NJPW Battle Satellite in Tokyo Dome

Legacy Review

NJPW Battle Satellite in Tokyo Dome

April 24, 1989 from the Tokyo Dome

The Tokyo Dome opened on March 17, 1988 and almost immediately the scramble to get a wrestling show in the Big Egg was on. A little over a year later that race was won by New Japan. This is the first ever show to be held inside the Tokyo Dome by any company. This show can also be called "Fighting Satellite" depending on translation quirks. The centerpiece of the night is a one night, eight man tournament to determine a new IWGP Heavyweight Champion. The title was voluntarily vacated by Tatsumi Fujimani so there could be a tournament for it on this major show, a callback to the days of the original IWGP Heavyweight Title that was awarded in a yearly tournament, the tournament that eventually evolved to become the G1 Climax.

This is from the archives of New Japan World so Japanese commentary only.

'89 Young Lion Cup Final: Naoki Sano def Hiro Saito in 10:43- The Young Lion Cup is an irregular tournament New Japan holds among the young boys. The last proper one was held in 2017, but there was also a combined Noge Dojo/LA Dojo Cup held in the US in 2019 during the buildup to the creation of New Japan Strong. Saito would be mostly known as a low level guy that bounced around various heel factions during his career, including Raging Staff and NWO Japan. If there was a large heel faction in Japan in the '90s, chances are he was in it. Sano had a major feud with Jushin Liger over the junior heavyweight title in 1990 that put both guys fully on the map, but afterward he jumped over to WWF-affiliated SWS and later spent time in UWFi before becoming a regular in NOAH. He returned to New Japan to wrestle alongside Liger in Liger's retirement matches at Wrestle Kingdom 14 in 2020, then quietly retired himself as well. Saito goes right on the attack after the bell. Sano responds with a dropkick that sends Saito to the floor. TOPE SUICIDA! MAMA MIA! Not wasting any time tonight. Slam and kneedrop from Sano back in for 2. Saito turns a chinlock into a top wristlock and works on Sano's arm a bit. Sano does a nice neck bridge, knucklelocks Saito to flip him up into the corner, backflips back and hits a diving lariato. Piledriver for 2. He wraps Saito up in a headscissors. Saito works out into an STF. Spinebuster from Saito for 2. Huge backbreaker for 2. Hot shot! Legdrop follow up and cover for 2. Speed run. Saito blocks a kick from one direction, so Sano hits him with a kick from another direction. Very Nakamura like. Suplex for 2. Tombstone! Saito it looks like uses an eye poke to break the pin up. Senton from Saito for 2. Fisherman's suplex for 2. Sano fights into a backslide for 2. Half crab from Sano. He stomps on Saito a bit more to wear him down and hooks on Young Lion Submission Hold 1A, the Boston crab. Saito still easily powers out. Missile dropkick from Saito! Sano falls out to the floor. Saito goes for a TOPE SUICIDA! SANO DODGES AND SAITO CRASHES INTO THE GUARDRAIL! Sano goes up to the top rope. CROSSBODY TO THE FLOOR! This is 1989, folks. Imagine showing this match to an American audience of the time. Saito gets on the apron. Sano doesn't like that and dropkicks him back off into the guardrail again. Back in Sano hits a German suplex! Saito kicks out! Saito counters a backdrop attempt into a backslide! He's got Sano down, but one of Sano's feet fell onto the ropes! Sano decides to leap up on Saito's shoulders. Saito says thank you and drops him right back down. German from Saito for a long 2. Powerbomb from Saito. Sano uses the cover to flip Saito into a cradle and gets the pin! Sano is presented with a very tiny trophy for his Cup win. Both guys still had some work to do as far as refining their styles and storytelling, but they pulled out all the stops to prove themselves and that was a hell of an opener. ***1/2

 

Quarterfinals: Big Van Vader def Masahiro Chono in 5:52- Vader burst onto the New Japan scene in December '87 when he pulled the upset of upsets, defeating the nearly undefeatable Antonio Inoki in his very first match with the company. He's been with them full time ever since and had solidified himself as a major star. Future legend Chono is barely out of Young Lion status at this point. The match video on World starts right up with Vader already trying to tear Chono apart while the ring announcer is still in the ring, seeing his whole life flash in front of his eyes. Chono's in all white tonight, a look he would not keep. Vader also has his early days full mask on. Chono gets free, puts a finger in Vader's face, and the bell rings to officially start while the crowd is going absolutely nuts over it all. The ring announcer gets through his announcements on the floor while the wrestlers circle each other, while also jotting down a note to the back for a fresh pair of underwear. Vader tosses Chono out of the lockup. Clean break on the ropes and Chono does a lot of jawing. Not sure how smart that is. Coming off the ropes Vader catches him with a kick. Classic Vader tackle. Vintage even. Just noticed Vader has a goatee or full beard going at this point too. Straight drop press slam from Vader and Chono powders. Back in the match stays all Vader as he keeps Chono grounded. Corner avalanche. Elbow drop after that for 2. Vader goes for a suplex. Chono flips around to try to turn it into a Destino style reverse DDT but Vader either didn't take it all, or just said fuck selling. Chono starts to get some shots in but a straight punch from Vader puts him back down. He lifts Chono up into a Canadian backbreaker. Chono flips back down and backdrops Vader! Chono tries for a German! Vader lands right on top of him and squashes him! Ooooof, not a good move, kid. Vader covers for 2. Lariato! Setup slam. Vader goes up top. Big splash! Get a spatula and scrape Chono off the mat. An extended squash showing the very clear pecking order at this point, but a Vader squash is always a fun squash. **

You know, this would probably explain why Chono didn't win a singles match in the Dome for like a decade. Trauma from this first one.

 

Quarterfinals: Tatsumi Fujinami def Vladmir Berkovich in 4:51- Fujinami has been one of the pillars of New Japan since the company's founding in 1972, and as I mentioned was champion before giving the title up so it could be up for grabs in this tournament. Berkovich is the first of several Soviet or Soviet satellite wrestlers with a strong amateur background but little pro experience to appear on this show. This is only his second ever pro match. The reason for so many Soviet wrestlers on this show is New Japan was building up to holding the first ever wrestling show in Moscow later in the year. Just before the fall of the Iron Curtain. Code of Honor handshake to start, followed by some cautious feeling out. Berkovich gets an amateur waistlock takedown. Reset and Fujinami gets an arm takedown. He rides Berkovich on the mat a bit, then introduces him to the pros by hitting a suplex. Double leg takedown from Fujinami. Think there might be a little agreed upon shooting happening on the mat there. Off a rope break Berkovich grabs a headlock and flips Fujimani down. Fujinami lands a kick to the hammy with a nice contact pop and bigger pop from the crowd. Another one. Fujinami tries to attack but Berkovich grabs him and gives him a fisherman's suplex. Straight punch to the gut from Fujinami. Snap mare into a dropkick. Backdropeh suplex into an cross armbreaker! Berkovich taps! They have another respect handshake after the bell. Fujinami did the best he could, and it was good they kept this short. 3/4*

 

Quarterfinals: Victor Zangiev def Buzz Sawyer in 3:56- First things first, yes Zangiev is the inspiration for the character of the same name in the Street Fighter series through his work in New Japan over the next year. He's another Soviet guy super early in his career. Sawyer was a well known upper midcarder, mostly in southern territories, during the '80s and also a generally not very good person in real life by all accounts. Sawyer's wearing a blue singlet. Never seen him in a singlet before. Might be mocking the blue singlets all the Soviet guys are wearing. Zangiev has the body hair you'd expect from how his namesake Street Fighter character looked. Not half as big though. Young Tiger Hattori is reffing this one. Chest to chest bumping after the bell into some amateur stuff that the very onery Sawyer has the edge on. Zangiev responds with an arm takedown. They continue mostly amateur style. Sawyer gets a roll up but Zangiev is in the ropes. Zangiev continues the focus on the arm. He has Sawyer's arms wrapped up and flips him over in a suplex almost straight on his head. Sawyer gets a fireman's carry takedown but Zangiev gets back on the arm. Sawyer tries a takedown but something goes wrong leverage wise and they both flop down. Zangiev accomplishes his own supelex takedown. Sawyer powders for some advice from his seconds. German suplex from Sawyer! Zangiev kicks out but Sawyer celebrates like he won. Zangiev comes from behind with his own German, and that gets the pin! That'd be a major upset in the US, it's got to be at least a minor one in Japan. Afterward one of Sawyer's seconds, a blonde guy I can't place, gets chest bumpy with Zangiev for a second before things settle down. I generally appreciate this style but this didn't do much for me. 1/2*

 

Quarterfinals: Shinya Hashimoto def Riki Choshu in 3:41- True generational battle right here. Choshu, like Fujinami, has been one of the company's top stars for over a decade. Hashimoto, fresh back from excursion here, was in Chono's generation, one of the trio with Chono and Keiji "Great Muta" Mutoh that would later be called the Three Musketeers. Muta at this time was off on his famous NWA excursion that made him a star in the US before he became one in Japan. Despite their generational separation both these guys have very similar styles: straightforward, full speed hitting as hard as you can from bell to bell. Hashimoto's sporting a beard, which wouldn't last when he hit his peak years. Hashimoto gives Choshu a little what for slap on the first rope break. On the next one Choshu breaks clean and that seems to annoy Hashimoto more than anything. Test of strength, which Choshu gets the edge on thanks to his tree trunk legs. Hashimoto uses some fancy technical maneuvering to turn it around. Another break and another Hashimoto slap. Choshu gets Hashimoto stuck in the corner, wraps his leg around the rope and gives it a couple of shots, then lays in some back elbows to the head. Hashimoto headbutts out! That's followed by some stiff chest kicks. Choshu kicks Hashimoto down and calls for the lariato, which was his go to impact finisher. You think Bradshaw's clothesline from hell was stiff? That's only about a .7 or .8 on the Choshu lariato scale. Hashimoto cuts it off with a spinning heel kick. Leaping DDT from Hashimoto! That gets 2. He comes off the ropes into a Choshu knee to the gut. Suplex from Choshu. Again he warms up the arm. Lariato! Hashimoto kicks out! That gets a good crowd reaction. Backdropeh suplex. Choshu goes for the Scorpion Death Lock, his submission finisher. Hashimoto small packages him! That gets a 3 count! Choshu argues, thinking Hashimoto's foot was on a rope. It was close, but it was indeed a clean pin. Massive upset here, one of the early wins that got Hashimoto on the path to becoming the most dominant IWGP Heavyweight Champion pretty much ever at the point he mostly finished up with New Japan (a very strange tale I get into in my January 4th Tokyo Dome show review series). Good match for the time they got. **1/2

 

Kickboxing Match: Benny Urquidez and Shinya Asuka draw in 10:00- It was common for companies in Japan, not just New Japan, to put shoot fights on pro wrestling cards in this period. Variety, I suppose. I'm not getting deep into this. It's kickboxing, which I have zero interest in, I don't know either guy (though apparently Urquidez was in movies) and worst of all it's a draw. Moving on. NR

 

Semifinals: Big Van Vader def Tatsumi Fujinami in 14:37- A bit weird that what's clearly the bigger of the two semifinal matches is going first. In a contrast to his last match, Vader offers the senior Fujinami a Code of Honor handshake before intros. Vader does look like an absolute monster next to Fujinami. Fujinami grabs a headlock, which Vader quickly uses to drop him with a back suplex. Fujinami hit hard and rolls out for a think, taking all the way up to 19. Vader is all over him as soon as he's back in. Lariato! Huge Fujinami sell on that too. Vader cranks a headlock and Fujinami tries to suplex him. After a couple of attempts he gets Vader over! Fujinami lays in some hammy kicks until Vader cuts him off with a shot across the face. Vader puts Fujinami in a hammerlock to let things settle in a bit. Here come the famous Vader potato shots. He hooks in for a suplex. Fujinami blocks it and suplexes Vader instead! A dropkick sends Vader 360 over the top to the floor. Fujinami teases a dive but thinks better of it. A test of strength knucklelock leads to a Vader drop toe hold. He wraps Fujinami up in a modified cloverleaf. Vader decides to grab a handful of hair, which forces the ref to break the hold. He shouts "Don't pull hair!" at Vader which makes me chuckle a bit. Vader hits a couple more potato shots in the corner. Fujinami fights back with some open hand slaps. Now it's his turn to work on Vader's arm a bit. Vader straight body slams Fujinami to get free. Shoulderblock. He gets down into a 3 point stance (Vader did play football) and charges. Fujinami hiptosses him! He tries to stretch out an armbreaker. Vader fights it, then rolls over to get a foot on the rope. Vader goes for a suplex. Fujinami flips out. Backdropeh suplex on Vader! That gets a 2 count and Vader powders. Back in Fujinami gets back on the arm, and it's clear it's starting to become a problem for Vader. Vader works free, flips Fujinami over by the arm, and pops him with another potato shot. A lariato makes Fujinami seriously wobblelegged. Amazing sell. Vader goes for another one. Fujinami grabs the rope to stop himself from running into it, then dumps Vader over the top to the floor. The fight goes to the floor. Vader gives Fujinami a stiff open hand slap then whips him into the lighting rig support post. Good thing that was secure. Back in Fujinami gets some kicks on Vader's hurt arm, including an enzuguri, then drops him with a regular enzuguri to the head. He hooks in another armbar but Vader gets a rope break. Corner avalanche. Fujinami dodges a second. Armdrag. Dropkick. Fujinami slams Vader! He goes up top. Vader catches him coming off and gives him a hot shot! They go to the floor again. Fujinami dodges and Vader lariatos the ring post with his bad arm! Fujinami gives the arm another post shot then whips Vader into the guardrail. Back in Fujinami blocks a lariato and hooks another armbar in. He's clearly got his submission target but Vader will not quit while the arm is still attached. Sunset flip from Fujinami. Vader squashes him! Big splash! Vader gets the pin! Both Choshu and Fujinami are out of the tournament before the final. I'm sure that busted a ton of brackets. Tremendous match between two legends from two different generations, but it didn't quite have enough to hit the upper echelon. ***3/4

