WWE Classics on Demand
Legends –  More Ric Flair.

So I guess the first batch of matches was pretty well received. This next batch of matches is available to watch until July 27th. More Ric Flair, but it’s more stuff I’ve seen before, and not particularly rare or exciting. Next week’s batch, though, seems pretty interesting.

Ric Flair v. Curt Hennig (WCW U.S. Title, NO DQ) – From World War 3 on 11/23/97 in Auburn Hills, MI, which is a shame because if I were going to pick a Flair/Hennig match, I’d pick one of their matches from 1993. Then, both guys were ready to go. In 1997, Hennig was just collecting a paycheck and Flair – though he could still go – was under-appreciated. Seriously, besides “Rap is Crap” was there anything notable or memorable about Hennig’s WCW run?

Since this is a no-dq match, a warning is aired that this match may not be suitable for children. Do children watch this channel? Commentators are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Bobby Heenan. In a brilliant bit of commentary, Tony says that Flair doesn’t care about the title, but would like to be champion, even though that’s not as important as beating Hennig. Yeah, he said that.

Flair starts the match out on the floor, rams Hennig’s head into the ringpost, and they fight out into the crowd. Tony’s paying no attention to the match, talking about the three ring battle royal to come. Only WCW would literally book a three-ring circus as the main event for one of its pay-per-views FOUR YEARS IN A ROW.  Hennig and Flair are also scheduled to be in the main event, the next match on the card. Hennig chokes Flair with a television cable on the floor, and the match moves into one of the three rings just before the three minute mark. I wish they hadn’t bothered with the pointless brawling through the crowd, which just looked like a bad imitation of Steve Austin and Bret Hart from months earlier. Flair and Hennig lacked their intensity. 

Hennig chokes Flair out with the cable in the ring, and even Bobby can’t be bother to commentate on the match. Flair tosses Hennig out of the ring, the comes off the top rope to the floor with an axe handle, legitimately hurting his ankle in the process. After backdropping Flair on the floor, Hennig moves the match back to the ring, and starts to focus on Flair’s ankle. Hennig busts out a spinning toehold and an Indian Death Lock to work over the bad ankle. Flair breaks free and clips Hennig in the knee. Flair kicks away at the leg and Hennig sells it with a 360. Just call him Mr. Oversell. Flair follows that up with a kneedrop.

The match begins to settle into a nice grove. Hennig gets a near fall after slamming Flair from the top. They start exchanging chops, and Flair loses that exchange, flopping to the ground, and the crowd pops for Hennig. Flair comes back and tosses Hennig down so he crotches himself on the ringpost. After a double knock-out spot, Hennig rolls into another ring. Flair follows. He scores a near fall after a backdrop suplex. More chops, then Hennig hits his snapmare/rolling neck snap. A Flair-flop over the turnbuckle sends the match back to the floor for more ugly brawling.  Flair suplexes Hennig back into the ring for another near fall.

Flair brings a chair into the ring, and he crotches Hennig on the chair, then kicks the chair, closing it on Hennig’s leg. Flair goes to the floor again for another chair and the U.S. Belt, smashing Hennig’s leg with the chair, then tossing the belt at Hennig. Why? Flair puts Hennig in the figure four, but Hennig is able to grab the belt and knock Flair out with it for the win. (Hennig PIN Flair, 18:32 **). The match started out bad, got better in the middle, but that ending sucked something awful. I think they were trying to get over the idea that Flair didn’t care about the title, only hurting Hennig. Instead it it just made Flair look stupid.

WWE Classics cuts off just after the finish, but post-match Flair has to be carried to the back and does not wrestle in the 3 Ring Battle Royal. Flair might have been scheduled to get one more match with Hennig at Starrcade –I can’t remember if the match was announced or just rumored– but either way Flair did injure his ankle in this match. Rather than use the real injury, two weeks later he was beaten down by the nWo at a Nitro in Charlotte. Cause, you know, they never missed an opportunity to make Flair look bad. The Flair/Hennig feud was all about burying Flair and making him look stupid. Although I guess that description applies to most of Flair’s WCW run.

Ric Flair v. Jay Youngblood – From Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, Raleigh, NC, on 2/3/82. Much better times for Ric. Match is joined in progress with Ray Stevens, Roddy Piper and Rich Landrum on commentary. Youngblood is working over the arm. This would be in the middle of Flair’s first title reign, and a young Dave Hebner is the referee. This is going to be your typical TV match, where the challenger almost beats the champ to build for a match at the arena show. Just when it looks like Flair’s gotten free of Youngblood’s attack on his arm, Youngblood goes takes Flair down with a drop toe-hold and a leg grapevine. Flair breaks that up by making the ropes and starts arguing with the ref.

On the next exchange, Flair gets hip-tossed, slammed, and dropkicked a couple of times, but Youngblood doesn’t get a cover from that. Flair’s first big offensive is a shove when Youngblood is distracted by the crowd, and after the shove Flair struts around the ring like he’s just won the world title. Youngblood responds with a hard chop. Youngblood follows that up with an offensive flurry, but when he charges at Flair, the champ sidesteps him and send Youngblood to the floor.

Ricky Steamboat is now out to watch the match, and Flair jaws with Steamboat before suplexing Youngblood back into the ring. Flair’s first figure-four attempt is countered into a small package for a near fall, and Youngblood follows that up with a crossbody for another near fall. Youngblood with more chops, and Flair’s suplex attempt is countered with another near fall. Youngblood with another small package as the time limit expires (Flair DRAW Youngblood, 7:26, **). Peppy TV match. Flair doesn’t hear the bell and keeps going after Youngblood, but Steamboat and other babyfaces break that up. Not sure what they were building to there, but it was probably a Flair/Steamboat match. Youngblood got to look good throughout.

Ric Flair v. Kerry Von Erich – As with the Hennig match, they didn’t pick something classic (like a World Class match), but a match from the 1992 Coliseum Home Video “World Tour.” The match is from Barcelona, Spain. The commentators are Sean Mooney and Lord Alfred Hayes, and they are claiming this is a WW(F) Championship match. A quick visit to TheHistoryofWWE.com confirms that match occurred October 5, 1991 when Flair was not WWF Champion.

This is easily Kerry’s best WWF match. He works over Flair’s arm early and gets a near fall with a sunset flip. Flair takes the advantage and drops a knee, but when a second kneedrop misses Von Erich puts Flair in the ugliest figure-four leglock I’ve ever seen. Flair makes the ropes to break the hold and begs off into the corner, but Von Erich follows Flair in the corner and mounts the turnbuckle for 10 count-along punches.  I couldn’t hear if they were counting along in Spanish. Von Erich follows that up with a clothesline and a suplex for a near fall.

Von Erich misses a tackle in the corner and goes shoulder-first into the ringpost, then Flair takes him to the outside for some brawling, tossing Von Erich into the ringpost and the ring barricade. The camera catches Von Erich’s selling, and the look on his face is more of disinterest than pain. Argh. Way to take me out of the match. Von Erich tries to get into the ring, but Flair snaps his neck against the ropes, then chokes him. Flair gets into a fight with referee Danny Davis, and they shove each other around a bit to some crowd heat. Flair tries to cover Von Erich with his feet on the ropes, but the ref figures it out. Flair blames the crowd and gets into it with the ringside fans. Flair’s jawing with the crowd in English, but the crowd is reacting anyway. This allows Von Erich to come back. He tosses Flair into the turnbuckle, who flips over the ropes and runs to the other corner. Flair comes off the top with whatever, but Von Erich catches him with the Iron Claw! Flair counters that with a backdrop suplex, then grabs a sleeperhold.

Flair actually WORKS the sleeper, instead of just lazily holding onto Kerry’s head. Davis checks the arm twice, but of course Kerry comes back. Flair cuts off his comeback with a chop. Flair tries a hiptoss, but Von Erich counters with a backslide and a near fall. That’s another nice little near fall, since that’s the move Von Erich used to beat Flair for the title. Von Erich stages another comeback, and mounts the corner for the count-along punches again, and this time I hear the crowd count along in English.

Flair goes to Von Erich’s eyes, and goes to the top for whatever, but gets slammed off. This sets up Von Erich’s discus punch, but Flair is close to the ropes, so he breaks up the fall with his foot on the ropes. Von Erich clotheslines Flair to the floor. Flair shoulderblocks Von Erich, then slingshots himself through the top and middle ropes, landing on top of Kerry and with his feet on the middle rope for the pinfall (Flair PIN Von Erich, 15:12, ***1/2). Really good match, Flair was awesome and Von Erich held up his end. I’ve watched this match three times and just noticed now that not once did Flair ever try to work over Von Erich’s leg or go for the figure-four. And he uses a clever finish that I’ve never seen before.

Ric Flair v. Ricky Steamboat (NWA World Heavyweight Championship) – From WrestleWar on May 7, 1989 in Nashville, TN, with Jim Ross and Bob Caudle on commentary. If you’d really like to check this match out but don’t have WWE Classics, get The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection from 2003.  This is universally acknowledged as the greatest match ever, the third chapter of the holy trinity of wrestling matches, and of course no one is going to watch or not watch this based on my saying so. But here it is anyway

Of course, the backstory here is well-known: after a horrible 1988 where Flair was champion even though booker Dusty Rhodes didn’t want him to be (he favored Lex Luger), Ted Turner bought the company, Rhodes was sent to the WWF to get polka-dots over, and Flair brought Steamboat in has his hand-picked opponent. They had their first match at the Chi-Town Rumble in Chicago in February (available on The Greatest Stars of the 80s DVD) and Steamboat won the title. They had rematches around the horn, and they were all great. The most notable of these was the nationally televised Best of Three falls match at Clash of the Champions 6 in New Orleans. After splitting the first two falls and wrestling nearly an hour, Steamboat pinned Flair with a double-arm chickenwing, but Flair’s foot was on the rope, which the referee missed. That controversy was enough to get Flair one more match with Steamboat at this event.

