WCW UnCensored 98'

WCW UnCensored 98'

March 1998 - Mobile, Alabama

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into the show, Sting is the WCW World Heavyweight Champion, the Outsiders are the WCW World Tag Team Champions, Booker T holds the TV Title, the US Champion is Diamond Dallas Page, and Chris Jericho holds the Cruiserweight Championship.

COMMENTARY: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Mike Tenay

Eddie Guerrero challenges Booker T for his World Television Championship in the opener. From the very start, this one is worked intelligently and the crowd eats up pretty much everything they do. Guerrero is excellent as the heel, initially trying to avoid Booker T and buy time, but then getting vicious when he is able to score the upper hand. Booker T, meanwhile, may not have been the most polished worker yet, but his enthusiasm is contagious and the crowd was definitely hugely behind him. The type of match that makes one miss the Television Championship and what it stood for - solid storytelling, clear heroes and villains, urgency, and palpable drive to defeat your opponent to achieve a true goal. I would've liked Guerrero to get more violent during the post-match, but overall, a strong opening contest that was borderline great. (3.5/5)

Next up, a rematch from several years before (and one of the most truly fucked up matches I've reviewed), Juventud Guerrera taking on the nWo's Konnan. Unlike their notoriously botchy and almost kayfabe-breaking match-up at Fall Brawl 96' (which I still gave 4-stars), in this one, they seem like they're on the same page for the most part which makes for a more comfortable viewing. Konnan dominates again, but that was always his best role in WCW anyway - tossing around cruiserweights and acting like a total bully. Meanwhile, Guerrera is perfectly fine as an underdog, though, not nearly as good as Rey Mysterio. There are some great spots throughout this match, some daredevil bumping by Guerrera, and some impressive offense out of K-Dawg, but the finish is so "out of nowhere," it really hurts any sort of credibility the match had built up. (2.5/5)

The WCW Cruiserweight Championship is on the line when Chris Jericho defends against Dean Malenko. A month prior, Jericho had had won of his best matches yet against Juvi and he steps it up again here, shifting organically from cowardly, ass-showing heel to vicious, corner-cutting villain over the course of the match. Malenko, mild-mannered and cool, is a great foil to the brash Jericho and their in-ring chemistry is hard to ignore. Their feud, up to this point, had emphasized Malenko's tremendous offensive repertoire and Jericho's jealousy (and ludicrous claim that he knew even more moves than the Iceman), but the match doesn't go to extreme bounds to play that up - for better or worse. While it may have been fun to see Jericho try his hand at dozens and dozens of increasingly complex submissions, as his comedic promos may have alluded to, it's not a knock against the match that, as the match goes on, both competitors are more interested in winning than just dazzling the crowd with innovative spots (and Jericho calling out things like "This is #634!" doesn't last longer than minute 2). (3.5/5)

Lex Luger takes on the nWo's newest member - Scott Steiner - next. On paper, this seems like a terrible match, especially in 1998 (had it happened in 90'/91', it would've been a fairly big deal), but with a very short running time and Steiner wrestling a sell-first style unlike anything we'd ever seen out of him before, it's a pretty fun sprint. That being said, the execution of both Steiner and Luger is far from flawless, but the crowd pops for the big moments and the match is lean enough that it almost seems like all big moments. The finish is clusterfuckery, but it keeps everyone looking strong and signals to the match that fans were really craving - brother vs. brother, Rick vs. Scott. (2.5/5)

In 1998, three-way matches weren't unheard of to most wrestling fans (ECW's first pay-per-view, Barely Legal, from almost a year earlier had featured one), but for WCW, a true triangle match was still a novelty. Fortunately, the workers involved here were three of the most creative that WCW had to offer - Chris Benoit, Raven, and United States Champion, Diamond Dallas Page. Unlike in today's typical three-way, Raven, Benoit, and Page stay in close proximity for the vast majority of the match, cutting off eachother's pin attempts and really delivering the non-stop action that matches like these should provide. Pinfalls count anywhere, which adds an extra element to the match and promotes the usage of high-risk and hardcore wrestling out of all three men, the fight even ending up at the entrance way at one point. On commentary, Schiavone and Tenay do a nice job of retelling some history to make it clear that all three men are tough enough (and crazy enough) to go to extremes to win the match. Things get crazy when the weapons come into play, all three men giving and taking some vicious shots as the match devolves into a violent brawl. The first misstep is a lame, botched table spot near the entrance way, but by this point, the crowd had seen so much, it doesn't damper their spirits in the least. Page's crawl back into the match may be a trope now, but back then, his immense popularity and the freshness of the stipulation allowed it to work in a way it really can't in 2016. Back in the ring, Benoit's dismantling of Raven is awesome, the ex-ECW star selling with the kind of gusto that only comes from knowing you are tearing the house down (and have even more A+ stuff on the way). The final spot of the match isn't pretty, but its hard to fault the performers when part of the fun of this match, for the audience and seemingly for the participants, was to take every risk imaginable and innovate without a net. Well worth checking out. (4/5)

