Woman O Woman Wont You Marry Me Now: Ric Flair & WCW Nitro from April 1996-June 1996

“I stayed up all night throwing touchdown pass after touchdown pass and LOOK at my wide receivers [Woman & Miss Elizabeth]” – “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, WCW Nitro May 13, 1996

I Got The Whole World In My Hands

I got wicked sick about a month ago (bacterial sinus infection, not COVID-19) and I needed something mindless to watch as I spent an hour at a time transforming my bathroom into a steam room. I settled on watching old episodes of Nitro. I grew up on Nitro from 1997 on and there is something so nostalgic about the show, the announcers, its set and the wrestlers that I love going back to it whenever I just want to watch something that makes me feel good. Since I started watching in July of 1997, I like going back and checking out the older episodes because it gives me the same feel, but at the same time being new to me.

I decided to start with Nitro after Uncensored because it was the end of the silly The Alliance To End Hulkamania (read: Horsemen & Dungeon of Doom) storyline, but still before Scott Hall’s debut on May 27th. So I was intrigued what WCW’s landscape was like during this, what was the main story and who were the major players.

I was pleasantly surprised at how fun the Nitro was from Uncensored up to Bash at the Beach so this from March 26, 1996 to July 7, 1996. Nitro was a one hour show up until May 27th when it expanded to two hours. When it expanded to two hours is when they introduced Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko as the hour one announce team and Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan as the hour 2 announce team. When I was growing up, Tony was the consistent thread through an episode along with Mike Tenay, but they would rotate Larry Z and Bobby Heenan out. This would not be a bad idea for WWE to try especially with the 3 hour RAW. The other fun they did is that they shoot off pyro at the beginning of hour 2. It felt like a party on Nitro. I cant remember which guest on Austin’s podcast said it but he said what makes AEW’s Dynamite stand out is that it feels like a party. I think that’s one of things WCW did really well in the early days of Nitro. It was so fresh and exciting. You couldn’t wait to see what happens next and this had stood the test of time as the show still feels very fun to watch. Besides the atmosphere, the other thing that made Nitro so much fun to watch were the colorful characters and it also helped that Hulk Hogan was gone for the bulk of this period.

Uncensored was main evented by Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage beating eight grown men in an absurd cage match which I have not seen. I actually now want to watch the build for it because I think the Ric Flair and Kevin Sullivan promos leading up to it would be gold. Hulk Hogan would stick around for three more weeks with his last appearance on Nitro being April 15th where he would defeat Kevin Sullivan & Arn Anderson (remnants of Horsemen/Dungeon Alliance) in a handicap match, intimidated Woman & Miss Elizabeth, humiliated Jimmy Hart and owned The Giant. It all felt very disgusting, ego-driven and stale. It was easily the worst part of WCW during this time period. It was very forced and so transparent that it was desperately trying to overcome Hogan’s shortcomings as top babyface by putting him over every top heel besides Flair all at once on Nitro. Once, he left Nitro never felt like that again. The show was dynamic and interesting and it all ran through one man: Ric Flair.

“O, Mean Gene, how it is hard to be humble!” – “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, Spring 1996 pretty much every single Nitro

Ric Flair started this campaign as the WCW World Heavyweight Champion and ended this campaign winning the US Heavyweight Championship from Konnan. The month of April was built around his feud with The Giant which was a part of the overarching Horsemen vs Dungeon of Doom, heel vs heel feud. Slamboree was built around him and Randy Savage, mortal enemies teaming in the Lethal Lottery. Great American Bash was sold on Ric Flair teaming with Arn Anderson against the Football Players, Steve “Mongo” McMichael & Kevin Greene. It was not until Bash at the Beach that he took a backseat to the Outsiders. He did all this alongside his valets, Woman & Miss Elizabeth, who he affectionately called “The Girls”.

What a trio these three were! It was such a great old school heel act. It was just about being an asshole. Ric Flair was such a greedy, delusional, vain, and low-down cheat; it was awesome. He reveled in spending Miss Elizabeth’s alimony from Macho Man Randy Savage. He taunted the football players (Steve “Mongo” McMichael & Kevin Greene) for being half-man he was and that Debra was really lusting after him, not the other way around.  He loved flaunting to the world that he got to spend time in the company of such beauties. “O Woman O Woman wont you marry me now!”
A lot of people say post-WWF heel Ric Flair became a caricature of himself. He did become more over the top and more of a supervillain during his time in mid-90s WCW. He lost all volume control in the 1990s and became very loud all the time. One funny thing I really enjoyed about this Flair run he would sing a couple lyrics every promo out of tune and it always popped me. It was fun and wrestling is missing that fun. He cheated a lot more and relied a lot more on tricks and gimmicks. During every match, Woman would cheat nonstop to garner the victory from hot coffee (which was preposterous), to high heel shoes, to a well-timed kick to Konnan’s gonnads, Woman was always there to help the Nature Boy to victory and Flair always tied it off with having his foot on the ropes. It is easy to believe Flair had become a shell of himself, but I disagree with this notion as I still feel Flair was one of the more fleshed out characters in pro wrestling.

Well he was not wrong! WOO!

The one thing that really stood out about WCW during this time period is that they did not do much in terms of building storylines around their wrestlers. Instead they would book a match and let the fact these two characters were colliding sell itself. This only works of course if the characters sell themselves. I think in WCW’s landscape that was true. They were lucky in the fact they inherited 5 main event stars (Hogan, Savage, Flair, Sting & Luger) from the 1980s with well-defined and easily distinguishable characters. I think unlike the others Flair actually kept his character fresh in the 90s. He stopped hanging around the Horsemen so much and started hanging around “The Girls”. He cheated more than ever because he was older and more than ever was trying to hang onto past glory. He was leaning more into the playboy aspect of his character than ever before. It all centered around a very important idea in Ric Flair’s mind and that is what a man ought to be. That’s how he taunted Randy Savage & the Football players he would go after their manhood because his own manhood is so near & dear to him.

If there is one thing I recommend above all else from this time period is go watch all the Ric Flair promos with Mean Gene from this era with Woman’s fingers crawling up Mean Gene’s shoulder, Flair shouting incessantly and Miss Elizabeth wondering what the fuck she has gotten herself into, it all works together in one awesome heel package. It is easy to overlook Miss Elizabeth but she is essential in all this. Even when Randy Savage was a heel, Elizabeth was the reluctant babyface. She didn’t help him cheat. She was being pressured by her insane, jealous husband. For her to turn heel was absolutely shocking at the time. It was clearly dwarfed by Hogan turning at Bash At The Beach, but it was crazy that girl next door betrayed the Macho Man and hooked up with the loathsome Nature Boy. Unfortunately, her lack of acting chops did not afford them as strong of a follow through, but her mere presence with the Nature Boy made the heel act feel like a main event act.

