Legacy Review
Starrcade '98
December 27, 1998 from the MCI Center in Washington, DC
Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay
I wish I had more to say as a lead in to WCW's oldest and, at least nominally, biggest show of the year, but this year I really don't. One plus is they haven't hyped this show up nearly as much as last year's Starrcade, which was sold as the biggest show in the history of WCW, then managed to step on just about every rake in the entire world then trip and fall down the Mostly Infinite Hole. During the open Tony lets us know that all the Horsemen aren't just barred from ringside tonight, they've been banned from the building. We then get a commercial for WCW's upcoming episode on the home shopping channel QVC. I'm not kidding. Right next to the overpriced fake jewlery and hummels your grandparents are buying you can check out some authentic WCW merch. Priced to sell! Mean Gene then gives us our first legit hotline shill in a while, teasing some names "you wouldn't expect" backstage being revealed for only $1.99 a minute.
Triangle Match for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Kidman (c) def Juventud Guerrera and Rey Mysterio Jr in 14:55- Juvy recently turned heel to join the LWO, while at the same time Mysterio was kicked out of the LWO for, in leader Eddie Guerrero's opinion, putting his own interests ahead of the group. Interests like wanting to be champion. The nerve. Kidman, the champion, is almost the hanger on here. Mysterio stomps on an LWO shirt during his entrance. Juvy shoves both guys after the bell. Mysterio and Kidman negotiate in the corner, then team up to attack Juvy. Mysterio hits a tiltawhirl backbreaker. Kidman gives Juvy a dropkick in the corner. Juvy tries to fight off a Kidman German suplex. Juvy ducks and Mysterio pops Kidman with a forearm. That ends that alliance. They lay into each other with forearms, but still take the time to put Juvy down whenever he gets back up. After an extended fight up top Kidman wheelbarrows Mysterio onto Juvy, but that lets Mysterio cover. Kidman pulls him off at 2 and covers himself for 2. Off a lift Juvy counters to bulldog Mysterio and plants Kidman at the same time! He covers both for 2. Chops from Juvy on both guys. Juvy flips out of a Mysterio German attempt but then gets clotheslined by Kidman. Mysterio faceplants Kidman and covers both guys for 2. Juvy 360 clotheslines Kidman to the floor. He then backdrops Mysterio, but Mysterio uses it to turn it into a plancha on Kidman! Juvy springboard dive onto both guys. Back in Juvy tries coming off the top but the other two both dropkick him in midair! Juvy hurricanranas Mysterio off Kidman's shoulders! Kidman bulldog on Juvy and he kicks Mysterio. Side suplex on Juvy from Kidman. He comes off the top but Juvy gets his boots up. Mysterio springboard moonsault on Kidman for 2. Mysterio puts Juvy on the apron, then springboard hurricanranas him to the floor. Kidman apron suplex on Mysterio and legdrop off the second rope for 2. Kidman powerbombs Juvy for 2. Mysterio goes for a code red. Kidman blocks it, so Mysterio adjusts and turns it into a bulldog. Juvy shoulder backbreakers Mysterio. Kidman tosses Juvy out. Mysterio 619 spins and low bridges Kidman to the floor. Mysterio top rope asai moonsault onto both of them! Springboard hurricanrana on Juvy from Mysterio in the ring. Juvy hits the Juvy driver! Kidman breaks the pin up. More top rope maneuvering leads to Kidman taking a hurricanrana for 2. Kidman slips out of a Juvy driver attempt and hits a powerbomb for 2. Mysterio hurricanranas Juvy over the top to the floor. That's lost its luster after seeing several similar moves earlier in the match. Kidman shooting star press off the top to the floor on both guys! Guerrero makes his way out to huge boos. Ref Lil Naitch goes out to the apron to keep him out. In the ring Kidman has Juvy stacked up for a clear pin. Guerrero dodges Lil Naitch, gets in the ring and clotheslines Kidman to put Juvy on top. Mysterio comes in and breaks the pin up, but that allows Kidman to cradle Juvy again and he gets the pin! Very spotty match. Most of it was "big move, the third guy breaks the pin up, rest, repeat", though they did work some cool stuff in. ***1/4
Guerrero is PISSED. He runs down Juvy for not being able to get the job done on a "cream puff dweeb" and says he's not LWO material. He also runs Mysterio down and tries to fire them both even though Mysterio already quit on him. Guerrero then challenges Kidman to a match to prove how easy it'll be to beat him. Kidman comes back and says sure, let's do it right now. Guerrero tries to protest that he's not dressed or prepared yet. Kidman calls him a sissy boy and gets in the ring. Guerrero jumps him and we're on again.
WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Kidman (c) def Eddie Guerrero (w/Juventud Guerrera) in 10:49- Guerrero's wrestling in jeans and steel toe heavy work shoes. Powerbomb for 2. Small package for 2. Chops from Guerrero. He continues to jaw at Mysterio, who's stayed at ringside along with Juvy. Abdominal stretch with help from Juvy. Mysterio goes over to break it up. Guerrero hops out and shoves Mysterio, then also shoves Juvy! Kidman barely gets off a flying headscissors. Guerrero shrugs it off and comes up with more chops. Pop up dropkick from Kidman and he wildly pounds on Guerrero. Juvy gets on the apron to distract and Guerrero gets a chop block. He wraps Kidman up in a kind of reverse bow and arrow. European uppercut. Mysterio pulls Kidman out of the ring to try to help him get some space. Guerrero comes out and gets whipped into the barricade. Juvy helps him out and Kidman gets posted. Juvy's sure helping Guerrero a lot considering all the abuse Guerrero's heaped on him. Back in Kidman hits a misdirection bulldog. Mounted punches and Kidman puts on a sleeper. Guerrero quickly jawbreakers out. He starts to untie his shoe. I sense some classic Eddie Guerrero coming. Kidman slugs away and hits a corner clothesline. Guerrero uses that to get his shoe off, and he quickly pops Kidman with it. When the ref turns around Guerrero wants a time out because his shoe came off! Yup, classic. He can't get it back on and decides to toss it at Mysterio instead. Cover on Kidman and after all the recovery time he's able to kick out. Guerrero hits the brain buster and goes up top for the frog splash. Kidman joins him and hits a superplex for 2. Guerrero dropkicks the knee again and wraps up another leg hold with more rope leverage. Mysterio comes over and hits Guerrero's hands with Guerrero's own shoe to get him off the ropes! Springboard hurricanrana from Guerrero. Kidman counters a powerbomb attempt into a faceplant and stomps away like mad on Guerrero. Slingshot legdrop. Guerrero blocks a top rope hurricanarana, kicking off a sequence where both Juvy and Mysterio pull guys off the top rope. When that's done Guerrero's on the mat and Kidman's on top. SSP! Kidman retains for the second time tonight! Much more cohesive match, but still more good than great. Winning two matches in a row is a great boost for Kidman. ***
Norman Smiley def Prince Iaukea in 11:31- Smiley recently turned heel because he wants people to start pronouncing his name like he's French. I'm not joking. Iaukea gets a quick roll up attempt out of the lockup. Smiley hits chops to Iaukea's chest and back while some "Norman" chants float around, mocking his preferred name pronunciation. Or they could be "boring", it would not shock me. Iaukea gets a dragon screw and dropkicks Smiley to the floor. Iaukea teases something big, but then just does a very sloppy canonball off the apron. Snap suplex back in. Smiley eye pokes and gets a hammerlock takedown, almost a KUSHIDA hoverboard lock. He then tries for a cross armbreaker that Iaukea blocks. Iaukea gets back up with chops. Smiley suplex drops him on the top rope and does his crowd riling dance. Spinny slam from Smiley for 2. He puts on a figure four style headscissors. An Iaukea sunset flip attempt is blocked as louder "Norman" or "boring" chants fire up. Double stomp on Iaukea. Smiley puts on a grounded abdominal stretch, then transitions into an ARMBAR. Iaukea gets back up with more open hand shots and hits a corner clothesline. Smiley wins a suplex fight. He double underhook lifts Iaukea, keeps him up for a while, and slams him. Cover but Iaukea has a foot on the rope. Another cross armbreaker attempt and more open hand slap counters from Iaukea. Smiley gets a drop toe hold and dances some more. Iaukea uses the opening to hit a northern lights suplex for 2. Throat shot from Smiley and he hooks on a body scissors. He spends a while keeping Iaukea on the mat, following the transition holds every 6 seconds rule. Another double stomp. Iaukea does a half assed attempt at a comeback to some boos. He tries a springboard crossbody that Smiley sloppily rolls through for 2. Backslide fight. Smiley goes for the crossface chicken wing that's been his new finisher lately. Iaukea fights it for a long while but Smiley eventually grinds him down into it. Tap and it's over. Sad to say, what there was in that match was fully a Smiley carry job, Iaukea looked like shit most of it. It was way too long for anything either guy had to offer too. *1/2
Scott Hall saunters his way out to the ring, notably wearing an Outsiders shirt. He hypes up his old buddy Kevin Nash for the main event, still trying to mend fences, then says that '98 wasn't a great year for Scott Hall and promises '99 will be better. I wouldn't be so quick on that one. Mostly pointless segment, but it does plant some seeds for later.
