Starrcade '98

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-

Armageddon 2000

Legacy Review

Armageddon 2000

December 10, 2000 from the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center in Birmingham, AL

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

They've brought back the pile of trashed cars motif for the stage tonight, but not nearly as large as the first Over the Edge in '98. No ads for the legendary Brisco Body Shop either. During the open the Hell in a Cell cage, three quarters of the way lowered, gets spotlighted. Tonight's main event is a SIX way Cell match for the WWF Title. We get a clip of Commissioner Mick Foley from Heat, who put this match together despite protests, promising that if anyone gets seriously injured in the match he will resign as commissioner. We then cut live to the back as the Stooges greet Vince coming out of his limo. Vince is hobbling around on a cane. Completely forgot that. Can't remember if that's real or story. He's on a mission to stop the main event tonight. As he enters he walks by a truck with a bed full of sawdust we may or may not see again later tonight.

Elimination Match: The Radicalz (w/Terri) def Team Xtreme in 9:17- This got started when Lita, taking advantage of Chyna making intergender matches a thing in WWF for a time, challenged Dean Malenko for the Light Heavyweight title with the caveat that if she lost she'd have to go on a date with Malenko. She lost. The following week the date happened. Malenko and Lita both confessed feelings for each other with porno level acting. Maybe even worse. Things moved on to the hotel room, where a lingerie clad Lita asked Malenko what his wife thought of all this. He's even still wearing his damn wedding ring! He says it's all cool. Lita says that's fine with her and turns out the lights. The lights go back on and the Hardy Boyz are there! Sick creeps trying to watch. Oh, they attack Malenko. That makes more sense. All a RUSE by Lita. Lita's the only woman in the match so it's clearly anyone can wrestle anyone rules. Malenko looks super cereal even by his standards during the Radicalz' entrance. We get a jump start as soon as they hit the ring with Malenko trying to corner Lita while the others fight. Matt comes behind Malenko and back suplexes him to save Lita. Hardyz double suplex on Saturn, and another one on Guerrero. Gurerrero pulls Malenko out of the ring to save him, but Jeff comes down with a plancha on both of them. Saturn jumps Matt from behind in the ring. While talking about the date Lawler says "NEVER wear your wedding ring on a date". I'm pretty certain he's speaking from experience. Saturn suplex on Matt. The Radicalz look a bit legit discombobulated when Saturn goes to tag Guerrero in. Matt hot shots Guerrero in the corner, hits a back suplex and tags Jeff. Backdrop on Guerrero. Now Jeff and Guerrero look completely lost when Guerrero whips Jeff in the direction of the heel corner and then it goes nowhere. Jeff blocks a top rope hurricanrana. Lita comes in and hits a Twist of Fate on Guerrero. Jeff hits the swanton bomb and pins Guerrero to eliminate him. Jeff hits Saturn with a corkscrew moonsault. Poetry in Motion on Malenko. They try for that on Saturn as well but Saturn catches Jeff, hits him with a DVD, and Jeff is eliminated. Matt sunset flip on Saturn for 2. Diving clothesline for 2. Terri grabs Matt's foot and Saturn gives him a superkick. Matt counters into a Twist of Fate attempt, but Saturn re-counters that into a dragon suplex for 2. Saturn tries for a flying headscissors but Matt counters that and hits a legdrop off the second rope for 2. Malenko tries to come in but gets tossed out. Twist of Fate on Saturn and he's gone. Terri gets in the ring and slaps Matt! Lita spear on Terri! Malenko comes from behind, rolls Matt up, and pins him. It's down to Malenko and Lita. What an amazing coincidence. After a stare down Lita gets a flying headscissors! Victory roll for 2. Moonsault for 2. Lita hops on Malenko's shoulders again but sees Malenko trying to counter so she switches to hit a DDT for 2. They go up top. Malenko superplex! He covers but pulls Lita up at 2. Short clotheslines. Lita ducks a third one but catches a Malenko back elbow. Backbreaker, cover and again Malenko pulls Lita up. He hooks on the cloverleaf and Lita taps to end it. After the bell Malenko tosses Lita out to the floor and the Hardyz come out to save her. Lita and Matt look very snuggly there, the first real on screen hint of their real life relationship. **

Lillian Garcia interrupts Kurt Angle's warm ups and gets taken to task for it. It's one of those promos that goes on for so long you're not sure why it's still going, but it never gets outright bad, Angle keeps it together.

 

WWF European Championship: William Regal (c) def Hardcore Holly in 5:00- This is a rematch from Survivor Series. Regal had just been upset by Holly's cousin Crash at the UK PPV the week before this show and won the title back on the last Raw. This is Holly's home state and he gets a commiserate pop. Jump start #2 with Holly jumping. Regal powders and pulls Holly to the floor. After a slugfest Holly gets posted. Back in Holly hits a back suplex. He comes off the top rope into a Regal boot. European uppercuts from Regal. Superplex for 2. Regal puts Holly in a bow and arrow. After giving up on that Regal hooks Holly up in a double underhook. Holly counters, lifting Regal up on his back for a good 5-10 seconds! Impressive show of strength there. Holly then drops him for 2. Dropkick for 2. Setup slam and Holly hits a legdrop off the top rope for 2. Regal hits a counter powerbomb. He goes for an STF or the Regal Stretch but Holly's in the ropes. Holly hits a ripcord elbow with the Lex Luger forearm plate he has now following his broken arm. Before he can cover Raven runs in and plants Holly with the Evenflow! Regal, completely oblivious to Raven's interference, covers for the pin. *

Rikishi says that even though Angle broke up the three way heel alliance for the Cell match he and Trips are still cool.

 

Val Venus (w/Ivory) def Chyna in 5:05- Intergender match #2 tonight, and jump start #3 as Chyna storms the aisle to attack Venus. Right to Censor are targeting Chyna because of her recently released Playboy shoot. Ivory tries to get involved and gets tossed aside. Venus takes a stairs shot. In the ring Chyna gets a drop toe hold and lays in some ground and pound. Forearms and stomps in the corner. She ducks a Venus clothesline and hits a DDT for 2. Venus comes back with his short knees against the ropes and a Russian leg sweep. He tosses Chyna out and Ivory stomps her a bit. Double underhook suplex from Venus for 2. Chyna tries to slug back so Venus goes to the ol' eye poke. Slam but Chyna dodges an elbow drop. Sort of swinging neckbreaker from Chyna for 2. Another Venus short knee. Chyna clothesline for 2. Venus hits a powerslam and goes up top. Chyna dodges the Money Shot and covers for 2. Ivory trips Chyna and gets Chyna to chase her. Coming back in Venus hooks her up, hits a perfectplex, and gets the pin. After the bell Venus saves Ivory from a Chyna Pedigree and plants Chyna with a blue thunder bomb. It's still protect the RTC at all costs booking right now no matter how quickly stale the act has gotten. 1/2*

Steph pulls Vince aside backstage. Vince thinks it's to talk about his impending divorce, but Steph says no, she wants the main event cancelled tonight because she's scared what might happen to Trips if it goes ahead based on his past HIAC match. Vince says he's going to kill it right now. We then cut to a long video from earlier today of the Undertaker inside the Cell going over the highlights of his previous two HIAC matches, and promising he will make someone else famous in the same way tonight.

Vince's music hits and he hobbles his way out to the ring along with the Stooges. He starts out by saying he regrets nothing about what he said on last week's Smackdown, including demanding a divorce from Linda. He then says he's concerned for the wrestlers in the main event, asks for five seconds of silence for them and tries to get the crowd to turn against the match. When that doesn't work he storms off in a huff. That was like a 15 foot broken pencil- long and pointless.

 

Last Man Standing Match: Chris Jericho def Kane in 17:15- Another reminder all this started over a spilled cup of coffee. Kane's been burned by way, way worse. Jump start #4 again in the aisle. They quickly go straight back through the curtain to the back. We sit with an arena shot a long time while they try to "find a camera" in the back. Finally we cut back there. Jericho ducks an anvil case Kane tosses at him. They fight to, again, the truck with all the sawdust in the bed. There's a couple of workers that are just sitting on the truck bed chilling and suddenly there's two angry wrestlers barreling toward them. Freaking hilarious. Jericho ducks a shovel swing from Kane. Then somehow Mideon gets caught between the two of them and they BOTH punch him because it's Mideon. Also freaking hilarious. Thankfully he does have some clothes on. They continue brawling up the tunnel toward Gorilla and back out into the arena. Kane gets posted. They finally get in the ring and Jericho hits a diving back elbow off the top rope. A sort of Cactus clothesline, Jericho lands on the apron, sends Kane back out onto the floor. Jericho dives off the apron but Kane catches him and posts his back. Powerslam from Kane on the floor! Kane goes into slow beatdown mode both outside and in the ring. Big hiptoss from Kane and he hangs Jericho off his back, a move we've seen in all their matches. After a bit ref Teddy Long gets three arm drops on Jericho and orders Kane to release the hold, then he starts counting. I don't see the point of that. Kane sees Jericho almost back up at 7 and attacks him again. Jericho tries a spinning heel kick but Kane catches and slams him. After a couple of dodges Jericho goes for the heel kick again and hits it this time. A Lionsault attempt ends up on Kane's knees. Kane hits a clothesline off the top rope and punches Jericho down a few more times. Jericho gets up and makes it clear he wants more, then gives Kane a Spaceballs salute. Chokeslam! Jericho barely gets up at 9.5! Kane is furious and goes out and gets a chair. Chair to Jericho's gut. Chairshot to the back. Kane calls for a Tombstone. Jericho squirts free and hits a low blow, then a DDT. Chairshot to Kane's head. Flying forearm. Missile dropkick. Bulldog. Jericho puts the chair on top of Kane. Lionsault onto the chair! Kane sits up at 9. In theory at least, Long stopped counting at 8 when Jericho got up. Kane presses Jericho down to the floor! They wander through the destroyed cars to a tech area behind a huge stack of barrels that's also part of the state decorations. Kane gets up on a box and sets up to chokeslam Jericho through a table. Jericho fights out and bulldogs Kane through the table! The table just barely broke and Jericho clearly checks on Kane after. Jericho knows that still won't be enough. He pushes the giant stack of barrels onto Kane! As Long counts Jericho slowly staggers up the overturned barrels. Kane's hand pops through them, but Long gets to 10 and it's over! One of the most underwhelming Last Man Standing matches ever. It's not even in the same galaxy as the fantastic one Jericho had with Triple H earlier in the year. The only positives are the "bury the monster under a giant pile of shit" finish in these matches wasn't cliche or overdone yet, and this feud that's done no favors for anyone is mercifully over. *3/4

Coach catches up with Foley in his office. He asks if Foley has second thoughts about the main event after seeing that last match. Foley says the people want the match so despite any reservations it's going ahead. After that Shawn Michaels makes an appearance at WWF New York and JR quizzes him about his HIAC memories.

 

Fatal Four Way Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship: Edge & Christian def Right to Censor (c) (w/Steven Richards) , The Dudley Boyz and K-Kiwk & Road Dogg in 9:27- Richards is gimpy on RTC's entrance. On the last Smackdown the Dudleyz acted like they were going to join RTC, then yelled "FOOLED YOU" and put Richards through a table. Kwik and Dogg are pandering to the crowd, wearing Crimson Tide gear. Hard as it might be for younger readers to imagine, Bama's football program was mired in a long slump of mediocrity before Nick Saban took over in 2008. RTC attack the Dudleyz at the bell. Close enough for jump start #5. Double team on D'Von and cover for 2. D'Von hits his diving back elbow. Buchanan responds with a big boot. Goodfather comes in and the no more hos train actually hits. Bubba Ray runs in and the Dudleyz high/low Goodfather for 2. Dogg tags himself in to the chagrin of D'Von. Then Edge tags himself in on Goodfather. E&C sucker Bubba Ray in. Bubba Ray and Dogg hit stereo mirrored jabs on E&C, until they turn and punch each other out! E&C then cover both for 2. Not bad at all. Kwik tags in, hits a flippy leg lariat on Edge and generally bounces all over the place. Christian grabs Kwik's arm from the apron and snaps it over the top rope. E&C start picking the target apart. Edge gets an armbar slam for 2. Goodfather tags himself in and continues the arm work, grounding Kwik with a hammerlock. Edge then tags himself back in on Buchanan. Kwik blocks an Edge double ax handle off the second rope and gives him a neckbreaker. Christian pulls Dogg off the apron, so Kwik changes gears and dives over to tag Bubba Ray. Commence hot tag run and soon it's EVERYONE IN THE POOL time. RTC get tossed out. Kwik goes for a plancha on them but they catch him and Goodfather gives him a shoulderbreaker. Dogg then dives onto all of them but then takes a Richards superkick. Back in the ring the Dudleyz give Edge the Whazzup Drop. Get the tables! D'Von runs over RTC on the floor with a table. The Dudleyz hit Edge with a Doomsday Device! Christian breaks the pin up. 3D on Buchanan. 3D on Goodfather with some nice rapid repositioning by Bubba Ray. Christian takes the Whazzup Drop. D'Von goes out for the table but Richards DDTs him onto it. Edge spear on Bubba Ray! Bubba Ray kicks out! Christian plants Bubba Ray with the Unprettier, Edge covers again, and E&C win the tag titles again, their 5th reign so far. Solid enough match even with all the guys in there. I always prefer four ways or more to be elimination matches, especially for tag teams. Despite the Venus/Chyna match earlier in the evening, this would be the start of RTC's slow fizzle out. **1/2

Steph tries to talk Trips out of wrestling in the HIAC match. Trips responds emphatically that the WWF Title is THE most important thing in his life and he will fight for it down to his last breath. As he leaves Steph looks still scared, but also proud.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Chris Benoit def "The One" Billy Gunn (c) in 10:03- Lockup! Hell yes, this is a proper IC title match now. After a rough corner break and reset Benoit gets the first real shots in. Speed run and Gunn does a full speed drop toe hold and hits a couple of armdrags. Hiptoss with a floatover cover for 2. Benoit gets tossed over the top to the floor. Gunn whips him into the post. Benoit whips Gunn into the stairs. Back in Benoit starts picking apart Gunn's knee. Gunn counters a kneebreaker into a sunset flip for 2. Benoit hits a basement dropkick to the knee and goes back to work on it. Dragon screw. Figure four! Gunn reverses and Benoit takes a rope break. Gunn slugs back. Benoit dodges a Stinger splash. ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLING GERMANS! Benoit hits all three and says that's it. Gunn dodges the headbutt off the top rope. Powerslam for 2. Press slam. Jackhammer. Gunn's still shaking the knee off. Fameasser! Benoit kicks out! Gunn tries to hook up for the cobra clutch slam. Benoit counters into the crossface! Gunn tries to fight it but Benoit gets it on! Gunn manages to get a foot on the bottom rope. Gunn completely fucks up a tiltawhirl attempt, then both guys lie there for a really long time trying to figure out what to do next. The crowd boos the fuck up and that. They try to get back going with Benoit getting a boot up in the corner and covering for 2 but everything still feels off. Straight drop back suplex from Benoit for 2. Gunn gets a flash small package for 2. Benoit wraps Gunn up and the crossface is back on! Gunn taps out! Benoit is now a three time IC champ. Gunn's one and only run with the belt lasted a whole 19 days (or 16 if you go by broadcast dates), which is also about the average length of a Billy Gunn singles push. The match was OKish but well below Benoit's usual standard. The crowd didn't care either even before the horrible botch toward the end. They dislike Benoit, but they still want nothing to do with Gunn no matter how many times WWF has tried to make him a singles star. **

Earlier today JR had a sit down....well, stand up at the bar, with his best friend Steve Austin. Austin's past the attempted vehicular homicide (thank God) and just wants to take ass and kick names.

 

Triple Threat Match for the WWF Women's Championship: Ivory (c) def Molly Holly and Trish Stratus in 1:40- Holly tackles Trish after the bell while Ivory watches. Hair whip. Holly hits some chops in the corner. Trish reverses a corner whip and gives Holly a monkey flip. Holly lands on her feet, but right into an Ivory clothesline. Holly ducks a double clothesline and hits a double dropkick. Small package on Trish. Ivory breaks it up. Holly tries a backslide on Ivory. Trish breaks that up. Trish and Ivory both hook Holly up, argue for a bit, then decide to hit a double suplex. High five between the heels! Then Ivory pops Trish from behind! They argue again. Holly hits a crossbody off the top rope onto both of them! That gets a 2 count. Ivory gets backdropped to the floor. Holly plants Trish with a Ligerbomb! Ivory comes back in, dumps Holly out, and covers Trish to get the pin! Way too short to matter but the wrestling itself was just fine. Miles better than recent women's matches in that regard. They're slowly improving. 3/4*

After the bell T&A come out and corner Holly. Crash runs in to save his cousin! He wants to fight T&A. Test laughs as T&A get in the ring. Music hits! THE APA ARE BACK! And they're even more pissed than usual at the guys that took them out. They hit the ring and fight T&A off to a pretty big reaction.

The Rock hypes up the main event with a pretty below standard promo for him. I was really hoping this was the one where he impersonated all his opponents in this match, but that one was on Raw the week prior. I'm including it here because it's one of Rock's best ever. "I did it.....for da Rock."

 

6 Man Hell in a Cell Match for the WWF Championship: Kurt Angle (c) def Rikishi, Triple H, The Undertaker, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock in 32:20- You can't deny the talent in this match. Five legitimate first ballot Hall of Famers at various stages of their careers, and Rikishi. Angle comes out third of the six, which like I said for the UK PPV doesn't say much about his status even as champion. Taker appears to have left his bike at home. This is also one of the few shows where his Limp Bizkit theme hasn't been dubbed over on the Network copy. During entrances every WWF referee is in the ring to keep everyone separated. Angle hangs out by the door while everyone else gets in. Austin comes out last, makes a beeline for the ring, then makes a hard right to jump Angle and here we go. With six guys and all the chaos I'm going to recap as best I can. Everyone pairs off in the cage based on previous feuds: Austin and HHH, Rikishi and Rock, Angle and Taker. Angle and Taker are first in the ring. We get a shot of the door being locked. Why do they bother when everyone knows they'll find a way to get out like always? I feel bad for the cameraman that has to work inside the cage, with six guys in there he's got much less room than usual, which is never much to start with. Taker takes his bandanna off and chokes Angle with it. Switch to Rock and Rikishi in the ring. Rock hits a flying clothesline. Another switch and Austin and HHH rotate in. Facebuster. Thesz press. Austin elbow drop for 2. Rock and Angle also get in. HHH hits the high knee on Austin. Rock Samoan drop on Angle for 2. HHH suplexes Austin on the floor. Angle baseball slides Rikishi into the cage. Austin rakes HHH's face on the cage and HHH is the first bleeder in the match. After some more cheese grater Austin tells the protesting Hebner he's #1, then rakes HHH's face all the way across the entire cage! Rikishi legdrops Austin as he's getting in the ring to save HHH. He helps HHH up. They hug....KICK WHAM PEDIGREE ON RIKISHI! Every man for himself. Rock breaks the pin up. Rock DDT on HHH. Angle breaks up the pin. Angle Slam on Rock! Austin saves that pin. Stunner on Angle! Taker makes the save. Chokeslam on Austin! HHH kills that pin and we've gone all around the finisher world. Taker tosses HHH into the cage all over. Austin dodges a Rikishi avalanche and hits a clothesline, then Thesz presses him. Wait a minute. That truck with all the sawdust in the bed is backing up the aisle, with Vince and the Stooges standing in it! It backs all the way up to the cage. A couple of workers hook up the door and use the truck to rip the door off! That's not enough for Vince. He says he wants the whole cage down. The workers hook up to the cage. Foley's music hits! Here he comes. He argues with Vince, then pops the Stooges! By the way, while all this has been happening we've gone literally minutes without a single shot of the actual match. Vince threatens Foley with his cane. Security come in and haul Vince off! He screams "I own this damn place!" as he's dragged off. Finally back to the match. HHH is wobbling up the aisle past the truck. Austin charges and clotheslines him in the back! They go to the stage area and Austin introduces HHH to the broken down cars there. Then Austin grabs the crane camera and swings it into HHH! Everyone's out of the cage now and fighting in the stage area around the cars. HHH pulls Austin into the truck and Austin's head goes through the side window! Austin's bleeding now. We get a replay of the crane camera shot on HHH from the camera's perspective. That's fantastic. Rock gets HHH on a car roof. HHH fights out of a Rock Bottom attempt on there. Pedigree on the roof! Now Rock's bleeding. Taker slams Angle on a car hood. Austin slingshots HHH into a car! HHH got some amazing hang time on that. Back toward the cage Taker chokes Angle with Fink's mic cord. Angle gets a chair and nails Taker with it. Taker's bleeding. HHH starts to climb the cage to get away from Austin. Austin tries to pull him back down, exposing some HHH butt crack as he does so. Austin changes tacks and climbs over on the other side, ambushing HHH from behind. They brawl on the roof. HHH teases falling off before slugging back. Now Angle and Taker are climbing. Austin gives HHH a Stunner on the roof! Now four guys are up there and we get a slow, thanks to the footing, four way brawl. HHH takes the smart road and climbs back down. Austin tries to stop him but then follows him down. Taker pounds on Angle on the roof. JR says Angle's bleeding. We won't see it for a while but he definitely is, as much as anyone in the match. Now Rikishi starts to climb. Rock looks like he's going to then says "Nah, you guys have at it". While the camera is focused on Rikishi climbing someone is trying to throw a chair up to Taker and failing miserably, drawing the ire of the crowd. On the third try Taker finally gets it. Chairshot on Angle. Rikishi gets the chair and wears Taker out with it while Angle climbs back down to get away from that. Taker gets up and slugs Rikishi close to the edge. They headbutt each other. The other four guys are all back in the ring. Rikishi wobbles on the edge. Goozle! TAKER PUSHES AND RIKISHI FALLS OFF THE CAGE INTO THE SAWDUST TRUCK BED! There's your Taker making someone famous moment. Ironically, this is the fall off the top of the cage moment that's pretty much been forgotten about today. It's also the last time anyone went off the top of the cage until Shane McMahon at Wrestlemania 32 in 2016 (which I was there in person for). After some recovery/replay time we cut to a shot of Rock and Austin nose to nose in the ring. There they go! The crowd goes nuts for it. Rock fights off a Stunner and hits a spinebuster. He slowly wobblelegs himself back up. Pad off. HHH jumps Rock before he can go for the People's Elbow! Rock lays in the smackdown punches on HHH. Angle gets in the ring and runs right into a Rock Bottom! Austin *barely* breaks the pin up in time! Stunner on Rock! With mandatory oversell. HHH grabs Austin and gives him a neckbreaker. While that was happening Angle crawled over and just barely draped an arm over Rock. Hebner counts 3 and Angle gets the win, pinning Rock! Great finish. That's the third I, intelligence. Angle's a bloody mess too, it looks like he's bleeding from an ear instead of the usual forehead bladejob. After the bell Austin gives Angle a Stunner to send the crowd home relatively happy. With six guys in there you knew it'd be pure chaos, and they'd get out of the cage at some point because it was almost mandatory. On the whole they did a fine job, but I think the match went a bit too long, particularly the segment they were all brawling around the cars it bogged down a bit. Cut 5-7 minutes off and it's likely a better match. ***1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Like Survivor Series this is a perfectly average show with a serviceable undercard, nothing great nothing truly awful, and a solid main event. For the December PPV though, average is a step up from the usual. WWF closes out an overall spectacular 2000 more on a lull than a high note, but it was still a great year that pretty much finished off WCW for good (aided by WCW having their head firmly up their ass most of the year). Personally I still think 1997 is the best year of the era by just a tick over 2000, but that takes nothing away from this year. As we head into 2001 we'll be getting a Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania season for the ages, and a spring that will change the face of wrestling forever.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C

Rebellion 2000

Legacy Review

Rebellion 2000

December 2, 2000 from the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England

Commentary: Jim Ross and Tazz

There's a few different things happening for this second UK exclusive PPV of the year. Firstly, it's been moved from its usual October time slot a couple of months later to December. It's also just a week before the next main PPV, Armageddon. Second, it's one of the rare times they get out of the London area for one of these shows, heading up north to Sheffield in South Yorkshire. Third, Tazz is making his PPV debut on commentary as Jerry Lawler didn't make the trip, not too long after he started dabbling in commentary as his body broke down due to injuries. I assume that whole Tazz trying to murder JR thing from over the summer has been cleared up.

The show opens with a black cab driving up with a "Commish" license plate. How do you put a license plate on a cab? The door opens and out comes.....Debra. Ugh. With a camera angle that's supposed to make her look attractive, like we're checking her out. Don't waste my time. Anyway, she's recently been appointed as Assistant or Lieutenant (pronounced leftenant in the UK) Commissioner to real Commish Mick Foley. Foley himself comes out of the cab after. After the requisite pyro and ballyhoo, with enough pyro to do a decent recreation of the Blitz, Foley's music hits and the Commish and his bit of tail come out and make their way into the ring. Foley hypes the main event, then says Triple H demanded to be in the main event and if he couldn't he's not making the show. Complete with Foley Trips impersonation. Foley said that's fine, he can stay home. After what happened to him in Survivor Series, shouldn't he be dead? Or at least still in hospital? Foley then makes the main event no DQ and no countout. Aren't all Fatal Four Ways? Debra manages to get her two lines and four words right so it's a good night for her. Angle comes out to protest and gets brushed off. That took a lot of time to accomplish very little.

Triple Threat Elimination Tables Match: The Dudley Boyz def Edge & Christian and T&A (w/Trish Stratus) in 9:55- Now THERE'S a woman I'd appreciate a "camera slowly checks her out" angle of. T&A are still wearing APA gear to celebrate injuring both of them. Somehow there's still pyro left for the Dudleyz' entrance. This is like the previous Dudleyz' Invitational match, you only have to put one team member through a table to eliminate them. Albert and D'Von start with a quick Albert edge. D'Von hits clotheslines to try to chop the big tree down. Double suplex from the Dudleyz. Bubba Ray chops only piss Albert off. Double back elbow from T&A. They get the first table out. The Dudleyz don't appreciate that. E&C are the smartest team, just parking it on the apron and watching the other two punish each other. The Dudleyz lift the table up. Albert kicks it and it breaks in half! For the record, that doesn't count for an elimination. I also don't think that was intended. Test chokes Bubba Ray in the corner a long time while a replacement table is brought in. T&A try to double backdrop Bubba Ray into the table but D'Von moves the table out of the way. Edge tags himself in on Test. Bubba Ray hits him back, so Edge runs over and tags Test back in. Bubba Ray gets a boot up on Test coming off the second rope and tags D'Von. D'Von suckers Albert in and the Dudleyz reverse 3D him. Things break down into a full on DONNYBROOK. Albert gets on the second rope with Bubba Ray. E&C come from behind and pull Albert down into the table! T&A are eliminated. The Dudleyz and E&C take the fight to the floor. E&C double team D'Von on the floor, putting him in peril. Russian leg sweep from Christian. Edge tells Christian to grab a table, then runs over and pops Bubba Ray on the apron. D'Von baseball slides the table, knocking both E&C guys down! Hot tag to Bubba Ray! Or not, ref Tim White didn't see the tag. That allows the beatdown on D'Von to continue. D'Von ducks a Christian clothesline and side suplexes him. Real hot tag to Bubba Ray! Backdrop for Edge. Hot shot for Christian. Edge gets a spear! E&C want to give Bubba Ray the Whazzup drop! Bubba Ray rolls Christian up and Edge falls into Christian! The real Whazzup drop hits on Edge. Get the tables time. Christian literally tackles Edge to save him from a 3D. Christian takes the 3D through the table and it's over! Reasonably fun match from three teams that knew each other very well. **3/4

Michal Cole is in the back with Lita, but I can't pay attention to the promo, I'm too distracted by the giant stack of beer kegs behind her. That's something you normally didn't see in backstage shots.

 

WWF Women's Championship: Ivory (c) (w/Steven Richards) def Lita in 2:57- Richards gets drowned out by boos at the start of his promo before getting into it. There was a woman in the UK named Mary Whitehouse he'd probably want to take a meeting with. The National Viewers and Listeners Association was the original Right to Censor. Lita spears Ivory as she gets in the ring! Armdrag and shotgun dropkick. Snap mare and dropkick to Ivory's back for 2. Lita comes to almost a dead stop waiting for Ivory to get her boots up in the corner. Back suplex from Lita for 2. Richards gets on the apron and Lita snaps him over the top rope by his tie. Ivory hits some chops in the corner. Lita gets tossed around and choked. Legdrop for 2. Ivory hooks up an arm wringer and hits a northern lights suplex for 2. Flying headscissors counter from Lita! One foot dropkick. Or just a very sloppy one. Twist of Fate! Richards distracts again. Tope suicida from Lita on Richards! She tries to sunset flip Ivory. Ivory drops down, gets leverage help from Richards, and gets the pin! Not particularly good, but it's better than their Survivor Series match. Ivory's game, but her style is very '80s women's wrestling. Lita needs to be in there with someone more modern. *1/2

The beer keg stack does not outshine the Rock. Switching to "candy bum" is a nice local twist.

 

WWF Hardcore Championship: Steve Blackman (c) def Perry Saturn in 6:02- Saturn jumps Blackman before the bell. Blackman reverses a corner whip and dropkicks Saturn in the back. Tazz tries to make "rocketbuster" a thing. Saturn ducks an enzuguri, leading into standing switches, Saturn blocks a roll up and tosses Blackman over the top to the floor. Plancha! Cover on the floor for 2. Blackman suplexes Saturn on the floor. He goes under the ring and gets a trash can, then a couple of pieces of metal that look like inbox trays or something. Saturn takes a couple of shots from them. Blackman wedges the trash can in the corner. Reversal and Saturn drop toe holds Blackman into it! Couple of counters and Blackman takes a shot from one of those metal objects right in the head for 2. Blackman gets a backslide for 2. In a hardcore match? Saturn crucifix for 2. In a hardcore match? Blackman gets tossed again. He tries to skin the cat but Saturn whacks him with the piece of metal again. Saturn goes for a tope suicida but Blackman nails him with the metal as he's coming down! Saturn gets a fire extinguisher out and sets it off in Blackman's general vicinity. That didn't work very well. Now Saturn gets a good old chair and sets it up in the ring. Blackman drop toe holds him into it! Blackman goes out and gets his short sticks. He goes nuts on Saturn with them and hits a side suplex for a long 2. Saturn gets a stick and low blows Blackman with it! Small package for 2. Blackman kicks the chair in Saturn's face and that gets the pin! Solid hardcore stuff. **1/2

Both JR and Tazz call Regal "Steven Regal" before the next match. Regal's prematch promo sounds really genuine and not in character at all.....until he starts running down other British sports icons that don't stack up to him. I like how he says he'll proudly represent Great Britain to those loser Americans, even if they're all on the dole and too skint to have any dosh for Christmas food or presents.

Undertaker motorbikes in.

 

WWF European Championship: Crash Holly (w/Molly Holly) def William Regal (c) in 4:59- After the longish backstage promo Regal takes a mic again after intros. He's a bit cross he's not exactly getting a warm home country welcome. I remember when WWF got Vinnie Jones in for a UK PPV a couple of years prior, he'd be so perfect for a run in right now. After a bit Crash jumps from behind and we're on. Flying headscissors and dropkick from Crash. Regal tosses Crash shoulder first into the corner and hits a powerbomb for 2. Wave! European uppercut. Back elbow and another wave. Tazz tries to say Regal's in "fine fickle". He means fettle. Don't try to speak British if you're from Brooklyn. Crash fights out of a chinlock and gets a nice cradle counter to a hiptoss attempt for 2. Regal puts him back down with a straight kick. Kneedrop for 2. Another European uppercut. Straight lefts in the corner. Back suplex for 2. Another Regal chinlock with some rope leverage game playing. Crash ducks another uppercut into a backslide for 2. Flash roll up for 2. Flying back elbow for 2. Hurricanarana from Crash for 2. Crash tries to float over in the corner but Regal straight drops him. The ref counts 3, but Crash had a foot on the rope. Molly protests to the ref, then sneaks behind Regal and hits a missile dropkick! Crash covers and gets the pin while Chimel was announcing Regal as the winner! Regal stomps Crash down, takes the belt and leaves, apparently oblivious the match was restarted and he was pinned. Crash's win would stand and he did go into the record books as a European champion, albeit a short lived one. Regal would settle any controversy by defeating Crash on the next Raw. Decentish match, but I would have played more into the "Regal can't focus because the crowd is bothering him" angle than doing the swervy finish. **

Angle begs Chris Benoit for some help tonight.

 

WWF Intercontinental Champion "The One" Billy Gunn and Chyna def Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero in 7:26- Gunn recently defeated Guerrero for the IC title on Smackdown, his one and only run with the belt as part of yet another futile, and short, attempt at a Billy Gunn singles push. Chyna's in some really different gear tonight. Almost like she accidentally left her regular gear at home. Guerrero jumps Gunn before the bell. Guerrero flips out of a tiltawhirl attempt and hits a basement dropkick. He works on Gunn's knee a bit. More speed and this time Gunn gets the tiltawhirl slam. While Gunn's arguing with ref Teddy Long about a corner break Guerrero slowly sneaks behind Gunn. Gunn turns around and Guerrero begs off, then offers a handshake. Gunn takes it, then levels Guerrero with a clothesline. Malenko runs in and it's EVERYONE IN THE POOL time. Guerrero and Chyna try to work out their former relationship differences with fists. There's some places that encourage that kind of couples therapy. Stereo press slams from the faces and the Radicalz powder. Malenko gets in the ring with Chyna while Guerrero and Gunn fight on the floor. Hiptoss and clothesline from Chyna for 2. She counters a cloverleaf attempt into a small package for 2. Handspring elbow. Guerrero trips Chyna from the floor. Somehow that was all it took to kill her momentum. Guerrero beats Chyna down in the Radicalz' corner. Double elbow on Chyna for 2. Malenko hooks on a front facelock. Gee, I wonder what's coming. No, they flip the script. Instead of the phantom tag spot Chyna sunset flips Malenko, causing everyone else to run in. The Radicalz double up on Chyna while Long gets Gunn out. Same result, different path. While Malenko is floating over in the corner Chyna puts her foot up and he gets low blowed. DDT from Chyna. Tag to Gunn and we're quickly donnybrooking again. Gunn double clotheslines both Radicalz. Powerslam on Malenko for 2. Jackhammer from Gunn. Fameasser. Guerrero breaks the pin up! Chyna tosses him out again. Sleeper neckbreaker from Gunn on Malenko and that gets the pin. *3/4

 

Kane def Chris Jericho in 8:06- A reminder that this feud started over a spilled cup of coffee. After a standard fare promo Jericho charges in and attacks. Kane weathers the storm and hits a big boot. Jericho dodges an elbow drop and hits a dropkick, then Cactus clotheslines Kane to the floor. The springboard dropkick hits. Jericho tries a crossbody off the top but gets caught and powerslammed for 2. Faceplant backdrop from Kane. He hangs Jericho on his back and stretches him out. Jericho uses the corner to flip over and gets a small package for 2. Kane quickly gets back on offense and goes into slow punchy chokey mode. Side suplex. Kane goes up top. Jericho crotches him and also goes up. Kane fights him off and comes off the top into a dropkick counter. Would have been more impressive if they hadn't done the exact same thing their last match at Survivor Series. Jericho has a comeback flurry and hits an enzuguri. Missile dropkick for 2. Kane goes for what looks like a snake eyes. Jericho slips out and pushes Kane into the corner into a roll up for 2. Walls attempt! Kane fights and Jericho can't turn him over. Goozle! Jericho kicks free and hits a bulldog. Lionsault! Into Kane's knees! He didn't even get his knees up, that was into his knees. Chokeslam and it's over. Meh. This is a textbook wheel spinning feud that didn't do either guy any favors. **1/4

As Kane's leaving Jericho attacks him from behind with a chair! We get a Tony Garea sighting as the refs try to get Jericho away. He hooks on the Walls on the stage! Kane taps. Jericho lets go and leaves.

Trish tries to mouth off at Lita backstage and gets a drink in the face. Lita knocks her around backstage and pulls her top off. No one's complaining. They continue fighting into Ivory's locker room, who's also in her bra. That's less good. Better than Mae Young though.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: Right to Censor (c) (w/Val Venus) def The Hardy Boyz in 8:08- Tazz tries "rocketbuster" again. Still going nowhere pal. After intros the Hardyz get up on the ropes to pose and let the RTC jump them from behind. They maneuver around to get the RTC on the floor and hit stereo planchas! Now we finish posing. Buchanan loses his tie and untucks his shirt. That has to be a violation of RTC bylaws. We settle back in with Buchanan knocking Jeff around. Jeff tries a couple of flash moves that don't work but manages to get a flying headscissors. Goodfather MURDERS Jeff from the apron with a clothesline. I'll say it again, in this period Jeff was the best there was at taking a beating since Ricky Morton. Jeff stays in peril as the RTC quick tag him. He and Buchanan have a collision in the middle of the ring that Buchanan didn't seem to know was coming. Matt also blind tagged himself in and takes it to Buchanan, who looked so beyond lost there. Matt hooks up for the Twist of Fate. Venus gets on the apron to distract ref Teddy Long. Goodfather comes in with a tag belt, but takes Buchanan out! Legdrop off the second rope from Matt. Goodfather pulls Matt out of the pin and whips him into the post. Matt gets double teamed in the RTC corner. Goodfather works on Matt's arm for a bit, then everyone forgets about it. Matt manages to get a DDT counter. Matt leaps for a tag but Goodfather catches him to just cut him off. Matt dodges the no more hos train, which was in the RTC corner and also takes out Buchanan. Tag to Jeff. Shotgun dropkick. Buchanan comes in for more double teaming. Jeff springboard moonsault on both of them! Everyone in. Poetry in Motion hits on both RTC guys. Jeff low blow legdrop. Matt hits the Twist of Fate on Goodfather! Jeff swanton bomb! Long's distracted in the corner, allowing Venus to hit a Money Shot on Jeff. Goodfather covers and gets the win. The RTC might be the hot heel gimmick of the moment, at least among the decision makers backstage, but they're quickly outliving what little usefulness they ever had in the ring. *1/2

E&C use Christian's hurt ribs from going through a table earlier as an excuse to not help Angle tonight. At least the excuse is plausible this time. Elsewhere, Taker is walking. He turns a corner and there's Benoit. The other Radicalz jump Taker from behind! They all attack Taker's knee.

 

The Undertaker def Chris Benoit in 12:18- Kind of amazing, this is the only PPV match and only one on one match Benoit and Taker ever had. Taker's music hits but no one comes out. Benoit takes the mic, says the American Bad Ass left his ass in America, and demands a forfeit. The music hits again. Still nothing. Chimel starts to declare Benoit the winner. Music hit #3 and Taker limps his way down the ramp. I'm relieved he left the Godfather's gold pants he wore at Survivor Series in the US, those just looked wrong on him. As soon as Taker hits the ring Benoit attacks the knee. He drapes Taker's leg over the middle rope and goes nuts on it. Taker tries to slug back. Benoit runs into a back elbow and a boot up in the corner. Gorilla press from Taker! Not a usual move from him. He pounds Benoit in the corner while still selling the knee. Benoit kicks back on the knee but Taker shrugs it off. Old school hits with Taker still fighting the knee after. Benoit drags Taker down from the floor in the corner but Taker pulls him into the post with his legs. As Taker's getting back in Benoit tackles him back to the floor. Dive off the apron. Taker catches him and posts his back. Cover back in for 2. Taker continues to stay focused on Benoit's back. Bear hug! Another not typical move from Taker. Benoit headbutts out but runs into a big boot for 2. Taker tiltawhirl scoops Benoit up. Benoit wiggles free and basement dropkick's Taker's knee, then goes back to trying to pick the knee apart. Benoit wraps up a step over toe hold and gets a couple of near falls off it. Taker hits some gut shots and starts to slug back until he takes another dropkick in the knee. Another step over toe hold. Taker counters free and plants Benoit's knee on the mat! Benoit does a kind of enzuguri on Taker's bad knee to get him back down. This time he puts on the full figure four! I've been waiting for that. More near falls. Taker fights and reverses it. Benoit crawls over for a rope break. Slugfest that Taker wins. Benoit ducks a punch and hits a back suplex, then gets back on the knee. He goes up top. Diving headbutt into the knee! He goes for the figure four again. Taker wraps up a Paul Smackage to get the shock win! Classic finish, I love it. It's a shame these two never had a shot on a regular PPV. This wasn't anything like a blowaway great match, but they had a solid game plan and good chemistry and likely a much better match in them. Bonus points for that finish too. ***

 

Fatal Four Way Match for the WWF Championship: Kurt Angle (c) def The Rock, Rikishi and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in 8:51- Never a good sign for your title reign when you're the champ and come out second out of four guys. Rock gets a big pop. Austin's just about blows the roof off the damn place. Austin's in and it's on, Austin with Angle in the ring while Rock and Rikishi go to the floor. Austin hits a spinebuster on Angle for 2. Suplex for 2. Rikshi trips Austin from the floor so Austin slugs away on him. Rock gives Angle a Samoan drop for 2. He momentum tosses Angle out to the floor. While Angle's still in the air Rikishi transfers into the ring. Rock and Austin pound away on him. Angle tries to sneak away while that's happening. Rock sees and charges him down on the ramp. Austin Thesz Press on Rikishi. Elbow drop for 2. Rock rolls Angle back in the ring and Austin Thesz Presses him! Angle and Austin go back to the floor while Rock slugs on Rikishi in the ring. Austin chokes Angle with a TV cable. Rikishi gets Rock in the corner and gives him an avalanche. Rock's in position. Rikishi goes for a stinkface but Rock pushes him away. Spinebuster! Pad off! People's Elbow! Angle breaks the pin up! Angle covers Rikishi! Austin breaks that up. Now AUSTIN covers Rikishi and Rikishi kicks out. For the first time in the match the heels take the edge. Austin and Rock drags themselves up and slug back. The heels are tossed out. Rock and Austin are in the ring alone. They realize this and stare down. Here they go! Kind of Hogan and Warrior facing off in the '90 Rumble vibes. Austin hits the Stunner! With a classic insane Rock oversell. Angle breaks the pin up. Rikishi legdrops Angle while trying to cover Rock! Rikishi covers and Rock kicks out. Angle and Rikishi try to double up on Austin but Austin clotheslines them both. Mudhole stomps on Angle. But Rock's waiting behind him. Rock Bottom on Austin! Rikishi pulls Hebner out of the ring just before 3! Angle Slam on Rock! Hebner's still on the floor. By the time he gets back Rock kicks out! Austin rolls Angle up for 2. Here come Edge and Christian. Austin quickly fights them off. Rock Bottom on Rikishi! Edge just barely gets in the ring in time to grabs Rock's foot to break the pin up. Now the Radicalz are out. Stunner on Rikishi! The Radiclaz drag Austin off. Angle Slam on Rikishi! Rock and Austin are still fighting on the floor and Angle gets the pin! And quickly gets the hell out of town. Fun, if short, house show style four way main event. ***1/2

Austin and Rock fight the Radicalz off, with Benoit and Guerrero both coming back for seconds, to send the crowd home happy. Austin and Rock argue a bit. Rock starts to leave but Austin brings him back in to plead his case. Then Austin says fuck it, let's have a beer. Rock thinks about it then joins in. That war is coming, but not today.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Another fairly fun UK house show on PPV. After a big rough patch near the start of them they've settled into a decent groove for these shows. JR and Tazz sounded like they were having fun with each other on commentary their first time out, which always helps.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+

World War 3 '98

Legacy Review

World War 3 '98

November 22, 1998 from The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, MI

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay

After a four year run this would turn out to be the final World War 3 60 man three ring battle royale. The concept never really took off, mainly due to too many people being involved and it lacked the hook that the Royal Rumble had with surprise entries during the match. The November PPV would become Mayhem starting the next year.

The opening video actually tries to list off every single wrestler that'll be in the big battle royale. They're making more of an effort than I will. Then we get footage of Goldberg arriving in his limo. They want to prove he's in the building since he inexplicably doesn't have a match scheduled tonight. In the open Tony mentions that Hogan is strangely *not* in the building tonight. It's not strange for Hogan to miss a B PPV, but it is strange he's missing a chance to earn a world title shot. Mean Gene forgot his bow tie, which is a weird look.

One more thing before we dive in, it's difficult to pinpoint exact dates for these things and reports conflict based on who's telling them, but multiple sources say this is the first PPV with Kevin Nash officially on WCW's creative team. Based on how things play out here and the shows immediately after I'd say that's likely accurate.

Wrath def Glacier in 8:22- Glacier's getting back on PPV for the first time in exactly a year, and it's right back against one of his old foes from one of '97s biggest Feuds That Will Never End. Wrath has been getting a return from injury undefeated push, mainly thanks to his new finisher the Meltdown (a nod to his WWF days as Adam Bomb). The crowd reactions show the face/heel alignments have swapped since the previous feud, confirmed by Glacier stalling like hell at the start. Lockup and Wrath pushes Glacier right out of the ring. More Glacier stalling on the floor. Wrath no sells some shots and hits a big chop. Glacier powders again. A running knee sends Glacier off the apron into the guardrail. Wrath then whips Glacier over the barricade into the crowd. Chops in the crowd. Clothesline with a 360 sell back in. Mudhole stomps in the corner. It continues to be all Wrath while commentary gushes over all his body parts. Another clothesline for 2, and for some reason Wrath puts his feet on the ropes for leverage. Why? Back to the floor and Wrath chokes Glacier with a TV cable. I've got a lot of questions for whoever laid this match out. Glacier ducks in the corner and gets a hook kick in that Wrath actually sort of sells. Another kick that barely makes contact. An Ice Pick attempt is blocked. The Meltdown hits and we're done here. Complete and total squash. I give it two more months max before this big Wrath push stalls out. 1/4*

Extended Bret Hart video package where he rants about everyone he hates (in WCW) that desperately tries to channel awesome '97 heel Bret Hart but never gets anywhere close.

 

Stevie Ray (w/Vincent) def Konnan by DQ in 6:55- NWO Hollywood vs NWO Wolfpac here. Both guys play to the crowd before locking up. Ray quickly pounds Konnan down in the corner. Konnan pops out with his rolling clothesline. Basement dropkick and Konnan wraps Ray up on the mat with a sort of sitting abdominal stretch. Ray superkick that Konnan clearly blocks half a foot from his face. Clothesline for 2. Konnan gets tossed out and Vincent gets some shots in. Ray kills time with a chinlock. Konnan slowly works his way into a backslide for 2. Another Ray clothesline. Konnan dodges an elbow drop to kick off the comeback. Vincent gets on the apron. Whip reversal and Ray gets hit with the SLAPJACK OF DEATH. Konnan doesn't cover, instead choosing to lay in some extended ground and pound on Ray. He ignores the ref's call to break, and quick trigger ref calls for a DQ. Missed the slapjack shot, DQ's over some punches. Sheesh. Booker T, back from injury, runs in and backs Konnan off. Booker helps his brother up, but Ray shoves him off, says he doesn't need his help, and walks away. If you told someone "Stevie Ray vs Konnan" and nothing else this would be pretty much what they'd expect, with the added bonus of a stupid shit finish. DUD

 

Ernest "The Cat" Miller and Sonny Onoo def Perry Saturn and Kaz Hayashi in 8:04- It's a borderline miracle Saturn isn't wrestling ex-Flock members anymore. I have no idea what the story is here and why manager Oono is in the match but I'm confident in saying it's not worth remembering. From what I can glean from commentary Hayashi was aligned with Miller but turned on him to turn face, and Saturn is the rando not doing anything else he picked up as a tag partner tonight. Works for me. Oono and Miller have their own karate entourage with them but they thankfully never become involved in the match. Miller and Hayashi start. Miller does his stupid "you have five seconds to leave before I beat your ass" thing. Saturn swaps in while Miller's back is turned. Miller turns around into a Saturn punch and quickly bails. Hayashi tags in and wants Oono. Oono still has sunglasses and a towel on while on the apron. He doesn't want to get in. Hayashi says screw it and attacks Miller. Miller hits a slam and celebrates. Back kick from Miller. Another slam and now Oono tags in, still with sunglasses on. He lays in some kicks that Hayashi no sells. Oono pulls some money out and offers it to Hayashi. Hayashi kicks it out of his hands. Oono crawls through Hayashi's legs and tags out. Miller kicks Hayashi back into his corner and he tags Saturn in. Chops and half and half suplex from Saturn. Miller does some more heel punchy kicky stuff and acts like it's something amazing. His sweep kick underneath a Saturn high kick attempt wasn't bad, I'll give him that one. Miller tags Oono. Oono wants nothing to do with Saturn. Miller forces him in. Oono hits one kick and tags back out! Miller refuses to get in so I guess it's no tag. Oono walks into a Saturn STF. Now Miller gets in. Guess it was a tag. Double dropkick on Miller from the faces. Miller begs off to give Hayashi an eye rake. Oono gets a bunch more kicks in on Hayashi. Commentary has no idea who's supposed to be legal on the heel team as Miller kicks Hayashi from the apron. Hayashi jawbreakers Miller and tags out. Saturn snap suplex on Miller. Hayashi tags right back in and immediately ends up in the heel corner again. Even commentary says that was a dumb move to tag back in so quickly. Hayashi rolls away from Oono fist drops and tags Saturn. Oono begs off. Miller tries to come from behind but takes a belly to belly suplex. Saturn grabs Oono. Miller hits Saturn with a roundhouse kick to the face, Oono falls on top of him, and gets the pin. Freaking hell what a mess. DUD

We're off to a rocking start tonight, folks. I don't think this will break WCW's recent streak of bad PPVs.

Mean Gene stops Juvy during his entrance for the next match to check out the shirt he's wearing as a cape and sees it's an LWO shirt! LWO leader Eddie Guerrero comes out and says Juvy has seen the light and joined the group. Rey Mysterio, also an LWO member, then comes out pissed off thinking this is the reason Juvy got a title shot instead of him. Eddie asks Mysterio if he has a family and kids, Mysterio says he does, and Eddie says sometimes you make sacrifices for them. He tells Mysterio this is what's best for the LWO family. Mysterio still isn't convinced and leaves in a huff.

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Kidman def Juventud Guerrera (c) in 15:27- Juvy defeated Kidman for the title on the last Nitro, the third title swap between these two since August. The crowd isn't sure what to make of Juvy after that last bit. Some basic back and forth to start. Juvy bragging over a shoulderblock leads to some slugfest. Fameasser from Juvy. He's definitely trying to heel it up with the crowd. Juvy dodges Kidman in the corner and gets a flying headscissors, but then runs into a Kidman spinebuster. Slam and slingshot legdrop from Kidman for 2. Counter roll up from Juvy for 2. Alabama slam and elbow drop for 2. Kidman reverses a corner whip with Juvy doing a Bret bump and Kidman follows up with a clothesline. Top rope fight. Juvy fights Kidman off. He goes for a tornado DDT. Kidman blocks it so Juvy snaps him over the top rope instead. Juvy tries coming off the top rope but Kidman dropkicks him in midair for 2. Kidman tosses Juvy out. Plancha! Juvy goes up top and flying headscissors Kidman off the apron to the floor! Slow cover back in for 2. Juvy hits a brain buster for 2. Basement dropkick. Springboard missile dropkick and Kidman goes to the floor again. Juvy kinda weak springboard dive to the floor. They were on the wrong side to do too much. Slingshot legdrop back in from Juvy for 2. Juvy tosses Kidman into an adjacent ring. He DOUBLE springboards into a dropkick! He damn near slipped off the second rope but managed to keep it together just enough. Pop up dropkick from Kidman. He hits a back suplex for 2. Juvy dodges a wild corner dive. Inverted atomic drop. He calls for the 450. Juvy starts to climb one side, then decides to walk across to the other corner and Kidman has to follow. Commentary tries to say he was adjusting to Kidman's rolling away but Juvy definitely moved first. Kidman crotches Juvy on the top rope. He uses the ropes to headscissors Juvy back to the middle ring! That's why Juvy had to move. Now Kidman walks across both sets of ropes into a crossbody for a LONG 2. Juvy backdrops Kidman over the top rope and he lands gut first on the adjacent ring's top rope! Juvy walks across the ropes into a hurricanrana off the top. Kidman kicks out at ONE! Juvy calls for the Juvy driver. Kidman counters, Juvy recounters and hits the driver! Juvy takes forever to get up then doesn't cover. He drags Kidman to the corner. He goes for the 450, sees Kidman dodging and lands on his feet. Hurricanrana with a cradle from Juvy for another very long 2 that I'm not sure Kidman really kicked out of or not. Juvy let go before 3 as much as Kidman kicked out. Juvy argues with Lil' Naitch and even slaps him a little. Kidman counters a powerbomb into a faceplant for 2. Wheelbarrow German from Kidman! He drags Juvy into the corner. Kidman goes up top for the SSP but gets crotched. Mysterio sneaks behind while Juvy positions on the top. Mysterio grabs Kidman's pants to keep Juvy from hurricanranaing him! Shooting star press! Kidman gets the pin and wins the title back! The first half of the match was a bit disjointed due to Juvy trying to play heel now but they got rolling good like they know how in the second half and using all three rings was a nice touch. ***1/4

The entire LWO comes out to see what the hell's going on. Man, I don't remember there being this many in the group. They always did keep a lot of Mexican wrestlers on the roster though. Pissed Eddie gets a mic and tells Mysterio either you're in or you're out, tell me now. Mysterio tears off his LWO shirt and throws it in Eddie's face! He runs away as the whole LWO chase him to the back. See, if Mysterio had just learned to sacrifice for the sake of family a bit better in these early days maybe Dom wouldn't have turned out so bad. Eddie tried to teach him. Multiple times.

The next scheduled match is, once again, Rick Steiner vs Scott Steiner. This match has become Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown. Scott makes his entrance with his platonic partner Buff Bagwell, in one of his silly hats, and also some goof in a ref shirt that also has a whistle and is wearing a ref beanie that I guess Scott's hired to ref this match that somehow got WCW's permission. Rick's music hits and no Rick. We cut to the back and the rest of NWO Hollywood are beating him down. Giant drags Rick to the ring and Scott and Bagwell do a two on one beatdown on him with the ref goof hopping around and blowing his whistle. Rick gets some shots back on Scott. The ref pulls him off and Scott low blows him. The beatdown on Rick continues and I wonder why the hell this is still going on. This ref guy somehow is managing to be even more annoying than Bagwell. That's a hell of an accomplishment. Finally GOLDBERG runs in to make the save! Scott gives him a middle finger! Goldberg spear! He hooks up for the jackhammer. Bagwell hits him with a chair from behind. Bad move, dumbass. The ref leaps on Goldberg's back and tries to choke him. Goldberg easily fights him off, presses him and tosses him into the adjacent ring. Rick and Goldberg hug and end scene. If this was at the start of the feud this might have been OK, but it's been MONTHS of this shit. Any way to try to avoid Rick and Scott having a proper one on one match they've taken. Yes they got one in at Halloween Havoc but it was so interference filled it barely counts. The only positive thing about this is it would be the last time they'd try to fool us that this match might actually happen. And it showed that Scott vs Goldberg is a potential money match.

Didn't like the last bait and switch "match"? Well here's another one. NWO Hollywood's music hits again and Scott Hall comes out. He's scheduled to take on former Outsiders partner and NWO Wolfpac leader Kevin Nash again, a rematch from Halloween Havoc where Nash had the match won but walked away and took a countout loss for no discernible reason instead. He's got all of NWO Hollywood with him. After they all get in the ring Eric Bischoff comes out. He and Hall had been butting heads lately. Bischoff says it's survey time, and survey says.....GET HIM! NWO Hollywood attack Hall! Nash runs out to save his buddy. He clears the ring out with Hall's help until they're the last two in the ring. The crowd chants "Outsiders". Nash and Hall look at each other. Hall puts up a too sweet. Nash thinks about it, shakes his head, and walks away. Hall's a sad red nosed puppy. Seriously, how much did he drink before the show? This was the first real sign the NWO civil war was starting to peter out.

 

WCW World Television Championship: Chris Jericho (c) (w/Ralphus) def Bobby Duncum Jr in 13:22- Duncum had just made his WCW debut the week prior and defeated Jericho by countout, signalling the potential for a big introductory push. He didn't exactly have a huge pedigree, having spent time in GWF, ECW and All Japan but never doing much of note. He's got a look that's kind of a cross between Barry Windham, Stan Hansen and Magnum TA. His dad was also a wrestler, a longtime territory heel in the '70s and '80s and was even part of the early Heenan Family in the AWA. That lets Heenan gush about Duncum Sr from the booth. Jericho has some fantastic maroon red tights for this match. Lockup and Duncum gets a slap in. Another lockup and Duncum tosses Jericho out, where he takes solace in the large folds of Ralphus. Standing switches and Jericho gets a leg takedown. He rolls Duncum into a bow and arrow. Another stalemate reset. This feels like an '80s match, but not in a good way. Jericho tries to flippydo out of an arm wringer but Duncum takes him out with a clothesline. Apron suplex from Duncum. Jericho jawbreakers out of a chinlock. Kick exchange that Duncum wins. He straight up tackles Jericho into the ropes. Jericho gets tossed to the floor. Duncum grabs his bullrope, decides he'd rather not, then pushes Jericho over the guardrail. Jericho diving clothesline off the guardrail! Missile dropkick from Jericho back in for 2. Duncum lifts chinlocking Jericho on his back and drops him on the top turnbuckle. Shoulderbreaker from Duncum for 2. He starts working on Jericho's arm and tries a cross armbreaker. Jericho locks his fingers and gets to the ropes. Jericho gets a hot shot. Springboard dropkick! Jericho gives Duncum some shots on the floor and runs him into the stairs. Arrogant cover! Jericho hooks on a front facelock that's barely on the face. Duncum pops out of the corner with a clothesline for 2. Jericho hits some chops in the corner that wake Duncum up. He responds with his own chops. Faceplant and clothesline on Jericho for 2. Duncum blocks a sunset flip and spinebusters Jericho for 2. Clothesline from Jericho. Quick Lionsault! That gets a 2 count. Senton. I like the "Jericho 4, Goldberg 0" sign someone has. Facts are facts. Duncum hits a superplex for 2. Roll up from Jericho into a Liontamer attempt! Duncum is able to fight him off and flat *plants* Jericho in the corner. Vader bomb elbow drop for 2. He lifts Jericho up. Ralphus grabs Duncum's foot, causing Duncum to drop Jericho on the top rope and down to the apron. I'm not sure Ralphus did Jericho any favors there. He was always a bit thick. Duncum grabs Ralphus but has a hard time lifting all of Ralphus' girth up. Jericho comes from behind, nails Duncum with the belt, and gets the pin. Man, that was as unmotivated as I've ever seen Jericho outside his recent elder years. Duncum did not look ready for prime time either. He'd be depushed pretty quickly before the West Texas Rednecks came together in early '99. **

 

World War 3 Battle Royale- First time the WW3 match doesn't main event the show. As in previous years the winner of this match will earn a World title shot, and this year it will take place at Starrcade. An added rule this year like other battle royales WCW has had this year is you can be eliminated by pin or submission as well getting tossed out of the ring, over the top rope or not. Good luck with that with so many guys in the rings. It never happens anyway. As always I'm not going to list everyone in this thing, it's the whole damn roster and there's no notable ringers that have been brought in this year. As usual with so many guys and the total chaos that brings I'll just skim the match until we get down to the final 10. For the first time ever there's a counter on the screen to show how many guys are left. An overdue idea, but I'm dubious how well it'll work. Things get going a little quicker this year, thanks to Kevin Nash almost singlehandedly clearing out his entire ring, tossing over a dozen guys himself in a serious Superman run. Did I mention that Nash is on the creative team now? Just thought I'd bring it up again. No reason. After that things bog down again like usual. I like how Giant gently sets Alex Wright on the apron and commentary is amazed that Wright "held on" to keep from being eliminated. Everyone left in Giant's ring try to gang up on him but he fights them off. When it gets down to 20 the bell rings and everyone is told to go to the center ring. They're sticking to that better than previous years. Giant eliminates a bunch of guys then tosses Kidman on top of them. Nash and Hall team up to pound away on Giant to the delight of the crowd. Slowly we get down to 10: Nash, Hall, Giant, Lex Luger, Chris Benoit, Wrath, Booker T, Konnan, Dean Malenko and Scott Steiner. Bam Bam Bigelow comes in through the crowd! Everyone gangs up to get him out of the ring and security come out to get rid of him. Goldberg runs in and attacks Bigelow! There's a massive scrum of Bigelow, Goldberg and about 20 security guys. While that's happening the counter went from 10 to 8. Commentary says it was Wrath and Steiner eliminated. Heenan then praises the camera work. The camera work that completely missed those two eliminations? Security is still dragging Bigelow away. Booker gets eliminated, again missed by the cameras. Everything stops again as those remaining break up into their respective groups: three Wolfpac, two Horsemen, and Giant and Hall. You'd think Hall would be a little more peeved at Giant after his Hollywood excommunication earlier. Or maybe he drunk enough in between he doesn't remember it now. Hall ducks and Konnan pretty much eliminates himself. Nash calls for everything to stop again. He wants everyone to gang up on Giant. They do and, despite Giant's best efforts, dump him. The crowd was happy about that. Five left. Luger finally takes his shirt off. Guess he's serious now. Luger and Nash eliminate Benoit. Hall tosses Malenko. It's down to Nash, Luger and Hall. The Wolfpac guys try to corner Hall....until Nash hits Luger right before Hall attacks. No alliances here. Luger puts both Nash and Hall down with the formerly steel plated forearm. Torture Rack attempt on Hall. Nash charges from behind and knocks both of them out! Nash wins and will get the title shot! He's never gotten a real World title shot in WCW yet so it's not a horrible pick, even taking his role in booking into account. The match overall was a pretty typical WCW battle royale, as in nothing special at all. It's not the *worst* World War 3 match at least. 3/4*

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Diamond Dallas Page (c) def Bret "Hitman" Hart in 18:31- After coming oh so close to dethroning Goldberg at Halloween Havoc DDP turned his attention to the US Title, defeating Bret for the title on Nitro. As I mentioned in my Halloween Havoc review, I would have had DDP win WW3 to get a rematch and then be the one to take Goldberg down at Starrcade because the crowd was clearly wanting it. DDP comes in with the belt on upside down. If this was Bret Hart from just a year or two prior this would have the potential to be a classic, but a year into WCW it's clear Bret is mentally broken from what happened in Montreal and would never be the same again. Bret tries to stall on the floor so DDP kicks things off with a plancha! Guardrail shots for Bret. Slugfest back in that DDP wins. He tosses Bret out again and we get some more ringside knockaround before switching rings. Bret snaps DDP over the top rope. Elbow to the back of the head. DDT from Bret for 2. DDP blocks a suplex into a small package for 2. Bret does some more heel WCW punchy chokey stuff and hooks on a chinlock. DDP blocks a hiptoss and hits a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Bret quickly escapes from a Diamond Cutter attempt. DDP goes for a baseball slide. Bret kinda dodges, eye rakes DDP and gives him a stair shot. Inverted atomic drop and clothesline back in. Russian leg sweep. Bret scoops for a tombstone. DDP reverses and hits it for 2. Backbreaker from Bret, followed by the snap legdrop for 2. Gut headbutt. European uppercuts. Whip reversal and soft Bret bump. DDP grabs a waistlock. Bret tries to fight it but DDP hits a belly to belly suplex. Discus clothesline and front piledriver from DDP. Bret ducks a clothesline and slow motion Cactus clotheslines DDP out to the floor. Bret gets something out of his tights. DDP comes in with a tackle off the top rope for 2. The international knucks fall off and Lil' Naitch picks them up. DDP gets Bret down and hooks on his own Sharpshooter! Or at least tries to. Still better than Rock's though. Bret gets to the ropes. DDP limps around a little bit. Bret straight low blows DDP to get free in the corner. Come on Naitch. Gut stomp. Bret starts working on DDP's knee, which commentary reminds us Bret had previously injured. Post shot for the knee. Post wraparound figure four! A Bret Hart staple. After some more softening up Bret hooks on the figure four proper in the ring. With some extra rope leverage that Naitch quickly catches. The knee work continues. DDP uses that to push Bret over the top to the floor. Another stairs shot for Bret. DDP put on the post wraparound figure four! After he figures out which side goes where. DDP gets a chair and brings it into the ring. Naitch grabs it away and Bret pushes both DDP and Naitch down. Bret gets the knucks back. Oh hell, that freaking goon with the ref gear from the Steiners thing is back in trying to take the chair away. After DDP gets rid of him Bret waffles DDP with the knucks. Sharpshooter on. The NWO ref calls a submission and THE FREAKING BELL RINGS?! For frak's sake there is no way this guy is an official ref. Fire that damn timekeeper. A proper ref runs in takes the belt away from Bret. Diamond Cutter! Naitch counts 3! Mostly OK match with a way overcooked ending. Bret would stay on DDP and defeat him to win the title back on Nitro a week later. **1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The run of crap PPVs continues. Only one borderline good match, several duds, and if that wasn't bad enough they pulled a full bait and switch on not one but two previously booked matches, and not minor ones either.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+