WRESTLING 20 YEARS AGO PODCAST

Listen to our December 1997 WCW podcast, reviewing Starrcade.

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And so it had come to pass, after nearly 18 months of build we were finally here for Starrcade, for Hogan vs Sting. Whether the build had been perfect, whether they’d ran out of a bit of steam - honestly it didn’t really feel like it mattered any more. WCW in 1997 was a train with no breaks and seemingly no limits – it was frequently dull yet usually that didn’t matter, Nitro was the hot ticket in town and Hogan vs Sting was the match seemingly everyone wanted to see.  

You’d be forgiven, however, for thinking that Nitro in the lead up to the show might be rocking. December 1997 offered a lot of very tepid television, even the things that were noteworthy weren’t that good. Bret Hart made an effective if inauspicious WCW debut, landing a couple of nice lines on Eric Bischoff as he made himself the special guest referee in Bischoff’s match with Larry Zbyszko.  

Even the build to Hogan and Sting had ran out of any kind of legs. They’d changed gear a couple of months ago with the home stretch in sight but kind of ran out of ideas. The usual formula, Hogan would call out Sting, Sting wasn’t there. Then when Hogan “least” expected it, Sting would rock up. The final two Nitro’s ahead of the pay-per-view literally ended with “Sting’s walking towards Hogan… see you next week folks”.  

If there was one noteworthy thing on the TV ahead of the show it was the last 90 minutes. With WCW launching a second show (Thunder) in the New Year, they finally seemed to green-light the idea of creating an NWO only programme, despite all of the evidence that it would be a bad idea. To underscore this they did an NWO-takeover of Nitro. It was bad, that much was predictable, but the rating wasn’t so much. Nitro’s rating crashed by almost half a ratings point and for the first time in a year Nitro had conceded an entire hour to Raw. It would cause a change of course and finally bury any hopes of a NWO only show, thankfully, even if it was about five warnings too late. 


Dean Malenko vs Eddie Guerrero for the WCW Cruiserweight Title 
A good match in front of what was, for now at least, a hot crowd. But you can’t help but feel this was only good. The action was crisp – if there was one thing to say about the show this seemed to be the night of the *great* powerbombs. Malenko caught Guerrero coming off the top and just smashed him with one, then picked him up and hit another. I guess it just never gets out of third gear, that is to say it’s good but forgettable compared to the standards that we’ve come to expect from these two. Malenko hits another powerbomb, but Eddie gets on top and hits a frog splash to retain the title. 


Scott Hall comes out, he says that Kevin Nash won’t be here tonight. Nash had called in citing health/heart issues – something which could possibly have been true (and it certainly nothing to screw around with), but the timing of Nash’s absence put the kibosh on a match with Giant again. Hall, being the great friend that he is, took one for the team, antagonising Giant and eating a monster powerbomb.  


Scott Norton, Vincent and Randy Savage vs Ray Taylor and the Steiner Brothers (Rick and a short haired Scott with Ted DiBiase) 
So this was a weird one. Randy Savage, who wasn’t originally booked to be on this card, was asked to fill in after Konnan had issues getting to the show. Quite why Savage wasn’t on the show is anybody’s guess (he wasn’t the only one – neither was Rey Mysterio). Savage said he’d do the match, but only if he got to pin Scott Steiner. Scott, as you can imagine, wasn’t happy, and did very little to disguise that fact as he walked out.  

The match itself wasn’t much, despite their best efforts to crowbar some significance in the result that could influence what happened later in the card. Scott (Steiner) does at least get to get a few solid hits in as Vincent largely gets played as the rag-doll. He hits a Frankinsteiner off the top, Norton then electric chair drops him, Savage drops and elbow from the top and that will do that. After the match, there’s a sign in the front row that says “TRAYLOR WILL JOB FOR FOOD”. Vincent, surely? 


We get an announcement that Nick Patrick has been randomly selected to referee the main event. I’m sure that will end well.  

 
Bill Goldberg vs Steve McMichael  
A bad match… still short enough and Goldberg wins cleanly. They set a table up, after an age Mongo tamely falls through it (for an equally as tame “ECW” chant). Goldberg hits a jackhammer for the three.  


Perry Saturn vs Chris Benoit 
So Raven still isn’t fit, I’m not particularly convinced Saturn was either. Just the guy you want to wrestle when you’re not 100% - Benoit. Benoit is still great, but this is not a good use of him. The match is solid but it’s as much story as anything else as he has to fight off the rest of the Flock. Benoit puts in the crossface, here come the flock. Benoit hits a diving headbutt, before having to fight off the flock. There’s a big pop for a potential confrontation with Raven, but Raven twats him with a DDT, Saturn puts in the rings of Saturn and picks it up. 


Buff Bagwell vs Lex Luger 
Both of these guys are over, both of these guys have over finishers, both of these guys have good looks. However, they are not good wrestlers, and given 16 minutes (the longest match on the card) this was a bad, bad move. They flexed, they brawled a bit, they did just an endless set of rest holds (which seem to a set-piece of any Bagwell match). Savage comes out, Luger racks him, Norton comes out and hits Luger, Bagwell pins him for the win and nothing of much was lost – other than 15 minutes of my time.  

 
Curt Hennig vs Diamond Dallas Page for the WCW United States Title 
Another late change on a card full of them, as Flair wasn’t deemed fit enough to compete. This was probably an improvement on Flair and Henning, but not by that much. Fortunately, the crowd were into it, and the story is a good one – particularly with Hennig blocking the Diamond Cutter at every turn. Eventually though his resistance wears out, Page hits the Diamond Cutter for the clean win and a big crowd pop.  


Eric Bischoff (w/ Scott Hall) vs Larry Zbyszko (w/ Special Guest Referee Bret Hart) in a match for the control of Nitro 
There’s a case that in the final few weeks of Nitro this was actually built better than the main event and was, without question, the second most hyped match on the show. Bischoff allegedly had blown his knee out training for the match (something that neither made much sense as a lie nor seemed particularly true). Zbyszko looks in good shape for his age, Bischoff looks thin by comparison. 

This wasn’t really a comedy match, or good enough to be a serious one, such was the dancing around they did for most of the match. Bischoff throws a barrage of horrendous looking kicks and the story of the match, comedically enough, is that Zbyskzo is letting Bischoff wear himself out. You see, Bischoff is knackered, but at least it’s part of the story, right? 

Bret’s role in all of this was quite minor, there were teases that he might turn heel but it never materialised. His role was quite important in the finish, as Hall stuck a metal plate to Bischoff boot, only for it to go flying off before it made contact. That was the finish, so they kinda had to go with it, Zbyszko sold like he’d been shot, Bret smacks Bischoff then puts Hall in the sharpshooter and he taps. Zbyszko then chokes out Bischoff, Bret raises his hand and awards him the match.  
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Hulk Hogan vs Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Title 
After all the hype, I guess it was always expected it would be a little deflating at the start. Sting came out and didn't exactly look in great ring-shape, wearing his now-typical bodysuit. Hogan had spent 18 months scared shitless of even the sight of Sting, the bell rings and all of sudden... he's not anymore. Which was perhaps a necessity, but Hogan dominating the first half of the match was a bit jarring, if only that was the end of the problems.  

This was just a plain bad match. Sting looked in decent nick but also definitely wrestled like someone who hadn't worked much in 18 months, Hogan was on top most of the match, meaning it was pretty punch/kick heavy and not befitting the match of the century, or whatever WCW were promoting this as. In fact, apart from a Stinger splash on the outside – where Hogan moved and Sting smashed into the guardrail, there was nothing special about this match all.  

Save the finish... you see, they'd devised a plan where Hogan would do a leg drop on Sting and (despite Roddy Piper kicking out of two of them to almost zero fanfare in October) that would see Nick Patrick (uh huh!) do a fast count for a false finish and justifiable restart. Problem was... Patrick's count wasn't particularly fast, it was probably a bit more brisk than normal, but nothing to scream conspiracy or injustice. Hogan, had just won the match. 

Which, of course, wasn't the plan. We cut immeadiately to Bret Hart (who's randomly appeared at ringside) he said "we're not having this again" (not having what?). And restarts the match. With that, Sting hits a splash, puts  Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock and Hogan submits with Bret calling for the bell. 

WCW had screwed up the unscrewupabble. How much of it was their own doing, and how much of it was Hogan getting in Patrick's ear isn't entirely clear. But what should be said, really, is that slow count or not – this whole thing was a bad idea. Hell, Sting could've killed Hogan in 60 seconds and it would've been great. You could've done anything else and it probably would've been great.  

I think it's overly simplistic to say this was the beginning of the demise for WCW (even if it is right to say this was undoubtedly the peak) - in some respects the roots of the demise had already been formed. But WCW had an open goal here, and they missed. That much cannot be disputed.  

Score Rating: 2/10 
Go Back And Watch: You do need to see the main event, however bad it is. Everything else...  

Listen to our November 1997 WWF podcast, reviewing the Montreal Screwjob and all of the fall-out.

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“Bret Screwed Bret” – In some ways it was quite a weird pair of interviews on the third Raw of the month, a pre-taped effort that was filled in part with two extended sit-down interviews in a TV studio with Vince McMahon and JR. In the background, separating the pair, was a full portrait of Bret Hart. It does bear remembering how much the WWF focussed on Hart in the weeks following Survivor Series; perhaps they had no choice but it really does worth saying that the fallout of the screwjob threw the WWF out of whack.  

The interviews were just a bit weird. McMahon, still sporting a shiner from the punch that Bret levelled him with, pointed out the “lifelong wrestling tradition” of “passing it on” when you leave – which was about as overt as McMahon could get without saying “you should lose when you leave”. It was a wide-ranging interview that was clearly loaded (the “Bret screwed Bret” line was as a result, in part, of the opening question “did you ‘screw’ Bret Hart?”). Must-watch, but not in the sense you might think.  


Anvil Around Your Neck – Given that the two Raw’s that followed Survivor Series were taped in the two days following the show, it was only the final Raw of the month, taped live, where we could really get a gauge of what the WWF looked like in a post-Bret Hart work. They were still talking about Bret, as they would be into December, but with Owen Hart and the British Bulldog out of action, eyes turned to both Ken Shamrock and Rocky Maivia to oppose the WWF’s now two biggest stars – Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin respectively.  

The big angle on the show was Shawn Michaels promising a return and confrontation with Bret Hart – this turned out to be a dwarf dressed as Bret who summarily tapped out in the sharpshooter. Once he was done with out came Jim Neidhart, who the WWF were so confident WCW wouldn’t want in the aftermath of the screwjob was still working without a contract.  

Anvil was the defacto spokesmen of the now on life-support Hart Foundation. And him being the spokesperson given that was, by some distance, the worst talker of the group was probably a sign of what was to come. Anvil timidly said that Owen was mentally struggling with the events in Montreal, and Bulldog was nursing a knee injury – hardly the most scathing endorsement for a pair who at the time at least were both still under contract.   

Still, though, Michaels gave the Anvil an offer – to join Degeneration-X. Then following the main event they even teased an allegiance before Michaels and Helmsley turned on him. The whole thing left the one remaining Hart Foundation member looking like a complete dick. Of course, that was exactly the point, with the view that it would diminish any power he might have to draw in WCW. A couple of months later he would join WCW. No, he didn’t draw any money.  

 

Welcoming Party – On the 10th of November, the night after Survivor Series, WCW had a one hour lead on Monday Night Raw and, more importantly, they had an announcement to make. They of course, milked it for all it was worth, as the entire NWO came to the ring, welcomed back the returning Kevin Nash before the getting to the big deal. Bret Hart would be joining the NWO. Once Nash got his stuff about Giant out of the way, it was time for the announcement and singing the Canadian national anthem... badly.  

The announcement, in some ways, was quite botched. Bischoff announcement was more a blink and you’ll miss it, as he said “and Bret Hart, I know you’re a knockout kind of guy” – in reference to Bret knocking out Vince McMahon after Survivor Series. Hogan credited Bret for “passing the initiation” before the whole NWO sang the anthem – although Bischoff had to hand over the mic half way through as he couldn’t read the lyrics. All a bit... weird.  

 
Shuffling The Deck – In the list of “secondary” fall-out after the screwjob was just who didn’t turn up for the Raw tapings after the pay-per-view. Along with Bret, Owen and Bulldog was also the non-appearance of Mick Foley, who missed the first night but did at least come back for the second. It meant that not only was the WWF even lighter than normal on main event level talent. 

That left Michaels going back and forth with Ken Shamrock – a guy who the WWF were finally coming to some sort of uneasy equilibrium with having worked out they couldn’t present him as the killer they needed to (see Goldberg) – Steve Austin with Rocky “The Rock” Maivia – one very much ahead of it’s time and… continuing the them of young talent facing off, Hunter Hearst Helmsley going against… Sergeant Slaughter. Because, of course he was.  


When Your Pager Says Three One Six – In probably the only noteworthy WWF event in November that didn't directly involve or relate to Bret Hart was an Austin/Rock angle on the 29th. Demonstrating further Austin's ability to both dick around and be entertaining, Austin followed "ROCKY SUCKS" flickering on the Tron by appearing in the production truck: "When you look down at your beeper and see the 3:16 you know you're gonna get your ass whipped. Rock, is it live or is it Memorex?" With that Rocky looked down at his pager, then turned around to find Austin stood right behind him. Austin handed Rocky his ass before scarpering with the IC title in his possession.  