The only major fumble during this run of Nitro (besides the aforementioned Hogan burial of the Dungeon of Doom) was that Ric Flair was not allowed to go in front of the live crowd in Charlotte, NC on June 24th. As was customary for Nitro, the announcers would run down the card at the outset of the show, spontaneously and organically a thunderous “We Want Flair” chant rung out. During the Horsemen (Anderson/Benoit) vs Rock N Roll Express match, the Rock N Rolls were BOOED and they chanted “We Want Flair” (the previous week, it was insane how over Arn Anderson was against the American Males, Horsemen Country was a very real thing). They chanted “We Want Flair” during Randy Savage’s match and during Carolina Panthers’ Kevin Greene’s promo. I know Ric Flair was a heel at the time, but fucking hell how did you rob these people of Ric Flair. The pop would have been huge. At the end of this episode, the Outsiders invade with baseball bats causing Sting & Lex Luger to lose the WCW World Tag Team Titles to Harlem Heat in a triangle match (also including the Steiner Brothers). If the Horsemen confronted them, they would have needed a new roof on the arena because that crowd would have blown it off. I really felt bad for those people even in 2020 because they so desperately wanted to see Ric Flair and they were robbed that. The kayfabe reason was that he was under guard in his locker room safely away from Savage & Greene. There are times to respect kayfabe and there are times to give the fans what they want and this was a time to give them what they wanted.



This is already going much longer than I expected, but hell there was a lot that happened in these three months. Lets keep the ball rolling with the Horsemen. In April when Ric Flair was either teaming with or facing The Giant, it felt like the Horsemen were not a thing. Anderson was hanging around the Dungeon, Benoit was on tour in Japan and Pillman had left the company. So it felt like Flair and The Girls was what was left and that was no Horsemen. After Flair dropped the title to The Giant, his focused was renewed on Savage and also Debra McMichael, wife of Steve Mongo McMichael. They reintroduced Ric Flair & Arn Anderson as a tag team and they would face McMichael & Greene at Great American Bash with Randy Savage in the corner of the football players and Bobby The Brain Heenan in the corner of the Horsemen. This was the last appearance of the classic Bobby The Brain character. He was always so great in his interactions with Flair and there is a great moment on the Nitro after Great American Bash where The Brain is being chased by the Macho Man and he does his classic over the top rope leap to floor. Wow! The Brain still had it then. With the New World Order looming, it was our last chance to see classic Brain.

In parallel, Kevin Sullivan was attempting to maintain his alliance with the Horsemen because he feared that when Hogan returned he would gunning for him and he wanted allies. However, Benoit thought he was a snake and wanted to end the alliance. Sullivan thought Benoit was like Pillman weak and undeserving of being a Horseman. Anderson was caught in the middle and made it seem like he was siding with Sullivan, but ended up turning on Sullivan at Great American Bash during the classic Benoit/Sullivan brawl that ended up in the men’s bathroom (“Tony there’s a lady in men’s bathroom”-Dusty). Finally, we get the Mongo heel turn when Debra comes out with a Haliburton full of money and bashes Kevin Greene’s head in with the briefcase. It felt like the Horsemen had all the momentum in the world. Of course, this would all be squandered in deference to the New World Order. The Horsemen of the 90s is something that would have kept Nitro hot and done well, but Hulk Hogan turning heel is on whole other world, brutha. Horsemen were correctly sacrificed, but still this was a great run for Ric Flair and proof positive that he could hold down the fort basically by himself while Hogan was away for three whole months.

I am going to do the rest of this in bullet format.

