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.