WCW: Ten Years Later
Though this is a few days after the fact, I wrote this in Notepad on March 26:
Here we are, March 26, 2011. It has been a full decade -- ten long years -- since World Championship Wrestling held its final Monday Nitro and the World Wrestling Federation won the Monday Night War. I decided a few days ago that I should return to match reviewing for this special occassion.
I haven't tried to review a match in about four years, so any errors should be easily forgiven. I have been reading a lot of Scott Keith lately, so that might help me out. I've also been watching a lot of WWE Raw and TNA Impact, but the product is just not where it should be or where it once was.
I checked on YouTube (since WWE apparently no longer cares about WCW footage being posted) and decided that the time was right to review a forgotten show... the second edition of WCW Monday Nitro. It aired on September 11, 1995 (of all dates), and marked the first time the two shows ran opposed. Nitro won 2.5 to Raw's 2.2. Let's see what the winners had to offer.
-Live from Miami, Florida
-Your announcers are Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan and Steve McMichael
-Bischoff starts the overhype immediately, using the word "live" about ten times and referring to Hulk Hogan vs. Lex Luger as "the match of the century." I know the Luger debut was shocking, but it was not as if Luger was, you know, a good wrestler.
-Recap of Luger going back on his word to the WWF and walking into the Mall of America to challenge Hogan. It beats jerking the curtain with the Harris Brothers.
-Bischoff says Vader is "AWOL," which is code for "WWF-bound." Too bad his career went down the tubes after this.
-Sabu vs. Alex Wright. Sabu received a profanity-laced speech at an ECW show for making the jump to the more conservative WCW, which never let him be himself. Leg takedown by Sabu, then a springboard leg lariat. Headscissors out to the floor, but there is no table to break his fall. Baseball slide follows, then a slingshot somersault plancha. He keeps up the high-octane excitement by taking the time to set up a chair and leap, but Wright moves and Sabu hits the railing. Wright pounds away on the floor with pedestrian stuff. Back in with the missile dropkick, which sends Sabu right back out. Baseball slide returns the favor, then a running tope. In again, Wright catches Sabu with a superplex. Sabu nearly botches another springboard leg lariat. Wright backflips behind and hits a German suplex, which Bischoff calls "belly to back." Wright up, but Sabu hits an inverted frankensteiner for the pin at 3:58. Spotfest, with both guys just showing their high-impact offense. *½ Post-match, Sabu dives to the floor and puts Wright through a table, a first-of-its-kind act in WCW. Nick Patrick reverses the decision for the post-match assault, which is ridiculous since Sabu won cleanly. Change that to *¼ after one of the worst finishes ever -- almost Starrcade 1997 territory here. After this show, the corporate tools at Turner told Sabu to stop using tables. He refused and ended up back in ECW a short time later.
-Back with Gene Okerlund in the ring bringing out Ric Flair, who gets genuine heel heat. He hypes his one and only pay-per-view match with Arn Anderson during their brief feud. He says they were once like "Joe Montana and Lawrence Taylor." Did Montana rape a 16-year-old hooker too? Lex Luger cuts Flair off for no good reason, says one line and bails. I always thought that should have been a gimmick -- the interruptor. He just needs a killer entrance theme.
-United States Title: Sting vs. VK Wallstreet. Wallstreet is Mike Rotundo, playing VK (Get it? Vincent Kennedy?), an IRS ripoff. You may know Sting as the man who turned down WrestleMania to become TNA Champion and defend the title in the Jeff Hardy debacle at Victory Road. Wallstreet fireman's carry, no-sold. Sting punches in the corner and grabs a headlock. Off the ropes, leapfrog, dropkicks from Sting. Wallstreet takes a bump on his face and rolls out to kill time. This match is longer than Sting-Hardy at this point. Headlock and off the ropes again, but Wallstreet throws Sting to the floor. Sting comes back with a slingshot shoulderblock, but Wallstreet comes back with an elbow, then more when he's down. Sting is selling for him here, I'll give him that. He tries a slam, but Sting sunset flips for two. He rams VK's head eight times into the turnbuckle, then a clothesline and a high knee. Stinger Splash, flying cross body, pin at 4:12. This was like an eight-minute match suddenly cut off with the go-home signal at 3:30. Sudden finish aside, not a bad TV showing. *3/4
-This Saturday: The debut of Disco Inferno, The Renegade vs. Maxx Muscle, Big Bubba Rogers vs. Dave Sullivan (with the rabbit) and Brian Pillman vs. Alex Wright. Who wouldn't surrender a paycheck to watch that?
