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| RDT PPV Reviews | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 25 2014, 01:46 AM (5,511 Views) | |
| Dubb | Aug 27 2014, 09:33 AM Post #106 |
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That's what she said
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It's a bit early, but I'd like to put in an early October-themed request for Halloween Havoc 98 when that time of the year roles around. For more current requests - In the spirit of it being September - I'd like to request Fall Brawl '96. |
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Aug 27 2014, 10:10 AM Post #107 |
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Tyler
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Watching some of these PPVs makes me so angry at WCW. There was so much potential even in guys that didn't make it huge later (like Chavo Guerrero Jr.). |
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| Baldwin | Aug 27 2014, 03:03 PM Post #108 |
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6x EBL Champion
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It's ok, watching Halloween Havoc 1998 should rid you of any feelings positive or negative for a few days. |
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Aug 27 2014, 05:37 PM Post #109 |
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Tyler
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Well, seeing where everyone ended up in my 98 World War 3 review (where Sonny Onoo pinned Saturn) makes me know its coming. But I get to see Warrior vs. Hogan! Woo! |
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Aug 29 2014, 12:42 AM Post #110 |
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Tyler
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Posted Image ECW Living Dangerously ‘98 March 1, 1998 Asbury Park, NJ “ECW!” “ECW!” So, are we too late? No one doubts that ECW revolutionized the business, but four PPVs in ECW was slowly growing but not nearly at the level of the big two. Unfortunately for ECW, that show on USA called RAW began to look quite similar. As most who experienced ECW would tell you, ECW peaked in 1995. It’s not to say that it wasn’t a solid show in in 1997 and 1998, but nothing was really something that blew you away anymore. Sure Sabu was nuts and Taz was a bad ass…but I mean Stone Cold was a bigger bad ass and Mick Foley just as insane. Still, as wrestling was in the rise, it could only be a good thing for ECW (hindsight note: probably not true). Sure the show didn’t stick out as much…but it still was different overall. The Card ECW always would start like an Attitude RAW or Smackdown, with someone coming to the arena. In this case, it’s our pissed off TV Champ, Taz! I believe this is the debut of the old school WCW ramp being in ECW. The FBI vs. Jerry Lynn and Chris Chetti The FBI’s Network dubbed music is pretty something. It’s originally the N-Trance remix of “Stayin’ Alive”. This is when Chris Chetti was being pushed as the first Graduate of the House of Hardcore. He was pretty bland but had a solid heel turn in 1999 (he always had an awesome finish, the double springboard moonsault). Jerry Lynn was still a lower card guy here, he wouldn’t get made by RVD until a year later. Guido with some good chicken-shit dancing there. It looked ridiculous. Guido actually gives Chetti the Italian “FU” taunt while in an armbar. Good stuff early on. Jerry Lynn goes airborne to the floor! Chetti follows up with a springboard double clothesline. Real fun stuff so far. I never get why the whole distract the ref so the manager can attack thing happened in ECW. It’s no DQ in ECW! Tracy Smothers clearly calls out a spot for Tommy Rich to get on the apron. I mean, Guido was the star of the team anyway. Tracy Smothers kinda killed this match. Offense was pretty boring. Jerry Lynn in to save it! Well, maybe not, the FBI and Lynn botch some flapjack to I think what was supposed to be a double DDT. Jerry Lynn and Chris Chetti win in 8:19 when Lynn pinned Smothers. Clusterfuck, then Rich runs in and accidentally nails Smothers with the flag. Lynn gets the pin after taking out Rich. Smothers shoves Rich afterwards. I forgot the payoff here, but it seems like the wrong team one unless the FBI was breaking up here. Still, a decent match overall with a fun beginning. We see videos of W*ING Kanmura and Masato Tanaka, as they are to go at it. It makes the next deal confusing…even though Joey Styles asks if anyone has seen Kanmura. Masato Tanaka vs. Doug Furnas Lance Wright comes out with Doug Furnas…STILL pushing the WWF vs. ECW angle that should have ended for good at November to Remember with RVD vs. Dreamer. Also, Doug Furnas? Seriously? That’s who the WWF is bringing in? Furnas was always a solid hand, even if he was one of the most boring wrestlers ever. I liked his long term partner Phil Lafon though. Tanaka comes out with a FMW flag. ECW and FMW were kinda working together at this point. Good powerslam from Furnas! They work a really boring figure four spot. Tornado DDT off the top is botched. Not sure what happened but Tanaka didn’t land right for it. Tanaka runs into Furnas and falls. Horrible botches here. Furnas tries to save it by dropping Tanaka on his head a couple of times. Furnas goes for some pins and Wright tells him not go for some pins to punish Tanaka. They screw up again! Tanaka off the ropes and both men come to a standstill! Masato Tanaka pinned Doug Furnas in 5:46. Tanaka finishes with a weak Roaring Elbow and the crowd seems surprised that’s the finish. Wright gets angry that Furnas lost and berates him because he was “nearly a WWF Legend” as Wright namedrops every WWF suit out there. Furnas doesn’t seem to care and he lays out Wright. Furnas puts an ECW shirt on and tells Wright to tell Vince to kiss his ass. Yeah like Doug Furnas has leverage there. Anyway, match was horrible. I didn’t know Masato Tanaka has a side to him that’s pretty terrible. Or Furnas. Not sure who’s fault it was. Joey Styles tells us that Sandman vs. Sabu was taped earlier but PPV censors refuse to air it. Jason and Nicole Bass make Joey Styles play a tape of Tommy Dreamer showing up. Ok? Jason says Beulah left Dreamer. Rob Van Dam vs. 2 Cold Scorpio Scorpio was on the WWF payroll here, in-between his Flash Funk and JOB Squad days. Not sure if this was the return or if he came back to hype this at all. RVD wears an awesome Louie Spicolli tribute shirt. In a lot of ways RVD took Scorpio’s position on the card as dominating TV Champ. So in ECW history this is like a weird type of dream match. Joey is trying to hype it that way. Mat wrestling is pretty slow to start. I think the problem isn’t the match, but that the fans were pretty bored from the last match. I think there was a botch by RVD, but Scorpio made it look cool with a knee to the face. By the way, how did Vince screw up Scorpio the way he did? Guy had natural charisma. Bridging sequence seems slow…only it ends in a really cool way with Scorpio flipping to his feet. Match picks up on the outside. RVD misses a stage moonsault but lands on his feet. Match isn’t really jelling and we get a “This match sucks” chant. Not sure why it’s all technical wrestling because that’s the wrong way to go with these two by far. Scorpio Bomb! Time for this to pick up! Nice moonsault from Scorpio! Four Star Frog Splash! Hey, it wasn’t his finish yet. Somersault legdrop! Nice moves, but this is just spot after spot now. Split Legged Moonsault is the rich man’s version of Starship Pain. Pretty crappy looking Van Daminator on the stage. I’m so disappointed in this match. Scorpio with a piledriver on the stage/ramp whatever. Some randomly good stuff in this horribly disjointed match. Scorpio does a reverse Tombstone on the stage next. In one of the stranger ref bumps, ref holds RVD back and Scorpio dropkicks him, leading to RVD landing on top of Scorpio. Top rope splash then misses…but hits the ref. Wow! RVD mocks Scorpio then does a PERFECT 450 Splash…only Scorpio moves. What a shame! Would have been a great finish. Scorpio barely makes his 450…but it’s Sabu! Arabian Skullcrusher to Scorpio! Scorpio kicks out. Here comes The Sandman! He’s chasing Sabu! I see where Kofi Kingston stole the Thunder in Paradise From. Rob Van Dam pins Scorpio in 27:10. RVD rolls Scorpio up in a tight package off a hiptoss for the win. How underwhelming! Crazy as I’ve seen this match before and liked it, and it was known as the beginning of RVD’s “great worker” run. But uh…the match pretty much sucked. I’ll give it some credit though as there were some cool spots, like RVD’s 450 and awesome Split Legged Moonsault. There was a nice spin kick off the top in there as well. It was a long 27 minutes. Scorpio attacks RVD after a handshake after RVD was being an arrogant jerk. Sabu comes back in to attack Scorpio. They are about to table Scorpio but Sandman makes the save. We get the worse looking “Frankensander” in the history of the business, and Sabu’s feet break the end of the table. That gets an “ECW!” chant. Yikes. Fans give Scorpio a nice ovation at the end though. Scorpio and Sandman share some beers. We get a promo vid about Lance Storm and Chris Candido…and their issues which has a World Tag Team Title run in there…but also a Triple Threat storyline. Hardcore Chair Swingin’ Freaks vs. The Dudley Boyz vs. Spike Dudley and New Jack Joel Gertner time! Gertner is awesome. Here’s a gimmick you’ll never see on WWE TV. I really wonder where he came up with these limericks. Yeah I’m sure D-Von is 169 pounds. The ECW Super Cruiserweight Champion of the World! (His words, not mine!) Balls Mahoney looks like a homeless Bam Bam Bigelow with hair. Why are we getting armdrags by Axl Rotten. Joey Styles calls him the most underrated wrestler in ECW. Really now? Spike and New Jack are no where to be seen. It’s 3 on 2 with the Dudleyz and Big Dick Dudley against Rotten and Mahoney. HERE COMES NEW JACK! By the way, here is someone who might be the most underrated worker in ECW. New Jack. Seriously. Guy is one of the best garbage wrestlers ever and always had the crowd in the palm of his hand. I have no idea but I’ve always been entertained by New Jack killing the Dudleyz. You know he did this for like 2 years straight and people loved it. Wait till we get to Heatwave 99! Spike Dudley has shown up! One of the craziest moments in ECW history here. The Dudleyz lie on tables and New Jack and Spike jump off a balcony that had to be at least 15 feet high! While of course things have topped that now, there was NOTHING like that on a wrestling PPV at that point. Even now it just looks deadly. I remember reading about it in Pro Wrestling Illustrated and it just seemed like the damnest thing. We get a terrible Tornado DDT by Spike. Better than Tanaka’s earlier though. New Jack and Spike Dudley win in 13:25. Spike and Jack double guitar shot the Dudleyz, then Spike drops Bubba with the Acid Drop. 187 Chair Splash later wins it. If you don’t like garbage wrestling this isn’t for you, but like the four way at N2R, this was just fun garbage with a ridiculous balcony dive. I enjoyed it. What can I say. So many hype videos. This one of Justin Credible…getting beat up by Mikey Whipwreck? Really showcasing Credible injuring him, but it started odd. We then see the mean streak in Justin Credible leading up to the feud with Dreamer. We got a porn star! Jenna Jameson in the house. We get her first interview with Justin Credible! Credible tells her off because he says he has Beulah! That’s actually great build of a confident character right there. Justin Credible vs. Tommy Dreamer Now Jenna wants to interview Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer just outright kisses her. Sure Beulah loved that… Actually storyline wise she probably wanted a piece of that. Dreamer looks ready tonight. Great Tree of Woe chair dropkick. Drop toe hold into a chair…but it was the back part of the seat. Never saw it done that way. Looked like it hurt. Here comes Beulah! She fakes being with Credible then low blows Credible and spikes Jason with a DDT! Nicole Bass ragdolls Beulah…AND WE GET A WARDROBE MALFUNCTION FROM BASS. FOR FUCKS SAKE. Mikey Whipwreck is in. Whippersnapper to Bass. Tommy Dreamer pins Justin Credible in 8:58. Dreamer finishes Credible with a Dreamer DDT. I actually enjoyed this one. It was nothing great, but it was putting Credible over by showing he could hang with Dreamer. Told a solid story. Then again Nicole Bass’s shirt dropping almost killed me right then and there. We get history of how Bam Bam Bigelow went from losing the ECW World Title to Shane Douglas to turning on Taz and joining the Triple Threat. ECW World Television Championship Taz© vs. Bam Bam Bigelow Story here: Bam Bam looked to Taz to get revenge on Douglas…only to turn on him. Sidenote: Bigelow’s hometown is Asbury Park, NJ. And the fans love him. Taz just armdrags Bigelow over his head. Great display of power. Doing a good job of not making Taz the underdog, something that killed him in the WWF. Taz LEVELS Bigelow with a clothesline. Didn’t expect that. Taz suplexes Bigelow on his head into the crowd and a row of chairs! Pretty sick. Bigelow kind of misses his big moonsault, but gets an arm and it seemed just passable. Joey Styles kinda saves it on commentary by being honest about it. Taz drops Bigelow face first through a table, which was an odd spot to say the least. We get a choke him out chant. So much for the Bigelow getting cheers deal. Weird. Now Bam Bam chants. So confusing. Match has slowed to a crawl with some weak brawling on the outside. Taz gets them back into it by taking shots and demanding Bigelow bring it…when Bigelow falls down on a kick attempt. Crazy ECW moment #2! Taz locks in the Tazmission! Bigelow taps but the ref didn’t see it…then Bigelow drops back…and they go flying through the ring! Bam Bam Bigelow wins the TV title in 13:37 by pin. Bigelow pulls Taz from the hole and pins him for the title win! Admittedly a genius finish! Taz was on such a hot streak that he couldn’t lose and they let him lose in way where he would lose no credibility whatsoever! The fans absolutely popped when they saw the ring break as well. Match slowed a bit at the end, but it was pretty solid and SHOULD have main evented this show. Paul E. yells at Joey Styles to buy him time, then demands he play the Sandman-Sabu Cane match that was taped earlier that censors said not to air on PPV! Styles argues, then calls for it. Dueling Canes Match Sabu vs. The Sandman I covered this feud mostly for the November to Remember review. They were still going at it at this point. One of the weirdest openings to a match, Sabu attacks Sandman…only somehow Sabu is so well disguised…that’s it’s actually Rob Van Dam? Then the real Sabu attacks Sandman. Somehow that was well done. Especially since Sabu and RVD look nothing alike other than body build. Nice guardrail corner table splash from Sabu on Sandman. Triple Jump Moonsault on the ramp! Nice, even if Sandman was trying to roll away. Creative ref bump. Ref standing behind a propped table and Sabu hit it, nailing the ref. RVD comes flying in and takes out Sandman as he was propping Sabu on a table, leading to the table breaking. RVD is still in Sabu costume. It’s so good that if I were just watching and not paying attention I’d think it was the real Sabu. The Sabus take Sandman out with a double legdrop through the table on the ramp! Sabu pins The Sandman in 9:21. Sabu rolls Sandman in for the pin. I liked this match! So much better than that crap at N2R ’97. The RVD as Sabu thing was pretty creative. The spots hit and seemed to be in a rhythm. And when Sabu and Sandman’s stuff hit, its good stuff. There are two issues with this though. One: why did the censors not want this aired? It wasn’t that crazy and the New Jack stuff was FAR worse. Two: after the opening minute there wasn’t a cane to be seen in a dueling canes match. Still, liked the match. Pretty good overall with a solid finish too. Styles complains about not following the format and that we were supposed to have Al Snow vs. John Kronus. Oh no! Dream Partner Tag Team Match Chris Candido and ? vs. Lance Storm and ? Funny note, the corner of the ring with the hole has caution tape around it. Sounds perfect for a five star classic! The hole is still clearly there. Francine looks incredible. Absolutely incredible. Shane Douglas is Candido’s partner of course. There are tons of styrofoam heads in the crowd if anyone is wondering who Storm’s partner is going to be. There’s a funny convo in the ring with Douglas and the ref…where