-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
September Wrasslin' |OT| because Triple H is good for business
- Thread starter Kaladin
- Start date
Spider from Mars
tap that thorax
They will probably upload the show for a few days to make up for it, not that anyone should watch it of course. NJPW Destruction on the 29th! Lets all look forward to that instead!
FallingEdge
Member
cole wins in a slide show
Professor Beef
Banned
Spider from Mars
tap that thorax
What were the judges for? Welp, Kelly suddenly cares again.
#heel
AdawgDaFAB
Member
I got to see maybe 5 minutes total of the second half of the show. I'm glad this was free because I'd be beyond pissed if I had paid money for this.
They couldn't get right with GFL before, couldn't on their own and can't get it right after going back again. I gave them a shot to win me back over tonight, they failed. I'm done. I should have known the last time I ordered one of their iPPVs and got burned.
Lambda Pie
Banned
@Beef
nice. everyone should have a high kick finisher in WWE.
nice. everyone should have a high kick finisher in WWE.
Spider from Mars
tap that thorax
Glory By Honor will be perfect! We promise!!!
canadian crowe
Member
Good news, Steve Austin got rid of Mo in his podcast.
Bad news, he spends a lot of time talking about taking boner pills.
Bad news, he spends a lot of time talking about taking boner pills.
FallingEdge
Member
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
bazinga:
fell down #dead.
Goddamn that's a corpse at the end~!
Professor Beef
Banned
how is that bad news
That was a pretty good 6 man tag with a good finish on SD.
It was good to see Ziggler get some pretty good offense during the gauntlet match, so maybe WWE haven't forgotten about him.
Also Natalya was horrible during commentary, she did herself no favors and couldn't respond with any point Cole and JBL brought up.
And the best part of Austin's podcast was hearing him do a commercial for a cougar dating site.
It was good to see Ziggler get some pretty good offense during the gauntlet match, so maybe WWE haven't forgotten about him.
Also Natalya was horrible during commentary, she did herself no favors and couldn't respond with any point Cole and JBL brought up.
And the best part of Austin's podcast was hearing him do a commercial for a cougar dating site.
I just watched a load of those NXT promos that leaked. The ones I watched were actually really good, I'm very impressed with the promo ability of a lot of them. Not sure what the process is, how they've been coaching the wrestlers as of late, but the standard seems higher than it was.
Best was easily Enzo Amore and Big Cass but if you watch the NXT show then that's no surprise. They're probably not amazing in the ring (they've only really been wrestling actual matches for a short time, they were jobbers before) but as characters, God tier. Scott Dawson and Alexa Bliss are good as well, assuming that Alexa's gonna turn up on the TV show at some point.
Also liked that weird skit where Mason Ryan played a McDonalds employee who accidentally kills Adrian Neville and Tyler Breeze. That should be his gimmick. After the collapse of NuNexus he began working in catering.
Best was easily Enzo Amore and Big Cass but if you watch the NXT show then that's no surprise. They're probably not amazing in the ring (they've only really been wrestling actual matches for a short time, they were jobbers before) but as characters, God tier. Scott Dawson and Alexa Bliss are good as well, assuming that Alexa's gonna turn up on the TV show at some point.
Also liked that weird skit where Mason Ryan played a McDonalds employee who accidentally kills Adrian Neville and Tyler Breeze. That should be his gimmick. After the collapse of NuNexus he began working in catering.
Dark Ninja
Member
damn AJ looked good on Smackdown
Reneledarker
Banned
Dem bone ribs.
legitshook.com
WCW Monday Nitro 12/28/98
The final show of this project. The streak is over and Nash is the champion. Eric Bischoff defeated Ric Flair after Flair bumped and bladed for him.
LAST NIGHT. We get to see the nWo celebrating Bischoff's win in a stationary limo with champagne. Of course the first thing we see has nothing to do with Goldberg losing, but Bischoff celebrating, just like the go home Nitro opened with a Bischoff video instead of anything on the title match.
They basically brush off the title switch to keep talking about Bischoff winning.
The Cat vs Shiima Lamaramadingdong
Cat was shit talking for a bit. Jericho and Ralphus came out and brought CIMA out, promising to watch his back. He wasn't very excited about it. Cat makes quick work of him.
Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs Norman Smiley
Chavo tries a pose off. Norman didn't indulge him. Norman gets bumped to the floor. Chavo grinds on Pepe. Norman hits a big spinning back suplex. Smiley slam. Norman wiggles out of a sunset flip, only to pull Chavo up into another sunset flip. Norman does a wiggle with Pepe. Tornado bulldog. Don't mess with Pepe. Chavo is in control and then randomly goes to Chavo, which opens him up for the crossface.
TO THE LEVEY'S. Raven's mom let WCW cameras into their home. Raven's mom wants to make him a sandwich, chocolate milk, and makes him take his jacket off. Raven wants a real drink. I hope WHATTAMARK.GIF is in one of these segments that will be on this show.
Fit Finlay vs Booker T.
Finlay starts the match by knocking Book on his ass. It quickly goes to the floor. Back in the ring, Finlay continues the assault. Booker makes a flurry, but it goes right back to Finlay dominating. Back to the floor. Fit is making Book look like a punk. Book hits the Harlem side kick and missile dropkick for the win. Barely any offense the whole match. It was weird.
TO THE MEAN BY GOD GENE. Gene brings out Ric Flair, who comes to the ring with his bags packed. He's ashamed he got his ass kicked last night. He went back after the show and got drunk, called Arn and said it was over, his wife called him and said it was over, but he wanted to come to Baltimore. The clothes start coming off. YOU JACKASS. He takes his his expensive belt off, throws his shoes into the crowd, starts ripping up $100 bills, throws his shoes into the crowd, and then takes his pants off so he can drop an elbow. He's not leaving the building until he gets Bischoff. He will leave wrestling, sign his cars, sign his house, sign anything Bischoff wants if Flair gets control of WCW for 90 days if he wins. He handcuffs himself to the ropes. He threatens to be naked if the cameras are cut off. Of course, they go right to commercial and I don't see Flair's old man balls. Bischoff comes out. "When I die of a heart attack, it will be on your girlfriend, pal." Bischoff takes the money left in the ring and agrees to the match.