-Randy Savage vs. Scott Norton. Wow, another marquee name on this card. They certainly did pull out all the stops to beat Raw. Norton hammers to start. Heenan calls McMichael "McNuggets," which is infinitely better than "Bobby Hernia." Norton blocks a sunset flip with a choke bomb. Savage comes back with a clothesline to the floor and an axe handle. Back in, Savage goes up and Norton catches him in a brief bearhug. He took just five seconds for a resthold? Worse yet, Savage sells it like death. Heenan says he knows a good animal hospital, which is the line of the night so far. Norton slowly pounds on Savage's back. Powerbomb only gets two after the commentators declared him dead. Double backbreaker to press slam keeps Norton in control. Off the ropes, powerslam (Michael Cole is not alone in calling it incorrectly) gets two. Savage takes a flying shoulder tackle to the floor as the crowd chants for a comeback. When he plays the face in peril, he really sells the peril. DDT off the ropes ten years before Randy Orton thought of it, then Norton goes up (shockingly). Savage sidesteps and faceplants him, then throws him from pillar to post. The comeback peaks as Avalanche (Earthquake) hits the ring. Savage throws Norton into him, flying elbow for the pin at 5:43. The Dungeon of Doom (also known as the WrestleCrap collection) storms in, but Savage escapes. This was all about Savage letting Norton look good before the Superman comeback. The formula worked well enough. **
-WCW World Title: Hulk Hogan vs. Lex Luger. Bischoff drops the WWF name and says Luger "didn't want to play with kids anymore." Hey, they didn't play with kids, they played with Marines, and even if they lost they had a great story. Hogan gets falling sparks over the ring for his entrance. They can't do that at Manhattan Center. Tie-up, Luger backs Hogan up and slaps him. Dramatic no-sell, back to square one. Hogan backs Luger up and doesn't appear to release at the count of five. End this match and send us home happy! The commentators put over Luger's CFL football career from 1,000 years ago. Drop toe hold into a half-nelson armbar of all moves by Hogan. Vertical suplex (from his right arm), but Luger pops up, drawing a big reaction, and grabs a headlock. Luger manages to hit the ropes three times, vertical suplex and Hogan returns the no-selling. Nobody beats the best. Luger kicks and headlocks again. What variation. Off the ropes, but Luger bails at the threat of a punch. Back in, Hogan adds a back body drop to his moveset. Bischoff then becomes either forgetful or delusional, claiming that Luger was a "World Champion" in the WWF and "barely past mid-level" in WCW. That's all good, except a) Luger choked his title opportunities up north, and b) Luger won the WCW Title at Great American Bash 1991... wait, maybe Bischoff did try to strike that epically failed show from the fans' minds. No wonder RSPW hated his guts. Luger slams Hogan and threatens the Torture Rack of exceptional massaging capabilities. He locks it in and Hogan's arm nearly falls three times. Luger forgets how to count, having missed that morning's Sesame Street, and has to be told he didn't win. Hogan kicks out of a cover and has a delayed Hulk Up. The usual routine plays out through the big boot and legdrop, but the Dungeon of Doom returns to save us at 5:29. Sting and the "seriously injured" Savage return and miraculously clear the ring. When the biggest threat is Kamala, it's time to find a good leader. nWo this was not -- hell, they were not even Nexus. As for the match, it fell far short of Bischoff's epic promotion and should not have been blown off this quickly on free TV. He would take years to learn from those mistakes. In this case, it's good that these guys didn't go much longer than five minutes, but I thought their match from August 1997 when face Luger won the title from heel Hogan was more exciting. ½*
-Scheme Gene returns for an interview to kill the time Hogan and Luger decided not to spend sucking the oxygen out of the crowd. Luger stands in the ring with the faces like a clueless moron, not straying far from real life. It turns out Hogan, Sting and Savage need a fourth man for War Games in six days and are taking a vote on live TV. Jimmy Hart gets hostile as the argument boils. Sting says yes to Luger, Savage says no. Hogan takes Sting's side and invites Luger. So that was the inspiration for "Be a Man." Luger accepts in exchange for a title shot.
-The show ends with a wrap-up at the announce table. Next week: Paul Orndorff vs. Johnny B. Badd and the Nasty Boys, American Males and Blue Bloods in action. Thumbs up for career midcarders.
