klunderbunker
Welcome to My (And Not Sly's) House
SuperBrawl 1998
Date: February 22, 1998
Location: Cow Palace, San Francisco, California
Attendance: 12,620
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay
Someone who I legit cant remember has asked me about this a bunch so here it is. NOW SHUT UP. Anyway, this is headlined by Hogan vs. Sting II which shows that WCW totally missed the point of Stings return to the ring last time they fought. Other than that its your usual stuff from this point with the undercard being solid throughout (Benoit vs. Page, Jericho vs. Guerrera, Booker vs. Saturn) and then the stars coming in to have horrible matches. Lets get to it.
Oh and remember that guy Bret Hart that was supposed to be the big signing that WCW needed? Nowhere on the card.
Opening video is about Sting vs. Hogan of course and how these are dark times and good faced evil to end the darkness.
TV Title: Rick Martel vs. Booker T
Martel is champion and the winner has to defend against Saturn immediately thereafter. Booker lost the title like a week before this. Martel is in the middle of an awesome comeback so this should be good. Booker was just started to get awesome and slaps away a handshake offer. Clothesline sends Martel to the floor quickly which doesnt mean much of anything.
Back into the ring for some basic stuff like a back elbow that gets two for Booker. The Flock is in the front few rows as Booker works on the arm. OConnor Roll by Martel is reversed into a superkick and its back to the arm. Time to talk about Nick Patrick as Martel takes over. Booker breakdances up but walks into a powerslam for two. Time to hit the chinlock though to break the momentum.
Spinebuster hits and theres the Quebec Crab. Booker gets the rope though and were back to even. Martel misses a cross body out of the corner and Booker gets a sloppy OConnor Roll for two. Clothesline gets two for Martel. Booker gets a forearm out of nowhere for no cover as the fans are getting into this again. Scissor kick hits for Booker as does a spinebuster. Booker misses a spinning cross body off the middle ropes and Martel goes up. He jumps into a Harlem Side Kick though and Booker wins the title.
Rating: B-. See, theres something that needs to be brought up: that wasnt the planned finish. When Martel came off those ropes at the end and Booker kicked him, Martel more or less completely destroyed his leg, tearing a ligament, breaking a bone and ripping apart his cartilage. He would try to come back one more time in July and get hurt again and he was done. Shame too as this was getting really good near the end.
Saturn immediately charges the ring to start up match #2.
TV Title: Booker T vs. Saturn
Now this should be REALLY interesting because Martel was supposed to be the opponent for Saturn, meaning these two have about 15 minutes and absolutely zero plan so the whole thing is going to be improvised. Saturn tries the Rings of Saturn immediately as the referee is clearly confused. Booker makes the ropes and Saturn tries a small package. Also a backslide and a bunch of other pinning combinations. Out to the floor and Saturn sends him into the barricade.
Back inside now as Saturn hammers away a bit more. Saturn tries a clothesline but Booker gets a shot in to slam him into the mat and reset things again. Booker hits the floor and Saturn lands a huge dive onto him followed by a Vader Bomb to the floor which is rather cool. Back inside Booker gets a big forearm to put Saturn down again. Saturn avoids a charge in the corner and Booker loses momentum again.
Middle rope belly to back puts both guys down as Saturn cant capitalize. After a count of 8 Saturn covers but Booker is under the ropes. Saturn puts him on the top but Booker knocks him back and hits the missile dropkick but cant cover. Leg lariat hits but Booker walks into a t-bone suplex to put them both down again. Belly to belly gets two. Lionsault hits but Saturn cant cover.
Booker tries to walk up the ropes but slips and therefore his cross body goes sailing over Saturn who gets two off the crash. We hit the chinlock and Booker is in trouble. They mention the torn MCL as both guys try cross bodies to put them both down again. Booker hits another spinebuster for two. Axe kick looks to set up the Harlem Hangover but Saturn moves again. Northern lights suplex gets two. Harlem sidekick out of absolutely nowhere gets the pin to retain for Booker.
Rating: B-. Again to appreciate this one you have to keep in mind that this was totally improvised. Yes they laid around a lot but they kind of had to as they had no idea what they were doing. This is a good sign of what you can do when you have to and also a good sign that they had a pretty good match after the shock of having to have it. Hard to ask for much more.
