World War 3 1997 - Scott's Blog of Doom! (2024)

This is one of the oldest reviews I have and it’s far worse than my usual stuff. Also it was written without having seen the Nitros leading up to it, so a lot of the things I’m unsure of were likely covered on those shows.

Date: November 23,
1998
Location: The Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit,
Michigan
Attendance: 17,128
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby
Heenan, Mike Tenay

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

Last show in this series here but not the
last chronologically. It’s the final show before Starrcade 97 and
the bullet that killed WCW. Anyway, the feature match here is of
course the battle royal with the winner getting a shot at SuperBrawl
which would later be changed to Uncensored (why Souled Out wasn’t
an option is anyone’s guess). This is from when this was the
hottest company in the world so I’d expect a lot more energy here
than the next year. Let’s get to it.

The Blue Bloods are
Dave Taylor (old English dude) and Steve Regal (yes that Regal). This
was when the Steiners were tag champions but the Outsiders had their
own belts. This would result in the temporary “Unified” tag
titles. Ted DiBiase is managing them here. Scott vs. Taylor to start
us off here. Scott isn’t that far away from turning heel and
breaking up the team.

We hear about how awesome the Steiners
are, including their two tag title reigns from another promotion
(WWF) and how dominant they are. The Dudleys would more or less
destroy every record they had but until they came along it was all
Steiners. The British dudes get thrown around with ease and are sent
to the floor to hide a bit. Rick vs. Regal now and it’s a USA
chant.

Regal tries to use his technical stuff so Rick grabs
his hand and cranks on it to take over. Well no one ever accused Rick
of being a mental giant. Regal takes over for a bit but gets cocky
and Rick gets a Fujiwara Armbar of all things to take him down. Off
to Scott who gets that sweet belly to belly for two. STF goes on for
all of two seconds and it’s back off to Rick.

He goes for
the arm of Regal again but as Dave has the referee, Regal gets a
finger to the eye to take over. And never mind as Rick gets a
shoulder block and powerslam to take over again. Regal gets a knee to
the back of Scott and pulls the rope down to send Scott outside.
Taylor goes for the arm and it’s back to Regal. He hooks Scott in a
leg lock and brings Taylor back in.

The Brits have used a lot
of European uppercuts and every time they’ve put the Steiners down.
Regal tries to speed things up and walks into a belly to belly by
Scott, allowing for a tag to Rick. Down goes everyone and it all
breaks down. Scott backdrops Taylor onto Regal and the Steiner
Bulldog ends Regal to retain.

Rating: C-. Just an
extended squash here. I don’t get why the vast majority of these
matches have been on this show so far. I guess because we can’t
have a battle royal go on for three hours. Either way this was more
or less exactly what you would expect here. The Blue Bloods were more
or less tag team jobbers so this didn’t have any heat on it at
all.

JJ Dillon says Raven has 24 hours to sign a contract or
he’s gone.

Ravenvs. Scotty
Riggs

Riggs is in an eyepatch due to Raven hurting
him. Kidman, a member of the Flock, insists on Raven’s Rules,
meaning No DQ. Raven has been trying to get Riggs to join the Flock,
so what do you think is coming at the end here? Riggs jumps him and
beats on Raven for awhile in the kind of offense you would expect
from a guy that has no chance at all. Riggs gets a rollup for two as
Raven can’t get much going.

Heenan makes blind jokes which
are kind of funny. First of all he suggests moving the patch to the
other eye. That’s actually rather smart when you think about it.
Raven uses the shirt around his waist to choke away and we head to
the floor. Riggs reverses and sends him into the steps and chokes
with a cord. Tony says Raven is helpless, just as he pops up with a
jawbreaker. I love it when Tony looks like an idiot, which means I
love a lot in WCW.

The announcers say Scotty has done nothing
since Bagwell and he broke up which makes me laugh for some reason.
Raven gets a chair and hits him in the back with it a few times for
some weak shots. Riggs gets the drop toehold into the chair as a
reversal to break Raven’s momentum. Modified Van Daminator by Riggs
gets two.

Riggs manages a bulldog onto the chair which looked
either awesome or awful and I’m not sure which. Either way it gets
two. And never mind as there’s the Evenflow DDT to kill Riggs dead.
Raven wants a microphone instead though. There’s a second DDT as he
says he feels Riggs’ pain and that it hurts Raven more than Riggs.
Heenan: I don’t think so. Raven shouts about feeling the pain again
and a third DDT has Riggs unconscious. The referee counts him out and
it’s over.

Rating: D+. What was the point of this
being on PPV again? For the big blowoff for Raven vs. Riggs? Weak
match all around and Raven looked completely dominant even though he
got beaten up. I think he would sign the next night but I’m not
sure. Either way he would have Riggs in the Flock then and that’s
about it.

SteveMcMichaelvs.
BillGoldberg

This is over Mongo’s
Super Bowl ring that Goldberg stole at the previous PPV. Mongo comes
out with a pipe Goldberg’s music hits and there’s no Goldberg.
Mongo says this isn’t happening and says he can sneak up on people
too. We go to the back and Goldberg is out cold. So no one noticed
the big man in his underwear out cold on the concrete just behind the
entry way? Mongo more or less gives an open challenge, resulting in
this.

SteveMcMichaelvs.
AlexWright

Wright isn’t here
because he wants to be but because Debra, Mongo’s estranged wife,
brings him out and more or less makes his fight. Wright whips him
with his jacket to start. Wright is from Germany so wouldn’t that
be a foreign object? Mongo is like screw this and hammers away,
sending Wright to the floor. He tries to leave but Debra more or less
makes him come back.

Alex tries to fight and gets slammed down
to the mat with ease. Mongo is barely breaking a sweat in this. Was
there a reason they didn’t have Goldberg in this that I’m not
getting? Debra’s voice is irritating to put it mildly. Wright takes
over for a very little bit with chops but McMichael takes out the
knee. Side slam sets up the Tombstone to end it. Total and complete
squash squash and no rating here. Heenan asks Who’s Next for Mongo.
Nah that’ll never catch on.

CruiserweightTitle:
EddieGuerrerovs. Rey
Mysterio

They’re coming off an absolute classic
the previous month at Halloween Havoc. Eddie (not Eddy blast it!) is
champion here. Also what is with the total lack of promos here? I
think JJ had the only one so far. They start off with speed stuff to
the shock of no one. Eddie is in gold tights and they’re really not
working on him here. Rey gets that elevated snap mare to take Eddie
down and it’s a stalemate.

The fans are all over Eddie here
and his reaction is quite funny. Eddie ripped the mask off partially
last time so we talk about that a bit here. Guerrero hits a German
suplex and busts out some suplexes to take over. The problem here
seems that they’re trying to have the match of the year rather than
having a great match.

They fight towards the ropes and neither
guy can take over. Hilo misses and Rey hits the floor. Both guys try
dives but neither can hit them. Rey can’t get a sunset bomb so
Eddie hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Back in and Eddie goes up,
only to get blocked by Rey. Superplex by Eddie takes Rey down but the
Frog Splash misses. Eddie rolls through and Rey gets a rana for
two.

Flapjack puts Rey down but Eddie can’t get up either.
After some shots by Eddie he drops Rey over the top rope and spanks
himself a bit. Eddie tries a sunset bomb which is reversed into a
rana by Rey. Rey adds a front flip over the ropes to end Eddie. That
and a moonsault gets in the ring. Eddie charges and is sent into the
post but powerbombs Rey out of a rana to take over again.

Gory
Special goes on by Eddie and Rey is in trouble. Rey counters that
into a sunset flip for two. Leg lariat puts Eddie down again but Rey
doesn’t cover for no apparent reason. They try something from the
top and Rey falls off in what looked like a mild botch. Moonsault
press gets two for the guy in the mask. Dropping the Dime gets no
cover as Rey wants to go up again. West Coast Pop with a flip gets
two as Eddie grabs the rope. Awesome looking move. Rey tries to run
at Eddie who is on the corner but Eddie gets a hot shot to block it.
Frog Splash ends it.