• Macho Man delivered some great unhinged promos during this time trying to get in the building. His best was after beating Hugh Morris and getting up in the Turner suit’s grill. Most of his matches were 90s Savage formula matches. Long heat segment and short comeback with the Elbow for the win. I thought the matches against Fit Finlay (Belfast Bruiser) and Greg Valentine were his best. He had a match with Flair after Great American Bash and he has had better, but it was fun. It was the blow off to the feud as they were transitioning Savage into his role as top babyface against the New World Order. The feud deserved a better, more climatic ending.
•  The Giant was the World Champion during the bulk of this time period. He slowly got better as a promo but was still trying too hard to be menacing and knowing what we know now about The Giant just wasn’t who he was as a person. They worked really hard to get the Chokeslam over. I liked how he would chant “Chokeslam” in the background of a Sullivan or Jimmy Hart promo to get it over. They did a great job playing up his size as the reason behind his confidence.
•  Kevin Sullivan & Jimmy Hart it is amazing how these two were such huge acts in the middle of the 1990s. They would fade into the background after the New World Order, but after Ric Flair these were your top two heels in 1995 and 1996 which is crazy to think about. Sullivan had not had a big time run on top since Florida and Jimmy Hart always played second fiddle to Heenan in WWF so it had been since Memphis that he was a top heel manager. Good for them, but crazy they got a second run on top. Sullivan, probably cause he was booking, cut the most story-driven promos and if you were smart you knew where a story was going based on a Sullivan promo.
•  Lex Luger & Sting – I think they could have done so much with the Lex Luger character. The whole he is a babyface with Sting and heel with everybody else is so good and it is so real life. There are so many people that have kinda scummy friends/family members, but we put with them because we love them and we try to help them change.  Also because nobody is all good or all bad. However, I just felt like they dropped the ball with Luger more often than not. I wanted them to play up the relationship with Jimmy Hart more. Slamboree and Great American Bash were main evented by Giant World Championship defenses even though both PPV was sold on Ric Flair angles and matches. They did so little to build these matches up. They put more effort into John Tenta leaves the Dungeon of Doom and takes on Big Bubba Rogers storyline than these. I liked The Giant chokeslamming Lex Luger through the table a week before his Slamboree defense against Sting. That was a hot, crazy angle especially for 1996 and really put the chokeslam and Giant over. They do the interesting finish where Luger/Hart are handcuffed together and they are tussling over the Megaphone and it ends up cracking Sting in the head. Did Luger mean to hit Sting or was it an accident? However, this all got erased by the New World Order when everyone had to go babfyace. Again, a big missed opportunity. The Great American Bash match between Giant vs Luger, had almost no build. It was just Chokeslam vs Torture Rack which is a solid story but they could have leaned into more. They had a much better match at Starrcade 1996 so check that out instead. Finally, there was a random mini-push of Steven Regal right before Great American Bash. Regal had the awesome series with Finlay including the very novel and cool Parking Lot Brawl. Then Regal slapped Sting in an interview segment and gets a match with Sting. Regal & is Bluebloods go over some midcard babyfaces but he loses to Sting at the Bash and is shunted back down the card. Very peculiar.
•  “Diamond” Dallas Page, the only man outside the Big Six (Hogan, Savage, Flair, Sting, Luger and Giant) to get a consistent push during this time period was Dallas. Page is such a try hard I love it. You tell him to be a heel. He is a fucking heel. He is such a scum bag. The king of the gimmicks. Don’t tell Page less is more because he will tell you less is just less, brutha! He won the Lord of the Ring Battlebowl ring which everyone wanted to call the Lord of the Rings and would trip over themselves not to say. He had the chains, the sunglasses, the cigar, the Self Hi-Five, the weird psychedelic thing he did with his hands. He oversold everything. He bumped like a cartoon. He made funny faces. He made a royal horse’s ass out of himself. It was all so fucking glorious! He wanted to be the biggest scummy, clown heel of all time and he just rocked it. Watch the Craig Pittman match for his most over the top performance but pretty much every DDP match from this time period is so entertaining because of how much effort he puts into the match. That’s why I love DDP and I will always rank him in my Top 100 wrestlers of all time because no one and I mean no one tries harder than Diamond Dallas Page.
•  In terms of great matches well there are the obvious ones:
• o Fit Finlay vs Steven Regal – Nitro April 29th Parking Lot Brawl
• o Dean Malenko vs Rey Mysterio – Great American Bash 1996, my pick for WCW Match of the Year 1996
• o Rey Mysterio vs Psychosis – Bash at the Beach 1996
• o Chris Benoit vs Kevin Sullivan – Great American Bash 1996 Fall Count Anywhere
•  The not so obvious ones include
• o Ric Flair vs The Giant -Nitro March 25th
• o Ric Flair vs Lex Luger – Nitro April 1st you feel like you transported back to 1988
• o Nasty Boys vs Public Enemy – Nitro April 15th Fucking insane brawl. Knobbs and Saggs still the hell out of Public Enemy, I wish that the Nasties got a run in ECW. They would have ruled that tag division
• o Eddie Guerrero vs Chris Benoit – Nitro April 22nd not as good as their 95 stuff but it is Eddie vs Benoit
• o Dean Malenko vs Jushin Liger – Nitro May 6th
• o Ric Flair vs Eddie Guerrero – Nitro May 20th
• o Faces of Fear vs Lex Luger & Sting- Nitro May 20th, watch this one! Barbarian was the best worker in 1996 that no one talked about. He should have been pushed to the moon.
• o Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs American Males – Nitro May 27th , the best of the “Flair & Anderson get ready to take on the Football players so we put them in a bunch of tag matches” matches. Perfect Horsemen psychology
• o DDP vs Craig Pittman – Nitro May 27th I love DDP and this was such a DDP match so over the top. So many fun spots. DDP rules!
• o Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs Rock N Roll Express – Nitro June 3rd It is Flair vs orton, you cant go wrong!
• o Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs Sting & Lex Luger – Nitro June 10th. In 1988, this would have been the biggest thing ever. Still good craic as the Irish would say.
• o Arn Anderson & Chris Benoit vs American Males – Nitro June 17th just watch this to see how fucking over Arn Anderson is.
• o Randy Savage vs Ric Flair – Nitro June 17th not their best match but it is the blowoff to their epic 1995-1995 feud so worth seeing.
• o Dean Malenko vs Rey Mysterio – Nitro June 17th not as famous as their July8th Nitro match but this one is still very good and Mysterio’s debut on the show.
• o The Giant vs Scott Steiner – Nitro June 17th The Giant’s best title defense of his reign. Great rib selling by Scotty and a focused attack by the Giant. They build the comeback well and Steiner’s suplexes are impressive and pop the crowd.
• o Eddie Guerrero vs Barbarian – Nitro June 24th The night where Barbarian got more over with crowd because of his workrate than Eddie. Push Barbarian!
• o Arn Anderson & Chris Benoit vs Rock N Roll Express – Nitro June 24th The Horsemen are so over in Charlotte that Rock N Rolls get booed! Arn vs Morton, you cant go wrong!

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 2 Best of WCW in 1995-2001 (DDP, Randy Savage, Goldberg)

Editor's Note #1: Chris Benoit will be mentioned throughout this blog. I do not seek to glorify the man Chris Benoit. Chris Benoit was an evil man that murdered his wife and child. Chris Benoit is a part of wrestling history and will be discussed as a part of wrestling history. 

Editor's Note #2: Originally Volume 2 was going to finish the countdown started in Volume 1 of the best matches to take place in the WWF between 1993-97 however I have not found time to rewatch the Mind Games match between Shawn Michaels and Mankind. I will keep putting out content until I feel I can do that classic match justice at which point I will release those final rankings.

Hey Yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 2:

The Greatest Matches of WCW in 1995-2001

Objective:  Break up the Greatest Match Ever Project (hosted at gwe.freeforums.project.net) into more manageable chunks to help me build my Top 100 List for the project.

Motivation: Contribute to the discussion around these matches to enrich my own understanding of pro wrestling and give a fresh perspective for old matches and even hopefully discover great pro wrestling matches that have been hidden by the sands of time.

Subject: This second volume of Pro Wrestling Love begins the Top 12 countdown of the best matches to take place in World Championship Wrestling from 1995-2001. The years were selected based on Hulk Hogan’s arrival in July of 1994 completely reimagining the company in his likeness. I would argue that similar reimagining happened when Vince Russo took over the booking in October of 1999, but WCW was so terrible from October of 1999 to end, March of 2001 that is not worth doing a separate blog on that. You can revisit past Pro Wrestling Love Volumes at ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com and eventually at PlaceToBeNation.com. You can check out the full version of these reviews in ProWrestlingOnly.com by going to the forums and finding the folders associated with the date of the match.

I LOVE THEIR '97 RUN!

The Misses: I would say one of the surprises of this countdown was the dearth of highly touted matches from 1996-97 WCW when their vaunted midcard consisting of Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, and Ultimo Dragon among others was firing on all cylinders. The one obvious match makes the list of course (*cough* Eddie vs Rey *cough*), but this is actually a really wide open list. You would think that the biggest company in America for two years with one of the best rosters in history would have been picked apart, dissected and have a canon established. However, besides Eddie vs Rey, can you automatically say what the next match is that would make the list. The combination of the popularity of the company and the popularity of its wrestlers among wrestling critics make for a more interesting column than one would expect.

For instance, Chris Benoit generally considered one of the best wrestlers of 90s does not have any obvious matches to make this list. He will have two that make the list, but I don’t think going into this match that any of the matches were mortal locks.  Two of his more highly touted matches were the brawl against Kevin Sullivan at Great American Bash ’96 and his overwrought ode to progressive rock with Dean Malenko at Hog Wild. I find the GAB match to be more of a fun, plundah brawl than something incredibly amazing, even if Dusty gives a ***** performance on commentary. The Malenko match reminds me of those overly long prog rock songs where the focus is how many notes or time changes they can fit in a song rather than having a strong hook and entertaining the audience. The last major Benoit match I want to bring up is the Booker T Best of Seven Series, which I lived through. This has become very fondly remembered from WCW and really made Booker T a singles star. Booker T has never done much for me as a wrestler and I thought the Final Match was good, but nothing more.

