WCW's Highway to Hell

[El-P]

PPV 7 : Bash at the Beach 1999

 

Super match of the night : DDP & Bam Bam Bigelow & Kanyon vs Chris Benoit & Perry Saturn. I never saw this before, and I'm glad that I did. I like this a whole lot, and it maybe it's one of the best match I've seen in WCW since the beginning of teh year, and a legit excellent match to me. The psychology of the match is pretty interesting : Benoit & Saturn dominate their opponent whereas they end up 2 vs 2 or even 1 vs 2, but it's always the third guy who fuck them up and reverses the momentum. It's simple, but it works on every level, putting over the Triad gimmick as an efficient heel team gimmick, putting over Benoit & Saturn as two bad asses, and giving the match it's own dynamic and storytelling. The work is strong thanks to Benoit, Kanyon & DDP, with Saturn and Bam Bam showing some of their best work too. They get quite a bit of time but it never gets dull, boring or nonsensical. And the finishing stretch is excellent, with actual false finishes (and I'm not talking about those pseudo-epic obligatory "countering your hold / kicking out of your finisher" crap we'll see at Mania), that we can probably attribute to DDP. Loved this. The Triad is the best thing Bam Bam was ever involved with.

 

Death of WCW match of the night : Invitationnal Hardcore Battle Royal. Nuff' said. Oh, they re-hired Public Enemy too. Now that's also some well spent money.

 

Honorable mention match of the night : West Texas Rednecks vs No Limit Soldier. I feel like it could have been much better. It started out really good and heated, but as soon as the first elimination occured, it kinda died down. Brad Armstrong had some very awkward exchange with Rey, of all people. Swoll was green as fuck and shouldn't have been put in this match. My main issue with this is that the Soldiers came out with Chase and 4X4 (two big meatheads with no talent) at ringside, and they proceeded to kick the ass of the Rednecks when they got eliminated, which kinda comes off like a dick heel move. Plus the Rednecks were effectively outnumbered. That in the end Curt Hennig was alone one against two worked because he was the asshole that got the thing started, but still, there was a feeling of the Rednecks being the underdogs and being ganged up. Rey got the pin on Hennig, so I can't complain too much, but it was nowhere near as good as it could have.

 

Decent opener of the night : The Cat vs Disco Inferno. What you would expect. Disco is pretty good and the Cat is pretty funny, so there you go.

 

Nobody gives a fuck match of the night : Rick Steiner vs Van Hammer. Nitro match. Hammer jobs. Things never change. Bad and boring. No business on a PPV. Should be a Saturday Night undercard match.

 

Death of WCW match also : David Flair vs Dean Malenko. Usual bullshit. Malenko beats on David for a while, then Ric and the other guys attack him. Dean actually hits Asya, which gets a huge pop. Yeah, violence against women was a cool babyface move in the late 90's. Asya is the most useless valet ever : she doens't do anything, she can't work, she can't cut a promo, she doesn't look good, she has no personality. Why did this girl even got a paycheck ? Oh, so Nash could make a not-so-clever pun about the WWF and remind everyone that WCW is now a second rate product looking up at New York. Anyway, this is shit. Oh, and Torrie Wilson is back with David Flair. Whatever happened with Nash apparently was unimportant.

 

Awful gimmick match of the night : Roddy Piper vs Buff Bagwell. In a boxing match. With a old boxing judge from a TV show a a guest referee. And Judy Bagwell in Buff's corner. I didn't even look at this shit.

 

Depressing main event of the night : Randy Savage & Sid Vicious vs Kevin Nash & Sting. Man, Sid is really godawful. Just unbearable to watch. And since sadly SAvage doens't do anything at all anymore, this is as bad as it sounds. Sting get most of the time. There's a big swerve as George gets into Nash's corner (Savage actually slapped her on Monday, for whatever reason), but in teh end she'll betray Nash and give him the worst balls shot ever, leading to Savage hitting the elbow and winning the WCW title. Yeah, because it's a great idea to put your title on a guy who can't work anymore. But hey, it won'y last long, as the hilarity of all hilarity profiles itself already. If you know your Hogan/Savage dynamic, you know what I'm talking about. I'm laughing already. I can hear Hogan's voice from here "Hey, dude, Nash, Flair and this bunch of guys dropped the ball brotha. I should get the belt back to take this company back on track jack !"

