Ring Crew Reviews: WCW Great American Bash 1998

• Scheduled Card:
1. Match 7 of the Best-of-7 Series: Chris Benoit vs. Booker T.
2. Saturn vs. Kanyon.
3. WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko.
4. Juventud Guerrero vs. Reese.
5. Chavo Guerrero vs. Eddie Guerrero.
6. WCW World Television Championship: Booker T vs. Fit Finlay (c).
7. WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Konnan vs. Goldberg (c).
8. Macho Man Randy Savage & Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. Hollywood Hogan & Bret Hart.
9. Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper.
10. Singles Match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Giant vs. Sting.

• Video package is a grainy remix of a John Philip Sousa march with WCW footage intercut with fireworks.

• We start with Tony, Brain and Tenay hyping Hogan/Bret vs. Macho/Piper. Brain says on paper, it looks like a tag match but Bret “due to his lies and propaganda” has turned everyone against each other. Tenay chimes in to say that after the tag match, Macho and Piper will face each other one on one. Fascinating.

• Okurland is up next to hype Sting/Giant who are having a singles match for the WCW TAG titles. For those of you keeping count, that’s BOTH main events hinging on the idea of wacky, begrudged tag team partners and this coming from a promotion that was not yet run by Vince Russo. If Giant wins, he’s picking Zodiac Beefcake Windsurfer Disciple as his tag champ. If Sting wins, he’ll let us know but with luck it’ll probably be Luger only for Luger to turn on him for the millionth time and thus again separate the tag belts.

• Back to Tony and crew as they hype the final match between Benoit/Booker T. This is technically match 8 in the series but Bret Hart interfered on Thunder to cause a schmoze. Booker requested another match with Benoit. The winner of the finals tonight has to face Fit Finlay later for the TV belt. In the match on Thunder, Benoit really worked over Booker’s leg and Brain says Booker spent a lot of extra time in the trainer’s room tonight. Excellent little touch.

• Match 7 of the Best-of-7 Series: Chris Benoit vs. Booker T. 10 minutes elapse before the first match starts on a PPV. Not a good strategy for success. Benoit armdrags out of a lockup. Booker hiptosses Benoit over out of a second attempt. Brain and Tenay talk up Bret Hart trying to get Benoit to join n.W.o Hollywood. Booker grabs a headlock but Benoit sends him off and gets a drop toe hold. Immediately, Booker takes a breather to sell the leg. Wonderful built-in psychology. Back in, Benoit with a wrist to hammerlock. Booker switches to his own and takes down Benoit. Booker tries bridging him into a cover but only for 1. ECW STANDOFF! Benoit back to the hammerlock but Booker elbows out. What’s wrong with going to the knee? Hopefully, this is a set up for Benoit to go to it later. Booker sends him off and hits another back elbow for 2. Booker with a bodyslam and tosses Benoit into the corner. Benoit reverses but runs into a boot. Booker tries another boot but Benoit counters to the Dragon Screw LW. PSYCHOLOGY!~@! Into the corner we go for chops from Benoit. Benoit with a back elbow and covers for 2. Benoit with a back suplex for 2. Benoit goes to the chinlock. Booker sends him off but after a couple of counters, Benoit with a chop and covers for 2. Benoit with the snap suplex for another 2. Benoit sends him hard into the turnbuckle. He tries a back suplex but Booker floats over into a crossbody but only for 1. Benoit boots him around pissed at losing the suplex. Back to the chinlock. Booker elbows out but runs into a knee. Benoit drapes him on the top rope and pounds him to the floor. Back in, Benoit with a running elbow for a 2 count. Back to the chinlock for Benoit. He switches to the anchor hold. Booker tries reversing but Benoit boots him to escape. Booker comes back with a powerslam but is too out of it to cover. He heads up top for a crossbody but whiffs and eats mat. Brain is trying to remind everyone of the knee injury and says Benoit should go for the Figure Four. Instead, Benoit with the armbar TD wants the CC. Booker grabs the ropes. Tenay tries to explain the reverse psychology: “So smart this offense by Benoit. Already knows Booker T’s knee is injured, why not work on the upper part of Booker T’s body also? That injured knee of Booker T’s is going to take away a lot of high risk offense: The Harlem Hangover, the missile dropkick. It’s going to limit him or make him slower going to the top rope.” Errr……. so shouldn’t he be working the leg MORE? Back to the chinlock. Booker elbows out. He tries a boot but Benoit catches it so Booker hits an enzuigiri instead. Booker with the Sidewalk Slam! Booker with a flapjack and it’s SPINAROONIE TIME! Booker heads up top but Benoit crotches him. Benoit hits the top rope superplex. Double KO spot. Benoit recovers first and covers for 2. Benoit goes to the Rolling Germans. Booker elbows out of the third but Benoit comes back with a Dragon Suplex for the third. He bridges for a close 2 count. Crowd is feeling it. Benoit sends Booker into the corner and Booker expects him to follow in so he goes to the up and over. Benoit outsmarts him and goes back to the chops. Nifty. Benoit with a short arm clothesline and calls for the diving headbutt. He heads up top and hits it. Delayed cover gets 2. Booker with a small package for 2. Booker sends Benoit into the turnbuckle. He hits a pair of Harlem sidekicks to big pops. Booker goes up top and hits the Missile Dropkick and covers to win it at 16:19. Good match even if Benoit seemed determined to ignore Booker’s leg the entire match and went to the chinlock four times in the first half of the match. Once Booker noticed that, he decided to abandon favoring the leg and they went into their usual spiel with a few upgraded counters to distinguish from the rest. ***1/4

