WCW Superbrawl VI 2/11/1996

WCW Superbrawl VI 2/11/1996

We are in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes are on commentary. They talk about the show.

Falls Count Anywhere Tag Team Match - The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) vs. The Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge & Rocco Rock)

The four brawl in the ring and Knobbs is thrown out hard. Saggs is then thrown out and rolls down the steps. JG comes off the apron at Knobbs and gets a drink thrown in his face. JG is then sent into the post. Rock brings a table out. He rams Saggs with it but Saggs chairs him several times. Rock's head is banged off the edge of the table and Saggs kicks him. Saggs chairs JG hard then JG returns the favor. 

Rock is thrown off the apron through a table. Saggs grabs a trash can and rams the lid into JG's face. Knobbs hits Rock with a table piece. Knobbs' head is banged off the rails. Saggs piledrivers JG onto a trash can for 2.

JG hits Saggs with a trash can lid several times. Knobbs suplexes Rock through a table in the concession area. JG hits Saggs with the can lid many times. Knobbs then chairs Rock hard. Rock chairs Saggs and Knobbs takes a trash can lid shot. Saggs takes a bulldog onto an unfolded chair.

Knobbs hits both opponents with a trash can lid. Rock throws a trash can at Saggs and Saggs chairs him. Saggs drops a table onto Rock. Saggs takes weapons shots from both opponents. 

Knobbs gets his head beaten with a trash can lid. Rock gets in the stands and misses a swanton onto a table on Knobbs. Knobbs slams a table down on Rock and wins.

Thoughts: I absolutely loved the series between these teams as kid. These four just beat the crap out of each other with endless chair and trash can lid shots. No, they didn't really sell any of them, but they did everything else right. This was really wild by 1996 standards and despite its issues, I thought it was a good fight and really helped pave the way for hardcore style matches. These two teams were just perfect for this environment.

The Nasties beat up JG after and JG fights back. The Nasties then walk back towards the ring to celebrate.

Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Konnan. Kon says he won't let the people down and talks in Spanish. He says he faced One Man Gang before and says he's the one who should be watching out.

WCW World Television Title Match - Johnny B. Badd (c) vs. Diamond Dallas Page

This one has DDP's $6.6 million (from the lottery) on the line vs Badd's TV title and control of The Diamond Doll. Doll does a big dance for Badd as he comes out. DDP comes out with roses and tries to give them to Doll. DDP grabs her and Badd nails DDP.

DDP is sent into the rails then he stomps on Badd. DDP clubs Badd's chest and Badd snapmares him over the top to the floor. Badd double axe handles him from the apron. Badd slingshot legdrops DDP. DDP snapmares Badd twice and Badd armdrags him. Badd backslides DDP for 2 and tries pin attempts.

DDP knees Badd in the gut. Badd leapfrogs him then DDP stun guns him. DDP elbows Badd in the gut. DDP gutbusters Badd. Badd sunset flips him but DDP holds on and punches him. DDP does a cocky pin and Badd gets a 2 count on him. DDP stomps on Badd.

DDP does a floatover ddt on a hiptoss attempt. DDP wants the doll to give him a 10. She gives him a 0 and hits him with it. DDP chinlocks him and uses the ropes. Badd backrolls DDP for 2.

Badd hits shots and trips DDP. Badd hits more punches and drops him. Badd top rope double axe handles him. Badd top rope diving sunset flips DDP. Badd sitout powerbombs him for 2. DDP pulls Badd's throats over the top rope. DDP misses a corner charge and is rolled up for 2. DDP uses the ropes to get a 2 count. 

DDP hits a tombstone on Badd for 2. DDP sleepers Badd and Badd jawbreakers him. Badd gets on DDP's back with a sleeper. Badd tombstones DDP and wins.

Thoughts: The work was okay but it went on too long. I thought they kind of lost the flow of this one early on and the crowd wasn't hot enough to make up for it.  

Badd then gives DDP's lottery money check to The Diamond Doll like a real dummy.

Mean Gene interviews Harlem Heat. Stevie says Lex Luger committed gran larceny and they will get him. Stevie says the hitlist is out for him and Sting. Stevie says his team will own the gold tonight. Booker calls Lex and Sting "sissified suckas" and punks. Booker tells them to watch their back and says they refuse to leave without the tag titles. 

The commentators talk about the next match.

WCW World Tag Team Title Match - Lex Luger & Sting (c) vs. Harlem Heat (Booker T & Stevie Ray)

The winner gets The Roadwarriors later in the show. Lex is outside and seems to be having issues with Sting. Booker hits knees on Sting's gut in the corner and hits forearms. Sting lariats Booker and headlock takeovers him. Booker headscissors him. Lex hits shots on Booker. Booker boots him out of the corner and forearms him over.

Lex takes a double back elbow and goes out. Ray beats up on Sting then nails Lex on the apron. Sting hiptosses Ray then dropkicks him. Ray thumbs Sting in the eye. Booker side headlocks Sting.  Sting hits shots on Ray and bulldogs him. Lex boots Ray in the gut and knee lifts him. Lex backdrops Ray for 2. Lex misses an elbow drop. Booker clubs on Lex and misses an elbow drop. Booker jumping side kicks Lex. Ray slams Lex and pounds on him. Lex's throat is pulled down over the top and Ray legdrops Lex.

Ray hits a hard lariat on Lex for 2. Lex running lariats Ray. Ray powerbombs Lex for 2. Ray trap holds Lex. Booker scissors kicks Lex. Ray hits shots on Lex in the gut. Lex is double teamed and Sting beats up on Heat to stop it. Sting corner splashes Booker then Ray pulls Sting over the top.

The Roadwarriors come out. Animals nails Ray in the gut with a piece of lead and Lex picks up the pin on Ray.

Thoughts: We were told The RW's were going to make sure Sting and Lex won and they kept their promise. The match was average. There was nothing wrong with it but it wasn't great and we just didn't get a lot of exciting moments out of it. The lead shot in the gut also didn't look great.

Mean Gene interviews Sting and Lex Luger after. Gene says Lex knows what went on. Lex says he held up his end of the bargain as he promised. He said he told him so and said they are the tag champs. Sting is asked if he saw what happened but he didn't see it and thinks they won clean.

WCW United States Heavyweight Title Match - Konnan (c) vs. The One Man Gang

Gang hits Kon from behind and clubs on him. Gang foot chokes him. Kon goes up and over and dropkicks Gang in the knee. Kon spinning heel kicks Gang. Kon dropkicks Gang off the buckles. Kon crossbodies Gang out of the ring and they roll down the steps. 

Kon cannonballs Gang off the apron. Gang legdrops Kon. Gang chokes Kon. Gang hits a punch and side slams him. Gang hits some splashes on Kon in the corner. Kon hits shots to the gut and the head. Gang knees him in the gut then stomps him.

Gang pulls on Kon's mouth on the ropes. Kon hits shots to the gut. Gang hits elbows to Kon's neck then rakes his face. Kon hits a flurry of shots then Gang kind of diving headscissors him off the buckles. Gang hits dropkicks. Gang avoids a dropkick and the crowd laughs at Kon. Gang splashes Kon. Gang doesn't even come close on a missed 2nd rope splash. Kon cannonballs him off the buckles and wins.

Thoughts: This wasn't good. They both had some bad misses here and they had a boring match with meaningless punches. The crowd didn't care at all either.

Mean Gene interviews The Roadwarriors. Animal says it's an eye for an eye in WCW. Animal says Lex brought this on himself and says Sting made a mistake believing in Lex. Animal says to be prepared for tonight. Hawk apologizes to Harlem Heat...not. He says too bad for them. He says they will detach Sting and Lex's retina's and a lot of other nasty things. Hawk says they started it and they will end it. Hawk says they don't know what they are doing when the mess with The LOD.

I Respect You Strap Match - Brian Pillman vs. "The Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan

BP runs into the ring and whips Task. Task takes him down and BP whips him. Task bites the leg and BP whips him hard with the strap. Task hits a hard punch on BP. BP grabs the mic and says, "I respect you, Bookerman". He then leaves. Taskmaster wins by countout?

Thoughts: What we got of this was good with the two making it look real.. BP's line was a worked shoot and ended up being the last time he was in WCW. I didn't like him breaking kayfabe or suggesting Task was a booker since he was in no way one on TV. I also didn't like the match only being a few minutes long as we got baited and switched here.

Arn Anderson comes out in non-wrestling attire and Jimmy Hart follows. Task whips Arn and Arn is now going to do this match instead of BP.

I Respect You Strap Match - Arn Anderson vs. "The Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan

They whip each other with the belt. Arn hits some nice punches in the corner then whips him with the belt. Arn ties up Task and stomps on him. Task pulls the strap into Arn's crotch then whips him with it.

Task whips him more and stomps his hand. Arn knee drops him in the nuts. Arn hangs Task with the strap and Task refuses to say he respects him. Task pulls Arn over the top with the strap. Task then pulls him into the post with the strap.

Task whips him then is pulled into the post with the strap. Arn chokes him with the strap. Arn goes up top and is pulled down. Ric Flair comes out with Jimmy Hart. Ric calls for a stop to this. Ric gets on the mic. He says they proved nothing and says lets get ready to kick Hulk's and Savage's butts. Ric says, "united we stand, divided we fall". He tells Macho and Hulk and it didn't work and says they destroy Hulk. Ric says he will take Macho's belt and Liz. Ric then hugs the two of them and says they are a team. Arn says he would get in the bed with the devil himself to get to Hulk and Macho. Task and Arn then shake hands.

Thoughts: Well, this sucked. Don't get me wrong, the wrestling we got between these two was good but the angle made this whole thing with Pillman/Sullivan/Arn a waste of time. Sullivan turned on Arn and Pillman just to make friends with Arn in the end and to go back to fighting Macho and Hulk.

The Giant and Jimmy Hart are interviewed by Mean Gene. Hart says Hulk has one hour before he gets in the cage with The Giant. He says Hulk is finished forever. Giant says today will be a day of reckoning. He says he's been in The Dungeon of Doom in the darkest deepest reaches of the soul. He says the evil is building in him and is ready to erupt like a volcano on Hulk. He says the last thing that will go in Hulk's mind is his fist. He says Hulk can't run or hide, he can just know Hulkamania is through forever. Hart said he doesn't need to need to be in the cage tonight. He says there's more Thunder in Paradise for Hulk or seeing him in WCW. Gene mentions Hulk then Giant comes back in and yells at him.

WCW World Tag Team Title Match - Lex Luger & Sting (c) vs. The Road Warriors (Road Warrior Animal & Road Warrior Hawk)

Lex goes to enter and backs off. The LOD go after him. Sting then talks to Lex in the entrance area. Lex stalls outside more and refuses to get in. Hawk goes after him in the aisle but the ref stops him. They push that Lex is scared to death.

Hawk side headlocks Sting then shoulders him over. Hawk dropkicks Sting. Sting rolls out down the steps. Hawk follows Sting around the ring. Sting kicks him and bangs his head off the rails. Hawk botches a neckbreaker on Sting but Sting no sells it so it works. Hawk stf's Sting.

Hawk hits shots on Sting then bangs his head off the buckles. Animal wristlocks Sting and yanks on the arm. Animal armlocks Sting. Sting clubs on Animal. Lex and Animal fight. Lex is still refusing to fight. He hits shots on Animal. Animal bangs Lex's head off the buckles and facekicks him. Animal powerslams Lex for 2. Hawk corner lariats Lex then hits corner punches.

Hawk corner lariats Lex and drops him. Lex is thrown out and sent into the rails. Lex hits Hawk from behind then running lariats him for 2. Sting boots Hawk in the gut. Sting suplexes Hawk for 2. Sting headlock takeovers him. Sting and Animal collide then Sting falls down and headbutts Animal in the crotch on accident.

Lex begs to get in and pounds on Animal while he's hurt. Lex atomic drops him. Sting clubs on Animal. Sting facebusters him. Sting goes for a top rope splash but Animal gets his legs up.

Hawk and Lex get in and flying shoulders Lex. Hawk legdrops Lex for 2 then fist drops him. Lex is put in a sleeper but gets out with a jawbreaker. Animal and Sting fight. Sting hits a stinger splash on Animal. Sting goes for the scorpion deathlock and Hawk breaks it up. Hawk stomps on Sting.

For the third time in this show, Tony tells Heenan when he says something that they talked about it already. Sting rolls up Hawk for 1 and is lariated over. Animal chinlocks Sting and cranks his head.

Sting suplexes Animal. Animal no sells it. Animal then suplexes Sting and Sting no sells it. Sting poses at animal. Animal dropkicks him. Sting takes a double back elbow. 

Lex's head is banged off the steps as the fight goes outside four all 4 men. Animal and Lex fight in the aisle and the match goes to a double countout.

Thoughts: The story was intriguing here and well done. The only problem was they didn't fully explain it. Going into this, Lex did not want to give The Roadwarriors a title shot. They never fully went into why though. Lex refused to get in and picked his spots against The Warriors, clearly not wanting anything to do with them. One would hope this would end with Lex getting caught and getting destroyed but we never got to it as we had a non-finish. Hopefully we get a proper ending to this. Maybe it wasn't the greatest match workrate wise, but storyline wise it was great, the in-ring work was enough and I liked this.

The four then fight to the back after.

Mean Gene interviews Ric Flair and Woman. Woman says what she wants she gets. Ric says Hulk's master plot of turning Sullivan on Arn didn't work. Ric says the cage goes down tonight. He says he will bleed and sweat and says he might take Liz home. He says there will be blood, sweat and tears and a title change. Gene asks if there will be a ride on Space Mountain if he wins. He says he will have Woman on his left and Liz on his right but he won't tell anyone who he will be with tonight.

Dusty says he has never seen Flair so pumped. Heenan says Savage's run is over tonight.

Mean Gene interviews Miss Elizabeth. Macho comes in. He says The Mega Powers are together once again. He says Flair has no idea what will happen tonight but he does. He says it'll be complete mental insanity. Macho says they have united the forces into infinity and beyond. He says he will beat up Flair tonight. 

WCW World Heavyweight Title Steel Cage Match - "Macho Man" Randy Savage (c) vs Ric Flair

Michael Buffer does the intros for this. Ric has Woman with him and Macho has Miss Elizabeth with him. Ric gets on the mic before the match. He offers Liz one last chance to kiss a real man. Macho says, "oooh no".

Macho eye rakes Ric then hits corner punches. Ric chops him then takes punches. Macho goes for the pin but the ref is shutting the door. Ric snapmares him then knee drops him in the head. Macho is sent into the cage and hangs from it. Ric punches out the ref then stomps him. Macho backslides him but the ref is out and can't count.

Macho back body drops Ric and hits lariats. Macho stands on Ric's head. Macho is sent into the cage. Ric punches and back elbows Macho. Ric chops Macho then back elbows him. Ric punches him down. Ric snapmares him. Macho throws Ric off the buckles. Macho then figure fours Ric. Ric ropebreaks but the ref kicks Ric's arm away since this is no DQ and therefore no breaks.

Macho punches Ric down for 2. Macho slams Ric. Macho goes up to the top of the cage and jumps off. Ric nails him with a punch to the gut as he comes down. Ric suplexes him.  Ric throws Macho into the cage and Macho gets stuck on the cage/ropes.

Ric figure fours him and holds onto the ropes for more leverage. Ric goes for the figure four again and Macho cradles him for 2. They trade shots in the corner. Ric is sent into the cage twice. Macho rakes Ric's face on the cage. Macho bangs Ric's head off the cage. Ric atomic drops him.

Ric goes up top to climb the cage. Macho pulls his tights down which the camera's desperately try to avoid showing. Ric is then crotched up top. Macho goes for the pin and it's 2 but the bell is rang on accident. Macho chokes Ric and Ric low blows him. 

Ric chokes him. Ric goes up to the top and gets his tights pulled down again. Macho bangs Ric's head off the cage. Macho and Ric both take hard falls down. Ric is sent hard into the cage. Ric climbs the cage again and Macho bangs Ric's head off the cage. The cage door falls open somehow. The ref tries to close the door again.

Ric and Macho trade in shots in the corner. Ric back body drops Macho into the cage. Woman gets powder outside she throws it at Macho but he ducks and seems to mostly avoid it. Miss Elizabeth then hands Ric her heel. Ric nails Macho with it and pins him.

Thoughts: I had seen this show about 20 years ago but I didn't fully remember it. I knew Liz turned on Macho at some point and it turned out to be here. But why? I have no idea. She just returned and was allied with Hulk and Macho. I can tell you that her heel was also used on Nitro 1/29/96 with Arn/Jimmy Hart grabbing her heel and Ric using it on Hulk. So that was a good callback.

The match was built like an epic brawl. It was a slugfest and the two just stuck to the basics for the most part. It worked but it needed a great finish to put this one over the top and didn't quite get there. It was a slower paced match and had a big match feeling to it. I thought the match was good but I didn't like the ending. These two have had quite a history with them trading the title back and forth over the last few months and their prior history in the WWF with Liz and this was yet another chapter in it. I'm curious as to what happens next.

Arn Anderson comes out and celebrates with Ric in the cage. Hulk Hogan comes out and chases Liz/Woman away. Hulk chairs Arn then Ric leaves before getting hit. Arn then leaves too. Hulk, a ref, someone else and Doug Dillinger help Macho out after.

Mean Gene interviews Hulk, whose eye is all bandaged. Hulk says the last thing he thought was Liz would stab Macho in the back. Hulk says maybe it goes back to them separating 4 years ago or other things he doesn't understand. He says Liz is a turncoat and says even though she didn't do it, she was the one who put the heel in Macho's eye. He says Liz's heel also was used in his eye and it came off a little too easy. They talk about The Giant. Hulk says his match his unsanctioned and the ref will be outside. He says the only way to survive is to go through the door or go over the top. Hulk says he can see to the front and the right and says the fans and God will guard his blindside.

Steel Cage Match - Hulk Hogan vs. The Giant

Michael Buffer does the intros for this. Jimmy Hart and Kevin Sullivan are with Giant. Hulk eye rakes Giant and gets loud "Hogan sucks" chants. Hulk pounds on Giant and bites him. Hulk chokes him with tape. Hulk hits punches on Giant then does corner punches. Hulk bites Giant in the corner then chokes him with a shirt.

Giant clubs on Hulk's back then boots him. Giant elbows him in the back of the neck. Giant double knuckle locks Hulk then kicks him. Giant bangs Hulk's head off the cage then chokes Hulk with the shirt. Giant boots Hulk in the gut and elbow drops him on the neck. Giant chops Hulk and pulls off Hulk's eye bandage. Giant bites Hulk then slams him. Giant misses an elbow drop. Hulk hits punches on Giant. Hulk tries to slam Giant but Giant falls on him. Giant foot chokes Hulk. 

Giant boots Hulk in the gut then stomps his back. Hulk is sent into the cage. Giant suplexes Hulk. Hulk is sent into the cage. Giant bearhugs Hulk. Hulk fights out as expected. Giant boots Hulk in the gut. Giant chokeslams Hulk. Hulk is down but then hulks up. Hulk hits punches on Giant then throws him into the cage several times.

Hulk double throat thrusts Giant then hits a big boot. Hulk eye rakes him then hits a big slam. Hulk hits 3 leg drops. The Giant then gets right back up. Hulk climbs the cage and both Giant and Hulk fight on the top rope. Giant is knocked off the top and Hulk climbs over the cage. Hulk drops to the floor and wins.

Thoughts: It was a long match and wasn't that good. The match structure, logic and idea of it was fine but it went long, it was slow and there wasn't a lot here but various strikes. This also got hurt because it followed Macho/Flair which was similar and better. Hulk won as expected here.

Kevin Sullivan chairs Hulk as soon as he lands on the floor. Hulk grabs the chair and Kevin tries to run. Hulk throws Kevin in the ring and holds up the chair. The Giant wakes up and Hulk is cornered 2v1. Meng, Barbarian, Hugh Morrus, Shark, One Man Gang and The Zodiac come out. Hulk hits all of them with a chair. The Giant and Sullivan leave despite having a massive advantage. The Loch Ness Monster then comes out. The Dungeon all leaves and holds Loch Ness from getting in to close the show.

Thoughts: You just know Hulk Hogan came up with that ending. Hulk fought off an 8 on 1 just with a chair. The heels all left on their own accord and all of them looked like total wimps. They then stopped The Loch Ness Monster from coming in for unknown reasons which further buried them. This was an absolute burial for The Dungeon of Doom and this was some of Hulk at his worst.

Overall thoughts: It was a long show with the second half of this being pretty slow. The main and the angle after stunk. The semi-main was good but had a bad ending with Miss Elizabeth turning on Macho for unknown reasons. I liked the Sting/Lex vs Roadwarriors title match but you really have to see the TV leading up to it to get the logic of it or else you will hate it. Still, the finish to it was disappointing. The "I Respect You" matches had 2 bad endings and broke kayfabe. Konnan/Gang wasn't good. Harlem Heat/Sting and Lex was average with a bad ending. DDP/Badd went too long and the opener was a wild hardcore brawl that I enjoyed. It was a weird show overall and I can't really give it a good rating. There was too much bad stuff to override the good of Macho/Flair, LOD/Lex and Sting and Public Enemy/The Nasties. I'd give this a 4 out of 10 total and this was yet another WCW PPV from this era that had some really bad stuff on it.

WCW Starrcade 1995: World Cup of Wrestling 12/27/1995

WCW Starrcade 1995: World Cup of Wrestling 12/27/1995

Pre-show thoughts: Going into this as someone who has only been watching Nitro, I legit have no clue what the card is outside of three-way and the world title match. They didn't mention it at all, yet alone actually try to build up some of the various Japanese guys.  That was poorly done. But, the two top matches are what are going to draw people and should be focused on the most. Nitro has been all about the drama between Lex/Hulk/Sting/Macho and little else.

They used Japanese style graphics for the card run-down here which was cool. The card doesn't really resemble what has been going on at Nitro at all.

Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes are on commentary.

Dusty says the magnitude of Starrcade is immeasurable. He says we will see some clubberin' and hiney-kicking. Dusty says Sting will have to make a stand in the triangle match and said he can't think of a better place to be. Heenan says Savage is in trouble with a bad arm and back and says Flair will be the next champ.

World Cup Of Wrestling Match #1 - Chris Benoit vs Jushin Liger

Liger is with Sonny Ono. Dusty calls him "Sonny Bono". CB throws him down off the lock-up. CB side headlocks him. CB shoulders him over and Liger hits armdrags. Liger dropkicks him and baseball slides him. Liger then cannonballs him off the apron.

CB tries to take him down off the double knuckle lock. Liger is rolled and headscissors him. Liger then koppo kicks him. CB tilt-a-whirl backbreakers him. Liger armdrags him and hits an overhead belly to belly suplex. Liger dropkicks him out.

CB hits a snap suplex then backdrops him. CB lariats him then puts him in a lion tamer. CB hits chops and hedbutts. Liger palm strike flurries him then CB germans him for 2. Liger surfboards him then dragon sleepers him off of it.

Liger camel clutches him then CB electric chair drops him. Liger rolls over on a backdrop attempt then Liger tombstones him. CB suerplexes him then slams him.

CB misses a top rope headbutt then Liger koppo kicks him in the corner. Liger sitout powerbombs him for 2. Liger brainbusters him for 2. CB hits a running shot then hits germans. CB powerbombs him then top rope headbutts him. Kevin Sullivan comes out and distracts CB. Liger hits a messy hurricanrana and wins.

Thoughts: It was a good opener here with fast paced and hard hitting action. I have no idea why Sullivan was out here for this but the announcer's blamed Brian Pillman. 

Eddie Guerrero is interviewed by Mean Gene Okerlund. He said Kevin Sullivan should have stayed out of Benoit's match. Eddie says it's an honor to represent WCW in the World Cup of Wrestling and says he's proud to be here. He said he had to be at the top to be here and put his hours in the gym and ring. He said he will go out there, give it his best and hopefully come out as the winner.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title World Cup Of Wrestling #2 Match - Koji Kanemoto (c) vs. Alex Wright

They lock up and Alex hammerlocks him. Koji reverses it and Alex trips him. Alex armdrags him then Koji armdrags him. Koji side headlocks him and trips him. Koji spinning knee drops Alex's leg. Alex enzugiri's him and hits euros. Alex yanks on the arm and Koji wristlocks him.

