Hey yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,
Wrestlemania is this coming Sunday?!?!?!?! It totally snuck up on me this year and can't say I am enthralled. It definitely feels like just another PPV. I loved the Cena/Rusev Fast Lane match and really enjoyed their MSG House Show match about a month ago. At least, there will be one great match.
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| Sable, eat your heart out! |
I was toying with looking at some of the great matches in Wrestlemania history, but instead my own childhood nostalgia has ensnared me. I have become addicted to 1999 WCW, which a lot people write off as a dying promotion that does not need to be revisited. In WCW's time of dying, it produced not only some great matches, but some actually entertaining TV. I am always more predisposed to like WCW because of my childhood and natural affinity for their characters over WWF. I feel that in March & April of 1999, WCW was the more entertaining promotion. Now, it was far from perfect and once again it stems from the lack of a healthy babyface & heel infrastructure, which plagued WCW in 1998, but the direction is a bit clearer.
A lot of people will point to WCW's demise beginning with the infamous Fingerpoke of Doom where Kevin Nash literally gave Hollywood Hogan the World Heavyweight Championship match by laying down for him to a fingerpoke. However, WCW business remained molten hot during the consequent Ric Flair vs Hollywood Hogan program. Flair vs Hogan had not been done since 1996 and not meaningfully since 1994! That speaks to the depth of the WCW roster that Hogan had that many babyfaces to work to not have to lock up with Flair. Flair was actually very natural opponent for Hogan coming off a red hot return and defeating Eric Bischoff for the Presidency of WCW in a feel-good ending to 1998. With the plan to have Goldberg tie up loose ends with Bigelow & Hall before getting to Nash and to have Big Sexy work Rey Mysterio, Flair became a strong contender for Hollywood.
However, something strange happened that tended to happen in the 90s to Ric Flair. He began an ill-advised heel turn. In 1994, it was because Hulk Hogan had entered the promotion and in 1990, it was in order to get Sting over. Here where Flair seemed poised to be WCW's knight in shining armor cutting great promos about tradition and how much pro wrestling means to him. In the ring, he began to morph into the big bumping, cheating Nature Boy. It was as Hogan and Flair were just playing the natural inclinations during the SuperBrawl match. The SuperBrawl match is surprisingly heated for two dinosaurs and is worked as a good hate-filled brawl. However, coming out of the SuperBrawl, they became more committed to the double turn of Hogan and Flair. Flair worked his typical heel against power wrestler match against Goldberg on Nitro, which was very entertaining in a vacuum, but detrimental to the health of the promotion. On the subsequent Nitro, Flair worked as a cowardly heel as Goldberg's tag partner. While Hogan versus Goldberg worked a electric, face vs face Clash of the Titans. Again very entertaining in a vacuum, but detrimental in the long run.
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| The Death of WCW |
This double turn robbed the fans of a true hero conquering the evil New World Order. In fact, the New World Order would just sputter out in April. Flair & The Horsemen would take the mantle of lead heel group. In addition to robbing the fans of an ending, they also turned one of their most over superstars, which only further disillusioned fans. By Spring Stampede, Ric Flair seemed to have lost all his heat whereas in January of 1999, he was the hottest commodity in WCW.
At Uncensored, the double turn was complete with Flair winning the World Championship in the usual WCW convoluted fashion with the help of crooked ref Charles Robinson soon to be Lil Naitch. Flair would defend the title against Rey Mysterio on the Spring Break edition of Nitro. Rey Mysterio had lost his mask to Kevin Nash in one of the more controversial moves of Big Sexy's ill-fated booking regime. Mysterio now dressing like a 15 year old had looked credible against Nash and had wins over midcard big men like Bigelow and Norton. On the March 15th Nitro, he defeated Kidman for the Crusierweight title in a great match and probably the third best WCW match of the month. The Crusierweight champion fell short of the Heavyweight Champion due to some outside interference in what was an entertaining match. The next week WCW made their first trek North of the Border for Nitro.
This led to the famous Bret Hart wears body armor and knocks Goldberg out cold on his own spear. A lot of people think this is classic, great angle. I think it would be too, but Bret Hart quits after the angle and it is never really capitalized on. It just weakens Goldberg, who at that time was their last hot babyface property. The following week Sting would return to a short-term shot in the arm, but that is for the next blog. There has been very little build it seems for Goldberg's big revenge match against Kevin Nash. He steamrolled Scott Hall and Bam Bam Bigelow. While WCW would execute the logical conclusion of getting his win back from Kevin Nash, there has been little build up for a match that was just the main event of their largest show of 1998.
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| O CANADA! I stand on guard for thee! |
On the undercard of this 3/29 Nitro, The Horsemen (Benoit & Malenko) defended their tag titles against Mysterio & Kidman (competitive rivals, but respected peers). It was a brutal display of Benoit's offense as he just ripped into Mysterio and Kidman. Mysterio & Kidman pepper in hope spots, but it is a great offensive demolition by the Horsemen that gives this match of the month honors. However, the recently reunited Raven & Saturn cost The Horsemen the tag titles meaning Mysterio is now a double champion coming out of his feud with Nash. This would set
In the main event of Nitro 3/29, Hollywood Hogan makes his triumphant return to Canada and Canadians LOVE Hogan. Toronto was the site of the famous Hogan/Rock double turn of Wrestlemania XVIII that basically extended Hogan's career by six months to a year depending how you think about it. The booking seems to indicate Hogan/Flair III is in the cards for Spring Stampede, but it is not clear. All of sudden, my main man, Diamond Dallas Page makes his triumphant return to television. DDP is my choice for best American worker of 1998-99 when business was booming, but in ring quality was at a nadir. DDP combined a strong in-ring work ethic and a working class hero character that made him not only over with the fans, but deliver strong matches in 1998 against Chris Benoit, Bret Hart and Goldberg. However, this Nitro plants the seeds for a DDP heel turn, who had not been seen since being written off with Scott Steiner injuring him in February. DDP made no bones that he was not a Flair ally and did not want Flair to be in his corner, but at the end of the day, DDP still was the one to wrestle the mega-over Hogan. DDP and Hogan put together a fun, heated brawl that saw them wipe out the classic WCW Nitro set with a new set coming in for next week. DDP is WCW's best main event worker and is sorely needed at the top of the cards to maximize the other main eventers. Hogan is no slouch in 1999 and still has plenty of energy. He really never stops moving, but without a DDP his matches can be aimless. DDP provided a framework for Hogan to have his best singles match since his last DDP match in 1998. By the time, Hogan finally the Hulk-Up the Canadian crowd was roaring, the German announcer was exclaiming, "The Hulkster is Pumping Up" and DDP, The Nature Boy and Lil Naitch were reeling.
On the back of three strong TV matches (Crusierweight Title, Tag Title, DDP/Hogan) and otherwise entertaining TV matches, WCW in 1999 March felt like a promotion on the mend. It was definitely not completely rehabilitated and the booking was highly suspect. If March was a transition period to that led to a strong, stable WCW with Hogan, Sting & Goldberg against Flair, DDP & Nash then WCW in 1999 could have been great. It is fine to have a month of murkiness to reassemble the pieces in new ways, but when the year continued to be littered with wrestlers turning like the leaves in the wind, it would ultimately lead to why WCW 1999 is considered a year no one watches. However, April of 1999 sees WCW reap the rewards of March 1999 with a tremendous month of in-ring action until Slamboree 1999 ends the brief renaissance.
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| Ready to go off in April |
Match Lisiting:
WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hogan vs Ric Flair - Superbrawl IX ***
Bret Hart vs Chris Benoit - WCW Nitro 3/1/99 ***
Ric Flair vs Goldberg - Nitro 3/8/98 ***
WCW Crusierweight Champion Billy Kidman vs Rey Mysterio - Nitro 3/15/99 ***1/2
Hollywood Hogan & Kevin Nash vs. Ric Flair & Goldberg - WCW Nitro 3/15/99
WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Rey Mysterio Jr. - WCW Nitro 3/22/99
WCW World Tag Team Champions Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko vs.
Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman - WCW Nitro 3/29/99 ***1/2
Hollywood Hogan vs Diamond Dallas Page - WCW Nitro 3/29/99 ***1/2
WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hogan vs Ric Flair - Superbrawl IX
Hogan played this match really strangely pretty much playing the babyface. The mocking of the "WOOO" I could see construed as "cool" heel or just being an ass. The whole beginning was pretty much all Hollywood. You wanted Flair to make good on his promise that he was going to kick Hogan's ass, but they played the early goings like Hogan/Flair '94 with Hogan winning shoulder blocks and using his size to dominate Flair. Now once they got to the heat segment proper I thought Hogan was rocking it as a heel and really beating Flair up to the point of sympathy, but since Hogan had already won the fans over early the heat segment had weird reverse heat on it. I loved, loved Flair firing up on jelly legs a couple times. Those belt shots by Hogan were fucking vicious. You really felt like you were watching a fight. I really wanted to see Flair punch and chop through that to take control. Flair does eventually take control with low blows, which is fine to fight fire with fire, but seems like the crowd is firmly pro-Hogan. The double juice, the out of control violence and their aura could have taken this to US MOTYC for a very weak year. Instead what we got was five absolutely electric minutes followed by a pretty lame turn from David Flair on his father. I will say Torrie Wilson was hot and I mean double hot. Nash was right "Sable eat your heart out". It was disappointing because how surprising it was that they were working at such a high level even if it was only for about five minutes. It is too bad Uncensored ended up shitty as popular opinion says, but I'll be taking a look at some point. ***
I really liked aspects of the commentary in this match. My favorite part was Tony and Bobby putting over how dangerous and difficult it is to be a pro wrestler. I think commentators should bring this up once a show to remind me us of the risks these men and women take to entertain us. I think it will build more respect and admiration for wrestlers and actually increase the heat for spots that have become passe like taking a bump to outside the ring.
Definitely not as good as the Owen Hart Tribute match, but another great TV bout that just littered WCW around this time. What kept this from reaching all-time great status was Bret's cold performance. I first noticed this reviewing Hart Foundation matches is that Bret can come across as very mechanical and disinterested in the ring. He may be one of the most naturally gifted wrestlers to ever lace up the boots and I think the actual execution of wrestling was too easy for him. I wish he would challenge himself to be a better wrestler by being more engaged. Technically, this was a perfect performance. He performed his spots correct. He laid it out appropriately using heel tactics like eyerakes, choking, testicular violence and the ropes to set up his high impact moves: suplexes, piledriver, the Five Moves of Doom. It is hard to put it all on Hart because Benoit's performance was unusually tepid. The one great thing about Benoit, which is also his downfall is that he makes everybody wrestle his match and drags them out of their comfort zone. He is just an intense, always moving forward, bring the fight to you kinda wrestler that every match tends to have heat just because he is always struggling. I don't know if he was deferring to The Hitman out of reverence, but he basically just played ragdoll to Bret's great offense. You get some good selling here and there, but it was not continuous. I will say once Benoit started roaring back the match started to generate heat. The tease of the Crossface as a reverse out of the Sharpshooter got a huge reaction and was the coolest spot in the match. Benoit's comeback proper generated a good buzz with his usual wicked chops and intense strikes and suplexes. He can not immediately capitalize on the Diving Headbutt. Bret tries to mount a comeback. They both take a nasty spill over the top rope that looked like Bret was inches of landing right on the top of his head. The tag team champions, Curt Hennig & Barry Windham, attack Benoit on the outside and roll him in. Hart applies the Sharpshooter with Benoit in the ropes and won't let go. The ref disqualifies him and the beatdown commences. Malenko comes out and a similar fate awaits him. The crowd is left with their dicks in their hand when Flair does not make the save. It is a very good match that was given a good amount of time to develop, but nothing terribly essential to see. ***
Bret Hart vs Chris Benoit - WCW Nitro 3/1/99
I really liked aspects of the commentary in this match. My favorite part was Tony and Bobby putting over how dangerous and difficult it is to be a pro wrestler. I think commentators should bring this up once a show to remind me us of the risks these men and women take to entertain us. I think it will build more respect and admiration for wrestlers and actually increase the heat for spots that have become passe like taking a bump to outside the ring.