As JJ Dillon had announced earlier, the powerbomb is legal in the next contest - Kevin Nash vs. The Giant in a rematch from Souled Out 98' (which, itself, was a rescheduling of their cancelled match at Starrcade 97'). Nash arrives first with a cocky grin followed by The Giant (who has no entrance music, but is sporting a neck brace). There's some intimidating posing out of both men and then kung fu comedy out of Nash, these two obviously not looking to take the same risks they took in their surprisingly athletic exhibition in January. Say what you will about how the nWo had made WCW look like chumps for all of 97', by this point in the feud, the crowd would still rally behind guys they believed could thump the villains and The Giant was one of em'. Nash takes more bumps in this match than I think he's taken post-2005, but aside from a single bodyslam, there was not much meat to this. A dumb run-in makes the drama of the Jacknife Powerbomb being legal moot. (1.5/5)

Bret Hart takes on Curt Hennig next. While this pales in comparison to their matches at SummerSlam 91' and the first King of the Ring PPV, its still worth watching for fans of either guy, especially considering that neither would go on to produce any real classics from this point on. I particularly like Rude's consistent involvement and Hart's resiliency and focus - this is Bret doing the Bret of 92'-96' in front of a 1998 crowd that had moved on from that type of storytelling, which makes it an interesting watch, even if it isn't the best bout of the night. Above-average based on their chemistry alone, but certainly a step down in terms of heat from what Bret had done with Austin, Michaels, and Undertaker in the WWE a half-year earlier. (3.5/5)

The WCW World Heavyweight Championship is on the line - Sting defending the title against Scott Hall, who had won this opportunity by being the sole survivor in November's World War 3 battle royale (who woulda thunk WCW would actually hold up the guaranteed title shot from that match 4 months later?). The best bits of this match are Hall's - his bumping and clowning were really second to none at this point, though, Sting had lost so much credibility at Starrcade (and in the months after) that this match has absolutely none of the "big title fight" feel that his first defense could've (and should've) had. In 1998, having Dusty Rhodes as your wingman in what was supposed to be a "too cool for school" stable was just an awful idea. This was a pre-Memba Berries era and Dusty was only a hair hipper than Lee Marshall at the time (hell, if Chris Cruise had joined the nWo it would've made more sense than the Dream doing it). At under 10 minutes and featuring Sting doing a "crotch chop" (because that was a "cool" thing that faces did in the late 90s), this match seems like the death knell for the Crow gimmick and any chance of Sting being booked as a legitimate champion in WCW. (2/5)

Main event time - "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan vs. "The Maddness" Randy Savage. What is really surprising about this one is just how motivated Hogan seems, especially compared to Sting, essentially proving that the poor booking of the Stinger and the continued dominant booking of the Hulkster may have actually been a good idea. Macho is pretty animated but he's slowed down since the feud with DDP and, against Hogan, can't get nearly as brutal with his offense. There are all sorts of ridiculous moments to this match, including a finish and post-match that are beyond dumb, but one can't argue that the old timers got lazy here - they blade, they go at eachother with stiff belt shots, and Savage takes a hell of a back body drop into the cage wall. Far from the best cage match WCW ever produced, but not nearly as embarrassing as some of the ones Hogan produced against The Giant or the Dungeon of Doom in 94'/95'. Again, the post-match is inarguably one of the worst "swerves" WCW would throw against the wall in a year full of mindless garbage booking. (1.5/5)



Don't let the 2.72-out-of-5 average score fool you - this is a show for only WCW's most faithful fans, those people out there who can actually appreciate what Hogan and Savage are able to accomplish despite themselves, who can watch a lesser Hart/Hennig match and recognize the quality storytelling (even as the crowd takes a siesta), who can turn back their mental clock and get caught up in the innovation and excitement of the excellent triple threat match while ignoring the fact that nearly every spot here has been done and redone countless times since. This is a show that "smart" fans will enjoy partially because of how of its times it is - and how easy it is to watch and pick apart (Booker T and Eddie Guerrero in an opening match? The Disciple showing up in a main event? Juventud Guerrera maskless? What was WCW thinking?!?). But there's far funnier ways to spend 3 hours on the WWE Network if its comedy you're looking for.

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver