El-P

Went way too long and went nowhere. The Piper issue is just dead, and it really hurts the momentum of the ongoing Sting vs Hogan storyline. The Flair burying goes too far here. Savage vs DDP is cool with me as I love those two working together, but it felt like a rehash more than a hot feud now. You can feel the stalling on top. The nWo really was going out of hand at this point, on the same show the Outsiders pinned Wrath & Mortis clean despite having nothing to win there.

Well, I really enjoyed this angle too. In her shoot interview, Terri said the plan was for her and Dustin to renew their weddings vows after the 30 period. Then during the ceremony, Terri would turn on Dustin and Pillman would attack and bloody him. Terri said she loved the idea of her standing in a bloody wedding dress over Dustin's body while she was getting back with Pillman. They would have played on the fact Terri used to date Pillman before she married Dustin. Sounds like an angle I would have loved. Sadly...

Yep. As a worker I would sure want to work with the likes of Lance Storm and not Chris Jericho, for instance. Most of the Samoans have a reputation for being light as a feather, which is partly why they are so respected and appreciated by their fellow co-workers. Not exactly working "light", but I remember hearing that Kohji Kanemoto was super respected by his peers because he was extremely safe. I can see that being the most important factor. No matter how great we, unsuspecting watchers, think he is, working Stan Hansen must have been a nightmare.

Okay, for all the deserved criticism Tony got over the years for the last years of WCW, can we say that it's September 97 and Tony has regularly been *great* in selling key angles up until then ? Maybe it's time to give Schiavone the credit he deserves in the success of WCW's product during those hot years. To me he didn't fall off the cliff until mid 98, when the entire company was falling off the cliff anyway. (and yeah, that Flair face shot was morbid to say the least)

Bagwell kinda sucked the life out of the match early on on offense, but he redeemed himself by taking a hundred chops. Konnan was kind of an albatros save for one DDT. Benoit was a dynamo here, easily the standout with Syxx, who took a sick bump into the roof. Bad followup aside, I don't see nothing wrong with the angle the way it is executed, it's actually a pretty great double swerve (for one) that the crowd really didn't see coming. And Hennig seems much more at home playing dastardly heel, so he shows his real personnality for the first time here. Yeah, they did kill this incarnation of the Horsemen there and Flair never got the right revenge (the whole Hennig feud is a blur to me), but it's a damn effective angle. The one issue is, where the fuck were the WCW guys, DDP, Luger, Giant, hell, even Piper ?

Really enjoyed this match, which set up a lot of cool stuff (the last chapter of Savage vs DDP, Zbyszko vs Hall). Luger getting stomped between the two ring was classic. As far as the finish goes, Larry Z. didn't "pretend" to be a referee, the nWo had lost de facto if you follow the rules since they beat up two referees already, which would warrant a DQ anyway. The pinfall was the cherry on the cake and humiliating for Hall. Really enjoyed this finish. Really enjoyed Liz's outfit too (really, leather minishorts and high heels…). This PPV was ridiculously stacked with good stuff (with a decent although irrelevant Steiner vs Harlem Heat match and the excellent Faces of Fear vs Mortis & Wrath power-spot-fest).

Benoit really delivered a dog of a promo here. Flair is going crazy in a good way.

To say the least. He's hilarious.

Agree it could seem legit but anyone that had watched way too much wrestling should now better. Plus the execution, running back and forth in front of Gene, was goofy.

Alex Wright, under any incarnation, was one of the most underrated worker during the Monday Night Wars era. Really good match, but not nearly as good as the Eddie/Jericho one. As a matter of fact, I would put Jarrett vs Malenko above this one too. They did lost the crowd at some point, but damn Alex Wright was impressive in spots. Dragon was having one of these nights, but again he can save the day by working cool sequences (he really botched up La Magistral though). The eurotrash techno dancing act never gets old with me.

Terrific match, a WCW MOTYC to me. The way they worked a slower pace and got nice reactions from working holds during the body of the match was a real nice touch. Eddie was cut, I wonder if he juiced up to come back from his pec injury. He was also total poetry in motion here. The best Jericho match up until then probably. A match that elevated both guys.

Mr. Fuji's devious reputation probably came from real-life ribbing. I mean, he was a cruel bastard.

Better booked that current WWE. (he oversold the ice though, but the first bump was nice)

Bagwell is funnier here than he was during the parody. Konnan is totally overacting the gangsta attitude. Syxx and Nash are too cool for school, or something. Bagwell & Konnan are thrown to the wolves.

