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Official DVD/Match/Show Discussion Thread

1M views 12K replies 618 participants last post by  Yeah1993 
#1 ·
#8,359 ·
I know I am probably in the minority on this one but I don't like Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels matches. Don't get me wrong they put on a good wrestling show but every time I watch them in a long match I almost fall asleep. I watched their match from Survivor Series 1992 last night and while I gave it ***1/4 I didn't really enjoy watching it that much. It was twenty six minutes long and it felt like it.
 
#8,360 ·
WWE 12/12/2003
Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair
'Do it for Moses, Shawn!' This match takes place at a Madison Square Garden house show. The quality of the recording is great, with minimal shakiness. There's no commentary so to speak, but the banter between the two fans recording is quite amusing. This match has a 20 minute time limit for whatever reason. The two veterans do a few callback spots from the classic Flair vs Steamboat 2/3 falls match early on, with HBK using many of Steamboat's headlock spots from 14 years ago. Very old-school feel to this match. The crowd doesn't seem overly into this and many of them keep themselves entertained by doing Flair's signature 'Woo's' Flair does all his usual spots, even one that had no place in a match like this; bleeding like a pig. Don't get me wrong, I give Flair props for juicing in a house show match, but this was a very mat based match and there was no need for blood. Flair gets HBK in a Figure 4 and the time limit expires. Flair demands 5 more minutes and gets them. Flair works down HBK's leg (Who does a great job selling the leg) only to walk into some Sweet Chin Music. HBK gets the win with only seconds left on the clock. In overall, a really good match that's damaged by a few things. The time limit wasn't needed, neither was Flair pissing out blood and Shawn blowing his elbow drop spot. Don't let this discourage you from seeing a rare house show gem.
***1/2 - ***3/4
 
#8,361 ·
Had that house show on disc for god knows how long and yet I've never watched that match :p.

Dark Church, you aren't the only one that thinks Bret Vs Shawn in general sucks. Don't like a single one of their matches, including their Hart Foundation Vs Rockers tags too. They all pretty much bore the fucking shit out of me. Their upcoming rivalry DVD should be good for the documentary only :p.
 
#8,364 ·
That Nitro DVD for the most part shouldn't have been called a 'Best Of' I can think of a lot more brilliant Nitro matches than those that are on the set. If WWE do decide to release a Vol 2, they better step up their game with what they put on it. Saying that, though with the success of this one, despite having a bunch of shit on it, I can't see them releasing one with GREAT matches at all, which is a shame because Nitro had a lot of gems.
 
#8,368 ·
Although I think Rise and Fall of WCW dvd documentary story is averge at best and totally didn't reach it's potential. I do agree the matches on the dvd are quite solid as I just took a look at it a week ago and they have a few great Ric Flair matches on there plus some fun matches with NWO and a few celebrities and what not. One thing I don't understand is why the hell did they put NWO vs Steiner Brothers on there? That match was embarassing and I would want my money back if I was at that PPV. It was about three minutes of action before Scott Steiner turned on his brother and joined the NWO while the commentators totally made it obvious before it even happened. WCW commentators were pretty awful in general always spilling out spoilers "WHOS SIDE IS HE ON!!". I realize this match followed the NWO storyline and all but they had to put this on a PPV let alone there damn Dvd? Maybe WWE was trying to say this was the "Fall".
 
#8,369 ·
Watched that tag "match" not too long ago since it was on the same disc as Goldberg/Page that I actually wanted to see lol. Wrote this about it:

The Steiner Brothers Vs The Outsiders – Superbrawl VIII 22/02/1998

No idea if this is good or bad, don’t really think I’ve seen anyone talk about at all. It’s on the Rise and Fall of WCW set so fuck knows if it’s part of the “Rise” (good) or “Fall” (bad).

Always funny seeing Dusty coming out with the Outsiders/NWO and being “heel”. Except the fans cheers the shit out of the Outsiders/NWO lol.

Hall throwing the tooth pick into Rick’s face and laughing at the start is awesome... especially when Rick responds with a punch to the face. Crowd are super hot too (for the NWO guys), so I’m hoping this match ends up being fun at the very least.

Fuck me at the belly to belly overhead on Hall. Hall didn’t look like he helped in any way and Rick didn’t even look like he was trying.

OMG NOOOOO! Don’t do it Scott! Scott Steiner just beated up his bruva! :(

Guessing I would have seen it coming a mile away had I seen the buildup or something lol.