• Chavo’s in the back at the WCWwrestling.com set up with Lee Marshal talking about his match with Eddie.

• Saturn vs. Kanyon. Kanyon is still in his Mortis gear. NO WAIT! There’s a Mortis clone in the aisle but Kanyon is behind Saturn in the ring. Kanyon with a quick schoolboy for 2. Kanyon is apparently the master of deception and master of disguise. Kanyon with a swinging neckbreaker for 2 to continue and catch Saturn off guard. He boots him down in the corner. Tony is REALLY giving him the hard sell saying that Kanyon “revolutionized single’s wrestling.” Saturn tries an up and over but Kanyon gets him on his shoulders and hits the video game move THE ELECTRIC CHAIR DROP! But WAIT! MY GOODNESS, IT’S RAVEN! Kanyon disposes of him and shitcans Saturn. Kanyon poses so Saturn trips him up and hits a slingshot splash back in. Saturn with some kicks in the corner and tries a Spear but Kanyon avoids. Kanyon with a top rope Rocker Dropper for 2. The rest of the Flock has joined Raven and Lodi. They pull Kanyon to the floor and the beatdown ensues. Saturn follows them out with a no hands flip splash. Nick Patrick ejects the entire group and bans them from ringside. Saturn sends Kanyon into the guardrail anyway. Saturn suplexes Kanyon back in using the ropes as a stepladder. He covers for 2. Saturn with a leapfrog and drop toe holds Kanyon into an anklelock. Kanyon makes the ropes but Saturn takes him down again and goes to a half nelson and then uses a neckbridge to torque it. Kanyon quickly gets the ropes. Saturn gives him an atomic drop on the ropes to crotch him and then hits a flying clothesline that takes both to the floor. Saturn brings a chair in the ring and Tony wonders if it’s Raven’s Rules. Saturn springboards off the chair to hit the IED in the corner. Saturn now sets up the chair for Sabu’s TRIPLE JUMP MOONSAULT AND HITS IT! NICE! Cover gets only 2. Saturn preps a backdrop but Kanyon sniffs it out and hits a Russian Leg Sweep. Saturn tries a shoulderblock back in but Kanyon catches him in mid air and switches to a Northern Lights suplex. Bridge cover gets 2. Kanyon tries a slingshot elbow drop but Saturn avoids and hits a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Saturn goes to the chinlock. Brain: “I think Saturn right now is thinking, ‘I’ve hit this man with everything. I’ve used everything on him. I’ve springboarded, I’ve “whodacaranaed” myself, I’ve slam dunked myself. I’ve done just about everything and the guy’s still fighting me. What can I do to him?’” Tony: “Pretty tough to ‘hootacanrana’ yourself too.” Brain: “Only on the weekends.” Kanyon elbows out but Saturn pulls him back in by the hair. Kanyon tries a back suplex but Saturn floats over into a crossbody for 2. Wonderful stuff there. Back to the chinlock but this time Kanyon hits the suplex. Kanyon hotshots Saturn into the ropes. Saturn recovers first but Kanyon with a small package for 2. Saturn blocks a hiptoss and gets a back slide for 2. Kanyon with a roll up for 2. Saturn drop toe holds Kanyon and double underhooks him for the roll up for 2. Kanyon with a back elbow and hits a fireman’s carry flapjack for 2. Saturn is out on his feet but can’t sell for shit. Crowd gets a mild “boring” chant going and fuck them too. Kanyon now with a torture rack neckbreaker for 2. Kanyon calls for the Flatliner and actually does the hand signal of a heart rate monitor flatlining. I’m not surprised that didn’t get over. Tony says it’s a “top rope Samoan drop” which apparently use to be his move so this must also be the debut of the Downward Spiral being known as the Flatliner for Kanyon. Kanyon preps it but Saturn counters to the half nelson suplex and covers for 2. Saturn says that’s it and preps the DVD. Kanyon slides out but Saturn hits the superkick. Saturn puts him up top but they brawl and crotch each other to the floor. The Mortis doppelganger reappears and slides in. Another one is there as well. The two Mortises now slug it out Blanco/Negro Sin Cara-style and much that like vaunted encounter, this draws crickets and mild boos. For simplicity sake, we’ll call the small one Villano VI and the big one Conquistador III. Villano shitcans Conquistador and puts the boots to him on the floor. Saturn jumps off the top into the Flatliner and Kanyon wins it at 14:46. Match was going along fine until that ending that killed an already dead crowd. Even though Tony’s early statements on Kanyon were mild overkill, the “innovator of offense” moniker for Kanyon was/is believable enough for me. He always was the guy in the late 90s busting out the moveset and having very good matches despite not getting a lot of front office support. After all, who better than Kanyon? Worth checking out for two motivated guys trying hard to get their match over. ***

