WCW World War 3 98'

WCW World War 3 98'

Auburn Hills, MI - November 1998

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into the show, Bill Goldberg is the reigning WCW World Champion, Diamond Dallas Page holds the United States Champion, the Cruiserweight Champion is Juventud Guerrera, and the TV Title is held by Chris Jericho. Meanwhile, the Tag Team Champions are Rick Steiner and (and I never thought I'd type his name here) Kenny Kaos.

COMMENTATORS: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Mike Tenay

The 4th annual World War 3 begins with Glacier taking on Wrath. Wrath is coming into this match on a 3-month hot streak, essentially getting the "Goldberg push" so that he can one day lose to Goldberg. Glacier is booed heavily by the crowd, one of those instances where a guy became heel rather than turned heel because audiences collectively agreed that they loathed him. Surprising as it may seem, this match starts off really hot and the action is good...until Wrath (who by this point had 8+ years of experience) shows a complete inability to read the audience and inexplicably starts working as a heel and cheating to win a match that he was dominating entirely. To make matters worse, he sits in a resthold for no other reason than I'm guessing he figured, as a heel, this would draw him heat. It doesn't. It just bores the crowd who pop right back into things when Wrath connects on his legitimately impressive Meltdown finisher. I was actually going to give this match an above-average rating after how good the first few minutes were - but it completely falls apart when nobody decides to call an audible, cut the time in half, and make it the mauling that the fans were craving. (1.5/5)

He may have been over, but boy do I not appreciate Konnan as a worker. On this night, he's going up against another guy that I don't think I've ever enjoyed - singles or tag - Stevie Ray. This match was an excuse for Konnan to deliver his catch phrases and for the post-match angle with Booker T trying to help his brother but getting turned down. Its not an actively bad match, but the fact that it doesn't overstay its welcome might be the best thing about it. (1.5/5)

A special attraction tag match follows - "The Cat" Ernest Miller and Sonny Onoo vs. Kaz Hayashi and Saturn. The story behind this match is based mostly on Kaz Hayashi feuding with Sonny Onoo. Why anyone thought that was a PPV-worthy storyline to feature is beyond me, but here we are. Nobody can say that Ernest Miller didn't know how to draw heat, but at the end of the day, his dancing and talking were much more entertaining than anything he'd actually do between bells. Saturn, meanwhile, had some of the nastiest offense of his day and was fairly over at this time, but never seemed to get to the next level because, like Benoit to a degree, WCW didn't consistently showcase his no-nonsense persona (one might argue that Benoit was featured even less than Saturn for spells in 98' thanks to the general absence of Flair and the Horsemen). Anyway, this match has a surprising amount of heat considering the action isn't great. There are a few decent stretches in terms of character work and story, but there's nothing special enough here to warrant viewing. (2/5)

Finally, a match that might be worth watching - Billy Kidman challenging Juventud Guerrera for Guerrera's Cruiserweight Championship. Before the match can get started, it is revealed that Guerrera has joined Eddie Guerrero's Latino World Order. This angers Rey Mysterio, who was kept from challenging for the Cruiserweight Championship. After the pre-match shenanigans, Kidman and Guerrera put on a straightforward cruiser match, Guerrera working heel effectively in front of the Michigan crowd. There are some surprisingly stiff maneuvers on display here - an Alabama Slam from Juvi, an impactful clothesline off the ropes by Kidman, a pitch-perfect dropkick from Kidman to a crossbody-attempting Juvi. Guerrera's hurricanrana off the apron isn't pretty, but it gets a good reaction and looks legitimately devastating (it helps that Kidman, at least at this point in his career, was a better-than-average seller). Fully dominating at this point, Guerrera connects with a Psicosis-esque leg drop before tossing Kidman into the third ring and nearly breaking the leg of Kidman by attempting a double-springboard dropkick. Kidman's hope spots aren't as high-risk, but they're executed better and the crowd is in his corner (his not-so-springboard crossbody from one ring to another leads to a nearfall that the crowd audibly hates). Not happy with only using two of the three rings, Guerrera hits a second hurricanrana to put Kidman into the third ring and the calls for the Juvi Driver. Kidman tries to counter but ends up eating the Driver after all. Completely spent, Guerrera's unable to make the cover, though, opting to hit the 450 instead. Kidman rolls out of the way and Juvi lands on his feet. This leads to another semi-botch when Juvi hits (what is typically) Mysterio's victory roll finish, but Kidman manages to get his shoulder up at two and 9/10ths. The camera doesn't quite capture the kickout, though, so the crowd's a bit confused momentarily. The match resumes until we get a screwy (albeit crowd-pleasining) finish involving Rey Mysterio turning on the LWO. Better execution and a clean finish and you might have a Top 10 All-Time WCW Cruiserweight Championship match, but I'm not sure I'd rank it that high without seeing more of the lauded matches from Nitro again. (3.5/5)

