WCW vs NWO was voted best feud of 96 by Observer readers in a landslide, and 2nd in 97. The NWO also got best gimmick in 96, and 2nd in 97. The problem I have with the NWO in late 96 is that they were feuding with Piper, who was just as hard to root for in late 96 as the NWO were easy to root against. The Faces of Fear, while good performers, aren't really a face team either. You have these very unlikable heels, which is great, if you have them against somebody likable.

I'm at WW 3 96 right now and I disagree with the Piper Hogan stuff being boring. Maybe because when I watched this rivalry as a kid I loved it and felt so bad for Piper at the time. I love Piper on the mic and thought the lead up to the match was better then the match which I think should be obvious.

I miss this

Don't worry, it occurs to me almost daily that I should get back on this project, and I still intend to get back to it. Started to feel a bit burnt out on it (hat tip to this ****ing Piper-Hogan build), went on vacation last week, Mariners finally playing well enough to demand three hours per day of my attention.

But there are more writeups to come. Dead thread is not dead.

yeh, I've surpassed the thread and am now into 97. I'm interested to see little things like when WCW had the Nitro Logo on the mat, when both WWE and WCW changed the amount of time each show was.

Alright, I realize that I haven't recapped for a bit, so if you're like me you could use a refresher on what exactly was going on at this point.

Previously on the Monday Night Wars…

WWF

Sid lowered the boom on Jose Lothario with a camera, throwing off Shawn Michaels's concentration for long enough to take the WWF Title away from him. Sid is sort of a tweener now.



Bret Hart and Steve Austin engaged in a classic battle at Survivor Series that really helped elevate Austin to the main event. Bret did escape with a fluky win…



…but the feud rages on.





Austin doesn't seem to be very fond of Bret's relatives either.





Bret, like Sid, is also a tweener these days, not afraid to take the low road and also not afraid to put a beating on the least popular guy in the locker room.





The Undertaker seems to have finally blown off his feud with Mankind, Paul Bearer, and The Executioner.





The Rock has arrived!

Unfortunately he's unspeakably awful at all things at this point as young "blue chipper" Rocky Maivia. He can't talk, and it's all bodypresses and shoulderbreakers during his incredibly boring matches.



Ron Simmons arrived in the WWF in a silly blue gladiator costume and legitimately put Ahmed Johnson out of action in his first ~20 seconds with the company, but a few months later he was still allowed to graduate to the far better gimmick of being the leader of the Nation of Domination. Business remains unfinished between he and Ahmed.



Goldust turned face by reassuring the crowd, and the King, that he's straight.



WCW

Roddy Piper has dusted himself off and shown up where the big boys play, looking to finally settle the score with an old rival.



Eric Bischoff has joined the ranks of the nWo.



Piper and Hogan are going to meet at Starrcade. The build has been one of the biggest factors in this thread taking hiatus. Every ****ing Nitro ends like this:



Sting keeps showing up and attacking random people, both WCW and nWo.







The nWo has started adding really high-profile members on a weekly basis, guys like Marcus Bagwell and Masa MY HERO Chono HAR HAR HAR.



Scott Hall and Kevin Nash are finding, more and more, that Diamond Dallas Page just isn't that into them.



Chris Benoit and Woman are having a fling in Europe, which her real-life husband Kevin Sullivan finds upsetting.



The Horsemen don't seem to tolerate Benoit's actions here either, but they're the only ones left stateside for Sullivan to fight, at least for the moment.



The cruiserweights are still awesome, even if there aren't any particularly strong stories going on.



---

Next new writeup forthcoming by the end of the weekend.

Nice recap, LKJ. I've thought about this a few times in the past week or so. Specifically because you're right where things really start to pick up in the WWF and thought that ending at late 96 is doing a disservice to yourself. Looking forward to mas.

December 23, 1996

RAW

Tampa, FL

We cold open on the entrance of Marc Mero and Sable.

Intercontinental Title - Hunter Hearst-Helmsley (c) vs. Marc Mero (w/ Sable): The stipulation attached to this match is that HHH loses the title if he gets disqualified or counted out. After entrances are complete, Goldust's music hits. Apparently he'll get the title shot at the champion at Royal Rumble. Goldust eventually emerges in the audience and takes a seat out there as the match kicks off. Mero gets the jump on Helmsley, pounding him in one corner and then another, whipping him off the buckle and hitting a backdrop. An uppercut sends the champion out, and then Mero gets distracted going after Jerry Lawler because of his part in the altercation last week. Lawler goes scurrying up the aisle to the back. After this distraction, Mero lets himself get blindsided like an idiot by Helmsley.

HHH picks up a chair, but thinks better of using it so that he doesn't get disqualified. He drops it and sends the Wildman back into the ring instead. Wildman quickly turns the tides, again hammering Hunter in one corner and then another. Nice pace to this one early on. HHH gets the advantage back and flings Mero out over the top. Follows with a baseball slide that makes solid impact. As the men go to re-enter, the champ hangs Mero across the top rope. However, Helmsley gets caught up in arguing with the official, and Mero capitalizes with a sunset flip for two. A backslide for another two. An agitated champion gets up and clotheslines Mero hard as the show goes to break.

Delayed suplex by Helmsley. Measures him and drops a knee. Two-count. Mero tries to fight back, but Hunter stops the momentum with an eye gouge. Mero is still game though, and counters an Irish whip into a headscissor takedown a moment later. The challenger hits a dropkick on the mat, then a seated missile dropkick off the top. Corner whip by the Wildman into a Samoan drop. Mero goes for the stupid Merosault, and HHH ducks it. Pedigree, 1-2-3, Hunter retains 100% cleanly and I believe that Mero's days of being a bigger star than his wife are now officially numbered.



Result: Hunter Hearst-Helmsley via pinfall

Hunter gets on the mic after the match and directs his attention to Goldust, vowing to show him what it's like to be a real man and to show Marlena what it's like to be with a real man. Goldust gets upset and starts heading to the ring, but Helmsley turns tail and runs at this point.

We get a recap of Billy Gunn vs. Bart Gunn from last week, when Billy suffered a (worked) serious injury on a stun gun. They say that Billy's lower extremities aren't working at the moment. We get a phone call from Bart, I believe from the prior weekend, talking about how bad he feels.

Here's Sunny in a red dress and a Santa hat, joining the commentary team.

Rocky Maivia vs. Salvatore Sincere (w/ Jim Cornette): So apparently Cornette is out here with Sincere because of an angle that hasn't shown up on Raw, that Cornette has been desperately trying to sign Rocky but that Rocky has rebuffed him, so I guess now he's seconding randoms against Rocky. Rocky kips up after a shoulderblock, then he hip-tosses Sincere over the top to the floor. The fight returns inside, where Sincere gets some token licks in before eating a dropkick. Side slam by Sincere, who apparently lost to Rocky on the PPV pre-show last week and is making a second bid for an upset. Spoiler without actually knowing this: the second bid goes as well as the first.

Sunny fawns over Rocky from the announce table, talking about the potential he would have if he worked for her. Sincere gets a full-blown heat segment on Rocky instead of just the usual jobber offense, but Rocky turns things around with a hard clothesline and a couple of punches. He hits a sloppy float-over DDT, lifts Sincere up overhead, shoulderbreaker, 1-2-3. Rocky, who sucks, is victorious.



Result: Rocky Maivia via pinfall

Vince McMahon welcomes to the ring the WWF Champion, Psycho Sid. Sid is still fist-bumping fans on the way to the ring, so again he hasn't gone full heel or anything. During Sid's entrance, Jim Ross (from the announce table) spits fire about how Sid won the title from Shawn Michaels under questionable circumstances and then retained against Bret Hart under fortunate circumstances as well. Sid cuts a pretty decent self-hype promo as Shawn Michaels watches on stoically on a monitor in the back.



Pierroth & Cibernetico vs. The New Rockers: Rockers get the jobber entrance here; the masked wrestlers from AAA do not. Also Mil Mascaras is on guest commentary at the Spanish announce table. I get the feeling that this is the New Rockers bottoming out…not that they ever got very high at all. Cibernetico floors Leif Cassidy, Cassidy tags Marty Jannetty, and Jannetty doesn't fare much better. Cassidy does get a cheap clothesline in from the apron that turns things in Jannetty's favor. Jannetty drops the fist and gets a two-count. Cassidy gets the tag and puts the boots to Cibernetico as we head to break.

Cassidy with a sunset flip for two, then a bodyslam, but he gets caught in the mouth as he jumps off the ropes to follow up. Tags back out to Jannetty, who eats a powerbomb by Pierroth. Things break down from there, with Cibernetico hitting a slow-motion rendition of a suicide dive to the outside on Cassidy. Pierroth off the top with a splash on Jannetty, and that's enough to get the pinfall.



Result: Pierroth & Cibernetico via pinfall

Cassidy and Jannetty squabble after the match, but it largely happens in the background. I'd like to think that Cassidy was saying, "If you would stop smoking so much crack, we might be able to get a push!" I'm no lip-reader though.

Jim Ross grabs a quick interview with Mil Mascaras. Not much to this.

We get a rundown of some names in the Royal Rumble: HHH, Flash Funk, British Bulldog, Ahmed Johnson, and The Undertaker.

Back to the arena, we hear the sound of one of the great themes from the Golden Era. "I got long sideburns and my hair's slicked back…" We see, for (I believe) the first time in the Monday Night Wars, the Honky Tonk Man. Honky joins the announce table.



Bret Hart vs. Razor Ramon 2.0: Can we be done with this whole Diesel 2.0/Razor 2.0 thing again? I'm ready for one to be Kane and the other to find another career. Honky Tonk Man announces that he's looking for a protégé who can carry on his greatness. I wonder if they ever had a worthwhile idea for this, because the result of his star search was…well, frankly it was about right. Bret with a cross-body on Razor, then a drop toe-hold and an armbar. Razor fights back with a series of rights, then strangles Bret across the bottom before raining repeated knees on him. Bret fights back, hammering Ramon in the corner, but again falls behind and gives some offense back to the Bad Guy (2.0). The action here isn't terrible I guess, but it doesn't stand out, and it's just impossible to care about any of these matches involving the old gimmick revivals.



Outside the ring, Bret reverses a whip and sends Razor into the stairs; Razor barely takes the bump. Bret sends him into the next set of stairs, and again Razor slows down and just sort of avoids the impact. Mick Foley he is not. After a commercial break, Bret is into the moves of doom, connects on the elbow off the ropes and then locks in the Sharpshooter to send this one home.

Result: Bret Hart via submission

Vince goes to a backstage interview with Shawn Michaels backstage. Michaels sends a bunch of snippiness back at Vince for asking him dumb questions. He eventually acquiesces to cutting a promo, saying that he's not a whiner like Bret and he's prepared for anything to happen at Royal Rumble. With that, Vince signs the show off.



Overall: Fine, I suppose. Opening IC Title match was pretty good. Every match after that was filler, but not terrible. Let's face it, when you don't use Steve Austin in an episode, you're immediately fighting uphill. When you also don't use Mick Foley, or Vader, or Owen Hart, well…the bench is a little thin. But again, not terrible.

NITRO

Macon, GA

Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko welcome us to hour #1. We're going to kick things off with another first-round match in the US Title Tournament, a rematch between Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero. They show a clip first of Benoit escaping with a win over Eddie on Nitro back in November.

Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero: Benoit is alone tonight; no Woman. Both wrestlers strangely enter before their music has started, then the sound guy scrambles and gets it on halfway through. Aggressive blows back and forth to start this one, as the two men are angry at each other from the opening bell. Benoit puts him down with a shoulder block, but Eddie gets him turned around in the corner and chops the **** out of him. There's a PIP promo from Kevin Sullivan backstage. "You have awoken something that should have been left alone."

Eddie with a series of side headlock takeovers that Benoit continually escapes from. Diamond Dallas Page, who apparently will be the opponent at Starrcade for the winner of this match, heads through the entryway and joins the announce booth. Umm, can we watch the ongoing Eddie-Benoit match? Page throws on a headset and joins the commentators. Eddie counters an attempted atomic drop into a sunset flip that gets two. He cinches in a side headlock, Benoit escapes, Eddie back into the hold. They go to commercial.



Benoit sidesteps a charge from Eddie and sends him launching high into the top rope. Back suplex by the Crippler gets two. Strong powerbomb, but Benoit doesn't attempt a pin for a long time, instead shouting disdainfully to the crowd until Guerrero becomes unpinnable. Eddie reverses an Irish whip and hits a nice tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Signals for the frogsplash, but it's way premature…Benoit follows him up, connects on a beauty of a superplex, but he hit the back of his head on the mat on the way down, causing a slow pin attempt and an inevitable kickout.



Side note: DDP is pretty strong on commentary here, putting the match and the wrestlers over while still playing in character. Eddie with a surprise sunset flip that gets two. The two trade chops, Guerrero getting the better of the exchange. Benoit reverses a whip and plants a kick to the gut, then hangs Guerrero along the top. He goes for a pin, but cheats with leverage and referee Randy Anderson catches him and breaks the count. Deliberate cheating always seems like it should have been a DQ, or at least some consequence more than "hey man, stop cheating." Benoit sets Eddie up for a back superplex, Randy Anderson gets back in the way, Benoit shoves Anderson down, but this distraction allows Eddie to knock Benoit back to the mat, follows quickly with a frogsplash, 1-2-3. Nice match.



Result: Eddie Guerrero via pinfall

Mean Gene says the magic words and introduces the Four Horsemen. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Chris Benoit, Mongo McMichael and Debra emerge. Arn: "A focused Chris Benoit would never have lost that match, but that's another story. You ask any man in this audience what his worst nightmare is. He'll tell you that it's coming home from a hard day's work, opening his front door, walking in and seeing some other man sitting on the couch with his woman." Sitting on the couch? Okay. Arn continues, "But there's one that goes worse than that. That's being the man sitting on that couch when that door gets kicked open, and that husband or boyfriend comes flying in the door, and you see that rage in his eyes, because you know no matter what that man does to you, no matter how severe…you deserve it. Well last week I saw that rage in a man's eyes. I smelled it on his breath. And every time Sullivan pumped one of those fists into my fate, I knew that SOMEONE deserved it. And Chris Benoit, that someone is you. I took that beating for you last week, because I'm a Horseman, you're a Horseman, Flair's a Horseman, Mongo…we're all Horsemen, and we made a pact."



For some reason Debra talks next, which draws instant X-Pac heat before she's ever said anything. Well-deserved. She says she could have gotten Benoit a beautiful girl, and that he's a Horseman and doesn't deserve "damaged goods." Benoit says he doesn't appreciate Arn's implications, that he was just off on a pleasure trip in Europe. He said that he and Woman were working 18 hours a day to try to plan to bring the Horsemen back up to the level where they should be. He turns to Debra, Mongo immediately jumps to his wife's defense, and Benoit throws up his palm and says, "Talk to the hand! Talk to the hand, because the man don't understand!"



I…can hardly process the fact that Chris ****ing Benoit would use that particular line. Mongo thunders away at Benoit a bit and threatens him. Flair jumps in the middle and settles things down, being nice to both sides and basically filibustering the end of the promo away. Things end unresolved.

After commercial, the nWo hits, and out comes an early appearance from Hulk Hogan, who leads Ted DiBiase, Miss Elizabeth, and Vincent to the ring. Hogan cuts his usual obnoxious "Piper isn't here because he's scared of me" promo. Then does the usual posing. Thanks for showing up, Hulk.



Lex Luger vs. Tombstone: Tombstone is best-known as 911 from ECW. I didn't realize he had shown up in WCW at any point, so I assume he's just around as a short-term jobber. They try to talk him up as a threat here in a way that they don't with other jobbers, but he still goes under really quickly after the token JTTS offense in the middle. Lex raises a boot on a corner charge to catch Tombstone in the face, couple of clotheslines, a running forearm, and a Torture Rack wraps this thing up.

Result: Lex Luger via pinfall

Right as the bell rings to end the match, The Giant comes in. Luger actually attacks first, knocking Giant around into a wobbly state and then actually getting him up into the rack until Scott Hall and Kevin Nash make the save. Apparently we're getting Giant vs. Luger on Sunday at Starrcade.



After commercial, we see a clip of Sting last week turning on nWo Sting and attacking him. Then another clip of Sting entering a ring full of wrestlers last week and attacking Arn Anderson after a bit of provocation from Arn, which causes him to fight Mongo, then Rey Mysterio Jr. jumps on Sting's shoulders and Sting flings him off.

J.L. vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.: J.L. works the size and power advantage a bit early, but Mysterio flings him away with an armdrag. Flying headscissor by Rey, who flips out to the apron a moment later but gets dropkicked to the floor. Bad pescado attempt by J.L. misses. Mysterio with a hurracanrana from the apron to the floor. As J.L. tries to recover and re-enter, Mysterio guillotine legdrops him across the ropes.

J.L. is able to come back at his smaller opponent with a sit-out powerbomb, but can't get a three-count. Mysterio connects with a quebrada, gets a two-count, but J.L. is back up with a strong back suplex. Two. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by J.L. hits, though it sure looks about 10 times worse than the one Eddie Guerrero performed earlier in the show. Mysterio off the top rope a moment later with another hurracanrana, then as J.L. goes sprawling out, Rey hits a great suicide dive through the corner ropes to the floor.



Both men recover, Rey sends J.L. inside, J.L. dodges a dive and then actually manages a magistral cradle for a near-fall. He tries to follow with a top-rope move, but Rey goes up after him, hits the seated spinning hurracanrana from there that Juventud Guerrera would go on to use as a regular signature, and that gives Mysterio the win.

Result: Rey Mysterio Jr. via pinfall

After the match, Rey heads up toward the announce booth and asks for a mic. He says that the rumors of Sting being nWo are bogus and are being spread by the nWo. He says that Sting's reaction last week, throwing him off his back, was totally normal, and says that Sting is WCW.

After commercial, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay have stepped in alongside Tony as the second hour of the show begins. We get clips of Hogan giving that completely worthless promo earlier, because we definitely needed to see it twice.

Glacier vs. Buddy Lee Parker: Tony: "Glacier is here, and you'd better believe that he's going to be a force in the upcoming 1997 year!" Nope. The announcers take turns going to great lengths to put Glacier over, but obviously it didn't take. Glacier executes a few leg-sweeps and takedowns, then follows Buddy Lee out of the ring to throw a couple of kicks. Back in the ring, he botches a damn snapmare and then the announcers gush over what a great variation it was. He busts Buddy Lee open at some point, as Buddy Lee seems to be bleeding hard way from the nose. Glacier basically misses on his own signature spinning heel kick, tries to make the pin anyway, Buddy Lee kicks out instead of jobbing to air, and then Glacier sets up and connects on his next kick to finish things.



Result: Glacier via pinfall

Paid commercial by the nWo, hocking t-shirts. If you're a 40-year-old who desperately wishes to act like he's 19 again, you too can wear a picture of Kevin Nash on your chest.

The Amazing French Canadians (w/ Col. Parker) vs. The Public Enemy: As table-obsessed former ECW teams go, Public Enemy sure was an awful alternative to the Dudleys. The Canadians start singing the Canadian National Anthem, PE is going to interrupt by attacking, but AFC put them back down and resume singing. Okay, PE got the second sneak attack done successfully, and I guess we're under way now. Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge double-team both Canadians, clearing the ring of both. Grunge sets Jacques Rougeau up on a table outside, but PE gets distracted with Carl Ouellet on the other side and the Canadians are able to seize the advantage.

Ouellet holds Grunge up, and Jacques hits the flying dick attack off the top that he used to use as a finisher when he teamed with brother Raymond in the WWF. Slaps on a Boston crab, legdrop off the top by Ouellet. No pin attempts after these high-impact moves. Ouellet feeds a folding table to Jacques, who sets it up along a corner. Ouellet sets up to cannonball off of it, Rocco interferes with him, and then the table cracks in half for no apparent reason, revealing to the audience that it was obviously gimmicked. PE starts using the gimmicked table as a weapon, and the referee calls for a DQ. Think that was some improv since the table prematurely broke.



Result: Amazing French Canadians via DQ

PE keeps trying to set up the broken table after the bell in hopes of breaking Ouellet through it…eventually they give up and just lay him on the table flat on the mat and jump on him without the satisfaction of actually putting him through it.

