World
War 3 1998
Date: November 22, 1998
Location: The Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit, Michigan
Attendance: 17,670
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay
Date: November 22, 1998
Location: The Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit, Michigan
Attendance: 17,670
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
This
is one of those shows that has only been hyped for the last week or
so leading up to it. The main events here are Bret Hart vs. DDP for
the US Title and the three ring battle royal, which I don't remember
any wrestler actually talking about so far. The winner gets a World
Title shot at Starrcade against Goldberg, because Goldberg isn't even
in action tonight. Let's get to it.
We
open with a typical video focusing on the two main matches without
saying anything. WCW never put a ton of effort into these things.
We
see Goldberg arriving “earlier today”, despite it being pitch
black outside.
The
announcers tell us that Hollywood Hogan isn't here. This is shocking
as Hogan just started the big President angle on Monday.
Gene
hypes up the Hotline, saying we can hear Heenan's recorded message of
who he thinks will win tonight.
Wrath
vs. Glacier
Unannounced
match. Tony does a good job of hyping up Wrath's hot streak and make
him sound like a killer. We even hear a bit about their history as
Tony is actually thinking tonight. That gets messed up very quickly
though as he names picks the middle ring as Ring #1. Glacier is
thrown to the floor with ease and the stalling begins. Back in and
Wrath no sells a dropkick before hitting a hard knee to send Glacier
to the floor.
Another
whip sends Glacier into the crowd and Wrath chops away at the chest.
Heenan picks Wrath to win the battle royal tonight to start the
running joke. Actually Wrath wouldn't have been the worst option in
the world to make a run in there. Tenay says Hollywood is catching
on to Wrath and he's up for roles in movies. They really are making
him out to be a big deal.
Back
in and some hard elbows to the chest have Glacier in trouble as
Heenan lists off reasons why Wrath's body is perfect for wrestling.
A hard clothesline drops Glacier for two and even throws his feet on
the ropes for some extra leverage. Outside again so Wrath can choke
Glacier with a cable. Back in one more time and we hit the chinlock
on Glacier. Wrath misses a charge into the corner and gets
superkicked in the shoulder. Glacier's Ice Pick hold (thumb into the
neck) is easily blocked and the Meltdown ends things.
Rating:
D. This would have been a good
choice for an opening match if they hadn't taken so long with it.
There's no reason to have Wrath take nearly ten minutes to beat
Glacier. Cut this match down by about five minutes and things are so
much better. I'll give them credit for how much they hyped Wrath
though. They were treating him like a huge deal and it sounded
really good.
Video
on Bret injuring a lot of people. It's all their fault though. Why
this is filmed in front of a hockey goal isn't exactly clear.
Konnan
vs. Stevie Ray
Unannounced
match #2. It's a posedown to start as the announcers rip on Stevie
for calling himself the Enforcer. Ray pounds Konnan down in the
corner twice in a row but Konnan comes back with a running
clothesline. We hit a seated abdominal stretch less than two minutes
into the match as Heenan jumps to Konnan for the battle royal.
Stevie fights up and hits an awful looking clothesline for two before
we head outside.
After
some cheap shots from Vincent and a discussion of the slapjack
sticking out of his pocket, we head back inside for a chinlock on
Konnan. Stevie misses a
running elbow and Konnan makes his comeback with the usual. A
Vincent distraction works for a bit but he accidentally hits Stevie
with the slapjack. Konnan hammers on Stevie until the DQ though in a
stupid ending.
Rating:
D. We're half an hour into this
show and I'm already longing for a Thunder rerun. I have no idea why
we couldn't get a pin before Konnan went off on Stevie. Also, why
did Konnan do that in the first place? It was a normal match up
until that point and then he just went nuts.
Booker
T. immediately hits the ring for the save but Stevie wants nothing
from him.
Sonny
Onoo/The Cat vs. Kaz Hayashi/Saturn
Why
Saturn was paired with Hayashi and why this match is getting ANY kind
of focus was never explained. Heenan
makes things a bit more interesting by saying people are talking
about World War 3 in correctional facilities
around the country. There's
actually a story here as Sonny used to manager Kaz but jumped to the
Cat. That's fine in theory, but Hayashi has never been anything more
than a low level guy in WCW so it's not the most interesting story in
the world.