La Parka vs. Disco Inferno
No real point here but when has that stopped WCW before? Oh apparently theyre fighting over who is the better dancer. Well why not I guess. La Parka hits his signature chair shot to take over and a powerslam gets .dancing. Disco gets a powerslam as well and actually goes more seriously here, hammering away instead of dancing. Spinwheel kick by the masked dude sends Disco to the floor so he can hit a corkscrew suicide dive which Tenay seems to think was over the top when it just wasnt. So his eyes dont work anymore I guess.
They slug it out on the floor and Disco goes into the railing and a clothesline puts him down. And now lets dance some more. Back inside as Heenan talks about having his moon salted. Ill let you figure out what he might mean by that. Disco throws him back to the floor and Parka goes into the railing again. Parka guillotines him across the top and gets some hard kicks for two.
Majistral cradle gets two. Ok we get it: Parka can dance. DO SOMETHING ELSE! Disco takes him down again and is surprisingly more commanding in the ring here. Parka sends him to the floor and Disco might have hurt his knee. Back in La Parka is sent into the post and Disco stomps away again. Clothesline gets two. Neckbreaker gets the same. Down goes the referee and its chair time. Disco is sat in it but escapes and we go to the corner. A superplex onto the chair doesnt work so he throws Parka into it instead. Chartbuster (Stunner) ends this.
Rating: C+. Not bad again here as they were working out there. Not a great match or anything because its Disco Inferno vs. La Parka, but at the end of the day they did their best and it wasnt a bad match. Definitely nothing that needed to be on the show but they were trying at least, which is all you can ask for.
JJ comes out and calls out Nick Patrick who is reinstated after the Starracde debacle. This needed PPV time right? This turns into an argument and Patrick isnt refereeing the main event. This ate up three minutes somehow.
Brad Armstrong vs. Goldberg
You figure this one out. Bill is a good six inches taller than Armstrong. This is a long one for Goldberg, running nearly two and a half minutes. You know the ending Im sure.
Cruiserweight Title: Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera
This is title vs. mask. Jericho wont take the belt off so lets just wear it for the match. Tony: This is bizarre. Mike: This is Jericho. They trade wristlocks to start with neither guy being able to take over. Juvy kicks him in the belt which hurts worse than a regular shot so Jericho finally takes it off. Spinwheel kick puts the Canadian down again and we hit a quick chinlock.
Jericho grabs the arm as Juvy keeps trying to speed things up. Springboard dive sends Jericho to the apron and a springboard rana sends him to the floor. Jericho tries to get a countout loss which would mean Jericho hasnt lost the title so Juvi would lose the match. Back in the ring the Mexican escapes a German by the Canadian but gets caught in a hot shot and a springboard dropkick to send him to the floor.
Jericho uses the steps on the floor as a launch ramp but gets launched into the railing for his efforts. Piledriver gets two. Back elbow sets up the posing cover for two. Victory roll gets two for Jericho. Spin kick sends Juvy right back down and Jericho is frustrated. Backsplash gets two. He works on the back now, probably to set up the Liontamer. Jericho hammers away for awhile before Juvy manages to go up top, only to get caught in an electric chair for two.
Juvy dropkicks him to the floor and hits a springboard Air Juvy (leg lariat) to wipe him out. Juvy Driver sets up the 450 but Jericho grabs the rope. The bell rings and its Dusty Finish time. Jericho uses the distraction to take out the knee and they speed things up. Juvy counters a powerbomb into a DDT for two. Top rope rana is countered by Jericho but he jumps into an atomic drop. Springboard rana gets two for Juvy but he walks into a reverse suplex. Lionsault misses but Juvys attempt at a Mysterio sitout bulldog is caught in a Liontamer attempt which is reversed into a rana attempt into the Liontamer for the tap and the mask.
Rating: B. Two guys that can move going out there to have a fast paced match with time. What more can you ask for here? Juvy could move out there and thats what he did here, flying all over the place to try to keep his identity. The false finish was fair but a bit tricky to the audience, which is the point I guess. Still though, very fun match.
Juvy begrudgingly takes off the mask to reveal his face as Jericho gloats like a total jerk. Juvy goes all slowly so Jericho comes up and rips it off, taking it with him for his trophy case.
British Bulldog vs. Steve McMichael
And from that to this. Oh joy. Why did they waste such a great theme song on a guy like Mongo? Mongo gets a tilt-a-whirl slam to start and chokes away weakly. We talk about the Nick Patrick thing so we dont have to talk about this match. Bulldog goes for a Sharpshooter which is just failure. This is a horrible match if you didnt get that. Mongo takes over on the floor and sends Bulldog into the railing.
Tony says this is what weve come to expect from these two men. Yeah I kind of expected a weak brawl with them both looking awful as well. Mongo punches the post by mistake, legitimately breaking his hand and putting him out for about five months. Mongos wrist stops working for the most part and cant get the Tombstone so an armbar ends this.
Rating: F. This was on PPV in 1998. The match was horrible and the ending was horrible, namely due to the injury. Granted the match was going to suck no matter what and it wasnt any good earlier than that. Mongo just wasnt any good for the most part and this is no exception.
Mongo says he didnt quit and hits the referee to waste time.
US Title: Chris Benoit vs. Diamond Dallas Page
This should be good. Page is champion coming in. They respect each other here so theres the heel/face dynamic for you. They fight for arms to start and its more or less a stalemate. Page finally gets a gutbuster to take over which lasts for a second or so. Benoit sends him to the floor as we hear about Page buying a Best of Benoit video to study him. Thats a different way of going about scouting.
Test of strength goes into a nice pinfall reversal sequence. Benoit hits the floor for a bit to stall and clear his head. It turns into a brawl after that as I guess Page doesnt respect him anymore. Cutter doesnt work and Benoit drills him to take over as the heel in the match. Pinfall reversal sequence sets up a wheelbarrow suplex for Page for two. Benoit takes over and we hit the chinlock which quickly shifts into something like a cobra clutch.
Page tries to come out of the corner but walks into the snap suplex to get us right back to that clutch. Benoit tries a suplex of some kind and Page throws him to the floor which is a momentum move and not intentionally throwing him over the top or whatever. Back in Page hits a superplex and both guys are down. Page gets back up first to take over with a discus lariat and covers after calling for the Cutter.
Benoit grabs the Crossface out of nowhere but Page is in the ropes almost immediately. Small package gets two for Page and Benoit as well just afterwards. Belly to belly gets two for Page as this is getting really good. The crowd is way into it also and its Rolling Germans time. The third one gets two and the crowd reacts huge to the kickout. Both guys are down again.
Jumping tornado DDT puts Benoit down for two out of nowhere. Another cutter attempt is countered into a backslide attempt but Page snaps on the Diamond Cutter out of nowhere for the pin and the big reaction from the crowd. You would think that would be enough to push Benoit but of course that wouldnt be for like another year and a half because WCW didnt get a lot of concepts.
Rating: B+. Great game of chess here as Page was getting better almost by the day at this point and was about to have a big feud with Raven which would lead to Pages push towards the main event which would lead to his title runs the next year. Very good match here with both guys just doing their thing out there which is all you can ask for.
Giant isnt here so well hear about his neck injury tomorrow on Nitro. The Jackknife which injured him has been banned.
Video on Nash vs. Giant, which resulted in Giant being injured because Nash didnt want to job at Starrcade so he bailed on the match and screwed the fans over and then got to win the match the next month when he actually showed up because skipping a show and screwing the fans over are grounds for a push in WCW.
Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage
These two are more or less joined at the hip so heres a No DQ match. Lugers ribs are heavily taped up and Heenan makes a Back to the Future reference to make me smile. This was the opening parts of the eventual NWO split as Savage and Hogan are having issues in the NWO and the Wolfpack would be the result. Luger cant hit the gorilla press to start and the fans are ALL OVER him. This is Cena in a smark town level.
Savage takes over with some shots to the ribs .and that more or less ends the interesting part of the match. Luger just stopped being interesting after he won the title in August of 97 and totally floundered for the rest of his run in WCW. Out to the floor and Lugers ribs go into the railing again. Down goes a cameraman and we go into the audience for more brawling.
Back in the ring and Lugers taped up battered ribs are just fine all of a sudden. Theres the Rack and Liz comes in for the not DQ because its a no DQ match. The NWO hits the ring so lets ring the bell for some reason. Hogan comes out as Savage taps to the Rack this time. Hogan calls off the NWO troops saying hes glad Savage got beat. Savage would be out of the team very soon, leading to Hogan vs. Savage in a cage next month.
Rating: D-. Yeah again this was awful. It was more for the angle than the match but the booing and the lack of any real point to this made it completely worthless. At the very least though it was short (kind of) and Luger didnt mean anything anymore. Weak match but more of an angle with Hogan than the match itself.
Tag Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Outsiders
Steiners are champions. The Outsiders have Dusty Rhodes who joined the NWO last month in what was considered to be like the most epic heel turn ever by Tony but no one cared at all. This was around the time when Scott was being a selfish jerk and wouldnt let Rick do anything, teasing a heel turn for months. Hall does the Survey. DiBiase is with the Steiners still.
