Review: WCW/nWo Starrcade 1998, from Washington, DC, 12/27/1998.
Ok, I tried, I just can't do the full version. I'm pissed off about it, but what can I do? I took notes, though, so someday, I'll flush this one out and do it the right way.
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The usuals are on commentary, Tony, Bobby and Tenay. The Four Horsemen have been banned from the building by Bischoff, and Mean Gene talks about the WCW Hotline. Which isn't active, as the giant black box on the screen says.
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The first match was Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Kidman, in a Triangle Match for the WCW Cruiserweight Title. It was overly spotty, but that's what I expected. In that context, I was surprised at how slow it seemed. Anyway, the ending went like this. Eddie Guerrero came to the ring, and reversed Kidman's rollup as the referee was distracted. The referee came in, but the count only got two, as Rey dropkicked Juvi in the face, allowing Kidman to retain his Cruiserweight Title, at 14:54. ***1/2, with a very fun ending, which tied into the next match. Anyhow, Eddie tells Rey and Juvi that they suck. They aren't LWO material, and Kidman's a dweeb. So he needs to come out here...
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Kidman comes out to the ring, and he's going to face Eddie Guerrero, for Kidman's WCW Cruiserweight Title. More of the same, but with a defined heel and face. See, there are things that people can like about Juvi, but not Eddie. He's a real dickhead. Eddie's bodyguard came out to the ring, so the ref's distracted. Juvi crotches Kidman, but Rey pushes Eddie off the top, crotching him along the top rope. Eddie falls to the canvas and Kidman gives him the SHOOTING STAR PRESS, for 3, at 10:47. ***1/2. The first 30 minutes of the show was great. And now it goes WAY downhill.
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Video of Nash/Goldberg confrontations in previous weeks...not much to see.
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The next match is Prince Iaukea vs. NORMAN SMILEY!!! I like Smiley, but why? Starrcade's supposed to be a blowoff show. Anyhow, this match is a steaming pile of shit. Iaukea sucks, and Smiley's style doesn't help matters. He's a mat wrestler, and Iaukea is anything but. Norman does the BIG WIGGLE 3 times throughout the match, and once after. Those were 3 of the 4 pops in the match. The 4th was at the finish, because the crowd was glad to see it end. A huge BORING chant got started during the match, but it died down after a while. Smiley won the match, when Iaukea tapped out to the NORMAN CONQUEST, at 11:32. That's a chickenwing, in case you didn't watch WCW back in the day. Entirely too long. 1/2*.
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Scott Hall comes to the ring now, with no music. A man without music, and without a group. Or so he says. Hey, yo; 2 SWEET and all that. 1998 hasn't been the best for Hall, but '99 will be great. He only has to prove things to himself. Then he leaves.
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Same Nash/Goldberg movie as the last one...
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It's Ernest "the Cat" Miller w/Sonny Onoo vs. Perry Saturn. I like Saturn's music. What I don't like is Miller's cheap heat gimmick. That's all it is. Saturn finishes the bout with the Death Valley Driver at 7:06, after Sonny Onoo accidentally kicked Miller in the chest. Good thing it was short. All Miller did during the entire match was kick. *. Afterward, Miller and Onoo argued on their way to the back.
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Mean Gene Okerlund's in the aisleway, and he interviews Ric Flair. Flair's not at all worried about the Four Horsemen being banned from the building. Bischoff's going to bleed, too.
Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell encounter Konnan in the back, and tell him that the Red and Black is dead. Lex Luger comes into the room, and keeps Konnan from fighting the other two. Konnan wants to know what's going on. We found out what was going on a few weeks later, didn't we?
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We find out that Nash vs. Goldberg later on is going to be No DQ. Well that's great. The next match is Fit Finlay and Jerry Flynn vs. NWO Black and White's Brian Adams and Scott Norton w/Vincent. What's this WCW Saturday Night shit doing on my screen? A way's through, Flynn gets the hot-tag from Fit, kicks Vincent, but gets powerbombed by Norton, giving the NWO B-Teamers the win at 8:55. DUD, just because this shit doesn't belong on PPV. Come on, a JERRY FLYNN PPV match?
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Mean Gene's with Eric Bischoff in the aisleway, and Bischoff's promo is ironically funny. All that "Flair didn't save a penny stuff, of course.
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Before this match between Chris Jericho w/Ralphus and Konnan for the WCW TV Title, we flashback to Jericho beating up a Konnan impersonator on Nitro two weeks ago. This is the Jericho I like. He's awesome. Jericho comes to the ring wearing Konnan's TV Title. Cause he stole it, or something. Towards the end, we get a beltshot from Jericho to Konnan. The cover gets two, and Konnan comes back with a facebuster and the TEQUILA SUNRISE for the submission at 7:28. It was decent, **. Let's put it this way, there's been so much worse on this show.
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From a WCW.com thing earlier in the day, the Giant got mad at Lee Marshall. He didn't hit him or anything.
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This is Eric Bischoff vs. Ric Flair. Yeah, Bischoff goes over after Curt Hennig runs in during a ref bump and gives him a foreign object to hit Flair with, at 7:08. The less said, the better. Yes, it really was that bad. Crowd shit all over it, so that backs up my -** rating. This is a blowoff show where the babyfaces are supposed to win. Repeat that.
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We're on to Part 2.
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It's the "People's Champion" Diamond Dallas Page vs. The Giant. I can't believe they would so blatantly rip off the WWF with that People's Champ nonsense. Wait a minute...of course I believe it. This IS WCW. Every promotion that thinks they're the new WWF does it, with TNA being the worst offender. Page comes through the crowd to the ring, and we begin the match. It's really boring, IMO. The finish is nice, though. Ref bump, and Bret Hart comes to the ring, where he accidentally hits The Giant with a chair. They're both NWO 4 LIFE, see. Page chopblocks Bret, knocking Bret out of the ring. Now, The Giant places Page on the top turnbuckle, and tries to CHOKESLAM him, but Page reverses it to a DIAMOND CUTTER, which picks up the win at 12:45. While it was boring, at least Page went over. Giant's bearhug killed the positive momentum this match had at the beginning, so it's a *1/2 match. Like I said, it was going well until the middle.
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The same Goldberg/Nash video precedes...Kevin Nash vs. Goldberg, for the WCW Heavyweight Title, in a match where there are No Disqualifications. Goldberg is 173-0, or so WCW says. Let's skip to the ending. Again, this match was fine until a certain point. Ref bump, and instantly, the entire crowd looks to the entrance way. Every match of importance hasn't ended clean. WCW doesn't care about Jericho, so that's not important. If you have your crowd trained to see interference coming like that, there's a problem. Disco Inferno came to the ring, and got SPEARED by Goldberg. Now Bam Bam Bigelow comes to the ring, and Goldberg clotheslines him over the top rope. But as security comes out to get rid of the hangers-on (Disco, Bam Bam), SCOTT HALL comes out, in a security outfit, and TASERS GOLDBERG. Then Nash gives Goldberg the JACKKNIFE, for 3, at 11:19. NEW CHAMPION, and the streak is OVER. It's a DUD. Just because of the way the entire show has gone. The crowd went apeshit for this, SO...I am unsure of whether or not this was a bad thing. The Fingerpoke was what killed the company. Aside from the overbooking, the match was decent. But you have to give someone the rub of pinning Goldberg clean...and that just didn't happen. You do that, you have a new star. It has to be someone young, not Nash.
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Rating: Bad. The first 30 minutes saved this show from being one of the worst I've ever watched. Too much overbooking.
Best Segment: Cruiserweight stuff at the beginning. The matches were equally good, so I'll generalize it.
Worst Segment: Brian Adams and Scott Norton vs. Fit Finlay and Jerry Flynn. Just, no.
Loudest Sound: Nash's pop for winning the Title, Eddie Guerrero's heel heat before the promo he cut on the participants in the Triangle Match, Scott Hall's promo, and Ric Flair, along with Eric Bischoff.
No Sound: Fit Finlay and Jerry Flynn, Norman and Iaukea, and Ernest "the Cat" Miller.
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I'm only going to do this for the PPV's and MSG shows that get posted, because my hand isn't holding up too well throughout this. RAW's, Nitro's, and all that other stuff won't get reviewed. I'm disappointed about that, but oh well. I don't know what'll be next, but it'll be a few days.
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