Despite taking some big shots and whatnot from his brother, Rick still kicks out and even fires back at the Outsiders before getting the Outsider’s Edge and is pinned.

*sigh* so much for a potentially fun tag match. Well, it was fun for the 3 minutes or so it went before Scott turned on Rick, but still... disappointing.

Rating: *
 
#8,370 ·
John Cena & Randy Orton vs CM Punk & The Miz - Special Guest Referee Michael Cole - Raw Dark Match 07.02.2011
Jesus this may have been the most fun I've had watching a wrestling match all year. Starts off with Cole announcing the match and that he's the guest ref and Cole has an awesome "Miz, come on down!" line. Cena looks to be already beaten down from the end of Raw and Punk's already in the ring so he immediately goes to work on Cena whilst Miz and Riley make their way down to the ring. Takes Orton an age to get out there for some reason. It basically turns into a 4 on 1 contest with Punk, Miz and Riley all taking cheap shots on Cena and Cole has some awesome douchebag heel ref shtick where he starts congratulating Miz and they raise each others hands and start waving to the crowd while Punk is taking cheap shots at Cena behind them while Miz is the legal man. Why oh why they've never had Cole ref a Miz match on TV I'll never know because this was golden. Cole counts fast for the heels as well and when Orton gets the tag and runs wild he does a really slow 2 count and then just gives up after 2. Awesome moment when Cena and Orton are both back up and stare down Cole before doing a FU/RKO combo at the same time. Crowd goes nuts, babyfaces win, fun time is had by all. This rocked.

Sin Cara vs Dolph Ziggler - House Show Mexico City 13.05.2011
Man the crowd was scorching for Mistico in this one and I mean for Mistico not Sin Cara. Huge Mistico chants and he totally lapped them all up and worked the match really well in terms of giving his fans loads to cheer about. Wasn't that great of a structural match and they didn't really do a whole lot but with the crowd and the atmosphere all it needed to be was a nice little exhibition for Mistico and that's what it was. Ziggler bumps around as well as he usually does making all of Mistico's offence look great. He hits this german suplex and then in one movement knips back up and has this smug look on his face after he's done. Never seen him do it on TV which is a huge shame, don't think I've ever seen someone kip straight back up from a german actually. Fuck doing Rey/Cara at Mania as well btw. I could only imagine the type of reaction Rey vs Mistico would have got in front of this Mexican crowd.

***

John Cena vs CM Punk - Raw Dark Match 01.08.2011
This is more of a straight up regular match than your usual dark match goofy shit that Cal alluded to just. They work a really neat back and forth match and they have some great teased FU spots that are met with some great counters by Punk. Strike exchange was great and then Miz/Truth run in to cause a DQ. Timing of the run in was a shame because it came just when the match seemed to going from good to great territory but yeah it's dark match. Fuck you for wanting more. Obviously it leads to both men doing their finishers simultaneously and everyone goes home happy. Yay! Genuinely thought this was as good as their Raw series from the start of the year considering it didn't have a finish and I prefered it to the latest Raw match but I don't think a lot of others will.

***1/4

Randy Orton vs Christian - Street Fight - Smackdown House Show Louisville 30.07.2011
Isn't on the level of their televised matches but this was still a good match. They work the usual safe hardcore WWE style match that they do these days with some cane shots and some chair spots but you're lucky if you get anything else. The cane shots are kinda tame here for cane shots too. They throw in all the stuff that has made their matches so great though with the counters and playing off the finish to their first match. Christian gets a 3 off the spear which was a pleasant change. If only they would let him get a 3 count off it on TV so it can get over as a legit near fall rather than being a move that always gets 2 so nobody buys it.

***1/4

William Regal vs Darren Young - NXT 06.09.2011
Really good veteran vs cocky rookie type match. Regal is phenomenal in this working as the wily veteran who knows all the tricks in the book trying to teach the cocky youngster a lesson in respect. They have a promo at the start of the show which was great too on Regal's part. Regal sells the ruck out a irish whip into the turnbuckle which was glorious. Anyone who's a fan of Regal should love this.

