gets the cloverleaf on and Inferno submits. Well. Talk about seeing a side of Disco Inferno we'd never seen before. Really good match that could have launched Inferno into a good underdog babyface role but, it's WCW. Malenko continues to build credibility for the cruiserweight division and title with every defense. ***1/2

 

Steve "Mongo" McMichael (w/Debra) def Joe Gomez in 6:44- Mongo made his in-ring debut at Great American Bash, teaming with fellow NFL'er Kevin Greene against the Horsemen, then turned on Greene to join the Horsemen. That turn was well done but would end up being pretty pointless, as the start of the NWO would turn everyone else on the roster into default babyfaces. This is little more than an introductory squash to further establish Mongo. In fact I think it's his first ever singles match, and if you want to get a quality match out of green Mongo, Joe Gomez is not the guy to turn to. Gomez comes out aggressive but Mongo says never mind that shit. Commentary spends the whole match buttering up Mongo something fierce. Chops and Mongo hits a 3 point stance corner clothesline. Gomez fires up but Mongo doesn't bother to do much selling. Or doesn't know how. Gomez crossbody for 2. More Mongo corner shots. Gomez tries to fight back again but Mongo cuts it off with an eye rake. He hits a blatant low blow just because. Field goal kick to Gomez's gut. Backbreaker into a double chinlock. Mongo hooks on a sleeper. Gomez quickly jawbreakers out. Mongo flop! That was the best thing in the whole match. Mongo hits a neckbreaker. He goes for a figure four but Gomez small packages him for 2. Piledriver attempt that Gomez backdrops out of. Mongo's legs hit the bottom ropes on the way down. The ring awareness of both these guys is terrible. Running chops from Gomez. Horrible dropkicks. They both fuck up a sunset flip spot in more ways than I can count. I've never seen one that bad before. Mongo hits a tombstone and gets the merciful pin. Which was also up against the ropes and Gomez has to move himself away from them. DUD

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (w/Woman and Elizabeth) def Konnan (c) in 15:39- Not well known to fans at the time (and not really brought up by commentary), Flair was already a 4 time US champ with reigns from '77-'80 before his first World title win in '81. Flair offers a handshake, and Konnan takes it with no shenanigans from either guy. That's surprising. Flair gives us a little Slick Ric after. Lockup, clean corner break and a WOOOOO. Konnan works a headlock with Flair trying to get a leverage pin. Speed run and Konnan hits a low dropkick. Now things get heated. Flair bumps off a slap! Fantastic. Flair's cautious to get back in. Wristlock fight. Konnan works Flair down. Shoulderblock from Konnan and Flair has a think. No roll out though. Flair surprisingly stays in the ring at a lot of points you'd think he'd roll out. First chop from Flair. Konnan gets a backdrop and hooks on a surfboard. Press slam and Flair begs off. Konnan hits chops. Flair reverses and tries to show him how to do that right. Konnan floors him with a punch. Another press slam and clothesline. Konnan Cactus Clothesline! The women come over to check on/shield Flair. Konnan doesn't care and dives off the apron! LIZ DOWN! She's right back up, she's OK. Flair repositions everyone (I'm honestly not sure if the ladies knew that was coming or not). Konnan goes up top. Woman shakes the ropes and he falls into the ring. Kneedrop from Flair back in. Konnan starts slugging back so Flair gives him the ol' eye poke. Patrick tells Flair off. Woman takes the opening, gets in the ring, and punts Konnad's gonads! That was a 50 yarder. Flair goes into full cocky mode. Elizabeth distracts the ref and Flair tosses Konnan over the top and out. Woman gets some more damage in. Flair suplexes Konnan back in for 2. After a chinlock Konnan fights back and does mounted punches. Flair Flop! Flair Flip! A springboard dropkick knocks Flair off the apron. Konnan teases a dive but flips out of it. More Flair begging. A sunset flip is fought off. Flair gets Konnan down and goes for the figure four. Konnan small package counter for 2. Drop toe hold from Konnan. He puts on a figure four! Flair almost gets pinned, then gets to the ropes. Konnan suplex for 2. Flair gets a back elbow and goes up top. Konnan slams him off. Faceplant for 2. Rolling clothesline for 2. He gets Flair in an abdominal stretch cradle but the ref is distracted. Woman has a shoe off. Everyone knows what's coming, but they take forever to maneuver into position. Woman shoe shot on Konnan! Flair covers, and gets his feet on the top rope for extra leverage because why not, and gets the pin and his first US title win in over 15 years! This probably won't shock most people, but Flair and Konnad didn't really click. **

