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Superbrawl 8 (Sober Version)

(2013 Scott sez:  It occurs to me that I never actually posted this followup to the original drunk version.)

The Netcop Retro Rant for Superbrawl VIII

Quick background: I originally did a rant of this show from the live PPV broadcast, and I was both somewhat drunk and very annoyed at the time, so I gave it a bad rating. To make matters worse, the review was HORRIBLE, done in an experimental format that proved to be one of the worst reviews I’ve ever done. (Re-reading it now, it’s not so bad.  I count my revamped RAW reviews in 2005 as worse than that.)  So I felt I always owed this show a second look, and here it is…

- Live from San Francisco, CA. Original airdate, Feb. 22 / 1998.

- Your hosts are Tony, Bobby and Iron Mike.

- Opening match, TV title: Rick Martel v. Booker T.

Newsflash: I just heard that Jim Duggan fished the TV title out of the garbage on the WCWSN tapings, so there’s another title going from dead to worse. (Yes, this was a thing that REALLY HAPPENED.  There’s a top 5 list for someone to follow up with on Wrestlecrap – Top 5 Worst Ways A Title Was Awarded.  HHH still wins.)  Meanwhile, two years ago, it actually meant something. Martel won the thing from Booker on Nitro shortly before this, and Booker was feuding with Saturn at the time, so it ended with this as a rematch for the title first, and the winner gets Saturn immediately after in another title match. (Today they’d just have Teddy Long make a three-way after all three guys lost to the other secondary champion in Beat the Clock qualifiers.)  Booker goes after Martel quickly, clotheslining him to the floor. Raven and the Flock join us at ringside and do nothing of note all night. Booker works the arm. Leg lariat and kneedrop gets two for him. Martel actually draws heat, getting a “Martel sucks” chant, as Booker blocks a rollup and superkicks him for two. Back to the arm. Blind charge misses and Martel backdrops him to the floor. Booker gets up but ends up bumping onto the railing. Back in, and Booker hits a quick slam and breakdances up. Martel gets a powerslam on him for two to break up that comeback. Spinebuster sets up the Quebec Crab, which Booker escapes easily. Martel hits a crossbody, which Booker rolls through for two. Rollup for two from Booker. Martel hits a quick lariat for two. Booker comes back with a flying forearm and ax kick, the usual sign that the end is near. Spinebuster sets up a flying bodypress, which misses. Martel goes to the second rope, but gets caught with a leg lariat on the way down and Booker gets the pin and the title at 10:31, his second. ***1/4. Sadly, Martel landed REALLY badly coming off the ropes and ripped his knee apart, and had to retire as a result, right in the peak of his comeback. Saturn leaps out of the crowd and attacks, and we’ve got…

- TV title match #2: Booker T v. Saturn.

Saturn applies the Rings of Saturn right off the bat. Booker escapes and gets a sunset flip for two. Booker rolls out and gets whipped to the railing. He returns the favor right away. Back in and Booker blocks a clothesline and powerslams Saturn. He gets tossed out again, and Saturn follows with a pescado and a pump splash from the apron to the floor. Back in, Booker recovers enough for a flying forearm. Blind charge misses – nice looking bump off that one. It gets two for Saturn. Super backdrop suplex follows, and Saturn follows up with a regular superplex, but Booker blocks it and comes crashing down with a wicked stiff missile dropkick. He hits a leg lariat, but Saturn nails an exploider suplex for two. (That was during the brief period when I cared about trendy move naming vis-a-vis ECW enough to use “exploider” instead of just calling it a “suplex” or just the Americanized “exploder”.)  Belly to belly gets two. He hits a Lionsault, but it leaves both guys down and out. Saturn goes for choking on the ropes. Booker tries a flying cross body, but misses. It gets a two count for Saturn. Back up, both collide for a double knockout. Saturn misses a blind charge of his own, and gets spinebusted. Ax kick flattens him, but the Harlem Hangover misses. Saturn hits a Northern Lights suplex for two. German suplex gets two, but Booker comes back with one last burst and hits a quick sidekick for the pin to retain at 14:20. Tough match. ***1/2

- La Parka v. Disco Inferno.

No real angle here. Parka gets a quick chairshot and a powerslam to start. And now we dance. Disco comes back with two running corner clotheslines for two. Parka hits a leg lariat to knock Disco out and follows with a corkscrew plancha. Brawling sees Parka whip him into the rail and clothesline him. Back in, Parka gets a two count. Flying splash misses and they brawl outside again. Disco gets the better of it this time. Back in, Parka gets a head kick for two. Majastral cradle gets two. Resting abounds. Blind charges misses, cue the Disco comeback (on second thought, let’s not…). (Too bad, he did in fact make a comeback with TNA a few years after this was written.)  Disco puts his head down and gets kicked in the face, however. Parka uses a headscissor to take Disco to the floor and hits a tope suicida. Back in, he hits the ringpost and Disco comes back again. He shoves the ref, allowing Parka to find his chair and sit Disco in it. They end up fighting on the top rope, where Disco tosses La Parka off, headfirst into the chair, followed by the Stone Cold Apocalyptic Chartbusting Last Stunner Dance for the pin at 11:39. Dull but solid. ***  (That’s a hell of a rating upgrade.) 

- Brad Armstrong v. Goldberg.

Before he was Buzzkill, he was just roadkill. (RIP) Spear, jackhammer, and we be outta here at 2:23. ½*

- Cruiserweight title v. Mask: Chris Jericho v. Juventud Guerrera.

FINALLY, THE JUICE HAS…oh, wait, wrong gimmick. Jericho refuses to take the belt off, so they start the match with him wearing it. (There’s a Ziggler gimmick waiting to happen.)  Juvy kicks him in the belt, and he removes it. Jericho dominates, but gets caught with a springboard leg lariat. Juvy follows with a rana off the apron to the floor. Jericho acts dead and tries to take the countout, which is a REALLY funny spot that he never does anymore. (Really, why wouldn’t more champions try that tactic?  Not outright walking out on the match like the lame-o writers come up with twice an episode sometimes, but actually putting the onus on the challenger of winning the belt?  Leave the ring, force the other guy to chase you and MAKE you get back into the ring.  That’s heel psychology!)  Juvy tosses him back in and chops away. He flips out of a german suplex and gets dropped on the top rope. They hit the floor and Jericho tries to springboard off the steps, but ends up running into the railing instead. Back, and Jericho gets a piledriver fro two. Arrogant cover gets two. Juvy hits a victory roll for two. Delayed suplex and senton gets two. They fight on top and Juvy comes off with a rana but Jericho counters with the electric chair. Juvy dropkicks Jericho to the floor and follows with a springboard elbow. Back in, Juvy hits a tombstone and 450 for the pin…but Jericho was in the ropes, so we continue. Jericho clips him, but Juvy rolls him up for two. Jericho gets a lariat for two. Powerbomb is reversed by Juvy to a DDT for two. He goes for a top rope rana, but Jericho blocks. Juvy sets up again and this time hits a springboard variation and gets two. Jericho gets an inverted suplex, but the Lionsault misses. Liontamer is attempted, but reversed to a rollup for two. Juvy tries to finish with another rana, but this time Jericho blocks and applies the Liontamer for the submission at 13:27. Whew, great finish. ***3/4 Juvy unmasks after some taunting by Jericho, and the Juice we all know and love is revealed at last. Jericho, of course, steals the mask for his trophy case.  (The only case where WCW unmasking someone helped him out.  Before there was no connection with the fans or empathy, and once he was unmasked we got all the great babyface expressions and emotions from Juvy during the matches.  Unlike, say, Psicosis, where the initial “Put the mask back on him!” joke reaction from Heenan was probably the correct one.) 

- The British Bulldog v. Steve MacMichael.

This is a feud that started with one of the all-time great bad lines, supplied by Mongo on an episode of Nitro: “Don’t stand there drinking coffee when a man’s talking to you!” Mongo gets the quick advantage. Bulldog goes for the Sharpshooter (doing very badly at it), but Mongo continues his, ahem, blistering offensive onslaught. Some of the punches even make contact.  Almost. Brawl on the floor, where Mongo punches the ringpost. The ringpost actually does a better sell job than Mongo is usually capable of. Bulldog works on the wrist, in order to prevent the three-point stance. Well, I guess it’s a *kind* of psychology. And sure enough, Mongo goes for the three-point stance, but his wrist is too sore to stay in the down position. Why he couldn’t just lean on the OTHER wrist I’ll never know. (Because SCIENCE!) Anyway, the wrist is now crippled or something, and Bulldog applies a wristlock (which Mongo mistakes for a wristwatch) and gets the submission at 6:10. But see, Mongo protests that he never tapped out, thus protecting his spot or something. Yup. DUD

- US title match: Diamond Dallas Page v. Chris Benoit.