Definitely not as good as the Owen Hart Tribute match, but another great TV bout that just littered WCW around this time. What kept this from reaching all-time great status was Bret's cold performance. I first noticed this reviewing Hart Foundation matches is that Bret can come across as very mechanical and disinterested in the ring. He may be one of the most naturally gifted wrestlers to ever lace up the boots and I think the actual execution of wrestling was too easy for him. I wish he would challenge himself to be a better wrestler by being more engaged. Technically, this was a perfect performance. He performed his spots correct. He laid it out appropriately using heel tactics like eyerakes, choking, testicular violence and the ropes to set up his high impact moves: suplexes, piledriver, the Five Moves of Doom. It is hard to put it all on Hart because Benoit's performance was unusually tepid. The one great thing about Benoit, which is also his downfall is that he makes everybody wrestle his match and drags them out of their comfort zone. He is just an intense, always moving forward, bring the fight to you kinda wrestler that every match tends to have heat just because he is always struggling. I don't know if he was deferring to The Hitman out of reverence, but he basically just played ragdoll to Bret's great offense. You get some good selling here and there, but it was not continuous. I will say once Benoit started roaring back the match started to generate heat. The tease of the Crossface as a reverse out of the Sharpshooter got a huge reaction and was the coolest spot in the match. Benoit's comeback proper generated a good buzz with his usual wicked chops and intense strikes and suplexes. He can not immediately capitalize on the Diving Headbutt. Bret tries to mount a comeback. They both take a nasty spill over the top rope that looked like Bret was inches of landing right on the top of his head. The tag team champions, Curt Hennig & Barry Windham, attack Benoit on the outside and roll him in. Hart applies the Sharpshooter with Benoit in the ropes and won't let go. The ref disqualifies him and the beatdown commences. Malenko comes out and a similar fate awaits him. The crowd is left with their dicks in their hand when Flair does not make the save. It is a very good match that was given a good amount of time to develop, but nothing terribly essential to see. ***
Ric Flair vs Goldberg - Nitro 3/8/98
Classic Ric Flair match that is timeless, but with the interesting wrinkle that Goldberg maybe the ultimate babyface monster. The heat for this match is nuclear with the crowd completely behind Goldberg especially once Flair heels himself. We get all the great Flair trademarks of bouncing off Goldberg and taking the gorilla press slam. Flair goes all in on the cheating with three low blows to keep Goldberg at bay. Flair still has his nasty chops and great punch to vary things. Hell, he busted out a sweet suplex. Goldberg was an awesome presence in this match. I loved his quick reverse of the Figure-4 and how he really rared back on it. Hell, Goldberg even sold the leg pretty well. We get the press slam off the top rope. Goldberg misses on the spear, but it is just delaying the inevitable: SPEAR! NWO B-Team runs in and then Nash and Hogan. Nash had one funny line for every four and Hogan was useless. Poor Tony! A really enjoyable Flair match that was made unique by Goldberg's aura and his explosiveness. Would have loved a full-fledged 15 minute PPV main event between these two. ***
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WCW Crusierweight Champion Billy Kidman vs Rey Mysterio - Nitro 3/15/99
Billy Kidman, intelligent counterwrestler, strikes again! Hell, I loved how committed he was to the Shooting Star Press. Any chance, he got he was climbing those ropes to hit it. Who cares that I missed before. If the bell has not rung, I am trying again. I liked that strategy a lot. It is what brought you to the dance, don't deviate. This is a ball out affair with them flying around hitting each other, but it always feels like they are going for a win. Kidman has some well-timed dropkicks to keep Rey at bay and hit a plancha or a spinebuster when the time is right. It is did get a little move trade-y in the middle. Rey has some impressive highspots, but unlike Juventud he goes have the big bomb offense to really excel in this type of match in my opinion. Juvy has the chops, brainbusters and Juvy Driver that really feel like damage is done. Rey has a breath-taking array of hurricanaranas that are best suited from when he is coming from behind and looking to create space. Basically, Rey is at his best when he can sell and his matches breathe. It is a very fun and entertaining match, but falls short of the Juvy November 98 match in my opinion. Kidman is not great, but he is definitely better than I remembered. ***1/2
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Hollywood Hogan & Kevin Nash vs. Ric Flair & Goldberg - WCW Nitro 3/15/99
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WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Rey Mysterio Jr. - WCW Nitro 3/22/99
My first act as booker of any American pro wrestling promotion would be to restore the Spring Break Nitro set up. Then I would run more college campuses.
The Buffer introduction of Mysterio is fucking hilarious if it was not included on this. Here are the highlights: "He gets this chance by the luck of the draw, but we all know he deserves it." is really funny when done in the Buffer voice. The Master of The Latino Frankensteiner killed me. Good shit
Tenay just said Flair swerved Mysterio on the hand shake. Bad shit.
Flair would have been a great Olympic walker. He has the speed walking form down pat.
It is always amusing when a Flair Flop catches an opponent off guard. Rey goes with the celebratory pose not bad. Even Double A is stooging for Rey. Flair lures him to the outside and BOOM steamrolled by Anderson.
Flair gets nasty with chops and punches. Flair Sucks chants and Rey chants! Cool. Rey times a couple nice hope spots. Rey hits the Brie Bella facebuster special. Rey's comeback is not connecting. Top Rope Latino Frankensteiner looks to win it, but AA pulls out the ref for the DQ.
Flair goes into the pool and is headed for the fans splashing them with water. That would have been the coolest Spring Break story EVER!
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WCW World Tag Team Champions Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko vs.
Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman - WCW Nitro 3/29/99
So who is more pissed during this match Tony Schiavone or Chris Benoit? Schiavone is spewing venom on commentary and it is uncomfortable. Benoit is lighting muthafuckas up. Benoit usually hits pretty damn hard, but during this match he was really kicking the dogshit out of Kidman. The forearm blow to back of Kidman's head was hard to watch. Pretty much the entirety of the match is a Benoit offense display. He is on the warpath and it actually makes any hope spots look forced and artificial. Like Kidman's spinebuster just existed to get to the next part of the match. Rey's hurricanarana was a bit more organic. Once Benoit and Malenko settle more into a traditional heat segment it at least seems like Kidman and Rey have a chance, which I hope kinda makes sense. Rey & Kidman are still getting their asses kicked, but this time in a way more conducive to setting up a comeback. Rey gets the hot tag and looks to hit a Latino Frankensteiner (TM Michael Buffer) for the win, but Malenko catches him with a powerbomb and goes for the Cloverleaf, but Raven hits a DDT to allow Rey to win the tag belts. Lets recap the match Benoit & Malenko shine, Benoit & Malenko heat segment, Benoit & Malenko poised to win. Damn, did they kick their ass. I am oversimplifying a bit as Kidman & Rey got a few brief spots but this was the Benoit and Malenko show. It was still a damn good spotfest, but I don't think it ranks with some of the other really high end 1999 WCW stuff. ***1/2
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Hollywood Hogan vs Diamond Dallas Page - WCW Nitro 3/29/99
THE HULKSTER IS PUMPING UP! I watched the German TV version of this and when the announcer hit me with that out of nowhere I had to burst out laughing. I would say this is Hollywood Hogan's best match, but he was clearly wrestling face so it feels like it shouldn't count as a Hollywood Hogan match. DDP was on fire at this point and Hogan could still move around surprisingly well. I thought this match peaked early. I thought the beginning was really heated and really felt like Hogan was overcoming Page with his punches. The Toronto crowd of course loved Hogan. I guess turning Page was already in the cards, which is a shame. He is a great heel, but DDP working class hero is such a great character. They go out to the stage to topple over the WCW signs since they are getting a new entrance way the next week, which was a cool visual. I am big fan of belt whipping and loved Hogan whipping DDP only for DDP to punt him in the nuts to get the belt. I actually thought these cooled off from here. Hogan always tried hard in the matches I have watched and this is not different. He was on a mission to prove he could still be the top guy and was just kicking DDP's ass. I think they got their signals crossed on the cross armbreaker, I think Hogan wanted a proper one, but DDP did not know what was going on. Hogan with an inside cradle, that's cool. Overall, I thought they lost a bit of steam down this stretch. I think a DDP heat segment proper would have set up the big comeback better. Hogan ends up taking out Flair, Lil Naitch and DDP all in one fell swoop and the Canadian crowd laps it up. Not on par with some of the great DDP matches of this era, but this pretty damn good. I would be going bonkers if I got something as good as the Tag Title match and this main event back to back on RAW nowadays. ***1/2
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