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[1998-12-27-WCW-Starrcade '98] Ric Flair vs Eric Bischoff


Loss

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  • 3 months later...

I know they talk up Bischoff's credentials, but a non-wrestler going competitive with a guy like Flair is tough to accept. They did make sure Bischoff's openings were cheapshots and I realize they had to do something to keep the match going back and forth. This would be an interesting comparison as a match to Austin-McMahon seven weeks later. Flair event gets some color. The heat picks up big time when he does the Shattered Dreams to Bischoff after knocking the ref out. Hennig comes out and slips brass knucks on Flair's hand. Bischoff KOs Flair and ends up getting the pin. On a normal show, this would be the worst finish, but believe it or not, they topped themselves before the night was over. I think the match worked, but I think a better route would have been Flair vs Scott Steiner where Flair would get Bischoff alone for five minutes if he won.

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  • 1 month later...

I liked this up until the finish. It was way shorter than the Bisch vs. Larry Z match from last year and Bischoff only got one good kick in to gain offense. I thought the crowd was pretty weak with Flair and I again question why shows like this werent being held in the Georgia Dome. The finish was atrocious. I understand the history with Hennig in the blue suit but it felt so played and Bischoff gets this win for no reason whatsoever. (**)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ric Flair vs "Easy E" Eric Bischoff - WCW Starrcade 1998

 

I thought this was oddly heatless given the participants and their history. I have never had a good feel on DC crowds. Being in the middle of traditional hotbeds like the Northeast and Southeast mean they sort of lack an identity and is not a place I associate with wrestling. Flair was red hot coming back in September in one of the most amazing Nitro segments of all time. Watch the Four Horsemen Reunion if you never have. Flair was out for Bischoff's blood. Bischoff is the perfect cowardly sleazebag. These types of matches are among my favorites. It is just such a crowd please to watch the babyface kick the ass of the chump, who has been tormenting him for months. I had forgotten Bischoff had stolen a kiss from Flair's wife. That is awesome sleaze shit! Flair kick Sleazy E's ass right now! Flair mauls Bischoff to start and I am loving, but the crowd seems less than enthused. Bischoff blows off all of Flair's offense to hit a head kick and then jog around Flair. I get that Bischoff is a karate expert and his kicks are perfectly fine, but you got to sell Flair's incensed attack, brutha. You are killing it. Flair draws color off the railing. The crowd sort of comes alive for Bischoff's antics, but I hate that Bischoff no-sold all of Flair's offense. Flair hits two low blows and Tony is losing his shit over this. Tony is really good calling this and is a good cheerleader without coming off as hokey. I don't think Cole could pull something like this off. Flair rips the shirt off for chops and hits Shattered Dreams. Figure-4 time and that means here comes Hennig in the Perfect Purple Suit to hand Bisch the foreign object to win the match. All the Flair offense was fine and I liked Bischoff as a heel, but the context necessitated he couldn't be pulling that bullshit, he needed to do that before he got his ass kicked if he wanted to do it, but that would have killed the mood so save that shit for the Nitro buildup. Let's see how the Nitro match the following night goes.

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  • 2 years later...

Dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. Bischoff should not have been able to successfully fake a knee injury, should not have been able to get the advantage at all without interference or a weapon or something, and should not have won this at all, much less with one knuck shot. Let Flair have one kickout, please. Flair shouldn't have bladed, either, or if he did it should have been off NWO interference and not just Bischoff kicking him or ramming him into the guardrail. There was some decent work here in-between the problematic match layout, but in the end it's pretty much an egofuck for Bischoff and a cheap set-up to try to score viewers for Nitro.

 

I get that Hennig's apparently been gone for a bit, but why are we acting like it's some gigantic SWERVE that he's helping Bischoff?

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  • 6 months later...

Yeah, its weird. I remember watching this show at the time and being upset with the finish at age 14, probably because I was a Flair fan, but probably also because even as a 14 year old I was of the belief that at the annual "biggest show," the faces should come out on top. Re-watching it years later, I'm kind of struck with the exact same feeling - even when I'm not remotely as invested as I was back then.

 

Plus, as Pete mentioned above, Curt Hennig is the one that does the run-in? As I was watching, I thought it'd be David Flair (that turn must happen later) and I almost feel like even though that would've made absolutely no sense, it would've at least been wacky and outrageous. Having it be Hennig is not a swerve - its precisely what one could've predicted.

 

Similarly, when I was a kid, I feel like I remember Hall being gone prior to Starrcade, but no, I watched World War 3 and Halloween Havoc and there he is and at the start of Starrcade he comes out and states very clearly that he's got "something to prove." So, its almost the same thing with the main event finish - we're supposed to see Hall's interference as a swerve (I think), but you'd have to be a 14-year old mostly watching RAW and bootleg ECW tapes at this point not to have seen Scott Hall screwing Goldberg a mile away.

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  • GSR changed the title to [1998-12-27-WCW-Starrcade '98] Ric Flair vs Eric Bischoff

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