Sharmell is the new Nitro Girl and gets a solo spot. No one thought it was weird that the one black Nitro Girl was dressed in black while the rest were in silver?
Barry Windham vs TAFKATAFKAPI
Barry wins with a bulldog. Fuck Prince.
TO THE MEAN GENE. Gene talks with a security member and sergeant of a SWAT team. He has the cattle prod that Hall used last night. They were invented for herding cattle and are meant to cause neurological issues, possibly long term problems if used for too long and improperly.
TO THE MEAN GENE. DDP comes to the ring. He's happy to have won, but he'd rather talk about Flair/Bischoff and Goldberg/Nash. The deep breaths he takes in between screaming are gross. He predicts Bischoff is going down tonight.
TO THE BACK. Konnan is telling Disco that Nash is mad at him. Nash walks by and confirms. He's going to the ring to try to make things right. He also offers Disco a match to prove he can be in the Wolfpac.
Eddie Guerrero/Juventud Guerrera vs Rey Mysterio Jr./Kidman
Rey and Eddie start out. Standard lucha stuff. Arm drags, running past each other, tiltawhirl back breaker. Kidman and Juvi tag in. More run past each other stuff, ending in a wheelbarrow bulldog from Juvi. Bronco buster. Eddie is still pissed at Rey. As on point all these guys were last night, this is super sloppy. A missile dropkick sends Juvi into Eddie and both of them to the floor. Double dive from the technicos. Hilariously bad spinning head scissors from Rey. Eddie hits a big powerbomb. He never took powerbombs lightly with Rey. Doomsday cross body. In ring hilo. Spinning hangman spinning spin spin breaker. Powerbomb capped with a spring board leg drop from the rudos. Kidman and Rey work Rock N' Roll Express spots. Hot tag. Powerbomb/senton combo. Juvi breaks up the pin. YOU CAN'T POWERBOMB KIDMAN. This is follow with a springboard leg drop to the back of the neck. Eddie kicked out. Simultaneous BK Bomb and X-Factors. Kidman gets knocked off the ropes to the floor. Rey gets tossed out on the other side. Juvi dives on Rey. Eddie hits the frog splash on Kidman for the win.
The Wolfpac come to the ring. Nash got into wrestling for money, power, and respect. If Disco can beat Bam Bam, he can join the Wolfpac. What Hall did last night was not something he asked for. He offers Goldberg a rematch next week on Nitro at the Georgia Dome. He thinks he can beat Goldberg on his own and wants to prove it.
Disco Inferno vs Bam Bam Big Yellow
Bam Bam throws Disco around for a while. Bam Bam misses the diving headbutt. Disco hits the spinning neckbreaker and Chartbuster. Bam Bam easily wins with the Greetings from Asbury Park.
TO THE BACK. Bischoff is getting warmed up for his match with Curt Hennig in his ridiculous DCAU blue suit.
TO CHARLOTTE. Flair's doctor revealed that Ric Flair did not have a heart attack, but instead suffered from a toxin. Wait, you're telling me that instead of a heart attack, Ric Flair was POISONED? Lolwcw. Fucking Heisenberg.
TO THE BACK. Gene asked Bischoff about this. Eric is flipping out that Flair is okay.
Scott Steiner vs Konnan WCW TV Championship
Konnan took the nWo ref. Security took him out. Scott Dickinson decided he'd ref this match. They have a terrible match that Steiner wins. New champion. Lol at the leader of the nWo going from being a WCW Champion to TV Champion. I think that sums everything up.
Scott Hall vs Brian Adams
Hall is offended that he wasn't even invited to Nash's victory party. Another terrible match that a guy named Scott wins.
Ric Flair vs Eric Bischoff
If Flair wins, he will assume control of WCW for 90 days. If Bischoff wins, Flair will leave wrestling forever, and possibly give his house and cars to Bischoff. We go TO THE BACK to see Bischoff head to his limo. In the limo were the Horsemen. They bring him to the ring. Flair mauls Bischoff. nWo members try to run out, but were intercepted by Horsemen. The numbers game eventually gets too big. Giant gets in the ring and headbutts Flair. THE MACHO MAN strolls out in an nWo shirt. He low blows Giant. SWERVE! Flair locks on the figure four. NEW PRESIDENT! The Horsemen, Larry, Tony, DDP, Booker, and Dusty Rhodes celebrate with Ric Flair as WCW signs off for the year. A nice way to end the year on a high note. This is really what the match at Starrcade should have been. I see no reason why they had Bischoff win at Starrcade just to run this match the next night. They should have had the same match and stipulation at Starrcade.
It's over. This was the last show of the project. I will make a full write up of my thoughts, favorite moments, and least favorite moments of the year later today. I will make a separate favorite gif thread in OT either today or tomorrow.
WCW Monday Nitro 12/28/98
The final show of this project. The streak is over and Nash is the champion. Eric Bischoff defeated Ric Flair after Flair bumped and bladed for him.
LAST NIGHT. We get to see the nWo celebrating Bischoff's win in a stationary limo with champagne. Of course the first thing we see has nothing to do with Goldberg losing, but Bischoff celebrating, just like the go home Nitro opened with a Bischoff video instead of anything on the title match.
They basically brush off the title switch to keep talking about Bischoff winning.
The Cat vs Shiima Lamaramadingdong
Cat was shit talking for a bit. Jericho and Ralphus came out and brought CIMA out, promising to watch his back. He wasn't very excited about it. Cat makes quick work of him.
Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs Norman Smiley
Chavo tries a pose off. Norman didn't indulge him. Norman gets bumped to the floor. Chavo grinds on Pepe. Norman hits a big spinning back suplex. Smiley slam. Norman wiggles out of a sunset flip, only to pull Chavo up into another sunset flip. Norman does a wiggle with Pepe. Tornado bulldog. Don't mess with Pepe. Chavo is in control and then randomly goes to Chavo, which opens him up for the crossface.
TO THE LEVEY'S. Raven's mom let WCW cameras into their home. Raven's mom wants to make him a sandwich, chocolate milk, and makes him take his jacket off. Raven wants a real drink. I hope WHATTAMARK.GIF is in one of these segments that will be on this show.
Fit Finlay vs Booker T.
Finlay starts the match by knocking Book on his ass. It quickly goes to the floor. Back in the ring, Finlay continues the assault. Booker makes a flurry, but it goes right back to Finlay dominating. Back to the floor. Fit is making Book look like a punk. Book hits the Harlem side kick and missile dropkick for the win. Barely any offense the whole match. It was weird.
TO THE MEAN BY GOD GENE. Gene brings out Ric Flair, who comes to the ring with his bags packed. He's ashamed he got his ass kicked last night. He went back after the show and got drunk, called Arn and said it was over, his wife called him and said it was over, but he wanted to come to Baltimore. The clothes start coming off. YOU JACKASS. He takes his his expensive belt off, throws his shoes into the crowd, starts ripping up $100 bills, throws his shoes into the crowd, and then takes his pants off so he can drop an elbow. He's not leaving the building until he gets Bischoff. He will leave wrestling, sign his cars, sign his house, sign anything Bischoff wants if Flair gets control of WCW for 90 days if he wins. He handcuffs himself to the ropes. He threatens to be naked if the cameras are cut off. Of course, they go right to commercial and I don't see Flair's old man balls. Bischoff comes out. "When I die of a heart attack, it will be on your girlfriend, pal." Bischoff takes the money left in the ring and agrees to the match.
Sharmell is the new Nitro Girl and gets a solo spot. No one thought it was weird that the one black Nitro Girl was dressed in black while the rest were in silver?
Barry Windham vs TAFKATAFKAPI
Barry wins with a bulldog. Fuck Prince.
TO THE MEAN GENE. Gene talks with a security member and sergeant of a SWAT team. He has the cattle prod that Hall used last night. They were invented for herding cattle and are meant to cause neurological issues, possibly long term problems if used for too long and improperly.
TO THE MEAN GENE. DDP comes to the ring. He's happy to have won, but he'd rather talk about Flair/Bischoff and Goldberg/Nash. The deep breaths he takes in between screaming are gross. He predicts Bischoff is going down tonight.
TO THE BACK. Konnan is telling Disco that Nash is mad at him. Nash walks by and confirms. He's going to the ring to try to make things right. He also offers Disco a match to prove he can be in the Wolfpac.
Eddie Guerrero/Juventud Guerrera vs Rey Mysterio Jr./Kidman
Rey and Eddie start out. Standard lucha stuff. Arm drags, running past each other, tiltawhirl back breaker. Kidman and Juvi tag in. More run past each other stuff, ending in a wheelbarrow bulldog from Juvi. Bronco buster. Eddie is still pissed at Rey. As on point all these guys were last night, this is super sloppy. A missile dropkick sends Juvi into Eddie and both of them to the floor. Double dive from the technicos. Hilariously bad spinning head scissors from Rey. Eddie hits a big powerbomb. He never took powerbombs lightly with Rey. Doomsday cross body. In ring hilo. Spinning hangman spinning spin spin breaker. Powerbomb capped with a spring board leg drop from the rudos. Kidman and Rey work Rock N' Roll Express spots. Hot tag. Powerbomb/senton combo. Juvi breaks up the pin. YOU CAN'T POWERBOMB KIDMAN. This is follow with a springboard leg drop to the back of the neck. Eddie kicked out. Simultaneous BK Bomb and X-Factors. Kidman gets knocked off the ropes to the floor. Rey gets tossed out on the other side. Juvi dives on Rey. Eddie hits the frog splash on Kidman for the win.
The Wolfpac come to the ring. Nash got into wrestling for money, power, and respect. If Disco can beat Bam Bam, he can join the Wolfpac. What Hall did last night was not something he asked for. He offers Goldberg a rematch next week on Nitro at the Georgia Dome. He thinks he can beat Goldberg on his own and wants to prove it.
Disco Inferno vs Bam Bam Big Yellow
Bam Bam throws Disco around for a while. Bam Bam misses the diving headbutt. Disco hits the spinning neckbreaker and Chartbuster. Bam Bam easily wins with the Greetings from Asbury Park.
TO THE BACK. Bischoff is getting warmed up for his match with Curt Hennig in his ridiculous DCAU blue suit.
TO CHARLOTTE. Flair's doctor revealed that Ric Flair did not have a heart attack, but instead suffered from a toxin. Wait, you're telling me that instead of a heart attack, Ric Flair was POISONED? Lolwcw. Fucking Heisenberg.
TO THE BACK. Gene asked Bischoff about this. Eric is flipping out that Flair is okay.
Scott Steiner vs Konnan WCW TV Championship
Konnan took the nWo ref. Security took him out. Scott Dickinson decided he'd ref this match. They have a terrible match that Steiner wins. New champion. Lol at the leader of the nWo going from being a WCW Champion to TV Champion. I think that sums everything up.
Scott Hall vs Brian Adams
Hall is offended that he wasn't even invited to Nash's victory party. Another terrible match that a guy named Scott wins.