-Bottom Line: This show did its job as a follow-up to the explosive Nitro debut show. In a sign of things to come, several huge names worked this show and brought in the ratings. The matches were not that bad, except of course for the main event. On the bad side, there were some crappy finishes, especially in the opening match. At least most of the WWF's marquee matches finished strongly. But there is some historical curiosity for this WCW show, including Sabu's table spot, one of his best because he actually hit it properly.
Bonus Match:
-WCW World Title: Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page. From WCW Greed, March 18, 2001. This was WCW's final pay-per-view main event. It came live from Jacksonville, Florida, with Tony Schiavone and Scott Hudson on commentary and (of course) old guys in the ring. WCW is $60 million in the red, but still manages to bring in Michael Buffer. Falls count anywhere, there must be a winner. I don't know why the WWF didn't bring in Midajah after the sale -- she was basically everything they wanted in a "diva," including minimal wrestling talent, but they passed her over anyway. Page gets the better of Steiner to start, hitting a neckbreaker and trying for a quick pin. Steiner shoulderblocks him to the apron, but he goes up and flies with a lariat for nearly two. Steiner bails and DDP throws him into the railing a few times. Schiavone offers up the table, but Steiner throws DDP away and beats on him. He beats him back in, then takes him back out with a shoulderblock. Since DDP is the "real" People's Champion, this match enters the crowd. Steiner bashes him with a gimmicked garbage can as the brawl goes beyond the floor seats. He also breaks a crutch over Page's back, "taken from a fan," but DDP breaks it back over Steiner. Onto a railing, "flying" elbow through the Spanish announce table gets two. Page back to the trash can and another near fall. This looks like the hardcore matches the WWF was doing in the first hour of RAW at that time. Steiner curses out a fan and breaks his prop over DDP's head, but gets caught off guard with a shot from Page for two. Back in, Steiner is clearly winded. I hear the sound of air leaving the front row as he pulls out his Steinerline/clothesline/pushups spot. Steiner nails DDP in the back twice, but he comes back, only to be stifled by a t-bone suplex for two. Steiner admonishes the referee before resting with a bearhug. Page does little to escape, but his arm stays up on the third time. Steiner catches him with another overhead suplex and another near fall. Steiner keeps clubbing with chops and a foot to the throat, then taunts and gets caught again. Page hammers away, but gets kicked on a charge. Belly-to-belly suplex (suplex count: 3) gets two for the champion. Surfboard to add "drama" and rest to the match. Page fights it for real this time, climbing up. Shot to the midsection, DDT and both men are down. After nine minutes? Steinerline ducked, DDP with his own lariat. Page with a few right hands, back to the corner for the tried-and-true ten head rams in the turnbuckle. Steiner elbows him off a charge and puts his feet on the ropes, but still gets two. DDP counters something with a nice running DDT. He wants the Diamond Cutter, but Steiner kicks him in the gonads and "hits" his own DDT. Page backs out of snake Eyes and hits the Diamond Cutter, but the even less talented Rick Steiner comes from under the ring (seriously?) and pulls the referee out. Page takes him out with a plancha. Back in, Scott runs into Rick and DDP rolls him up for two. Steiner hits him with the belt, and that has to be it... or not, as Page rips the Rock off (in a positive way here) with the long near fall. Boston Crab by Steiner as Page is busted wide open. The weapons in the crowd couldn't do it, but the championship belt could? Page hits the ropes, but gets caught in the Steiner Recliner. He hits the ropes again, "as I live and breathe!" exclaims Schiavone. That glorified chinlock is not exactly the Crippler Crossface, so it shouldn't come as the shock of a lifetime. Midajah to the apron to distract Nick Patrick (it's no-disqualification, idiots) and Steiner takes DDP out with a steel pipe. Nick Patrick stops the match with the Steiner Chinlock reapplied at 14:14. Post-match, Steiner drapes a Michigan Wolverines flag over Page. He should have done that to Rich Rodriguez when he had the chance. This basically combined the hardcore style of that era with WWF Main Event Style -- mostly punches and kicks with typical power offense. They sold the drama, but as a match it was nothing special, just like WCW in those dying days. Still vastly better than Steiner's next pay-per-view performance. **
I thought about reviewing more matches (the next-to-last Nitro, the Bash at the Beach 1996 main event), but there was only so much time and space. Those are on my shortlist for my next rant, as long as it's not four years from now.
