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What a mess this is. The crowd is not near as hot as it should be even with Hogan giving one of his best entrances. I think having a backstage pre-tape of Hogan telling the NWO that he is going at it alone would have went a long way. The actual body of the match is not good but not really horrible either with Hogan willing to bump and looking good. I don't mind him on offense for much of the match as much as I did in the Bischoff/Zbysko match because of how inactive Sting has been. I agree that Sting should have trained hard and had the match of his life and this simply was not the case. The finish is where things really go downhill. Patrick's count is not slow at all and the crowd is in shock. Bret feels extremely shoe-horned in and we get the NWO B-Squad trying to interfere to save the day with Bret just standing there. Finally, Hogan submits and the celebration is good but the moment is really ruined and in a banner year, this feels like a miss in every sense of the word.

This shouldn't be that hard to book. Have Larry dominate for a while, give Bischoff some offense based off of Hall's interference and then give Larry the big comeback with Hart calling it right down the middle and socking Hall and Bischoff in the process. Why they gave Eric so much offense at the onset and then did that much of a convoluted ending to essentially protect Eric was atrocious in the ring but the execution and booking was even more atrocious and the biggest factor of this night that something was amiss and maybe this isn't exactly the victory lap for WCW it was supposed to be. Crowd was also pretty dead.

Flair vs. Steamboat : Clash 6 Hennig vs. Bockwinkle : From AWA This are the two easiest ones for me to throw out because they have a multitude of other matches against each other on tape and the two above are my favorite matches of their respective series.

Thanks Jaze, we will see how the schedule works out when the baby comes but we were glad to get this two out of the way with a quickish for us turnaround.

This was a good listen and overall view of the Georgia territory. Parv's crusade to devalue Rich was a little perplexing to me. When he did fall from the main event scene, he fell pretty hard but a five year run on top is nothing to sneeze at and he is still recognized as a household name for a lot of people my dad's age down here. Also, an underrated Kelly line as Parv was trying to find a location where RIch wouldn't be well known and he throws out North Dakota. Without skipping a beat, Kelly says "he was big in North Dakota."" "one of the more sophisticated wrestling angles, ironically coming from Georgia" What the hell Kelly? I expect that nonsense from Parv but expect more from you.

I swear I was like was that Greg FN Valentine. No idea what the deal was with that. Action is pretty uninspiring here and the crowd is dead but Page wins the US title with a Diamond Cutter from nowhere and it caps a good year for him.

Nash vs. Giant being off is disappointing. Hall does sell a lot for the Giant and Giant looks good but this is one blemish on the night for WCW.

I thought the opening minutes of this were ho hum and felt like a Wolfie carry job with a stip I dont like as Flash was pinned within two minutes. Then, Wolfie gets busted open and we see some signs of life from Flash. He still does some goofy springboard RVD type spots that dont make a ton of sense but he mixes in some hate and good transitions. The final feels like a battle of nut shots and we get the double knockout, who can be the first to stand up spot as the finish.

I enjoyed this greatly. Maeda is not a fluid and sick as some of the other RIngs competitors we have seen but the storyline here is very strong with the protege schooling the mentor and being faster and stronger but Maeda getting in this desperation spots to make the match dramatic. Tamura is finally able to put him away which feels like a big moment for him and his advancement.

This went one angle too far as the head in the box was a little too much for me and they should have just had Sting hang glide into the ring. Bret also feels very out of place standing in the middle of these two but I guess they knew what role he would play Sunday.

I thought this was one of the best things in 1997. When you do something like this as a wrestling promotion, you have to go all in. Bischoff went all in on making this moment work. Everything from who ran everyone off (the NWO B crew) to all the aesthetic changes with the banners and signs, to the glorious entrance of Bischoff on a hog made this go overboard and work for me. Hollywood is presented with two custom bikes one including his mural on it and a limo covertable with women and butler and Hogan does one of his most egregious entrances in history. Bobby begging for his job was even perfect and fit his persona to a tee. This set up perfectly for NWO to finally being extinguished as we know it at Starrcade. Syxx Pac gets a shout out as the whole NWO comes out once again to gloat. Hogan gets a ring that looks like the heavyweight championship that I have to admit is pretty swank. We then get a poster of his SI cover and Rocky III. This was the NWO at their peak fright before their big downfall as far as I'm concerned. You have to had it to Bischoff for taking chances.