Perry Saturn def Ernest "The Cat" Miller (w/Sonny Oono) in 7:07- Miller takes forever jawing with fans on his entrance, then takes a mic and runs the whole crowd down. After Saturn gets in Miller does his usual dumb "5 seconds" shtick only to turn around into an obviously set up punch. Miller rolls out, stalls, threatens to walk, then runs back and slides in the ring only to stop dead in the middle for Saturn to stomp him. Mounted punches and Miller powders again. This time when he gets back in Miller sues for peace. Saturn gives him a boot in the mush instead. Miller eye pokes, does a leg sweep and starts in with the chokes. More chokes and showboating. Saturn gets a takedown and tries for the Rings of Saturn. Miller fights it so Saturn tries some amateur style pins instead. Miller escapes and rolls out again. Reset. After some dodges Miller hits a superkick. Slugfest. Saturn blocks a kick and hits a half an half suplex. Big Saturn toss for 2. Swinging neckbreaker. Miller dodges Saturn coming off the top and hits another superkick. Slow arm drape over for 2. Saturn hooks up for an exploder suplex. Miller fights out and it's superkick #3. He calls Oono in. To the shock of absolutely no one Saturn dodges and Oono kicks Miller. Miller kicks Oono back. Saturn hits the DVD and it's over. Afterward Miller leaves Oono behind. 1/4*
Mean Gene brings out The Man, the returning Ric Flair. Flair, looking extremely emotional to be back in the game, starts out with "MEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAN BY GOD GENE!". After spending most of the year in a genuine real life feud with Eric Bischoff that led to Flair being suspended for months, as per wrestling tradition they've turned it into an on screen angle and have their big match tonight. Flair's not worried about the Horsemen being banned tonight, he'll kick Bischoff's ass regardless.
After Flair's interview we get a long recap of Bischoff's entire journey during the NWO era, from supposed corporate patsy to power mad dictator, then Flair's involvement when he came back. This is, unfortunately, the angle where Flair had a heart attack (totally kayfabe) while delivering a promo. After that Flair's whole family got involved. Bischoff gave David Flair his first wrestling bumps on TV, and even went so far as to forcibly kiss Flair's (at the time) wife.
We cut to the back where Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell are storming into Konnan's locker room. Lex Luger comes in to break the potential fight off before it starts. Commentary mentions that Steiner is now considered the leader of NWO Hollywood due to Hogan taking a short hiatus.