it seems like Douglas is disgusted that there’s a hole in the ring. I don’t blame him! Lance Storm’s partner is…Sunny! Yeah, this is a horrid idea. Styles thinks its genius because Candido and Douglas won’t hit Sunny. So I guess Storm is okay with the handicap match then? Sunny turns on Storm about 2 minutes in by hitting him with a cookie sheet. You know if you wonder why Lance Storm never got over as a top face it was probably because of this stupidity. Sunny hilariously falls into the hole at one point. Lance Storm yells that he’s gonna give Candido head. Here comes Al Snow! The rave party thing does look cool. We have heads being thrown into the ring and the camera spinning around. I’m gonna be sick. Al Snow throws Douglas into the hole. Al Snow and Lance Storm win in 4:49 when Snow pinned Douglas. Snowplow for the win. Crowd pops huge for that horrific main event. The Al Snow stuff is cool though, so I will give them that. Not sure why this couldn’t be the semi-main though, as Bam Bam winning the TV title would have left the crowd happy. But I mean that was a farce of a match for a main event. Strange show. Gotta give credit for ECW giving it everything it’s got though. It was definitely a big effort from everyone. And there was good stuff here! Credible vs. Dreamer was decent sans Nicole Bass. Bigelow vs. Taz had a great holy shit moment and a good story too. New Jack and Spike Dudley also provided a holy shit moment. Even Sabu vs. Sandman was fun. Hell if the opening matches were better and RVD vs. Scorpio wasn’t so disappointing and long (20% of the show!), this could have gotten the best grade for any ECW PPV so far. But it was so that’s that. But then there’s the main event. How do you close the show on a match like that? I mean it was really a glorified angle, no? The whole thing was ludicrous. Lance Storm picking Sunny as a fake to just pick Al Snow even makes no sense. It’s a surprise partner. Just pick Al Snow! It didn’t help that Joey Styles was making him out to be a nobody though hyping up the match with Kronus though. Good effort ECW, but too much disappointment, no really great matches and a shit main event doesn’t let me boost it into that B range. Final Grade: C+ |
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Sep 7 2014, 01:16 AM Post #111 |
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Tyler
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Posted Image WCW Fall Brawl ‘96 September 15, 1996 Winston-Salem, NC WCW is getting its ass kicked. Not by Vince. Oh no, at this point WCW had left Vince and the WWF in the dust ratings wise. They were about 10 weeks into their eventual 84 week streak. It’s because they were getting their ass kicked by the NWO. For two months the NWO had been destroying WCW in one of, if not the best, angle in North American pro wrestling at that point. Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were the most destructive group in wrestling and had beaten up WCW at pretty much every turn. Ted Dibiase joined them shortly afterwards, and then The Giant followed. On paper the Giant joining was brilliant. It showed that any top guy would join the NWO, and it helped plant the seed that Sting could join. The Giant had no previous ties to the WWF, unlike Hall, Nash, Hogan and Dibiase. Of course, the Giant in the NWO didn’t quite work out and they used him to be that “first loss” at Starrcade, and then he left and re-joined WCW. If they kept the NWO as a group that only allowed top members and no one would want to leave it would have been great, but Giant leaving showed that it wasn’t the end-all be-all to join. Still, the major angle, is Sting joining the NWO? Him doing so could kill WCW dead! He attacked Luger afterall! (Not really). The only way to decide this war? WAR GAMES! The Card We get a pretty awesome overview if the dominance of the NWO over the past few weeks. Bobby Heenan points out that War Games was created for the Four Horsemen and is confident the NWO will be wrestling their last match tonight. It’s pretty awesome that WCW felt this was the big comeuppance for the NWO. I’ll explain why later. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. You know, for all that WCW didn’t create new stars bs, what do you call DDP? It’s hard to see Chavo go toe to toe with DDP, knowing where both would go in a couple years. Pretty good start. It’s weird that Chavo was a better worker when he started than he was later. Weird timing spot which was impressive as Chavo actually delayed standing on the top rope (not corner). Still technically a botch again. DDP tosses Chavo from one ring to the other. I love spots like that. Semi-botched sidewalk slam. Ah well, it was good enough. Incredible spinning gutwrench powerbomb from Page. Wow. (Ok, the landing was a bit off but still looked great.) Diamond Dallas Page wins by pin in 13:07. Page goes for the Diamond Cutter, but Chavo reverses into a backslide. Page blocks the backslide by stomping on Chavo’s foot, and gets the Cutter for the win. Big reaction too. Pretty awesome opener and a great start to the show. WCW SPECIAL REPORT. Goes over the NWO angle at this point. Which is pretty incredible at this point. Submission Match Scott Norton vs. Ice Train Watching the first Nitro, it’s interesting what a big deal Norton was…and where he is at this point. The story here I think is the Fire and Ice team breaking up. Ice Train is managed by Teddy Long! Holla Holla! Not a bad start though. Standing frog splash from Train was nice. This seems more like an “I Quit” Match as the ref has a microphone. Ice Train makes Scott Norton submit in 7:08. Scott Norton has Train trapped in an armbar, but Teddy Long tried to interfere. Norton takes care of him but gets trapped in a Full Nelson and he taps out (so much for the microphone?). Not horrible or anything, there was solid power stuff in here. AAA World Championship Konnan© vs. Juventud Guerrera They call it the Mexican Heavyweight Title, but my research (read: wiki) says the AAA title. No one knows who Juvi is at this point. Konnan is known as he joined the Dungeon of Doom. He was also the US Champ for a while. He is in his gangsta look he would have for basically the rest of his career. Yellow is not a good color for Juvi. Pretty sweet release German suplex where Juvi flips over. Konnan sends Juvi flying! Konnan just stands that as Juvi does this triple jump spin kick (two leapds on the 2nd ring, then one from the 1st). Weird that Konna just stood there. Great aerial stuff early on. Nice powerbomb on the floor! Mike Tenay says Juvi gives up 50 pounds of weight. Konnan is not 215, and Juvi was listed as 165. Pretty badly botched headscissor-like move from one ring to the other. Juvi makes up for it with more crazy flying. Backdrop over the top rope and Juvi ends up hanging on the other rope! Nice! Bad moonsault. Konnan seems to take exception and powerbombs Juvi. Pretty sick. Damn rolling Germans from Konnan. I actually thought Benoit invented that. Odd rest spot where Juvi just walks arounf and Konnan talks to Jimmy Hart. Pointless backflip from Juvi? Leads to him getting dropkicked by Konnan. I know I trash Konnan a lot, but this is the best Konnan match I’ve ever seen and it’s in spite of Juvi, not because of him. 450 is even slightly off, and doesn’t finish anyway. Konnan busts out a Muscle Buster…but that doesn’t finish. Juvi might have missed some spots, but he’s taking moves like a champ. Konnan pinned Juvi in 13:45. Splash Mountain Bomb! Nicely done and it’s over. Very good match only hampered by Juvi missing some spots and some weird spots in general (like Juvi’s backflip). Everything else owns though. Best Konnan match I’ve ever seen. Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit Jericho’s awful 1st theme! Jericho had just debuted. The story here is simple: two guys just looking to have a great match. Benoit is super over here. Tony says he expected Mongo instead of Benoit here. Thank goodness it’s Benoit. Benoit puts Jericho in the Lion Tamer! I wonder if Jericho was using it at this point. Jericho looks great early on against Benoit. Jericho with a crazy springboard back elbow to the outside from Jericho! I believe this is the match where booker Kevin Sullivan said he wanted Benoit to have 90% of this match. Then Benoit and Jericho just did it 50-50 anyway. Nice back jumpkick from Jericho. Backsuplex to the outside with a twist! Some crazy ideas here. Pretty perfect Swan Dive from Benoit. I like it better than his Diving Headbutt (the difference is how they land, although surely they’ve been called differently each time). Jericho Tombstones Benoit! Chris Benoit pins Chris Jericho in 14:36. Back Superplex for the win! Great match! Jericho looked like a star here and surely WCW will capitalize on someone who looked like the next Shawn Michaels here! (lol…at the push part). Great match though. A great back and forth contest. WCW Cruiserweight Championship Rey Mysterio Jr.(c) vs. Super Calo I was once told that Super Calo was named that way as shorthand for supercalifr-whatever. Bobby Heenan then makes that joke immediately. Super Calo is like a power cruiserweight, if that makes sense. I liked that roll through on the slam. Mike Tenay says Super Calo is named after a Mexican rap group. Thank goodness. Nice missile dropkick off the top to the outside by Calo! Ridiculous somersault senton from the inside out from Calo! Really surprising that Super Calo has been on the offensive basically the whole match. Funny botch where Super Calo doesn’t go over the top rope…but Rey tries his damnest to get him over. The ref helps! Rey Mysterio with the greatest hurricanrana off the apron I’ve ever seen in my life. I can’t explain it. It was nuts. Rey Mysterio Jr. retains by pin in 15:47. Double springboard hurricanrana finish for the win! Another great match…but it had ONE flaw, which was NO one was buying Calo winning this thing. As a result, it felt pretty long. Oddly Calo had 80% of the offense too. Still great though. WCW World Tag Team Championship Harlem Heat© vs. The Nasty Boys I expect the match quality to drop quite a bit here… How great was Sherri Martel? She could play so many roles. Kinda surprised the Nasties never had a random ECW run. CLUBBERIN! How can someone be the master of CLUBBERIN? Match is pretty boring. Only excitement so far was Sags chasing Sherri. That might have been the worst looking roll up by Sags ever. Nice piledriver from Sags! Harlem Heat retain when Booker T pins Knobbs in 15:31. Sherri whacks Knobbs with a cane and that’s that. WAY too long. Match was pretty horrid and only big spots were involving Sherri. Fans reacted though, so there is that. We get a Savage interview! One of the best of all time for sure. The Giant vs. Randy Savage Giant joined the NWO, Savage is still a defender of WCW here. Giant still has the creepy music he had before…then it turns into the NWO theme. Giant had the potential to beat Nash’s sidewalk slam…but opted for a weak backbreaker sadly. Boston Crab from the Giant just seems like an odd visual. Savage slams the Giant! That would lose its luster years later as everyone slammed him. The Giant pins Randy Savage in 7:47. Savage drops the big elbow, but Hogan is out here! He goads Savage to the entrance and the Outsiders beat Savage up with a chair. Giant distracts Nick Patrick, and then gets the win when the NWO rolls him back into the ring. Pretty bad all around. It was just 7 minutes of the Giant beating up Savage and a terrible finish. War Games WCW vs. NWO The story here is simple: the NWO is here to take over WCW. This is another battle in the war…but it’s a big one as War Games is one of WCW’s primer match types. Also, Mike Tenay asks Ric Flair which Horseman has replaced Sting in the match, but Flair doesn’t answer the question. All three of them, Luger, Anderson and Flair, are acting like Sting joined the NWO on Nitro. Sting then shows up and says it wasn’t him. Luger doesn’t believe him. This is all fantastic. Rules are simple. There was a pre-match coin toss (usually always won by the heels, as it was here). Two men start, one from each team. The team that won the coin toss gets to bring man #2 first, then so on and do forth. When all 8 men are in, you can only win by knockout or submission (or as Michael Buffer says it, surrender or submission…) We start with Scott Hall for the NWO and Double A for WCW. Crowd is super hot for this. I think a lot of people thought WCW was winning this. The announcer’s hype up the coin toss deal with a minute left. Sadly…they find out the NWO has won. Kevin Nash is next. Outsiders beat the crap out of Double A for the next couple minutes. Lex Luger shows up early to even the odds. I wonder how that’s legal? Anyway Luger regains control for WCW. Here comes Hogan! NWO has the advantage once again. Crowd goes bonkers when Double A and Luger beat up Hogan, but the Outsiders end that. Huge “We want Flair” chants…so here he comes! HUGE reaction. Hogan vs. Flair faceoff! When Flair gets a punch in the crowd roars! Brass knucks for Flair! Flair has taken over! WCW is owning…but then Sting shows up for the NWO…and everyone is dismayed. Some boos there. Some people definitely bought it. We get some “We Want Sting” chants. And there are some who definitely knew the real deal here. The NWO wastes away Flair, Luger and Anderson…but here comes the REAL Sting! Sting destroys EVERYONE! Stinger Splashes everywhere! “Is that good enough for you? Is that proof enough?” Genius. Sting walks out on WCW, and WCW doesn’t last long. NWO wins when NWO Sting and Hogan make Luger submit in 18:15. A Scorpion Deathlock and a Front Headlock get it done. While not the best War Games from a match quality perspective (not a drop of blood!), it told a tremendous story and set the wheels in motion for the red hot Sting story arc for the next 15 months. This showed that only Sting could deal with the NWO, no one else. Brilliant. This is the main reason why WCW made bucket loads of money the next two years. NWO and WCW go at it a big, and Savage tries to help, but the Giant takes him out. The PPV ends with another big NWO beat down. They even spray paint Miss Elizabeth when she comes out to help Savage…which is a nice touch. We get a Hogan promo too to hype up the Hogan-Savage Halloween Havoc match. Overall, a great show! The only thing that was bad was the tag title match and Giant vs. Savage. Everything else ranged from decent (the submission match) to pretty good to great. Great matches, good wrestling, and a really well done storyline with WCW not trusting Sting. Historically, it was a huge moment that helped carry WCW through 1997 as the #1 promotion in the US over the WWF. This PPV tore the hearts out of WCW fans. The Four Horsemen and WCW lost War Games? Sting left us? What will we do? Just brilliant. Final Grade: A |
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| Dubb | Sep 8 2014, 09:55 AM Post #112 |
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That's what she said
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True story - Fall Brawl 96 was my first ever WCW PPV I bought after just getting into wrestling a few short weeks earlier. |
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Sep 8 2014, 11:05 AM Post #113 |
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Tyler
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Make sense that you got hooked. A very good show. Oddly I became a fan in the midst of Summerslam '95...I was all about Diesel Power! |
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Sep 19 2014, 09:46 PM Post #114 |
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Tyler
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Posted Image WWF In Your House: Canadian Stampede July 6, 1997 Calgary, Alberta, Canada WCW was still winning…but suddenly, the WWF had something hot on their hands. Say what you want about Bret Hart, his 1997 heel run is one of the great heel runs in pro wrestling. This heel run made Stone Cold Steve Austin and established him as THE face of pro wrestling. At this point Vince was still in trouble financially (practically because of Bret’s deal), but in reality he just had to hang on. Austin was on his way. The WWF in 1997 was an exciting show once again. Now in Canada, Austin would have a chance to further his legacy. He might have been a face…but in Canada because of the Harts he was still the biggest heel in the world. And…he would. Careful WCW, the WWF is coming. The Card One of my favorite intro promos here. A black and white montage…explaining that the world is black and white. One of the fantastic things about Bret’s heel turn was that he felt he hadn’t changed…he felt the fans changed. He actually wasn’t wrong. Mankind vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley Story: HHH won the King of the Ring over Mankind last month (Pedigree on the table for the first time). Chyna interfered immensely. Mankind wanted a rematch. Pretty hot start, including the elbow off the apron. One of the brilliant aspects of this feud was that before it, Mankind was higher up the card than HHH. Yet Foley and HHH told a great story that brought HHH up. Mandible Claw! Chyna though breaks it up. Awesome spot here: Mankind looks to whip HHH into the steps…but HHH reverses and Chyna slams Mankind into the steps! It’s interesting that so many wrestlers didn’t want to sell for Chyna, and Mankind had no problem getting his ass kicked by her. (See Johnson, Ahmed). Loving Mankind’s selling of the knee. Even the small grasp of the knee after piledriving HHH matters so much. Chyna is playing the role of equalizer perfectly. Double Countout in 13:14. HHH and Mankind brawl on the outside and are counted out. They keep going at it though, fighting in the penalty box. HHH shows great aggression here. Anyway, great opener. Normally I’d hate the double countout, but it made sense in this context. HHH owes Foley pretty much everything in his in ring career. We get a Hart Foundation interview…until Stone Cold looks to fight he Foundation 1 on 5. Bret points out that he wants 5 on 5, not 5 on 1. The Great Sasuke vs. Taka Michinoku The WWF Light Heavyweight Division had pretty much been a joke before this point. I guess Brian Christopher vs. Steve Rogers or whomever wasn’t getting it done. JR says that Taka is making his American PPV debut…in singles competition. It’s like he remembered Barely Legal midway through the sentence and added the single thing. Mankind and HHH are going at it again! Brilliant! Anyway, here we go. Lawler explains this Japanese style using Inoki vs. Muhammad Ali as an example. Nice kick from Sasuke! Crowd isn’t into it yet. Slow build so far. Knockout spin kick from Sasuke! Crowd reacted to that! Nice slap by Taka and Sasuke does a great sell. Taka with some nice dropkick spots. Shame no one would care about them later. Sasuke with a karate kick off the top to the outside! More crazy kicks from Sasuke! Taka is getting killed. Taka goes airbourne, springboard plancha! Another move people stopped caring about over time sadly. Taka perfectly lands on his feet out of a German. Hurricanrana gets two. Awesome backspring elbow from Sasauke…and a perfect Asai Moonsault to follow up! Michinoku Driver gets a huge reaction…and Sasuke kicks out! JR talks about it being his finisher…which should tell you who they were gonna build the division around. The Great Sasuke pins Taka Michinoku in 10:00. Thunder Fire Bomb then Tiger Suplex for the win. What a match! This may be the greatest match in the history of the entire division…which sadly tells you how much they screwed that up (Malenko vs. Scotty is the other contender). Incredible though. Lawler screaming everywhere is also awesome. HHH and Mankind are STILL going at it outside! Shovels, garbage cans! Everything! Great stuff. We are told Ahmed Johnson was injured and can’t wrestle The Undertaker for the WWF Title. Bullet dodged there…because Vader is taking his place for what should be a good match (although their Rumble 97 match was a mess). Paul Bearer interview. Wonders how Taker can live with himself for killing his family. Of course, this all led to Kane. WWF World Championship The Undertaker© vs. Vader Undertaker in 1997 looked like a freaking bad ass World Champion. Paul Bearer hides behind the apron. What a great heel. Taker just levels Vader with a clothesline. Somehow this is already better than the Rumble. I wonder when Taker added that Stinger Splash to his arsenal. This was a couple months after the Vader Kuwait thing. I wonder if Vader knew he was only going downhill from this point forward in the WWF (unless you think him getting his ass handed to him by Shamrock in May was good for him)…and looked to make the best out of this opportunity. Vader hot some height on that 2nd rope body tackle. You know what’s weird? Bearer and Vader here remind me of Heyman and Lesnar in 2014. Low blow from Vader! Ref letting it go... Vader Bomb time? No, Taker sits up and low blows Vader! Good symmetry with the letting it go from the ref! Then Taker Chokeslams Vader off the second rope! Wow! I woulda bought that as a finish. Taker had to be in top form physically here. He’s throwing the 450 pound Vader around like he’s Taka. The Undertaker retains by pin in 12:39. Vader kicks out of another chokeslam…but Taker puts him away for good with a Tombstone! We are THREE for THREE with great matches here. Vader’s last great match (in the USA at least) ever. I mean, imagine if this was Ahmed? The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart, Owen Hart, The British Bulldog, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart and Brian Pillman) vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust and L.O.D. We get interviews from team Austin side. Austin doesn’t say a work though. I also don’t think Hawk knew where the camera was. We get the Canadian National Anthem from Farmer’s Daughter. Weird group name. Stu and Helen Hart get huge ovations. Huge boos for Austin. Amazingly though, he’d actually get cheered beating Owen at Survivor Series four months later. Brian Pillman gets the biggest pop of his career. Pops get bigger and bigger with each guy. You can barely hear Owen’s music. Unless you listen closely…it’s difficult to hear when Bret’s theme begins. I argue this is the biggest pop in wrestling history, although I know it has competition. We get an awesome face off between both teams…and then Hart and Austin go at it! Hart beats the hell out of Austin and the crowd is has come unglued! Austin takes over…and HUGE boos. They randomly bust out the Survivor Series 96 finish! Neidhart mocking Shamrock was great. This is one of the all time great crowds. Huge Austin sucks chants…he’s not even in the ring… We get our first out of control brawl when Goldust gets trapped in the tree of woe. Owen with a perfect missile dropkick and a nip up! Animal stuns the crowd by powerbombing Owen though. Anvil breaks up a pin and it’s a melee everywhere! Austin slams Owen’s knee across the ring post, then beats it with a chair! Bruce Hart attacks Austin from the crowd, but Austin takes him out. Owen gets carried to the back as crowd gets on Austin again. Stunner to Pillman! Bret grabs Austin though and slams Austin’s knee into the ringpost! Then he hits Austin’s knee with a fire extinguisher! Of course…he follows it with a Figure Four around the ringpost! Now Austin is being helped to the back. Some old school Hart Foundation! Brian Pillman was absolutely brilliant in this thing…just being a pesky jerk. Another brawl! Shamrock gets the FIVE MOVES OF DOOM! JR with an awesome Dusty impression here. PILLMAN AGAIN! Austin’s back! Austin’s back! We get Bret vs. Austin again! This time Austin stomps a mudhole in Bret though! Sick DDT on Austin by Bret! FIVE MOVES OF DOOM! He didn’t finish against Shamrock. Bret gets the Sharpshooter…but Animal saves Austin to huge boos. Austin locks Bret in the Sharpshooter…but here comes OWEN! Austin clotheslines Owen out, and Austin goes after him. The Hart Foundation win when Owen pinned Austin in 24:31. Bruce Hart throws his drink at Austin, and Austin goes after Stu! The Harts get involved and it’s chaotic everywhere (and Bruce begins to kick ass and gets a Bruce chant, which apparently pissed Vince off). Austin gets rolled back in by Bret…and Owen rolls him up, 1…2…3! HUGE pop. Security breaks up the fight and the Harts remain tall in the ring….Bret’s music plays and everything, they wave the flags, etc. etc… Until Austin comes back with a chair! Austin comes in by himself and everyone beats him up! “THAT RATTLESNAKE IS NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING!” Austin gets handcuffed…but makes sure to give the Canadian crowd the middle finger on hos way out. As Austin would say, “you might have tied my hands behind my back…but you didn’t shut up the fingers!” Anyway, with all due respect to all the War Games matches I’ve seen, this is the best ten man tag team match ever. Ever. 24 minutes of nonstop action. Incredible. An incredible PPV. Four great matches out of four. Bret Hart’s last great moment in the WWF as a babyface. Further established Austin as a not caring rebel. Helped establish HHH as well. Random awesome light heavyweight match. There’s just so much greatness on this show. There’s not ONE bad moment. It’s a shame it all went downhill for Bret after this. Maybe it wouldn’t have been as good as the Attitude Era…but Bret Hart showed he could be a draw and a top guy. It would have probably always been in 2nd place…but the WWF would have survived surely. Anyway, this whole show was incredible. Final Grade: A+ |
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Nov 13 2014, 02:41 AM Post #115 |
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Tyler
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Posted Image WCW Fall Brawl ‘98 September 13, 1998 Winston-Salem, MA What the hell is going on? Ten months ago it was supposed to be over. WCW had gotten Bret Hart. WCW had the super hot Sting vs. Hogan feud. WCW had the NWO. Even the raw rookie Goldberg somehow became one of the biggest stars in pro wrestling. And WCW…is losing? This is the equivalent of an all-star team in sports without thought of making a “team”. It’s hard to find a top guy in WCW booked correctly except for Diamond Dallas Page at this point. Hogan? Stale. Nash? Acting half his age trying to be the “cool” heel or face or whatever (although he’d get mega over by the end of the year). Sting? Buried in Washington D.C. last December and replaced by some guy in red face paint. Don’t even get me started on Goldberg. All the momentum in the world and somehow Goldberg still plays second fiddle to Hogan. In fact, Goldberg hadn’t even wrestled a last match main event since his title win in July. Of course there’s Bret Hart too. One of the biggest wastes in wrestling history was Bret Hart in WCW. Most recently WCW signed The Warrior as well. He went right after Hogan and… And well let’s get right to it. Fall Brawl means WAR GAMES! The Warrior in War Games! Who knows what will happen?! The Card Opening video reminds us that Team Hollywood in War Games is Hollywood Hogan, Stevie Ray and Bret Hart. One of those is not like the other. “WE WANT FLAIR!” Well, wait a night. Tony Schiavone talks about the new rules for War Games. Three teams! It can end before all nine men get into the ring (um…what? Why would that happen from an entertainment standpoint?). Also winner gets a World Title shot at Halloween Havoc. So much for the team aspect eh? Ernest Miller being held by security. Fuck if I know the storyline there. Gene Okerlund talks about the rest of the card. Why? We already sold the PPV, no? It’s Chris Jericho! Jericho is one of the best parts of WCW 1998. He’s calling out Goldberg and says Goldberg accepted a match against Jericho tonight! Title vs. title! Alex Wight and Disco Inferno vs. The British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart I like how we get separate entrances for Wright and Inferno. Double the dancing! USA chant to Alex Wright. The British Bulldog was in the ring opposing him. A whole lot of nothing to start this thing…other than Anvil dancing. Bulldog can still land on his feet after being monkey flipped from the corner. Impressive. Bulldog screws up a stun gun. It’s amazing how different the Bulldog and Neidhart are in terms of giving a shit here. In WWF 1997, the Bulldog and Neidhart showed great intensity. Here? Meh. “WE WANT FLAIR!” Yeah no one cares about this boring match. Neidhart misses a slingshot shoulder block. I don’t think he was supposed to miss. Bulldog actually screws up picking Disco up for the Running Powerslam. Sad. Bulldog and Neidhart win when Bulldog pinned Disco in 11:03. Bulldog eventually gets the Running Powerslam for the win. Bad boring match. This match is also infamous for the Bulldog injuring his back on the Warrior’s trap door. Not the typical WCW opening match goodness sadly. Scott Steiner has a doctor’s note! No Steiner vs. Steiner tonight. No wait! JJ Dillion calls him on his bs! The match is on! Title vs. Title Chris Jericho vs. Goldberg JPS! Ralphus and the Jerichoholic NINJA! Jericho is just absolutely brilliant here. And it’s a midget Goldberg! Chris Jericho vs. Mini-Goldberg Mini-Goldberg gets a spear in! You know HHH stole this idea a year later on Smackdownm using Gillberg. Chris Jericho wins by submission in 1:15. Liontamer! Jericho is brilliant. Norman Smiley vs. Ernest Miller Angle here? Smiley asked Miller what his problem was after Miller attacked The Armstrong Brothers. That’s it. Miller pins Smiley in 5:07. Top rope feliner I think was the finish…but Smiley didn’t go all the way down. Smiley hits a 2nd for the win. A whole lot of nothing for five minutes. Not a good sign when the best part of the first 45 minutes of the show is a Jericho joke match. Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner Angle began when Scott turned on Rick back in February at Superbrawl. Buff Bagwell’s serious injury was used as an angle between them as well, where Bagwell faked being friends. Scott did all he can to avoid fighting Rick, but Dillion said it has to happen at Fall Brawl. So here we are. Crowd is very into this. Really good brawl to start! Crowd is really into Rick Steiner. I’m starting to think they should have pushed Rick big as a face here. Too bad though as… No Contest in 5:30. Bagwell tried to attack, but Rick Steiner slams him into the 2nd turnbuckle. Bagwell goes limp. The announcers treat it as a shoot. It takes about 10 minutes to get Bagwell into the ambulance…and then Scott and Bagwell attack Rick! It was a ruse! A great brawl turned into a bullshit angle. Ah well. WCW Cruiserweight Championship Juventud Guerrera© vs. Silver King Silver King? Really? Sunset flip botch! Woo! Inverted top rope frankensteiner is pretty cool. Shocked it only got 2. Juventud Guerrera retains in 8:36 by pin. Weak Juvi Driver, then the 450 for the win. Decent. Pretty low on the standard WCW Cruiserweight Title match quality tier. I don’t think anyone saw Silver King winning either. Best match of the night by default. Drunk Scott Hall and Konnan have a confronation. Raven’s Rules: If Raven wins, the Flock disbands, if Saturn wins, he becomes Raven’s slave. Kanyon is handcuffed to the ringpost. Raven vs. Saturn I enjoyed this match two months ago, so I am all for it again. Back at Bash at the Beach, Saturn had broken free from the Flock. Now Saturn is trying to save the others from Raven. I don’t remember how Kanyon ended up officially in the Flock to be fair. This one has more wrestling than the last…but Saturn picks it up with a tope! One of the big shocks: The Flock comes to help Raven finish off Saturn…but Kidman takes out Raven with a missile dropkick! That’s followed by a great false finish with the DVD! Kanyon breaks free, Flatlines Saturn, the locks himself back up. I laughed. Saturn kills Lodi with a DVD through the table on the floor! A lot of great false finishes. Saturn survivies an Evenflow! Saturn frees the Flock at 14:04. DVD wins it! Great second half of the match. I still prefer their July encounter though. Kidman would become a star instantly, winning the Cruiserweight Title the next night. Somehow, despite the big reactions for Saturn here…he would be getting pinned by Sonny Oono two months later. Whatever. Still a solid match. Curt Hennig vs. Dean Malenko For some reason these two had a cage match on Nitro. Doing things backwards…aren’t we. “WE WANT FLAIR!” At least it makes sense, since Hennig turned on the Horsemen at this event in the same building last year. This is a fun little match where Malenko beats the crap out of Hennig’s leg. I like it in terms of building up Malenko’s aggressiveness. Malenko wins by DQ in 7:38. Malenko nails Hennig with the Hennig-Plex…but Rick Rude runs in to cause the DQ. Arn Anderson looks to make the save, but gets taken out. No Flair. He would come tomorrow. Still, not bad. The last three matches have at least taken this show past F potential. Konnan vs. Scott Hall The drunk Scott Hall angle. Horrible. He actually gets a drink while applying an abdominal stretch. Hall has it won, but wants another drink. Konnan kicks the drink out of Hall’s hand (and it hits a fan, nice) and hits a facebuster. Konnan makes Scott Hall submit in 12:03. Tequila Sunrise for the win. Horrible. It’s still hard to believe something like that was on TV, much less Pay-Per-View. #1 Contender War Games Team Hollywood (Hollywood Hogan, Bret Hart, Stevie Ray) vs. Team Wolfpac (Lex Luger, Kevin Nash, Sting) vs. Team WCW (Roddy Piper, Diamond Dallas Page and The Warrior) DDP is #1. Bret Hart #2. The team psychology is already non-existant. Stevie Ray is next! Well…it was a good five minutes between Bret and Page I guess. So 0 Wolfpac, 2 Hollywood and 1 WCW. Yeah that makes sense. Here comes Sting! Crowd comes alive! Sting kicks Stevie Ray’s ass, and leaps from one ring to the other with a flying clothesline! Piper’s in, looking like a nut. It’s all punches and kicks though. Here comes Lex Luger! There really isn’t a whole lot happening between each segment. Kevin Nash next! Big reaction. Hogan and Warrior left. Hogan’s out early! So much for rules! Hogan slapjacks everyone but Stevie Ray. For some reason, Hogan doesn’t go to pin anyone. We’re just waiting for the Warrior here. As soon as the pin attempt happens there’s SMOKE EVERYWHERE! WARRIOR’S IN THE RING! Hogan nails him from behind! More smoke….it’s a fake Warrior? Whatever, here comes THE WARRIOR! A few punches and Hogan goes through the door of the cage to escape. Hogan locks himself out of the cage (well, Warrior goes for the door and it slightly opens…and Warrior avoids the door. Nice). Warrior gets all angry, kicks the top part of the cage to get out, blows his quad and then gets some more punches in. Even though it’s a match and both are participants, security breaks them up. Imagine if that happen at Bad Blood ’97. Now that the angle is over, Stevie Ray accidentally hits (I think it missed and Bret knew it) Bret Hart with a slapjack, and a Diamond Cutter to Stevie Ray! Diamond Dallas Page wins in 20:06 when he pinned Steve Ray. Bret tries to make the save but fails as Page pins Stevie Ray for the Title shot. Absolutely horrible. The worst War Games in the history of the match. It’s not even close really. One of…if not THE worst major PPV main event in professional wrestling history. Your match was a 5 minute solid Bret-Page match, entrances and punches (except for Sting, who did some good stuff). Kevin Nash’s entire night was a few forearms before getting hit with the slapjack and taking two legdrops. The Hogan-Warrior angle was an embarrassment. Page getting the win at the end was pure afterthought. Here’s another thing about this PPV. No Rey Mysterio Jr. or Eddie Guerrero (but Silver King!) No Chris Benoit. No….Goldberg. No fucking Goldberg. At the end of Hennig-Malenko we were in D range. The show overall was a whole lot of nothing. The only real positive I saw storyline wise was Saturn vs. Raven. Well drunk Scott Hall didn’t help. The show basically rested on the main event. Considering it’s possibly the worst main event in professional wrestling history, that should tell you all you need to know. WCW somehow still hung in there ratings wise…although not for long. Final Grade: F |
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| Dubb | Nov 13 2014, 09:58 AM Post #116 |
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That's what she said
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I bought this PPV. The only good thing that comes out of this is that it lead to DDP/Goldberg which was probably Goldberg's best match. And damn lack of a Halloween Havoc review (*cough*as I had requested*cough*) during the Halloween season. FOR SHAME. :smh: Edited by Dubb, Nov 13 2014, 09:58 AM.
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Nov 13 2014, 01:00 PM Post #117 |
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Tyler
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It's coming next! I felt like we needed an appropriate build up with Fall Brawl. |
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Nov 24 2014, 03:45 AM Post #118 |
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Tyler
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Posted Image WCW Halloween Havoc ‘98 October 25, 1998 Las Vgas, NV Off the heels of the destruction of the War Games gimmick…Hogan vs. Warrior! A lot has been made about this match over time, mainly that Hogan had Warrior brought in to get his win back. Whatever. Let’s just be surprised that this match didn’t main event the show. The Warrior was the latest in line for an attempt by WCW to overtake the ratings war that the WWF was more or less winning. If WCW just had Goldberg wrestle top or even near top guys (like Jericho) I think WCW would have been more competitive. Instead, he’s stuck wrestling Meng in World Title matches somehow. Goldberg’s PPV title defense list so far: Curt Hennig in the semi-main at Bash at the Beach (understandable though), a battle royal victory at Road Wild (less understandable) and a no-show at Fall Brawl (completely unacceptable). That does change here though, for what it is worth. Still, WCW was on a long road down…and things would get worse before they got better. Note: I am reviewing this PPV as if the power doesn’t go out before the main event. Yes, many PPV subscribers lost connection to the show. Probably because it set for a three hour slot, and this running time here reads 3:15. The Card Hogan-Warrior hype video. I don’t even understand it all really. You are telling me they couldn’t have used Goldberg in Warrior’s place for this feud? That would have drawn HUGE. The Halloween Havoc ’98 set is awesome. The Nitro Girls? Um…this isn’t Nitro. How about we don’t waste time? Jeez. Rick Steiner interview with Mean Gene. This is a PPV right? How about some matches? Buff Bagwell is out here. Apparently he’s sick of Scott Steiner. He wants to help out Rick. I mean I know how this turns out…but its OBVIOUS Buff is gonna betray him, isn’t it? Rick Steiner is a dumbass. Eight minutes in…and we have a match! WCW Television Championship Chris Jericho© vs. Raven Kinda funny background. Two guys who got over as heels basically putting together their own programs in 1998 was Raven and Chris Jericho. Raven just finished his feud with Saturn. Jericho was in the midst of trying to get a PPV match with Goldberg. We’re told this was just added…which means two of the most talented acts of WCW ’98 weren’t even on the card. Raven also has a losing streak gimmick going on. I hate that idea as guys on losing streaks shouldn’t be getting title shots. Jericho’s actually playing the face here. Raven decides he doesn’t want to wrestle, but Jericho wants to please his Jerichoholics. Jericho’s promo is a foreshadowing of his 2000 style. Jericho gets impaled on the steel railing. Action packed from the start. Raven hits a dropkick after running up the steps, and Jericho yells “HELP ME!” Awesome. Some great sequences. Raven actually ducks Jericho’s back jump kick which leads to a belly to belly. Fans really getting behind Raven here. Jericho survives the Evenflow! Chris Jericho retains by submission in 7:49. Raven crashes into Kanyon on the apron, but almost gets a 2nd Evenflow…until Jericho counters into the Lion Tamer. Quick tap out. Announcers talk about someone like Raven tapping out quickly, implying he just quit the match. Seriously, a Hogan promo? Meng vs. Wrath Somersault off the apron from Wrath! He should have used that when he was Adam Bomb. Wrath pins Meng in 4:23. Impressive Meltdown for the win. Wrath gets a good pop too. Meng didn’t seem to really be, er…trying, but this probably was Wrath’s best workrate run. The fans were into him…until Nash squashed him. #1 Contender to the Cruiserweight Championship Juventud Guerrera vs. Disco Inferno This match has a really stupid ending that isn’t realized until Nitro the next night. Just note that the Cruiserweight Title match is tonight. Disco in the Cruiserweight division is rather meh…although I believe he did the weight limit gimmick deal. I just don’t understand why we have Disco going for the Cruiser title when you have guys like Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero on the roster. Disco busts out a macarana. Great stuff. Very good back and forth match here. Disco Inferno pins Juventud Guerrera in 9:39. Jumping piledriver downs Juvi for the pin! I’ll get into why this was stupid after Disco vs. Kidman. This was quite a good match though. Pretty good start to the PPV wrestling wise at least. NITRO GIRLS AGAIN?! Scott Steiner comes out to challenge Rick Steiner and Buff Bagwell for the Tag titles. For some reason Steiner can replace Scott Hall in the Hall and Giant tag team. Whatever. FREEBIRD RULES! Scott Steiner agrees that if Bagwell and Rick win the titles, he’ll face Rick one on one. Fit Finlay vs. Alex Wright Apparently Fit Finlay ended Alex Wright’s dad’s career with a broken leg 15 years ago or something. Alex Wright pins Fit Finlay in 5:09. Neckbreaker out of nowhere for the win. Boring match. If you told me Finlay would be an upper midcard guy in WWE eight years later I woulda called you crazy. Ernest Miller interview about him being the greatest. Saturn vs. Lodi I guess this is a spinoff of the Saturn vs. Flock feud? Saturn’s new look just doesn’t work. Saturn got no reaction. What a shame. He was mega over a month ago. Saturn pins Lodi in 3:50. Death Valley Driver for the win. Total squash. Not sure why it was on PPV. Lodi was a bit funny trying to keep track of his signs I guess. Nitro Girls a third time. It’s not fucking Nitro. WCW Cruiserweight Championship Billy Kidman© vs. Disco Inferno Kidman beat Juvi for the title the night after Fall Brawl. Disco is here due to his win earlier tonight. Disco nails the piledriver…but it’s not enough. We get a macarana driver attempt, but Kidman facebusters Disco out of it. Kidman retains in 10:49. Shooting Star Press for the win. Not as good as Disco-Juvi earlier, but still good. Here’s why’s it’s stupid. Kidman would defend the Cruiser title on Nitro against…. Juventud Guerrera! Whatever. WCW World Tag Team Championship The Giant and Scott Steiner © vs. Rick Steiner and Buff Bagwell Chucky references. Oh goodie. It takes about four minutes for Bagwell to turn on Rick. Rick looking like an idiot was a big reason he didn’t get over from this. He was getting a great reaction before all this too. It would only get worse for Rick sadly. Rick Steiner wins the title in 8:24. What? Rick Steiner makes the comeback and hits a Top Rope Bulldog on the Giant to win the title! HUGE reaction! Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner Buff Bagwell comes back in a disguise and nails Rick Steiner with a slapjack. The disguise was totally unnecessary. Rick Steiner pins Scott Steiner in 5:00. Top rope bulldog for the win. Really disappointing for a grudge match. It still only goes downhill for Rick…unless you were a Judy Bagwell fan. Scott Hall vs. Kevin Nash Story here: The Outsiders broke up when the NWO factions split, with Hall picking Hollywood. In my opinion, this should have happened at Starrcade. Hall was doing his “drunk” angle at this time. It actually leads to Hall pretending he’s wasted to get a cheap shot on Nash. Early Hall dominance….then a Hall promo. Wasting time for sure. Nash eventually takes control…then beats the crap out of Hall for a good five minutes. Scott Hall wins via countout in 14:19. Nash hits two Jackknife Powerbombs (he fucks up each though)…tells Hall to suck it…then walks out. Not sure if that was ever explained. As we will see with Hogan-Warrior later, this was a match that was a lot better years ago in the WWF with Vince calling the shots (Summerslam ’94). It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t good either. Nitro Girls for the fourth time. WCW United States Championship Bret Hart © vs. Sting Another match that shoulda been slated for Starrcade! I’m not even sure if Bret is NWO here. He didn’t use NWO music here. Mike Tenay says this won’t be a technical wrestling match. I guess he’s never watched Bret Hart or something. This is marketed as the Sharpshooter vs. the Scorpion. Pretty boring first half…even though there’s nothing really wrong with this match. Just seems like two guys going through the motions. Bret legdropping the ref is a highlight of the match. Bret Hart wins when Sting doesn’t answer the ref in the Sharpshooter in 15:09. Bret beats the crap out of Sting with a baseball bat then locks him in the Sharpshooter. How un-Bret Hart like. Also pretty boring and disappointing for a dream match like Bret vs. Sting. Sting does a stretcher job and wouldn’t be seen until March or so. Hollywood Hogan vs. The Warrior We are shown Horace Hogan getting beat down by NWO Hollywood. I would think Horace isn’t a big enough name to interfere here… The opening sequence isn’t that bad! Really weird criss crossing off the ropes spot leading to a bodyslam from Hogan…which Warrior no sells! Random ref bump…and Hogan adds a kneedrop for no reason. Really hasn’t been that awful so far. The famous logroll spot. Hogan misses two elbowdrops, and Warriors rolls into him with…a roll attack? It only goes downhill from here. Hogan tries to light some flash paper to throw a fireball at Warrior…and instead it blows up in his face. Hollywood Hogan pinned The Warrior in 14:07. Horace Hogan comes in and nails Warrior with a chair shot for the Hogan victory. The opening sequence was decent but it went downhill from there. Sharply downhill. Warrior and Hogan do a whole lot of nothing for the last 11 minutes with highlights being a logroll spot, a failed fireball spot and a match as important as this one ending with Horace Hogan involved in the finish. That doesn’t even consider the many missed kicks and messed up bumps taken (specifically by Warrior). Horrible. One of the worst PPV matches ever. Luckily, WCW didn’t put it as the main event! WCW World Championship Goldberg © vs. Diamond Dallas Page I never liked the security for Goldberg. If you are so tough, why need security? Pretty cool lockup that goes flying out of the ring. Goldberg completed a backflip…but Page smartly trips him a second time! Great spot! Nice drop toehold from Page. Great match so far! Flying hurricanrana from DDP! Page calls for the Diamond Cutter….and gets speared! Goldberg got him good too! One of the most iconic moments in WCW history…Goldberg goes for the Jackhammer…only for Page to twist it into the Diamond Cutter! Page can’t capitalize though. Goldberg retains by pin in 10:29. Page suplex gets turned into the Jackhammer for the win. Easily Goldberg’s best match ever, and arguably Page’s as well. Perfectly complimented the ideas of Goldberg the destroyer against the underdog Page. If there’s an argument to say that you could have built a company around Page, this match would be the launching point of the argument. Great match. It also tremendously helped the PPV. I can’t give this PPV too much credit as there was a lot of bad and waste. Less is more would be a perfect description of this show. We don’t need the Nitro Girls four times. We don’t need matches like Saturn vs. Lodi or Finlay vs. Alex Wright. We don’t need non-sensical cruiserweight division booking. What we do need is more main events like Goldberg vs. Page and more openers like Raven vs. Jericho. Overall, the card was pretty good and a hell of a big improvement over Fall Brawl. There’s only so much you can do though when one of the worst PPV matches of all time is on the card though. Warrior vs. Hogan was a joke. Nash vs. Hall wasn’t much better. Page and Goldberg saved this main events for sure. Fun fact: Warrior made one more appearance on Nitro the next night…and it was the last time Nitro beat RAW for a full night. But good thing for WCW is that they didn’t keep the Warrior on TV. His time had past. Sadly in a few months Hogan wouldn’t realize his had as well. Final Grade: C+ |
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| MPH | Nov 24 2014, 03:48 AM Post #119 |
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OMAHA!
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Bret is Canadian and the other two are black? :shifty: Also, as someone who got this Halloween Havoc live on PPV, it will forever get an F from me. F- even... Edited by MPH, Nov 24 2014, 03:50 AM.
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Nov 24 2014, 11:14 AM Post #120 |
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Tyler
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Well if Page-Goldberg got cut on your broadcast, and you got the additional Konnan music videos...I guess I could see that... BUT TWO DISCO INFERNO MATCHES?! |
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