Alex hip throws him then armdrags him. Alex does nice headscissors and dropkicks him. Alex crossbodies him over the top. Alex baseball slides him then plancha's him outside. Alex snapmares and sleepers him. Koji hits chops then elbows him in the head.

Koji does a nice spinning heel kick. Alex is laid on the top rope and Koji chops him. Koji dropkicks him as he lays on top. Koji dropkicks him off the apron hen plancha's him outside.

Koji is sent into the rails and Alex hits euros. Koji tiger suplexes him for 1. Koji top rope moonsaults him. Alex goes an up and over him in the corner then hits a german. Alex leg lariats him then hits corner spears.  

Alex running back elbows him in the corner. Alex slingshot splashes him for a 2 count. They try to dropkick each other at the same time. Alex 2nd rope twisting crossbodies him. Koji spin kicks him then 2nd rope corkscrew sentons him for 2. Koji comes off the top and is dropkicked. Alex top rope dropkicks him then superplexes him for 2.

Alex goes for another up and over but Koji hits snake eyes off of it. Koji then jack knife pins him and wins.

Thoughts: The finish was weak and not well done. The action was good but it did start to drag a little near the end.

Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Sonny Ono. Sonny's happy about it being 2-0 and says it will be 5-0. Gene says it can't be as it ends at 4 wins. Sonny talks about buying Iowa and says this is America, everything is for sale. 

Bobby Heenan says the Japanese own Texas and Dusty corrects him, saying don't start on me about Texas.

World Cup Of Wrestling Match #3 - Lex Luger vs. Masahiro Chono

Lex boots and side headlocks Chono. Lex shoulders him over then gorilla press slams him. Chono flying forearms him then running facekicks him. Lex goes out. They get back and Lex hits shots on Chono. Chono is sent into the buckles then Chono suplexes Lex. Chono knee chokes him in the corner.

Lex hits forearms then Chono reverse ddt's him. Chono then STF's him. Chono hits forearms and atomic drops Lex. Chono facekicks him and Dusty rants about Tony calling it a mafia kick. Lex back elbows Chono and Dusty calls it the "Sicilian elbow". Heenan says to follow it up with the Yugoslavian neckbreaker. Lex torture racks Chono and wins. WCW is now down 2-1.

Thoughts: It wasn't that great. It just didn't get enough time and that affected the quality of it. Dusty going off on the yakuza kick was hilarious.

Mean Gene interviews Sting. Sting says it's 2-1 and WCW is coming on strong. Sting says Johnny B. Badd will even the score. Gene brings up Kensuke Sasaki beating him for the US Title. Sting says it was a bad day. He said the US Title isn't up for grabs but pride is. Sting says Sonny Ono can buy WCW over his dead body. Gene asks about the triangle match and Lex. Sting says him and Lex are friends. He says things got edgy with Macho and Lex last week. Sting says he will never forget what Flair did to him and he says he wants Macho Man so bad he can taste it.

World Cup Of Wrestling Match #4 - Johnny B. Badd vs. Masa Saito

The Diamond Doll comes out with Badd and does some nice cartwheels. Heenan says she looks like a bimbo cheerleadr now and Dusty says she's just having fun. Doll is wearing Badd style gear.

Sonny Ono gets on the mic. He says Doll should be home doing dishes and cooking. He says that's what's wrong with this country. Doll says this isn't a Japanese bath house. She says she ain't no geisha and says if this sport is just for men, what is Ono doing here? 

Saito has some unusual and black tights on. Saito backs him up on the ropes and bows. Saito hip throws him then cobra clutches him. They trade chops and Saito throws some good ones. Saito hits him in the throat then bangsh is head off the buckles. Saito chops him and pulls on the nose. Ono chokes Badd with the flag.

Saito backdrops him. Saito lariats Badd then Ono chokes Badd. Saito russian legsweeps him. Badd hits punches hen kneelifts him. Badd top rope double axe handles him.

Badd top rope sunset flips him. Badd drops Saito with punches then Badd suplexes him. Ono gets on the apron and Badd grabs him. Saito hits Badd from behind and throws him over the top. Saito is then disqualified.

Doll gets in the ring after. Saito stares her down. Badd hits punches and dropkicks Saito out. Badd flip dives Saito after but totally misses.

Thoughts: The finish was lame here and probably one of the last times someone got DQ'd for throwing a wrestler over the top. They did match up surprisingly well otherwise though. Saito threw some nice fiery shots and Badd was happy to trade with him. I don't understand why they protected Saito over Chono since Chono was one of the stars NJPW was pushing.

Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Jimmy Hart and Lex Luger. Hart says Kevin Sullivan has a short fuse and The Four Horsemen will be in trouble. Lex says all the best are after the WCW Title and Macho holds it. Lex says he owns Macho and says he's a pathetic, one-armed champ. He said he has beaten him every time he faced him. Lex asks Hart not to come out there with him. Hart says he's here for a long time, not a good time. He says to please bring back the gold. He says the Total Package will reign supreme tonight.

World Cup Of Wrestling Match #5 - Eddie Guerrero vs. Shinjiro Otani

They lock up and Otani armlocks him. Otani grabs him by the hair then camel clutches him. Eddie slips out. Eddie enzugiri's him then rakes his face with his foot. Otani single leg crabs him.

Otani monkey flips him then pops-up Eddie up. Eddie hits a hurricanrana off of it and sends Otani out. Eddie hits a slingshot swanton then crabs him. Eddie hits a stiff jack knife powerbomb for 2. Eddie brainbusters him for 2.

Eddie misses a corner charge and takes a springboard dropkick out. Otani springboard crossbodies him outside. Otani hits another dropkick then sits on his face and pulls on his face. 

Otani sleepers him then Eddie backdrops him. Otani germans him for 2. Otani springboard spinning heel kicks him then slams him. Eddie 2nd rope hurricanrana's him for 2. Eddie hits splash mountain for 2. Otani leglocks him.

They go out. Otani is sent into the rails and slammed on the floor. Eddie springboard twisting crossbodies him outside. Otani suplexes him in then springboard dropkicks him in the back of the head.Eddie hurricanrana's him. They roll each other up for pin attempts and Otani wins.

Thoughts: It went a little longer than it needed to and the crowd wasn't that into it. The work was really good though with Otani looking crisp and hitting everything perfectly. It was a stiff, high-flying match.

NJPW now leads 3-2.

Mean Gene interviews Macho Man Randy Savage. Randy says the pressure is on him and hopefully it's on Sting later. He says he's been the underdog all of his life. Macho says it's a moment in time and he's coming to take advantage of it. He says he's coming to get Tenzan. Gene says Hulk asked about Macho's frame of mind. Macho says he's in the zone.

World Cup Of Wrestling Match #6 - Randy Savage vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan

They lock up and HT is backed up into the corner. HT boots him and bangs his head off the buckles. HT lariats him then foot chokes him. HT his headbutts and eye rakes him. HT spinning heel kicks him.

HT mongolian chops him then bangs Macho's head off the post and rails. HT water wheel drops him then 2nd rope headbutts him for 2. HT misses a top rope moonsault and is lariated from behind. Macho botches dropping him on the ropes then hits a top rope elbow drop. Macho wins.

Thoughts: It wasn't that interesting with Tenzan getting almost all the offense in then getting beaten at the end.

The score is now tied 3-3.

Heenan knocks stuff over at the commentary desk while Dusty talks.

Mean Gene interviews Ric Flair. He says The World Cup of Wrestling is important, but he's talking about the world title tonight. Ric says he will be fresh while Lex and Sting have wrestled already in the triangle match. He says he will win the title.

World Cup Of Wrestling Match #7 - Sting vs. Kensuke Sasaki

Sting comes out with the US flag though he doesn't wear his USA attire. KS boots Sting and bangs his head off the buckles. KS slams him and chinlocks him. Sting hits shots on KS then corner splashes him.

KS bulldogs him from the side. Sting hits a dropkick and lariats him over the top. KS powerslams him then hits a stiff brainbuster. KS puts him in strangle hold alpha then KS shoulder throws him.

KS scorpion deathlocks Sting then dragon screws him. Sting enzugiri's him. Sting hits a lariat and a facebuster. Sting then scorpion deathlocks him and wins.

Thoughts: KS got a lot of offense in early, Sting made his comeback and won. It should have been better than it was but the crowd didn't care and they didn't give enough time.

WCW wins The World Cup of Wrestling 4-3.

Mean Gene talks to Team WCW after. Sting tries to lead a USA chant with Canadian Chris Benoit.

WCW World Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Triangle Match - Sting vs. Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair

Only two men are allowed in the ring here at all times. They do a coin toss to determine the first two in.

Ric chops him and takes a gorilla press slam and clothesline. Ric grabs the ropes to avoid the scorpion deathlock. Ric hammerlocks Sting then stomps him. Ric hits chops and punches then hammerlocks hi magain. Ric chops and struts then Sting struts bakc. Sting hitposses him then dropkicks him. Sting gorilla press slams him and hits corner punches. Sting facebusters Ric. Ric rolls out and throws Sting into the rails.

Sting running forearms Ric and no sells being sent into the rails. Sting hiptosses Ric and Ric avoids the dropkick. Ric punches Sting down. Ric sends Sting over the top then chops him outside. Ric knee drops him in the ring. Ric suplexes him and Sting no sells it.

Sting hits punches then Sting gorilla press slams him. Sting superplexes him. Lex breaks up a pin attempt from Sting on Ric. Sting and Lex have words and Ric hits Sting from behind.  

Lex tags himself in and Ric begs off. Ric goes out and Lex brings him back in. Ric hits Lex low and tries to shoulder him but Lex doesn't budge. Lex gorilla press slams him and hits corner punches. Ric eye pokes him.

Ric goes after Lex's knee. Ric chairs Lex's leg then butt drops the leg.  Ric knees Lex in the crotch then figure fours him. Ric then turns it around. Ric suplexes him. Lex gorilla press slams Ric.

Ric tags in Sting, forcing Sting and Lex to fight. They stare each other, unsure what to do, then shake hands. Lex boots him then Sting hits corner punches. Sting hits a lariat, Lex gets up and Sting lariats him down.

Lex hits corner spears. Lex is thrown into the buckles, but he bounces off and lariats Sting. Lex drops Sting on the ropes throat first and stands on his throat. Sting hits a top rope crossbody for 2. Sting goes for a vader bomb but Lex gets his knees up.

Lex hits elbow drops. Sting hits shots on Lex, goes for the scorpion deathlock and Lex hits him low. Lex atomic drops him and Sting cradles him. Sting sunset flips him for 2. Sting facebusters Lex then stinger splashes him. Lex torture racks him and the ref gets hit. Ric clips Lex and throws Sting out. Lex and Sting are out of the ring. The ref starts counting. Sting goes to get in and Lex grabs him. Both get counted out and Ric Flair wins.

Thoughts: The match was painfully slow in front of a dead crowd. The first half of this was so boring with them doing little but punches, chops and kicks at a snail's pace. It got more interesting when Lex and Sting got in together, putting their friendship to the test. I liked that part and I liked the finish with Lex stopping Sting from getting in despite them being friends. This was not a match was perfect logic though. There were clearly no DQ's here yet the wrestlers were willing to obey the rules by tagging in and out. This might have been better in front of a different crowd and probably would have been better as a regular three way. Then things could have moved a little quicker and we still could have got all three against each other.

Lex is holding his knee after and asks Sting for help. Sting doesn't help. Jimmy Hart then talks to Ric and seems to be supporting him even though he just beat Lex.

WCW World Heavyweight Title Match - Randy Savage (c) vs. Ric Flair

Macho does a backslide early. He throws his shirt at Ric. Ric boots and chops him. Macho hits punches. Paul Orndorff comes out in a neck brace. Ric atomic drops Macho. Macho bangs Ric's head off the buckle. Ric is thrown into the corner and goes out to the floor off of it. Macho comes off the top on Ric outside and is hit. Doug Dillinger gets Paul to leave.

Ric hits shots on Macho on the rails and Jimmy Hart boots Macho. Ric works Macho's injured arm and knee drops it. Ric eye pokes him. Macho hits punches then Ric puts him in a sleeper.

Macho hits punches then back body drops him. Macho hits lariats and punches. Jimmy Hart gets on the apron. Macho comes off the top on Ric and is hit in the gut. Jimmy gives Ric his megaphone but Macho uses it on Ric. Ric is bleeding and Macho top rope elbow drops him. Hart is distracting the ref. Benoit and Pillman attack but Macho thwarts them. Arn comes in and nails Macho with knucks then Ric pins Macho.

Thoughts: It was hard to buy that the ref couldn't see or do anything about what was going on. There were just too many people involved. The match wasn't much. Ric worked the arm as he should have but they didn't have much time to work with here which limited how good the match would be. I don't know why they didn't get Paul Orndorff involved here somehow or how security could stop him but not The Horsemen. This ends Macho's lame duck title reign where he won it due to bad reffing and lost it less than a month later. I don't have much faith in Ric's reign lasting very long either.

Pillman whips Macho with the title belt after and beats him up.

Overall thoughts: It was a long show that was very wrestling heavy. The crowd was dead all night long and I don't know if I blame them considering there were so many Japanese wrestlers they likely weren't familiar with. Due to there being so many matches and due to some people wrestling twice, some of the matches didn't really get enough time. The triangle match was a good idea on paper but the first half of it was so dull and boring. The second half of it got better. The Flair/Savage title match wasn't long enough and the interference could have been done better. I also thought Hulk should have been on the show and I'm pretty sure he only wasn't because of it being a holiday week. I didn't really like this one overall though as there were a bunch of random matches and the top two matches didn't deliver. I would probably give it about a 5 out 10.

WCW World War 3 1995 11/26/1995

WCW World War 3 1995 11/26/1995

The wrestlers talk about World War III. Big Bubba says he will beat people up. Giant says he is swimming and hunting. Sting says it's survival of the fittest. Eddie Guerrero says he will stay low. Johnny B. Badd says he will stick and move. Giant says there can be only one and it's him. They talk about who they want to throw out first and last. Bubba and Giant both want to eliminate Hogan. They then talk about what they will do if they become champ. 

We are in Norfolk, Virginia. Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are our commentators. Tony picks Hulk to win World War 3. Heenan picks Savage then picks The Giant. Heenan then talks about Flair maybe winning.

Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Sting, Macho Man and Randy Savage. Hulk says out of something bad comes something good. He said he took a walk to the darkside and said maybe he wouldn't be here with his best friends if he took the biggest step. He said the darkside of Hulk Hogan is over. He takes off the black clothes and puts his usual red and yellow clothes on. He throws them into a bucket and the bucket sets the clothes on fire. Hulk says Sting will always be his friend. Macho says he was wrong and said Sting is the coolest dude in the world.

Gene asks for the fire to be put up and Sting swats at it. Sting then tries to pour water on it. Hulk says the WCW Title will be with The Hulkamaniacs. Hulk grabs a "rag sheet" and says to observe this, which is a copy of The Wrestling Observer. He said it said Giant would win World War 3 and Macho is injured. He said the internet has got the scoops and said him and his buddies will steal the belt. Hulk then does his whatcha gonna do line as Sting and Macho shake hands. 

WCW Title/Services of The Diamond Doll - Diamond Dallas Page (c) vs Johnny B. Badd

We see clips of Doll getting mad at DDP and feeling unappreciated.

They lock up, DDP backs him up and chest slaps him. They roll out. Badd punches him then is eye poked. DDP is pushed into the post. Badd crossbodies him and DDP rolls through. DDP shoulders him over then Badd samoan drops him. Badd side headlocks him then they fight over a wristlock.

DDP pulls him down by the hair then armlocks him. Badd pulls DDP down by the hair. DDP charges at Badd and goes over the top. Badd plancha's him outside. DDP pushes Doll into Badd then punches him. Badd is thrown into the rails.

DDP backdrops Badd. Badd tries a headscissors but is tombstone'd. DDP spinning lariats Badd for 2. DDP corner spears him then corner spears the post. Badd hits punches then atomic drops him. Badd hits more punches then hits a big lariat. Badd asks Diamond Doll to give him a 10+ on her card and she does. Badd powerbombs DDP for 2.

DDP back elbows him and tries to pin him with his feet on the ropes. DDP side slams him for 2. Badd flying headscissors him. Badd slingshots in and lands on DDP's knees. DDP gutbusters him then Badd tombstones him for 2.

DDP is knocked out of the ring with a punch. Badd flip dives him then slingshot legdrops him for the win.

Thoughts: It was a good opener here with some flying and DDP doing a lot of bumping. Thankfully unlike the last two PPV's, they didn't open the show with a 30 minute opener.

The Diamond Doll gets in the ring after and hugs Badd. Doll looks confused and unsure of what to do but ends up smiling and seeming okay with the situation.

Johnny B. Badd says he will teach DDP what respect is all about. Badd offers Doll the chance to be the manager of the TV champ. He tells her to do what she wants to do, fullfill her dreams and reach her goals. Doll says she will think about it and says the best man won tonight. Badd says he's ready for the battle royale tonight and says he's ready for war.

Big Bubba Rogers vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan

They usually just call him "Big Bubba", but they called him "Big Bubba Rogers" here. Jim nails him from behind as he enters. He has a 2x4 wrapped around him. Bubba is sent into the apron edge. They get in. Jim teases hitting him with the 2x4. Bubba hits shots to the gut. Jim hits lariats then lariats him over the top rope.

Bubba's head is banged off the apron of another ring and then they go into another ring. Bubba's head is pushed between the two posts. Jim comes off the apron and ends up going into the rails when Bubba moves. 

Bubba knocks him down with a punch. Bubba hits more punches to the head. They go to another ring and trade punches. Bubba step up enzugiri's him. Bubba puts more tape on his knuckles and punches him in the gut.

Jim hits shots to the gut then shoulders him out of the ring. They go outside again and Bubba tapes Jim to the top rope. Jim is stuck and Bubba starts punching him. Jim sticks his fist out and Bubba runs right into it. Jim back body drops Bubba over the top.

Jim hits punches outside then slams him inside. Jim running lariats him thne VK Wallstreet comes down with a chain. Jim nails VK with the 2x4. Bubba puts brass knucks or VK's chain on and drops Duggan. Bubba then wins by knockout.

Thoughts: It got a little repetitive match but it was good. Due to the tape, the punches all looked like they hit a lot better than they probably did. I was okay with the ending here. This was all punches.

Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Ric Flair. Ric says tonight, he will style and profile and says Sting almost injured him. Ric says he has got Sting, Hulk, Lex and Savage under the same roof at the same time. He said Dr. J ruled this arena and he will rule WCW one more time.

Cuty Suzuki and Mayumi Ozaki vs Bull Nakano and Akira Hokuto

Here's a random one. Hokuto wore her kabuki mask out and Heenan says, "Tony, the misus is here". Mike Tenay joins the commentary booth for this one, thankfully. This is kind an AJW vs JWP match though Bull was basically freelance.

Bull and Akira jump Oz and Cuty. Oz takes a double lariat and a double boot. Bull hair throws Oz. Akira top rope elbow drops Oz's neck. Akira pulls on Oz's arms and teases giving Cuty her arms for the tag. Bull bites Oz and Cuty tries to kick her to get her off. Bull lifting double chokes Oz and Akira presses her down off the top.

Oz gets bullied around and is tied up in the ropes. Oz springboard forearms Akira then pendulum ddt's her. Cuty gets in and dropkicks Akira for 2. Oz and Cuty put stereo single leg crabs on and get a huge pop for it for some reason.

Cuty does bad butt drops on Akira's leg then single leg crabs her. Cuty ducks a Bull clothesline and dropkicks her partner on accident. Bull powerbombs Cuty then misses a top rope moonsault. Oz top rope double stomps Bull then Cuty does one as well. Bull takes another round of double stomps for 2.

Bull double suplexes her opponents then Akira misses a top rope splash. Bull takes a double dropkick. Akira top rope double crossbodies her opponents. Oz and Cuty hit stereo hurricanrana's for 2. Oz and Cuty do top rope crossbodies for 2.

Oz half and half suplexes Akira for 2. Akira hits a high german on Oz. Bull hits a nice lariat on Oz for 2 then nails Cuty with one. Akira top rope double dropkicks her opponents then top rope flip dives both opponents outside. Oz takes a doomsday device for 2. Akira slams Oz then Bull top rope legdrops Oz to win.

Thoughts: They shouldn't have done the doomsday device kickout but I liked this otherwise. The crowd did too so you know they did something right here. Akira and Bull stiffed and bullied their opponents and the faces were decent faces here. It was fast paced and they just did a lot of stuff you were not seeing at the time on American TV. This was a total success.

Mean Gene interviews Jimmy Hart and Lex Luger. Hart says Macho might be looking at the next WCW champ in Lex. Lex tells Macho he is the flagship of WCW. He says he will break him into 100 pieces and he won't make it into the battle royale. Lex says he will then stand as WCW champ.

WCW US Title - Kensuke Sasaki (c) vs Chris Benoit

They cut to some really hot girl in the crowd and even Bobby Heenan loses his train of thought over her. KS comes out to Great Muta's "Tokyo Takeaway" theme and is with Sonny Ono. Him and Benoit fought on Nitro and it wasn't good. Hopefully this one is better. It should be.

They said Bobby Heenan tried to sell WCW Pro to Sonny Ono. CB hits chops and some stomps. KS chops him and gives him a few boots. CB trips him. they do a double knuckle lock spot. CB takes him down by the wrist and they do another double knuckle lock. CB straightjackets him and KS pounds on him. KS slams him and chinlocks him. 

KS shoulders him over then gorilla press slams him. Cuty hits a nice tope outside on KS. CB snap suplexes him then headscissors him. KS powerslams him. Ono gets on commentary and says they worked out a deal for Starrcade. CB hits two germans then KS running lariats him. CB tombstones him then hits a top rope headbutt. CB top rope hurricanrana's him for 2.

KS does a stiff one arm powerbomb then puts him in strangle hold alpha. CB ropebreaks. CB lariats him then takes a stiff lariat back. KS hits a northern lights bomb and wins.

Thoughts: The crowd wasn't too into this which hurt it. These two really should match up well but the match never lives up to my expectations for some reason. KS was nice and stiff here like usual and it was a high impact match.

Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Jimmy Hart, The Taskmaster and The Giant. Task says they will take no prisoners in the battle royale tonight. He says they have friends in a lot of places and say Giant is the uncrowned champ. Jimmy says they say the three stooges out here earlier - Sting, Macho and Hulk. He says there's only one man around here that wears red and yellow and it's The Taskmaster. Gene says The Dungeon will have problems tonight as his men should want to be champ. Task says it doesn't matter who wins as The Dungeon will prevail. Giant says he will throw Hulk over the top rope. He says "roses are red, violets are blue, Hogan, I'm gonna kick your butt to Kalamazoo."

Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Macho Man Randy Savage for the 2nd time tonight. Macho says what it is is what it is. He says it's his personality to be jittery. He says Lex will find out that he is The Total Package. He says he's a million percent when Gene asks about his injured arm. He says him and Lex have a date with destiny right now.

"Macho Man" Randy Savage vs Lex Luger

Macho hits Lex as he gets in. He bangs his head off the buckles, back elbows him and chokes him on the ropes. Macho chokes him. Macho hits punches and Lex gets his boot up in the corner. Macho then clotheslines him. Macho crabs Lex.

Macho bangs Lex's head off the rails. Macho slams Lex. Jimmy Hart gets on the apron and Macho top rope elbow drops Lex. The ref is distracted by Hart and can't count the pin. Macho throws Lex at Hart but Hart moves and Lex goes out.

Lex sends Macho into the post. Lex torture racks Macho outside. Lex armlocks Macho's injured arm and Macho is out. Lex gets the win.

Thoughts: Lex and Macho just don't produce great matches together. They really don't have much of a formula and end up just doing punches and boots. They had an easy match available here too with Macho having an injured arm but Lex didn't work it outside of the finish. 

Lex keeps the hold on and Sting comes in and talks to Lex face to face. Lex releases the hold.