Rick vs. Hall to start us off which is more or less a stalemate. Hall does his usual schtick and Steiner half kills him with a Steiner Line. The partners change corners for some reason to further mess Hall up. Rick gets ten punches in the corner and make it eleven. Theres a belly to belly and Nash is in now too. Scott Steiner seems cool with letting Rick fight them both off. The Steiners clear the ring and do their signature pose and Scott FINALLY turns heel, beating up Rick and DiBiase, joining the NWO. Rick kicks out like an idiot so we have more of the same beating for awhile. Outsiders Edge ends this like a minute or two later.
Rating: N/A. This wasnt a match and it wouldnt really be fair to grade it as such. The majority of it was the Steiner turn and the reaction to it so Im not going to say the match sucked for that reason. Scott vs. Rick would be teased for the better part of a year and never really happened because WCW is stupid.
WCW World Title: Sting vs. Hulk Hogan
As Im sure you know, Hogan more or less screwed over the entire company at Starrcade, managing to screw up seventeen months worth of build for the sake of making sure he looked strong and crippling Sting in the process. It was also around this time that Raw finally overtook Nitro in the ratings and more or less never looked back. There couldnt be a correlation there though because Hogan can do no wrong correct? Anyway, this is the rematch and probably what should have happened at Starrcade. The title is vacant.
Hogan immediately beats Sting down again, choking away with the weightlifting belt. And so it begins again. Sting is flat on his back maybe 90 seconds in and the choking continues. Sting gets the trenchcoat caught over his head and Hogan hammers away even more. Hogan throws him to the floor as this has been literally 100% Hogan so far. Were over three minutes in and Sting hasnt landed a single punch.
Hogan posts Sting and sends him into the railing. Back inside and Hogan throws on a test of strength grip while Sting is on his knees. Over four minutes into this sixteen and a half minute match and Sting FINALLY gets something resembling offense in as he stands up in the hold but Hogan kicks him down to break whatever Sting had going there. Im going to say that wasnt offense. Hogan rams knees into the stomach in the corner and theres the clothesline.
Over five minutes in now and literally no offense from Sting. Sting stands up and theres a slam to make sure that doesnt last long. Sting stands up again and his first offense is in SIX FREAKING MINUTES INTO THE MATCH. The whole tag title thing ran 4:14. This being the same Sting that had Hogan running scared for a year and a half mind you. Totally believable actually.
Sting gets the aforementioned belt and hammers away as Hogan tries to leave. Out into the crowd and Sting misses the splash into the railing as always. Chair to Sting and hes down again. Back in the ring and Sting gets the Splash and the Scorpion but Hogan grabs the rope. And there goes the referee. Did you expect anything else?
Hogan gets in another shot and down goes Sting. Nick Patrick comes out to be the referee again. Hogan hits the leg and Sting kicks out at two as Patrick makes a fair count. He hammers away some more and Patrick literally pulls Hogan off. Belly to back gets two for bald dude. Sting gets up and Hogan cheats again to take him back down. Chinlock goes on and Patrick keeps calling it fair.
Hogan gets a schoolboy for two. Since we havent been outside to brawl in awhile now well do that for the third time in this match. Back in and a low blow puts Sting down again. Sting Stings Up and no sells all of Hogans punches. A pair of Stinger Splashes hit but Hogan kicks the referee during the Death Drop. Heres the NWO D Team and Savage pops up to hit Hogan with something so that its Savage/an object that beats Hogan instead of Sting and his finishing move. Hogan would get the title back in less than two months.
Rating: F. Oh where do I begin? This was nearly seventeen minutes long. Think back to Hogan matches that are considered good. I can think of two that are that long and they were both before 1991. The ending is just idiotic as they made it about Hogan and Savage while Sting winning the title is just kind of an afterthought, totally defeating the purpose of the match. This whole thing was just awful as Hogan had zero reason to dominate like he did other than to protect himself, which completely misses the point again. Horrid match but in a different reason than Starrcade.
Sting spraypaints WCW on Hogans back and celebrates alone, walking out to end the show.
Overall Rating: B-. This is a tricky one but it sums up WCW in a nutshell: great stuff before the stars come out, then it falls apart at the seams. DDP vs. Benoit is great, Jericho vs. Guerrera is good, the opening stuff is good. This would have been an A level show if they cut it to like an hour and 45 minutes. However, we had to have the last stuff and it cripples it. Well not cripples because this is still a good show, but only watch Hogan vs. Sting if youre bored and wanting a laugh or drunk because otherwise its torture.