 

Aside from probably one of the best match of the year in any US company, this PPV was rotten. I never saw it before, and man, what a ride.

[Bix]

Jerome, have you read Bret's book? He goes pretty in-depth into why he started wrestling again not too long after the speech in Atlanta. The short version is that with all of the family turmoil over the lawsuit and how great Hogan and Bischoff had been to him in the aftermath of Owen's death, the WCW locker room (full of guys he good friends with from the WWF like Savage, Piper, Hennig, Rude, & Knpbbs) quickly became the most comfortable place for him to be. It went from the reaction of the locker room to seeing him for the first time since Owen died (or the funeral in some cases) to working a few house shows to coming back full time.

[thebrainfollower]

Is it criminal to say I actually preferred some of Russo's stuff to Nash as a booker? In the same way Ed Wood is universally regarded as the worst director of all time, but Plan Nine and Bride of the Monster are much much more entertaining than stuff like "Manos - The Hands of Fate" or "The Beast of Yucca Flats" kinda way but still...I think I prefer Russo's run to Nash's in booking except for the lack of long matches IIRC.

[El-P]

Jerome, have you read Bret's book? He goes pretty in-depth into why he started wrestling again not too long after the speech in Atlanta. The short version is that with all of the family turmoil over the lawsuit and how great Hogan and Bischoff had been to him in the aftermath of Owen's death, the WCW locker room (full of guys he good friends with from the WWF like Savage, Piper, Hennig, Rude, & Knpbbs) quickly became the most comfortable place for him to be.

I haven't read the book, but I can totally understant why he felt it was the best thing for him. Getting immersed in work while being surrounded with supportive friends, yeah, I can see that.

[Death From Above]

The most frustrating thing about this period for me: old and/or big dudes dragging down parts of WCW we were all used to, but there was a long stretch where you could hold out for the cruiserweight title match at least. Nash seemed to forget the belt existed. He seemed to like Mysterio, but the rest of the division... where are they? A few of them stuck in that silly battle royal. Frustrating.

 

That hardcore battle royal cost them a bunch to produce, looked just awful because it was hard to shoot, and got a couple guys hurt. Really bad.

 

Honestly, if you made it through this and if you make it through the Road Wild follow up... I'm not sure you can be killed. I may have to dig up some actually good Randy Savage, because this is not how anyone should remember the guy.

[artDDP]

Road Wild was at least a little fun. Randy Savage beats the shit out of Dennis Rodman.

[El-P]

WEEK 28 (July 12 to 17, 1999)

 

Hilarious title change of the week : Hulk Hogan gets the WCW title back pinning Randy Savage (Nitro). Was that in Savage's contract that anytime he would get the title he would have to drop it to Hogan the very next day ? Seriously, this is getting comical. This is also a good thing since Savage was obviously done. They work smokes and mirrors around Savage, involving the girls (more violence against women resulting in a aggravating pop and a catfight between Mona & Madusa who blame each other) and shitloads of weightlifting belt shots eaten by Hogan, as it's the only thing Savage seems willing to do. Savage actually missed his elbow, which is an über rarity, I don't even remember another occurence. Another rarity is Hogan hulking up after the escape and not after eating his opponent's finisher, which is a hundred times better. Damn, why didn't he do *that* all the time ??? Coming back to Hogan was of course no go forward for WCW, but considering where they were at the moment, it was the less worse solution for the time being. Nash helps Hogan at one point but also challenges him after teh match, reminding everyone of the Fingerpoke of Doom. Well, at least it makes sense and it's a big match that haven't happened yet. And it doesn't involves Sid.

