1999 Discussion

Discuss 1999 in Nitro

Bret Hart v Chris Benoit - 04/10/99
At the moment I think I'll have this in my bottom ten and I'm glad it held up okay, but it felt like a bit of a weirdly structered match. What i'm about to write is going to make it sound like I disliked it, which I definitely didn't, but, well, just read on. First batch of minutes were great, I thought, it was a good "technician vs. technician" portion that didn't have any crap that would've been unfitting in a tribute match. I don't necessarily think Hart in his peak is as close to a "technician" as even Benoit was in 2006, but you got to look a little kayfabe to appreciate some things. After the techy stuff was where the match kind of, well I don't want to say took a turn for the worst, but it's where I was a little confused at how it was built. It was basically a match where they each took turns in offence and I liked what they were doing quite a bit, but the shifts of offence were pretty weoird, like the attacks came out of nothing. I'm not being a guy who's sitting with a pad and paper to ananlyse this either, I just noticed that t was a little off. Hart's first segment was perfect, though, target the back to get ready for the Sharpshooter, brilliant. After that though it;d be like Benoit getting in control, Hart getting in control, Benoit getting in control, with no "body" I guess. Then Hart finally goes to lock the Shooter in and it's reversed into a Crossface, which I thought was a little silly considering Benoti went for the Crossface later and Hart turned it into the Shooter. I really thought it should've been done the other way around, with Benoti being on offence, trying to hit the Crossface, and Hart reversing it to make the back-work come 360. When it's said and done this will probably be in my 97 spot or something.

Bret Hart v Chris Benoit - Owen Hart Tribute Match (WCW, 10/4/99)
- Eh, this is really good, but I still don't get the fuss over it being some technical classic or whatever it is its advocates call it. A lot of it feels like them just "doing stuff", which is weird because Bret always has a theme to his matches and they're generally set out really well. Benoit's a guy whose stock has went down with me over the last few months, and even though I'd still call him one of the, say, thirty greatest ever, I thought they went into "my turn, your turn" territory instead of creating a theme and working around it. I guess the transitions were strong enough, but I honestly don't think this is any better than Bret's best match with Hakushi from '95 or with DiBiase from '91 other than the fact this went longer and had much more "stuff" going on. It's still probably one of the better US matches of '99, but no way would I call it anything close to ***** like so many people seem to. And Benoit spent a few minutes carving Bret's chest up with chops. Bret should write a book about it. ***1/2

Rey Mysterio vs. Juventud Guerrera vs. Psicosis vs. Blitzkreig - Nitro 04/19/99
Wow, really surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet. Cruiserweight 4-Way going 20 minutes on free TV? Yussssss. All these cruiserweight matches are hard to describe since a lot of them are awesome for the same reasons, so I'll just say it was more awesome than usual. Couple of things bothered me though. Didn't like Blitzkreig locking in a Figure-Four when everything else was balls to the wall action, didn't fit in at all. Also, the fans were actually chanting 'boring' at some parts which to me, was just incomprehensible. Otherwise, brilliant especially for TV. Definitely worth checking out and should end up somewhere in the 60-80 range on my list.

Watched a load of stuff today again. Nothing reaching **** but all some really good shit that has a fair shot at my list atm. I'll prob just go through all the 95-01 stuff first and then buy all the previous footage once I get some money gathered.

Bret Hart vs. Booker T - Nitro 02/22/99 ***3/4
Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit - Nitro 03/01/99 ***3/4
Bret's WCW stuff is seriously under-rated, guy was still boss. I reviewed the Booker match a while ago in the Assigned Matches thread. Obviously the Bret/Benoit Owen Hart tribute match gets talked about more than this match but It's still Bret/Benoit, you can't really go wrong. Superb stuff.

Sting vs. Ric Flair - Nitro 04/12/99 ***1/2
This was Stings comeback match in early 99 and he looked as good as ever. Really entertaining stuff with Sting controlling the majority of the match. Fans were loving seeing Flair get his comuppance after all the WCW President Bullshit.

Kidman vs. Psicosis - Nitro 03/01/99 ***1/4
Kidman vs. Rey Mysterio - Nitro 03/15/99 ***1/4
Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. and Billy Kidman 03/29/99 ***1/4
Billy Kidman vs. Psicosis - Nitro 04/12/99 ***1/4
DDP vs. Goldberg - Nitro 04/19/99 ***1/4
Just a whole bunch of really fun Cruiserweight shit, nothing special but a blast to watch. The whole Benoit/Malenko-Raven/Saturn-Mysterio/Kidman tag-team stuff was consistent as fuck. Really good tv matches week-in, week-out. DDP/Goldberg was great for like 7/8 minutes too. It was like a bitesize version of their Havoc match but with no finish. Both guys were awesome for the short amount of time.

Ric Flair vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. - Nitro 03/22/99 ***
Rey Mysterio Jr and Billy Kidman vs. Raven and Saturn - Nitro 04/05/99 ***
Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera - Nitro 04/12/99 ***
Pretty much the same as above. Mysterio/Flair was unexpected, but still a blast. Crowd actually believed Rey might win the title near the end. Of course since it was the Spring Break Nitro, you couldn't finish the show without somebody falling into the pool

Sting vs. DDP - Nitro 4/26/99
Pretty terrific heel performance from DDP and a total about-face from what he was doing a year before. He's scummy and detestable and far-removed from the working-class hero he had once been. DDP returning to low blows to keep control was awesome. Again, though, Crow Sting hurt the match a lot. He works the same moveset as early Sting but with none of the emotion that made him so fun to watch, and I'll have trouble voting for a match with an unsupportable babyface.

Sting Vs DDP - April 26th 1999
Why THE FUCK is this not main eventing a PPV?

Hell why THE FUCK is this not even main eventing this episode of Nitro?!?!?!?!?

This match was spectacular, better than any PPV main event I’ve saw from 99, DDP is a fucking cunt of a heel and Sting as usual plays a great baby face trying to make comebacks. It’s a WCW title match with no goofy shit (Bar some good old 1997 WWF style Ref leniency on the rules) just a lovely little 20 minute long match with great false finishes, crisp moves and some good old heel insulting the crowd action.

The ending is spectacular, the whole match is amazing, watch this fucking now. This is a top 30 pick for me.

****1/4

Chris Benoit vs Sting - 09/20/99
Thought it did a really good job of establishing each guy as a distinguishable character. Sting as the veteran champion and Benoit as a determined-to-break-thorough badass. Starts with Sting in constant control and Benoit gets forced to take multiple breathers on the outside. Very different opening to any match I've ever seen either guy have. Benoit's capitalization through the Dragon Screw leads to some nice legwork that manages to feel like it's him finally getting his head above the water. Transition back to Sting's workover was really good too with Benoit getting over-intense and creating a mistake. Slows down a little bit with Sting back in control. That was something that probably keeps this from being top 50 or better. Don't want to give everything away because the match is really short, but the finishing stretch was pretty dope, as well. I wouldn't say it's as good a ten minute world title match as Goldberg/DDP, but it's totally different from that and it doesn't have as special an aura about it to jolt it super high like the Havoc match does for me, but it's probably only half a star lower imo. Gonna have it somewhere in the middle.

Sting vs. DPP - 04/26/99
This is a HELL of a match. Really fantastic stuff that everybody should watch (although I think most of y'all have already and I'm the one that's late to the party). Page can't find a breakthrough for the first ten minutes and randomly acts like a prick, much to my enjoyment. Then he low blows Sting while Sting is doing mounted punches in the corner, and during his control segment, from time to time, he will bust out some offence that targets Sting's nuts. Then during the stretch run he mule kicks him IN THE DICK and I like the idea of matches having manbag-targeting offence. Crowd is amazing for this as well and there are some super hot nearfalls towards the end. I'm trying to think of anything that happened in WCW after this that was better. I'm not coming up with anything. This'll probably land in my top 30.

Lex Luger vs. Rey Mysterio - Nitro 1/18/99
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

Luger talks shit about taking the mask & then cheap shots Rey. We get about 8 minutes of everything we want from these two & then a bullshit finish. But yeah, Luger is a great piece of shit, & Rey is the greatest. Luger gives Rey plenty & sells well for him, & Rey is a terrific pinball. Not voting for this, but it's muy good.

Kevin Nash vs. Rey Mysterio - Nitro 2/22/99
[Only admins are allowed to see this link] ... re=related

Fantastic 4-minute match. Night after Rey lost the match. Nash rocks him early, but then Rey chops him down & hits a brilliant flurry, & then Nash crushes him, & then we get a sweet shocker finish. Wish these two had worked 10 minutes or so at some point. Not voting for this, but I really enjoyed it.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Rey Mysterio - Nitro 3/1/99
[Only admins are allowed to see this link] ... re=related

Best Rey/Big Man match I've found from WCW thus far. Probably going to make my bottom thirty. Reminded me of Rey/Gallows from 3/5/10. Rey/Gallows from 3/5/10 was awesome. This was awesome. Bigelow does some great wobbly-legged spots, some great cut-offs, etc. Rey is Rey. His Giant Killer run was a blast, evidently.