Daniel Bryan vs Mark Henry - House Show France 01.09.2011
Only goes 6 minutes but it was a great for a 6 minute monster type match. Pretty much solidified my hopes that a Henry/Danielson match would be really bossy. Henry works the crowd really well as a heel and looks like a great monster. Danielson has some really nice flurries of offence which ultimately get cut off everytime he gives Henry some space between them. Danielson relying on his kicks to chop Henry down to size and even managing it was great. Finish with Henry catching Danielson off the top rope into the WSS was sweet. 10-15 minute match on TV or PPV would fucking rock if they follow the same layout as this and get a hot crowd behind them.

Christian & Rey Mysterio vs Alberto Del Rio & Brodus Clay - House Show Lyon 23.04.2011
Really good tag match but you could probably guess that from a Rey/Christian tag. Damn WWE for not keeping these 2 as the top 2 faces on SD when Edge retired. Obviouslly they made a really good babyface team and Brodus on the other side was enough to make the match really good. Del Rio brought zilch to the plate for me. Brodus was really good though, probably best I've seen him in a proper match. He isn't amazing by any means but he's mobile for a guy his size and he gets the basics and that's enough for now. Really good monster heel performance from him. Sucks again that WWE don't care for tag teams anymore because Clay and Del Rio really should have spent this year teaming together so they can both hide their weaknesses and improve together before being forced to carry singles matches. Clay needs to drop the rhino horn thing though. That's stupid. He has an awesome slow charge at Rey on the apron where he knocks Rey down behind the ref. He has a cool bear hug spot which he leans down into a pin for which was cool. Christian and Brodus also do an insanely brilliant sequences of teased tags to Rey where Christian is dangling in front of Rey but centimetres away from the tag and then Clay brings him back only to tease it again. Edge's music goes off during the comeback and the crowd fucking loses their mind. Really cool spot with the music going off too to cause a distraction. Handheld footage makes crazy crowd pops ten time crazier too as you're in there and the pop just for Edge's music is fucking nutty. Really nice finish to the match and I'm guessing the show too. Edge filming the post match celebration on his phone and getting the ref to film him, Rey and Christian was nice too. Fuck it if WWE won't film it for me in HD, I'll fucking film it myself.

***1/2

Beth Phoenix & Kelly Kelly vs Layla & Rosa Mendes - House Show Lyon 23.04.2011
No way should a match involving Kelly and Rosa be this is great but it's also got Layla and Beth in and they can fucking work and I mean work a wrestling match like it's supposed to be done. Beth is super over and I've seen the majority of this show now and she outpops nearly everyone bar the main event guys. Helps that she can work a crowd and be a catalyst to a reaction too. Rosa is god awful. She literally has no redeeming qualities about her. Kelly isn't the greatest worker in the world but she's a good natural babyface, she can do nice gymnastics that look cool and she's good eye candy. Layla and Beth start the match off and they play off Beth's size compared to the other 2 and Layla's an amazing chicken shit heel wanting nothing to do with Beth. They do the heel playing cat and mouse with the strong babyface and it ends up with Layla just curling up in a ball in the middle of the ring hoping Beth will take pitty on here which was a super spot. Beth just picks up her and puts her on her shoulders in a stretch which looked great. Layla then has an insanely great control segment on Kelly with loads of awesome heel shtick. Layla's really good technically in the ring too and she some nice moves and sequences on top of her shtick. She's a really goofy chicken shit heel and she goes totally overboard but in a good way, kinda 90's HBK DX goofyness. This is seriously a really good tag match and I'm not just talking by Divas standards, I mean by any current standards. Beth and Layla both outwork a good 80% of the male roster in this. I know it's a difficult task getting people to want to watch a WWE Divas match but this is well worth the time.

***1/2
 
#8,377 ·
Some are already in the WWE Matches and some others to follow. I'll be putting the majority of them on the last volume of my Best Of 2011 set with other house show/dark matches if you'd prefer to wait and have them on disc.

That Lawler/Idol match is one of my favourite matches ever. The angle is just insane and there's loads of really good build to the match too with the crotch shots, etc. Reaction to the outcome is probably my favourite wrestling moment ever. Just bat shit crazy. I don't have it at the full 5 because it's not a 5 star match but if the match quality was just a touch better than I probably would. Right up there with the best Lawler/Dundee matches for sure.
 
#8,376 · (Edited)
Lawler eyes up you up, a punch is coming your way:~

Jerry Lawler & Dutch Mantell vs Bill Dundee & Buddy Landell, Memphis 10/03/1986

OMFG Dundee was spectacular in this, he put in an Eddie Guerrero 2005 esque character performance 19 years before Eddie mastered it. From the opening bell he's deranged and psychotic and trying to scare Russell before running immediately when he spots Lawler wanting to bloody his injured eye like Dundee did to Lawler in the infamous 30/12/85 LLT match between the pair. Dundee also does one of my favourite ever sells off of a punch from Lawler, he just deadweights himself and falls to the floor in such incredibly dramatic fashion like some punk on Knight Rider who's just realised he's hopelessly outmatched against Michael Knight. Why the random Knight Rider reference you ask? FUCK YOU that's why. Landell manages to top Dundee selling wise off of a wacky punch combo from Lawler and Mantell and his stumbling, punching air and twisting his head 180 degrees after each punch was just amazing. Dundee casually low blowing Lawler and then turning possessed at the sight of his own blood and consequently choking Lawler with the ringside rope as well as grabbbing the table to smash Lawler's head off of just looked so amazingly psychotic and really had you believing Dundee had lost his mind. Loved the comedy spot where the heels messed up and Dundee hit Landell with a chain. Finish was a bit weak but fit with how pissed off of Lawler and Mantell were and Dundee trying to stop the beatdown of a bloodied Landell before finally saying fuck this and walking out capped off a great psychotic/douchebag performance from Dundee.

****1/4


Jerry Lawler & Bam Bam Bigelow vs Austin Idol & Tommy Rich, Double Jeopardy Match, Memphis 16/03/1987

Insane and wild brawl here, the Double Jeopardy stipulation kind of made the match hard to follow as the feed kept switiching between both rings which whilst getting the best of both matchups just made you feel you were missing a lot more stuff whilst one matchup was being focused on. I did enjoy both teams trying to work within the stipulation and get into a 2 on 1 sitauation whilst only having a 60 second time limit before they had to go back to the other ring. Rich was amazing at bumping and eating all of Bigelow's offence like a champ, and the punch drunk selling off of Lawler's punches after he's been bloodied was incredible. Loved the low blow spot in the ropes to Idol from Lawler as a revenge spot for the attempted ring post shot to the nads that Bigelow interrupted. Idol and Rich were great with the exaggerated bumping off of Bigelow's headbutts as well as looking like total shitbags beating the crap out of the faces. The double jeopardy 60 second rule being broken causing a DQ was a good finish in setting up the post match beatdown of Lawler and Bigelow and the subsequent Bigelow rampage really set up the Texas Death Match the following week incredibly well.

***3/4


Jerry Lawler & Bam Bam Bigelow vs Austin Idol & Tommy Rich, Texas Death Match, Memphis 23/03/1987

Like the last match, intense and crazy brawl between four men who just do not like each other. Bigelow in particular is still pissed from last week and just runs round the ring with the steps looking to decapitate someone for their sins. Idol in particular is really great begging off Bigelow after a 2x4 has no effect on Bam Bam and like last week both heels bump incredibly well for all babyface offece. Rich in particular was great at constantly going back to a low blow everytime Bigelow started to get back up and look unstoppable. Idol & Lawler work well with Idol beating the crap out of Lawler for large spells only to fall victim to the Lawler comeback and subsequently gets tied up in the ropes and has to watch Rich get the crap kicked out of him for the win. Post match Bigelow is still looking for blood and even tries to beat the piss out of Jerry Calhoun. Poor Jerry.

***3/4


Jerry Lawler vs Austin Idol, Southern Heavyweight Championship, Steel Cage Hair vs Hair Match, Memphis, 27/04/1987

Incredible match which encompasses everything that is great about pro wrestling. A clear babyface vs heel dynamic, a nuclear crowd which turns up the dial incredibly during the finish and subtle build to the ultimate swerve which changed Memphis forever. Right from the bell they set the Rich interference incredibly well, from Russel mentioning in about the refund Idol is offering, Heyman thinking he’s going to be in the cage and then told to exit or have Idol forfeit and Idol & Heyman trying to get out/into the cage with no luck and reaffirming there is no way in or out of the cage..only for Rich to come from under the ring and beat the crap out of Lawler and have Idol get the crucial win and hand Lawler his first ever Hair vs Hair match defeat.

The action prior to the Rich interference was top notch, Idol wants no part of Lawler and unsuccessfully manages to try and get out of the locked door before he eats a great ass kicking early on from Lawler. Idol bumps like a champ and eats all the punch tremendously well including the drunken punch selling that I’ve come to adore in Lawler matches. He eventually manages to regain the momentum with a concealed steel chain which was a nice callback spot to their chain match where Lawler defeated Idol & the fact Idol takes a few seconds to grab his head and try and shake off the cobwebs from the early Lawler onslaught really impressed me as something not a lot of other workers would have thought necessary to do. From here on out Idol is great at working over the King and peppering him with elbows, punches, steel chair shots to the ribs and throwing him into the cage. His selling off of a missed kneedrop was tremendous and him struggling to get up the ropes afterwards was smart and brilliant selling which I adored. Lawler himself was amazing here as the fired up babyface, eating some tremendous bumps off of punches and one sick bump over the ropes to the concrete floor. His headbutt from the top rope and subsequent KO selling was amazing and something I haven’t seen done before and he even does the missed fistdrop sell that never fails to make me crack a smile.

Looooved Lawler’s flurry comeback and Idol bumping huge and the crowd sensing the end was nigh..only for Idol to throw Lawler into the referee to buy himself some time and for Heyman to throw powder in the eyes of Lawler. They work a couple of certain pinfalls for Lawler only for the crowd to boo ferociously at the referee being knocked out...the heat and then sudden silence as Rich then enters after the Lawler piledriver was chilling and from here on out you get a great babyface beatdown minus the one horribly done spike piledriver and you can only imagine how the locals must have felt seeing their hero die before their very eyes. That one fan scaling the cage only to be caught as well as the post match taunting was incredible to see, I don’t for one minute doubt they had to watch their backs afterwards as this crowd was PISSED.

****3/4



............................................

Punk vs Cena MITB is my current MOTY ahead of Finlay vs Callihan & Virus vs Guerrero Maya Jr. Probably somewhere ****1/2-****3/4. Rewatched it sometime in the week after watching it live and loved it even more, everything from the story of Cena trying to prove himself to Punk gradually shifting into Punk looking closer and closer to leaving with the belt before the shift to Cena dominating and Punk now becoming a full blown underdog chasing his dream topped with the selling, strikes and chemistry and character dynamic between both men just made me appreciate it so much more. Add in the fact the crowd were nuclear and the nearfalls were well built to and believeable and I couldn't find fault with much in the match tbh.
 
#8,384 ·
Jerry Lawler vs Austin Idol, Southern Heavyweight Championship, Steel Cage Hair vs Hair Match, Memphis, 27/04/1987

Incredible match which encompasses everything that is great about pro wrestling. A clear babyface vs heel dynamic, a nuclear crowd which turns up the dial incredibly during the finish and subtle build to the ultimate swerve which changed Memphis forever. Right from the bell they set the Rich interference incredibly well, from Russel mentioning in about the refund Idol is offering, Heyman thinking he’s going to be in the cage and then told to exit or have Idol forfeit and Idol & Heyman trying to get out/into the cage with no luck and reaffirming there is no way in or out of the cage..only for Rich to come from under the ring and beat the crap out of Lawler and have Idol get the crucial win and hand Lawler his first ever Hair vs Hair match defeat.

The action prior to the Rich interference was top notch, Idol wants no part of Lawler and unsuccessfully manages to try and get out of the locked door before he eats a great ass kicking early on from Lawler. Idol bumps like a champ and eats all the punch tremendously well including the drunken punch selling that I’ve come to adore in Lawler matches. He eventually manages to regain the momentum with a concealed steel chain which was a nice callback spot to their chain match where Lawler defeated Idol & the fact Idol takes a few seconds to grab his head and try and shake off the cobwebs from the early Lawler onslaught really impressed me as something not a lot of other workers would have thought necessary to do. From here on out Idol is great at working over the King and peppering him with elbows, punches, steel chair shots to the ribs and throwing him into the cage. His selling off of a missed kneedrop was tremendous and him struggling to get up the ropes afterwards was smart and brilliant selling which I adored. Lawler himself was amazing here as the fired up babyface, eating some tremendous bumps off of punches and one sick bump over the ropes to the concrete floor. His headbutt from the top rope and subsequent KO selling was amazing and something I haven’t seen done before and he even does the missed fistdrop sell that never fails to make me crack a smile.

Looooved Lawler’s flurry comeback and Idol bumping huge and the crowd sensing the end was nigh..only for Idol to throw Lawler into the referee to buy himself some time and for Heyman to throw powder in the eyes of Lawler. They work a couple of certain pinfalls for Lawler only for the crowd to boo ferociously at the referee being knocked out...the heat and then sudden silence as Rich then enters after the Lawler piledriver was chilling and from here on out you get a great babyface beatdown minus the one horribly done spike piledriver and you can only imagine how the locals must have felt seeing their hero die before their very eyes. That one fan scaling the cage only to be caught as well as the post match taunting was incredible to see, I don’t for one minute doubt they had to watch their backs afterwards as this crowd was PISSED.

****3/4
finally :)

my favorite Memphis match ever and one that I give the five snowflakes approval.
 
#8,378 ·
Yeah I much prefer the brawling between Lawler/Dundee and even Lawler/Mantell but the actual angle here probably tops both those matchups. The horrible spike piledriver really was a shame but not something I'm overly bothered about (Nervosa would probably knock ** off for that alone). Idol's selling of the leg though was incredible, one of my favourite things going through these Lawler matches I've seen yet.
 
#8,385 ·
I wouldn't argue with people ranking it that high, part of what made Memphis is great is rating matches as a whole including the angle/story before the match and this match certainly had a great angle and build and the result was iconic enough to rank as a legitimate classic. The spike piledriver did annoy me a tad because of how well everything had been going up to that spot, at least it wasn't the finish so that meant it didn't bother me as much as I think it would have if that had been the move that Idol pinned Lawler off.

Lawler vs Funk NO DQ and Lawler vs Dundee 30/12/85 Loser Leaves Town would be above the Cage match but I imagine this would be no worse than top 5 for a Memphis match ever.
 
#8,390 · (Edited)


WCW Slamboree 2000 Review

First off lol that my DVD I bought off ioffer is a rip from WWE 24/7, I honestly like it better when I know the original source is some old VHS recording. The best are when the Nitros I watch even have the original commercials. It's usually a fun game trying to figure out where the show was recorded.



WCW Cruiserweight Championship Match:

Chris Candido(c) w/Tammy vs. The Artist w/Paisley

They went the extra mile and I think it got the crowd into the match a lot more and made their match more enjoyable. Another plus was the fact that they got to wrestle for a while without their managers getting involved. The Artist payed a solid face in this one, which was refreshing to see as I was worried they were going to do this as a heel vs. heel match Candido's role in the New Blood made him the heel. If there wasn't a little sloppiness and an awkward ending I would go higher. Pretty good match even with the flaws.
**1/2


WCW Hardcore Championship Match:

Terry Funk(c) vs. Norman Smiley and Ralphus

Funk thinks that Norman is hiding (which he has a history of doing before his hardcore matches) and goes to look for him in the bathroom. He kicks the stall down but it's the Mystery Partner inside. Norman jumps Funk from behind and takes control of the match early on. A much more aggressive side from Norman which was good to see since Russo and Bischoff had been making a big deal about Funk having the title. The Mystery Partner was hilarious, totally useless. At one point he climbed onto a pile of artificial turf rolls and just stood on the top throwing empty boxes and other assorted items from the top. They had no effect on Funk aside from pissing him off. Funk eventually ripped off the Mystery Partner's catcher mask and revealed it to be Ralphus. This really was one of the most absurd things I've ever seen. Ralphus was literally the most useless person that's ever been in the ring but it was incredible to see. Hilarious.
**1/2


"The Perfect One" Shawn Stasiak vs. Curt Henig

This is the most impressed I've ever been with Henig as a worker. It's not that this was Henig's best match as I've seen him have much better matches but they were always against good to great wrestlers. Well Stasiak is not a good or great worker. I don't ever recall saying that I've liked a match of his before. Now he has one good match under his belt. Henig carries him to a good match. It wasn't anything incredible and they didn't do anything mind blowing in the ring but the way that Henig was able to work the crowd and get me invested into the outcome of the match was masterful. At one point when Henig shoved the ref I was thinking to myself, "No Curt don't get DQed!" It's very old school with limited big spots but Henig showed aggression at all the right times and Stasiak was able to play the heel well enough to make this work. I really liked this a lot. I'll give Henig even more credit for how good he made Stasiak look.
***


WCW United States Championship Match:​
Hugh Morrus vs. Scott Steiner(c) w/His Sluts

A cringe worther promo from Morrus before the match where he said he never wanted to be called Hugh Morrus again and that his real name is Hugh G. Rection (haha get Huge Erection) or Captain Rection for short. Nobody laughed or thought it was funny. The match itself was good at least. Bill Demont could really move around very well in the ring and his performance as a babyface was very good, just wish he didn't have such a lame name. It's also good to see Steiner wrestle when he was still pretty good. His character came across very well in the ring. Good stuff.
**3/4


Post match Steiner won't break the Recliner and the security force prevents the Misfits from helping out. Booker T does a run in and makes the save. Good job setting up Booker T as the leader of the group and it also made me more eager to see the eventually Booker T/Steiner match.


Chris Kanyon vs. Mike Awesome


Just an all out Heaveyweight war. They really captured the intensity of the feud between the Millionaires Club and the New Blood. Awesome has been one of my favorite guys to watch in WCW, the guy does things in the ring that usually only guys 100 pounds lighter and a foot shorter do. Kanyon played a great underdog babyface here as well, he took a beating really well and got the crowd behind him. I wish this had an ending but Nash had to make a save or else Kanyon would have taken a powerbomb from the stage onto the concrete floor. Another really good match.
***


Lex Luger vs. Buff Bagwell


Well they can't all be good. Luger is really limited in what he can do in the ring and Bagwell isn't exactly capable of having great matches with limited opponents. What they did was very basic and unfortunately it wasn't very exciting. Great timing though with Luger's comeback as it happened at the same instant that Elizabeth made her way to the ring. The crowd went crazy for Luger's comeback but he was offense for maybe 30 seconds before the match ended. Very average.
*3/4


Post match Chuck Palumbo makes his debut on WCW PPV. He beats up Luger with Bagwell and puts him in a Torture Rack. I guess it's a plus that the New Blood actually now has some New Blood.


Shane Douglas vs. Ric Flair

They almost tried to out heel each other which was very entertaining to watch. Along with the fact that you really got the feeling that they didn't like each other and this match had the right feel to it. A surprisingly fast pace to this match as well. Good stuff.
**3/4


Post match David Flair and Daffney make their return to WCW when they help Vince Russo attack Flair.


Vampiro vs. Sting

After all the heat they had built up for this match I'm really disappointed in how it turned out. Sting basically just beat the shit out of Vampiro and won the match. Aside from a brief control segment but Vampiro this was all Sting and it really made Vampiro look weak. The intensity was there but for such a high profile match I was expecting a lot more.
**1/4


Billy Kidman w/Torrie Wilson vs. Hulk Hogan

Special Referee: Eric Bischoff w/Kimberly

First off the music they played for Hogan's entrance was hilarious. This came from WWE 24/7 and they clearly don't have the rights to Hogan's music from this time as it sounds like they played some intro for a game show. The match itself was sort of entertaining but it was really just Hogan beating the hell out of Kidman and Bischoff. The only offense Kidman got in was when Bischoff or Torrie got involved to create some type of ditraction. It really bad Kidman look like a joke with how little offense he was able to get in. Between this match and the Sting/Vampiro match the New Blood's top guys looked like they didn't belong. If Hogan had been willing to sell or make Kidman look even half way decent this could have been a much better match. Anyone that hates Hogan won't like this one at all.
**


Triple Cage Match for the WCW Championship:

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. David Arquette(c)



So they dubbed over Arquette's entrance music and they added in their own ring announcer for the introductions, pretty funny actually. So annoying.

This was actually a very good match despite the absurd structure that that they had to work in. I have to give them a lot of credit with how smartly this was worked. Both DDP and Jarrett remembered what the point of the match was, get the belt. Everything they did seemed to be in order to accomplish that one goal, something that doesn't always happen in the WWE when they have ladder matches. Arquette also added a nice dynamic to the match in that he was an unknown that you assumed would do something to help DDP. He looked downright terrified for virtually the entire match and just generally played his role really well. I love the ending for everything that it stands for in WCW at this time. Arquette was waiting at the top of the cage with a guitar in hand, he was sort of holding down the fort in that he would prevent Jarrett from winning. Well DDP and Jarrett get to the top at the same time and guess what happens? Wait for it.......




SWERVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Arquette hits DDP and Jarrett wins the title. The ending was totally random but it doesn't take away from the fact that this was a very enjoyable and smartly worked match. It's worth a watch just to see how they managed to pull off a good match inside a structure that doesn't look easy to work in.
***1/2


While this doesn't have anything too amazing there are a ton of solid matches and one really good one. I was expecting a little more out of the card as it looks really strong on paper but just ends up being good. Not bad at all though.
 
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