 

Mexican dream match (of sorts) of the week : Konnan vs Vampiro (Nitro). This is supposed to be the first time they even meet in a single match. They say they hate each other from their Mexico days. It's watchable, surprinsigly. Ends up in a DQ when Vamp used a chair outside. I guess it could be a decent shooty-shooty feud.

 

Match of the week : The Triad vs West Texas Rednecks (Thunder) Since it's Triad rules, not only can DDP and his partners tag in and out freely, but so can the Rednecks, who are four. This is nothing special, but it's pretty good. Of course it won't lead nowhere since soon we'll get the unfortunate reformation of Harlem Heat.

 

Cruserweight match of the week : Mickey Whipreck vs Kidman (Thunder). Mickey was so underutilized it's criminal, he was an excellent worker at this point. Should and could have been pushed hard in the cruiserweight division, as showed by this match. He reigns Kidman worst tendency very well, and shows how superior a worker he is too. WCW were clueless about who they signed and how to used them.

 

Fucked up spot of the week : Kidman screwing up his shooting star press (shocking) and taking a bump on the third rope instead of Steven Regal. Ouch.

 

Slow week but nothing offensive. They are still runnig the useless David Flair angle. Ric Flair had a mediocre match with Dean Malenko. Stevie Ray went to save his brother from a beating by the Triad. The Rap vs Country angle is over. Goldberg certainly came back, only to not showing up this week. It was all about Hogan coming back and getting the title. The Eddie Guerrero angle from the previous week (his wallet was stolen and he had all the masked guys show him his face so he could identify the thief...) was not followed up. Tons of injured people from the Hardcore Battle Royal. They plugged tons of shit for the following week, including Sting vs Flair for controm of the company so it looks like Old vs Young guys is over too, and Buff is feuding with The Cat now. Yep. Going forward...

[artDDP]

Hilarious title change of the week : Hulk Hogan gets the WCW title back pinning Randy Savage (Nitro). Was that in Savage's contract that anytime he would get the title he would have to drop it to Hogan the very next day ? Seriously, this is getting comical. This is also a good thing since Savage was obviously done. They work smokes and mirrors around Savage, involving the girls (more violence against women resulting in a aggravating pop and a catfight between Mona & Madusa who blame each other) and shitloads of weightlifting belt shots eaten by Hogan, as it's the only thing Savage seems willing to do. Savage actually missed his elbow, which is an über rarity, I don't even remember another occurence. Another rarity is Hogan hulking up after the escape and not after eating his opponent's finisher, which is a hundred times better. Damn, why didn't he do *that* all the time ??? Coming back to Hogan was of course no go forward for WCW, but considering where they were at the moment, it was the less worse solution for the time being. Nash helps Hogan at one point but also challenges him after teh match, reminding everyone of the Fingerpoke of Doom. Well, at least it makes sense and it's a big match that haven't happened yet. And it doesn't involves Sid.

I just watched this match on the new "Best of 'Nitro'" set and I forgot that this was probably one of the first times I'd seen Kevin Nash's pencil legs.

 

As something of a bodybuilder myself I always get a laugh out of guys with well-built chests and arms and skinny legs.

[goodhelmet]

WEEK 28 (July 12 to 17, 1999)

 

Fucked up spot of the week : Kidman screwing up his shooting star press (shocking) and taking a bump on the third rope instead of Steven Regal. Ouch.

This match was pretty good until the fucked up ending. Regal still knew how to fucking wrestle even if he was all fucked up.

[Mando]

You should check out Duggan's book as he has some stories about the Russo era and all the ways they tried to force him to quit. He also took a couple potshots at your boy Ernest Miller.

[El-P]

WEEK 29 (July 19 to 24, 1999)

 

Retarded angle of the week : Sting beats Flair via an Eric Bischoff 3 count and wins the control of the company. (Nitro). Bischoff still had no business making a three count. The match was terrible, Flair doing his slow guy autopilot show and Sting no-selling left and right. And the timing was excessively rotten since :

 

Debut of the week : Shane Douglas (Nitro). He comes to the aid of Benoit, Saturn & Malenko and cuts a promo on how this guys were kept down, which fit the current angle they are put into. Ironically, Douglas was working as the old veteran passing the torch in ECW and working against hungry young assholes Credible & Storm (and being quite good at it), but in WCW he's representing the younger talents. But anyway, this would be all good and fine, and although the mainstream audience isn't aware of the old shoot feud Douglas had with Flair, it would just organically slide into the current WCW angle of Benoit & Co working against Flair & the Triad. Except Flair just lost the presidency of the company 50 minutes earlier. Totally fucked up timing here. So, the angle was fucked from the start.

 

Celebrity angle of the week : Arliss (great, a TV show character thrown into a wrestling angle) is trying to recruit Dennis Rodman who interferes in Randy Savage matches with Kidman (Nitro). The match itself is actually surprisingly decent, as Savage gives Kidman way more than anyone would think, even taking the huge over the tope rope bump to the floor he used to do. Impressive coming from a guy who showed nothing since his comeback. The angle is a gigantic mess. Best part of Madusa showing up and getting at Mona's throat. Mona would get fired by Savage on Thunder too.

 

Other celebrity debut of the week : Insane Clown Posse jumping on Konnan (Nitro). I have such a terrible memory of them in WWF that I don't even remember their WCW stint. They are aligned with Vamp, which at least fit their image. Raven shows up too and look bored as fuck. Not in a "Raven character" way, but in an actual "I want to quit this company" way, which he would do a few weeks later.

 

Stiff match of the week : Fit Finlay vs Jerry Flynn (Nitro). Hey, the Saturday Night crew gets TV time on Nitro, this is pretty sweet. This is Finlay vs Flynn, so it's kick ass. Finlay gets to the oustide to try to get back his hardcore trophy that Jimmy Hart stole and gets ambushed by the remainders of the First Family.

 

Funny angle of the week : Buff Bagwell impersonnates The Cat (Nitro) I'm usually not a client at all of Buff comedic stuff, but he got The Cat's voice pretty well, and was kinda funny doing the dancing gimmick. His promo and puns as Bagwell always suck though. Finally the Cat shows up and KO's him with the red shoes.

 

Woman's match of the week : Brandi Alexander vs Miss Madness (Thunder). Okay, this is not ARSION or anything (hey, this was a timely reference back in 99), but this is pretty solid, and Mona takes some great bumps.

 

Line of the week : "There's a cancer here in WCW" Shane Douglas on Nitro. Indeed, but at this point, it's no longer Flair.

 

Pretty decent Nitro in term of angle developpements. Nash seems to be turning tweener against Hogan, who's fully back into Hulk mode, although still dressed as Hollywood. He had a match against Sid which was halfway watchable (being way generous) only thanks to him, as Sid is as inept and shitty as ever, really. Not much goofy backstage segments and no more invisible camera videos and such, to the point I wonder if Nash hasn't already been pushed aside to some extent. Oh, Lenny and Lodi are *brothers* after all. Yawn.

[Loss]

I remember Bagwell painting himself brown causing a little stir at the time.

[El-P]

I remember Bagwell painting himself brown causing a little stir at the time.

Yeah, that was the one thing that kinda bothered me. He won me over by doing a good Cat vocal impersonnation.

[artDDP]

You'll see it when you get to the fall of 2000: My personal favorite memory of the ICP in WCW was Mike Awesome power bombing one of them on his "That 70s Guy" bus and the clown falls off and Awesome can't grab him in time.

[El-P]

WEEK 30 (July 26 to 31, 1999)

 

Match of the week : Chris Benoit & Perry Saturn & Dean Malenko vs Ric Flair & DDP & Kanyon (Thunder). By default more than anything else, but it was a decent all action match, with always good performances from Benoit, DDP & Kanyon. Flair looks the worse of the 6, by far. Douglas shows up at the end and cuts basically the same promo that he did on Nitro, to a lukewarm reaction. The problem is that he seems to be pandering to the three other guys too much, and the Franchise is a de facto heel character, as showed by his first match on Nitro which was worked like he was a heel.

 

Lazy angle of the week : Dennis Rodman kidnaps Gorgeous George. (Nitro). This girl really had a thing for being captured. The whole Savage vs Rodman stuff has been very poorly build, Rodman basically shows up and fucks around with Savage for no reason whatsoever. Savage cuts rambling promos about running for the US presidency (mimicking Hogan's promos from last year). The best parts (pun intended) are Madusa and Mona arguing with Savage and trying to put teh blame for their split on George.

 

Tragic injury of the week : Fit Finlay got his leg injury that would put him off the ring for years. Fuck you Knobbs. Finlay was getting a push again and this is ruined.

 

Squash of the week : Goldberg vs Curt Hennig (Nitro). Not really a squash as the match ends when Curt flies off the ring. The cool part is Goldie spearing all three other West Texas Rednecks in succession. Hennig runs in with a chair, looks at Goldie and then runs off. Pretty cool stuff and made Golderg look like the monster he should always have been.

 

Stiff match of the week : Vampiro vs Rey Mysterio Jr. (Nitro). This is short, but it's the best match I've seen Vampiro involved in. Rey made him look like a million bucks. We'll get Vamp & ICP vs Rey, Eddie and I would guess Konnan now. I could enjoy that.

 

Redux of the week : Harlem Heat are getting back together (Thunder). Finally, Stevie Ray drops the nWo colors and will support his brother against the Triad. I haven't been kind with Booker's single matches all year long, so I have no issue with this. At least next to Stevie he'll look really good again.

 

Random match of the week : Rey Mysterio Jr. & Brad Armstrong vs Kendall Windham & Bobby Duncum Jr. (Saturday Night). Since it's been taped earlier, Rey is still tagging with B.A. as a No Limit Soldier, although he's not doing the silly shout anymore. I like watching Rey work against these two big guys, especially Kendall who's one of the mots underrated guy on the roster at this point.

 

Video package of the week : A really good video recap of the whole Hogan/Nash storyline dating back from the very early days. (Nitro). Very well done, and actually made sense out of the entire nWo story arc, with the dissensions, split and gatherings. Funny fact, Hogan losing the belt to Goldberg was cut out when the video was showed again on Thunder (although it wasn't even showed in the first video, rather simply alluded to).

 

So, Kevin Nash has now turned full fledge heel against Hogan, aligning himself with Sid as his mystery partner for a tag match on Nitro. People wanted Hall, they shit all over Sid, who sucks more than ever it seems like. The build to Road Wild is decent compared to the horrors that were the previous builds. Only the Savage vs Dennis Rodman feud is really shitty. Oh, Scott Hudson has been doing the play by play on Nitro for the last two weeks, and it's been extremely refreshing. Heenan couldn't give a fuck and I just want him to shut up, he's annoying as hell only using ultra tired clichés. Jason Hervey guest colored on Nitro.

[El-P]

WEEK 31 (August 02 to 07, 1999)

 

Match of the week : DDP vs Chris Benoit (Nitro). For a minute or two it seems like they were actually gonna build guys like Benoit. I'm getting back on what I said about DDP earlier in the year, that he was past his prime. I think he was better working with Benoit here than he was the year before. Maybe working heel helped, but DDP has really been on fire since his latest comeback. Strong Nitro TV match, which ends up with Benoit actually getting the pin. David Flair the bogus US champ gets involved and Benoit gets beat up by DDP after the match.

