Halloween Havoc '98

Legacy Review

Halloween Havoc '98

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

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay

The Night the PPV Feed Died

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

Nitro Girls interlude #3.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

Nitro Girls interlude #4.

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+