And here we go with what had to be WCW's third or fourth bait-and-switch Steiner vs. Steiner match. This time around, Scott, Buff Bagwell, and a stocking cap-wearing nWo referee (TNA's "Slick" Johnson actually) make their way down the aisle first, calling out Rick. Cut to Rick Steiner getting beaten down by the nWo, most notably The Giant (who, I believe, was in the doghouse having basically already made it known he was heading to the WWE in two month's time). The future Big Show pulls Rick into the ring for Big Poppa Pump to beat him down and though Rick tries to fight back, he's no match for his healthier brother (Rick Steiner looks like he has a legitimately injured right arm and I'd hesitate to say its just a good sales job). The crowd boos heavily until Goldberg shows up and saves the entire segment. Scott Steiner flips him the bird to which Goldberg responds with a huge spear. The crowd goes absolutely insane as Goldberg cleans house, including press-slamming Slick from one ring to another. I'm guessing that there's a Steiner/Steiner match coming at Starrcade and this was all part of Eric Bischoff's brilliant strategy to create another "year long build" a la Sting/Hogan from the 97' show. The difference is that Sting/Hogan was advertised and then delivered while Steiner/Steiner was advertised repeatedly and then not delivered repeatedly until I don't think fans really cared one way or another about Rick ever getting his revenge. In fact, by the sound of the crowd, what they really want to see is Goldberg/Steiner now. I'm not surprised - it must've been hard to rally around Rick Steiner in 98' when he was consistently booked as a doofus. As a match, this is a 0-star contest - but as an angle, it would definitely score some points...so I'm scoring it in the middle. (2.5/5)

Scott Hall, accompanied by every member of nWo Hollywood except Hollywood Hogan, arrives next for his rematch against his Halloween Havoc opponent, Kevin Nash. I kinda dug the Hall/Nash match from October, so I came into this moderately excited. Before Nash can make his way down the aisle, though, Eric Bischoff shows up and nWo Hollywood turns on Hall, leading to Nash making the save and the Outsiders teasing a reunion. A loud "Outsiders" chant breaks out, inspiring Hall to put up the Wolfpack sign. Nash walks out of the ring, though, leaving Hall despondent. Another "more of an angle than a match" segment on a show that will be headlined by a 60-man slugfest where we'll be lucky to see a handful of actual wrestling holds. 

The WCW Television Championship is on the line next as Bobby Duncum Jr. challenges Chris Jericho. Duncum is a a solid 6'6, 23 years young here, and a second gen-er trained in the Funkin' Dojo (I believe) so I wondered why he never got a shot in the WWE in 2001 - the answer: he didn't live long enough to get one. Despite this being only his second match in WCW (according to Wikipedia), Duncum looks alright and Jericho seems to have no issues with bumping and selling for his less-experienced opponent. When its time for him to take over on offense, the ex-Lionheart shines until he opts for a chinlock and the two stumble into the corner awkwardly as the crowd goes silent. Duncum hits a shoulderbreaker to near silence and continues his attack on Jericho's arm from there, the match in desperate need of a high spot or two to bring the crowd back. Y2J tries to deliver them with a stun-gun and then a springboard dropkick, but the crowd is distracted by either a flasher or a fight in the stands or both. Jericho applies another resthold, maybe trying to rebuild this one from its ground floor, feeding for Duncum by taking a series of stiff clotheslines and a flapjack. Duncum's blatantly telegraphs a spot in the corner and the awkwardness continues with some ugly pins and an uglier senton from Jericho. The sequence into Jericho's Liontamer is surprisingly crisp and Duncum's escape and subsequent nearfall gets a decent reaction. Ralphus' involvement leading to the finish is the touch this match needed about 4-5 minutes earlier. These two may not have had much chemistry, but they both worked hard considering their respective limitations as workers at this time. (2/5)