The only two other matches I wanted to bring up that had a bit of reputation going into this countdown involve Ultimo Dragon. As you can imagine as an 8 year old, diehard WCW fan, I was pretty huge fan of masked wrestlers. Psicosis and La Parka were my favorite, but Ultimo Dragon was not far behind. Unfortunately, for the most part, I do not think Ultimo Dragon has aged well. He will have at least one match from Japan that will make my Top 100 of All-Time, but overall I find his matches to be bereft of psychology. He is a phenomenal offensive wrestler. He has a deep arsenal and his execution is stellar. His offense still looks as good in 2018 as it did in 1996. However, in my opinion, offense is only one element of pro wrestling. His constant blowing off of selling and just running through spots without rhyme or reason make his matches ultimately an unfulfilling experience. His two well-regarded matches from this era are the World War III ’96 match against Rey Mysterio and Starrcade ’96 against Dean Malenko. The first match is a glorified squash match and just a total exhibition of Dragon at his offensive best. I have been harsh on this match in this match, but it is entertaining and enjoyable to watch, but there is no struggle. It looks like Dragon is having a training session showing off different moves while Mysterio acts as his tackling dummy rather than a contest with two men vying to win the bout. The second match with Malenko is just pretty boring with no real hook. I do like Ultimo Dragon so I will give him a shoutout and that his best WCW match was against Steven Regal at Slamboree 97 and that would make a Top 20 if I was doing a Top 20. 

I want to end this on a high note and I think the silver lining is that this will be a list that is a nice blend of matches you expect and some that come out of left field.

Lance Storm once used this picture on Twitter to explain to me that Ultimo Dragon deserved to be in the WON HOF. I am not convinced Lance fully understands how pro wrestling works. 

Honorable Mentions:

Scott Steiner vs Goldberg – Fall Brawl 2000

The best match from the Russo era not even Russo interfering with a plastic whiffle ball bat could completely ruin this.

Diamond Dallas Page vs Chris Benoit – Thunder 5/27/99

WCW World Champion Hollywood Hogan vs Diamond Dallas Page – Nitro 10/28/97

DDP was the best, consistent wrestler in WCW from 95 to the End. Yes, Rey and Eddie had higher highs, but they were short spurts compared to DDP would pretty much kicked ass from the beginning to the end of this era. DDP appears on this list more than any other wrestlers. These are two TV matches that have been lost to the sands of time that show DDP at his best wrestling matches that drip with effort. Also shoutout to Hollywood Hogan even as late as 97 he could still be a compelling, energetic pro wrestling. I can understand saying Hogan did not have many “great” matches, but he was NEVER boring and this was his best in the Hollywood character, brutha.

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting vs Chris Benoit – Nitro 9/20/99

Chris Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero – Nitro 10/16/95

In addition to the DDP Thunder match, here are a pair of TV matches from Chris Benoit that rule the school. The first is probably one of the best debut matches in the history of wrestling as Benoit and Eddie have a balls out, hard-hitting sprint and get themselves over immediately. The second is a glimpse into Chris Benoit, WCW main eventer as he takes on the very rare sighting of Heel Sting. This is during that one month heel run before Vince Russo nuked WCW one month later.

WCW Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Dean Malenko – Halloween Havoc ‘96

This match was the last match out. I loved the Malenko/Rey series from 1996 and it is easily Malenko’s best work from his career. The pairing was perfect to get Rey over as a total superstar from jump.

Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko vs Eddy Guerrero & Chris Jericho – Brian Hildebrand Tribute

This match would actually rank in the Top Six if I was just ranking it against the other matches on the list. However, technically, this is not a WCW sanctioned match even though it featured all WCW talent (Brian Hildebrand better known as Mark Curtis was a referee in WCW and this was a tribute show for him in 1998 after he tragically passed from cancer) so I decided against ranking it. It is a terrific match and I will be nominating it for the Greatest Match Ever project. Just a perfect understanding of tag team fundamentals by four of the all-time greats.

I couldnt find an image of Savage's picture perfect elbow from this match which was my Desktop background in late 1997.

  

The Twelfth to Seventh Best Matches of World Championship Wrestling from 1995-2001

#12. Randy “Macho Man” Savage vs Diamond Dallas Page – Spring Stampede 1997

If I was making a favorite matches of all time list, this would be near the top. Two of my all-time favorites just hit out of the park. There are some people prefer the GAB match or Halloween Havoc match, but nothing can top the opening match in this legendary feud. DDP was such a great character. He was the real People’s Champion. A blue collar dude from New Jersey that entered through the crowd because he was one of us. He really gave me those John McClaine Die Hard vibes. Macho Man was on top of his heel game. This was a total revitalization of the Macho Man character. He was completely unhinged at this time. I loved how he roughhoused everyone. He would pick on David Penzer and the refs like it was his job. He was a psychopathic bully. He really goes the extra mile to be despicable especially when he goes after Kimberly. This was a great feud and this opening salvo in the feud made DDP into a superstar. It was a very selfless moment when Savage put DDP over clean in the middle with the Diamond Cutter. I love once Savage comes to that he is so incensed that he grabs Kimberly by the hair and is ready to haul off and punch her right in the face. This is too much even for the New World Order. When Bischoff talks him out of it, he turns and decks Easy E. That’s how you get a new heel over. When he is ready to do something so vile, the other heels think he has gone too far.

Both these men are well-known for pre-match planning, but what is amazing about both men is their matches never feel rehearsed or mechanical. They come across as organic. I think whats really impressive about this match is even though the majority of the match is Savage kicking the ever loving crap out of DDP, it never drags because Savage uses the props at ringside so effectively. He is intimidating Buffer and Kimberly. He is attacking Penzer and a random cameraman. After three strikes, he piledrives the ref to Hell, rips his shirt open and then whips him with his own belt. This is a great showcase of the new Macho Man loose canon character. In parallel this is a great showcase for DDP as the gritty, gutsy common man fighting for his wife’s honor against this despicable psychopath. A perfect match to mint a new main eventer and it was the rebirth of the Macho Man.  

#11. Lord Steven Regal vs Fit Finlay – Uncensored 1996

If you are real quiet, you can actually hear Regal explode at the end of the match. Violent does not do this match justice. Often pro wrestling is simulated violence, but in this match these two willing allow one another to harm and maim. The closest comparison I can make is to those BattlArts matches where Ikeda and Ishikawa would just stiff the hell out of each other. It can be so brutal that it is actually disturbing to watch.

The beginning of this match is a great example of the style of pro wrestling I love as this was just dripping with struggle. They were fighting through each other’s offense. I love WCW in this period because it is so varied and unlike anything WWF would present at this time. They are hitting each other so hard and in every hold that it really feels each is trying to win. It never feels like my turn, your turn because every fucking turn is earned. I think Regal’s dropkick to Finlay’s head is just nasty. The finish is beyond brutal and it looks like it comes straight out of Mick Foley’s Theatre of Pain.  Finlay shatters Regal’s nose with a palm strike and blood comes pouring out like a faucet. That was the premature end to what was supposed to be a 30 minute draw. Let me tell you something brutha, that’s a way more memorable finish than a 30 minute draw. It could have used more of a narrative or character work to elevate it, but goddamn it is a gripping war.  

