1998 Discussion

Discuss

Fit Finlay vs. Chris Jericho - 10/17/98
Pretty fun all in all: Jericho acts like a little shit and talks trash and claims he earned a 5 count after a 1 count; Finlay is Finlay and throws some good stuff and has some great selling moments involving his arm. But it doesn't really go anywhere, and the match felt mostly inessential, and then time expires. Can't imagine there aren't 100 WCW matches better than this, but I still enjoyed it.

Chris Jericho vs. DDP - WCW Saturday Night 01/10/98
Right off the bat Dusty's commentary is annoying me, he talks all over Jericho's pre-match promo, Jericho appears to be apologising for I don't know what (?) and ends up giving Dave Penzer a suit. What?! Match itself is short but fine. DDP refuses Jericho's handshake at the start but it must've just fired Jericho up or something like that because Jericho controls most of the match with DDP getting the odd shot in. Jericho as usual gets a little cocky and here it costs him because he got caught in a Diamond Cutter while show-boating. DDP picks up the win after like 3 minutes. Nowhere near list worthy but solid for the short time.

Dave Taylor/Doc Dean vs. British Bulldog/Jim Neidhart (02/14/98)
Taylor/Doc is a fun team and Taylor got to control a bunch early here, really picking on Bulldog. Even when he was bloated and pilled up Bulldog always kinda woke up against stiffer competition. Taylor rocks him with some uppercuts here and Davey made a chinlock look really good during this period of his career, as his face was so bloated and purple already that it really got over that he was having the life choked out of him. Of course you know who was going over here but it was a nice finishing sequence with Davey hitting the powerslam and Neidhart tagging in to hit his slingshot shoulder tackle (then running and tackling Taylor with a super stiff shoulderblock).

Renegade vs. Sick Boy (02/14/98)
OK...something might be wrong, as I...kinda sorta liked Renegade vs. Sick Boy. Neither guy really looked good at all, but they were a couple of big guys exchanging big moves. Something about it worked for me. It was like a heavyweight X Division match, your move my move, but something about it worked. It was short and enjoyable. Renegade looked way less like Warrior at this point, and a lot like Lorenzo Lamas, TV's Renegade. Sick Boy had a bunch of stuff he usually didn't hit well, but kinda hits it well here (including a mean springboard back elbow that took Renegade's head off). Renegade hits a fucking plancha! Sick Boy even finished with a Can Opener! Like a couple years before Mark Coleman! Call me crazy, this wasn't bad.

Len Denton vs. Jerry Flynn (02/14/98)
This had an odd set up, as Disco came out to face Denton, and gave him a Chart Buster (which Denton sold like a fish out of water, all flopping awesomely like mad). Then Disco left, and Flynn came out to face Denton. And the match started and Denton got up and worked a match like he hadn't just been hit with a stunner. Real odd. Flynn beat him real quick though, threw some nice kicks, and Denton took a sick DDT right on his head.

Villanos vs. Disorderly Conduct (02/14/98)
Villanos vs. Disorderly Conduct is pretty much a Saturday Night B-Sides dream match. It will finally answer the question of who is lower on the WCW totem pole. I'm pretty sure I've never seen either team win a match, so the answer iiiiiiisssssss........Villanos! The Villanos are above Mean Mike and Tough Tom!! I genuinely didn't know how this one would go (again, one of my favorite things about WCW syndicated programming). Villano V was just super awesome in this, really beating the shit out of MM and TT. Favorite spot was when V5 was thrown into the ropes, and Tom kneed him from the apron as he hit the ropes. V5 just turns around, punches Tom in the face, then punches a charging Mike. Awesome. V4 hits a rad spin kick right to Mike's gut, then compresses Mike's neck with a DDT. God bless you for taking it that way, Mean Mike. V5 hits really great ambidextrous chops, equally brutal with his left or right arm, D.O. miss a tandem clothesline and FINALLY, for the record, the Villanos finishing move is a crossbody from the top rope, while the opponent is on one of the Villanos' shoulders. I don't know if it got used again, as I wasn't aware the Villanos ever won even one WCW match.

Yuji Nagata vs. Chris Adams (02/14/98)
I really liked Nagata's WCW run, and his kick combos made him really fun to play as in WCW vs. nWo Revenge for the 64. This match wasn't long, but Adams really stiffed Nagata up with wicked elbow and forearm shots, they threw in a lot of spots, with both guys getting cool throws, and Glacier running in and blasting Adams with an Icicle Kick to the back of the head, allowing Nagata to get the Nagata Lock.

Kendall Windham vs. Meng (02/14/98)
Kendall Windham is fast becoming my favorite WCW late 90s wrestler and this match ruled. There were no slams or nothing like that, it was all strikes for 4 straight minutes. Kendall throws a mean left hand Meng mixes up his shots with cool body blows. Both guys just throw punches for 4 minutes, roll to the floor and throw punches, back in the ring for more punches. Kendall dodges the Death Grip a couple times, but Meng finally just boots him in the face and locks it on. Awesome stuff. Why wasn't Kendall a bigger star? He had size and looked like a badass.

Frankie Lancaster vs. Marty Jannetty (02/14/98)
On a roster that had some dated looking guys in 1998, I don't think anybody looked as dated as Marty Jannetty looked in '98 WCW. Match was pretty short with Marty looking good and Lancaster looking like the most gassed dad you've ever seen. Marty really planted him with the Rocker Dropper, too. If some dude had already sued a previous employer because of my finishing move breaking his neck, I personally would be careful doing it in the future. But that's me.

Silver King/El Dandy vs. Juventud Guerrera/Super Calo (02/14/98)
OK, you got a match between Juvi/Calo and Dandy/SK. Juvi has a mask vs. title match with Chris Jericho in a week or two. Who goes over in this match? If your answer was "El Dandy pinning Juvi", then you would be correct. Of course nobody in a million years would have ever guessed Dandy getting the fall in any match, let alone over the Juice, let alone over the Juice in a match a week before the biggest WCW match of the Juice's career. What's more, the ref was out of position for the pinfall and distracted, so Dandy held the Dandy Roll for over 9 seconds and it still got the 3 count. One of the odder and more unpredictable finishes I've ever seen. I love you WCW syndicated TV. Everybody looks great in this and they all get to hit pretty spots. Cool headscissors galore, Juvi hits a massive springboard dropkick, Calo hits his rad forward roll headscissors off the top, Dandy takes a giant bump over the top to the floor, and Dandy gets to nail his great punch. Too much great shit to mention here, AND Dandy taking the fall? Too great.

Rick Fuller vs. Hugh Morrus (02/14/98)
Morrus threw a stiff clothesline and nailed his "run up the ropes, turnaround clothesline", but then overshot his moonsault. I'm a big Fuller fan but he didn't get much here.

Konnan/Vincent vs. Steiner Bros. (02/14/98)
Well Vincent looked AMAZING in the main, and boy did he take a crazy beating from the Steiners. Scott almost dumped him on his head with a belly to belly, Rick gives him the fasted and most dangerously painful Oklahoma Stampede I've ever seen (running him full speed stomach first in to the buckles, with Vincent's knees whipping over the top rope. If Steiner had been offline then one of his knees would've shattered into the ringpost), powerslam off the top, etc. It gets to a point where Vincent tries to tag out and Konnan backs away, and Vincent's face is priceless. He then gets bulldogged off Scott's shoulders for the loss. Fun match I wasn't expecting much from (since Konnan may be the worst in WCW...him or Stevie Ray).

Steve Armstrong vs. La Parka (10/31/98)
La Parka and Steve Armstrong have a competent little match which meshed about as well as it needed to. Parka knew Steve can't really work Lucha and Steve knew that Parka's not US Pro style yet, so they played to each other's strengths. Armstrong hit a pretty missile dropkick (.7 on the Alex Wright scale); Parka landed a beautiful plancha from the top turnbuckle on Armstrong
outside the ring. A cradle that La Parka put on for a two count looked kinda choreographed, but the match flowed, and the chairshot finish worked in context of the match (LWO's Parka gets the win, but doesn't diminish the already microscopic Armstrong, who woulda won, but he was seeing if the ref was OK).

Van Hammer vs. Trevor Blanchard (10/31/98)
Van Hammer takes on Tully Blanchard. Whoops. TREVOR Blanchard. This was so bad that it was good. They've planted Hammer fans in the audience -- with signs and everything. Hammer's been watching those old Flair tapes, as he's almost picked up that high vertical sue-play (and he's only been a pro for a decade!). Regal's bitch then lays in the weakest knife-edge chops this side of Jessica
Tandy in a Shaw Brothers' fight scene. And Trevor, boy, he's no prize either. He's got the size of Rey Mysterio Jr. and the body of Andy Capp. His offense was, uh, problematic; I've seen paralytics hit better flying dropkicks. Mulkeyesque, and I don't just throw that one around.

Scott Armstrong vs. Lodi (10/31/98)
Scott Armstrong takes on Lodi. The ring work here was dull as dishwater, and doesn't really bear any significant comment except that Scott Armstrong's single career aspiration seems to be to take the New Breed's time machine back to 1981 and work against Pvt. Jim Nelson at a Mid Atlantic TV Taping at WRAL TV in Raleigh, NC. What concerns me more is the professional development of Lodi. He's not going anywhere, folks, and Fat Tony'll tell you why. He sees himself as a tragedian. Yet he's working comedy -- the broadest kind at that, that of the opening match comedy heel -- and he's not good at it. His gestures and actions look strained; he brandishes his signs with the conviction of a hollow, defeated man. You would think that Scott Levy woulda taught him that he had to master Scotty Flamingo and Johnny Polo, toiling in the nether regions of Global and early 90s WCW and WWF, before being allowed to become Raven. But Lodi is stagnating: he wants to be The Man, but he's not the worker than his contemporary Kidman is; he wants to be a player, but until he learns and masters his role, he's going to get played until he's recycled to the Indy circuit full-time.

Sonny Onoo vs. Kaz Hayashi (10/31/98)
Sonny Onoo comes out to the ring and does some David Carradine hai karate posing stuff. He calls out Kaz, they tease at having a match, and the nefarious Ernest Miller comes out and standing side kicks Ol' Kaz in the head. Then that devious Sonny Onoo covers Hayashi for the three count. This was very Oliver Humperdink Wins The Florida Title, and hopefully will help get Kaz over in the same way Malenko kinda got over working against the Sonny Onoo managed Ultimo Dragon. In terms of visibility for Kaz, it's helluva better than wrestling once a month on Nitro for six minutes.

Barry Horowitz vs. Barry Darsow (10/31/98)
The Barrys Darsow and Horowitz spend ten minutes working this Darsow is a golfer and therefore can't/won't wrestle schtick. Horowitz loses the match because he misses a putt. There's no wrestling here, but there wouldn't have been all that much if Darsow hadn't been wearing his golfing gear, so we're not exactly losing Kobashi/Misawa here. This stuff is really, really funny for me, and I couldn't tell you why.

Eddy Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho (10/31/98)
Eddy and Jericho go walking in Memphis in the Main Event. Considering that these two could go thirty minutes and not repeat any spots, to give them five minutes (especially given the Stalling Heel nature of Jericho's gimmick) is a recipe for disappointment. The work, what there was, was as crisp as you'd like, and I dug the LWO assisted visionary fall after the bell. But after the no-name chumps and recaps that filled much of the rest of the show, it takes very little imagination to make some judicious cuts and give these two a twenty minute block. This still might have worked in spite of Crockettesque time constraints if they hadn't seemed so much like they were watching the clock and waiting for the moment when Jericho could grab the belt and walk toward the dressing room, only to be intercepted by the L...W...O...(por vida, la raza).

Lenny Lane vs. Chip Minton (10/31/98)
Chip Minton. Lenny Lane. Minton goes by 'Mr. World Class'; Lane counters by dubbing himself 'Mr. Memphis Power Pro'. Lane seems to have made the LDOD one of his signature spots, which slowed down FFWD. But Minton wins the match with a standing splash -- did Earthquake Ferris sponsor his thesis at 'rasslin school?

Al Green vs. Mike Sanders (10/31/98)
Mike Sanders. Al Green. Sanders has the athleticism to be something in three years, but logic tells me that he'll end up logging in some hours at the Power Plant, and becoming one of those stiffs who thinks versatility is hitting a halfass tope or something. This wasn't really something you'd want to televise, and Al Green takes a walk on the wildside here, competing with some serious heavyweights like Mongo, Neidhart, Adams, Warrior, and Stevie Ray for the designation of WCW's Worst Wrestler. There oughta be a battle royale for that one, I'll tell you what.

Rey Mysterio vs. El Dandy (11/07/98)
Rey Mysterio, Jr. continues paying back his Mexican brethren for letting him be the sole lucha superstar for the last couple of years (remember those 16 4 minute matches Rey/Juvi matches on Nitro?) as he elevates Dandy with a nice, back-n-forth 8 minute affair tonight. Dandy controls a large part of this match, as Rey seems to be learning the nuances of US psychology. For the
record, I don't buy the RSPW.M crap that Rey is a shadow of his former self; when you consider the inevitable ring rust and the allowances he's making to be a mature performer, he's just changed. I liken Rey's evolution to that of Mark Brunell from 1996 to this year, but choose your own comparison.

Kaz Hayashi vs. Juventud Guerrera (11/07/98)
Juventud and Kaz have a nice, back-n-forth 8 minute affair tonight in which Kaz really isn't elevated, especially when you consider the screwiness of the finish -- the ref stopping a three count when Kaz's shoulders weren't up, then starting and finishing another three count -- and the Sonny Onoo materialization at ringside, which set up an obvious run in that didn't happen. Obviously, I understand that signals were crossed, but the presentation nevertheless left me cold. However, these two are so graceful to watch that this match ultimately worked in spite of the botched angle/ finish execution.

Scott Hall vs. Mike Sullivan (11/07/98)
Hall squashes Mike Sullivan, who probably doesn't deserve better than this crap. I remember how stars were made in the 80s NWA, how heels would not just practice thirty of their favorite moves (cf Midnights vs anyone), but also drag their opponent out of the ring and humiliate them at the announcer's table. But those good times are gone, and Scott Hall wouldn't really have recalled them anyway, immersed as he was in such money gimmicks as 'Gator' Scott Hall, 'Big' Scott Hall, and '50% of American Starship' Scott Hall. My mom thinks you should take the Bengals and the ten points tomorrow in Jacksonville; I disagree, to put it mildly.

Giant vs. Lex Luger (11/07/98)
Lex Luger reminds me of REM. In 1985 or so, I was a twelve year old alt.rock mark sitting at home watching 120 Minutes. I saw the video for Fall On Me and it touched me in this way I can't quite name; it seemed real to me in a way The Beastie Boys, Benjamin Orr, and Cinderella simply didn't. Now it's 1998, and REM is made to look obsolete 7 ways to Sunday by bands as disparate as Pulp, Underworld, Chemical Brothers, and the Backstreet Boys. Lex Luger is in a similar situation. What more can/will Lex Luger mean to the business that has provided him with a good living over the last 13 years? He has no real angle, no real "point" for wrestling. He just does. The Giant is a different matter, a reasonably athletic 7 footer who could've been taught to do almost anything a few years back when he materialized. Of course, he wasn't. He was allowed to physically deteriorate. He was given no incentive to learn to wrestle beyond the Big Oaf Rassler basics. Nobody said, 'Hey, Paul. You're morbidly obese. Why don't you, like, train or something.' WCW had a commodity laden with potential who's now putting over Goldberg in 100 second matches all over the nation. I wish the Giant a ton of luck in Titan, where he'll be a natural adversary for UT, Kane, and others. Well, the Giant and Luger had a match. There was a run-in. It probably didn't make Dean's permanent tape.

Tokyo Magnum vs. Konnan (11/07/98)
Despite having a bow tie on the crotch of his trunks, Tokyo Magnum is a nice little worker who actually elicits heat from the usually catatonic WCWSN crowd and can usually work a decent match to boot. But 'K-Dawg is in the hizzouse, suckin' on a fattie and givin' it to ya moms', in the words of Scott "Don't Stop The Rock". Hudson. Competent execution of moves marred by a lack of flow, although we at least got Chuck's typical armcentric psychology and a Konnan powerbomb that somewhat resembled a Tiger Driver (if there's a more correct name, please notify me).

Scott Norton vs. Barry Horowitz (11/07/98)
Barry Horowitz does not win the IWGP belt 16 minutes into WCWSN against Scott Norton, who seemed to be wrestling in time-lapse photography. Quite literally the slowest squash I've ever seen. Since when is a match involving a world champion second?

Johnny Swinger vs. Barry Darsow (11/07/98)
The critics were right. Johnny Swinger takes Darsow's Putt-Putt challenge and ends up on his back. This shit's gonna get old really, really quick. I was wrong on Halloween night. Too much Jack Daniel's and Krispy Kreme, too many broken dreams.

Steve Armstrong vs. Jerry Flynn (11/07/98)
Both of these guys are both very competent workers. Yes, competent indeed. Flynn's kicks are always as stiff as really good cardboard, and I'm not talking that flimsy crapola they use for Junior Mint boxes. And Steve Armstrong is a real young lion, or young pistol even. All of which gets me to wondering why it is the Virginia Cavaliers fold like underwear every year after Halloween. Rumor has it they're renaming the Independence Bowl in George Welsh's honor.

Lodi vs. Johnny Boone (11/07/98)
Lodi and Johnny Boone have this incredible match in which Johnny's entire offense consisted of striking moves in rapid succession that inspired the audience to count to ten in support of the match's de facto face. If you're a betting man, take the Packers Monday night in Pittsburgh. The Steelers really don't match up well, and even the suspect Packers secondary can handle Pittsburgh's depleted receiver corps.

Meng vs. Bobby Eaton (WCWSN, 01/03/98)
This was pretty much a squash. I love Meng, and normally I don't mind Eaton but somethings off with Eaton here. It feels wrong seeing him be jobbed out so easily. Meng hits some pretty cool stikes/slaps early on and continues that way. Eaton looks out of sorts and only hits like 3 slaps, I say slaps because those couldn't possibly be punches. Meng's death grip is always a decent finish but this didn't even feel like a contest. Oh well, more MENG please. Eaton's ready for the grave.

Chris Jericho vs. Evan Karagias (WCWSN, 01/03/98)
Karagias looks a far cry from his 3 Count days here, he's got vanilla midget written all over him. They keep talking about this attitude change with Chris Jericho. Unfortunately, this match was filmed before the attitude change. Thus, there was no evidence of the "attitude change" in what you saw even though the announcers kept talking about it. Sad. Karagias hits Jericho with a 450 splash. Not as flashy as Guerrero, but decent. I guess it wasn't too effective, since immediately after it, Jericho picked him up for a couple of powerbombs and turned him into the Liontamer. So much for the attitude change. After the match, Jericho looks into the camera, and gives a little smile and a shrug.

Konnan vs. Norman Smiley (WCWSN, 01/03/98)
Well, this was shit. Nothing notable happens, literally nothing. It's like they're doing moves for the same of moves. Except they're not flashy moves, they're boring, awkward looking. There's literally no chemistry between these two, which is a shame because Smiley is actually a pretty good worker. Konnan wins with a 'Tequila Sunrise'. OMG, Konnan is so well versed in submissions. Fuck off.

Mortis vs. Juventud Guerrera (WCWSN, 01/03/98)
Wow, this was much better than I'd expected. This is the first Mortis match I've ever bothered to watch and aside from the dumb gimmick, the guys actually a pretty fucking good wrestler. Best part of all of this was that you actually didn't know who was gonna win, both guys looked good. I wish Dusty was actually able to distinguish the luchadores instead of having to say 'Is that Juventud?' on the air. Lots of power moves, fast pace, good stuff. Definitely liked this.

Louie Spiccollli vs. Steve "Mongo" McMichael (WCWSN, 01/03/98)
Shitty, quick match. Louie is just as shit as Mongo, in fact I'd probably say that Mongo is better than him at this stage. Quick match, nothing notable happens. Mongo misses some weak looking football tackles, yes, he does that. He actually wins with a Tombstone. The absolute cheek of him, using that move. Nigga 'gon get killed. This match doesn't exist even in my short term memory.

Fit Finlay vs. Bobby Walker (WCWSN, 01/03/98)
I still can't get over how fat Teddy Long is. Again, a nothing match. What's weird is that this is probably the one time I've ever seen two matches in a row end with Tombstones. This genuinely baffles me. Finlay wears black. How odd. He just kills Walker, then Walker does something shitty and then Finlay wins. Routine stuff.

Hugh Morrus/Frankie Lancaster happened. It sucked. I don't feel like saying anything more about it. Same thing applies to Disco Inferno/Brad Armstrong. Except Disco had some funky orange pants. Oh God, there more shit. Bobby Darsow & John Nord/Disorderly Conduct sucked too. Once again, there's some funky attire. Disorderly Conduct look like a box of Quality Street in their vibrant purple singlets. Fuck me, why am I putting myself through this?

DDP vs. Curt Henning (WCWSN, 01/03/98)
This actually wasn't that bad, there's just some real big production errors. For one, at the time this match happened, Henning was actually the US champ but DDP has the title here, so it's obvious that this was taped before Starrcade and they still try to play it up as if it's after Starrcade using the poor excuse that DDP (being the face he is) stole the belt from Henning at last weeks show. Fuck sakes. And then during DDP's entrance, they leave the dry ice machine on, so the entire ring is covered in fog and I'm pretty sure NOBODY in the crowd can see the match. But as for the match itself, there's some decent ribwork done by Henning, but it's not really given enough time to develop into anything. Before you know it, the nWo are interfering and DDP is sketching to the back. Poor form WCW. I still like it though, it's easy breeze watching.

Juventud Guerrera vs. El Dandy (WCWSN, 01/10/98)
This RULED. 5 minutes of awesomeness right here. Dusty is marking out like a child on commentary the whole time and cracks a million jokes at El Dandy. The match is actually a really neat exhibition, and they both bust out some swank shit. Juvi's on fire on WCWSN, if he keeps up like this, I'm definitely excited to see the rest of his 1998. I couldn't help but laugh at the finish with Dandy looking SO awkward trying to shuffle himself into position for the 450 Splash. Really entertaining stuff, gimme more of this.

Goldberg vs. Barry Horowitz (WCWSN, 01/10/98)
Let me put it this way, it took me longer to type out the title of this match than it was to finish the match itself. It is literally just a spear and a jackhammer. I guess you gotta get a 'nigga over somehow? 30 seconds of INTENSITY (including entrances).

Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Mark Starr (WCWSN, 01/10/98)
Awh fuck no, not Duggan! And who the fuck is Mark Starr? Seriously. I feel bad actually calling this a match, it's essentially just a sing-a-long of 'OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH' and 'USA'. I can't comprehend how he's so over, stupid Yanks. The match sucks, Starr is nothing but a battering dummy. At least it doesn't last long.

Meng vs. Fit Finlay (WCWSN, 01/10/98)
This was awesome, for 5 minutes these two just stiff the absolute fuck out of eachother. Two legit tough guys going hard at it. I'm surprised someone didn't get busted open actually. Nothing stands out particularly, but everything is impressive at the same time. Know what I mean? I quite liked the finish, Finlay is the only guy I've seen actually make an effort to try escape to Tongan Death Grip. Give me this anyday over anything to do with Duggan.

Brad Armstrong vs. Joey Mags (WCWSN, 01/10/98)
This got the fast-forward treatment. Can't say I seen anything special. I don't think anyone's ever cared about either of these guys. I haven't even heard of Joey Mags, and judging by his fast-forwarded self, I don't want to.

Curt Henning vs. Renegade (WCWSN, 01/10/98)
This was a 'competitive' squash. I wonder who's bright idea it was to bring in Renegade. I heard it was just because they couldn't get Warrior to come in at the time, so they took a guy recommended by someone that Warrior used to ride with. Either way, this was short and sweet. Henning just throws him around a bit, doing nothing significant. Fisherman Suplex gets the win. God, Henning looks so uninspired. SOMEONE PUT HIM IN A PROGRAM. He needs something more than this. Forgettable at best.

Booker T vs. Disco Inferno (WCWSN, 01/10/98)
This was pretty sweet actually. There's a nice little story going on of Disco trying all these little tricks to try scab a win and reclaim the title, but Booker being the VALIANT BLACK MAN he is, gets the job done. It's just refreshing to watch something that isn't a full-on squash. Disco's pants are funky once again, black and white glitter stripes, unreal. The finish scared the fuck out of me, as does every time Booker does the Harlem Hangover, he looks way to big to pull the move off and I'm scared everytime that he's gonna crush his opponent and kill someone 6 miles away. Good stuff.

Rick Martel vs. Mark Truran (WCWSN, 01/10/98)
This was Martel's debut or return or whatever in WCW, I think so anyway. Somethings happened with him showing up anyway. I can see why they've shoved him right onto SN, because he's shit. Why would you hire him? I don't know why you'd hire Mark Truran either. Who is he? Why is he here? What is his star sign? I think he's an Aussie, he's got a bommerang, it's a fair assumption. It's not like anything these guys do here is fundamentally 'bad', but it's all very boring and uninspiring and nobody in the crowd cares. I'd say they're fairly tired considering one taping of SN consisted of like 6 months of programming. Martel's interview earlier in the show was horrendously bad too. He wins with the BOSTON CRAB. WHAT AN INNOVATOR!!!

Bobby Eaton, Bobby Walker vs. Meng, Barbarian (WCWSN, 01/17/98)
This was more of less a squash and the Faces of Fear go over strong. Meng literally no-sells everything. Eaton is more of a mat-worker here and that's boring, I like my Eaton to bounce across the ring. Walker looks hot for like a second but any momentum he has is killed more of less right away. Tongan Death Grip for the win. I love how over that move is getting so far this year. I kinda wish this got a little more time to be drawn out, 4 minutes is never enough, not for a tag-match anyway.

Chris Adams vs. Dave Taylor (WCWSN, 01/17/98)
Well, this was intense. Short, but awfully rough. Things are pretty much back and forth the entire time but both guys take a ton of punishment. Adams looked awfully gassed at the end, which is sad considering the match was only like 5 minutes long. The years must be catching up with him. Taylor puts in a good showing here and guides the match along. The finish came out of nowhere with the Superkick, which was a shame because I was really starting to get into it. But for a short, hard-hitting preview of British Wrestling, this worked perfectly.

John Nord vs. Lizmark Jr. (WCWSN, 01/17/98)
Nord's wearing eskimo boots and it's fucking awesome. They might just be uggs. The match is pretty much all Nord who's wrestling as if he's getting a push. He's all power moves and INTENSE. It doesn't make sense having him though when they've got a much better version in Goldberg. For the little amount of time that Lizmark gets going, he fucks it up and botches leading to an awkward finish. Nord's spike powerbomb looks too dangerous for my liking. Fun little squash though.

Rey Mysterio Jr, Super Calo, Hector Garza vs. Psychosis, La Parka, Silver King (WCWSN, 01/17/98)
This was all kinds of awesome. You really can't go wrong with a WCW Lucha Trios match like this. Yeah, it's quick, and doesn't get a whole lot of time, and it may seem a little unrealistic, but it's really fucking entertaining which is all I'm looking for out of this. This started out feeling like there was potential for this to be something really special until Garza blew out his knee and had to be removed from the match. There's some craziness but things break down to La Parka/Mysterio and Dusty marks like there's no tomorrow and Rey Rey tripping up Parka from his back. He's losing breath and I'm lol'ing away. Great stuff. Good luck topping this for the rest of the show.

Johnny Attitude vs. Lenny Lane (WCWSN, 01/17/98)
Jesus H. Christ, who the fuck is Johnny Attitude? What kind of name is that? I don't even know. Either way, he shouldn't have a job. Lane looks green as grass too, looking a little mixed up on more than one occasion. But yeah, this wasn't the best now. Attitude (i hate writing that) stops all the time just to shout randomly, and it's way too irritating and he looks like shiti too, how could anyone ever get behind THAT? It was going to look like shit compared to the previous match regardless. But there's nothing remarkable here. Talk about a piss break.