• Post-match, Villano VI raises Kanyon’s hand and then turns on him and gives him the Evenflow DDT. He unmasks to reveal Raven. Tony: “Kanyon got the win but then got leveled. Raven came out dressed as Mortis, fighting off the other man dressed as Mortis, and then put the Evenflow on the REAL man known as Mortis, who is now known as Kanyon.” Say that 5 times fast. Raven gets the stick and runs down Saturn for losing and then says he never could do anything right. Raven begs off and Saturn jumps him. The Flock storms the ring but Saturn fights them off and Raven talks a walk. PLAY HIS MUSIC! BUT WHO WAS CONQUISTADOR III?

• Meanwhile, on Thunder, Deano Machino vacated the cruiserweight belt just so he could get a shot at Jericho tonight. Jericho celebrates because he thinks he’s getting the title but JJ refuses and Jericho throws a hissy fit.

• WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko. This was set up by Jericho talking trash about Malenko’s dad for weeks and then dodging him for a match. Tony: “Take a look at the face of Malenko. I don’t think that’s the face of an ‘Iceman.’ I think it’s the face of an ‘angry man.’” Well, there ya go.

• Crowd boos Jericho big time at the bell and it’s glorious. Malenko takes him down with a big clothesline so Jericho comes back with a spinkick. Jericho goes to the chops and the CLUBBINGBLOWS. Jericho sends him off but Dean folds him up with a German suplex. He pounds down Jericho in the corner and is in danger of a DQ. Dean goes to the BLATANTCHOKE! NICE! Unusual for the machine obviously as the commentators are all over he’s fiery passion nicely. Malenko tries a charge but runs into a boot. Jericho with a headlock. Dean sends him off and Jericho takes him down with a shoulderblock. Jericho baseball slides through and wants the Liontamer but Dean leg whips him away. Dean with a hanging vertical suplex for 2. Dean now goes to a chinlock to slow an already slow match down even more. Now an anchorhold from Dean. Jericho flips out and dropkicks Dean in the process. Dean sends him across and Jericho steals an HBK spot in the corner and then bumps his head off the top of the ringpost in a spot that doesn’t work at all due to how slow it unfolded. There just wasn’t enough momentum to turn him upside down much less throw him into the ringpost as well. Jericho gets hung in the tree of woe on the way down. Dean tries an IED but Jericho moves. Dean moves to the floor and Jericho kicks him in the head. What are they doing? Dean kinda sells and Jericho walks around and then walks back so he can plancha on Dean. That was… strange and took a while to get there. These are two legit HOFers and one of the best technicians ever in Malenko and a very very good one in Jericho and this just aint clicking. They have lost a hot crowd in only 5 minutes. Jericho now with a hanging vertical suplex and the C’MON BABY for 2. Tony: “Oh, C’MON! That has never worked and he knows it.” Jericho goes to the sleeper. Dean sells it for a minute solid before elbowing free and grabbing his own Sleeper. Jericho counters to a back suplex and covers for 2. Jericho goes to the choke and Dean goes down like a sack of shit. Wow, this is weak as hell. Jericho with a Batista kick and a body slam. Jericho wanders around the ring before trying the Lionsault and whiffing. Dean comes back with a leg lariat. He runs toward Jericho for the wheelbarrow rollup for 2. Dean mounts in the corner for rights and gives Jericho a facesmasher off the top. Cover gets 2. Dean tries a backdrop but Jericho lands on the apron. Dean preps a top rope something but Jericho counters to the Frankensteiner. Double KO spot. Both just lay there dead before Jericho no sells all of it at 7 and runs over to cover Malenko for a quick 2. Malenko counters a powerbomb to full mount but the ref won’t count for a second. Then he starts the count but Jericho slowly counters to a Liontamer. The crowd gets up for this. Malenko pulls himself to the ropes and the crowd pops big for that. Jericho threatens to waffle the ref but relents. Malenko tries an up and over but Jericho catches him and spinebusts him down. Jericho wants the Liontamer but Malenko rolls through a couple of times nicely and locks in the Texas Cloverleaf! Crowd is INTO it finally. Jericho grabs the ropes. They both counter some holds and Jericho hits the butterfly backbreaker. Jericho chokes in the corner and smacks him around. Jericho: “YOU’RE NOTHING! JUST LIKE YOUR DEAD FATHER!” That lights a fire under Malenko who pounces and goes to the GnP. They go to the floor and Malenko tosses him into the guardrail and steals a chair and waffles him with it a couple times. Ref calls for the bell at 13:52. I don’t know what the hell happened here. Maybe Dean got knocked loopy on some early move and was trying to knock the cobwebs loose through most of the remainder. Whatever it was, the match just hardly ever clicked until the last minute or so with both going for their finishers and barely making the ropes. Perhaps the story of needing to play possessed threw him off when they tried to transition to matwrestling in the middle only to return to the man-driven-crazy story at the end. I wish I knew. **1/2

• Post-match, Malenko continues the assault up the aisle and into the back. Malenko drags Jericho out into the street and throws him into a mailbox. Doug Dellinger finally holds Malenko off so Jericho can escape through traffic. Tony and Tenay speculate about whether Jericho will be awarded the vacant title on a DQ.

• Next, Eddie is back at the internet hub and pleads with Chavo about how Grandma Guerrero doesn’t want them fighting each other.

• Juventud Guerrero vs. Reese. Pre-match, we get a Juvy video packge to some acoustic mariachi music with no words and just a montage of brooding poses, almost like a promo for a Desperado remake. They do this because Juvy had recently been forced to unmask by losing to Chris Jericho. Lodi’s sign: “Juvi is small, Reese is tall.” Brain: “And he’s only giving away 4,008 lbs.” Reese is Ron Studd, The Yeti, etc. He’s in the Flock and not very good. Reese threatens Juvy to start. Juvy prays in the corner and postures to get the crowd behind him. It seems to work for a minute. Juvy dodges Reese to start before Reese easily wins a test of strength and throws him into the corner. Juvy dodges again and tries some rights but Reese throws him away. Juvy rolls out to take a breather to boos. Juvy runs him around the ring and dropkicks him away from the apron. Juvy tries a plancha but Reese catches him and sorta rams him into the turnbuckle. Reese then press slams him back into the ring. Juvy eggs him on anyway and tries to chop him down by going after the knee. Reese sends him off and grabs the hair. Juvy kicks the legs some more and heads up top. He jumps on Reese’s back and can’t quite lock in the sleeper. Juvy rakes the eyes from rearmount and goes to the RNC. The hold isn’t even close to legal but Charles Robinson lets it go. Reese drives him back into the turnbuckle to counter. Reese hits a ribbreaker and bridges it into the submission. Crowd entertains themselves by chanting for Goldberg. Reese hairtosses him across the ring and Juvy is toast. Reese stands on his hair. Alright, time to take it home. Reese goes to the bearhug. Crowd is dead as a doornail. Reese releases and Juvy tries a baseball slide. Reese blocks so Juvy gives him a low blow to a pop. Juvy with another punt to the stones. Reese now drops to his knee and pokes him in the eyes. This is not good. Reese with a hanging vertical suplex and demands Robinson to count Juvy out. Juvy makes it up at 9, so Reese gets a chair. Robinson blocks the chair to a pop. Van Hammer comes out and steals the chair back behind the ref’s back. Juvy jumps off the top into Reese’s arms. Van Hammer waffles Reese from behind and Juvy falls on top for the 3 count at 8:46. Went on too long, plus despite being over 7 ft tall, Reese has zero presence. He’s like a charisma vacuum. Even Sid, Nash, Taker despite their deficiencies were imposing figures and oozed charisma. Hell, even KHALI with his limited grasp of English and wrestling and his walk that looks like a 70 year old Terry Funk with no ligaments left in his knees, has more charisma than Reese. *

• Chavo Guerrero vs. Eddie Guerrero. Brain: “Classic match up here: Uncle Festus vs. Eddie.” Tenay: “Eddie’s the uncle.” Brain: “Doesn’t matter. They switch every week. Whoever’s got the biggest sombrero is the uncle.” Eddie offers a shake to start but Chavo smacks him instead. Eddie says it’s on now. They both trade taunts until Eddie goes to the chops. Chavo ducks and hits him back with chops and a backdrop. Eddie with an inside trip and goes to the GnP. It breaks down until Mickey Jay demands a break. Chavo charges into the corner but Eddie alley oops him back into the ringpost and goes to work. The crowd is pretty dead for this. Now, they redo the spot with Chavo alley ooping Eddie back into the ringpost. Chavo sends him into the turnbuckle several times and Eddie falls down in a heap. Chavo with a pair of headscissors. He sends Eddie off but he slides out and says he’s taking a walk. Chavo chases him down and brings him back in. Eddie seizes the opportunity to low blow Chavo using the ropes. Eddie with a high angle back suplex. Eddie hooks a chicken wing but Chavo flips over and armdrags out. Chavo sends him off and hits a monkey flip. Chavo tries a 450 off the top but lands on his feet and instead hits a moonsault press off the opposite top turnbuckle. Chavo goes to the BLATANTCHOKE. He tries a Bossman attack but Eddie lowers the bridge and Chavo eats it to the floor. Eddie sends him into the ring stairs and Chavo eats it HEAD FIRST! BRUTAL! Eddie with a brainbuster and rather than cover, he smacks Chavo around. Chavo snaps and goes to the BLATANTCHOKE! Mickey Jay pulls him off and is close to a DQ. Chavo now chases Eddie around the ring and now Eddie hides behind the ref. Chavo pulls him out of the way and Eddie clips the knee a couple times now. Eddie goes to the Figure Four. Eddie releases the hold as the crowd entertains themselves by jeering some drunkard getting thrown out. Eddie goes to the Gory Special. Chavo armdrags out but Eddie dropkicks him back down. Eddie now goes to the Camel Clutch. Eddie releases the hold again as the fans are either chanting “Boring” or “Goldberg.” Either way it’s not good. Eddie tells the crowd to kiss his ass and gives Chavo a gutwrench and Airplane spins Chavo down. Eddie tries a charge but Chavo backdrops him to the floor and follows out with a tope con hilo. Crowd now gets united and gets the racuous “WE WANT FLAIR!” going. Chavo with a flapjack. Chavo with a springboard bulldog for 2. Chavo throws some Latino Heat on Eddie and heads up top. Eddie clips the rope and takes out Chavo’s knee. Eddie heads up top for the Frog Splash but Chavo avoids. Chavo tries the tornado DDT but Eddie dumps him. Chavo springboards back in with a nice tornado DDT and takes it at 14:47. This was strange. Chavo was never a clear babyface as he cheated just as much as Eddie and wasn’t over with the crowd. His win got a very paltry pop and just felt underwhelming. **1/4

• We get a replay of Piper and Macho having some dissension from Nitro. Macho: “I was born at night, but not last night and you’re saying that you’re my friend and you want to stick together. Well I’m not buying it, brother. I’m not a mark, bro. You dig that picture?” Piper: “I’m not selling anything.” They seem to come to terms on beating up Hogan and Hart only for them to turn on each other in the interview segment.

• WCW World Television Championship: Booker T vs. Fit Finlay (c). Tony mentions that unlike on TV, the 10 minute time limit is waived here. Booker goes to the rights and sends Finlay into the turnbuckle. Finlay runs into an elbow and they botch a clothesline. Booker instead with a sidekick takes him down. Booker whiffs on an enzuigiri so Fit goes to the drop toe hold and STF. Booker tries to counter but Fit gets the ropes. Boos for Finlay just on a damn drop toe hold as the crew speculates on who Sting will choose for his partner if he wins. Booker with a burrito for 2. Booker clubs him to the floor and follows out with a plancha. Brain is still mentioning the gimpy knee that doesn’t exist anymore. Booker goes for the ax kick but Finlay AWESOMELY ducks under, grabs a leg and goes to a half crab. Booker gets the ropes and Finlay says FUCK THAT and switches to the Indian Deathlock! Finlay to a stump puller and then just goes back to the half crab. Well if Booker wanted to sell the knee earlier in the match against Benoit, now he has his opponent. Finlay switches to the spinning toe hold and then a Figure Four. Finlay is absolutely DESTROYING Booker here. Finlay grinds the knee but Booker manages to boot his way free. Finlay aint having that shit and clips the knee some more. Finlay drags him to the apron and smashes the leg across the apron and THEN wraps it around the ropes. FINLAY FOR WORLD CHAMP! FINLAY VS. REGAL VS. DANIELSON BOOK IT! Sorry back to reality as Finlay continues dismantling Booker’s anatomy and poses to boos. Booker with the up and over Jack Briscoe roll up of desperation gets only 2. Finlay escapes and goes back to the leg grapevine. Finlay trips Booker up and goes back to the hold. Crowd is a bit quiet for this so Finlay switches to Horse Collar. Finlay now switches to the regular Liontamer. Booker counters out and goes to the GnP. Booker grabs a headlock but Finlay takes him back own with the KNEEBREAKER! YEAH! Flair hasn’t worked a knee this good in 15 years. Finlay taunts to boos and shitcans Booker. Booker hobbles to try to get back to his feet. Finlay grabs a chair(!) but the ref holds him off. Finlay instead boots it from behind and wraps it the wrong way around the ringpost again! YEAH! Finlay throws some Soul Glo into the front row and DEMANDS that Booker get his ass up. Booker starts to pull himself to his feet so Finlay boots his HAND! Finlay with the Vader Bomb as more of the crowd gawks again at some morons getting thrown out. Finlay stays on the leg and I almost wish the ref was threatening to stop the match because that’s how good the leg work has been. Booker’s selling has been decent but it would really put over the story if they threatened to stop the match. Finlay sends him off but Booker ducks and hits a spinkick. Booker with a scoop slam and hits the ax kick and it’s spinaroonie time as the leg is forgotten. Finlay teaches him some respect by clubbing him back down to cut off that bullshit. Finlay calls for the Tombstone but Booker counters and promptly DROPS him at least on his back. Finlay rolls over into a cover for 2. Finlay misses a charge in the corner and now Booker puts him down with a regular piledriver to win it at 13:15. Finlay deserves a medal after Booker damn near destroyed all of the work that he put into the match. Booker wasn’t bad so much as the majority of the match required him to get his ass kick and then come back with his stuff – Booker got his ass kicked fine and then screwed up his stuff. Finlay’s near-masterpiece is still good enough for MOTN honors. ***1/2

• WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Konnan vs. Goldberg (c). Konnan got this shot because Perfect was hurt and he and Rude “hand picked” Konnan. During Konnan’s entrance, Perfect does the gym swat and is instantly more over with me than half the card. Crowd is major into Goldberg obviously. He throws Konnan across the ring and he takes a breather to regroup. Back in, Goldberg grabs a headlock. Konnan tries to send him off but Goldberg hangs on. Konnan tries a hammerlock but Goldberg tries to roll under for a kneebar and sorta gets it but Konnan grabs the ropes. Konnan with some CLUBBINGBLOWS and gets the boot up in the corner. Goldberg shakes it off and spears Konnan. Goldberg keeps taunting Perfect and tell him he’s next. Jackhammer and we’re outta there at 2:08. Decisive squash but what else is new. 1/2*

• Post-match, Rude and Hennig put the boots to Konnan. Luger and Nash come out to protect him as Perfect pulls off his Wolfpack shirt to reveal that he was black and white. Didn’t someone tell Konnan n.W.o Hollywood was 4-life?

• Macho Man Randy Savage & Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. Hollywood Hogan & Bret Hart. Macho and Piper argue about who starts first as the stalling goes on for a minute and some change. Piper and Hogan finally decide to start. Piper spits on Bret as Hogan warns the ref about how dirty of a wrestler Piper is. Piper tries to call a timeout before “sneaking” Hogan from the front and then poking him in the eyes. Macho then does the same and the crowd eats up this kindergarten routine. Macho tags in and gouges Hogan’s eyes. Piper back in with a couple of atomic drops and a Mongolian chop. Piper now bites Hogan and gives him a few rights to the gut. Piper covers but Hogan’s foot is in the ropes. Macho in for nothing so Piper comes back in. Disciple Zodiac Beefcake waffles Piper from behind with the belt and now Bret tags in. Bret with rights and holds off an advancing Piper. Bret with a backbreaker and the low blow boot to boos. Bret tosses Piper into Hogan’s boot and tags Hollywood back in. Hogan with some BLATANTCHOKING. Hogan with some back and eye raking. More completely transparent cheating in front of the ref who doesn’t seem to care. Hogan and Bret seem to set up some double teaming only for Hogan to say fuck it and just drop Piper and tag in Bret. Bret with a Russian legsweep and the second rope elbow for 2. Bret waffles Macho who threatens to come in as Hogan chokes Piper behind the ref’s back. This is just lazy. Piper with a WRETCHED small package to counter a backdrop. Cover gets 2 but Bret counters back. Macho tags in but the ref doesn’t see it. Hogan in and boots down Piper in the corner. Bret and Piper do another blind tag spot. The ref holds off Macho. Now Macho gets a chair while Hogan and Bret cheat right in front of the ref. Whaaa? The ref pulls Hogan away so Macho puts the chair on Piper’s chest and Bret goes for the low blow but eats chair. In today’s product, that would make the move more devastating but I digress. Piper finally makes the tag to Macho. Macho takes down Hogan and Bret and does a horrible noggin knocker. Macho with a back elbow and covers but Bret breaks it up. Holy weak stuff, Batman. Hogan and Bret go for the double team but Macho ducks and Hogan takes down Bret. Macho and Bret now do another noggin knocker on the heels. Macho heads up top but Hogan sends Piper into the ropes and that accidentally crotches Macho. Macho knee buckles. NOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOT THE KNEE! Disciple holds off Piper as Hogan wraps Macho’s knee around the ringpost. Bret pulls Macho to the middle of the ring and puts on the Sharpshooter. Macho taps at 11:43. A match like this and honestly SEVERAL of WCW’s main events is all about starpower and personalities. If you think a low blow is more awesome because it’s coming from Piper or cheating is more diabolical because it’s Hollywood Hogan, then the match probably registers for you and WCW as a product probably did. Although in fairness, almost everything is better when done by Macho Man especially knee selling. But if you were looking for anything remotely inspired, this probably fell woefully short. *1/2

• BUT WAIT! Before Piper and Macho wrestle, Mean Gene is in the ring to get not one but TWO promos to continue selling the match. Thankfully, Piper refuses. He tries to help Macho to the back but he instead turns on Piper and boots him down.

• Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper. Macho with the BLATANTCHOKE to start with the bad knee(!). Macho now heads up top with one leg. He hits the MACHO ELBOW! BUT THE KNEE GIVES OUT BEFORE HE CAN COVER! NOOOO! Macho staggers over and finally covers for 2 at around 45 seconds in. Macho’s pissed and waffles the ref. Piper low blows Macho and pokes him in the eye. Piper clips the bad leg and goes to the Figure 4. Another ref comes out as Macho tries to fight the pain but has to give it up for the second time in a few minutes at 1:40. *1/2 just because I love Macho and then Piper’s egregious heel work to get the win over a maniac.

• Singles Match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Giant vs. Sting. Showster lights a cigarette on the way to the ring, because ya know, this was part of trying to get him over as a heel because he didn’t care about anything including Surgeon General’s warnings and such. HE HAS NO CONCERN FOR HIS HEALTH! Show keeps the cigarette in his mouth as the bell rings. He blows the smoke into Sting’s face. Sting being no fan of lung cancer smacks him away. Show tries a Stinger Splash but Sting moves and Show eats post. Sting kicks him a few times and hits a Stinger Splash to a pop. He tries another but Show gets the boot up. Show shitcans him to buy some time because apparently smoking has killed his cardio. Show goes to the overhand chops. Sting ducks a couple of clotheslines and tries a crossbody but Show no sells. Show drops an elbow and tells the crowd to shove it. Show with a PRESS SLAM SNAKE EYES! That’s AWESOME and he needs to bring that back big time. Sting is DOA as Show goes to a bearhug to squeeze the life out of him. Sting almost gives up but goes to the Mongolian chops and bites his way free. Sting gets a head of steam and clips the knee with a dropkick. Sting with another Stinger Splash and ANOTHER. Sting then bodyslams him! Sting goes the Scorpion Deathlock but Show POWERS OUT! Sting instead boots him and hits the Scorpion Deathdrop but Giant kicks out at 2. Show goozles and calls for the ChokeSlam but Sting blocks. Sting with another Scorpion Deathdrop but Giant again kicks out at 2. They exchange headbutts and Show wins that one. Show tries a Ho Train but Sting gets the boot up. Sting heads up top and hits a TORNADO SCORPION DEATHDROP TO WIN IT AT 6:41. That was a thoroughly entertaining abbreviated match. I mean as a PPV main even it’s kind of offensive that it was that short, but since I didn’t pay 40 bucks for this a decade ago, I have different standards and this worked for me. Show is a minor genius at these sub 10 minute jobs. It’s just a shame that WCW didn’t have ultimately bigger plans for him. ***

The 411: Few good matches and a whole lot of lengthy filler. The best stuff is mostly from the mid and undercard while the main eventers collect the checks and the pops. VINTAGE WCW! Anyway, I guess it's watchable enough. I love mid to late 90s WCW, so this is a no brainer for me, but use your own judgment.
Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]