This is a one-fall match, and if the match goes to anything but a pinfall or submission, judges Terry Funk, Pat O’Conner and Lou Thez will determine the winner.  Ross explains the judges will force both men to be more offensively minded. The match is being “scored” on ten-minute intervals, according to the commentary, and Jim Ross gets periodic updates about how the match is being scored. Tommy Young is the referee. So involved in this match, you have the best commentator, referee, babyface, and wrestler all involved.

Flair and Steamboat exchange chops early on, and the crowd is cheering rabidly for both men.  After the amazing matches these two had previously it was really impossible for Flair to be the heel. Practically all of Steamboat’s offense revolves around weakening Flair’s arm to set up a double chicken-wing, the move which won Steamboat both falls in the best of three falls match at the Clash.

Flair tries to control Steamboat with a side headlock, but Steamboat escapes with a wristlock, taking Flair down and working Flair’s arm. Flair escapes the hold, but Steamboat catches him with a deep arm-drag and goes back to an armbar, which he turns that into a hammerlock. Flair counters that with a drop toe-hold, but Steamboat reverses back into the hammerlock, dropping a knee on Flair’s arm. Steamboat works Flair into a near fall but eventually Flair gets to his feet and chops Steamboat. Just when it seems like Flair will have the advantage, Steamboat takes Flair down again and goes back to the armbar.

Flair creates an opening with some right hands and chops. Flair tees off on Steamboat with punches to the midsection and forearms to the back. Steamboat comes back with a series of chops, dropping Flair, and Steamboat goes back to the armbar.  Steamboat turns the armbar into a hammerlock, then flips over Flair, bridging back and pulling on Flair’s arm. Flair manages to maneuver Steamboat with a fireman’s carry, placing Steamboat in the corner. Flair charges in, but Steamboat jumps over him and dropkicks Flair to the floor at the ten-minute mark. At this point, the judges have all scored the match for Steamboat.

Flair takes his time getting back into the ring, then goes low with a kick to Steamboat’s stomach. This doesn’t slow Steamboat, as he catches Flair with another deep armdrag and goes back to the arm with an armbar, then an arm-ringer. Flair breaks free, gets floored with a Steamboat tackle, but catches Flair with a hiptoss. Flair gets some cheers for that, then misses and elbow, and guess what Steamboat comes back with? A deep armdrag and an armbar. It’s called psychology and these two are the best at it.

Flair backs Steamboat into the corner and chops away, which seems to slow Flair down. Flair has literally chopped Steamboat all the way around the ring. Steamboat finally starts to comeback with some chips of his own, but Flair comes back with a tackle and tosses Steamboat to the floor. Steamboat just comes right back in after Flair, chopping at Flair’s head in the corner. Steamboat whips Flair into the other corner, and Flair gets hooked ass over teakettle in the corner. Flair gets free and dodges a charging Steamboat, sending him over the top rope and to the floor. One of the marks in the front row is actually pushing Steamboat back into the ring! Flair goes to the floor with Steamboat and chops The Dragon over the barricade, then drops and elbow on the champion’s throat. Flair breaks the ref’s count up, but when Flair goes back to Steamboat champion comes back at him, pretty much like The Terminator. Steamboat chases Flair back into the ring, nails him with a chop off the top rope, rams Flair’s head into the mat, chops Flair down again and finally GOES BACK TO THE ARMBAR.

Flair gets free again, and Steamboat tries a running crossbody, but Flair ducks and Steamboat flies out to the floor. Flair hasn’t been able to generate any offense of his own, unless Steamboat makes a mistake. Flair drops a knee on Steamboat. Steamboat and Flair exchange some chops, but Flair is able to hold the advantage this time and drop Steamboat with a back suplex for FOUR near falls before Flair gives up on trying to get the pin. Another picture-perfect kneedrop from Flair, and the crowd is cheering Flair again. We’re now past the 20-minute mark, and Flair gets another near fall from a double-underhook suplex. After an elbowdrop and another near fall, Flair argues with the referee. Steamboat goes for a crossbody, but Flair catches him with a stun-gun. The crowd pops for Flair again, but he cant’ cover Steamboat, who is too close to the ropes. Flair takes the match to the floor and suplexes Steamboat.

They’ve collected the scorecards again, and now Funk and O’Conner have scored the second ten minutes of Flair, while Thez has scored the match for Steamboat. So, according to Jim Ross, Steamboat will win the match 4-2 in the event of any kind of non-decision, like a double count-out. Flair tries to suplex Steamboat back in the ring, but Steamboat slides out of that and rolls up Flair for a near fall. Flair and Steamboat both go over the top. Steamboat gets in first, and when Flair tries to enter from the top rope, Steamboat catches him and slams Flair to the floor. More chops from Steamboat and a high back-body drop… and it sounds like the crowd is booing Steamboat’s comeback! Steamboat gets a near-fall off a cradle, then superplexes Flair. This sets Flair up for the double-chickenwing, but Flair gets to the ropes before Steamboat can lock it on Flair. Steamboat rams Flair’s head into the turnbuckle, then comes off the top with a chop.

It looks like Steamboat has this match won, but when he goes to the top again, Flair falls into the ropes and Steamboat crashes from the top rope to the arena floor. Steamboat comes up holding his left knee, and now Flair has a target. We’re 28 minutes in and up to this point, Flair hasn’t touched Steamboat’s leg, but now it might as well have a bullseye on it. Flair kicks away at Steamboat’s leg, then uses a delayed vertical suplex to bring him back into the ring. Steamboat is selling the leg and Flair locks on the figure-four. Flair gets a couple of near-falls off the figure-four as we pass the 30-minute mark.

Steamboat gets the ropes to break the hold. He gets to his feet in the corner, but Flair just wails away on the leg with kicks and punches. Steamboat counters with chops and an enziguri, popping the crowd. Steamboat goes for a slam, but Flair shifts his weight and rolls Steamboat into a cradle (a la Steamboat at WrestleMania III, actually, a fact nobody points out). Flair hooks Steamboat’s right leg since his left one is useless and holds him down for the pinfall (Flair PIN Steamboat, ***** 31:30). Steamboat holds Flair’s hand up in victory as fireworks go off above the ring. Flair gets a big face pop for his win. There is so much to love about this match.

WWE classics CRIMINALLY cuts the match off here after the pinfall.  Post-match, Jim Ross interview’s Flair, and Terry Funk asks for a title shot. Flair says no and gets dropped with a piledriver on a table, making Funk the #1 heel in the NWA and setting off the Flair/Funk feud of the year. All the post-match antics are available on Flair’s DVD.

Gotta love this bunch of matches. Some more goodies to come Flair v. Michaels (the GOOD match), and Flair v. Windham. If they put all this together as a DVD, I’d almost buy it. The one thing that is kinda bugging me, though, is if Flair is being “honored” since he was the leader of the Horseman, when aren’t they showing stuff that features him from his time in the Horsemen?

Thanks to: http://rspw.org and http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com for making me look smarter than I am by confirming things I thought I knew.

Hey, not sure if you want this or not, but I reviewed some of the content From the WWEClassics channel. If you want to put it on your website, feel free. If you like it and run with it, I'll send you some more, and some of the original content, too.

Sure, although it just makes me sadder that I’m not allowed to subscribe anymore. 

WWE Classics on Demand

Legends – Ric Flair.

On WWEClassics this month, the theme is factions, and since Ric Flair is was the leader of the most iconic faction even, the Four Horsemen, he is being featured with matches in the channels legends section. Let’s see what classics they’ve found for us so far…

Chris Taylor v. Ric Flair – This match is from 12/14/73 from Chicago, commentary by Greg Gange and Eric Bischoff, obviously not the original commentary. This was probably done in the late 80s/early 90s as part of the AWA’s ESPN show, the idea being that if they showcased the guys that were stars in other promotion, they’d somehow get the AWA over. I’m not sure where I’d put that on the list of reasons why they went out of business, but it’s up there.

Taylor looks like a big old tub of lard, but I looked him up on Wikipedia and he won the bronze medal in wrestling in the 1972 Olympics.  Flair has dark hair (brown? grey? Terrible picture, I can’t tell) and about 30 more pounds of muscle than you’re used to seeing. Taylor is wearing a bathrobe with Iowa State on the back, Flair wearing a jacket with his name on the back.

Flair starts out with a top wrist lock, but Taylor is a fatty and he tosses him down with ease. On commentary, Bischoff compares Flair to a “recently passed away” Adrian Adonis, which puts the commentary around or after the summer of 1988. Flair tries a bodyslam, that obviously doesn’t work because Taylor’s TOO DAMN FAT, and Flair gets slammed. He rolls to the floor for a bit to regourp, and if this match were happening today they’d be booed out of the building.

Back in, Taylor beels Flair out of the corner, and after an obvious clip in the match, Taylor tosses Flair around with a couple of hip tosses. Even though Taylor is a big guy, he is wrestling, not just being a big fat guy. Bischoff and Gagne are also spending more time talking about Taylor’s attributes than Flair’s.

After another obvious clip, Flair is getting very frustrated. Your also getting just one camera angle, a hard camera set on the ring. Flair starts to brawl, raking the eyes and kicking Taylor, so Taylor wallops him with a fore arm and another beel throw. Flair goes to the eyes, and now this is turning into a brawl. Taylor gets the upper hand, and backs him into the corner and mauls him. After a pair of cross-corner whips, Flair eats a Taylor back drop, then Taylor tosses him up into an overhead backbreaker, which gets the submission (Taylor SUBMITS Flair, *, 6:20 clipped). After the match, Bischoff says something about this being Flair’s first match, so take that for what it’s worth. Not worth going out of your way to see except for its possible historical value.

Edge w/ Lita v. Ric Flair (WWE Title, TLC) – From 01/16/06 Raw in Raleigh, North Carolina, this match gets an “unsuitable for children’s viewing” warning. Commentators are Joey Styles, Jonathan Coachman and the King. Flair’s family is at ringside. Flair opens up with an attack in the corner, chops and right hands, but Edge cuts that off with a hard elbow. Edge wastes no time bringing a ladder into the ring and rams Flair in the face with it. Styles is running down history like this is an actual sport, and probably getting screamed at by Vince on the other side of his headset.

Edge sandwiches Flair between the ladder, then hits the ladder with a steel chair. They go to the floor, and Flair gets the advantage with brawling. They brawl out to the crowd, but on the way back in Edge backdrops Flair on the floor, then follows that with a vertical suplex. Edge starts setting up a contrived spot with the tables and chairs and Lita’s help. Edge tries a conchairto from the announce table, but Flair counters with a testicular claw, tossing Edge into the barricade. Lita jumps Flair (not in a good way), allowing Edge time to recover. He blasts Flair with a chair, busting him wide open. Edge positions Flair on a table on the floor, Lita chokes him down while Edge sets up a chair in the ring, then Edge splashes him through the table off the top of the ladder in another contrived spot.

– AD BREAK –

Back to the ring, Flair is a crimson mask, and they show a shot of the table stained with a pool of Flair’s blood. But he has the advantage, sandwiching Edge between a ladder, then hitting the ladder with a chair, in revenge from the earlier spot. Flair then blasts Edge with a chair shot to the head. Flair then wears Edge out with a chair, beating him about the body and legs with it.

Flair sets up a ladder in the corner and starts to climb, and Edge meets him by climbing the other side. Edge superplexes Flair off the ladder! Edge follows that up with an elbowdrop to the groin. Edge tries a dropkick off the top of the ladder, but misses, and both guys are down. Edge recovers first, grabs the chair and nails Flair in the head with it, sending the Nature Boy to the floor.

Edge positions the ladder under the belt and starts a slow-climb, but Flair recovers to tip the ladder over, sending Edge toppling over, out of the ring and through a table onto the floor. Now Flair’s starting the slow climb up, and the crowd is really getting behind FLair like he has a chance. Lita runs in to pull Flair off the ladder, so he fights back and puts her in the figure-four! That should take care of her.

Flair starts the slow climb again, which at least makes sense for a fifty-something year old bleeding all over the place. Edge climbs up the other side, and they brawl. Edge knocks Flair down, and Edge just climbs up to retrieve the belt in an anti-climatic finish (Edge OVER Flair, 13:52, **1/2).

Not much I want to say about that, as it seemed like all Flair had left was chops and bleeding all over the place, and it was getting kind of sad. He wrestled a lot of garbage matches in 2006 (against Foley, Money in the Bank). Sorry. Blood, chair shots and contrived spots never really did it for me.

Hulk Hogan & Roddy Piper v. Ric Flair & Psycho Sid (w/ Harvey Whippleman) – From the build to WrestleMania VIII, this tag match is from Madison Square Garden on 03/23/1992. I’ve seen this one before, when WWE 24/7 showed the whole MSG show. Commentators are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan, pimping WrestleMania VIII (only one week away!).

Flair and Piper start things out. Finally something from Flair in his prime. Flair is getting some serious cheers, despite being the #1 heel in the company. Flair and Piper exchange slaps, and Flair goes down. Flair goes down again off of a tackle, so Flair drops down to regroup. Why isn’t Mr. Perfect out there with Flair?

Back in, Flair buries a knee into Piper’s mid-section, then backs Piper into the corner for some chops. Piper blocks a right hand and comes back with punches and chops, as I just notice this is a match between IC Champion and World Champion. Piper with a high backdrop and a running knee. Flair tries to tag in HOGAN, which goes about as well as you’d expect. Flair thumbs Piper in the eye, but Piper counters a hiptoss into a backslide for a near fall. Flip-flop by Flair into the corner, but when he tries to run to the other buckle, it’s HOGAN’S corner again and Flair eats a boot to the face.

Finally, we get a tag (the first five minutes was Piper & Flair) to Hogan, but Flair backs out and tags in Sid. We get a big Hogan/Sid confrontation, and Sid goes to down with forearms on Hogan. Crowd chants for Hogan against Sid, whose working him over with a lame offense of kicks and forearms. Big slam from Sid, and he plays to the crowd. The Hogan/Sid work is such a step down from the Piper/Flair work I feel like a pulled a hamstring. Kick, punch, choke. Weak offense from Sid + lame selling from Hogan = boredom.

Hogan starts his comeback with a pair of clotheslines, neither of which knock Sid down, and Sid comes back with more kicks and punches. Hogan is able to make a blind tag to Piper, and after some misdirection Hogan slams Sid. Piper wails away at Hogan (getting more offense on Sid than Hogan), with Gorilla saying Piper is “one-third the size” of Sid. Sid comes back, and he Piper work a spot where Piper puts Sid in a head-scissors, then Sid knips-up out of it. Best Sid spot of the match, and I’ve seen it before.

The heels get the advantage on Piper in the corner with some illegal double-teaming. Flair draws Hogan in so Sid can choke Piper out with the tag rope. Flair and Piper are legal, and Flair gets a near fall off a body slam. Flair dumps Piper to the floor, then distracts Hogan and the ref so Sid can hit Piper with a chair. This almost leads to Piper getting counted out.

Back in the ring, Piper and Flair exchange chops, but Flair cuts off the tag attempt. Piper catches Flair with a clothesline, but this time Sid cuts off the tag to Hogan. Sid – I guess – is legal (the camera missed the tag) and Sid hits a hangman’s neckbreaker, which looks awkward due to the height difference between Piper and Sid. Sid tries an axehandle from the middle rope, but Piper counters with a shot to the gut. Flair tags in and gives Piper a reverse atomic drop. Flair climbs to the top, and guess what happens (if you need a hint, it doesn’t end well for Flair). Piper almost goes to tag in Sid, but eventually finds his partner, and Hogan FINALLY gets the hot tag.

It looks like Hogan is going to finish Flair with the usual, nailing the big boot and legdrop, but Whippleman distracts the ref and Sid his Hogan with the doctor bag(?) Whippleman carries. That only gets two, because we need are Hulk-up spot. Sid comes in, and Katie, bar the door, it’s a pier-six brawl! Piper and Sid fight to the floor, Hogan blindsides Flair with a clothesline, and Hogan gets the PIN (Hogan PIN Flair, 17:20, **). Felt like time stood still when Sid and Hogan were in there. A DVD of the Hogan/Sid portions could be marketed as a cure for insomnia.

So in all the matches featuring Flair so far, he’s 0 for 3? Ugh.

This next one, though, should liven things up.

Ric Flair v. Vader © (WCW Championship) – From Starrcade ’93, and one of my favorite matches ever. For those that don’t know the backstory, Flair had returned to WCW after his two year WWF stint more over than ever as a face (crowds chanted “We want Flair!” at most WCW events while he was gone). Vader was the WCW champion for most of the year, running roughshod over all of WCW’s top faces – Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Cactus Jack, Davey Boy Smith, Ron Simmons, etc. OK, it’s not much of a list after Jack, but play along. Anyway, with the annual big show on the horizon, WCW decided a top face would finally beat Vader at the big show. And naturally, their first choice was… Sid Vicious.

Now, although he was a heel, Sid was actually pretty over, and after a quick face turn (dumping his manager, the forgettable Col. Rob Parker), Sid was in position to headline the biggest show of the year and have a terrible match with Vader, where he would go over. Footage of Sid as champion was taped and everything.  Flair was being fazed down the card, scheduled to team with Ricky Steamboat against the tag champions The Nasty Boys, and nothing on the card would have shaped up as remotely appealing.

Before the matches could be officially announced (although the Viewer’s Choice programming guide, in print, advertised the Vader/Sid match-up), Sid got into a fight with Arn Anderson, stabbing him with a pair of safety scissors and becoming more of an embarrassment than even WCW was used to (this was during the time they taped MONTHS of TV in advance and thought Paul Roma would make a good Horseman), so they scuttled plans, fired Sid, looked around for an over face that Vader hadn’t destroyed, and decided to go Flair and a storyline that if he didn’t win the belt in his hometown, he would retire. This also played off the history of the first Starrcade, where Flair put his career against Harley Race’s belt, but no one in WCW bothered mentioning that.

Commentators are Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura, and crowd is RABID for Flair, with just further illustrates how stupid the original plan was to begin with. Ventura’s commentary stays in tact. Lockup and Vader powers him down easily, and Ventura says Flair needs to make the match go as long as possible. Lockup and Vader powers him down again, while Race taunts Flair from rings side. After the third lock-up, Flair drops to the floor to try and get Vader to give chase… but Vader doesn’t, seeing through Flair’s plan to wear him down.

On the fourth lockup, Vader headbutts Flair, the follows up with a stiff short-arm clothesline. Vader tries to work Flair over in the corner, but Flair spins him around and fires off some chops… but Vader no-sells them, so Flair drops down to the floor again to think things over. Back into the ring, and Vader backs him into the corner to maul him with right hands and stiff kicks. Vader follows that up with a gorilla press, and Flair rolls to the floor. This time, Vader goes after him and presses him over his head, then drops him throat first on the guardrail. Vader tries to follow that up with a splash against the rail, but Flair dodges that and sends Vader into the post. Harley Race interferes to cut off Flair, and Vader suplexes him back into the ring. Flair tries to escape, but only gets to the apron, and Vader suplexes him back into the ring again.

Now, the match is firmly in Vader’s hands, and he mauls Flair in the corner with rights and lefts. After a cross-corner whip, Flair tries the Flair flop over the turnbuckle, but stumbles onto the entrance ramp. Back in the right, Vader nails him with a stiff clothesline. Vader gets some more stiff right hands. (Harley Race says in Flair’s book that Vader was throwing potatoes out there, unhappy about dropping the belt to Flair). Flair comes back with some chops, but again Vader no sells them, then powerslams Flair down for the first near fall. Vader comes off the second rope with a stiff clothesline, a shot that legitimately loosens Flair’s teeth. Vader tries to follow that up with a splash off the second rope, but Flair dodges that, then comes off the top rope with a fist to Vader’s head that actually connects! Flair’s so inspired his move off the top actually worked for once he tries it two more times, and it connects both times. He follows that up with a kneedrop to the head, but just when you think its going Flair’s way, Vader cuts him off with another stiff clothesline, and follows that up with a superplex.