Date: February 22, 1998
Location: Cow Palace, San Francisco, California
Attendance: 12,620
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay
Someone who I legit cant remember has asked me about this a bunch so here it is. NOW SHUT UP. Anyway, this is headlined by Hogan vs. Sting II which shows that WCW totally missed the point of Stings return to the ring last time they fought. Other than that its your usual stuff from this point with the undercard being solid throughout (Benoit vs. Page, Jericho vs. Guerrera, Booker vs. Saturn) and then the stars coming in to have horrible matches. Lets get to it.
Oh and remember that guy Bret Hart that was supposed to be the big signing that WCW needed? Nowhere on the card.
Opening video is about Sting vs. Hogan of course and how these are dark times and good faced evil to end the darkness.
TV Title: Rick Martel vs. Booker T
Martel is champion and the winner has to defend against Saturn immediately thereafter. Booker lost the title like a week before this. Martel is in the middle of an awesome comeback so this should be good. Booker was just started to get awesome and slaps away a handshake offer. Clothesline sends Martel to the floor quickly which doesnt mean much of anything.
Back into the ring for some basic stuff like a back elbow that gets two for Booker. The Flock is in the front few rows as Booker works on the arm. OConnor Roll by Martel is reversed into a superkick and its back to the arm. Time to talk about Nick Patrick as Martel takes over. Booker breakdances up but walks into a powerslam for two. Time to hit the chinlock though to break the momentum.
Spinebuster hits and theres the Quebec Crab. Booker gets the rope though and were back to even. Martel misses a cross body out of the corner and Booker gets a sloppy OConnor Roll for two. Clothesline gets two for Martel. Booker gets a forearm out of nowhere for no cover as the fans are getting into this again. Scissor kick hits for Booker as does a spinebuster. Booker misses a spinning cross body off the middle ropes and Martel goes up. He jumps into a Harlem Side Kick though and Booker wins the title.
Rating: B-. See, theres something that needs to be brought up: that wasnt the planned finish. When Martel came off those ropes at the end and Booker kicked him, Martel more or less completely destroyed his leg, tearing a ligament, breaking a bone and ripping apart his cartilage. He would try to come back one more time in July and get hurt again and he was done. Shame too as this was getting really good near the end.
Saturn immediately charges the ring to start up match #2.
TV Title: Booker T vs. Saturn
Now this should be REALLY interesting because Martel was supposed to be the opponent for Saturn, meaning these two have about 15 minutes and absolutely zero plan so the whole thing is going to be improvised. Saturn tries the Rings of Saturn immediately as the referee is clearly confused. Booker makes the ropes and Saturn tries a small package. Also a backslide and a bunch of other pinning combinations. Out to the floor and Saturn sends him into the barricade.
Back inside now as Saturn hammers away a bit more. Saturn tries a clothesline but Booker gets a shot in to slam him into the mat and reset things again. Booker hits the floor and Saturn lands a huge dive onto him followed by a Vader Bomb to the floor which is rather cool. Back inside Booker gets a big forearm to put Saturn down again. Saturn avoids a charge in the corner and Booker loses momentum again.
Middle rope belly to back puts both guys down as Saturn cant capitalize. After a count of 8 Saturn covers but Booker is under the ropes. Saturn puts him on the top but Booker knocks him back and hits the missile dropkick but cant cover. Leg lariat hits but Booker walks into a t-bone suplex to put them both down again. Belly to belly gets two. Lionsault hits but Saturn cant cover.
Booker tries to walk up the ropes but slips and therefore his cross body goes sailing over Saturn who gets two off the crash. We hit the chinlock and Booker is in trouble. They mention the torn MCL as both guys try cross bodies to put them both down again. Booker hits another spinebuster for two. Axe kick looks to set up the Harlem Hangover but Saturn moves again. Northern lights suplex gets two. Harlem sidekick out of absolutely nowhere gets the pin to retain for Booker.
Rating: B-. Again to appreciate this one you have to keep in mind that this was totally improvised. Yes they laid around a lot but they kind of had to as they had no idea what they were doing. This is a good sign of what you can do when you have to and also a good sign that they had a pretty good match after the shock of having to have it. Hard to ask for much more.
La Parka vs. Disco Inferno
No real point here but when has that stopped WCW before? Oh apparently theyre fighting over who is the better dancer. Well why not I guess. La Parka hits his signature chair shot to take over and a powerslam gets .dancing. Disco gets a powerslam as well and actually goes more seriously here, hammering away instead of dancing. Spinwheel kick by the masked dude sends Disco to the floor so he can hit a corkscrew suicide dive which Tenay seems to think was over the top when it just wasnt. So his eyes dont work anymore I guess.