 

WCW World Heavyweight Champion The Giant and "The Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan def Arn Anderson and Chris Benoit in 7:59- Putting a bit of a bow on the Horsemen/Dungeon of Doom feud with the NWO coming, though it would continue to percolate for a while after this, mostly the Sullivan vs Benoit stuff. With the Horsemen cementing themselves as heels the last PPV the DOD, particularly the Giant, are starting to get more face reactions. That'll be important at the next PPV. If the Horsemen win this match, whoever gets the decision will get a World title shot on Nitro. The DOD attack the Horsemen from behind on their entrance! Mongo comes out and whacks Giant with his briefcase. Giant chases him to the back, which goes exactly what the Horsemen wanted as they now have Sullivan isolated. Benoit/Sullivan chopfest in the ring as Giant returns. Sullivan and Benoit get into a eye scraping scrap on the mat. Arn tags in, gets thrown out and whipped into the rail, but they keep Sullivan isolated. Sullivan fights out of the Horsemen corner but flops back down and Benoit is quickly on him. Arn hooks up for a DDT on the other side of the ring. Giant clotheslines him from the apron. Sullivan falls on him for 2. Benoit sets up a superplex. Giant comes in. Benoit sees him and tries a crossbody but Giant catches him and throws him into Arn. AGAIN Sullivan is cut off from making a tag. Arn hooks in an abdominal stretch. Benoit does some more ground and pound into another eye gouging cat fight. Arn does some knee work, then works himself into that spot where he always gets crotched. Benoit once again cuts the tag off. Sullivan fights off a double team and finally manages to get the tag. The Horsemen bail. Sullivan and Benoit keep fighting up the aisle and onto the commentary stage. In the ring Giant plants Arn with a chokeslam and gets the easy pin. *3/4

 

Back on the commentary stage Sullivan walks away from Benoit. Benoit dives onto him off the stage into the sand! I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU! They come back to the ring still fighting. Benoit hits a back superplex. He looks like he's only getting started when for some reason Woman comes out and begs for him to stop before he hurts Sullivan. Benoit doesn't listen. Finally Giant comes back out, chases everyone off, and carries Sullivan to the back. This would kick off the next stage in the Sullivan/Benoit feud with some serious real life implications. See, Sullivan and Woman were married in real life. That would be brought on screen, with Sullivan accusing Benoit of having an affair with Woman. In order sell the angle, Benoit and Woman would spend a lot of time together in public. So much so that they actually ended up having a really real affair! And Woman would then divorce Sullivan, and marry Benoit! For realsies. Somehow the two of them managed to work together still, like Matt Hardy and Edge when Lita dumped one and went with the other and it was turned into an on screen angle.

We get a very mid-'90s video recap of the "hostile takeover" angle to date.

 

The Outsiders and "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Sting & WCW World Television Champion "The Total Package" Lex Luger no contest in 16:55- The as yet unnamed Hall and Nash come out in their soon to be classic red and black. And by themselves. No third man. Commentary is flummoxed. Mean Gene comes out, steals Buffer's mic and tries to get some answers. Hall says of the third guy "He's here and he's ready". Nash then says "We got enough to handle it". Commentary says OK, if that's the way you want it our three guys will take out you two easy. Everyone stares down with the WCW wrestlers confused and angry that there's no third man. Hall and Luger shove. Commentary starts flipping out and seeing menace in every shadow, thinking anyone could be the third man. Anyone. Everyone gets out and Hall and Luger start. Hall throws the toothpick. Luger slaps him. Quick Hall pounding, but Luger quickly responds with a forearm. Forearm for Nash. Everything breaks down with Nash holding Luger down in the corner. Stinger Splash onto them! Luger is wiped out! Sting checks on him. Savage fights with Hall, then also goes to check. Luger is out and not moving. The match stops and a stretcher is wheeled out for Luger. Commentary makes sure to point out that, intentional or not, Sting's splash caused this. Planting seeds for later. Hall makes an attempt to attack but he's held off and Luger is wheeled out. It's now 2 on 2. Tony finally calls them Nash and Hall on commentary. Just last names, for now. Reset with Hall and Sting. Hall slaps and Sting goes NUTS. Inverted atomic drop and faceplant. Savage tags in but get caught coming off the top rope. Nash hits him with snake eyes. Savage ducks a Hall clothesline and hits one for 2. Nash tags in. After a quick back and forth he starts pounding on Savage. Savage goes to dodge an elbow drop, but Nash miscalculated and lands right on top of him. Oops. Savage quickly tags out to legit recover, that jammed his head good. Nash hits his measured corner elbows and knees on Sting. Sting flips over and hits a dropkick. Nash powers out of a sunset flip as Sting goes in peril. Hall fallaway slam for 2. Nash big boot. Savage is pacing like a caged animal on the apron while Nash is in full cocky mode. Sting dropkick to Nash's knee. Hall cuts the tag off. Sting gets a small package, but the ref is distracted by Savage and Hall is out at 1. Hall drops an elbow and wraps up an abdominal stretch with help from Nash. The Outsiders swap without a tag and Nash takes over on the abdominal stretch. After an arm drop Sting eye pokes out. The tag is cut off again. Hall clothesline for 2. Sting gets tossed to the floor. Savage comes around with a chair but the ref stops him. Nash side suplex back in for 2. Sting counters a backdrop, slugs it out a bit with Nash, then dives over him and gets the tag! Savage double ax handle off the top. The Outsiders run into each other. Double ax handle to the floor on Hall. Another one in the ring. Nash gets a low blow to kill the momentum. HULK HOGAN is walking out! Tony and Dusty celebrate, thinking he's there to replace Luger and help. Cagey Heenan, though, has a bad feeling and asks which side is Hogan on. Hogan comes in and does the shirt tear. The Outsiders bail. They stare down.....THEN HOGAN TURNS AROUND AND LEGDROPS SAVAGE! OH MY GOD HOGAN IS THE THIRD MAN! Another legdrop! The Outsiders come in and they all celebrate. Hogan tosses the ref out. A third legdrop on Savage! Hogan covers, Hall counts 3, and they celebrate like it was a real victory. The crowd is shocked. Trash starts getting thrown in the ring. Mean Gene comes in to get an explanation, and gets one. Hogan gives one of the promos of his life, running the crowd down to cement the turn, saying he alone made everyone rich "up north" and Billionaire Ted hasn't been playing ball since he came here, and dropping the famous line "You can call this the New World Order of wrestling, brother". Of course he says "New World Organization" after but the original line stuck. As the long promo goes on the ring is absolutely filled with more and more trash. It gets to the point people are throwing full buckets of popcorn in. A disgusted Tony closes the show with "Hulk Hogan, you can go to hell...Straight to hell". Welcome to the next two plus years of WCW programming, the angle that put WWF completely on the ropes, kicked off by the biggest heel turn still in the history of wrestling to this day. Commentary did a superb job selling it every stage of the way as well. Putting a rating on this is kind of pointless, but the match accomplished everything it needed to before the big angle so call it ***.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The undercard is quite the crazy roller coaster of quality, in a lot of ways indicative of the ups and downs of the era in general. But that's not what's here to remember. It's all about the big turn at the end, and that puts this as possibly the biggest and most consequential PPV in WCW history.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B- for overall quality, A for historical importance. Call it a B+ average