Listen to our November 1997 ECW podcast, reviewing November to Remember 1997.

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It had been a transitional period for ECW in the time since we'd seen them last on pay-per-view. After a show that was widely derided for its low-level of in-ring quality and the even lower level of lighting quality Paul Heyman sought to freshen up a roster than had become desperately lacking in better than average workers.  

Of course, that was before former owner Tod Gordon got involved in a deal with WCW that attempted to use Gordon's sway and contacts book as a way to attract essentially every member of the ECW active roster to Atlanta to help WCW expand from one weekly live show to two, as they would at the beginning of 1998. You can read more about how that all went down in the intro to my last ECW show review – As Good As It Gets.  

The transition after the pay-per-view had seen Shane Douglas return to the main event and Tommy Dreamer start a feud with Rob Van Dam defending ECW's honour against Van Dam and the WWF – despite the fact Van Dam hadn't appeared on WWF TV much since the original angles earlier in the year. Sabu and Sandman were paired together in a battle of two of ECW's bigger names and the tag division was going through its own reset, dominated by the The Dudleys and increasingly the FBI.  

The only major development since the September event was Shane Douglas losing his ECW Title to former Triple Threat stable-mate Bam Bam Bigelow. Bigelow's turn was as a result of Rick Rude – who's bizarre run in ECW in 1997 had finally found some kind of purpose, disassociating himself with Douglas and becoming the provider of a series of challengers subsequent to Douglas' title win. Guys like Phil LaFon and Al Snow were bought in by Rude as challengers. But Bam Bam defeated Douglas during a TV taping in New York. It was a strange match, strange in the sense that it was actually quite good – Bam Bam and Douglas seemed to pair well together, and the mish-mash of Douglas the heel and Bam Bam the face worked really well. 

That bought us to this show. We're in Monaca, Pennsylvania – about 250 miles west of Philadelphia and, perhaps more importantly, around 4 miles from where Shane Douglas was born. It might be preposterous to say, but I'm going to say it anyway, having the usually hated Douglas in his-home town was ECW's version of having the anti-American Bret Hart in Canada. That is to say, it's quite fun. 

 
Tommy Rogers vs Chris Candido 
A reminder of what in 1997-ECW I've called the "new-normal" - good wrestlers having good matches and that being their ceiling. That is to say this match was perfectly fine, at least it was while it was 1 vs 1 – Candido isn't really capable of having a stinker and neither is Rogers. There's a big spot early where a Candido apron suplex gets blocked only for Rogers to reverse it and suplex Candido straight to the floor. Candido comes off the top, gets caught in a sit-out powerbomb but is still able to kick out. Then out comes Lance Storm (who's on Candido's side as the soon-to-be third wheel of the Triple Threat) and Jerry Lynn to back up Rogers. The ref sees all this interference, Teddy Long's the whole thing and just calls for a tag match. So... 


Tommy Rogers and Jerry Lynn vs Chris Candido and Lance Storm 
… we just carry on. We get a couple of "dive onto all the bodies" spots from the top. Candido hits a sueprbomb from the top which Rogers just about breaks up. Rogers hits a tomakaze (spinning spike neckbreaker) onto Storm which leaves us with the original two left. Candido hits a norther lights suplex – bridges a pin and wins the match. Nice, harmless, not especially memorable but file it under: good opener. 


Justin Credible (w/ Jason) vs Mikey Whipwreck 
Well, colour me surprised. Firstly, former ECW Champion Mikey Whipwreck is back after seemingly 18 months on the sidelines with a string of injuries. Secondly – he actually won, ending Credible's undefeated run since debut. The match wasn't much of note, the crowd were very flat for it for the most part. Credible hits a sunset flip from the top and Mikey channels former challenger Steve Austin by countering a sleeper with a jawbreaker. Mikey throws Jason into Credible who's on the turnbuckle, causing him to lose his footing. Mikey hits a sitout stunner for the three. Surprise.  


We cut backstage to see Al Snow shouting at a mannequin. Snow says "the head screwed the head" and Joey Styles fumbles over a line suggesting that snow had just got a bit of head in the locker-room. Of course. 


Taz vs Pitbull 2 (with Pitbull 1 and Lance Wright and his "entourage" - one absolutely giant-by-ECW standards guy) 
Paul Heyman is on commentary, I'm not particularly sure why. A typical short Taz match, he gets beaten up for a bit, decides he's going to stop selling, hits a few suplexes and then puts his opponent down in the Tazmission. After the match, Taz picks a fight with a security guy (Heyman's appearance seemingly is for this bit). Heyman says "Oh great, another lawsuit" as Taz puts him in the Tazmission and Heyman quickly calls for them to air anything else.  


The Dudley Boys (D’von and Buh Buh Ray w/ Joel Gertner and Big Dick Dudley) vs The FBI (Little Guido and Tracy Smothers w/ Tommy Rich) vs The Gangstinators (John Kronus and New Jack) vs Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten 
This was... not great. After a typically long and quite funny intro promo from Joel Gertner, we start the match without Kronus and New Jack – who come out shortly afterwards. ECW give them the treatment they usually give the Gangstas where they play music right throughout their match (something that I suspect hasn't aged well in the overdubs of the WWE Network).  

 
Rob Van Dam (w/ Bill Alfonso) vs Tommy Dreamer (w/ Beulah McGillicutty) in a Flag Match 
Tommy Dreamer matches really do have a ceiling… they’re pretty predictable, pretty one dimensional but sometimes predictable is fine. And that’s what this was. The “flag” stip wasn’t actually a case of having flags on a pole, but more about marking your territory; Fonzie and Van Dam had been parading around with the WWF flag and obvious Dreamer was Mr ECW so who better to represent the force?

We get a lot of vintage Dreamer early doors, lots of guardrail spots as fans chant “Van Dam swallows”. Dreamer is wrestling with a protective cast on his foot – of course he is – it makes no discernible difference to his wrestling style as he puts Van Dam in a tree of woe and does a running dropkick into a chair. We get the dodgy ref involved, as are multiple others. Beulah gets involved, kicks him in the bollocks, the two refs put him down then Fonzie does a double low blow on them – Beulah takes care of Fonzie.  

We that spot that’s been GIFd since when Dreamer piledrives Van Dam and Van Dam somehow gets huge air off of it. Despite Beulah counting the pin, Van Dam kicks out. Dreamer hits a DDT, then Doug Furnas, Phil LaFon and (of all people) Stevie Richards come out. Stevie busts out a superkick, Van Dam hits a frog splash from the top and wins.  


Sabu vs The Sandman in a Tables and Ladders match 
A properly barmy match. That’s not to say it was good, or to say it was bad just… fucking out there. We start the match with a table on each side of the ring bridging the gap between the apron and the guardrail – they’ll come in handy. Sandman dives off the turnbuckle through one of the tables, Sabu seemed to be on the move but they both go crashing through it.  

Sabu lays Sandman on a table on the aisleway, then goes on the turnbuckle and attempts to use a ladder as a pole vault… he missed. Sandman, if I’m being polite by his own standards, isn’t all with it during this match. At one point Sabu gets on the top rope and sets for something, Sandman staggers into the ladder propped against the ropes and completely fucks the spot.  

Sandman puts the ladder on top of Sabu, then hits the one move he’s shockingly good at (a rolling senton from the top) onto the ladder. We get another table spot with Sabu putting Sandman through one on the floor, then a fireball spot that Sandman apparently “blocked”. Sandman goes through another table, before Sabu finishes it off with an atomic Arabian facebuster using a ladder (rather than a chair). And absolutely crazy match. That’s not necessarily a compliment but it really was out there.  


Bam Bam Bigelow vs Shane Douglas (w/ Francine) for the ECW Heavyweight Title 
I’m perhaps overstating it, but I think after three pay-per-views in 1997 ECW had finally found a match worthy of the name.  Watching Douglas in the weeks leading up to the show as the ultimate heel in Philadelphia, only for him to turn up as the babyface underdog in his home town.  I mean, any match where the fans are chanting “We love Francine” is worthy of the mention. 

The atmosphere was the match though, with Douglas the favourite it basically gave them cart blanche to have Bam Bam dominate most of the match. It’s only when Douglas is able to powerbomb Bam Bam through a table (throwing Bam Bam from the turnbuckle) where the match even has a semblance of parity. Douglas hits a belly to belly, but starts selling as the ECW fans rally behind him. Bam Bam assembles a broken piece of table across two chairs, Douglas hits a belly to belly through it and gets the quick pin for the win and once again to become the new ECW champion. This was surprisingly good. The perfect setting and the perfect match for what it was. 

Score Rating: 5/10 
Go Back and Watch: The final two matches.