They slug it out on the floor and Disco goes into the railing and a clothesline puts him down. And now lets dance some more. Back inside as Heenan talks about having his moon salted. Ill let you figure out what he might mean by that. Disco throws him back to the floor and Parka goes into the railing again. Parka guillotines him across the top and gets some hard kicks for two.
Majistral cradle gets two. Ok we get it: Parka can dance. DO SOMETHING ELSE! Disco takes him down again and is surprisingly more commanding in the ring here. Parka sends him to the floor and Disco might have hurt his knee. Back in La Parka is sent into the post and Disco stomps away again. Clothesline gets two. Neckbreaker gets the same. Down goes the referee and its chair time. Disco is sat in it but escapes and we go to the corner. A superplex onto the chair doesnt work so he throws Parka into it instead. Chartbuster (Stunner) ends this.
Rating: C+. Not bad again here as they were working out there. Not a great match or anything because its Disco Inferno vs. La Parka, but at the end of the day they did their best and it wasnt a bad match. Definitely nothing that needed to be on the show but they were trying at least, which is all you can ask for.
JJ comes out and calls out Nick Patrick who is reinstated after the Starracde debacle. This needed PPV time right? This turns into an argument and Patrick isnt refereeing the main event. This ate up three minutes somehow.
Brad Armstrong vs. Goldberg
You figure this one out. Bill is a good six inches taller than Armstrong. This is a long one for Goldberg, running nearly two and a half minutes. You know the ending Im sure.
Cruiserweight Title: Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera
This is title vs. mask. Jericho wont take the belt off so lets just wear it for the match. Tony: This is bizarre. Mike: This is Jericho. They trade wristlocks to start with neither guy being able to take over. Juvy kicks him in the belt which hurts worse than a regular shot so Jericho finally takes it off. Spinwheel kick puts the Canadian down again and we hit a quick chinlock.
Jericho grabs the arm as Juvy keeps trying to speed things up. Springboard dive sends Jericho to the apron and a springboard rana sends him to the floor. Jericho tries to get a countout loss which would mean Jericho hasnt lost the title so Juvi would lose the match. Back in the ring the Mexican escapes a German by the Canadian but gets caught in a hot shot and a springboard dropkick to send him to the floor.
Jericho uses the steps on the floor as a launch ramp but gets launched into the railing for his efforts. Piledriver gets two. Back elbow sets up the posing cover for two. Victory roll gets two for Jericho. Spin kick sends Juvy right back down and Jericho is frustrated. Backsplash gets two. He works on the back now, probably to set up the Liontamer. Jericho hammers away for awhile before Juvy manages to go up top, only to get caught in an electric chair for two.
Juvy dropkicks him to the floor and hits a springboard Air Juvy (leg lariat) to wipe him out. Juvy Driver sets up the 450 but Jericho grabs the rope. The bell rings and its Dusty Finish time. Jericho uses the distraction to take out the knee and they speed things up. Juvy counters a powerbomb into a DDT for two. Top rope rana is countered by Jericho but he jumps into an atomic drop. Springboard rana gets two for Juvy but he walks into a reverse suplex. Lionsault misses but Juvys attempt at a Mysterio sitout bulldog is caught in a Liontamer attempt which is reversed into a rana attempt into the Liontamer for the tap and the mask.
Rating: B. Two guys that can move going out there to have a fast paced match with time. What more can you ask for here? Juvy could move out there and thats what he did here, flying all over the place to try to keep his identity. The false finish was fair but a bit tricky to the audience, which is the point I guess. Still though, very fun match.
Juvy begrudgingly takes off the mask to reveal his face as Jericho gloats like a total jerk. Juvy goes all slowly so Jericho comes up and rips it off, taking it with him for his trophy case.
British Bulldog vs. Steve McMichael
And from that to this. Oh joy. Why did they waste such a great theme song on a guy like Mongo? Mongo gets a tilt-a-whirl slam to start and chokes away weakly. We talk about the Nick Patrick thing so we dont have to talk about this match. Bulldog goes for a Sharpshooter which is just failure. This is a horrible match if you didnt get that. Mongo takes over on the floor and sends Bulldog into the railing.
Tony says this is what weve come to expect from these two men. Yeah I kind of expected a weak brawl with them both looking awful as well. Mongo punches the post by mistake, legitimately breaking his hand and putting him out for about five months. Mongos wrist stops working for the most part and cant get the Tombstone so an armbar ends this.
Rating: F. This was on PPV in 1998. The match was horrible and the ending was horrible, namely due to the injury. Granted the match was going to suck no matter what and it wasnt any good earlier than that. Mongo just wasnt any good for the most part and this is no exception.
Mongo says he didnt quit and hits the referee to waste time.
US Title: Chris Benoit vs. Diamond Dallas Page
This should be good. Page is champion coming in. They respect each other here so theres the heel/face dynamic for you. They fight for arms to start and its more or less a stalemate. Page finally gets a gutbuster to take over which lasts for a second or so. Benoit sends him to the floor as we hear about Page buying a Best of Benoit video to study him. Thats a different way of going about scouting.
Test of strength goes into a nice pinfall reversal sequence. Benoit hits the floor for a bit to stall and clear his head. It turns into a brawl after that as I guess Page doesnt respect him anymore. Cutter doesnt work and Benoit drills him to take over as the heel in the match. Pinfall reversal sequence sets up a wheelbarrow suplex for Page for two. Benoit takes over and we hit the chinlock which quickly shifts into something like a cobra clutch.
Page tries to come out of the corner but walks into the snap suplex to get us right back to that clutch. Benoit tries a suplex of some kind and Page throws him to the floor which is a momentum move and not intentionally throwing him over the top or whatever. Back in Page hits a superplex and both guys are down. Page gets back up first to take over with a discus lariat and covers after calling for the Cutter.
Benoit grabs the Crossface out of nowhere but Page is in the ropes almost immediately. Small package gets two for Page and Benoit as well just afterwards. Belly to belly gets two for Page as this is getting really good. The crowd is way into it also and its Rolling Germans time. The third one gets two and the crowd reacts huge to the kickout. Both guys are down again.
Jumping tornado DDT puts Benoit down for two out of nowhere. Another cutter attempt is countered into a backslide attempt but Page snaps on the Diamond Cutter out of nowhere for the pin and the big reaction from the crowd. You would think that would be enough to push Benoit but of course that wouldnt be for like another year and a half because WCW didnt get a lot of concepts.
Rating: B+. Great game of chess here as Page was getting better almost by the day at this point and was about to have a big feud with Raven which would lead to Pages push towards the main event which would lead to his title runs the next year. Very good match here with both guys just doing their thing out there which is all you can ask for.
Giant isnt here so well hear about his neck injury tomorrow on Nitro. The Jackknife which injured him has been banned.
Video on Nash vs. Giant, which resulted in Giant being injured because Nash didnt want to job at Starrcade so he bailed on the match and screwed the fans over and then got to win the match the next month when he actually showed up because skipping a show and screwing the fans over are grounds for a push in WCW.
Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage
These two are more or less joined at the hip so heres a No DQ match. Lugers ribs are heavily taped up and Heenan makes a Back to the Future reference to make me smile. This was the opening parts of the eventual NWO split as Savage and Hogan are having issues in the NWO and the Wolfpack would be the result. Luger cant hit the gorilla press to start and the fans are ALL OVER him. This is Cena in a smark town level.
Savage takes over with some shots to the ribs .and that more or less ends the interesting part of the match. Luger just stopped being interesting after he won the title in August of 97 and totally floundered for the rest of his run in WCW. Out to the floor and Lugers ribs go into the railing again. Down goes a cameraman and we go into the audience for more brawling.
Back in the ring and Lugers taped up battered ribs are just fine all of a sudden. Theres the Rack and Liz comes in for the not DQ because its a no DQ match. The NWO hits the ring so lets ring the bell for some reason. Hogan comes out as Savage taps to the Rack this time. Hogan calls off the NWO troops saying hes glad Savage got beat. Savage would be out of the team very soon, leading to Hogan vs. Savage in a cage next month.
Rating: D-. Yeah again this was awful. It was more for the angle than the match but the booing and the lack of any real point to this made it completely worthless. At the very least though it was short (kind of) and Luger didnt mean anything anymore. Weak match but more of an angle with Hogan than the match itself.
Tag Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Outsiders
Steiners are champions. The Outsiders have Dusty Rhodes who joined the NWO last month in what was considered to be like the most epic heel turn ever by Tony but no one cared at all. This was around the time when Scott was being a selfish jerk and wouldnt let Rick do anything, teasing a heel turn for months. Hall does the Survey. DiBiase is with the Steiners still.
