World War 3 '97

Legacy Review

World War 3 '97

November 23, 1997 from The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, MI

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay

Hogan vs Sting at Starrcade has already been booked, making this filler PPV even more filler. The big WW3 battle royale is once again for the #1 contendership, and in theory the winner will get a title match at Superbrawl in February. In theory. This is WCW so no one should have much hope of that sticking. This is the second PPV out of the last three that Dusty has missed, and even better Tenay is working the whole show to replace him.

The Faces of Fear (w/Jimmy Hart) def Glacier and Ernest "The Cat" Miller in 9:09- Big 2v2 jump before the bell. Glacier tries to go rapid fire on Meng, but Meng weathers it and drops him with one shot. The faces double up on Meng. Barbarian gets kicked around as well. The arena seems to be lit a bit darker tonight. I think it's because they have the lights off on the rings that aren't being used. Glacier and Meng lose their place for a few seconds, then Meng gets dropkicked into Barbarian. Miller springboards off Meng in the corner into a crossbody onto Barbarian on the floor! OK, that was cool. Glacier then hits a plain old plancha on Meng. Then he makes the moron face move to stalk Hart even though Hart hadn't done anything, allowing Barbarian to jump him from behind. The FOF do their awesome double team backdrop powerbomb that gets a pop from the crowd, heels or no. Miller gets in the ring, with Barbarian waiting forever for him to move so he can whip Glacier in that spot. Finally Barbarian says screw it and whips Glacier right into Miller. Given the lack of selling after I'm thinking that was a legit "get the fuck out of the way" move by Barbarian. Meng continues the high impact stuff on Glacier. The FOF do a war drums beatdown of him in their corner. Meng shoulderbreaker for 2. He hooks on the Tongan Nerve Grip of Massive Pinching +3 and Glacier sells the hell out of it. Glacier tries to pound back on Barbarian but Meng blind tags in and nails him from behind. Glacier flips over Meng, hits a back suplex, and gets the tag to Miller. Miller runs wild with kicks and a couple of pretty nice clotheslines. Hart gets up on the apron and Miller gives him a shot. Again that backfires. Meng grabs him with the Tongan Death Grip! That gets the pin. Pretty dang solid opener, which is a bit of a surprise considering who was in there. Despite the fact both guys had been around forever and were in the latter stages of their careers, the FOF were pretty underrated in this period because they did the stiff power game so well. I can only imagine the classics this version of FOF could have had against teams like the peak Steiners or Doom in the early '90s. **3/4

 

WCW World Television Championship: Saturn (c) (w/Raven) def Disco Inferno in 8:19- Somehow after his disaster of a man vs woman match against Jacqueline at Halloween Havoc WCW turned Disco face. In early November he lost the TV title on Nitro to Saturn, another ECW alum who'd just come in to join the rapidly growing Flock. Saturn's in his wrestling in blue jeans phase. He hiptosses Disco out of the lockup and slaps him. Fireman's carry takedown and another slap. Saturn runs Disco over with a shoulderblock. Off a speed run Disco gets his own hiptoss, then a slam, and Saturn powders. Coming back in he hits Disco over the ref. Another Disco hiptoss. Saturn bails again and is clearly frustrated. Disco slingshots him back in. Clothesline from Saturn. Disco hits an inverted atomic drop and goes nuts pounding Saturn down in the corner. Back elbow and fist drop for 2. Saturn dodges an elbow drop and hits a pumphandle suplex. He goes for a springboard moonsault but Disco dodges. Clothesline for 2. Small package for 2. Saturn gets a backdrop for 2. Standing switches and Disco gets crotched on the top rope. Saturn goes up to the second rope and leaps off with a crossbody onto Disco on the ropes and they both tumble to the floor! That was real close to being very, very ugly. Disco is up first and decides to go after the Flock. While he's fighting them Saturn runs him over from behind. The theme so far tonight has definitely been "Now you see evil will always triumph, because good is dumb". Back in Disco counters a tiger suplex attempt and hits a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Crossbody off the top. It hits, but Saturn completely no sells it. I guess he was supposed to roll through and they didn't do it right. Rings of Saturn! Disco taps. Eh. **

Mean Gene is in the back with tonight's hotline shill. He's been through every single locker room (hold on, I'm not sure what kind of 900 number we're pushing here) and YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE some of the names back there that may or may not be in the big battle royale tonight. He then brings the Giant in and talks about Giant seeing a doctor. My first assumption is for that huge Hogan like handlebar mustache he's grown, but no, it's for broken bones in his hand. We then get footage from Nitro of Scott Hall breaking said bones on the ring post and steps.

 

Yuji Nagata (w/Sonny Oono) def Ultimo Dragon in 12:45- This is the first of several rematches from Halloween Havoc tonight. Dragon's arm is bandaged up after Nagata hurt it in that match. If Dragon wins tonight he gets 5 minutes with Oono. Thankfully Nagata's lost the silly vest he wore at Halloween Havoc. Excuse me, SLIM JIM'S Halloween Havoc. Nagata plays to the crowd for some boos before getting going. Dragon's looking more at Oono than Nagata at the start. They open up with the usual New Japan style exploratory kicks. Nagata catches Dragon on the bad arm with one. Nice kick/counter exchange that Dragon wins. Handspring elb....no, Nagata catches him! He goes for a cross armbreaker. Dragon rolls over into a cover for 2. Dropkick and Nagata powders. Oono kicks Dragon on the floor. Dragon can't resist the bait and tries to suplex Oono. Nagata jumps him from behind. Again, faces not being smart about things. Back in Dragon works a headlock for a while. Eventually Nagata Saito suplexes out. Or BACKDROPEH as it's usually called on Japanese commentary. He hits some huge kicks while doing some more playing to the crowd. Piledriver for 2. Nagata works a rear naked choke/sleeper. Now it's Dragon's turn to BACKDROPEH out. Nagata's back up first and drops an elbow, followed by more kicks and another piledriver for 2. Kick combo and enzguri from Nagata into a camel clutch. Dragon goes for a suplex. Nagata counters into a Fujiwara armbar attempt! That's what he made Dragon tap out to in the last match. Dragon quickly gets to the ropes before it's on fully. Nagata belly to belly suplex for 2. Dragon flips out of a backdrop and hits his usual rapid fire kick combo. Boot wash! Someone's been watching Otani tape. Dragon goes for a plancha. Nagata tries to kick him in midair. Dragon blocks it and gives Nagata a dragon screw on the floor! Great callback to the last match. Oono lurks in the background but doesn't do anything. Dragon goes up top. Nagata springs up to join him. Dragon sunset bomb for 2. Setup slam. The moonsault hits! Nagata kicks out! Nagata goes for a suplex. Dragon counters into the dragon sleeper! Oono gets on the apron to distract and of course Dragon lets it go. Dragon sets Nagata up top. Top rope hurricanrana! Oono puts Nagata's foot on the rope! Dragon lifts Nagata up while Oono is on the apron again. Oono gets knocked down. Nagata kind of flops on top of Dragon and gets the pin. That finish didn't come off like they wanted to I don't think, it was pretty sloppy. Nagata looked way more comfortable working an American crowd as a heel, but overall it wasn't quite as good as the Halloween Havoc match. Also, heavyweight beats junior heavyweight again. New Japan rules. ***1/4

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Steiner Brothers (c) (w/Ted DiBiase) def The Blue Bloods in 9:45- Annoyed Regal trying to wave away the entrance dry ice fog is pretty funny. The Steiners have the old tag belts because the Outsiders, in true NWO fashion, are toting around the recently redesigned tag belts like they were still champs. Regal's in his rare singlet phase. Scott and Taylor start. Scott shows the strength advantage, hiptossing Taylor across the ring and running him over with a shoulderblock. Taylor manages to get Scott caught in their corner for a short double beatdown. Scott hits the double underhook powerbomb. Regal comes in and runs right into a Rick Steinerline. The Steiners pose while the Bloods regroup on the floor. Taylor has to hold Regal back from going after DiBiase! Fantastic. Reset with Regal and Rick. Regal lets the crowd annoy him before locking up. He tries to out-technical Rick but Rick's power is too much. Regal manages to hit a couple of European uppercuts. I can see why Regal's wearing the singlet. He's, er, ballooned. Apparently this was during the height of his drinking problems and he's definitely put on a lot of weight around the middle. Rick gets Regal down in a sort of Fujiwara armbar. Scott hits a belly to belly suplex. The Steiners trade off working Regal's arm. Regal goes to the old eye poke to escape and tag. Rick grabs Taylor leapfrogging and powerslams him! Classic Steiner ragdolling right there. Regal knees Scott in the back from the apron and Talor 360 clotheslines him to the floor. More European uppercuts from the Bloods as Scott goes mildly in peril. Scott takes Regal out with a Steinerline but Regal hooks his feet to keep him from tagging. Regal hops into another belly to belly. Tag to Rick. Shots and slams for everyone. DONNYBROOK! Rick backdrops Regal, then Scott backdrops Taylor onto Regal! Doomsday bulldog! That's it. Decentish but fairly one sided. **1/4

JJ Dillon is with Mean Gene. He's had enough of letting Raven show up whenever and however he wants, and gives Raven 24 hours to sign an official contract with WCW.

 

Raven's Rules Match: Raven (w/The Flock) def Scotty Riggs in 8:43- Riggs is cosplaying as Jean Pierre Lafitte, or very late run Buffy/Buffy comics era Xander, with his eyepatch from an earlier attack by Raven after Riggs refused to join the Flock. Billy Kidman helpfully explains Raven's Rules to everyone. Riggs' answer is to dive onto the whole Flock! He pounds away on Raven around and in the ring. Swinging neckbreaker followed by a big splash for 2. Raven tights pulls Riggs into the corner, then chokes Riggs with his spare shirt. Heenan has lots of thoughts about the eyepatch and they're all funny. They go to the floor and Raven goes into the steps. Riggs chokes him with a TV cable. Back in Raven hits a desperation jawbreaker. One of the Flock provides Raven with a chair. Chairshot on Riggs. Raven sets the chair up. Whip reversal and Riggs drop toe holds Raven into the chair! After almost a full 10 count with both guys down Riggs leaps over to cover for 2. Riggs chair toss/dropkick combo. Another slow cover and Raven gets a foot on the rope. Riggs bulldogs Raven on the chair! Yet another slow cover and Raven kicks out. Riggs tosses the chair away like it's the chair's fault he's been slow on the cover trigger. Raven slips out of a suplex attempt. DDT! Raven wants a mic. He says he doesn't want to hurt Riggs, why didn't he join him instead. Another DDT. "This is hurting me more than it's hurting you". A third DDT. Raven takes a 10 count KO for the win. The ref calls for medical help, but the Flock carry Riggs away through the crowd instead. Fine match. Raven was a classic high floor/low ceiling guy that you could nearly always count on for a solid match but rarely a truly good one. **1/2

The next match is scheduled to be Mongo vs BILL Goldberg, continuing their feud of former football players. This is well before WCW decided to push Goldberg to the moon. Mongo makes his entrance carrying a giant metal bar. Goldberg's music then hits. Mongo takes a mic and says that's not happening tonight and to get a camera to the back. Goldberg's laid on on the floor in the back! Seriously, he could be an absolutely perfect chalk outline the position he's in. It was Mongo in the backstage hallway with the lead pipe. Commentary notes Mongo has his Super Bowl ring back. Mongo calls out anyone in the locker room to face him. After a minute Debra comes out dragging an extremely reluctant Alex Wright to the ring.

 

Steve "Mongo" McMichael def Alex Wright (w/Debra McMichael) in 3:36- This is another Halloween Havoc rematch. Mongo turns and plays to the crowd just so Wright can jump him from behind. One of Mongo's big problems is he has no natural wrestling instincts whatsoever. Wright takes his jacket off and whips Mongo with it. Mongo thinks that's enough selling and hits a back elbow and a couple of clotheslines. He stomps Wright to the floor. Wright wants to walk but Debra stops him. Back in Mongo faceplants Wright. Side suplex after Wright barely managed to get off the ropes on a run. Wright hits a spinning heel kick. Mongo dodges and Wright Bret bumps in the corner. He hits the 3 point stance tackles and a decently stiff clothesline. About .6 Riki Choshu. They have a bad fumble in the corner where Wright tries something but Mongo says "Screw that, I'm not selling anymore" and hits another side suplex. The tombstone, or "Mongo Spike" as it's now called, finishes it. Mongo squash. 1/4*

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Eddie Guerrero (c) def Rey Mysterio Jr in 12:42- Yet another Halloween Havoc rematch, where these two put on probably the best match of the entire WCW NWO era and pretty much silenced any doubters about either being potential top guys. In another company at least, that was never going to happen in WCW with Hogan and his buddies having final veto on pretty much everything at the top of the card. Guerrero won the title back from Mysterio on Nitro a couple of weeks before this. They let the crowd breathe with some "Eddie sucks" chants before digging in. Guerrero cranks an arm. Mysterio responds with an armdrag. Guerrero grabs a hammerlock. Mysterio lucha flips him out of the ring. More, louder, "Eddie sucks" chants. Speed run and Mysterio hits a tiltawhirl flying headscissors. Guerrero wraps Mysterio up and grounds him. German suplex! Straight drop back suplex from Guerrero. Abdominal stretch. Mysterio tries to get up on Guerrero's shoulders for a move but slips and falls off. That's the problem with lucha's high risk style, when it goes wrong it tends to go wrong spectacularly. They recover with Guerrero blocking a monkey flip. Mysterio uses the knucklelock to leap to the top rope and springboard headscissors Guerrero to the floor. 619 dive tease. Guerrero trips Mysterio. Back in Mysterio backdrops Guerrero and he lands crotch first on the top rope. He goes for a sunset bomb but again has some issues with execution. Guerrero blocks it and hits a tiltawhirl backbreaker on the floor. They have a fight up top with Guerrero blocking a superplex. They switch positions and Guerrero hits the superplex! That took some fancy footwork on both sides to pull that switch off right. Guerrero goes for the frog splash. Mysterio dodges, but Guerrero rolls through. Mysterio hurricanrana with a cradle for 2. Guerrero plants Mysterio with a flapjack. Mysterio armdrag and flying headscissors for 2. Guerrero hits a basement dropkick right to Mysterio's head. European uppercut. He suplex drops Mysterio on the top rope. Now Guerrero goes for a sunset bomb. Mysterio counters it with a hurricanrana on the floor! Corkscrew senton! Springboard moonsault from Mysterio back in for 2. Mysterio goes for another hurricanrana. Guerrero counters it into a powerbomb! He hooks on the Gory Special. Mysterio bridges with his head and neck to get out of a pin, then flips over into a sunset flip for 2. Spinning heel kick. He sets up for a moonsault on the top rope. Guerrero grabs him and tries a running Ligerbomb. Mysterio goes for a counter, but again slips and falls off Guerrero. Ugly botch #2. Mysterio recovers to leap to the top rope and hits a moonsault for 2. Springboard legdrop. He calls for the springboard hurricanrana to finish it. And it hits! Sort of. That's minor botch #2. Ref Lil' Naitch almost counts 3 but *just* sees Guerrero's landed with a foot on the rope! Everyone thought that was it. Mysterio goes up top again. Guerrero drops him into a hot shot. The frog splash hits and that gets the pin. It was never going to be as good as Halloween Havoc, and while it was still good, those botches really hurt the overall match. ***1/2

The hype train is in full gear for Starrcade, with Tony calling Hogan vs Sting "the biggest match in the history of professional wrestling". Gee, better not mess it up then.

 

No DQ Match for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Curt Hennig (c) def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair in 17:57- Yet yet another rematch from Halloween Havoc. Hennig brings a chair in with him on his entrance. He also managed to remember the belt this time. At Halloween Havoc he had the Cruiserweight belt on him. After the bell Hennig stalls like crazy and moves around rings. Flair finally has enough and jumps him on the floor. They do a weak brawl through the crowd before Hennig dumps Flair back over the barricade. Flair gets knocked around ringside for a bit. Hennig brings a TV cable into the ring to choke Flair with. He 360 clotheslines Flair back to the floor. Flair snaps Hennig over the top rope and tosses him out to the floor. Flair goes up top. Double ax handle off the top to the floor! Randy Savage style. But, Flair hurt his leg on the landing. He chops Hennig against the guardrail while trying to shake his knee off. Hennig backdrops Flair on the floor and hits a clothesline. Slide in and cover for 2. He starts working on Flair's hurt knee. Plus hits a legdrop to the crotch. Spinning toe hold from Hennig into an Indian Death Lock. Flair chokes Hennig put Hennig punches him back down. Slugfest while still in the hold. Flair eye pokes to get free. He clips Hennig's knee! Now they both have a bum one. Flair kicks Hennig's leg out of his leg with Hennig almost getting around for a classic 360 sell. Snap mare/kneedrop combo. Flair tries to strut a bit. Chops. Hennig slams Flair off the top rope for 2. Chop exchange in the corner. Hennig gets the edge with some wicked stiff ones. Flair Flop! Haven't seen that for a bit. That's a sign Flair might be getting back in a groove. Back and forth slugging in the corner. Flair gives Hennig the usual hair toss and slide crotch first into the post bit. Hennig can't run on a whip, still selling the knee. More Flair chops. Midring collision and both guys are down. Hennig switches rings to try to get some space. Flair follows and hits a HIGH angle back suplex. Hennig does his snap mare/neck snap combo. Flair Flip! To the floor! Hennig knocks Flair around ringside again until Flair tights pulls him into the guardrail. Flair tries to suplex Hennig back in the ring but his knee gives out. He goes out and gets Hennig's chair. He atomic drops Hennig onto the chair back! Ouch. Then he kicks the chair closed onto Hennig's bad knee! That's fantastic. Flair goes out and gets a fresh chair along with the title belt. Chairshot to Hennig's knee. Flair poses with the belt then tosses it away. Figure four! Hennig gets the belt and whacks Flair with it! He covers and gets the pin. That was way better than the Halloween Havoc match. It started out as rough as that match was, but once they got into the knee work they seemed to finally find a groove and started putting on the kind of match we know they're capable of. The psychology was tight too. ***1/4

 

60 Man World War 3 Battle Royale- There's a couple of new rules this year: wrestlers are free to move ring to ring at any point during the match, and elimination is by touching the floor only. No need to be tossed over the top rope. Basically it's old school women's battle royale rules. Make what jokes you will. Buffer also says that when there's five guys left in each ring they'll consolidate down to one ring, but no one pays that any mind because that rule's never been followed right in either of the two previous editions of this. As usual pretty much the entire roster is in this match so I'm not going to list everyone. Tony's teases of "big names from other companies" turns out to be John Nord (former Berzerker in WWF), who's looking like Dan Spivey in furry boots now, Barry Darsow (former Krusher Kruschev in Jim Crockett, Demolition Smash and Repo Man in WWF, and the Blacktop Bully in pre-NWO Bischoff WCW), and *snigger* Kendall Windham. I suppose an ancient Greg "The Hammer" Valentine might qualify too but I can't remember if he was under contract with WCW as a road agent at the time or not. Anyone hoping for a Bret Hart appearance, this is after Survivor Series '97, was sorely disappointed. The NWO entrants, naturally, get their own entrance. Rick Rude is with the group, just a week after making history by appearing on Raw (taped) and Nitro (live) on the same night. It's pretty cool to see Hennig and Rude together, the last two frontmen for the Heenan Family in WWF. Commentary makes a big deal about Kevin Nash not being with the NWO group. As usual this is a giant clusterfuck with way too much going on for it to have any kind of narrative sense or flow, so again like always I'm checking out until there's 10 guys left. Which, conveniently, is when the refs finally call for one ring consolidation despite what we were told earlier. We've got Lex Luger, the Giant, DDP, Rick Steiner, Booker T, and the entire group of NWO entrants- Scott Hall, Randy Savage, Curt Hennig, Buff Bagwell, and Vincent. The NWO guys refuse to move rings and want the WCW guys to come to them. The WCW guys do and the brawl is on. DDP hits Vincent with the Diamond Cutter. Giant rolls Vincent out to eliminate him. Remember, all they have to do is touch the floor regardless how they leave the ring. Giant doesn't do very much due to his broken hand. Booker and Rick both get eliminated. There's a giant scrum where Giant dumps Bagwell, then Luger and Hennig both get eliminated. It's down to the final four- DDP, Savage, Giant and Hall. Giant gets Hall in the corner and tries to hit him with chops from his unhurt left hand. Savage counters a Cutter attempt with a jawbreaker. He goes up top. Giant blocks him! Savage jumps anyway, right into Giant's waiting arms. Savage eye rakes to get free. Cutter on Savage! Giant blocks DDP from rolling Savage out, he wants to chokeslam him broken hand or no broken hand. With DDP's help he barely pulls it off. Now Savage gets rolled out. Hall's all alone. He moves rings, then does the classic Hall point to the entrance. The NWO's music hits. Commentary expects this to be Nash. After a while no one come out. The music starts up again, and it's Hogan! Hogan's deigned to show up for a B PPV! He gets in the ring as entrant #60. So, he deliberately skipped the vast majority of the match and the refs are going to just let him waltz in now? Seriously? They move back into ring 1 while the crowd chants "We want Sting". Hogan slams Giant. DDP gets crotched on the top rope and Hogan gives him the Back Rake of Death. Giant bear hugs both NWO guys. Sting rappels down from the rafters! If it really is Sting, you can never assume that. Hogan leaves the ring, eliminating himself. Sting hits Giant with the bat! Giant falls out and is gone. At some point DDP got eliminated off screen. Crack camera work, guys. Hall's already officially won the match, but "Sting" stares down with him in the ring. Then he removes his mask.....it's Nash. Of course it is. All the NWO guys come in to celebrate. Once again the main event is reduced to little more than a giant NWO ego stroke, and what should have been a huge win for Hall is completely buried by all the fake Sting antics and usual NWO BS. The only positive is if Hall really does get his title shot that's a good sign for Sting at Starrcade. 1/2*

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- There's a few good or goodish matches sprinkled in, but not enough to keep this from feeling like a giant waste of time show, especially with that turd of a main event.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+