Marty Janetty vs.Louie Spicolli (WCWSN, 01/17/98)
I hate Janetty. Always have. Always will. I don't like Spicolli either. He's a crummy tub of shit. The match is nothing, Janetty tries to wrestle as if he's HBK and he fucking spazzes out randomly plenty of times. Spicolli is shit personified and he can't make anything look good. Janetty wins with the Showstopper, you've got to be kidding me. Somebody shoot him. My hatred of these two takes me totally out of the match but I'm kept entertained by Dusty's rambling. I would happily listen to 2 hours of Dusty talking absolute shit.

Prince Iaukea vs. Bobby Blaze (WCWSN, 01/17/98)
Talk about a match with no heat. Bobby Blaze sounds like a name for a good-looking high-flyer, not a lump like this shmuck who bites heads. This was another piss break as was evident with loads of people walking back and forth in the background. These guys just go through the motions and Iaukea wins with a cross-body of all things. Totally silent. Blaze wasn't any better either. Definitely won't be watching this again. The DDP segment after the match was a million times more entertaining than this crap.

Public Enemy vs. Disorderly Conduct (WCWSN, 01/17/98)
I didn't even know that PE were still around in 1998. I thought they fizzled out in '96. Oh well, they're not over anywho. There's too much purple in this match between all these attires. PE need to stop doing that stupid hand-motion, this isn't a party, it's fucking boring, hurry up. DC bump nicely and actually look pretty good here. Rocko gets worked over for a little while but disfunction between DC leads to the "hot" tag which leads to the win. PE haven't improved in the slightest from the last time I've seen them, they've gotten much worse actually. They're overweight and outdated. DC probably should've gone over here but they have no heat whatsoever. Average. Average. Average.

Rick Martel vs. Hardbody Harris (WCWSN, 01/17/98)
Hardbody Harris looks awesome, nice and ridiculous. He stands out nicely. Martel works much better here than he did in his debut. Harris makes him look the all-powerful being. Martel actually adds some psychology to this, showing veteran instinct working the leg, but he's not afraid to be athletic either. Harris sells great, why haven't I seen more of his stuff? Martel wins with the Boston Crab, which came across much better this week thanks to Harris making Martel look like a million bucks. Martel did his fair bit too. Pretty good match.

Rick Steiner vs. Scott Norton, Vincent (WCWSN, 01/17/98)
This was supposed to include Scott but apparently he's no-showed the match? Has to be an angle. Norton hits some power moves on Rick and Vincent begs for the tag, the second he's tagged, Rick suplexes and pins him. God, I hate Vincent. Scott shows up at the end to blow off the nWo. Could you even call this a match? Even Martel/Harris was more deserving of being called a Main Event than this. I'm watching these to avoid dumb nWo angle progression and that's exactly what I get. Godammit.

Mike Tolbert vs. Goldberg (WCWSN, 01/24/98)
What dya know? This one has more than two moves. Tolbert clubs Goldberg once or twice at the beginning, otherwise, yeah, spear and jackhammer. `10 second matches, a guaranteed way to get over like fuck. I'll let it pass since I know it's coming and it's kinda fun seeing Goldberg kill jobbers. That might get old after a while, but it's still keeping me from ripping my hair out. Lesnar is the only other guy who I can think of that had entertaining squashes all the time, except Lesnar's went a little longer, just a little.

Raven vs. Chris Benoit (WCWSN, 01/24/98)
Yeah, another match that didn't really happen. Raven and Benoit throw a few punches and things break down within a few seonds as the Flock interferes. Things turn into Mongo taking out the Flock. What a prat. Why the fuck is Mongo involved in this feud? AND HOW IS SHE SO OVER? They're playing this up as if this show is live right before Souled Out, and it was pretty unlikely that this was gonna happen considering Raven/Benoit was schedueled for the PPV anyway. I can't wait for an actual match now. Fucking Dubya-Cee-Dubya.

Wayne Bloom vs. Jim Neidhart (WCWSN, 01/24/98)
Bloom looks like my old Geography teacher. He wrestles like he's fresh out of the Powerplant and more than likely is. Neidhart is actually pretty fucking over here, God knows why. I've never had any interest in watching Neidhart and for no strange reasons, this doesn't change that. The match is useless, nothing really happens, things just aimlessly go back and forth until the finish. Neidhart wins with a shoulder block for fucks sakes. I guess my hopes were two high after two not-really matches. This was definitely a match, just not a very good one.

Chad Fortune vs. Bobby Walker (WCWSN, 01/24/98)
Another match that's definitely a match, and slightly better than the previous one. Fortune looks like another powerplant guy, and he's got one of the more dangerous looking hip tosses that I've ever seen. Walker has 'HARD WORK' written on his ass, how lovely. They trade arm wrenches and try to work the mat, but it's all very vanilla and nobody cares. Walker completely no-sells Fortune's offence for the finishing stretch and merely slams him for the win. This wasn't even bad, just really obscure and hard to care about. Please, no more Powerplant guys. Walker's actually not that bad, he just needs someone decent to wrestle with because he's getting passable matches out of these chumps.

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera (WCWSN, 01/24/98)
This only goes 3 minutes but it's quality and there's an actual story to it. Rey's got an injured knee but it's face/face so Juvi doesn't really go after it. Instead, Rey's trouble with his knee is such that he can't really hit his usual shtick as effectively as he normally would. Juvi tries his best to capitalize on Rey's mistakes more than his injury, but Rey busts our a West Coast Pop and sells the knee like he's lost a leg afterwards. Some might have a problem with Rey running on an injured knee, but I don't. I wouldn't expect Rey to work any different, so I appreciated how he showed it inhibited him rather than changing styles. Good stuff.

Rick Martel vs. Johnny Attitude (WCWSN, 01/24/98)
This was merely a competitive squash. Martel had to look strong going into his TV title match with Booker-T at Souled Out. Attitude actually gets something in during the opening, but Martel makes quick work of him which is fine with me, because I still hate Johnny Attitude. Dusty and Tony actually call him Johnny Swinger for the first half of the match, considering this is taped, you'd think they might've changed it, but nope, not in WCW, not ever. Martel wins with the Boston Crab. I'm happy. Life goes on.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Johnny Swinger (WCWSN, 01/24/98)
Another not-really-a-match, Disco comes out and tells Swinger nobody wants to see him, instead they want to see him dance. Disco hits the Chart Buster on Swinger which signals Eddie running in, hitting the Frog Splash and getting the win. I'm getting bored of the stupid fake matches, but this works since it's heel Eddie. If it gets him heat, it works. So in essence, this works. I might've preferred a match, but I'll take this for what it is.

Barry Darsow vs. Barry Horowitz (WCWSN, 01/24/98)
I could really care less about these guys. They go through the motions, do some back and forth shit. Dusty's commentary is 100x more entertaining than what's going on in the ring. Darsow looks hard as fuck and talks jibberish trash, that's kinda all there is to him. Barry Horowitz kinda looks like Alex Silva. I care about neither of them. Darsow's submission that gets him the win looks weak as shit, he holds the move after the bell. Poor 'ol Horowitz has no friends. I did not enjoy this. Simple as.

Mortis, Wrath vs. Ernest Miller, Glacier (WCWSN, 01/24/98)
I can't help but laugh at "Glacier sucks" chants at the beginning when Glacier isn't even wrestling. Mortis and Wrath work great as a wacky power-move based team. They dominate Miller for the majority of the match, keeping the tags quick and the moves strong. Cat tries fighting back but it's useless. Once he gets DAT HOT TAG to Glacier, the fucker goes and turns heel. He just kicks Miller in the face and walks off. Jesus, I didn't see that coming which makes me laugh because I still don't give one fuck about Glacier. Mortis and Wrath rule the world and win the match. Those weird looking cunts got laid that night. Decent enough little match, lots of weird characters though. DAT HEEL TURNNN. I'm surprised Dusty didn't try to call the law.

Rick Steiner vs. Scott Norton (WCWSN, 01/24/98)
This was a slugfest, but not in the best way. Literally 99% of this match is just punches. A DDT is as "wrestling" as this gets. Steiner started off hot, but Norton slowed the pace down. I quite like Norton, but he's a wee bit TOO fat here. This felt like a drunken fight, where the only aim is to clubber the opponent. Steiner's comeback wasn't anything too inspiring in my books, but it did get the crowd going. Buff comes out and interferes for the nWo, a brawl erupts as we go off the air. Something tells me this has happened before. But yeah, an alright match, nothing special though. Unless you like a match with just PUNCHES (average punches though) and BIG HARD MEN.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Louie Spicolli (WCWSN, 01/31/98)
Louie is now known was the "nWo Stooge", what a nice gimmick to be remembered by. Duggan has another sign-a-long with the audience, looking a little more retarded than usual. He no-sells punches from Spicolli and continues to make him look like shit. Duggan works aimlessly, I'm not entertained in the slightest by how slack his offence looks, and the match ends on a basic knee drop. Right, fuck you Duggan. I can't take anymore "USA" chants. I'd rather watch a slideshow of shocked Tenay faces.

Disorderly Conduct vs. Mike Enos, Wayne Bloom (WCWSN, 01/31/98)
Hahaha, I thought Bloom was a Powerplant guy, he's been teaming with Enos for years apparently. I've never minded Enos, his PPV match with Benoit was more than good, but he's looking a little awkward here in some of his movements but it's nothing all that bad. BLOOM AND ENOS HIT WGTT'S MOVE. FUCK. Enos and Bloom actually pick up the win here, and they looked a lot better than I would've imagined. Not good enough to escape the WCWSN realm of darkness though.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Len Denton (WCWSN, 01/31/98)
Denton looks like a halfway healthy Jake the Snake. I thought this would've been a squash but Denton actually gets more in than Eddie here. He's made to look like shit though because it only takes Eddie like 2/3 moves to pin the guy and he's easily got like 30lbs on Eddie. An alright squash, but considering nobody was gonna care about Denton and there was no sign of him ever getting a push, Eddie probably should've just killed him. Fair play for sharing the spoils of ringtime though.

Yugi Nagata vs. Barry Horowitz (WCWSN, 01/31/98)
Hmmm, I'm getting flashbacks to the previous episode. Disco comes out, dances, hits the chart buster thus making life easy for the opponent. Nagata comes out and beats Horowitz within 10 seconds. Why bother flying someone like Nagata out for a 2 moves. He doesn't even look pleased. I'm hoping this doesn't continue for much longer, Disco could get heat fine with a promo instead.

Mortis, Wrath vs. Villianos IV and V (WCWSN, 01/31/98)
Wrath must feel awkward being the only guy without a mask. Mortis and Wrath rule the world once again, their offence is way more impressive than it should be. Whilst everyone else is hitting stuff we've all seen a million times, they're busting out new variations of old moves and making them look COOL. I won't be getting bored of these guys anytime soon. Villianos made for appropriate crash dummies, can't say they were there for much more. Nice squash tag-match.

John Nord vs. Evan Karagias (WCWSN, 01/31/98)
ESKIMO BOOTS IS BACK! I can feel a squash coming against our resident vanilla midget, Evan Karagias. I can't concentrate on the match, those boots are just addictive to look at that. Nord kills this little bitch with some power moves and a front facelock (not a camel clutch Scott Hudson). This guy is loco, he's bumping for no reason! WTF! JOHN NORD! RULER OF THE UNIVERSE WITH UGGS!

Glacier vs. Bobby Blaze (WCWSN, 01/31/98)
Hmm, I can smell another squash already. Heel Glacier has just as long an entrance as babyface Glacier. From what I can tell, the only difference is that he now uses facial expressions. Blaze is a stooge here, and walks right into the superkick. Useless match. Cat attacks Glacier after the match, SO MUCH MARTIAL ARTS. I've no interest in watching a Cat/Glacier program.

Chris Adams vs. Renegade (WCWSN, 01/31/98)
Adams looks old but he cant still go, even on his death bed he'll be better than Renegade. Renegade is STILL using UW's moveset, but he barely dresses like him anymore. How did Renegade even get a TV title run? Tenay says he had an elite status, fuck off. They tease Renegade joining the nWo, DON'T EVEN FUCKING DARE. But yeah, the match, Adams kicks Renegade back into obscurity, gets the win and now he can go home and forget this match happened.

Steve "Mongo" McMichael vs. Billy Kidman (WCWSN, 01/31/98)
Ah, this isn't vanilla Kidman, this is Flock Kidman. Mongo gets a great crowd reaction that still baffles me every time I see it. But yeah, this is just a slow squash. It's so slow that I just have to FFwd though it. I see that Kidman actually hits some stuff but it's all pointless because Mongo hits the Tombstone. Hahahah, Tenay is gold. "Mono never scored a touchdown in his NFL career, so he's taking out his anger on the WCW talent using the tombstone piledriver" That's an explanation if I've ever seen one. I still want Mongo to fuck off already but I know he's around till '99 anyway.

Bill Goldberg vs. Meng (WCWSN, 01/31/98)
One word: Messy. It looks like drunk guys fighting over a 20p coin. This is pretty fucking physical, Meng comes at Goldberg like a house on fire and actually dominates him for a while. Goldberg tries an RVD takedown and botches it badly. I love that fact that this has lasted more than 10 seconds. This must've been around the time of the Regal/Goldberg match because I think that was the first 'Berg match that got some time. This is real back and forth, but I don't know whether it's right or not to be shocked at how competitive this actually is. The crowd gets super into this towards the end and for the first time in a long time, the WCWSN crowd are actually on their feet cheering once 'Berg hits DAT JACKHAMMA. Great stuff, Meng got Goldberg over fucking perfectly. I can't believe this doesn't get talked about more. Even I'm liking Golberg now.

Glacier vs. Ernest Miller (WCWSN, 02/07/98)
So, it takes 2 minutes for The Cat to get his revenge, shame, I was actually enjoying this but it went way too short. Even if they got 10 minutes, this could've been quality because I found myself enjoying heel Glacier. Crazy, I know. Cat actually works pretty good as a babyface, but heel Glacier's punches suck. Not that his babyface punches suck, but as a face he was more used to hitting open palm 'strikes' which came across a little better. Disappointing considering this could've been a lot better since there was a few weeks of build behind it. Oh well.

Public Enemy vs. Steve Armstrong, Scott Armstrong (WCWSN, 02/07/98)
This was an awfully vanilla tag-match. The Armstrong's attire looks like the basis for the Borat thong. And it's TURQUOISE. These guys must ooze charisma if they're wearing turquoise borat thongs. There's never any sense that Rocco Rock is in danger during his short lived FIP. That's a knock on a lot of these matches, a lot of it is really predictable. PE didn't have anything about them that even stood out here, and they brought a table to ringside and didn't use it. Why like? What kinda of lame gimmick is that? At least the Dudley's used their tables. I won't be rushing back to this anytime soon.

Barry Horowitz vs. Bobby Blaze (WCWSN, 02/07/98)
This sucked balls. Horowitz pats himself on the back over and over again, awfully strange. Blaze is fat and oozes an unsurpassed lack of charisma. How did these guys get jobs?! There's lots of leg locks and arm locks and I stop paying proper attention after like a minute. They play it up as if Blaze winning was an upset victory, but the only upset is that this match didn't end earlier. I guess Blaze's Northern Lights suplex looekd okay though. I had to say something positive, right?

Chris Jericho vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. (WCWSN, 02/07/98)
This was decent enough. Jericho's heeling it up big time here and he's wearing some of Rey's merch to try get some heat. I think it was this turn that sparked Jericho calling his fans "Jerichaholics". Who knew it'd stick so good, eh? The match is pretty good actually, but nothing worth going out of your way to see. It's 5 minutes long and it's really back and forth with very little story other than Jericho=Bad and Chavo=Good. Talk about an oxymoron. Chavo looks alright here, but nothing to go boasting about. A good Chavo match? No. A passable Chavo match? Well, yeah.

Louie Spicolli vs. Mark Starr (WCWSN, 02/07/98)
Spicolli's really milking the whole "nWo stooge" thing. He squashes Starr here, but he manages to look more capable than he did in his previous matches. He's actually got a pretty sweet Spinebuster but his DVD is pretty iffy. I don't think Starr got any offence in here, he's literally just a battering dummy for the stooge. I would've preferred to have seen Starr squashing Spicolli but I don't think Starr ever gets any form of push whilst under contract with WCW. Spicolli throwing up the Wolfpack sign was a little too cheesy. I'm thankful this wasn't too long.

Goldberg vs. Disco Inferno (WCWSN, 02/07/98)
No prizes for guessing what happens here. Yeah, Disco gets squashed like a bug. But it's absolutely fucking hilarious seeing Goldberg botch a single leg takedown sooooo badly. Better than that, Disco hits a single leg on Goldy near the end of this affair, and it's a million times better looking. Spear, Jackshammer, Splat. Goldberg is super over by now, at least on SN anyway.

Chris Adams vs. Brad Armstrong (WCWSN, 02/07/98)
Yet another worthless match. Armstrong is showing his 'rough side' here, and it's evidently done him a lot of good. It's a shame that Brad got lost in the huge pool of talent because he really is a decent wrestler, certainly a lot moreso than plenty of the guys who were getting pushed at the time. It took Adams an entire minute to come back and beat Armstrong. It's just one of those contests where if you've seen one of them, you've seen a million of them. Glacier coming out and arguing about Adams' use of the super kick was odd. Adams' reaction was brilliant though, he just front flips and laughs really loudly with his prominent English accent.

Greg Valentine vs. Mike Tolbert (WCWSN, 02/07/98)
This was quick and more importantly, this was shit. I feel really bad watching Valentine wrestle in 1998. He's like a replica of his actual self. He's clearly going through the motions and couldn't physically give less of a fuck. Tolbert is irrelevant and I already forget what he looks like. Valentine ends things with a shitty looking elbow to the top of Tolbert's head. Terrible finish to a terrible "match".

Eddie Guerrero vs. Silver King (WCWSN, 02/07/98)
Finally, somebody I like! This was much improved from the rest of the show so far. Eddie heels it up like only he can. Man, he looks like such a scumbag, but the type that I want to love all the time. Silver King is plenty agile for a fat fucker. He's like a Mexican WCW version of Samoa Joe. Both guys get in as much as eachother here, with Silver King having a sweet moonsault on him, even though he didn't land it 100%. Eddie, well, we all know his moveset and how good it is, he's got a really nice brainbuster here though that I don't see him pull out too often. But Scott Hudson is such a tit that he calls it a "twisting neckbreaking suplex". So, who hired Hudson again? Very good match, especially considering it's 6/7 minute length.

Chris Benoit vs. Raven (WCWSN, 02/07/98)
This wasn't even a match, but it was a pretty fucking sweet way of setting up a future match between these two because this was angle was HOT. Within seconds of the match, the Flock hit the ring and boy oh boy, I love the Flock. For a bunch of jobbers, they're pretty effective heat-magnets. Benoit is like one of the greatest underdogs ever in the history of man, and that is proven here. The crowd get 100% behind him while the locker-room tries to separate the two. The show goes off the air on a high note, the crowd are enjoying themselves, there's no nWo sight and Benoit's cheesy WCW music is blaring. I could paint a picture of that shit.

Jim Neidhart, Davey Boy Smith vs. Doc Dean, Dave Taylor (WCWSN, 02/14/98)
Taylor and Dean look like a weird pairing a first but they're not half-bad considering how little time they're actually working here. Dean's been so low down the pegging order in WCW that to quantify him for even wrestling here, they have to mention that he beat Liger once. Davey boy wasn't quite the same here, and hadn't been for some time. Evidently his glory days were behind him, but he could still sell a headlock with that purple steroided face of his better than most. Neidhart was just 'there' for a lot of the match, the shoulder block at the end was his biggest contribution here. Finishing sequence was a fun way to end 3 minutes.

Renegade vs. Sick Boy (WCWSN, 02/14/98)
This wasn't great, admittedly, but for two nobodys, they pull out a decent match. It's all moves, no story, no psych, no crowd reaction, just moves. But it's still pretty fun seeing someone like Renegade do a plancha or Sick Boy hit a sprinboard back-elbow. Lodi played his part at ringside, didn't really add much otherwise. Renegade doesn't look like a complete Ultimate Warrior ripoff here, just fat. Passable stuff but I won't ever revisit it. I'm finding myself saying that an awful lot with these matches.

Len Denton vs. Jerry Flynn (WCWSN, 02/14/98)
DENTON! THE JAKE THE SNAKE LOOKALIKE IS BACK! And he's as plain as ever. Infact, Disco hits him with a Stunner before the match and Denton continues to wrestle Flynn as if it didn't affect him in the slightest. Flynn looked like something out of Soul Calibur. Flynn made quick work of Denton with some sweet kicks and a fierce looking DDT. This could've gone down worse, but even still, the entire show is riding the painfully average train at the moment.

Disorderly Conduct vs. Villianos IV and V (WCWSN, 02/14/98)
Right off the bat, this is great because neither team's been getting anything close to resembling a push, so the outcome is unpredictable. The answer? The Villianos. YES, The Villianos actually won a match in WCW. Early on, I lost track of which Villiano was which but they both have some sweet looking offence here that they don't normally get the chance to hit. For example, the LOD finish but instead of a clothesline, it's a crossbody. DC are great dummies here, they're still a threat here and had just as good a chance of getting the fall but alas, perhaps another time for Quality Street lads themselves.

Yugi Nagata vs. Chris Adams (WCWSN, 02/14/98)
This was awesome. Lots of MANLY punches and kicks. Onoo is a great manager for Nagata and I loved him feeding Nagata 10ers at the end. Adams stiffs the fuck out of Nagata here and then Nagata raises his game and both guys come out looking better for it. Glacier hitting his version of the superkick on Adams added a nice sense of continuity to SN with feuds actually being progressed here. A short but oh so sweet affair. I could see myself revisiting this down the line.

Meng vs. Kendall Windham (WCWSN, 02/14/98)
Much like the Goldberg match, this was pretty much all PUNCHES. Things start off with punches, they end up on the floor hitting punches, they get back in the ring and hit more punches. But that doesn't mean it's a bad match. Widham has a neat left on him and Meng rocks the body shots. I liked how the danger of the Death Grip was put across, with Widham doing his best to avoid it a few times and then once Meng locked it in, shit was over. Meng's a badass. Windham doesn't look like a complete jobber. Good stuff.

Marty Janetty vs. Frankie Lancaster (WCWSN, 02/14/98)
An almighty amount of 0 people paid attention to this. It's funny seeing the crowd actually have their backs turned to a Jannetty match. Speaking of Jannetty, he's looked really feeble here, like he could be broken in half really easily. This was really short, Lancaster still managed to look gassed at the end too. Marty properly planted him with the Rocker Dropper too. No fucks were given here.

Juventud Guerrera, Super Calo vs. El Dandy, Silver King (WCWSN, 02/14/98)
This was all over the place, they kept trying to play up that Juvi's mind wasn't in the match and instead he was thinking about his match with Jericho at the PPV. So, instead of giving Juvi the fall and making him look strong going into Superbrawl, what happens? EL FUCKING DANDY GETS THE PIN. Not only do the heel luchadores win for once, but EL DANDY DOES IT. Dandy had Calo down for like a 9 count in total too. It was odd as fuck, I couldn't believe my eyes. Despite being all over the place and a total movesfest, this was pretty to watch. Springboards, headscissors, all that goodness that's commonplace in these matches. Entertaining, but for the wrong (but oh so right) reasons

Hugh Morrus vs. Rick Fuller (WCWSN, 02/14/98)
Squaaash. And a surprising one at that because Fuller's no vanilla midget. Morrus dominates almost everything here, he looks agile for one second and then when he actually tries to hit his Moonsault, he overshoots it like fuck. This did nothing for me. Clearly this did nothing for Tenay/Hudson either as they spent the entirety of this match hyping up Spicolli/Zybysko. Crazy, I know.

The Steiner Brothers vs. Konnan, Vincent (WCWSN, 02/14/98)
Konnan was floating down shit creek here, but Vincent was bossy. Yeah, re-read that for clarity. Vincent's sells were easily the highlight of this, he takes a fucking beating from Scotty and Rick. Best part of the whole beating was Vincent trying to tag Konnan in, but he walks away, and then VINCENTS FACE. Spot of the match was easily his knee bump into the corners too. This beating should be enjoyed by all. Genuinely fun match that gave me a lot more enjoyment that I could've dreamed possible, given who's involved.

Goldberg vs. Jerry Flynn (SN, 02/21/98)
So this one goes how you’d expect it to, Goldberg roars a lot and hits hit stuff as per usual. But they try do some submission-y stuff and it just doesn’t work that well, Tenay tries to put it over and actually says these two are some of the best at technical wrestling in WCW, yeah, right. I liked Flynn’s tactics of trying to keep Goldberg on the mat though, even if it didn’t work, the idea was there. This might’ve even reached the 2 minute mark, perhaps a new record.

Juventud Guerrera vs. Lenny Lane (SN, 02/21/98)
Really neat little match here. Lane looks like a formidable opponent against Juvi and is on target for a lot of the match. If anything, he looks more impressive than Juvi. Of course, Juvi picks things up and gets the win with a nice looking 450. The announcers play it up to Juvi being motivated for his match against Jericho at Superbrawl. Aaaaand of course, we get a Jericho attack after the match which shows that this can’t have been taped that long beforehand, must’ve been a fresh batch of tapings.

Saturn vs. Chavo Guerrero (SN, 02/21/98)
Another pretty good little match, even if it leans more towards the squash side of the spectrum. Saturn is actually a really good wrestler and comes across as a legit tough guy here, Chavo is super vanilla and gets thrown around like the rag doll he is. I like Saturn’s body stomps here, the guys really good with his footwork. Some of the exchanges were really cool looking here, and Chavo doesn’t hit a single dropkick! The way they worked into the finish was interesting, Rings of Saturn is a great finisher.

There’s an unremarkable squash between Jim Powers and Horshu. Horshu is Luther Reigns. Remember that guy? Kurt Angle’s lackey from 04? Yeah, well he looks pretty much the same here except his hair is cut into a FUCKING HORSESHOE. The literally has a “U” shape on his dome. Unbelievable.

Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko vs. Mike Enos, Wayne Bloom (SN, 02/21/98)
This wasn’t really as good as I’d thought it’d be. Enos is generally a good enough worker, Bloom has never rocked my world though. Malenko and Benoit speak for themselves. Things start out good and dandy but once it transitions into Benoit’s FIP, the heels look a little lost and fail to make it engaging in the slightest. There’s no cutoffs, no character work, just a few stomps and throws, Benoit sells it like a champ but it’s just hard to get into. Finish didn’t rock either. Disappointing.

DDP vs. Sick Boy (SN, 02/21/98)
I expected better than this, Sick Boy usually looks a hell of a lot better than this but he seemed out of sorts tonight. Things go back and forth but DDP doesn’t sell most of Sick Boy’s stuff, kinda annoying. The only significant thing SB hits is a springboard back elbow and even that was botched a little. Transition into the DC was pretty cool, spinning out of full nelson. Nothing special here though.

Steiner Brothers vs. Steve Regal, Dave Taylor (SN, 02/21/98)
This ruled for whatever short amount of time it lasted. Regal fucking OWNS this entire match. His character work is just too good to conceive, between frothing at the mouth to get back at the Steiners, to spazzing out pushing his biceps up, to constantly being proud of himself looking prickish, fuck me I love Regal. The Steiner’s work pretty well here too, which I never thought I’d say about 1998 Steiner Brothers. Taylor is kinda just there for the most part but if you’re gonna watch this, watch it simply for STEVEN FUCKING REGAL. Loved this.

Ric Flair vs. Curt Hennig (SN, 02/21/98)
Weird match. They go out there and basically skip any possible build-up and it’s like they start the match from the finishing stretch, like within a minute, Hennig has a Figure-Four locked on, then some legwork, then Flair locks one in. That’s kinda it. Really disappointing because I’d like to see a decent match between these two or even a decent match from Hennig in WCW. Don’t approve of this.