Slamboree '97

Legacy Review

Slamboree '97

May 18, 1997 from the Independence Arena in Charlotte, NC

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes

I hope you like football players attempting to wrestle in your wrestling. By this time the original brief of Slamboree as "The Legend's Reunion" and the night for WCW Hall of Fame inductions was pretty much gone. I don't think WCW was doing anything with its HOF by this point.

WCW World Television Championship: Steven Regal def Ultimo Dragon (c) (w/Sonny Oono) in 16:04- Regal has removed the "Lord" from his name because he wants the emphasis to be on him, not his pedigree. He's on the path to becoming what he really was, a working class lad from Blackpool. A real man's man. Dragon ended the Cinderella reign of Prince Iaukea on the Nitro after Spring Stampede. He an Oono have been having some disagreements lately. Between Dragon and Dean Malenko as US champ it's nice to see some of the guys that made the Cruiserweight division such a success getting to branch out. Mike Tenay joins the booth for this one. Cautious start but with zero of the usual stalling from Regal, he's all business. Lockup leading to a good basic exchange. Dragon escapes a headscissors and reset. Regal uses a test of strength to get the leverage advantage. After some counters Regal hits a gutwrench suplex for 2. Regal keeps the advantage on the mat after that. Dragon hits a quick shoulderblock into a headlock. He rolls under a Regal leapfrog and hits a dropkick. Regal tries to block a drop toe hold but Dragon gets him down. Dragon flummoxes Regal with his headstand in the corner and gives him a double foot kick, followed by a kick combo that puts Regal down. Dragon hits his now signature stiff kicks to Regal's back and hooks on a half crab. Regal takes a rope break. Swinging neckbreaker from Dragon. Regal works free and starts hitting some vicious stomps. Dragon rolls out for some space. Back in Regal hits a suplex. He tries for a full nelson. Dragon reverses it. Regal tries for the Regal Stretch but Dragon gets to the ropes. They exchange some open hand slaps with Dragon getting all kinds of fired up. He goes for a cross armbreaker. Regal tries to block it but Dragon manages to stretch it out. Regal rolls over to counter and goes for the Stretch again. Dragon fights it again so Regal switches to a bow and arrow. Dragon bites Regal's arm! More hard kicks to the back and Dragon hooks on a Mutalock. The crowd is getting behind Regal. Not sure if that was the intention with him dropping Lord from his name but it's happening. Dragon switches to a camel clutch. Regal back elbows out and uncharacteristically starts throwing some fists. Dragon flips through a backdrop and dropkicks Regal to the floor. Oono gets a couple of kicks in. Dragon seems almost irritated at him. Back in Dragon hits the handspring elbow. He hurricanranas Regal off the top rope for 2. Regal dodges the moonsault. Another Stretch attempt and again Dragon gets to the ropes. Regal goes for a double underhook suplex. Dragon counters into a hurricanrana! That gets a 2 count. Regal kind of muffs a magistral cradle attempt but still gets 2. European uppercuts. Dragon hits a heel kick and does his own magistral cradle, but both guys end up in the ropes. A springboard moonsault hits. Dragon goes for the tiger suplex. Regal blocks, standing switch, and Dragon runs Regal out to the floor. He goes for a plancha that Regal casually sidesteps, leaving Dragon to splat on the floor. Whip reversal and Regal goes into the barricade. Asai moonsault! Oono gets some more kicks in. Dragon goes out and rolls Regal back in, almost seeming like he's getting Regal away from Oono. Oono kicks Dragon in the back of the head! Heenan calls it accidental but no one believes him. Reverse suplex from Regal back in. Regal Stretch! Dragon submits! Pretty big pop for the win too. Regal wins the TV title for the 4th time, which at the time was one shy of the record. Fantastic match, a great example of two disparate styles meshing perfectly. ****

 

Madusa def Luna Vachon in 5:09- "Women's wrestling expert" Lee Marshall joins the booth for this. He's pretty much the opposite of Mike Tenay. Huge Luna slap after the bell. After a bit of beating she goes right to the hair flips. Madusa slugs back and gets an eye rake to cut it off. More basic choking and throat shots from Luna. Madusa hits a heel kick with a nice Luna flop sell. Yet more Luna chokes and she puts on the dreaded double handed abdominal claw that looks more like a massage than a wrestling hold. Suplex from Luna for 2. Madusa reverses a corner whip, hits an avalanche and some chops. Clothesline and Luna bumps straight onto her head to sell it. Hammy kicks from Madusa. Another Luna eye poke. She faceplants Madusa and hits a neckbreaker. Madusa dodges a splash off the top rope, hits a German suplex with a bridge, and gets the pin with a nice "good going" slap to Luna's ass before she breaks the hold. So much for kayfabe. It's far from the worst WCW women's match. *1/2

Mean Gene is in the arena with tonight's hotline shill: a "change in interim talent coordination" in WCW (sounds like a SeanRossSapp article) and "is someone leaving WCW?". Before he can get any further he's interrupted by Savage and Elizabeth. They shoo him off, Savage takes his mic and they go to the ring. Savage accuses DDP of ducking him and "not wanting any of the madness". But here comes DDP through the crowd with a crutch, the same one the NWO attacked him with recently. He gets in and chases Savage off. Eric Bischoff comes out, holds Savage back, and calls out the NWO B team. DDP says he understands Savage has a prior engagement tonight, like going to Hogan's house, washing his car and kissing his ass. I'm kind of wondering what the shoot percentage on that is. That sets Savage off. He slowly makes his way into the ring. DDP is all over him with the crutch! He fights off the rest of the NWO goon squad until Scott Norton catches him from behind and the NWO take their turn to beat on him. The Giant runs in to make the save. Good if Nitro-ish segment to keep the red hot Savage/DDP feud going.

 

Rey Mysterio Jr def Yuji Yasuraoka in 14:58- Yasuraoka was a young junior heavyweight from Genichiro Tenyru's WAR promotion in Japan. He had some moderate success but not much and would end up retiring a couple of years after this. Tenay is back in for this one as he is for all Mysterio matches. Yasuraoka opens up with some exploratory kicks, connecting with a few. He grounds Mysterio for a bit. Mysterio works free and does some leg work. Yasuraoka gets a run with some basic offense. Kind of like watching a Young Lion match. Arm wringer tradeoff. Yasuraoka hits a clothesline and heel kick for 2. Backdrop from Mysterio. He hurricanranas Yasuraoka over the top rope to the floor! The ref cuts off Mysterio's dive! The hell, man? Mysterio says screw the ref and does a tope con hilo right over him! Back in Mysterio hits a drop toe hold into a camel clutch. Mysterio continues to use his superior agility to stay ahead. He goes for a springboard. Yasuraoka kicks him in midair! Corner kick from Yasuaoka into a Fujiwara armbar. Legdrop on the arm. Mysterio runs into a clothesline for 2. Back to the armbreaker. Mysterio gets a foot on the rope. Yasuraoka kicks him down to the floor. Back in he does a run and leaps to snap Mysterio's arm over the top rope. Mysterio goes back out, and Yasuraoka hits a mostly off camera dive to the floor. Back in he hits a suplex for 2. Mysterio gets a boot up in the corner, hits a spinebuster, and a split legged moonsault with a camera hit for 2. Second straight PPV Mysterio's accidentally kicked a camera. Cradle exchange for 2. Powerbomb from Mysterio! Yasuraoka dodges a splash off the top rope. Double underhook DDT, which is his finisher. Mysterio kicks out! Yasuraoka goes for another one. Mysterio counters into a northern lights suplex for 2. Ugly corner whip reversal spot. Yasuraoka hits another heel kick to recover, and they go for the same spot again. Yasuraoka comes off the top rope. Mysterio dropkicks him in midair! Springboard hurricanrana and Mysterio gets the win. Pretty much a Mysterio carry job, but a good one. ***1/4

 

Glacier def Mortis (w/James Vandenberg) by DQ in 1:51- This feud continues. Vandenberg's got some samurai helmet that's supposed to have some kind of deep meaning to Glacier but I can't be bothered with the details in this feud. Super cereal Glacier gets all his entrance gear off in the aisle, charges in and we're on. Mortis spends over a minute pounding him down in the corner, with some token shots on Glacier's bum knee. After that he calls Wrath in, then goes up on the second rope to pose for the crowd. Glacier uses that to lift him up and drop him with an electric chair. Knee's fine, thanks for asking. Bunch of Glacier clotheslines capped off with a 360 clothesline sending Mortis to the floor. Wrath attacks Glacier from behind for the DQ. The heels don't care, proceeding to beat Glacier down for longer than the whole match was. After a bit a "fan" runs into the ring to chase the heels off. The fan is identified by Tony as none other than Ernest Miller. About which time just about everyone watching shouted "WHO?" to their TV screens. Only hardcore karate nuts like Bischoff had any idea who he was. They'd soon find out. 1/4*

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Dean Malenko (c) def Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra) in 15:03- During Jarrett's entrance Tony talks about how we're in Horseman country so the fans love even Jarrett, which is great unintentional foreshadowing for what's going to happen in the match. Rough lockup and the crowd almost immediately goes into a huge "Jarrett sucks" chant. Tony has no comment. Speed run, Jarrett hits a shoulderblock, reset. Armdrag exchange and Jarrett tries to strut. Give no fucks Malenko steps right in front of him to cut it off. Both guys hit drop toe holds. Malenko snap mare into a chinlock. Jarrett armdrags out. Headlock/headscissors exchange. Malenko bridges out and puts on a crossface. More mat counters and another stalemate. Malenko goes into some knee work. He throws Jarrett outside, then dropkicks his knee against the guardrail! Jarrett catches him coming back in to get the edge back. Long abdominal stretch sequence from Jarrett with Debra and rope leverage. After Malenko finally gets free he tries to put on his own, with he and Jarrett going into some reverses and Jarrett falling down in a pretty botchy looking way. Malenko stomps away on him, then starts un-Malenko like slugging against the ropes. HUGE straight right from Malenko and down goes Jarrett! He rolls out for a breather. That sets off more "Jarrett sucks" chants. Back in Jarrett goes into some arm work. Malenko straight pulls his hair to try to get free. Jarrett hooks the arm up again and Malenko pulls him into the corner. Back suplex for 2. Swinging neckbreaker from Jarrett. He goes for the figure four to huge boos. Malenko kicks Jarrett's knee. He goes for the Cloverleaf. Jarrett counters with a small package for 2. Malenko ducks an enzuguri and tries for a Boston crab. Jarrett fights it, so Malenko slinghshots him up into the bottom rope instead. Back to the floor and Malenko gets run into the barricade. Crossbody off the top from Jarrett back in. Malenko rolls through it for 2. Jarrett hooks on the sleeper. Malenko backs him into the corner. He gets his own sleeper on. Jarrett counters with a kneebreaker! Figure four! They're close to the ropes so Malenko takes a rope break. Collision and both guys are down, with Jarrett falling all the way out of the ring. Never mind that shit, here comes Mongo. Mongo has some words with Debra, then tells her "He's got a title match? Get to it then!" and tosses Jarrett back in the ring. He takes Debra away back to the back. Malenko hits a double underhook suplex. Cloverleaf! Jarrett submits! Malenko was on as usual, but this never came together quite as well as it could have. **3/4

 

Death Match: Meng def Chris Benoit (w/Woman) in 14:54- Speaking of feuds that never end, here we back are with Benoit vs the Dungeon of Doom, with Meng standing in for Kevin Sullivan tonight. The rules are specifically announced as "until one man can no longer continue". Wiggle room. Meng scares Jimmy Hart off during his entrance. Benoit gets a slightly warmer reception in Horsemen country than Jarrett did. Cautious start. Benoit grabs a kick and hits a dragon screw. Meng grabs a belly to belly suplex. Benoit ducks a clothesline and plants Meng with a German. Dropkick to Meng's knee. They go to the floor with Meng hitting chops. Benoit drop toe holds him into the steps. After a reset they have a Greco Roman knucklelock stalemate and Meng hits some more chops. Benoit responds in kind. Meng goes into full pull your eye out beatdown mode while Jacqueline makes her way out to the ring. She and Woman stare down and Jacqueline leaves while the guys continue to stiff the piss out of each other back and forth in the ring. Meng hits the skull cracking Tongan Headbutt of Death and hooks on a single leg crab. Man, Woman's screaming is annoying. Benoit grabs a rope and gets a rope break. Commentary debates if there should even be rope breaks in this match or not. Another big chop exchange and Meng hits another headbutt. Piledriver from Meng. The ref starts a 10 count. Benoit is up and Meng is back on him. Benoit ducks a short clothesline and hooks on the crossface! Meng gets under the bottom rope and the ref calls for a break. One each now at least. Meng gets into beatdown mode again like someone looked at him wrong in the locker room. Benoit wants more! Meng obliges. Benoit still wants more! Meng kicks him right in the face in the corner. Benoit ducks a kick and gets some shots in. Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrolling Germans! Meng back elbows out after two. More sweat flying chops. Benoit ducks and tries to get the crossface on again. Again Meng gets out of bounds to force a break. Benoit TOPE SUICIDA! MAMMA MIA! That was full speed. Benoit goes up top but Meng crotches him. Benoit flips over Meng. GERMAN SUPLEX OFF THE SECOND ROPE! The headbutt off the top hits! NO! Meng catches him in the Tongan Throat Nerve Hold of Extreme Pinching +2! Otherwise known as the Tongan Death Grip. Benoit goes down and the ref quickly calls for the bell. Yet another match where Benoit looks amazing, fights like his life depended on it, then loses and almost needs to be stretchered out after. Booking and layout issues aside though, this was damn good. You knew these two wouldn't be afraid to lay into each other, and they did with glee. ***1/2

 

The Steiner Brothers def Konnan and Hugh Morris (w/Jimmy Hart) in 9:35- At this point the Steiners had won the tag titles twice since the start of the year, only to have the decisions overturned by not at all unbiased Eric Bischoff. Morris and Scott start. Scott's really starting to slowly morph into Big Poppa Pump. Scott armdrag and Morris does the heel 101 phantom hair pull bitch. Morris then gets out of a top wristlock by pulling Scott's hair. Belly to belly from Scott. Tag to Rick. Morris pounds away and nails him with an avalanche. Rick dodges a second one and hits another belly to belly. Steinerline! Steinerline! Steinerline off the top and Morris powders while the Steiners pose. Konnan tags in. Rick says fuck your flippy shit and nails him with a Steinerline. Konnan ducks a punch and tries for a German. Rick standing switches him and plants him with a German. This is old school Steiners ragdolling and I'm loving it. Konnan gets a boot up in the corner on Scott. Scott hits another belly to belly. Hart trips Scott and Morris gives him a swinging neckbreaker. Morris presses Scott (impressive) and drops him throat first on the top rope. He suckers Rick in while Konnan does some choking. Konnan hits his rolling clothesline for 2. Double team arm hold on Scott. Rick comes in and breaks Konnan's half of it up. The heels stay on Scott's arm. Scott ducks a double team, sending Morris to the floor, then gives Konnan yet another belly to belly. Morris tries coming off the second rope but Scott gets a boot up. Tag to Rick. Steinerlines all around. Shit! Konnan starts to turn around when Rick is coming at him for a 360 clothesline, and Rick NAILS him in the back of the head. Bulldog off the top on Morris. Konnan breaks the pin up and we're DONNYBROOKING. Morris plants Rick with a stiff clothesline. Rick dodges the moonsault. Scott hits the Frankensteiner, Rick covers, and it's over. Another match made good thanks to pure physicality. **3/4

After the match a frustrated Konnan submits his resignation from the Dungeon of Doom by laying out Morris. He'd show up in the NWO soon after.

 

Steve "Mongo" McMichael (w/Debra) def Reggie White (w/Kent Johnston) in 15:17- This is Reggie White's one and only professional wrestling match. And he's working with Mongo. This has got disaster written all over it. For those that don't know White is legitimately one of the greatest defensive ends and sack masters in NFL history. The whole basis of this feud is Mongo played for the Bears, and after starting his career with the Eagles White was now a star on the Green Bay Packers, who after years of mediocrity had just won their first Super Bowl in 30 years the previous season and are the Bears' archrival. No one mention that Mongo played the last year of his career for the Packers. Mongo's entrance in Horsemen country gets....pretty much nothing. White's wrestling in his Packers uniform pants with a ridiculously generic jersey that looks like it came from a junior high JV team. Guess Turner didn't want to pay too much in licensing. After some stalling White wins the first lockup. Mongo grabs a hammerlock, shoves White and brags. Shoulderblock standoff. That was full speed, I'll give them that. Another one. A third one and Mongo does almost a comic fall going down. Now Mongo wants a full line of scrimmage hit, using it to chop block White. White shakes the knee off and wants another one. This time he anticipates Mongo's move with a leapfrog, sending him into the middle turnbuckle. White then hits Mongo with the worst clothesline in the history of the business, sending him to the floor. Mongo says screw this, we're leaving. A man identified as "one of Reggie White's teammates" cuts him off, ducks a briefcase shot, lifts Mongo up in a fireman's carry and carries him back to the ring. Gilbert Brown, Tony belatedly says. Packers' nose tackle. When Mongo gets back in White dropkicks him! Cover for 2. Mongo wraps up an armbar. "Jesus may have your soul, but I've got your ass now!". As a Christian I don't even know where to begin in response to that. White hits the new worst clothesline in the history of the business to send Mongo to the floor again. Back in White cranks a headlock. Mongo takes a rope break as a way to clip White's knee again. Knee work time from Mongo. With a side suplex mixed in. White dodges an elbow drop, then does about all he can, a headlock. He actually gets off his feet for a serviceable crossbody for 2. Nerve pinch! They're keeping it dead simple for White. Rope break and Mongo low blows White. Back to the knee. Mongo puts on the most half assed half crab ever. Rock's Sharpshooter is better. White grabs a rope. Both guys take buckle shots and Mongo kicks the knee again. He tries for a figure four. White pushes him down to the floor. Mongo goes up top and takes the Flair slam off! Slugfest in the corner. A White clothesline that is *not* the worst one ever. White gives his best attempt at an inverted atomic drop and 360 clothesines Mongo to the floor. Mongo pulls him out and they slug it out on the floor. White hits a suplex back in. White big splash! Could have done without that silly hop before though. It's like he was doing the triple jump. But Debra's distracting the ref. Mongo gets the Halliburton of Death. Gilbert Brown takes it away. While the ref's with him Jeff Jarrett comes in and tosses Mongo ANOTHER Halliburton! TWO HALLIBURTONS OF DEATH? I don't know if the world can handle that. That might violate an arms control treaty somewhere. Mongo nails White with it, covers and gets the pin. Mongo match finish 1A, B and C. Getting Reggie White in to wrestle in a singles match was questionable enough, especially in a PPV semi-main slot. Pairing him up with Mongo, who barely knows how to work at the best of times and is in no way capable of carrying anyone, is even worse. Giving it FIFTEEN MINUTES is damn near a war crime. The only positive thing I can say is both guys were clearly trying hard and giving it all they had, and that alone I think gets it out of the dreaded MINUS FIVE STARS territory for me. DUD

 

No DQ: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Kevin Greene def WCW World Tag Team Champions The Outsiders and WCW Cruiserweight Champion Syxx in 17:20- Kind of crazy this is the only NWO match tonight. The Hall/Nash/Syxx trio is now officially called the Wolfpac. That's a name you'll be hearing a lot in the near future. Greene gets a much better reaction than Reggie White because it's actually the city he plays in. This is his second match, he teamed with Mongo against Flair and Arn Anderson at the last year's Great American Bash. Flair is making his big return after a months-long injury layoff and the pop in his hometown blows the roof off the place. Syxx wants Flair to start. Be careful what you wish for, kid. Flair kicks us off and the crowd is bonkers for it. "WOOOOOOOOOOO!" Quick Syxx shoulderblock to let the kid think he's ahead. Syxx gets a hiptoss and starts to mock Flair's strut. Flair chops his chest right off! Huge pop for that. There's the real strut. Syxx hits a heel kick to put Flair down again with more NWO mocking. Syxx hits some chops in the corner. Flair flips him around and shows him how it's done, followed by some jabs. Backdrop on Syxx and more classic Flair strutting. Another chop. Hall runs in and goes down. Flair chops Nash on the apron! Nash is more pissed than hurt. Flair mocks and struts trying to get him in. The crowd goes nuts for it, and Dusty goes even more nuts in commentary. Syxx tags out....to Hall. Flair gives him some Slick Ric, then tags Greene in. Greene is all kinds of fired up. Hall is nonplussed. Spit on Greene and he tags out to Nash. Shoving. Nash gets the first shot and lays in his corner knees and elbows. Greene comes off the ropes with a tackle. Clothesline. Nash is wobblelegged. Greene slams him! Nash rolls out for a think. Hall and Syxx try to attack but Greene double clotheslines them and the NWO regroup on the floor. Hall comes in and wants Piper. Slap exchange. Piper goes nuts with quick jabs in the corner. Kneelift on Hall. Hall gets Piper in the NWO corner. Piper fights out! Neckbreaker on Hall. Syxx comes in and kicks Piper's bad leg from behind. Hall goes to work on it. The crowd wants Flair. Hall shouts "Now we're going to school!" and tries to put a figure four on. Piper pushes him out of it. Tag to Flair. Chops for everyone! Hall gives him an eye poke. Flair Flip! Flair gets off the top rope but Hall catches him and gives him the fallaway slam. 360 clothesline and Flair slowly goes over to the floor. Big brawl on the floor. Nash big boots Flair and rolls him back in. Hall covers for 2. Nash hits Flair with snake eyes. Hall and Nash work some double teams. Nash side suplex with Flair selling the hell out of it. Nash gives Flair some mocking slaps. Corner clothesline. Syxx comes in with the bronco buster, which was not something that got a crowd reaction at that time. Thankfully. Oh no, that gets a reaction in 1990s Charlotte. A giant "faggot" chant. Flair fires back with chops. Midring collision, but Flair doesn't go down. He tries a back suplex but Syxx flips out of it and pushes Flair into the NWO corner face first. Cover for 2. Another collision and this time both guys go down. Tags on both sides. Piper comes in with fists flying. Wait, the ref didn't see the tag? Bullshit. Piper knocks the ref out! EVERYONE IN THE POOL! Everyone fights while Nick Patrick comes in and checks on the ref. Flair low blows Hall in the ring. Nash hits Flair from the apron. Hall cinches up for the Razor's Edge. Flair counters! Figure four! Patrick is in. He doesn't seem sure what to do. Greene cuts Nash off with a tackle. Piper sleeper on Nash!. Greene powerslam on Syxx! Hall is down in the figure four too. Patrick counts 3 on all of them! MASSIVE pop for the win. Patrick is officially back in the WCW fold. That was a very fun B PPV main event, almost house show style in that casual fun way. Much better use of a football ringer than the last match. Everyone looked like they were having a blast out there, and none more so than Flair. It was nice to have the good guys win one over the NWO for once too. ***1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Take out the Mongo/White disaster and this is a damn good show, and with no Hogan and only one NWO match. Imagine that. WCW's best PPV of the year so far.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B