WCW World War 3 (1997)

WCW World War III

Auburn Hills, Michigan - November 1997

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan is the reigning WCW World Champion, the United States Championship is held by Curt Hennig, Saturn of Raven's Flock is the WCW Television Champion, and the Cruiserweight Champion is Eddie Guerrero. The WCW World Tag Team Champions are The Steiner Brothers.

COMMENTARY: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes with Mike Tenay

WCW's version of the Royal Rumble kicks off with a tag team contest pitting Ernest Miller and Glacier against undersung toughs Meng and the Barbarian, aka the Faces of Fear. Not a terrible match, but not a very memorable one either. I'm not sure putting a slugfest like this in the opening slot was the right move, but it doesn't overstay its welcome and the finish is particularly strong. Slightly less than average bout. (2/5)

Disco Inferno comes out for his shot at Saturn's Television Championship. Before the match begins, Raven climbs into the ring and announces that the "stretchings" will begin. This is Saturn's WCW pay-per-view debut and the commentators do a nice job of hyping his credentials as an army ranger. Inferno holds his own, though, forcing Saturn to regroup on the outside early on. Saturn shows off some impressive throughout, including a pump-handle duplex, middle-rope moonsault, and a nasty springboard crossbody onto Inferno (who was saddling the top rope). Inferno attacks the Flock, but ends up blindsided and eating a mouthful of the guardrail. Like the previous bout, this one benefits from its brevity, though the selling from both men is lacking, certain moves and spots just totally blown off to get to the next sequence. I'm a bigger Inferno man than most so I'll call this near-average. (2/5)

Backstage, "Mean" Gene Okerlund plugs the WCW hotline - that's 1-900-909-9900 in case you forgot - and is then joined The Giant, last year's victor. The Giant's left hand is taped up due to an attack on Nitro from Scott Hall, but he swears that it won't effect his chances tonight as he plans to toss out all the competition.

Ultimo Dragon squares off against Yuji Nagata in a very special grudge match, the stipulation being that if Dragon wins the match, he'll get five minutes alone with his former manager, Sonny Onoo. What's somewhat remarkable about this storyline is how much the live crowd actually cares - one really can't imagine a WWE crowd, today or 20 years ago, having any interest in a match featuring two essentially mute international stars. On commentary, Schiavone and company cover pretty much everything but the action, though, in their defense, its not as if the action is very noteworthy until Nagata starts taking over, dishing some vicious kicks and stomps to keep Dragon grounded. The repetitiveness of spots (while executed correctly) is a questionable means to draw heat, but it works to some degree, Nagata smartly playing to the crowd while dishing out punishment. Dragon's comeback draws some crowd support, peaking with a huge crossbody from the top rope to the outside followed by a sunset flip/powerbomb combo back inside. Nagata won't stay down, though, even following an Asai Moonsault, one of Dragon's signature moves. Just as Dragon has the match sewn up, Onoo gets involved and we get a screwy finish to cap this one off after 10+ minutes. Another decent, but largely unremarkable contest. (2.5/5)

The World Tag Team Championships are on the line next - The Steiner Brothers squaring off against The Blue Bloods, Steven Regal and Dave Taylor. Regal is in pretty bad shape here, but he still moves with surprising grace and quickness, the spare tire not diminishing his agility too much (though, the one bridge spot he attempts isn't as picture-perfect as at other points in his career). The Steiners have home court advantage being Michigan natives, the crowd fully in support of them. Very straightforward match with the purpose (I think) being to bring back some credibility to the Tag Team Titles after the Outsiders had basically played "keep away" with them for the past year. Unremarkable, but inoffensive. (2/5)

Before the next match begins, JJ Dillon notifies the fans that unless Raven signs a contract within the next 24 hours, this will be his last appearance with WCW. Raven's opponent, Scotty Riggs, then comes out. More of an angle than a match, Riggs and Raven do some standard brawling before Raven is finally able to connect with a series of Evenflow DDTs. The action itself is ho-hum, but the finish and the post-match is excellent stuff, the kind of angle that one wishes the WWE would've pulled off more with Bray Wyatt and his own cult-like followers. (2.5/5)

Steel pipe in hand, Steve "Mongo" McMichaels makes his way down the aisle to square off against the undefeated Goldberg, who is making his WCW pay-per-view debut. Goldberg's music plays but Mongo tells the crowd that they're going to be waiting for awhile because he has already beaten down Goldberg backstage (and taken back his ring). Unlike at last month's show, Mongo is clearly playing the heel here. Debra McMichael literally drags Alex Wright down the aisle to answer Mongo's open challenge and we have an impromptu rematch from Halloween Havoc. Wright shows some respectable energy here, attacking his opponent before the bell and not letting up for the next several minutes. Mongo won't be manhandled, though, and eventually tombstone piledrives his way to victory. I'm not sure what the point of the bait-and-switch was, aside from building up the McMichaels/Goldberg feud so that it wouldn't run out of steam too quickly, but there's really no excuse for promoting a match (even an undercard bout) and booking your way around it for seemingly no reason. (1/5)