This was just before DDP’s big feud with Raven, and his sudden revelation that adding the word “scum” to anyone’s name could make him sound cool. (Much like Steve Corino, I guess.)  This mini-feud with Page was actually a neat bit of politicking on his part, as he saw the incredibly heated Raven-Benoit feud and decided he wanted a piece. So he had Benoit moved into a “respect” feud with himself (which had the advantage of giving the illusion that he was a great wrestler) and then phased Raven into the feud as a result of that previous Raven-Benoit rivalry. Once Raven was in, he then segued the feud into DDP-Raven, and sent Benoit crashing back down to the undercard again. Isn’t backstage politics fun? Have I mentioned recently that Benoit beat the Rock on RAW last week? Who’s Page beaten recently? (Well, in the grand scheme of things, DDP is a hell of a guy who will always have my admiration now for what he’s done to help people, so 1999 Scott should probably shut up with that comparison now.)  Anyway, Page works the arm to start here. He whips Benoit into the corner and gets a rotation gutbuster. Benoit suplexes him onto the top rope in retaliation. Quick crossface attempt, but Page makes the ropes. Pinfall reversal sequence, then DDP gets a backdrop suplex. Benoit dodges the Diamond Cutter by rolling out. He gets back in and they have a staredown, and it occurs to me that the natural progression would be for Benoit to slap the smirk off DDP’s face, and HE DOES! A really loud one, too, that gets the crowd ooo-ing and aaah-ing. They get into a slugfest, and Benoit hits a cheapshot. Rollup gets two. DDP counters that with an ocean cyclone suplex for two. Benoit dropkicks the knee and goes back on offense. He uses a cobra sleeper, but DDP escapes with a jawbreaker. Benoit hammers on him in the corner, to a big pop. DDP responds in kind. Benoit pulls out the snap suplex for two. I love it when he uses that. Back to the sleeper. DDP escapes, but Benoit tenaciously goes right back at it. DDP dumps him over the top in desperation. Benoit goes to the top, but gets crotched. DDP gets a superplex for a double knockout spot. Slugfest follows as they get up, and DDP mounts a comeback. Spinning lariat gets two. DDP goes upstairs and hits a flying clothesline for two. Suplex attempt is suddenly reversed to a crossface, and the crowd goes NUTS. DDP makes the ropes. Suplex attempt again, this time reversed to a cradle for two, and again reversed by DDP for two. Page gets a belly to belly for two, but Benoit comes back with the rolling suplexes for two. The crowd is DEEPLY into this. Double knockout, then DDP comes back with a jumping DDT for two. Diamond Cutter attempt, but Benoit blocks and goes for a backslide, which Page flips out of and hits the Diamond Cutter out of nowhere, and it’s academic from there. He retains at 15:43 in an awesome match for Page. ****1/4 Lodi offers sage advice via a sign: “Benoit, We Knew You’d Lose”. (Better advice:  “Lay off the unprotected headshots and don’t fuck someone else’s wife.”)  Work, shoot, it’s all the same thing. I panned this match in my original go-around because of my initial bitterness at Benoit’s loss, but time has mellowed me to it, because really it’s all worked out just fine for Chris, while all the jerks who held him back are busy sinking with the Titanic right now. Instant karma IS gonna get you.  (It sure got Benoit.)

- Randy Savage v. Lex Luger.

This is no-DQ. I believe it’s also stipulated as being “no-workrate” and “no-heat”, but I could be wrong. Luger has heavily taped ribs. HUGE “Luger sucks” chant, so I guess San Fran is nWo country. (In all fairness, he did suck at this point.)  This was during the initial stages of the drawn-out and boring angle that would eventually lead to the Wolfpac and thus destroy WCW completely. Although to be fair hindsight is 20/20 and all that. (Just look at the Page-Benoit review for proof.)  Savage kicks him in the ribs all over the place a bunch. They fight outside, and back in, where Luger suddenly ignores the crippling injury, makes the comeback, and fights off nWo interference to get the rack for the submission at 7:20. Whatever. * The Savage-Hogan split is furthered here, leading to their epic battle (Age in the Cage III) at Uncensored the month after, which of course we will get too next month when I bite the bullet and slog through all of those wretched shows.

- WCW World tag title match: The Steiner Brothers v. The Outsiders.

After 6 long months of incredibly screwy title changes, backstage politics, boneheaded substitutions to prevent certain people from jobbing, and match after incredibly bad match, this was finally the one that ended the feud. Scott Steiner’s long-awaited heel turn and singles push had been teased ENDLESSLY leading up to this, to the point where every match he was involved in from Halloween Havoc 97 onward was “the one where he’s gotta turn”. And FINALLY, here it is. Thankfully, they don’t draw it out any longer than needed – about a minute into the match, the Steiners clear the ring and do their standard “barking pose”, and Scott suddenly turns on Rick and destroys him. Rick’s heart is thus ripped out, and the Outsiders squash him and finish it with an Outsider’s Edge at 4:14 to regain the titles. Nash, of course, did nothing. ½* Scott made his re-debut on Nitro the next night as “White Thunder”, and took another year to get over.  (Scott Steiner is another example of the philosophy of not giving up on something you want to get over.  They did something like a dozen minor repackages and re-pushes of the guy before it finally took at the main event level, and they could have given up right after WHITE THUNDER and didn’t.   Maybe they should have, but they DIDN’T.) 

- WCW World title match: Sting v. Hulk Hogan.

This was as a result of the incredibly screwy finish of Starrcade 97. The title ended up being held up and put up for grabs here. Hogan chokes him out with the WEIGHTLIFTING BELT OF DOOM to start. Then he chokes him with Sting’s own coat. Alleged brawling outside follows. Helpful hint for Hogan: Most streetfighters don’t utilize back rakes as part of their offense. (Unless they’re a secret assassin like Remo Williams.)  Back in, Hogan continues squashing Sting with the usual. Sting comes back and whips Hogan with his own belt. What irony. It’d be almost Shakespearean if the match didn’t suck so much. Hogan runs away, and we get more brawling outside. Back in, and Sting gets the stinger splash and scorpion deathlock, but Hogan makes the ropes. Ref gets bumped on a second splash. Hey, a ref bump, that’s just what this match needed. Hogan’s legdrop gets two as another ref comes in. Half-assed suplex gets two. After some resting, a rollup gets two. Back outside, more brawling. No way these guys need this much time for this match. Sting takes over, but good ol’ Ballshot #1 turns the tide. He manages two stinger splashes, but now we have yet another ref bump. An nWo run-in follows, but Sting fights them off and hits the deathdrop on Hogan. But because Hogan won’t job to Sting’s finisher, we have Savage do a BONUS run-in (2 for the price of 1!) and hit the already unconscious Hogan with…something…and that’s enough for Sting to get the pin and the title at 16:30. Waaaaaaay too much Hogan offense and general screwiness. ¼* Sting spraypaints “WCW” on Hogan as the announcers declare this the big triumph for WCW, blah blah blah. Hogan would have the title back around his waist a mere two months later, thus making the announcers look like idiots (In all fairness…), as per the status quo in WCW.

The Bottom Line:

The great thing about the 97-99 period for WCW was that the nWo/”main event” group and the mid-card were both segregated into their own little niches on the card, and thus the chances of having a talentless lunk stink up a perfectly good Benoit match were minimal, and thus you ended up with some damn good wrestling on WCW PPVs. (It’s true!  Which is why it might actually be a good thing for the Main Event Superfriends to have their own mini-division these days.)  And that, my friends, is why I continued watching through the wretched nWo years. Do like I do and ignore the crap that managed to float it’s way to the top of the booking toilet like so much diarrhea, and this is a great show with four matches breaking ***, an easy thumbs up no matter how you slice.

Recommended show, but as always stop before the main event.

Comments

  1. It's amazing how over Luger was in 1997 right through his win against Hogan on the 3 hour Nitro. Then he lost the title five days later at Road Wild and was pretty much done as a relevant character. He was an after thought when the Wolfpac started and floundered around until the company closed. Poor Lexy.

    And they were absolute correct in continuously working to get Scott Steiner over. He wound up turning into an awesome heel and produced terrific coked up nonsensical promos. Sure, he was a total bust as a babyface in 2003 WWE, but that's fine. As the psychopath heel in WCW he was tremendous. It's too bad he couldn't work anymore considering what he was in the early 90s, but his gimmick somewhat covered up for that. I freggin' love crazy heel Scott Steiner.