Enjoy all the WCW retrospectives now, while you still can.
Here we are, March 26, 2011. It has been a full decade -- ten long years -- since World Championship Wrestling held its final Monday Nitro and the World Wrestling Federation won the Monday Night War. I decided a few days ago that I should return to match reviewing for this special occassion.
I haven't tried to review a match in about four years, so any errors should be easily forgiven. I have been reading a lot of Scott Keith lately, so that might help me out. I've also been watching a lot of WWE Raw and TNA Impact, but the product is just not where it should be or where it once was.
I checked on YouTube (since WWE apparently no longer cares about WCW footage being posted) and decided that the time was right to review a forgotten show... the second edition of WCW Monday Nitro. It aired on September 11, 1995 (of all dates), and marked the first time the two shows ran opposed. Nitro won 2.5 to Raw's 2.2. Let's see what the winners had to offer.
-Live from Miami, Florida
-Your announcers are Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan and Steve McMichael
-Bischoff starts the overhype immediately, using the word "live" about ten times and referring to Hulk Hogan vs. Lex Luger as "the match of the century." I know the Luger debut was shocking, but it was not as if Luger was, you know, a good wrestler.
-Recap of Luger going back on his word to the WWF and walking into the Mall of America to challenge Hogan. It beats jerking the curtain with the Harris Brothers.
-Bischoff says Vader is "AWOL," which is code for "WWF-bound." Too bad his career went down the tubes after this.
-Sabu vs. Alex Wright. Sabu received a profanity-laced speech at an ECW show for making the jump to the more conservative WCW, which never let him be himself. Leg takedown by Sabu, then a springboard leg lariat. Headscissors out to the floor, but there is no table to break his fall. Baseball slide follows, then a slingshot somersault plancha. He keeps up the high-octane excitement by taking the time to set up a chair and leap, but Wright moves and Sabu hits the railing. Wright pounds away on the floor with pedestrian stuff. Back in with the missile dropkick, which sends Sabu right back out. Baseball slide returns the favor, then a running tope. In again, Wright catches Sabu with a superplex. Sabu nearly botches another springboard leg lariat. Wright backflips behind and hits a German suplex, which Bischoff calls "belly to back." Wright up, but Sabu hits an inverted frankensteiner for the pin at 3:58. Spotfest, with both guys just showing their high-impact offense. *½ Post-match, Sabu dives to the floor and puts Wright through a table, a first-of-its-kind act in WCW. Nick Patrick reverses the decision for the post-match assault, which is ridiculous since Sabu won cleanly. Change that to *¼ after one of the worst finishes ever -- almost Starrcade 1997 territory here. After this show, the corporate tools at Turner told Sabu to stop using tables. He refused and ended up back in ECW a short time later.
-Back with Gene Okerlund in the ring bringing out Ric Flair, who gets genuine heel heat. He hypes his one and only pay-per-view match with Arn Anderson during their brief feud. He says they were once like "Joe Montana and Lawrence Taylor." Did Montana rape a 16-year-old hooker too? Lex Luger cuts Flair off for no good reason, says one line and bails. I always thought that should have been a gimmick -- the interruptor. He just needs a killer entrance theme.
-United States Title: Sting vs. VK Wallstreet. Wallstreet is Mike Rotundo, playing VK (Get it? Vincent Kennedy?), an IRS ripoff. You may know Sting as the man who turned down WrestleMania to become TNA Champion and defend the title in the Jeff Hardy debacle at Victory Road. Wallstreet fireman's carry, no-sold. Sting punches in the corner and grabs a headlock. Off the ropes, leapfrog, dropkicks from Sting. Wallstreet takes a bump on his face and rolls out to kill time. This match is longer than Sting-Hardy at this point. Headlock and off the ropes again, but Wallstreet throws Sting to the floor. Sting comes back with a slingshot shoulderblock, but Wallstreet comes back with an elbow, then more when he's down. Sting is selling for him here, I'll give him that. He tries a slam, but Sting sunset flips for two. He rams VK's head eight times into the turnbuckle, then a clothesline and a high knee. Stinger Splash, flying cross body, pin at 4:12. This was like an eight-minute match suddenly cut off with the go-home signal at 3:30. Sudden finish aside, not a bad TV showing. *3/4
-This Saturday: The debut of Disco Inferno, The Renegade vs. Maxx Muscle, Big Bubba Rogers vs. Dave Sullivan (with the rabbit) and Brian Pillman vs. Alex Wright. Who wouldn't surrender a paycheck to watch that?