It is now time for the 1998 edition of the 3-ring, 60-man battle royale known as World War 3, the winner receiving a shot at Goldberg's World Heavyweight Championship at an undisclosed point in the future. Out walk 60 WCW superstars, including such potential Goldberg conquerors as Barry Darsow, "Gentleman" Chris Adams, Ciclope, the Disciple, El Dandy, Scotty Riggs, Barry Horowitz, "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton, The Renegade, Johnny Swinger, "The Polish Power" Scott Putski, Vincent, Lenny Lane, and "Mean" Mike Enos. The bell sounds and the brawling begins, everyone just stomping, punching, and kicking whoever they're standing near. Nash starts tossing dudes early, thank god, using his size and strength to try to make quick work of the ample number of light heavyweights in this match. Within the first two minutes, 13 or so guys are cut out of the match, the watchability of this made much easier thanks to a ticker on the lower left corner of the screen. Nash essentially wipes out his entire ring, knocking out Van Hammer with a big boot as the count drops to 36. Psicosis attempts a move from the top rope and gets caught by Hall, who fallaway slams him out the aisle. Laughable camera work when we get to watch Beefcake and Horace Hogan plan their double elimination spot right before our eyes. I think McMahon would've fired everyone (the camera man, Ed Leslie, and Horace Boulder) if that happened in a Rumble. A half-dozen guys try to team up to eliminate Giant, but he pushes them all off. Rey Mysterio gets tossed and the number drops to 20, all the major players brought to the middle ring for what is mostly a nWo Hollywood/nWo Wolfpack showdown. Pretty much everyone non-affiliated with either side gets tossed out rather quickly, but the big moment of this match comes when Bam Bam Bigelow shows up to disrupt the proceedings. The crowd chants for Goldberg and, for the second time tonight, the Champ shows up and the crowd goes absolutely apeshit for their pull-apart brawl. Once Bigelow and Goldberg are cleared out, the battle royale continues and soon enough the Horsemen and Konnan are out (though, Konnan, for whatever reason, is eliminate despite going through the middle ropes and not over the top) and things are eventually boiled down to Hall, Nash, and Luger. Nash wins to set-up Starrcade and, for the second time in the night, WCW misses an opportunity to make the eventual finish to Goldberg/Nash (if they already knew what it would be, which I'm guessing they didn't) actually make sense. This crowd's hatred for The Giant, Goldberg's appearance, and the fact that they wisely wittled things down to under 40 guys within 3-4 minutes make this the best World War 3 I've ever seen. Fun watch. (3.5/5)

Main event time - Bret Hart vs. Diamond Dallas Page for the United States Championship. DDP goes right at the Hitman from the jump and over the course of the next 10 minutes, these two just keep going and going with intense offense and targeted limb attacks. DDP tries to lock in a Sharpshooter early but can't as Bret, minutes later, applies the dreaded figure four around the ring post. In some ways this is a tough match to watch because, despite DDP's overness and Bret's efforts, this match just doesn't measure up to what Hart had accomplished in similar clashes of styles in the WWF. After a ref bump, Slick Johnson shows up and awards the match to Bret, but Mickie Jay demands that the match continues and Hart eats a Diamond Cutter. I wanted this match to be so much better and its obvious that DDP and Hart wanted it to be great too, but context is everything and Bret's heel character just didn't mesh well with WCW as its backdrop. The fact that this is one of Bret's more decent bouts on WCW PPV tells you how bad his WCW run was. (2.5/5)


With a Kwang Score of 2.38-out-of-5, the 1998 edition of World War 3 might only please fans looking for a nostalgic snapshot of everything wrong and the little that was right about WCW in its last year as a real rival to the WWE. Its actually sort of fun to watch this show and think "How could they fuck up this company so bad in the next 3 months?" with the amount of fairly over talent they had at their disposal. A better main event, several minutes cut off from most of the undercard bouts, and a clean finish to the Cruiserweight Title Match and this show becomes one of the better WCW offerings of the year maybe. As it is, I can see turning this on for fans craving nostalgia and having some good laughs at WCW's misfortune and ineptitude...

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver