Gorman

Thoughts on Starrcade 98 WCW had a lot of nerve coming back to Washington DC for Starrcade after the previous year's debacle. Like the Tupelo fans for Uncensored, this crowd was very forgiving. When Eric Bischoff beat Ric Flair and the referee held up his hand that had brass knuckles on it, they weren't even outraged. The fans also didn't mind Kevin Nash beating Goldberg for the WCW title to end the streak, even though Scott Hall made it happen with the Taser attack. They didn't know Nash was going to hand the belt to Hogan eight days later and make the entire company irrelevant. Billy Kidman is the MVP for beating Rey Misterio Jr. and Juventud Guerrera to retain the Cruiserweight title, and then immediately beating Eddy Guerrero to retain the belt again. Konnan rode his wave of Wolfpac popularity to a TV title victory over Chris Jericho. It seemed to be a bigger deal than when he was US champion two years earlier. Scott Hall came out and talked, and then The Cat talked, and then The Cat talked some more ... Worst fan sign: "SHUT UP AND WRESLE" DDP finished his great year by defeating The Giant after Bret Hart's interference backfired. Giant would be off to the WWF shortly. For the biggest show of the year, it sure seemed like a WCW Saturday Night taping at times, with Norman Smiley vs. Prince Iaukea, Saturn vs. The Cat, and Scott Norton & Brian Adams vs. Fit Finlay & Jerry Flynn. After the nWo black-and-white's entrance, Flynn came out acting like a heel. Read the room, Jerry.

This will pay off next year when we get Spring Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Thoughts on World War 3 1998 Wrath wasn't dressed as a Mortal Kombat character anymore, and the fans cheered him on to victory over Glacier. Wrath decided to FINISH HIM~! with the Meltdown. Mike Tenay said Wrath would be on the Mortal Kombat television show! Glacier probably fired his agent when he heard that news. Sonny Ono wrestling on PPV? No thanks. Yes, Ernest Miller did all the work and Sonny collected the pin. Nobody cares. Nothing against Kaz Hayashi, but Saturn should have moved onto something bigger after his win over Raven. Rey Misterio Jr. was upset that Cruiserweight champion Juventud Guerrera had joined the Latino World Order because that meant he wouldn't get a title shot. He did something about it by helping Kidman regain the title and then quitting the LWO. WCW advertised Steiner vs. Steiner and Hall vs. Nash again and only delivered two minutes of the first match. BILL GOLDBERG saved Rick from Scott, Buff and the nWo referee who came to the ring with them. Hall came out with a large group of nWo black-and-white members after the first match with Nash went so poorly. They all turned against Hall. Kevin Nash came to the rescue but refused to reunite with Hall, leaving him hanging on the "Two Sweet" hand signal. Rough night again for Hall. Bobby Duncum Jr. came out looking like the second coming of Barry Windham. While he didn't win the TV title like Barry, at least Duncum got to team up with him during his WCW tenure. Kevin Nash dumped guys out of his ring at World War 3 as fast as possible, so he could stand around doing nothing for several minutes. Nash's lack of effort as he approaches the top of the company is causing me to stop caring about WCW. This is the voice of the fan talking, as well as the voice of Jeff. Nash dumped Luger and Hall at the same time to earn a title match at Starrcade against the undefeated Goldberg. The only other person to win a match in non-screwy fashion was Wrath, so he can walk onto the Mortal Kombat TV set with the MVP award. Bret Hart finally made it to a main event singles match in WCW, one year after defecting from the WWF. He failed to regain the US title from DDP, but at least he was out of Hogan's shadow for one night.