Rating: B. Good match but their
match the previous month gave them WAY too much to live up to.
Naturally this was still great as their matches always would be. Not
a classic but worth watching if you like these two. There were some
botches in there and they were trying to live up to the previous
month which never works at all.

Ad for Starrcade. Remarkable
that they managed to screw that up, it truly is.

US
Title: RicFlairvs.
CurtHennig

Hennig had turned on
Flair and the Horsemen at Fall Brawl, slamming Flair’s head in the
door. He won the US Title soon thereafter and more or less hasn’t
looked back since. This is Flair’s revenge match rather than for
the title. It’s also No DQ and Hennig brings a chair with him. The
referee gets rid of the chair which is kind of pointless but
whatever. Hennig is wearing a Syxx shirt for no apparent
reason.

Curt stalls like a Memphis man but gets caught on the
floor and Ric hammers away. This is the last match before the battle
royal too. We hit the crowd with Flair dominating. This is your usual
brawl in the crowd with various punches and eye rakes along with
people being rammed into objects. Flair is rammed into the railing as
Curt dominates for awhile.

Back into the ring and Hennig
chokes away with a cord and we go back to the floor. We hear about
Flair playing football at the University of Minnesota which isn’t
something you often hear about. Flair goes up top and drops a double
axe onto Hennig into the railing by the throat but he might have hurt
his ankle. Flair chops away as we talk about the battle royal with
the various countries etc that are going to be here for the match.
Good to know that a bunch of people we don’t know will be competing
here.

Back into the ring (again) and the referee got poked in
the eye by Hennig apparently instead of letting him count three.
Hennig was covering Flair which means it was even stupider. He works
on the leg with Flair losing his mind as usual of course. Heenan says
you can forget the Figure Four now. Why do I not believe that in the
slightest?

He drops a leg between Flair’s legs as Flair’s
ankle is still hurt. Modified Indian Deathlock goes on by Hennig and
he gets two on it as Flair is laying there. Ric fights out of it and
gets a chopblock as the crowd is way into him, or at least his
wooing. Snap mare puts Hennig down and drops the knee. After some
right hands Flair goes up. Take a guess as to how this goes. Just
take a guess.

They chop it out with Hennig easily getting the
best of it, resulting in a Flair Flop for two. We slug it out in the
corner a bit more with Flair tossing Hennig into the corner where
Curt is crotched on the post as is his custom. Hennig drops low to
avoid a chop as it’s Flair in control again. They ram heads though
and both go down for a bit. Belly to back gets two for Flair.

To
change the pace a bit, Hennig chops away in the corner. They’re in
a different ring now also. Flair Flip in the corner and we go outside
again. Scratch that as just Flair does as Hennig chills in the ring a
bit which is probably pretty smart. They fight a bit on the floor
with Hennig in control again. Flair sends him into the railing and
both guys are down again.

Flair suplexes him back into the
ring but that also only gets two. This is at about 15 minutes now and
probably needs to end very soon. Flair gets a chair as I had
forgotten this was a No DQ match. It gets set up in the ring and
Flair crotches him on it and kicks the chair into the knee. Flair
rams the knee with the chair and brings the belt into the ring.
Figure Four goes on but the belt that is RIGHT NEXT TO HENNIG goes
into Flair’s head and it’s over. Weak ending to say the
least.

Rating: D+. This was WAY too long. This is
nearly 18 minutes long and I legitimately forgot about the No DQ
aspect of it for a very long time. I’m not sure what they were
going for here as Flair is made to look like a guy that can’t get
revenge in a match where he’s supposed to be dirty. Not a great
match at all and very boring and repetitive as can be here.

World
War 3

Chris Adams, Brad Armstrong, Marcus
Bagwell, The Barbarian, Chris Benoit, Bobby Blaze, Booker T, Ciclope,
Damien, El Dandy, Barry Darsow, Disco Inferno, Jim Duggan, Fit
Finlay, Héctor Garza, The Giant, Glacier, Johnny Grunge, Juventud
Guerrera, Chavo Guerrero, Jr., Eddy Guerrero, Scott Hall, Curt
Hennig, Prince Iaukea, Chris Jericho, Lizmark, Jr., Lex Luger

Dean
Malenko, Steve McMichael, Meng, Ernest Miller, Rey Misterio, Jr.,
Hugh Morrus, Mortis, Yuji Nagata, John Nord, Diamond Dallas Page, La
Parka, Stevie Ray, Lord Steve Regal, The Renegade, Rocco Rock, Randy
Savage, Silver King, Norman Smiley, Louie Spicolli, Rick Steiner,
Scott Steiner, Super Calo, Squire David Taylor, Ray Traylor, Último
Dragón, Greg Valentine, Villaño IV, Villaño V, Vincent, Kendall
Windham, Wrath and Alex Wright

What you might notice is that
there are only 59 names there, so yes it’s time for shenanigans. As
far as people you might not know, the only one that pops off the page
to me is John Nord, who is more famous as the Berzerker. The
introductions are odd as they say the wrestlers can go from ring to
ring. What sense does that make?? Also once we get down to five
people per ring we go to the middle. So if they get down to five in a
ring and the other rings aren’t yet we just stop? See why this
match tended to suck? The rules rarely made sense. Just have a
freaking battle royal. How hard is that to accomplish?

As
usual the entrances take about 5 minutes. They seem to be a bit
faster this year though, mainly due to some people coming out in
groups. The Giant is the defending champion and has a broken hand
here. There’s an NWO member missing let the confusion begin. The
missing one is apparently Kevin Nash who might be out with a knee
injury.

The bell rings and we immediately go split screen,
meaning YOU CAN’T SEE ANYTHING!!! WCW didn’t get this through
their heads until the final year when they just didn’t film
everything in every ring, like the intelligent people would suggest.
Let’s get this over with. Lizmark Jr. and Disco Inferno plus anyone
else Giant touches are gone. He must have gotten four people at a
time. Louie Spicolli and a Villano are out.

La Parka is out.
Expect a lot of “so and so” is out, just like Norman Smiley.
Public Enemy goes after Meng and Grunge is put out. Ring 2, the
Giant’s ring, is emptying quickly. DDP just walks into another
ring. Scott Hall puts out El Dandy. I guess Hall didn’t doubt him.
The NWO is in ring 1. Bobby Blaze is gone. Ring 2 has like 30 people
in it. Or is that 3? The announcers say 2 and the graphic says 3.
Whatever man. It’s in the middle.

Graphic now says 2. Flair
isn’t here either apparently. Who replaced him I wonder since they
made it clear he was an entrant during his match. Stevie Ray hangs on
with a rake to the eyes. We’ve more or less stopped checking the
other rings. Brad Armstrong is gone. Silver King is gone. Damien, a
luchador, is thrown out. DDP and Wrath go at it but Wrath hangs
on.

DDP tosses Prince Iaukea. Nagata is out so the match is
less boring now. Wrath and Renegade are gone and fight up the aisle.
No idea how many people are left at the moment. Ring 1 is rather
empty now with maybe 7 people left and all of the NWO in still.
Jericho is out. Hall winds up hanging on by one hand but the NWO runs
in for the save to keep him in.

Greg Valentine is gone.
Giant’s hand is killing him so Mortis and Duggan double team him.
The people keep switching rings so you can’t tell who is where and
who is left as you think they’re eliminated but they’re in a
different ring. Most annoying indeed. Ring 3 is mostly empty now
while ring 1 is a lot more full now. Harlem Heat beats on Chris
Adams. Adams is gone but tries to sneak back in ala his most famous
student: Steve Austin.

Ray Traylor (Big Boss Man) chokes
Savage as Finlay is gone. Page and Benoit fight to the apron but both
get back in. We’re roughly halfway done here as Dave Taylor is
gone. Page and Malenko put I think Benoit out. Yep that was him.
Miller puts Malenko out. Ring 3 seems to have Meng, Giant, Alex
Wright and Mortis. Duggan is out to some booing. Miller is
gone.

