WWE TLC 2017

WWE TLC 2017

Minneapolis, MN - October 2017

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into the show, Brock Lesnar is the WWE Universal Champion, the Intercontinental Champion is The Miz, the RAW Tag Team Champions are Ambrose and Rollins, and the RAW Womens' Champion is Alexa Bliss.

COMMENTATORS: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, and Booker T

Asuka vs. Emma was our kickoff match and I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I can see some critics complaining about how much Asuka "gave" in this match to the not-so-accomplished Emma. I certainly lobbed those same criticisms against the booking of the Nakamura/Ziggler debut earlier this year. But there are some differences here worth mentioning - first, while the commentators didn't do a great job of explaining it, Asuka is coming off an injury and this was actually a rematch from Asuka and Emma's NXT days. Secondly, debut or not, Nakamura and Ziggler didn't put on a great match, which made the booking questionable. Here, though, Asuka and Emma once again showed that they have tremendous chemistry and can tear the house down without needless risky bumps or crazy high spots. I'm pretty positive this was Emma's best showing ever and Asuka certainly established herself as a huge threat by defeating an opponent who was at the top of her game. Bordering on must-watch, but maybe not quite there. (3.5/5) 

A really great promo followed featuring The Miz, The Bar, Braun Strowman, and Kane. Everyone was spot-on with their verbiage (save for maybe Cesaro) with The Miz doing a particularly great job in pulling all the disparate characters into the mix. 

The next segment was not as impressive to me. I don't get the love for Elias Sampson when this act has been done before time and time again. Sampson does a fine job, but not a remarkable one. Jason Jordan sent him packing with a barrage of vegetables, which I thought was a little weird considering that I really think the longterm plan is to turn Jordan heel. Whatever.

Rich Swann and Cedric Alexander teamed up to take on Brian Kendrick and Jack Gallagher. LIke many of the spotlight 205 Live matches that we've got this year on PPV, the action was fine - even really good at times - but the stakes, if there were some, were unknown to me, Swann and Alexander continue to come off as rather colorless babyfaces, and Kendrick and Gallagher were far more interesting a year ago (or years ago in the case of Kendrick) when their characters were fresher and they were mixing it up with guys outside of just their weight class. On the positive side, Swann and Alexander had good chemistry and, with their matching gear, reminded me of the type of tag teams the WWE should be eagerly trying to develop on their main roster. On the one hand, its a terrible thing that the WWE too often simply pairs two black or two Hispanic wrestlers together when they have nothing else to give them by way of a creative storyline, but on the other hand, what are these two doing anyway? About 20 minutes after this match happened, I couldn't remember who won, which is about everything you need to know about it. (2/5)

The RAW Women's Championship was on the line next - Alexa Bliss defending the strap against Mickie James. Bliss' facial expressions are as good or better than anyone else's in the business. Her wrestling is not quite at the same level, but considering her level of experience, she is leaps and bounds better than she probably has any right to be. What I like about Bliss especially is that she works a style that wouldn't have been out of place 10 years ago and has a character that is isntantly recognizable and despicable. Unlike Sasha Banks or Charlotte Flair, who wouldn't have made sense performing the way they do in 2017 in 1997, Bliss would've been a star in any era, even one where she wouldn't have been wrestling every week. James, to her credit, got good sympathy early and her comebacks drew good responses, the savvy veteran not needing to go to far out of her wheelhouse to keep the match progressing and building in suspense. Unfortunately, a loud "We Want Tables" chant really distracted from the finishing sequence which, while very basic, would've felt like a more sneaky trick if the audience had actually been paying attention. This wasn't as good as the opener, but it wasn't too far off from it. (3/5)

Next up - Enzo Amore vs. Kalisto for Kalisto's Cruiserweight Championship. Enzo is a limited worker, so pairing him with someone as solid as Kalisto definitely helps. Going in, one had to know that Enzo was going to regain the gold, but knowing the outcome doesn't always detract from a match. Here, the crowd was into the proceedings for the first 3/4ths or so, but this one may have stretched just a minute or two beyond the good will of the people. I can see Enzo, in time, earning the same appreciation that someone like The Miz has, but he has a ways to go. On the plus side, he has spiffier offense starting out than the Miz did. Kalisto probably deserves better than having to carry Amore, but the 205 Live division was DOA when it was built around one-dimensional babyfaces like TJP and Kalisto and equally bland heels like Brian Kendrick. At least with Enzo you have a character that is actually over with the live crowd. (2/5)

In what was billed as a dream match, AJ Styles wrestled Finn Balor (Balor's original opponent, Bray Wyatt, was out with meningitis). I've seen some reviewers call this a Match of the Year candidate and, move for move, it definitely delivered enough thrills and spills to keep me engaged. What was missing, to me, was the "personal issue," this match really being fought for no stakes despite how much the commentators tried to push it as a battle for pride. I enjoyed seeing Balor bust out all sorts of moves we've seen rarely from him since his NXT call-up, but would second the motion that "The Demon" character doesn't really make a lick of sense when he wrestles basically the same style without the make-up. Styles, meanwhile, has spent 2017 making a strong case that he deserves the WWE's MVP Award for the second year straight, putting on matches that, at the very least, are always really good. I once wrote that Matt Hardy, from roughly 2005-2008 or so, was consistently good because, while he may only rarely give you The Match of the Night, he never had the worst match of the night either. Styles embodies that same compliment only, with Styles, you often do get a Match of the Night. The last 4-5 minutes pushed this one into an upper gear that the Owens/Styles matches relied on overbooking and false finishes to get to. With an actual story behind it, these two could absolutely put on a Match of the Year candidate, but I'm just don't think exhibition matches like this one carry enough weight to make them "must watch" (and the nod to their Bullet Club past wasn't enough of a "moment" for me to push it there). (3.5/5)

Elias Samson vs. Jason Jordan in an oddly-commentated match followed. The internet has slowly been turning around on Samson, which has almost become the de-facto reaction to just about any annoying heel the WWE introduces but I'm not 100% sold on the guy yet. He looks to be a solid hand in the ring, but nothing extra-special. Jordan, on the other hand, is very good in the ring, but doesn't have a gimmick I care about at all right now. The commentary was more confusing than interesting too. Cole and Booker were rooting for Samson, who only maybe 30% of the audience is behind, while Graves was backing Jordan - who, for all intents and purposes, is still being projected as a straight-shooting, happy-go-lucky babyface. If anything, too, Cole and Booker supporting Samson made me like him less and Jordan more - which is, again, kind of backwards from what I think they are ultimately pushing towards. If everyone was on the same page about these two characters, this match could've been something, but when its unclear what the destination is, its unclear why I'm supposed to care about the outcome. A tedious match hurt by the worst stretch of commentary on a night when pretty much all the commentary was below average. (1.5/5)