Cat
and Hayashi get things going with Miller (Cat) doing the five seconds
deal. Hayashi uses the time to tag in Saturn who quickly sends
Miller running to the floor. Back in and Cat slams Kaz down a few
times before it's off to Sonny for the first time. The kicks have no
effect so Sonny offers money, only to have it knocked out of his
hands. Heenan: “BE RIGHT BACK!”
Off
to Saturn vs. Miller with the Cat taking him into the corner for some
hard stomping. Sonny comes in, kicks Saturn once, and is right back
out. Saturn takes Miller down with an STF attempt but it's quickly
back to Kaz who is kicked in the corner by both villains. Cat saves
Sonny from an atomic drop with a kick to the back of the head. Kaz
rolls away from some Onoo chops and makes the tag off to Saturn for
almost no reaction. Saturn chops and suplexes Miller a few times as
everything breaks down. Cat nails a big kick to Saturn's head,
allowing Sonny to fall on top for the pin.
Rating:
D-. This is a good example of
why WCW never made any big stars. Saturn was hot after the Raven
feud and should have gone after a title, but instead he's thrown into
a low level feud that had no interest at all and gets to job to a
manager. Why? What good comes out of this? A worthless manager
gets to brag in the two minutes of TV time he gets every two weeks?
But hey, at least the NWO guys get to look good.
Chris
Jericho isn't worried about Bobby Duncum and getting hogtied again
tonight. Why is Duncum getting this feud instead of Saturn?
Cruiserweight
Title: Kidman vs. Juventud Guerrera Jr.
Champion
Juvy comes out in an LWO
shirt, which ticks Rey off. Apparently this is why he got the title
shot last Monday instead of Rey, who won the title shot in the first
about ten days ago on Thunder. Eddie
tells Rey that they need to go in the back so Eddie can explain the
idea of sacrificing the needs of one for the needs of the group. At
least the match almost has to be better.
Juvy
grabs a headlock to start before they slug it out with forearms and
chops. Guerrera comes right back with something resembling a
Fameasser but stops to pose on the ropes. Kidman comes back with a
suplex and a slingshot legdrop for two of his own but Juvy nails him
with an Alabama Slam for two. We hit the chinlock for all of eight
seconds on Kidman before he explodes out of the corner with a
clothesline.
Guerrera
hits a Stunner across the top rope but gets dropkicked out of the air
for two. A nice plancha to the floor takes Juvy out again and they
both get up slowly. Juvy is up first though and tries a springboard
hurricanrana, only to land on the apron instead of the floor in a bad
looking botch. Back in and Guerrera nails a brainbuster for two
before knocking him to the floor with a springboard missile dropkick.
The champion hits a springboard plancha of his own and both guys are
down again.
Back
in again and a guillotine legdrop gets two on Kidman before they head
over into another ring. Juvy lands a double springboard into the
other ring into a dropkick (which landed low) for two, which really
shouldn't count when you think about it. Kidman misses a charge into
the corner but is able to crotch Juvy to break up a 450 attempt. A
bad looking headscissors (the legs wound up under Juvy's arms) brings
them back into the original ring and a springboard cross body gets
two for Kidman.
Juvy
backdrops him into the only ring they haven't been in yet and nails a
hurricanrana for two. The
Juvy Driver connects but Juvy can't cover. The 450 doesn't work but
Juvy counters the lifting powerbomb into a hurricanrana for two. A
wheelbarrow suplex looks to set up the Shooting Star but Juvy
crotches Kidman down. Juvy loads up a top rope hurricanrana but
Mysterio holds Kidman's belt to keep him on the top. The Shooting
Star is enough to get the title back on Kidman.
Rating:
C. The match was watchable but
it's the definition of a spot fest. There's almost no transition
between the moves and the spots took a good amount of time to set up.
Still though, it's FAR better than anything else we've seen tonight
and the spots woke up the bored crowd a little bit.
Eddie
and the LWO come out and yell at Rey. Guerrero says make a decision
if you're in or out and Mysterio rips the shirt off. The chase is on
and Rey runs away from about ten guys at once. So let's recap here
for a minute. Ten days ago, Rey won a Cruiserweight Title shot
against Kidman which he still hasn't received and was hated by Eddie
for not joining the LWO. Now it's ten days later and Rey has a
Cruiserweight Title shot against Kidman and Eddie hates him for
leaving the LWO. I'd so glad WCW used the last ten days so wisely.
We
recap Kevin Nash not attacking Scott Hall on Nitro.