#10. New World Order (Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, & Syxx) vs 

Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, & Kevin Greene – Slamboree 1997

One of the biggest faults of the New World Order era was the dearth of feel-good matches, but here we finally get one in front of a jacked Charlotte, North Carolina. Ric Flair was making his return after a shoulder injury. When Ric Flair is on like this, he cant help but smile. It is just that contagious energy that you wish you could bottle up and sell. Hall and Syxx are the best scuzzballs ever. They went all in as trying to be the biggest heels of all time. I loved when Syxx, 212 lbs of disrespect, is strutting that Flair chops him mid-strut. This is just Flair on fire. A triumphant Flair performance that nearly matches Starrcarde ’93 in emotion.  Kevin Greene from the brand new Carolina Panthers was the perfect celebrity and gotta love his enthusiasm. This is just crowd-pleasing spot after crowd-pleasing spot. Even the heat segment is abrupt, it is all about cramming in as much feel-good Flair as possible. They do a great job towards the end making you believe the NWO was going to put themselves over again, but it was just a tease. The finish is just the most awesome possible, decisive, crowd-pleasing finish. That is a sentence that was not written enough during the NWO era. This is the ultimate, great feel-good, popcorn, Summer blockbuster match where Ric Flair gets his revenge for one night on the three biggest jackasses in WCW.

#9. WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg vs Diamond Dallas Page 

Halloween Havoc 1998

CLASH OF THE TITANS! There are many great examples of DDP being a ring general in this time period, but there is no better example than this match. Goldberg had incredible aura around him at this time. He really felt like the baddest man on the planet. The Terminator come to life. However, there aren’t many great Goldberg matches around because he was such an anomaly in pro wrestling that it was hard to build a conventional pro wrestling match around a monster babyface that was coupled with the highly toxic WCW political environment. DDP cut through the bullshit came out with a way to have a compelling match with Goldberg that was longer than two minutes and made both men look great.

The World Heavyweight Champion vs People’s Champion, Rookie Phenomenon vs Hard Working Late Bloomer and The Terminator vs Die Hard. Everyone wants to know the answer to who would win John McClane or The Terminator. Goldberg is the super athlete: quick, powerful and impervious to pain. DDP never says die. One has to give. DDP knows he has one shot: Diamond Cutter. He goes for it early and often. I love DDP’s urgency. The best moment is when DDP avoids the spear and Goldberg eats the ringpost. It makes sense the only person that can do real damage to Goldberg is Goldberg. Goldberg shows some range with he is selling. He is stunned but is still moving forward because he is a monster knows no other way. DDP signals for the Diamond Cutter…BOOM! SPEAR! The Las Vegas Crowd and me lose our minds. Goldberg’s shoulder is too messed up for the Jackhammer…BANG! DIAMOND CUTTER! I was screaming “Pin Him, Dallas, Pin him” 15 years after this match happened that’s how damn great this finish run is. Those two moments serve as reminder on why pro wrestling is just the best. What makes this match so special in my opinion is that this match is so uniquely Goldberg and DDP there are no two other wrestlers could replicate this feel of Cyborg vs Blue Collar Hero that is the hallmark of excellent pro wrestling psychology.

#8. WCW World Cruiserweight Champion Chris Jericho vs Eddie Guerrero – Fall Brawl 1997

In late 1997, there were two amazing heels in US pro wrestling, one was Shawn Michaels and the other was Eddie Guerrero. The sadistic, scowling Eddie Guerrero in late ’97 was one mean son of a bitch in the ring, but he also knew the exact right times to be a sniveling, cowardly stooge. He was the consummate heel and he was over like rover. There were huge “Eddie Sucks” chants every PPV and Nitro match from this era. One thing I love about WCW fans compared to WWF is how into the midcard they always were. WWF fans were always obsessed with main event (and still are). For the most part, Jericho was a miss in WCW, his reach more often exceeded his grasp as he was going overly dangerous spots to get himself over and demonstrated a tenuous grasp on psychology which apparently was not taught to him until he joined the WWF.

Very classic pro wrestling layout, but what makes this so incredible is how good Eddie is at all parts of the match. From the outset, he does everything he can to shine up Jericho, bumping and stooging for Jericho. The transition to the heat segment is a snap of the neck across the top rope, but the heat segment features a lot of strong back work including his dad’s Gory Special and some really great Eddie character work. In classic WCW Jericho fashion, there is a very dangerous spot. He is going to powerbomb Eddie off the apron, but drops back with it into a hotshot. They both come down out of control crashing on each other. It was a gnarly spot, but in this case it worked in a kayfabe sense because at this point it was a hotly contested match and Eddie had been in control and Jericho needed something big to re-consolidate his advantage.  After this, they just throw bomb after bomb at each other in a way that feels smart and like two men trying their hardest to win the Cruiserweight Championship. A great example of Eddie’s character work and his range as a heel knowing how to flip the switch between coward and bastard and it always feeling organic.

#7. Bret “Hitman” Hart vs Chris Benoit – Nitro 10/04/99

This match was dedicated to Owen Hart after his death in World Wrestling Federation in May of 1999 and is a tribute to Owen Hart from his brother and from a fellow Albertan. I don’t want to take away from the true intention of the match, but this was also WCW’s goodbye to classic pro wrestling as Vince Russo would take over in a couple weeks and nothing on WCW TV would ever resemble pro wrestling again.

The story of the match to me is Bret keeps chip, chip, chipping away opening up a bigger and bigger lead on Benoit before one last Benoit gasp. There is a beautiful gradualism to this match. Two men paying tribute to someone they love by doing what they love. They start with classic tests of strength and as Benoit looks to assert himself it is Bret that counters with a Russian Legsweep. That is the story of the match is Bret countering Benoit throughout the match picking his spots and accelerating through the holes in Benoit’s offense. Benoit does a great timing his hope spots. Peppering them in early, but as his mistakes accrue and Bret’s offense take his toll they become fewer and further between.  The finish run is a spectacular fireworks display from Benoit that really rallies the KC crowd behind Bret. My favorite part of the match is how the crowd reacts to Bret applying the Sharpshooter. First, people are slowly rising to their feet inquisitive, then there is the steady build of noise and when he finally turns Benoit over there is a great pop. Just a beautiful pro wrestling match and a fitting tribute to Owen.

 Next time, we finish up this countdown. When will Rey Rey make his countdown debut? Will DDP have more matches in the Top Six? What is the surprise pick for the second best match to take place in WCW between 1995-2001? All this and much more in Pro Wrestling Love Vol. 3. 

Macho Madness: Die Hard Edition

Hey yo bromigoes and bromgias,

Busy day, applying to jobs. Just going to get to it.

