klunderbunker
Welcome to My (And Not Sly's) House
Fall Brawl 1998
Date: September 13, 1998
Location: Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Attendance: 11,528
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan
WarGames is finally dead so tonight were getting the evil version of it with three teams of three, PINFALLS and one winner instead of a team with the winner getting Goldberg the next month at Halloween Havoc. We go from the ten minute long matches last year to the usual schmuck here which is going to be full of screwjobs. Also Flair isnt here yet so the fans all chant WE WANT FLAIR throughout the show, only to have him make his big famous return tomorrow night instead of here. Lets get to it.
The opening video is about the three teams and thats about it.
We get such a loud WE WANT FLAIR chant that its hard to understand Tony. The first two people in the cage will be Page and Hart with one person coming in at a time after that. I give up. HOW COULD YOU SCREW UP WARGAMES???
Ernest Miller is pulled off someone. Thats about it apparently.
Gene runs down the card and Jericho comes up. He announces Goldberg vs. Jericho in a title vs. title match for tonight. HUGE pop for that.
Dancing Fools vs. Jim Neidhart/British Bulldog
Why in the world Neidhart was hired is beyond me but whatever. The Dancing Fools are Disco Inferno and Alex Wright. Wright vs. Bulldog to start. The Hart relatives are the faces here I guess. The stalling begins and Bulldog backs him into the corner. Gorilla press slam puts Wright down and its a double tag. Disco dances around a lot and Neidhart makes fun of him for it.
Disco actually takes him down and Tony is STUNNED. Off to Wright and Bulldog again with the dancers taking over. The announcers talk about WarGames mostly because the match isnt that interesting. I mean seriously, Jim Neidhart is on PPV in 1998. Why in the world is that happening? Disco hits an atomic drop but is sent over the top with ease. Its not a DQ so hopefully they got rid of that idiotic rule.
Apparently Bret has been teasing turning .still heel I guess as he screwed Hogan over on Nitro kind of. The Hart dudes take over as Heenan picks Piper for the main event. The fans want Flair again. Slingshot shoulder block misses for Jim though and heres the tag to Wright, who is apparently popular now. Wright cleans up a bit and double teaming breaks up the powerslam. Double clothesline puts down Bulldog. The referee goes down for a bit and the powerslam ends Disco clean.
Rating: D+. Just a tag match here but it had Jim Neidhart in it in 1998. Again, I dont think that requires much more of an explanation. The announcers were bored with it because this belonged on WCW Saturday Night or something like that. Not a fan of this one at all but it wasnt horrible I guess.
Oh and before I forget: Bulldog broke his back on a trapdoor in the ring that Warrior would use later. He would be in the hospital SIX MONTHS and WCW fired him via FedEX. As in due to an injury due to something that they had in place for another guy to make an entrance in another match. Gotta love WCW.
Scott Steiner and Buff say that due to a band-aid on Scotts arm he cant wrestle tonight and they have a note from Dr. Cecil Schwartz. He cant fight Rick later on. JJ Dillon comes up and says he doesnt buy it. Total waste of about two minutes.
TV Title/WCW World Title: Chris Jericho vs. Goldberg
Oh do you really think this is going to happen? We get the Spinal Tap intro with Jericho going through the wrong door time after time despite having Ralphus and the Jerichoholic Ninja with him. The pyro doesnt work once he finally gets to the arena, which is a running joke at this point. Jericho had called out Goldberg for months and hadnt gotten to actually face him yet.
Jericho also doesnt face him here as its a Goldberg midget. You know, because after months of comedy and buildup, we cant have the unstoppable machine that is the world champion beat up a clueless schmuck like Jericho in two minutes right? Instead lets get the crowd all fired up and then tick them off to no end. Thats fine on Nitro, but on a PPV, HAVE GOLDBERG KILL HIM.
Hes not quite a midget but hes probably not even five feet tall. He actually hits a spear and thats about it for him. The fans HATE this and its over in like a minute fifteen with the Liontamer. Goldberg and Jericho never actually fought in WCW, because people might actually be interested in that I guess.
Rick Steiner is doing an online interview.
We get a clip from Thunder which was apparently at Rupp Arena in Lexington. I went to a Thunder taping but I cant remember when it was and there were two of them there, so theres a chance I was here for this. The Armstrongs are outside and Ernest Miller comes up to annoy them, beating both of them up. Norman Smiley of all people comes up for the save, prompting this to waste PPV time.
Norman Smiley vs. Ernest Miller
Miller does the leave before I beat you up thing pre match. Miller runs to the floor to waste some time when Smiley doesnt leave. Hes all ticked off and takes over with no one actually being interested in this match in the slightest. Smiley makes a comeback and uses his technical stuff which was really quite underrated. Miller takes over with an armdrag and armbar as this is going nowhere. Cat gets a few big kicks to end Smiley.
Rating: W. As in whatever man. Seriously, this gets nearly ten total minutes on a PPV. Let that sink in for a minute. Nothing else to say here at all.
We recap the Steiner feud which started like seven months ago with Scott joining the NWO. Hes kept trying to avoid fighting Rick since then, including pretending to be hurt to take Rick out. If Scott doesnt fight tonight hes banned for life.
Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner
An interesting thing here is that they list off all of the titles that the Steiners have won and mention them winning titles in another American based wrestling organization, which would be WWF. Interesting that once they were in trouble they wouldnt mention them. They hammer away to a BIG reaction with Rick winning. Now keep that in mind: the fans are into this match.
Rick no sells a turnbuckle shot and Scott bails. He gets knocked into the crowd and Rick keeps pounding away. Back in the ring and Scott hits him in the little Dog Faced Gremlins to take over. Rick fights back and hits a DDT to counter a suplex. Buff Bagwell gets involved and Rick rams him into the buckle. They fight to the floor and Buff isnt moving. Oh here we go. The match is stopped to check on Bagwell. Oh just get to the screwjob already.
Rating: C. Based on what we had this was ok, but at the same time they had to go with the screwy ending because clearly the fans wanting to see the match wasnt enough for them right? Match was actually a decent brawl but since its WCW we cant have a real ending to what could be a decent match right?
Buff is taken out and this eats up WAY too much time. The fans dont buy it at all as they probably shouldnt. They do a stretcher job and Tony talks about how some of the matches have to be canceled, as if this isnt 100% planned. After about eight minutes are wasted here they get him into the ambulance and its finally done.
Oh of course it isnt. Bagwell jumps out of the ambulance and attacks Rick, BECAUSE IT WAS A SWERVE. Yes, this is what they spent five percent of the PPV on. This company deserved to fail.
Cruiserweight Title: Silver King vs. Juventud Guerrera
Juvy is champion here as we talk about Bagwell for the most part. Guerrera is pretty much the face by default here despite there being no real story. Oh and Juvy doesnt have a mask anymore. This is just your standard WCW-lucha libre here with some decent stuff but its just there. Without Rey out there the interest is kind of hard to find. Lets talk about tennis players apparently.
Silver King takes over with basic stuff that isnt much at all. A springboard dive over the top take Juvy out. Now lets talk about tennis some more. Back in and he keeps beating on him, only for Juvy to get a hurricanrana for two out of nowhere. Missile dropkick gets two. King gets a superkick for two. Splash in the corner misses so Juvy hits an inverted rana out of the corner for two. Juvy Driver and 450 end this.
Rating: C. Not bad here but its just another Cruiserweight Title match that isnt going to mean anything about five minutes from now. Juvy was pretty good but there was no story or anything like one for this entire division at the time which is what hurt it more than anything. Well that and Rey not being in it. Anyway, this was fine but nothing of note at all.
Konnan is doing an online chat and Hall comes up and is drunk. Yeah Im shocked too. I have no evidence of it but Im playing the odds. They argue a bit and thats about it.
We recap Raven vs. Saturn which is over Saturn being Lodis slave until tonight. If Raven wins, Saturn is his permanent slave and if Saturn wins, the Flock is disbanded. Saturn has his fingers broken rather than break the fingers of a defenseless Riggs. This recap takes like five minutes for some reason.
Raven vs. Saturn
Ravens Rules, here, meaning No DQ. Oh and Kanyon is handcuffed at ringside. Hes Ravens newest lackey or something like that. Raven jumps him to start and hits his running knee lift. Something I heard him say and that I see here is that Raven holds up two fingers before doing that, which is an homage to Mr. Wrestling II. Thats kind of cool.
Saturn comes back and fires off some kicks in the corner, hitting a suplex for two. Kick to the face gets two. Top rope splash gets more of the same. Raven is knocked into the railing and Saturn hits a big old dive over the top to take out Raven and Lodi. Lodi gets in a shot to shift the momentum again. Since its Ravens Rules you have to wonder why the whole Flock doesnt massacre Saturn but whatever.
Middle rope elbow gets no cover for bird boy. Another gets two. Sunset flip gets two for Raven and a clothesline puts Saturn down. Theres a sleeper to eat up some time. Saturn tries a comeback by reversing snap mares of all things. Russian legsweep gets no cover but a second one gets a two count. Thats a running theme for Raven it seems. Chair is brought in for the drop toehold spot.
Here comes the Flock with a table. The Flock has such luminaries as Sick Boy, Horace and Scotty Riggs. Kidman is with them but turns on the Flock by hitting a missile dropkick to take out Raven. Death Valley Driver gets two for Saturn. The fans are awake now. T-Bone suplex starts Saturns comeback. Springboard spinning legdrop gets two as does a Michinoku Driver.
Saturn busts out the Rings of Saturn which is a move he very rarely uses at this point. Lodi makes the save, which makes busting out the move rather pointless. Down goes the referee, allowing Kanyon to steal the key for the cuffs. He hits a Flatliner (Downward Spiral) for two on Saturn. Low blow to Raven gets a big pop. Lodi takes a Death Valley Driver through the table. Coming back in though Saturn gets caught in the Even Flow. The kickout gets a huge pop and another Death Valley Driver ends this with Saturn winning.
Rating: B-. Not a bad match and it actually got kind of close to epic. That being said, the Flock never did anything after this so its not like this meant anything. Still though, Saturn looked like a star here which is why the whole thing went nowhere for him. Pretty good match though, especially after the crowd got into it after Kidman turned.
Jim Duggans cancer tumor has been taken out of his kidney and it was the size of a football. From what I remember, thats legit.
We get a clip from Nitro in a solid cage match with Hennig and Malenko where the NWO swerved Malenko for a beatdown. Naturally a cage match results in a regular match here at the PPV. Arn Anderson saved Malenko from having his head slammed in a cage. This resulted in Anderson saying that even though there may not be Horsemen right now, hed be honored to call Malenko a Horseman. They would reform the next night on Nitro and then fade away again.
Dean Malenko vs. Curt Hennig
Rick Rude is with Hennig. He would be dead in about 8 months. Dean goes straight at him to start and hammers away on him. Huge WE WANT FLAIR chant as Dean works on the knee on the floor. Now he beats on Rude for awhile. Hennig gets a boot up in the corner but cant even slam Dean due to the knee. More or less all Dean so far here. Hennig gets a thumb to the eye to finally break the momentum.
The knee gives out again though and here comes Dean. Curt might have been on offense for 10 seconds there. Head knocker puts Dean down again but he goes right back to the knee some more. Hennig keeps doing stuff that hurts his own knee so he bails for a bit on the floor. Back in and Curt begs off, only to take a dropkick to the knee. Dean cannonballs down onto the knee ala Flair.
Leg bar goes on as this is almost all Dean for the most part. Rude helps Curt break the hold so Dean works on the knee even more. Rude kicks Dean in the back but Curt cant use the Perfectplex because of the knee. Dean does his own version of it and heres Rude for the DQ on a run in. Anderson comes out for the save and is beaten down also, namely on the arm he has to arm wrestle Bischoff with on Thursday (which was taped early, meaning I was at that Thunder because I remember watching it). No Flair for the save of course, because the fans might like that.
Rating: C-. Pretty boring here as Curt had more or less no onffense going on before the run-in by Rude. Rude was training for a comeback but had that whole death thing stop him. Anyway, not much here with Dean doing nothing but knee work which is fine in theory but can get pretty boring in a hurry, which it did here, even though the match wasnt even 8 minutes long.
BUY HALLOWEEN HAVOC! Youll pay the full price and get to see most of the card!
Konnan vs. Scott Hall
Heres the next to last match and shockingly enough, its NWO vs. NWO. Lets get this over with. Hall has the ever tough Vincent with him. Hall is a tag champion here of course, because he held those all the time for the most part. Vincent has a cup with him, which is part of the whole Hall is an alcoholic angle where they tried to make money off of Halls personal demons. Nice guys those WCW bosses.
Allegedly Hall is just pretending to be drunk but you really can never tell. Survey says the usual stuff. This eats up WAY too much time as they have nearly an hour left and two matches, including this one. Hall goes back and forth between the rings to stall a bit here. Nothing significant for the first few minutes here. Apparently Konnan is popular now. Hall does the test of strength trick which Konnan drills him for.
Rolling lariat takes Hall down again and Konnan kicks him down between the rings. That has NEVER been done before apparently. You know, other than when it happens every single year. Konnan pops Hall again when he tries to sneak up on the bald one. Vincent gives Hall a drink and now its time to continue. Hall wants a countout apparently which doesnt happen.
Back in and Hall takes over with a modified surfboard. Make that a pair of them as were right back to it after Konnan gets a brief break out of it. Konnan reverses into a version where Hall is still in the hold because he wont let go of Konnans wrists. I freaking give up people. Fall away slam by Hall gets two. Abdominal stretch goes on and Hall has a drink while he has the hold on.
Konnan gets one of his own on now but only for a few seconds. Elbow misses for Hall and a second does the same. Konnan hammers away as this needs to end soon. Not that its a horrible match but because I want to finish this show off and get on to something else. Clothesline takes down Konnan and the fans look at something in the crowd. Hall gets a belly to back off the top but wants a drink before he hits the Outsiders Edge. The distraction is enough to let Konnan get up and hook the Tequila Sunrise (arm trap half crab) to end this.
Rating: F. Any match where the focus is on someone with legit personal issues like Hall has that is built around him being an alcoholic is a failure, period. Not funny, not something you try to build a character as, and flat out pathetic all around. The match itself was just ok anyway, but this gimmick always made me sick and this is no exception.
Already main event time.
Team WCW vs. Team Wolfpack vs. Team NWO Hollywood
WCW: Diamond Dallas Page, Warrior, Roddy Piper
Team Wolfpack: Kevin Nash, Sting, Lex Luger
Team NWO Hollywood: Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Stevie Ray
So the basic idea here is two guys start and get five members. You can win at any time and by pin or submission. I think there are two minutes between entrances and theyre drawn out of a hat I guess. The cages are lowered and the winner gets Goldberg at Halloween Havoc. Yeah its every two minutes. The whole you can win at any time is so stupid, because no one thinks itll end before all nine are here.
Page and Hart get us started here. Apparently Sting gets a world title shot tomorrow night anyway. Ok so why would he go all crazy to try to win here if hes automatically getting a shot tomorrow? Hart works on the arm to start and hammers away. Belly to belly gets two for Page. Heenan says the nine best guys in this business are in this match. Stevie Ray is in this match, making Heenan sound like a blithering idiot here.
Hart gets a DDT to take over. Lots of choking follows by Hart so Page hammers away. Theres nothing of note going on here because no one buys that this is ending in the first five minutes. Theres the time ending and its Stevie Ray in next. Hart and Ray work together in a solo competition because the team aspect is worthless here. Hart goes down so Stevie chokes away at Page instead of covering him.
Sting comes in next and beats up Stevie Ray for being in the same ring that Sting is in. Big dive mostly over both sets of ropes takes him down again and the crowd is awake all of a sudden. The NWO guys take over until Piper comes in. He beats up everyone including his teammate because this match is freaking idiotic. Luger is in next.
This is painfully boring here as NOTHING is going on here at all. Were just waiting around here for the Warrior and Hogan stuff to start up. The team aspect is a mess and means nothing and theyre not even using the cage to do anything here. Nash comes in to beat on everyone, starting with Piper. There are seven in so far with Warrior and Hogan left.
Hogan comes out 30 seconds after Nash, totally jumping the gun. To be fair, that means the match is going to end more quickly so I cant really complain. Theres a slap jack in there somewhere and Hogan and Stevie are the only ones left. No one covers anyone, even though it can end at any time. Leg drop to Nash and then a second one before the ring fills up with smoke.
This was the extent of the Warrior gimmick for the most part and no one wanted to see it but whatever. Warrior pops up in the ring and Hogan takes him down. More smoke goes off as Warrior goes through the Bulldog killing trapdoor. Hogan is left holding Warriors coat and Warrior runs through the entrance. Wrestling is now nothing more than a bunch of magic tricks it seems.
Disciple comes out to take Hogan away as Warrior punches a lot of people. Warrior kicks through the cage and chases Hogan out. This is all taking forever of course. Remembering that the match is going on, Page pops up and hits the Diamond Cutter on Ray to get the shot at Goldberg next month. At least its over.
Rating: F. This was idiotic beyond belief as nothing made sense at all with the whole thing being a backdrop for Hogan vs. Warrior which is only there to set up Hogan making himself feel better after losing to him eight years earlier at Mania. This was terrible and no one cared at all. The rules made no sense and the whole thing was a mess. They managed to screw up WarGames. Thats hard to do.
Overall Rating: F. Oh give me a break here. Lets see: the main event is AWFUL, Konnan is in the second biggest match of the night, Raven vs. Saturn is match of the night probably and the rest of the show is just a waste of time. Nothing of note happened here as the ending is probably best described as a commercial for Hogan vs. Warrior. Goldberg isnt even here for a token appearance? Give me a break. HORRIBLE show that won worst show of the year from Meltzer and I cant say I disagree here. Awful in every sense of the word.
Date: September 13, 1998
Location: Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Attendance: 11,528
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan
WarGames is finally dead so tonight were getting the evil version of it with three teams of three, PINFALLS and one winner instead of a team with the winner getting Goldberg the next month at Halloween Havoc. We go from the ten minute long matches last year to the usual schmuck here which is going to be full of screwjobs. Also Flair isnt here yet so the fans all chant WE WANT FLAIR throughout the show, only to have him make his big famous return tomorrow night instead of here. Lets get to it.
The opening video is about the three teams and thats about it.
We get such a loud WE WANT FLAIR chant that its hard to understand Tony. The first two people in the cage will be Page and Hart with one person coming in at a time after that. I give up. HOW COULD YOU SCREW UP WARGAMES???
Ernest Miller is pulled off someone. Thats about it apparently.
Gene runs down the card and Jericho comes up. He announces Goldberg vs. Jericho in a title vs. title match for tonight. HUGE pop for that.
Dancing Fools vs. Jim Neidhart/British Bulldog
Why in the world Neidhart was hired is beyond me but whatever. The Dancing Fools are Disco Inferno and Alex Wright. Wright vs. Bulldog to start. The Hart relatives are the faces here I guess. The stalling begins and Bulldog backs him into the corner. Gorilla press slam puts Wright down and its a double tag. Disco dances around a lot and Neidhart makes fun of him for it.
Disco actually takes him down and Tony is STUNNED. Off to Wright and Bulldog again with the dancers taking over. The announcers talk about WarGames mostly because the match isnt that interesting. I mean seriously, Jim Neidhart is on PPV in 1998. Why in the world is that happening? Disco hits an atomic drop but is sent over the top with ease. Its not a DQ so hopefully they got rid of that idiotic rule.
Apparently Bret has been teasing turning .still heel I guess as he screwed Hogan over on Nitro kind of. The Hart dudes take over as Heenan picks Piper for the main event. The fans want Flair again. Slingshot shoulder block misses for Jim though and heres the tag to Wright, who is apparently popular now. Wright cleans up a bit and double teaming breaks up the powerslam. Double clothesline puts down Bulldog. The referee goes down for a bit and the powerslam ends Disco clean.
Rating: D+. Just a tag match here but it had Jim Neidhart in it in 1998. Again, I dont think that requires much more of an explanation. The announcers were bored with it because this belonged on WCW Saturday Night or something like that. Not a fan of this one at all but it wasnt horrible I guess.
Oh and before I forget: Bulldog broke his back on a trapdoor in the ring that Warrior would use later. He would be in the hospital SIX MONTHS and WCW fired him via FedEX. As in due to an injury due to something that they had in place for another guy to make an entrance in another match. Gotta love WCW.
Scott Steiner and Buff say that due to a band-aid on Scotts arm he cant wrestle tonight and they have a note from Dr. Cecil Schwartz. He cant fight Rick later on. JJ Dillon comes up and says he doesnt buy it. Total waste of about two minutes.
TV Title/WCW World Title: Chris Jericho vs. Goldberg
Oh do you really think this is going to happen? We get the Spinal Tap intro with Jericho going through the wrong door time after time despite having Ralphus and the Jerichoholic Ninja with him. The pyro doesnt work once he finally gets to the arena, which is a running joke at this point. Jericho had called out Goldberg for months and hadnt gotten to actually face him yet.
Jericho also doesnt face him here as its a Goldberg midget. You know, because after months of comedy and buildup, we cant have the unstoppable machine that is the world champion beat up a clueless schmuck like Jericho in two minutes right? Instead lets get the crowd all fired up and then tick them off to no end. Thats fine on Nitro, but on a PPV, HAVE GOLDBERG KILL HIM.
Hes not quite a midget but hes probably not even five feet tall. He actually hits a spear and thats about it for him. The fans HATE this and its over in like a minute fifteen with the Liontamer. Goldberg and Jericho never actually fought in WCW, because people might actually be interested in that I guess.
Rick Steiner is doing an online interview.
We get a clip from Thunder which was apparently at Rupp Arena in Lexington. I went to a Thunder taping but I cant remember when it was and there were two of them there, so theres a chance I was here for this. The Armstrongs are outside and Ernest Miller comes up to annoy them, beating both of them up. Norman Smiley of all people comes up for the save, prompting this to waste PPV time.
Norman Smiley vs. Ernest Miller
Miller does the leave before I beat you up thing pre match. Miller runs to the floor to waste some time when Smiley doesnt leave. Hes all ticked off and takes over with no one actually being interested in this match in the slightest. Smiley makes a comeback and uses his technical stuff which was really quite underrated. Miller takes over with an armdrag and armbar as this is going nowhere. Cat gets a few big kicks to end Smiley.
Rating: W. As in whatever man. Seriously, this gets nearly ten total minutes on a PPV. Let that sink in for a minute. Nothing else to say here at all.
We recap the Steiner feud which started like seven months ago with Scott joining the NWO. Hes kept trying to avoid fighting Rick since then, including pretending to be hurt to take Rick out. If Scott doesnt fight tonight hes banned for life.
Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner
An interesting thing here is that they list off all of the titles that the Steiners have won and mention them winning titles in another American based wrestling organization, which would be WWF. Interesting that once they were in trouble they wouldnt mention them. They hammer away to a BIG reaction with Rick winning. Now keep that in mind: the fans are into this match.
Rick no sells a turnbuckle shot and Scott bails. He gets knocked into the crowd and Rick keeps pounding away. Back in the ring and Scott hits him in the little Dog Faced Gremlins to take over. Rick fights back and hits a DDT to counter a suplex. Buff Bagwell gets involved and Rick rams him into the buckle. They fight to the floor and Buff isnt moving. Oh here we go. The match is stopped to check on Bagwell. Oh just get to the screwjob already.
Rating: C. Based on what we had this was ok, but at the same time they had to go with the screwy ending because clearly the fans wanting to see the match wasnt enough for them right? Match was actually a decent brawl but since its WCW we cant have a real ending to what could be a decent match right?
Buff is taken out and this eats up WAY too much time. The fans dont buy it at all as they probably shouldnt. They do a stretcher job and Tony talks about how some of the matches have to be canceled, as if this isnt 100% planned. After about eight minutes are wasted here they get him into the ambulance and its finally done.
Oh of course it isnt. Bagwell jumps out of the ambulance and attacks Rick, BECAUSE IT WAS A SWERVE. Yes, this is what they spent five percent of the PPV on. This company deserved to fail.
Cruiserweight Title: Silver King vs. Juventud Guerrera
Juvy is champion here as we talk about Bagwell for the most part. Guerrera is pretty much the face by default here despite there being no real story. Oh and Juvy doesnt have a mask anymore. This is just your standard WCW-lucha libre here with some decent stuff but its just there. Without Rey out there the interest is kind of hard to find. Lets talk about tennis players apparently.
Silver King takes over with basic stuff that isnt much at all. A springboard dive over the top take Juvy out. Now lets talk about tennis some more. Back in and he keeps beating on him, only for Juvy to get a hurricanrana for two out of nowhere. Missile dropkick gets two. King gets a superkick for two. Splash in the corner misses so Juvy hits an inverted rana out of the corner for two. Juvy Driver and 450 end this.
Rating: C. Not bad here but its just another Cruiserweight Title match that isnt going to mean anything about five minutes from now. Juvy was pretty good but there was no story or anything like one for this entire division at the time which is what hurt it more than anything. Well that and Rey not being in it. Anyway, this was fine but nothing of note at all.
Konnan is doing an online chat and Hall comes up and is drunk. Yeah Im shocked too. I have no evidence of it but Im playing the odds. They argue a bit and thats about it.
We recap Raven vs. Saturn which is over Saturn being Lodis slave until tonight. If Raven wins, Saturn is his permanent slave and if Saturn wins, the Flock is disbanded. Saturn has his fingers broken rather than break the fingers of a defenseless Riggs. This recap takes like five minutes for some reason.
Raven vs. Saturn
Ravens Rules, here, meaning No DQ. Oh and Kanyon is handcuffed at ringside. Hes Ravens newest lackey or something like that. Raven jumps him to start and hits his running knee lift. Something I heard him say and that I see here is that Raven holds up two fingers before doing that, which is an homage to Mr. Wrestling II. Thats kind of cool.
Saturn comes back and fires off some kicks in the corner, hitting a suplex for two. Kick to the face gets two. Top rope splash gets more of the same. Raven is knocked into the railing and Saturn hits a big old dive over the top to take out Raven and Lodi. Lodi gets in a shot to shift the momentum again. Since its Ravens Rules you have to wonder why the whole Flock doesnt massacre Saturn but whatever.
Middle rope elbow gets no cover for bird boy. Another gets two. Sunset flip gets two for Raven and a clothesline puts Saturn down. Theres a sleeper to eat up some time. Saturn tries a comeback by reversing snap mares of all things. Russian legsweep gets no cover but a second one gets a two count. Thats a running theme for Raven it seems. Chair is brought in for the drop toehold spot.
Here comes the Flock with a table. The Flock has such luminaries as Sick Boy, Horace and Scotty Riggs. Kidman is with them but turns on the Flock by hitting a missile dropkick to take out Raven. Death Valley Driver gets two for Saturn. The fans are awake now. T-Bone suplex starts Saturns comeback. Springboard spinning legdrop gets two as does a Michinoku Driver.
Saturn busts out the Rings of Saturn which is a move he very rarely uses at this point. Lodi makes the save, which makes busting out the move rather pointless. Down goes the referee, allowing Kanyon to steal the key for the cuffs. He hits a Flatliner (Downward Spiral) for two on Saturn. Low blow to Raven gets a big pop. Lodi takes a Death Valley Driver through the table. Coming back in though Saturn gets caught in the Even Flow. The kickout gets a huge pop and another Death Valley Driver ends this with Saturn winning.
Rating: B-. Not a bad match and it actually got kind of close to epic. That being said, the Flock never did anything after this so its not like this meant anything. Still though, Saturn looked like a star here which is why the whole thing went nowhere for him. Pretty good match though, especially after the crowd got into it after Kidman turned.
Jim Duggans cancer tumor has been taken out of his kidney and it was the size of a football. From what I remember, thats legit.
We get a clip from Nitro in a solid cage match with Hennig and Malenko where the NWO swerved Malenko for a beatdown. Naturally a cage match results in a regular match here at the PPV. Arn Anderson saved Malenko from having his head slammed in a cage. This resulted in Anderson saying that even though there may not be Horsemen right now, hed be honored to call Malenko a Horseman. They would reform the next night on Nitro and then fade away again.
Dean Malenko vs. Curt Hennig
Rick Rude is with Hennig. He would be dead in about 8 months. Dean goes straight at him to start and hammers away on him. Huge WE WANT FLAIR chant as Dean works on the knee on the floor. Now he beats on Rude for awhile. Hennig gets a boot up in the corner but cant even slam Dean due to the knee. More or less all Dean so far here. Hennig gets a thumb to the eye to finally break the momentum.
The knee gives out again though and here comes Dean. Curt might have been on offense for 10 seconds there. Head knocker puts Dean down again but he goes right back to the knee some more. Hennig keeps doing stuff that hurts his own knee so he bails for a bit on the floor. Back in and Curt begs off, only to take a dropkick to the knee. Dean cannonballs down onto the knee ala Flair.
Leg bar goes on as this is almost all Dean for the most part. Rude helps Curt break the hold so Dean works on the knee even more. Rude kicks Dean in the back but Curt cant use the Perfectplex because of the knee. Dean does his own version of it and heres Rude for the DQ on a run in. Anderson comes out for the save and is beaten down also, namely on the arm he has to arm wrestle Bischoff with on Thursday (which was taped early, meaning I was at that Thunder because I remember watching it). No Flair for the save of course, because the fans might like that.
Rating: C-. Pretty boring here as Curt had more or less no onffense going on before the run-in by Rude. Rude was training for a comeback but had that whole death thing stop him. Anyway, not much here with Dean doing nothing but knee work which is fine in theory but can get pretty boring in a hurry, which it did here, even though the match wasnt even 8 minutes long.
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Konnan vs. Scott Hall
Heres the next to last match and shockingly enough, its NWO vs. NWO. Lets get this over with. Hall has the ever tough Vincent with him. Hall is a tag champion here of course, because he held those all the time for the most part. Vincent has a cup with him, which is part of the whole Hall is an alcoholic angle where they tried to make money off of Halls personal demons. Nice guys those WCW bosses.
Allegedly Hall is just pretending to be drunk but you really can never tell. Survey says the usual stuff. This eats up WAY too much time as they have nearly an hour left and two matches, including this one. Hall goes back and forth between the rings to stall a bit here. Nothing significant for the first few minutes here. Apparently Konnan is popular now. Hall does the test of strength trick which Konnan drills him for.
Rolling lariat takes Hall down again and Konnan kicks him down between the rings. That has NEVER been done before apparently. You know, other than when it happens every single year. Konnan pops Hall again when he tries to sneak up on the bald one. Vincent gives Hall a drink and now its time to continue. Hall wants a countout apparently which doesnt happen.
Back in and Hall takes over with a modified surfboard. Make that a pair of them as were right back to it after Konnan gets a brief break out of it. Konnan reverses into a version where Hall is still in the hold because he wont let go of Konnans wrists. I freaking give up people. Fall away slam by Hall gets two. Abdominal stretch goes on and Hall has a drink while he has the hold on.
Konnan gets one of his own on now but only for a few seconds. Elbow misses for Hall and a second does the same. Konnan hammers away as this needs to end soon. Not that its a horrible match but because I want to finish this show off and get on to something else. Clothesline takes down Konnan and the fans look at something in the crowd. Hall gets a belly to back off the top but wants a drink before he hits the Outsiders Edge. The distraction is enough to let Konnan get up and hook the Tequila Sunrise (arm trap half crab) to end this.
Rating: F. Any match where the focus is on someone with legit personal issues like Hall has that is built around him being an alcoholic is a failure, period. Not funny, not something you try to build a character as, and flat out pathetic all around. The match itself was just ok anyway, but this gimmick always made me sick and this is no exception.
Already main event time.
Team WCW vs. Team Wolfpack vs. Team NWO Hollywood
WCW: Diamond Dallas Page, Warrior, Roddy Piper
Team Wolfpack: Kevin Nash, Sting, Lex Luger
Team NWO Hollywood: Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Stevie Ray
So the basic idea here is two guys start and get five members. You can win at any time and by pin or submission. I think there are two minutes between entrances and theyre drawn out of a hat I guess. The cages are lowered and the winner gets Goldberg at Halloween Havoc. Yeah its every two minutes. The whole you can win at any time is so stupid, because no one thinks itll end before all nine are here.
Page and Hart get us started here. Apparently Sting gets a world title shot tomorrow night anyway. Ok so why would he go all crazy to try to win here if hes automatically getting a shot tomorrow? Hart works on the arm to start and hammers away. Belly to belly gets two for Page. Heenan says the nine best guys in this business are in this match. Stevie Ray is in this match, making Heenan sound like a blithering idiot here.
Hart gets a DDT to take over. Lots of choking follows by Hart so Page hammers away. Theres nothing of note going on here because no one buys that this is ending in the first five minutes. Theres the time ending and its Stevie Ray in next. Hart and Ray work together in a solo competition because the team aspect is worthless here. Hart goes down so Stevie chokes away at Page instead of covering him.
Sting comes in next and beats up Stevie Ray for being in the same ring that Sting is in. Big dive mostly over both sets of ropes takes him down again and the crowd is awake all of a sudden. The NWO guys take over until Piper comes in. He beats up everyone including his teammate because this match is freaking idiotic. Luger is in next.
This is painfully boring here as NOTHING is going on here at all. Were just waiting around here for the Warrior and Hogan stuff to start up. The team aspect is a mess and means nothing and theyre not even using the cage to do anything here. Nash comes in to beat on everyone, starting with Piper. There are seven in so far with Warrior and Hogan left.
Hogan comes out 30 seconds after Nash, totally jumping the gun. To be fair, that means the match is going to end more quickly so I cant really complain. Theres a slap jack in there somewhere and Hogan and Stevie are the only ones left. No one covers anyone, even though it can end at any time. Leg drop to Nash and then a second one before the ring fills up with smoke.
This was the extent of the Warrior gimmick for the most part and no one wanted to see it but whatever. Warrior pops up in the ring and Hogan takes him down. More smoke goes off as Warrior goes through the Bulldog killing trapdoor. Hogan is left holding Warriors coat and Warrior runs through the entrance. Wrestling is now nothing more than a bunch of magic tricks it seems.
Disciple comes out to take Hogan away as Warrior punches a lot of people. Warrior kicks through the cage and chases Hogan out. This is all taking forever of course. Remembering that the match is going on, Page pops up and hits the Diamond Cutter on Ray to get the shot at Goldberg next month. At least its over.
Rating: F. This was idiotic beyond belief as nothing made sense at all with the whole thing being a backdrop for Hogan vs. Warrior which is only there to set up Hogan making himself feel better after losing to him eight years earlier at Mania. This was terrible and no one cared at all. The rules made no sense and the whole thing was a mess. They managed to screw up WarGames. Thats hard to do.
Overall Rating: F. Oh give me a break here. Lets see: the main event is AWFUL, Konnan is in the second biggest match of the night, Raven vs. Saturn is match of the night probably and the rest of the show is just a waste of time. Nothing of note happened here as the ending is probably best described as a commercial for Hogan vs. Warrior. Goldberg isnt even here for a token appearance? Give me a break. HORRIBLE show that won worst show of the year from Meltzer and I cant say I disagree here. Awful in every sense of the word.