SlyGuy21
1st Match: Diamond Dallas Page vs Johnny B. Badd, WCW World TV Championship, Winner gets The Diamond Doll. Ah yes, another one of these "People as Property" matches. Even though this is like the 18th meeting between the two this year, the match is better than their other outings. Their are some good spots, and DDP losing clean is refreshing. Rating: 3.5/52nd Match: Big Bossman vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Taped Fist match. Because tape is the hardest substance known to man, this is just a brawl. Some of the blows sound bad when they connect, but it's just two brawlers going at it for 10 minutes, nothing more. I wouldn't say it's slow, just unnecessary. Rating: 2.5/5 3rd Match: Bull Nakano and Akira Hokuto vs Mayumi Ozaki and Cutie Suzuki. WCW's been on this Japan train for some time. I appreciate the new talent, but there's nothing to elevate this match above "OK" for me. Yeah there are some good spots, and the crowd's into it at times, but the match, like the previous, feels like it's just there to fill time. Rating: 3/5 4th Match: Chris Benoit vs Kensuke Sasaki, WCW US Heavyweight Championship. About time we get a Benoit match again, I've missed these so much. Great technical wrestling here, with some good spots, and back and forth action. I got 12 years of Benoit matches to look forward to, and I can't wait. Rating: 4/5 5th Match: Randy Savage vs Lex Luger. This match exists, that is all. Savage dominates early on, until he gets the Torture Rack put on him. After that he gets hit with the "Armlock of Death" and submits. Savage is better than this man. At least the match is short. Rating: 1/5 6th Match: Ric Flair vs Sting. Another solid match between these two. Not the best match of either's career, but a good bounce back from the match before it. If Flair is still able to have a good match, than so is Savage. Rating: 3.5/5 7th Match: 60-Man World War 3 match for the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship. This is a cluster. Three rings, 60 men, and next to nothing interesting happens for the first half of the match. The second half has the final guys hitting their signature moves, but the match ends in controversy, thus defeating the whole purpose of the match. Hogan gets thrown out, but not over the top rope, so Savage is declared the winner, only to be questioned by Hogan. Want to find out what happens next? Tune into a 22 year old episode of "Nitro" to find out. The match could've been entertaining, but overbooking killed it. There are some good moments, but the bad outweighs the good. Rating: 2/5 Final Rating: 6 out of 10. I think this is only the second "Above Meh" PPV from WCW this year, and the only reason is because of the undercard. How did WCW make it to 1996 with booking like this? The show isn't "bad", but it's so "OK" that it's not worth your time.R.I.P Chris Benoit&R.I.P Eddie Guerrero
callanvass
Live from Norfolk, VAYour commentators are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Eric Bischoff, Dusty Rhodes, Chris Cruise, and Larry ZbyszkoHulk Hogan is with Sting and Randy Savage. Hogan is back to wearing the red and yellow attire and calls Sting and Randy Savage his only true friends.Television TitleJohnny B Badd (C) Vs Diamond Dallas Paige (W/The Diamond Doll)Kimberly is sick of DDP's crap, so the winner gets The Diamond Doll's services. Badd retains the title and wins the services of The Diamond Doll with a slingshot leg drop. You can't ask for more when it comes to openers. It wasn't all Badd this time because DDP was vastly improving in the ring. These two just seem to click when they wrestle. The melodrama with Kimberly/DDP/Badd is slightly silly, but that's wrestling for you. I'd fight for Kimberly's services too. ***1/2Taped Fist MatchBig Bubba Rogers Vs Hacksaw Jim DugganBig Bubba is The Big Bossman. V.K Wallstreet (I.R.S) interferes and hands Bubba a chain. Bubba drills Duggan with it and knocks Duggan out to win the match. This match is the definition of awful. If I wanted to watch a match of nothing but punches, I'd watch boxing. Because of all the punches, this match is extremely boring to watch. Both men were past their prime at this point anyway. DUDCutie Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki Vs Bull Nakano & Akira HokutoNakano and Hokuto win when Nakano hits a leg drop from the top. This match was nothing but action. It was non-stop right from the outset, featuring one spectacular move after another. It was very entertaining overall.***1/4United States ChampionshipKensuki Sasaki (C) (W/Sony Onoo) Vs Chris BeniotSasaki retains the title with a brainbuster. I'd say this match was just above average. I found Sasaki's offense to be somewhat boring and it kinda dragged the match down a bit. Whenever Beniot was on offense, the pace really picked up. The crowd was dead for most of the match. **1/4Randy Savage Vs Lex Luger (W/Jimmy Hart)Luger wins by submission with an arm hold. Luger keeps the hold applied after the match until Sting comes down and convinces Luger to break the hold. This was a pretty boring match that ended rather abruptly. Most of it consisted of boring brawling. Luger getting a clean win was rather surprising.*1/4Ric Flair Vs StingSting wins clean by submission with The Scorpion Deathlock. Another really good matches from these two, what else is new? These two can wrestle in their sleep and probably get at least ** stars from me. There is one thing that annoys me, though. Flair keeps going for the chop, despite that it NEVER works on Sting. ***1/460 Man Battle Royal for the WCW Heavyweight ChampionshipThe participants are Arn Anderson, Alex Wright, Brian Knobbs, Ricky Barrio, David Taylor, Scott Armstrong, Sting, Joey Maggs, Pez Whatley, Disco Inferno, Meng, Stevie Ray, Mark Star, Sgt. Lee Parker, Lt. James Earl, Lex Luger, Eddie Guerrero, Cobra, The Giant, Paul Orndorff, Chris Kanyon, Bobby Walker, Bobby Eaton, Chris Beniot, Randy Savage, Marcus Bagwell, The Yeti, Kurasawa, Hugh Morris, Zodiac, V.K Wallstreet, Diamond Dallas Paige, Scott Norton, Brian Pillman, Sgt. Craig Pittman, One Man Gang, Cerebral Assassin #2, Mr. J.L, Bunkhouse Buck, Kensuki Sasaki, Mike Winner, The Shark, Steve Armstong, Road Warrior Hawk, Dave Sullivan, Scotty Riggs, Johnny B Badd, Big Train Bart, Steven Regal, Dick Slater, Max Muscle, Cerebral Assassin #1, Fidel Barrio, Kevin Sullivan, Jerry Saggs, Jim Duggan, Booker T, Big Bubba Rogers, Ric Flair, and Hulk HoganI'm not a fan of battle royals so I'm not looking forward to this. I'm expecting a bit of a train wreck. There are three rings to hold all the wrestlers. Randy Savage wins the Battle Royal to become the new WCW Champion, but Hulk Hogan was never officially eliminated. Hogan, like the selfish jerk he is, complains incessantly about it to the officials. The issue will be resolved on Nitro. This was a complete waste of time. This Battle Royal was done to end the controversy about the WCW Title, yet they go and create more. It was hard to pay attention because of the Three Screens at times and it lacked action. *1/2Overall, this is a pretty good show if you cut the Battle Royal. Three matches of *** plus is nothing to sneeze at. But the crap at the main event is one of the reasons why WCW went out of business. P.S....Hogan is a jerk.
