Guess who is back in circulation? I don't know what you may have heard, but what I need right now is good-time American pro wrestling.
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| Ryback's Motto |
So that is not exactly what Diamond Dave said, but the point remains I needed to something different from all the puroresu from the 2000s, which I will get back to this week. For now, I just needed something different and it does not get much more different than WCW in 1998. I cut my teeth on WCW 1998, but because it is what I grew up on, I have rarely looked back on it. Rather than leave the memories alone, I decided to go back and revisit my childhood. Much to my surprise, I found WCW Souled Out 1998 to be such a good show, I have decided to review it.
Review & Analysis of Booking:
When you think of 1998 WCW, you think of mismanagement, celebrities, lack of direction, meandering faction warfare, bad Ultimate Warrior appearances and a held down midcard. Watching Souled Out 1998, I saw a vibrant wrestling promotion that had rebounded nicely from the royal clusterfuck that was Starrcade 1998. The company had four very strong programs on top that would keep the viewer hooked week to week, but also could deliver a strong payoff if booked properly. The most prominent was the dissension within the New World Order.
The eventual New World Order civil war should go down as one of the great booking atrocities in pro wrestling. I would go as far as to say this is an Invasion-level botch. The WWF fucking up the Invasion basically brought it down to its current level of popularity and WCW fucking up the NWO civil war tanked the company to the point it no longer exists. If you watch Nash powerbomb Hogan on the April 20th edition of Nitro, you will see people were rabid for Nash vs Hogan. The New World Order Civil War could have carried them through 1998 in a similar vein to the overarching Sting avenging angle story of 1997. 1997 WCW was characterized by strong focus in the main event with interesting programs like Hogan/Luger, Savage/DDP and Outsiders/Flair &Piper where everyone had a direction. In January of 1998 with the full-time return of Sting and Bret Hart, the Civil War and a red hot midcard, there seemed to be no reason to doubt WCW's health. At this point in January 1998, the Civil War was still in the nascent stages and they were using the unhinged, paranoid Randy Savage as the catalyst for NWO dissension.
Savage was having issues defeating WCW stalwart and flag-bearer Lex Luger, but that is not why they were given the main event slot. They were positioned there for two really well-thought out reasons. First and foremost, the NWO dissension was being positioned as the number one program for the year and thus was given the main event status. Secondly, for once, WCW was actually going to send the crowd home happy with Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock and Luger racking Nash. WCW was finally winning over NWO because there are cracks within NWO. Ending the show on this note, emphasizes the ramifications of the WCW World Title being in jeopardy and how Savage's possible secession was affecting the NWO's efficacy. Sting and Luger are finally turning the tide and we need to watch next week to find out what is going on with Hogan, Savage & The Outsiders. In addition, the second biggest program, the status of the World Heavyweight Championship played a big role in heightening the tension. Hall had been promised a World Title shot in February, but was now being put on the backburner for a Hogan/Sting rematch at SuperBrawl and he walked away disgusted at Hogan getting another shot. Without the title, things were starting to fall apart around Hogan, which is good booking progression. Taking the Starrcade debacle as a given, the best thing for them to do was use this PPV to promote their rematch at the next PPV and keep moving forward.
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| Outsiders vs MegaPowers: Tell me that wouldn't draw |
The match that most feel deserved top billing was the great Bret Hart vs Ric Flair match that was wrestled for purely pride to see who the best was. In a promotion filled with WCW vs NWO, it was refreshing to watch two world class wrestlers compete for the sake of being called the best. Much like the NWO Civil War, WCW bungled Hart's run, but for one month they used him perfectly. The match set him up immediately to be a major main event player in WCW before that all went to hell. I understand that this was a feud featured prominently and was the best match. The match really did not have any consequence and it was not going to be the vehicle to carry the company forward. It is the perfect No. 2 or 3 match because it features main event players with a strong story, but does not carry the company. The other major match was the Clash of the Titans to find out who the True Giant of WCW was. Again it is a simple hook, but incredibly effective especially when you see The Giant and Kevin Nash go toe to toe. Them playing up Nash's no show at Starrcade by having them both put up 1.5 million dollar bonds really added to the atmosphere. I can't remember the last non-Wrestlemania where the WWE presented four marquee programs that made me want to tune in for a PPV.
But wait there is more! WCW actually had midcarders that were over. Say what! Yes people actually chanted things like "Raven Sucks!", "Jericho Sucks!", and raised the roof with Booker T. People were invested in the wrestlers not just the moves they were doing or the amount of nearfalls there were. To think, DDP nor Goldberg were even on this card! WCW had a roster that would make the current WWE very envious. Souled Out 1998 is missing that one blowaway classic from being considered an all-time great PPV. Hart & Flair and Benoit & Raven are both great wrestling bouts, but they are not at the elite level to carry this consistently good PPV to the next level. Still from top to bottom, this card was always very good from the lucha libre opener to Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock. Easily one of the best WCW PPVs of the NWO era.
Highlights:
Match of the Night: Bret Hart vs Ric Flair
Honorable Mention: Chris Benoit vs Raven
Funniest Moment of the night: Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff trying to act.
Match Reviews:
Juventud Guerrera/Super Calo/Lizmark Jr/Chavo Jr. vs
Psicosis/La Parka/Silver King/El Dandy - WCW Souled Out 1998
Perfect opener in getting the crowd energized for the rest of the card. I always thought Super Calo was anything but cool with his silver surfer mask and shades, but he was not half-bad. It may have been that Psicosis was bumping for him. Psicosis was great as usual bumping around for everybody and wish we got more of him. Surprisingly what really grabbed this crowd's attention was a wicked intense chop exchange between Silver King and Lizmark Jr. I know that Silver King is known for working a bit of a stiffer style in Lucha and have always wanted to check more of him out, but Lizmark really surprised. I thought he was easily the second best guy in this match. He was kicking ass in there. Juvy got his 450 splash in, but I was a bit surprised he did not get more time to be featured. I know everybody loves El Dandy, but this match did not showcase his talents. The dive train was fucking excellent and definitely the best part of the match. Chavo really did not do much besides get the win to set up his big push into an angle with Uncle Eddie. Without a doubt, the big star of the match was La Parka. Even though, I have not watched La Parka's new Lucha stuff, I am always so happy to hear how well he is doing because he is always one of my favorites as a child. He just owned this match with all his antics. It was so immediate how much charisma this guy had and the crowd totally latches onto him. I loved him falling flat on his the apron. The corkscrew Asai moonsault was sick. The crowd ate up La Parka's chair rampage. Doing his strut on the chair and then the way he walked away so proud was hilarious. La Parka is the MAN! Very fun spotfest. ***1/2 |
| Forget the NWO Civil War, the Chairman of WCW was their biggest missed opportunity! |
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Raven vs Chris Benoit - WCW Souled Out 1998
"Raven Sucks!" chants ring out early and are eventually replaced by "Benoit! Benoit!" chants. Midcard acts that are over, well how about that! I am a pretty big fan of Raven character, but I freely admit he has very few great matches to his name, but this is probably his best in WCW. He really looked on his A-game punishing Benoit and working hims over with simple, but effective moves. The early surprise attack with dropkick off the apron and then using the railing and bulldog on chair were all great moments to keep relentless Benoit down. Benoit did a great job selling all these attacks and how even though he usually only has one gear: forward; Raven has effectively stymied. The one issue with this segment was Raven almost worked it too neutral. The reason he was getting heat was because his character was so detestable, but besides the sneak attack he was not really doing anything reprehensible. I think with some more heeling and bit more chickenshit, this would have built to an even better Benoit home stretch and a bigger crowd reaction. Still for Raven on offense this was really good shit. I love the Benoit transition being a drop toehold onto the chair calling back to Raven doing that to Scotty Riggs (one of most impactful moments of my childhood. I thought that was some fucked up shit back then). Benoit absolutely and royally kicks the ever loving shit out of Raven. Give Raven credit he was selling, bumping and stooging for Benoit and making him look great. I wish I watched the angle leading up to this because it would have made the beating all the sweeter, but I remember enough about Raven to get me behind Benoit. In what may have been the stupidest fucking thing of all time, Benoit does a diving headbutt onto a chair that is Raven's face. My