Main event time - Ambrose, Rollins, and Kurt Angle vs. Braun Strowman, Kane, The Miz, Sheamus, and Cesaro in a TLC match. Coming in you knew that this was going to be a match that wasn't going to follow a structure, would spit in the face of longterm selling, and aspire more to please the crowd (which was hot, throughout the night, by the way) than actually deliver a realistic 5-on-3 contest. It also had the potential to be tremendous fun. The babyfaces came out swinging (literally) with chairs in hand, taking out the villains in a barrage of loud, stiff shots. Strowman could be seen bracing himself for each one, which took me out of the action a little, but hey, when you're expected to take over a dozen whacks in somewhat rapid succession over the course of 40 minutes, its hard to criticize a worker protecting himself. As the match wore on, everyone played their role perfectly, with some particular great moments out of The Miz (his groveling and begging to keep his team on the same page was pitch-perfect), Strowman, and even Kane, a worker/character I've never been a major fan of as a heel or face or anything in-between. Here, I thought Kane was at his See No Evil Jacob Goodnight best, the uncontrollable monster jealous of all the attention Braun Strowman has gotten and looking to prove that he should still be the most feared force on the roster - historical win/loss record be damned. Ambrose and Rollins delivered in the two ways they needed to, hitting a great pair of table splashes early and then getting great sympathy once Angle was taken out and the heels took control of the match. At this point, I expected some twists and turns in the form of a run-in or two (I do think it would've made at least some sense to have Jason Jordan come out and get slaughtered), but what we ended up getting worked for me too with Kane's chair-burial spot looking great on camera and then the heels eventually turning on Strowman (and throwing him in the dumpster) making for an equally great "moment" that, beyond the obvious Braun/Kane feud, could also lead to what I believe would be a great rivalry with the best heel on RAW, The Miz. Angle's comeback in the final minutes shouldn't have been a surprise, especially as the same exact scenario has played out multiple times in just the past 2-3 years, but I ain't too proud to admit I was suckered in by it and enjoyed seeing the Olympic Gold Medalist defy all realism, take out the former tag team champs in rapid succession, and then help his team finish off The Miz as well. I'm not sure if this match has the replay value that usually helps push a match into the 4-star territory for me, but in the moment, it was a hell of a lot of fun to watch and I definitely would recommend it to fans of wild n' crazy WWE-style mayhem. (4/5)



With a Kwang Score of 2.79-out-of-5, TLC 2017 was a slightly above-average overall thanks to several very good matches - both women's bouts, Styles/Balor, and the main event - and the wise decision to limit the minutes given to undercooked, not-over-enough talents like Jason Jordan, Rich Swann, and Kalisto. Imagine how good this show would've been if there were personal stakes in the cruiser tag match that fans were actually invested in, or if Enzo had been allowed to cut the anti-crowd promo that he was counterproductively only given time for after his lukewarm match, or even if there was a clear face/heel dynamic in the Jordan/Sampson match instead of the muddled mess we got. I've seen comparisons to UnCensored 96' and its ridiculous Hogan & Savage vs. The Alliance to End Hulkamania main event all over, but there are key differences worth nothing - first, that match was terrible (I gave it 0 stars in 2015) and the crowd was pretty much dead silent for it, while this one had the crowd's interest beginning to end. Second, UnCensored 96' is pretty much unwatchable after the first 30 minutes or so as Konnan/Guerrero and Regal/Finlay are solid bouts, but the rest of the show bounces between objectively awful and maybe slightly tolerable. This show, on the other hand, was well-paced and the matches that needed to deliver did deliver, a water mark the WWE hasn't necessarily been hitting on all of its recent Network Specials. 

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand

WWE Survivor Series 2003

Survivor Series 2003

Dallas, Texas - November 2003

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into the show, Brock Lesnar is the WWE Champion while Goldberg holds the World Heavyweight Championship. Rob Van Dam is the Intercontinental Champion and Big Show is the US Champion. Molly Holly holds the Womens' Championship, Tajiri is the Cruiserweight Champion, the WWE Tag Team Champions are The Basham Brothers, and the Dudleys are in the midst of their 8th World Tag Team Championship reign.

COMMENTARY: Michael Cole & Tazz (SmackDown), Lawler and Ross (RAW)

Survivor Series 2003 kicks off with a rap from the now-tweenerish John Cena running down his team's opponents tonight - Brock Lesnar, A-Train, Matt Morgan, Nathan Jones, and The Big Show. Calling it Cena's team is actually a mislabel too because Cena is really the relative low man on the Team Angle totem pole, partnering up with Chris Benoit, Hardcore Holly, Bradshaw, and Kurt Angle himself. Holly gets himself eliminated within the first minute by going after Lesnar before the bell. The story there is that Lesnar legitimately injured Holly months earlier and was now hell-bent on revenge. Almost just as rapidly, A-Train gets taken out by Bradshaw and then Bradshaw is pinned by Big Show soon after, this match taking no time at all to boil down to the workers people might be interested in (though Jones and Morgan, while fresh on the scene, wouldn't end up doing much in the company). The heels get some heat by beating down on Benoit for awhile before we eventually get a hot tag to Kurt Angle that blows up the whole match and reignites the crowd. Morgan and Jones get eliminated by the red-hot Olympic Gold Medalist, but Angle is snubbed out himself, exiting the match earlier than I expected. Now just a two-on-two match, Benoit takes the fight to Lesnar, cutting down the much larger opponent and locking in the Crossface three times before eliminating Benoit in an outright shocking turn of events that gets the audience on their feet. Benoit nearly eliminates Big Show as well, but its Cena whol eventually gets the pin after an F-U. I was very pleasantly surprised to see Benoit get such a clean win over Lesnar and the crowd reaction shows they were too. Good spotlight moment for Cena as well and even Jones and Morgan looked decent enough here to work as long as their minutes were kept short and their inexperience was hidden. I wouldn't call this an essential viewing, but it was certainly one of the better booked Survivors matches I've seen. (3/5)

Vince McMahon is backstage giving some advice to Shane McMahon before walking into Stone Cold. 

Lita challenges for Molly Holly's Womens' Championship in the second bout of the evening. This match didn't really have me engaged at all, though it wasn't offensive or anything. Just kinda there and over within 5 minutes (it was actually 7 minutes when I checked - and I'm not sure if that means it was better or worse than I thought). (1.5/5)

After a video package recapping their lengthy feud, it is time for Shane McMahon vs. Kane in an Ambulance Match. Shane goes right at Kane when he gets to the ring and the match swiftly turns into a battle of weaponry, Shane using a chair and Kane going for the steel steps. Shane ends up setting Kane on a table and driving a TV monitor into his skull before taking to the top rope and hitting his trademark elbow through the table. Hey, credit to Shane and Kane here - they wasted absolutely no time in getting to the crazy high spots. Shane takes off to the backstage area and Kane pursues him, the two ending up in the parking garage. Shane strikes from behind with a kendo stick and then steps into a white SUV and backs up the truck into Kane! Kane goes through a glass parking attendant booth and Shane gloats, believing the fight to be over. Shane calls for an ambulance and tries to strap Kane onto the gurney, but Kane sits up and the fight continues, the two making their way back in front of the live crowd. Kane gets some offense in, but Shane won't stay down, eventually ramming the Demon headfirst into the side of the ambulance before using the ambulance door to bash in his face twice more (the second shot, which Kane takes dead-on, looks particularly brutal). Kane fights back and looks like he might have the match won, but Shane kicks the door open and lands a series of big shots followed by a tornado DDT onto the floor (kinda). Shane grabs a trash can and Kane takes yet another unprotected shot to the head. Shane then sets Kane up for one of the craziest spots I've seen - a pseudo-Coast to Cost (or Driveby, really) from the top of the ambulance into a trash in front of Kane's face (with Shane's fall being cushioned by some sort of box that just happened to be there). The two end up fighting inside the ambulance itself, Kane refusing to stay down and then using his remaining strength to repeatedly slam Shane back-first into the ambulance's side. Kane continues his punishment for awhile before spiking him with a tombstone onto the arena floor to seal the deal. The right man won, the right spots happened, and it never really got too dull or tedious. Good enough for me. (3/5)

Before the next bout, we get a tease of the impending Lesnar/Goldberg match. The segment really highlights how much Lesnar needed a mouthpiece, while Goldberg, the should-be silent warrior, doesn't fare much better with his script. 