Leave it to the WCW cameras to focus on Giant’s hand.
That’s all you see in the entire ring. Barbarian goes out and
McMichael is also in ring 3. Rey puts Eddie out and gets ganged up on
by the NWO who finally gets him out. Traylor is gone as is Darsow.
Wait Mysterio pulled a John Morrison/Shawn Michaels and is hanging on
to the apron! Mongo is out as are Wright and Mortis. Giant and Meng
are the only ones left in that ring. Luger, Harlem Heat, DDP and Rick
Steiner are in another ring and the NWO remain in the other.

Stevie
Ray is out so we have ten left I think. Giant DROPKICKS Meng out.
That was incredible and he wins the ring. Ok so it’s Vincent, Hall,
Savage, Bagwell, Hennig, DDP, Rick Steiner, Luger and Booker T. The
NWO won’t change rings and say come over here. They beat up the
referee who says go to the other ring. Giant chills in the ring while
the other four change to the NWO ring.

Ah there’s Giant so
they’re all in the ring closest to the entrance because clearly the
most fans can see them there right? Diamond Cutter to Vincent and a
HUGE pop. Giant rolls Vincent out to get our first NWO guy out.
Booker is out via someone we didn’t see as is Rick Steiner. Bagwell
talks to the camera so Giant rams Bagwell and Savage’s heads
together.

Luger hammers on Hennig on the second rope and
doesn’t get tossed. Luger wakes up and hammers on people but gets
jumped by the NWO. Giant comes over and puts out Bagwell, Hennig and
Luger, leaving us with Savage, Giant, Hall and DDP. There’s a
decent midcard tag match in there somewhere. Savage fights Page while
Hall gets beaten up by the Giant. Giant slams Hall instead of
throwing him out.

Savage wants an elbow to DDP but Giant
stands in front of him. Savage, the crazy man that he is, jumps
anyway and gets caught. He doesn’t get tossed though but takes a
Diamond Cutter. Giant won’t let him get tossed though because he
wants to chokeslam him. Savage is more or less dead and is tossed
with ease to get us to three. The next year it would be the same
three but with Nash instead of Giant.

More or less it’s a
handicap match with Hall vs. Giant/DDP. Hall heads to another ring
which is pretty smart actually. He does the point and here comes….no
one as the NWO music starts and ends. Hogan’s music kicks on and is
here now instead. So apparently Hogan, the WORLD CHAMPION, is #60,
being allowed to skip 25 minutes of the match to potentially win a
title shot against….himself? There are 7 minutes left so let’s
just go with it.

We get a tag match now with Hogan fighting
Giant and Hall vs. DDP. Ok so during Hogan’s two minute or so long
intro, did Giant and DDP just stand there instead of going after
Hall? Six minutes left so I don’t particularly care here. The fans
want Sting as the NWO starts dominating. Hogan slams Giant to a big
pop. Hall is sat on the top rope by Giant as DDP is crotched on the
top rope.

Bear hug to Hall as Sting rappels from the ceiling,
somehow about 10 inches taller and with darker hair. Hogan eliminates
himself to run from Not-Sting and Not-Sting hits Giant with the bat
to eliminate him as I guess DDP went out somewhere. Not-Sting points
the bat at Hall as the fans chant Nash, having basic intelligence.
The NWO celebrates to end this stupid, stupid match. Hogan gives DDP
a Diamond Cutter to take us to the credits. Yes WCW had
credits.

Rating: F+. Where do I even begin? Awful in
every sense of the word with nothing making sense and the whole thing
being a disaster. The switching of the rings thing made it virtually
impossible to know who was where. The ending was just idiotic as
Hogan apparently can just walk into a match he’s not a part of and
has no business being involved in as he’s competing for a shot at
something he already has. Nash made things look stupid and the whole
thing was just a mess from start to finish. Also the triple camera
didn’t help either.

OverallRating:
D-. Just a terribly dull show with nothing going on at all that was
worth seeing. Rey vs. Eddie is good but it’s got nothing on the
previous match they had at the last show. This was a very boring show
overall as it was clear that Starrcade was all set in stone already.
Not a good show in any sense of the word and boring beyond belief.
BIG pass here.