 

Semifinals: Shinya Hashimoto def Victor Zangiev in 7:28- Gotta figure this match is a foregone conclusion if they want any drama in the final. Again, it would have made a lot of sense to swap the order of the semis matches. Lots of intensity from Zangiev at the start. He gets Hashimoto down in an STF before a rope break. Both guys fight for leverage in the middle of the ring. Hashimoto twists around for a takedown, again showing quite a bit of technical acumen. Zangiev hits a belly to belly suplex! Hashimoto takes some time on the floor to think things over. Back in Zangiev works a headscissors and tries to stretch Hashimoto's arm out. Hashimoto lands a couple of kicks to the chest. Zangiev grabs him and flips him over in another suplex. He goes for Hashimoto's arm again. Hashimoto slowly fights and manages to twist Zangiev into a headscissors. Zangiev rolls around and gets himself free relatively quickly to an appreciative pop from the crowd. He's earning some cred with them the work he's done tonight. Hashimoto tries to ride Zangiev on the mat. Zangiev deadlifts him up on his shoulders. Dude is strong, deceptively so given his small frame, I'll give him that. Hashimoto spits at Zangiev! Dipping into the Naito playbook here. But where Naito uses that as an almost playful mind games taunt, Hashimoto is clearly getting frustrated. He tries to elbow out of a Zangiev waistlock but Zangiev tosses him again. A switch seems to flip in Hashimoto and he goes into enough is enough mode. He pulls Zangiev backward hard into the corner and gives him a couple of shots. Standing spinning heel kick! Hashimoto hooks in a figure four! Zangiev has a long fight, but can't get free and has to submit! They handshake it out after. Pretty good match, especially considering Hashimoto was just out of excursion and Zangiev was a converted pro. ***

 

Wahka Eveloev def Masa Saito in 5:28- Another low experience Soviet amateur here in Eveloev. More than low for him, this is his first ever pro match. Saito was around forever in both Japan and the US, making an appearance in every major American company at some point or another, usually as Mr. Saito. He's generally credited with the creation of the Saito/backdropeh suplex. Eveloev is in the alternate red singlet, all the Soviet guys had been in blue to this point. Not too much happening here. Takedown, put on an arm hold, rope break, reset, rinse and repeat. Given his amateur background Eveloev is allowed to get most of the takedowns. Eventually Saito says screw this shit and whacks Eveloev with a lariato. A second one. Backdropeh suplex. Now he's having to sell Eveloev looks completely lost. Still, I've seen worse. He's selling the clotheslines better than Reggie White did. They both stand and awkwardly paw at each other for a bit. Eveloev gets another takedown into a cross armbreaker. Saito submits! Very questionable booking call. After the bell Eveloev looks like he seems to be questioning his life choices. His experiment with the pros wouldn't last very long. 1/4*

 

Tournament Final for the Vacant IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Big Van Vader def Shinya Hashimoto in 9:47- They've got this really low on the card. I'm sure there's a reason that was logical to them at the time but I don't get it. Inoki was always going to main event, but this should have at least been the semi-main. Lou Thesz has come over to be the special guest referee in this one. Nice touch. After intros Vader sets his headgear in the middle of the ring. He does a little ceremony, then the steam goes off from it! Hashimoto stands in the other corner watching and giving exactly zero fucks. Fantastic from both sides. Very cautious start. They slowly knucklelock with one hand. Hashimoto tries to jump but Vader wraps him up in a headlock. Hashimoto uses that to crank Vader's hurt arm from the Fujinami match. Smart. Vader senses trouble and gets in the ropes. BOOM! Spinning backfist from Vader! That wobbled Hashimoto good. Both guys standing grapple for leverage near the ropes. Vader gets a takedown and tries to grind Hashimoto down. He nails Hashimoto with a bit of a combo lariato/Vader tackle and Hashimoto slides out to the floor. Back in Hashimoto gets a kick on the bad arm! A few more shots with Vader selling like Ric Flair, shouting up to the cheap seats, and Hashimoto hooks on a hammerlock. He slowly stretches Vader's arm out on the mat and tries a pin for 2. More kicks to the arm with more fantastic Vader selling. Vader scruntches up like he's steeling himself and absolutely waffles Hashimoto with a fist straight down onto the top of his head. Corner avalanche. Cover for 2. Hashimoto dodges another avalanche and gets right back on the arm, snapping it over his shoulder. Vader slams Hashimoto out of a hammerlock. VADER DROPKICK! At the time that was pretty mind blowing, and still just the start for him. Just wait until he starts doing the Vadersault. Setup slam. Vader goes up top to finish it. Hashimoto is back up! He spinning heel kicks Vader off the top rope! Slam on Vader! Cross armbreaker! It's got to be over. No, Vader powers out! More Hashimoto kicks to the arm. Vader shrugs them off and wobbles Hashimoto with a straight right punch! Lariato! With a nice like Choshu like arm spin before. Hashimoto kicks out! Another lariato that almost decapitates Hashimoto! There's a weird hitch in Thesz's count, but that gets the pin! Vader wins the IWGP Heavyweight Title for the first time! The first of his many major title wins in both Japan and the US. Afterward Vader shows a bit of disrespect standing over Hashimoto's corpse and celebrating. Then he goes out and has some words with commentary! You think Minoru Suzuki is scary, imagine Vader coming after you like that. Vader gets back in the ring for the ceremony to present the belt and a medium sized trophy for winning the tournament. I may be overrating this a bit, but that was a fantastic match that fit a ton into not a ton of time, especially with both guys working their third match of the night, and with a nuclear hot crowd eating up every drop of it. It's a shame they never had another singles match on a major show. By the time Hashimoto hit his dominant peak Vader was back in the US full time. What a collision that would have been. ****

 

IWGP Tag Team Champions Super Strong Machine and George Takano def IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Hase and Shiro Koshinaka in 17:10- And now for the rest of the card. SSM (Junji Hirata) was a longtime masked heel. Takano is a mixed American/Japanese military kid that was born in Japan, then left there with his Japanese mother by his American father. He worked in Stampede for a while under a mask as The Cobra, and is another one of the guys that moved to SWS when it was formed. Hase is early in a run that would see him become one of the most popular wrestlers in New Japan during the first half of the '90s, especially after a move up to heavyweight. He's in his second junior title reign here. Koshinaka, the very first IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, would be one of New Japan's top heels throughout the '90s as the leader of Heisei Ishingun. Lou Thesz stays in to ref this one. Takano and Koshinaka start. They do some basic, but good, back and forth grappling. Hase comes off the top rope with a standing elbow drop on Takano, then shoves him back into his corner and DEMANDS SSM tag in. SSM does and gets the edge on Hase with some mat grappling. Even though Hase was a junior at this point he doesn't look much smaller than SSM, if at all. Hase hits a shoulderblock but SSM quickly twists around into some leg work. He's playing with fire a bit holding Hase down so close to Hase's corner. SSM realizes this and armdrags Hase across to his corner. Takano tags in and hits a missile dropkick, but that also allows Hase to tag out. Koshinaka and Takano do a reset lockup. On a rope break Koshinaka slaps Takano! Takano slaps back and he have an open hand exchange, then they start headbutting each other like a couple of drunk Klingons in Quark's. Koshinaka flips the script with a standing dropkick, then dodges a Takano spinning heel kick attempt. SSM hits a back elbow. Koshinaka tries to block an SSM suplex so SSM flips him over the other way instead. He goes for an armbreaker that Koshinaka fights out of. After a small double team Hase tags in and stomps the snot out of SSM, then gives him a Russian leg sweep. SSM gets a double leg takedown and puts on a Boston crab. Hase gets to the ropes. Side suplex from SSM for 2. Takano hits a tiltawhirl backbreaker. For some reason Thesz refuses to count. Hase and Takano go into full slugfest mode. Takano double underhooks, but Hase manages to block, fight, and then flips Takano over. Double suplex on Takano from Hase and Koshinaka. Now Koshinaka hooks on a Boston crab. Takano does push ups in it! That breaks the hold. Hase tries a Scorpion Death Lock on Takano. Hase dodges an SSM elbow drop off the second rope. He goes up top but SSM meets him. SSM superplex! Lariato! Hase wraps SSM's arm to fight back and hits a belly to belly suplex. Takano quickly tags in and stomps Hase about 100 times to keep him down. Belly to belly from Takano for 2. Double back elbow from the champs. Hase tries a sunset flip on SSM but I don't think SSM was expecting it and he doesn't react at all. Kind of ugly looking. SSM recovers by planting Hase with a piledriver that Hase decided to spread his legs all the way out during for some reason. SSM goes up top. Hase dodges the headbutt off the top and tags. Koshinaka hits his signature hip attack. Double missile dropkick on SSM! Takano breaks the pin up. Backdropeh from Koshinaka on SSM. He goes for a German. Takano comes in and gives him an enzuguri! SSM German for 2. Koshinaka small package for 2. Hase hits a suplex, then dropkicks Takano as he comes in after a tag. Powerslam from Hase for 2. Northern lights suplex! SSM breaks the pin up. Takano dodges a dropkick and goes up top. Missile dropkick. Spinning heel kick. DONNYBROOK! The champs clear the ring, then isolate Hase. Takano gives him a tombstone. Double headbutt off the top from the champs. Another pin breakup. Hase gets his boots up in the corner on SSM and hits a diving lariato for 2. Koshinaka dragon suplex on SSM for 2. Powerbomb on Takano for 2. Missile dropkick. Tags on both sides. Hase fallaway slam on SSM for 2. SSM fights off a northern lights, turns Hase, and hits his own northern lights suplex to win. Solidly fun but the second half was pretty much a spotfest. Tag wrestling was one area where New Japan has almost always lagged behind most American companies. **3/4

 

Jushin Liger def Kuniaki Kobayashi in 9:55- You can't talk about big New Japan shows in the Tokyo Dome without talking about Jushin Thunder effing Liger. Though this is before the Thunder. Or the effing. In fact, this is the debut match of the Liger character. Very appropriate at the first Dome show. Kobayashi was a former junior champion. He would move up to heavyweight soon after this show and would later co-found Heisei Ishingun with Koshinaka. Even though he had a long New Japan career that one junior title win would be his only career title here and last one anywhere. Liger's gear is completely different to what he'd be famous in. His bodysuit is similar, in red and gold but a slightly different design. The biggest difference is the mask. No horns, and it covers his whole face with three mesh slits down each side. The conception from the start was "an anime character come to life" and a prominent anime artist had his hand in this inital design. After the inital lockups Liger turns the flippy on early countering a headlock counter, then hits a lariato that sends Kobayashi to the floor. Liger hits a baseball slide. I like how they stuck with hard camera that whole sequence. Crossbody from Liger off the top to the floor! The crowd is already behind him. Suplex from Liger back in, followed by a senton. Kobayashi comes back with some knees to the gut and a spin kick. He tries for a cross armbreaker. Liger blocks it, rolls over and we're going surfing! Kobayashi rolls over into a Boston crab. He tosses Liger out to the floor. Back in Liger leapfrogs and hits a kind of hiptoss. Crossbody off the top. Sunset flip for 2. Liger makes it all look so effortless. After a mat leverage battle both guys roll into the ropes. Kobayashi goes full dick and tries to take Liger's mask off. Liger lays in some open hand slaps. Kobayashi responds with a double leg takedown. Sleeper from Kobayashi. Liger gets a rope break. They go to the floor and Liger gets whipped into the guardrail. It looks like Liger tries to hiptoss Koyabashi over the rail into the crowd but Kobayashi blocks it. They're both kind of weirdly laying over the top of the guardrail. Back in Kobayashi hits a running high knee in the corner. Liger reverses and hits a dropkick, then some head kicks in the corner. He goes for another suplex. Kobayashi flips out and tries for a German. Liger standing switch and he goes for a German. Kobayashi low blows him! Total dick move. In more ways than one. Kobayashi tries another spin kick. Liger blocks it and tosses him down. Rolling kick! That's one that will become a signature Liger move. He wraps Kobayashi up in an octopus hold. Kobayashi falls into the ropes. Setup slam and Liger goes up top. He goes for a splash but Kobayashi gets his knees up. Fisherman's suplex! Liger just gets a foot on the rope before 3! Kobayashi goes for a suplex but Liger rolls over and falls on top of him. Tombstone from Liger in a clear setup move, not intending to be a finisher. Liger gets on the second rope and comes off with a kind of standing diving headbutt. Looked like a battering ram. A German suplex gets the pin. After the bell a pissed Koayashi tries to get the mask off again and has to be held back by the Young Lion gaggle. Solid debut for the Liger character. The fan response was positive and he'd massage the moveset over the coming months. New Japan knew what they had and Liger would defeat Hase to win the first of his record eleven junior titles the very next month. **1/2

 

Salman Hashimikov def Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow in 2:26- Bigelow is doing one of his New Japan runs between US, primarily WWF, stints. Yes, Hashimikov is another Soviet just getting started in the pros. Back to the blue Soviet singlet. Bigelow to Hattori trying to do prematch checks: "You ain't gotta check me!". Nice. Hattori wants a handshake before the bell. Hashimikov offers. Bigelow ponders....then dropkicks Hashimikov right in the mush! Message sent and the bell rings to start. Hashimikov tries a leg takedown. Bigelow says eff that and clubs him right in the back. Another one. "He's easy!". Hashimikov manages to lift a boot, but that only allows Bigelow to enziguri him! Finally Hashimikov gets a takedown and Bigelow immediately gets to the ropes. "Get him back!". Eye rake from Bigelow and he pounds away in the corner. Hahimikov lifts Bigelow up, carries him around the ring, northern lights suplexes him, hooks a leg and gets the shock pin! Well, that's interesting. After the bell Hahimikov tries to say "nice match" but Bigelow shoves him away and leaves the ring not a happy man. He's more angry here than when he lost to Lawrence Taylor. 1/2*

 

From the "so crazy it's true" files, Hashimikov would go on to defeat Vader for the Heavyweight title about a month after this show in one of Inoki's infamous title win brain farts. He'd drop it a month later to Choshu and we'd be spared any more really bad title reign decisions, at least with the top belt, until the infamous Inokism period hit around the turn of the century.

 

No Ropes Martial Arts Match for the WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship: Shota Chochishivili def Antonio Inoki (c) in 13:20- Speaking of Inokism, this was one of the first attempts by him to do that blended work/shoot style. The Martial Arts Title was a belt specifically created for Inoki by Vince McMahon Senior and given to him in December 1978. He's held it ever since. Chochi (as I'm going to call him for the sake of my fingers and my sanity) was from Georgia (the Soviet controlled Baltic country, not the state), won an Olympic gold medal in judo and this is the first of only three recorded professional matches for him, all of which involved Inoki. The ring ropes have been removed for this match to give it more of a shoot feel. Chochi is working this match in full judo gear. Inoki's in his usual wrestling trunks, but is wearing blue shooter shoes with it. Seeing a mostly properly dressed professional wrestler and a guy that looks like he should be training kids on a Saturday afternoon in the ring at the same time is weird to say the least. This is using the rounds system. Like most of this Inoki worked appearing shoot stuff I'm not getting deep into it. After a minute or so of pawing at each other Inoki spices things up by planting Chochi with a backdropeh suplex. At the start of round 2 Chochi gets a takedown and tries for an armbreaker. Apparently there's a rule that they can only be on the mat so long, I don't know, because the ref counts and he breaks before the count gets to 20. Then they do the same thing again. I'll give it to Inoki, he sells the hell out of the arm, letting it hang limp on his side and not using it at all the rest of the match. Early in round 3 Inoki goes for a rolling kick that somewhat hits. He gets some strikes with his good arm after thant then hooks on a legbar. An enziguri lays Chochi out! Chochi gets what looks like a full choke hold on but the bell rings to end round 3. Things seem to regress in round 4 as we're back to mostly pawing at each other. At the start of round 5 Chochi gets a suplex-like takedown that puts Inoki down for a bit. When he gets back up Inoki hits another rolling kick. Chochi puts him down again. Inoki is clearly wobblelegged. Another takedown. 10 count! DOWN GOES INOKI! DOWN GOES INOKI! The decade long title reign is over! Word is Inoki wanted to lose here to have a memorable moment at the very first Dome show. During the victory ceremony Chochi is presented with....a giant gold key. Well that's nice. Inoki then shakes his hand and hands him the belt, still selling the hurt arm the whole time. Inoki would end up winning it back barely a month later, at the same Osaka show that had the other big title changes I've mentioned from a month later. The Martial Arts Title would then be quietly retired at the end of the year to keep full focus on the IWGP Heavyweight Title. The match was what you'd expect from one of these things. Call it *

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- All in all I'd call this a fantastic introduction to wrestling in the Tokyo Dome. The card order is a bit weird and there's some typical of the era shoot or workyshoot duds, but the proper wrestling matches delivered. The tournament for the Heavyweight title was a resounding success, with quality matches, making Vader a legit top guy, and giving Hashimoto a much needed boost to get him on his way. Wrestling in the Tokyo Dome was here to stay.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+

Starrcade '97

Legacy Review

Starrcade '97

December 28, 1997 from the MCI Center in Washington, DC

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes and Mike Tenay

This was supposed to the big one. WCW built up this year's Starrcade as the biggest show in company history, in large part on the back of the Sting/Hogan match that had been slowly building for over a year and was being presented by WCW as nothing less than the biggest match in the history of professional wrestling. All the hype and then some. It would turn out to be a hugely important show in the company's history, but not the way they wanted.

We open up with commentary discussing the debate between WCW and the NWO on the referee to be assigned the world title match. WCW Commissioner JJ Dillon just this afternoon has ruled that the ref will be randomly drawn from a pot containing the names of all active WCW officials. We then cut to the crowd and see that every wrestler that wasn't booked for a match tonight is serving as a seat filler, and not all at ringside either. They're all over the arena. Not sure if that's something I'd brag about or not. Do they count for official attendance or just the mythical "turnstile count"? After that is MOAR CONTROVERSY. The NWO have put out a press release....hold on, I have to stop there. The anti-establishment ultimate rebels the NWO put out a PRESS RELEASE? Anyway, the press release was an announcement that Kevin Nash is not at the arena tonight and won't be having his scheduled match with the Giant, which was promoted as the #2 match after Hogan/Sting. The reality is that Nash no-showed the event due to what he later deemed a legitimate health scare. I'll leave it up to the reader to determine how much truth they think there is in that or not.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Eddie Guerrero (c) def Dean Malenko in 14:57- Thanks to his feud with Rey Mysterio (not booked tonight) Guerrero has become one of the top heels in the company, at least in terms of crowd reaction. This is kind of a title homecoming for Malenko, his first shot in a while at the title he more than anyone else did the early groundwork to make legit. Guerrero tries to hide behind ref Lil' Naitch after the bell then jumps Malenko when he has an opening. He gets a waistlock takedown. Malenko fights free on the mat then lays in some ground and pound before a reset. Back and forth slugging. Malenko hits a leg lariat for 2. Delayed suplex. Standing switches lead to Guerrero grabbing a knucklelock and climbing the ropes. He goes for a springboard hurricanrana but Malenko counters into a powerbomb for 2. Guerrero gets on his knees and it all kind of fired up....until Malenko lunges for him and he crawls right out of the ring on his knees. After some aisle stalling Guerrero sneaks back in and clips Malenko's knee. Malenko blocks a suplex and drops Guerrero on the top rope. Clothesline for 2. Malenko hooks on a headscissors. Guerrero gets to the ropes. After a face first backdrop Guerrero wants a time out. He kisses Malenko's boot! Malenko responds with a basement dropkick in the mush. What else would Guerrero expect from Malenko? Guerrero powders again. Back in we get a cautious knucklelock and test of strength that Malenko easily wins. He blocks a Guerrero tornado DDT attempt and hits a back suplex for 2. Another blocked suplex. Guerrero lands on the apron and snaps Malenko's back over the top rope. After that he starts picking Malenko's knee apart. Powerbomb from Guerrero for 2. Malenko blocks a hurricanrana into a German suplex for 2. He spins Guerrero around into a backbreaker. They do a series of corner counters and a top rope fight. Another blocked hurricanrana. They both come off the top and I think Malenko was going for the super gutbuster but something didn't go right and they both just kind of flop back down. Malenko recovers to roll up a magistral cradle but Guerrero's all in the ropes. Powerbomb. Malenko sets up for the Cloverleaf. Guerrero kicks the bad knee. He goes for a dropkick to the knee but Malenko dodges and Guerrero slides to the floor. He goes up top, and a missile dropkick to the knee hits! Guerrero climbs up the other side! Frog splash! That gets the pin! It's fine, but not nearly at the level you would expect from these too. That most definitely set the tone for the rest of the night. **1/2

The NWO's music hits and Scott Hall makes his way out, wearing one of the new tag belts. Even after finally losing the tag titles to the Steiners, Hall and Nash still claimed to be the real champs and made the Steiners tote around the old belts while they kept the new ones. The problems with that are 1. it's been going on for a couple of months now and b. WCW had already done like 4 or 5 "stolen belt" angles in the last year plus. Hey yo! Hall does the survey, which was still pretty new at the time. After that he says Nash isn't here, and if you have a problem with that "you can meet him down there". Someone in the crowd hilariously shouts "Down where?". And then it gets funnier when Hall tries to answer and has nothing. He wants a ref out here and tells the Giant "you win". Gee, way to put up a fight. Giant come out sans ref. He takes the mic and says he's both understanding of Nash' refusal to lose to him (probably shooting there) and that he's a patient man. Hall, less patient, punches Giant. Giant no sells it all and gives him a headbutt. Press slam. He goes for the chokeslam but changes his mind and jackknifes Hall instead to send a message to Nash. The whole thing with Hall's usual ridiculous overselling. I guess having Hall face Giant in a match as Nash's replacement made too much sense.

 

"Macho Man" Randy Savage, Scott Norton and Vincent (w/Elizabeth) def WCW World Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers and Ray Traylor (w/Ted DiBiase) in 12:12- Konnan was originally supposed to be on the NWO team in this match but he also no-showed. Did he and Nash have lunch at the same taco stand? Savage comes out after everyone else as his replacement. Also the "biggest show in wrestling history" couldn't have a tag title match? Lots of jawing after the bell before Savage and Scott start. Man, what an incredible singles match that could have been around '91 or '92. After a rough lockup Savage tries to provoke Scott. Speed run with Scott running Savage over and calling him "boy". Slap exchange. Norton knees Scott in the back from the apron and the NWO gang up on him. Norton hits a Samoan drop and backbreaker. Savage double ax handle off the top rope to the back. Scott says that's enough and gives Savage a double underhook powerbomb. Press slam and we're DONNYBROOKING OUTTA NOWHERE. The faces clear the ring. Scott moves Elizabeth out of the way to try to move things along. Reset with Norton and Rick tagging in. Rick hits a powerslam and Steinerline. Traylor gets caught in the NWO corner. He catches Vincent leaping and gives him a spinebuster. Scott belly to belly suplex as Vincent gets tossed around like the jobber he is. The faces work quick tags on him until he dodges a Traylor splash and tags out. Norton with a clothesline. Vincent and Traylor collide midring and Traylor gets a tag to Rick. He goes on the wild man hot tag run. Steiner avalanche DDT on Vincent. Norton breaks the pin up. Scott hits Vincent with a top rope Frankensteiner! This time Savage breaks the pin up. DiBiase is distracting the ref for some reason. Norton drops an electric chair, Savage hits the top rope elbow and it's over. I was half expecting DiBiase to turn back heel his ref distracting was so bad, but nope. It was just plain bad. The whole match was a fustercluck. 3/4*

Mean Gene is out with tonight's Hotline shill. Once again it's essentially "there's people backstage you might not expect". Man, they're really out of ideas for that. Plus, Bret Hart's already been announced to guest ref the Zbyszko/Bischoff match so he wouldn't count. JJ Dillon comes out and announces the winning referee for the main event is none other than recently evil ref but got his soul back and reformed Nick Patrick. Wow, I'm shocked.