The past three reviews have focused on Randy Savage in an unnatural state as a babyface. Don’t get me wrong Randy Savage is a great babyface. However, heel Randy Savage is his work that made him one of the legendary figures in the history of pro wrestling. In July of 1996, the wrestling world was turned upside down when Hulk Hogan, the epitome of good, turned heel and founded the New World Order with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. This led to greatest wrestling boom in history. Yes, folks, Hulk Hogan can point to the fact that he ushered in two separate wrestling booms in two different decades. The man is very good at what he does.

New-New-New-New World Order. For-For-For-For Life 

Savage after fighting the nWo (I hate autocorrect so much every time I spell out nWo it changes it to now, fuck it) through the winter of ’96. Savage figures if you cant beat ‘em join ‘em.  He became the nWo’s workhorse and picked a fight with a wrestler by the name of “Diamond” Dallas Page (DDP for short) over Kimberly (his wife and total hottie) appearing in Playboy. This is my all-time favorite Savage promo as he manages to imply he had sex with Pamela Anderson and says Liz and Tommy Lee were both cool with it. Then he spray-paints DDP and Liz spray-paints Kimberly. It was deliciously nasty. Of course, DDP, who had been rejecting the nWo’s overtures to join had to fight for his honor and challenged Savage to a No Disqualification match.

Brief background on DDP: he actually started as a scuzz-ball manager for wrestlers not particularly cast as a good one, just a real sleazy one. Think of how band managers are usually portrayed in the movies. He began wrestling late into the 30’s, much later than most. He kept his scumbag from Jersey gimmick, very white trash. Then in 1997 for whatever reason, WCW decided to turn him babyface giving him the gimmick of the common man that is going it along to fight the unstoppable machine known as the New World Order. Page, stood his ground, asking help from no man and proved himself to a true gritty, blue-collar warrior in this nearly year-long feud. 

The Common Man and his Uncommon Wife

“Macho Man” Randy Savage vs “Diamond” Dallas Page in a No Disqualification Match.

Spring Stampede 1997

Savage’s backstage rant was hilariously spectacular. “I’m going to moiderize the bum. Then I am going to to throw a party. Invite a lot of women. Maybe 14 or 22. You got a problem with that, Liz? Not a problem. I LIKE THAT! SLIM JIMS FOR EVERYONE!!!”

Kimberly’s waist is wicked tiny and double damn is she hot. DDP and Kimberly walk to the ring with a purpose and Tony shills that DDP is the common man, a People’s Champion that has a story that resonates with everyone. Savage taunts DDP telling him that this is “his last day on the planet Earth”.  Savage does some stalling tactics, but Page is pissed and he takes to the Macho Man. Page is so pissed he almost kills Savage on a horrible atomic drop. Savage blocks the Diamond Cutter by hooking the ropes. Savage runs over DDP on the outside and almost takes on Kim. They do the usual 1997 tour of the arena with garbage cans and cables.

I have a string of pearls for those girls.

Back to ringside, Savage, the Paragon of Virtue, her is, pulls Kim hides behind DDP’s wife to halt DDP’s momentum. Elizabeth, lookin fineeeeeee, rakes DDP’s back and Savage shoves Kim into DDP and the waffles DDP sandwhiching Kimberly. Kimberly, who was not a fan of wrestling and never seemed very into it, must have hated working with Savage. Macho Man was a terrifying loose cannon that just flew around ringside like a whirlwind really knocking anything over that got in his way. An overzealous fan attempts to spur on DDP with such exhortations as “Look out behind you! He is going after Kimberly!” Alas, Savage is still able to connect with his double axe-handle as DDP was draped over the guardrails. Got to love, marks. Savage sends DDP into the ring steps and he seems oddly deliberate, maybe it is because DDP and him realized that DDP would blow up if they wrestled the usual Savage pace. I like it because it gives a new wrinkle to the Savage formula and it is almost more vicious.

Macho Man goes for a cover with his feet on the ropes, but DDP kicks out. Savage accuses the ref of a slow count and Liz thinks the ref needs glasses. Um, ok? Strike One against the ref. Savage jumps out to ringside and intimidates Michael Buffer taking his chair. He smacks DDP across the back with his chair. The ref grabs the chair and removes it. Strike Two against the ref. Savage now pissed. Beat the ever-loving shit out of the ring announcer and tosses the chair into the ring, but that allows the debilitated DDP to get back into the match. The announcers put over DDP’s will to win and defend Kimberly even as Savage is picking him apart. Savage kills DDP with a clothesline. Savage catches DDP’s foot, which leads to the usual DDP spot, where he spins around and hits a desperation clothesline. Even dumb Tony saw it coming making Savage look kind of dumb. 

That dastardly Macho Man. OOOOOHHHHH YEEEAAAAHHHH!!! Dig It!

The move took too much of DDP and Savage regains the advantage with a low-blow, however DDP continues to try to get his feet, really putting over his guts. Savage again intimidates Buffer, this time grabbing his signature weapon: the ring bell. Savage randomly shoves a cameraman. People must hate working Savage matches, such a Wildman. Kimberly snags the ringbell eventually, come on Kim, fuckin up the match. Savage to the top, but DDP gets his boot up and a beautiful sell-job by Savage. He now hit one of Savage’s favorite spot a backslide, which only gets two. Strike Three against the ref, you are outta here. Savage grabs the ref by the chin, paintbrushes him, piledrives him, rips his shirt, takes his belt off, and finally whips him and then whips DDP. HEEL SAVAGE IS THE FUCKIN MAN!!!!

The Brain wonders if the ref will ever walk again because he only has a 12 inch neck. BWHAHAHAHAHA Tony wonders WHAT HAVE WE BECOME????? Riveting, cutting social commentary. Apparently, someone explained to Dusty what playing possum is as he understands what Tony is talking about.

The heel turn resurrected both their careers.

A picture-perfect big elbow drop seriously that may be one of the best one ever by Savage (that was the desktop background for my computer when I was 8 years old for the longest time, could not find the picture). No ref. Evil nWo ref, Nick Patrick is out and embraces Savage. DDP, playing possum,  hits the Diamond Cutter, which WCW did a great job making it into a devastating finisher. Savage sells it well being out for a couple minutes. Patrick ends the drama by making the count giving DDP the win. “Big Sexy” Kevin Nash (nWo member) is incensed as he was observing and sticks Patrick with a powerbomb. Savage finally up goes LOONEY TUNES!!! Grabs Kimberly by the hair and threatens to deck her. This goes too far even for the nWo and Eric Bischoff (nWo president) steps in to calm down and reason with the Macho Man. So Savage shoves Bischoff and then decks him. That is why friends is why I love nWo Savage, totally unpredictable and out of control. You never knew what the hell he would do next. 

DDP is notorious for being a meticulous  pre-match planner. Most wrestlers work out the major spots beforehand, but fill in the gaps based on crowd reactions. Savage acknowledged that DDP couldn’t cut the pace he was accustomed to thus worked a very DDP-style match. Savage was great at adapting to different styles and really showed his versatility. He worked a deliberate pace, but it was still a chaotic Savage match as he was using everyone at ringside as props and ultimately decking his own boss. It is not a great match in  the traditional wrestling-way even as brawl. What it is a great character showcase. The gritty, gutsy common man fighting for his wife’s honor against a loose canon that has totally snapped and is steamrolling everyone. I give it ****.  DUH! I figured out another reason why the match was wrestled so undecidely Savage. They wanted to tell the story that Savage was not taking DDP seriously as in his league because DDP has been a career mid-carder and this is first ever PPV main event. Thus explaining why Savage’s intensity was down early on and why he fucked around with everyone. He took Page a lot more seriously in the following matches. I love it when storytelling becomes apparent.

I bet he is going to say scum or JAAAACCCCKKKKEEEDDDD!

Now that DDP has proved he can hang with the Macho Man. It is time for Savage to take DDP seriously and crush his dreams.

“Macho Man” Randy Savage vs “Diamond” Dallas Page – No DQ Match

Great American Bash 1997

Liz is in quite the sequined, black jumpsuit, Savage is all business and it looks like he finally taking DDP seriously. You know how I can tell he licks his lips like an insane gecko. Tony expects that this fight will go all over the arena and given DDP’s limitations, I agree.  “SELF HI-FIVE” and the Smells Like Jersey Scum plays over the speakers as the sexy as all hell Kimberly gives the Diamond Cutter signal in the entrance-way distracting the Madness. DDP sneak attacks the Macho Man, hell after Savage’s Wildman performance last time, DDP has some big balls just stepping in the ring with this Madman. Page has the infamous taped ribs, which would last approximately  2 years and would give his matches an instant sympathy card, while he looked like a million bucks in the fans’ eyes for fighting through the pain and gutting it out. It was like the reverse Cowboy Bob Orton arm injury. I think it was a good gimmick.

Early cutter attempt and Savage wisely takes a powder. Pescado over the top onto the floor by DDP wipes out the Macho Man, but Page hurts his ribs. The Brain questions the wisdom of the move given both the ribs and the fact he has never done such a high-risk move. Tony retorts this shows the guts of DDP and just the lengths he will go to hurt Savage. Savage right on the ribs because he smells blood, baby. Savage hides behind Liz, but this brings out DDP’s inner scumbag and tosses Liz out of the way and calls her a bimbo. B.I.M.B.O. B.I.M.B.O. B.I.M.B.O. and Bimbo was her name-o. I am getting a strong John McClane of Die Hard vibe from DDP, I am digging it, which Brain emphasizes that DDP is willing to take on the New World Order by himself and is a double tough man for it. Savage gets the eye-rake like a true Macho Man apparently how the ribs were injured was petite Liz slamming a car door on DDP’s side. Really, Liz was on the one to do that irreparable damage. Fear and adrenaline can do wild things for a woman, as we found out from Desperate Housewives. Now we take the tour of the arena with Savage in command until Page sends him into a brick wall in desperation. Dusty gets excited about the PLUNDAH~! (a crutch) And says that DDP is really rag-tagging him. What??? Savage gains himself a breather by sending DDP crashing ribs first into the ring steps. Then Liz gives Savage a mysterious white substance, *wink* *wink*. Before Savage can ride the white lightning to victory, DDP approaches so Savage tosses his “energy powder” into DDP’s face taking some sort of PLUNDAH from Page and breaking it over his head. Savage exposes the ribs as the announcers discuss the psychological affects, Dusty says now Savage is doing the rag-tagging. Fans chant for the everyone’s favorite recluse, “WE Want Sting!” to put an end to this inhumanity. Personally, I don’t think the Macho Man has even begun. Yep, I was right. Savage has a zero tolerance policy for the ref’s tonight. He spits on this one, decks him, tears his shirt off and piledrives him into next week. If this was Memphis, Savage would be in prison and that ref would be legally dead. DDP is kicking and clawing, even hitting a headbutt, I have never seen DDP do that. Savage tosses a second ref over the top. Story of the match: Savage is not fuckin around. DDP gets another flurry, but this is all Macho Man as he lariats him over the top rope.

Ruh roh, Savage catches sight of Kimberly and grabs her by the hair bringing her over the guardrail. This nearly causes a fuckin riot in the front row. Seriously everyone is yelling obscenities at the Macho Man and at least two guys are thinking about taking a swing at him. Heel Macho Man, everyone, that best in the business. Another ref and this one calms him down before anything he regrets happen. Classic Macho high-knee to DDP’s back as Page was trying to create separation up the ramp. They end up finding a gimmicked BBQ picnic area that some VIP fans are sitting at. DDP takes advantage of all this PLUNDAH~! Really turning the tide with it. Dusty desperately wants him to use the grill and pops like mad when it happens. I love Big Dust. DDP leads Savage back to the ring by choking him with his own shirt. Once back, he sets up Savage to go balls-first into the ringpost. Signals for the Cutter, so Savage hits the jawbreaker, he really should stop signaling for it. Savage removes the protective mats off the floor and looks to maim DDP by piledriving him on the exposed concrete. When the ref tries to stop him, Savage decks him. ZERO TOLERANCE. Savage, being an uber-dick, decides to physically intimidate a photographer at ringside. I have watched wrestling for 15 years and 99% of everything you see is choreographed. But when Savage goes on his rampages of attacking cameramen and other ringside attendants you just don’t know. I love that of feeling chaos.

This gives DDP enough time to get hold of a chair and waffle Savage. Savage counters with a low-blow. Page reverses a suplex attempt into the DIAMOND CUTTER~! WCW did such a good job putting over that finisher as deadly. Savage does his job and sells it like a champ.  But the is NO REF, Tony. The crowd is going apeshit. Here comes Scott Hall (nWo member) with the WCW Tag Team title in tow. He is ineffective at first, but the numbers game catch up to DDP as Savage clobbers him with the belt from behind. Outsider Edge (Crucifix Powerbomb) by Hall on Page that almost ends up getting fucked up, but it was one of the better ones I have seen. Hall tells Savage to go up top and hit him with elbow. Savage, ever-present of trying to get just that much more heat from the crowd, goes to a different corner. Why? So he can kick the unconscious ref. It is the little things that make Savage the greatest. Big elbow and the pin is academic.

This time the New World Order and Savage don’t fuck around. There is no deliberate attacks from Savage and a true nWo member comes out to make sure that Savage gets the duke. I don’t feel this match is quite up to snuff of the other two, but I don’t feel like splitting hairs and using quarter stars. This is a very good match and tells a great story. ***1/2

The Bad Guy

With that tainted finish, DDP finally realized he needed some reinforcements, which lead him to bring in Curt Hennig (Mr. Perfect in WWF) as his tag partner to combat the nWo of Randy Savage and Scott Hall. After some miscommunication between those two, he recruited, our old friend the “Total Package” Lex Luger to team against Savage and Hall. Finally at Halloween Havoc, the big blowoff to the feud would take place in a Death Match. Don’t worry, while Savage may have threatened to murder Page back in April, the outcome of this match is not that the loser dies. Rather, you win by incapacitating your opponent so they can not answer a ten count. This match has been re-branded a Last Man Standing match in modern times for obvious reason.

“Macho Man” Randy Savage vs “Diamond” Dallas Page – Death Match

Halloween Havoc 1997

     

Liz is rocking sexy leather short shorts. HAVE MERCY!!! OOOOHHHH YEEEEEAAAAHHHH!! Savage’s promo before this is a thing of beauty. “Slim Jim’s Halloween Havoc. Snap Into It! Check it out! Party Time. Las Vegas. It’s a gamble. But we like to gamble, don’t we? YES WE DO!!!!” DDP is in jeans because this is not a wrestling match, scumbag (DDP had a real penchant for using the word scumbag). This is a FIGHT~! Savage is choosing instead to rep his Slim Jim’s deal on his jacket, well Savage is fuckin BATSHIT so he doesn’t need jeans to convey he is in for a FIGHT~! The infamous ribs are still taped.  No Kimberly.

“Savage will drive you nuts” – The Brain, perfect.

They start outside, obviously, with Savage gaining the early advantage by working over the ribs. Page with nasty biel using Savage’s own shirt. Page hesitates allows Savage to hotshot DDP across the top rope. Macho Man is using combination of jabs and chokes to maintain control in the corner. Brief flurry of offense from DDP ends with both men colliding in a double clothesline. Dusty takes him to time define a double clothesline, which renders colleagues speechless that he spent time to explain something so self-explanatory.  I LOVE BIG DUST! Failed Diamond Cutter attempt leads to Page performing his pescado onto Macho Man on the floor. Dusty wonders why they are not using the “Utensils and PLUNDAH~!” Savage clobbers DDP with a double axe-handle as he was draped across the guardrail. Savage then connects with a nasty axe-handle off the guardrail onto a prone Page in the crowd. Sick spot. When Savage shouts “Move out of the way!” you move the fuck out of the way because he will run your bitch-ass over. Dusty is excited as the prospect of PLUNDAH~! Instead of a BBQ picnic, there is a prop cemetery setup with prop tombstones that Page uses to regain advantage and then hits Savage with some sort of object, which prompts the Dream to go into hysterics just shouting “HE WAFFLE-LEGGED HIM!” His colleagues try to continue commentating, but Dusty has gone into a trance just repeating that. Say it with me, I love Big Dust. Dusty informed me it is a “waitress tray” and Tony basically says “What the fuck?”Savage’s continuous work on the ribs is affecting DDP’s ability to string together offense, good selling and psychology from Page. Savage finally breaks his momentum sending him ribs first into the steel guardrail, but DDP semi-blocks it. DDP is left to crawl away, while Savage regains his wits, I mean he did he just get WAFFLE-LEGGED. Most people don’t recover from getting WAFFLE-LEGGED!!! You know why Savage is able to? BECAUSE HE IS MACHO~! The Power of Slim Jims Compels!



Savage sends his ribs and then his “noggin” into steel ringsteps. But Page just keeps on coming because he has guts. Savage frustrated, smacks around a cameraman, steals camera. DDP blocks his close-up with two feet sending the camera right into the Macho Man’s face. As both men are out, Liz somehow has found Dusty’s phantom waitress, stolen her tray and proceeds to WAFFLE-LEG the referee. Immediately, Dusty is rubbing it in his colleagues faces that no one believed him about the waitress tray and for the second time, Dusty has rendered his partners silent. Holy Fuck, Liz is choking DDP with a cable, (“Extension Cord” according to Dusty). Kim comes out to put a stop that nonsense. She is all like “I am the only woman who can choke my husband for sexual pleasure, you vixen” Liz is all like “Why did Randy say I would do this spot. He doesn’t even invite me to his parties anymore.” Dusty is all like “CATFIGHT!  CATFIGHT!  CATFIGHT!  CATFIGHT!  CATFIGHT! “ Finally they get the waffle-legged referee out of there, Kimberly drags Liz to back by the hair. Savage is up and there is a new ref for him to deck.  Page hulks-up gets his typical combination of atomic drop and pancake. Savage hooks the ropes to block the Diamon Cutter. Savage selling fatigue like a champ, nearly falls off the top and then delivers an exhausted big elbow that lands on the ribs. Savage is on spaghetti-legs barley can lift Page for a bodyslam. Savage struggles to hit a big elbow, which gets him a 9-count. Savage’s selling is amazing as he is struggling just to stand. Ref bump as DDP’s leg whacks the ref’s head, but DDP reverses into the DIAMOND CUTTER!!! All three men down. 7-Count. 

Diamond cutter attempt reversed into a backslide with a low-blow kick by Savage on DDP. As Page rolls to the outside, Hogan dressed as Sting, WAFFLE-LEGS DDP in the ribs with a bat. The ref is forced to count out DDP. Savage celebrates his victory looking as if he lost, but to make him feel better he WAFFLE-LEGS a ref and takes a shot at DDP’s ribs. The commentators out over DDP’s hearts and guts and that it took two men and a woman to beat a man with busted ribs. 

I think this is one of rare instances when a wrestler wins by losing. DDP is one of the very few wrestlers that made it out of the WCW mid-card mire because he was one of the few that was well-booked, but the big help came from Savage’s selflessness. Hogan and Nash are notorious for burying people to make themselves look good and to hold them down. Savage was not afraid to lose to DDP in Page’s first PPV main event. Savage was a true professional and sold like a champ for DDP. They should show this selling performance at the end of this match to every kid that wants to be a wrestler it was that good. The story of DDP is that he is a fighter. Like John McClane of Die Hard, just a everyday blue collar guy, not afraid to get his hands dirty and get his ass-kicked while standing up for what’s right. DDP actually won by losing and a true credit to Savage to put him over and the booking team.

Killer picture, Macho Man, The Bad Guy, Hollywood Hogan, Big Sexy

This match and the Spring Stampede matches are toss-ups for me. I feel that both matches have long spells where the offense could be more varied. Basically it comes down to the character showcase for Savage’s Wildman persona at Spring Stampede vs. Savage’s incredible selling at Halloween Havoc. I give the edge to Stampede by a bit, but I call them both ****.

There you have folks, Savage’s greatest feud in WCW creates a new star and proves to be one of great selfless acts in wrestling. This is the greatest feud of the nWo era and the only close feud in 1997 was the Hart Foundation vs Stone Cold. I am a Savage mark so I would argue for this one, but most people would give the nod to Austin/Harts. But Savage did not make a name for himself in WCW. He wrestled in his prime for Vince McMahon in the WWF and it is time to venture to Savage’s most famous moments.