Ric Flair vs Eric Bischoff
If Flair wins, he will assume control of WCW for 90 days. If Bischoff wins, Flair will leave wrestling forever, and possibly give his house and cars to Bischoff. We go TO THE BACK to see Bischoff head to his limo. In the limo were the Horsemen. They bring him to the ring. Flair mauls Bischoff. nWo members try to run out, but were intercepted by Horsemen. The numbers game eventually gets too big. Giant gets in the ring and headbutts Flair. THE MACHO MAN strolls out in an nWo shirt. He low blows Giant. SWERVE! Flair locks on the figure four. NEW PRESIDENT! The Horsemen, Larry, Tony, DDP, Booker, and Dusty Rhodes celebrate with Ric Flair as WCW signs off for the year. A nice way to end the year on a high note. This is really what the match at Starrcade should have been. I see no reason why they had Bischoff win at Starrcade just to run this match the next night. They should have had the same match and stipulation at Starrcade.
It's over. This was the last show of the project. I will make a full write up of my thoughts, favorite moments, and least favorite moments of the year later today. I will make a separate favorite gif thread in OT either today or tomorrow.
Lambda Pie
Banned
what a run, stro.
i hope you consider doing 1999 after you recharge your batteries.
i hope you consider doing 1999 after you recharge your batteries.
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
Her's turn me on so much. I want to make her humble.
Giant wall of text incoming. Prepare to scroll.
legitshook.com
My final words on WCW 1998
A lot of words can be spent on WCW 1998. 1998 was arguably the peak of pro wrestling in America. It blew up in the mainstream in a way that out did even Hulkamania. It really the started with the nWo in 1996, and the rise of Steve Austin in 1997. By 1998, pro wrestling had absolutely exploded. Highest ratings on cable, huge PPV buy rates, hottest selling video games, cross overs with mainstream celebrities and athletes, Austin 3:16 and nWo shirts EVERYWHERE. There were few things bigger than pro wrestling in 1998. Time Warner decided to add another show to WCW's weekly schedule. Thunder debuted at the beginning of the year and Nitro was expanded to 3 hours.
At the start of the year, WCW was firmly in control. Steve Austin may have been the biggest star in wrestling, but WCW was still the top promotion in the world. The nWo was still dominating the shows. Bret Hart had recently joined the promotion fresh off the controversy of the Montreal Screwjob. Sting was still waging the war against the nWo, DDP was perhaps the most over face in the company, and Goldberg was rising up the ranks and getting over on physical charisma. Chris Jericho was transitioning into his most well known character. Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, and Booker T were dominating the mid card. Still, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage were on top of most shows.
The cracks started early when WCW went without a champion for 2 months. Due to shenanigans at Starrcade and the next two weeks, the title was vacated and stayed that way until the end of February, where Sting finally got his title back. At the same time, DDP and Raven were embroiled in a bitter feud that basically took the best parts of the Raven/Dreamer feud and distilled it with a better wrestler. Chris Benoit also got involved and the matches these three had were some of the best all year, and definitely the best for the US Championship.
During the title vacancy, the nWo had a power struggle. It started between Kevin Nash and Randy Savage, then turned into Savage and Hogan, then Hogan and Nash. During this, they bolstered their ranks by convincing both Scott Steiner and Dusty Rhodes to join the group. It didn't last very long, as the nWo officially split into two groups, nWo Hollywood and nWo Wolfpac. The Wolfpac were faces and convinced both Lex Luger and Sting to join. They would continue to have a faction feud for the rest of the year with no stakes, except for Scott Hall turning on Kevin Nash.
The TV Championship was centered around a best of 7 series between Booker T and Chris Benoit. The Cruiserweight Championship was dominated by Chris Jericho, who injured Rey Mysterio and Prince Iaukea, made Dean Malenko quit, and took Juventud Guerrera's mask. Raven would finally win the US Championship from DDP, only to lose it the next night to Goldberg, who by this point was the most over guy in the company. The tag titles switched back and forth between both factions of the nWo for most of the year.
Randy Savage would win the WCW Championship from Sting, but would lose it the next night to Hogan. Bret Hart turned heel, joining the nWo as an unofficial member, despite having feuded with the nWo since the day he came into the company. After months off, Dean Malenko won a battle royal to face Chris Jericho. In one of the biggest pops of the year, Ciclope unmasked to reveal Dean Malenko. He got his revenge on Jericho, but Jericho would get the title back by finding loopholes for most of the year.
Hollywood Hogan brought Dennis Rodman back into the nWo, to much mainstream publicity. DDP would bring in Karl Malone, playing off the intense Bulls/Jazz NBA Finals. Goldberg's popularity could no longer be ignored and it was announced on Thunder that he would face Hogan for the title on the next Nitro at the Georgia Dome. Little did anyone know, this would be the start of the downfall for WCW.
Goldberg defeated Hollywood Hogan in front of 40,000 fans at the WCW home base of the Georgia Dome. It was, perhaps, the biggest Nitro and biggest moment in WCW. This happened in the middle of the Hogan/Rodman vs DDP/Malone feud and Karl Malone actually played a part in the win. And this is exactly the time when WCW started to go off the rails. Shows began losing focus of any narrative. Thunder became a complete after thought, with most top stars no longer appearing on it. Mid card stalwarts such as Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, and Booker T all went down with injuries. Top stars such as Randy Savage and Scott Hall were off TV with injuries and personal issues. Ric Flair was embroiled in a heated lawsuit with Eric Bischoff due to missing shows back in February. The feud between Raven, Saturn, and Kanyon became completely incomprehensible with all three turning on and helping each other weekly. No one had a clue what was going on.