 

Bill Goldberg def Steve "Mongo" McMichael in 6:34- These two former football players have been feuding for a while. I would say stars but that only counts for one of them. Goldberg's NFL career was as one of those guys that if you got his Topps or Pro Set card in a pack you'd say "Who?" and consider throwing it away. Again, this is way before WCW decided to strap a rocket ship to Goldberg (still having his first name is a dead giveaway), he's more or less just an up and coming guy at this point. Goldberg is supposedly the heel here but Mongo acts very heelish too. They meet in the aisle and the fight is on. Goldberg literally carries Mongo to the ring. He then grabs a table and sets it up on the floor in a corner. When Goldberg gets in the bell rings to officially start. Mongo immediately takes control, hitting a side suplex. Goldberg takes off with a flying tackle that might have grazed Mongo and covers for 2. They go back to the floor with some weak brawling. Back in Mongo tries coming off the top but Goldberg catches him with a punch to the gut. Goldberg does a halfway decent rolling leg takedown into a legbar. Midring collision but only Mongo goes down. Goldberg gentle spear for 2. He goes out and rearranges the furniture, setting the table up next to the apron. He lifts Mongo and tries to drop him down on the table. Mongo fights free, wanders around the floor for a bit, then gets on the apron that the table is next to. Punch from Goldberg and Mongo goes through the table. That got almost no reaction. Mongo, being Mongo, still tries to go on offense as soon as he gets back in the ring. He goes for the Mongo Spike (tombstone) but can't hold Goldberg up. One Jackhammer later it's over. It's green as hell Goldberg working his longest TV match to date and Mongo, it's about as bad as you'd expect. DUD

The next match is scheduled to be Chris Benoit finally getting his hands on Raven after weeks of Raven ducking him. Raven comes out first to no music and assumes promo position in the ring. He says the contract he signed with WCW basically lets him do whatever he wants to do because he's not a conformist or something. He's starting to sound like a South Park goth kid. Well, not starting to. He pulls himself out of the match and substitutes Saturn in his place. Because sure, why would you want to have a long awaited feud blowoff on "the biggest show in wrestling history"? That'd make way too much sense. The theme so far tonight is definitely "card subject to change".

 

Raven's Rules: Saturn (w/Raven) def Chris Benoit in 11:06- Benoit takes Raven's mic after his entrance and does the usual Benoit butchering of his promo. Saturn tries to jump but Benoit was ready for him. Benoit hits some chops. Saturn makes a couple of attempts at a sleeper but Benoit quickly gets out both times. Saturn does get a drop toe hold, but Benoit is quickly up with more chops. He takes a moment to spit on Raven. Saturn grabs Benoit by the neck and flips him over with a suplex. They do some back and forth slugging, lose their place, and Benoit gives Saturn a dragon screw. Billy Kidman comes out of the crowd to distract Benoit. Saturn was supposed to do a Cactus Clothesline, but neither guy makes it over and they both settle for sliding out instead. Saturn takes a guardrail shot. Sick Boy attacks Benoit. Kidman hits a running shooting star press off the apron. Raven stands over Benoit before the Flock get him back in the ring. Saturn gives him a legdrop in the ropes. Hangman's neckbreaker for 2. Setup slam. Saturn hits a springboard moonsault! Limited as Saturn was, you could count on him for one crazy ass spot every match. He hurts himself on the landing so much Tony thinks Benoit countered it somehow. WCW doesn't do in match replays so I rewound to confirm that Benoit did not in fact do any kind of counter. Saturn covers but Benoit gets a foot on the ropes. He continues pounding on Benoit. Benoit gets a flash roll up for 2. Saturn clothesline for 2. Brain buster for 2. Benoit sunset flip for 2. Clothesline and both guys are down. Saturn is up first and back in control. He hits a Michinoku Driver, then gets up and mocks Benoit's throat slash gesture to the crowd. Saturn goes up top. Benoit joins him and after a fight pushes Saturn to the floor. Saturn dodges a baseball slide. Benoit ducks a clothesline on the floor and puts on the crossface! The whole Flock jumps him to break it up. Raven's Rules, no DQ. Saturn does a horrible asai moonsault that Benoit dodges and Saturn crashes into the Flock. Clothesline from Benoit back in. Snap suplex. The real throat slash. Benoit hits the headbutt off the top rope all the way across the ring! All the Flock goons run in. Benoit fights them all off. He gets nose to nose with Raven. Hammer hits Benoit from behind and Raven plants him with a DDT. Saturn puts the Rings of Saturn on but it's academic. Benoit's out and the ref calls it. The match had some moments and intensity, Benoit was one of the few guys out there tonight trying his ass off to make the special show actually special, but he could only do so much. Especially with that finish. **1/2

 

Buff Bagwell def "The Total Package" Lex Luger in 17:03- The rest of tonight's matches are all WCW vs NWO, and Tony calls it a "turning point". So, like almost every other PPV the last year and a half? Rough lockup shenanigans at the start. Luger spits and Bagwell sells it! Luger blocks and hits a hiptoss. Press slam. He 360 clotheslines Bagwell to the floor. Bagwell walks up the aisle and calls for Vincent. Vincent answers the summons. Back in Bagwell gets some shots in and tosses Luger out. Luger wins the exchange on the floor. After they get back in Vincent hops on the apron for no reason. After a few Luger shots on Bagwell he gets up again. This time Luger decks him. Bagwell uses the opening for an eye poke. Both guys take turns choking Luger. Extremely dull extended Bagwell offense follows. At one point the crowd starts chanting for or about something that has nothing to do with what's happening in the ring. Luger gets a boot up in the corner and hits a clothesline. Bagwell's quickly back on him with a chinlock. Arm drop, Luger comeback, cut off. Luger gets a roll up for 2. Bagwell clothesline for 2. And back to the chinlock. Another Luger comeback is cut off in the most basic, predictable way possible. I'm calling almost every move in my head before they happen. Now Bagwell hooks on a sleeper. Variety? More arm drops. Luger hulks up with a back suplex. He gets his knees up on a Bagwell splash attempt. Backdrop from Luger. Clotheslines. Inverted atomic drops. Vincent hops up and gets knocked down again. Running forearm. Suplex. Now Vincent goes to the top rope. Luger tosses him into Bagwell. Vincent gets 360 clotheslined out. Luger beats Bagwell down in the corner and the ref tells him to stop. While Luger's turned around Bagwell knees him in the back and the ref goes down. Luger powerslam. Torture Rack! No ref. Savage runs in and attacks. Luger press slams him and puts him in the Rack! Now Norton runs in. He hits Luger with what looks like a collar. Then he drapes Bagwell over Luger, gets the ref, and he slow counts a pin for Bagwell. Ugh. Mass heel interference finishes two straight matches. In this case though, the whole match was total shit. This should have been a glaring indicator that Buff was not, in fact, the stuff. 1/4*

For those of you keeping track that's 5 straight heel wins in the big blowoff "biggest ever" show.

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Diamond Dallas Page def Curt Hennig (c) in 11:09- Huge DDP chant at the start. This crowd is desperate for something to cheer for. I guess taped ribs are a normal part of DDP's ring gear now. He does a quick roll up right after the bell to make Hennig think. After some arm shots he tries to twist Hennig into an early Diamond Cutter! Hennig quickly gets the hell out of town. Back in Hennig goes to the old eye poke and starts kicking away at DDP's permanently hurt ribs. Chops from Hennig. DDP counters a chinlock into a hammerlock, then after some rope running grabs a headlock. More Hennig chops. DDP goes back to the headlock. They slug it out and Hennig does an almost classic flip over the ropes to the floor off a punch. Hennig snaps DDP over the top rope and attacks the ribs again. DDP gets run into the steps. Hennig walks on DDP's back. DDP fights back but Hennig gets a boot up in the corner for 2. Chinlock with rope leverage that goes on for a while. Eventually DDP jawbreakers out with a big Hennig sell. Slugfest. Another Hennig flip over the ropes to the floor. DDP plancha! Hennig takes his usual crotch shot on the ring post. At this point I don't know if he has any feeling left down there at all as many times as he's taken that. Another Cutter attempt is rope blocked and Hennig tries a leverage cover for 2. DDP roll up for 2. Small package for 2. Hennig clothesline for 2. He hooks up for the Perfectplex. DDP counters out with an armbar slam. Simultaneous punches and both guys go down. Coming off the ropes DDP spins around Hennig. Diamond Cutter! DDP gets the pin and wins the title! Pretty big pop for something finally going "right" tonight. It's also about damn time DDP got something to reflect the fact he was the hottest babyface in the company for much of the year, even more than Sting at points. The match was eh. They didn't gel too well and Hennig was still struggling physically. *3/4

 

Larry Zbyszko def Eric Bischoff (w/Scott Hall) by DQ in 11:30- This is part of the ongoing beef that Zbyszko had started having the past few months with the NWO in general, and Mr. Hall in particular. The stipulations for tonight's match are that if Zbyszko wins he gets a match with Hall at Souled Out. If Bischoff wins, the NWO finally after a year and a half of trying and teasing get full control of Nitro. For those not familiar Zbyszko was a legitimate Hall of Famer. He made his name back in the WWWF by feuding with his trainer Bruno Sammartino, and had his greatest success in the AWA where he was a two time world champion. He also held tag and secondary titles in both Jim Crockett and WCW in previous years. After retiring as a full time wrestler in the early '90s he's been working weekly TV commentary for WCW. On the other side, this is Bischoff's first ever recorded match. It'll be far from his last. Oh yeah, and the special guest referee is the recently signed and recently Montreal Screwjobbed Bret Hart. He comes out first to almost no fanfare. Kind of an omen for his whole WCW run really. Bischoff's in his karate gear with feet and hands covered. I don't know the technical terms, I'm not familiar with that world. Lots of caution at the start. Bischoff manages to land a couple of glancing punches and does the full heel overcelebration. He decides to hop out and have a conference with Hall. When he gets back in Zbyszko hits some open hand slaps and gets admonished by Bret after Bischoff complains. Sleeper from Zbyszko! Bret says it's a choke and forces a break. Zbyszko puts Bischoff in a headscissors. Again Bret says it's a choke. Zbyszko is not happy and neither is commentary. Slam from Zbyszko and he puts Bischoff in a standing reverse figure four. Bischoff gets to the ropes. Zbyszko kicks his knee and Bischoff falls to the floor. Zbyszko gently pushes him into the post. Then into the steps. More arguing with Bret follows. They're teasing the "Bret is on the NWO's side" thing so frakking hard that it's clearly obvious that he's NOT with the NWO. Tony only confirms that by saying Bret must be with the NWO. Which means there's zero logical sense for Bret to be riding Zbyszko so hard. Zbyszko goes to punch Bischoff in the corner but Bret pulls his fist back. Bischoff takes the opening to get a shot in, and spends the next two solid minutes nonstop swinging at Zbyszko. Zbyszko covers up and weathers the storm, clearly intending to let Bischoff punch himself out. It works. Suplex from Zbyszko. Swinging neckbreaker. He puts Bischoff in the tree of woe. Hall gets on the apron and takes a shot. While Bret's yelling at Zbyszko again Hall loads up Bischoff's footgear with a steel plate. Bischoff lands the KO kick, and the steel plate flies out and away likely into the crowd. I don't think that was supposed to happen. He clearly hit Zbyszko with his shin anyway, not the loaded foot. Instead of covering Bischoff celebrates. Bret stands around for a bit, then randomly punches Bischoff out. Maybe he was supposed to find the steel plate but it did fly into the crowd and they couldn't get it back? Bret then takes Hall out and puts him in the Sharpshooter while Zbyszko chokes Bischoff with his belt. After they've had enough Bret raises Zbyszko's hand. The bell never rang to end the match by the way so we have to guess as to what the official decision is. A complete clusterfuck on every possible level. MINUS FIVE STARS

 

Before getting to the main event, a little perspective on Hogan's '97 title reign. Hogan's been World champion for all but 6 days (Luger's Nitro win) this year. What has WCW gotten out of that? This is only the fourth time the World title has been defended on PPV all year, out of 12 PPVs. Two were way back in January and February (Souled Out and Superbrawl), and the last was at Road Wild in August when Hogan won the title back from Luger. So this is just the second World title match on PPV in the last 10 months, and the first where Hogan was defending. And you thought the part time champion runs of Brock Lesnar or Roman Reigns were bad in terms of sparse defenses. Well they were, but this was worse.