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  2. He had a little resurgence with Flair and Team Package though. I remember Flair had one of the funniest lines of his career during that phase that went something like this "I've been world champion 14 times, traveled the world, made love to thousands of women and made millions of dollars but I'm part of Team Package now! Greatest moment of my life (cue series of wooooos)."

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  3. Scream09_HartKillerApril 17, 2013 at 12:49 PM

    I DON'T KNOW!

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  4. This is one of my favorite wcw ppvs from 1998. Although this show really should have caused Hollywood Hogan to get kicked out of the nWo and for Nash to take over.

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  5. Sting & Hogan will hopefully go again at BFG this year

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  6. "(Yes, this was a thing that REALLY HAPPENED. There’s a top 5 list for someone to follow up with on Wrestlecrap – Top 5 Worst Ways A Title Was Awarded. HHH still wins.)"



    Challenge accepted.

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  7. People always talk about Benoit and unprotected chairshots, but you have to believe that people like Foley and some of the ECW guys took way more chairshots than Benoit. Has anyone ever thought that they might snap at some point?

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  8. ah, DDP. I hated him SO MUCH during this time, and I always used him as an example of using your friends and politics to get ahead, and how bad that was. And then he had to go and ruin it by turning into a good person while Personal Hero Chris Benoit did what he did. Way to ruin some perfectly good fan-hate, DDP.

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  9. It was a combo of the chairshots, the random 'full on headbutts', the many insane bumps, the 'shit, I missed Jericho and hit the rail again' and the all time classic 'my diving headbutts have to be legit.'

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  10. WHITE THUNDER is alive and well.

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  11. I loved the Bulldog/Mongo match simply because it was all started by a cup a coffee.

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  12. I hear you on all that, but couldn't it be said that Foley took a lot more full head bumps to concrete?

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  13. It's a shame too. For as much of a Benoit mark as I was, I always thought that move was stupid anyway

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  14. We also can't forget all the painkillers and losing Eddie probably took a heavy psychological toll on him as well.

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  15. Me too, it always looked like it would do more damage to the guy using it than the guy on the receiving end, and it turns out that was the case. I'd like to see it retired for good.

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  16. It's all about closure brother

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  17. I know this may be a little off topic but bear with me. Does anyone else think that Hogan needs to go in a new direction these days?


    I have a great idea for him to reinvent himself: He could stop working out and let nature take its course & become a saggy old man. THEN he could embrace his recent media coverage and TNA could cut to uncensored fat Hulk Hogan sex tapes in the middle of matches on Impact. Imagine a Samoa Joe v Roode match cutting to Hogan doing a blonde Doggy style with his tits bouncing up and down. It would be AWESOME!


    Please, bear with me because this angle would tie in with Joey Ryan's push as he could be directing the videos and every now and then would sit in front of our obese protagonist and smile and slowly nod his head as Hogan does his business.


    This could conclude with Hogan giving Ryan several title shots until he eventually beats all of Aces and 8s and wins the big one. Hogan will then turn on Ryan and challenge him for the title at BFG 2014; culminating with Hogan winning the title and standing tall as champion once again. Just imagine a 65 year old morbidly obese Hulkster closing the show with the strap?


    I know people don't like fantasy booking but this would be brilliant.

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  18. Don't forget his natural personality. Extremely intense, introverted and sometimes weird was the picture I got from Jericho's book.

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  19. If I remember correctly, wasn't Mongo doing an interview with Mean Gene? And Gene says something like "What did you think of the Superbowl?" to which Mongo says "Who cares about the Superbowl?!" while he was wearing his Superbowl ring, had his football number on his jacket & wrestling tights, and I believe he had a football with him too. And then he said something about there being no competition, which prompted a bumbling Bulldog to come out and challenge him.

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  20. YOUR SHIRTS ARE TOO TIGHT, TOO!!!

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  21. Foley's fucked up physically, he just had enough sense not to be a roid-headed painkiller addict on top of it.

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  22. I still can't believe that he did those headbutts legit. What the hell? All those years I just knew that he'd figured out a way to make it look real while protecting himself. Especially after seeing how Dynamite ended up.

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  23. I don't doubt he used politics, but I also am convinced there is no wrestler - ever - who had the drive DDP did. He was serviceable when his mega-push began, and he still bust his ass in matches. He had the great rivalry with Savage, the awesome Benoit-Raven feud, the brilliant Goldberg match, carrying The Giant to a darn good match, dragging Leno to a watchable tag team match, the underrated as anything team-up with Kanyon and Bigelow, and somehow getting 'Motivational DDP' over.

    And all this while he was late thirties, early 40s? The guy got his spot through politics, but he became one Hell of a wrestler.

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  24. So was this show before the awesome feud between Jericho and Malenko where Malenko returned during the battle royal and blew the roof off the building?

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  25. Never mind that shit, here comes Mongo.

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  26. He is a real American. Fights for the rights of every man. He is a real American. Fights for your rights... fights for your life. And you disrespect him like this? That ain't Voodoo. That ain't Voodoo at all.

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  27. Steiner's TNA run redeemed him for me. His rivalry with Joe was great, his ridiculous interviews as part of Team Christian were better, and his 'ladders? SUPLEXES, BITCH' rampage in FML was God-tier!

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  28. Always thought the same. The diving headbutt is a really dumb move.

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  29. I always sort of liked DDP. The "scum" thing was pretty lame, but he worked hard and only really got started at an age where most guys are winding down.

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  30. You've done a terrible thing today.

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  31. Mongo! Santa maria!

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  32. It's eerie reading Scott's rants when he came from neck surgery, begging Benoit to stop doing that move.

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  33. Kind of. Jericho tapped Malenko at Uncensored '98 and Dean said he was "going home." He returned under Ciclope's mask in the cruiser battle royale at Slamboree '98. Fun stuff

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  34. Prince iaukea was somewhere in the mix...

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  35. Yea iaukea was spring stampede, than the epic battle royal was following month

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  36. Why does Keith write about Steiner the same way he would write about HHH where they pushed and repackaged him until he got over? Scott Steiner was destined to be a star from the first time we saw the guy as part of the Steiner Brothers, and it's to Steiner's own credit that he got over because WCW was totally inept at booking him properly.

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  37. Plus he's American Made, just don't serve him up a cup of Voodoo Chilli (remember when nobody could figure out if it was Voodoo Child or Voodoo Chile?)

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  38. Dirty_Dave_DelaneyApril 17, 2013 at 4:36 PM

    Just like the Kane/Jericho feud in late 2000. WWE Creative are missing out in not booking David Otunga in a feud that starts over a cup of coffee!

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  39. I never gave a fat shit about any of the main events in WCW, because I was young (woulda been 11-12 in 97) and none of those guys who were popular before I was old enough to remember appealed to me. But I loved all the exciting young guys doing insane moves i'd never seen before in the first hour of Nitro and on Thunder and Saturday night. What's the difference for a kid 11 or 12 watching WWE now? There is a lot less to keep them watching the undercard, for one thing.

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  40. Once in a Lifetime.....uh....again.

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  41. 1. Triple H awarded belt.
    2. Dean Douglas
    3. Dean Douglas
    4. Dean Douglas
    5. Dean Douglas

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  42. Jerichos cruiserweight in the first run of 1998 was awesome. what a difference the crowd being into his heel act made.

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  43. Alive? Yes. Well? Debatable.

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  44. I think it looked great when Bam Bam used it. Benoit? not so much.

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  45. You are clearly a terrible judge of character.

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  46. As a fan, Booker T beating Martel and Saturn back-to-back really solidified him as a singles talent in my eyes. I think those wins are an underrated part of Booker T's career and after he went over I really got behind him...until he faced the "Man Who Cannot be Named Ever Again" later in the year over the belt.

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  47. Which produced the biggest pop Malenko ever received. I mean think about that, a crowd full of marks lost their collective mind over Dean Malenko who lacked an ounce of charisma.

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  48. I seem to remember WCW loving coffee in 1996 too (as well as women's shoes). Didn't Flair lose the title to the Giant from a match that was started when he accidentally threw coffee in the Giant's face?

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  49. And don't forget his great series of matches with Johnny B. Badd. I think he lost all of them, but they were great contests!