In a much more anticipated Halloween Havoc, the WCW Cruiserweight Championship is on the line as Eddie Guerrero defends against Rey Mysterio Jr. Their match the previous month has a reputation as being one of the best WCW matches in history, but this one shouldn't be overlooked either (even if it does feature a few botched sequences). While imperfect, the moments that click are still mighty impressive, Guerrero's offense looking particularly nasty throughout. Despite an ugly miscommunication towards the end of the match, the crowd stays engaged, popping huge for a false finish that brings the match back on course. Mysterio and Guerrero were obviously trying their best to top themselves, but there were just too many flubbed spots for it to earn that honor. Still, the best match of the night so far by a wide, wide margin. (3.5/5)

United States Champion Curt Hennig (chair in tow) makes his way down the aisle for a No DQ match with his arch-rival Ric Flair. Their match at Halloween Havoc wasn't a career highlight for either man, but it wasn't too bad. Henna starts out by ducking around the three rings, avoiding combat until Flair eventually gets a hold of him on the outside and hits him with some rights and lefts. They make their way into the crowd but the action is fairly tame until they're back at ringside, Hennig choking out Naitch with a camera cord both in and outside the squared circle. On commentary, Tenay tries to sell that this rivalry goes back beyond just the past three months but doesn't mention their WWE feud, probably sending thousands of eyes a-rolling at the time. Flair comes off the top rope in a shocking spot and the barricade-crashing continues, the action so far taking placing far more outside of the ropes than inside. Randy Anderson sells an eyepoke for minutes on end, though, considering its a No DQ match its unclear why Hennig would want to incapacitate the ref. As the match wears on, TAFKA Perfect starts going after Flair's legs in an attempt to keep him from being able to perform his patented finisher, at one point tying him up with a submission of his own and slapping his square in the face. The match drags on for quite awhile longer, brawling mixed with what seems to be both guys attempting their "greatest hits" but not hitting them as well as they had even 4 years earlier (let alone 10). There's at least one great spot where Flair hits an atomic drop onto the back of a chair and then follows it up by kicking the chair while its still under Hennig's legs, but a lack of blood, both guys overtly positioning themselves and walking into bumps as well as a rather anticlimactic ending are the major takeaways from this one. Better than your average match at moments, not quite average at other times. (2.5/5)

Main event time - 1997's edition of the 60-Man Battle Royale to name the Number Two Contender for Hulk Hogan's World Heavyweight Championship (Sting being the number one contender). Michael Buffer goes over the rules and we get a parade of talents, including Greg "The Hammer" Valentine,  John Nord, Barry Darrow, and The Renegade, none of whom I knew were under contract at the time. The nWo are represented by Buff Bagwell, Scott Hall, Curt Hennig (whose knee is taped up from the prior match), Randy Savage, and...Vincent. Tenay notes that Kevin Nash is not with his WCW brethren, stating there are only 59 guys in the ring instead of 60 and that Nash may be running scared of last year's winner, The Giant. The annual clusterfuck starts and within twenty seconds Lizmark Jr., the Villainos, and Disco Inferno are gone. Half-points awarded for some decent spots and appearances - Chris Adams doing the most with his screentime, Rey Mysterio's valiant efforts to avoid elimination, The Giant tossing guys out left and right while still selling a damaged right hand (and hitting a nasty dropkick at one point too), and the nWo doing the one thing that stables never seem to do in Royal Rumbles: actually stick together to stack the odds in their favor for longer than a couple of minutes. As expected, this ends with a war between the WCW guys and the Black-and-Whiters, the good guys' left with only Luger, Page, and The Giant in the closing minutes. After a massive spillover, we're down to four and the crowd is on their feet. The closing minutes don't make much sense, especially considering that the "surprise entrant" has been booked as a coward for months that certainly wouldn't be itching to step into the ring with two of WCW's most passionate grapplers. A Sting chant breaks out and, soon enough, we get a 7-foot Stinger...yet another impostor angle in a year where this same exact ending has been used at least 4-5 times on pay-per-view. The 60-man battle royale is one of the worst concept matches ever and this one, with its overbooked ending and stretches of unremarkable "action," proves it. (1.5/5)


World War III 97', aside from having a horrible title, is a pretty horrible show. I feel like the average score rating, a 2.17-out-of-5, is actually being a bit generous. The main event is mostly boring with only brief flashes of entertainment, while only Guerrero/Mysterio is anything above average (and, even then, it pales in comparison to their much more tightly worked Halloween Havoc classic or even their 2005 series in the WWE). Hennig/Flair worked hard, but brought little new to their standard brawl. The Flock's involvement throughout the show is a plus, but Saturn/Infero and Riggs/Raven are better as angles than actual matches. Plus, with Goldberg not appearing and Kevin Nash not showing up for his scheduled match, one has to wonder if anyone in WCW considered the negative effect of having not just one but two clear bait-and-switch moments on the show? The worst WCW show since the abysmal Road Wild 97'.


FINAL RATING - DUDleyville