World War 3 '96

Legacy Review

World War 3 '96

November 24, 1996 from the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, VA

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes

A couple of important things have happened on TV since Halloween Havoc. One is Eric Bischoff has been outed as the corporate mastermind behind the whole NWO and is now leading the group on screen. Promoters can never resist making themselves part of big angles. Another is Sting has made his return to TV as Crow Sting, hanging out in the rafters, watching and not speaking. He's also got some kind of issue with the seemingly harmless Jeff Jarrett, having already come down from his perch to take him out once. Hollywood Hogan has also been ducking Roddy Piper's demands to sign a contract for a match at Starrcade left and right. Said contract signing will theoretically take place tonight.

J-Crown Championship: Ultimo Dragon (c) (w/Sonny Oono) def Rey Mysterio Jr. in 13:48- The J-Crown comes to WCW! I've gone into the creation of the J-Crown in detail in my reviews of January 4 Tokyo Dome shows from this period. Long story short it's a conglomeration of 8 different junior heavyweight, cruiserweight or equivalent weight class championships from Japan, Mexico, and Britain, including the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title and the original WWF Light Heavyweight belt that had been floating around Mexico and Japan for years after WWF stopped caring about it. Mysterio is in Spider-Man gear tonight. Basic start with Dragon doing some arm work. Mysterio goes for Dragon's knee but Dragon gets back on the arm and keeps Mysterio grounded. Speed run, dodges, flips, swings and whiffs and stalemate to the appreciative applause from the crowd. Dragon hits some short kicks. He springboard dropkicks Mysterio off the apron. Oono gets a kick in. Dragon German suplex back in for 2. Mysterio gets his high elevation faceplant backdrop in. Heenan asks him to change a couple of light bulbs while he's up there. Dragon tiltawhirls Mysterio onto his shoulders, gives him a bit of airplane spin then drops him on his shoulders in a modified backbreaker. Nice. A traditional backbreaker follows and Dragon puts on a half crab. Powerbomb on Mysterio, but instead of covering Dragon lifts him up again and hot shots him! Cover for 2. Dragon spinebuster into a giant swing! Both guys are down dizzy after that. Dragon recovers to hit a fisherman buster for 2. Brain buster for 2. Mysterio counters another suplex lift into a small package for 2. Dragon comes out firing more kicks. Tombstone! Cover for 2. A dropkick sends Mysterio to the floor. Dragon does a 619 spin dive tease the uses the ropes to swing a kick into Mysterio. Mysterio tries fighting back on the floor but Dragon whips him into the guardrail. Dragon tombstone on the floor! He goes back in and comes right back out with a huge plancha! Mysterio's dead. Dragon rolls him in and sets him up top. Hurricanrana! Mysterio kicks out! Dragon hits a HUGE Ligerbomb! Mysterio kicks out again! Mysterio hits some kicks to try to finally get some offense rolling. A springboard moonsault from Mysterio mostly misses but he still covers for 2. A springboard dropkick sends Dragon to the floor. Springboard senton to the floor! Back in Mysterio does a springboard sunset flip for 2. Dragon counters into a cradle for 2. Mysterio does the flippiest hurricanrana ever for 2. Dragon hits a dragon suplex! Instead of staying in the bridge he lets go and lateral presses Mysterio and Mysterio is able to kick out. After being lifted up Mysterio rolls around Dragon into a stack up for 2. Mysterio tries another springboard. Dragon catches him and powerbombs him! That gets the pin! Phenomenal match. Mysterio let Dragon control most of it, making it a very New Japan junior style match and they gelled perfectly. ****1/2

Mean Gene is back with a fresh new contract. Contract holdouts aren't just for NFL training camps. He gives us a look at the BRAND NEW WCWWrestling.com website, where among other things you can get live play by play of this very PPV. After that he brings DDP in. DDP's been courted by the NWO lately and Mean Gene wants some answers, especially seeing as how DDP and Bischoff just so happen to be next door neighbors. DDP goes full politician and swipes the question away with "everyone wants a piece of greatness", then goes on to say no one expected him to win Battlebowl and the same thing will happen in World War 3 tonight. BANG!

 

Chris Jericho (w/Teddy Long) def Nick Patrick in 8:02- Somehow Patrick is still only a "suspected" member of the NWO. His increasingly biased officiating has raised the ire of both former crooked referee himself Long and Jericho, who Patrick DQ'd for no reason on Nitro one week. To get Patrick to agree to this match Jericho agreed to have one arm tied behind his back. The crowd is still very unsure if Jericho is really someone they want to get behind or not no matter how much they hate Patrick. His pairing here with Long is odd to say the least. Patrick and one armed Jericho go nose to nose and then shove, with Jericho winning. Hiptoss and Patrick rolls out to recover. Back in Patrick wants a test of strength and mocks Jericho for only being able to use one arm. Jericho uses that one arm to wrap up a hammerlock. Patrick manages to reverse it. For a second. Jericho kicks him down in the corner. Another hiptoss and Patrick goes out again. He and Long jaw at each other and shove with Patrick again going down. He's selling the hell out of everything, I'll give him that. Back in Jericho hits more kicks. Patrick slaps him. Jericho stomps on his feet and clotheslines him. Another roll out and this time Jericho follows with a back elbow. Patrick manages to get Jericho to post his one useable arm and gets a little offense in. Snap mare and neck snap from Patrick back in, followed by a punch combo in the corner. Jericho gets a boot up in the corner and Patrick does a crazy flop sell. Buckle shots and a one arm backdrop from Jericho. Patrick hits a sort of tackle and goes up top. Jericho slams him off with one arm. Superkick! Jericho coves for the pin. Really surprised there was no screwy finish in that match. It went on for probably three times as long as it needed to but '96 Jericho made that as entertaining as he possibly could have. *

Mean Gene brings out Ric Flair for a quick word. Flair's still out with a shoulder injury so this is getting him on the show. He's also had to vacate the US title due to the injury. Flair gives a good but standard Flair promo about WCW standing up to the NWO and struts a ton.

 

The Giant def Jeff Jarrett in 6:05- This is a rematch from Halloween Havoc. Giant still has the now vacated US title belt. Jump start from Jarrett. Giant shoves him away. Jarrett tries some stick and move before Giant kills him with a clothesline. Jarrett dodges an avalanche, hits a corner clothesline and a dropkick. Another corner charge and Giant gets his boot up. Slam and elbow drop, followed by the step over. Chop exchange. Giant wins that. The crowd gets distracted and we soon see why. Sting is in the rafters! Big boot from Giant. Legdrop. Sting slowly makes his way down and toward the ring. Jarrett dodges a Vader bomb and hits a crossbody off the top for 2. He manages to toss Giant over the top to the floor. Sting gets in the ring. He grabs Jarrett from behind by the hair and Scorpion Death Drops him! Giant gets back in, hits the choke slam, and gets the win. Where is Sting's head at? 1/2*

Roddy Piper is out for the contract signing. There's a tartan covered table set up in the middle ring. Piper's got the match contract and wants Hogan out to sign it right now. Instead he gets Bischoff, flanked by Ted DiBiase and VirgilVincent. Bischoff says Hogan's just gotten a couple of scripts in and is a bit busy at the moment. Side thought, it's crazy how so much of this feud, and others in this era, were wrapped around "who's the bigger movie star" like that should matter. Give me the "you went off to Hollywood and I stayed here because I love wrestling" feud any day. Bischoff says he does have Hogan's power of attorney and would be happy to sign the contract if it meets his exacting specifications. Piper tells an attempting to be menacing Vincent "I taught you how to fight" in a nice nod to WWF continuity. Piper's unamused by Bischoff's antics and after some running down calls Hogan out again. This time he gets Hogan, along with the rest of the NWO. Hogan says Piper couldn't get the job done 10 years ago, he's got no chance now. Then Hogan tells Piper to "show 'em the hip". What? Hogan lifts Piper's kilt up and exposes a giant scar on his leg from hip surgery. Old man surgery. Hogan signs the contract, saying he's ready to end it all. After he does Piper slaps and attacks him. The NWO jump. Hogan gets a chair and whacks Piper's scar with it, then gets the spraypaint and marks the scar "NWO". This might be the best thing in the whole feud. Certainly *way* better than the actual match. It probably should have been on Nitro but it got Hogan and Piper on the PPV. Also interesting to note that at no point did Piper say anything about wanting a title shot, and the match does end up being a non-title match.

 

Harlem Heat (w/Sister Sherri) def The Amazing French Canadians (w/Col. Robert Parker) in 9:14- Sherri and Col. Parker have finally had their big breakup. It was never going to last. The Canadians are the former and soon to be again Quebecers from WWF. If Harlem Heat win Sherri gets 5 minutes with Parker and I sure hope it's not for breakup sex, this is a family show. The Canadians attempt to sing the Canadian national anthem before the match but don't seem to know the words and give up before it's over. Balding Jacques and Booker start. Jacques kips up after a shoulderblock and hits a dropkick. Booker kips up off that and hits a hook kick. Double clothesline from Heat. Jacques hits a back elbow on Ray and tags. PCO hits a clothesline and avalanche. Ray counters with a back suplex. Heat work PCO over for a bit. Booker hits the scissors kick. PCO does the ol' eye poke and slams Booker. Both guys miss elbow drops and Booker does the spinaroonie. Heel kick. Jacques drags Booker down to the floor and runs him into the guardrail. Booker goes Heat in peril. Lots of well coordinated double teams from the Canadians. Booker flips over PCO and tries a roll up. PCO counters with a clothesline that Booker 360 sells. Jacques puts on a Boston crab. While Booker's in that PCO hits him with a legdrop from the top rope! Ray saves the pin and Booker gets the hot tag. Ray backdrop and he press slams Jacques into PCO. DONNYBROOK! Ref bump! PCO crotches Booker and dumps him to the floor. The Canadians team up on Ray and plant him with a spike piledriver. No ref. PCO gets a table! Jacques sets it up on the top rope. PCO gets the steps. And another set. He uses one set of steps to climb onto the table, then the other set is ON the table. PCO climbs those and the Canadians set up for a super version of their finisher. Ray dodges! Superkick on PCO! Booker hits Jacques with the Harlem Hangover and gets the pin! Surprisingly spunky considering who was in there and the finish sequence was pretty good. **1/2

 

Sister Sherri def Col. Robert Parker by countout in 1:30- I'm never sure if these "five minutes with" things should count as official matches or not, but it's listed as a match on both Wiki and Cagematch so what the hell. Parker is furious. Sherri is thrilled. One punch and Parker is down! Buckle shots. Sherri tosses Parker over the top to the floor! They move rings. Sherri flying clothesline! That about kills Dusty. Another one! Sherri goes up top. Crossbody! Parker kicks out at 2! Jacques drags Parker out and they hightail it to the back. Sherri and Heat follow. Inoffensive fun. Sherri knew what she was doing. NR

We get an ad for Starrcade '96 and it's a doozy, starring an insane elf. After that Mean Gene is back for a hotline shill, as rumors abound that "another" superstar is making his way to WCW. Not sure who, there's no more big jumps the rest of the year if I remember right. After that Okerlund has a word with Lex Luger, who's been getting mixed messages from best bud Sting lately and wants to figure out what the hell he's doing.

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Dean Malenko (c) def Psychosis in 14:33- Out of the lockup Psychosis wraps up a leg. Malenko counters into an STF. Psychosis gets to a rope. More feeling out with Malenko keeping mat control. Dusty invents a whole new weight class by saying "cruiserheavyweight". Malenko wraps up a straitjacket for 2. Headlock/headscissors exchange followed by armdrag stalemates. Both guys maneuver through some arm work and another stalemate. Malenko goes back to the leg. Psychosis grabs a leg himself. The crowd gets distracted by something so the match basically stops while they work through that. Mutual rolling into the ropes for a break. Test of strength knucklelock. Malenko maneuvers back to the leg. Speed run. Malenko kicks Psychosis into the ropes. Psychosis pops up with a heel kick. He dropkicks Malenko off the apron. Psychosis goes for a dive to the floor but misses badly and drops himself right on the guardrail. Commentary says he slipped as I'm not 100% sure if that was intentional or not. Back in Malenko drops an elbow and puts on a headscissors. Rope climb legdrop. Hard slam from Malenko and he puts on a half crab with lots of extra torque. Double underhook powerbomb from Malenko and he goes for the cloverleaf. Psychosis immediately gets to the ropes. Bit of a reset and Malenko dropkicks Psychosis' knee. Kneedrop on the knee and Malenko starts picking it apart a bit. Psychosis tries to block a monkey flip but Malenko counters the counterto dump Psychosis to the floor. Malenko has owned most of this match. Psychosis dodges a baseball slide. Backbreaker on the floor. Corkscrew dive to the floor! Springboard legdrop back in for 2. Malenko hops over the top rope off a whip and climbs. Psychosis dropkicks him, goes up, and hits a hurricanrana for 2. Suplex lift but Malenko turns it into a small package for 2. Rolling kick from Psychosis. Tombstone reversal and more reversals and Malenko wins the exchange to drop it. Cover for 2. Psychosis lifts Malenko up but Malenko rolls him over, gets a Euro clutch, and that gets the pin! Malenko looked on point as always. Psychosis did not. I still enjoyed it because I'm a sucker for emotionless technical wrestling machines like Malenko relentlessly picking their opponents apart. ***

 

Triangle Match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Outsiders (c) def The Nasty Boys and The Faces of Fear (w/Jimmy Hart) in 16:11- The Nastys jump the champs in the ring before the FOF even make their entrance. The Nastys were pissed that they asked to be in the NWO and were denied, showing the NWO had some kind of quality admissions standards. The FOF jump the Outsiders on the floor during their entrance. Everyone gets in and we have a big 6 man brawl. After the Outsiders get dumped again the Nastys pick a fight with the FOF. We finally settle in with Knobbs and Barbarian. Nastys double shoulderblock for 2. The FOF clobber Knobbs and Sags runs in. There's definitely some stiffing going on in there. The Outsiders hang back and enjoy the show. Nash tags himself in on Meng. He takes a Knobbs back elbow and tags Meng back in. Lots of tags to the back going on. Hall beats Barbarian down. STIFF clothesline from Barbarian. The Nastys jump in and everyone brawls again. Resettle with the Nastys working over Barbarian. Sags piledrives him. Nash goes after Sags. He gets a boot up on Barbarian and clotheslines him. Side suplex. Hall corner clothesline on Barbarian. The FOF get Hall in their corner and beat him down. Meng back suplex for 2. The Nastys beat Barbarian down in their corner. The FOF and Outsiders decide to go at it and the Nastys let them. Nash corner clothesline on Meng. Meng piledriver on Knobbs. Sags gets Hall with an inverted atomic drop, then a low blow for good measure. Hall with some nice selling on that, about .7 Rick Rude. Meng and Knobbs discuss things, then turn and tag in both Outsiders! The crowd goes nuts. So does commentary, until Tony rightly points out that if one of them pins the other they retain the titles. The Outsiders try to tag out but everyone else jumps off the apron. Nash gets smart and lays down for Hall! No Fingerpoke of Doom needed. Hall covers and everyone jumps in to break it up. Hart gets on the apron and gets taken out. Hall gets the megaphone and whacks Knobbs with it. One Nash powerbomb later it's over. Pretty good and nicely stiff brawl, better than most 3 way WCW tag matches of the era. **3/4

 

World War 3 Battle Royale- Once again this is 60 men spread across three rings. The winner gets a future World title shot. It should be at Starrcade but that would make too much sense for WCW, plus Piper's already got the main event spot there. Commentary is spread out like last year: Tony and Heenan on ring 1, Dusty and Mike Tenay (about time he showed up tonight) for ring 2 and the C at best team of Lee Marshall and Larry Zbyszko at ring 3. With it being 60 guys I won't list them all, it's pretty much the whole roster including some jobbers and guys I don't even remember. Chris Benoit is the last to enter and his face is all bruised up something fierce. He didn't pick a fight with Marines in a bar, he got jumped by the Dungeon of Doom in a bathroom. Benoit attacks Kevin Sullivan on the floor and before the match even starts the whole DOD and Four Horsemen are fighting! They go all the way up into the crowd! Eventually they make their way back down and fight around the ring 3 announce desk. Meanwhile in the rings the NWO is unsurprisingly working together well. Commentary says all the DOD and Horsemen members have been tossed out of the match. Lee Marshall goes down! That's a shame. They all continue to fight as they go to the back. Now that's done it's back to business as usual. They're doing the 3 way split screen again which still sucks, but it's easier to follow because all of commentary is working together as one giant team instead of each ring being completely separate. Big help in trying to keep track of everything that's going on. Wait, did I hear that right? Tony Romo's eliminated?! Oh, Tony RUMBLE. Man, I don't remember him at all. Like last year's I'm not going to try to keep track of everything, I'll jump back in when there's 10 guys left, which is conveniently the same point the whole match stops for a big NWO vs WCW face off. It's all four NWO entrants left: Hall, Nash, Syxx and Giant, along with Luger, DDP, Mysterio, Jarrett, Eddie Guerrero and Steven Regal. Jarrett goes after Hall and it's on. DDP jumps on rival Guerrero instead of anyone NWO to keep those questions going. Regal eliminates Guerrero. Mysterio decides he has a death wish and dives for Giant. Giant lifts him up with one hand and drops him on Guerrero. Regal saves Jarrett from a Razor's Edge but Jarrett gets eliminated anyway. Regal then eliminates DDP. The NWO rightly identify Regal as the hot guy in the match and gang up on him. Regal tries to fight back but he's quickly out. It's down to just Luger against all four NWO guys. The NWO huddles up to plan. Luger sticks and moves to take the three smaller guys out, then dodges Giant in the corner. Giant gets draped over the top rope. Luger tries to lift him up in the Torture Rack! Syxx kicks Luger to break it up. Luger backdrops Hall out. Syxx is press slammed out. Forearm on Nash. Nash gets Racked. Giant pushes Luger, eliminating both him and Nash! Giant wins! No hard feelings from his NWO teammates, including Nash, as they celebrate the win. It does raise some interesting questions though. Will Giant go after Hogan? This was a huge improvement on last year's match. **1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- This is the point the huge momentum from the initial formation of the NWO started to wane a bit. In the ring the cruiserweights are definitely still carrying the product. The rest is mostly tolerable, with a surprising lack of big swerves or shocks.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C