Scott
Steiner vs. Rick Steiner
I'll
put the over/under for this one at 90 seconds. Buff and the NWO
referee are out with Scott. And
there's no Rick. We cut to the back to see the NWO attacking Rick
until Giant carries him to the ring. Scott beats on him for a bit
until Goldberg runs out for the save and
throws the referee from one ring to another.
I'd
LOVE the explanation for why these two weren't allowed to fight, even
in their home state of Michigan. There
was no bell so the match never even started. This would be three
months of teasing this and the longest we've gotten so far is about
five minutes ending with the fake Bagwell injury. It's
as basic of a story as you can ask for but for some reason they just
never did it. That's something that drove me crazy in WCW and it
wasn't just this match. Page vs. Hogan never had a big singles
match, even though it easily could have headlined a PPV.
Scott
Hall vs. Kevin Nash
The
same NWO guys that attacked Rick are here with Hall. Bischoff comes
out and does the survey, saying that Hall is out of the NWO. The
beatdown is on and here's Nash for the save. Heenan:
“This reminds me of the Outsiders!” In
one of the only emotional moments you'll ever see in WCW, the fans
LOUDLY chant for the Outsiders. Hall
holds up the Wolfpack sign but Nash shakes his head and walks away.
To
recap, we had time for a Kaz Hayashi match and a Stevie Ray match,
but the Steiners and Outsiders exploding couldn't have real matches.
Good to see those priorities being straight WCW.
The
announcers talk about what we've just seen. So we can have the
segments and the recaps, but not the actual matches? Again, I would
love an explanation for this.
TV
Title: Bobby Duncum Jr. vs. Chris Jericho
This
is Duncum's second match in WCW and I have no idea why he's getting
this spot instead of a ton of the talented guys they have on the
roster. Duncum isn't even that bad but he just doesn't need to be in
this spot yet. As I said, have Hayashi ask him to be the partner
(since we NEEDED that Kaz Hayashi match) and give Saturn this spot.
Duncum does have an awesome look. He'd
get a job in a heartbeat in today's WWE if he were still around.
Jericho
is quickly shoved to the mat and out to the floor for a hug from
Ralphus. Back in and Jericho takes him down as the announcers talk
about Hogan and something being up with the NWO. Heenan asks if Hall
is still a member of the NWO. Tony: “Of course not!” Heenan:
“Why not? They put thirteen stitches in Horace's head and gave him
a t-shirt.” Tony: “Uh......”.
Duncum
takes Jericho down and puts on a chinlock with a knee in Jericho's
back. Back up and they
awkwardly collide before heading outside. Jericho hits a clothesline
off the barricade followed by a springboard missile dropkick for two.
We hit the chinlock from the champion now but Bobby comes back with
a shoulder breaker for two of his own. A hot shot sends Duncum
across the top rope and a springboard dropkick knocks him into the
barricade.
Jericho
whips him into the steps and puts on a front facelock back inside. A
running clothesline gets two on the champion and he launches Jericho
into the air for a big crash. They trade clotheslines and the
Lionsault gets two for the champion but Duncum comes back with a
belly to back superplex for another near fall. The Liontamer is
countered and Bobby hits a Vader Bomb elbow drop for two more.
Ralphus offers a distraction, allowing Jericho to hit Bobby (and
clearly the referee as well) with the belt for the pin.
Rating:
C. This was getting good until
the lame ending. The match
wasn't bad for the most part but like I said, there was just no
reason for Duncum to be in there. I'm not entirely sure why Duncum
never did anything in WCW, but I'd assume it had something to do with
him having a good look, size and skill in the ring.
World
War 3
Chris
Adams, Chris Benoit, Bobby Blaze, Ciclope, Damien, El Dandy, Barry
Darsow, The Disciple, Disco Inferno, Bobby Duncum, Jr., Bobby Eaton,
Mike Enos, Scott Hall, Héctor Garza, The Giant, Glacier, Juventud
Guerrera, Chavo Guerrero, Jr., Eddy Guerrero, Hammer, Kenny Kaos, Kaz
Hayashi, Horace Hogan, Barry Horowitz, Prince Iaukea, Chris Jericho,
Kanyon
Billy
Kidman, Konnan, Lenny Lane, Lex Luger, Scott Hall, Lizmark, Jr.,
Lodi, Dean Malenko, Steve McMichael, Ernest Miller, Chip Minton, Rey
Mysterio, Jr., Kevin Nash, Scott Norton, La Parka, Sgt. Buddy Lee
Parker, Psychosis, Scott Putski, Stevie Ray, The Renegade, Scotty
Riggs, Perry Saturn, Silver King, Norman Smiley, Scott Steiner, Super
Caló, Johnny Swinger, Booker T, Tokyo Magnum, Villano V, Vincent,
Kendall Windham, Wrath and Alex Wright
Those
names are in alphabetical order and the wrestlers are randomly
assorted into the rings. Three
rings, twenty men per ring, you can be eliminated by being thrown out
of the ring through any ropes, pin or submission. You know, because
a BATTLE ROYAL needed to have its rules altered. Once they get down
to twenty men they'll all be moved into one ring for the final
showdown. The entrances take a LONG time as you would expect and
Heenan changes his pick to Benoit.
There's
a very good chance I'm going to miss some of the eliminations as
they're only showing one ring at a time. There
is however a counter on screen to keep things a bit more organized.
We almost immediately get
confused as WCW calls the far right ring #3
after Tony has called the middle ring #1 all night. Kevin
Nash starts firing out people very early, eliminating Norman Smiley,
Super Calo, Lizmark Jr., Scott Putski, and some others that the
camera miss. Lenny Lane, Tokyo Magnum and Johnny Swinger are all
out. Nash dumps El Dandy and we're already down to 44.
Van
Hammer baseball slides Mike Enos out but gets caught by some knees in
the ribs from Big Sexy. They're the only two men left in ring #3 and
Hammer is tossed very soon, leaving us with Nash alone in ring #3 and
39 people left. That's one
less ring to have to jump to at least. We miss three more
eliminations until we see Hall hit the fall away slam to eliminate
Psychosis. Things are already calming down as Kanyon crotches
himself on the top, allowing
Kidman to throw him out.
Kaz
Hayashi is out as well as Harlem Heat shrugs at each other. Giant
shoves out Horace and Disciple to get us down to 30. A
big group of guys go after Giant but all six of them can't get him
down. He says bring it on and it's Disco Inferno wanting to run
things. Benoit will have none of that and goes after Inferno
instead. 27 left now with ring #2 having far more people in there.
We miss yet another elimination and we're somehow at 24. Scott
Steiner dumps Juvy before putting Konnan in a leg lock. 21
to go until Rey misses a baseball slide to eliminate himself and get
us down to the final twenty.
The
final grouping is Nash, Benoit, Saturn, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Eddie
Guerrero, Giant, Disco Inferno, Norton, Konnan, Luger, Hall, Booker
T., Scott Steiner, Wrath, Malenko, Wright, Kidman, Miller, Ray and
McMichael. Miller and Saturn get in a fight before everyone is in
the ring and go outside to eliminate both guys and get us down to 18.
The NWOs are in different corners while everyone else fight. Chavo
hits a running cross body to Wright and both guys are out to drop the
number to 16.
Kidman
dropkicks Eddie out and Giant throws both Kidman and Disco out to get
us to 13. Nash and Giant go at it to a BIG reaction but Scott
Steiner picks Nash off to give Giant a break. Giant accidentally
chops Norton and Steiner actually puts Mongo in a chinlock. Tony
sums up WCW in a nutshell by saying Booker T. and Wrath are the only
unaffiliated men in the ring. Apparently WCW doesn't exist and the
Horsemen are a separate entity anymore.
We
go to a nice camera shot looking down at the ring (at
an angle, not directly overhead)
which I hope they stick with for the rest of the match. Naturally
it's gone before I can finish typing that sentence. Nash and Giant
go at it again to another big pop and this time Hall helps Nash out
to really get the crowd into it. Norton saves Giant from an
elimination attempt as Luger dumps Stevie Ray.
Mongo backdrops Norton out but Nash dumps him as well to get us down
to 10.
The
final ten are Giant, Nash, Wrath, Booker T., Benoit, Konnan, Hall,
Malenko, Steiner and Luger. The count goes down to 9 without an
elimination as Bam Bam Bigelow comes in through the crowd. Everyone
goes after him to knock him back to the floor and the fans chant for
Goldberg. They get what they want as Goldberg runs out for the
fight. The match has completely stopped to watch the fight.