 

Horrible angle of the week : Sid Vicious begins his millenium man gimmick. (Nitro). So there it is, we'll get Sid Vicious interrupting cruiserweight and non-pushed guys matches to chokeslam or powerbomb them and cut boring promos, to build himself a "records streak". I HATE this angle, much like I hate evevry angle of this kind, be it 911, Kane or whoever does it. Sid was especially infuriating. Sid squashes were fresh in 1989 or 1992 when Sid was still young and brand new. Sid doing this shit in 1999 is just FF inducing. Especially since he's been at his all time worse in the ring thus far.

 

Old grudge match of the week : Buff Bagwell vs Scotty Riggs (Thunder). The American Males clash of the titans. Odd how those two careers strayed away after a few months of clapping their hands together. Riggs was the most talented, and Bagwell got the push. Same old wrestling story. This is a good Bagwell match and I'm surprised that it was work on an equal footing basically, Bagwell giving a lot to Riggs who was nothing but a JTTS sadly at this point, so it was a nice surprise.

 

Honorable mention of the week : Jerry Fynn & Hugh Morrus vs Shane Douglas & Dean Malenko (Nitro). Nice little match. Douglas is fat but looks pretty good thus far actually. He really shows that he's an old-school veteran in his way of working, especially in this kind of tag matches. He knows how to act inside and out. Morrus still fails to impress me much even in a slight "he's underrated" way, but he's okay.

 

Brawl of the week : Curt Hennig vs Perry Saturn (Nitro). They get into it for whatever reason with Hennig still dressed up as a cowboy. Hennig bumps like a maniac so it's pretty damn fun, and Saturn isn't afraid to throw him around. I'm loving Hennig in 99.

 

Slow week building to Road Wild. They've done a decent job with the undercard and Hogan vs Nash. Nothing fancy nor outrageous, which really leads me to think Nash was already phased down quite a bit as far as booking goes. The TV doesn't look like what's Nash had been doing for months. We get more Eddie vs Vamp & ICP, we get more Triad vs Harlem Heat, DDP gets his win back over Benoit on Thunder thanks to Bam Bam, which makes them 1-1 before the PPV, The Cat vs Bagwell is a decent low card match up (damn, that big Bagwell push sure vanished quickly). Really, the only shitty stuff is on the higher part of the card with Rick Steiner and Sid being pushed hard, Steiner going against Goldberg (what a gigantic waste) and Sid vs Sting (great, it's 1990 again). The product is not exciting, the US/TV/cruiser titles are dead, but nothing gives you the urge to pull your eyes out like the previous months thanks to a decent undercard. Oh, Savage vs Rodman is a total afterthought, complete lazy stuff. I guess they really had no idea what to do with Rodman at this point.

[EricR]

Maybe I'm remembering this wrong as I haven't seen it since it aired in 1999, but the WORST part of the Sid-as-Goldberg thing was when he would interrupt matches and powerbomb guys, and the ref would count pinfalls without him even pinning guys. Just powerbomb, and then the ref would count as the guy was lying there and he'd rack up 4 wins at a time. Horrible.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I barely watched WCW at all during this time, but I'd try to catch some shit here and there and actually bought the PPV with the Junkyard battle. And I kinda liked the Sid as Goldberg "streak" stuff, as I just imagined that the refs were making counts because they were scared of Sid. And that the fact that he'd make up new numbers every week came off to me as Sid fucking with Goldberg by mocking him, (and the smarky voice in my head was laughing at the fact that Sid's streak was just as legit as Goldberg's made up numbers.)

 

It was terrible TV, but I always felt like I should at least check and see what the fuck WCW was doing at the time. By that time the Monday Night Wrestling get together at my place had switched to a constant flipping back and forth between WCW and WWF to us all just wanting to watch WWF, and I'd occasionally flip.

[El-P]

WEEK 32 (August 09 to 14, 1999)

 

Main event match of the week : Kevin Nash & Rick Steiner & Sid Vicious vs Hulk Hogan & Goldberg & Sting (Nitro). Earlier in the show, Nash & co jumped on Hogan, then saved by Goldie & Sting. From that came the stipulation for Road Wild that this would be a career vs career match. Then this match is notable because it's the comeback of the Red & Yellow Hulk Hogan, to a huge pop. Good idea, Hogan was already working as Hulk anyway, and this makes him fresh again, to some extent. And it gets over the idea that he's concerned Road Wild could be his last match, so he has to become the old Hulk again for this occasion. The match itself is fun too, mainly because it's all action and very heated, and Sid doesn't have the opportunity to suck the life out of it. Goldberg gets a great spear on Steiner.

 

Title change of the week : Chris Benoit vs David Flair (Nitro). Finally, Benoit gets his title shot, set up by Dusty Rhodes who's the new matchmaker for WCW (Sting brought the power back to WCW). Ric not being in power anymore, Charles Robinson can't referee, so David is pretty much fucked. This is satisfiying, Benoit wins the title despite DDP's interruption, setting up a title match at Road Wild.

 

Bad new music theme of the week : "Good Old Boys" (Nitro). Because Rap is Crap was so over, I guess they had to be stripped of it. This is basically Jeff Jarrett's old country theme with some lyrics. Blah. Just like Goldberg's Megadeath theme, this hurts their intros.

 

Woman's match of the week : Little Jeannie vs Mona (Nitro). No idea who Jeannie is, but it is pretty decent. I wasn't aware Mona was that solid for a US woman worker.

 

Line of the week : "We're not getting any younger" Dean Malenko to Dusty Rhodes, asking for more opportunities. Hey ! Great way to put over the fact that they are the "young" talent of the company. Well, Malenko was actually 39, Douglas was 35 and Saturn was 33. Talk about some frisky youngins !!

 

Line of the week 2 : "I'll make Gorgeous George my bitch". Dennis Rodman on Nitro, not even getting blipped. Ugh...

 

The build to Road Wild has been suprisingly decent, really. I refuse to believe Nash booked this on his own. Way too logical and simple. The Hogan "turn" was a pretty cool moment actually. The heat on Nitro was great during the whole show, they should get to Boise, Idaho more often... Shane Douglas, Dean Malenko & Perry Saturn are programmed with the West Texas Redneck after they jumped to protect some country singer who did yet another boring music performance on the show. Not exactly the best way to push them as the Revolution against the eveil older guys, but now that Flair isn't in power, the whole idea behind this group really doesn't work that well. At least Benoit is feuding with DDP over the US belt now. Vamp & ICP vs Eddie, Rey & Kidman developps pretty well, with a tease that Disco might joign (no idea what happened with Konnan). Madusa hasn't been on TV, which is odd, she was all over Savage's angles the first few weeks. Berlyn is coming. Road Wild shapes up to be much better than the previous year.

[Johnny Guitar]

I believe that Dusty was helping out with some of the booking around this time.

[El-P]

I think that was during the Summer of 98 when Sullivan was obviously totally burned out.

[Dooley]

And I kinda liked the Sid as Goldberg "streak" stuff, as I just imagined that the refs were making counts because they were scared of Sid. And that the fact that he'd make up new numbers every week came off to me as Sid fucking with Goldberg by mocking him, (and the smarky voice in my head was laughing at the fact that Sid's streak was just as legit as Goldberg's made up numbers.)

That's how I viewed it. Never understood the whining over it. Heels are supposed to be lying jerks. I could have done without the interrupting of matches that were interesting (maybe have him attack both guys when it was over instead?) but it wasn't much different than Jericho proclaiming himself 3-0 over Goldberg or whatever it was, except Jericho was a smark darling at the time.

[El-P]

PPV 8 : Road Wild 1999

 

Match of the night : DDP vs Chris Benoit. For the US title no DQ. Strong effort by DDP, although I noticed at one time they worked pretty much the same sequence twice. Two things that are noticable here : they work a whole sequence with DDP using the referee's belt to choke and hang Benoit, and it is pretty awkward to watch now; the other thing is that this match was obviously a way to put Benoit over big time, as the Triad interferes while the Revolution guys stay backstage (the idea is that they trust Benoit to win by himself), and Benoit indeed takes care of both Kanyon and Bam Bam and gets a clean pinfall win on DDP. Really good stuff.