-Randy Savage vs. Scott Norton. Wow, another marquee name on this card. They certainly did pull out all the stops to beat Raw. Norton hammers to start. Heenan calls McMichael "McNuggets," which is infinitely better than "Bobby Hernia." Norton blocks a sunset flip with a choke bomb. Savage comes back with a clothesline to the floor and an axe handle. Back in, Savage goes up and Norton catches him in a brief bearhug. He took just five seconds for a resthold? Worse yet, Savage sells it like death. Heenan says he knows a good animal hospital, which is the line of the night so far. Norton slowly pounds on Savage's back. Powerbomb only gets two after the commentators declared him dead. Double backbreaker to press slam keeps Norton in control. Off the ropes, powerslam (Michael Cole is not alone in calling it incorrectly) gets two. Savage takes a flying shoulder tackle to the floor as the crowd chants for a comeback. When he plays the face in peril, he really sells the peril. DDT off the ropes ten years before Randy Orton thought of it, then Norton goes up (shockingly). Savage sidesteps and faceplants him, then throws him from pillar to post. The comeback peaks as Avalanche (Earthquake) hits the ring. Savage throws Norton into him, flying elbow for the pin at 5:43. The Dungeon of Doom (also known as the WrestleCrap collection) storms in, but Savage escapes. This was all about Savage letting Norton look good before the Superman comeback. The formula worked well enough. **
-WCW World Title: Hulk Hogan vs. Lex Luger. Bischoff drops the WWF name and says Luger "didn't want to play with kids anymore." Hey, they didn't play with kids, they played with Marines, and even if they lost they had a great story. Hogan gets falling sparks over the ring for his entrance. They can't do that at Manhattan Center. Tie-up, Luger backs Hogan up and slaps him. Dramatic no-sell, back to square one. Hogan backs Luger up and doesn't appear to release at the count of five. End this match and send us home happy! The commentators put over Luger's CFL football career from 1,000 years ago. Drop toe hold into a half-nelson armbar of all moves by Hogan. Vertical suplex (from his right arm), but Luger pops up, drawing a big reaction, and grabs a headlock. Luger manages to hit the ropes three times, vertical suplex and Hogan returns the no-selling. Nobody beats the best. Luger kicks and headlocks again. What variation. Off the ropes, but Luger bails at the threat of a punch. Back in, Hogan adds a back body drop to his moveset. Bischoff then becomes either forgetful or delusional, claiming that Luger was a "World Champion" in the WWF and "barely past mid-level" in WCW. That's all good, except a) Luger choked his title opportunities up north, and b) Luger won the WCW Title at Great American Bash 1991... wait, maybe Bischoff did try to strike that epically failed show from the fans' minds. No wonder RSPW hated his guts. Luger slams Hogan and threatens the Torture Rack of exceptional massaging capabilities. He locks it in and Hogan's arm nearly falls three times. Luger forgets how to count, having missed that morning's Sesame Street, and has to be told he didn't win. Hogan kicks out of a cover and has a delayed Hulk Up. The usual routine plays out through the big boot and legdrop, but the Dungeon of Doom returns to save us at 5:29. Sting and the "seriously injured" Savage return and miraculously clear the ring. When the biggest threat is Kamala, it's time to find a good leader. nWo this was not -- hell, they were not even Nexus. As for the match, it fell far short of Bischoff's epic promotion and should not have been blown off this quickly on free TV. He would take years to learn from those mistakes. In this case, it's good that these guys didn't go much longer than five minutes, but I thought their match from August 1997 when face Luger won the title from heel Hogan was more exciting. ½*
-Scheme Gene returns for an interview to kill the time Hogan and Luger decided not to spend sucking the oxygen out of the crowd. Luger stands in the ring with the faces like a clueless moron, not straying far from real life. It turns out Hogan, Sting and Savage need a fourth man for War Games in six days and are taking a vote on live TV. Jimmy Hart gets hostile as the argument boils. Sting says yes to Luger, Savage says no. Hogan takes Sting's side and invites Luger. So that was the inspiration for "Be a Man." Luger accepts in exchange for a title shot.
-The show ends with a wrap-up at the announce table. Next week: Paul Orndorff vs. Johnny B. Badd and the Nasty Boys, American Males and Blue Bloods in action. Thumbs up for career midcarders.
-Bottom Line: This show did its job as a follow-up to the explosive Nitro debut show. In a sign of things to come, several huge names worked this show and brought in the ratings. The matches were not that bad, except of course for the main event. On the bad side, there were some crappy finishes, especially in the opening match. At least most of the WWF's marquee matches finished strongly. But there is some historical curiosity for this WCW show, including Sabu's table spot, one of his best because he actually hit it properly.
Bonus Match:
-WCW World Title: Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page. From WCW Greed, March 18, 2001. This was WCW's final pay-per-view main event. It came live from Jacksonville, Florida, with Tony Schiavone and Scott Hudson on commentary and (of course) old guys in the ring. WCW is $60 million in the red, but still manages to bring in Michael Buffer. Falls count anywhere, there must be a winner. I don't know why the WWF didn't bring in Midajah after the sale -- she was basically everything they wanted in a "diva," including minimal wrestling talent, but they passed her over anyway. Page gets the better of Steiner to start, hitting a neckbreaker and trying for a quick pin. Steiner shoulderblocks him to the apron, but he goes up and flies with a lariat for nearly two. Steiner bails and DDP throws him into the railing a few times. Schiavone offers up the table, but Steiner throws DDP away and beats on him. He beats him back in, then takes him back out with a shoulderblock. Since DDP is the "real" People's Champion, this match enters the crowd. Steiner bashes him with a gimmicked garbage can as the brawl goes beyond the floor seats. He also breaks a crutch over Page's back, "taken from a fan," but DDP breaks it back over Steiner. Onto a railing, "flying" elbow through the Spanish announce table gets two. Page back to the trash can and another near fall. This looks like the hardcore matches the WWF was doing in the first hour of RAW at that time. Steiner curses out a fan and breaks his prop over DDP's head, but gets caught off guard with a shot from Page for two. Back in, Steiner is clearly winded. I hear the sound of air leaving the front row as he pulls out his Steinerline/clothesline/pushups spot. Steiner nails DDP in the back twice, but he comes back, only to be stifled by a t-bone suplex for two. Steiner admonishes the referee before resting with a bearhug. Page does little to escape, but his arm stays up on the third time. Steiner catches him with another overhead suplex and another near fall. Steiner keeps clubbing with chops and a foot to the throat, then taunts and gets caught again. Page hammers away, but gets kicked on a charge. Belly-to-belly suplex (suplex count: 3) gets two for the champion. Surfboard to add "drama" and rest to the match. Page fights it for real this time, climbing up. Shot to the midsection, DDT and both men are down. After nine minutes? Steinerline ducked, DDP with his own lariat. Page with a few right hands, back to the corner for the tried-and-true ten head rams in the turnbuckle. Steiner elbows him off a charge and puts his feet on the ropes, but still gets two. DDP counters something with a nice running DDT. He wants the Diamond Cutter, but Steiner kicks him in the gonads and "hits" his own DDT. Page backs out of snake Eyes and hits the Diamond Cutter, but the even less talented Rick Steiner comes from under the ring (seriously?) and pulls the referee out. Page takes him out with a plancha. Back in, Scott runs into Rick and DDP rolls him up for two. Steiner hits him with the belt, and that has to be it... or not, as Page rips the Rock off (in a positive way here) with the long near fall. Boston Crab by Steiner as Page is busted wide open. The weapons in the crowd couldn't do it, but the championship belt could? Page hits the ropes, but gets caught in the Steiner Recliner. He hits the ropes again, "as I live and breathe!" exclaims Schiavone. That glorified chinlock is not exactly the Crippler Crossface, so it shouldn't come as the shock of a lifetime. Midajah to the apron to distract Nick Patrick (it's no-disqualification, idiots) and Steiner takes DDP out with a steel pipe. Nick Patrick stops the match with the Steiner Chinlock reapplied at 14:14. Post-match, Steiner drapes a Michigan Wolverines flag over Page. He should have done that to Rich Rodriguez when he had the chance. This basically combined the hardcore style of that era with WWF Main Event Style -- mostly punches and kicks with typical power offense. They sold the drama, but as a match it was nothing special, just like WCW in those dying days. Still vastly better than Steiner's next pay-per-view performance. **
I thought about reviewing more matches (the next-to-last Nitro, the Bash at the Beach 1996 main event), but there was only so much time and space. Those are on my shortlist for my next rant, as long as it's not four years from now.
Enjoy all the WCW retrospectives now, while you still can.