Sting vs Ric Flair

Sting and Flair go face to face. Flair points at him and Sting tries to bite the finger. Flair head to the other ring. Sting follows and decks him. Sting gorilla press slams him. Flair hits shots to the gut and face. Sting hits corner punches, throws him and dropkicks him. Flair heads into another ring. Sister Sherri and Col. Rob Parker get in the aisle and kiss.

Flair chops Sting and Sting fires back. Flair is lariated over the top and heads up the aisle. Flair pulls Sting down by the hair and Sting kips up. Sting no sells Flair's chops then gorilla press slams him.

Sting splashes the rails when Flair moves. Sting grabs Flair by the throat and Flair low blows him. The ref is right there looking at it but doesn't DQ him. Flair stomps on Sting then knee drops him. Flair hits shots to Sting's leg and struts. 

Flair throws Sting over the top. They go outside again and Flair chops him there. Flair clips him in the ring then backdrops him. Flair figure fours him and slaps him while doing it. Sting turns it around and Flair breaks it. Sting backslides him for 2.

Flair pushes the ref Nick Patrick and Nick pushes him back. Flair chops Sting and Flair heads to another ring again. Sting gorilla press slams Flair and hits lariats.

Sting throws Flair off the top then hits corner punches. Sting superplexes Flair then sharpshooters him. Flair then taps out.

Thoughts: It got a little repetitive here as they going to other rings and going outside multiple times. I felt like they could have been a little more disciplined here and could have had a better ending. Heenan called for the Horsemen to come out near the end of this and I have no explanation for why they didn't. Heenan also said this match didn't matter at one point which was not a good thing to say.

Mean Gene interviews Hulk Hogan again. He says he smells the stench of The Giant. He says he's focused on taking the WCW Title and keeping it forever. He says he will rip and tear his way to the tile. Gene and Hulk agree it's every man for himself. Hulk says it's the most dangerous match in wrestling. He says he can prove Hulkamania is the greatest power in the universe tonight. He says things will go the way of him, Sting and Macho. He says he wants Giant.

We have three teams for commentary for the battle royale. Dusty/Eric, Larry Zbysko and Chris Cruise and Heenan/Schiavone.

WCW Title - World War III Battle Royal

I'm not listing all of the people in this one but we have people like The State Patrol, Scott Armstong, The Yeti (now dressed up like a ninja), Big Train Bart, Fidel Sierra and Mike Winner(who?). 

It's a pretty cool sight as 60 men start fighting. We get a triple split screen for this and it's pretty hard to follow anything closely that is going on. I think one of the Armstrongs is the first out. Arn and Flair beat up Sting outside the ring. The Yeti takes out Mike Winner and leaves him laying. Hulk carries Flair to one of the rings and Knobbs ends up outside but not eliminated.

Regal tossses out Dave Sullivan. Giant chokes Sting and Knobbs eliminates Mark Starr. The State Patrol try to take out Cobra and all three get eliminated. Paul Orndorff and Lex Luger fight outside and Bunkhouse Buck is eliminated.  They say Ring 2 is down to six men, but I don't see it. Meng tries to chop Giant and Disco gets sent to Pity City. 

Chris Kanyon gets knocked off the apron and we see One Man Gang (who I believe just got rehired) work on Macho. Big Train Bart gets eliminated. Lex back body drops Arn on the floor. Hulk running lariats a Super Assassin out. Field Sierra is gone and Orndorff throws out the other Armstrong brother.

Craig Pittman throws out Bobby Walker. Eddie Guerrero throws out the other Barrio Boy. Sting and Knobbs eliminated Stevie Ray. Giant lariats both from behind but Sting avoids the elimination while Knobbs doesn't. Alex Wright and Pez Whatley get eliminated. 

Macho eliminated Bobby Eaton and Hulk airplane spins Dick Slater out. Giant throws Dave Taylor off the buckles. Flair goes outside to beat up Sting and Arn goes out to beat up Lex Luger. Macho back body drops VK Wallstreet over the top. Hugh Morrus barely hits Norton from behind to eliminate him. A stretcher is brought out for Scott Armstrong.

One of the rings starts to get cleared as they want them to fight in two rings only. Macho bangs DDP's head off the post. Hulk slams Giant then Macho grabs Lex. The Dungeon of Doom choke Hulk.

Pittman throws out Kurosawa and Joey Maggs gets eliminated. Duggan eliminates Big Bubba then Bubba pulls him out right next to the stretcher. Hawk throws out Disco Inferno then Pittman throws out Dave Taylor. Eddie is standing on the top rope behind Sting for some reason and jumps on Arn.

Giant and One Man Gang stare down despite being in the same group. Hugh Morrus hits both but Taskmaster eventually gets them all to work together. Hulk throws out Booker and Saggs. 

Taskmaster and Giant get their heads banged together. Hulk eliminated Taskmaster but the camera's barley catch it. Macho and Lex go to another ring to fight then fight outside. Regal is thrown into the post and eliminated. Benoit and Pillman have their heads banged together. Johnny B. Badd throws out DDP but DDP holds on and eliminates him. Pittman charges at someone and goes out.

Benoit goes out then Meng gets Kurosawa out. One Man Gang and Meng fight and Gang lariats Meng over the top. Sting hits corner punches on Flair and is atomic dropped. Zodiac takes a back body drop out by Hugh Morrus. Hugh is then lariated out but Kensuke Sasaki. Hawk throws out Pillman. Hulk throws out Hawk, who is trying to help out Sasaki (his partner in japan, which they mention).

Sting splashes Eddie Guerrero in the corner. Orndorff tries to piledrive Hulk but is thrown over the top. Lex gorilla press slams Macho. Eddie top rope dropkicks Arn. Flair figure fours Eddie and Arn grabs Eddie's arm. Sting saves Eddie. Giant slams Macho then Arn spinebusters Eddie.

Arn throws Eddie out. Sting stinger splashes Arn. Giant chokeslams Macho. Sting catapults Arn into Flair on the ropes. Flair gets eliminated then Hulk eliminates Arn. Lex and Sting double clothesline Giant. They get Giant over with help from Hulk then Hulk eliminates all three of them like a true friend. Giant pulls out Hulk under the ropes and fights with him. Macho eliminates One Man Gang.

Despite Hulk being pulled out from under the ropes, they declare Macho Man Randy Savage the winner and the new WCW Champion.. Hulk slams Giant outside and gets in to complain. Hulk says he was pulled out underneath the ropes.  

Mean Gene Okerlund comes in the ring. He tells the ref what happened but the ref doesn't care. Hulk complains and says he was eliminated under the bottom rope. Gene says this is going to stand. Macho says they are friends and says he values his opinion. Macho says he didn't see anything but says it is what it is and asks if he can handle that.

Hulk asks the fans if he went under the bottom or not. A fan or two waves their hands "no" which is a lie. Macho says this has been his dream since coming here. He says if there's a dark cloud over this, that's not something he's comfortable with. Macho says he needs to see the film and Gene says tomorrow night on Nitro (man, if they had only invented instant replay by 1995). Hulk impersonates Macho and says thankfully they are all on the same team. Hulk congratulates him but says they need to watch the film. He says they will talk turkey as he deserves a shot at his belt. Macho says he likes it and they shake hands and hug. Macho then says, "ooh yeah". Hulk then does it back to him.

Thoughts: What a stupid ending. We had like three refs out there at one point, Doug Dillinger and multiple cameramen yet nobody could figure out that Hulk wasn't eliminated. Nobody felt like checking instant replay either even though they had used it earlier on the show. There's just no explanation for that one. It ruined what was an okay main otherwise.

As for the match, you can probably guess what it was like. We had three rings with constant action. The camera's missed a bunch of stuff and they used a lot of up close shots so we couldn't get clear views of what was going on most of the time. It was fun to see 60 people out there and fun to see some oddball matchups, but it was quantity over quantity. I still liked it though for how unique it was. The match was your usual battle royale. It was little but punches and kicks and we didn't really get to see true wrestling moves until the final 15 or so.

I'm not sure how I feel about them putting everyone in the same ring at once when there weren't as many people left. It makes sense but it also would have been cool to get a definitive winner from each ring and have the three winners battle it out.  

We had some stories going on here. Bubba/Duggan, Flair/Sting, Macho/Lex and Hulk/Giant all continued their feuds. Booker T was in there longer. Joey Maggs also had a nice Cinderella run and Knobbs had a good showing. But with all the chaos, the announcers didn't really get to put those things over.

Hulk was an awful face as usual here, throwing over his buddy Sting for no reason. The Dungeon of Doom were also dumb here as they fought each other as much as anyone else.

Overall thoughts: WCW had basically two different universes at this point. There was the Nitro Universe where all the main event stuff happened then the other shows where the midcard got filled out. Unfortunately, if you only watched Nitro like I had been doing, you would miss out on all of the midcard stuff. It just never got mentioned. I watched all of the Nitro's leading up to this and had no idea about most of the matches on this show. 

DDP/Badd was a solid opener. Duggan/Bubba was a little repetitive, but they threw a lot of good strikes here. The joshi girls did a great job in their match in front of a crowd who did not know them. Sasaki/Benoit failed to have a great match as the crowd wasn't into it and for whatever reason, they just don't click as well as they should. Lex/Macho wasn't good. Sting/Flair could have been better as they kept going outside and into other rings which threw off the floor. The battle royale was entertaining but it was really hard to keep track of and they didn't make the most of it. The ending was awful. Overall, I'd probably give it a 6 out of 10 as the ending stunk, the card wasn't promoted well and Lex/Macho was disappointing.

WCW Halloween Havoc 1995 10/29/1995

WCW Halloween Havoc 1995 10/29/1995

Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are our commentators.

We see Hulk Hogan and The Giant driving their monster trucks at each other on the roof. Tony says Arn and Pillman attacked Ric Flair before the show. Bobby says these guys mean business and says Ric doesn't have a friend in the world.

WCW TV Title - Diamond Dallas Page (c) vs Johnny B. Badd

We get a nice video on the feud as Johnny B. Badd missed his US Title shot due to a flat tire. Maxx Muscle, who is with DDP, says he had four flat tires. Badd says he didn't say that and figured out Maxx/DDP were the ones who did it and started a fight about it on WCW Saturday Night.

A fake Johnny B. Badd is on the entrance ramp then the real Badd comes through the crowd. He hits DDP from behind and the match starts. DDP is sent out then Maxx and DDP have their heads banged together outside. DDP goes into the corwd and Badd follows him, sending him into the rails. DDP has a bucket put on his head and Badd hits it. Badd armdrags him and armlocks him.

Badd armlocks DDP then DDP throws him down by the hair. Badd throws DDP down by the hair and armlocks him. Badd hiptosses DDP for 2 then dropkicks him. Badd hits corner punches and is dropped face first on the top buckle.

DDP stomps Badd and knee drops him. Badd is thrown chest first into the buckles then backdrops him. DDP drops him forward on a piledriver then chinlocks him. Bad backslides him for 2 then DDP lariats him. They try pin attempts then DDP powerslams him for 2.

DDP elbow drops him then chokes him with tape while Max has the ref distracted. DDP chinlocks him again. Badd backdrops him. Badd atomic drops him then hits punches. Badd flying headscissors him then top rope double axe handles him. Diamond Doll gives Johnny a 10 with her cue cards.

Badd sitout powerbombs ddt for 2. DDP counters a hiptoss with a ddt. Badd blocks a diamond cutter for 2. Badd hits corner punches then bodyscissors DDP over the top. Badd tope con hilos DDP and Max outside then slingshots splashes him inside for 2. Badd dropkicks DDP into Max for 2. DDP holds up Badd for a shot from Max and Max nails DDP on accident. Badd then pins DDP and wins it.

Thoughts: The work was good but like the last PPV, I thought it was longer and slower than it needed to be especially for the opener. I also thought Max should have at least been ejected after getting involved multiple times.

"Macho Man" Randy Savage vs The Zodiac

Kamala was supposed to be in this but was replaced for some reason.

Zodiac comes out with Dean Malenko's future music. Macho hits Zodiac while he's on the ropes and eye raks him. Macho chokes Zodiac on the ropes. A fan gets in the ring and goves after Macho. The ref holds the fan back while Macho ignores it. Zodiac's head is banged off the rails then Macho is sent into the post.

Zod misses a 2nd rope splash and the fan is rushed out by security. Macho hits a top rope elbow drop and pins Zodiac.

Thoughts: Kamala had the right idea not showing up for this. This was a short waste of time that buried Zodiac. The fan getting involved also hurt the match as everyone was focused on them instead of the match. 

Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Johnny B. Badd. Badd says if you believe, you can acheive. He said he dreamed of the day when he could hold the gold. He says dreams become reality. Badd says he's a bad man and will never give up. Gene tells him they are going to Greektown for dinner. Gene says he's going to sing at dinner.

Heenan makes fun of Gene and we see Kurosawa breaking Hawk's arm.

Roadwarrior Hawk vs Kurosawa

Heenan starts coughing due to Kuro's smoke and Tony tells him to get a drink of water.

Hawk flurries on Kuro then flying shoulders him. Hawk neckbreakers him and jumping fist drops him. Hawk drops him with a punch and hits a hard chop. Hawk misses a corner charge then gutwrench suplexes him. Hawk powerbombs him and Col. Rob Parker trips Kuro. Kuro slams Hawk then misses a top rope elbow drop. Hawk lariats Kuro over the top and Kuro takes a nice bump for it.

Hawk diving lariats Parker off the apron. Hawk's head is banged off the post then Kuro water wheel drops him. Kuro samoan drops him. Kuro's feet are on the ropes and Parker holds Kuro's leg there. Kuro then picks up the shocking win.

Thoughts: This was short but I liked it. Kuro was a real prospect at this point being a bigger man who moved well. I didn't love him beating Hawk, especially in a match where Hawk was getting his revenge, but I did like him picking up a win. I have no idea why they had him get the win here when Macho beat him on Nitro. Hawk's offense looked good here and I liked Kuro's power moves at the end. Kuro had a nice top rope elbow drop that I would have liked to have seen him hit.

Mean Gene interviews "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Macho says one down and one to go as he is supposed to face Lex later. He said he heard Hulk talk about him but says he can separate business from friendship. He said he can beat him in the ring. Macho tells Gene his mustache is crooked out of nowhere and Gene says his beard his crooked. Macho says he will make sure Lex beats Meng. Macho says his curiosity is killing him about the monster truck sumo match. He says he has interest in the world title match.

Thoughts: This was a wild promo here from Macho that was all over the place.

J.L. vs Sabu

Mr. JL is now just J.L. Heenan says his name is short for Just a Loser. The Original Sheik is with Sabu since they are in Detroit.

JL step up enzugiri's Sabu down the steps. JL is sent into the rails then Sabu asai moonsaults him and Sheik in a funny botched spot. Sabu comes off the apron and lands on the floor. JL top rope crossbodies him outside.

Sabu misses a moonsault off the top inside then JL top rope moonsaults him for 2. JL sitout powerbombs Sabu for 2. JL misses a corner charge then takes a slingshot legdrop. Sabu is on the buckles and JL germans him. Sabu top rope rolling drops him down. Sabu goes up top and is dropkicked off the ropes to the floor. Sabu does a seated moonsault and wins. The Sheik then throws fire at JL's face after Sabu wins.

Thoughts: I have to assume the finish was botched here as Sheik throwing a fireball at JL would have made more sense before the finish. It was a wild spotfest here with lots of wild flying and bumps and little selling. Sabu moonsaulting Sheik was hilarious. 

We get a promo from The Master (The Wizard) and Kevin Sullivan. Master calls Kevin his son and says the moon and stars are aligned for him. He says they will destroy Hulkamania tonight. He says the evil became out of control for Hulk when he put the black clothing in. He says Hulk doesn't have a friend in the universe. He says lightning doesn't strike twice in this universe.

Lex Luger vs Meng

Men wore that stupid mask out again that is too small for him. Lex hits shots on Meng then bangs Meng's head off the buckles. Lex side headlocks him then catapults him into the buckles. Meng's eyes are raked on the ropes then Lex's head is banged off the buckles.

Meng boots him then cradles him for 2. Meng charges into Lex's boot then Meng is lariated over the top. Meng is sent into the post and has his arm pulled down over the top rope. Meng eye rakes Lex. 

Lex hits punches and misses a corner charge. Meng rolls on him off a backdrop. Meng shoulderbeakers him then pulls his arm around the ropes. Meng foot chokes him. Meng piledrivers him and chokes him. Meng chinlocks him.

Lex gets out and crossbodies him. Meng backdrops him for 2. Lex goes out and is stopped from getting in multiple times. Meng misses a dropkick and wee clips of Bobby Heenan dining with Sonny Oono, who is a new debut here. Lex suplexes Meng in from the apron.

Lex hits lariats then back body drops him. Lex running lariats him then powerslams him. Meng spikes Lex with his loaded thumb. Meng nearly has it won then The Taskmaster comes in and kicks Meng. Lex wins via DQ.

Thoughts: The ending was lame here and didn't make much sense. Tony says it's because they wanted Lex to have to fight Savage, but why not just get DQ'd from the start and use weapons if that's the plan. The work wasn't bad but it was longer, slower and boring.

Mean Gene interviews The Giant, who is wearing racing gear. Giant says he will push Hulk off the roof tonight and says he will chokeslam him through the floor. Giant says Hulk will get the beating of his night in their match, if he lives through the sumo match.

Special Challenge Match - The Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman) vs Sting and Ric Flair

Ric was attacked before the show and did not come out with Sting. Arn and Sting trade hammerlocks. Arn full-nelsons Sting, Sting reverses it. Arn tries to use the ropes to get out but is just dropped down.

Sting is put in a wristlock and kips down then kips up. Sting facebusters Arn and hits shots on both opponents. BP makes Sting chase him outside. Arn goes for a lariat out there, misses and Sting knocks both down. BP goes for an eye poke and is gorilla press slammed.

Sting catapults Arn into BP, who is on the top rope. BP is crotched then rocket launched onto the rails. Sting hits shots on Arn. Arn bangs Sting's head off of BP's head. Sting takes a shot to the gut and Ric Flair runs in wearing regular clothes. The ref grabs Ric. Sting's head is banged off the rails.

Sting and BP trade. Arn chinlocks Sting. BP is rocket launched by Sting gets his knees up. Sting goes for the tag and is stopped. Sting goes for the tag and Ric chases BP around, missing Sting's tag. Arn abdominal stretches Sting with help from BP.

The heels work on Sting. Sting slugs it out with Arn. Arn spinebusters Sting for 2. Arn works Sting's legs. Ric says, "stand tall" and "I'm here". Arn bearhugs Sting. Sting gets out and BP blocks the tag.

Sting fights off the heels 1v2 and bangs their heads together. Sting finally tags Flair in. Flair then decks him immediately. Sting is beaten up 3v1. Sting goes after Flair and Sting acts like a wild man trying to get revenge. BP and Arn hold Sting down while Flair stomps him. 

Arn holds Sting for shots from Flair then Sting takes stomps with the refs trying to shield him.  

Mean Gene calls this the most disgusting thing he has ever seen. The Horsemen get on the mic. Ric says now we go to school. The first thing you learn is not to jump on Double A or play around with Flyin' Brian. He says the 3rd thing is not to mess around with The Nature Boy and the fourth thing is not to talk, talk or breathe unless The Horsemen want you to. Arn says be careful what you ask for. He says the fans wanted The Horsemen and now they got them. Ric says they are reunited and it feels so good, Horsemen style.

Thoughts: The heels did some classic heel work here on Sting, making you beg for Flair to come in. Sting finally got the hot tag in and it seems like we are going to get a good hot tag and then Flair just turns on Sting. While turning on Sting is almost a birthright for Flair and various WCW heels, it made little sense. Flair had been fighting Arn and Pillman. They had double teamed him, cheated him and generally just gave him very little reason to see them as friends. Meanwhile, Sting actually helped out Flair when he needed him. Like the last match, it didn't make a whole lot of sense to do a whole match just for Flair to turn on his partner. What if Sting won? What if Arn or Pillman got injured? Would it really be worth tricking Sting? No. And it's not like this was for a title. The only thing Flair gained out of this was an enemy. It was just one of those angles that sounds good for five seconds until you think about it further and realize it doesn't make any sense. And what makes it worse is that the angle robbed us of a potential classic.

Heenan says The Horsemen had to be back together and Sting was sacrificed.

Mike Tenay interviews Lex Luger.  

Lex says it seems various forces besides Sting want his match with Macho to take place. He said he doesn't really know why. He says he's not 100% but it'll be him and Macho getting it on. He says he will be all over Macho. He says Macho better be ready and said he never had a bigger match than him. 

Tony Schiavone is out of the commentary booth and Eric Bischoff is there instead. Bob Chandler, some monster truck guy, is at the booth. He puts over the monster truck Hulk got.

Monster Truck Sumo - Hulk Hogan vs The Giant

They get told the rules and yell at each other. They said there are two charges that can cause an explosion if you go over them.

The two trucks are tied together, so we don't get any cool crashes here. Hulk has a cool monster truck with his arms on the sides of it. They push the cards around for a while and hit one of the charges. All it really does is shoot off fireworks. Hulk eventually pushes Giant's truck out of the circle and wins.

The Giant goes after Hulk on the roof after. Giant misses a charge and picks him up by the throat. They fight on the ledge and Giant seemingly falls of the roof to his death. Hulk immediately calls for help and runs.

Thoughts: This was boring. The two trucks were tied together and couldn't ram each other or anything. It was just trucks being pushed back and forth and it was about as interesting as it sounds. WCW is going to be in some serious trouble for filming a man's death on a PPV and the only fighting Hulk is going to be doing is in a court room as he tries to explain this.

We go back to the commentary booth. Heenan says he doesn't know what to do. Eric says security is headed up there. Heenan wants to know whether Giant fell in the river or in the parking lot. Eric leaves to go up to the roof and we go back to the matches. The show must go on!

"Macho Man" Randy Savage vs Lex Luger

Heenan says he can't watch this match and says Giant just fell off the roof. Lex offers a handshake and Macho boots him. Lex's head is banged off the buckles then Lex running lariats him. Lex bangs Macho's head off the buckles. Jimmy Hart comes out as Lex boots Macho.

Lex chokes Macho on the ropes. Macho hits shots to the gut. Lex throws Macho out. Heenan yells at Tony for trying to call the match and says we need to know what happened to Giant now.

Lex double axe handles Macho off the apron. Lex is sent into the steps and the rail. Heenan says he can't stop shaking. Macho lariats Lex from behind inside. Macho comes off the top and Lex hits him in the gut.

Jimmy Hart distracts the ref on the apron. Lex knees Macho then tries to pin him with his feet on the ropes. Hart still has the ref distracted though and the ref doesn't count. Macho throws Lex into the ropes, knocking over Hart. Macho top rope elbow drops Lex and wins.

Thoughts: It was a bizarre match. Heenan is doing his serious voice as he is selling this like someone died and naturally doesn't want to call the match. Tony could care less and makes it seem like nobody really got hurt. Jimmy Hart came out for unexplained reasons and distracted the ref. And what we got of Lex vs Macho was short and very basic.

Heenan begs for a walkie talkie so he can know what happened outside. Tony says we are going go to Michael Buffer. Heenan complains and says we need to go outside and see what happened. Heenan then gets mad and walks off as Tony "The Cold Hearted Devil" Schiavone acts like nothing happened.

Heenan comes back. He says it would take him 2 hours to get out there. He says we can talk to astronauts on the moon but can't figure out what happened outside? Tony makes a joke and Heenan says this is serious and says him and Giant's father go far back.

We see clips of Hulk Hogan murdering The Giant again. Heenan wants to know why we can't find anything. Heenan gets on his hands and knees to bet for information. Tony's trying to not to laugh and shakes his head at Heenan like he's a moron. Heenan rightfully tells him he thinks Tony doesn't care. Heenan says we aren't being told anything because it's bad.  Heenan asks fans for a walkie talkie. 

Thoughts: This whole thing has turned really bad at this point. Tony's exposing this whole angle by not caring or treating it like it's serious while Bobby Heenan of all people is the voice of reason in this insane situation. This is like a Twilight Zone movie at this point where the main character is the only sane person.

WCW Title - Hulk Hogan (c) vs The Giant

Michael Buffer does the intro for The Giant. He says there's been a chance and Hulk comes out instead. Hulk gets on the mic. He says what happened was not supposed to go down. He said it was a long way down to the parking lot. He says there was a terrible accident out there then The Giant and The Taskmaster come out. The Giant doesn't have a single scratch on him and runs at Hulk like he is as good as new. This is The Giant's WCW debut and his second match ever.

Heenan says something has happened here as this man survived a 5 story fall. Tony says this is the most incredible thing he has seen in his life. Hulk has Taskmaster paint on his head. He hits shots on Giant and it takes many just to get him to sell some. Hulk goes for the slam and is clubbed. Giant back rakes Hulk. Giant boots Hulk and elbows him in the neck. Giant chokes Hulk and foot chokes him.

Giant double knuckle locks him. Hulk is pounded on and Giant back elbows him. Giant hits a big slam. Giant misses a legdrop. Hulk bangs Giant's head off the buckles then hits corner punches.

Hulk hits punches and lariats. Giant is lariated over the top to the floor. Taskmaster tries to walk Giant to the back and Hulk bangs Giant's and Task's heads together. Hulk eye rakes him and hits punches. Hulk eye rakes and chokes Giant then Giant eye rakes him. 

Giant hits a backbreaker. Giant bearhugs him. Hulks gets out and Giant slams him. Giant bearhugs him again and Hulk makes his comeback. Giant hits a chokeslam and Hulk hulks up. Hulk big boots Giant then hits a big slam. Hulk leg drops Giant and Himmy Hart seemingly nails the ref (the camera's barely catch it and you have to see it in slow mo to even somewhat see it). Hulk asks Jimmy what happened. Jimmy says he doesn't know. Hulk turns around and Jimmy hits Hulk with the title. Hulk no sells it. 

Hulk grabs Jimmy. Giant bearhugs Hulk. Taskmaster comes in and helps beat up Hulk. Lex Luger and Randy Savage comes down. Jimmy hits Macho with the title and Lex stomps Macho. The Yeti comes down. The Yeti bearhugs Hulk from the other side and it looks like Hulk is getting DP'd in a very stupid moment. Lex racks Hulk and the ref somehow doesn't see any of this. Giant and Yeti then DP Macho and Lex racks Macho. The ref gets up and raises Giant's hand while holding the title. We are told The Giant is the winner via DQ.

Hulk is left laying and is helped out by Doug Dillinger. 

We cut to commentary. Heenan says this couldn't have happened to two nicer guys. Hogan and Macho help each other out and Tony calls it one of the most bizarre endings in wrestling.

Thoughts: This whole thing was one of the worst wrestling segments and matches ever. Heenan thinks The Giant is dead to start things off in odd fashion.The Giant falls off a roof and doesn't even have a scratch on him. He then has a long, slow and mostly boring match with Hulk with little but punches, boots, eye rakes and bearhugs. Jimmy Hart hits the ref with the title belt, then turns on Hulk for no real reason, losing management power of the world champ in the process for someone who doesn't have the title. Giant then ends up being awarded the DQ win despite it being obvious that Jimmy did this to help out Giant and not Hulk. The ref sees a bunch of people come in and none of that influences his decision either. We then get The Yeti. The Yeti and The Giant do a double bearhug spot that looks fake and looks like a weird sex scene. They then do it again and it looks just as bad the second time.

Overall thoughts: It was truly a horrid pay per view and easily one of the worst shows ever. Kamala gets replaced by Zodiac against Macho. A fan runs in during the match and everyone focuses on the fan instead of the match. Sabu moonsaults his own uncle. Kevin Sullivan costs Meng the match for questionable reasons in a dumb way. Ric Flair feuds with Arn and Pillman for months seemingly just for the sole purpose of turning on Sting, which would have required time travel to figure out and execute. We get a boring monster truck sumo battle. Macho has a nothing match with Lex that plays second to Heenan and Tony fighting about whether The Giant died or not. Tony doesn't care that The Giant maybe died and exposes the whole angle while Heenan takes it seriously and ends up looking like an idiot. Giant then survives a fall off a roof and isn't effected a single bit. He has a long and boring match against Hulk, where Jimmy Hart turns on his champion client. The ref then punishes Hulk for getting turned on by giving The Giant the win. The Yeti then comes out and does the worst run-in ever and the faces are left laying to close the show. It was an awful show that should have lost WCW The Monday Night Wars from the start.

WCW Fall Brawl 1995 9/17/1995

WCW Fall Brawl 1995 9/17/1995

Note - The Giant ran over Hulk Hogan's motorcycle sometime before the show. I don't know if it was shown live or not but it happened.

Bobby Heenan and Tony Schiavone are our commentators. Heenan promises the mother of all wars tonight.

WCW United States Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Match - Johnny B. Badd vs. Brian Pillman

Michael Buffer is the ring announcer and has no idea what this is, calling it a title eliminator.

They lock up and shake hands after. Badd armdrags him and they trade hammerlocks. BP hiptosses him then headlock takeovers him. BP shoulders him over and they try to dropkick each other at the same time. BP yanks on the arm. Badd headflips out of a wristlock and armdrags him.

BP flying snapmares Badd then headlock takeovers him.  BP does like a flying armdrag then arm locks him. Badd trips BP then la magistral's him. BP trips him and does a pin attempt with a bridge for 2. BP snapmares him and chinlocks him. A kid has a "Bobby Heenan for President" sign and Heenan says he wrote it with crayon and is the mayor of Asheville.

BP headscissors him then rolls him into a pin attempt. BP chinlocks him. BP goes up and over then is armdragged. Badd chinlocks him then BP backbreakers him. BP boston crabs him then gives up the hold. He punches Badd and says, "Who's the bad man now?". Badd tilt-a-whirl backbreakers him then works his leg. Badd pulls his arms back and hooks his leg under BP's arms.

They shove each other down and Badd's eyebrow is busted open. BP hits punches then rakes his face across the top rope. Badd hits punches and BP walks up the aisle. BP offers a handshake and Badd teases hitting him. BP hits shots on him and throws him out.

BP bites Badd's head. BP's head is banged off the buckles then Badd slingshot leg drops him for 2. Badd chinlocks him. They leapfrog at the same time and collide in mid-air.

BP headbutts him. Badd is booted out of the ring. Badd suplexes BP out of the ring to the floor. Badd then plancha's him. Badd comes off the top and is dropkicked in mid-air. Badd sitout powerbombs him for 2. BP tombstones him and is thrown off on a tornado ddt attempt.

Badd armlocks him on the mat as we get down to 2 minutes remaining. BP russian legsweeps him then does la escalera. BP grounded cobra twists him Badd bangs BP's head off the mat with a facebuster and punches him. BP springboard lariats him for 2.

We go to the 20 minute time limit. Nick Patrick rules that we go to sudden death overtime.

BP hits spears to the gut and bites him. They trade punches. BP chops him outside and Badd hits punches. Badd is sent into the rails. BP top rope dropkicks him and Badd tries to dropkick him at the same time.

BP sleepers Badd then Badd sleepers him. BP backdrops him then slaps him. Badd hits diving sunset flip from the top for 2. BP hurricanrana's him for 2. Badd 2nd rope hurricanrana's him for 2. BP tornado ddt's him then BP is crotched on the top rope. BP is thrown off the top and lands throat first on the rails.

Badd tope con hilos him outside. BP gets his knees up on Badd's slingshot splash. Badd is laid on the top rope. BP topes him outside and really only gets him with his fingers. BP gets crotched on the top and they crossbody each other in mid-air. Badd then wins it. 

Thoughts: This went 29:14. I wasn't a big fan of this one. It was too long for an opener as it tires you out from the start. They did lots of cool spots but they did too many of them and didn't sell enough of them. I'm not real sure why this needed to go so long either since Badd was winning. This was a match that would not look out of place at all in 2024 with how much was done.

Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Ric Flair. He says The Four Horsemen are the symbol of excellence. He said they bonded for 15 years, living, sweating, crying and bleeding together. He said they shared that bond and were friends through all. Flair says they aren't walking the aisle side by side tonight in Asheville, they go out from opposite ends of the building. He said so many people in life never have an opportunity to stand next to greatness, yet alone touch it. He says Arn faces greatness tonight. Ric says he loves Arn but he loves him so much that he has to show him why tonight. He says there's only one king of the hill and it's The Nature Boy.

Cobra vs Sgt. Craig Pittman

Cobra has a real annoying theme that sounds like a signal beeping. Craig doesn't come out when he is introduced. Someone in arm gear comes out instead. That guy tells Cobra to turn around and Craig repels down on a rope. Craig chokes Cobra from behind then hits mounted shots.

Craig is wearing facepaint and attacks him off the apron. Craig is sent into the post. Cobra comes off the top and is dropkicked. Craig then armbars him and Cobra taps out.

Thoughts: It was a short one. Craig had a cool entrance here and I thought they were effective in pushing that they had issues with each other. It was kind of a waste of a match though as it wasn't long enough.

We see Paul Orndorff flip out in the locker room. He's mad about losing to Savage. He says he doesn't feel like himself anymore and asks who he is. He throws and bangs stuff around. He says he doesn't know if he's Mr. Wonderful or not anymore. Gary Spivey then comes in. He's a psychic.

Gary said he had a vision and knows Paul is not okay. He said he had a vision. Paul said he used to be the highest rated wrestler in the world and had more belts than he could carry. Gary said he's Mr. Wonderful but not feeling so wonderful. He says he sees great things for him and tells him he is Mr. Wonderful.

He makes him look in the mirror and makes him say he is Mr. Wonderful. Paul says he looks better than he ever did before. He says he sees bigger cars, bigger houses and more money. He says they know he's wonderful too. He tells him he's Mr. Wonderful. Paul says he is Mr. Wonderful and kisses his biceps in the mirror. Paul then kisses the mirror.

Thoughts: This was a bizarre segment. I had never heard of Gary Spivey outside of this so this one was lost to me. It was too over the top and it was just not done well. 

WCW World TV Title - The Renegade (c) vs Diamond Dallas Page

DDP stops Diamond Doll as she poses during his entrance. Maxx Muscle is with DDP. Renegade runs to the ring.

Ren turns his back on DDP then is hit. DDP hits back elbows and russian legsweeps him for 2. DDP headbutts him and falls out of the ring in pain. DDP then walks into the post and falls over the barricade. Heenan asks what is going on and says DDP is lucky he doesn't kill himself.

DDP is thrown back over the rails into ringside. Ren is pulled into the buckles then he bangs DDP's head off the buckles. Ren side headlocks him then lariats him. Ren misses a crossbody and goes into the ropes.

DDP chokes Ren on the ropes. DDP pulls Ren's neck down over the top rope and Diamond Doll holds up a "10" sign. DDP neckbreakers him and foot chokes him. Doll holds up the sign again. Pahe knows Ren off the apron. Ren slingshot sunset flips him. Ren counters it and goes for a pin. DDP lariats him.

DDP corner spears him then spears the post when Ren moves. DDP bends over and is kicked. Ren running lariats him. Ren cartwheel back elbows him. Ren top rope double axe handles him. DDP counters a hiptoss with a ddt. DDP is rolled up for 2.

DDP hits Ren in the throat. Maxx Muscle is on the apron and DDP is thrown into him. Ren goes up top and  dives on Maxx outside. Maxx holds onto Ren's leg and DDP wins with the diamond cutter. DDP wins the TV Title.

Thoughts: The crowd wasn't too into this one and it was just a match. Renegade probably would have been fine if he was just himself but The Renegade gimmick came off as such a cheap imitation and hurt him.  DDP's bumping off the headbutt was super over the top.

Bobby Heenan talks about what the kids of Rob Parker and Sherri would be like, saying they'd be running around the house with cowboy hats and diamonds. Tony laughs.

WCW Tag Titles - The Stud Stable (Bunkhouse Buck & Dick Slater) (c) vs. Harlem Heat (Booker T & Stevie Ray)

Sherri and Col. Parker out there with their men. Booker hits a nice lariat on Dick. Dick trips him then facelocks him. Booker counters with an armlock. Dick takes a double team then Ray slams him.

Ray chokes Dick then side headlocks him. Booker side headlocks Dick then Buck eye rakes Booker on the ropes. Buck boots Booker and front facelocks him. Buck is held for knees in the corner.

Ray lariats and chokes Buck. Ray pounds on Buck and chinlocks him. Booker hits a nice jumping side kick on Buck for 2 then chinlocks him. Buck shoulders Booker over. Booker does a nice leapfrog then hiptosses him. Booker knee drops him for 2.

Ray hits punches on Buck and Dick gets in. Dick and Ray trade then Ray hits corner punches. Dick misses an atomic drop then running boots and neckbreakers him. Ray chokes Dick then chokes him with his bandana.

Buck knees Booker in the back then Booker is thrown out onto the steps. Buck then clotheslines Ray with rope. Buck boots Booker and bangs his head off of Dick's foot. Dick boots Booker then Buck chokes Booker. Dick russian legsweeps Booker for 2.

Dick piledrivers Booker. Booker is thrown out. Dick bangs Booker's head off the rails then boots Booker. Buck chinlocks Booker. Booker misses a corner hip attack and lands on the mat hard.

Dick goes after Ray then backdrops Booker. Dick drops Booker with punches then elbow drops him. Booker takes shots and is eye raked. Buck stomps Booker's her and chinlocks him. Buck deadlift slams Booker out of the guillotine then Dick neckbreakers Booker for 2. Buck single leg crabs Booker.

Booker scissors kicks him and tags in Ray. Ray hits shots on Buck and Dick then slams both. Ray knocks Dick onto the ropes then slams Buck. Booker is puled out to the apron by Buck. Booker takes a double punch. Sherri and Parker get in the other ring.  Booker misses a corner charge. Sherri is on all fours. Sherri and Parker Kiss. The Nasty Boys come out and hit Dick Slater with one of his boots. Booker then pins Dick and wins it.

Thoughts: It was a long one here. They really mostly just traded shots for 16 minutes. The shots were good but it really did drag and didn't feel like it had much point or structure to it. I thought they could have played up the Parker and Sherri stuff more and somehow involved it in the match.

Buck pulls Parker off of Sherri and tells him they lost the tag titles. Sherri explains herself to Harlem Heat.

Parker and Buck are interviewed by Mean Gene after. Buck says Parker is lost and has been out of sorts for months. He asks where he has been when they needed him. Parker says he's serious about Sherri and says he runs this outfit. He tells them to head to the showers. He said he will get them another match and get the belts back around their waists.

Parker tells Gene he isn't happy about this. He said he feels at the bottom of the pit but his heart soars like an eagle. He said he never felt like he feels tonight. He said he feels 20 years old and says he has to have that girl. He says Dick and Buck will have their match.

Mean Gene interviews Arn Anderson. We see clips of the issues between Ric and Arn. Arn says he has always called a spade a spade. He said he's either loved or hated with a passion. He said everyone has had a family member that was messing up and you had to grab and shake them because words didn't matter. Arn says he's a nervous wreck as he has to trade fists with someone he loves. He says something has gotta happen as he has to answer to him. He says he will give Asheville, the world and Flair all he got. He said win, lose or draw, he will respect himself and Flair will respect him too. 

Arn Anderson vs Ric Flair

Flyin' Brian, The American Males, Alex Wright, Eddie Guerrero, Big Bubba and Col. Parker are watching this in the seats. Ric shoulders him over. Arn trips him and rubs Ric's hair. They stare down and Arn side headlocks him.

Arn shoulders Ric over and pushes him over. Arn slaps him and Ric falls down. Ric rolls out to stall. Arn takes Ric over by the arm then knees it and stomps it. Arn slaps him then hammerlocks him. Ric trips him, goes for a facelock and is hammerlocked. Arn stomps Ric's arm and hammerlocks it.

Arn wristlocks Ric then Arn armbars Ric. Arn headscissors him, Ric gets out and chops him down. Arn back elbows him. Arn eye rakes him and sleepers him. Ric backs him up in the ropes to break it then Arn 2nd rope knees him in the back. Arn hammerlock slams Ric then hammerlocks him. Arn pulls him down by the hair.

Arn bangs Ric's arm off the post. Arn ddt's Ric with the arm and armlocks him again. Ric chops him and takes punches. Ric pulls the top rope down and Arn goes down to the floor. Ric double axe handles him off the top to the floor.

Ric drops him with a nice punch. Ric pulls Arn's throat down over the top rope. Ric foot chokes him then knee drops him. Arn hits punches then back body drops him for 2. Ric throws Arn out then chops him outside. Ric is back body dropped on the floor then Arn pounds on him. Ric suplexes Arn on the floor.

Ric drops him with a punch inside then suplexes him. Ric chops him down for 2. Arn sunset flips him, Ric doesn't go with it and misses a punch. Arn rakes Ric's face across the buckles. Ric is thrown in the corner and ends up in tree of woe. Arn goes for the ddt but Ric holds onto the ropes. Ric then fair flops anyway.

Arn throws Ric off the top. Arn comes off the buckles and is lariated. Ric figure fours him. Arn reverses the figure four then Ric clips him. Arn rolls Ric up off the figure four. Ric kicks Arn in the leg.

Brian Pillman gets on the apron and punches Flair. Flair punches him back. Brian kicks Flair in the back of the head and Arn ddt's Flair. Arn pins Flair.

Thoughts: The work was good but I didn't like the finish of Brian Pillman getting involved. I thought they had enough of a story without it and they didn't build up Pillman getting involved. It was real fun to see Flair and Arn take each others moves and they really did a good job of getting the simple things right. It was nice to see Arn get the win here as well. It did indeed feel like a fight between two friends. I thought they could have played up the concept a bit more though. Maybe they clean break each other and stuff early, help each other up and so forth then one of them cheapshots the other and the battle rages on from there. Maybe the camera could have caught them saying some things to each other as well. Maybe they could have reversed each others moves as well and pulled dirty tricks on each other. But who am I to tell Ric and Arn what to do?

We get a silly over the top video from Kevin Sullivan on Hulk with various special effects.

Hulk Hogan's team is interviews. Hulk said they drank a couple gallons of agent orange and are impervious to pain. Hulk asks what The Dungeon will go down they declare war. Savage says there's no issues and he said what he said when he had to say it. Sting says he wants to go to war and is sick and tired of talking. Lex says he has the camouflage on and is with his partners and ready to go. He says they are together as together can be. Hulk said all he had was look in Lex's eyes and he knew he was American made.  He said Savage told him not to trust anyone and Hulk says they are focused on getting rid of The Dungeon. Hulk says he wants 5 minutes with Taskmaster. Jimmy Hart says he's ready for war. Hulk says he feels sorry for anyone who gets in their way. He says they can't be held responsible for what happens and says they will run wild in the cage. Hulk says let's use Hart as bait.

Thoughts: It was a fun promo but you could definitely see Hulk wanting to get the last word in and wanting his own mic time here.

War Games Match - Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger, Randy Savage & Sting vs. The Dungeon Of Doom (Kamala, Meng, The Shark & Zodiac)

If Hulk's team wins, Taskmaster must face Hulk in the cage for 5 matches. We get some fireworks as the cage is lowered. Gene then reads the rules. 

Sting and Shark are first in. Shark gets the edge on him and hits clubs. Shark walks on Sting. Shark misses a splash. Shark goes to the other ring and Sting crossbodies him over the top rope. Sting hits punches and slams Shark. Sting goes for another slam but Shark falls on him.

Shark bearhugs him and Sting bites his way out. Sting goes to the other ring and Shark tries to dive over the top but is caught on top of the two ropes. Sting then kicks Shark in the gut. Sting dives on him and is caught and thrown in the ring. Shark poses on the bottom rope and is crotched. Sting then shakes the top rope while Shark is on it. Sting hits shots to the leg and clips him. 

Sting scorpion deathlocks Shark. Zodiac is next in. He trips getting in. Sting holds onto the top of the cage and double boots him. Sting slams him then scorpion deathlocks him. Shark breaks it up. Shark elbow drops Sting and Zodiac elbow drops him too. Shark hits a big legdrop then Zod chokes Sting.

Sting takes a double clotheslines. Sting double shoulders Shark and Zod. Sting is thrown into the cage. Macho is in next. Macho knocks Shark over and wildly fights Shark and Zod. Shark chops Macho. The Dungeon grabs on Sting's arm from the outside.

Zod chokes Macho then Sting rakes Zod's face. Shark slams Sting then Macho chokes Shark. Meng pulls Macho's leg out then Kamala and Taskmaster pound on it. Sting lariats and elbow drops Zod. Kamala is in. He chops Sting then foot chokes him. Shark atomic drops Macho. Macho and Sting are pounded on. Shark knees Macho in the gut. Sting drops Kamala with shots then Kamala hits Sting in the gut. 

Lex is next in. He double lariats Shark and Kamala. Zod is sent into the cage. Macho double axe handles Shark in the back of the head. Zod's head is banged off the buckles. Zod foot chokes Macho. MAcho sends Shark into the cage. Lex slams Zod then lariats Macho in the back when Zod moves. Macho and Lex start to fight and Sting tries to seperate them. Megn comes in and beats up on the face.

Meng hits headbutts and kicks. Lex has his shirt ripped off and he gets choked with it. Meng chokes Lex then superkicks him. Shark sends Macho into the cage. Hulk gets in and The Match Beyond officially begins. Hulk throws powder in 3 heels eyes. Hulk eye rakes Shark and Zod. Zod is stuck between the two rings and bounces off the ropes as he gets hit. Shark is held for shots from Hulk. Zod's head is banged off the buckles. 

Meng is sent into the cage then Shark takes a corner lariat from Hulk. Zod is sent into the cage. Hulk rakes Kamala's back then Kamala is sent into the cage. Zod is sent into the cage then Meng is too.

Zod goes into the cage then Hulk camel clutches Zod. Because Zodiac says yes/no all the time, the ref asks Zodiac if he wants to submit and Zodiac says yes and no. The ref counts it and The Dungeon of Doom are defeated.

Thoughts: It was a standard Wargames match here. Due to Hulk being involved, it wasn't as wild or as brutal as the '91 and '92 versions were. Shark was the MVP of this one, taking some big bumps. They didn't make as much of the Lex/Macho feud as they could have but they did do a little with it at least. It was mostly people choking each other, people going into the cage and basic shots. It was fine but in no way lived up to prior Wargames.

Kevin Sullivan tries to leave after and Doug Dillinger stops him. They don't have security so Taskmaster has to pretend that some guy in shorts and Doug Dillinger are stopping him.

Sting grabs Sullivan and sends him in.

5 Minute Time Limit - The Taskmaster vs Hulk Hogan

Hulk sends Task into the cage many times. They go out of the cage and Task's head is banged off the outside of the cage. Task begs off and Hulk lariats him. Hulk chokes Task with tape then gives him the big boot.

The Giant comes out. He picks up the ref and moves him out of the way. Giant jumps over the ropes and chokes Hulk from behind. Hulk hits shots on Giant and Giant chokes him. Giant twists Hulk's neck and Hulk is down. Macho, Lex and Sting return and Giant/Taskmaster leave. Giant says Hulk is through.

Michael Buffer calls for paramedics and a physician to come to ringside. The show ends with Hulk being checked on and down.

Thoughts: I wonder why Giant wasn't in Wargames here? I also wonder if Hulk gets more time with Sullivan at some point down the line since Giant interrupted it? What they did made sense here as Hulk got some revenge but they didn't completely blow things off as Hulk didn't destroy Sullivan.

Overall thoughts: It was a longer show. The opener going 29 minutes set a bad pace for the rest of the night and tired the crowd out early. They tried to do something special in the opener but I thought they did too much, I didn't think they sold enough and I didn't think it should have been the opener. Cobra/Pittman was a waste of time. Renegade/DDP was nothing. The Spivey/Orndorff segment was weird. The tag title match was long, slow and directionless, though the strikes looked good. Arn vs Flair was good but I didn't really get why Pillman got involved and I didn't think it was the right time for it. The main was fine but didn't compare at all to previous Wargames classics. I wouldn't recommend this one.