Oh fuck, this is it. Piper as interim commisioner, and Age in the Cage is on the horizon. The first time was nice. The second time was redondant, goofy and useless. The third time screams booking getting all fucked up on top. The logical way to go from there would have been Flair and the Horsemen winning the Wargames than Flair vs Hogan at Havoc, then the final build to Starrcade. So yeah, the first cracks in the armor really begin to appear there. And yeah, Piper fucks up the "announcement" that Sting vs Hogan will happen *before the end of 1997*. He has way overstayed his welcome.

Yeah, that was pretty funny. I had no recollection of this. The Owen Hart death makes this kinda creepier than it is. This aside, its a decent little hype segment for Starrcade, and Bischoff is indeed priceless more often than not in his role.

Agreed with all of this. It makes me question my position on Flair too, as it's obvious when he has a real serious issue he can still deliver a main event quality promo. Match ? I'm not sure sure, but this is the best mic work he's done since his Savage feud in 96. Getting the Horsemen out of the ring indeed make them look like fools, and even Tony questions the reason why security didn't get the nWo out of the ring during the parody the previous week. One thing, Hennig doesn't really fit in the Horsemen to me, especially in Arn's spot. And he really didn't fit too well in the nWo either actually. He was fine with Rude as somewhat of a separate unit (although he sucked in the ring in 98) and really didn't find his place until he got with the West-Texas Rednecks.

Terrific short Nitro match. Crazy to think Rey has been injured that often during his WCW tenure, as he would be out again in 98 and 99. Eddie catching Rey from different angles is impressives, as are the ways Rey saves himself. Even not at 100%, Rey still looked like the best worker in WCW as soon as he came back.

Agreed. With this and Savage & Hall getting the win on DDP & Luger again in the final segment, it felt like a total downer for WCW. Hogan puts the heat right on himself despite not being on the PPV, and he does it by furthermore destroying the heritage of the Horsemen by putting JJ Dillon out, which makes the Arn parody like light matters in comparison. Plus, it's the first time, I believe, Hogan refers to Sting having a "white body that (he) can't bother to drag to the gym", which was one reason Hogan effectively didn't want to put him over clean at Starrcade. So yeah, you can foreshadow bad stuff on the horizon, and some clouds are beginning to clutter the WCW sky. It's too bda because the undercard was stacked at this point, with some really fun Eddie/Benoit/Jarrett/Malenko/Dragon/Mortis & Wrath/Faces of Fear/Alex Wright stuff.

Classic segment. Although it's not as hilarious as it supposed to be because Nash simply isn't funny as he thinks he is, as always. He delivers quite a bit of really good lines here though. Syxx was the best, his impersonnation of Flair, complete with the dancing, is right on the spot (pun intended). Bagwell is totally useless, and doing the Mr. Perfect towel bit only accentuate the fact Hennig just has no identity as himself at this point. Really, Buff looks more like a buffed up Bill Alfonso who would have swallowed his whistle. Konnan is okay I guess. I wonder why they didn't even bother to impersonnate Benoit. Vanilly midget mentality maybe, but that is odd. As far as being mean spirited, well, Arn's reputation as a hilarious, sharp tongue-in-cheek guy makes me think this has been blown out of proportion, as Syxx is obviously a huge Flair fan. As far as what part of bullshit came from Nash and Terry Taylor (whom, from several accounts, seems to be an office stooge and a weasel), who knows. Still, this was terrific to build heat for Wargames, and exactly what the nWo was about : total disrespect for tradition. This of course gave us the infamous DX parodies for better or for worse, but also Oklahoma and this kind of crap, so it sure had a bad influence on the product long term. Plus the fact Bischoff really used it to effectively kill Flair and the Horsemen while it was designed for them to get a big time revenge on the nWo also sucks. So yeah, some good and some bad here. One last thing, yeah, Schiavone was terrific selling it.

Here's a piece of trivia, Glacier's undefeated streak in single matches came to a end when he got beat by… Buff Bagwell. Had no recollection of this.

Really excellent video tribute, with tons of old Arn features. Well done. That was classy, for once.

Arn clearly referenced Benoit and McMichael as "these two men", as he held Flair in a whole other level. Yeah, Arn cuts a great promo, one of the best of the year, and this is a case where reality sets in, as Flair is genuinely moved. Hennig reacts accordingly, being dead serious and respectful. Great segment that could have launched a new interesting segment with these Horsemen vs nWo waiting for Sting to take the cake at Starrcade. It's a shame Arn had to retire early, as by this point he was a better TV worker and promo than Flair. Terrific segment.

Bischoff was terrific here, cutting a money promo and getting totally humiliated afterward. Sting just smiling got a huge reaction. Great segment, great build to a match that was… four months away. Which would be an issue eventually, although the heat was so huge for this programm that they could sustain some lost of momentum. They really had the feud of the decade (until then at least).

I admit that this was quite random. A way to introduce the character I guess, but… didn't accomplished much. Raven DDTing Stevie Richards after his match on Nitro worked much better.