Thoughts on Halloween Havoc 98 WCW thought we would be just as excited to see Hogan-Warrior as we were 8 1/2 years earlier at WrestleMania VI. The rematch was longer than the World title match between DDP and BILL GOLDBERG, who had the same type of face-vs.-face World title match that Hulk and Warrior had the first time. The only problem with the Goldberg-DDP match was that many fans didn't see it. WCW thought this would be a great time to run a 3 1/2-hour pay-per-view and several cable carriers didn't get the message. Just like at Starrcade 97, WCW had the chance to do something really big and screwed it up. Did this show really need an extra half hour? Did we need four Nitro Girl dance segments, Saturn vs. Lodi, and Alex Wright vs. Fit FInlay? Wrath came out looking like Adam Bomb, and he beat Meng with the Meltdown. Surprised he didn't throw out mini-footballs to the fans. Disco Inferno scored his most impressive win ever, pinning Juventud Guerrera after a JUMPING piledriver. This earned him a Cruiserweight title match with Kidman. Disco hit the same move, but he made a sloppy cover and eventually lost. Rick Steiner started the night with a big mistake. He trusted Buff Bagwell as his partner against his brother Scott and the SMOKIN' Giant, putting his long-awaited singles match against Scott at risk. Everyone knew the Dustin-Arn Anderson spot was coming except Rick. Buff walked out, but he missed the part when he won the tag team title with Rick, who made a miraculous comeback. That was enough to win the MVP award, but Rick also pinned Scott to put that issue to bed at last. Bret Hart defeated Sting after beating him up with a baseball bat. Maybe Sting shouldn't have brought it to the ring. Worst fan sign:: "STING PUT HART IN THE SCORIPIAN" Kevin Nash beat up Scott Hall, mocked his alcoholism, and gave him two Jackknife powerbombs. Nash then walked away and got counted out, showing that wins and losses don't matter and this is all just a waste of time (preview of The Fingerpoke of Doom).

Thoughts on Fall Brawl 98 Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart won the opener over Boogie Knights, but they would have been a much bigger deal if they were aligned with Bret Hart again. Chris Jericho beat the WWF to the punch by debuting his own fake Goldberg, although his show-opening claim that he would be facing Goldberg was not the only bait-and-switch of the evening. Buff Bagwell brought the show to a screeching halt with an elaborate fake injury during the Steiner vs. Steiner match. Of course, both brothers had to follow Buff all the way back to the ambulance instead of continuing their match. Why was Scott still trying to avoid fighting his brother when they were already halfway through the match? Kanyon was handcuffed to the ring post during the Raven-Saturn match. Of course, this happened before when he was Mortis. Kanyon again was firmly convinced that the Flatliner was the most devastating move in wrestling. He freed himself from the cuffs, gave Saturn the Flatliner and then RE-CUFFED himself. Saturn kicked out and later pinned Raven to set The Flock free. The fans were chanting for Ric Flair all night, but he did not return to gain revenge on Curt Hennig for War Games in the same building one year earlier. Arn Anderson tried to fill that role, but Hennig and Rude beat up Arn and Malenko, with no more help on the way. Konnan pinned an inebriated Scott Hall in the co-main event, and Konnan's pre-match spiel was super over with the crowd. Hogan was so afraid of The Ultimate Warrior that he locked himself out of WarGames, even with a title match against BILL GOLDBERG on the line. Warrior broke out of the cage and chased Hogan away. Diamond Dallas Page is the MVP for drawing No. 1 and going all the way to pin Stevie Ray for the title shot.

Thoughts on Road Wild 98 The Faces of Fear explode! After Barbarian failed to hurt Meng, Jimmy Hart thought a splash off the top rope would do the trick. Heenan: "It's like a fly landed on him!" Disco Inferno asked for his and Alex Wright's regular match with The Public Enemy to be turned into a street fight. Wright and Tokyo Magnum abandoned Disco, who was put through three tables. This was like going to the golf course with Serena Williams and asking, "Why don't we play tennis instead?" The ECW vibe continued with Raven vs. Saturn vs. Kanyon. Horace accidentally hit Lodi and Raven with a STOP sign, and Saturn won. Vincent similarly messed up to cause Brian Adams to lose to Steve McMichael. WCW screwed the fans out of a Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner match. Scott faked an injury and ran away, so why didn't they do the match? JJ Dillon promising that the match would take place at Fall Brawl didn't make the fans in Sturgis feel better. Juventud Guerrera completed his lack-of-mask-to-riches story by winning the Cruiserweight title from Chris Jericho. The belt really bounced around like crazy, as Rey Jr won the belt on the last PPV, and he beat Psicosis to win a title shot on this one. Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Stevie Ray battled for the TV title, even though Booker T was the actual champion. I'm not a big fan of Chavo's "I'm CRAZY" antics, which came off as really fake. Hogan and DDP had another celebrity main event, with Jay Leno obviously not being remotely athletic. His bandleader Kevin Eubanks was much more effective helping from the outside, and he hit the Diamond Cutter on Bischoff to give Leno the win. BILL GOLDBERG is the MVP for streamrolling both nWo groups and winning a nine-man battle royale. The Giant seemed like a future challenger, but that was squelched here as Goldberg did an Undertaker sit-up after AHHHH-The Chokeslam! and pinned Giant after the spear and jackhammer.

Thoughts on Bash at the Beach 98 Kanyon employed more curious strategy in the Raven-Saturn match. He saved Raven from getting smashed in a table sandwich, only to throw him into the ring and give him the Flatliner. Did he really think the Flatliner was more devastating than two tables? Juventud Guerrera continued to thrive without his mask by beating Kidman, who took over for Rey Misterio Jr. as Juvi's top rival. Chavo Guerrero Jr. was smart enough to tap out to a handshake against Stevie Ray, because he knew he was going right into a hair vs. hair match with Uncle Eddy. Trying to cut his uncle's hair during the match wasn't so smart, and Chavo lost the match, his hair, and his mind. Lex Luger was so much happier as a cool member of the nWo Wolfpac than as a WCW guy fighting the nWo. He was like the last friend in the group to get his driver's license. Kevin Greene didn't need to wrestle on this show. Even though he was the all-time NFL sack leader among linebackers, we had already seen him wrestle twice, and Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone were coming up in the main event. The Giant beat him with AHHHHH-The Chokeslam! When Chris Jericho agreed to defend the Cruiserweight title against a local guy who hasn't wrestled in six months, he should have made sure that he wasn't in San Diego. Rey Jr. came out and bounced back from a knee injury to win the title. Bret Hart finally got a championship match on pay-per-view ... and it was for the TV title? The Hitman showed how much he cared about this belt by hitting Booker T with a chair in full view of the referee for the disqualification. BILL GOLDBERG is the MVP for reducing Curt Hennig to Victim No. 112 and retaining the World title in less than four minutes. Karl Malone lost back-to-back NBA titles to Dennis Rodman, and the Mailman lost again here in a sloppy match. He and DDP hit the Diamond Cutter on Rodman and Hogan, but Brutus "The Disciple" Beefcake came in to show that the STUNNER (Apocalypse) was the best move in wrestling, and Hogan pinned DDP. Page thought, "A basketball player couldn't help me beat Hogan. How about ... a late-night talk show host?"

Thoughts on Great American Bash 98 Booker T opened the show by defeating Chris Benoit in Match 8 of their best-of-seven series. Bobby Heenan immediately called Benoit a dummy for not accepting Bret Hart's interference in Match 7, which would have won the series for Benoit. Later in the night, Booker beat Fit Finlay for the TV title, so Booker is the MVP. Kanyon distracted Saturn by having another guy walk down the aisle dressed as Mortis. Kanyon snuck up behind Saturn and ... did nothing. He just waited for Saturn to turn around before starting the match. Later, two more Mortises showed up and started fighting each other. One of them was Raven, and after Saturn lost, Raven gave Saturn the "you had ONE job!" treatment and kicked him out of the Flock. When Chris Jericho insulted Dean Malenko's deceased father, the Iceman lost his cool. He battled Jericho out the building and rammed him into a mailbox. Jericho actually won the Cruiserweight title on a disqualification because Malenko agreed to hold up the title to get Jericho in the ring. The Baltimore fans were not into the Eddy-Chavo match - either that, or it reminded them of Luger-Windham from seven years earlier - because they chanted "We want Flair!" Juventud Guerrera only came up to the middle of Reese's chest, but he still pulled off the David over Goliath YET-AY upset, thanks to Van Hammer, who continued to stick it to the Flock. Curt Hennig kept finding new ways to turn on people. After Konnan became victim No. 100 of BILL GOLDBERG, Hennig and Rick Rude attacked Konnan and revealed their switch from nWo Wolfpac to nWo Hollywood. Of course, Hennig had previously turned on DDP and The Four Horsemen. Why would anyone trust Hennig to be on their team? Bret Hart teamed with Hollywood Hogan to face the World's Craziest Tag Team (Savage & Piper) ... and it wasn't the main event? Savage and Piper were so crazy that they agreed to team up and then fight each other after the match. Poor Savage lost both matches by submission. Sting won control of the WCW tag team title by beating the SMOKIN' Giant, who wasn't worried about cigarettes stunting his growth.

Pro Wrestling Express in Pittsburgh invited me back after a 25-year absence to host the Circle of Respect ceremony at Burgh Brawl 2022. Congratulations to inductees Jim Miller (founder of PWX) and the 987 faction (JB Destiny, Big Poppa Gator, CK Fortune, and Boomer Payne). Kaci Lennox won her match, which was cool because I announced one of her bouts in Cleveland a while back. We couldn't stay for the main event, but as we were leaving, I could hear PWX champion James Ellsworth bragging about beating AJ Styles.

This would be great because it was never clear who was the Wingmen for whom. It would be fun to learn that they are all Buff's Wingmen!

I'm free on Wednesday nights.

Thoughts on Slamboree 98 I smiled immediately when "Worcester, MA" came on the screen, because that was the same building where I announced the "Moosin: God of Martial Arts" PPV in 2010. Fit Finlay looked great as TV champion. Chris Benoit lost after getting distracted by Booker T simply walking to the ring. Benoit was unable to shed the announcers' description of him as "the best wrestler never to win a title." Lex Luger kept winning and he kept dropping down the card. He seemed annoyed after beating Brian Adams in the second match. Like the Giant one year earlier, Juventud Guerrera stepped aside to allow Dean Malenko the chance to beat up Chris Jericho and regain the Cruiserweight title. The unsung hero was Ciclope, who gave up his spot in the match and his outfit to make Malenko's ruse a success. All Chavo Guerrero had to do to escape Uncle Eddy's control was root for Ultimo Dragon to beat Eddy. It didn't happen. Chavo then snapped and attacked Ultimo. Eddy tried to stop Chavo, even though that was exactly how he was teaching Chavo to act. Raven's Bowery Death Match against DDP, which he lost again, was fun and ridiculously complicated. A weapons-filled steel cage seemed to help Raven, but putting a lid on the cage meant the Flock couldn't interfere ... or could they? A masked "riot squad" was protecting the ring, but the Flock plowed right through them. Then Van Hammer, who at this point was on the outs with the Flock, started attacking his former nest-mates. Then the riot squad came into the ring, and while some were Flock members, another unmasked as Mortis and then unmasked as Kanyon! He helped DDP win, handcuffed Raven and the Flock, and destroyed Raven with the WCW version of the Chairshot Heard Round the World. It was also funny to hear the backstory about DDP and Raven growing up together, as if New Jersey were one big neighborhood. Would that include Tommy Dreamer and Beulah? Speaking of the Flock, they were supposed to face BILL GOLDBERG in a gauntlet match. But Saturn said, "Don't worry, guys ... I've got this." Instead, he became Victim No. 88 of The Streak. Bret Hart wrestled Randy Savage for the first time on PPV, with Roddy Piper as special referee ... and it wasn't the main event? Hogan returned the favor for Bret helping him beat Savage for the title, and the Macho Man lost again. The Giant had turned heel and joined the nWo Hollywood faction. GIANT TURN COUNT: 2. Scott Hall waffled Kevin Nash with the title belt and like Scott Steiner two months earlier, literally handed the tag team belts to Sting & The Giant. It was hilarious to see Hall, Giant, and Dusty Rhodes unwittingly induct Sting into the nWo black-and-white, which was of course led by Hogan. Sting looked totally dumbstruck as the show went off the air. For being such a fun agent of chaos, Scott Hall is the MVP. Eric Bischoff issued a grandstand challenge to Vince McMahon, who of course didn't show up. WCW had a backstage pass with Vince's photo on it, and security was also given a "watch out for these people" page with photos of Vince, Austin, X-Pac, and Chyna. Wouldn't it have been fun for Vince to show up ... with Undertaker and Kane? It also would have been fun for Vince to make the same challenge to Bischoff to fight him at a WWF show.

The team I cheered for today didn't have "Indians" on their jerseys.

Thoughts on Spring Stampede 98 Saturn put up a good fight, but he couldn't avoid becoming Victim No. 74 of BILL GOLDBERG. All Chavo Guerrero Jr. had to accomplish to escape Uncle Eddy's control was beat Ultimo Dragon. It didn't happen. Booker T and Chris Jericho continued their strong championship runs with wins over Chris Benoit and Prince Iaukea, respectively. DDP wasn't so fortunate. He fought off Raven and the Flock, but as soon as he was attacked by Horace Hogan (disguised as a crew member), he lost the US title. Bobby Heenan correctly predicted that Raven would lose the belt to Goldberg 24 hours later. Bret Hart wasn't on this show. I'm sure Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart would have appreciated his help when they were getting beaten down by Curt Hennig, Rick Rude, and Vincent. Hogan & Nash beat Piper & Giant in a baseball bat when Brutus "The Disciple" Beefcake brought in another bat that appeared to be loaded. Well, a lot of guys were corking their bats at that time. Hogan then waffled Nash with the bat as well. Normally I wouldn't condone this, but Nash said before the match that he might do the same to Hogan, so Hollywood just beat him to the punch. Randy Savage said he was going to beat Sting for the World title, take over the nWo and move Hogan to the bottom of the pecking order. Nash hit the Jackknife Powerbomb on Sting to help Savage win the title. For establishing the Machotopia that we've all longed to live in, Nash is the MVP. Unfortunately, this dreamscape dissolved 24 hours later when Hogan upstaged Savage yet again by beating him for the title.

I think many ROH enthusiasts are just grateful that the company still exists and will be treated respectfully going forward.

Thoughts on WCW Uncensored 98 Booker T continued in his role of show opener, beating Eddy Guerrero to retain the TV title. Eddy took out his frustations on Chavo Jr. after the match. Juventud Guerrera made a strong comeback from losing his mask by defeating Konnan. Chris Jericho is the MVP for his third straight cruiserweight title defense on PPV: Rey Jr. Juvi, and here over Dean Malenko. Gene Okerlund unjustly called Malenko a "bona fide loser" for failing to win a match on four straight PPVs. He didn't wrestle at Souled Out or SuperBrawl! Scott Steiner got off to a slow start as an nWo member. Lex Luger beat him after using the steel-plated forearm OF DOOM, and then his brother Rick dumped him out of the ring. DDP beat Raven and Benoit in a three-way to keep the US title. All of the ECW-style foreign objects blew up in Raven's face, like DDP hitting a top-rope Diamond Cutter through a table for the finish. DDP was having a great year as champion just like Jericho. Wait, this is Uncensored. Shouldn't there be some crazy gimmick matches? POWERBOMB IS LEGAL - Okay, that will have to do. The Giant saw Luger and DDP coming out with tons of tape on their ribs, said "Hold my beer" and came to the ring with a neck brace. He beat Nash by DQ when Brian Adams attacked him with a baseball bat - then Nash broke another bat over Giant's shoulder. Rick Rude helped as much as he could, but he couldn't stop Curt Hennig from losing again to Bret Hart. At one point, Rude snuck in and out of the ring to attack Bret Hart without the referee noticing. Amazingly, Dusty Rhodes pulled off the same trick in the Sting-Hall match. STEEL CAGE - Speaking of wrestlers who never beat certain other wrestlers, maybe Randy Savage will finally beat Hulk Hogan since there is no title on the line, right? Wrong! At least this time he didn't lose, either. Brutus "The Disciple" Beefcake interfered, apparently forgiving Hogan for not forgiving him about Halloween Havoc 94. Sting, who had just finished defending the WCW title against Scott Hall, went up to the ceiling and descended to help Savage, who showed his appreciation by attacking him.

Thoughts on SuperBrawl VIII Booker T won the first two matches, beating Rick Martel for the TV title and then immediately retaining it against Saturn. Poor Martel blew out his knee and only wrestled one more match in WCW. It's funny how Disco Inferno of all people had Stone Cold's finisher. Disco beat La Parka with the "Chartbuster." Brad Armstrong wore an "Armstrong Curse" shirt to defy announcer Larry Zbyszko for calling his family a bunch of losers. Hey, Brad and Steve won titles in WCW! Brad wasn't winning on this night, as he was added to the BILL GOLDBERG streak. Steve McMichael was angry with referee Scott Dickinson for stopping the match against Davey Boy Smith, who had Mongo trapped in an armbar. "I never gave up!" I'm sure he would have preferred Davey Boy taking his arm home in a doggy bag. Juventud Guerrera lost his mask and had to suffer the added indignity of Chris Jericho mocking him on the microphone. Juvi didn't even get to reveal his real name and hometown. Lex Luger wore enough tape around his ribs to make DDP say, "that's a lot, bro." Luger overcame this injury to beat Randy Savage with the rack again. Savage was still in the nWo, but he beat up the other nWo guys who came out to help him before the finish. Scott Steiner turned on his brother and joined the nWo, literally handing the tag team belts back to the Outsiders. Steiner could have been a big singles star years earlier if he wanted to be. Sting is the MVP for finally settling the World title controversy and beating Hulk Hogan. He even spraypainted "WCW" on Hollywood after the match. Any other result would have made the previous 18 months a colossal waste of time.

Paul Turner will always have my respect for the main event of The Battle Lines Are Drawn. While I was trying not to get clobbered during the Six-Man War between the Prophecy and the Second City Saints, I got a great view of Turner getting drilled with one of the most vicious chairshots I've ever seen.

Back where it belongs. ?

Thoughts on Souled Out 1998 WCW tried to right the wrongs of Starrcade by presenting Raven-Benoit, Giant-Nash and even a 6-man tag involving Konnan and the nWo vs. the Steiners and Ray Traylor. The biggest wrong was the WCW title being held up between Hogan and Sting. Roddy Piper made the rematch for SuperBrawl, and World War 3 winner Scott Hall was sent to the waiting room. Sting should have been defending the title against Hall and other nWo members before facing Bret and BILL GOLDBERG later in the year. Chavo Guerrero Jr. scored the win in the opening lucha 8-man match, but La Parka stole the headline by bashing his opponents and teammates with a chair. The Diamond Cutter is considered a great WCW finisher, but nobody could seem to escape the Crippler Crossface, either. Raven smiled and passed out. Chris Jericho won the Cruiserweight title from Rey Misterio and destroyed Rey's knee after the match. Jericho was starting to hit his stride as a complete jerk. The WWE Network broke the rules of time as Jericho entered the ring to "Break the Walls Down," which was first heard a year and a half later when Y2J entered the WWF. Rick Martel put up a strong fight against TV champion Booker T, even though Martel was also fighting Father TIme. Louie Spicolli appeared in Scott Hall's corner, but Louie sadly passed away a few weeks later. Dusty Rhodes joining the nWo was an even bigger betrayal than Hulk Hogan's turn. Poor Tony Schiavone was heartbroken. Dusty explained on Thunder that he was rebelling against the Turner suits who corporatized what he had built before relegating Big Dust to the commentary booth. Scott Steiner showed signs of joining the nWo with his erratic behavior and chummy conversation with Buff Bagwell after the match. Instead of waiting on the other side of the turnbuckle, Scott stood next to Traylor, and Rick made the hot tag to both partners at the same time. Hogan uncharacteristically came out in Nash's corner. I love coffee, but why was there a pot of hot coffee at ringside for Nash to throw in the Giant's face? And at that time of night? Nash won after dropping Giant right on his head with the Jackknife Powerbomb. Bret Hart made his WCW debut against Ric Flair ... and it wasn't the main event? WCW legitimated the WWF by calling Bret a five-time World champion. For beating 13-time World champion Flair (two of THOSE were in the WWF), Bret is 2-for-2 as MVP of WCW pay-per-views. Something tells me he won't be able to keep up that streak. WCW finally seemed to be turning the overall tide against the dissension-plagued nWo. Luger beat Savage with the rack, and Sting helped him fend off the troops.

Thoughts on Starrcade 97 It should have been perfect. WCW had built up the Hogan-Sting match better than any wrestling match since Hogan-Andre and Hogan-Savage over a decade ago. Control of Nitro was on the line in the Bischoff-Zbyszko match, and all of the WCW wrestlers who weren't on the show were watching from the crowd. But as the night progressed, little things kept going wrong. Nothing was wrong with Eddy Guerrero. After beating Rey Jr. the previous month and Dean Malenko here, he was on top of his game as Cruiserweight champion. PROBLEM No. 1 - Kevin Nash didn't show up. Scott Hall came out and conducted a survey. The Giant vs. Nash was one of the biggest matches on the show, and it was out the window. Giant hit Hall with AHHH-The ... no! It's the Jackknife Powerbomb to send a message to Nash. PROBLEM No. 2 - Konnan didn't show up. This problem went away when Randy Savage took his place. Why was Vincent on the card and Savage wasn't? PROBLEM No. 3 - Raven showed up, but decided not to wrestle. Raven explained that his contract allowed him to wrestle whenever he wanted, and he chose not to wrestle Chris Benoit. This was bad timing after the previous no-shows. Steve McMichael seemed destined to battle fellow former football players: Kevin Greene, Reggie White, and BILL GOLDBERG, who won a predictably sloppy match. DDP capped off a great year. His feud with Savage elevated him to main-event status, and he won the US title here from Curt Hennig with the Diamond Cutter. PROBLEM No. 4 - Recent WWF champion Bret Hart arbitrarily decided the outcome of the two most important matches in WCW history, so he has to be the MVP. The Hitman's refereeing job for the Zbyszko-Bischoff match was bizarre. He was hyper-vigilant on everything Larry did, but he let Bischoff do whatever he wanted. Then, after he spotted Bischoff's metal plate flying off his foot into the crowd, he decked Bischoff and declared Larry the winner. Too bad Bobby Heenan wasn't there to ask, "Whose side is he on?" PROBLEM No. 5 - Hollywood Hogan hit the leg drop on Sting and pinned him 1, 2, 3. Bret Hart was right there at ringside to prevent Dave Penzer from ringing the F'N bell. Bret told referee Nick Patrick that he made a fast count and punched Nick out. But it wasn't a fast count! Bret threw Hogan back in the ring, restarted the match and Sting won the title. WCW was on the verge of a new era. They were red-hot, they had tons of young stars ready to move up, most notably Goldberg, plus they had just poached the WWF champion! All that needed to happen to set up a successful 1998 was for Hogan to lose decisively. And it didn't happen.

Thoughts on World War 3 97 The Faces of Fear battled the other half of the Mortal Kombat multiverse, Glacier and Ernest Miller. Positioned correctly as heels, Meng & Barbarian won. Saturn wrestled his first PPV match for WCW before Raven did. Saturn retained his TV title in a rematch with former champ Disco Inferno. Ultimo Dragon had a chance to win five minutes in the ring with Sonny Ono ... but Dragon lost to Yuji Nagata again. After Raven destroyed Scotty Riggs, the referee called for medical help. Nothing happened. The Flock carried Riggs away, so no wonder he joined them! The medical folks finally arrived, found themselves without a patient, and left. Steve McMichael is the MVP. Instead of waiting to become another victim of the BILL GOLDBERG streak, he knocked out Goldberg backstage with a steel pipe ... and he got his Super Bowl ring back! If that weren't enough good news for Mongo, Debra dragged Alex Wright to the ring, and Mongo pinned him with the tombstone. The only good thing for Debra was the fact that she was finally wearing the correct beauty pageant sash ("Queen of WCW," not "Queen of the WCW"). Of course, Bret Hart was coming soon, and he said "the WCW" a lot. Speaking of Bret, Rey Misterio Jr. borrowed his gimmick by handing out a mask before the match to a Green Lantern fan. (Was that THE Green Lantern Fan?) Speaking of semi-famous fans, the guy who dressed up as Hulk Hogan appeared in the Hollywood nWo gear. Hogan wasn't scheduled to be on the show, but he made this guy's day by showing up during the World War 3 battle royale. Curt Hennig remained one step ahead of Ric Flair. Not only did he run the Nature Boy out of the WWF in 1993, but Hennig beat the dirtiest player in the game in a no-DQ match by knocking him out with the US belt. When The Giant hit Randy Savage with AHHHH-The Chokeslam! and eliminated him from World War 3, it looked like he or DDP would outlast Scott Hall and win the match for WCW. But no! Hogan came out as the 60th man in the match (instead of Kevin Nash). This was like drawing No. 40 in a 30-man Royal Rumble since there were only three men left. Hogan eliminated DDP before SEVEN-FOOT STING descended from the ceiling. "It's Sting!" the announcers said, as he stepped over the top rope. Did he have a growth spurt? Nash knocked out Giant with the bat to give the win to Hall. While this wasn't a major problem yet, it foreshadowed the eventual demise of WCW, specifically the Fingerpoke of Doom. If Hogan and Nash can just do whatever they want and win almost all the time, then why are we watching this show?

Thanks! They were Glory By Honor, Scramble Madness, All-Star Extravaganza, and Night of the Butcher. I also ring announced Revenge on the Prophecy, Wrath of the Racket, The Battle Lines Are Drawn, Reborn Stage 2, and World Title Classic.

In my upcoming WWF history book (spoiler alert!), I said that if the WWF were Survivor, HHH would be the last man on the island, holding the check for $1 million.

Thanks! Fortunately, Gabe and I managed to do the commentary without having to stay up all night. That's good because I drove eight hours to Philly before taping the shows. This was before they moved the taping sessions to Florida. I didn't know he was doing a character - I just knew he was the booker, so I wanted to make sure he got in all of his storyline points. I responded on Twitter to make sure Coach Tony keeps the commentary for our shows intact.