Rick vs. Hall to start us off which is more or less a stalemate. Hall does his usual schtick and Steiner half kills him with a Steiner Line. The partners change corners for some reason to further mess Hall up. Rick gets ten punches in the corner and make it eleven. Theres a belly to belly and Nash is in now too. Scott Steiner seems cool with letting Rick fight them both off. The Steiners clear the ring and do their signature pose and Scott FINALLY turns heel, beating up Rick and DiBiase, joining the NWO. Rick kicks out like an idiot so we have more of the same beating for awhile. Outsiders Edge ends this like a minute or two later.
Rating: N/A. This wasnt a match and it wouldnt really be fair to grade it as such. The majority of it was the Steiner turn and the reaction to it so Im not going to say the match sucked for that reason. Scott vs. Rick would be teased for the better part of a year and never really happened because WCW is stupid.
WCW World Title: Sting vs. Hulk Hogan
As Im sure you know, Hogan more or less screwed over the entire company at Starrcade, managing to screw up seventeen months worth of build for the sake of making sure he looked strong and crippling Sting in the process. It was also around this time that Raw finally overtook Nitro in the ratings and more or less never looked back. There couldnt be a correlation there though because Hogan can do no wrong correct? Anyway, this is the rematch and probably what should have happened at Starrcade. The title is vacant.
Hogan immediately beats Sting down again, choking away with the weightlifting belt. And so it begins again. Sting is flat on his back maybe 90 seconds in and the choking continues. Sting gets the trenchcoat caught over his head and Hogan hammers away even more. Hogan throws him to the floor as this has been literally 100% Hogan so far. Were over three minutes in and Sting hasnt landed a single punch.
Hogan posts Sting and sends him into the railing. Back inside and Hogan throws on a test of strength grip while Sting is on his knees. Over four minutes into this sixteen and a half minute match and Sting FINALLY gets something resembling offense in as he stands up in the hold but Hogan kicks him down to break whatever Sting had going there. Im going to say that wasnt offense. Hogan rams knees into the stomach in the corner and theres the clothesline.
Over five minutes in now and literally no offense from Sting. Sting stands up and theres a slam to make sure that doesnt last long. Sting stands up again and his first offense is in SIX FREAKING MINUTES INTO THE MATCH. The whole tag title thing ran 4:14. This being the same Sting that had Hogan running scared for a year and a half mind you. Totally believable actually.
Sting gets the aforementioned belt and hammers away as Hogan tries to leave. Out into the crowd and Sting misses the splash into the railing as always. Chair to Sting and hes down again. Back in the ring and Sting gets the Splash and the Scorpion but Hogan grabs the rope. And there goes the referee. Did you expect anything else?
Hogan gets in another shot and down goes Sting. Nick Patrick comes out to be the referee again. Hogan hits the leg and Sting kicks out at two as Patrick makes a fair count. He hammers away some more and Patrick literally pulls Hogan off. Belly to back gets two for bald dude. Sting gets up and Hogan cheats again to take him back down. Chinlock goes on and Patrick keeps calling it fair.
Hogan gets a schoolboy for two. Since we havent been outside to brawl in awhile now well do that for the third time in this match. Back in and a low blow puts Sting down again. Sting Stings Up and no sells all of Hogans punches. A pair of Stinger Splashes hit but Hogan kicks the referee during the Death Drop. Heres the NWO D Team and Savage pops up to hit Hogan with something so that its Savage/an object that beats Hogan instead of Sting and his finishing move. Hogan would get the title back in less than two months.
Rating: F. Oh where do I begin? This was nearly seventeen minutes long. Think back to Hogan matches that are considered good. I can think of two that are that long and they were both before 1991. The ending is just idiotic as they made it about Hogan and Savage while Sting winning the title is just kind of an afterthought, totally defeating the purpose of the match. This whole thing was just awful as Hogan had zero reason to dominate like he did other than to protect himself, which completely misses the point again. Horrid match but in a different reason than Starrcade.
Sting spraypaints WCW on Hogans back and celebrates alone, walking out to end the show.
Overall Rating: B-. This is a tricky one but it sums up WCW in a nutshell: great stuff before the stars come out, then it falls apart at the seams. DDP vs. Benoit is great, Jericho vs. Guerrera is good, the opening stuff is good. This would have been an A level show if they cut it to like an hour and 45 minutes. However, we had to have the last stuff and it cripples it. Well not cripples because this is still a good show, but only watch Hogan vs. Sting if youre bored and wanting a laugh or drunk because otherwise its torture.