Scott Norton vs. Rey Mysterio - Nitro 3/8/99
[Only admins are allowed to see this link] ... re=related

This was really fun, too. Rey doesn't get much offense. Really, he gets none. Norton is huge & tosses Rey around, & it's visually great. SIZE DIFFERENCE. Too much Norton on offense for me to vote for this, but I imagine everyone would have fun with it. Finish is glorious. Norton makes a face like every Punchout bad guy I punched in the face as a child.

Goldberg vs. DDP - Nitro 4/19/99
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

Voting for this. Starts off like the Havoc match, with Goldberg looking too powerful but Page looking completely determined. They communicate animosity mixed with mutual respect. It's great. But you can see the character transformation in Page. He takes more shortcuts, uses more wiliness & less courage. Then he flips his shit after Goldberg kicks out of the Diamond Cutter. I wish the finish had gone a bit differently: have Page murder Goldberg with the knucks & leave him bleeding for a countout. Would've vaulted the match to my top 30. Or a cheap win. As is, the finish is good enough, & the match is pretty great. Bottom 30-ish, maybe a bit higher.

Bret Hart vs. Goldberg – Nitro 10/25/99
I’m not quite sure what to think of this match. I mean, yeah it’s short enough and there isn’t a whole lot to it. But despite it’s simplicity, everything was done really well. After reading some complaints about Bret’s selling in WCW, He sells the leg to absolute perfection here. Not in the ‘Ow, my leg is hurt way’, more like ‘Fucking hell, my leg is fucked’ way.

Goldberg does well to just stick to his guns and concentrate on Bret's leg, but that doesn’t work as well as he’d like so he plays the bully and just tries to beat up Bret to the point of getting a win, which is the Goldberg I love the most. Alas, interference from Outsiders and Sid brings a swift end to that and the match. How a ref bump can last that long with interference being THAT obvious is beyond me. Either way, it’s a good match if you’ve 10 minutes spare and want something easy to watch.

Bret Hart vs. Goldberg Nitro 12/20/99
Nothing special in all honesty, but it’s still a pretty fun segment of sorts. So Bret’s vacated the title over the malarky at Starrcade and seemingly wants a fair match. Everyone wants a clear-cut winner. Judging by the opening offence, Goldberg just wants to annihilate Bret and get the fucking title.

Bret’s a pro and plays it smart by targetting the same leg he worked on last night. Out of nowhere, REF BUMP(!) and Bret hits an uncharacteristic low-blow. Outsiders come in and beat up Goldberg with bats. Enter Piper, he covers Goldberg, the ref counts and awards Bret the title??? CONFUSION IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT. nWo 2000 is formed, Bret looks awkward, the mic doesn’t work, everything’s a shambles. I’ve never been so confused and entertained in my life

Rey/Luger from 1/18/99 and Rey/Bigelow from 3/1/99 are both good. I haven't seen (if I have I don't remember) the Rey/Gallows match sterling compared to Rey/Bam Bam, so I can't make the same comparison, but it's maybe the closest we'll get to a WCW version of Rey/Henry. Isn't as good as that, primarily because Henry was a better brick wall in the best Henry/Rey match than Bam Bam was in this, but he's really good in his own right and the crowd are super hot for Rey. The fireworks going off midway through the match because we happened to cross over into the second hour of Nitro was pretty funny. Bam Bam was like "what is this shit?" Rey/Luger won't be on my list, but Rey/Bigelow probably will.

Rey/Kidman from 3/15/99 -- yeah, this was a bossy little sprint. Basically an 8 minute finishing run masquerading as a match, which probably sounds like a dig at it, but it's really not. Crowd is red fucking hot for everything. Kidman takes his "you can't powerbomb MEEEEEE" shit and takes it one step further by powerbombing HIMSELF just so he can reverse it. HIT A REGULAR FUCKING FACEBUSTER YOU CUNT. He almost blows it too. Other than that, this was way fun. I had tossed it on the maybe pile, but then I watched Juvi/Blitzkrieg from Spring Stampede '99 and threw that on the list outright, and that's about all the room I've got for cruiserweight stuff now.

Rey/Psicosis/Juvi/Blitzkrieg from the 4/19/99 Nitro started off cool with Juvi and Psic starting a little alliance and it inevitably turning to shit in a satisfying way...but the match goes about 18 minutes and after 10 they're all basically just doing stuff to little-to-no reaction at all. I watched this for Juvi, but nah, not for me. I think I'm good on the cruiserweight stuff now. MIGHT re-watch Rey/Calo from Fall Brawl '96, but that'll be the last one.

The Juvi v Psic v Rey v Blitz match from a little after Stampede is worth a watch. Fun "US lucha" four-way. Flair v Sting 4/12 is pretty much what Seabs said it was- Sting going back to his old roots; he gave a really good perfromance and Flair was crazy heel Flair. Arn's there, Savage is there. This would've made my top 120.

Sting v Benoit 9/20 is a hell of a match; I'm at 100 matches now with this being #99. Benoit wasn't quite "the underdog," but it's that sort of story you get from Austin v Benoit where a win for Chris would be a huge mark out and possible upset. Benoit's selling ruled so hard, even the way he took an elbow looked mind-blowing. I'm convinced '99 is crow Sting's career year too. Cheap-arse finish but I liked it

Bret Hart, Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash, Scott Hall (Nitro, 12/13/99)
This was pretty poor from a work rate standpoint and I'm trying to comprehend Russo booking to understand the story. So, Goldberg and Hart win the tag-titles despite being in a feud, Outsiders take out Hart and expect Goldberg to hand them the belts, Goldberg refuses, this match happens and then Outsiders walk away with the tag-titles and nobody comes out looking better because of it. It hurts my head just thinking about it. But as for this match, Goldberg wrestles most of it like a handicap match and he looks formidable for the most part, the idea of taking out 2 guys at once gets his gimmick over nicely. That's not how it plays out though because by the end, he looks like a bitch and Outsiders look like the head honchos despite being halfway crippled by this stage. It's fun to watch for nostalgic reasons but I just can't get behind this from a logical standing.

Chris Jericho vs. Booker T (Nitro, 03/15/99)
Chris Jericho worked two great high spots into his match with Booker T in a way that made sense and looked cool so this one worked baby. I like T but I see definite areas where he needs improvement. He's willing to sell but his execution is still a little stiff. He's got charisma but relies on the crowd too much to approve everything he does. Nothing major, just some polish AND I'd still rather see him in the ring than the majority of North American heavyweights. I'm of two minds on Jericho going North. It'd be great for his character and as a professional would make him a SUPERSTAR. But the wrestling fan in me can't get up for Jericho vs. anybody in Titan nearly as much as he can for Jericho vs. Benoit or Hart in an honest to god wrestling feud.

Ric Flair, Goldberg vs. Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash (Nitro, 03/15/99)
The crowd heat fooled me into thinking that I was going to praise Hogan and Nash vs. Goldberg and Flair for being a miracle match but outside of a well executed kick by Nash and a wicked bump by Charles Robinson there was nothing here but a whole load of crap. Perennial whipping boy Ric Flair sold everything, Goldberg did a little but his pseudo-selling doesn't really count and the bookermen put their egos over business again. My utter contempt for Hogan had been kept at bay for most of the past three years because he dropped the hulk up and did, considering this is Hogan, his fair share of jobs. But no matter how much changes in wrestling, nothing ever does and Flair still gets no respect. Hey, I feel no shame in liking the fossil. I always have and always will.

Scott Steiner vs Goldberg, Nitro 2/22/99
The match itself is about 5 min on-screen, thanks to a commercial break, and the entrances are well longer. The crowd is superhot. Steiner starts out with some aggressive striking, and then Goldberg no-sells having has face smashed into a turnbuckle. The crowd gets even wilder, if such a thing were possible. Goldberg picks up Scotty and does about 4 overhead presses before pulling a Warrior and dropping him straight down. Some shenannigans by Bagwell at ringside help to even the odds. They botch a whiplash spot (Goldberg's head slides under the top rope); both guys seem thoroughly winded. Rick Steiner runs in, and eventually Scott gets DQ'd (I guess because Bagwall bodyslammed the ref over the top rope).

Considering how little actual wrestling Goldberg does here, Steiner carries him to a fun sprint between monsters. It's not remotely subtle, but with the insane crowd it's easy to get drawn in. I wonder if Rick Steiner ever got that kind of crowd response since?