Kevin’s Random Reviews: WCW World War 3 1998

WCW World War 3 1998
November 22nd, 1998 | The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan | Attendance: 17,670

Though WWF had ended WCW’s streak of winning the Monday Night Wars, the two were still quite even in ratings most weeks. A month prior, WCW had a huge flub, running over their allotted PPV time and cutting the awesome Goldberg/DDP Title match from the show. Paying customers completely missed that, but had to sit through several matches involving useless undercard guys and the horrendous Ultimate Warrior/Hulk Hogan match. And yes, Warrior got a million dollars for that one match. Yikes. Hogan’s gone for a while and Kevin Nash is officially the booker. Oh, boy. This would be the fourth and final World War 3 PPV.

The opening video package focused on DDP and Bret Hart (who wrestle tonight) before running through all 60 World War 3 participants. It went way too fast.

Earlier tonight, Goldberg arrived. He won’t be competing tonight, but is here to watch World War 3. Goldberg was easily their hottest act. Naturally, he won the title and proceeded to not headline any PPV. At Bash at the Beach, he beat Curt Hennig in the semi-main event, at Road Wild he won a lame battle royal, at Fall Brawl he didn’t compete. Finally, at Halloween Havoc, he was set to main event, only for WCW’s show to run too long and it was cut out.

Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay handled commentary. They sent it to Gene Okerlund, who just plugged the WCW Hotline. I’ll never understand why WCW didn’t just get right to the action on PPVs.

Glacier vs. Wrath
Wrath was always my dude. Commentary hyped this as the Ice Pick finisher against the Meltdown. The crowd loved Wrath and popped for him brushing off Glacier’s stuff. He no sold a bunch and beat the hell out of Glacier. In a dumb moment, Wrath used the ropes for leverage on a pin. I get that he’s a heel, but he dominated, so that looked stupid. Wrath blocked the Ice Pick and won with the Meltdown at a ridiculous 8:22. So much wrong with this. One, don’t book squash matches on PPV in this era. Two, if you’re gonna do that, don’t have it open the show. Three, don’t have it last eight goddamn minutes. [¼*]

A Bret Hart vignette was shown, where he ran down a bunch of WCW guys and claimed to be the best wrestler. The promo was solid (Bret’s mic work improved a lot by 1997) but Bret in WCW just never clicked with me.

Konnan vs. Stevie Ray w/ Vincent
What the fuck is this doing on PPV? What is it doing on TV at all? I don’t think I’ll ever figure out why Konnan was over. Anyway, this is Wolfpac (Konnan) vs. Black and white (Stevie). After about two minutes, both men already seemed blown up. Vincent got in some cheap shots and Stevie went to a chinlock. So many spots looked like shit. They flubbed a backslide and couldn’t get the timing of a missed elbow spot right. Stevie attempted an eye poke that hit Konnan in the goddamn shoulder. Vincent accidentally whacked Stevie with the slapjack. Instead of pinning him, Konnan rained punches down on him, resulting in the DQ when he didn’t stop at 6:54. That was atrocious. They’d go on to have another, equally as bad, match at Slamboree the following year. [-***¼]

Booker T came out to help his brother, but Stevie shoved him off because he doesn’t need him. I mean, surely Booker’s better help than Vincent.

Ernest Miller and Sonny Oono vs. Kaz Hayashi and Perry Saturn
Saturn looked like he’d rather be anywhere else than in this match. He got to kick Miller’s ass in the early goings, at least. Hayashi didn’t do much with his time, though he had to work with Oono. Oono played the cowardly role, tagging out at every turn. The crowd was wicked hot for some of this, mainly when Saturn got to do anything. Oono kept trying to offer money to avoid getting beat up. It kept getting rejected. Saturn nailed an exploder that Schiavone called a fall away slam, and had it won. However, as he grabbed Oono, Miller kicked him. Oono covered and got the three at 8:05. Are you kidding me? The one guy who looked good and was over, is the one who jobs to the non-wrestler? Classic WCW. This was shit and this PPV is off to a putrid start. [DUD]

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Juventud Guerrera (c) vs. Billy Kidman
This should finally turn the PPV around. Juvi turned heel during his entrance, joining the lWo. Eddie Guerrero, the leader, and Rey Mysterio Jr. got into a heated exchange over Rey not having a title shot. Rey’s in the lWo after losing to Eddie. Like John Cena in the Nexus. Quick action from the start, with both men showing how fast and smooth they are. It’s like they were determined to have a good match on this show, bringing all the spots and bumps. Juvi hit a particularly sweet diving rana to the floor off the apron. He was less effective on a double springboard (from one ring to another) dropkick and nearly fell on it. Kidman was next to use multiple rings to his advantage. His came off much better. The finishing stretch saw some good moments, including the JUVI DRIVER and Juvi landing on his feet on a missed 450 splash. I don’t recall ever seeing that before. Juvi cut off the SSP, but Rey returned and held Kidman so the super rana Juvi attempted was blocked. Kidman followed with the SSP to win the title at 15:25. Finally, a good match. Yea, it was a bunch of spots, but most of it made sense and the crowd ate it all up. I didn’t love the finish and turning Juvi heel just to have him drop the title was weird, but the match was quite the blast. [***½]

The lWo ran out and Eddie Guerrero told Rey Mysterio that he needed to pick a side. Rey ripped off his lWo shirt and was chased away by the group.

Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner w/ Buff Bagwell
I’m pretty sure this is far from the first time they attempted this match. Scott brought out his own corrupt official because WCW referees refused to officiate his matches. Rick couldn’t make his entrance because the nWo jumped him backstage. They brought him to the ring, where Buff and Scott were allowed to double team him. As he slapped on the Steiner Recliner, WCW Champion Goldberg came out. He speared him to the biggest pop of the show by far. He them press slammed the ref into another ring and celebrated with Rick. More of an angle than a match. Goldberg and his popularity saved this from being absolute shit. [NR]

Scott Hall came out with nWo Hollywood. Eric Bischoff was out last and did a survey, choosing for the nWo to jump Hall. Kevin Nash ran out and made the save. It got an “Outsiders” chant. Hall offered a “too sweet”, but Nash walked off. Why do two segments instead of matches twice in a row?

WCW Television Championship: Chris Jericho (c) w/ Ralphus vs. Bobby Duncum Jr.
The only memorable thing about Duncum was Jericho’s promo where he messed up his name a bunch. Jericho was such a great character and he drew heat, but nobody cared about Duncum. Jericho was on point here, hitting his stuff crisply and doing the little heel things to help out. He whined, bumped and ran to Ralphus for comfort. There were a few spots where you could clearly see them talking. Jericho’s cocky pin and Lionsault got a reaction, but by then, the crowd was dying. As Duncum rallied, Ralphs got involved. Jericho used the distraction to win after a belt shot at 13:21. Not a bad match, just one that had little to no heat, despite Jericho’s efforts. [**]

World War 3
Participants: Alex Wright, Barry Darsow, Barry Horowitz, Billy Kidman, Bobby Blaze, Bobby Duncum Jr., Bobby Eaton, Booker T, Buddy Lee Parker, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Chip Minton, Chris Adams, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Ciclope, Damien, Dean Malenko, Disco Inferno, Eddie Guerrero, El Dandy, Ernest Miller, Glacier, Hammer, Hector Garza, Horace Hogan, Johnny Swinger, Juventud Guerrera, Kanyon, Kaz Hayashi, Kendall Windham, Kenny Kaos, Kevin Nash, Konnan, La Parka, Lenny Lane, Lex Luger, Lizmark Jr., Lodi, Mike Enos, Normal Smiley, Perry Saturn, Prince Iaukea, Psicosis, Rey Mysterio Jr., Scott Hall, Scott Norton, Scott Putski, Scotty Riggs, Silver King, Steve McMichael, Stevie Ray, Super Calo, The Disciple, The Giant, The Renegade, Tokyo Magnum, Villano V, Vincent and Wrath
There’s no way I’m going to post about each elimination. The story early was Hall hiding behind an official as Nash just manhandled everyone. He picked up eliminations like it was the 1994 Royal Rumble all over again. Nash cleared out his ring, last eliminating Hammer, within about two minutes. He now got to wait alone in that ring until the other rings cleared out. That’s dumb. Not much happened in the next two rings. There was a cool fall away slam elimination spot by Hall. When it got down to just 20 men, they moved to one ring. It was clear to see how this would go, with there being a lot of Wolfpac and Hollywood guys left. The crowd popped for Nash and Giant going at it. It got down to the final ten, where only Wrath and Booker weren’t part of some stable. Bam Bam Bigelow randomly ran in through the crowd, only to get stomped out and thrown out. The crowd wanted Goldberg, who arrived to fight Bigelow. They brawled to a monster pop, while the battle royal just stopped to watch. Scott Steiner and Wrath were eliminated, leaving it down to Booker, Nash, Giant, Luger, Konnan, Hogan, Benoit and Malenko. Booker and Konnan were out next. Nash directed traffic, getting the other five men to jump the Giant. He fought them off, but it worked and he was gone. Two Horsemen, two Wolfpac guys and Hall. Benoit got dumped and it was the final four, but Dean was quickly tossed too. Can’t have that non-star remaining. Nash, Luger and Hall went at it until Luger put Hall in the rack. Nash hit them from behind to send them over and win at 23:25. Nash became the booker and won the big battle royal. Hmm. World War 3 is always a train wreck, though I’d say this was a bit better than usual. [**]

WCW United States Championship: Diamond Dallas Page (c) vs. Bret Hart
If classic bad WCW booking doesn’t get in the way, this could be great. DDP came out firing, looking for a brawl. Bret chose to slow it down and take things to the mat. They traded some big offense inside, including a belly to belly and Tombstone. Bret went after the leg and used the awesome figure four on the ring post. I’ll almost always point it out, but I absolutely love that move. DDP’s long legs honestly made it so the move looked better than usual. After more leg work, DDP went in for his own ring post figure four, which ruled. DDP tried using a chair, but the referee stopped him, leading to a ref bump. Here’s where the match fell apart. Bret knocked DDP out with a foreign object that was taken by the official earlier. The crooked nWo ref from earlier returned and called for the bell. The real ref got up and said that wasn’t the finish. DDP hit the Diamond Cutter and retained at 18:54. Man, that was going well before it got WCW’d. Good leg work and back and forth from both men. [***]

3.0

The final score: review Bad

The 411

Exactly what you can expect from WCW in 1998. Lots of bad matches, one or two good ones and a lot of questionable booking decisions. How do you not book your top champion? He was the most over thing in any segment he was involved in. They scheduled some matches and didn’t deliver. The show gets off to one of the worst starts ever until the Cruiserweight Title went on. Jericho’s match was heatless, World War 3 itself was kind of a mess and the main event got ruined by the booking nonsense.