Road Wild '99

Legacy Review

Road Wild '99

August 14, 1999 from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, SD

 

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay

 

Welcome to the fourth and and what would be final trip by WCW to the world's largest motorcycle rally and the accompanying biker crowd. This was always a pure Eric Bischoff project/indulgence as he was a huge biker guy. Somewhat ironically, this would also turn out to be the final WCW PPV with him in full control of the company.

 

The big headline going into this show is the recent return of Hollywood Hogan for the first time since Spring Stampede. Only natural as he was the big draw for the Sturgis biker crowd since he was also a biker guy. After clearly leaning back more face his last couple of months before the layoff, Hogan came back as a full face the Nitro after Bash at the Beach and, as Hogan did, immediately defeated new World champ Randy Savage for the title, ending Savage's final ever world title reign at one whole day. It would also turn out to be Hogan's last WCW World title win. He then jumped into a feud with former champ and former NWO stablemate Kevin Nash. One thing I should mention I haven't really the last couple of reviews, the NWO has finally been pushed to the back burner over the summer of '99, about a year and a half later than it should have been. As the feud progressed both men agreed to put their careers on the line over the title tonight. And to cap off the face turn, on the last Nitro before this show Hogan brought back the red and yellow. Somehow I suspect turning the clock back to 1995 isn't going to fix what's been ailing WCW. Another important note is that Ric Flair is no longer in the position of heel WCW President, which is a plus in all ways possible. Story wise the company is now under more normal leadership again with Dusty Rhodes heading up a new championship committee.

 

WCW Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio Jr, Kidman and Eddie Guerrero def Insane Clown Posse and Vampiro (w/Raven) in 12:20- Insane Clown Posse (Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J) are a full time rap group and part time wrestlers, having worked the occasional match on the indy circuit, not to mention running and working their own backyard promotion. I don't know if people nowadays understand just how big a thing amateur backyard wrestling was in the '90s. They also had a short run with WWF in the summer of '98 that included a short 8 man tag match on Raw, but of course it's WCW that puts them in the ring on a PPV. Their Deadpool stablemate Vampiro is making his WCW PPV debut even though he'd been with the company for a while after coming out of CMLL. Their group targeted the luchadores and cruiserweights when they came in, which supposedly was going to lead to Shaggy 2 Dope winning the Cruiserweight title at some point. Thankfully that at least didn't happen, but it might only because of the change in company leadership that was coming. The face team jumps before the bell and we're on. Vampiro gets isolated in the ring with all three of them. What great job they did positioning hard camera for this show. Gives us a great look at the Sturgis rally food stands. That's freaking hilarious. Talk about half assed. More interesting than what's happening in the ring too. Eventually Vampire gets a comeback on Guerrero and Guerrero gets stuck in the wrong corner to get pounded down by ICP. Tenay mentions the main reason ICP is wrestling, they'll be featured on the new WCW Mayhem album coming out later in the year. Both ICP guys tag in and continue to keep Guerrero in peril. Nice delayed suplex from Dope followed by an elbow drop. Guerrero uses a knucklelock with Vampiro to hop to the top rope and hit a hurricanrana, but J cuts the tag off and keeps Guerrero in their corner. Rock Bottom style side slam from Vampiro for 2. Double delayed suplex from ICP. Guerrero manages to crotch Dope on the top rope and superplexes him. Tags on both sides and Mysterio comes in with a splash and moonsault on J. Raven pulls Mysterio out and tosses him into the stairs. Vamprio gives Mysterio the Vampiro Spike on the ring platform. I like how Vampiro scoops Mysterio up and tosses him in the ring like he's a little doll. J continues the punishment on Mysterio back in. Kneebreaker from J. He knows a wrestling move. Vampiro absolutely TOSSES Mysterio across the ring with a powerbomb. Dope powerslams Mysterio for 2. Mysterio gets tossed out again and Raven....talks to him. Might be reciting some of his poetry. That's worse than the beatdown Mysterio's gotten in the match. Vogon poetry is clearly the third worst in the universe, but Raven's is probably right after. Big clothesline from Dope back in. Mysterio gets a boot up in the corner, climbs up top and hits a split legged moonsault. Tag to Kidman. DONNYBROOK! Guerrero misses a plancha attempt on Vampiro while Mysterio gives J the shitty bronco buster. Vampiro accidentally superkicks Dope. Shooting star press on Dope from Kidman and that gets the pin. It wasn't pretty, but overall it was decent formula tag stuff. ICP looked competent at least. **1/2

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Harlem Heat def The Jersey Triad (c) in 13:06- After going their separate ways for the past year, WCW's most successful team of all time in terms of tag title wins are back together. Just in time to challenge for the titles again as faces at Sturgis, a place where they haven't exactly been made to feel welcome in the past. Kanyon and Bam Bam Bigelow are defending for the Triad tonight as DDP has other business later on. Bigelow's belt falls off as he's walking down the aisle. He does have a very large waist. Kanyon runs down the crowd on the mic after their entrance in an attempt to get Harlem Heat cheered. And it seems to work some, Heat's reception does seem a bit warmer. Sturgis gets progressive. Another jump start as soon as everyone's in. The faces clear the ring and do get some cheers. The Triad regroup/stall on the floor and we reset with Kanyon and Ray. Kanyon works Ray over with some basic stuff before Ray press slams him. Bigelow runs in, gets slammed, and the Triad go to the floor again. Booker tags in and quickly pounds Kanyon down in the corner. Kanyon back elbows out of a hammerlock. Speed run and Booker hits a dropkick for 2. Kanyon retreats to his corner and tags Bigelow in. He and Ray play to the crowd forever before locking up. Shoulderblock standoffs. Clothesline from Ray. Bigelow responds with a quick headbutt to Ray's gut. Kanyon hits a double ax handle off the top rope and a series of elbow drops. Both Triad guys squash Ray in the corner as Ray is kept in peril for a while. Ray gets a comeback slam on Kanyon but misses an elbow drop. Bigelow goes up top from the apron. Ray counters Kanyon and slingshots him into Bigelow! Tag to Booker! Running forearm on Kanyon. Side kick for 2. He goes for the scissors kick but Bigelow pulls the top rope down, sending Booker down to the floor. Kanyon hits the avalanche legdrop for 2. He goes for it again and Booker counters it into a powerbomb. Tags on both sides. Ray's comeback is stalled by the numbers game. DDP runs in and gets on the apron. Ray reverses and Bigelow gets whipped into him. Missile dropkick from Booker, Ray covers and gets the pin for the titles! It's Heat's 8th WCW World tag title win, breaking a tie with the Steiner Brothers for the record. *3/4

 

The Revolution def The West Texas Rednecks (w/Kendall Windham) in 10:57- More 6 man action here. The Revolution are the initial iteration of the group that would become the Radicalz, with Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn and recently returned to WCW from ECW Shane Douglas in action for them tonight. The West Texas Rednecks are still coming out to "Rap is Crap", which admittedly is borderline comedy gold. Saturn makes me like him more than he ever has, taking a mic and basically saying "We don't give a shit about your music wars, we just want to wrestle, so figure out who's going to get their ass kicked". When he's done we get full team jump start #3 tonight with a quick ring cleanout by Revolution. Reset with Windham and Malenko. Quick armdrag from Malenko. Corner clothesline. Malenko/Saturn double back elbow. Saturn grounds Windham with a headlock, then Douglas lets Windham escape and gets caught in the heel corner. Big boot from Duncum. Douglas responds with a powerslam. Chops from Saturn on Duncum. Saturn gives Windham a t-bone and a belly to belly suplex. Kendall hits Saturn in the back from the floor and Windham hits the flying lariat. Hennig gets the snap mare/neck snap combo. Saturn comes back to plant Duncum with a German suplex and tags Malenko. Suplex from Malenko and he gives Duncum some ground and pound. Douglas hooks up for the Pittsburgh Plunge but Hennig comes in and breaks it up. Kendall and Hennig work Douglas over on the floor. Douglas lifts Hennig and crotches him on the post. He goes up top but Hennig, already recovered, slams him off. Nuts of steel. Back suplex from Windham for 2. Mounted punches and clothesline from Windham for 2. Duncum hits a shoulderbreaker for 2. Kendall chokes Douglas with his rope. Duncum suplex for 2. DDT from Windham for 2. Douglas/Windham midring collision, but Douglas falls to the wrong part of the ring and has no chance to tag. Douglas dodges Duncum in the corner and gets a tag to Saturn. Huge clothesline on Duncum. Everyone in the pool! Malenko gets the cloverleaf on Hennig. Kendall comes in and breaks it up. Saturn hits Duncum with the DVD and gets the pin to win. Fine enough. **

 

Buff Bagwell def Ernest "The Cat" Miller (w/Sonny Oono) in 7:27- Hoo boy. I doubt this one will be for the faint of heart or otherwise queasy. Miller and Oono have actually tried to dress up a bit for the crowd. Miller even has Confederate flags on his gloves. I'm not sure if that's going to work as a heel move here. One thing I will give Miller I haven't mentioned before, he does have distinctive music. You could count the number of guys with that in WCW on one Confederate flag gloved hand. Tony praises Bagwell for "always being in a good mood". That's because he doesn't have the brains to know any better. Bagwell tries to talk but Miller keeps stealing the mic away. Then Miller goes out and jaws with the crowd. It's Stallfest 2000 and the bell hasn't even rung yet. The bell rings and....more stalling. Lockup and quick Miller hiptoss. Then he seems to have some kind of spasm attack, I'm not sure. I think he's mocking motorcycle riding but in the weirdest way possible. Scoop and slam from Miller. The crowd chants "pussycat" at Miller. I guess that's some kind of insult in biker circles. A simple "pussy" would be better. Now it's Bagwell's turn for a hiptoss and slams, followed by a clothesline and Miller rolls out. Back in Miller offers a handshake, and after some more crowd playing gets the jump on Bagwell. Corner beatdown. Bagwell slips out of a move and hits a couple of dropkicks. Miller straight low blows Bagwell to get free from the corner, then hits a superkick. Oono comes over and weakly chokes Bagwell with Bagwell barely reacting to it. Heel 101 punchy chokey eye rakey stuff from Miller follows with the odd kick mixed in. Bagwell blocks a suplex and hits his own to turn things around. Regular and inverted atomic drops. Bagwell crossbody for 2. Miller gets him with a jawbreaker and calls Oono onto the apron. Bagwell reverses the whip so Miller runs into the Loaded Briefcase of Death (which I guess has replaced the Loaded Red Shoe of Dancing Doom), rolls Miller up, and gets the pin. Miller beats Bagwell down a bit after the bell to get his heat back. Met expectations. DUD

 

No DQ Match for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Chris Benoit (c) def Diamond Dallas Page in 12:14- A rare smart move to get these guys back together. This was a hot feud (which also included Raven) that produced some great matches in early '98. On the most recent Nitro Benoit ended the national nightmare of David Flair as US champ, finally winning his long overdue first singles gold in WCW. Of course simply reigniting the feud wasn't enough, for some reason DDP has also been insulting Benoit's mother to rile him up more, but that doesn't play into the match at all. DDP jaws after the bell. Benoit responds with a kick and fists. DDP goes for a quick powerbomb but Benoit slugs himself free. A baseball slide almost sends DDP off the ring platform. A chop finishes the job. DDP catches Benoit trying to leap off the platform and runs his back into it. Back in DDP tries to German suplex Benoit off a Bret bump. Benoit tries to fight free, so DDP reverses into a belly to belly suplex for 2. DDP starts focusing on Benoit's back, then drops him face first out of a fireman's carry for 2. Gutwrench into a gutbuster. Knees to the gut from DDP. Benoit counters into a roll up for 2. Counter cradle from DDP for 2, then he hits a clothesline. DDP starts getting cocky and Benoit fires back, but he runs into a DDP spinebuster for 2. DDP fights to try to pin Benoit's arms down for a leverage pin. Benoit again counters with a cradle, and again DDP is back up with a clothesline. Again DDP starts getting cocky and slows things way down. DDP side suplex for 2. Benoit spins free of another side suplex attempt, tries a backslide, but DDP blocks it so Benoit hits a jawbreaker instead. Benoit goes up top but DDP crotches him and pulls him down into the tree of woe. DDP slaps ref Lil' Naitch, forcibly takes Naitch's belt off and whips Benoit with it. Finally taking advantage of no DQ. He chokes Benoit with the belt and.....um, yeah, I'm not going there. But you can't help but think it. Cover for a long 2. Snap mares by the belt. DDP puts Benoit up in a Canadian backbreaker and pulls on the belt to hang him! Benoit uses the ropes to flip over and kick free. He gets the belt off and whips DDP with it. German for 2. Another German for 2. Number 3 and again a 2 count. Throat slash! Kanyon comes out and pushes Benoit off the top rope right into a DDP uranage for 2. DDP gets whipped into Kanyon and Benoit rolls him up for 2. Clothesline from DDP for 2. Now Bigelow is out and splashes Benoit off the top rope. DDP covers. Benoit kicks out! Benoit avoids a triple team and we get much people falling into crotches hilarity. Headbutt off the top on DDP! Benoit covers and gets the pin to retain! All the more impressive that he fought off all three Jersey Triad guys with none of his honorable Revolution stablemates helping him. That was as good as it possibly could have been in this environment. ***1/2

 

Contest time! These things always go good on wrestling shows. WCW is giving away a custom Road Wild American IronHorse motorcycle. I am anything but a biker guy, but I know enough to know Harley and the other big bike names. What the hell is an American IronHorse? Well, it's a company that had barely started in 1995 so clearly they were really wanting some extra publicity. It didn't work as the company went belly up in 2006. Everything late '90s WCW touched died eventually. The winner's first name is Darnell, which greatly amuses Heenan. Thankfully they don't try to call him live or anything.

 

Sid Vicious def Sting in 10:40- Sid is now being billed as the Millennium Man with 2000 fast approaching. Again, if you didn't live through it you have no idea how massive that calendar change was in general culture. I'm forever jaded and uncaring about New Year's because nothing can ever compare to 2000. I don't remember the details and of course commentary isn't very enlightening, but Sting is the one that took the title of WCW President away from Flair. Because he's a good guy he's focused on being a wrestler and is leaving all the decisions to JJ Dillon and the Dusty Rhodes led championship committee. Lockup! Quick corner shots from Sid. Sting dodges and gets Sid caught in the corner. Stinger Splash! Another! 360 clothesline and Sid goes out to the floor. Sting pushes him partially over the guardrail and the biker crowd is more than happy to help Sid over the rest of the way. Good luck to security trying to hold those guys back. Back in Sid dodges another Stinger Splash attempt. Powerslam for 2. Backbreaker for 2 and we go into the usual slow, plodding Sid beatdown. Sid tosses Sting out and drops him on the guardrail. He tries a leverage pin back in but the ref catches him. Sting fights out of a chinlock. Midring collision and Sting does his usual head first flop down into his opponent's crotch. Sid goes up top and Sting slams him off. Sting moves to hit the ropes but Sid puts his knees up early and Sting trips over him, going down in a heap! I don't think that was what they were going for. After a protracted discussion on the mat Sting slams Sid, then they repeat the spot and Sid gets his knees up at the right time this time to block Sting's splash. Snake eyes from Sid. Sting runs into a big boot. Sid goes up top again and this time Sting superplexes him. Sid might want to stop trying that. Another Stinger Splash hits. Another. On a third go Sting leaps into a goozle. Chokeslam from Sid and he gets the pin. Typical Sid match. He overpromised and underdelivered in big matches more consistently than anyone else in wrestling history. Plus Sting's give a shit had been pretty much broken since his mega push ended with the giant clusterfuck that was Starrcade '97 and the months immediately after. 3/4*

 

Goldberg def WCW World Television Champion Rick Steiner in 5:39- This screams "placeholder feud" while they continue to try to rebuild Goldberg after the end of the undefeated streak, though Rick had been getting his biggest singles push in literally a decade, riding the coattails of Scott Steiner's successful singles breakout. The sun's about fully set as we hit the last part of the card. The bell rings and we're immediately slugging it out. Clothesline from Goldberg and Rick just about falls on his head (on purpose). Coming off the ropes Rick leaps in the air to do....something, but Goldberg just straight runs him over and knocks him down. Not sure if that's what either guy was expecting. They are laying into each other, I'll give them that. Rick always liked to work stiff and Goldberg didn't know any better. Superkick from Goldberg and Rick rolls out for a think. Coming back in Rick shoves the ref into Goldberg then gives Goldberg a Greco Roman Nut Punt. While Goldberg's down Rick pulls his knee brace off, then hits Goldberg with it. Once again, putting a no DQ stip on a match in this era of WCW really meant nothing, they were all worked essentially as no DQ. Rick wraps the brace around his forearm and hits Goldberg with it again, then drops an elbow with it. Clothesline with the brace. Come on ref, what the hell are we doing here. Tony tries to argue the knee brace isn't a foreign object because Goldberg wore it to the ring. Nice try, Tony. More and more and more shots with the knee brace. Rick eventually starts to work on Goldberg's knee. With the brace as a weapon, of course. Braceless belly to belly suplex from Rick for 2, then he picks the brace back up and runs it into Goldberg's head again. DDT from Rick. NOT onto the brace. Goldberg finally has enough and starts slugging back. Press powerslam. Spear. Jackhammer. Done. Goldberg Formula 101. Utter trash, and a mockery of normal wrestling rules to boot. DUD

 

In the lead up to intros for the next match I swear I see a guy in the crowd that has a tan line like he's been wearing a bikini top. And not a small guy either. I don't want to know. But I had to see it so I'm mentioning it to try to spread the pain around a little bit. 

 

Hardcore Match: "Macho Man" Randy Savage def Dennis Rodman in 11:30- For the third straight summer Rodman is spending part of the NBA offseason wrestling for WCW, and for the first time in a singles match. It will also be the last time. Rodman tried to kidnap Gorgeous George on Nitro to get this going so Savage is keeping all his women away from the ring tonight. Obviously this is Hardcore stips because they'll need all the smoke and mirrors they can get their hands on. It's just about fully dark now, giving the show a better look that it had in daylight. Rodman takes a mic on the floor and asks Savage "Where's my bitch?". He tosses the mic to Savage and Savage says "Tonight you're my bitch!". Debate point Savage. Rodman, knowing he can't win a battle of wits, gets in the ring and attacks Savage with the mic. He drags Savage out and knocks him around ringside a bit. Post, guardrail, and lighting tower. Back in Rodman drops Savage with a back elbow. Short clothesline. Once again commentary is aghast that Rodman knows how to stand in a ring. Russian leg sweep from Rodman! "Executed to perfection" says Tenay. Not exactly a super hard one to pull off. Rodman gets on the ref for not counting to 3. This isn't the NBA, you can't intimidate/pay the refs to do whatever you want them to do. Rodman decks the ref! That didn't take long. Fortunately there's a backup ref all set to go. Savage grabs one of the 15 pieces of metal dangling off Rodman's face. Take your choice really. A headbutt puts Rodman down. Now Savage goes into a bunch of chokey stuff. He barely gets Rodman up to drop him throat first on the top rope. Savage goes outside and punches out a photographer! OK, that's different. Points for that. Commentary says the victim is the new editor of WCW Magazine. Bet he's regretting his career choices right now. Wonder if he negotiated hazard pay. Savage takes his camera and nails Rodman with it. Cover for 2. Now Savage has issues with the count and takes ref #2 out. Ref #3 is immediately in the ring and immediately gets taken out by Savage too. Rodman backdrops Savage over the top rope to the floor! He about landed on the corpse of the WCW Magazine editor too. Ref #4 has also entered the match. Savage grabs Rodman, drags him out to the floor and starts beating slowly him up the aisle. They go up the ramp to the stage area. Out of nowhere Rodman tosses Savage across the stage. They go down the back side of the stage. Savage goes into a portapotty and tosses out the guy that was using it! Fortunately his pants were on. I cannot imagine how utterly foul the portapotties at a place like Surgis must be. The ones in trackside campgrounds at the NASCAR races I used to go to in the '90s were bad enough. Savage puts Rodman in the portapotty, closes the door and tips it over! There's shit pouring out of it, and it could well be real shit. You could not pay me enough to do a spot like that. They come back up the stage. Tony: "Rodman should wipe his feet before coming up here". A running double ax handle to the back sends Rodman rolling back down the ramp. They get back to the ring and Rodman climbs up the ropes. Savage ducks and Rodman flying clotheslines the ref. Four down. It's a pure ref massacre. Refs are getting slaughtered like Iranian nuclear facilites. Rodman hooks a sleeper on Savage as Gorgeous George makes her way into the ring. Savage jawbreakers free. George hands Savage a chain. Nick Patrick is the last ref standing and he joins the match. George runs up and low blows Rodman. Punch with the chain from Savage and he gets the pin to win. Yeah it's awful, but really it could have been a lot worse. Savage walked Rodman through it step by step and Savage's famously manically detailed layouts helped a lot too. 1/2*

 

Retirement Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) def Kevin Nash in 12:16- This is a good example of how Hogan sauntering in with all his demands (or I'm sure "requests" in his mind) messed everything up. Nash was the big face in the company, got screwed out of the title by heel Savage, then Hogan wanted to be a face again so Nash had to quickly flip back heel. Almost as bad as Rock coming in and screwing up everything for Wrestlemania 41 at the near last second. Nash was still head booker at this point so I'm sure he would have done whatever Hogan wanted anyway, regardless of Hogan's creative control clause. Nash is still coming out to the Wolfpac music even though, again, everything NWO had finally been just about phased out. For now. Along with the yellow and red, American Made is back as Hogan's music. Both guys take their sweet time after the bell. Nash wins the early lockups. Hogan tosses his bandana off! Now he's pissed. And, consequently, Hogan wins the next lockup. Long headlock from Nash that Hogan can't get free from. Eventually he back suplexes out and Nash rolls out to think. Coming back in Nash wants a test of strength. So far this has been the most generic formula face Hogan main event you could possibly have. As expected, Hogan initially loses then fights back up. Nash uses the opening to hit a knee to the gut and goes into slow beatdown mode. Corner boot choke. Vintage Nash measured corner elbows. He spends too much time setting up the big one and Hogan dodges. Big corner punches from Hogan. They trade off eye pokes and Nash hits a forearm to Hogan's back. Side suplex for 2. They go outside and back in doing nothing at all of note other than Hogan's exaggerated flop after getting back in the ring. This time Nash hits the picture perfect corner elbow. Big boot. Jackknife. Gee, I wonder what's coming. Yup, it's Hulk Up time. No selling, point, three punches, big boot, legdrop, good night. Pure Goldberg formula and pure Hogan formula on the same show. I'm surprised the universe didn't implode. With that loss, Nash's career is over......which will last a whole two months before he comes back. 1/4*

 

OVERALL SHOW GRADE- The Sturgis shows weren't exactly known as bastions of wrestling quality and this last one is no exception. Pretty much nothing here will matter in the long run either, because the next time WCW was on PPV Bischoff would be gone (for now) and plans in motion for the next era of WCW. It's almost time to put the final nails in the coffin.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D 

Road Wild '98

Legacy Review

Road Wild '98

August 8, 1998 from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, SD

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay

For the third straight year WCW presents a PPV from the world's largest motorcycle rally. That means, once again, a crowd full of barely interested spectators sitting on their bikes and no ticket gate at all but Bischoff got to hang out with his biker friends so I guess it was worth it. WCW's Summer of the Ringers is also continuing with one of the most absurd people to ever grace a wrestling ring in a match on a major show.

They've got more of a stage this year at least. It's clearly a converted concert stage (Travis Tritt concert after the show) but still. The rampway that looks like a highway is cool I'll admit. Mean Gene has apparently gone bike curious. That's a South Park reference if you care to look it up. I think they've learned some lessons from previous Sturgis trips and have put up larger temporary grandstands for presumably non-biker fans, also presumably who also might have actually paid for a ticket.

Meng def The Barbarian (w/Jimmy Hart) in 4:48- The Faces of Fear explode! OK, show of hands, who knew the FOF were even still on the WCW roster at this point? Put your hands down, you're lying. Barbarian jumps Meng as he's getting in the ring and here we go with some Tongan on Tongan violence. Big leverage fight in the middle of the ring, almost sumo like. Both guys hit chops. Corner clothesline from Meng. Barbarian hits a belly to belly suplex. Meng backdrops out of a piledriver attempt. Meng goes for his own piledriver and hits it. Barbarian dodges a headbutt off the top. It has zero effect on Meng and he hits a superkick. The hard Tongan head strikes again. Both guys go up top and Barbarian hits a belly to belly suplex with Meng visibly doing half the setup. Powerslam from Meng for 2. Hart gets on the apron and Barbarian attacks from behind. Another chop exchange. They start headbutting like a couple of drunk Klingons right before closing time at Quark's. Snap mare from Barbarian and he drags Meng to the apron for.......no reason at all. So much for that. Finally he gets Meng out and gives him a stair shot. Backdrop from Barbarian back in. Meng pops up and hooks on the Tongan Death Grip! Barbarian goes down and Meng gets the pin. What a mess. The only thing this match could have had going for it would be pure stiffness, and we didn't get much of that at all. Plus for two guys that had been working together for years they looked half lost multiple times during the match, especially on whip spots. 1/2*

 

Hart attacks Meng after the bell! Someone wants to die. Watching Hart wail away on Meng is hilarious. Hugh Morris comes out to save Hart and/or attack Meng. Two and a quarter on one beatdown on Meng. HART HITS A SPLASH OFF THE TOP ROPE! Holy shit that alone is almost worth the price of the PPV. Meng realizes he just took a move from Jimmy freaking Hart and goes nuts. The others beat him back down. Now Morris goes up and hits his moonsault. Hacksaw Jim Duggan runs in and fights the heels off with his 2x4. Hands up anyone that knew Duggan was still on the WCW roster at this point. OK, I'll give you that one.

Public Enemy def The Dancing Fools (w/Tokyo Magnum) in 15:27- There's a big edit on the Peacock copy of the show cutting out the entrances, likely for music rights reasons. Or because being forced to watch Disco and Wright dancing at the same time is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. Disco does have a funny line looking down at the crowd before the match, "Are there no showers in Sturgis?". Tokyo Magnum, later to be known as Magnum Tokyo, mostly worked for lower to mid level Japanese indies in his career, the most prominent being Dragon Gate and Michinoku Pro. This is toward the start of his career and I'd assume he's on an international excursion of some sort. Wright and Rock start. Lots of caution and Wright does a roll away from a lockup and thinks he's some kind of genius. Lockup and Wright hits a chop as the crowd chants "Disco sucks". Wright hits an armdrag and dances. Arm wringer exchange. Wright does a multiple kip up escape, goes up for a springboard armdrag, and hits a dropkick. Tag to Disco. More dancing to sucker Rock in. Disco dodges and rolls him up for two, then escapes to the floor. Grunge tags in and pounds away on Disco. Clothesline from Disco. Wright hits a missile dropkick for 2. He dodges both PE guys and dances again. Rock clotheslines him from the apron. Disco comes in and gets double flapjacked. Magnum hands Wright a trash can and he wails on Grunge with it. I guess we're no DQ now. Rock went all the way up the stage while that was going on and now comes back with a ladder. Commentary openly wonders if this is no DQ now. Rock takes the heels out with the ladder. On a wide shot while they recover on the floor we see that a table has also been set up ringside. Disco and Wright go all the way to the stage and return with their own table. Why wasn't any of this stashed closer to ringside? Disco takes a mic and asks if they want to make it a street fight. Isn't is already? We get the official announcement confirming it. PE leave again and come back with some more toys: a toilet seat, a cookie sheet, and my favorite, the kitchen sink. Weapon shots all around for everyone. Heenan: "Looks like a riot at a Waffle House!". Disco gets hit with a mailbox. Wright takes a cookie sheet shot. Rock gets suplexed onto a trash can. Grunge rings Wright's bell with a double cookie sheet shot, then sets him up on the table on the floor. Rock goes to dive but Disco trips him, then goes nuts with cookie sheet shots on both PE. Wright gets the sink and hits Grunge with it, then lays in some European uppercuts. Rock throws Magnum into the ring but he quickly slips back out. Rock takes out one of Disco's ankles with a toilet seat shot. PE do some double teams but Wright cuts it off with a leg lariat. Magnum comes back in and gets some shots in, until he accidentally hits Wright. Wright loses his German temper at that. Disco takes a ladder shot on the floor. Wright walks right out of the match and is probably off to invade Poland, that's what Germans do when they get angry. Magnum also walks out. The PE set up some more tables all over the place. Disco has to lay in the ring forever while they're doing that. Finally PE get a full triple table stack set up on the ground. Rock climbs up the lighting scaffolding while Grunge puts Disco on the top of the stack. Elbow drop and Disco goes through all three tables! Magnum comes back and tries to break up the pin with a crossbody off the top, fails miserably, and the PE get the pin to win. That went twice as long as in needed to. Why not make it a street fight match from the start, and even after that the match bogged down multiple times. Cool finish though even if the setup took forever. *3/4

 

Raven's Rules Triangle Match: Saturn def Kanyon and Raven (w/Lodi) in 12:26- This is also falls count anywhere, which is an inconsistent component of Raven's Rules. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. Both Saturn and Kanyon have had their issues with Raven and the Flock so we're throwing them all together here. Raven's been claiming Kanyon is now on his side, which would be ridiculous considering how Kanyon got his start with his current character by mercilessly attacking the whole Flock. Raven orders Kanyon to "get him" but Saturn gets Kanyon instead. Raven stands on the apron like it's a tag match. Kanyon hits a swinging neckbreaker. Raven comes in with a chair, hits Saturn with it, then tosses it to Kanyon to use. Kanyon doesn't so Saturn takes the opening. Raven then runs Kanyon into the stairs to I guess that's over. Kanyon slugs on Saturn on the floor before Raven knocks him off the platform to the ground. Raven's strategy is definitely let Kanyon and Saturn go at it then come in and clean up after. After some more back and forth slugging in the ring both guys realize this, turn to Raven, and attack. Double team neckbreaker on Raven. Kanyon covers but Saturn pulls him off. Double team high/low kicks. Kanyon hits a rolling trio of Russian leg sweeps. One ran into Saturn but Saturn isn't bothered. Saturn hits a legdrop off the top rope. Now Kanyon breaks the pin up. There's no title involved here but both guys still want to be the one to pin Raven. Swinging Perfectplex from Kanyon and Saturn breaks it up. Here goes the Saturn/Kanyon slugfest again. Raven hits them both with a chair in one swing! Saturn pulls Raven out to the floor. Kanyon with a plancha onto both guys! The fight goes to the road. The ramp painted like a road at least. Raven gets whipped into the guardrail. Saturn chases Raven all the way up to the stage area. Raven suplexes Kanyon on the ramp. Saturn hits some sloppy shots on the stage and covers Raven for 2. Kanyon gives Saturn a piledriver on the stage! Raven breaks the pin up. Raven dropkicks Kanyon and he rolls down the ramp! Saturn does a really weak dive down onto both of them. Think he was planning something bigger and changed his mind right before launching. They brawl back toward the ring. Speed run in the ring and Saturn exploder suplexes Raven for 2. Saturn hooks a sleeper on Raven. Here comes Kanyon with a sleeper on the sleeper. Raven quickly jawbreakers out. Kanyon sets Saturn up for a superplex. Raven comes up to lift Kanyon to give it some extra oomph and it hits. Raven goes for a double Evenflow. Saturn goes down but Kanyon grabs the ropes to block it, then pulls Raven out to the floor. Suplex from Kanyon on Raven on the floor. Kanyon climbs up the scaffolding. That might have more impact if we hadn't seen that just the last match. He goes for a big splash but Lodi pulls Raven to safety and Kanyon splats. Saturn DVD on Raven in the ring! Lodi breaks the pin up and takes a belly to belly suplex. Now Horace Boulder is in the ring with the stop sign. Lodi throws powder which goes into Boulder's face and Boulder hits Lodi with the stop sign. Then he hits Raven with it! Yet another PPV where the Flock guys look like a bunch of useless goofs that can never do anything right. Another Saturn DVD on Raven and that gets the pin. OKish spotfest with a very muddled story and once again anyone in the Flock not named Raven looking like nothing more than comedy jobbers. **1/4

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship #1 Contender's Match: Rey Mysterio Jr def Psychosis in 13:38- Mysterio defeated Chris Jericho to win the Cruiserweight title in his surprise return from injury at Bash at the Beach, but the next night on Nitro the decision was overturned due to Dean Malenko's "interference" (he never got near the ring, just walked out and distracted Jericho). Jericho was handed the belt back and the change was erased from the history books. This is, unless I'm remembering wrong, face vs face. Cautious lockup and clean corner break. Drop toe hold into a chinlock from Psychosis. Armdrag into an ARMBAR. Long bit of arm work before Mysterio finally flips to escape. A shotgun dropkick sends Psychosis to the floor. They go into a bit of knucklelock maneuvering and leverage fight. Mysterio flips up onto Psychosis' shoulders and does a victory roll for 2. Chops from Mysterio. Both guys dodge and Psychosis hits a clothesline for 2. Falcon arrow from Psychosis for 2. Psychosis is heeling it up quite a bit so there might have been a turn in there I forgot about. Bret bump from Mysterio and Psychosis whips him around the corners. Big faceplant and more playing to the crowd. Suplex from Psychosis. He comes off the top into Mysterio's waiting boots. Down the corner buckle shots from Mysterio. 619 spin, cartwheel, and he leaps on Psychosis' shoulders for a hurricanrana. Psychosis rolls to the floor and instead of following up Mysterio decides to play to the crowd. Crossbody off the top from Mysterio for 2. Psychosis hits a powerbomb. Slow cover for 2. Psychosis hooks on a Nerve Hold of Double Fisting +1. Mysterio fights up so Psychosis lifts him up into an electric chair, wraps Mysterio's arms up and drops him for 2. Running dropkick on the floor from Psychosis. Single leg crab back in but Psychosis quickly lets go for little reason. Hurricanrana off the top for 2. Psychosis finally goes for Mysterio's bad knee, then immediately forgets about it again. Mysterio pops up and dropkicks him off the top to the floor! Running springboard senton to the floor. Springboard sunset flip back in for 2. Funky armbar slam from Mysterio. Split legged moonsault for 2. Counter spinebuster from Psychosis for 2. Mysterio dodges and Psychosis flies into the ropes. Springboard hurricanrana with a cradle that Psychosis doesn't roll over on, just goes face first into the mat, and Mysterio gets the pin. OK but no more. Mysterio still doesn't look close to his pre-injury form, the knee clearly still isn't 100% yet. He always hated working the Sturgis shows too. **1/2

 

Alleged WCW World Television Championship: Stevie Ray (alleged power of attorney holder) def Chavo Guerrero Jr in 2:38- Booker T is still the official TV champ, but has been away injured since Bret Hart's post-match attack on him at Bash at the Beach. Ray, who looked none to pleased with his brother after that attack, has since been toting around a piece of paper claiming that Booker gave him "power of attorney" to defend the TV title while he's gone. Commentary is very dubious if it's legit or not. I would also have some serious legal questions even if it was. Chavo is fully into his nutso phase now. He comes in riding a horse on a stick named "Pepe", and also talks to it. It's like a bunch of Turner executive suits watched what Al Snow was doing with Head and came up with the lamest possible way to riff off that. Chavo's also got a self-written contract that's been "notarized" by a hole punch that says he's the real TV champ. Ray does have the belt at least, but all you have to do is look at the plethora of "stolen belt" angles WCW has done the past year and a half to know how little that means. Don't forget these two had a pointless match the last PPV where Chavo submitted to a handshake. Chavo stays on the mic, stalls like hell, and demands a ceremonial handshake before the match starts. Ray remembers last time and avoids it at all cost. Chavo forgets about it and hits a basement dropkick followed by a European uppercut. Ray no sells it all. Chavo dodges around while Ray tries to corner him. Ray gets a hold of him and lays some shots in. Chavo sunset flip. Ray pulls him back up into a choke. Eye poke from Chavo to get free. More Ray no selling of punches. Chavo runs again leading to more chasing around. Ray finally corners Chavo again. One kick, slapjack, done. Totally pointless and stupid. DUD

Ray gets a mic, says he's not done and someone try to stop him. Eddie Guerrero runs in to save his nephew! He says he's got no beef with Ray and Ray leaves. Eddie tries to help but Chavo blows him off. I really like this dynamic, how Eddie drove Chavo literally insane by trying to control his whole life and career, and now he feels guilty about what he's done and is legitimately trying to help but Chavo doesn't want any of it.

Next up is supposed to be the long awaited long delayed Scott vs Rick Steiner brother vs brother grudge match finally happening. After Rick's entrance JJ Dillon stops everything and says there's no way this match can take place tonight. Rick attacked Scott with a chair recently and per Dillon the doctors say Scott will be out for the next two weeks. Buff Bagwell rolls Scott out on a stretcher on the stage! Scott has a wrapped up leg, a neck brace on, and is wearing an oxygen mask. Bagwell also has a sympy neck brace on. Bagwell says he wants Rick to see what he's done to his brother. He asks Scott if he's OK and Scott mumbles through the oxygen mask. Most coherent promo he's ever had. The crowd chants "bullshit". "This match isn't taking place tonight! Right Scotty?". More mumbling. It is a bit amusing. Dillon says the match can be rescheduled, and it will take place next month at Fall Brawl. Boos from the crowd and more "bullshit". Bagwell tries to argue two weeks isn't really two weeks. Dillon says that if Scott doesn't make the match at Fall Brawl he'll be BANNED FOR LIFE! Scott pops up off of the stretcher! It's a Rusev Day miracle! He and Bagwell run off while Rick chases.

 

Steve "Mongo" McMichael def Brian Adams (w/Vincent) in 6:32- Yay. Mongo's back. Never mind that shit etc. He'd been out since February with a broken arm. He actually came back in June but this is his first PPV match since. The good news is Mongo will never be pushed like he was pre-injury again. This is our first NWO match of the night, Adams is in NWO Hollywood. Commentary mentions Mongo is trying to get the Four Horsemen band back together. I'm not one to criticize such things but to my eyes Mongo looks pudgier than I remember him being before getting hurt. Rough lockup. Mongo breaks clean because he's a good guy now. I know because he said so. Adams also breaks clean. He offers a knucklelock to get a kick in. They then do one of the worst sequences I've ever seen in a wrestling ring, where Mongo kind of ducks or blocks a clothesline, softly hits the ropes, coming back he and Adams have no idea what they're doing so Mongo grabs at him and gently brings him down with about the worst DDT ever. Elbow drop and Adams rolls out to try to come to grips with the fact he was involved in that mess. Another lockup back in. Clubbing blows from Mongo. Adams dodges a kick in the corner and slams him. Legdrop. He takes forever circling around then hits another one for 2. Adams hooks on the dreaded Nerve Pinch of Time Killing +3. Mongo gets up and Adams 360 clotheslines him to the floor. Vincent gets his shots in on the floor. Mongo shrugs it all off but Adams jumps from behind. Backbreaker back in. Adams comes off the second rope with a kneedrop attempt. Mongo initially puts his boot up, then decides to straight dodge it instead. Sort of side suplex from Mongo. 3 point stance tackle. Again. Adams gets whipped into the ropes and on the comeback they have another awful collision where neither one seemed to be sure of what they were doing. Adams hooks up for a piledriver. Mongo wildly swings his legs out, his foot barely brushes the ref's chest, and the ref goes down in a heap! What the hell, I'm laughing this is so horrible. Vincent comes in with a chair. Guess who gets it? Not Mongo. Mongo Spike tombstone and it's mercifully over. I never would have thought it was possible but somehow.....someway.....Mongo actually got WORSE than he was before his injury. MINUS FIVE STARS

Listening to Heenan trying to get through the replays I'm pretty certain he's fershnickered again. Hit one too many biker bars. Mean Gene is surrounded by women but all he cares about is his bike. Think he's more than bike curious now.

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Juventud Guerrera def Chris Jericho (c) in 16:24- Longtime Jericho rival Dean Malenko is the special guest ref for this match. I have a hard time seeing how he'd be impartial. I think Jericho would have a legit case there. Jericho comes out in a kimono. That's an interesting choice. Guess the bikers are supposed to hate it or something. Jericho takes a mic and says he was riding down the streets of Sturgis in his smoking HONDA. OK, that's funny. He runs the bikers down and they rev their engines at him. I'm half surprised he doesn't try to wrestle in the kimono. Lockup and Jericho clean breaks to mess with Malenko. Another corner break and Malenko steps in front of Jericho to keep him from doing anything. Juvy takes the opening to hit a shot and get a drop toe hold. Dropkick and some chops. Jericho hits a jumping back kick. Lots of closed fists from Jericho that Malenko tries to stop. Juvy falls out of the ring. While the camera's on him Malenko pulls Jericho down by the hair for not listening to him. Juvy tries a dive in the corner but Jericho dodges. Jericho backdrops Juvy over the top rope but Juvy lands on the apron and pulls him down. Shotgun dropkick off the top from Juvy and Jericho powders. Slide under and Juvy pulls Jericho onto the apron. Chops send Jericho off the platform into the guardrail. Juvy dive off the top rope all the way to the ground! He tweaked his knee on the landing but stays on Jericho. Slingshot dropkick back in for 2. Jericho jawbreakers out of a chinlock and hits a basement dropkick. Juvy lands on the apron after a backdrop again and hits a springboard crossbody. Jericho tries to catch him but still goes down for a 2 count. Another crossbody off the top rope and this time Jericho catches him. Wonder if he was supposed to last time but couldn't hold him. Press into a driver from Jericho for 2. Delayed suplex and arrogant cover. Tony thinks Malenko is counting slower for Jericho. He's definitely counting slow in general. Juvy goes down to the floor and we get a lot of motor revving as the match grinds to a halt. Juvy needs to walk something off, maybe legitimately. Jericho ambushes him coming back in. Slam and senton for 2. Jericho works a chinlock/weak sleeper. Juvy's comeback is cut off with a knee to the gut. Another suplex attempt. Juvy reverses and hits it. Jericho is still up first with kicks. He goes for the Lionsault. Juvy gets his knees up. Chops from Juvy. Flying headscissors. Juvy goes up top and hits a crazy corkscrew for 2. He tries to slide under again but Jericho grabs him, lifts him up and goes for a German suplex. Juvy flips out! He charges but runs right into Jericho's double powerbomb. Jericho kicks Juvy to the apron then does a springboard tackle to knock him to the floor. Nice variation on the usual dropkick. Another Juvy counter is cut off with a Jericho clothesline for 2. Big chops from Jericho. Juvy flips around Jericho into a DDT! Long 2 count. Juvy driver! Jericho kicks out! Juvy goes up top but Jericho crotches him. Superplex. Juvy slowly drapes an arm over for 2. Jericho double underhook, Juvy tries to counter, Jericho blocks that and hooks on the Liontamer! Juvy quickly get to the ropes. Jericho thinks he submitted. Malenko won't say a word and Jericho freaks out. Juvy grabs him and pounds him down in the corner. Malenko tries to stop it and Juvy gets him in the eye. Jericho gets the belt and nails Juvy with it! He slaps Malenko to wake him up! That woke him up all right. Jericho covers. Malenko counts but Juvy kicks out! Big time temper tantrum from Jericho. Top rope fight. Malenko pull Juvy down! Why? Jericho kicks Malenko. Juvy charges. Malenko lifts him up and Juvy hurricanranas Jericho! Pin and new champ! Man, even Sturgis popped for that. It's Juvy's second Cruiserweight title win. Jericho tries to punch Malenko but Malenko ducks and punches him out. Good but nowhere near great match. Given it's in Sturgis that's as good as we could have expected. The end sequence was a bit overdone. ***1/4

This was the end of what would be Jericho's final reign with the Cruiserweight title. Given the superb work he'd been doing WCW would finally move him up a bit after this. It won't be too much longer and he'll be just about the only guy on the roster putting any real effort in until he bolts for WWF.

 

NWO Invitational Battle Royale- This is a small 8 man battle royale with four guys entered from each NWO faction and one from WCW. The NWO Hollywood participants are Scott Hall, the Giant, Scott Norton, and Curt Hennig. From NWO Wolfpac we have Kevin Nash, Sting, Lex Luger and Konnan. And representing WCW, World champ Goldberg. They couldn't find *anything* better for him to do on this show? We're officially up to 129-0 by the way. Incidentally the team of Hall and Giant recently defeated Nash and Sting to bring the world tag titles back to the black and white. It's over the top or pinfall to eliminate rules. Hall's surveys aren't going nearly as well now the Wolfpac are the popular NWO faction, and Goldberg is more popular still. It's hard to tell if his "One more for the good guys" is sticking with the gimmick or he's just too plastered to know the difference. It's kind of funny the crowd giving Konnan their preprogrammed responses without having any idea what they're saying. Everyone stands off a bit then the NWO factions go at each other while ignoring Goldberg. Goldberg gets a flurry on Giant in the middle of the ring. Nash is all over former partner Hall in one corner. Hall ducks and Nash kicks (grazes) Goldberg. Hall uses that to set Goldberg up for the Razor's Edge. Goldberg backdrops him over the top and Hall is gone. Nash says screw the match, steps over the top rope and goes out to continue the onslaught on Hall. Goldberg spear on Hennig. He goes to throw Hennig out but Hennig doesn't want to go yet so Goldberg awkwardly leaves him and goes somewhere else. There's so much standing around and not doing anything despite the fact hardly anyone's in there and we're only a few minutes in it's ridiculous. Giant and Goldberg find each other again with Giant pounding him down a bit. Giant Russian leg sweep on Goldberg. More meandering around. Sting goes for the Scorpion Death Lock on Hennig. Not sure about that strategery in a battle royale. Goldberg spear on Konnan. Konnan's gone. Hennig allllllllmost gets Goldberg up and over the top rope but Goldberg fights it off. Giant back suplex on Goldberg. He takes some more shots but quickly shrugs off all the damage, spears Hennig again, and tosses him out. A Goldberg double clothesline eliminates both Norton and Sting. Spear on Luger. Giant casually picks up Luger's carcass and tosses him out so someone besides Goldberg gets an elimination. We're down to Goldberg and Giant, who were feuding coming into this show. Guess a title match made too much sense. Giant hits the chokeslam. Goldberg sits up! Undertaker like. Spear. Jackhammer on Giant. Pin and Goldberg wins again. That result was a foregone conclusion as soon as Goldberg was entered in this, they weren't going to end the streak in a freaking random battle royale or open the door for any arguments. On top of that, Goldberg just buzzsawed through practically every single credible world title challenger on the roster. I don't get the thought behind this at all. The match was also dull as hell with more dead spots than action. 1/4*

 

Diamond Dallas Page and Jay Leno (w/Kevin Eubanks) def Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff (w/The Disciple and Elizabeth) in 14:34- Yes, you read that right. After having basketball stars Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone wrestle in the main event at Bash at the Beach, WCW now has Jay Leno in. The Tonight Show host. Wrestling. On PPV. In the main event. Seeing the clips from the build on the Tonight Show itself I'm thinking they were trying to recreate the Jerry Lawler/Andy Kaufman feud to some degree but with no understanding of what made that feud work. Bischoff might as well be a ringer too as this is only his second recorded match, and the first was that utter disaster with Larry Zbyszko at Starrcade. Heenan offers to take over the Tonight Show from Leno if he can't anymore after this. I won't lie, I would watch the shit out of that. Heenan would be brilliant in that format. The traditionally pro-Hogan Sturgis crowd doesn't seem so solid anymore. DDP's team comes out together to Leno's music. Leno throws his cup of water on Bischoff and Hogan while Hogan's trying to promo into the camera. After the bell rings everyone stands off and jaws in the ring. Eventually we kick off with Hogan and DDP. Already smarter than the last match. Quick lockup stalemate. Hogan wins the second and tosses his bandanna at DDP. Arm wringer tradeoff. Hogan pulls DDP down by the hair. He slaps DDP! DDP slaps back! Leno slaps Hogan from the apron! Swinging neckbreaker from DDP. Hogan powders. Eubanks comes up from behind and posts Hogan! Hogan gets back in upset at Eubanks and DDP rolls him up for 2. Hogan tells Disciple to keep an eye on Eubanks. As usual, Beefcake has no idea what to do unless Hogan tells him what to do. Hogan gets the jump on DDP and gets him trapped in the heel corner. Bischoff tags in for a double team. Leno tries to run in but gets held back. DDP gets a boot up in the corner on Bischoff. Tag to Leno! Bischoff does the silliest scared fall backward and tags Hogan. Leno stays in with Hogan! He ducks a lockup and does a ton of mocking of Hogan, most of it hair centered. Another lockup duck and Leno tags out to DDP. Hogan goes to the quick eye poke to get the edge. Clothesline. More arm work with DDP getting the advantage back. He gets Hogan down and tags Leno back in. Leno with arm wringers! Hogan grabs Leno's hair, backs him into the corner, gives him a knee and chokes him. Leno ducks, gets the arm wringer back on, and tags DDP. Double clothesline on Hogan. Leno covers for 2! Hogan goes to the floor but gets trapped between DDP and Eubanks holding a chair. Eubanks uses the chair as a shield to block a Hogan punch and DDP gets him back in the ring. Bischoff tries to kick DDP from the apron. DDP shrugs it off and punches Bischoff off the apron, but that gives Hogan an opening to attack. DDP does a crazy sell of a Hogan corner clothesline. Bischoff tags in and lays in some kicks and body shots. He decides to celebrate and DDP gets back on top of him. Hogan has some knucks and waffles DDP with them. He drapes Bischoff over for 2. DDP gets caught in the wrong corner again. Hogan shouts "So's your mother" in response to something someone in the crowd said and gives DDP the big boot. DDP is back up with a clothesline! No legdrop for you. Both guys are down. Tags on both sides! Bischoff backs off from Leno. Leno goes in and Bischoff eye pokes him. Leno low blow! Sorta punch/clothesline. Another one. If those are punches they're the worst but Bischoff is selling them. Bischoff gets run into the turnbuckles. Hogan distracts and the heels set up a double team. Hogan takes Bischoff out. DDP Cactus clothesline on Hogan! Eubanks gets in the ring. He Diamond Cutters Bischoff! Leno covers and gets the pin! You know what, that wasn't completely horrible. It's definitely better than the Bash at the Beach main event. It's shorter, Leno didn't get exposed nearly as much, and being an entertainer he knew how to keep things interesting. Credit to him for being game to do whatever he could too, which didn't include taking bumps. Having the right result, unlike Bash at the Beach, also helped. DDP getting any kind of win over Hogan helps his continued ascent too. A straight up one on one win would have been better but good luck trying to talk Hogan into jobbing to DDP. 3/4*

The NWO guys try to attack again after the bell but Goldberg runs in and spears both Hogan and Bischoff in one go.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- We're getting close to the point where WCW starts fully circling the drain. The Sturgis shows are always weird regardless, it's anything but a great atmosphere and I never understood why WCW kept going back there. Getting out of the Summer of the Ringers you'd hope that WCW would start to show some kind of clear creative direction going their fall/winter run of Fall Brawl/War Games, Halloween Havoc and Starrcade, but if you thought the ringers were bad, just wait until you see who's coming next.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D

Road Wild '97

Legacy Review

Road Wild '97

August 9, 1997 from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, SD

 

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes

 

Personal note: I know reviews have been a bit more sporadic lately, but there's a good reason for that. Since the day it was released I've been plowing through Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and just finished it. What an absolute gaming masterpiece. It's going to be a very long wait for the final installment (which I would put money on being called Reunion). When it's all done the FF7 Remake trilogy might stand as the greatest accomplishment in the long and storied history of the Final Fantasy series.

 

Now I need to play through the original FF7 again. But enough about that, on with the show.

 

The show name has changed from Hog Wild to Road Wild, but the venue is the same: the largest motorcycle rally in the world, AKA Biker Heaven. Like last year the ring is set up in a field outside, but unless I'm remembering wrong I think they're using a different location this year inside the town limits, and the entire crowd is bikers using their bikes at seats, occasionally revving their engines if they're excited about something. Or mad. Or bored. It's a unique atmosphere to say the least. Not particularly good unique.

The big story going into this show is this past Monday on Nitro Lex Luger cashed in his long delayed World title opportunity and, in a major shock, finally dethroned Hollywood Hogan as World champ, ending Hogan's reign at just shy of one year. Ratings pop! Because of that the NWO is considered to be fully on their heels, and most of the matches on this show are WCW vs NWO in an attempt to finish the NWO off once and for all. Yeah, right.

 

Harlem Heat def Vicious and Delicious (w/Vincent) in 10:20- Vicious and Delicious are the NWO team of Scott Norton and Buff Bagwell. Harlem Heat get a much better reception than the previous year in Sturgis. Bagwell and Booker start with some basics. Booker blocks a belly to belly suplex, both guys hit hiptosses, Bagwell dropkicks both Heat members and hits Booker with a clothesline. Norton squashes Booker in the corner then misses on the other end. Booker hits a hook kick and tags. Norton side suplexes Ray. Booker kicks Norton in the back from the apron and Ray hits him with a bicycle kick. Booker maneuvers into suplexing Norton. Norton is being outpowered by both Heat guys, very unusual for him. Booker hits an ugly flying forearm and Bagwell breaks the pin attempt up. Norton grabs a kick swinging Booker, slams him and tags. Bagwell hot tag run. Ray pulls the top rope down and Bagwell tumbles out of the ring. Weird dynamic so far in this match with Heat clearly playing the heels despite having been tweeners at worst for a while, and even more strange the NWO team are wrestling like faces. Bagwell's turned the annoying meter almost down to zero. Must have been almost physically painful for him. Bagwell goes in peril with Heat wearing him down for a while. Booker hits the scissors kick, takes forever to cover and gets 2. Bagwell gets a boot up in the corner and hits a clothesline. Ray cuts the tag off and hits a northern lights bomb for 2. Someone's been watching Kensuke Sasaki tape. Jacqueline makes her way out to the ring. The bikers start revving because a woman is in view. She goes straight to Heat's corner as Bagwell hits a crossbody for 2. Vincent is less than pleased at Jacqueline being there. Bagwell flips out of a Booker powerbomb attempt and hits his own. Norton tags in (and already halfway in the ring when he does) and starts unloading the power moves on everyone. DONNYBROOK! Ray gets into it with Vincent on the floor. Norton hits Booker with his Shoulderbreaker of Death. Jacqueline jumps on Norton's back! Booker absolutely decapitates Norton with a hard leg lariat, covers, and Jacqueline holds Norton's boot down while Booker gets the pin. Now we know who Sherri's replacement is. *1/2

 

Mexican Death Match: Konnan def Rey Mysterio Jr in 10:20- Mike Tenay checks in for this one. This is listed as a Mexican Death Match on all the cards online, but is never called that on the broadcast and it's worked more like a regular no DQ match, though the only way you can really tell is the ref not enforcing rope breaks. The freshly NWO joined Konnan hurt Mysterio's knee to set this up, a knee that's clearly still bothering Mysterio as he walks to the ring. Jump start and Mysterio is flipping around early. Springboard dropkick. Flying headscissors. Konnan drops Mysterio on the top turnbuckle and chop blocks his bad knee. He goes to work on it, wrapping Mysterio up in a sort of reverse Tequila Sunrise. Mysterio gets to the floor to recover. He hits another flying headscissors from the apron going back in the ring. Konnan hits another chop block and wraps the knee up again. After a bit Mysterio gets some shots in and hits a clothesline. He can't get back up and Konnan's on the knee again. He starts untying Mysterio's mask, hits a powerbomb, and gets the mask off! Mysterio fights away and gets it back on with his face never being fully exposed. He hits a dropkick and gives Konnan a couple of legdrops. He goes for a double springboard moonsault but misses and hurts his knee again. Mysterio wheelbarrows Konnan into an armdrag. Konnan hits a belly to belly. Mysterio works into a roll up for 2 and dropkicks Konnan's knee. He slowly goes up top, doing a great job of selling the knee, barely able to climb up. Konnan catches him coming off and DDTs him. The Tequila Sunrise is on in full, and Mysterio taps out. Konnan is slow to break but finally does. The medical team runs out with a leg brace for Mysterio. Psychologically sound match and a great resilient performance from Mysterio. **

Mean Gene shows off his new Sturgis tattoo, then has tonight's hotline shill: there's TWO new managers in WCW, including one "former world champion". Film at 11. Hope they gave refunds if one of those two was Jacqueline.

 

Elimination Match: Steve "Mongo" McMichael and Chris Benoit def WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett and Dean Malenko (w/Debra McMichael) in 9:36- Benoit's finally done with Kevin Sullivan and the Dungeon of Doom, just in time to join Mongo in his feud with former Horseman Jarrett. At the last PPV Mongo's wife Debra turned on him to join Jarrett. Malenko is a 100% hanger on here. I wish I could say this is part of the angle that leads to Malenko becoming a Horseman, but that's still over a year away. After posing a lot Jarrett starts with Benoit. Benoit outwrestles him, but Jarrett manages to fire off an armdrag and, of course, struts. That's enough work as he tags Malenko in. Benoit gets a quick shoulderblock and Malenko thinks about it. They go into a great extended speed/counter run that's as good as you'd expect from these two. Malenko drops Benoit on his head while small packaging him for 2. Double clothesline and no one moves. Mongo tags in and runs into a drop toe hold. Benoit kicks Malenko from the apron, Mongo hits a tiltawhirl slam, and Malenko goes in peril for the majority of the match. Benoit hits some chops. Mongo knocks him around while the crowd chants "Jarrett sucks". Benoit hits a back elbow for 2. Side suplex from Mongo. Benoit snap suplex for 2. Mongo hits a powerslam. He goes for the 3 point stance tackle, but Malenko dodges and tags Jarrett in! Here we go. Jarrett wants nothing to do with Mongo but Malenko barely has any HP left on the apron. Jarrett eye pokes Mongo, gives him a jawbreaker, then pulls Mongo on top of him and lets Mongo pin him! Jarrett's eliminated, and he celebrates as he leaves thinking he's a genius. Malenko is left to the wolves. He gives it a go, but the numbers are just too much. Benoit hits a tombstone and the headbutt off the top, then Mongo hits his own tombstone and gets the pin. Kinda dumb, but given Jarrett's character it makes some sense. Not like we didn't know it before but we definitely need a Benoit/Malenko singles match. *3/4

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Alex Wright (c) def Chris Jericho in 13:03- Wright is a far cry from his Das Wunderkind days when he was on every PPV, but was getting a bit of a renewed push thanks to a recent heel turn and upset Jericho for the title a couple of weeks prior on Nitro. Oh hell Wright's dancing again. Funny thing is he's dancing the exact same way he used to as a face and now it's getting legit heel heat instead of go away heat because of how bad it is. At least they've gotten more self aware with him. Tenay checks in again for this match. Wright hides in the ropes after a hammerlock exchange and gets booed. A chant I can't make out sets Wright off. Wright snap mares out of a lockup and celebrates. He hits some chops in the corner after a break and that pisses Jericho off. Armdrags and chops from Jericho and Wright powders. After some stalling he runs into a Jericho drop toe hold. Wright goes to some heel 101 hair pulls. Speed run and Jericho hits a spinning heel kick. Both guys flips out of suplex attempts and Wright gets crotched on the top rope. Jericho springboard dropkicks him off to the floor. Springboard plancha! Wright gets slammed on the ring platform. Whip reversal and Jericho goes into the steps. Wright suplexes him on the platform. Back in Wright goes up top but Jericho slams him off Flair style. Dropkick, armdrag and Jericho works the arm for a bit. He hits a whole bunch of forearms while commentary calls him out for not knowing what to do next. It does seem like they lost their place a bit. Wright hits a spinning heel kick. He hits a stomp off the top rope and does some more of what can loosely be called dancing. Jericho dodges a moonsault off the top. Bunch of running corner clotheslines from Jericho. Lionsault! Senton follow up for 2. Jericho hits a double powerbomb with a slow cover for 2. He goes up top. Wright falls against the ropes and Jericho is crotched. Wright hits a superplex for 2. Jericho blocks a German suplex and gets a roll up for 2. Side suplex for 2. He goes for another cradle. Wright reverses it, grabs a handful of tights, and gets the pin. Jericho would get another rematch in a couple of weeks on Nitro and take the title back then. The match was fine but not up to the usual standard set by the Cruiserweight title. Jericho was still learning and Wright was Wright. **3/4

 

"Nature Boy" Ric Flair def Syxx in 11:06- We're finally getting some payoff for Syxx distracting Flair out of a tag match with Piper back at Great American Bash. Both guys play some mind games early and Flair gives us a strut. Syxx hits a shoulderblock and celebrates, including a DX style crotch chop. They can't stop shouting out their old buddies. Flair hooks up an arm and hair pulls Syxx down, with Syxx kiping back up. Flair switches to chops. Syxx back elbows out of a hammerlock. Flair dodges in the corner and Syxx flies over the top and tumbles down to the floor. Back in Syxx tries to flip out of a top wristlock but Flair chops him down to the mat. Another chop and Flair gives Syxx a crotch chop! Syxx ducks a clothesline and hits a roundhouse kick. He legdrops Flair right on the side of the head. Corner kick combo. Syxx hits the bronco buster. Tony tries to explain the buster is really a wrestling move because it "hurts the shoulders". Yeah, not buying that for a second. Syxx hooks on a chinlock and the match stops dead as Flair, very un-Flair like, just lays there for a bit. More corner kicks. It's hard to tell with the way Flair sells but it looks like one of those might have legit caught him flush on the jaw and knocked him a bit loopy. Setup slam from Syxx and he hits a legdrop off the top for 2. Slugfest and another Syxx heel kick. Back to the chinlock. Flair Flip! He shoulderblocks back in. After some chops they seem to lose their place for a second before Flair hits a kneebreaker. He holds onto the leg and Syxx responds with an enzugrui. Flair dodges a senton off the top. Chop block to the knee. Figure four! Syxx quickly grabs a rope. He goes for the Buzzkill (a crossface chicken wing) but Flair fights it off before it's fully applied. He falls in the corner and Syxx goes for the bronco buster again. Flair gets a boot up in Syxx's crotch! He cradles, puts his feet on the ropes, and gets the pin! Never try to outcheat the old master. The match was fine but could have been much better. I think Syxx was at about 50% effort at best his whole WCW run, and Flair seemed off here too even before the possible kick to the jaw. **3/4

 

Curt Hennig def Diamond Dallas Page (w/Kimberly) in 9:41- DDP's taking some time away from his blood feud with Randy Savage to get some revenge on Hennig, who turned on him during a tag match at the last PPV. For the record Hennig has not joined the NWO, yet. The sun is starting to set as we're getting into the latter part of the show. Hennig leads a chase around the ring and knees DDP every time he tries to get in the ring. DDP pulls him out, pounds on him a bit, and slides him back in the ring. Now the bell rings to officially start things. Hennig does a hair pull and DDP laughs at it. He gets Hennig in the corner, pulls his singlet straps down, and lays in some elbows and chops. Hennig tumbles through the ropes off a chop. DDP gives him the hair swing Hennig always took. Hennig gets crotched on the post. He tries to fight back with some back elbows while DDP pulls his tights down, exposing his undertights. Off a DDP punch Hennig sells as much as he can anymore. 5 years ago that would have been a 360 sell. DDP goes up top and gets crotched. Hennig chokes him with his towel. He hits DDP with a clothesline....punch....not sure what that was supposed to be. Clothespunch? Punchline? Kneelift and big chop from Hennig. He does the snap mare/neck snap combo. That's the one move he's got that still looks as good as his heyday. A back elbow cuts off a DDP comeback. Hennig kneedrops DDP's knee and hooks on a spinning toe hold. DDP eye pokes out. Sleeper from Hennig. DDP quickly jawbreakers out. He flips around Hennig into a cradle for 2. Hennig hits another clothespunch/punchline and does a jackknife cover for 2. DDP clothesline. The ref gets squashed on the kickout. Hennig goes over and starts to take the top turnbuckle pad off. That's a MUCH tougher job in WCW than it was in WWF. He manages to get it mostly off. DDP gets run into the exposed buckle and is out in the middle of the ring. Hennig goes over near the corner and it sure looks like he's sucking wind. Finally he gets out, plays around with the knocked out DDP, and hooks on the Perfectplex. DDP kicks out! He blocks another buckle shot and Hennig goes into it with another attempt at a 360 sell that fails miserably. The camera goes wide as DDP is bleeding, probably from the earlier buckle shot. He goes for the front piledriver. Hennig's leg hits the ref and he goes down again. Ric Flair runs in! He comes off the top but DDP catches him. Diamond Cutter on Flair! But that gives Hennig an opening to hit another Perfectplex, and that gets the pin! Not the prettiest match as Hennig continues to look like a shell of his former self, and the end run was a bit ugly. Why the hell did Flair get involved, and go for DDP instead of Hennig? Well as we'd find out after, Flair's recruiting old pal Hennig for the Horsemen. **

Ad for the next PPV, Fall Brawl: WAR GAMES! No one will ever be able to read that in anyone but Regal's voice now.

 

The Giant def "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) in 6:05- Really not much of a story to this one other than "WCW vs NWO". Savage stalls like crazy outside the ring after the bell. When Giant turns around to talk to the ref Savage runs in and knees him in the back. He tries to slam Giant, which goes about as well as anybody would expect. Giant scrapes Savage off the mat with a spatula then chops him in the corner, then tosses him across the ring. He rips Savage's shirt off and forearms him in the back. Savage rolls out for a breather. He uses Elizabeth as a shield. Giant lifts her up and places her out of the way. Savage charges in, but Giant presses him! He dumps Savage back in the ring. Savage ducks a big boot and a clothesline and chop blocks Giant's knee, then posts the knee. Sadly instead of making the match more interesting the next few minutes is nothing more than Savage stomping the knee about 50 times, then his ADD kicks in and he moves on to doing weebles wobble clotheslines on Giant. Crossbody off the top from Savage for 2. He comes off the top again. Giant catches him with a goozle, chokeslams him, and just like that it's over. Nitro match. 3/4*

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Steiner Brothers def The Outsiders (c) by DQ in 15:29- Back at the start of the year the Outsiders lost the titles to the Stieners, only to have Bischoff in the most obviously corrupt way possible give the titles back to the Outsiders on a technicality. TWICE. Since then the NWO has continuously screwed the Steiners out of getting another title shot until now. The Steiners finally getting another crack is in no small part thanks to DiBiase's face turn, turning on the NWO and joining the Steiners. Guess the NWO didn't need his money anymore. The Steiners make their entrance on their motorcycles. Hall and Scott start with a lockup stalemate and some shoving. Scott slaps Hall! Hall slams Scott and works his arm a bit with humiliating back of the head slaps. That pisses Scott off. Steinerline! German suplex! Double underhook powerbomb. Everyone runs in, the Steiners clear the ring and pose. Reset and Rick gets set loose. Nash also tags in. Nash knocks Rick around. Rick pushes out of snake eyes and hits a back suplex. Hall hits Scott from the apron. Every tag match tonight that's happened. Rick turns around and gives Scott a receipt, but when he turns back around he runs into a Nash big boot. Scott blocks a Hall hiptoss. Hall uses that position to hit a chokeslam. The NWO do some double team choking as Scott goes Steiner in peril. Hall fallaway slam for 2. Nash side suplex for 2, followed by his vintage corner elbows. Hall hits a clothesline from the apron. Rick gets in and the Outsiders swap without a tag. Hall hooks on an abdominal stretch with leverage help from Nash. After a bit former evil NWO ref Nick Patrick catches them and Scott hiptosses out, but Hall dodges an elbow drop. More heel double teams follow. Nash hits snake eyes, then goes after Rick all the way to the floor in a bit that goes nowhere. Scott fights out of the heel corner but gets held back from tagging. Nash does a neck crank. Scott hooks on a double chinlock. Scott lifts him up in an electric chair and drops him. Again the tag gets cut off. Nash short clothesline for 2. Scott dodges in the corner and Nash gets crotched. Hall manages to once again cut the tag off! Crazy. Hall crotch chops at Rick, yet again former Kliq guys shouting out their friends in the other place. Bulldog off the second rope from Hall. He calls for the Razor's Edge. Patrick hops out to keep Nash and DiBiase away from each other, so Rick runs in with a Steinerline! Scott hits a belly to belly. Again Hall grabs him to keep him from tagging. After a long fight Scott gets free and tags Rick! Rick runs wild and quickly everyone's in. Nash gets tossed to the floor. Doomsday bulldog on Hall! Nash pulls Patrick out of the ring at 2! Patrick immediately calls for the bell and raises the Steiners' hands. The Steiners think they got the pin and DiBiase brings the belts in. Patrick has to take them away and explain it was a DQ. DiBiase's pissed as once again the NWO screws the Steiners. Word is the Steiners were supposed to finally win the titles for real here, but backstage politics savant Nash used his pull to get it put off again. Having Scott in peril for so long with so many near tags was actually a nice old school nod to classic '80s NWA tag wrestling (though a cynic could rightly point out that Nash and Hall just aren't interested in selling), but they cut out the whole second half of the match, and the amount of time the NWO screwing the Steiners has been going on is reaching almost AWA levels. That's bad. *1/2

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hollywood Hogan def "The Total Package" Lex Luger (c) in 16:15- Hogan does some light shoving before the bell. Luger runs Hogan over with a shoulderblock, annoying Hogan. On a corner break Hogan hits some knees and chops. Heenan has to bring up Dennis Rodman. Fortunately no one runs with it. Another Luger shoulderblock and Hogan is more annoyed. Hogan goes into some arm work, even whipping out his usually Japan only drop toe hold. Luger uses the POWER to reverse an arm wringer. He whips out a couple of armdrags and Hogan slides out for some breathing room. Stall time. Pretty big "Hogan sucks" chant from the usually pro-NWO Sturgis crowd. Back in Hogan does a bit of pillar to post beating. Back rake! Pure viciousness. He flips out at some more "Hogan sucks" chants and chokes Luger. Luger comes back with the machine gun buckle shots. Hogan drags him out, eye rakes him, and gives him a stair shot. TV cable choke. More generic heel Hogan offense back in. Backbreaker for 2. Bear hug time. He decides to knucklelock Luger and twist his hands. I would have stuck with the bear hug. Luger hulks up and turns the knucklelock. Hogan gives him a quick low blow to get out. Hogan back suplex for 2. Big boot! Cover for 2. A suplex fires Luger up. Hogan poses while Luger sneaks behind him. Turn around shock! Luger clothesline and Hogan begs off. He hides in the corner and the ref pulls Luger off. Hogan uses that for another eye rake and is back in control. He rolls Luger up for 2. That was different. Setup slam. Luger dodges the legdrop! The running forearm hits. Here comes the NWO goons. Luger fights them all off. Nash gets the ref tied up. The obvious fake NWO Sting is out again. They barely put him on camera to try to make it less obvious it's not the real Sting. Luger goes for another running forearm. "Sting" hits him in the back with the bat! Legdrop! Hogan gets the pin and I hope you enjoyed the six days Hogan wasn't champion because it's back to normal. Also hope the one week ratings pop was worth it. It's not the *worst* NWO Hogan match, not like that's saying much. 1/4*

 

The show must have run short because there's a TON of pointless time killing after the main event.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Most of the show isn't outright bad, but none of it is particularly good, and those last couple of matches kill any hope that WCW might be ready to move on from the usual NWO shtick after a year of it. Sturgis is always a weird venue too.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+