Brian Adams and Scott Norton (w/Vincent) def Fit Finlay and Jerry Flynn in 8:56- Strangely this is the only tag match scheduled tonight. Of course the less said about the WCW World tag titles at this particular point in time the better. Flynn is another guy with a martial arts background that Bischoff had brought in, though with a bit more pro experience than someone like Ernest Miller. Adams and Norton are both NWO Hollywood. Finlay and Adams start. After the initial exchange Finlay runs into a big boot. Corner clothesline from Adams. Finlay gets his boots up in the corner and hits a clothesline. Elbow drop for 2. European uppercuts. Butt splash. Norton tags in and starts hitting clotheslines. Powerslam. Flynn comes in, gives Norton some shots, then gets one foot on the apron so Finlay can actually tag him in. Ref shouldn't have allowed that. Norton hits a double clothesline and gives Flynn some chops. Flynn gives Norton a big kick in the corner. Adams tags in and wants a test of strength. Flynn flips the script by jumping Adams before Adams can jump him. Vincent gets a shot in from the apron and Adams hits a backbreaker for 2. Flynn hits a hook kick and tags. Finlay clothesline for 2. Adams hits a pildriver from as outta nowhere as you can hit a piledriver from and tags. Norton hits a DDT. He cranks Finlay's neck and hits a neckbreaker for 2. Avalanche. After some work on Finlay's back Norton hits a short clothesline. Shoulderbreaker for 2. So Norton in short order has targeted the neck, the back and the shoulder. Wrestling ADHD. Adams tags in and takes a Finlay jawbreaker, but instead of tagging out Finlay hits a weak flopping DDT. He comes off the second rope into an Adams boot. Press gutbuster from Adams. Finlay manages to work around to crotch him, then tags out to Flynn. He hits rapid fire kicks on Norton. DONNYBROOK! Flynn knocks Vincent off the apron. Norton takes that opening to hit a clothesline, then powerbombs Flynn to get the pin. 1/2*
In the interest of being fair and balanced (since when?), Mean Gene brings Bischoff out to give his side. Bischoff starts out with the usual heel disingenuous apology, then says Flair's only doing this because he's broke. I'll take shoot comments for $100, Alex.
WCW World Television Championship: Konnan (c) def Chris Jericho (w/Ralphus) in 7:27- Konnan defeated Jericho for the TV title on Nitro right after World War 3, but Jericho recently stole the belt in yet another WCW "stolen belt" angle and has possession of it tonight. Jericho can make it work better than others though. Basic start with Jericho trying to take a cheap shot on the lockup rope break but Konnan blocks it and hits his own, then Jericho gets a shoulderblock. Long speed run and Konnan hits a basement dropkick. Flying back elbow from Jericho. He goes up top. Konnan stands up and dares Jericho to jump. Jericho does. Konnan sidesteps and Jericho splats on the mat. Not the smartest move. 360 clothesline from Konnan. He tries coming off the apron but Jericho dodges and pushes him into the barricade. Jericho moves the stairs on the floor. After some moves and countermoves Konnan gets posted. Back in Jericho hits a suplex. Arrogant cover! A knee to the gut cuts off a Konnan comeback. Jericho rips Konnan's shirt off in the corner to hit some chops. Setup slam. Jericho comes off the top but Konnan gets a boot up. Rolling clothesline. Konnan catches Jericho floating over in the corner and gives him an Alabama slam with a jackknife cover for 2. Clothesline from Jericho. Lionsault! Konnan kicks out, then rolls out again. Jericho goes for a springboard dive. Konnan dodges and Jericho smashes into the previously set up stairs! Konnan gets him back in and covers for 2. Jericho takes a back kick, then gets a leg takedown into a Liontamer attempt. Konnan fights it so Jericho slingshots him into the corner instead. Konnan dodges in the corner and stomps Jericho down, shoving the ref aside while doing so. Jericho gets the belt and whacks Konnan with it. He slaps the ref to wake him up. Konnan kicks out! Classic Jericho tantrum off that. Konnan hits a faceplant, puts on the Tequila Sunrise, and Jericho taps. Even Jericho's dogging it now, not that anyone was getting anything out of Konnan anyway. Konnan would end up dropping the title the next night on Nitro to Scott Steiner, giving Scott his first post-heel turn singles title. *3/4
Eric Bischoff def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair in 7:08- Super cereal looking Flair loses his robe in the aisle and charges in. Bischoff bails. Chase around the ring. Flair tracks Bischoff down, grabs him and gives him a chop followed by some jabs. Flair rolls him back in the ring and Bischoff begs off. More chops. Flair chokes and argues with ref Lil' Naitch, who appropriately has this match tonight. What a future those two have. More shots from Flair and we get a strut. Classic snap mare/kneedrop combo with Bischoff selling the hell out of the kneedrop. "WOOOOOOOO!". Flair says "For my wife!" before hitting another punch. Which one? Oh! The one Bischoff kissed. Hard to keep track sometimes. While down in the corner Bischoff grabs his knee and shouts "My knee!". Dude, you're just giving Flair a target. One that he takes. Get on the bus kids, we're going to school. Lil' Naitch tries to get Flair out of the corner and Flair argues again. Bischoff nails him from behind with a roundhouse kick to the head! Flair rolls to the floor and Bischoff gives him a guardrail shot. Off camera Flair Flop! Way to go guys. Back in Bischoff hits some more kicks and does some more ground and pound. Flair's bleeding, which means nothing but hard camera wide the rest of the match and on no account should anyone in commentary mention it. Another roundhouse kick to the head. Flair hits a low blow! Another one! Kneedrop right on the nads! Flair tears Bischoff's shirt off to give him some proper chops. While trying yet again for a corner break Lil' Naitch gets violently knocked down. Flair doesn't care. He hooks Bischoff up in the corner and gives him a running punt to the groin. Back suplex from Flair. Delayed suplex. Figure four! Flair tries to get Lil' Naitch up while still keeping the hold on. Curt Hennig, who'd been out with a knee injury, runs out and hands Bischoff some international knucks. Bischoff waffles Flair with them, covers, and gets the pin. The crowd rightly shits all over that bullshit ending. Flair's first match in 7-8 months, still in a totally awful headspace and in the ring with a man he genuinely hated, and he still goes out and drags Bischoff to a WAY better match than that atrocity Bischoff had with Larry Zbyszko the year before, even with the horrible finish. Greatest of all time, no matter how hard he's worked to tarnish his legacy late in life. **
The next night on Nitro is when Flair had his legendary meltdown, stripping all the way down to his underwear and elbow dropping his own clothes while demanding a rematch with Bischoff. He would get that rematch and win, and as a reward take control of WCW over Bischoff for 90 days or however long the booking committee can keep focused. That would kick off one of the major angles of the first part of the new year.
Diamond Dallas Page def The Giant in 12:45- This grew out of the DDP/Bret Hart feud over the US title, with Giant helping his NWO Hollywood stablemate to keep the title. Why Bret's not defending here I have no idea. Legit injury? WCW being WCW? Take your pick. Giant's fortunately taken up that nicotine gum as a way to curb his smoking habit. DDP goes through the crowd on his entrance while Giant sits on the top turnbuckle and chews away with zero shits given. Giant spits his gum at DDP! DDP spits some spit back. Slugfest. DDP cranks on Giant's arm and does the early Diamond Cutter tease. Giant escapes that but gets 360 clotheslined to the floor. Giant blocks a whip on the floor into a short clothesline. DDP gets tossed over the guardrail and almost legit takes some fans out. He grabs a trash can, uses it as a shield against a Giant punch, then whacks Giant with it. Giant whips DDP into the stairs, then posts DDP's arm. He press slams DDP back in the ring. Forget the arm, DDP's hurt his knee on the landing. Giant starts to go to work on it. Knee work, not the Giant's wheelhouse, nor should it be a guy his size. After a bit DDP eye gouges out of a hold. He tries to pull himself up in the corner but Giant chops him back down. Another rope pull up. Giant shoves him into the corner and hits a clothesline. DDP tries to claw back up Giant. Giant pulls him up into a bear hug. A short lived one. DDP hits a back elbow. Another Cutter attempt. Giant pushes free and hits a powerslam. He goes to cover, then decides he doesn't want it over yet. After some playing to the crowd the bear hug is back on. DDP does a great job of going wobblelegged and really making it look like Giant his holding him up. Arm drops. DDP fights, bell rings and bites free. He spins around Giant's back into a sunset flip attempt. Giant easily pulls him back up and just murders him with a stiff as shit backbreaker. That impact woke the crowd up. DDP turns a hiptoss attempt into a DDT! Slow cover and Giant's kick out squashes the ref. Bret Hart runs in with a chair. DDP ducks and Giant takes the chairshot! DDP low blow on Bret to get rid of him. Cover for 1. DDP clothesline off the top. Another one. He calls for the Cutter but then goes up top again. He leaps right into a goozle! Giant tries for the chokeslam but DDP fights it and climbs up the corner. SUPER DIAMOND CUTTER! Now there's breaking out a new move for the (supposed) biggest show of the year. Cover and DDP gets the win! As usual with Giant it plodded along for a while, but DDP tried his best to keep it going and that finish rocked. The right guy winning helps too, especially after that last match. This would turn out to be Giant's last WCW PPV match before making the jump to WWF in February. **1/2