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  50. No offense to Dean, but Jericho literally carried that entire feud by himself and built it up to where the fans were rabid for Dean to kick his ass. A true testament to Jericho. You ever doubt how good Jericho is? Look to his heel run in 1998. Dean Malenko got an Austin pop for beating him.

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  51. People still get it mixed up. There are two kinds of people. Voodoo Child and Voodoo Chile.

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  52. Lets not condemn jabroni's character judgment. No one could have known what Benoit would do...except--well, Benoit.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYGLTLBweS0

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  53. Come on... you forgot the San Francisco 49ers match (may not count), TNA's 4 Briefcase fiasco over the Knockout Title (should count), Andre giving Dibiase the WRONG belt (just for the laugh), Janitor Duggan with the TV title out the trash (definitely should count), Fingerpoke of Doom (may not count)... damn, that's already too many.

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  54. Ladies and Gentlemen. This is why you should NEVER go full retard.

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  55. Ladies and gentlemen. This is why you NEVER should go Full Retard. Quarter Retard can be funny when done right, Half Retard can knock someone out their chair laughing, and even Three-Quarter Retard (AKA the Jesse Baker) has it's uses.


    But Full Retard... that's just tragic.

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  56. I don't know... I think that #1 back in 1997 in the PWI 500 put him over the top with the fans!

    Ok, not at all.

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  57. Nash also set the Giant up for the botched powerbomb that nearly killed him with some coffee at Souled Out 1998. "You can see the steam coming off of it!" says Brain, although there is no steam to be seen haha.

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  58. Chris SCUM Ho.. Benoit

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  59. It looked better, but I still thought it was stupid, especially from a guy Bigelow's size. Why just use a splash? Not only would it probably be more effective, it wouldn't involve diving headfirst off a high place in every match.

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  60. Yeah that is a majorly underrated feud. They were good for *** to **** matches nearly every outing.

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  61. "The Savage-Hogan split is furthered here, leading to their epic battle (Age in the Cage III) at Uncensored the month after, which of course we will get too next month when I bite the bullet and slog through all of those wretched shows."



    I'm just curious what Age in the Cage II is? I think Hogan/Piper from Halloween Havoc '97 is the original Age in the Cage. What's Age in the Cage 2?

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  62. Yeah, I think a lot of people are unfair to him. Sure he played politics, but unlike almost ever other guy in WCW known for doing that, he worked hard to have good matches even against guys who were poor workers. Can't really ask much more from a guy than that really.

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  63. Yes, the Jericho/Malenko stuff started after this and their first match was at Uncensored.


    The battle royal (with the batshit insane pop for Malenko) happened at Slamboree.

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  64. I've definitely seen him brace his head on those headbutts with his hands, maybe not every single time, but he definitely didn't always deliver them unprotected every time.

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  65. Hmmmm....


    I'm drawing a blank on that one too.



    I have to say, having seen both recently, Hogan/Piper at Halloween Havoc is way more watchable than Savage/Hogan at Uncensored. Those are both pretty damn good PPVs though.

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  66. Bret - Hennig was a huge letdown.

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  67. He calls it Age in the Cage II in his review of Uncensored (http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/video_reviews/32980/The-SmarK-Retro-Repost---Uncensored-98.htm , so I think it's just a typo.

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  68. It was obv dunkin donuts iced coffee.

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  69. Ja Cena, I be dup!

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  70. Ric Flair being handed the belt by Kevin Nash, only to lose it the same night (to Jeff Jarrett, I think) has to at least be an honorable mention.

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  71. That's just fucking creepy.

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  72. Yeah. Also did you hear about the Family Guy controversy that's going on? Pretty weird stuff.

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  73. That was spliced together from different clips.

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  74. Yeah but it's still pretty weird nonetheless. What are the odds they use bombs and Boston Marathon in the same episode. Conspiracies will now arise forever.

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  75. I kind of heard about it. Peter mentioned something about bombing the marathon on an episode that aired recently or something like that, right? It'd be pretty fucked up (especially for Seth McFarlane) if they catch that cowardly motherfucker and he says that that's where he got the idea.

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  76. How is that fucked up for Seth? Not his fault people are insane.

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  77. What happened was in one segment Peter won the Boston Marathon by driving his car through the race running people over in a side gag. And the main story was something along the lines of Peter befriending a terrorist and he was in a bar trying to call him when he heard two loud explosions. Someone spliced it together to make it look like the happened back to back.