We
come back to the ring to see 8 left. Tony thinks Steiner was thrown
out but needs to wait for a confirmation. The idea of looking around
the ring and not seeing Scott Steiner is too complicated for a guy
like Schiavone I guess. We
go to the shot looking down on the ring again and see Benoit,
Malenko, Booker T., Nash, Giant, Luger, Konnan and Hall remaining.
Goldberg and Bigelow are finally pulled apart and Bigelow is
handcuffed.
Booker
is quickly tossed out as everyone circles Giant. He says bring it on
as Tony says Konnan, Nash and Luger are the only two members of the
Wolfpack remaining. I get that he says some stupid stuff but he
can't even count? Giant shrugs everyone off as Konnan misses a
charge and eliminates himself. Nash tells Luger, Hall, Malenko and
Benoit to go after Giant and they're able to get him out to get us
down to five.
The
Horsemen go after Hall but he knocks them back, allowing the Wolfpack
to dump Malenko and Benoit and get us down to three. Luger and Nash
bump fists but go to different corners. Everyone hits everyone and
it's Hall going down in the corner. He comes back with chops to Nash
and the forearm puts Kevin down. Luger Racks Hall but Nash dumps
both of them to win in the same ending from 1996.
Rating:
D. It's a battle royal so it's
not exactly the easiest thing in the world to rate. That being said,
this really wasn't all that interesting. Nash winning isn't a huge
shock and he's certainly not the worst choice in the world for the
title shot. I'm sure we'll get more into that at Starrcade and a
certain Nitro though. The biggest problem here was the camera work.
They kept going for closeups instead of either the usual shot you get
watching a wrestling match or that awesome overhead shot where you
could see the entire ring easily.
US
Title: Bret Hart vs. Diamond Dallas Page
Bret
is challenging. The brawl
starts on the floor with Bret being whipped into the barricade and
steps. Hart is whipped out of the ring again and goes face first
into the barricade a second time. He finally comes back by snapping
Page's throat over the top rope and takes over in the ring. A DDT
gets two for the Canadian and the match is already going slowly. We
hit the chinlock to make things even worse.
Back
up and Page grabs a swinging neckbreaker for two before they head
back outside. Page is sent into the barricade to put Hart back in
control. A Russian legsweep gets two back in the ring but DDP
reverses a tombstone into one of his own for the same. Bret escapes
a German suplex but walks into a belly to belly for two. The discus
lariat drops Bret again and the Pancake is good for another near
fall.
A
Cactus Clothesline from Hart sends both guys outside and Bret pulls
out a foreign object. Not that it matters as Page comes back in with
a springboard clothesline to knock it out of his hands. Bret drops
the object and the referee puts it in his pocket as Page puts on an
AWFUL looking hold. The announcers call it the Sharpshooter but
that's not a Sharpshooter no matter how you look at it.
Hart
comes back with a low blow and it's time to go after the leg. Bret
wraps the leg around the post and puts on the Hart Breaker as well.
He cannonballs down onto the
leg and puts on the regular Figure Four (wrong leg of course) until
Page makes the rope. Another cannonball is countered by Page kicking
Bret over the top and out to the floor. Now it's Bret going into the
steps and Page puts on a Hart Breaker around the post as well.
Page
brings a chair into the ring but the referee takes it away, allowing
Bret to knock Page into the referee to put both guys down. Bret
takes the foreign object back as the NWO Referee comes in. Page gets
decked and is out cold, setting up the Sharpshooter. The NWO Referee
calls for the submission and the announcers shout that this isn't
going to stand. Another WCW referee comes in and says not so fast,
allowing Page to hit the Diamond Cutter on Bret with the original
referee counting the pin.
Rating:
D+. This was just long. The
overbooked ending works here but it felt tacked on. It easily could
have been five minutes shorter and been a much better match as a
result. Also that's not really a good use for Bret (shocking I know)
after the weeks of hurting so many people. Then again, it's not like
Bret was ever used properly in WCW at all.
Overall
Rating: F+. The TV and
Cruiserweight Title matches were acceptable but that's about it for
the night. This was a good example of a show where they clearly
weren't trying and put almost no effort into things. WCW is at a
very bad point here as there's no energy at all in the promotion and
there's nothing to get excited about. Nash vs. Goldberg doesn't do
anything for me at all but it's Nash's company to run at this point
so what different does my
opinion make?
Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
Kaz Hayashi was really good at wrestling.
ReplyDelete"I'll give them credit for how much they hyped Wrath though. They were treating him like a huge deal and it sounded really good."
ReplyDeleteAs you'll soon find out they completely destroy his career the next night.
What a terrible show this was. Sometimes I feel like it was definitely a good thing that WCW went out of business, because I don't think I've seen such a shoddy bunch of shows from a company with such a wealth of talent.
ReplyDeleteEven the simplest things they fucked up. Awesome midcard heel Chris Jericho vs. who? Duncum? He has cum in his name, for God's sake. In hindsight too, it's all well and good that they showcased their Cruiserweight division, but they felt that Billy Kidman was the guy to highlight.
At the time I liked the Nash win, but nobody really put in any effort in that match. Bret, as usual, was hideous. It can't be stressed enough how little effort he put in. I mean, Page wasn't great, but Bret could have carried him to *** easily.
I kept typing Duncan when I was writing this. I don't know why they thought his dad's name would help as he's not exactly Hulk Hogan.
ReplyDeleteI think TNA actually wasted more talent than WCW.
ReplyDeletegood wrestling is interesting
ReplyDeleteI didn't watch WCW during the Attitude Era but this was one of the few shows I saw(friend would tape the WCW ppv's and he loaned me this one) Really bad show. It makes me remember the funny promo when Jericho was unable to say "Duncum"
ReplyDeleteLots of people don't seem to understand that the entire point from the beginning was to give Wrath a winning streak so Nash can break it, to build heat for the Goldberg match WCW very often didn't make sense, but this was thought out long term and it was perfectly fine. It's not like they broke his streak against Meng or something.
ReplyDeleteCrikey, even in real life Kaz Hayashi had Kaz Hayashi Syndrome.
ReplyDelete(EWR joke, don't worry about it.)
Page had a much better match with Goldberg the month before. I wouldn't blame DDP, Bret just didn't give a shit at this point.
ReplyDeleteI doubt it went that way, it ended that way, but I doubt their long term booking plan was "build up Wrath to build up Nash to break Goldberg's streak, so he can fingerpoke of doom the belt back to Hogan."
ReplyDeleteExactly. Especialy with the way announcers hyped up Wrath as a potential main eventer and threat to Goldberg.
ReplyDeleteThey badly needed fresh blood in the main event and people were buying into Wrath, so that of course makes it make even more sense that he was sacrificed at the altar of Nash.
ReplyDeleteThe really crazy thing about Bobby Duncum was that they were promoting him as some son of a legend Bobby Duncum Sr. Who the fuck was Bobby Duncum Sr? Nobody in the crowd knew who that was. It's not like saying it's the son of Ric Flair or Terry Funk or someone they actually KNOW.
ReplyDeleteAgain, WCW 1998, a roster that will never ever happen again in professional wrestling and they manage 20 minute Meng vs. Jerry Flynn matches because WCW.
His matches livened up a lot of bad Thunders. He got fairly good at working the lucha style that the WCW cruiserweight division dictated.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the Perry Saturn thing is iconic WCW: a top-tier wrestler and massively-over guy who wins his biggest feud ever with Raven... then gets into a feud with SONNY FUCKING ONOO. The least-over manager in the company.
ReplyDeleteBobby Duncum was HATED by my friends and I, too- we were HUGE Jericho fans, and we were worried this nobody who'd just debuted was going to beat him.
These days I actually like DDP because he worked his ass off to whip a decent match into shape. All of his hard work here could have gotten him more over with the crowd and respected, and the guy who could have helped him didn't even try.
ReplyDeleteI know Bret kind of shouldn't have tried, but I'm sure he made a lot of money doing it.
Man Saturn kept making chicken salad out of all the chicken shit they threw at him, Sonny Onoo, the dress...right up until he said "Fuck this" and went to the WWF...where they did the exact same thing to him.
ReplyDeleteIf WCW had long term planning and didn't have creative control protected fossils on top can you imagine what they could have done building Raven, Saturn, Kanyon, Wrath, Jericho, and others to be their next generation of top talent? The wrestling landscape would be really, really different if WCW didn't do so little with so very much in 1998.
I did.
ReplyDeleteHA! Since when did Bischoff have a long term plan besides Sting and Hogan?
ReplyDeleteI would bet money that Bischoff had no idea wrath was on a winning streak. He didn't pay attention to low/mid card. That was the agents job.
ReplyDeleteBut he's small and he has a beard.
ReplyDeleteI thought Saturn *asked* to be put in the dress?