I listened to this while assembling the pack n play and enjoyed it. I agreed with all on most of the big points except MOTN. I think the show overall is more successful than looking at each individual match. Mick, I know you didn't ask me but I would argue that the build to Hardcore Heaven 97 is when the company peaked with the Lawler stuff. Everything so far after that have I seen has become too convoluted.

Windham vs. Pillman is criminally short from SuperBrawl and could have used another 3-4 minutes. Even something like Atlantis vs. Panther from 1997 felt a little short to me. Great match in spite of it but would have been a MOTYC with another 5-10 minutes of great wrestling building to a crescendo.

I feel like I should stick up for longer matches. I have no problem with 30+ minute matches as long as the action is compelling and a complete story is told. I can think of countless long matches that never would have resonated as much with me had they not done the opening groundwork.

I had to see where this Raw was at since it seemed like a small arena and sure enough it was in Lowell Mass with just over 2k in attendance. I dont understand why Sarge thought they would go at it with each other. I don't think this is that bad an angle to kill some time on a Christmas episode but the hype for the big Taker match needs to be ratcheted into high gear as we start 1998 and Owen really should have beat HHH at the Rumble.

We go from the 1994 footage of Hulk reading Twas the Night Before Christmas to this. A lot has changed in wrestling's landscape in 3 years. Goldust continues to be the most bizarre but kind of fascinating man in wrestling currently. Vader claus ends the segment socking Goldust. They really built up the feuds for Rumble well after the mis fire for the DX PPV.

We get a decent boiler room brawl before the NAO are able to lock Mick into a freezer.

I didn't really like this as it felt like them forcing Santa into an angle for Austin to stun someone. This was after hours on Raw and I think it should have stayed there.

New Age Outlaws have started the feud with Foley and we got some clips of them doing some heinous stuff. They really milked this feud up. THe bump Foley takes from the stage is nasty and Mankind gives us a promo from the boiler room.

HHH was showing some signs of improvement but he has been fairly dreadful the past week. It is cliche to rag on the guy but this is bad. The robes thing didn't really resonate with me and I didn't see the purpose at all. I also hate how HHH is now getting heat on Owen as the crowd chants him up. A European title match between these two is made by Slaughter.

We just get the very beginnings of the post match with them handcuffing Onita and Nakagawa coming out wielding a chair. Also some weird clipping I didn't notice here as the match goes about 18 minutes but the graphic says 14. I agree with Loss this shouldnt be called War Games but it was a hell of a lot of fun while it lasted with the chaotic action aspect that I enjoy in the Wargames and it featured some good spots and overall psychology. I was happy to see Busa pull out the win with a big moonsault from the top of the cage.

Surprised Loss mentioned Williams vs. Kobashi, while I would agree that went to long, I think WIlliams vs. Kawada from October a month later is a more egregious example of match going long. The first match that popped into mind for me was the Night the Line was Crossed as it was 45 minutes of uninspiring work all around. I am interested to rewatch the Hero vs. Punk 93 minute match as I was a fan of it.

Al Snow is talking to head, again not my thing. Francine dressed as Ms. Claus looks good as a last plea for best looking female of 1997. We get the FBI arguing and I think they are always good in these segments. This was one of the better Pulp Fiction efforts overall actually.

Five short compact minutes between these two. They clubber each other with stiff shots and Lee and Iron Mike talk about Bischoff vs. Larry Z. Regal is able to put Finlay away with a back suplex.

I have really liked the M-Pro stuff in 1997 and it is a strong effort from a company that most people would say was on the decline. The amount of work FUnaki did to Taka's leg here was great with Taka repeatedly having to get to the ropes using his teeth. Taka does an inspiring comeback and is able to put the match away as both shake hands and embrace afterwards.