[1998-05-17-WCW-Slamboree] Cruiserweight Battle Royal / Chris Jericho vs Dean Malenko

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[CaptCabana]

To this day, this remains one of my favorite things WCW ever did and it was the very first thing I popped in my DVD player when the Yearbook arrived today.

 

It would still be a great moment even without Jericho's brilliant introductions, but that bit really puts it over the top. ("Here comes Silver King. If he wins 12 more matches, he'll get upgraded to Golden King.")

 

What strikes me, though, is how the crowd was hip to what was happening AS SOON as Juvi stepped over the ropes. As a youngster, I didn't catch on until Dean pulls the Ciclope mask off, but that crowd seemed to catch on a bit quicker.

[FLIK]

("Here comes Silver King. If he wins 12 more matches, he'll get upgraded to Golden King.")

 

 

Great line, though credit for it has to go to Heenan as he always would bust that one out on commentary during his matches.

[theconstipatedsmark]

El Grillo will get his win one day, Seriously though nice twist having Grillo be just another guy then Ciclophe revealing himself to be...DEAN MALENKO!

[PeteF3]

I think I remember reading that Grillo *was* going to be Malenko, before someone decided that was too obvious and they stuck the outfit on the real Ciclope.

[Loss]

It's hard for me to pick a favorite because all of the intros are outstanding. It's amazing Jericho was able to get away with doing his own thing and getting himself over for so long without anyone noticing. There were occasional disappointing crowd reactions to Jericho week-to-week, but this pay-per-view was the reward for a great storyline. It's interesting that the WWF-style rapid heel bumping that he talked about not understanding in his book was missing from the match with Malenko, as I think they could have sustained the heat even more had he gone up and down a little more. Not that there was anything wrong with the heat, just an observation. It says something that this is quite possibly the most heated non-Goldberg match of 1998 WCW.

[Childs]

The reaction to this was a huge nod to Jericho's work in elevating mundane material. Too bad none of his bosses gave a shit. The pop Malenko got when he pulled off the Ciclope match was wild, and they did a good job working a hot opening to the singles match. Their intensity waned a bit, but overall, this segment popped way more than you'd expect on paper.

[soup23]

This is one of my favorite things ever in wrestling and a brillant piece of storytelling. Juvi being the cheerleader and stepping over leading to the reveal and Malenko immediately putting the boots to Jericho never gets old. I liked that Jericho was kept relatively strong and not entirely squashed in this match. The pop for the tap out was outstanding. Not a great match in its own right, but this is a lock to be my #100 at year end. (**3/4)

[Migs]

Agreed of course that this was great. One weird thing was the announcers not understanding Juvi's motivation right away - it's obvious that he wanted revenge on Jericho and felt this was the best way to get it. Which makes sense - screw him over, have him lose the belt, make him look like an idiot. But the announcers were mostly, "I guess he wants to be supportive of another human being!" Hurt the feel a bit, as they could have put this over as a plan to end the reign of terror.

[PeteF3]

One of those matches where breaking down the X's and O's is kind of irrelevant--it's a brilliantly crafted moment and that's what really matters in the end. Again, kudos go to everyone for not telegraphing this a bit until the moment when Juventud eliminates himself. And even then, it's the *fans* catching up on things before the announcers, which just makes this all the cooler. Malenko even does a good job of disguising his usual mannerisms by doing a full-fledged Ciclope entrance. It's as well-executed as the DDP/La Parka swerve but with an even better build-up and more far-reaching consequences.

[TravJ1979]

Fun match(es), great segment, Jericho's intros were spectacular.

[Kronos]

I managed to watch this match without being spoiled as to Ciclope's identity, and I am thrilled about it. (Which wouldn't have happened if I had read this thread title first!) Jericho's introductions of the participants bordered on cruel burial, but some of it was funny. ("Silver King! If he wins 12 more matches, he'll be upgraded to Gold King!")

 

The match was what it was, though I thought the guys took some unnecessarily risky bumps to the floor.

 

The crowd goes mega-wild when Ciclope is unveiled, and they stay hot for the solid follow-up match with Jericho.

 

Good times.