ReplyDeleteUgh, I could not imagine how angry I would had been if I had paid money for this show in 1998 and they didn't deliver on either the Steiners match or the outsiders exploding.
ReplyDeleteI'm still pissed Goldberg vs. Jericho didn't happen on this show.
ReplyDeleteI think Duncam Sr had a feud with Bob Backlund over the WWWF title, but that's about all I know about him.
ReplyDeleteYeah. They were building a streak for Nash to break. Although maybe they should have had second thoughts since it was actually getting Wrath OVER.
ReplyDeleteOr that Goldberg/Giant never happened.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind if world champion takes ppvs off?
Too bad he didn't go with the other Kaientai guys to WWF
ReplyDeletePathetic eve for their standards.
ReplyDeleteI like that they deduced those are the two reasons people like Daniel Bryan.
ReplyDeleteWCW pulled that all the time.
ReplyDeleteWe kinda got Goldberg/Giant at Road Wild 98 but WCW dropped the ball big time. Also, Goldberg defended his title in the midcard a lot because basketball players and talk show hosts need that main event spot with Hogan.
They screwed everybody over on those the month prior at Halloween Havoc too. Did Nitro angles with them.
ReplyDeleteThat one I don't know about. He probably worked out the angle with Jericho and they both knew it would get over and probably didn't get a ton of interference trying to do it being midcarders and all.
ReplyDelete"Nash vs. Goldberg doesn't do anything for me at all but it's Nash's company to run at this point so what different does my opinion make?"
ReplyDeleteHe didn't start booking until February 99 actually
It was well-known that Jericho was waiting out his contract to go to Vince, and when they announced the "loser wears a dress" stipulation EVERYONE thought this was going to be a way to embarass Jericho. Then Jericho wins because Saturn thought he'd get more over wrestling in a dress.
ReplyDeleteIt kind of makes a weird bit of sense; if Jericho was being forced to wrestle in the dress, he definitely would have gotten more over, and the fans would have realized what was going on and there would have been some serious backlash for Saturn.
"He has cum in his name."
ReplyDeleteThat's hilarious.
DDP was working his ass from at least late 1996 to early 1999. If they got the time and Bret was actually trying they could have *easily* gone ****+.
ReplyDeleteSo then its a win-win
ReplyDeleteJericho signing with the WWF in 1999 was like Sting signing with the WWE now. It's the forever speculated on thing that is a news article every single day.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I remember Renting the Halloween Havoc VHS tape back in the day as the card looks great on paper and was gravely disappointed.
ReplyDeleteI like how that show went overtime. There was so much stuff on it that should have been shorter. Their producers had no organization or discipline. It was like 3 hrs 15 minutes and felt like ten.
ReplyDeleteGoldberg beat Giant more than once on TV
ReplyDeleteActually, it was November 1998.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ddtdigest.com/updates/1998114m.htm
Note the part where Nash is "thanked" for having Konnan beat Jericho for the TV title.
Because WCW.
ReplyDeleteHe's stated many times it was February
ReplyDeleteWell Nash has never been the bastion of truth regarding that type of info so who knows.
ReplyDeleteI still wouldn't put it past Bischoff to have had the show deliberately go overtime so he could air Goldberg/DDP during Raw the next night.
ReplyDeleteI doubt that the fingerpoke was long term planned too, but i WILL give them the benefit of the doubt for the Wrath/Nash thing. It really is one of the few logical things they did that year.
ReplyDeleteI remember Hyatte having a field day with that name. Ah, memories... :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, there is a good chance it was November 1998, and Nash is just wrong. When he was on the WWE Legends of Wrestling roundtable about the NWO, he acted like Goldberg's December 1999 arm injury happened right after the Fingerpoke of Doom match (which took place 11 months eariler).
ReplyDeleteI'll take the word of the person themselves over a rumor spitting wrestling website anyday
ReplyDeleteNash is the only source I've ever heard say that.
ReplyDeleteThat's true but it's cutting off your nose to spite your face. It's the same idea as when Punk caught fire in 2012, but there was no point because he was losing to Rock at the Rumble no matter what. People were getting into Wrath and they were making a new star then just dropped it because that's what the script said to do. They should have called an audible.
ReplyDeleteTrue. An eight minute comedy match minus the comedy with Sonny Onoo as the focus and Saturn doing the job isn't interesting.
ReplyDelete