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WCW PPV Memories/Discussion Thread Part 2: Russo's Revenge


Newb82

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Figure I'll keep this going, then it can either be integrated into the orginal thread, or I can link to it, should the old board be simply read only.

 

Halloween Havoc '98 10/25

 

-From Las Vegas

 

-Hosts are Tony, Tenay, & Bobby

 

-Opening video focuses on Hogan/Warrior and Goldberg/DDP, with a little Nash/Hall thrown in at the end.

 

-I've seen this show a few times after buying it (and a couple others) from someone on the board a few years ago. This, like that DVD I bought years ago, is the home video release, which has three matches missing. Those are Wrath over Meng, Alex Wright over Finlay, and Saturn over Lodi.

 

-The crew open by talking about Hogan/Warrior. Heenan is AGHAST that Hogan would attack Horace, the son of Hogan's late brother. Tenay breaks down Goldberg/DDP.

 

-The Nitro Girls do a routine in the ring, then Mean Gene brings out Rick Steiner, who is again supposed to face Scott. Buff Bagwell comes out to try to convince Rick that he's turned face, and asks Rick to let him watch his back. No one buys it (not even the announce team) and even Rick takes some convincing, but eventually agrees to it. The crowd is way ahead on this one. BTW, anyone wonder why this show went long?

 

-Match 1 for the Television Championship: Chris Jericho [c] VS Raven

 

-Raven is in the midst of a losing streak (so how did he get a title shot?) and is in a funk after losing the Flock. Raven bitches about being put in this match at the last minute, and walks out, before Jericho gets on the mic and goads him into coming back. Vegas has some Jerichoholics in the building. For the first couple minutes, Jericho dominates in the ring, and Raven is able to turn the tide when they go to the floor. Jericho exposes a turnbuckle, and naturally, it backfires on him. Crowd gets behind Raven as he starts getting near-falls. Jericho gets the Liontamer, but Raven holds on and reaches the ropes. Raven gets the Evenflow out of nowhere, but Jericho kicks out at two. They trade a couple more near-falls as Kanyon comes out. Jericho counters the Evenflow and gets the Liontamer again, this time getting a very fast tap out to retain. Really good and hot opener.

 

-Hollywood & Uncle Eric come out to waste more time. Hogan talks about (exaggerating greatly of course) the beatdown he gave Horace and how it shows where Hollywood is coming from. Hogan has some threats for The Warrior.

 

-Match 2 for a Cruiserweight Title Shot: Disco Inferno VS Juventud Guerrera

 

-There's actually an angle heading into this, as Tony explains that Juvy tattled on Disco for not actually making weight for some of his Cruiserweight division matches. Pretty fast-paced first couple minutes. Disco is back to being a promising wrestler, who can't focus. Disco is in his "Macarena" phase, which really dates the show. They have a pretty good back-and-forth match. Disco wins with a jumping piledriver.

 

-More Nitro Girls. Tony & Bobby have hot flashes at the more suggestive portions, while Tenay won't STFU.

 

-BPP comes out, and after some rambling before challenging Rick & Buff to a tag title match against he & The Giant, since the nWo can have any two members defend the titles. J.J. Dillon makes it official, adding that if Rick/Buff win the titles, then it's Rick VS Scott immediately after.

 

-Even more Nitro Girls.

 

-Match 3 for the Cruiserweight Championship: Billy Kidman [c] VS Disco Inferno

 

-Another decent CW match, although a lot slower-paced than the previous one since Disco controls a lot of it. Disco uses some of the weirdest "shit talk" during his control segment ("Kidman...turn the music down..." "Yes mom..."). WTF is that supposed to mean? Disco does manage to completely turn the crowd against him and gets some nice heel heat. Disco tries a powerbomb, but YOU CAN'T POWERBOMB KIDMAN, who opts to simply slide out of it instead of hitting the X-Factor, leaving himself open for the jumping piledriver for two. Kidman tries a tornado DDT, but Disco counters into a belly-to-back suplex. Disco again tries to powerbomb Kidman, who does hit the X-Factor this time, leading to the SSP for the pin. This was much more a traditional heavyweight-style match, with the heel controlling for the most part before the babyface hits a couple big moves to win.

 

-Match 4 for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: Scott Steiner & The Giant [c] VS Rick Steiner & Buff Bagwell

 

-Scott takes a pro-BPP sign from a fan...and doesn't destroy it. Buff gets a lot of high-pitched cheers pre-match. Tony actually brings up the angle with Chucky the Killer Doll. BPP actually wouldn't have been out of place in a "...of Chucky" movie. It's not like he could have made them any worse. Rick immediately settles into the FIP role, until he makes his comeback and tags Buff, who promptly turns on Rick and runs away. Crowd chants for Goldberg as BPP beats Rick down. The crew go over the top to try to sell Buff as being convincing before turning on Rick. Giant does a MISSILE DROPKICK (taking forever to get his footing), but accidentally hits Scott. Rick hits a flying bulldog for the pin. Decent enough match. Weak-ass sauce finish.

 

-Match 5: Rick Steiner VS Scott Steiner

 

-Rick beats the shit out of Scott until Scott hits a low blow and a throw to turn the tide. Rick comes back and pounds on Scott until Buff (in a Bill Clinton mask) comes out, gets a slapjack from Steview, and KO's Rick before drilling Charles Robinson. Buff makes counts with Robinson's limp hand, always stopping at two when Rick kicks out. I've always loved that trope with heel refs (or in this case a heel using a KO'd ref as a puppet). They may do anything up to and including fast counts, but will (with the exception of Earl Hebner impersonating Dave Hebner) stop at two if the face kicks out. Rick makes another comeback and takes out Buff before finishing Scott with the flying bulldog with Nick Patrick counting the pin. Not much of a match. Rick should have gotten a world title shot for all the work they put into putting him over here.

 

-Video recaps the Hall/Nash feud.

 

-Match 6: Scott Hall (w/drink) VS Kevin Nash

 

-Hall throws the drink into Nash's face, and clearly shows that he was faking being drunk. Hall beats the shit out of Nash, then gets a mic and talks shit as trainers tend to Nash. Nash eventually makes it clear that he's playing rope-a-dope as Hall pounds on him. Nash finally makes his comeback and goes for the Jackknife, but Hall bails. Hall gets back in, but it's all Nash. Nash hits a couple big Jackknifes, then simply walks away and gets counted out instead of getting the pin. This was pretty good, and probably the best the two were capable of by this time. They were interested in making each other look good and selling the angle, and thus brought their best to this match.

 

-Yet even more Nitro Girls.

 

-Match 7 for the United States Championship: Bret Hart [c] VS Sting

 

-While still a heel, Bret is no longer nWo-affiliated. Bret stalls until Sting has enough of his shit and goes on the attack. Bret makes a comeback, and goes to work on Sting's back. Sting avoids a dropkick off the second turnbuckle and quickly slaps on the Scorpion, but Bret makes it to the ropes. Bret tries feigning a knee injury and getting a foreign object out of his tights. Sting gets a hold of the object, but the ref prevents him from hitting Bret, who takes advantage with a low blow. The ref conveniently gets bumped just before Sting makes his comeback. Sting crotches Bret on the top rope then superplexes Bret right onto the legs of the ref.

 

Sting overshoots on the Stinger Splash and cracks his head on the ringpost. Bret grabs Sting's baseball bat and lays waste to Sting before slapping on the Sharpshooter to retain. Pretty disappointing, in that it's "1998" good, and not "dream match" good.

 

-Sting does a stretcher job to sell the beating.

 

-Match 8: Hollywood Hogan VS The Warrior

 

-Two surprises to start: no Buffer intros, and this isn't on last. There's stalling, then a brief flurry of action, then more stalling. They do the always-exciting GRECO-ROMAN KNUCKLE LOCK. Hogan controls that but gets cocky, and Warriors gains control. The ref gets bumped and Warrior fights off Giant, Stevie, & Vincent before getting a visual pin. Hogan uses every cheap heat tactic he knows, but then badly fucks up a fireball. After some more shitty brawling, Bischoff detains the ref while Horace SHOCKS the crew by whacking Warrior with a chair and allowing Hogan to get the pin. This was total shit, but what was anyone expecting? WrestleMania VI this was not.

 

-The nWo try to set The Warrior on fire, but fail. These guys should not be trying ECW-style angles.

 

-Match 9 for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Goldberg [c] VS DDP

 

-Buffer does the intros here. First, I'll show you how the live PPV viewers experienced this match.

 

Posted Image

 

 

 

 

 

OK, we're back. Goldberg works the arm. DDP tries doing the same then goes for the 'Cutter, but Goldberg shrugs him off. Goldberg goes back to DDP's arm, but misses a spear and crashes shoulder-first into the ring post. DDP hits a flying clothesline for two and calls for the 'Cutter, but he then turns right into a spear. Goldberg has fucked up his shoulder worse than it was, and can't capitalize. Goldberg can't quite get the Jackhammer, and DDP counters into the Diamond Cutter to a HUGE pop. DDP takes too long to get the cover, and Goldberg pops out at two. DDP tries a suplex, but Goldberg blocks and hits the Jackhammer to retain. GREAT main event, and one of my favorite WCW matches ever.

 

-Goldberg helps DDP to his feet, then DDP raises Goldberg's hand before leaving. Goldberg poses with the belt to close the show.

 

-FINAL THOUGHTS: This was an interesting show. There's a ton of filler and odd booking decisions, but enough good ---> great wrestling to make it worth a watch (at least the home video version). It's not the best PPV ever, but the last few WCW PPVs made this show look like WrestleMania X-Seven in comparison.

 

-NEXT EVENT: World War 3 '98

 

 

 

 

 

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Really glad you're still doing this. I started watching all the WCW ppvs a few months, and have been reading your thoughts to see how they correlate with mine. I'm nearly caught up to where you are, so maybe I'll add some comments along the way.

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Hahahaha, "black.GIF" has me smiling so big right now. I was 9 when they fucked up and the PPV feed cut out early. We didn't have AOL yet so I didn't find out who won until the next night on Nitro, when they showed the match in full if I remember correctly.

 

I missed this thread. I hope we can get the old posts back here, I used to come here to see what you said about random '80s matches from time to time.

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Just like to add my voice to those glad you're picking these back up. Always a fun read.

 

I literally have no recollection of the Hall-Nash feud. We're getting to the part where WCW just becomes one big blur to me. I was a huge Disco mark and hated that they never gave him a prolonged serious run. In hindsight, WCW may have actually been right on that one.

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We didn't have AOL yet so I didn't find out who won until the next night on Nitro, when they showed the match in full if I remember correctly.

They did show the main event in full on Nitro the next night.
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Not positive it's Page's best match (some of the stuff with Savage and Benoit are really good) but I think it's easily his best performance.  Goldberg pretty much hadn't gone more than about 8 minutes with anyone, Page drags him to like 12 or 15 minutes, and builds an utterly compelling match around the idea of the diamond cutter.  Sure, Page is no tougher/better than the other guys Goldberg has ran through, but he can hit the Cutter at any time.  Can he hit Goldberg with it?  Will it keep Goldberg down?  The entire match is brilliantly built around that.  Goldberg holds his end better than he had at any time up to that point, but it's the Dallas Page show, and he was just ON.

 

I've seen BRIDE and hated it. I haven't seen SON OF.

 

 

Heresy.  And it's called Seed of Chucky, not Son.

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It's probably just the "hindsight is 20/20" in me talking, but I'll say it: DDP probably should have won the match against Goldberg.

 

Nah.  I love Page, but Goldberg was red hot at a time when the company was sinking.  He was their only hope in holding off the collapse (of course, they never seemed to fully commit to his title run being the center of the company...)

 

I do think they waited too long before they did finally put the belt on Page though, so, maybe.

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Not positive it's Page's best match (some of the stuff with Savage and Benoit are really good) but I think it's easily his best performance.  Goldberg pretty much hadn't gone more than about 8 minutes with anyone, Page drags him to like 12 or 15 minutes, and builds an utterly compelling match around the idea of the diamond cutter.  Sure, Page is no tougher/better than the other guys Goldberg has ran through, but he can hit the Cutter at any time.  Can he hit Goldberg with it?  Will it keep Goldberg down?  The entire match is brilliantly built around that.  Goldberg holds his end better than he had at any time up to that point, but it's the Dallas Page show, and he was just ON.   Heresy.  And it's called Seed of Chucky, not Son.

Those movies officially never happened now. Sorry.
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Jericho-Raven is one of my favorite random WCW matches, and like everyone has said, Page-Goldberg was one of my favorite WCW matches ever and especially of this era. Considering how they ended the streak, perhaps Page should have won. It'd be no worse than shock stick/powerbomb/Disco Inferno interference. 

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DDP-Goldberg is kind of the culmination of what I felt was a rare perfect build up to a match that wasn't let down by overbooking and a shitty epilogue.  I remember being like a junior in high school and watching this in the living room.  My father, who hated wrestling and basically watched alongside myself and my brother solely for the purpose of delivering MST3K-style commentary (to our chagrin/his amusement), didn't have much to say once it got started.  Afterward, he begrudgingly admitted, "That was pretty good."

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Not positive it's Page's best match (some of the stuff with Savage and Benoit are really good)

 

Grammar is clearly not going to be my strong suit here on the new board either...

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World War 3 '98 11/22-From Auburn Hills, MI-EARLIER TODAY: Goldberg arrives. Tony explains that he's here to see who wins the main event and gets a title shot at Starrcade.-Hosts are Tony, Bobby, & Tenay-Tony opens up by stating that Hogan is not there, and the crew are perplexed since he's all about being the champion. They finish up by mentioning DDP/Bret, then throw it to Mean Gene, who says he thinks a "little guy" will win the main event.-Match 1: Glacier VS Wrath-Tony puts Wrath over as being on a higher level than Glacier because of his three-month win streak. Glacier gets annoyed at the crowd cheering for Wrath. Wrath isn't interested in selling for Glacier, who actually tries to make up for it by selling for two. Wrath casually beats the shit out of Glacier, and even gets cheered when he cheats. Glacier hits a shitty Chryonic Kick, but Wrath blocks the Ice Pick and hits the Meltdown for the pin. This was definitely meant to be a showcase for Wrath, but it wasn't a particularly good one.-Video profile on Bret, and his run of injuring people. He REALLY doesn't like DDP.-Match 2: Stevie Ray (w/Vincent) VS Konnan-Stevie dominates for the most part, which is so not a recipe for a good match. Konnan finally fights back and hits the X-Factor. Konnan stops to swing at Vincent, allowing Stevie to get a thumb to the eye. Vincent accidentally KO's Stevie with the Slap Jack, and Konnan pounds on Stevie instead of getting the pin. Konnan shoves the ref aside, and gets DQ'd. Booker saves Stevie from a further beating, but Stevie picks nWo over his brother. Bad match, even worse finish. Not a good start to this show.-Match 3: The Cat & Sonny Onoo (w/Trainers) VS Kaz Hayashi & Saturn-Pretty odd pairing on the face side. Pretty big step down for Saturn after the "Freeing of the Flock" angle. Cat gives Kaz five seconds to leave, but he opts to tag Saturn instead. Saturn punches Cat in the face when he turns back around, and Cat bails. Cat gets Hayashi down and tags Sonny, but Hayashi no-sells Sonny's kicks and punches him, so Sonny quickly tags Cat. Saturn and Cat have a good and heated segment, then Cat tags a VERY reluctant Sonny, who almost immediately is submitted by Saturn. After a couple more exchanges, Saturn is about to suplex Sonny, but gets caught with the Feliner by Cat, and Sonny falls on top for the pin. This had some good stuff while Saturn & Cat were in there, but was pretty deadful otherwise. Who did Saturn piss off to fall so far as to get pinned by Sonny Onoo?-Chris Jericho talks with the internet guys about his match with Bobby Duncum Jr.-Match 4 for the Cruiserweight Championship: Juventud Guerrera [c] VS Billy Kidman-Mean Gene runs out to make Juvy show his lWo shirt, signaling his joining the group. Eddie explains that Juvy is indeed a new member. Rey interrupts, wondering if this is why Juvy got the title shot where he won the belt, and Rey didn't. Eddie tells Rey he's going to take Rey to the back and teach him the meaning of sacrifice. It doesn't take long before they start throwing bombs at each other. Juvy takes Kidman off the apron with a rana, which hurts them both. Crowd has turned on Juvy as a result of his joining Eddie. Both guys are clearly gassed, so they try to make up for it by using all three rings, big moves, and near-falls. To their credit, it works. Juvy tries a super rana, but Rey rushes out and holds Kidman down to block the move, and Kidman hits the SSP to regain the title. The whole lWo runs out, and Rey officially leaves the group after an ultimatum from Eddie. Pretty much a car wreck, with no selling or psychology to speak of. Good for what it was though.-Match 5: Scott Steiner (w/Buff Bagwell & BPP's Personal Ref) VS WCW World Tag Team Champion Rick Steiner-No Rick to start, until we cut to the back where nWo Hollywood are kicking his ass. They bring him to the ring. It's basically a handicap match until Goldberg makes the save. More of an angle than a match.-Scott Hall comes out for a match with Nash, surrounded by nWo Hollywood. Bischoff comes out to conduct a survey, and orders the rest of nWo Hollywood to attack Hall. Nash makes the save and they clean house as the crowd chants "Outsiders". Hall wants to mend fences, but Nash isn't ready to forgive him that easy. While it was a nice segment, that's two straight big matches that were essentially canceled, and this one in particular ends up meaning nothing a couple months later.-The crew reacts to what just happened.-Match 6 for the Television Championship: Chris Jericho [c] (w/Ralphus) VS Bobby Duncum Jr.-The crowd couldn't care less about Duncum. Duncum controls the first couple minutes, until he sends Jericho into the crowd. Duncum tries to rip a Jericho shirt out of a fan's hands (and fails), and that allows Jericho to throw a drink in Duncum's face and hit a springboard clothesline. Duncum goes to work on Jericho's arm, but Jericho fights back with a hot shot and springboard dropkick. Jericho's control segment is pretty uninspired. Duncum makes his comeback, and no one gives a shit. Jericho gets a quick clothesline and lionsaul for two. Jericho goes up top, but gets caught and superplexed. Duncum blows an interference spot, then goes after Ralphus, allowing Jericho to grab the title belt and KO Duncum to retain. This went waaaaaaay too fucking long. Whose brilliant idea was it to have a guy who just debuted that Monday go seemingly 20 minutes on PPV? Especially a guy whose style dictates that he's not going to get over by hitting impressive moves.-Match 7: World War 3-Elimination occurs by pin, submission, or being thrown from the ring in any fashion. There's a handy dandy count of how many guys are left in the bottom left corner of the screen, which is nice. Nash takes charge and clears out a lot of ring 3, and a lot of guys are put out quickly. Nash eliminates Van Hammer to have ring 3 all to himself for a bit. Not much of note happens for a while until Giant has to fight off a six-on-one attack in ring 1.  Rey becomes the last guy eliminated to get the count down to 20 and everyone converges into ring 2. Saturn & Cat fight on the floor instead of going to ring 2, and eliminate themselves.Chavo dives at Wright and eliminates both. Eddie & Disco follow quickly as Giant starts tossing out cruiserweights, finishing with Kidman to make the count 13. Giant charges Nash to a big pop, and now everyone left is into it. It slows down again until Nash & Giant team up to try to take out The Giant. Luger dumps Stevie to make it a dirty dozen. Mongo eliminates Norton before getting immediately tossed by Nash to make it 10. Bam Bam Bigelow charges in from the crowd, and is promptly jumped by the Wolfpac as he tries to get in the ring. As security tries to get Bigelow out of there, Goldberg runs out to get a piece of Bam Bam. Two more are tossed as Bigelow & Goldberg fight it out.Elite 8 are Benoit, Booker, Nash, Malenko, Luger, Konnan, Giant, & Hall. Booker is eliminated as the camera focuses on Bigelow being pulled away. The teams get in corners to talk strategy. Konnan almost gets Hall out, but ends up accidentally eliminating himself. Nash unifies everyone to go after Giant. It takes all five, but they get Giant out. Benoit & Malenko eye ball Hall as he taunts Giant, then go after him when he turns around. Nash & Luger help Hall, and the Horsemen are eliminated in short order, leaving it Hall, Nash, & Luger. Everyone takes turns going after each other. Luger tries to rack Hall, and Nash runs over to eliminate both guys to win. Probably the best of the WW3's, since a lot of dead weight was eliminated quickly, and the ending stretch was pretty good. Surprised this didn't go on last.-Match 8 for the United States Championship: DDP [c] VS Bret Hart-Michael Buffer handles the intros. DDP gets the quick jump on Bret, but that doesn't last long. Bret controls for a while. DDP makes a comeback, and cuts off an attempt by Bret to use a foreign object. DDP goes for the Sharpshooter, but Bret reaches the ropes. Bret regains control and gets the ringpost figure 4. DDPA turns things around, and gets his own ringpost figure 4. DDP gets a chair and goes for some revenge on Bret, but the ref tries to disarm him, and Bret shoves DDP onto the ref. Bret gets the object back from the ref and KO's DDP. Bret gets the Sharpshooter, and the nWo ref immediately calls for the bell. Mickie Jay comes out to overrule the nWo ref, and DDP pops up to hit Bret with the Cutter to retain. Pretty disappointing main event. The work was good, but it didn't have nearly the buzz that DDP/Goldberg did.-FINAL THOUGHTS: While not as bad as say, Road Wild, this was a HUGE step down from Havoc. Nothing on it was particularly memorable, and two big matches were pretty much canceled in favor of angles. This show only sets up really awful shit down the line.-NEXT EVENT: (DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNN) Starrcade '98  

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Starrcade '98 12/27-From Washington, DC-Hosts are Tony, Tenay, & Bobby-The crew talk about the main event, then Eric Bischoff having the rest of the Horsemen banned from the building before his match with Flair. After some brief words about Giant/DDP, they air a hype video...for a special on QVC.-Mean Gene confirms that the Horseman aside from Flair are not in the building, before teasing that some "familiar faces" are backstage, but you have to CALL THE HOTLINE to find out who they are.-Match 1 for the Cruiserweight Championship: Billy Kidman [c] VS Juventud Guerrera VS Rey Mysterio Jr. [Triangle Match]-Rey has a rap theme that I don't remember at all. Juvy slaps hands with fans despite being in the heel lWo. Juvy gives the other two attitude, so they double-team him to start. Kidman & Rey start hitting each other as Juvy cheers them on, so they stop and drop Juvy. Pretty fast-paced, and they manage to avoid the cliche "one guy gets eliminated and the other two fight it out" switches. Kidman catches Rey trying to slide between his legs, and holds him in position for a Doomsday rana from Juvy. Rey almost breaks Juvy's leg by giving him a rana off the apron that causes Juvy's leg to crash into the guardrail. Replay shows Rey almost hurt himself with that move too.There are a few different spots where one guy hits moves on both opponents simultaneously, and a lot of near-falls. The match slows down considerably as all three get winded. With Kidman out on the floor, Rey hits Juvy with a springboard rana, but doesn't go for the cover, and ends up taking a Juvy Driver and Kidman has to save. Juvy accidentally alley-oops Rey into Kidman for a second rope rana, and ends up having to make a save himself. Rey hits another rana on Juvy that sends both guys outside, and Kidman follows with a SSP to the floor. Eddie Guerrero makes his way out, drawing the most heat of the match by far.Kidman has Juvy pinned, but Eddie runs in to turn the cover over. Rey gets in and dropkicks Juvy, allowing Kidman to get the pin and retain. Pretty wild opener that was hampered a bit by the lack of heat.-Eddie gets in the ring and berates both Rey & Juvy. Eddie calls Kidman a "cream puff" and a "sissy boy". Eddie decides the only way to get things done is to do it himself, and challanges Kidman to a title match. Kidman accepts, and wants to face Eddie RIGHT NOW. Eddie tries to beg off for some reason, but gets goaded into it by Kidman. Even the dumbass announce crew knows this is a stupid move by Kidman.-Match 2 for the Cruiserweight Championship: Billy Kidman [c] VS Eddie Guerrero-Seconds in, EDDIE POWERBOMBS KIDMAN...for two. Eddie does the smart thing and goes for the immediate pin, but can't get it. Juvy tries to help Eddie cheat, but Rey keeps cutting that off. Juvy does finally provide enough of a distraction that allows Eddie to clip Kidman and apply a submission. Kidman makes a short comeback and gets a sleeper, but Eddie counters into a jawbreaker to regain control. Eddie plays a little rope-a-dope with Kidman, then takes off one of his workboots and drills Kidman for two. Eddie throws the boot at Rey, and wrestles with only one boot on. Eddie calls for the frog splash, but Kidman catches him with a superplex for two.Eddie goes back to the knee and applies another submission. In a cute bit, Rey uses Eddie's discarded boot to wap Juvy and knock Eddie's hands off the ropes. Kidman makes a comeback, but Eddie blocks a super rana. Eddie tries one of his own, but Kidman blocks and dumps him. Eddie's bodyguard tries to get involved, providing a distraction, allowing Juvy to crotch Kidman. Rey does the same to Eddie, and Kidman finishes with the SSP. Not as good as the opener since Kidman was already spent going into it, but still pretty good with Eddie keeping his control segments interesting.-Nash/Goldberg hype video.-Match 3: Norman Smiley VS Prince Iaukea-OK...what the FUCK is this match doing on Starrcade? Anyway, Smiley looks like he's tweener here, as he does the "Big Wiggle" dance during his entrance, but stops to slap hands with fans. The crowd is completely uninterested in this match, and a small "boring" chant breaks out seconds in. They give it the old college try, but this is like WWE booking Yoshi Tatsu VS Alex Riley at WrestleMania. Norman does manage to get a pop for the dance at one point. Norman uses a couple nifty holds, but Iaukea clearly has no idea how to sell them. Norman gets some applause for a nice takedown and a pop for the full-blown version of the Wiggle. They go waaaay too long, and Tony has to fill time by talking about the main event, and Norman has to keep dancing just to keep the crowd from falling asleep. It takes a couple tries, but Norman gets a cross-face chicken wing for the submission. Crowd sarcastically  pops because the match is finally over.-Scott Hall comes out in an "Outsiders" shirt to a nice face reaction, and promptly sucks up to the crowd. Hall says he lost everything he cared about in 1998, but says he has no one to blame but himself for that. Hall says that despite what Nash and people in every arena have told him, the only person Hall has to prove anything to is himself. Hall finishes by saying he can't wait to kiss 1998 good-bye, because 1999 is his year.-Video recaps Bigelow attacking Scott Hall backstage, leading to a triangle match between Goldberg, Bigelow, & Nash, which ended in a no-contest when Hall interfered.-Match 4: The Cat (w/Sonny Onoo) VS Saturn-Cat actually gets some decent heat for his pre-match promo. Not much to this match. Saturn controls on the ground, and Cat tries to fight back with his karate. Onoo gets involved, but it backfires, and Saturn finishes with the DVD. NEXT!-Mean Gene brings out Naitch, who delivers a classic crazy old man promo describing the terrible things he's going to do to Bischoff.-Video recaps the iron-fisted reign of Eric Bischoff.-BPP (for now the leader of the Black + White) & Buff go into Konnan's lockerroom and threaten him. Scott says he made an agreement not to touch Luger, which Konnan questions when Luger comes in to make the save.-Match 5: Brian Adams & Scott Norton (w/Vincent) VS Fit Finlay & Jerry Flynn-WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS MATCH DOING ON STARRCADE?! Tony gets a note that the main event is now no-DQ. Finlay VS Norton would have actually made a nice Saturday Night feud. The crew take time to talk about Hogan's ridiculous "presidential campaign". Pretty much an extended squash for the nWo. F & F try to make a comeback, but Norton says "fuck that" and finally finishes with a big powerbomb on Flynn. What was Nash smoking when he put this card together?-The production crew plays Bischoff's music, not realizing Mean Gene has to intro him first. Bischoff insincerely apologizes for all the pain that he has caused, then says he's sorry that Flair is taking this match so soon after his heart attack. Bischoff speculates that Flair is wrestling tonight because he's broke, which probably isn't too far from the proof. Bischoff gives a promo that's more shoot than work, talking about Flair paying for everything himself and not saving any money himself, before pointing out that Turner pays for all of his expenses.-Video shows Jericho putting a Konnan impersonator in the Liontamer as a result of his losing the TV title to Konnan and in preparation for the rematch.-Match 6 for the Television Championship: Konnan [c] VS Chris Jericho (w/Ralphus)-Jericho has the belt, obviously having stolen it from Konnan. Jericho gets a face reaction to his pre-match promo and implores Konnan to pull his pants up. There's a close-up of Stacy Keibler in the crowd grooving to Konnan's music video. Nothing says "wrestling" like a bunch of white people yelling "ARRIBA LA RAZA!". Not much to this match either. There's a stupid spot where Jericho misses a dive and cracks his mid-section on the ring steps. Jericho bops Konnan with the belt for two, and the crowd starts to get really into this match just as Konnan finishes with the X-Factor and Tecquila Sunrise. Would fit in on the undercard of any modern WrestleMania.-The Giant gets pissed at Lee Marshall for implying that Giant can't put DDP down.-Match 7: Eric Bischoff VS Ric Flair-Flair beats the shit out of Bischoff, as he should, for the first couple minutes. Little Naitch pulls Ric out of the corner, and Bischoff scores with a kick to the head, then rams Ric's head into the guardrail, and Flair blades. Yes, ERIC BISCHOFF is going toe-to-toe with RIC FLAIR. Flair turns the tide with a low blow, then oblidges the crew's request with another one. Flair removes Bischoff's shirt and chops away. Robinson gets bumped and Flair adds a Shattered Dreams. Flair gets the figure 4, but Curt Hennig runs out and hands Bischoff an object, which he uses to KO Flair for the pin. Bischoff keeps the object in his hand even as Robinson tries to raise it. Dumbass. I know Flair wins the Presidency by beating Bischoff the next night on Nitro, but WHY NOT DO THAT HERE?! Seriously, fuck this show.-Video preview for DDP/Giant. Bret, who is not booked for this show, wins the U.S. title back from DDP with help from Giant. Bret dangles the carrot of a U.S. title shot in front of DDP, leading to a beatdown by Giant and a chokeslam off the stage.-Match 8: The Giant VS DDP-Giant spits his gum at DDP, who responds with a loogee aimed at Giant's face. Giant sends DDP into the crowd, where there's a garbage can conveniently placed. DDP blocks a punch with the can and hits Giant with it, but it has no effect. Giant works the leg, for a little bit, then forgets all about it. Giant switches up to a bearhug, then blocks a sunset flip and hits a choke lift into a backbreaker. Not content with stealing Rock's "People's Champion" moniker, DDP lifts the Hurricane DDT, calling it the "Diamond Dream" according to Tenay. The ref gets bumped and Bret Hart runs out with a chair. Bret accidentally hits Giant with the chair, and gets punched out by DDP.DDP hits a couple flying clotheslines, then calls for the Cutter. DDP tries another flying clothesline, but gets caught in chokeslam position. DDP tries a low blow (when did that become legal?), but Giant holds on. Giant sets DDP up for a super chokeslam, but DDP counters into the Cutter to send Giant to the WWF. Not bad, once they got out of the bearhug.-Same Nash/Goldberg video from before.-Match 9 for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Goldberg [c] VS Kevin Nash-Buffer does the intros. For all the flaws in WCW's booking around this time, this does have that elusive "big fight feel". After a feeling out process and dueling chants, Nash goes for the leg choke in the corner, but Goldberg grabs his leg and shoves him down. They then go to the mat and...trade submissions? Goldberg gets the spear, but Nash goes low to block the jackhammer. Nash takes control, and gets a couple near-falls. Goldberg busts out a spinning heel kick (!), which draws out Hall, who gets taken care of, then Bam Bam, who gets more of the same. Goldberg sets up for the spear, but Hall uses the TASER OF DOOM, and that sets up the jackknife to end the streak. The announcers trying to keep Nash face is ridiculous, especially with what happens in the near-future. At least there wasn't a ref bump.-FINAL THOUGHTS: FUCK. THIS. SHOW. Fuck what this show sets up. Fuck the fact that now it's onto WCW '99, which sees Nash & Hogan turn face and DDP (the logical choice for next big babyface champion) and Flair turn heel. Which is all BEFORE Russo takes over.-NEXT EVENT: Souled Out '99 

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Solid review of what was a craptastic show. I recently watched Starrcade 1998 and it was every bit as terrible as you said. I'm certain there are ways to end a streak that are about a billion percent more effective than that. This is only the beginning. There's still some fun stuff to look forward to but for the most part this is the start of an incredibly shitty 2+ years.

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I always thought the Big Wiggle was a babyface thing.

 

Scott Hall was way off on 1999 being his year. Is he still doing better under DDP's watch? I saw pictures of him from not that long ago and he definitely looked improved.

 

As for Bisch not doing the job until Nitro, it's because Bischoff was ten years too soon. He valued TV ratings in the same way that WWE does today and that's why he'd rather get his rear end kicked on Nitro as opposed to Starrcade... (only kindasrs)

 

It's amazing how fast the ratings started going down for WCW. In January '99, they drew a 4.9, 5.0 , 4.4 and a 5.0. By May it was a 3.5, 3.3, 3.8 and 3.3. And just kept going down from there.

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IIRC, he didn't start doing the wiggle until he was at least getting close to heel status (there was some discussion on commentary about him being arrogant) and after that he did it whether he was a face or not.

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