Dad used to shit all over Benoit for just doing the diving headbutt. This just takes it to a whole new level. The finish stretch is short and compact and put everything that needs to be. They tease a bit of drama with Raven nailing a DDT out of a Northern Lights Suplex. So now you don't know who will win because Raven is beat up he can't capitalize. When he goes for it again, Benoit puts him in the crossface, Raven enjoys the pain of the Crossface before passing out. You put over Raven as this sick masochist and Benoit as a unrelenting badass. I think if Raven reminds us why he is a heel during that opening stretch that this becomes the match of the night on a surprisingly great card. As it stands, it is very good match, but just missing that little something. ***3/4
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WCW Crusierweight Champion Rey Misterio Jr vs Chris Jericho - WCW Souled Out 1998
I thought they worked smart match around Rey's knee going above and beyond the typical Jericho works Rey Jr.'s knee over. Again it is so refreshing to watch a midcard match where both acts are over, huge "Jericho Sucks" and Rey is generally well-liked by WCW fans. Jericho is great at false sincerity early interacting with the crowd I wish they would give him the mic to cut a promo beforehand. The early part of the match establishes Jericho is a dick and has the weight advantage. Rey is able to overcome this with his speed, but eventually this cost him his mobility when he goes for the proto-619, which he used as a fake out move. I liked how after that Misterio tried other tactics to stay in control like grounding Jericho and even going after Jericho's illustrious mane. Rey is really good at selling the knee, but how much is really selling, we don;t know. Rey goes for another high risk move but Jericho hotshots on the top rope. Jericho is great at showboating. Rey works through the pain and gets one last ditch high risk move (somersault plancha). He blows out his knee. Rey tries to persevere, but they work a great finish where Jericho counters the hurricanrana off the top rope into a Liontamer. The Liontamer and Crippler Crossface both over on the same show was cool. I love the Jericho character and they work the best possible match given Rey's limitations.
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| Role Model for the Free World |
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Promo Theater with Jo Jo Dillon, Roddy Piper, Scott Hall, Hollywood Hogan, Eric Bischoff and Sting.
Piper is insufferable. I thought he was so fucking lame as a child and nothing has changed. He says some really bad jokes when it is time to be serious about what is number 1/2 (NWO dissension and the fate of the World Title are pretty intertwined) program in WCW. Hogan wants Hall to jump Sting, but he walks away disgusted because his World Title shot gets postponed. Ooooo drama! Hogan and Bischoff do a hilariously bad job of acting. While Sting has a weird conniption fit of crotch chops. I loathe Crow Sting. Sting is just so terribly uncool, which is what made his original, "overgrown child hopped up on sugar" gimmick so much fun.
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World TV Champion Booker T vs Rick Martel - WCW Souled Out 1998
I am a pretty big Martel mark after watching some of his AWA stuff and especially his Strike Force work. I know how much people rave about his two month resurgence in WCW before injuries finally coerced him to retire so I was pretty amped for this. It was the only match on the card I was let down by. Martel was just wrestling his standard Model match and holding Booker's hand through the whole match. I have never been a big Booker fan. I get why he is cool. He definitely has a presence to him. The dude had no clue what he was doing out there. He would just keep going back to that weak armbar to just go back to his next spot without really doing anything to the arm. The match picks up once Martel is on offense. Credit where credit is due, they work a pretty cool transition where Booker seems to have accidentally heabutted Martel in the family jewels on a leapfrog, but Martel was just faking and exploited Booker's sympathy. From there it was your basic Martel Model match work the lower back in a smart, concise fashion to set up the Boston Crab. Once he finally applies it, Booker makes the ropes and then hits his axe kick and a shitty and dangerous Harlem Hangover to win. Has there ever been a non-shitty, non-dangerous Harlem Hangover. WHAT?!?!? You build your entire offense to this move and then it gets blown off by Booker making the ropes and just hitting two moves to win. Where are the transitions? Where is the consequence? It is a decent little match, but the finish sucked and Booker is so limited.