 

Honorable mention of the night : Perry Saturn & Shane Douglas & Dean Malenko vs Curt Hennig & Barry Windham & Bobby Duncum Jr. Good six man tag with especially solid work from Windham and Douglas, who are the two fat veterans. Hennig seems to have a knee injury again but he still works around it. This is everything this kind of match should be , nothing special but kept things moving and the right guys were put over. Oh, and the Rednecks are using Rap is Crap during their intros, so it was fun.

 

Decent opener of the night : Vampiro & ICP vs Eddie Guerrero & Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman. Although I shouldn't expect too much out of ICP and Vamp, I was still a bit disapointed with this. I think they worked too much heat segments without having the offense to do it, the ICP are better as bumping goofs. It was still pretty good though, and the crowd got into it. Again, clean pinfall, which basically happened in every match, and the right guys go over.

 

Car crash of the night : Randy Savage vs Dennis Rodman : "Where is my bitch ?" Rodman. "Tonight you are my bitch" Savage. Really ? Anyway, this isn't good, as Savage can't do anything anymore, and Rodman is only good for a few minutes or so, but it has its moment, especially when they go backstage, including a now infamous spot. I understand what they were aiming at, doing a crzay brawl, but they didn't really succeeded, using smokes and mirrors like abusing referees. Savage really had nothing left, sadly.

 

Nostalgia match of the night : Hulk Hogan vs Kevin Nash. Hogan is much more interesting as Hollywood to me. As a 1999 Hulk match against a monster, this is pretty decent, although it's a hell of a basic match. Nothing bad per say, but really nothing above the least requisite to make it work. The career vs career stipulation was useless, it dodn't work at all and the two guys didn't bother work like it was a huge deal. Really Hogan getting the belt back as a nostalgia act was fine, as Nash was a failure, but it really showed that the company was dry on top. Even with Goldberg winning the belt, nothing was hot anymore, and especially not Sid.

 

Shitty performance of the night : Sid Vicious vs Sting : God Sid sucks. And he not only sucks, but he's really lazy as all hell. The way he feeds Sting is amazingly goofy. Sid was not a guy to put on top anymore in 1999, he was a proven failure at every level, it's mind blowing WCW still tried with him. Bad match, although Sting was energetic. Sid gets a clean pinfall, but he didn't even bother use the powerbomb on Sting. One chokeslam and that was it. Ugh...

 

Useless match of the night : Goldberg vs Rick Steiner. As much as Scott figured it out, Rick just didn't. Slow, plodding, boring offense from Rick until Goldie spears him. Jackhammer, end. No business on PPV.

 

Harlem Heat won the title in a decent match for a Harlem Heat match in 99, but it is not a good thing to anchor the tag team division around an act from the past which involves Stevie Ray. Bagwell vs The Cat wasn't good, both these guys needs a good worker to work with, they just didn't click. The most striking thing about that PPV is the lack of bullshit finish and screwjobs. All clean finish, mostly with the right guys going over (only Sid pinning Sting is very questionnable at best). It was obvious Nash wasn't booking alone anymore. The best parts were delivered by the Triad, the Revolution and Eddie & Co. The main event scene looks dull, dry and totally without appeal, with terribles heels in Rick Steiner and Sid. And Hogan is a nostalgia act at this point. Not looking good at all...

[Ditch]

I vividly recall how shocked I was by all the clean finishes on the PPV. Sting for one hadn't done a clean job in like... ever. Benoit over the Triad was the kind of clean-plus ending only the likes of Goldberg got against top stars.

[artDDP]

Does anyone know why WCW didn't pipe David Penzer's ring intros through on TV? If they accidentally left the house mike on during one Tony Schiavone would act completely offended.