Jesse advises Vader go for the cover, but Vader instead drops an elbow on the challengers groin. Vader goes for a splash that misses, but when Flair tries to run the ropes, Vader cuts him off with a hard tackle, then dumps him to the floor. Race stomps Flair on the floor while Vader has the ref’s attention. Back in the ring, Flair fires off a few more chops after Vader misses in avalanche in the corner. Vader reverses a whip from Flair and hits a second avalanche attempt, cutting off another Flair comeback attempt. Finally, Flair tries a thumb to the eye, and this stuns Vader enough that the Flair is able to knock Vader down after a series to punches and chops. At the fifteen minute mark, Flair is able to drag Vader to the post and start working over his leg, slamming it against the ringpost and hitting it with a chair. He drags Vader out to the floor and works him over some more with more punches and chops, and crowd is really getting into Flair’s comeback. After another chairshot to the head and a stiff right, Vader goes down on the floor.

Back in the ring they go, Flair thumbs Vader in the eye again and lays into him with more stiff right hands, then bites the champ, and the crowd is going nuts. Flair grabs Vader’s leg, the crowd pops, and Flair starts working over Vader’s leg. Vader powers out of Flair’s first attempt at the figure four with such force that it sets Flair up in the corner for the Vader bomb, but it misses! On the second try, Flair maneuvars Vader into the figure-four, but Vader makes it to the ropes and Flair has to break the hold.

Flair charges in Vader’s book, and Vader mauls him on the mat with elbows. Vader goes up top for the moonsault, which MISSES, and Flair covers for two. Race tries to interfere, coming off the top with the headbutt, but ends up nailing Vader instead. Flair nails Vader with forearm and more chops. Vader comes back with a tackle, but he jams his knee in the process. Flair takes advantage, clips Vader’s knee and cradles him for the three (Flair PIN Vader, 21:11, ****1/2). Crowd goes nuts as confetti falls from the ceiling as Flair wins his 11th (10th or 12th or 14th depending on how you’re counting) World Title.

Absolutely one of my favorite matches ever, they told a great big man v. little man story. Flair’s main event did WCW’s best business all year, probably allowing Eric Bischoff to keep his job (things hadn’t been so good at that point). Flair had a great in-ring year in 1994, with main events against Sting, Steamboat, and Vader, while also working behind the scenes as booker and helping Bischoff bring in Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.

Of course, while they did that they also lost the services of (among others) Steve Austin and Mick Foley, which kind of proved to bite WCW in the ass.

And of course, the world did finally get that Sid/Vader match, when both were in the WWF. Vince didn’t run it as the main event for the World title at least. He ran it as the semi-main when the main event was two guys trying to bury each other. Literally.

How much did I love this match? I was a senior in high school with this match took place, and when I took SATs had to write an essay about how someone had overcome long odds. Drawing a blank, I wrote my essay about how Ric Flair overcame the long odds to defeat Vader and become champion again. The essay was so good that while all of my friends scored a 7, I got an 8. True story… its unfortunate it was a test that was hand-written and I don’t have a copy.

More Flair to come! Flair v. Youngblood! Flair v. Von Erich! Flair v. Hennig! But not quite the matches you’d WANT to see!

email: jvc113@gmail.com

Hey Scott,

I noticed this week that WWEClassics.com removed every episode of Raw from1993 and 1994. They also seemed to "PG" the site by removing all their matches involving blood. I don't think they gave us any notice on the removal of content. Granted I'm not the most active member so they might have removed these videos as often as a few months ago.

Considering it's only $4 a month and there's still like 1000 matches on the services do I really have a reason to get mad? At first I wanted to urge a boycott of WWEClassics.com until they returned the videos but there's still so much value I'm not sure its worth it. 

What's your thoughts?

I gave up trying to understand their legal whims a LONG time ago.  That being said, I wish had finished the 94 RAWs before they pulled them.  Really my spare time has been eaten up doing retro UFCs for Heavy.com anyway, but I guess I could skip forward to 1995 RAW should I get some free time in the future. 

Given they don’t have full PPVs available on demand and a lot of the content additions depend on who’s being celebrated that month, I’m not left with much to visit for now. 

Hey Scott,
Thought this might be something for the blog.  I'm watching WWE 24/7 and catching up on old NWA shows.  Back in 1987, the New Breed were a pretty good tag team.  Yet within a year, almost completely vanished.  Instead of looking it up, I figured I would let everyone chime in.  My guess is something to do with Chris Champion.  I remember him injuring his arm and wearing that ridiculous cast.  I also remember Sean Royal being with the Sheepherders for a moment.  But there has to be more to it than that.

Not really, you’ve pretty much got it.  They were in line for a decent push and then Champion broke his arm and just wasn’t the same guy anymore after that.  It’s not like they were spectacular workers, but I always marked for their “tag team literally from the future” schtick.

- Taped show of some kind?  Do a tribute show to the last dead wrestler?  Show something from WWE 24/7? 

- Live show from a small free venue in Europe?  Dunno if they could pull it off on short notice, but astonishingly there have been wrestling shows presented in venues other than giant arenas with pyro all over the world for 100 years now, so it might be worth a shot. 

- Scrape together anyone on the roster who is still in the US and do a few LONG matches?  Call up some Florida guys and dress them like John Cena and Batista?

- ECW invasion part two?

They’ll probably end up getting back to the US on time, but it’s fun to guess regardless.

Hang on, my parentheses got away from me there.

OK, so it’s that time of year again when I begin doing the WM reposts en masse, which raises the question:  Are there any left that need redoing particularly badly?  Here’s my running tally of what’s been done:

1:  Done multiple times, pretty much definitive now.

2:  Done recently, no desire to do it again.

3:  Done definitively off 24/7.

4:  I’ve said everything I want to say about this show.

5:  Done recently off 24/7.

6:  Done recently off the Anthology DVD.

7:  Ditto.

8:  Done multiple times.

9:  Done recently off the Anthology DVD.

10:  Possibly.

11:  Done shortly after Bigelow’s death.

12:  Done recently enough that I don’t think it needs a redo.

13:  Ditto.

14:  Ditto.

15:  My ultimate Russo hate-rant and I don’t want to ruin it by redoing it while calm.

16:  Done recently off the DVD.

17:  Did it last year.

18:  Possibly.

19-25:  All done in what I consider my “modern era” where my writing style matches up with how I write now and I probably don’t need to redo them.  Is there any desire for these shows?  Maybe 19, but definitely not anything later, I’d say.

So by my count, that’s maybes for 10 and 18, and maybe 19. 

Thoughts?

Hey man, I had to pass along this match that was aired on WWE 24/7 this month from a Toronto house show. Randy Savage defending his IC title in a No-DQ match vs. Tito Santana. It may be one of the best matches I've ever seen....and I love how crazy the Toronto crowd gets.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xc3hts_tito-santana-vs-randy-savage-no-dq_sport

I wouldn’t call it one of the best I’ve ever seen, but it’s definitely on the high end of the Savage-Santana series, about ****1/4.  But yeah, you just don’t get crazy crowds like that anymore.  I loved them demolishing the ringside area, too. 

Hey Scott.  Since you didn't redeliver on the "special surprise" that
was promised inside of the Royal Rumble 1988 recap, would you mind
reposting your rant for the 22nd anniversary of the epic Andre vs
Hogan "The Main Event" match held on February 5th, 1988?

22 years is a long time.

Here’s what I’m going to do because I dislike the original rant.  I’m going to post both the original version, plus the versions from the more recent DVDs, so people can have both.  Since it’s basically a two match show anyway.  

Netcop BONUS Retro Rant: WWF Main Event #1 (Feb. 1988)

“Three years is a very long time.” - Andre the Giant, on Piper’s Pit prior to Wrestlemania III.

- Live from Indianapolis, IN.

- Your hosts are Vince & Jesse.

- Hogan training video starts us off. He’s pumped, brother!

- Opening match, Intercontinental title: The Honky Tonk Man v. Randy Savage. There’s a big ugly backstage political story behind this that I’ll get into later. HTM hits on Liz and Savage chases to start. Savage mops up with him, but Jimmy Hart’s interference (and megaphone) quickly gives Honky the advantage. He keeps stopping to swivel his hips at Liz, however, between stomps. He drops three elbows on Savage, but stops to hit on Liz again, and Savage makes the comeback. Double axehandle gets two, and Hart gets involved again. Savage puts Honky in a sleeper, but stops to save Elizabeth again, and fights with Honky on the floor. Honky hits the post, and Savage beats the count at 8:04. Cheap ending. Typical SNME match, too. ½* Savage fights off a post-match beatdown afterwards.

(Newer version from Macho Madness DVD):

Intercontinental title: Honky Tonk Man v. Randy Savage

From the Main Event in February 1988, this is a match that has a lot of lore and history swirling around it, moreso than you'd expect for a mid-level feud like this. Macho attacks to start and necksnaps Honky on the top rope, then elbows him down and out of the ring before running him into Jimmy Hart. Hart hooks him up to distract him, allowing Honky to attack from behind and get a sunset flip. Savage blocks it and slugs away in the corner, but misses a charge, which allows Honky to take over. Savage takes a run at Hart again and Honky clobbers him with the megaphone for two. To the floor, where Honky hits him with an axehandle off the apron, and back in for some sweet words for Liz. What a ladies' man. He stomps Savage down and goes to hit on Liz again while Jimmy does his damage, and Jesse blames it all on Liz. The Honkster drops some elbows and he's still focused on Liz, but Savage has had ENOUGH of this shit and makes the comeback to a giant reaction. He tosses Honky and hits him with the axehandle. Back in, another axehandle gets two. Honky collides with Jimmy Hart and Savage gets a sleeper as the crowd goes insane, but now Savage has to contend with Peggy Sue as well. Honky charges him on the floor, but Macho steers him into the post and gets the countout at 8:23. Tremendous heat, but not a lot going on in the ring. **1/2

- Review of WM3 and the Andre situation for the casual fans.