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Scott Hall w/Madonna's Boyfriend vs Larry Zbyszko w/Dusty Rhodes - WCW Souled Out 1998
Hall is the master of making old guys seem like credible threats. At Slamboree 1997, the Wolfpac put Flair, Piper and Greene over huge and here he made this match so much fun. I loved him starting off cocky and Zbyszko showing him up with some amateur moves. Hall gets more and more frustrated as this goes on. They do a great job building that tension that if Hall can just walloop Larry with a right that the match will be all over. Eventually Larry can't keep it up because of Louie Spicolli (Madonna's Boyfriend is such a great gimmick name) and Hall catches him with a wicked right while he is down. The crowd tells me why Larry may not have been the best choice for this role because there is a pretty big Larry Sucks chant. Then a Hall Sucks chant follows and back to Larry Sucks. This is not some sign-songy bullshit. You see people in the crowd pointing at each other telling to shut up. I was getting into the heat and Hall did a great job manhandling Larry Z. Then of course in the moment everyone wanted to see here comes Big Dust. What a moment! The crowd was jacked for this and everyone was on their feet to see Dusty deliver the Bionic Elbow. Then he hits the Living Legend and Dusty reveals the nWo shirt and I am pissed. Hall should have gone over Larry Z and they should have built to Dusty vs Hall! Tony and Bobby reacting in shock and disgust came off really organic like they were shoot pissed off. It added to the moment, but I think Dusty lacing it up one more time for WCW would have been huge, but maybe he physically just couldn't go. This was a really fun match between Hall and Zbyszko, who both knew their roles well. Hall was great clowning around for Zbyszko, but when it came time to get heat he got mean. You can't ask for much more for a heel exactly what you want. Larry is not the most likelable guy and thus was not a great fit for this role, but he did wrestle a strong babyface performance. Last good Scott Hall match? ***1/2
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| Is that Eddie Trunk? Say it aint so, Dream! |
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I didn't watch Ray Traylor & The Steiners vs. NWO B-Team because I actually have other things to do in my life. They were playing up Scotty Steiner's short fuse around this time and then once he turned heel he was a chickenshit. Go figure. He is much better as a loose canon once WCW starting booking him that way.
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| Holla if ya hear me! |
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Kevin Nash vs The Giant - WCW Souled Out 1998
This was way more entertaining that it had any right to be. There was major heat for this and it felt like a real Clash of the Titans. Can't think of a time after this where The Giant ever felt like such a big deal. I guess Maywheather? WWE eventually found their footing with him as an upper midcarder they could plug into the main event when needed. Here, he felt like one of the hottest superstars on Earth. Nash to his credit seemed very willing to put him over and stooge for him. They did some great spots to build the tension and then The Giant just steamrolled him with great action. Nash actually busted some shit I have never seen from him, a fucking leapfrog and a tope. I don't care if the tope does not look like Psicosis the fact he tired was pretty damn cool and out over the aura how much this match meant. The Giant catching Nash and throwing him into the post was awesome. Nash is a big dude and it was crazy seeing Giant pick him up and just move him around at will. They sort of lost steam until the end when Giant was signaling for the Chokeslam. Hot coffee is back, BABY! Nash hits a low blow and then GANSO BOMB~! Seriously, a very scary looking spot and I am glad The Giant was ok. All in all an entertaining clash between two super heavyweights when I expected shit. Souled Out 1998 maybe the best PPV of the NWO era, everything has been at least good and am actually going to watch the entire PPV because how good the marquee matches have been. ***
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Bret Hart vs Ric Flair - Souled Out 1998
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| WCW did not know what you were all about. |
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Randy Savage vs Lex Luger - Souled Out 1998
I always thought these two had great chemistry with one another. I know a lot of people will write this off because of the participants and the year, but this was really energetic. It shows how much the knee injury fucked up Savage because he looked great here. He was flying around taking cheapshots. Savage and Liz were such a great heel tandem at this point with just non-stop heeling. Luger always seems motivated against Savage and was cutting a good pace here trying to get out from Savage's nefarious tactics. I liked the short quick crowd brawling and Luger really urgent on countering Savage. Luger's cliche finish sequence was pretty lame, but hell Torture Rack finish to win the match. I know Savage/Luger was hardly the biggest match on the card with Nash/Giant and Flair/Hart. However, neither of those matches would have finished the show with the image of Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock and Nash in the Torture Rack. WCW sending the crowd home happy is definitively a novelty. I thought it was a fun sprint, not PPV main event worthy, but a fun match. ***
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Souled Out looked to set the table for another banner year for WCW. They had hot midcard acts like Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, DDP, Raven, Goldberg and Booker T that could grow with each other as evidenced by the future Benoit/Booker, DDP/Raven and Jericho/Malenko feuds. On top of that, WCW would look forward to Sting's reign as champion, the imminent NWO civil war and Bret Hart shaking up the main event offering fresh match ups. However, as the next months bear out, it is not too easy to predict the future and some of it is not even WCW's fault.
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| You suck! You really, really suck! |
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