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Sting def Hollywood Hogan (c) in 13:20- Hogan comes out first. Sting's entrance starts with a laser projection show and the usual kid reading out a story. After that Sting's music abruptly stops and restarts, and rather than coming down through the rafters or making some other special entrance Sting just walks out like normal. Staredown before the bell. They do have the big match feel atmosphere going, I'll give them that. The bell rings and Hogan shoves. Bandana toss! Slap from Sting. Hogan goes into full stall mode. Off the lockup corner break Hogan tries a cheap shot but Sting was ready for him. Huge "Hogan sucks" chant. Hogan wants a knucklelock. He uses that opening to get a shot in and proceeds with the usual heel Hogan beatdown for the next few minutes. After a slam Sting dodges elbow drops and dropkicks Hogan out of the ring. More stalling. Back in Hogan cranks a headlock. Speed run, Sting hits more dropkicks and Hogan goes to the floor again. Now Sting cranks a headlock for a long while. More speed and Hogan hits a clothesline. Suplex. Sting pops up! Crotch chop! All the rage in wrestling nowadays. He pounds Hogan down in the corner until Hogan gets an eye poke for space. Sting gets tossed out. Hogan hits Sting with his own bat. Sting's shoulder gets posted. Whip reverse and Hogan goes into the guardrail. Hogan dodges a Stinger Splash and Sting crashes into the guardrail. Inverted atomic drop from Hogan back in. Big boot. Legdrop. Cover. Hogan gets a pin. Let me stress, Hogan got a pin. Clean as a sheet. Cleanest pin he's gotten since turning heel. He might have reached back and grabbed Sting's tights, that's it. Apparently Nick Patrick was supposed to have a relapse of evil here and fast count, but he didn't, the count was normal. Bret Hart is out and stopping the timekeeper from ringing the bell. He takes a mic and says "This won't happen again". Bret punches Patrick out! Wonder if he was picturing Hebner. Hogan gets rolled back in the ring. Stinger Splash! Norton and Bagwell both run in and get taken out. Another Stinger Splash! Scorpion Death Lock! Hogan submits! The ring immediately fills with WCW wrestlers as Sting celebrates winning the title. Or so we think. This is a textbook example of the horrible things that can happen when you overthink what should be obvious. In this case the obvious was Sting wins decisively. I'd even advocate this was a rare instance where a world title squash match wouldn't have been a bad way to go. Sometimes doing the obvious thing isn't wrong, and in this case it definitely should have been done without question. Instead, we get more questions. DUD

We're not done, folks. You didn't think this win would stand did you? This is WCW you silly person. Due to all the controversy a rematch was scheduled for the next night on Nitro. The exact same shit happened, right down to Nick Patrick fucking up when he was supposed to fast count. Rumor is Hogan paid Patrick off legit to not count fast and make both Sting and Bret look bad. If that's true, I still blame WCW for allowing an atmosphere where something like that could happen. Inmates running the asylum. After the second attempt on Nitro failed the title was held up FOR TWO MONTHS before they had a rerematch at Superbrawl. By that point no one cared anymore, Sting's momentum was shot. You know, I think Eric Bischoff took more inspiration from his early days in AWA than we generally think he did. This is exactly the kind of ass backward total clusterfuck (I've used that word a lot tonight, but for good reason) booking they did with their world title. Look where that got them.

 

I have some extended thoughts on all this if you'll indulge me for a moment. Bischoff's mantra was always "controversy creates cash". That is true, to a degree. But, endless controversy with no end in sight or attempts at real resolutions eventually creates only apathy and disillusionment. Let's take the other side as an example. Over the next couple of years WWF would most definitely adopt the controversy driven model themselves. However, they still made sure to give Austin a big unquestioned win every few months or so, take a few weeks to let people breathe and reset the pieces on the board, then continue with slightly new players and/or emphasis. Ebbs and flows. Rises and falls. One of WCW's biggest mistakes that led to their downfall was constantly throwing new controversy on the wall with no thought of trying to tie up or clean up the last controversy. After a while, it all becomes nothing more than one giant shit stain.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Judging in a vacuum this is merely a bad wrestling show. But, judging it against the expectations WCW had for it and what it could, and should, have been, it's nothing less than one of the greatest disasters in the history of professional wrestling. There will be many more steps taken on WCW's road to eventual oblivion, but the first concrete step was taken right here. Rather than being the Year of Sting as it should have been, 1998 WCW was dominated by two things: the NWO civil war and split into multiple factions, and the rise of Goldberg. Buckle up kids, the turbulence is only starting to hit.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: F

Armageddon '99

Legacy Review

Armageddon '99

December 12, 1999 from the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, FL

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

Welcome to the last WWF PPV of 1999, the 1990s, the 20th century and the millennium. Those that didn't live through it have no idea how massive a worldwide cultural event the millennium was. That's probably a big reason I'm so blase about year changes now. Once you've lived through New Year's Eve 1999 nothing else can really compare. Armageddon is the new name for the December PPV in this post-In Your House era, one that will stick for nearly a decade. Armageddon is generally known for having some of the best PPV stages ever during its run, and tonight is a good start, a full battlefield setup complete with a foxhole, tank, jeep and chopper.

WWF Tag Team Championship #1 Contenders Battle Royale- In this match we have Edge & Christian, The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz, Pete Gas & Rodney of the Mean Street Posse, Too Cool, The Headbangers, The Acolytes and the Godfather & Mark Henry. The winners get a title shot at the Royal Rumble. Just hearing commentary mention the Rumble gets me excited. The Dudleyz and E&C are the first two teams out. They've been having some issues lately, so they get into a little warm up brawl before everyone else comes out. Big pop for the Hardyz on their entrance, the biggest out of anyone in the match. Except maybe the hos but we don't count them. The bell rings and the big brawl is on. We get a lot of wide shots from hard camera the first part of the match, a very good choice. Kevin Dunn and co. weren't always completely useless, that really only started the last decade or so of the old regime. While I'm on that subject quick shoutout to the new Paul Levesque/TKO Era production crew, who have been phenomenal since taking over. Anyway, this is when one member is eliminated the whole team is eliminated rules. The MSP go through an early match run where all three members get eliminated, including Joey Abs who tries to swap himself into the match, but the ref only sees the last one to finally send them packing. Godfather dumps Mosh and his padded bra. Don't ask. The Acolytes muscle Henry over the top and out. Brian Christopher's pants fall down. Christian tosses Scotty, who lands on the apron, then he pulls Christian out with him. While they're brawling Christian pulls the rope down on a charging Christopher and he goes over to be eliminated. The final four teams pair off- the Dudleyz and E&C find each other again, while the Acolytes and Hardyz go at it on the other side. Edge goes over the top to the apron on the corner. D'Von, who was on the floor, pulls him down from behind into the barricade and E&C are out. The Dudleyz and Acolytes pair up to knock the Hardyz around. Bubba Ray hits Jeff with a very muscle buster like slam. Bubba then DDTs Bradshaw. D'Von hits the headbutt off the top to Bradshaw's crotch. While D'Von's celebrating Matt comes from behind and eliminates him! Down to two. Jeff goes over the top onto the apron. He hits a crazy springboard moonsault on Faarooq! The shirt is off! Matt and Bradshaw do the Lex Luger/Bret Hart '94 Rumble finish with both going over the top and hitting at the same time. The one and only ref assigned the match, Jimmy Korderas, was on the other side of the ring, can't make a ruling and lets the match continue. I'd say both of them should have been individually eliminated and it should have been decided between Jeff and Faarooq. Bradshaw gives Jeff a short Clothesline from Hell. Jeff headscissors Faarooq over the top to the floor! But the one and only ref didn't see it! Matt hits Bradshaw with the Twist of Fate. Bradshaw gets Matt with a big boot. Matt ducks a Clothesline from Hell and dropkicks Bradshaw over the top to the apron. Missile dropkick from Jeff onto Bradshaw! Bradshaw JUST hangs onto the top rope! He tries to low bridge Matt but Matt lands on the apron. Faarooq lifts Jeff with a HUGE backdrop. Jeff goes over the top and all the way onto the barricade. He's eliminated and the Acolytes win. Mostly OK battle royale. The end run was not too bad with the Hardyz and Acolytes doing some classic power vs speed stuff, but all the "we only put one ref out there and he's missing a bunch of stuff" bit got old quick. Maybe they were still punishing Korderas for crossing the picket line during the ref strike. I apologize for bringing up the ref strike, no one should be reminded that stupid crap happened. *3/4

 

Kurt Angle def Steve Blackman in 6:42- These two worked as a team on weekly TV for a few weeks until Angle blamed Blackman for losing a match. Angle didn't take the pin in that so he still considers himself undefeated. Angle takes Fink's mic to educate us about the Three I's before the match but is cut off by Blackman's music. Blackman charges in and pummels Angle. Missile dropkick. Angle dodges a headbutt off the second rope and hits his own dropkick. Much better than the one he did on the last PPV. The crowd still hates Angle but it's already becoming more good hate than bad hate. Running forearm from Angle for 2. Setup slam. Angle goes up top. Moonsault! That might be the single most beautiful moonsault in the history of wrestling. Blackman dodges though. He hooks on a bow and arrow. Backbreaker into a modified Mutalock. Angle hits a DDT for 2. Suplex for 2. He tosses Blackman to the floor while the crowd chants "boring". Whip reversal and Angle goes into the steps. Blackman sunset flip into the ring for 2. Angle hits a crossbody but Blackman rolls through it for 2. Double underhook suplex from Angle. Now we get an "Angle sucks" chant that Angle fully plays into. Natural heel right from the start. Blackman gets a boot up in the corner and drop toe holds Angle into the corner. Tackle from Blackman. Snap suplex. Spinebuster and jackknife cover for 2. Side suplex. He comes off the second rope but Angle gets his boots up. Half nelson cradle for 2. He ducks a Blackman enzuguri. German suplex! That gets the pin! After the bell Blackman attacks Angle with nunchuks to get his own back. Think he needs to work more on the second I: integrity. Angle's already getting better and that was as good as Blackman ever looked in a WWF ring. **1/2

 

Evening Gown Pool Match for the WWF Women's Championship: Miss Kitty def Ivory (c), Jacqueline and BB in 2:53- The Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young are guest reffing this, also in evening gowns. The rules are everyone gets in the pool and the last woman with her evening gown still on wins. And you wonder why no one took women's wrestling seriously back then. I'm not getting into detail on this. Jacqueline gets stripped first. BB is out next. Ivory goes for her bra, allowing Kitty to pull her into the pool from behind. Kitty does a quick Greco Roman zipper pull (thanks JR) and wins the title in a bit of an upset. I've rated every women's match for months as a DUD and this definitely qualifies, but even though this was for a title it can hardly be called a match, it was short, and hell the hottest woman in it (and in all of WWF at this point) won it so I'll go easy on it. NR

Kitty takes a mic, says she promised she'd win the title, and now we're all going to see the goods. She strips down, then gets in the pool to get even wetter. Then, to cap it all off, she takes her bra off! Her tits were clearly out on camera before Slaughter ran in with a towel to cover her up. Damn you blurring. Frak it, 5 stars. And I'll be in my bunk. Wait, now Mae Young is back up on the stage. Young is taking her gown off! GOOD GAWD ALMIGHTY THINK OF THE CHILDREN! Thankfully she stops with her underwear still on and Slaughter's quick in with the towel again. Frak it again, still NR and no bunk, not after seeing that.

 

The Hollys def Rikishi Phatu and Viscera in 4:23- This is Rikishi's WWF PPV debut as himself, though he had wrestled for WWF earlier in the decade as Fatu of the Headshrinkers and under a mask as the Sultan. He and Viscera are doing the "tag partners that don't get along" thing. The only reason they're teaming up is because they're big, which is also precisely why the Hollys picked a fight with them. Rikishi comes out to Too Cool's music though I'm pretty sure there was no association between them yet. The Hollys try to charge but Rikishi takes them out. Early mostly uncovered butt splash on Crash for 2. He sets Crash up for a banzai drop. Hardcore makes the save and tags in. After some back and forth Rikishi hits him with an avalanche. Belly to belly suplex for 2. Viscera refuses to tag in so Rikishi tags himself out. Hardcore tries but Viscera shrugs it all off and hits a Samoan drop. Crash gets tossed around. Belly to belly from Viscera on him. The Hollys dodge a splash and both attack. Hardcore sticks and moves into a missile dropkick for 2. More Holly double teaming. Crash, the genius, tries a sunset flip. Hardcore tries to help but gets backdropped by Viscera, then Crash takes a legdrop. Tag to Rikishi. Pop up cutter on Crush. A Hardcore DDT is no sold and Rikishi superkicks him. He plants Crash with a shoulder piledriver. Viscera runs with with a spinning heel kick that takes Rikishi out! Hardcore covers and gets the pin. After the bell Viscera shoves, Rikishi superkicks him out of the ring, and they brawl on the floor. 3/4*

 

Triple Threat Match for the WWF European Championship: Val Venus def D'Lo Brown and "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith (c) in 9:15- The Mean Street Posse come out with Bulldog but ref Teddy Long tosses them before the match starts because they've already cheated enough tonight. Venus and Brown initially gang up on Bulldog before a lot of three way back and forth stuff that leads to Venus 360 clotheslining Bulldog to the floor. Brown dives onto both guys! Venus powerslam on Brown for 2. Elbow off the second rope from Venus. Bulldog quickly breaks the pin up. Venus drags Bulldog to the floor and they do some floor brawling. Brown offers Bulldog a double team deal and they pound Venus down until Brown pops Bulldog. Brown tries for a springboard move on Venus but screws it up all to hell. Venus hits a kneedrop for 2. Brown and Venus slug it out, then see Bulldog is watching and double clothesline him. Brown and Venus go for a double hiptoss but Bulldog doesn't rotate right and lands right on his head/shoulder area. That got an "oof" from the crowd. Double team delayed suplex on Bulldog. Brown fakes Venus out and drops an elbow on him. Venus and Brown continue to go at it while Bulldog rests on the outside. Brown gets crotched on the top rope, then blocks Venus' superplex attempt. Sunset bomb! Bulldog pulls Long out before he can count 3. Venus spinebuster on Bulldog for 2. Bulldog ducks a Venus clothesline and hits the running powerslam minus most of the running. Brown puts Venus' foot on the rope to save the pin. Flying forearm on Bulldog from Brown as he starts rolling with offense. Spinebuster. Frog splash! Venus comes off the other side with the Money Shot onto both guys! Venus gets the pin on Bulldog for the title! Nice finish, very bleh match. *1/4

X-Pac does his usual drug addled stumble through his promo, setting out the rules he wants for this match which apparently he can do. The cage door will be locked, Kane can only win by pinfall, but Pac can win by pin or over the top escape.

 

Steel Cage Match: Kane (w/Tori) def X-Pac in 9:00- It took longer than I thought, but this is finally the first WWF PPV cage match using the chain link fence cage rather than the old blue/black bar cage. No dramatic cage lowering music either, the whole thing was done off camera. Pac gets in Tori's face during his entrance. Kane climbs over the cage and attacks him. Pac nails Kane with the bell. He climbs up the cage and Kane follows. When both are in the ring the bell rings to officially start things. Kane no sells a bunch of Pac shots before dropping him. Think Kane's got new gear again, I haven't seen this on a PPV yet. Press slam from Kane. Corner clothesline. Pac tries coming off the top but Kane catches him. Pac slips free and hits a spinning heel kick. He starts to climb. Kane follows. Pac kicks and Kane gets crotched on the top rope. Legdrop off the top for 2 as the "X-Pac sucks" chants start up. Kane tries to fight back but Pac hits him with a DDT. He comes off the top again, right into a goozle! Tiltawhirl backbreaker from Kane. Pac takes the first cage shots of the match. Big boot. The New Age Outlaws run out. They've got bolt cutters and try to cut the chain off the door. Key word, try. They finally manage to, slam the door in Kane's face and slide a chair into the ring. X-Factor onto the chair! Pac's got handcuffs and cuffs Kane to the cage and gives him a couple of chairshots. Pac climbs again. Tori gets in the ring! She pulls Pac down. Pac spits in her face! X-Factor on Tori! Kane big boots the chair into Pac's face! Pac recovers and climbs again to a huge "X-Pac sucks" chant. Kane breaks the cuffs! He goes to the floor and catches Pac coming down. Kane carries Pac on his shoulders back into the ring! Door shot into Pac's face! Kane climbs all the way to the top of the cage. Clothesline off the top of the cage! Tombstone! That's it. It's overbooked all to hell, but fun and the right guy won. Definitely better than their Survivor Series match. **3/4

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Chris Jericho def Chyna (c) (w/Miss Kitty) in 10:19- This is a rematch from Survivor Series. Jericho, just like at Survivor Series, jumps before the bell. This time Chyna was more ready for him. Chyna's got a cast on her right hand. Not sure if that's story or something legit. They do some back and forth slugging in the corner. Chyna flips over the corner. Jericho charges in, flies into the ring post and to the floor. Chyna comes off the apron with a clothesline. Jericho goes to the old eye poke on the floor to get some shots in. He lifts Chyna in a suplex and drops her on the announce table. Jericho gets a chair and swings it wildly. Kitty tries to get it away, giving Chyna an opening to dropkick the chair in his face. Jericho whips Chyna into the steps and kisses Kitty for the second straight PPV. Jericho comes off the top back in, crotch first into Chyna's cast! Chyna hits the handspring elbow and a DDT for 2. Jericho gets Chyna tied up in the ropes and slaps her, then kicks her hurt hand. Corner clothesline from Jericho. He goes for a powerbomb. Chyna slooooooowly hurricanranas him over for 2. Jericho does a basement dropkick that Chyna has zero reaction to. Not even a no sell, she didn't even notice it happened. Delayed suplex from Jericho. Arrogant cover! He hits a chop and some forearms in the corner. While Chioda is checking on Chyna Jericho takes a top buckle pad off. Chyna hits a short clothesline but Jericho is quickly back on her. Delayed backbreaker and stretch. "ASK HER!". Crossbody collision! Chyna wins that for a 2 count. Jericho hits the misdirection bulldog. Setup slam. He goes for the Lionsault but Chyna gets her knees up. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. Chyna hits a powerbomb and catapaults Jericho into the exposed buckle! Clothesline and cover. Jericho kicks out! Jericho counters out of the Pedigree into a backslide for a long 2. He goes for a back superplex, but Chyna supposedly counters for 2. That didn't come off 100% right. Chyna gets a cradle out of the corner. Jericho rolls through and gets Chyna in the Walls! Chyna tries to get to the ropes but Jericho pulls her back. He gets his knee in Chyna's back, cranking the hold back into almost a full Liontamer. Chyna taps! Jericho win the IC title for the first time! The first of his record 9 reigns. Heel Jericho also won clean as a sheet. Another good Jericho carry job. ***1/4

Jericho goes right to the back with "Mitchell" Cole. Chyna interrupts, but does the class move and offers Jericho a handshake. Jericho very cautiously takes it expecting something else, but Chyna just walks away. Code of Honor.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Rock N Sock Connection def The New Age Outlaws (c) by DQ in 16:00- Alternate light blue shirt for Mankind tonight. Someone got the preorder bonus. Rock's entrance just about pops the roof off the place. Nice of Billy Gunn to remember his belt this time. The Outlaws also took my advice and aren't doing their full prematch bit anymore since they're heels now. Dogg and Mankind start. Mankind gives him a clean break off the lockup in the corner. On the other side Dogg does not reciprocate but Mankind was ready for him. They do the usual rope run off a headlock, but Mankind flips the script by legdropping Dogg in the back of the head when he drops down. Gunn faceplants Mankind for 2. Mankind asks the crowd if they want Rock. Of course they do and Rock tags in. Gunn decides now is the right time to take his shirt off and Rock jumps him while it's over his head. Gunn does a nice flop off being run into Mankind's boot, er, shoe. The Outlaws get Mankind stuck in their corner. Dogg goes for his dancing jabs. Mankind cuts it off with a Mandible Claw! Gunn runs in to break it up, followed by Rock, and we're donnybrooking all over the floor. Rock and Gunn go into the crowd. Another nice Gunn flop off an announce table shot. After everyone gets back in Dogg tries to give Rock a cheap shot from the apron but it doesn't go well for him. Rock continues to pound Gunn around until Gunn comes off the ropes with a running cutter for 2. Gunn tosses Rock out and drops him on the barricade. Back in the ring Rock goes in peril for a bit. Dogg crotch chops at him and Rock comes out of the corner with a clothesline. Dogg goes for the pumphandle slam. Rock low blows to get out of it. An apron shot from Gunn gets Rock down again. Gunn hooks on a sleeper to put Rock down. After arm drops Rock fights back up. Spinny DDT! Tags on both sides. Mankind runs wild. Running corner knees for both Outlaws. Gunn Stinger splashes Dogg! Mankind hits Dogg with his own dancing jabs. Dogg ducks and Mankind punches ref Korderas down! Piledriver from Mankind. Cover but no ref. Mankind tries to get Korderas back up but Gunn dives onto both of them. Rock knocks Gunn out of the ring. Mankind double underhook DDT on Dogg! Socko is out! Claw! Al Snow runs in! Snow recently turned heel on Mankind after teaming with him for a while. He nails Mankind with Head! Dogg covers Rock breaks the pin up! Rock runs out and attacks Snow! The Outlaws hit Mankind with the bell. Mankind kicks out! Gunn hits a piledriver for 2. Mankind breaks up a spike piledriver attempt. Mankind crawls over and get the tag to Rock. Samoan drop on Gunn. Spinebuster on Dogg. Rock Bottom on Gunn! Snow attacks Rock to draw the cheap DQ. Snow and Mankind keep fighting after the bell. Dogg tries to keep fighting Rock but gets a Rock Bottom for his trouble. Snow comes in and takes a Rock Bottom and People's Elbow to make the crowd happy. Solid enough match, but that was quite a bit to get to that finish. **1/4

 

WWF Championship: The Big Show (c) def WWF Hardcore Champion The Big Boss Man (w/Prince Albert) in 3:00- This is putting a bow on the infamous "Boss Man makes fun of Show's dead dad" angle that included the even more infamous segment where Boss Man tried to drag the coffin away from the funeral. The title is pretty much incidental. Show won the title at Survivor Series as a last second replacement for the run over Steve Austin, which I'm pretty sure was a spur of the moment call so the title really is incidental most likely. It got kicked up another notch since Survivor Series when Boss Man used the advanced interrogation techniques he learned in Cobb County to force Big Show's mom to admit Show was a BASTARD. In the technical use of the word. Show hits the ring and immediately attacks. Corner clothesline. Running Terry Taylor fivearm style forearm. Show takes it to the floor. Albert tries to get involved and gets chokeslammed through the Spanish announce table. Boss Man comes from behind and hits Show with the steps! Show gets posted. Boss Man needs a while to lift Show back into the ring while a "boring" chant floats around. Cover and show kicks out. Rope assisted kip up. Big boot. Chokeslam. Done. I get it with the feud, but WWF Title matches shouldn't be squashes, especially on PPV. It'd look even worse in retrospect after Triple H won the title back on the first Raw of 2000. 1/4*

Once again Vince McMahon is heavily involved in a feud, but this time as the face while Triple H had been solidified as the #1 heel in the company. They've been trying to destroy each other every weekly TV show since Survivor Series, but things got kicked up another notch when Steph had her wedding to Test on Raw. Or so she thought. Trips interrupted to show that he'd already gone through a Las Vegas drive thru chapel to get married to Steph! True she was unconscious at the time but Vegas doesn't care. It's probably the best angle WWF has run all year, but looking back it can't be understated how important this moment is in wrestling history now. Trips and Steph playing married on TV led to their real life relationship and eventual real life marriage, which led to Trips getting more power in the company, leading him to getting the shot to completely remake NXT, which changed the industry, to as of this writing being the man solely in charge of all WWE creative and leading its hottest period in many years. Crazy how these things can work out.

 

No Holds Barred Match: Triple H def Mr. McMahon in 29:45- If Vince wins this match Trips' marriage to Steph will be annulled. If Trips wins, he keeps Steph and gets a WWF Title shot. A very distraught looking Steph comes out first to no music and takes a seat at ringside. Close to legendary golfer Greg Norman, who's been at ringside the whole show. He must be a true fan and not just there to be seen. Trips has Mr. Sledge with him at the start. Steph looks daggers at him during his entrance. Vince charges in and tosses powder in HHH's face! He goes right to work punching away. After a bunch of shots HHH goes down. Vince clothesline. Low blow! No DQ. They do some of the usual floor brawling with Vince staying mostly in control. Mandatory late '90s main event crowd brawl time. They go into a side area under the stands and Vince gets run into a rolling door. HHH knocks Vince around the crowd as they slowly work back to ringside. Vince backdrops HHH back over the barricade. Mankind it out! And he's got a shopping cart full of goodies! He tells Vince to "use these bad boys". Vince chooses a trash can lid. HHH cuts Vince off with a kick and Vince takes the lid shot. I think. That didn't come off as planned. Vince gets back up and wears HHH out with the lid! Over and over. Vince gets the full trash can and gives HHH some shots with it. HHH flops on the barricade right in front of Steph. Now Vince gives HHH a crutch shot. HHH gets back up and uses the crutch to give Vince a shot right in the McMahon grapefruits. He runs Vince into the cart and it all tips over. HHH sorts through the available options and whacks Vince with a road sign. He then wraps a chain around his fist and pummels Vince with it. Vince gets a kendo stick and hits HHH with it, followed by a shot with the road sign. They work up to the battlefield stage area. Vince takes a shot on the chopper. Sandbag to Vince's face. HHH runs the shopping cart into Vince's face! Not sure how we don't have any blood yet. Vince cuts off a 2x4 shot as they struggle back down the aisle. Vince pummels HHH with a trash can, then puts it on him and punches it. HHH tries to cut off a giant wrench shot and legit accidentally trips over something, sending them both tumbling. Whoops. Oh, there's a machine gun nest in the stage area. Didn't see that earlier. HHH swings the machine gun into Vince's face. Vince reverses a whip and HHH goes into the tail of the chopper. It's nice to have some new things for these guys to bounce off of, these stage brawls had gotten pretty old hat by this point. They work into the tech area. Now they go fully backstage and Vince takes a couple more rolling door shots. A different door than earlier. Vince gets rolled onto a truck hood and HHH drops an elbow on him. Vince gets up and HHH is nowhere to be seen. The wandering search is on. Vince goes all the way outside looking for him. He and Chioda wander around the parking lot but HHH is nowhere to be found. A car drives in trying to run Vince over! Vince has to jump on a wall to avoid it and the car definitely gets a Darlington stripe. Trips flies out of the car fists flying. He pounds Vince on the car trunk. They stagger back through the parking lot with some more car shots. HHH drags Vince up on the roof of a limo. Body slam on the roof! Followed by an elbow drop. They get back inside and Vince gets run into a vending machine. And, finally, back out in front of the crowd. Vince gives HHH a shot with a pipe. HHH climbs some of the stage scaffolding. Vince follows. Oh this won't end well. They both get to the top, hanging off the edge. HHH runs Vince's head into the scaffolding, and he falls down into the stage area! For a big fall that didn't get nearly as big a reaction as you'd think. Maybe they didn't set it up as well as they could have. After chain shots, shopping cart shots, machine gun shots and car shots, it's the fall that finally busts Vince open. Wrestling logic. HHH hits him with a gas can to open it up some more. HHH goes all the way up to the timekeeper's area to get Fink's mic. He asks Steph "How does it feel, baby?". Steph says "I hate you". HHH is amazed Vince is up again and hits him with the mic. He screams at Vince to quit. HHH drags Vince in front of Steph and tells her to tell him goodbye. Hey, they're back in the ring! HHH has the supersized steel pipe and teases hitting Vince with it. But then he changes his mind. Chioda tries to stop him and HHH tosses him aside. The sledgehammer is out! Vince low blow as HHH was setting up for the killing blow! Vince hits HHH with the pipe. HHH begs off and hides in the corner. Vince has the sledge. Steph runs in! She wants to do it! Vince gives her the sledge. Steph winds up.....but then seems to have second thoughts and turns around. She's such a sweet girl, she can't do it even with what HHH has done to her. HHH takes the sledge and nails Vince with it! Steph looks horrified. HHH covers Vince with one foot and get the pin. Steph immediately checks on her dad. HHH teases hitting Steph with the sledge from behind! Steph turns around and sees. Shock. HHH drops the sledge. Steph smiles! THEY HUG! SWERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRVE! Steph raises Trips' hand AND THEY KISS! Heel Steph is born. It's the first big post-Russo swerve and they pulled it off superbly. The happy evil couple leave arm in arm and end show. The match wasn't great, but it wasn't nearly the disaster it could have been, especially for how much time it got and the fact Vince was in it. They made an effort to have a lot of variety in it at least. The angle work was superb however, and Triple H has clearly gotten comfortable working main event matches. **3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- December in WWF is often plagued with bad PPVs as they typically spin their wheels until January and the Rumble. Thanks to the undercard title changes and especially the Steph swerve this one is a bit better and more consequential even if the overall match quality doesn't completely show it. 1999 wasn't WWF's best year creatively or wrestling wise, but they were still a commercial juggernaut and were leaving WCW more and more in the dust every month. It helped that WCW couldn't get out of their own way at this point and that would only get worse. A couple of years ago the long term injuries to both Austin and Undertaker would have left them seriously hurting, but they hit at a point where enough other stars had been built up to cover. Add in some fresh minds in creative with Russo gone and newcomers like Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho and the soon to arrive Radicalz turning the in ring style slowly away from brawling and back to more wrestling, and 2000 would be a banner year by any possible measurement that's widely considered one of the best in the company's history.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-

World War 3 '97

Legacy Review

World War 3 '97

November 23, 1997 from The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, MI

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay

Hogan vs Sting at Starrcade has already been booked, making this filler PPV even more filler. The big WW3 battle royale is once again for the #1 contendership, and in theory the winner will get a title match at Superbrawl in February. In theory. This is WCW so no one should have much hope of that sticking. This is the second PPV out of the last three that Dusty has missed, and even better Tenay is working the whole show to replace him.

The Faces of Fear (w/Jimmy Hart) def Glacier and Ernest "The Cat" Miller in 9:09- Big 2v2 jump before the bell. Glacier tries to go rapid fire on Meng, but Meng weathers it and drops him with one shot. The faces double up on Meng. Barbarian gets kicked around as well. The arena seems to be lit a bit darker tonight. I think it's because they have the lights off on the rings that aren't being used. Glacier and Meng lose their place for a few seconds, then Meng gets dropkicked into Barbarian. Miller springboards off Meng in the corner into a crossbody onto Barbarian on the floor! OK, that was cool. Glacier then hits a plain old plancha on Meng. Then he makes the moron face move to stalk Hart even though Hart hadn't done anything, allowing Barbarian to jump him from behind. The FOF do their awesome double team backdrop powerbomb that gets a pop from the crowd, heels or no. Miller gets in the ring, with Barbarian waiting forever for him to move so he can whip Glacier in that spot. Finally Barbarian says screw it and whips Glacier right into Miller. Given the lack of selling after I'm thinking that was a legit "get the fuck out of the way" move by Barbarian. Meng continues the high impact stuff on Glacier. The FOF do a war drums beatdown of him in their corner. Meng shoulderbreaker for 2. He hooks on the Tongan Nerve Grip of Massive Pinching +3 and Glacier sells the hell out of it. Glacier tries to pound back on Barbarian but Meng blind tags in and nails him from behind. Glacier flips over Meng, hits a back suplex, and gets the tag to Miller. Miller runs wild with kicks and a couple of pretty nice clotheslines. Hart gets up on the apron and Miller gives him a shot. Again that backfires. Meng grabs him with the Tongan Death Grip! That gets the pin. Pretty dang solid opener, which is a bit of a surprise considering who was in there. Despite the fact both guys had been around forever and were in the latter stages of their careers, the FOF were pretty underrated in this period because they did the stiff power game so well. I can only imagine the classics this version of FOF could have had against teams like the peak Steiners or Doom in the early '90s. **3/4

 

WCW World Television Championship: Saturn (c) (w/Raven) def Disco Inferno in 8:19- Somehow after his disaster of a man vs woman match against Jacqueline at Halloween Havoc WCW turned Disco face. In early November he lost the TV title on Nitro to Saturn, another ECW alum who'd just come in to join the rapidly growing Flock. Saturn's in his wrestling in blue jeans phase. He hiptosses Disco out of the lockup and slaps him. Fireman's carry takedown and another slap. Saturn runs Disco over with a shoulderblock. Off a speed run Disco gets his own hiptoss, then a slam, and Saturn powders. Coming back in he hits Disco over the ref. Another Disco hiptoss. Saturn bails again and is clearly frustrated. Disco slingshots him back in. Clothesline from Saturn. Disco hits an inverted atomic drop and goes nuts pounding Saturn down in the corner. Back elbow and fist drop for 2. Saturn dodges an elbow drop and hits a pumphandle suplex. He goes for a springboard moonsault but Disco dodges. Clothesline for 2. Small package for 2. Saturn gets a backdrop for 2. Standing switches and Disco gets crotched on the top rope. Saturn goes up to the second rope and leaps off with a crossbody onto Disco on the ropes and they both tumble to the floor! That was real close to being very, very ugly. Disco is up first and decides to go after the Flock. While he's fighting them Saturn runs him over from behind. The theme so far tonight has definitely been "Now you see evil will always triumph, because good is dumb". Back in Disco counters a tiger suplex attempt and hits a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Crossbody off the top. It hits, but Saturn completely no sells it. I guess he was supposed to roll through and they didn't do it right. Rings of Saturn! Disco taps. Eh. **

Mean Gene is in the back with tonight's hotline shill. He's been through every single locker room (hold on, I'm not sure what kind of 900 number we're pushing here) and YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE some of the names back there that may or may not be in the big battle royale tonight. He then brings the Giant in and talks about Giant seeing a doctor. My first assumption is for that huge Hogan like handlebar mustache he's grown, but no, it's for broken bones in his hand. We then get footage from Nitro of Scott Hall breaking said bones on the ring post and steps.

 

Yuji Nagata (w/Sonny Oono) def Ultimo Dragon in 12:45- This is the first of several rematches from Halloween Havoc tonight. Dragon's arm is bandaged up after Nagata hurt it in that match. If Dragon wins tonight he gets 5 minutes with Oono. Thankfully Nagata's lost the silly vest he wore at Halloween Havoc. Excuse me, SLIM JIM'S Halloween Havoc. Nagata plays to the crowd for some boos before getting going. Dragon's looking more at Oono than Nagata at the start. They open up with the usual New Japan style exploratory kicks. Nagata catches Dragon on the bad arm with one. Nice kick/counter exchange that Dragon wins. Handspring elb....no, Nagata catches him! He goes for a cross armbreaker. Dragon rolls over into a cover for 2. Dropkick and Nagata powders. Oono kicks Dragon on the floor. Dragon can't resist the bait and tries to suplex Oono. Nagata jumps him from behind. Again, faces not being smart about things. Back in Dragon works a headlock for a while. Eventually Nagata Saito suplexes out. Or BACKDROPEH as it's usually called on Japanese commentary. He hits some huge kicks while doing some more playing to the crowd. Piledriver for 2. Nagata works a rear naked choke/sleeper. Now it's Dragon's turn to BACKDROPEH out. Nagata's back up first and drops an elbow, followed by more kicks and another piledriver for 2. Kick combo and enzguri from Nagata into a camel clutch. Dragon goes for a suplex. Nagata counters into a Fujiwara armbar attempt! That's what he made Dragon tap out to in the last match. Dragon quickly gets to the ropes before it's on fully. Nagata belly to belly suplex for 2. Dragon flips out of a backdrop and hits his usual rapid fire kick combo. Boot wash! Someone's been watching Otani tape. Dragon goes for a plancha. Nagata tries to kick him in midair. Dragon blocks it and gives Nagata a dragon screw on the floor! Great callback to the last match. Oono lurks in the background but doesn't do anything. Dragon goes up top. Nagata springs up to join him. Dragon sunset bomb for 2. Setup slam. The moonsault hits! Nagata kicks out! Nagata goes for a suplex. Dragon counters into the dragon sleeper! Oono gets on the apron to distract and of course Dragon lets it go. Dragon sets Nagata up top. Top rope hurricanrana! Oono puts Nagata's foot on the rope! Dragon lifts Nagata up while Oono is on the apron again. Oono gets knocked down. Nagata kind of flops on top of Dragon and gets the pin. That finish didn't come off like they wanted to I don't think, it was pretty sloppy. Nagata looked way more comfortable working an American crowd as a heel, but overall it wasn't quite as good as the Halloween Havoc match. Also, heavyweight beats junior heavyweight again. New Japan rules. ***1/4

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Steiner Brothers (c) (w/Ted DiBiase) def The Blue Bloods in 9:45- Annoyed Regal trying to wave away the entrance dry ice fog is pretty funny. The Steiners have the old tag belts because the Outsiders, in true NWO fashion, are toting around the recently redesigned tag belts like they were still champs. Regal's in his rare singlet phase. Scott and Taylor start. Scott shows the strength advantage, hiptossing Taylor across the ring and running him over with a shoulderblock. Taylor manages to get Scott caught in their corner for a short double beatdown. Scott hits the double underhook powerbomb. Regal comes in and runs right into a Rick Steinerline. The Steiners pose while the Bloods regroup on the floor. Taylor has to hold Regal back from going after DiBiase! Fantastic. Reset with Regal and Rick. Regal lets the crowd annoy him before locking up. He tries to out-technical Rick but Rick's power is too much. Regal manages to hit a couple of European uppercuts. I can see why Regal's wearing the singlet. He's, er, ballooned. Apparently this was during the height of his drinking problems and he's definitely put on a lot of weight around the middle. Rick gets Regal down in a sort of Fujiwara armbar. Scott hits a belly to belly suplex. The Steiners trade off working Regal's arm. Regal goes to the old eye poke to escape and tag. Rick grabs Taylor leapfrogging and powerslams him! Classic Steiner ragdolling right there. Regal knees Scott in the back from the apron and Talor 360 clotheslines him to the floor. More European uppercuts from the Bloods as Scott goes mildly in peril. Scott takes Regal out with a Steinerline but Regal hooks his feet to keep him from tagging. Regal hops into another belly to belly. Tag to Rick. Shots and slams for everyone. DONNYBROOK! Rick backdrops Regal, then Scott backdrops Taylor onto Regal! Doomsday bulldog! That's it. Decentish but fairly one sided. **1/4

JJ Dillon is with Mean Gene. He's had enough of letting Raven show up whenever and however he wants, and gives Raven 24 hours to sign an official contract with WCW.

 

Raven's Rules Match: Raven (w/The Flock) def Scotty Riggs in 8:43- Riggs is cosplaying as Jean Pierre Lafitte, or very late run Buffy/Buffy comics era Xander, with his eyepatch from an earlier attack by Raven after Riggs refused to join the Flock. Billy Kidman helpfully explains Raven's Rules to everyone. Riggs' answer is to dive onto the whole Flock! He pounds away on Raven around and in the ring. Swinging neckbreaker followed by a big splash for 2. Raven tights pulls Riggs into the corner, then chokes Riggs with his spare shirt. Heenan has lots of thoughts about the eyepatch and they're all funny. They go to the floor and Raven goes into the steps. Riggs chokes him with a TV cable. Back in Raven hits a desperation jawbreaker. One of the Flock provides Raven with a chair. Chairshot on Riggs. Raven sets the chair up. Whip reversal and Riggs drop toe holds Raven into the chair! After almost a full 10 count with both guys down Riggs leaps over to cover for 2. Riggs chair toss/dropkick combo. Another slow cover and Raven gets a foot on the rope. Riggs bulldogs Raven on the chair! Yet another slow cover and Raven kicks out. Riggs tosses the chair away like it's the chair's fault he's been slow on the cover trigger. Raven slips out of a suplex attempt. DDT! Raven wants a mic. He says he doesn't want to hurt Riggs, why didn't he join him instead. Another DDT. "This is hurting me more than it's hurting you". A third DDT. Raven takes a 10 count KO for the win. The ref calls for medical help, but the Flock carry Riggs away through the crowd instead. Fine match. Raven was a classic high floor/low ceiling guy that you could nearly always count on for a solid match but rarely a truly good one. **1/2

The next match is scheduled to be Mongo vs BILL Goldberg, continuing their feud of former football players. This is well before WCW decided to push Goldberg to the moon. Mongo makes his entrance carrying a giant metal bar. Goldberg's music then hits. Mongo takes a mic and says that's not happening tonight and to get a camera to the back. Goldberg's laid on on the floor in the back! Seriously, he could be an absolutely perfect chalk outline the position he's in. It was Mongo in the backstage hallway with the lead pipe. Commentary notes Mongo has his Super Bowl ring back. Mongo calls out anyone in the locker room to face him. After a minute Debra comes out dragging an extremely reluctant Alex Wright to the ring.

 

Steve "Mongo" McMichael def Alex Wright (w/Debra McMichael) in 3:36- This is another Halloween Havoc rematch. Mongo turns and plays to the crowd just so Wright can jump him from behind. One of Mongo's big problems is he has no natural wrestling instincts whatsoever. Wright takes his jacket off and whips Mongo with it. Mongo thinks that's enough selling and hits a back elbow and a couple of clotheslines. He stomps Wright to the floor. Wright wants to walk but Debra stops him. Back in Mongo faceplants Wright. Side suplex after Wright barely managed to get off the ropes on a run. Wright hits a spinning heel kick. Mongo dodges and Wright Bret bumps in the corner. He hits the 3 point stance tackles and a decently stiff clothesline. About .6 Riki Choshu. They have a bad fumble in the corner where Wright tries something but Mongo says "Screw that, I'm not selling anymore" and hits another side suplex. The tombstone, or "Mongo Spike" as it's now called, finishes it. Mongo squash. 1/4*

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Eddie Guerrero (c) def Rey Mysterio Jr in 12:42- Yet another Halloween Havoc rematch, where these two put on probably the best match of the entire WCW NWO era and pretty much silenced any doubters about either being potential top guys. In another company at least, that was never going to happen in WCW with Hogan and his buddies having final veto on pretty much everything at the top of the card. Guerrero won the title back from Mysterio on Nitro a couple of weeks before this. They let the crowd breathe with some "Eddie sucks" chants before digging in. Guerrero cranks an arm. Mysterio responds with an armdrag. Guerrero grabs a hammerlock. Mysterio lucha flips him out of the ring. More, louder, "Eddie sucks" chants. Speed run and Mysterio hits a tiltawhirl flying headscissors. Guerrero wraps Mysterio up and grounds him. German suplex! Straight drop back suplex from Guerrero. Abdominal stretch. Mysterio tries to get up on Guerrero's shoulders for a move but slips and falls off. That's the problem with lucha's high risk style, when it goes wrong it tends to go wrong spectacularly. They recover with Guerrero blocking a monkey flip. Mysterio uses the knucklelock to leap to the top rope and springboard headscissors Guerrero to the floor. 619 dive tease. Guerrero trips Mysterio. Back in Mysterio backdrops Guerrero and he lands crotch first on the top rope. He goes for a sunset bomb but again has some issues with execution. Guerrero blocks it and hits a tiltawhirl backbreaker on the floor. They have a fight up top with Guerrero blocking a superplex. They switch positions and Guerrero hits the superplex! That took some fancy footwork on both sides to pull that switch off right. Guerrero goes for the frog splash. Mysterio dodges, but Guerrero rolls through. Mysterio hurricanrana with a cradle for 2. Guerrero plants Mysterio with a flapjack. Mysterio armdrag and flying headscissors for 2. Guerrero hits a basement dropkick right to Mysterio's head. European uppercut. He suplex drops Mysterio on the top rope. Now Guerrero goes for a sunset bomb. Mysterio counters it with a hurricanrana on the floor! Corkscrew senton! Springboard moonsault from Mysterio back in for 2. Mysterio goes for another hurricanrana. Guerrero counters it into a powerbomb! He hooks on the Gory Special. Mysterio bridges with his head and neck to get out of a pin, then flips over into a sunset flip for 2. Spinning heel kick. He sets up for a moonsault on the top rope. Guerrero grabs him and tries a running Ligerbomb. Mysterio goes for a counter, but again slips and falls off Guerrero. Ugly botch #2. Mysterio recovers to leap to the top rope and hits a moonsault for 2. Springboard legdrop. He calls for the springboard hurricanrana to finish it. And it hits! Sort of. That's minor botch #2. Ref Lil' Naitch almost counts 3 but *just* sees Guerrero's landed with a foot on the rope! Everyone thought that was it. Mysterio goes up top again. Guerrero drops him into a hot shot. The frog splash hits and that gets the pin. It was never going to be as good as Halloween Havoc, and while it was still good, those botches really hurt the overall match. ***1/2

The hype train is in full gear for Starrcade, with Tony calling Hogan vs Sting "the biggest match in the history of professional wrestling". Gee, better not mess it up then.

 

No DQ Match for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Curt Hennig (c) def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair in 17:57- Yet yet another rematch from Halloween Havoc. Hennig brings a chair in with him on his entrance. He also managed to remember the belt this time. At Halloween Havoc he had the Cruiserweight belt on him. After the bell Hennig stalls like crazy and moves around rings. Flair finally has enough and jumps him on the floor. They do a weak brawl through the crowd before Hennig dumps Flair back over the barricade. Flair gets knocked around ringside for a bit. Hennig brings a TV cable into the ring to choke Flair with. He 360 clotheslines Flair back to the floor. Flair snaps Hennig over the top rope and tosses him out to the floor. Flair goes up top. Double ax handle off the top to the floor! Randy Savage style. But, Flair hurt his leg on the landing. He chops Hennig against the guardrail while trying to shake his knee off. Hennig backdrops Flair on the floor and hits a clothesline. Slide in and cover for 2. He starts working on Flair's hurt knee. Plus hits a legdrop to the crotch. Spinning toe hold from Hennig into an Indian Death Lock. Flair chokes Hennig put Hennig punches him back down. Slugfest while still in the hold. Flair eye pokes to get free. He clips Hennig's knee! Now they both have a bum one. Flair kicks Hennig's leg out of his leg with Hennig almost getting around for a classic 360 sell. Snap mare/kneedrop combo. Flair tries to strut a bit. Chops. Hennig slams Flair off the top rope for 2. Chop exchange in the corner. Hennig gets the edge with some wicked stiff ones. Flair Flop! Haven't seen that for a bit. That's a sign Flair might be getting back in a groove. Back and forth slugging in the corner. Flair gives Hennig the usual hair toss and slide crotch first into the post bit. Hennig can't run on a whip, still selling the knee. More Flair chops. Midring collision and both guys are down. Hennig switches rings to try to get some space. Flair follows and hits a HIGH angle back suplex. Hennig does his snap mare/neck snap combo. Flair Flip! To the floor! Hennig knocks Flair around ringside again until Flair tights pulls him into the guardrail. Flair tries to suplex Hennig back in the ring but his knee gives out. He goes out and gets Hennig's chair. He atomic drops Hennig onto the chair back! Ouch. Then he kicks the chair closed onto Hennig's bad knee! That's fantastic. Flair goes out and gets a fresh chair along with the title belt. Chairshot to Hennig's knee. Flair poses with the belt then tosses it away. Figure four! Hennig gets the belt and whacks Flair with it! He covers and gets the pin. That was way better than the Halloween Havoc match. It started out as rough as that match was, but once they got into the knee work they seemed to finally find a groove and started putting on the kind of match we know they're capable of. The psychology was tight too. ***1/4

 

60 Man World War 3 Battle Royale- There's a couple of new rules this year: wrestlers are free to move ring to ring at any point during the match, and elimination is by touching the floor only. No need to be tossed over the top rope. Basically it's old school women's battle royale rules. Make what jokes you will. Buffer also says that when there's five guys left in each ring they'll consolidate down to one ring, but no one pays that any mind because that rule's never been followed right in either of the two previous editions of this. As usual pretty much the entire roster is in this match so I'm not going to list everyone. Tony's teases of "big names from other companies" turns out to be John Nord (former Berzerker in WWF), who's looking like Dan Spivey in furry boots now, Barry Darsow (former Krusher Kruschev in Jim Crockett, Demolition Smash and Repo Man in WWF, and the Blacktop Bully in pre-NWO Bischoff WCW), and *snigger* Kendall Windham. I suppose an ancient Greg "The Hammer" Valentine might qualify too but I can't remember if he was under contract with WCW as a road agent at the time or not. Anyone hoping for a Bret Hart appearance, this is after Survivor Series '97, was sorely disappointed. The NWO entrants, naturally, get their own entrance. Rick Rude is with the group, just a week after making history by appearing on Raw (taped) and Nitro (live) on the same night. It's pretty cool to see Hennig and Rude together, the last two frontmen for the Heenan Family in WWF. Commentary makes a big deal about Kevin Nash not being with the NWO group. As usual this is a giant clusterfuck with way too much going on for it to have any kind of narrative sense or flow, so again like always I'm checking out until there's 10 guys left. Which, conveniently, is when the refs finally call for one ring consolidation despite what we were told earlier. We've got Lex Luger, the Giant, DDP, Rick Steiner, Booker T, and the entire group of NWO entrants- Scott Hall, Randy Savage, Curt Hennig, Buff Bagwell, and Vincent. The NWO guys refuse to move rings and want the WCW guys to come to them. The WCW guys do and the brawl is on. DDP hits Vincent with the Diamond Cutter. Giant rolls Vincent out to eliminate him. Remember, all they have to do is touch the floor regardless how they leave the ring. Giant doesn't do very much due to his broken hand. Booker and Rick both get eliminated. There's a giant scrum where Giant dumps Bagwell, then Luger and Hennig both get eliminated. It's down to the final four- DDP, Savage, Giant and Hall. Giant gets Hall in the corner and tries to hit him with chops from his unhurt left hand. Savage counters a Cutter attempt with a jawbreaker. He goes up top. Giant blocks him! Savage jumps anyway, right into Giant's waiting arms. Savage eye rakes to get free. Cutter on Savage! Giant blocks DDP from rolling Savage out, he wants to chokeslam him broken hand or no broken hand. With DDP's help he barely pulls it off. Now Savage gets rolled out. Hall's all alone. He moves rings, then does the classic Hall point to the entrance. The NWO's music hits. Commentary expects this to be Nash. After a while no one come out. The music starts up again, and it's Hogan! Hogan's deigned to show up for a B PPV! He gets in the ring as entrant #60. So, he deliberately skipped the vast majority of the match and the refs are going to just let him waltz in now? Seriously? They move back into ring 1 while the crowd chants "We want Sting". Hogan slams Giant. DDP gets crotched on the top rope and Hogan gives him the Back Rake of Death. Giant bear hugs both NWO guys. Sting rappels down from the rafters! If it really is Sting, you can never assume that. Hogan leaves the ring, eliminating himself. Sting hits Giant with the bat! Giant falls out and is gone. At some point DDP got eliminated off screen. Crack camera work, guys. Hall's already officially won the match, but "Sting" stares down with him in the ring. Then he removes his mask.....it's Nash. Of course it is. All the NWO guys come in to celebrate. Once again the main event is reduced to little more than a giant NWO ego stroke, and what should have been a huge win for Hall is completely buried by all the fake Sting antics and usual NWO BS. The only positive is if Hall really does get his title shot that's a good sign for Sting at Starrcade. 1/2*

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- There's a few good or goodish matches sprinkled in, but not enough to keep this from feeling like a giant waste of time show, especially with that turd of a main event.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+