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  78. Oh, OK, I saw that episode. So it's total bullshit, just like the majority of the news about this story.

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  79. Yeah, I watched that again too -- I was actually mildly pleased with it, it has some decent mat wrestling and a good finish. Certainly on the slow side though.



    I think having zero expectations for it helped -- I was expecting a ****+ match in 1998 when I saw it live and was shocked at how slow and plodding it was.

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  80. I wonder how many people walked away thinking that Malenko *was* Ciclope.

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  81. Im ready to take the reins whenever you decide to hang 'em up Scott.


    The Fuj of Doom, will be a great successor.

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  82. fuck all the naysayers--I'm laughing my ass off here

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  83. Completely agree. DDP built himself into a good wrestler based on sheer determination when he could've easily just coasted to an upper-midcard spot because he was Bischoff's pal. I think he's a slam-dunk HOFer for his WCW career alone, and that's not even counting all the good he's doing in helping Hall and Jake get their lives back together.

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  84. Well... Dean actually BEING an ass kicker had something to do with it.

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  85. Scream09_HartKillerApril 17, 2013 at 9:51 PM

    I think by 1998 people had probably given up on the idea of Steiner breaking out as a singles star. It didn't help that they dragged his turn out for so long, by the time it happened people were sick of waiting for that to....his first few months as a singles star weren't good. It wasn't until they started letting him rant and rave about whatever he wanted that he got entertaining.

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  86. In my defense, Hollywood has trained me to think of tall, ugly, flabby tattooed freaks as villains, and short put-upon guys as heroes.

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  87. Yeah, I warmed to him a bit over time, especially once I realized he RARELY had bad matches. Even IF he was ultra-sneaky about getting involved with good workers so he'd look better, and got heavily pushed due to politics, he actually worked his ASS off. He's a mediocre wrestler and physical specimen who managed to work himself into a good wrestler.

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  88. Booker's mid-tier push was a really fun thing to bear witness to. Great matches with Benoit, and very good matches with other upper-level workers (Martel, Saturn), and a TON of legitimate wins gave him tons of credibility and set him on the road to becoming a star.

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  89. Yeah, I remember him commenting about Benoit's shrinking arm (though I never noticed that), and asked him to drop it.

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  90. man... i believe im like 3 weeks ahead of everybody


    I said like 3 weeks ago talking abt DDP that his series with Badd were solide matches for the tv title.


    and here we are singing the praises of 95 DDP.


    Not picking on you cuz u obviously are aware.

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  91. How does Scott Steiner feel about Samoa Joe?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZqo4OZ0Pqs

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  92. Yeah, I did notice your mention of it recently. They definitely had a really good chemistry -- have either of them ever talked about it? I'd be curious to hear what they thought about each other.

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  93. Guy worked his butt off for sure

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  94. I definitely remember Woman's shoe being used by Flair to beat Randy Savage for the title.

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  95. Love that. Simple yet effective.

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  96. Was it me or did Nash always seem to show up on Nitro with a cup of coffee in his hand?

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  97. Are you kidding me son? You think that was "full retard"? I've not even got started.

    Anyway...to elaborate on my excellent idea. Fat Hogan wins the title and brings back the Nasty Boys and Brutus to feud with him over the title for a year or so (the Nasties looked GREAT in their run in 2010). Chub Hogan eventually dispatches all of them & Bully bursts back on the scene as his number one challenger (by this point Brooke has done the Stephanie turn and is Bully's biker chick wife).



    During the Hogan v Bully showdown Bully nails the Bubba bomb and is about to get the win...when the tron shows fat Hogan in another sex tape; it proceeds for a good few minutes of Hogan banging a hot blonde from behind before the woman in question slowly raises her head and reveals herself as BROOKE HOGAN!!!!


    Bully is so shocked and repulsed at seeking his wife get it on with her obese father that he vomits in the ring and is so stunned with shock that all it takes is a vintage Hogan back rake to give Hogan the win. Fat Hogan and Brooke then celebrate Hogan's title defence ala Savage & Liz with Brooke on the Hulkster's shoulder; title held aloft.


    Obviously this would all culminate in Hogan eventually passing the torch (to Sting) to cap off a year of the greatest angle in wrestling history.

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  98. Don't drink that shit IN FRONT OF A MAN!!!

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  99. BANG
    *throws up the diamond*

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