Tony Schiavone reminds us that Big Bubba joined the nWo last week, then shows the clip of Bubba turning on the Dungeon of Doom.

Big Bubba vs. Konnan (w/ Jimmy Hart): We have Nick Patrick as the referee here, and Tony mentions that this is the first time he has officiated since a previous run-in with Chris Jericho. He's working without a neck brace now, though he does have some large earrings on. Konnan kicks Bubba from the apron to the floor, rams him into the steel steps, then hits a seated dropkick to knock him into the steps again. As Bubba recovers outside, Patrick lays a slow count on him. Bubba re-enters, Konnan fires away with several punches, then suddenly Patrick pulls on Konnan's punching arm, causing enough of a distraction to allow Bubba to attack.

Bubba strangles Konnan with a bandana while Patrick looks away, then dumps him over the top to the floor. This trend continues, with Patrick mockingly pretending to enforce rules against Bubba but basically allowing him to do whatever he wants. He later gets on Jimmy Hart's case for interfering, then ejects him after pretending that Jimmy hits him in the nose. The match is terribly boring for the most part, but the ejection of Jimmy, and Bubba's reaction to it, are pretty funny.



Konnan hits a front dropkick, then tosses Bubba out over the top, drawing the disqualification.

Result: Big Bubba via DQ

As Konnan goes to attack Nick Patrick over his officiating, Bubba drags Patrick to safety.

TV Title - Lord Steven Regal (c) vs. Dean Malenko: Regal with a wristlock that he clings to as Malenko attempts multiple escapes. Malenko reverses the hold, but then Regal throws a great-looking armdrag. Malenko powers him down, Regal kicks out and kips up, and the great chain wrestling sequence concludes when Regal hammers Dean with an enziguri to the back of the head.



Sonny Onoo shows up at the top of the ramp, taking pictures as usual. Regal with a front facelock, forces Malenko into a pin attempt that gets two. Malenko attempts an escape, but Regal clings to the hold and rolls through with him. These two are artists. Mark Curtis orders Onoo back to the locker room. Armdrag by Dean, but Regal is back up throwing kicks, and he stomps away and slaps on an armbar while grapevining the other arm. Regal tries to power Malenko down in a crucifix, but Malenko shows good neck strength in bridging away from it and keeping his shoulders off the mat. It's hard to describe this match adequately, because there's a lot of good subtlety going on.

Regal is largely controlling the action here, but Malenko manages a back suplex. Still, he hits the back of his own head, needs to recover, and Regal is straight back on the attack. He hits a couple of forearms, then slaps on an octopus hold.



Malenko works his way out of the hold and connects on a dropkick. Again Regal is up first, and he slaps on a full nelson. He's really getting to be a bit too dominant here for my liking, regardless of the size advantage. Malenko works his way out, but Regal clips his leg. Lord Steven goes for a Boston crab, but Malenko powers his way out with a reversal. He goes for the Texas cloverleaf, but it's too close to the ropes, and Regal grabs on before the hold ever gets fully locked in. Dropkick to the back by Regal. Butterfly suplex. Malenko jumps behind Regal and executes a release German. Follows with a brainbuster.

Dean goes for the pin straight after the brainbuster, but the bell rings on the one-count, and we have a time limit draw. I like the ending in theory, but the crowd is confused/dissatisfied, and it probably doesn't help that the ring announcer just says, "Lord Steven Regal retains his title" without actually mentioning the time limit part. Anyway, solid, psychologically sound match…I would have let Malenko drive a bit more of the action rather than getting maybe 15% of the offense, but the overall story had a good idea in mind, as the announcers do try to put over that Malenko proved that he can compete with the heavyweights here.

Result: Time Limit Draw

Rick Steiner (w/ Scott Steiner) vs. Jeff Jarrett: Steiner takes the early advantage with mat wrestling. Jarrett begs his way loose and then gets a kick in, but Steiner is back on him quickly, slamming him into the corner and then executing a running elbow-drop. Jarrett fights back, hitting a flying clothesline from the second rope. Steiner with an overhead belly-to-belly. The crowd rises to their feet, seemingly in anticipation of Sting. Instead it's fake Sting. The announcers feign genuine confusion as to whether it's the real Sting or the fake, which is patently absurd; they certainly don't look all that much alike.

Fake Sting grabs Jarrett for a Scorpion Death Drop, but before he executes it, Steiner clotheslines fake Sting. Then Jarrett pins fake Sting and referee Randy Anderson gets down and counts to three? And declares Jarrett the winner…WTF. You don't just get to pin any random person to win a match.



Jarrett and Steiner double-team Sting for a moment, then the show goes to break. Everything involving Sting or fake Sting at this point is really dumb.

Result: Jeff Jarrett via pinfall? I guess

Back out for our final segment, here's Hulk Hogan. An encore of the earlier promo is exactly the last thing I wanted to see. Hogan talks **** about Roddy Piper, and suddenly the bagpipes hit…and Eric Bischoff emerges from the back dressed as Piper, with an old red-and-yellow Hogan shirt on underneath.



Bischoff imitates Piper badly and cuts a promo on Hulk. He challenges Hogan to fight right there and then. Nick Patrick runs out to the ring to officiate. Tony: "Our sport has reached a new low." No ****. Hogan steps on Bischoff's chest and Patrick counts to three, declaring Hogan the winner. Bischoff bows before Hulk repeatedly. The bagpipes start up again, with a whole procession of live bagpipe players and drummers marching out to the top of the ramp. They form a line, and Piper emerges and walks between them.



Piper enters the ring, the two men trade blows, and while they're still at a stalemate the nWo pours into the ring to overwhelm Piper. Sting watches from the rafters as this beatdown occurs. Security finally breaks the beatdown up as the show goes off the air. Honestly, not the worst go-home segment by the end, especially after I was prepared for it to just end in another Hogan posedown.



Overall: Two matches I liked a decent bit in Malenko-Regal and Benoit-Guerrero. Lots of stuff I didn't like at all. Show was okay.

---

Ratings for 12/16/96: Nitro 3.1, Raw 1.5 (Raw's lowest rating yet in the Monday Night Wars)
Ratings Running Score: Nitro 43-17-2

Better Show: Neither was great, neither was terrible…slight nod to Nitro this week for a couple of matches that I enjoyed more than Raw's best match.
Better Show Running Score: Nitro 48-14

Match of the Night: Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero

Oh look, another Nitro ending with an nWo beat down of a popular baby face. Geez I wonder why this ultimately went in the ****ter.

"If you're a 40-year-old who desperately wishes to act like he's 19 again, you too can wear a picture of Kevin Nash on your chest."

I'll take two.

You have to be willing to dress the part too.

Oh. I thought just buying it would be enough.

WCW STARRCADE 1996

Nashville, TN

Our usual PPV team - Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes - welcome us to the biggest show of the year. Some banter about Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper, and now it's time for our opener.

J-Crown vs. WCW Cruiserweight Title Unification - Ultimo Dragon (w/ Sonny Onoo) vs. Dean Malenko: Full match writeup here. Slow match getting in, but once it got warmed up it turned amazing. I had criticisms that I noted in the other thread about how Dragon almost totally no-sold a bunch of limb work Malenko did, and that certainly brought the match down for me, but there was a lot of greatness here and I still ended up loving the match.



A move-countermove series ended in Ultimo Dragon successfully hitting a tiger suplex to score the pin and unify the Cruiserweight Title and J-Crown belts.



Result: Ultimo Dragon via pinfall, new Unified J-Crown/Cruiserweight Champion
Rating: ****1/4

Women's Title Tournament Final - Akira Hokuto (w/ Kensuki Sasaki) vs. Madusa: Sasaki is Hokuto's IRL husband, but I hadn't remembered them having any particular on-screen alliance. They acknowledge the marriage on commentary as well. Madusa comes out wearing American red, white, and blue, which I assume locks up the victory for her after Ultimo Dragon's win just now. Hokuto jumps Madusa before the bell. She controls early, getting help from Sasaki on the outside as well. She locks on a nice-looking sharpshooter before transitioning into an STF, then cranking Madusa's other leg back and biting on the end of her foot.

Nick Patrick is officiating, and allows Hokuto to cut any corner that she wants. There was always an illogical bent to the Nick Patrick thing, where selling out to the nWo also just sort of meant favoring WCW heels over WCW faces. After taking a beating, Madusa just randomly bridges flawlessly out of a pin and creates momentum out of thin air. Hokuto halts it quickly however, resuming the ongoing deconstruction of the American. Hokuto with a sitting cross-armbreaker. She tries to follow, but Madusa counters with a terrible botched float-over DDT. Whatever she was able to do in the past, at this point in time this was basically the state of Madusa's wrestling abilities:



Hokuto fires back with a German suplex pinning combo, but only gets one. Corner whip by Akira, Madusa jumps up on the buckles and then does a poor tornado DDT from there. Madusa powerbomb gets two. This whole thing is a terrible mess. Almost everything Madusa attempts looks cringeworthy. Hokuto is a decent bit better, but she's not rescuing this. She superplexes Madusa nicely for another two-count. She goes up top, Madusa throws a stiff dropkick that sends Hokuto out over the top to the floor, but while Nick Patrick gets distracted Sonny Onoo runs in and hammers Madusa with the pole of the American flag. Hokuto with a missile dropkick, a modified brainbuster, and a three-count. Did not expect that result, but nice to see it since she was the FAR better worker. Still a pretty bad match.



Result: Akira Hokuto, new Women's Champion
Rating: *

They throw it to Mean Gene, joined by Rowdy Roddy Piper. Standard manic Piper face promo. Gene asks him, "What about the hip?" Piper responds by silently hopping off on one leg.

Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Rey Mysterio Jr: Mike Tenay rejoins the team to reprise his role as "dude who actually knows the names of cruiserweight moves." He says that this is the first time that Mysterio and Liger have ever met. Liger locks surfboard, but Rey counters nicely by flipping forward and donkey-kicking his way out. After a slam and a dropkick, Liger executes a delayed brainbuster. Runs Rey face-first into the corner across the ring with authority. Jushin executes a strong powerbomb and then plays to the crowd before continuing to slowly stomp, punch, and chop his smaller opponent.

Rey counters with a hurracanrana, then executes another to pull Liger out over the top; the second didn't go that well. He greets Liger upon re-entry with a shoulderblock to the apron, but when he tries to suplex him in, Liger blocks and suplexes him out. That was a better-looking spot than the usual suplex from the apron to the floor. Rey's size and his bumping ability did have a way of making average spots look a lot better.



Liger right to the outside with a hard powerbomb on the floor. As Mysterio comes back in, Liger tries to set him up for a superplex, Rey pushes him off, but Liger sidesteps a follow-up move. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by the Japanese superstar, then an upside-down surfboard. Liger releases the hold and kicks Rey off. Rey escapes during a suplex attempt, German suplex, standing moonsault, two-count. DDT, then a split-legged moonsault. I guess as a counter to the earlier compliments to how Rey makes bumps look, the fact that he's so small also makes stuff like a standing moonsault look like a pretty flimsy move.

Springboard dropkick by Mysterio. Camel clutch. He tries for another springboard move, but Liger stops him dead in his tracks with a dropkick of his own. Two-count.



Jushin Liger continues the assault with a release German that still can't secure a three-count. Half-crab. Dragonscrew leg whip by Liger, who stomps away at the leg he targeted. Mike Tenay calls the move, and Dusty is incredulous in the same way he was when Tony Schiavone called a mafia kick at the last Starrcade. Corner whip and a rolling thunder. Mysterio on the comeback with a reversed corner whip, monkey-flip, and a spinning wheel kick. Reverse rana by Rey. Sidesteps Liger to send him to the outside, dropkicks him through the ropes, then executes a great-looking asai moonsault.



Both slow to re-enter, Mysterio in first to break the count, then he hits a guillotine legdrop on Liger as Liger struggles his way back in. Rope break on the pin attempt. Mysterio misses on a springboard backsplash, Liger capitalizes with a swandive headbutt, but only gets a near-fall. Mysterio with a reversed corner whip, Liger backdrops him to the apron, Liger knocks him off violently to send him to the floor. Mysterio straight back up onto the apron, Liger blocks his hurracanrana attempt and connects on another rolling thunder. Sets up the Ligerbomb, hits it, 1-2-3. Man, none of these results are going as I expected. Nice match, even if maybe a bit less than I would have expected from Mysterio vs. Liger at Starrcade.



Result: Jushin Liger via pinfall
Rating: ***1/2



No Disqualification - Chris Benoit (w/ Woman) vs. Jeff Jarrett: Wat. Why is Benoit facing Jeff Jarrett in a no DQ match? Why aren't we getting Benoit-Sullivan at Starrcade? They mention Sullivan, so they're not somehow dropping that feud or something. I realize that there's the whole "you're not good enough to be a Horseman" thing between Jarrett and Benoit/Mongo, but meh.

Collar-and-elbow tie-up, Jarrett gives up a clean break in the corner but gets shoved to the ground by Benoit for his attempt at sportsmanship. Some move-countermove mat wrestling, then Benoit slaps the **** out of Jarrett before hiding behind referee Mark Curtis. Benoit is really not one who should do the cowardly heel stuff, especially against someone like Jeff Jarrett. The Crippler lays in some stiff chops and elbows, gets a transitional one-count, then executes a drop toe-hold and aggressively smacks Jarrett in the back of the head. Finally that gets Jeff's ire up, he fires back and then walks up Benoit's back to incite him back.

The two trade waistlocks and go-behinds. Monkey-flip by Jarrett. Benoit beats on him in the corner. I give these guys credit…at the start of this, it felt forced that this was any sort of personal grudge match that justified a "no DQ" stip, but they've organically made it seem like there was personal animosity between them. Benoit attempts a superplex, but Jarrett blocks and throws him off the top. He strangles Benoit over the bottom rope, then tries to follow with a legdrop, but Woman pulls Benoit aside and causes Jarrett to jam his leg coming up empty.



Benoit throws Jeff out over the top, drawing a warning from Mark Curtis that makes no sense in a no DQ match. Out to the floor, he flings Jarrett into the guardrail, but Jarrett fires back with an absolute haymaker. That still doesn't get the advantage back, but the two go back and forth, with them taking turns slamming each other into the steel barrier. They make their way back in. Back suplex by the Crippler. Sleeper. Jarrett fades down to a seated position in the middle of the ring, arm drops twice but holds up on the third try. He works his way back to his feet and breaks the hold with authority as he drops Benoit in a back suplex. Small package by Jarrett gets two. Jarrett gets his boot up on a corner charge, but jumps off and catches a boot to the face himself.

The two men trade right hands and chops in the corner. Big dropkick by Jarrett. Nice overhead belly-to-belly by Jarrett as well.



Benoit tries to suplex Jarrett out of the ring, but Jarrett blocks and counters, dropping Benoit stomach-first along the top. He goes for a figure-four, but Woman runs interference and rakes his eyes to break that up. The crowd rises to their feet, the announcers say that Arn Anderson is on his way to the ring, and he approaches and walks straight by Benoit, giving him a stern glance on the way by. He seemingly joins the corner of Jeff Jarrett.



As the action resumes, the two men brawl on the outside. Suddenly here's Konnan and Hugh Morrus. Konnan grabs Woman from behind, but she flails and kicks Hugh Morrus in the crotch.



The brawl between Jarrett and Benoit continues on the other side on the floor. Here's Kevin Sullivan entering the ring on the side of the camera shot, and he's waiting to pounce. At Arn's direction, Jarrett rolls Benoit in to Sullivan, and almost simultaneously (by the sound of the chair impact) Sullivan attacks Benoit with the chair as Arn turns on Jarrett and DDTs him on the floor.



Benoit is out from the chairshot, Arn rolls Jarrett back inside, but Jarrett incidentally rolls in with his arm draping across Benoit's chest. Mark Curtis counts to three and declares Jarrett the winner.

Result: Jeff Jarrett via pinfall
Rating: ***1/4



Arn is pissed, not understanding that he ****ed up there. Woman confronts him in the middle of the ring and yells at him. Arn yells back and says that it's her fault, then walks off. Woman is left to unhappily tend to the fallen Benoit. Mean Gene tries to get an interview with Arn on his way up the aisle, but Arn refuses and walks past him. I have to admit that I enjoy this whole circus. Jarrett won't give Gene an interview either. Ditto for Benoit/Woman. Here come Mongo McMichael and Debra. I'm sensing a theme here…Arn --> Jarrett --> Benoit --> Mongo/Debra is a clear pattern of steadily decreasing mic skill. Gene has to settle and talk to these two. Big heat for Mongo and Debra as they talk a bunch of nonsense. Debra says that Jarrett is definitely Horseman material, and says in reference to "Nancy," "That girl has been rode hard and put up wet."



Video montage of the "is Sting nWo?!" angle.

Tag Team Titles - The Outsiders (c) (w/ Syxx) vs. The Faces of Fear (w/ Jimmy Hart): Nick Patrick is the official. Scott Hall vs. Meng to start this. They trade arm-wringers, then Meng puts Hall down authoritatively with a clothesline. Hall fights off a series of blows by Meng with a bulldog off the second rope. Meng kicks out on one and heads straight back onto the offensive however, then tags in Barbarian to continue. Hall spits on him and then tags out to Kevin Nash.

Barbarian takes the fight to Nash in the corner until Nick Patrick gets in Barbarian's way and distracts him. Even as Nash is going to capitalize though, Meng comes in to execute a double-team. Nash slams their heads together, but they do the "we're Samoan, we feel no head pain" thing. Patrick eventually gets Meng out as Barbarian hits a side slam on Nash. Second-rope elbow by Barbarian misses. Nash with the snake eyes, then Hall adds a clothesline from the apron for good measure. Scott tags back in and attacks in the corner. Meng runs interference from outside…really, shouldn't Nick Patrick have disqualified the Faces of Fear for the illegal man interfering twice now? The Faces of Fear double-team Hall in the corner. Hall is distracted with Meng as he turns around into a big boot by Barbarian. Slow to cover, Patrick slow to count, ends in a two-count.



Meng back in, and he executes a piledriver. Again with the slow cover/slow count combo that ends in another two-count. Barbarian re-enters with a powerbomb. Nash breaks up the pin. This is a surprisingly watchable match. Meng in for an inverted atomic drop, Barbarian enters illegally with a big boot to follow it. He tries for an illegal pin, and Patrick is actually correct to refuse to count. Barbarian just sort of stays in until he attains squatter's rights, so I guess he's legal now. Nash hits a cheap shot from the outside that helps put Barbarian down, finally halting the challengers' momentum. Jimmy Hart tries to run interference, but Syxx runs him off, chasing him up the aisle to the locker room.

Barbarian applies a nerve hold to Hall, and Tony Schiavone is apoplectic that Patrick isn't checking to see if Hall is out. Despite it being totally impossible to know this, Schiavone is screaming that Hall is out. Then Hall stands up to work his way out of the hold and Schiavone responds with, "He's getting a second wind, and why not?! He never checked the man!" Tony, this unconscious dude didn't just suddenly return to his feet that quickly on the basis that Nick Patrick didn't check on him. Back suplex by Hall. He tags in Nash, Nash lays in the forearms on Barbarian, big boot, pin attempt, Meng breaks it up. Hall and Meng end up brawling outside, Barbarian attempts a big boot inside, Nash ducks it, Jackknife, 1-2-3, Outsiders retain. I really had low expectations for this match, but enjoyed it. Solid brawl.



Result: The Outsiders via pinfall
Rating: **3/4

We get an nWo promo backstage. Ted DiBiase cuts a promo on Roddy Piper and then yields the floor to Hulk Hogan. I'm pretty sure that Hogan retired from delivering good promos after Bash at the Beach '96.

US Title Tournament Final - Diamond Dallas Page vs. Eddie Guerrero: Tony Schiavone says that The Giant is still going around with the US Title belt that isn't his, but that this match will still crown a new legitimate champion. DDP works Eddie into the corner and lands a hard chop across the chest. Eddie turns around and does likewise to Page in the opposite corner. After trading some forearms, Guerrero connects on a dropkick that sends Dallas sprawling out through the middle. Guerrero follows with a smash into the barricade, but DDP summons some adrenaline and fights back, slamming Guerrero into the steps. Though the reaction for Eddie is good, you can hear a loud enough "DDP" chant rise up from the crowd that the announcers even acknowledge it.

Eddie rolls Dallas inside, then hits his springboard splash from the apron to the ring to get a two-count. Drop toe-hold into an armbar by Guerrero. He keeps the hold on through a couple of escape attempts by Page. Page eventually gets himself free by pulling the hair, but a moment later goes spilling out over the top when Eddie sidesteps him. Pescado to the outside by Guerrero. Sends DDP back inside, corner mount, then on the second punch DDP drops him backward face-first over the buckle. Similarly, Page, follows by hanging him along the top rope. He continues his offense, executing a pancake. The crowd has gone dead after showing some interest earlier in the match. Brainbuster by DDP gets two.

We get an abdominal stretch sequence by Page, cheating with rope leverage sporadically and then eventually relinquishing the hold voluntarily. Surprise small package by Guerrero gets two, awakening Dallas enough to hit him with a swinging neckbreaker. Back into the abdominal stretch. As rest holds go, I like the abdominal stretch, but we sure as **** didn't need to sit through a second sequence of it right after the first. Upon release, Eddie's schoolboy attempt only gets two, and Page hammers him with a clothesline afterward.



Following a corner whip, DDP goes charging in after, Eddie sidesteps, DDP hits the post shoulder-first. Eddie unloads a series of punches culminating a European uppercut that puts Page down. Brainbuster gets two. Back suplex. Guerrero signals for the frog splash, takes too long, and Dallas rolls out of the way when the move is finally attempted. DDP powerslam for two. Gutbuster. Page jumps to the top rope to set up a move, but Eddie dives for the ropes and crotches him. Eddie goes for a super hurracanrana, Page blocks, Eddie backflips and lands on his feet, then drops to a knee that Page lands on as he jumps out after him, functionally hitting him with an inverted atomic drop.



Small package, two-count. Backslide, two-count. Eddie gripes about a slow count, Page tries to capitalize with a Diamond Cutter, Eddie blocks and counters into another backslide…just a near-fall again, and a smart one at that. Spinning powerbomb by Diamond Dallas gets another near-fall. Mid-ring collision between the two sends Eddie outside. Here come Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Syxx. Hall goes in and attacks DDP. Razor's Edge lays him out, as the referee was somehow distracted. Frog splash by Guerrero scores the three-count, and Eddie Guerrero is the new US Champion.



So most of the match was pretty boring, then it got interesting toward the final sequence, but the ending was (deliberately) unsatisfying. The ending did at least make sense within an ongoing angle, so I won't bash it, but still, it felt like the final sequence was going well enough to rescue the match to an extent, and then that ending sort of hurt it for me.

Result: Eddie Guerrero via pinfall, new US Champion
Rating: **1/4

The nWo comes back to the ring after the match to attack again. Eddie fights them all off for a good while, but eventually the 3-on-1 numbers overwhelm him. They leave both Guerrero and Page laid out in the ring. Wouldn't that have been a good time to solidify a DDP face turn by having him fight back at the nWo to make the save for Eddie here? I don't blame WCW for not going the Vince route of supplying happy endings for the babyfaces in almost every match on the biggest show of the year, but there basically hasn't been a single unblemished happy face result the entire night. I think if Page makes the save there and clears his old buddies out then that would have qualified, but nope.

The Giant vs. Lex Luger: As the match is about to start, Bobby Heenan, in reference to Lex Luger, says, "Everyone is behind this man. Not any more so than the people are behind Rowdy Roddy Piper." Dusty responds, "Wow. It's getting close too, boys." Heenan adds, "Just think…we get to broadcast the match of a lifetime." Despite my absolute lack of interest specifically in Hogan-Piper, I think that simple response by Dusty, and then Brain following up on it, is such good commentary. I've heard it get discussed on The Lapsed Fan recently, so credit to them for putting the idea in my head, but I love it when commentators add subtle hype to the main event during the rest of the night like that. There's an art form to, "This stuff in front of us is great, but that main event is REALLY what we're all looking forward to."

As the two combatants circle each other before locking up, the crowd is chanting pretty hard for Luger. Giant and Lex with an extended lock-up…Giant powers Lex toward one corner, but Lex summons the strength to slowly back The Giant all the way across the ring to the other one until Giant gets frustrated and shoves his way out of the lock-up. I like that start. Lex takes the fight to the big man with a series of hard forearms. Giant keeps flinging him down, Luger keeps getting back up and raining more forearms and punches in. Eventually Giant puts a stop to that with a running clothesline. He backs up and punts Luger in the ribs to send him all the way to the outside.

Giant suplexes him back inside and continues to enforce his size advantage, methodically conducting his level-one offense on Lex. After taking significant punishment, Lex fights back and attempts a bodyslam, quickly collapsing with The Giant falling on top. Giant voluntarily gets up on a one-count, not wanting the match to be over yet.



Giant goes back to slowly dominating the match. He eventually misses on a corner charge, creating a momentary opening for Luger, but Giant halts that by connecting on a big boot. The big man goes for a dropkick that Lex dodges, and it hurts Giant when he misses. Luger rocks Giant with a series of punches, and as he's wobbly he connects on a neckbreaker. After a two-count, Giant kicks out with authority, tossing Lex off and causing a ref bump as Luger falls on top of him. With the referee out, enter Nick Patrick. Luger goes for the Torture Rack, Patrick sneaks up behind and kicks Luger in the back of the leg. As Luger chases Patrick off, Sting enters through the crowd.

Luger again goes for the Torture Rack and successfully gets him up for a moment, but Syxx enters and kicks Luger to knock him down. Sting comes into the ring, wielding the usual baseball bat. He pushes Nick Patrick away with the bat, drops the bat in the middle of the ring, says something to Luger that the cameras can't pick up, then says something to The Giant that the cameras can't pick up, and leaves with the bat just lying there.



Luger is first to the bat. Giant steps on it to keep Lex from picking it up, but Lex hits him with a low blow, then gets the bat and clobbers Giant with it several times. Referee Mark Curtis wakes up, 1-2-3, Luger wins and gets an amazing pop.



For as bad of a match as that was, that ending still provided a solid feel-good moment that I was asking for after the last match.

Result: Lex Luger via pinfall
Rating: *



After the match, The Giant stands alone in the ring, looking dejected as he stares up the aisle. The announcers comment that the nWo left him to hang out to dry here. "Where's Hogan? Where are the Outsiders?" Schiavone continues, "They send out Syxx, they send out Nick Patrick to help him. Big deal." Heenan adds, "You would have been there for Hogan, wouldn't you? He should have been there for you."

Hollywood Hulk Hogan (w/ Ted DiBiase, Miss Elizabeth, & Vincent) vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper: For as badly as I will always talk about the build for this match, the crowd is certainly hot from the start. Referee Randy Anderson sends Elizabeth and Vincent away before we get going, so only Ted DiBiase stands in Hogan's corner.

Hogan throws some early punches, Piper throws more of them in return and clears Hulk out of the ring. After a breather, Hogan returns and gets spat on by Piper. He shakes it off and goes on the attack. Punches, kicks, eye gouges. Piper unleashes the same in return. He locks in a side headlock on the Hulkster, and refuses to release it even upon Hogan delivering a back suplex. Fight slowly spills out to the floor. Lots of aimless brawling. Hogan tries to walk out on the match, but Piper retrieves him and hauls him back to ringside. Picks up his belt from ringside and whips Hogan with it repeatedly. The whipping makes its way into the ring. He strangles Hogan as well with the belt. Randy Anderson just sort of lets all of this go.



DiBiase runs distraction on Piper, allowing Hulk to take over. As the crowd tries to chant for Piper again, Dusty refers to them as "that third man out there." Wait, if Piper is the first man taking on Hogan and the crowd is the third man, who's the second man? Crowd chants notwithstanding, Hogan retains control. The action in this match can only be described as aggressively boring. Also these guys are completely gassed at this point, so it's not going to get better. Eye gouge by Piper. Suplex. Two-count. Piper misses on a garden-variety knee drop, which causes us to spend the minute watching the wrestlers get their wind back. Hogan finally goes the legdrop, but Piper dodges.

As Piper gets the comeback started, The Giant emerges from the back and heads straight into the ring. He picks Piper up for a chokeslam, and as this happens an idiot fan makes his way into the ring, forcing Randy Anderson and Hulk Hogan to clean him up before things can really continue. Randy Anderson has seen tons of blatant cheating, including this chokeslam attempt, but just isn't going to call a DQ for anything even though that's not a stipulation. Piper eye-gouges his way out of the chokeslam, dumping Giant out of the ring. Sleeper by Piper. Hogan fades to a seated position, his arm drops three times, and Piper goes over cleanly. Huh. That is another thing I don't remember happening. Hell, it hardly seemed like Randy Anderson expected it.



Result: Roddy Piper via submission
Rating: 1/2*

The Outsiders pour out of the locker room now. Piper fights them off, bails out of the ring, and leaves with his hand raised. The Giant stares toward Piper, also looks back at the nWo in the ring, then heads up the aisle. Hogan runs up to the top of the aisle, and Giant shoves him. Hogan and The Outsiders get in his face. Giant repeats the announcers' talking points from earlier, asking where his help was before. Hogan tells him that he dropped the ball, and the two walk away from each other, but with no further physical confrontation.



Hogan and the Outsiders return to the ring as the crowd hammers him with a "Hogan sucks" chant. The show still ends on nWo music as Ted DiBiase fetches the WCW Title belt for Hogan to pose with as we fade to credits.

Overall: Certainly a decent show, and better than I was expecting. Some good matches, some big moments, some interesting story work. I enjoyed it.

So at what point did you know whether or not the main event was for the title? It was never once mentioned in the entire build up or on this show

I found myself trying to figure that out in mid-match and basically never knew until Hogan paraded around with the belt after losing.

It was so bad, and I think the worst case of bait and switch by either company up to this point. I remember watching live having no idea what was going on after the match and didn't remember the after match stuff either. I could have sworn they went almost right to black after the sleeper.

Oh yeah, what made it even worse was the fact that Piper had the contract drawn up. You would think he would have mentioned it was non title. Or they would have not alluded to it being for the title a hundred times during the build. Very disappointing.

I guess I have a hard time caring about the bait-and-switch aspect because I don't remember an instance where it was advertised as a title match. If it was, yeah it's pretty terrible. If it was just an implication they allowed to exist, that's still pretty shady but really not on the deplorable level IMO of advertising the in-ring return of Curt Hennig when they 100% knew he wouldn't be wrestling.

Admittedly this opinion is heavily informed by two major biases: (1) I was a huge Hennig mark and was very excited for his return; and (2) there was no functional difference to me between Hogan or Piper being the champion, nor was my interest in that match ever going to be above zero no matter what.

I hear what you are saying there, but Hennig not wrestling on a RAW is not nearly as bad as misleading your customers in the main event of the biggest wrestling show of the year. Imagine if they did something like that for the main event of WM 33

Well again it depends on whether or not they actually said it was going to be a title match.

I agree that the fact that one is a PPV and one is free TV is a difference (though with all the build of a Hennig return, WWF undoubtedly sold tickets to the live crowd on the basis of an outright lie). At the same time, this whole thing smacks of Hogan pulling some bull**** that caused them to make an awkward booking switch, whereas it's almost certain that WWF was just lying from the start about any possibility of Hennig wrestling. Even if WCW did make an unethical switch, it feels pretty easy to diagnose what would have caused that. And the existence of creative control clauses in contracts don't make it as simple as "well just sack up and say no to Hogan."

Obviously I'm operating with very incomplete information though, and am interjecting lots of educated guesses.

I don't disagree with that at all, and no I'm pretty sure they never outright said it was for the title. I think the closest they came was a promo with Piper and maybe Flair, and Flair said something to the effect of this being Piper's last chance. I'll have to go back and look at your write ups and find it.

From my recollection, the basis of the whole build was "who's the bigger icon"? Piper arrived with a personal score to settle, and it never seemed like he was after a belt really. Then it became more personal after the nWo beat him down at WW3. It always felt like it was about whether or not Hogan could beat the guy he had never beaten. And since Piper explicitly disclaimed being part of WCW in kayfabe, it wasn't like snatching the belt away from Hogan got the WCW Title would get it back to WCW; it would just move it to a less hostile party who has also denounced membership in the main company. So in terms of implication, I just don't know how much customers really relied upon the hope of Piper becoming World Champion. I mean, maybe they did, but the underlying reasons for the match build didn't point in that direction.

But at the end of the day, I have to admit that a lot of my stance comes down to a refusal to feel bad for people who spent money on the primary basis of getting to see a Hogan-Piper title match in 1996.

It's at the top of this page in post #706 where it's actually Piper that says this is his last chance. Like I stated earlier it wasn't stated either way once throughout the whole build if it was for the title or not, but it was definitely implied the whole time. I think if I get a chance later today I'll skim through the show. I also think they implied it a lot too throughout the show but I might be wrong about that

Sounds a lot like classic "right arm doesn't know what the left arm is doing" WCW idiocy. In that infamous Tower of Doom match, Pillman was advertised and Schiavone even wondered out loud during the match why he wasn't there. Apparently they just didn't tell Tony that Pillman wasn't coming.

Again though, I really wouldn't have thought of the title when the "last chance" stuff was said. Piper had never pinned or caused Hogan to submit either as far as I know.

In the end, you might be right. Maybe back in 1996 my assumption of the title being up for grabs and feeling cheated still clouds my judgement today. M

I also don't have a problem with the match being non title. It's unusual and dumb kayfabe speaking, but I guess it fit. Just let people know ahead of time. But I guess if they would have been business savvy enough to do that, maybe they would have survived a lot longer.