- WWF World title: Hulk Hogan v. Andre the Giant. This could be quite possibly the most important single moment in the modern era, just because of all the historical significance and precedence it set, and all the things that followed from it. This was the debut of the new WWF title belt that had been promised prior to Wrestlemania III, but never showed up for whatever reason. It’s of course the familiar design that was just retired last year when Steve Austin won the thing. Hogan does his posing before the match starts. Hogan cleans house on the seconds, then starts punching Andre. This goes on FOREVER, as Andre just keeps absorbing blows from Hogan and won’t go down. Hogan tries going to the top finally, but gets slammed off and suddenly starts selling a back injury like he was just in a career-ending car accident. Andre chokes a lot. He works a bodyslam in, then does a Hogan big boot and falls over in the process. Only quick camera work prevents him from looking like a total idiot. More choking. Still more. Choking, you say? Have some more. Hogan comes back and goes aerial, hitting a clothesline from the second rope and the STINKY WART-INFESTED NASTY GIANT-KILLING LEGDROP OF DEATH, but Virgil is distracting our referee. Hogan stops to argue the point, but Andre lumbers up and grabs him from behind, hitting a half-assed suplex/hiptoss thing and getting a one-count…which is extended into three because the ref keeps counting despite Hogan lifting his shoulder. The crowd is in SHOCK, as Hogan’s four-year title reign has come to an end under suspicious circumstances. HULK SCREWED HULK! Mean Gene pops into the ring for a word with Andre, who barely has the celebratory speech out of his mouth before he hands the title over to Ted Dibiase, becoming the shortest reigning champion in the WWF to date. The weirdness continues, as a SECOND Hebner comes out of the dressing room to argue with the first one. One of course was Dave Hebner, senior WWF referee, and the other was his twin brother Earl, current senior WWF referee. Earl eventually punks out Dave, which is good enough proof of Evil Intentions for Hogan, so he tosses Earl like a shotput into the arms of Dibiase (sending him about 15 feet into the aisleway in the process) and that’s that. ½*

(Newer version from SNME DVD):

WWF World title: Hulk Hogan v. Andre the Giant

From The Main Event, on live network primetime TV. This did ungodly numbers and blows away all other ratings for wrestling matches. It also has one of the most famous finishes in history. As a match, not so good. Another first here as it marks the debut of the classic winged eagle WWF title belt, although Hulk's pre-match interview sees him wearing the older design. Pretty big production gaffe there. Amazingly, that belt design would last for 10 years, second only to the Big Gold Belt (23 years and counting!) and the current I-C title (11 years and sorely in need of a redo). Hulk cleans house on Dibiase and Virgil to start and then slugs away on Andre, but can't knock him down. Hulk tries a corner clothesline, but still can't punch him down, even after spinning his arm around like Popeye! That would KILL a normal man! He finally tries to go up, but Andre slams him off and then misses a headbutt. Andre chokes him out and stomps him, then puts him down with the headbutts. Big boot puts Hulk on the floor, and Virgil sends him back in for some more choking. Hogan fights up and slugs away in the corner, then gets a flying clothesline and drops the leg. The ref is busy with Virgil, and Andre headbutts Hogan from behind and suplexes him for the pin and the title at 9:04, despite Hogan's shoulder being up at one. Pff, technicalities. So Andre immediately surrenders the title to Ted Dibiase as Hogan cries like a little bitch instead of manning up and doing something about it. I really wish 24/7 would show one of the house shows with Dibiase "defending" the title against Bam Bam Bigelow, for historical reasons if nothing else. I don't know if any of them were taped for TV, though. Anyway, the really shocking thing here is that this isn't even the worst refereeing job Earl Hebner would do in his career. Much better than their Wrestlemania match. That's not saying much. **

- Backstage, he delivers that classic whining interview where he demands to know “how much money [did they spend] on the plastic surgery” while nearly breaking into tears. I was busy crying my own tears – tears of joy at Hogan’s ego-ridden title reign finally coming to an end. A Strike Force-Hart Foundation tag title match was also here, but it was cut off about 10 seconds in as the show ran out of time.

The Bottom Line: I recently found out an interesting story behind the whole Savage-HTM thing, because at the time I thought that Savage was a lock to kill Honky and get the title.

Turns out he was.

But, wrestling being the nasty, political world it is, Honky threatened to take the title and jump to the NWA very shortly before the show aired, thus messing everyone up. So in order to keep everyone happy, Honky was kept as the IC champion, and Savage was given a bigger reward: The win in the WWF title tournament at Wrestlemania IV, which had previously been promised to someone else…Ted Dibiase. This would have presumably built to a Savage-Dibiase match at the first Summerslam for the title, but things changed and Savage got a longer title reign than originally expected. It also worked out better in the end because the Megapowers thing had better symmetry with Savage winning at WM4 and losing at WM5 the next year.

Life is weird, no?

WWE Classics 24/7 recently debut a show called "10 Count" where host Matt Striker counts down a Top 10 on whatever the topic is that month.  This month was "Top 10 WWE Matches of the Decade."  They were selected based on crowd reaction, historical impact, excitement, and in-ring skill. They were:

10.) Edge vs. John Cena from Unforgiven 2006

9.) Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley from Backlash 2004

8.) Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle from Vengeance 2005

7.) Steve Austin vs. HHH-Three Stages of Hell from No Way Out 2001

6.) Brock Lesnar vs. Eddie Guerrero from No Way Out 2004

5.) HHH vs. Cactus Jack from Royal Rumble 2000

4.) Rock vs. Hulk Hogan from Wrestlemania 18

3.) Edge & Christian vs. Hardys vs. Duddley Boys- Summerslam 2000 TLC match

2.) Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker- Wrestlemania 25

1.) Rock vs. Austin- Wrestlemania 17

They also gave an honorable mention/11.) spot to Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels ladder match during their 2008 feud.

So what do you and your readers think?  I personally think the Lesnar/Guerrero match is overrated and HBK/Angle puts me to sleep for some reason (they also showed their 30 minute Smackdown Iron Man match in the Shorties section this month and it did the same thing). But otherwise it's a good list.

10.) Edge vs. John Cena from Unforgiven 2006

Never seen it, heard it’s good. 

9.) Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley from Backlash 2004

I was there!  The main event was better that night by far, though.  Personally I think Foley’s match with Edge holds up better, though. 

8.) Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle from Vengeance 2005

Wrestlemania was better, but it’s hard to argue either way. 

7.) Steve Austin vs. HHH-Three Stages of Hell from No Way Out 2001

Fucking awesome match. 

6.) Brock Lesnar vs. Eddie Guerrero from No Way Out 2004

I agree, overrated.  Not BAD, but certainly on the lower end of Eddie’s main event work.  His match with Angle from Wrestlemania 20 was better, for instance. 

5.) HHH vs. Cactus Jack from Royal Rumble 2000

One of my favorite matches of all time.  HHH ripped the heart out of MSG and built his career on that match. 

4.) Rock vs. Hulk Hogan from Wrestlemania 18

Really?  #4?

3.) Edge & Christian vs. Hardys vs. Duddley Boys- Summerslam 2000 TLC match

Not much argument from me. 

2.) Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker- Wrestlemania 25

I still feel like it’s too early to be judging it in these sorts of lists, especially since it wasn’t for a title and the rematch likely will be. 

1.) Rock vs. Austin- Wrestlemania 17

Yes, it’s a near-perfect match, but it also marked the point at which the peak of the WWF came to an end, so if you’re going by history as well as ring work, it’s a pretty clear #1. 

By red29

This show was played on WWE Classics on Demand this past month and I remember being so excited for this Supercard back in the fall of ’98. The Monday Night Wars were still up for grabs although the tide was certainly turning to the WWF. I had been watching wrestling religiously for a year at this point (started oddly enough with Starrcade ’97 at a friend’s house). I watched this originally from my college dorm room on a live internet stream from WCW.com, using a login/password from some IRCnet chatroom I think. That was pretty big for 1998. The point of this review is to see how this holds up eleven years later using my cynical jaded wrestling eyes. . Actually I’m a pretty positive guy and I WANT to enjoy what I’m watching. Anyway, I rate matches on the typical 5 * scale with your average match weighing in at **1/2. I did not dig up Scott’s original rant on this from the 411 or Pulse archives so anything that sounds familiar is strictly due to osmosis from reading all his stuff for the last eleven years (started on Wrestline.com). Let’s cue up the 24/7 montage…

Live eleven years ago from Las Vegas

This “Supercard” kicks off with an interview from Mean Gene talking to Rick Steiner on the entrance ramp about the Brother vs. Brother match later. Buff Bagwell, who just returned the previous Nitro, comes out and explains to the crowd that we’re all sick of Big Poppa Pump. Buff wants to be in Rick’s corner and the crowd boos him, smelling the turn 10 miles away. Rick asks if he can trust him, and the crowd yells “NO!” Hilarious. Crowd boos as both men leave.

Finally we get to an actual match.

Match 1

Raven vs. Chris Jericho ©

Television Title Championship Match

Jericho is donning the hairstyle he would use when he debuts in the WWF about 9 months later. Raven is in the midst of a losing streak here and the Flock is disbanded at this point. Raven “went to bed at 11am, woke up to find out who his opponent was (See, it’s funny because it’s true) and doesn’t feel like wrestling” so he walks out. Jericho buries Raven on the stick, and calls him a loser. Well, it worked I guess as Raven has had enough and runs back to the ring and they slug it out with Jericho kicking him down, ripping off Raven’s jacket and then he whips him with it. Raven up and Jericho whips him off the ropes and hits a clothesline. Arrogant cover for a quick 1. Another shoot off and Jericho ducks and gets kicked. Raven clotheslines him over the top rope and both men fall to the floor. Raven sets up the steel steps and front suplexes Jericho onto the steps, right on his stomach. I can’t remember if I’ve ever seen the steps used like that before. Awesome. Raven runs up the now repositioned steel steps and hits a dropkick to Jericho! He rolls Jericho back in the ring and poses to the crowd. Shoot off and Jericho plants Raven and hotshots him face first onto the top rope. Springboard dropkick by Jericho sends Raven to the outside and into the rail. Jericho runs along the apron and dives at Raven, who ducks, and Jericho plants himself into the guardrail head first. Nice bump. Raven uses the steps again, slamming Jericho’s head into them. Jericho reverses an irish whip and sends Raven flying into the safety rail. Jericho rolls him back in the ring and kicks him in the head. Raven up with an eye gouge and takes Jericho into the corner, choking him with his flannel shirt. Raven bites at Jericho’s face then shoots him off and applies a sleeper. Jericho counters into a belly to back suplex. Senton across Raven’s chest from Jericho. Jericho removes the turnbuckle and they tease a whip into it but Raven reverses Jericho into the opposite corner. Jericho boots him and charges but Raven turns this into a wicked powerbomb, and then catapults Jericho into the exposed steel. Diving clothesline to Jericho and Raven covers for two. Shoot off and Jericho kicks him in the gut, misses a spin kick and raven hits a quick belly to belly for two. Raven sends him off the ropes, misses a punch, switches behind Jericho but Jericho rolls through it and applies the Lion Tamer. Raven makes the ropes and Jericho is pissed. He slaps at Raven and drags him up by his hair. Irish whip is countered by Raven into the Even Flow DDT and Jericho kicks out at 2 ½. Fans bought that as the ending. Jericho sneaks up behind Raven and tries to roll him up for two. Jericho gets a low blow, hits a belly to belly into a bridge…for two. Dang, this is a hot opener. They slug it out and Raven reverses a whip, sending Jericho crashing into Kanyon, who appeared all of a sudden on the apron. I think he missed a cue or something. Raven grabs Jericho and tries for the DDT again but Jericho reverses into the lion tamer and Raven taps (7:49).

**** Pretty much non stop action here, with some great bumps early and great pacing. Both guys were pretty over, especially Jericho and the Lion Tamer. This was really, really good.

Next up is more talking as Bischoff and Hollywood come out to pose in front of the giant pumpkin. Hogan talks about laying Horace to rest since he wasn’t a true NWO-ite. They show highlights of Hogan whipping his nephew with the belt on Nitro from the week before. This would be the second “turn” they are forcing down the fans throats tonight. Gee, wonder what is happening later in the show? I mean a promo about Horace? Well, its better then letting the Warrior rant on for ten minutes. The Nitro speech when he returned was so terrible, I remember flipping back and forth at least three times and he was STILL preaching. .

Match 2

Meng vs. Wrath

Before Wrath comes down they pan through the crowd and some kid has a WCW/NWO Revenge t-shirt. Sweet. Match starts with Wrath heading outside and dragging Meng through the ropes. Wrath throws him into the guardrail, then gets on the apron and hits a somersault dive. Back in the ring and Wrath throws him into the corner. Both men slug it out and Meng puts Wrath into another corner but Wrath gets the foot up when he charges. Meng gets fired up and Wrath climbs and hits a diving clothesline off the second rope for two. Massive shoulder block to Meng and Wrath goes for the Meltdown but Meng somersaults out of the way and hits a superkick for two. Meng slaps at him and picks him up into a backbreaker across his knee. This gets two. They trade eye rakes in the middle of the ring and Meng hits an elbow to the head and puts Wrath into the corner. They look a tad lost at this point. Wrath reverses Meng into the opposite corner and kicks at him before Meng pushes him off and hits a belly to back suplex. Meng whips Wrath into the corner and follows that with a weak lariat. Atomic drop by Meng and a shoot off with Wrath hitting a sunset flip. Meng goes for the Tongan Death Grip but Wrath slips out and hits a Uranage for two as Meng weakly gets his shoulder up. Wrath goes for the Meltdown again and Meng tries to fight out of it before Wrath gets him up and hits it for the pin and a decent pop (4:23).

** They got a little lost in the middle and couldn’t figure out where to go but this was a solid power match. Wrath was pretty over and his finisher got a nice pop when he finally hit it. Unfortunately he’d go on to tear his ACL early in 1999 and delay his momentum. He’d eventually make his way over to WWE during the Invasion as a part of Kronik and quit when they tried to demote him to OVW. Well, at least according to Wiki.

Match 3

Disco Inferno vs. Juventud Guerrera

This is for the right to face Kidman later in the show for the Cruiserweight title. Tony also jogs our memory and reminds everyone that the beef here is Juvy saying Disco didn’t make weight for their previous matches. Okay, then. Vegas crowd just loves the disco dancing. Ok they show a hot chick that I’m ok with doing it, but the dorky kids in the front row, just stop. IT’S DISCO INFERNO. Face-off and Disco starts with a kick to the gut and an elbow smash and puts Juvy in the corner. Kicks there and Disco poses. Disco sends him off and hits a side slam. Disco poses and THEN covers and it almost gets three. What a side slam apparently. Juvy’s up and slaps Disco down. Irish whip and Juvy hits a head scissors takeover and then a clothesline. Juvy tries to go up on Disco and they botch a move with Juvy slipping to the mat, which is described as a great counter by Tony for Disco. So they go for the spot again and Juvy hits a facebuster out of a fame-asser type move. Disco into the corner and gets slapped down. Disco charges off the ropes and gets monkey flipped onto the floor and Juvy follows him out with another head scissors. The fog from the fog machine has made its way to ringside. Well, it’s not pyro at least. Back in and Disco reverses a whip and hits an inverted atomic drop and then a lariat. Scoopslam follows and Disco goes up. Stone Cold double elbow drop hits and he covers for two. Now into a sleeper for Disco. Juvy fights out and ducks a clothesline, hits a diving roll up but Disco grabbed the bottom rope. Juvy ignored that and had pulled off him before the ref even told him about the rope break. Juvy reverses a kick into a reverse spin kick. Juvy charges and gets flipped to the apron but keeps his balance and springboards back into the ring. Disco bails outside and Juvy hits a slingshot crossbody block onto him. The two slug it out back in the ring and Juvy hit a rana and calls for the Juvy driver. Disco reverses and hits a swinging neck breaker for a double KO spot. Disco pulls him up by his hair, shoots him off but Juvy flips over and Disco punches him on the ground. Macarena time and Juvy flips him for a roll up for two but Disco grabs Juvy’s legs and hits a giant swing which leaves him dizzy and he falls into a low blow headfirst on Juvy’s crotch. Cover but Juvy has his leg on the ropes. They adjust and another cover gets two. Veritical suplex by Disco and he goes up the turnbuckle but Juvy pops up and crotches him. Juvy on top with him and hits a frankensteiner. Juvy goes to another corner and hits a spinning crossbody for two. Shoot off and Juvy slides in and hits a reverse bulldog. Both men up and Disco fights Juvy off his shoulders and hits a kick wham jumping piledriver for the pin (9:39).

*** This was kind of all over the place, especially with Juvy hitting all these big moves at the end only to get grabbed for the piledriver out of nowhere. It was a little sloppy early but solid nonetheless.

ANOTHER promo, this time it’s Big Papa Pump. I’m sure someone has this PPV all planned out down to the minute anyway. We’re fine. He runs down Marcus Bagwell. Scott wants to make this a tag team match for the titles with the Giant in his corner. Well, it’s the Big Show out now…with hair. JJ Dillon wants Scott to wrestle Rick one on one for 15 minutes if Rick’s team wins the tag match.

Match 4

Fit Finlay vs. Alex Wright

Now we get European techno dancing. Back story here is that Alex’s father’s wrestling career was ended by Finlay. They circle and lock-up. Ref breaks and they do it again. Finlay grabs an arm and sweeps him down. Wright fights his way up, still in the hold, and runs the ropes and flips Finlay over him. Nice. Stiff European uppercuts from Finlay and both guys slug it out. Wright gets a knockdown and stomps on Finlay. Wright hotshots Finlay onto the top rope. Wright catapults Finlay, who is under the ropes, and then dances. Clothesline by Finlay and now he gets his own catapult, holding onto Wright’s legs and puts on a stretch hold. Looks like a modified surfboard. Schiavone admits they have no idea what that move is called. I made it up as well. Wright gets dumped outside, followed by Finlay with a sledge and posting into the ring apron. Wright drags Finlay to the outside and scoopslams him on the outside and then drops an elbow. Slaps and Finlay reverses into a fireman’s carry and drops him on the rail. That gets a one count when Finlay rolls him back in. Wright charges and hits a crossbody which sends both men over the ropes. Back in and Wright misses a missile dropkick off the top. Charge by Finlay into the corner misses and Wright hits a hangman’s neckbreaker for the pin (5:09).

** Pretty stiff, quick 5 minute match. There was nothing appalling here. Everybody is flying around so far on this card. Although really, the bookers need to break up their gyrating dancers so they don’t burn out the crowd too early.

Match 5

Lodi vs. Saturn

This is Lodi’s chance to make up for being Saturn’s bitch during their Flock days. Lock-up and Saturn grabs an arm. Saturn releases the hold so Lodi can run up the entranceway and grab his poster board signs (like Lodi likes Texas). It gets no reaction. Shoot off and Saturn leapfrogs him, hits a HHH facebreaker knee smash, followed by a leg sweep. Lodi bails again but Saturn suplexes him back into the ring. Slaps now to Lodi in the corner and Saturn whips him hard into the opposite corner and Lodi bails AGAIN. He walks out on the match but Saturn chases and slaps at him. Lodi runs back to the ring and finally gets some offense. It consists of two axehandle smashes before Saturn hits a vicious belly-to-belly suplex. Running lariat and then a t-bone suplex follows. Saturn hits a sit-down vertical suplex, calls for the Death Valley Driver and hits it for the pin (3:50).

½ * Complete squash. Deserved to blown off on Nitro.

Match 6

Disco Inferno vs. Kidman ©

WCW Cruiserweight Championship Match

Circle and a lock-up into a headlock for Kidman. Shoot off and Disco hits a hiptoss. Kidman up with a dropkick. Another headlock for Kidman, Disco shoots him off, hits a suplex but walks into a drop-toe hold and Kidman grabs an arm. Into a wristlock, Disco reverses with three hair drag takedowns on Kidman. Disco throws an Irish whip and Kidman gets one of his own. Kidman hits a headscissors takedown and stomps away. Another wristlock sequence and Disco hits his own drop-toe hold, sending Kidman into the bottom rope. Swinging neckbreaker by Disco and the cover gets 2. Hard throw into the corner and Kidman does the Bret Hart bump. Disco in control before Kidman charges and Disco lowers the top rope and Kidman sails to the outside. Kidman hits a running bulldog, off the stairs and ring apron to the floor. Nice spot. Kidman up top and misses a frog splash. Disco covers off his miss and gets two. He grabs a headlock as the pace slows down. Kidman hits a stiff clothesline after tossing Disco off the turnbuckle. Irish whip now and Disco hits a flapjack, which is described as a “great defensive move” by Tony. Disco kicks away at Kidman in the corner and then poses to boos. See the dancing has burnt out the crowd already, just like I predicted. Relax readers, its sarcasm. Belly to back suplex on Kidman gets two. Disco hits a scoopslam and climbs. He misses a double axe handle and Kidman hits a sit-down powerbomb. Kidman takes over and hits a powerslam for two. He whiffs on a dropkick and Disco goes for the POWERBOMB BUT YOU CAN’T POWERBOMB KIDMAN. I’ve always wanted to borrow that. However, Disco turns Kidman’s reversal of the powerbomb into a jumping piledriver. Just a sick looking move you won’t see anymore. He stalls too long and this gets 2 ½. Kidman hits a sloppy running bulldog off the turnbuckle which looks like Disco took the move wrong and landed on his back. Both men up and Disco hits a gordbuster for two. Offense is all Disco, despite him already wrestling tonight. Weird booking for Kidman. Disco tries again to powerbomb Kidman and Kidman counters into a facebuster. He climbs for the Shooting Star Press and it gets three. (10:49)

**3/4 Some obvious stalling with Disco already wrestling. The whole match was backwards with Disco as the heel, but the one tired from earlier. So instead we have Kidman (rested) laying around after all the heel’s offense, while Disco poses away. If you’re going to do a two match sequence, this would have worked better with a rested heel champ.

PART 2 – which is TV 14 instead of the TV PG PART 1 was

Match 7

Big Poppa Pump and The Giant © vs. Rick Steiner and Buff Bagwell

WCW World Tag Team Championship

This is Bagwell’s first match back since his injury (caused by Rick Steiner). He did a weak face turn the Nitro before, saving Rick from Scott with a chair. Giant comes down to the ring smoking a cigarette. Match takes forever to start. Giant starts with Rick and tosses him around. Big slaps in the corner followed by a big punch. Hey, that move is his finisher nowadays. Atomic drop and a belly to back suplex on Rick. Scott Steiner in and keeps working over his brother. He throws Rick outside so the Giant can knock him around while the ref is inadvertently distracted by Bagwell. Bagwell chases and Rick is tossed back into the ring. Scott kicks him around until Rick finally gets some offense in, hitting an atomic drop and then a ten-punch in the corner. ANOTHER atomic drop and Rick tags Buff in and there you go. Bagwell turns on Rick, celebrates with Big Poppa Pomp and the Giant, and then he just runs out of the arena. Well that was abrupt. It’s 2-on-1 now. Slow beat down ensues as the crowd jeers. Tony says this surprised everyone, including everyone in the locker room. Well, no one said they were the brightest back there. It’s a handicap match now as Giant stands on Rick and chops him down. Rick rolls out of the ring and Scott beats him around outside. He rolls Rick back in and the Giant hits a side Russian leg sweep but pulls Rick off the mat at 2. Wow, moveset. Another tag now to Scott and Rick gets a punch in. His spurts of offense pop the crowd at least before Scott hits a low blow. Giant is tagged in and climbs, barely keeps his balance and Rick ducks his missile dropkick and it wipes out Scott Steiner. Clotheslines by Rick on the Giant. Steiner gets a big bulldog out of the corner and it gets the pin and the titles. (8:24)

Now the 15 minute one-on-one match is supposed to start. Scott tries to bail but Rick chases him down. The Giant is still out there and he gets involved to no surprise. Rick smashes Scott into the steel stairs and rolls him in. Rick hits some punches and a big clothesline. Rick hits an inverted powerbomb into the turnbuckle but Scott grabs the ropes to break the count. Scott now takes over. Steiner-line misses and Rick hits an overhead suplex. Now a belly to belly for Rick but the camera cuts to someone in a Bill Clinton mask beating down security. He comes in the ring, beats down Rick and the ref with a slapjack Stevie Ray gave him at ringside, and reveals to be…Buff Bagwell. He tries to count using the ref’s hand but Rick kicks out at 2. Frankensteiner by Scott and Rick again kicks out at 2 with Buff counting for the ref. Both whip Rick off and he clotheslines Scott and then hotshots Buff. Rick off the top for the Steiner bulldog and another ref runs in to count the three.

**1/2 for the whole thing. Wow, a clean finish after all that. I liked this a lot more then I thought I would. The crowd was really into it too which always sways me a little. So Buff races out after his turn, to apparently get ready to change and surprise everyone later JUST IN CASE Rick beats them 2 on 1 for the titles? Why not just stick around ringside and make sure Rick loses and gets beat down? It’s not like the heels needed the 1 on 1 match to get their licks in. Plus they lost their titles in the process. Anyway…

Match 8

Scott Hall vs. Kevin Nash

They play up Hall being a drunk in the promos as part of the reason for the breakup. He comes out to the ring carrying a drink, stumbling and apparently drunk. They talk about Scott needing to get his life together. I’m sure enough clichés have been used in the past to describe this angle.

Hall has a drink in his hand in the ring and throws it in Nash’s face to start. Hall punches and kicks Nash down and to the outside. Brawl outside and Hall takes the ringside microphone and clocks Nash. Choking with a ringside cable ensues and Nash looks to be bleeding the hard way in the mouth from that mic shot. Nash is laid out outside and Hall goes back in the ring and gets a mic to talk to the crowd and taunt Big Sexy, while a trainer attends to Nash on the ramp. Nash gets back in the ring and gets knocked down again. Discus punch and Hall looks pretty good for drinking all night. Scoopslam on Nash and he calls for the Razor’s Edge. Nash gets his first offense in – a push. He refuses to attack Scott despite letting him kick the crap out of him. Announcers finally catch on that he is not fighting back. Way to go guys, we’re five minutes in and you just pointed out a huge part of the psychology of the match. Hall whips him into the corner, followed by a clothesline. NOW, Nash comes alive with a couple hard irish whips and his big side slam. Double KO after that. They slug it out on their knees. I actually don’t mind that spot. Now both up trading slow punches. Nash now takes over with a running hip and punches. Jackknife attempt is avoided by Hall. Hall stalls outside and finally back in we have a lock-up won by Nash. Another lock-up and Hall grabs an arm and slaps Nash a couple times on the head. Nash takes over and hammers away in the corner. Nash sets him up on the middle rope and hits some running knees. Ref asks Hall if he wants to quit. Nash puts him in a corner and throws a couple hip smashes. To another corner and more of the same. Hall is out of it and Nash just toys with him. I guess all this wrestling has helped the alcohol takeover as Hall is stumbling around. He was fine 5 minute ago. All Hall can do now is just weakly slap at Nash. Big boot and the crowd is surprisingly still alive for this one. Nash sets him up for the finish, mocks his drinking with hand motions and fires off a sick Jackknife powerbomb, almost breaking Hall’s neck. Second Jackknife comes off better as Hall pulled himself up to at least take the move safely. Nash throws a couple crotch chops and leaves, getting counted out. (14:19)

*1/2 So Nash gets the crap kicked out of him early, apparently refusing to fight back for a good couple minutes, then he takes over as Hall goes limp and the match just drags to the end. They could have played up Nash’s refusal to hit his friend much better in the beginning so maybe the crowd could have followed along. Some simple hand gestures and posturing could have accomplished this. Then they could have cut to just wrestling after that. On top of this, I’m pretty sure the promos talked about Nash wanting to kick his ass, so why would he just slap and push Hall off until almost halfway through?

