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Okerlund was less sensitive the previous night--"Her career is finished! Toast! Over!"

The long, continuous shot following the NWO from the limo to the ring is one of the great production moments in WCW history. Even Buffer is used well--he got paid extra on top of his appearance fee every time he recited his catchphrase, and it was a good use of money on this night, at least. Name gaffe aside, it's hard to fault Rodman for playing to the crowd here--just treat it like the Harts being welcomed home in Canada. Bischoff is a starfucking ninny as usual, but that dynamic works great here. The match is made for Bash at the Beach, but Hogan calls Luger & the Giant out for tonight.

Thanks, Youtube: the next segment was the Survivor Series report, and Heenan was part of the "standing by with comments..." with Flair's team.

Wasn't that the time he met Colette, who called him out for acting like a goof and giving too much to his opponent?

I demand Parv review all these Kamala matches that are getting discussed. Actually, since the Rich match is almost Rich wrestling a tree, he might not totally hate that one. I always really liked Kamala going to the top and Hogan dragging himself away from the corner to avoid the diving splash. They did that spot in most of their matches, and it's a great way to get the splash over as deadly and the babyface over as smart. Edit: This also has a very early tease of the Andre turn--it took place after the Hogan trophy presentation but before the segment the next week where Andre stormed off in the middle of his award. Andre comes into the ring, picks up the belt, stares at it, tosses it to Hogan, and leaves.

A hyped mystery partner that turns out to be Kama. Speculation on the 3rd Nation member ranging from Mr. Hughes (?) to Butch Reed (okay) to Abdullah the Butcher (!!!) to the Junkyard Dog (?!?!). Undertaker working face-in-peril. Kama PINNING UNDERTAKER CLEAN WITH A ROCK BOTTOM. Ahmed turning on Undertaker afterward and joining the man he'd spent the last year feuding with. Ross sort of shitting on Ahmed basically calling him out for being a pussy, which I don't think is a very effective way of getting a guy like Ahmed over. What a totally bizarre segment on almost all levels.

Pillman still has things to offer on the mic, but in the ring there's just nothing left. His long tights don't cover the fact that his lower legs have practically decayed--it's honestly scary to watch because it feels like both ankles are ready to snap at any time. Owen pickpocketing the fallen referee was cute, but it would have made a bit more sense if it were Pillman who bumped him. The whole handcuffed-to-the-ringpost stipulation and Goldust getting on the mic to make peace and make the match is all very Memphis, even during a Memphis-esque time for the WWF. Goldust is pretty badly shoehorned in here thanks to the HBK situation.

Pillman has the same look on his face as he did on that "The Fans Can Go to Hell" cover of WCW Magazine...anyone? Okay, nevermind. Was Pillman really a convicted felon?

Good stuff here as we juggle several different storylines--Mankind beginning his "PICK ME, STEVE" run and tensions between Austin and Shamrock. Austin has a lot on his shoulders having to more or less carry the load with Bret and Shawn out of commission. That said, as great as it was, some of the spring Raws were almost *too* Hart-and-Austin-centric, due to the WWF's lack of depth. It's good to get Austin's skills spread around a little bit more.

It's a minor part of the story, but this makes the decision to not just put the belts on LOD last week even worse.

Well, I thought this was absolutely awesome--the best Savage match since GAB '96 and it may even be better than that. And a great performance by DDP, who was working for like 6 here. After his opening flurry including a pescado (!!) I was drawn in for the rest of the match. They elevated things further by having DDP totally no-sell the Savage-hides-behind-Liz spot and throw Liz out of the way--an eye-opener through modern eyes but in context (well-explained by the announcers, with Liz having slammed the limo door on Page earlier) it works. There are some great teases and cut-offs of the Diamond Cutter all throughout the match. Finish is a little cheap but Savage constantly laying out the refs did feel like a strategic decision to set the run-in work, so that's a very minor complaint. Savage wins and we go off the air about half a second after the final 3-count. I'm guessing there won't be a better WCW main event than this in '97, and probably not until DDP/Goldberg in '98.

Damned if this closing stretch isn't really well put together. I detect the hand of one Pat Patterson as directed by Scott Hall. They got a hot false finish after a Syxx spin kick, and do a good job of having Piper go to the corner and see that Flair is gone. Piper can't do much but he shows good fire with his punches and the crowd is really getting into the story. He even takes the Outsider Edge like a pro at the end. No complaints about this at all even though I don't have many fond memories of the Piper/Flair feud either.

I'm always down to see Chicana punching motherfuckers, though I'm not much of a Metal fan. Weird to see him here while his brothers are in CMLL. AAA definitely leaves CMLL in the dust in terms of slicker and more current production values...which is also weird since the same company airs both promotions. Anyway, I liked the brawling in the ring but I agree the outside stuff went on too long. There are lots and lots and lots of great punches, for people who like minimalism. A trademark Antonio Pena fuck finish follows as Metal wrests away a guitar that's brought into the ring and accidentally clobbers Tirantes with it. That draws a pop (from both the crowd and myself) but gets Metal disqualified.

Don't tell anyone who this is and I dare them to tell if this is Jackie Fargo or '90s Tommy Rich. Seems like we haven't heard from Jackie in years, since maybe the Moondogs feud. Lawler comes out wearing a Bill Dundee Halloween outfit. Lance then grills Lawler on Paul E.'s statement from Raw that Brian Christopher is Jerry Lawler's son but won't acknowledge it out of shame. Lawler says that if he had a dollar for every time he's been asked about that, he wouldn't have to wrestle anymore. He promises to answer...then teases us and says he'll come back. We get a funny bumper bit with Lawler comparing himself to Christopher, before Jerry is brought back out to the studio, but stalls until the end of the show again. I get why they wanted to avoid acknowledging Christopher as a son when he was first breaking in, and then it would have led to some awkwardness if they ever got around to addressing it. But I think by '97 it was about the worst-kept secret in wrestling and wonder if they weren't a day late and a dollar short on this matter. (USWA was a day late and a dollar short on EVERYTHING by '97, but work with me.) Lawler's flat denial that he got ANYTHING for Brian Christopher for Father's Day was pretty funny.

Yeah, about ready for this to be over. I'm thinking about doing a "The '90s in a Box" piece when I'm done with this project, a wrestling version of what Bill James did in his Historical Baseball Abstract. If I do, the "Could I Try This Career Over?" category is definitely going to be led by Rick Bogner.

That huge lard was the former Mantaur, who doesn't look to have improved any as he badly blows a hip toss. The Big One is a far cry from the Pipkin Building, much less the Mid-South Coliseum, but it another universe it would have a bit of charm to it. Really good-looking action between Lawler and Dreamer, including Dreamer dropping the ring announcer with a piledriver.

I had trouble getting into this and the distractions (including that ENDLESS Felino promo) served more to distract than add to the experience of the first two falls. The third fall is much better, featuring a spirited technico comeback and some vicious bombs dished out, as well as a crazy decrepit Fiera dive. The third fall would put this at Match of the Month levels, at least, but as I said the first two falls were the kinds which had been done better in lucha in general and this feud specifically.

We skip the match, which is more than fine with me, and get the post-match. The Steiners are brawling with Harlem Heat at the commentator's booth, Glacier with Mortis & Wrath in the aisle, and the Horsemen are battling the NWO in the ring and the DOD run in to do a number on Benoit. Finally DDP, Savage, and Hogan make their way out and Hogan lays out Page with the belt. Sting descends from the rafters, and after a long period of stalling, finally gets DDP hooked up and whisks him away to the rafters. Way cool closing visual but this all took too long to set up, from the overlong brawl to the stalling, which was even more obvious and apparent than a few weeks ago the first time they pulled Sting back up.

Huge reactions all-around--Hogan gets a pop in his old WWF stamping grounds, but also gets trash thrown at him as per tradition. Sort of Hollywood Hogan-by-numbers here, but the action doesn't stop for the short time they have, and a pretty major result as Luger successfully racks Hogan and makes him submit. He's swarmed by the NWO afterward and we get a long beatdown out of 1996, but no spraypaint this time. Hype is on for Bash at the Beach and for Luger as a legitimate World title threat. I didn't realize they were still doing the fireworks-at-the-second-hour bit. That was jarring as hell and so out of place.

Yeah, holy shit, this IS 2015 Raw. The Bash at the Beach main event is announced, before the GAB.

Good to see Liz take an active role for once, preventing further damage by DDP. About two seconds after Dragon's blown headstand spot, Psicosis makes you forget about it by taking an absolutely loony bump over the turnbuckles to the floor. There's some good hard-hitting action here, especially the kicks from Silver King (who looks really good in limited time in his debut) and Ultimo. Not as good as the previous week and Larry was an ass again, but still a fun match with some new spots. La Parka begins his Chairman gimmick, first using his familiar wooden chair as a springboard and then destroying Calo with it after the match. Dragon cleanly taps his upcoming PPV opponent and we have a main event consisting of a tag match that will co-main event the next PPV. Is this 1997 Nitro or 2015 Raw? And incidentally, if Larry is actually telling the truth and that he really wrestled Dr. Wagner, goddamn that's a match we all need to see.

If I remember right he broke his wrist in the Havoc match.

When Rich was on offense this was pretty great--great fire (no pun intended) in just throwing everything he can to try to knock Kamala down and Kamala doing some great weeble-wobble selling. Like Abby and ZombieTaker, the best way to get a good match out of Kamala is to beat (or try to beat) the shit out of him. The run-ins themselves are fun and draw tremendous heat, but the idiotic finish kind of sours this. Paul Boesch doesn't even try to proffer an explanation. Why couldn't they just do a DQ?

He was actually still Strike Force Tito in Barcelona, which just makes it weirder. The Booger thing seemed like it was just a way to establish him as, "This guy isn't a total jobber, but don't hold your breath waiting for main events." Same thing they did with Koko B. Ware, teaming him up with Paul Roma to put over the Hart Foundation in his debut. Both guys lost but got heat afterward--Koko cleared the ring of the Harts, Booger went over Virgil next week. Incidentally one of Tito's very last matches in the company was putting Booger over on a house show, which had to be his lowest point.

I think the thinking was they could run an angle like this as an excuse to keep Lex back in the shadows, since they were pretty much out of allowable dates on his contract with him. Rude was there because Sting still needed something to do, and further Dusty was more about overlapping feuds than Vince ever was. Of course, about 10 months after this, there's another twist yet in the mystery box angle.