Jonathan "The Coach" Coachman makes his way down the aisle for an unnecessary promo that was on the brink of earning negative points, but is saved by the inclusion of Dallas Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban getting in a shoving match with Eric Bischoff and then getting dropped by a Randy Orton RKO. I was surpised at how fresh this segment still came off despite how dated it may appear on paper. Simple stuff, really, but the crowd ate it up and Orton got great heat. (+1)

Oh god - The Bashams are up next and, by this point, were officially the playthings of Shaniqua, their dominatrix manager. WWE was known as being a pretty tasteless product in 2003, but this gimmick may have been the craziest. Challenging them for the World Tag Team Championships are Los Guerreros, the home state heroes. There are 5 personalities all heavily involved and constantly moving in this match, but the only guy really worth watching is Eddie, who is just fantastic throughout. A match like this benefits from its breakneck pace as the crowd never loses interest and the eventual "comedy" spots involving Shaniqua get solid reactions. Also, by never slowing down into an actual wrestling match, the finish makes total sense as, by refusing to play a game of human chess, the Guerreros' energy ends up costing them a quick pin. Inoffensive, average bout. (2.5/5)

Alright - Team Austin (comprised of Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Shawn Michaels, and The Dudleys) vs. Team Bischoff (Chris Jericho, Christian, Scott Steiner, Mark Henry, and Randy Orton) in a classic Survivors Match. The storyline coming into this was that Austin, who was Co-GM of RAW, had been banned from getting physically involved with any WWE Superstar as long as he was Co-GM. However, if his team could defeat Bischoff's team here, he would win back the right kick ass. Of course, were he to lose, Bischoff would become the sole GM of RAW and Austin would be sent packing. The crowd is CRAZY into this match - almost to the level of the legendary 5-on-5 match at Canadian Stampede in 97'. Huge "Austin" chant, then an "HBK" one, then one for tables and an "RVD" chant - the babyfaces are all just mega-over, which carries this match a long way as in the in-ring action, while certainly good, doesn't start off too outrageous. Steiner is the first man out, which isn't a shocker considering his WWE run didn't blow the roof off of the WWE fanbase and, work-wise, he'd lost a step from his glory days when somewhat-sloppy ass-kicking was enough for him to get by as predominantly tag guy. Everyone else, Henry included, works pretty smoothly (though Henry doesn't last much longer than Steiner). Booker T and Rob Van Dam also have quick exits, which is surprising considering that with the talent you have in the ring and the overness of those involved, this match could've really been stretched the way the 2016 Survivor Series headline tag match was. Before you know it, the Dudleys are gone and the match is now a 3-on-1 with Michaels forced to take on Jericho, Christian, and Orton. I'm a Michaels fan, but they're definitely leaning too heavily into "Michaels as Christ Figure" territory for me. The Passion of the Christ wouldn't hit movie theatres until the next year, but Michaels puts on a similar performance over the next several minutes, bleeding profusely and just getting dismantled by the heels. Miraculously, he is able to catch Christian with a superkick and the match is now 2-on-1. I really like the semi-fortuitous "capper" of this match being Michaels forced to square off against arguably his two biggest rivals from 2003 - Chris Jericho and Randy Orton. Jericho and Michaels always had good chemistry, so the crowd is very into it as Michaels misses a Sweet Chin Music but manages to counter the Walls of Jericho into an inside cradle to survive. Jericho, with nothing to lose, goes after Michaels with a chair and taunts Austin as he leaves - smart heel work there. From here, the "overbooking" starts but I found it to be pretty compelling, so I ain't complaining. Besides, Michaels just somehow surviving without any sort of shenanigans would've been completely unbelievable while Orton finishing him with a clean RKO would've been a bit anti-climactic considering that this match is supposed to be about Steve Austin. By this point, though, all of the focus was on Michaels, so the writers made a good move by inserting a ref bump and an Eric Bischoff run-in into the mix. The actual finish truly surprised me (I had not seen the bout before), a testament to how strong the false finishes were in the closing minutes. In The Observer, Dave Meltzer awarded this one 4.25 stars, putting in contention for Match of the Year honors. I thought the finishing stretch was really good, but the blood was excessive and aside from the heat of the crowd, the actual wrestling for the first 10-12 minutes was just average. I think the emotion of the night might've weighed into Meltzer's review more than the actual bell-to-bell action. (3.5/5)

After shaking hands with Michaels and walking him to the back, Steve Austin comes out for a final goodbye to the Lone Star State. As Austin had retired at WrestleMania XIX and hindsight tells us that he would go on to make many, many more appearances for the WWE as soon as a month after this, this "moment" doesn't stand as a "moment" at all. Austin gets a little teary-eyed and we do get to see him beat the hell out of Coachman (which is a plus), but this is still nothing to seek out.

The next match, on the other hand, is something to seek out if you're into completely one-sided, very, very bloody beatdowns. The Undertaker/Vince McMahon Buried Alive is difficult to watch - McMahon blades from the very first punch and it looks like he's severed an artery instantly, the blood pouring out in a steady stream all over the ring. Puddles of blood form everywhere he steps as the commentary team graphically describes the scene. It is stomach-churning stuff for the majority of the minutes this match is on screen, the only salvation being the fact that eventually McMahon's awful wound starts to clot. After leveling Vince with a nasty, unprotected shovel shot, Taker carries the corpse of the CEO over to the burial plot, only for McMahon to hit the Phenom with a low blow. Taker still has this one sewn up, but the Big Red Machine Kane makes his shocking second appearance of the night to help Vince bury his brother. I'm not sure who a match like this is supposed to appeal to but aside from the shock value of seeing McMahon lose pint after pint of blood, there was nothing to this. The "twist" ending  wasn't really a twist as, even in 2003, Kane and Undertaker had circled each other and been storyline-involved for more than a couple stretches. In fact, we'd see similar scenarios play out again after this feud, Kane being the semi-automatic gap filler whenever Undertaker needed a foe. (1/5)

Main event time - Triple H challenging Goldberg for the WWE World Championship. Like most of Goldberg's run, this match was definitely not designed to highlight his gifts or aura, though it also isn't a show-stealing performance out of Triple H who looks completely bloated from what I'm guessing was heavy steroid use at the time. Goldberg controls early, but his previously-damaged ankle ends up costing him control and Triple H targets it for the next stretch. Typical main event shenanigans ensue with some ref bumps, some Evolution interference, and some sledgehammer shots. Re-watching Goldberg's run in WCW in 97' showed me that part of the fun with Goldberg was that he was constantly being booked against fresh new opponents that offered a progressively elevated sense of danger - from mirror-image NFL bruisers like Mongo McMichael early on to classic technicians like Curt Hennig later to the crazed Raven's Flock cult to, eventually, the heel kingpin "Hollywood" Hogan, Goldberg's act relied on new contexts and opponents to make it seem like he wasn't just having the same matches over and over. In WWE, by this point, his feud with Triple H was stale and a match like this comes across as paint-by-numbers. Giving credit to where its due, part of me was convinced Triple H was going to leave with the title here, but he actually did the job and the crowd appreciated it. On the bad side, though, this meant the rivalry would continue for no apparent reason into December. (2/5)


Survivor Series 2003 is almost a perfect encapsulation of the mostly intolerable Ruthless Aggression Era. Gratuitous gore in the Buried Alive and Team Austin/Team Bischoff matches, tasteless sex-charged characters in the World Tag Team Title match, and lame attempts to microwave moments from the past just for the hell of it (reigniting the Kane/Taker feud, giving Austin an unnecessary and soon-to-be-meaningless "send off," letting Michaels relive his Royal Rumble ironman days) are all over the card. On the positive side, a handful of wrestlers get some earned spotlight time, namely the freshly-turned John Cena, Chris Benoit, and Eddie Guerrero, but I wouldn't start here if you're craving a peak performance from any of the three. With a score of 2.5-out-of-5 and very little to recommend beyond getting to see Vince McMahon almost die, this one earns a...

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver

WCW Slamboree 99'

WCW Slamboree 99'

St. Louis, Missouri - May 1999

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into the show, Diamond Dallas Page is the WCW World Champion, Scott Steiner is the US Champ, and Booker T is the Television Champion. Rey Mysterio is the Cruiserweight Champion while the World Tag Team Titles are held by Mysterio and Kidman.

COMMENTATORS: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan

Slamboree 99' kicks off with a match featuring six guys who tore the house down at the previous month's Spring Stampede show - Rey Mysterio Jr. and Billy Kidman defending the WCW World Tag Team Championships against Saturn and Raven and the Horsemen's Benoit and Malenko. While I prefer the simpler Spring Stampede match between the Horsemen and Raven/Saturn, this one is still a ton of a fun with lots of cool spots and a crowd that was enthusiastically anti-Horsemen. In 2017, a match like this may not stand out as much, but at the time, these sorts of bouts were what many fans were pointing to (correctly) as being the "next wave" of pro-wrestling. Like at Spring Stampede, Arn Anderson is great as the heel manager too, a crafty veteran with credibility but also the wisdom to wait for his moment instead of inserting himself into the match at every turn the way a Jim Cornette did (which is not a knock against Cornette, but it just wouldn't make a lick of sense for Anderson to be that type of manager). The match runs a touch long with a few stretches that seem like the guys are just re-grouping before they go on another spellbinding run of high spots and I'm not a huge fan of the screwy finish, but this was much more enjoyable than your typical opener. (3.5/5)

Konnan takes on Stevie Ray next. This match is about as bad as it would look on paper. These two had a match at World War III 96' that I gave 1.5 stars because it didn't overstay its welcome and it progressed a storyline. This time around, not only is the work executed even more poorly with noticeable botches that Schiavone is helpless to cover for (including an awful leapfrog attempt from K-Dawg), but Rey Mysterio's late-match run-in is treated like a total non-factor despite his involvement actually being a fairly big statement (that would eventually lead to the formation of the Filthy Animals stable). I'm not sure who the worst worker is, but I'm going to put more blame on Konnan because, at one point, he was a capable performer, but here he really comes across as sloppy and lazy. At least with Stevie Ray you know the ceiling is low so you kind of expect nothing, but with Konnan, there's always the faint chance he might actually work hard. A half-point rewarded for Konnan's disgusting pre-match promo. (0.5/5)

WCW did not yet have a Hardcore Championship, but the "King of the Hardcores" was Bam Bam Bigelow at this time, putting a target on his back by some of the more violent WCW competitors, including the legitimately roughhouse Brian Knobbs. Like the Bigelow/Hak match from Spring Stampede but with even less athleticism on display, this one takes away the table spots and replaces them with even more weapon shots, some of which are absolutely brutal. Knobbs is the definition of reckless, nearly stabbing Bigelow with the sharpened corners of a mostly-flattened trash can multiple times and then throwing a chair with full force into a guardrail later. Bigelow doesn't just take hits, though, eventually dishing out a nasty chair shot to Knobbs' skull on the outside that really reminds you how much wrestling has changed in 20 years. I mean, its the kind of chair shot you'll be hard-pressed to find even in a hardcore indy these days. The match, which is fought under Falls Count Anywhere rules because no reason given, eventually spills to the entranceway and (for a few moments) backstage. Unfortunately, WCW's production team either (a) legitimately didn't know they were going to end up there or (b) thought it would be "too staged" to adequately light the entranceway/backstage so the final minutes are wrestled in almost complete darkness. These garbage matches aren't great wrestling, but they're fun enough that you will want to see the finish - it's a shame this one doesn't grant you that small favor. (2/5)

The TV Title was on the line in the next bout with Booker T defending against Rick Steiner. A little background is needed here - first, remember, Booker T had failed in his attempt to beat Scott Steiner for the US Title at Spring Stampede, then, weeks later, Booker T  defeated Rick Steiner thanks to interference from Stevie Ray that Booker T didn't see. Coming into the match, both guys are ostensibly faces, but Rick is leaning heel because despite the audience viewing and re-viewing the finish from their last match (and recognizing Booker T didn't cheat), he refuses to reach the same obvious conclusion. Yeah, it's dumb - but the match itself kinda worked for me...at least until the finish. On the plus side, Booker and Rick lay into each other with every move they do and the match comes across as a legit fight with meaningful stakes. When Rick locks in a headlock, it's not the most exciting few minutes of action I've ever seen, but the route they take there makes sense and Booker's comeback gets a pretty good reaction. Unfortunately, what could've been a great stepping stone win for Booker is, instead, used as Step 1 for Rick Steiner's first heel run in what? A decade? It just sucks to see a guy on the rise get cut down so that a well-past-his-expiration-date veteran can get one last unnecessary "rub." (2/5)

Speaking of "rubs," its time for Gorgeous George vs. "Lil' Naitch" Charles Robinson. This comedy match built around Ric Flair's feud with the recently-returned Randy Savage, this match is almost too blatant in the way it exposes all of Flair's tropes as nothing more than pratfalls, "anti-psychology" (in the words of Bret Hart), and man-versus-broomstick shenanigans. This might've been one of the worst matches ever, but there are at least a few moments that I found enjoyable - Flair's pre-match promo is X-rated greatness, Madusa is finally given a deserved-albeit-very-brief role to shine in, and Robinson, for all his goofiness, actually takes a good bump. Gorgeous George was brought in only as eye candy and in that role, she's fine - but by 99' even the WWE had the wisdom to at least try to give their female valets a touch more personality, even if they were terribly sexist (Lita the Thong-sporting Tomboy, Terri the She-Devil, Debra The Southern Business-slut). Having this go 10 minutes was giving it about 6 more minutes than it needed. I'll reward it a star-and-a-half for the few positives it did have. (1.5/5)

...And we return to As The Steiner Turns with Buff Bagwell challenging Scott Steiner for the US Title. Just in case you didn't predict that Rick would help Scott retain his title and officially turn heel, before the George/Robinson match, Rick Steiner told Bagwell to "be careful" and that he (Rick) was going to go find Scott and tell him he didn't need his help. Unlike Booker T/Rick Steiner, this match didn't win me over with stiffness, it won me over with good, simple execution of a good, simple story. Instead of letting Big Poppa Pump run down the crowd with his usual pre-match stick time, Bagwell attacks him before the bell - exactly what should happen in a personal grudge match. Buff maintains control until Scott Steiner hits him with a low blow and from there, the action is back and forth and the crowd is hot for it. Steiner was a great heel at this point - so good, in fact, that even re-pairing him with his brother couldn't slow his momentum as a decidedly singles performer (I'm not sure how long the reunited Steiner Brothers angle went, but I do remember nobody giving the slightest shit about Rick Steiner before or after it happened). As anyone might've predicted, a well-placed ref bump allows Rick Steiner to make his run-in and turn on Buff Bagwell. To me, there's almost no way to book this without it being obvious that Rick was going to turn heel, but you still didn't need him to win the TV Title to get there. I mean, who wouldn't have rather watched a Booker T/La Parka match instead? Complaints about the booking aside, I did find the "meat" of this match to be solid. (2.5/5)

Here we go - in a battle for the WCW Presidency - Roddy Piper vs. Ric Flair. In 1997, these two fought in a match I gave 2 stars but is typically remembered as being far below that. That match took place when Piper was still relatively fresh into his comeback and I gave them some credit for working hard and keeping the audience engaged. Believe it or not, the crowd is interested in this and Flair gets good heat to start things off. As far as "wrestling" goes, there isn't any of it going on in this one as Piper and Flair engage in a slap fight for at least 3-4 minutes longer than they should. Arn Anderson and Asya get involved and, to their credit, Flair and Piper don't take any breaks - the action may not be too impressive, but at least it isn't stopped for a trip to the oxygen tanks that I'm guessing WCW was keeping on hand by this point. Flair busted out a couple flops and tried to lock in the figure four while Piper did his eye pokes and his sleeper so the crowd was certainly engaged enough, but I still wouldn't call this even an "average" level of entertaining. Bonus half-point for the post-match angle with Bischoff, which I think actually muddied up the storyline even more about who was actually in charge of WCW (IIRC), but, when it happened, got a great response and felt like a "big moment." (2/5)