Match 9

Bret Hart © vs. Sting

United States Heavyweight Championship Match

Weird sign displayed by an old lady in the front row: “Sting gave Hart the Scorpion”. Like in the shower earlier? I’m not following at all. Sting is representing the Wolfpac here and has the bat with him. Stall to start with Bret rolling in and out of the ring, afraid to fight Sting. Finally the bell rings. Announcers think this will take Sting out of his game. It has taken the fans out of the game. Bret bails after the bell and jaws with some uglies in the crowd. Finally, after another tease of entering the ring, Sting chases Bret down and throws him into the entrance ramp guardrail and drags him back to the ring. That was just a BRUTAL opening. I guess the script said this would work the fans up into a fury. Epic fail. So back to the match and Sting gets a 10-punch in the corner followed by a clothesline. Sting whips him into another corner and stomps on his hand. Big atomic drop by Sting. Bret takes over and rakes Stings head along the ropes. Big DDT by Bret and he covers for two. Illegal choke in the corner that Bret breaks on 3 and clotheslines sting down. Headbutt to the groin by Bret followed by a leg drop to the face. Bret with a hard knockdown punch and an elbow smash gets a two count. Bret grabs a sleeper now and Sting fights out but gets caught with a knee to the stomach off his whip off the ropes. More choking by Bret. Big running bulldog by Bret as he chokes Sting out with his foot in the corner. Crowd is dead for this. These guys have 9 heavyweight titles at this point between them remember. Small package reversal by Sting gets two. Hart takes back control with his third eye rake and a side Russian leg sweep. To the second rope for a dropkick as Bret falls on his back so Sting locks in the Scorpion Deathlock. Bret has the ropes. Two count by Sting after a couple punches to Bret on the ground. Shoot-off and Sting hits a shoulderblock, ducks a leapfrog but Bret feigns a knee injury after his jump. Sting and the crowd are not buying it but the ref pulls him off and Bret has an object in his tights. Bret drops the object after Sting whips him into the corner. Sting now picks up the object but the ref stops him and Bret hits a low blow. Kick to the groin continues the assault and Bret hits a backbreaker. Now to the second rope for the driving elbows. This gets two. Bret dumps Sting outside and we get slow brawling by the entrance ramp. Bret hotshots him on the rail and breaks the count into the ring. Fans boo him and you get a nice shot of a “FUCK YOU” from Bret. Sting is back on the apron and accidentally back-elbows the ref. Bret kicks the ref too. Sting finds his second wind and starts taking it to Btet. Stinger Splash is blocked with a boot up by Bret. Bret punches Sting down and climbs but Sting crotches him on the top rope. This sets up a superplex with Bret’s legs smashing into the fallen ref. That had to hurt. Double KO now. Stinger Splash on Hart but Sting overshot it and knocked himself out. The announcer sell this like he cracked his head on the post but it looked like just the turnbuckle to me. Regardless, Bret goes outside and grabs Sting’s bat and beats the hell out of him with it and now brings the bat back into the ring. Bret now up to the second rope and drives the bat into Sting’s throat. Ref is still out from Sting’s back-elbow of doom earlier. Actually that kind of bump I could buy more then some of the splashes and stuff they normally do to put the ref down. Bret drags the ref up and locks on the Sharpshooter with Sting knocked out from the bat shots earlier. Ref raises Sting’s arm but he’s out and then the ref calls for the bell. After this, Sting does an uber long stretcher job as the announcers talk about how this is a huge black eye for wrestling. See, it’s funny because it’s true. (15:04)

*1/2 The build to this (via the announcer’s recap) was all about the respect both men had for each other and their similar finishing moves. So instead of the technical match promised, Bret stalls for five minutes in the beginning, brings in a foreign object and, if it were a real bat, kills Sting to retain the title. IIRC they would have a much better match at Mayhem a year later. Terrible letdown, even eleven years later.

Match 10

Hollywood Hogan vs. The Warrior

Before the match they show a replay AGAIN of Horace getting beat down by Hogan on Nitro. Now you have to be a real moron to not see where this is going. Good drinking game for this one - drink when they say “Return match eight years in the making.” You’d be dead by the time this show is over. Warrior poses while Hogan tells the camera that Warrior is out of his mind and that he could kill that guy. His words, not mine. That could pop a buyrate, you know? As is the theme of Part 2, we take forever to start. Hogan walks into a big right hand and the bell rings. Warrior screams he’s been waiting long enough for this. Does he mean revenge for Hogan submarining his first run as champ? Because Hogan technically has the revenge angle here. Anyway, Hogan grabs an arm and they wrestle around trading locks. Shoot off and Warrior hits a shoulderblock, followed by Hogan bailing. Minutes later Hogan is back in the ring again. Warrior calls for the test of strength. Hogan politely declines and they lock up and go into the corner, trading right hands. Hogan chokes at him with his knee and more kicks follow. Now we have a big game of mercy with Warrior on his knees. That sounded terrible actually. Warrior fights back and turns the move on Hogan, allegedly. I didn’t see any difference or switch. I guess it was a subtle squeeze. They stay in this hold , with Warrior on the ground, for another couple of minutes until Hogan grabs an arm and they reverse that around a couple times and then do a criss cross which leads to a Hogan scoopslam that Warrior no sells. Warrior hits his own scoopslam and pounds on the ropes, charges at Hogan and dumps him to the floor. Warrior eventually follows and they weakly brawl around with eye rakes and punches. I don’t mind the eye rake as a transition move and you really don’t see it much anymore. Back in and an ugly whip leads to a ref bump by Hogan. Hogan then knees the down ref in the head and starts to lay into the Warrior. He calls for the troops in the back and kills the ref again. Out comes the Giant but Warrior ducks a boot from him and it hits Hogan in the face. Now Stevie Ray and Vincent get knocked off the apron by the Warrior as well. Warrior goes for the cover after the previous boot but the ref is still down. See, the face is supposed to be affected from the ref bump, not the heel (see Orton/Cena Iron Man). Double axe handle by Hogan and he hit a back suplex on Warrior. This gets two as the ref is back. Knees to the back by Hogan. Both men slug it out and Hogan takes his belt off and whips Warrior near the face. Now Hogan chokes him with it and then whips him across the back. Ref lets the match continue as long as the belt goes away; ignoring that he was kneed in the back of the head earlier. I guess he was unconscious from the vicious push down. I’m surprised this wasn’t just No DQ. Warrior avoids a couple elbow drops and charges but misses his splash. Hogan punches at him but Warrior knocks him down and takes Hogan’s belt off. The Ref does not take this way and lets him hit him 3 times. Now pleading to stop and he rolls it up and clocks Hogan again. Hogan goes for something in his pants and it’s a lighter as he tries a fireball which whiffs terribly. Warrior no sells the miss and acts like he didn’t just see someone try and throw fire at him and slugs away. Pretty impressive acting by Warrior if he knew he was supposed to eat fire there. Hogan admitted he overbooked this angle and wanted Warrior to make his comeback blinded by the fire. Considering how sloppy the rest of this was with full eyesight, I’m thinking that would have been epically awesome, in a bad way. Warrior goes up and hits a awful looking axe handle/sledge. More like a slap to the top of Hogan’s bald head. Another double axe handle and Hogan blades. Now with a low blow on Warrior followed by a clothesline. Patented Leg Drop and Horace Hogan comes out with a chair. Bischoff is watching from the pumpkin as well. Hogan misses another Leg Drop and Warrior hulks up, no selling some axe handles. Running clotheslines from the Warrior and Bischoff is on the apron and grabs the ref as Horace comes in and clocks the Warrior with the chair in the back of the head. The best was Tenay saying earlier “Good thing the Warrior has Horace here”. He wouldn’t stop after the match with the shock either. Come on, yo. That chairshot gets three. Now my favorite part as Horace pours lighter fluid all over the Warrior. Since this was months after Foley, I remember wondering if they were really going to do some kind of stunt with lighting him on fire there. Security comes out and they fight the lighter away from them before they can burn him alive for the sold out crowd. (14:20)

1/4* For the entertainment of seeing this again only. I’ll go the quarter star for participation and everyone showing up (a plus from the Warrior). Crowd was dead for this. What a clusterfuck. Even both Hogan and Bischoff buried it on the Warrior DVD as a huge whiff and one of the worst matches EVER.

Match 11

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg ©

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match

At this point the PPV is way over the time limit and was shutoff to some buyers. They would go on and replay the entire match for free the next night on Nitro. Goldberg has a really long walk to the ring here. Great pop though. This is, of course, face vs. face. Bell sounds and both men meet in the middle for a staredown. Lock-up and Goldberg shoves him off, three times in a row. Lock-up and DDP gets an armdrag. Another lock-up and both men tumble through the ropes to the outside. Very nice. Ref breaks it up and puts them back in the ring. Lock-up into a headlock by DDP, Goldberg reverses him down, backflips to avoid a sweep attempt by DDP but the second time it trips Goldberg up. Back up Goldberg slams him and puts on a cross armbar. DDP gets the ropes and hits a jawbreaker. Two shoulderblocks by Goldberg which are no sold and then Goldberg shrugs off a Diamond Cutter attempt and pushes DDP outside the ring. Lock-up and Goldberg has the arm, they reverse around in some chain wrestling and DDP gets a drop toe-hold. DDP off the ropes and Goldberg get a shoulderblock that sends DDP out again. DDP with a hotshot on Goldberg from the outside and quickly in gets a spinning neckbreaker. DDP whips him into the corner and quickly hits a side Russian leg sweep. It gets two. Front headlock by DDP on the ground and both men trade knees until Goldberg reverses out of the lock with a nice swinging neckbreaker. Forearm shots and a whip by DDP but Goldberg punches him down. Goldberg follows this up with a big overhead suplex. Sideslam by Goldberg gets two. Back to the arm for Goldberg. DDP gets a break and shoot-off and hits a rana (!) on Goldberg but Goldberg quickly gets up and hits a side kick. Then he charges for the spear but DDP moves and Goldberg hits the post and falls outside. Page hits a diving clothesline from the top rope that gets 2 ½. Irish whip and Page reverses a hiptoss into a DDT. Sweet spot. Very quick double KO and Page is up first, calls for the Diamond Cutter but Goldberg spears the shit out of him. Goldberg sells the shoulder injury from the post hit prior too. Wow. He goes for the Jackhammer with just one arm but can’t get him up. He tries again but DDP flips out and hits the Diamond Cutter. Double KO now as Page crawls over for two and the crowd erupts at the kickout. Page tries a suplex but Goldberg reverses and hits the Jackhammer for three. (10:28)

**** I don’t think anyone at the time thought DDP was winning but this was a stiff and very well booked match. Watching it again it seemed more like MMA or boxing then “fake” wrestling. Both guys sold really well and the match had a main event feel to it.

BOTTOM LINE: Eleven matches for an average of 2.2 stars. Great opener and main event though. Maybe one day the WWE will release a box set of the Halloween Havoc shows. You haven’t witnessed professional wrestling until you try to understand the logic and booking in a Chamber of Horrors match. A couple of these matches are available on WWE DVD sets. Goldberg/DDP is on the Rise of Fall of WCW, Nash/Hall is on Legends of Wrestling 6: Heatseekers, Hart/Sting is on the Greatest Stars of the ‘90s and Hogan/Warrior is replayed continuously on 30 monitors at a smoky off-track wagering venue in hell. I would seek out the Goldberg/DDP match and that’s about it.

Thanks for reading and look for Charlie Reneke’s review of Batista: I Walk Alone this week on the Pulse.