After winning the title, it was clear there was no direction or angle thought out for Goldberg. While the nWo faction war continued, Goldberg stopped appearing on TV regularly. The Rodman/Malone match main evented over his first defense of the title. As soon as Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone were finished with their angle, Hogan started a feud with Jay Leno. In the lead up to Road Wild, Eric Bischoff would have a Tonight Show set built at shows and would do 20-30 minute monologues and interviews with wrestlers, all with a laugh track. Jay Leno would do responses on his own show, with DDP, Hogan, and Bischoff all making appearances on The Tonight Show to build the angle. Up to 50% of shows were devoted to this match, while the WCW Champion (and hottest star) was thrown into an nWo battle royal last minute. It was undoubtedly the worst feud of the year and maybe even WCW as a whole, and helped lead one of the worst PPVs of the year.
The Summer months were completely directionless, with top stars like Sting, Kevin Nash, and Bret Hart having no defined angles. As Fall started, The Ultimate Warrior made his return to pro wrestling with the intent of vanquishing Hulk Hogan. He began having weekly rambling promos that would go wildly over their allotted time, causing the rest of the show to be rebooked on the fly. This became the top feud in WCW while Goldberg had no angle and rarely appeared on shows, except to make a save at the end of the show.
It was decided to change the format of War Games to 3 teams of 3, with the individual winning getting a title shot the next month at Halloween Havoc. It was WCW vs nWo Hollywood vs nWo Wolfpac. DDP would win after pinning Stevie Ray, who had recently joined the nWo. During the match, The Warrior injured himself while exiting the cage. Goldberg was not even on the show. This would mark the second PPV in a row without a WCW Championship defense.
During this period, two main angles began to form. Dean Malenko, Steve McMichael, and Chris Benoit had been trying to convince Arn Anderson to reform the Four Horsemen. Arn was not comfortable with the idea and would turn it down for the better of 2 months. Fans were chanting for Ric Flair's return at every show. Arn finally agreed that WCW needed the Four Horsemen and with that, Ric Flair would return in one of WCW's finest moments. He delivered an emotional and irate promo directed at Eric Bischoff, using the real life lawsuit that had kept Flair off TV for most of the year as the basis of the angle.
There was another angle using real life issues as part of the story. Scott Hall had been taken off TV due to his well known alcohol addiction. He had two DUIs in the span of a month and the decision was made to pull him from TV until he could get himself in a better place. When he was brought back to TV, he would drink from cups and appear drunk while wrestling. Wrestlers and announcers were disgusted with his actions. It came to a head when he vomited on Eric Bischoff at the end of a match. He and Kevin Nash finally had a match in which Nash left Hall in the ring after two powerbombs. Hall would get kicked out of the nWo and tentatively reunite with Kevin Nash.
At Halloween Havoc, Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior had a rematch from Wrestlemania 6. It was widely considered one of the worst PPV matches ever. Both men were slow, not on the same page, and Hogan accidentally burnt his own face while trying to throw a fire ball at Warrior. Due to this match going on longer than expected, the PPV feed went out for up to 20% of buyers, meaning many fans would miss the main event of Goldberg vs DDP. The match was shown in full the next night on Nitro. The show also had Sting being put out of action by Bret Hart, as he was leaving to shoot a movie.
Kevin Nash would win World War 3, which gave him a title shot at Starrcade. Goldberg again would not wrestle on this PPV, but did make an appearance to brawl with Bam Bam Bigelow. DDP vs Bret Hart was the main event. Bret Hart injured himself. DDP would win the US Championship from Bret, but would lose it back two weeks later with interference from The Giant.
Heading into Starrcade, Kevin Nash vs Goldberg and the Bischoff vs Flair feuds were the only things with any momentum. After 3 months of zero progression, Ric Flair would have a heart attack 2 weeks before Starrcade after a promo on Eric Bischoff. Bischoff would then attack Flair's sons and forced himself on Flair's wife. It would later be revealed that Ric Flair was actually poisoned. He would lose to Eric Bischoff at Starrcade, but won in a rematch the next night with the stipulation that he would run WCW for 90 days if he were to win. This would be the last televised match for WCW in 1998.
Kevin Nash would end Goldberg's winning streak after interference from Scott Hall, Disco Inferno, and Bam Bam Bigelow. This ended Goldberg's title run that had him going from the hottest star in the company to someone that showed up once or twice a month, had no angles, and was never promoted on screen. Kevin Nash would claim that he had nothing to do with Scott Hall's interference, but 2 weeks later it would be revealed that it was all a ruse, as the nWo reunited and Kevin Nash laid down for Hulk Hogan, giving him the title in the process. The same night, Mick Foley would win his first WWF Championship. The result was spoiled on Nitro, which made fans switch over to Raw immediately. WCW would never win another Monday night in the ratings war.
What I see in 1998 was the biggest squandering of talent, money, and momentum of any promotion I've ever seen. They had the best roster in the world, one of the biggest stars at the biggest time in wrestling, a clear lead in the ratings war, all the money in the world, and what they did was let the same 2-3 egos run and ruin the show. Hogan was still on top of every show even when not champion. Goldberg barely appeared on shows after winning the title, and didn't have a real angle until December. Instead of building or promoting big time matches, they gave them away on Nitro without warning in an attempt to win the ratings war for one more week. Zero effort or attention were put into Thunder or the mid card. Matches would be rerun repeatedly. Most shows still ended with big nWo brawls and non finishes. After Goldberg, no one was elevated for the rest of the year.
DDP would go back to aimless upper mid carder, Booker T (who was as over as anyone) was stuck in the TV Championship division, Scott Steiner was picked as the successor to Hogan as leader of the nWo and would win the TV Championship instead of being anywhere near the top of the cards. The day Goldberg won the title, it was like they threw away whatever else was planned for the year and just tried to coast on momentum. It's really disheartening and frustrating. I knew going into it that WCW 2000 was awful. I had no idea that 1998 was so bad, possibly even worse in the sense that there was no reason for the shows to get as bad as they did. The first 6 months were really good. The bottom fell out completely for the second half the year and WCW was never able to recover. They bungled every possible thing they could after June of 1998. By the time Russo came around in late 1999, WCW had already been hurtling to the ground for a year and a half.
Favorite things:
Chris Jericho and his adoption of the character he would have until 2008.
Eddie Guerrero and his mind slavery of Chavo, plus forming the LWO.
Bret Hart's heel promos
Disco Inferno
Alex Wright
La Parka
Goldberg's rise
DDP vs Raven (vs Benoit)
Kanyon
Ric Flair's return and the Horsemen reuniting
Saturn
The handful of Dusty Rhodes appearances
Rick Martel's short run
Tony Schiavone
Booker T
Norman Smiley's dancing
Least favorite things:
Konnan
Brian Adams
Jim Neidhart and British Bulldog
Price Iakuea
Every second of the Leno stuff
Scott Hall the alcoholic
Larry Zbyszko
Every PPV after GAB except for Halloween Havoc
All Roddy Piper angles
All Hogan angles
The nWo split
The lack of any storyline for Goldberg once he won the title
Kidman vs Juvi
Thunder
No pay off to DDP vs Hogan
No pay off to the Steiner Brothers feud
Sting joining any nWo faction and his Wolfpac face paint
All the Flock stuff once DDP was no longer involved
No pay off to Bret injuring Benoit or Booker
Super slow motion replays of neck injuries
JJ Dillon
Disqualifications
Highly underwhelming Bret vs DDP and Bret vs Sting matches
Konnan
Konnan's music video
Konnan ending Jericho's TV Championship run
Konnan
Konnan
Konnan
Konnan
legitshook.com
My final words on WCW 1998
A lot of words can be spent on WCW 1998. 1998 was arguably the peak of pro wrestling in America. It blew up in the mainstream in a way that out did even Hulkamania. It really the started with the nWo in 1996, and the rise of Steve Austin in 1997. By 1998, pro wrestling had absolutely exploded. Highest ratings on cable, huge PPV buy rates, hottest selling video games, cross overs with mainstream celebrities and athletes, Austin 3:16 and nWo shirts EVERYWHERE. There were few things bigger than pro wrestling in 1998. Time Warner decided to add another show to WCW's weekly schedule. Thunder debuted at the beginning of the year and Nitro was expanded to 3 hours.
At the start of the year, WCW was firmly in control. Steve Austin may have been the biggest star in wrestling, but WCW was still the top promotion in the world. The nWo was still dominating the shows. Bret Hart had recently joined the promotion fresh off the controversy of the Montreal Screwjob. Sting was still waging the war against the nWo, DDP was perhaps the most over face in the company, and Goldberg was rising up the ranks and getting over on physical charisma. Chris Jericho was transitioning into his most well known character. Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, and Booker T were dominating the mid card. Still, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage were on top of most shows.
The cracks started early when WCW went without a champion for 2 months. Due to shenanigans at Starrcade and the next two weeks, the title was vacated and stayed that way until the end of February, where Sting finally got his title back. At the same time, DDP and Raven were embroiled in a bitter feud that basically took the best parts of the Raven/Dreamer feud and distilled it with a better wrestler. Chris Benoit also got involved and the matches these three had were some of the best all year, and definitely the best for the US Championship.
During the title vacancy, the nWo had a power struggle. It started between Kevin Nash and Randy Savage, then turned into Savage and Hogan, then Hogan and Nash. During this, they bolstered their ranks by convincing both Scott Steiner and Dusty Rhodes to join the group. It didn't last very long, as the nWo officially split into two groups, nWo Hollywood and nWo Wolfpac. The Wolfpac were faces and convinced both Lex Luger and Sting to join. They would continue to have a faction feud for the rest of the year with no stakes, except for Scott Hall turning on Kevin Nash.
The TV Championship was centered around a best of 7 series between Booker T and Chris Benoit. The Cruiserweight Championship was dominated by Chris Jericho, who injured Rey Mysterio and Prince Iaukea, made Dean Malenko quit, and took Juventud Guerrera's mask. Raven would finally win the US Championship from DDP, only to lose it the next night to Goldberg, who by this point was the most over guy in the company. The tag titles switched back and forth between both factions of the nWo for most of the year.
Randy Savage would win the WCW Championship from Sting, but would lose it the next night to Hogan. Bret Hart turned heel, joining the nWo as an unofficial member, despite having feuded with the nWo since the day he came into the company. After months off, Dean Malenko won a battle royal to face Chris Jericho. In one of the biggest pops of the year, Ciclope unmasked to reveal Dean Malenko. He got his revenge on Jericho, but Jericho would get the title back by finding loopholes for most of the year.
Hollywood Hogan brought Dennis Rodman back into the nWo, to much mainstream publicity. DDP would bring in Karl Malone, playing off the intense Bulls/Jazz NBA Finals. Goldberg's popularity could no longer be ignored and it was announced on Thunder that he would face Hogan for the title on the next Nitro at the Georgia Dome. Little did anyone know, this would be the start of the downfall for WCW.
Goldberg defeated Hollywood Hogan in front of 40,000 fans at the WCW home base of the Georgia Dome. It was, perhaps, the biggest Nitro and biggest moment in WCW. This happened in the middle of the Hogan/Rodman vs DDP/Malone feud and Karl Malone actually played a part in the win. And this is exactly the time when WCW started to go off the rails. Shows began losing focus of any narrative. Thunder became a complete after thought, with most top stars no longer appearing on it. Mid card stalwarts such as Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, and Booker T all went down with injuries. Top stars such as Randy Savage and Scott Hall were off TV with injuries and personal issues. Ric Flair was embroiled in a heated lawsuit with Eric Bischoff due to missing shows back in February. The feud between Raven, Saturn, and Kanyon became completely incomprehensible with all three turning on and helping each other weekly. No one had a clue what was going on.
After winning the title, it was clear there was no direction or angle thought out for Goldberg. While the nWo faction war continued, Goldberg stopped appearing on TV regularly. The Rodman/Malone match main evented over his first defense of the title. As soon as Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone were finished with their angle, Hogan started a feud with Jay Leno. In the lead up to Road Wild, Eric Bischoff would have a Tonight Show set built at shows and would do 20-30 minute monologues and interviews with wrestlers, all with a laugh track. Jay Leno would do responses on his own show, with DDP, Hogan, and Bischoff all making appearances on The Tonight Show to build the angle. Up to 50% of shows were devoted to this match, while the WCW Champion (and hottest star) was thrown into an nWo battle royal last minute. It was undoubtedly the worst feud of the year and maybe even WCW as a whole, and helped lead one of the worst PPVs of the year.
The Summer months were completely directionless, with top stars like Sting, Kevin Nash, and Bret Hart having no defined angles. As Fall started, The Ultimate Warrior made his return to pro wrestling with the intent of vanquishing Hulk Hogan. He began having weekly rambling promos that would go wildly over their allotted time, causing the rest of the show to be rebooked on the fly. This became the top feud in WCW while Goldberg had no angle and rarely appeared on shows, except to make a save at the end of the show.
It was decided to change the format of War Games to 3 teams of 3, with the individual winning getting a title shot the next month at Halloween Havoc. It was WCW vs nWo Hollywood vs nWo Wolfpac. DDP would win after pinning Stevie Ray, who had recently joined the nWo. During the match, The Warrior injured himself while exiting the cage. Goldberg was not even on the show. This would mark the second PPV in a row without a WCW Championship defense.
During this period, two main angles began to form. Dean Malenko, Steve McMichael, and Chris Benoit had been trying to convince Arn Anderson to reform the Four Horsemen. Arn was not comfortable with the idea and would turn it down for the better of 2 months. Fans were chanting for Ric Flair's return at every show. Arn finally agreed that WCW needed the Four Horsemen and with that, Ric Flair would return in one of WCW's finest moments. He delivered an emotional and irate promo directed at Eric Bischoff, using the real life lawsuit that had kept Flair off TV for most of the year as the basis of the angle.
There was another angle using real life issues as part of the story. Scott Hall had been taken off TV due to his well known alcohol addiction. He had two DUIs in the span of a month and the decision was made to pull him from TV until he could get himself in a better place. When he was brought back to TV, he would drink from cups and appear drunk while wrestling. Wrestlers and announcers were disgusted with his actions. It came to a head when he vomited on Eric Bischoff at the end of a match. He and Kevin Nash finally had a match in which Nash left Hall in the ring after two powerbombs. Hall would get kicked out of the nWo and tentatively reunite with Kevin Nash.
At Halloween Havoc, Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior had a rematch from Wrestlemania 6. It was widely considered one of the worst PPV matches ever. Both men were slow, not on the same page, and Hogan accidentally burnt his own face while trying to throw a fire ball at Warrior. Due to this match going on longer than expected, the PPV feed went out for up to 20% of buyers, meaning many fans would miss the main event of Goldberg vs DDP. The match was shown in full the next night on Nitro. The show also had Sting being put out of action by Bret Hart, as he was leaving to shoot a movie.
Kevin Nash would win World War 3, which gave him a title shot at Starrcade. Goldberg again would not wrestle on this PPV, but did make an appearance to brawl with Bam Bam Bigelow. DDP vs Bret Hart was the main event. Bret Hart injured himself. DDP would win the US Championship from Bret, but would lose it back two weeks later with interference from The Giant.
Heading into Starrcade, Kevin Nash vs Goldberg and the Bischoff vs Flair feuds were the only things with any momentum. After 3 months of zero progression, Ric Flair would have a heart attack 2 weeks before Starrcade after a promo on Eric Bischoff. Bischoff would then attack Flair's sons and forced himself on Flair's wife. It would later be revealed that Ric Flair was actually poisoned. He would lose to Eric Bischoff at Starrcade, but won in a rematch the next night with the stipulation that he would run WCW for 90 days if he were to win. This would be the last televised match for WCW in 1998.
Kevin Nash would end Goldberg's winning streak after interference from Scott Hall, Disco Inferno, and Bam Bam Bigelow. This ended Goldberg's title run that had him going from the hottest star in the company to someone that showed up once or twice a month, had no angles, and was never promoted on screen. Kevin Nash would claim that he had nothing to do with Scott Hall's interference, but 2 weeks later it would be revealed that it was all a ruse, as the nWo reunited and Kevin Nash laid down for Hulk Hogan, giving him the title in the process. The same night, Mick Foley would win his first WWF Championship. The result was spoiled on Nitro, which made fans switch over to Raw immediately. WCW would never win another Monday night in the ratings war.
What I see in 1998 was the biggest squandering of talent, money, and momentum of any promotion I've ever seen. They had the best roster in the world, one of the biggest stars at the biggest time in wrestling, a clear lead in the ratings war, all the money in the world, and what they did was let the same 2-3 egos run and ruin the show. Hogan was still on top of every show even when not champion. Goldberg barely appeared on shows after winning the title, and didn't have a real angle until December. Instead of building or promoting big time matches, they gave them away on Nitro without warning in an attempt to win the ratings war for one more week. Zero effort or attention were put into Thunder or the mid card. Matches would be rerun repeatedly. Most shows still ended with big nWo brawls and non finishes. After Goldberg, no one was elevated for the rest of the year.
DDP would go back to aimless upper mid carder, Booker T (who was as over as anyone) was stuck in the TV Championship division, Scott Steiner was picked as the successor to Hogan as leader of the nWo and would win the TV Championship instead of being anywhere near the top of the cards. The day Goldberg won the title, it was like they threw away whatever else was planned for the year and just tried to coast on momentum. It's really disheartening and frustrating. I knew going into it that WCW 2000 was awful. I had no idea that 1998 was so bad, possibly even worse in the sense that there was no reason for the shows to get as bad as they did. The first 6 months were really good. The bottom fell out completely for the second half the year and WCW was never able to recover. They bungled every possible thing they could after June of 1998. By the time Russo came around in late 1999, WCW had already been hurtling to the ground for a year and a half.
Favorite things:
Chris Jericho and his adoption of the character he would have until 2008.
Eddie Guerrero and his mind slavery of Chavo, plus forming the LWO.
Bret Hart's heel promos
Disco Inferno
Alex Wright
La Parka
Goldberg's rise
DDP vs Raven (vs Benoit)
Kanyon
Ric Flair's return and the Horsemen reuniting
Saturn
The handful of Dusty Rhodes appearances
Rick Martel's short run
Tony Schiavone
Booker T
Norman Smiley's dancing
Least favorite things:
Konnan
Brian Adams
Jim Neidhart and British Bulldog
Price Iakuea
Every second of the Leno stuff
Scott Hall the alcoholic
Larry Zbyszko
Every PPV after GAB except for Halloween Havoc
All Roddy Piper angles
All Hogan angles
The nWo split
The lack of any storyline for Goldberg once he won the title
Kidman vs Juvi
Thunder
No pay off to DDP vs Hogan
No pay off to the Steiner Brothers feud
Sting joining any nWo faction and his Wolfpac face paint
All the Flock stuff once DDP was no longer involved
No pay off to Bret injuring Benoit or Booker
Super slow motion replays of neck injuries
JJ Dillon
Disqualifications
Highly underwhelming Bret vs DDP and Bret vs Sting matches
Konnan
Konnan's music video
Konnan ending Jericho's TV Championship run
Konnan
Konnan
Konnan
Konnan
Spider from Mars
tap that thorax
What do you think of Konnan?
Seraphis Cain
bad gameplay lol
.
British Monsoon
Member
Has Konnan ever wrestled in a match that could be described as great? I'm struggling to think of a single Konnan match I've enjoyed, but I'd be interesting in seeing one, if such a thing exists...
mechashiva
Member
Should have filed for emancipation immediately.
I was really disappointed in ROH last night. I found out about the ppv being free on the second half and was hoping they'd give me something to tune in again for. I'm glad the two Evolve shows are only vod since they know this venue won't have the internet they need.
slightconfuse
Banned
Kind of amazing the CZW can produce a quality iPpv. Yet the promotion owned by a TV company fails every single time
Adam Cole
That's the thing....guys are usually in their prime in the indies before they become ROH Champion. It's a crowning achievement usually. I think Eddie Edwards might be the one exception.
British Monsoon
Member
People were saying the same thing about $5 Wrestling, but there were probably more people watching the ROH iPPV last night than the last CZW & $5 iPPVs combined. The more viewers, the greater the strain on the stream.
Also, last night's iPPV wasn't produced by ROH - it was Go Fight Live, who offered to stream the event live to show that their technology has improved enough for ROH to consider using them again. Obviously, it hasn't.
BronsonLee
Member
Couple different factors in that:
1: CZW is usually in the same building (Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees). When we were doing iPPVs, in addition to doing that, we were also doing the entranceway and ring lights. Jack of all trades, but it was a bit of an issue.
Since RF took over though, the venue itself has made some pretty nice strides in making it easy to do iPPVs. They upgraded their internet and added some power outlets so they don't have to run like a bajillion cables.
Plus, the crew there (most of which were on the old one) work really damn hard.
Compare to ROH, who don't use the same crew at all for filming/iPPV (it's regional, IIRC), and fly all over the ding dang US. It's a messssss
GFL popularized the iPPV format in the first place, and I will still maintain to this day that them getting let go by ROH had way more to do with ROH wanting 100% of the iPPV money (instead of 50%) than any issues they caused. The Mania weekend which everyone points to: A damn lightning storm hit the building. What the hell do you want them to do?
In terms of this show...They should've capped the viewer limit. Guaranteed.
Also, they were in the Armory, which until NPWD 2013, nobody had done an iPPV in. Reason being is that it's illegal to use the internet connection in there for something like this (it is a military building, after all), and nobody felt wireless hotspots could do the trick.
Worked decent for NPWD, but GFL does 3 streams (normal, mobile, and Roku) compared to NPWD's 1. See the issue?
Seraphis Cain
bad gameplay lol
Watching the 1997 Royal Rumble match, and it's so odd to see Mil Mascaras, Pierroth, and Cibernetico taking part in it. They also had that six-man tag match earlier in the card with guys like Hector Garza and Blue Demon Jr. as well. This was about six months to a year before I started watching wrestling, so I'm a bit unfamiliar with what was going on around this point. Was WWF really going in hard trying to get the Mexican audience around that time or what?
from the Triple H DVD:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1185083_587391644640924_714627608_n.jpg[IMG]
needs Brazzers[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/IslSjOi.png
I think the kink one is better.
Out Tuesday.
El Pescado
Member
Woah, what the fuck. All those years protecting his gimmick and Taker just goes and films an interview for the HHH DVD looking like that. XD
October Wrasslin' |OT| We're getting real name serious up in here
I think I'm going with that one.
Randy should've punted him.
Hurt thorax apparently ain't shit.
Should totally do it.
Wasn't really expecting that from Taker though, lol.
HarryDemeanor
Member
Randy should've finished the job.
slightconfuse
Banned
There was a brief working agreement between AAA and WWE, the only real thing that came out of it was the rumble match and appearances.