No DQ Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Kevin Nash def Goldberg (c) in 11:20- Nash won the (last ever) World War 3 battle royale to get this shot. Goldberg gets the full security escort entrance. The streak is up to 173-0. By the way, props to the guy wearing the Cowboys jersey in Redskins country. That was still a red hot rivalry at the time because Dan Snyder hadn't destroyed the Redskins just yet. Both guys are faces and it's a pretty 50/50 crowd. Maybe 60/40 Goldberg. Both guys play to the crowd before a rough lockup. Clean corner break, but neither guy looks very happy about it. Nash cranks a headlock while a section of the crowd chants "Goldberg sucks". Goldberg back suplexes out and Nash powders. Back in Nash lays in some shots. He hits the vintage corner knees and measured elbow. Standing choke. Goldberg pushes Nash's leg away! Nash gets an honestly pretty spiffy takedown into a cross armbreaker attempt. Goldberg counters that into a legbar. Nash takes a rope break. Goldberg pounds away and puts Nash down. Nash tights pulls Goldberg into the corner. They turn on the jets and Goldberg ducks a big boot. Spear! Goldberg calls for the jackhammer. Nash stops it with a low blow. Side suplex for 2. Elbow drop for 2. Nash starts to work on Goldberg's back. Goldberg gets a back kick. Nash hits a back elbow and short clothesline for 2. Goldberg counters a suplex attempt into a swinging neckbreaker. Takedown for 2. Superkick. Powerslam for 2. Spinning heel kick. Disco Inferno runs out with a Wolfpac shirt on. I think he'd been trying to join and was rightly being rebuffed. Goldberg hiptosses him in and spears the life out of him. Now Bam Bam Bigelow runs in. Goldberg dispenses with him pretty easily too. Wait, Scott Hall's on the apron with a security shirt on. He's got a cattle prod! He puts Goldberg down with it! Out of Nash's sight too. Nash hits the jackhammer! Cover and we have a new champion! Nash wins the WCW World title for the first time and becomes one of the few to win both that and the WWF Championship. The streak is over. 173-1. After the bell Nash is still a bit confused why Goldberg is hurt so much. This was most definitely a turning point for WCW. Nash essentially booking himself into a world title win certainly has a degree of shadiness to it, but he had been red hot all year as the Wolfpac leader and hadn't had a turn at the top of WCW yet so it's not completely unjustified. If it had been followed up on better it probably would have worked fine. The bigger fallout here is the end of Goldberg's streak meant pretty much the end of the Goldberg mystique. As much as they'd try, from now on he'd be just another guy. As for the match, it showed some promise in the first half but stalled out a bit down the stretch. **1/4
About that follow up.....a week and a day later, on the January 4, 1999 edition of Nitro, this happened....
The infamous Fingerpoke of Doom. Nash laid down, Hogan won the title AGAIN, and the NWO Civil War formally came to a close as both factions reunited into a single group. This was another major stepping stone down the path to the end of WCW, infuriating fans with the World title being treated like a joke, the specter of yet another Hogan title reign, and NWO fatigue in general. And the turd cherry on top of the shit sundae: earlier in the show Tony, on Bischoff's orders, gave away the fact that Mick Foley was going to win the WWF Title for the first time on the taped Raw that night, causing thousands of people to change channels to watch it because, despite what Tony was told to say, it did indeed put butts in seats. You could not paint a starker or more clear contrast of where the two companies were at the start of '99.
OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Is it a good show? Not even remotely. But it is miles better than the utter travesty that was Starrcade '97, and is also "better" than any PPV WCW had put on in the second half of '98, which shows you how bad a shape they were already in and the real slide hadn't even started yet. For most of 1998 WCW was able to just barely tread water thanks to the unexpected lucky explosion that was Goldberg and his streak. With the streak over and Goldberg's aura all but crushed, there's nothing in the way of a full speed race to the bottom, and that's exactly what we'll be getting in 1999.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-