Sting vs. Goldberg is next, a battle of babyfaces that Schiavone notes was set up by Ric Flair to keep the two from joining forces and...well, that part isn't explained. They botch a spot in the first minute, but I've written it before, one sloppy miscue doesn't really hurt a match to me if its followed by the right sequence. In this case, I'm not sure it was covered up perfectly, but it didn't hurt the match too much because the feel of the whole match was two powerful forces clashing in an emotional face-off. To me, there was enough intensity to make the sloppiness work in a weird way as neither guy was willing to give the other a single inch. Somewhat surprisingly, Sting's pops match Goldberg's early on, but when Goldberg eventually counters a Stinger Splash with a spear (looked to me more like a nasty, nasty spinebuster), it gets the loudest reaction of the night by a country mile. What was a pretty good match is cut short, though, by a run-in from Bret Hart who waffles Goldberg with an unprotected chair shot. Hart always claimed that he's never injured an opponent in the ring, but Goldberg didn't wrestle a match for over 2 months, so, you can be the judge of whether or not that chair shot was "safe." The Hart run-in may be a disappointing finish, but at least it makes sense in terms of the storyline. The follow-up run-in by The Steiners? Purposeless. Sting, who came back about as over as humanly possible considering how shitty his 98' was, didn't need to eat a beatdown after this match and the Steiners reunion had already eaten up a whole bunch of the show. My guess is that this was presumably meant to lead to some sort of tag feud with Sting and Buff? Booker T? Luger? Any option that involved tacking dead weight onto hot characters like Scott Steiner and Sting was going to suck. Without the Steiner involvement, this is a better-than-average match, but with it, I have to deduct a half-point. (2.5/5)

Main event time - Diamond Dallas Page defending the WCW World Championship against Kevin Nash. I ranted about it in my UnCenSored review (I think) but WCW's title scene was a total mess by this point due to rapid-fire title changes and heel/face turns that turned a deaf ear to the fans. By this time, Page was officially a heel - or at least he's working 1000% like one - while Nash was the babyface, though, his version of "working from underneath" seems to mean being literally lifeless for extended minutes. He got bigger face cheers working as the cool heel than he does for the entirety of this match (save for maybe the Jacknife finish because, admittedly, powerbombs are cool). Page brings a ton of energy to this match, but Nash is just so ill-fitting in working this kind of style - and that's coming from someone who thought his bouts with Goldberg were good enough and that, in general, for most of his WCW run, he did a reasonably good job of getting big reactions out of doing very little. Here, he might do too little because any "cool factor" he had has vanished. Savage tries to help DDP retain, but Bischoff restarts the match because, based on the pre-established notion that he still has power, he has that power. A good false finish follows soon after - but, in WCW fashion, its a bit of an odd one as DDP eats a rebounding chair and kicks out, which gives him credibility that a heel probably shouldn't have. Nash eventually gets the clean win and celebrates in what is supposed to feel like a big babyface moment but absolutely doesn't because, remember, Nash screwed Goldberg half a year earlier, lied down for Hogan, and then didn't do a single thing to cement that he was a babyface aside from wrestle poorly. Page works hard to save this match, but I found it plodding. (1.5/5)


In my recent reviews of WCW pay-per-views, I've written a fair amount about how, at this point, WCW still had the talent to stay relevant. They may have never challenged the WWE again, but they could've been profitable. They also could've put on crowd-pleasing shows that centered around over talent like Goldberg, Sting, the Horsemen, Scott Steiner, Rey Mysterio, and, though their time to shine in the ring was behind them, even Hogan and Flair in "guest star" roles. Unfortunately, aforementioned nonsensical booking decisions diminished the value of their championships and made watching the shows difficult for casual fans as a fan favorite one month, like DDP, would be inexplicably (and often only vaguely) turned the next week only to feud with another guy who was only recently inexplicably and vaguely turned (like Nash). With a Kwang Score of 2.0-out-of-5, Slamboree 99' isn't the worst WCW show I've seen...but its the worst non-Road Wild show since Slamboree 1996. Road Wild shows were almost routinely awful, so really, this is the worst show WCW put on in 3 full years based on my ratings. Aside from the opener, which is inessential but fun, this show is loaded with lame matches, lame booking, and desperation.

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville

WWE Hell in a Cell 2017

WWE Hell in a Cell 2017

Detroit, Michigan - October 2017

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into the show, Jinder Mahal is the reigning WWE World Champion, AJ Styles holds the US Title, the New Day are the SmackDown Tag Team Champions, and Natalya is the SmackDown Women's Champion.

COMMENTATORS: Byron Saxton, Corey Graves, and Tom Phillips

The SmackDown Tag Team Championships were on the line in our opening contest - The Usos challenging the reigning titleholders, The New Day. Woods and Big E represented the New Day, but I would've sworn that Kofi Kingston would get involved somehow. He didn't, which is definitely surprising considering Hell in a Cell matches tend to feature all sorts of shenanigans. I like how personal and high-stakes this match felt from the very start, the two teams earning a "This is Awesome" chant within the first few minutes thanks to some great bumps and dives into the cage wall. Loads of good weapons shots as well, but what set this aside from your basic garbage match was that there was a real story being told with both teams trying to maximize 2-on-1 advantages and clearly working with strategies in mind. With the New Day, you're going to get your fun spots in, but when it was time to get serious, there was no joking going on. I don't understand, after his work last night, why the WWE doesn't see Big E as a main event-caliber singles talent because when he was taking out both Usos, the crowd was definitely behind him and his intensity felt real. For going nearly 30 minutes, this one didn't drag at any point. Its kind of a shame that this stipulation match has been used so many times before (and that we'd get another one later in the night) because this match felt like it could main event a show as much as the Charlotte/Banks match did last year. (4/5)

Next up was Randy Orton taking on Rusev. Rusev is so, so underutilized, it really is a shame the WWE doesn't tour Bulgaria because that would guarantee this guy got the push he deserves. I'm not sure what Rusev has done wrong aside from helping Cena, Orton, and Reigns have some of their best matches in recent years and, like The Miz, he does a fantastic job getting true heel heat - even without the aid of Lana (The Miz has Maryse, mind you) and a gimmick straight out of the 1980s. Orton sold well for the Brute, enough so that I genuinely thought Rusev might get a (deserved) clean win. Unfortunately, an RKO ended things and we're left again with Rusev stuck in the upper midcard and Orton scoring wins that don't do anything more than preserve his stature without adding a single wrinkle to his character. This was a good match - the kind of bout that could main event a house show and leave the fans pleased - but like a house show main event, all the hard work in the world can't create a feeling of a high-stakes, must-win situation for the babyface and there was none of that aura here. (3/5)

The United States Championship was on the line in a triangle match next - AJ Styles defending against Baron Corbin and Tye Dillinger. Dillinger is like a more capable Alex Riley to me, but I'm still not sold on the guy as anything more than a midcard staple. Maybe its the douchey haircut that makes him look like a 6th grade girl who just came back from a spring vacation trip to the Bahamas? Corbin I'm not as sour on as some, but I've definitely cooled a little bit from when I thought he was progressing more and putting things together. AJ Styles proved he is still the best performer in the company, carrying these two to a match that built in suspense and ended up being a real "Any Man Can Win"-type battle. Having Dillinger included added some needed variety to the show and felt like a "big moment" for him, personal disinterest aside. Corbin, meanwhile, had his deficiencies hidden well by not having to be involved in every exchange and preventing him from burning through his somewhat limited signature offense. If the opener hadn't been so strong, this would've been a sleeper for Match of the Night. (3.5/5)

Another title match - this time the SmackDown Women's Championship - was up for grabs with Natalya defending against Charlotte. In 2015-2016, these two fought at the Roadblock special, the Payback PPV, and Extreme Rules, the last one being a Submission Match, which this match definitely felt like at times as Natalya went after Charlotte's knee. This match had a good, clear story and Charlotte sold the leg damage well, but what it was missing for me was anything at all new and fresh. Are we supposed to be immediately interested because the heel/face dynamic has been reversed from what it was last year? I wasn't and the Detroit crowd didn't seem to be either. As great as Charlotte was a heel is about as bland as she's been as a face, while Natalya, heel or face, hasn't seemed to update anything about her act for ages. What could've been a great opportunity for Nattie to really develop a new character as a rotten, conniving heel champion (think what Neville did on 205 Live) has really been lackluster to me. Extra half-point deducted for Charlotte literally holding the chair over her own knee so that Natalya could stomp on it more in the post-match. That kind of sloppiness and inattention to detail may not get caught by most viewers, but when you're watching in HD, you need to be extra careful with the little things. (1.5/5)

The Fashion Police are back! I didn't enjoy this segment as much as some of their other ones, but their appearance was still a very welcome breath of fresh air after a bit of a lull in the action. I'm not sure where this next storyline is leading but I do hope that it actually has a real endpoint this time. I'm still not sure how their shtick can be effectively transitioned into an in-ring act, but I'm in their corner to figure it out. (+1)

The WWE World Champion Jinder Mahal defended his title against Nakamura next. I actually found some of Mahal's offense looking pretty good, but for every decent, basic maneuver he executed well, there were moments where his positioning and timing were really unimpressive - far too unimpressive for the brand's top title. Nakamura didn't put on a perfect match either, though, his Kinchasa looking misplaced and his count-along hand-waving during the final pinfall grotesquely noticeable. The best part of every Mahal match up to this point has been the bumps the Singh Brothers have taken and when you don't even get that element, you're left with a match that wouldn't turn heads on an episode of SuperStars. This series of matches is not only helping Mahal in his run to be considered one of the top 2-3 worst WWE Champions ever, but also in mitigating the goodwill that much of the fanbase had for Nakamure, a guy who was understandably hyped as a big deal but has only had a few truly great performances since joining the main roster. This was the opposite of one. A few half-points awarded for the crowd actually caring once the Singhs were ejected and the handful of credible strikes that both guys exhibited. Whoever is laying out these matches, if, in fact, anyone actually is (and I'm not sure anyone is by how formulaic and boring they've been), really needs to go and rewatch the matches guys like JBL and Ted DiBiase used to have at their respective peak, neither guy being the most thrilling in-ring performer but both being such fully-formed, hate-inspiring characters that their matches almost always had the fans caring. (1/5)

Kevin Owens cuts a fairly intense promo backstage while sporting a new form-fitting top. A few years ago, Vince McMahon explained why he was pushing CM Punk by talking about how Punk had "the gift of gab." Owens doesn't have quite the same level of charisma, but he's not too far behind and is certainly one of the best stick men the WWE has right now. 

Bobby Roode made his way down the aisle for the next match, the former NXT Champion in an odd tweener role since joining the Blue Brand this month. His opponent was Dolph Ziggler, who promised an entrance unlike any other in the history of wrestling...but instead walked out to complete silence, kinda like the enhancement talent tends to do. For this to work, I'd have loved to see Ziggler jettison everything flashy - including the ponytail and the new, somewhat bizarre "Public Enemy #1" logo on his tights. Roode and Ziggler traded headlocks early before Ziggler was able to take control. A slight "CM Punk" chant could be heard, which was pretty telling for how much the audience seemed to care about this match. The headlocks continued, Ziggler wearing down Roode with a sleeper on the mat. Is part of Ziggler's new no-frills gimmick going to be lulling the audience to sleep with restholds? Ziggler went for a spear in the corner but Roode stepped aside, sending the Show Stealer into the post, a spot that, on this night at least, the WWE didn't overuse in every match (there was a time when it was as guaranteed as a chest chop). Roode's comeback solicited only faint responses, though, to be fair to Roode, he's never been the most dynamic worker and certainly isn't the most natural babyface. At one point it seemed like the audience actually seemed to be behind Ziggler, though the actual chant was a bit hard to decipher. Despite the rest of the match not getting my attention, I enjoyed the finishing stretch for its shock value and the immediate post-match, which was the touch needed to make me care about a rematch. Nothing special, but as a building block to a future match, it worked well enough. (2/5)

Main event time - Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens in a Falls Count Anywhere Hell In A Cell Match. The fight starts outside of the sell with Shane going right after Owens, swinging for the fences because making this a street fight is his only real chance of winning. I know I wrote, at some length, about how terrible the Shane/Taker Hell in a Cell match was a few years back, both in theory and in execution, but Owens is a much different character than the Deadman, a bully with tangible flaws and a relatively unimpressive look. While Shane shouldn't be able to knock out Owens easily (and he didn't), it wasn't as much of a stretch to believe he could do enough damage to the Grizzly to potentially get his hand raised. Inside the cage they went and some cool bumpin' into the cage by Shane followed. Sometimes Owens' trash talk bothers me, but here, it really raised the stakes and drove home how personal this feud has become. Owens and Shane both took high risks that cost them off the top rope, which I found to be a clever way to alluding to how similar these braggarts really are to eachother - both "non-athlete"-types who wager on high risk/high reward offense, putting their bodies on the line and counting on their toughness and crafty thinking to help them outlast more gifted opponents. The crowd finally got the table spots they were asking for since the opener, first with Owens cannonballing himself through a table inside the cage and then, later, the requisite bumps off the cage. Before we got to those, though, Owens and Shane performed, easily, the most consistently gasp-inducing fight on top of the cage that I believe I've seen (and let's remember, fighting on top of the cage was a trope unto itself from the very first edition of this match). Owens and Shane went full blast, practically begging the cage ceiling to buckle under their offense which included a pop-up powerbomb and a full force russian leg sweep. Of course, when they teased that there wouldn't be a huge spill off the top of the cage, the crowd booed and when Owens did topple off the side, the reaction wasn't as massive as it would've been had he come down from the top. Despite having the match seemingly won, Shane did end up repeating the same stunt I despised so much from WrestleMania. Writing about that match, I took McMahon and Taker to task for what I called a "gif match," one that could be condensed into a 3-second clip without losing any of the story. This match, in comparison, was built properly in the weeks preceding it as a basic family blood feud (remember, that Taker/Shane match featured asinine stipulations involving company ownership and retirement that were ultimately abandoned anyway) and featured quite a few great storytelling/character moments (Owen's jaw-jacking, Shane's final "kiss of death" headbutt towards the end, KO's wonderful performance atop the cage as he questioned his will to dive off). There was a story here beyond just the final dive and then, when the final dive did happen, even that was no mere spot - it was a springboard to a fresh creative storyline that puts the heat onto a new, interesting heel in Sami Zayn. By the way, Zayn's facial expression was the perfect level of self-questioning inner turmoil. All in all, this match won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm not sure there's been a better Kevin Owens in WWE performance yet. (4/5)


With a Kwang Score of 2.22-out-of-5, Hell in a Cell was not without its low points - the World and Women's Championship matches were unoriginal and seemed like filler, even if one respects the effort of the competitors. The opener and closer overdelivered to me. The Tag Team Championship match was expected to be a show-stealer, but I was less impressed with the creative spots than I was the emotional storytelling and intensity shown by Big E in particular. No longer the reigning champions, I strongly hope The New Day are re-positioned with Big E in a singles role. I mean, Jinder & the Singhs vs. The New Day sounds better to me now than having to stomach another 1-on-1 feud featuring Mahal. This show featured too many lulls to make it worth watching in full and even the best matches will likely have their critics (especially the main event), but in terms of entertainment value, the variety offered kept me engaged and excited to see where the Blue Brand goes from here. 

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver

WCW Spring Stampede 99'

WCW Spring Stampede 99'

Tacoma, Washington - April 1999

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, Ric Flair is the reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion, the United States Championship has been vacated due to Scott Hall suffering a foot injury, the Television Championship is held by Booker T, and the Cruiserweight Champion is Rey Mysterio Jr. Speaking of Rey Mysterio, he and Billy Kidman are the World Tag Team Champions (having defeated Benoit and Malenko on an episode of Nitro).

COMMENTATORS: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan

I'll admit, I watched the opening contest on silent so I'm not necessarily sure who the heel or face was as both guys did heelish things over the course of the match - Juventud Guerrera with his stalling to smile at the crowd, taking his opponent lightly and such, Blitzkreig trying to escape on the outside early, and then later, Juvi trying to walk away too. Blitzkreig was the more impressive performer here even if they were both a bit sloppy at times. I liked how 'Kreig's offense was legitimately hard-hitting and dangerous and he even threw in a few maneuvers that I'm not sure anyone was doing in WCW at the time. Juvi's offense was nothing to sneeze at it either as he hit a dropkick on the floor that wowed me and then his devastating finish from the top rope. This wasn't as good as the Whipwreck/Kidman opener from the previous month's PPV, but it was still above-average based on the sheer ridiculousness of some of the moves performed. (3.5/5)

A video package hyping the Bam Bam Bigelow/Hardcore Hak feud airs before their match. Hak shows up wearing barbwire around his body while Bigelow shows up with a crate full of weapons. They immediately set to brawling in the aisleway, abandoning the cart of weapons to duke it out in the hokey Wild West-themed stage area. Within the first 90 seconds of this match, Sandman has flipped off a stagecoach through Bigelow on a table and yet both guys pretty much immediately no sell it to make their way to the ring. Did WCW have agents helping guys lay out matches or was the plan at this point to just do crazy shit with no semblance of storytelling and see if that could help them beat the WWE (who was basically crushing them by now)? Hak's girlfriend Chastity has filled the ring with "toys" but Sandman....err, Hak continues to set up tables to use. This is the epitome of garbage wrestling, with some of the weapons not even making sense (a salad bowl?). They botch what I think was supposed to be a suplex spot so Hak goes to the outside and gets a ladder to make up for it. Hak brings the ladder in, but Bigelow grabs it - and Hak *kinda* dropkicks it into him. Hak then does another front-flip splash onto the ladder (which is laying across the Bammer). In relative control of the match, Hak proceeds ot set up the ladder while Chastity sets up the table but it is unclear to what end. Hak then slips (?) off the ladder and ends up going through the table. Again, its unclear what the hell has happened but it doesn't matter. Sandman continues to no sell the multiple times he has been driven into ladders and through tables. He crotches himself on a spare guardrail too before getting drilled in the head with it. Chastity tries to use the fire extinguisher but can't get it work. Bigelow does, though, and sends her to outside. Hak regains control thanks to his kendo stick, but ultimately falls prey to a Greetings from Asbury Park through a table! For how insanely stupid this match is, you've got to give it up for these two essentially doing everything possible just to entertain the fans with ICP-level hardcore violence. I'm not sure if this is better or worse than your average match, but it certainly put a bigger smile on my face than the typical fare. I could totally understand someone giving this 0 stars, but in terms of entertainment, with Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay cackling along, its more than watchable. (3/5)

And here comes...Scotty Riggs? Riggs is doing a new Narcissist-like gimmick and I must admit to thinking that, by this time, he was no longer in the company. His opponent is Mikey Whipwreck, who is now ostensibly a face? This is Whipwreck's third match in WCW and sized up against Riggs, his lack of size is much more glaring. What's weird about Riggs' act is how much he's aping his former tag partner Buff Bagwell. Anyway, Whipwreck takes an absolutely nasty back bump into the guardrail at one point in the match and throws himself into every bit of this contest but the crowd doesn't give a shit and chants "Boring" anyway. Based on the finish, it seems like Riggs is getting a bit of a push, but I don't recall if he really did. Whipwreck's underdog gimmick almost required him to lose more than win, but was Riggs really the best option here? Passable match, but didn't feel PPV worthy. (2/5)

Konnan gets his hands on Disco Inferno next. These two were involved in a very personal feud after Inferno filmed a music video mocking Konnan's theme song. I was surprised by how much Konnan gives Disco here, selling a lot more than he was known for doing at the time. This isn't too bad for a Konnan match, but that's far from glowing praise as Konnan is one of my least favorite workers. Inferno, on the other hand, is underrated in my opinion, but his best in-ring work, to me, always came when he played into his gimmick the most - pausing to do some disco dancing, the hair primping when he should be on the attack, etc. - so this grudge match context isn't one I find him terribly amusing in. Inoffensive and at least it doesn't run too long. (1.5/5)

The Cruiserweight Championship is on the line next with Rey Mysterio Jr. defending against Billy Kidman (they were also the World Tag Team Champions at the time). The crowd is completely dead at the start of the match - almost to the point that I'm wondering if the audio was recording properly as the commentators also seem to be fading in and out. You put this same match, spot for spot, in front of a more caring audience, with more drama thrown in by the announcers, and maybe put Rey's mask back on so that he actually has some mystique and you might have a Match of the Year candidate - that's how good and hard-hitting this match is. While it doesn't dazzle the same way the opener does, the layout makes a ton more sense and both Kidman and Rey really do a great job of spacing out the big spots and getting over the idea that this is a title match and they're willing to do whatever it takes to win. I also like how the match gives nods to their previous few encounters (on these points, the commentators do a nice job) and also the danger of falling prey to the 7 Year Itch, the one move that Kidman is repeatedly denied by Mysterio (which the commentators don't do a nice job mentioning). Really good Cruiserweight Title Match - in fact maybe one of the top 10 I've seen. (4/5)

In a grudge match, Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko of the Horsemen (with Arn Anderson at their side) take on the newly-reunited Saturn and Raven. Its kind of odd to see Raven work as a babyface, but he absolutely shines in the role and Saturn, who even Schiavone notes has always been known as an offense-focused grappler, does a good job playing the face-in-peril. I love how both teams perform some really cool and devastating double-team maneuvers, even if they're not all perfectly-timed. Malenko is so much more charged-up for this than he appeared in the series against Hennig and Windham, though his face remains completely free of emotion. At UnCenSored in March, they hinted that the Horsemen were turning heel and I had my doubts about how wise a move that would be but, on this night at least, the crowd really despises them. Benoit and Malenko do a number of dastardly things (with Anderson helping them cheat as well) which really grounds this match in an "old school" feel despite the workrate being much more modern. I think my biggest gripe might be the finish as Raven inexplicably lies down for far too long not to notice that the referee is not making a count. Then, when a chair is placed atop his head, he doesn't even register it - which would make sense if he had been knocked out, but I don't think he had. A more perfectly-executed finish would've probably nudged this one into being an all-time classic, but while it doesn't quite hit that spot, it is definitely worth checking out. (4/5)

WCW Television Champion Booker T challenges Scott Steiner for the vacant United States Championship. Intense opening with Scott Steiner in heated conflict with some audience members. That sort of off-the-cuff heel work really adds an air of danger to the match and makes sure the crowd is hot from beginning to end. It also helps that Steiner, known for his stiffness, is in there with Booker T, a guy who isn't afraid to take it or dish it out himself. This is more of a brawl than anything, but that's not a bad thing - especially after the previous two matches offered more than enough technicality and acrobatics. Steiner's heat segment draws a loud and audible "Steroids" chant, but the crowd's ire only seems to inspire more brutality and frustration, Big Poppa Freak eventually even taking referee Johnny Boone to the mat. Steiner hits a low blow right in front of the official but Boone is seemingly too fearful to disqualify him. Steiner then applies a bearhug, finishing it with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Steiner's overconfidence costs him, though, as Booker takes advantage of a loose suplex to get some offense in. Booker seems to be on a roll, but Steiner pulls the referee into the fray! The ref is down for Booker's visual pin so Booker wakes him up only for them both to get knocked down! A second time Booker has the match practically sewn up after a sidewalk slam, but when he tries to hit the Harlem Hangover, Steiner crotches him on the ropes. Steiner then puts Booker T down with a perfect Frankensteiner from the top and tries to get the pin himself. He drags the ref over but only gets 2! Desperate, Steiner pulls a foreign object out of trunks as Randy Anderson tries to wake Johnny Boone up. Booker attempts a vertical suplex but gets clocked with whatever Steiner has his hand. The crowd is thoroughly disappointed, but only because Steiner and Booker T played their roles perfectly and the audience genuinely cared about the outcome of this match. Really, really good bout. (3.5/5)

In a rematch from Starrcade, Kevin Nash vs. Goldberg is next. Goldberg still has an impressive aura at this point and despite the fact that Nash continues to inexplicably deliver pre-match babyface promos as a heel, at least Big Sexy works the actual match as a villain. The crowd is distracted in minute one, though its unclear by what (maybe a fan was trying to hop the rail?). Liz gets the attention back in the ring by causing a distraction that allows Nash to hit a low blow. Some fans near a mic start chanting "We Want Sting" but it doesn't spread too far. Nash's dominance early makes Goldberg's comeback even more impressive. Nash leapfrogs a spear attempt and the ref is taken out! Luger hits Goldberg with a chairshot, but Nash wastes too much time and ends up low-blowed when he attempts the Jacknife! Luger gets taken out and Nash eats a spear as the crowd goes wild. Goldberg hits the Jackhammer for the win. This was the way to book and treat Goldberg, though I would've loved for him to add in some threat as he walked out to really cement the idea that Goldberg is the rightful World Champion after getting screwed out of the title in December. (3.5/5)

Main event time - Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Hollywood Hogan vs. Ric Flair for Flair's World Championship with Randy friggin' Savage as the guest referee. Savage walks out first as the announcers note that it has been several months since he appeared in WCW. His involvement is a clever twist as he has fairly deep history with every one of the combatants (well, not so much Sting, but they did have a cool little mini-angle in 97' for a few weeks). Sting, who is in really good shape compared to his last big in-ring return at Starrcade 97', is given the respect of coming out last. Savage calls for the bell and a fight ensues with Hogan and Flair brawling on the outside and Page and Sting going at it in the ring. Savage, who is wearing nothing at all resembling traditional ref's gear, has to be the first official to ever have a personal valet at ringside. This is worked like a battle royal pretty much with everyone just kind of throwing fists, hitting the occasional signature spot, and taking turns duking it out on the outside of the ring. The fact that it is so loose actually helps it as compared to what we get in the WWE these days where matches like this are far more structured and choreographed. Despite not getting too big of a response during his entrance, when Hogan starts hitting Flair with his trademark punches, "Hulkamania" begins to run wild but Sting breaks up the post-leg drop pin. The match continues, eventually leading to Page locking in a figure four on Hogan around the post. Sting breaks it up, though, and goes after Page while Flair continues his attack on Hogan in the ring. WCW trainer Danny Young runs down the aisleway to check on Hogan as the crowd boos. Eric Bischoff walks out too and Hogan seems to be out of the match, leaving the title up for grabs between Sting, Page, and Flair. Making it Page, and not Flair, who locked in the figure four around the ringpost was a weird booking decision...Anyway, Page takes control for a little bit but Sting won't stay down, hitting the Stinger Splash and then countering a Diamond Cutter attempt with a bulldog. Sting attempts a tombstone pilediver but Page reverses it for two. Flair is back in the ring and he tosses Page over the top and onto the floor. Flair essentially positions himself to get superplexed, which doesn't make much sense...Still, Naitch maintains control and eventually locks in a sleeper on Sting. Page sneaks from behind and puts a sleeper of his own on Flair, a guaranteed crowd-pleasing spot. Savage begins to count all three men out despite promising on Nitro that this match would be fought until there was one definitive winner. Page and Flair try to take Sting out together but the Icon of WCW no-sells their punches and connects with another bulldog and Splash combo. Sting locks in the Scorpion Death Lock on Flair but Page breaks it up. Page attempts a suplex, but Sting counters it into a Scorpion Death Lock. Again Savage begins to count all three men, but Flair gets up to break the count and applies a Figure Four to Sting. With Hogan out, Sting may be the most over babyface in the match, his signature taunts drawing huge responses. Savage drags Flair to the center of the ring, though, and hits his elbow drop from the top rope as the crowd goes insane! It doesn't make a lick of sense, but it popped the crowd and that seems to be the only thing important to WCW by this point, consequences be damned. Page hits the Diamond Cutter and captures his first WCW World Championship but the audience reaction is slightly more muted than it would have been in almost any other scenario that would've given Page the title. Overall, more entertaining than your average match, but nothing I'd go searching for. (3/5)

Spring Stampede 99' is one the more interesting viewing experiences I've had in recent weeks. Context is important. By this point, the WWE was pulling away from WCW in the Ratings War despite WCW still arguably featuring the more star-studded *and* talented roster. Look at the card for WrestleMania XV and be unamazed by the likes of Big Bossman, Test, D'Lo Brown, and Hardcore Holly all being featured. But even if Butterbean vs. Bart Gunn was never going to be a "good match," WWE had clearly defined itself as the "It" wrestling company by promising a grand spectacle of Good vs. Evil (the rebellious Austin vs. the corporate Rock), a heaping helping of sex-charged storylines (Sable and Val Venis), ultra-violence (Shane McMahon vs. X-Pac), and episodic storytelling (Kane vs. Triple H and Big Show vs. Mankind) galore. Their talent, even sub-standard workers like Droz and The Godfather, were packaged so ridiculously that they demanded your attention (even if it was fleeting). WCW, meanwhile, had played their nWo-centric hand too long and when it came time to build a future around a new star (Goldberg), they opted to double-down on the nWo still. By Spring Stampede, though, WCW had seen the err of their ways (sort of) and were obviously trying to re-position themselves...but "As What?" was the question. They raided ECW for talent, but by 99', the talent to be raided was hardly of the same caliber as the guys they'd picked up in 95'-96' (think Benoit, Guerrero, Jericho, etc.) and were pretty much only capable of working with each other in garbage matches (though, to be sure, career journeyman Bam Bam Bigelow was the exception). Torrie Wilson, Chastity, and Gorgeous George were brought in to supplement Liz - but WCW couldn't and didn't push boundaries far enough to make them real challengers to Sable as wrestling's hottest female act. WCW's main event scene also seemed to want to ape ECW and WWE's new style of "grey area" anti-heroes, but mistook Austin's anti-authority attitude for genuine "tweener-ness" when the Rattlesnake was, by 98', a firmly-established fan favorite. Having Flair, Hogan, Nash, and Savage all straddling the heel/face line muddied the waters and led to moments like the final minute of Spring Stampede - a "should've-been feel good" moment for Diamond Dallas Page coming off a little bit tainted due to overbooking and unnecessarily, overly-caustic protecting of Hogan. Spring Stampede shows that, even as late as the spring of 99', WCW still had the talent to challenge the WWE - maybe not at the moment but certainly in the future. Considering that Austin would end up being out of the picture at the end of the year, the right direction and plan in the spring of 99' could've positioned WCW to revive the Monday Night Wars that winter. Spring Stampede is a fascinating watch because, with so many good matches happening in front of such a loud and enthusiastic crowd, it defies the popular notion that by the spring of 99' WCW was without a prayer. Though its score of 3.11-out-of-5 may not sound too great, when you consider that this score represents the highest WCW has achieved on my Kwang Scale in 18 months, my final rating makes total sense...

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand