Slamboree '99

Legacy Review

Slamboree '99

May 9, 1999 from the TWA Dome in St. Louis, MO

 

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay

 

Along with the new WCW logo introduced last month we also have a new logo for Slamboree. That's going to be common as we get into WCW's final stretch, they spent a lot of time and effort trying to update their overall visual look while the rest of the company collapsed around them. "Lipstick on a pig" wouldn't be the worst analogy.

 

Triangle Match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: Raven & Perry Saturn def Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio Jr (c) and Dean Malenko & Chris Benoit (w/Arn Anderson) in 17:28- Maskless ReyRey is also still the Cruiserweight champ. He's wearing his farmer overalls tonight. Looks like it's three in, three on the apron rules for this one as Kidman, Saturn and Malenko start with the two faces ganging up on the heel Horsemen. Until Kidman dropkicks both Malenko and Benoit to the floor, then Saturn clotheslines him. Saturn belly to belly tosses Kidman over the top rope to the floor! DAMN. Mysterio quickly goes out to check on him. The Horsemen double team Kidman with the dropkick/German suplex combo. Raven suplexes Benoit. Mysterio comes in with a springboard dropkick on both guys. Flying headscissors on Benoit as we go into some crazy back and forth three way stuff. Mysterio takes a hard Bret bump in the corner and tags out. Kidman and Benoit team up to take Raven out, then Benoit chops Kidman out of his boots and gives him the ol' snot blow. Sit out powerbomb from Kidman. He comes off the top with a headbutt that I think Benoit dodges but it's badly timed. Benoit crossface on Kidman! Raven quickly breaks it up. Now Flock 2.0 team up on Benoit with a front suplex/splash off the top combo. Mysterio does a fancy leap to LAND on the top rope after being lifted by Malenko, then hits a moonsault onto him! Benoit pulls Malenko out to the floor while the other two teams brawl. Smart. Saturn does a sloppy dive onto (somewhat) everyone on the floor. In the ring Benoit suplexes Raven and hits the headbutt off the top. Saturn gets in to break the pin up. The Horsemen isolate Saturn in the ring while keeping everyone else out. That is some genius Brain Busters/classic Four Horsemen style tactics that I absolutely detect Arn Anderson's influence in. Short clothesline from Benoit that Saturn 360 sells. Double suplex on Saturn. Double flapjack on Mysterio. Kidman manages to reverse a Benoit corner whip into a Bret bump and hits him with a clothesline. He tries the same with Saturn, but Saturn ducks the clothesline and superkicks Kidman. He places Kidman on the top rope, then springboards up, dives and tackles him down to the floor! Like anytime Saturn does that move that could have gone very badly. Benoit also does a springboard dive to knock Saturn off the apron. Northern lights suplex in the ring from Benoit on Saturn for 2. We hear a loud guardrail crash but don't see who went into it. ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOLING GERMANS on Saturn with a bridge on the third. Kidman breaks the pin up. Malenko tries a cloverleaf on Saturn but Saturn rolls him up for 2. The Horsemen keep Saturn and Kidman in peril. Malenko powerbomb on Kidman for 2. Benoit snap suplex on Saturn. Kidman tries to cover Saturn and Benoit doesn't like that at all. Dragon suplex on Kidman! Malenko pops up Kidman, but Kidman turns it into a dropkick! Saturn gives Benoit a Russian leg sweep. Tag to Raven. He gives Benoit a trio of suplexes for 2. Again Saturn and Kidman team up on Benoit. Mysterio tags in but quickly gets knocked around by Benoit. Kidman clothesline off the top on Benoit. Mysterio follows with a flying headscissors on Saturn. Kidman counters a Malenko powerbomb into a sunset flip for 2. Mysterio gives Raven the shitty bronco buster. Hurricanrana on Benoit for 2. They try that again on Saturn but Saturn counters with a powerbomb! Kidman does his usual powerbomb counter into a faceplant on Saturn for 2. Kidman running bulldog on Raven. Arn decides to get in and plants Saturn with the World's Greatest Spinebuster. Someone with a Sting mask comes in and pulls Kidman off the top rope. Raven hangman's DDT on Kidman. Malenko has Saturn in a cloverleaf, but the ref counts Raven pinning Kidman to win the titles! Sting mask off and of course it's Kanyon. We really are getting the Flock back together. Fun opener, but a bit too chaotic at times and, as usual when WCW tried to get clever with tag match finishes, a sloppily executed ending, though I've seen much worse. ***1/4

 

Konnan def Stevie Ray (w/Vincent and Horace Hogan) in 6:10- Lord what did we do to deserve this. And for the second time on PPV! These two already had a shitfest with each other at World War 3 last year. I'm assuming Ray is still the leader of NWO Black & White for what that's worth, it's like the C or D team at this point. I couldn't give two shits about what Konnan has to say on the mic, so I'm just going to mention that his jersey is made by Starter, who were a great jersey and general licensed sports apparel company back in the day. Ray backs Konnan into the corner and gives him the absolute worst knees to the gut I've ever seen. The punches are a bit better. Konnan dodges in the corner and hits some mounted punches. He floats around Ray's shoulders to hit a bulldog and follows up with a basement dropkick for 2. Vincent distracts and Ray hits a superkick. Konnan gets tossed out and the goons on the floor lay into him. Konnan's gloves are off. What does that mean? Likely, absolutely nothing. But I bet you didn't know that. Clothesline from Ray back in. Snap mare/elbow drop combo for 2. Konnan fights out of a chinlock, comes off the ropes, Ray grabs him, and takes I kid you not THREE swings to put Konnan down again. I wasn't sure if they were wrestling or about to start dancing. MOAR CHINLOCK! Ray cuts a comeback off with a back elbow. Suplex for 2. Setup slam. Ray comes off the second rope and misses Konnan's raised boot by a mile but sells it anyway. Konnan hits the rolling clothesline. The jersey is off! I guess that's the equivalent of the straps are down. They do the thing that must happen in any truly shitty match, completely screw up a leapfrog spot. Konnan faceplants Ray and punches Vincent off the apron. Horace trips Konnan and Ray dropkicks him. Rey Mysterio runs in and fights off Vincent and Hogan, then goes up the top rope, all while Ray was standing in the ring with Konnan hooked up doing nothing but waiting for him for a solid 30 seconds. Mysterio comes off the top onto Ray, Konnan rolls Ray up, and gets the pin. A shit match at World War 3, a shit match here. I sense a trend. If anything this one might have been worse. DUD

 

Backstage DDP and Bam Bam Bigelow say hi. Commentary notes they're both from the Jersey shore. 

 

Hardcore Match: Bam Bam Bigelow def Brian Knobbs in 11:29- WCW continues to low key lay the groundwork to introduce their Hardcore title. Knobbs recently returned to WCW as a solo act following the retirement of his longtime Nasty Boys partner Jerry Sags, and being a Friend of Hogan meant there'd always be a spot on the card for him somewhere. Both guys come out with no music. Knobbs' gear is exactly the same as his tag team days, only difference is it says just "Nasty" now with no "Boys". Commentary says this is also falls count anywhere. Bigelow comes out with the usual cart of goodies and tosses a bunch in the ring before we get going. He's got a traffic cone. I guess it's never a good night unless you get a traffic cone. Knobbs goes on the attack first with tray and cookie sheet shots. Now it's trash can time. Bigelow knees a can into a charging Knobbs, then hits an almost Greetings from Asbury Park for 2. Big cookie sheet shot on Knobbs. Bigelow hits the headbutt off the top rope for 2. Knobbs is up with a sheet shot, followed by a chairshot. Can assisted big splash for 2. Bigelow low bridges Knobbs out to the floor and the chair nearly flies into the first row. Stair shot for Knobbs and he has the absolute weirdest facial expressions after. Is he in pain or blowing hair out of his face? Return stair shot for Bigelow. Another chairshot. Bigelow uses the round tray as a shield to block another can shot, then whacks Knobbs with it. Can lid cymbals on Knobbs' head. Shot with a fresh cookie sheet, a LOUD one that has commentary in stitches. Knobbs fights back with lid shots. He runs Bigelow into the cart and it crunches. Bigelow dodges a charge and Knobbs really crunches the cart throwing himself into it. The back and forth plunder brawl continues on the floor before they work their way up the stage area. Knobbs gets run into the internet interview area. They go to the side and find the classic not at all only set up for this match merch stand. Knobbs gets ANOTHER trash can and whacks Bigelow with it. Real diminishing returns on that, it's time to find something different. He tosses Bigelow through the curtain and gives away the fact there's a ton of tarped off empty seats over there. Now Knobbs brings a ladder in. Hey, it's something different. He drops it on Bigelow a couple of times. The second time Bigelow had his leg up like he was trying to block it or something and his leg took the brunt of the ladder. That was NOT smart on Bigelow's end. Knobbs sets Bigelow up on the table and climbs up the stands. Elbow off the stands! It's so dark we can barely see but it looked like he overshot. Commentary certainly says so. Bigelow suplexes Knobbs into the table! Cover for the pin! Sloppy as hell and it could have used a lot more variety, but they managed to get it to a somewhat decent place by the end. *3/4

 

WCW World Television Championship: Rick Steiner def Booker T (c) in 11:08- Rick recently returned from injury and immediately got into a feud with Booker for the TV title, I guess because his brother was a champion too. I think Rick is supposed to have turned heel but he's still gladhanding the fans on his entrance. Booker wants ref Nick Patrick and his new giant mustache to check Rick, then they bark at each other a bit before locking up. Rough lockup, corner break, and they shove. Another lockup and another cautious rope break. Rick hits some punches and a belly to belly suplex, followed by a couple of Steinerlines. Booker rolls out for a think. This is where muddled storytelling hurts a match. The fans are completely checked out because the heel/face lines are so messed up and unclear, and there's not nearly enough else in there to overcome that. Off a rope run they have an ugly midring collision. Rick recovers to drop an elbow for 2. Another speed run and Booker hits a hook kick. Kick combo and Rick slowly flops out of the ring, then takes his sweet time getting back in. Booker dodges in the corner and hits a slam. Back elbow for 2. Another hook kick. Hot shot from Rick and 360 Steinerlines Booker to the floor. Rick gives him a guardrail shot. German suplex from Rick back in for 2. He gives Booker some shots across the head and hooks on a chinlock. Booker goes to a rope break to get out. More pounding down in the corner. Snap mare/elbow drop from Rick for 2. Booker gets a back elbow in the corner as the crowd is just comatose. Rick goes right back to pounding him down in the corner. From the corner camera we can clearly hear Booker say "Choke me". Rick does. Booker comes back with a suplex but Rick again blows it off and goes right back on offense. Rick makes Booker take absofrigginglutely forever to fight out of a chinlock, then positions himself badly and Booker whacks him right in the forehead with a forearm coming off the ropes. Scissors kick and spinaroonie that finally gets a small reaction from the crowd. Spinebuster. Missile dropkick! Here comes Scott Steiner! Booker fights him off, but that lets Rick Steinerline him from behind for 2. Booker whips Rick into Scott and gives Rick the Harlem side kick for 2. Scott trips Booker from the floor. Rick bulldog off the top! He gets the pin and wins the TV title! Rick looks blown up as he takes the belt and quickly leaves. That was flat, dull, and lifeless with Rick hardly able to do anything and Booker badly phoning it in before the overbooking and run to the end finally gave it a small bit of zest. I don't get the booking call either but it's end of life WCW, that's normal. *

 

Afterward Rick is in the back looking for Scott, apparently upset that Scott interfered in his match. He runs into Scott's ex Buff Bagwell instead and wishes him luck against Scott later. I have no freaking clue what's going on with Rick, it's like they can't decide if he's a heel or a face so they went with "most confusing tweener ever" possible instead. 

 

Gorgeous George (w/Team Madness) def "Lil' Naitch" Charles Robinson (w/Ric Flair and Asya) in 10:39- Flair continues to be the power mad evil president of WCW in the same vein that Bischoff was, and has referee Charles Robinson in his pocket, like Bischoff did Nick Patrick. The difference is Robinson bore an uncanny resemblance to Flair, and was soon dubbed "Lil' Naitch". Team Madness leader Randy Savage offered this match as "my woman against your woman". Robinson comes out with the full Flair robe, strut, all of it. The robe says "Little Nature Boy". Heenan: "Now you know how Flair looked when he was four years old". George has a cheerleader thing going on with her gear and I'm here for it. Savage knew how to pick them, I'll give him that. After Flair gives Savage's other women, Medusa and Miss Madness, his hotel room number Robinson takes the mic and gives a passable Flair promo. Robinson's got full Flair gear on in all black, and even has "CR" on the boots and tights. This is incredible. He does all the usual Flair prematch routine while strutting around. It's hard to take George seriously because she won't stop smiling. Robinson gives her a bit of Slick Ric. George ducks a lockup and Robinson loses his temper. Savage gets on the apron to distract Robinson and George grabs an arm wringer! And Robinson is selling it to the cheap seats just like Flair! Robinson reverses and cranks on George's arm. Another reversal with more great Robinson selling. They roll through some hammerlock reversals. George hooks on a full neslon! Robinson gets free and she snap mares him! During a meeting she shoves Robinson into Flair! Flair and Savage both get in and tease going at it while Robinson freaks out on the floor. Lots of stalling follows with George getting impatient. Flair gets a chair and gives it to Robinson. Miss Madness comes over to take it away. Robinson picks her up and slams her on the floor! What the hell even is this match. Whatever it is it's nowhere near boring. Robinson gets into it with the ref in the ring. The ref shoves Robinson and he bumps off it just like Flair off Tommy Young! Meanwhile all of Team Madness is over with Miss Madness, who's apparently hurt. As George gets back in the ring Robinson attacks her and chokes her on the ropes. More choking on the mat. Chops! And strut! George pulls him back into the corner and chops him! Corner whip and ROBINSON DOES THE FLAIR FLIP ONTO THE APRON! He ducks a clothesline and runs up to the top rope on the other side. George grabs him and slams him off! Yup, he really is Flair. Clothesline from George! FREAKING FLAIR FLOP FROM ROBINSON! Oh man this is amazing. Flair's reaction to it from the floor is almost as good too. George covers for 2. Robinson begs off Flair style. George gives him a weak toss out of the corner. Another corner charge and Robinson dodges. Asya pulls George out and cranks on her leg. Medusa comes over to make the save. Robinson gets George in the ring and hooks on a stepover toe hold. Kneebreaker! FIGURE FOUR! George reverses it! Asya distracts the ref and Flair comes in to get Robinson free. Savage then runs in and pushes Flair back out. Savage low blows Robinson and slams him. He's all set up. George goes to the second rope and drops a Savage elbow! Cover and George gets the pin! Now, is this the type of match you'd normally want to put on a PPV? Nope. Was George ready for prime time? Also nope, though she did hit all her marks well and didn't have any major gaffes. But my word that was so much fun, thanks to Robinson and his absolute dedication to his Flair impersonation. I am going to be a bit biased here because, despite all the stupid crap he's done and said late in life, Flair is still my favorite wrestler of all time. Mileage will definitely vary, but for me this match is such a blast to watch and that overcomes its many other faults to at least make it average on balance. **1/2

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Scott Steiner (c) def Buff Bagwell in 7:11- Bad news for all the Scott/Buff shippers out there, there's been a tiff and a breakup. Bagwell is supposedly a face now but the crowd knows better. Bagwell jumps before the bell and knocks Scott around while Scott still has the belt on. Swinging neckbreaker. While the ref's taking the belt away Scott goes right to the low blow. Then he follows it up with a full Greco Roman Nut Punt right in front of the ref. Clothesline/elbow drop combo. He lifts Bagwell up and runs him upside down into the corner, then tosses him to the floor. Bagwell takes the usual ringside knockaround. Back in Bagwell gets tied in the tree of woe. Scott gets jawing with the crowd, allowing Bagwell to snap him over the top rope. Scott brushes it off and runs Bagwell into the turnbuckle. Scott stays in control with a bunch of bland offense. Double underhook powerbomb and arrogant cover for 2. Belly to belly suplex. Scott goes out and gets a chair. Bagwell ducks a wild swing and clotheslines the chair into Scott. Comeback punches and dropkicks. Inverted atomic drop. Scott pulls the ref in and he gets squashed. Bagwell decides what the hell, I'll use the chair. Rick Steiner runs in and tells Bagwell do something else. Bagwell gets on the top rope. Rick hits him off it with the chair! Finally some clarity, even if it was obviously going this way. Scott hooks on the Steiner Recliner and Bagwell submits. The Steiner Brothers are back together. 1/2*

 

Now for, as WCW was advertising it, our TRIPLE main event. 

 

For the Presidency of WCW: "Rowdy" Roddy Piper def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (w/Arn Anderson and Asya) by DQ in 12:10- To sum this up as succinctly as I can, Flair and Piper seemed to be in a contest to see who out outcrazy the other the most and it ended up with Flair in a literal mental hospital. I'm not kidding. It's Lost in Cleveland but even more off the rails. Flair's wearing blue trunks and black boots tonight, matching Piper. Before the bell Flair calls in Lil' Naitch, now back in his ref gear, then fires the regular referee. Not kicks out. Fires. Flair gets in Piper's face and gets slapped with a classic over the top Flair sell. Chops from Piper in the corner. Backdrop. Flair rolls out and limps halfway up the aisle to think. Piper spits at Flair as he gets back in. Lockup and they trade chops in the corner again. Piper starts laying in the crazy boxing punches. Flair Flop! That one was super delayed. Flair's trying to top Lil' Naitch. Piper chases Flair in the aisle and chops him some more. Flair runs back in the ring and begs off. Piper responds with the old two finger eye poke. Mounted punches. Flair Flop 2. Straight up low blow from Flair. I'd say Naitch won't do anything, but it's been months since any WCW ref has had any issue with a low blow. They're practically legal now. Flair slowwwwwwwly drags Piper up and tosses him out to get pounded on by Arn. Arn then offers to be a nice guy and tells Naitch he's rolling Piper back in. Asya comes in the ring and knees Piper in the nuts. Now this is getting ridiculous. Flair meanders around a bit and covers Piper for 2. Piper fires back with chops so Flair eye pokes him. Another backdrop from Piper, but he collapses from either his bad hip or too many nut shots. Arn gets some more shots in. Piper wobbles back up and we have a slug/chopfest. Flair's the one known for his chops, but Piper's thrown at least 10 for every one of Flair's in this match. It's all he's frakking doing. Flair Flip! He falls all the way down to the floor. After Piper knocks him around the floor Flair begs off in the ring again. Off the ropes and midring collision. Flair grabs Piper's leg and starts going to work on it. Figure four. Piper fights and reverses it. Flair releases and tosses Piper out again. This time Piper takes Arn out. Holy shit Piper actually got over for a sunset flip. Never would have guessed that. Flair wanders around the ring with Piper grabbing onto his trunks so everyone can see his exposed ass, then punches free. Piper blocks a hiptoss into a backslide. Naitch lets himself be distracted so he doesn't have to count. Figure four counter into a small package and again Naitch doesn't count. Flair goes up top just so he can be slammed off. Piper hooks on a figure four. Flair says "Yes I give up" but Naitch says no. Arn comes in and attacks Piper to break it up. Piper sleeper on Arn. Flair attacks from behind, but Piper gets the sleeper on him! Asya gets in and saves Flair. Piper stalks her, kisses her, then puts the sleeper on her. Naitch goes all the way and pulls Piper off. Piper decks him. Flair gets his knucks out and decks Piper with them, covers, and gets a pin. What an absolute mess. That was total junk even minus the overboo.....oh wait here comes Bischoff. Speaking of overbooking. We're kicking into overoverbooking. Bischoff says he's screwed a lot of stuff up but he's not screwing this up. He says Piper won the match and Flair can "bite me"! Bischoff and Piper hug as Flair flips out. Then Piper gets the mic and tells Flair "YOU'RE FIRED!". Bischoff then tells the truck to cut Flair's mic off. So, Bischoff just walks in and changes the match result because he feels like it? What's his official role supposed to be on screen anyway? Heenan: "I don't know what to make of this". Shoot comments for the win. If it was a mess before, it's a massive car wreck with car pieces, body parts and intestines strewn all over the road now. Only in end of life WCW can you put the greatest of all time in a match I have to do this for, but it earned every last bit of it........MINUS FIVE STARS

 

The best Ric Flair match tonight was from a referee impersonating Flair. Wrestling is weird sometimes. 

 

Sting and Goldberg no contest in 8:17- This is, surprisingly, not their first matchup. Sting unsuccessfully challenged Goldberg for the World title on Nitro the previous September. During entrances Tony is still trying to figure out what the hell happened the last match. Good luck with that. Commentary says this match was made by Flair as a way to keep Sting and Goldberg apart when they were starting to form a team, which has *way* more logic than anything that happened in the last match. Sting's got white boots or boot covers on and it really stands out against his usual black. Lockup and Goldberg goes right on the attack. Sting comes off the ropes and it looks like Goldberg's going to powerslam him, but Sting doesn't get the memo and kind of flops over Goldberg's back down to the mat. For fuck's sake this isn't going to do anything to save the show is it. Goldberg drags Sting back up, holds him by the arms for a bit, then they straight up repeat the spot with Goldberg hitting the powerslam this time. Sting gets 360 clotheslined to the floor. No one looks happy about what just transpired. At all. Sting takes a walk around the ring that's probably a legit cooldown. Reset lockup, let's try this again boys. Sting ducks a big boot and hits a dropkick. Now he 360 clotheslines Goldberg to the floor. Goldberg does the classic Undertaker land on his feet bit. Another reset lockup. Sting tries a hiptoss. Goldberg fireman carries him over into a cross armbreaker. Then they just lay there. Sting rolls over and gets a foot on the rope. Sting comes off the ropes with a kick and faceplants Goldberg with Goldberg looking like he has no idea what's happening. Off the ropes again Sting dropkicks the knee Goldberg has a brace on and starts working on it. He hooks on a Boston crab, but has trouble holding his balance and needs the help of the ropes. Once Sting gets it fully on Goldberg easily powers out. Sting gets back on the knee. He's been on the receiving end of this plenty he should know how it works. But then Sting says screw it and hooks on a headlock instead. Suplex from Sting. Goldberg pops right back up and suplexes Sting for 2. Ugly swinging neckbreaker from Goldberg. Sting dodges a charge in the corner, goes up top and hits a clothesline. Stinger Splash! Another! He goes for three. Goldberg catches and plants him. Wait, here comes Bret Hart, and he has a chair. Bret hadn't been seen on PPV for months, I think at least partially because of injury but I'm sure booking stupidity played a role in that too. Bret tosses the ref away and whacks Goldberg in the head with the chair, then starts laying into Goldberg's bad knee. The ref calls for the bell, throwing the match out. The Steiners then come out and attack Sting, then Goldberg. The Steiners' beatdown goes on so long TV cuts away from it for the main event video package while it's still going. The only positive thing I can say about this match is it's better than the last one. DUD

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Kevin Nash def Diamond Dallas Page (c) in 18:23- Buffer's back after taking last month off. He instantly starts making up for lost TV time. Like the last match this is face vs face, at least at the start, but there's not a lot of respect being shown at the start. Basic speed start with Nash fighting off an early Diamond Cutter attempt and back elbowing DDP to the floor. Tenay goes WAY back and mentions that these guys were tag partners in WCW nearly a decade ago. Nash's Vinny Vegas days. DDP does some dodge and punch on Nash. Nash says screw this and gives DDP a knee to the gut. DDP grabs the ropes off a whip and bails to the apron. Nash runs up and knocks him off with DDP flying into the guardrail! Back in Nash gets DDP in the corner and lays in his usual corner knees and elbows. Every time he takes longer and longer on the "frame it" part before hitting the elbow. DDP fights off of Nash's shoulders and starts pounding on him in the corner. Nash grabs a goozle so DDP kicks him right in the nads. They go a long way to make it clear Nick Patrick didn't see, but again WCW refs stopped caring about that months ago. Guess that also means DDP's going to the heel tonight. Now he cuts one of the top turnbuckle pads off. Then he points it out to Patrick to hit Nash with the mic! Cover for 2. Nash pulls DDP into the exposed buckle! Nash slowly drapes an arm over and covers for 2. Slufgest. DDP sends Nash 360 to the floor, then poses for the crowd and gets booed. DDP's heel work is working. Baseball slide from DDP. Diamond Cutter on the floor! Well by the logic established by WCW Nash should be done, that has always been a move of instant death, and it was on the floor. DDP then puts a leg over Nash and wants a count, thinking it's falls count anywhere. Why the hell would he ever think that? He drags Nash's carcass into the ring. Cover with rope leverage. Nash kicks out! Elbow drop to Nash's gut. Yes it was the gut, not lower. Then another one that might have been lower. DDP then starts working on Nash's knee. After some post shots on the knee Nash pulls DDP into the post. DDP is still the first one back on offense. Nash slowly starts slugging back. High knee. Corner clothesline. Snake eyes into the exposed buckle! Big boot. He's actually still selling the knee. Jackknife! Randy Savage comes in and attacks Nash! The bell rings for a DQ. Savage gets the belt and nails Nash with it, then leaves him laying. Bischoff is out again. He has security escort Savage out, then goes to Patrick and says he doesn't care what Ted Turner or a bunch of other namedropped execs think, they can call him on Monday, this match will continue until there's a finish. They're trying so hard to make this look like it's a real shoot and none of it is working. Patrick rings the bell to restart. DDP hits a Russian leg sweep for 2. He maneuvers around Nash's swings to hit a clothesline for 2. DDP hooks on a modified sleeper. Nash fights out and puts on his own sleeper. DDP jawbreakers out for a long 2. He goes out and gets a chair. Nash ducks and DDP hits the ropes, rebounding the chair into his face. Nash covers for another long 2. Nash gets the chair but DDP low blows him and covers for 2. He big boots the chair into DDP's face. The exhausted straps are down. Jackknife. Nash covers and gets the pin to win back the title he let himself be Fingerpoked of Doom out of barely six months ago. Well, it wasn't completely awful. DDP slipped back into his old heel personal very smoothly, and as usual in DDP matches the layout for the most part was good. The whole Savage attack and Bischoff restart was so pointless though. Would someone in WCW literally die if they actually let one PPV main event be interference free? *1/2

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- You knew after they actually managed to put on a halfway decent PPV the previous month they had to make up for lost time. We're right back to the inevitable late WCW downhill slide, and that slope is only going to get steeper. But, I will give this one a very tiny bump in the final grade just because this is the show with the Lil' Naitch match.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D