Review: The Rise and Fall of WCW (3 Disc) DVD

 

 

“I made WCW The Number ONE Wrestling Company on the Planet!”?-Eric Bischoff

-The Rise and Fall of World Championship Wrestling was put together with a Documentary on the first disc, and many other matches from the history of the NWA and WCW on Disc`s 2 and 3. Eric Bischoff and Ted Turner declined the offer made to them by the WWE to appear on this set.

Disc 1 Documentary:

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-Jim Crockett Promotions:

They start here appropriately where it all began in the NWA under Jim Crockett Promotions.

They give us a background on the events the Crockett`s ran, anything they thought could draw a crowd. Father Crockett died April 1st, 1973 and they passed the business down on to the boys.
They talked about TV networks like TBS, and got into Turner and what he ran. Several faces like Ross and Flair and Gordon Solie have clips here.

-Georgia Championship Wrestling:

-Talk about Turner putting a two hour block in 1971 every Saturday Night. Wrestler`s are shown here talking about that 6-8 timeslot.

-Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling:
-The first concept of a regional promotion. The first spot Crockett landed a national power by bringing in Wahoo Macdaniel, Ric Flair, Backlund, etc. They discuss Flair going from territory to territory.
They showed clips of Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Magnum TA and the like in the mid 80`s, Ross puts over how they developed great stars.

-Black Saturday:

When Vince McMahon came in. The story of McMahon calling up Turner and making him a deal. Vince`s purchase of GCW right from under him. As a promoter this made Vince look good. Everyone agreed it was smart business on Vince`s part.

The NWA had to pay Vince 1 Million Dollars to get what they needed, and with that Vince took his money and made Wrestlemania.

-The Expansion:

-The talk of Crockett trying to put the fans back into the company. The company was becoming more advertiser friendly, more venues opened up and business took off.
They talked about Magnum TA and how much future he had.

He was one of the very best.

Until tragedy struck.

This part talks about his story,

-Crockett Sells to Turner:

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The story of how they were down deep in financial woes, and Jim Crockett`s failures at running a company that had the potential to make money.

They talk about Turner liking the business but not being sure on how to run it. A lot of frustration took place inside the organization.
When Crockett was bought out into WCW that`s when Sports Entertainment really came along and the Company started to take off.
-Greatest Talent in the World:

By this time the WCW had a ton of talent, and Jim Ross goes on to say that in the late 80`s, early 90`s the NWA and WCW had better talent in his estimation then the WWF.

Deep divisions, the quality of rivalries, the star power, the workrate, and many feuds and rivalries with clips get discussed here.

They discussed the Flair-Steamboat trilogy. Michael Hayes and Jim Ross said there was plenty of great talent in the ring but backstage there were problems.

-New Management:

-Jim Herd then was in control and he wasn`t able to run a Wrestling Company properly due to no background knowledege of Wrestling.
Clearly, not many people were a fan of him being the WCW Executive Vice President. They talk about how bad of a booker Ole Anderson was, even calling him an Asshole. Arn goes greater into depth why.
Jim Herd left because the complaining was overwhelming. Hayes and Flair put over Dusty Rhodes as one of the most intelligent Wrestling minds of all time.
They discussed who could possibly run this company, but they didn`t want a Wrestler to run it. An emotional Dusty Rhodes talks about the hard times in the dressing room.
-Bill Watts Era:

-Now Hall of Famer “Cowboy“ Bill Watts came in. Hayes says he wanted him in bad, he was Mid-South beforehand. Jim Ross was also a big fan of his.
Hayes puts over the fact how someone needs the passion for Wrestling to run it successfully. Rhodes claims he was incredibally intimidating. They discuss financial issues, and Watts’s no-nonsense approach to business. They show clips of a ton of early WCW action, mostly with “Flyin” Brian Pillman. They discuss how Watts left the company.

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-Hulk Hogan Arrives:

We are told Hogan hated Watts. Ross says Jim Herd started negotiations with Savage and Hogan. Now they showed Hogan in WCW and people in the company’s thoughts on the matter. Arn Anderson says Hogan will always be the biggest star in Wrestling. They talk about the larges contract in Wrestling History. They show clips of the press conference from Ted Turner where he claims WCW is about to dominate Pro-Wrestling, and he was right.
Flair and Hogan’s match at the Bash is showcased.

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-Other Big Names Arriving:

Savage, Hall, Nash, Luger, Hennig, DiBiase, Waltman, Steiner, Okerlund, Perfect, Heenan, Blayze the list didn`t seem to end.

–Nitro Debuts:

-They show clips of Bischoff from the Monday Night Wars doing his best Ted Turner impression, discussing how Nitro came to be.

They show Hogan, Macho Man and Sting with Bischoff at the Press Conference introducing Monday Night Nitro on TNT.
All the famous early Nitro moments are shown, Luger’s arrival, The Blayze title incident. Bischoff’s surprise tactics, giving away results, and McMahon’s opinion are expressed.

 

They discuss some interesting legal issues revolving Hall. They talked about Bischoff’s idea for Hogan to be a bad guy and showed clips when he turned on Savage at Bash at the Beach.

There was a lot of clips and talk of Bischoff getting involved with the nWo, a lot of stars put over how big of a deal it was.

They talk about how Bischoff got the nWo idea from an angle ran in Japan, which Jericho and Malenko bring up.

-Cruiserweights:

-One of WCW’s greatest features was this division. Goldberg and Mysterio talk about how Japanese wrestlers, mixed with Mexicans and North Americans and from just about everywhere came the lucha libre style, this part of the show stood out. Jericho said the nWo drew the money but it was the hardworkers in the ring that kept people coming back.

-Goldberg:

Bischoff says he wants to take all the credit for finding him, creating his character and developing the storyline, but he says unfortunately he can’t. Goldberg said he was going to sign with the WWE but he ended up talking with Bischoff after meeting him in a bar. They show a clip and talk about Goldberg’s debut over Hugh Morrus. Clips of his undefeated streak were then shown and they talked about how they didn’t want Goldberg to speak.

A ton of stars give there feelings on him and his run.

-WCW Ratings Champ:

They showed a mixture of the nWo, the Cruiserweights, the Nitro Girls, and the other tremendous workers that helped make WCW have every ingredient needed for a successful tv show. We see the ratings rise. Bischoff mentions controversy creates cash. We see Thunder being brought up, and how PPV buyrates did well, paticularly

Starrcade 97 which had WCW’s biggest buyrate.

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-Celebrities:

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-Jim Ross mentions that that the WWE got celebrities before but WCW liked to put them in the ring. DDP tells a story about Malone, clips of Rodman and Leno among others are also showcased. DDP talks about the Leno angle running into Road Wild 98. Malenko mentions it is great to bring celebrities in but they took a lot of the spotlight away from guys like him who could work and couldn’t take it to the next level.

-Goldberg vs Hogan:

 

-It was groundbreaking TV and for this specific edition to be held in the Georgia Dome was tremendous thinking. Arn says he (Goldberg) was as over as anyone in the Wrestling Industry and in 1998, I’d have to agree. They show clips of JJ Dillon announcing the big match of Goldberg and Hogan.
One of the biggest television matches of all time, if not the very biggest and Goldberg became WCW Champion still undefeated. Jim Ross claims WCW was ignorant for not putting this match on Pay-Per-View.

-Mistakes Begin:

-We are shown a clip of Halloween Havoc 98 with DDP and Goldberg and the fact the fans didn’t get to see the finish of the card because the show ran overtime. They talk about Nash becoming the booker. They mention how Nash was the first person to beat him, although he wasn’t the lead booker by this point in time which is kind of misleading.
Next the fingerpoke of doom which helped lead to WCW’s demise was showcased just one week later. Ironically this was the same night Austin got the biggest pop in the history of Wrestling helping Foley win the title over The Rock on Raw. (Jan 4th 1999) WCW also made the mistake of announcing his and as Foley said in the Monday Night Wars, this helped ruin then.
Guys like Jericho, Malenko and Big Show talk about what they didn’t like about the company. Jericho brings up Vince Russo and then many people including Okerlund rip on him. Goldberg gives his opinion on Russo as do many others who claim he didn’t know what he was doing.
They then show WCW going to new lows with David Arquette winning the World Title. The Jeff Jarrett-Hulk Hogan incident was then shown from the year 2000.

-A Corporate Merger:

-Next we see the discussion of the business side of view of the company. The Politics of the WCW came up next and how the people who ran the company weren’t proud of Wrestling deep down and Ross says people only cared about money and didn’t have the passion. Basically a bunch of excuses to why the company started to go down the drain.

-McMahon buys WCW:

-Now we get a lot of superstars giving there opinion on McMahon buying WCW. Gregory Helms says he didn’t believe it until he saw Shane McMahon. Bischoff said he couldn’t stand to even watch the episode where Vince bought WCW, Vince discusses this as well. Flair says he was embarassed to be apart of the company at the time. Vince says he didn’t get a huge ego boost over buying WCW, I’m not sure how much I can buy into that statement.

-Legacy of WCW:

The Legacy of WCW is bittersweet. A lot of good memories to remember but also the dying days were some of the worst in the history of Pro-Wrestling.
The Company should be remembered, Ross says it was never a bad thing. They were the team to play every Monday Night.

We are shown a final video package which shows the entire history of the NWA/WCW.

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2) -Bill Watts Defends Himself:
Cowboy Bill Watts shoots off on how he wasn`t fired, and sets the record straight, showing him giving black men there due.

3) -Spam Man:
The idea talked about of having “Spam Man“, they went to Spam and they said they worked at a higher economic level, so they shut that idea down.

4) -The Origin of Goldberg:
Goldberg himself speaks about the character. Goldberg mentions he didn`t want to be called Goldberg straight away. He wanted to originally be called Hybrid, and ended up settling for Goldberg. He talks about a dark match he had with Manny Fernandez and how his finish had to be impactful. Manny said he trusted him and then he hit the spear and it all went up from there. He used the Jackhammer after the Spear from then on. Goldberg mentions he shaved his head and it had nothing to do with Steve Austin despite some claims in the Wrestling World. Then he talks about how he got the “Who`s Next“ tagline accidentally while out eating.

5) -Bischoff Gives Away RAW Results:

As we all know, this topic had been covered a number of times already.
On Nitro Eric Bischoff gave away Raw`s results before they went on the air.
Vince shows a clip of Hogan, Savage and Bischoff in the ring giving away results, they jump to a clip of Bischoff saying he can`t apologize for what he did in that type of business. They show more clips of Tony Schiavone claiming Mick Foley is going to win there World Title. Bischoff admits it was a lousy thing to do and at the time he was so determined and at the time he didn`t consider all of the consequences.

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Disc 2 Matches:

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1) “Nature Boy” vs Magnum T.A. in a 1,000 Challenge Match -NWA World Championship Wrestling June 15, 1985

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A good pre-match promo by Ric Flair before the match is shown, Magnum T.A. interupts him claiming he is tired of all the talk.

Next we see the challenge from Magnum who puts 1,000 dollars on the line if he can beat him. This was compelling telvesion from two of the greatest ever, let alone from the NWA.

Ric Flair said he gave Magnum every oppurtunity to stay out of his path but now he had no choice but to teach him a lesson.

Flair goes to the ring to join Magnum T.A.

The bell rings, a grand on the line.

Ric Flair ties up with Magnum T.A. mid-ring and the live fans are pumped for this match all of the sudden out of no where. You`ve gotta love the NWA.

Magnum T.A. corners Flair until he turns him around and gives him a chop. Magnum pushes Flair down and off the ropes he gives him a shoulder block. Magnum T.A. leapfrogs over Flair and delivers a dropkick to the Champ. Flair with a chop to Magnum then drives his head into the turnbuckle. Flair now with a chop and a big forearm shot to the spine. Magnum T.A. reverses an irishwhip and backdrops Flair hard to the middle of the canvas floor.

The United States Champion Magnum T.A. then gave the NWA Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair a big righthand dropping him knowing full well 1,000 dollars is on the line as the fans roar.

Magnum T.A. picks up Flair but he drives his knee into the mid-section of Magnum who continues to fire away at Flair bt he throws him outside the ring. Magnum T.A. charges back in and Flair applies another gutshot with his driving knee. Magnum T.A. reverses a vertical suplex attempt by Flair and hits one of his own.
The Anderson`s come out for commentary.

Flair hits a snapmare on Magnum T.A. as this one is incredibally back and forth with no one gaining a clear advantage. Flair drives his knee into the head of Magnum T.A. off the side ropes. Flair then at first looks for an abdominal stretch and turns it into a gutwrench suplex followed by a chop to the bigger Magnum T.A. Now an abdominal stretch to follow up the gutwrench by Flair as he hangs onto the top rope for additional leverage. Magnum T.A. with a hiptoss gets out of the abdominal stretch.
Flair hits another chop to T.A. and drives him back first to the buckle, Magnum T.A. with a desperation inside cradle gets a two.

The two engage in a slugfest and then Magnum T.A. irishwhips Flair hard to the corner and he flips over the turnbuckle to the floor.

Magnum T.A. gets speared by Flair off the apron coming back in and drops a big solid righthand to the big temple of Magnum. Flair drops off the top rope with a double axehandle and then a big elbow splash. Flair tosses Magnum T.A. out of the ring to the floor hard. Flair with a big slap on the outside floor and throws Magnum T.A. hard shoulder first into the steel post after he folded the arm behind him for additional pain.
Flair inside the ring threw Magnum T.A. back in and continued additional punishment to the arm. Flair with an armbar to Magnum T.A., he got out for a moment but Flair applied more pressure to the arm of Magnum T.A.

Flair reverse irishwhipped to the corner by Magnum T.A. and he lifts the leftarm of Flair and stomps on the Nature Boy. Magnum T.A. with an armringer torks the arm of Naitch and Flair gets a knee in on Magnum to re-gain momentum. Flair off the ropes hits a shoulderblock. Magnum T.A. rolls him up off the side ropes and got a quick two count. Flair picked up by Magnum and he lands a hard righthand to Flair. Magnum T.A. twists the arm of Flair and in the corner lands more hard shots followed by a back bodydrop.

Magnum T.A. with a big splash off the side ropes drops on top of Flair who got the knees up just in time crushing his bruised abdomen.

Magnum T.A. back up with a test of power rolls Flair down with a backslide, temporarily with Flair and his shoulders down Magnum T.A. got a two.
Magnum T.A. with a shoulder block, hits the Champ with a military press and gets a two out of it. Magnum T.A. feeling good now kicks at Flair in the corner.

Magnum T.A. with two righthands, Flair rakes the face of Magnum T.A. and hits him with a chop. Magnum T.A. with the champ hits a hiptoss followed by a nice dropkick that missed, Flair gets a two as Magnum lands on his back. Flair goes for a clothesline and Magnum T.A. ducks, Magnum T.A. goes for a crossbody and misses. Flair goes to the top rope and Magnum T.A. catches him up high and hits him with a shot to the gut.

Magnum T.A. locks the Figure Four Leglock on Ric Flair!

Flair in a considerable amount of pain does not tap and the time limit expires at 10:00.
Magnum T.A. beat on Flair after the match until the Andersons helped take apart Magnum T.A. with Flair. Stars of the NWA came out to help Magnum T.A. from the Horsemen and Flair screams some more on the mic. Magnum T.A. held onto his money as Flair did not beat him in ten minutes.

This match was ten minutes of non-stop, full-throttle back and forth action between two all time greats in there prime. It did not take place in a big time audience but it was full of quality.

For its time it was tremendous.

*** 1/2

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2) Sting, Lex Luger and Barry Windham vs Ric Flair vs Arn Anderson vs Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) -NWA The Main Event April 3, 1988

Any time you have six talents like this in one right, greatness is about to enter.

Here we had Barry, Luger and Sting as the babyfaces which the white hot NWA crowd ate up, against monster heels in the Horsemen.

The crowd was lively here as well, (and again, not a big crowd) and this helped how this one came off.

Barry Windham and Tully Blanchard begin.

Barry Windham with a side headlock and pushed to the side hits a hiptoss on Tully who tried to hit one himself. Sting gives Tully a shot from the apron. Tully crawls into the corner of the Horsemen.

Fans chant the name of Barry who was just awesome around this time. Barry Windham unloaded on Tully in the corner, Luger and Sting backed the Horsemen off into there corner as they looked a bit intimidated here.

Luger now with Blanchard tags back in Barry as he came flying over the rope back onto tully. Barry Windham with a powerslam on Blanchard and gets a two. Tully grabs the tights of Barry and tosses him to the outside floor. Barry Windham unloads with rights on the concrete floor right on the chest.

Jim Ross is broadcasting with Tony Schiavone.

Barry Windham off the ropes hits a sleeper hold on Tully Blanchard. Ross points out how it is a great move strategically because of the leverage advantage. Flair tags in and goes to work on Windham. Flair with a side headlock takeover and then Barry Windham bridges out of a pinning combination and hits a backslide on the Nature Boy. Barry Windham with more solid righthands to Flair and drops him with an uppercut that sends Naitch over the top rope to the floor.

Flair walks towards the dressing room and the audience loves this. Double A cools Flair down and he comes back in the ring and begs Barry Windham to take it easy. Barry had done all the work so far for the babyfaces. Schiavone points out the quick pace.

Ross points out the intensity, the crowd still chant for Barry.
Barry Windham locks up with Double A and then Barry Windham tags in Sting. Sting with a side headlock on Arn but he tried to back up Sting with a bearhug. Sting leapfrogged Arn twice and then hits him with a hard powerslam. Flair goes up top and Sting catches him and slams him back first to the mat. Sting eyes Arn and he tags back in Blanchard.

Tully Blanchard locks up with Sting and Blanchard backs him to the corner unloading rights, Sting reverses it into a hiplock out of the corner. A flying headscissors to Blanchard in unique fashion takes him down. Blanchard backs Sting to the ropes and he tags in Luger.

Lex Luger comes in and dishes out rights to Blanchard before irishwhipping him shoulder first into the corner turnbuckle. Luger slaps on a front facelock and drops Blanchard with a nicely applied vertical suplex. Luger runs into a knee from Blanchard who puts it up in defense. Blanchard leaps off the turnbuckle and is caught by Luger in a bearhug who hit a resourceful hold out of no where. Anderson comes in and is thrown into the ropes by Luger but he hits a ddt.

The enforcer hits a ddt to the total package with perfect timing. Anderson with brutal physicality to Luger tags in Flair. Flair with a snapmare to Luger.
Flair off the ropes drives his knee into the forehead of Lex. Flair tags in Arn and Anderson drops another right to the head of Luger.

Arn Anderson chokes Luger out on the middle rope. Blanchrd from the apron continues the choke and the Brainbusters double teaming Luger here with frequent tags. Luger tossed out of the ring to the floor and outside the ring Ric Flair hits chops to Lex and drives him face first into the steel barricade.

Blanchard grabs Luger by the head and drags him back in. Blanchard holds him and tags in Naitch who kicks Luger in the mid-section. Fans chant for Luger as Flair chops him in the corner a couple of times. Flair irishwhipped Luger to the ropes and

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Anderson hits a knee to the lower back of Lex by the ropes, a cheapshot by the Enforcer.

Arn back in hits a DOUBLE A Spinebuster hard to lex.

Anderson scores just a two out of this as Luger kicked out, Ross puts over Lex’s ability to kick out.

A test of power as Lex held onto Arn, Tully tags himself in and hits a nice neckbreaker to Luger. Anderson drops his bodyweight onto Luger and slaps on a reverse chinlock.

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Arn wearing down the Total Package.

This has been NON-STOP Action.

A front facelock by Double A, Luger elbows out and off the ropes runs into a knee from Double A into the abdomen. Schiavone puts over Double A and how prepared he was. Flair tagged in and goes right back to work on Luger.
Flair with a nice standing vertical suplex slams Lex back first to the canvas. Flair hits a standing vertical suplex to Luger.

Lex all of the sudden gets up with a surge of momentum out of no where clotheslines Naitch. Luger tags in Barry Windham and this gets an amazing pop and he unloads rights to Blanchard, Anderson and Flair.
Action everywhere.

Barry Windham with a powerslam to Blanchard off the ropes. Barry Windham dives to the outside as Blanchard moved out of the way. Brawling everywhere outside the ring between Anderson and Luger.

Barry Windham rolled up Blanchard as Flair saved the day coming in dropping an elbow. Sting came n and attacked Flair.

A foreign object came into control of Tully who hit Barry Windham in the face with it, Tully scored the three at 12:43.

The Horsemen win.

One of the fastest six man tag’s you will ever see.

One of the most entertaining tag team matches as well, if it was a bit longer it would of been even better.

All six went all out, this was a borderline classic. Awesome.

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3) “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes vs Barry Windham (c) (W/JJ Dillon) for the NWA United States Championship -NWA Great American Bash July 10th, 1988

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Now we see Barry as a Heel.
He was just an amazing sympathetic Babyface in the last match on this DVD, here we see him with a tapes fist going up against the American Dream.
The bell rings.

Barry Windham runs into Rhodes who hits a hiptoss straight off the opening bell which catches the “other” big man in Barry a bit off his game. The crowd are very much in support of The American Dream.

Dusty Rhodes was in tough here and he knew it. Rhodes comes out of a side headlock with a shoulderblock to Windham.

Windham goes for a walk.

Ross on commentary puts over the fact these two men used to be great friends.
Dusty Rhodes ties up Windham on the ropes and off the ropes a criss-cross takes place Windham drops an elbow to Dusty. Dusty blocks another elbow attempt and scoops up Barry slamming him to the mat. Dusty drives Windham head first into the mat hitting a DDT. The Dream with a high elbow shot to the head of Barry. Dusty climbs to the top and hits a crossbody off the top rope showing great agility for a big man.
Dusty got a two and Ross shows amazing enthusiasm in his voice just simply from a nearfall.

Barry gets booed when walking towards the dressing room.

Barry slowly comes back in the ring and ties up with Rhodes again. Windham corners him and drops hard lefts and rights, Rhodes then blocks it and drops an elbow folowed by a series of slaps to Windham who is looking dazed. Dusty then mocks Windham and drops him with a hard elbow shot to the face before supplying Dillon with a shot which gets a big time roar from the crowd.

Dusty Rhodes waits on Barry to get back in the ring, meanwhile Ross delivers a great line on commentary. “He may not be the prettiest dog in the fight, but he may have the sharpest teeth.”

Barry Windham comes back in and the announcment that the match is five minutes old is called.

A test of strength is being teased here but Barry Windham kicks at Rhodes and delivers a kick up high. Windham drops down with a double axehandle off the top rope onto the back of Rhodes out on the concrete floor. Windham shoulder first with a shot into the steel railing. Barry Windham attempted a piledriver to Rhodes on the floor and he hit a backbody drop. Rhodes with a charging clothesline to Windham.

Dusty chases Dillon outside the ring.

Great stuff here with the challenger being in pretty much complete control throughout the entire duration of the match. Barry with a few bright moments but the babyface challenger in the American Dream was clearly the agressor.

Fans behind the American Dream.

Barry comes back in and drops right hands to Dusty going all out. Barry from the top begins to fire right hands into the head of Rhodes getting to number six. A final blow sends Rhodes down and he rolls out to the apron and back to the floor as Windham delivers a big elbow. Barry Windham slams Dusty head first into the apron. Barry tries to catapolt the Dream from the apron to the ring but Dusty reversed it and sent Barry to the floor.

Out on the floor Rhodes powerslams the back of Barry Windham to the concrete floor.
Schiavone points out Barry Windham’s back was in a bad way.

Dusty back in the ring waiting for Windham who gets back up selling the back. Dillon and Dusty get in a confrontation and this allows Barry Windham to get back in the game and he strikes Rhodes and powerslams him. Barry Windham drives an elbow into Rhodes off the ropes.

Barry Windham signals for the CLAW.

The Black Glove first drives into Rhodes’s head off the ropes.
Windham then slapped on the feared CLAW on Dusty Rhodes wearing the bigger man down.

Digging his fingers deep into the Skull of the American Dream was Barry Windham who ruthlessly didn’t want to let go of his powerhold on his mentor, and challenger for the title.

Ross puts over that the likes of Luger has felt this weapon that is the CLAW of Barry Windham. Ten minute mark of the match and Barry has the CLAW firmly planted on the American Dream. Windham kept it locked on but Rhodes shook it off and asked for additional support from the crowd.

Dusty Rhodes rises to his vertical base but is pressured once again back down as the blood supply to the brain was restricted as that was the basis, and foundation of the claw from Windham. Still Rhodes hung in there as he showed from his facial expressions alone he was attempting a comeback.
The American Dream tried to dance his way out of the Claw and did what he only thought he could do to get out and climbed the turnbuckle from behind him. Rhodes went for a desperation elbow shot to the head of Windham out of the corner but Windham kept the Claw locked on viciously and Rhodes drops down to his knees for a third time.

Rhodes still trying to shake it off but the hold had been locked on for a good few minutes. Rhodes tried to lay an elbow on Windham but he held on with the CLAW even still. Schiavone puts over how long Dusty has lasted.

Rhodes then elbows the head of Barry Windham to get out of the claw.
Rhodes went for a figurefour and Windham in awesome fashion slaps the Claw back on resourcefully. Rhodes climsb into the corner and Barry drops a right to the mid-section. Rhodes up top and Barry Windham slaps on a front facelock.

Barry Windham went for a Superplex but his foot slipped up as Rhodes pushed him to the middle of the ring.

Barry Windham goes up top and Dusty catches him.

Dusty Rhodes tries to suplex Barry and he slammed him off the top rope. Rhodes dropped an elbow on Windham and no official in sight. Dillon got on the apron at the fifteen minute mark.

Ronnie Garvin ran into the ring and dropped Dusty with a big righthand turning on him.

Dillon pushed an official into the ring. The American Dream was motionless, Barry

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Windham then slaps the big CLAW on Rhodes who was already out of it due to Garvin’s big right hand.

Barry Windham gets the three at 15:56 retaining the title with the help of Garvin,

Barry Windham had the CLAW locked in on Rhodes and with Rhodes out his back was to the mat for the three count.

This was a great match here making Dusty look strong throughout, I really liked the Claw by Barry Windham and it had a nice twist.

*** 1/2

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4) “Nature Boy” Ric Flair (c) vs Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship -NWA Chi-Town Rumble February 20th 1989
Now here we go!

This here is a match I consider a top five match of all time (third best actually), and the very best from the 1980`s decade and of course the Flair-Steamboat triology as a whole.
This masterpiece was already released on the Greatest Superstars of the 80`s DVD but its worth it to buy this DVD package (Rise and Fall) for this one match alone.
Here we go.

Both men were ready for another Classic.

A tie-up with a feeling out stage to begin.

Ric Flair pushed to the ropes out of a side headlock and Ricky Steamboat lands a shoulderblock to Flair and a nearfall is scored out of it. Back into a side headlock and another shoulderblock, Flair ducks a leapfrog or so he thinks and Ricky Steamboat goes into a side headlock dropping straight down. A great pyshological move by Steamboat, and then Flair flipped Steamboat over and showing great agility he lands on his feet.

Ricky Steamboat rolls Flair off the ropes with an inside cradle attempt and he gets a two. Flair goes for a walk. Brad Muster of the Chicago Bears is shown at ringside and Ross says he is a big Ric Flair fan.

Ric Flair walks back into the ring as Steamboat is already there waiting for him. Steamboat who had gotten the better of the early exchanges ties up with Flair and Ric corners Ricky.

Flair with Steamboat in the corner delivers a forearm to the abdomen and a hard chop with encourages Ricky Steamboat to nail some of his own. Ricky Steamboat irishwhipped Flair to the corner and hit a hard backbody drop. Flair in the corner begged Steamboat to give him a break, Flair cornered him again and the two exchange in a chopping fest, Ross puts over how vicious Ricky Steamboat’s chop to Flair was which basically drops him out of no where with cat like quickness.

Ricky Steamboat ties up with Flair again and Ric Flair has a side headlock, into a waist-lock go-behind into a hammerlock.

Flair with a hammerlock on Steamboat, and Ricky Steamboat drops to a single leg-takedown on Flair. Flair pushed Ricky Steamboat to the ropes and he ducks below Flair inbetween his legs after a nice chain-wrestling session.

Wonderful exchange, and Ricky Steamboat lands a beautiful dropkick to Flair.
Lightning quick speed shows Steamboat drop Flair with a nice side headlock takeover and Ricky Steamboat was inches away from a three count and the crowd react in a major way for an early nearfall. A lot louder then usual.

Steamboat with a side headlock on the canvas, Flair using the tights for leverage holding Ricky Steamboat to the mat twice scoring nearfalls.

Ricky Steamboat catwalks out of the corner into a pinning combination as Ricky Steamboat drops Flair with a nice side headlock takeover, Flair then counters on the mat getting Ricky Steamboat himself into a nearfall position.

Flair screams in agony as Ricky Steamboat continues the hard side headlock now up to his vertical base, but Flair backs him off the to the ropes and he must let go. Flair cornered Ricky Steamboat and delivers a desperation forearm shot to the abdomen followed by a series of chops.

Flair chops Steamboat in the corner, he reverses an irishwhip does Steamboat and hits a beautiful chop to Flair in mid-ring, he goes for the cover and gets a two. Flair goes for a much needed walk wondering why Ricky Steamboat is out-chopping him, that was supposed to be his game.

Ross puts over the cardio-vascular conditioning of both men. Flair back in now goes for a test of strength with the Dragon. Another tie-up in mid-ring.
Steamboat again back to the side headlock cornered by Flair out of desperation as he lands another forearm to the abdomen followed by a chop.

Another quick exchange takes place as Flair off the ropes lands a shoulderblock, off the ropes again Ricky Steamboat leapfrogs the champ and Ricky drops Flair with another chop elevating him to the floor. Ricky Steamboat teases a leap from inside the ring to the outside to Flair on the floor but he stops. Flair looking frustrated outside the ring hesitates to get back in but finally does.

Flair puts a hand up and Ricky Steamboat accepts. Ricky Steamboat breaks off and another tie-up corners Steamboat. Small portions of the crowd begin chanting for Flair.

Once again another nice-quick exchange breaks out, Flair chops Ricky Steamboat and sends him to the corner, Ricky Steamboat leaps over Flair and hits a hiptoss. The Dragon flies with a side headlock takeover, then a headscissors, a nice dropkick and another side headlock takeover into a pinning predicament.

The cat like quickness with the power of the chops by Ricky Steamboat forced the champion into a rough spot. Ricky Steamboat who relied heavily on that side headlock as a weardown hold had Flair grounded with it applied on the mat. The Dragon with the hold still slapped on regains his vertical base and is still forcing Flair inbetween his arm and chest region.

Flair pulls the hair of Steamboat in an attempt to get out, using every heel tactic he can think of. Flair lands another chop to Steamboat and The Dragon switched up the momentum and off the ropes hits a shoulder block. Steamboat with great speed gets caught by Flair with a reverse elbow shot.

Amazing pace.

Steamboat fired back with chops and the second one drops Flair outside the ring to the floor. Ricky Steamboat climbs up to the top signalling he wanted more of Naitch. Ricky Steamboat was then dragged out by the legs as Flair sweeped him out of the ring. Flair by the barricade lands a vicious chop on Steamboat. The fans are rowdy by ringside as Ross shows a ton of enthusiasm in his call of the match here making it seem like an all out war, which it surely was.

Flair lands a hard chop to Ricky Steamboat and then holding him by the hair on the apron drops an elbow down on him. Flair drives his knee into the chest and drags the Dragon back in dropping him with a snapmare. Flair then pulls his knee pad down and drops his bareknee into the head of the Dragon and Steamboat kicks out at a two count, three times in a two.

Flair with a double-arm, gut-wrench suplex by Flair and a two is scored. Flair lands another chop and grabs Steamboat by the hair and corners him. Flair dops righthands to the head of the Dragon. Flair lands another vicious chop in mid-ring, this just fired up the Dragon some more and he retaliates with more of his own cornering Flair.
Ricky Steamboat irishwhipped Flair to the corner and he flew upside down over the turnbuckle and ran across the apron, Flair flew out of the corner off the turnbuckle with a flying cross-body and Ricky Steamboat reversed it on the mat and got just a two. Flair using a ton of power locked a Figure Four Leglock on The Dragon in mid-ring which got a decent pop from the crowd as a lot of fans were in his favor.
Behind the official Flair grabbed onto the middle rope for additional leverage with the Figure Four.

Now the crowd chants for the Dragon.

Flair used the ropes once more and with Ricky Steamboat’s shoulders to the mat Flair got a two. Flair torked the leg of Ricky Steamboat with all he had as he kept grabbing onto the top and middle rope at every opportunity that was possibly available.
Ric Flair with everything he had in this Figure For got another nearfall. Finally the official catches Flair grabbing onto the ropes for about the seventh time with the Figure Four made him drop the hold. Flair kicked at the abdomen of Steamboat trying to drop him, Ricky Steamboat ot of desperation landed vicious chops to the chest of Flair. A gutcheck time for the Dragon and he is cornered by Flair again.

These two “Gladiator’s” exchanged chops some more, Flair ducked a clothesline and then hit a crossbody to Steamboat over the top to the floor. Both men dropped to the mat at the same time after a big time charge from the Nature Boy. Flair lands another thunderous chop on the floor, Steamboat again fired back. Steamboat then pushed into the steel ringpost by Flair outside the ring. Ross says he has never seen a more physical battle in his life for the title. Flair dragged the Dragon back onto the apron and from inside the ring displayed a great amount of power elevating the Dragon up and landing a standing vertical suplex dropping Ricky Steamboat back into the ring.

Flair gets a series of two counts off the powerslam. In mid-ring Flair lands a back suplex to the Dragon and he cold not hold him down. Flair shoves the official as he is not counting fast enough for his liking. Flair a little cocky at this point takes his time with his onslaught of punishment to Ricky Steamboat here and he drops him with a backbreaker. Flair with his feet on the ropes tries to pin Ricky Steamboat as this was how he beat Luger not long before this at the 1988 Starrcade.

Ricky Steamboat out of no where hit a side headlock takeover, into a pinning predicament got a two. Everyone standing.

Steamboat went up for a flying cross-body off the top and nobody home as Flair dodged it just in time!

A portion of the crowd “Wooo” and then Flair hits a nice side headlock takedown,

Ricky Steamboat with a reversal and a bridge.

Ricky Steamboat still showing strength hits a gutwrench suplex after an amazing bridge and Flair got his foot on the rope.

The crowd applaud what is an amazing showing of endurance.
Ricky Steamboat reversed Flair off the ropes and tried to get enough strength for a backslide and Flair rolled out!

Amazing.

Flair then chopped Ricky Steamboat mid-ring and off the ropes the Dragon fired back with more of his own, both men looking like they’ve gone to hell and back here.
Ricky Steamboat shoved to the corner and out of the corner the Dragon came out of no where landing a clothesline and then a hard judo chop to the head of the NWA Champion. Off the ropes Ricky Steamboat lands another running tackle.

The Dragon lands a chop off the top rope.

The Dragon flies with a flying cross-body off the top rope to Naitch!

Steamboat helped the official up and Flair cradled up the Dragon holding him by the tights. Flair dropped an elbow to Steamboat and tossed him over the top rope but Ricky Steamboat hanged on, skinned the cat. Ricky Steamboat went for a crossbody from the top again and missed.

Flair went for a figure-four, Ricky Steamboat then hit an inside cradle out of no where, the official counts the three!

Ross screams “YES HE CAN!” as the place loses it.

In the end at 23:18 Steamboat is the new NWA Champion.

What was most remarkable about this contest between Flair and Steamboat (as far as the 89 trilogy goes) is the length. This one was a lot shorter then the Clash match, still shorter then Wrestlewar (which is highly acclaimed) and I feel it accomplished a lot more.

A mind-boggling amount of quality with some of the fastest-crisp exchanges you’ll ever see. You can see why the chemistry was so great between the two in this match, it is a lot like Bret Hart and Curt Hennig from King of the Ring 93 which happens to be my personal “favourite.”

As said, I only hold two matches in Wrestling history higher then this one, as it is one of the very best, no questions asked.

What I consider the best match of all time not including Bret Hart.

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*****

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5) The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson and Ricky Mortn) vs The Midnight Express (Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton) (W/James E Cornette) -NWA Wrestle War February 25th, 1990

The gimmick of The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express was a couple of high flying wrestlers who loved glam metal music, as it was a popular genre of music at the time.

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Two of the greatest tag teams of all time, and one of the best tag rivalries ever at that.

Here is Jim Cornette who claims his team is “THE REAL” Express.
Midnight Express and Cornette get a good amont of heel heat. The Rock n Roll Express get a tremendous ovation and this is a going to be a hot tag attraction.
Robert Gibson and Sweet Stan Lane start it out.

Gibson hits a nice armdrag on Lane.

Ross talks about the fact these two teams have met a ton of times before, thus further illustrating we will see tremendous chemistry between both of them.

Funk and Ross are on commentary, Funk claims it’s going to be tough to keep up, most NWA tags are which is only a good thing.

Another tie-up and a hiplock this time. Lane gets hit by a shoulder block by Robert Gibson once more off the ropes. Lane complains to the official and then gets on the crowd’s case as they were on his. Gibson with another side headlock followed by a shoulder block, leapfrogs by both men and then Robert Gibson dropped an elbow on Lane who dropped to the mat. Gibson had the counter move by Sweet Stan scouted and was able to hit an offensive elbow.

Cornette was frustrated outside the ring and gave Sweet Stan a piece of his mind. Lane tried to intimidate the official. Cornette got on the apron and shouted at the official until he got in his face and Cornette lost his jacket and temper. Cornette got in the ring and offered to go with the official.

Cornette was great at getting the crowd involved.

The Express teams broke up the initial brawl between Cornette and the Official which is humerous as a side story to this match, the crowd ate it up.

Things settle back down and we get back to the action.

This time its Ricky Morton tying up with Bobby Eaton hitting an arm-ringer and then off the ropes jumped over Eaton and set him up for an atomic drop, as he was dropped down Eaton bumped into Lane who came in and both the Midnight Express members bumped to the outside as the fans roared. Cornette gave them words of wisdom settling things down according to Jim Ross.

Morton tied up with Stan Lane and he slapped him twice in the face. Beautiful Bobby Eaton came in and he was armdragged twice by Ricky Morton. Eaton complained to the official. Lane calmed Eaton in the corner and he tied up with Morton again with a test of strength in mid-ring. Eaton with a bit of an advantage as he was tougher then Ricky Morton, Morton got up to his vertical base and with the two of them having there wrist locks, Morton climbed on top of Eaton and jumped onto a sprinting Lane coming inside the ring.

Morton levelled Lane with a running knee to the spine and he fell to the outside of the ring. Cornette pulled the foot of Morton and took him away from the action for a moment until Robert Gibson levelled him off the apron. Morton slapped both members of the Midnight Express together bonking the heads of both members together. Robert Gibson tied up with Eaton now and Robert Gibson recieved a hard righthand by Beautiful Bobby.

A nice double team move by the Rock n Roll Express with a double clothesline to Sweet stan coming in, and then the Rock n Roll Express with a double backdrop to Eaton over the top to the floor. Ross and Funk point out how crisp the Rock n Roll Express is tonight, as it had been virtually all them.

The booking is solid here.

Downstairs goes Eaton with a knee to Robert Gibson and then Lane comes in. An armdrag by Robert Gibson to Eaton and then another tag to Morton. Frequent tags by both teams. Stan Lane fights back and tosses Morton to the outside floor. Morton blocks a post shot attempt and slams him into the post himself.

An arm-ringer at mid-ring, until Eaton corners Morton and slaps him in the face. A big slugfest broke out back and forth. A beautiful crossbody by Ricky Morton to Eaton and they both go over the rope to the outside. Lane hits him outside on the floor, Cornette helps Lane back inside the ring.
Morton down on the outside and his partner Robert Gibson helps him to his feet and throws Morton back in. Inside the ring Eaton applied a nice backbreaker to Morton and choked him out. Funk elluded to the fact Beautiful Bobby perhaps should of gone for the pin. Despite not taking advantage of that oppurtunity, Lane clotheslined Morton back on the ropes. Funk points out the momentum has shifted into the favor of the Midnight Express. Morton gets hit with a droptoe hold, then Beautiful Bobby who was taged in dropped an elbow off the ropes. Nice double team move by the Midnight Express.

Beautiful Bobby Eaton with a front facelock and then landed a standing vertical suplex to Ricky Morton of the Rock n Roll Express who really needed a tag here in a bad way. Sweet Stan Lane tagged in and irishwhipped Morton to the ropes hitting a perfect powerslam in mid-ring and Morton kicks out.

Stan Lane prevented a tag and knocked Robert Gibson off the apron. Morton outside the ring was being battered by Bobby Eaton who carried him on his shoulders and dropped him over the security railing. Morton then gets worked over by Cornette on the outside, Ross calls this the ultimate insult. Inside the ring Stan Lane drops Morton with a slam and he was almost pinned again. A desperation sunset flip off the ropes by Morton gets him a two, the crowd get back into it but then Lane comes back with a blatant choke.

Cornette tried to get involved at every chance he got. A tag was made and Morton wasn’t aware of it, a blindtag which the Midnight Express did better then anyone, and Eaton hit Morton with a neckbreaker. Morton fought back on instinct alone and charged towards Beautiful Bobby but he elevated Ricky Morton up and drove him head first into the turnbuckle. Stan Lane tagged in, more frequent tags by the Midnight Express and he choked him out with his boot in the corner. In comes Beautiful Bobby Eaton again and he kicked at Ricky Morton. Robert Gibson wanted a tag as he had not been in for at least five minutes. Ricky Morton continued to be grounded by the Midnight Express. Bobby Eaton with an armbar on the mat, Cornette knew it was only a matter of time until the could pick up the victory. Eaton from an armbar into a hammerlock on a battered down Ricky Morton. The crowd in full support of the Rock n Roll Express, back to his vertical base, Funk points out Eaton still had a hammerlock applied on Morton.

Morton elbowed out to the side of the head of Eaton, Stan Lane comes in who is legal and he hits Morton with a double thrust to the throat area. A reverse chinlock by Sweet Stan Lane now to an injured Ricky Morton. An arm-ringer by Eaton and he tags back in Lane. Morton buys himself a second and Cornette slaps on the canvas floor. Beautiful Bobby slams Morton on the canvas and drops the flying elbow to him, somehow Morton kicks out! Eaton tags in Lane again and he hits a thrust kick to Morton, Morton recieved a cheapshot from Cornette with his favourite tool from the outside.

An armbar working over the injured shoulder of Morton by Stan Lane. Robert Gibson on the apron looked on worried for his partner Ricky Morton. Stan Lane threw Morton hard into the corner and he crashed. Lane picked up the injured left arm of Morton and slammed him hard to the mat, with his arm bent back. A Hammerlock on the canvas by Lane to Morton as he layed down grounding him. Ross questioned how much longer Morton could last, and it was a test to his endurance the fact he lasted this long. Ross points out he’d been in the ring ten minutest straight.
It has been all Midnight Express for the last ten minutes. Morton buys himself a break finally as Eaton crashed into the buckle bumping into Morton. Lane tags himself in luckily for the Midnight Express and he hits Morton with a backbreaker. Ricky Morton was being behond isolated by now. The Midnight Express went for the Rocket Launcher as Morton lifted up his knees.

The hot tag finally comes and in comes Robert Gibson. Gibson hits a backdrop to Lane. Gibson irishwhipped into the corner and lifts his legs and hits a backslide on Eaton. Morton back in attacks Lane. Cornette cracks Robert Gibson in the head with his weapon and Eaton covers Robert Gibson but somehow he kicks out! Cornette can’t believe it and the place erupts.

The Midnight Express double-team Robert Gibson to the ropes and try a flapjack, Morton spears down Stan Lane as they attempt to drop Robert Gibson, and at the same time Robert Gibson applied a surprise inside cradle on Beautiful Bobby Eaton and he got the three!

The Rock n Roll Express get the victory at 23:55.

I’m such a huge fan of NWA tags, and watching the Midnight Express go at it with the Rock n Roll Express in such a tremendously booked match, for over twenty minutes spells out nothing short of a Classic.

What a clinic here.

**** 1/4

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Here we get a Classic, this time from the Bash in 1990 as far as tag team wrestling is concerned.
Eaton and Lane are in for another impressive showing on the Rise and Fall of WCW DVD showing why the Midnight Express was indeed one of the greatest tandems in Wrestling history.

The Midnight Express tried to get the early advantage as they throw Armstrong outside the ring. A wild brawl breaks out, outside the ring right away. A double backdrop, followed by a double shoulder block by the Southern Boys to Beautiful Bobby Eaton makes him leave the ring and go for a walk as the fans love this.
Ross points out the Southern Boys has been a team for three years already.

Sweet Stan knocked off the apron as the Southern Boys mean business early.
Eaton ties up with Armstrong and he hits an armdrag takedown to Eaton. Eaton ties up again with Armstrong and Eaton corners him and slaps him with a righthand.

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Another straight righthand followed by a scoopslam. Bobby loves to go up high and Armstrong caught him up high slammed him off the top rope. Armstrong with a leapfrog and then a monkeyflip to Eaton followed by a series of jabs and a standing dropkick to Eaton off the ropes. Off the top flies Armstrong with a fling clothesline to Beautiful Bobby Eaton who then leaves the ring and is talked to by Cornette.

Cornette gets in the camera’s face as he is frustrated that Steve Armstrong had just taken apart his boy, Beautiful Bobby Eaton. A double-team chop by the Southern Boys. Bobby has gone the distance for the Express thus far and he remains in the ring.

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Eaton tied up once more with Tracy Smothers now who had just recently tagged in. Eaton leaps over him and then Tracy Smothers falls behind him and levels him with a thrust kick. Smothers drops him and the fans roar in approval. Eaton down needing to make a tag to Sweet Stan Lane.

Fans chant “Cornette Sucks” and he plugs his ears.

Tracy Smothers ties up with Eaton again nearing the five minute mark of the match, Tracy Smothers reverses an irishwhip and elevated Bobby Eaton out of the corner with a back bodydrop. A nice dropkick by Tracy Smothers to Eaton on the first PPV appearance for the Southern Boys.

Stan Lane makes his first tag in, stretches a bit. Lane signals for some karate and striked Tracy Smothers with a blow to the face. Lane blocked a shot from Tracy Smothers and he showed some of his martial arts background. Tracy Smothers caught the boot by Lane and hit him with a thrust kick. Eaton came in and Tracy Smothers dropped him with another thrust kick, for the third time this match already, the crowd loved it while Cornette did not.

A tie-up yet again by Smothers and Lane. A waistlock go-behind by Smothers, a drop toehold by Lane, and a reversal into a Hammerlock by Tracy Smothers. An Armbar after a hiplock to Eaton who was tagged in. Nice chain-wrestling with some quick offensive exchanges inbetween. Tracy Smothers elevated himself in and dropkicked Eaton as he came inside the ring. Smothers flipped back in the ring and grabbed onto the ropes for leverage and dropkicked Eaton in the face who was on the floor. Amazingly innovative offense by the Southern Boys.

Off the ropes goes Smothers and they are hit by a double reverse elbow by the Midnight Express. Armstrong flies off the top onto the Express.

Action breaks out everywhere and the Midnight Express’s US tag title’s were in jeopardy as the Southern Boys were giving them everything they could handle and more.

Armstrong points to the crowd signalling everything they are about to do to the Express is for them. Lane corners Armstrong and irishwhipped him to the ropes, Armstrong gets thrown over the top by Eaton as Cornette had the official distracted.

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Tracy Smothers on the outside was sent crashing into the Steel Barricade soon after he was thrown over the top rope landing spine first on the floor. Cornette then Smothered Smothers with his Tennis Racket.

Action everwhere again. Sweet Stan Lane knocked Tracy Smothers off the apron back first into the Steel again by Lane who looked cocky as ever with his karate like stance. Eaton tags in and drops Tracy Smothers with a backbreaker into Lane who holds him in this position and works over the injured back of Tracy Smothers.

Vintage Midnight Express bruising down and isolating the injured part of the weaker half of the team. Armstrong looked on as the Midnight Express dropped a double axehandle into the lower back of Tracy Smothers.

Despite the good start by the Southern Boys it did not look good for them now. A snapmare and a dropkick by Beautiful Bobby to Tracy Smothers but he out of no where in the corner hits him with a thrust kick to the throat region of Eaton. Bobby though fights back and hits Tracy Smothers with a powerslam. Eaton goes to familar territory up high, as he was a high flyer dropped a leg from the top rope. Smothers may be out of it as Sweet Stan Lane tags in. Lane irishwhipped Tracy Smothers and he hit a sunsetflip on Lane but Stan got out of that straight away.

Tag made, Eaton comes back in and a dropkick by Eaton to Tracy Smothers. A lot of the crowd start cheering the offense of the Midnight Express here during there defense of the US tag team championship.

Tracy Smothers climbs onto the apron and Eaton catapolts him from the outside apron over the top rope crashing back first on the mat. A gutwrench suplex by Eaton to Tracy Smothers.
Midnight Express with another frequent tag, operating like a well-oiled machine and in comes Lane. Tracy Smothers for a moment dropped Eaton to the outside, but Lane clotheslined Tracy Smothers to the canvas. Tracy Smothers fights back slamming Lane head first to the buckle until Stan Lane rakes the eyes. Another exchange as Lane tags back in Eaton. Eaton tags in Lane and a double team backdrop attempt is reversed by Tracy Smothers who rolls out.

Armstrong tagged in, the hot tag gets a roar from the crowd as Steve Armstrong bonks both Midnight Express members’s head together. A flying shoulder block by Armstrong to Eaton. Tracy Smothers slammed Eaton. Action everywhere and Tracy Smothers flew off the top dropkicking Eaton as Armstrong had him in the air.
Armstrong covered Lane and Eaton pushed Armstrong off the top rope behind the official.

The Action is so fast you literally couldn’t keep up if you tried.
A tremendous mixture of double-team moves here. A climatic kickout by Armstrong. An inside cradle by Tracy Smothers to Eaton and Lane interupted the count.
Ross screams out “What a war we are seeing here” and I couldn’t agree more.
Eaton reversed a small package by Armstrong and he gets the three after a number of quick offensive exchanges at 18:14. Cornette sceams out the Midnight Express is the best in the entire world.

A borderline classic NWA tag here.

Perhaps the most double-team moves you’ll ever see combined in one match.

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****

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7) The Steiner Brothers (c) vs Sting & Lex Luger for the WCW Tag Team Championship -NWA SuperBrawl May 19th, 1991

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Sting and Luger were actually quite an underrated tandem as a team.

Of couse the Steiner Brothers were one of the greatest teams of all time, so this should be good.
The third NWA tag match in a row on the Rise and Fall of WCW dvd.

Ross calls this one of the most anticipated match-up’s, and it begins with power vs power.

Rick Steiner began the match with the total package. A test of strength and Luger forced into the corner by Rick. Rick Steiner tied up wth Lex and he hit a hiplock to Rick in mid-ring. Rick grounded Luger with a waistlock go-behind, Luger was brought down originally with a single leg-takedown and Luger intelligently got to the ropes.
Luger slapped on a standing side headlock and then a side headlock takedown.

Rick Steiner with a double leg takedown to Luger and another waistlock to Luger. Lex goes for a walk in mid-ring. Luger in a side headlock again and a clean break on the ropes, Rick elevated Luger to the ropes and hit him with a hard shoulder block. Luger this time had Rick Steiner where he wanted him as he hit him with a powerslam. Now Luger is in trouble all of the sudden as he hits a belly to back suplex to Luger out of the corner before a Steinerline, and a two count.
Rick Steiner irishwhipped Luger to the corner and a big time backdrop to Luger. Rick Steiner again with a hard buckle shot to Luger but out of the corner comes Lex who turns Rick Steiner inside out with a thunderous clothesline. The Total Package with a millitary press to Steiner and then in comes the Stinger. Sting with a clothesline and then a flying crossbody to the outside on Rick Steiner.
Sting threw Rick back inside the ring and the crowd was alive. Sting drives Rick head first into the canvas. Sting scoops up Rick Steiner in a backbreaker position and drove Steiner abdomen first into the turnbuckle upside down. Sting goes crashing into the corner attempting to hit Rick with the Stinger Splash but he hits nobody as Rick moves. In comes Scott Steiner and he hits a gutwrench suplex to Sting. Scott then with a back body suplex to Sting. Scott Steiner poses on the top turnbuckle as the crowd eats this up. Sting catches Scott Steiner off the ropes and clotheslined him as he dropped him across the top rope.

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Luger tags in.

Luger tagged in by Sting hits a vertical suplex to Scott Steiner. Luger tags back in sting and he gets caught by Scott Steiner who hits an inverted atomic drop. Now Scott Steiner drops the Stinger on the top turnbuckle, and from the top hits a belly to belly to Sting from the top, in superplex fashion and Sting just barely gets a shoulder up at two and a half.
Sting set up on top of the turnbuckle is charged at by Scott Steiner and Sting ducks, Steiner goes flying. Luger tags in and suplexed Scott Steiner from the outside apron back into the center of the ring. Scott Steiner countered Luger’s hiplock attempt with an amateur takedown. Luger off the ropes caught Scott Steiner with a powerslam. Scott Steiner in danger and Luger signalled for the Torture Rack and then Scott Steiner countered it with a nicely applied Side Russian Legsweep.
Awesome resourceful move there by Scott Steiner.

Luger and Scott get to there feet at approximately the same time, Rick Steiner tagged in and hits a nice standing dropkick to Luger. Rick with an elbow drop to Luger. Sting comes in with a dropkick to Rick Steiner, Scott Steiner comes in and he wasn’t awhere Sting actually had the tag. Rick Steiner attacks Sting now, mayhem everywhere.
Luger back in and a criss-cross, both men duck a clothesline from each other and Rick Steiner runs backwards into Luger knocking him down with a hard elbow shot to the head of Lex. Scott Steiner and Sting both get the tag and both fresh men come inside the ring. A fall away slam by Sting to Steiner. Sting with a couple of hard right’s to Scott and off the ropes Scott Steiner bounced back with an uppercut, and a hard forearm shot. Scott Steiner went for a tombstone piledriver, Sting reversed it into one of his own and the Stinger dropped Scott Steiner, Rick broke up the count. Luger comes in and spears Rick out of the ring. Rick battles Luger outside the ring.

Sting splashed Scott Steiner in the corner.

Sting is hit by Koloff who came out of no where with a chain on his arm. Scott Steiner covered Sting and the Steiner’s win at 11:31.

Just tremendous action here for the time it got. Solid addition to the set.

 

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8 ) Sting (c) vs Big Van Vader (W/Harley Race) for the WCW Championship -WCW Great American Bash July 12th, 1992
Jim Ross says its Sting’s toughest challenge as Big Van Vader was the most intimidating presence for him.

Sting has got to be quick.

A staredown breaks to begin.
Big Van Vader corners Sting with his power, Vader had the powergame going for him while Sting has the speed and veteran-like experience with of course the crowd on his side.

You just knew you were going to get your typical classic “story-telling” with the underdog (sympathetic hero) going up against the villian. (The Monster)
Vader unloaded shots to the Stinger in the corner.

Sting already in a bad way to begin the match.
Big Van Vader dropped tremendous forearms to Sting. Big time striking blows by Big Van Vader in vicious fashion drops Sting to the floor for a brief moment. Vader brings Sting closer in and hits a high impact clothesline to Sting, and dominates him in the early going. Vader flexes for the crowd.

Vader gets clotheslined by the Stinger and he shows the crowd is has no effect on him. Sting holds onto his right arm which was crushed earlier by Big Van Vader and he sells it a bit as Vader ties up with Sting again. Vader with a ton of power knocks Sting with rights and lefts. Vader charged towards Sting in the corner and he ran into the buckle.
Sting with momentum scooped Vader up hitting a back suplex. Stinger with a clothesline to Vader, and another elevating the big man over the top rope to the floor.

Ross screams out “The World Champion, showing just what he’s made of!”
The fans erupt for sting who takes it to Big Van Vader for the first time in the match after he suplexed the big man. Harley Race gives him a word of encouragement on the outside of the ring. Big Van Vader takes his time getting back in as he now has a reason to perhaps be intimidated for the first time in the match.
Vader challenges Sting for a test of strength.

Sting knew Big Van Vader had the reach advantage just by looking. Sting hesitates on the test of power, walks in a circle and then ultimately goes for it. Vader with his wrist overpowers him but Sting lands a right.

Sting unloads on Big Van Vader with a series of righthands and then a nice standing dropkick to Big Van Vader knocking the big man off his vertical base. With Big Van Vader on the outside apron the Stinger shows great power suplexing the big man back in the ring.

Big Van Vader though catches Sting coming in with a bearhug. Vader walks over Sting and Ross brings up a good point that Sting could of used all his energy up on those high impact moves. Sting kicks Vader in the face and it sends him down. Sting with an inside cradle got two and a half on vader, Big Van Vader rolled to the outside and Race gave

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him a few more words before getting into the face of the camera.

Sting awaited the big man once more. Big Van Vader back in caught a shot by Sting. vader reversed an irishwhip, Sting went for a sunset flip on the big man but couldn’t move his bodyweight, and Big Van Vader dropped 440 on top of Sting. Big Van Vader off the ropes came crushing down on Sting with a giant elbow drop. Vader with more high impact moves as he drops another elbow on top of the Champion as Sting layed on the canvas. Big Van Vader hooked the leg after another elbow drop and Sting spun out of the pinning predicament.

Big Van Vader with a ton of high impact moves, the splash and the three elbow drops.
The action in this match has been incredibally crisp thus far.

Vader scooped up the Stinger by the throat and held him over his head, and dropped simply dropped him on the mat. Big Van Vader picks up a single leg of Sting who layed with his back on the mat. Big Van Vader twisted the left leg and went for a Scorpion Deathlock on the Stinger!

Big Van Vader puts Sting in his own move now, the Scorpion Deathlock with tremendous pressure on the ankles and knees of Sting who looked to be almost out of it here.
Sting trying with everything he had to get out of his own predicament (hold) from the bigger, powerful Big Van Vader who looked like an incredible force in this match. Sting tried to reach for the ropes and meanwhile was in a tremendous amount of agony and pain. How much more could the Heavyweight Champion of the world take as his toughest challenge was literally crushing him.

Out of desperation, the lower-body strength of Sting forced Big Van Vader off of him. Sting though to his vertical base caught a big time righthand by Vader who is full of stiff shots. Vader with another sluggish righthand to the head of the Stinger. Sting barely able to hang on to the second rope for any leverage he could grasp. Vader sent Sting to the ropes and caught him with a huge clothesline. Big Van Vader asked what time it was.

Sting down and vader scoops him up and drops him to the mat with a big powerslam and somehow the Champion kicks out. Harley Race can’t believe it. Vader drops a headbutt to Sting in the corner a couple of times viciously. A hard right by Vader and out of no where comes Sting with desperate righthands to vader as he drops him with some martial arts, Sting comes off the ropes with a karate kick to the 440 pound challenger. Sting follows this up with a DDT to Big Van Vader.
Both men down as the match passes the fifteen minute mark. Sting off the ropes charged at Big Van Vader trying to run through him putting his body on the line falls down as he came crashing into the chest of the big man. Vader climbs to the top and sting with a kick right to vader who falls down chest first on the top turnbuckle. Sting goes charging into the corner and kicks at his chest.

Sting scoops up all the bodyweight of Big Van Vader with all the strength he had, he held Vader on his shoulders for over five seconds and hit a Samoan Drop. Sting scores a nearfall as Race breaks a bucket full of sweat. Vader caught Sting with an elbow off the ropes and goes for a back suplex, Sting lands on his feet, the official is knocked down. Sting goes for a back suplex to Big Van Vader and he gets a two, the official didn’t count in time or else Sting would of gotten a three screams Ross.
Sting cornered Vader and he hits the Stinger Splash. Sting kicks Vader into the corner and he hit another Stinger Splash. Sting crashing into the corner hit his head in the corner. Race signals for Big Van Vader to get on him as this is his big chance.
Big Van Vader gets up slowly and Sting is bleeding now. The Champion is hurt and Big Van Vader simply covers him but the Stinger kicks out! Ross screams “What do you think of the Champion of the World!?”
Sting goes for a big right twice, Vader dodged it both times and then Sting who is hurt drops to the mat. Big Van Vader poses with his arms stretched out asking who the man is.

Big Van Vader then scooped up Sting and dropped him with a powerbomb and won the World Title at 17:11.

This match is terrific.

It’s nice to see Vader win the World Title, he was in his absolute prime here as well.

Brilliant chemistry here despite the contrast in styles.

 

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9) Rick Rude (c) vs Sting for the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship Match -WCW Spring Stampede April 17th, 1994

The WCW were beyond stacked around this point in time in terms of talent.

Here was a match on this PPV card here between Rude and Sting to help back that opinion up.

Harley Race says on the mic that Big Van Vader wants the winner of Rude and Sting here.

Bobby Heenan is on commentary for the first time on this DVD.

Sting attacked Rude still in his robe and dropped him with a vertical suplex on the floor.

Sting in the corner had Rude down on the mat.

Fans in heavy favor of the Stinger.

Sting continued delivering blows to the Ravishing one.
Sting called out to all of his fans. Sting with a back suplex to Rick Rude and a one count. WWE Hall of Famer Nick Bockwinkel looked on at the action. Sting with a front facelock +to Rude on the canvas. Rude gets to his vertical base and Sting slams him to the mat. Sting drops an elbow to Rude.
Sting off the ropes again drops another high impact elbow. Rude had been dominated by Sting through the first two minutes of this match ever since it started with The Stinger jumping Rude in his robe. Sting again goes back to his trusty front facelock on the canvas floor on Rude. Rude attempting to get back to his feet, gets there and Sting finds himself in a bit of a bearhug by Rude, Sting’s front facelock is locked in harder but Rude throws another right to the abdomen of Sting trying to get out. Sting drops Rude to his knees in the front facelock position still.
Sting as confident as ever in complete control of Rick Rude. Rude then attempted a backdrop to Sting out of the front facelock but it didn’t work. Rude then again tried it once more but Sting kept holding onto the submission hold as it wore down Rude.
Finally Rick Rude got out of the front facelock and dropped Sting groin first on the top rope. This sends Sting to the floor.

Rick Rude now shakes off the initial punishment he got in the early stages of the match and Sting is on his knees out on the floor shaking that impact off. Rude levels Sting head first into the apron then into the entrance stage. Rude throws Sting back in the ring.
Rude from the top drops crushing forearms into the lower back of Sting. Rude now slams Sting back with a back suplex to the mat on the back he just dropped blows to, Rude was intelligent. Rude gets a two and then flexed for the crowd.
Ravishing Rick Rude slaps on a reverse chinlock with both palms keeping the pressure on Sting trying to wear him down now, after Sting attempted to weardown Rude the entire first two minutes of the match in the front facelock.
Rude continued to drop his bodyweight onto the back of Sting every time he attempted to power out of his reverse chinlock. This was smart by Rick Rude because this was the lowerback he had earlier worked on. Rude back into the reverse chinlock sitting on the back of the Stinger.

Sting picked up Rude but Rick Rude turned a roll-up into an inside package, Sting reversed that as well, a great series of counters. Rude slingshotting Sting to the ropes then slaps on a Sleeper. Sting goes down as Rude begins to weardown the Stinger some more as the fans boo.

Rude delivering the punishment out some more on Sting. Sting breaks the sleeperhold by Rude, Schiavone puts it over as more incredible then it probably is. Sting dropped by a few more shots from Rude making him groggy.

Sting begins shaking off some of the shots by Rude. Sting gets more vicious and asks for a harder shot from Rude, he brings Rude closer to him by the tights and drops him with an atomic drop. Sting with another atomic drop to Rick Rude off the ropes followed by a series of three clotheslines to Rick Rude! Sting irishwhipped Rick Rude to the ropes and

he went flying with an insanely high backbody drop.
Sting grabbed a handfull of hair of Rude and sent him into the corner as he crashed into the official. Sting now with Rude right where he wanted him slaps on the Scorpion Deathlock as the fans looked on in approval.
Heenan doesen`t like this much, Race runs back to the ringside area and Sting drops the hold. Vader runs down and Sting unloads on both Race and Vader. Schiavone yells out that Sting is taking on all three men.
Rude then takes out the knee of Sting.
Rick Rude takes the knee out of the Stinger thanks to the distraction from Race and Big Van Vader.
Rude then slams the head of Sting into his knee. Rude drops a hard forearm shot to the neck of Sting. Race held a chair in the corner while Rude went for the Rude Awakening on Sting. Sting ducked, Race struck Rude with the chair, Sting covered Rude and we got a new Champion at 12:18.
In the end Sting beat Rude after Race accidentally struck Rude with the chair.
This match started off pretty slow but the back and forth pace did seem to pick up as it went along, it`s good, not great.

 

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Shaq holds up the World Title and we`re underway.

This was a match many had wanted to see for awhile on PPV, and after WCW got the big signing they wanted in Hulk Hogan, it was only a matter of time they put him on PPV against Flair.

Schiavone says finally Hogan collides with the Nature Boy.

Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan tie up, Flair with a side headlock and off the ropes Hulk gets the upperhand early on with the shoulder block winning that exchange. Hogan throws Flair out of his corner as Naitch came coming for him. Flair looked frustrated and complained to the official that Hogan had him by the hair. Hogan looked on as Naitch began to strut and some of the crowd “Wooo.“

Ric Flair then was imitated by The Hulkster as he slicked his hair back and everyone in Orlando got a good laugh out of that.

Flair with a hammerlock after a waist-lock go behind and then with a single leg takedown, into an overhead wristlock.

Flair trying to teach Hulk a wrestling lesson, perhaps showing where the two legends differ when it comes to Wrestling. Flair with the wristlock locked in on Hogan in mid-ring dragged him by the hair slamming him back first to the WCW canvas floor. Flair with an overhead wristlock kept it locked on. Flair had a big smile on his face as the Hulkster then got to his feet and powered out.

The Hulkster got Flair down into an armbar, but Flair got up immediately and raked Hogan`s face with his boot. Hogan pointed at Flair on the outside and Naitch held Sherri up in front of him blocking any shot from Hulk.

Ric Flair got a surprise when Hogan started to chain-wrestle a bit just like he did against the Macho Man at Wrestlemania 5. (It`s easy to remember because its so rare when he does it) Hogan with a droptoe hold into a hammerlock, Flair got out of it and Hogan pushed him into the corner. Hulk went for the big boot on Flair, and again Slick Ric goes to the outside and holds Sherri up in front of him.

Hogan chases Flair into the ring and Ric Flair caught him with a kick to the face. Flair chopped Hogan in the corner. Ric with a snapmare to Hulk dropping him back first on the canvas, Orlando chanted for Hogan some more. Hulk then got up and went after Flair as he begged in the corner. Hulk up on top of Flair dropped right hands.

Hogan sent Flair into the turnbuckle and Flair caught a break as Sherri grabbed the leg of Hogan. Flair then chopped Hogan over the top rope to the floor. Jimmy Hart then stopped Sherri with a chair on the outside. Flair continued delivering shots to Hulk on the floor. Fans chanted for Hogan.

Flair dropped a big righthand off the top turnbuckle onto the head of Hulk in the middle of the ring. Flair with Hogan down in the middle of the ring drives the knee to the head of Hulk from the corner. Flair smiling now confident in himself and his chances of retaining the World Title picked up Hogan and went for a righthand in the corner. Hogan blocked a shot from Flair and delivered some retaliation chops of his own to the Nature Boy.
Flair with Hogan down on the mat delivered another hard chop to Hulk. Hulk out of no where lands a clothesline on Flair, somehow Flair regains momentum down on the mat and slaps on a side headlock as everyone in Orlando continued to chant for Hogan.

Hulk Hogan grounded by the Nature Boy.

Hogan hit the shoulderblock on Flair who got back up. Outside on the floor Hogan hit a belly to back suplex to Flair on the mat. Heenan points out Hogan can not win the title with Flair outside the ring. Sherri helps Flair back in and Hogan makes sure he follows back inside. Hogan went for a leg drop and out of instinct Flair moves out of the way. Heenan wants Flair to slap on the figure four and sure enough Ric goes for it. Hogan rolls out of it and applied an inside package on Flair and got a two count.

Flair then in mid-ring goes for the Figure Four again and Hogan gets out. Hogan in a front facelock from Flair in the corner and Ric Flair picks up Hulk Hogan and slams him down. Hogan gets up and shakes his hand at Flair. Hogan then hit a series of righthands to Flair, a boot to the face and then a leg drop. Hulk covered Flair and Sherri pulled the official out

of the ring.

Flair then gave a shot to Hogan taking the right leg out. Sherri came in the ring crushing Hogan with her shoe after a splash from the corner as the fans boo this turn of events. Ric Flair then slaps on the Figure Four on the Hulkster and somehow he got out of the hold reaching with his long reach to the bottom ropes. Hogan limping around the ring now as the damage had been done recieved a series of chops from Naitch.
Ric Flair kept hammering Hogan with shots in the corner and he hulked up some more shaking his head. Flair begged Hogan to back off.
Hogan then irishwhipped Flair to the corner and ran into a reverse elbow shot from Flair. Sherri goes up again and crashed into the mat. Hogan caught Flair up top and slams him back first to the mat. Flair attempted to grab Sherri and Hogan clotheslined him down first.

Hulk asks the crowd if he should do a figure four, and he does. Sherri is pushed off the apron by Hogan and she falls into the hands of Mr. T. Flair drops Hogan with a pair of brass knuckles. Flair covers Hogan but he still manages to kick out and this time Hulks up some more. Hulk shakes his head at Flair and Heenan claims he has seen this a million times, but haven`t we all.

Hulk shakes off any pounishment from Flair and drops him with a boot. Hogan with a series of right`s and then a boot to the face of Flair. Hulk Hogan drops the leg and gets the three on Flair.

In the end at 21:50 Hogan became the NEW WCW World Champion after defeating Flair with his legdrop to a big ovation.

The first half was sloppy, but the climax was booked pretty well making it exciting for the casual fan.

This was pretty good (for what it was) when taking it in as a whole, but its obvious both guys were no longer in the prime of there career`s unfortunately.

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The Giant in 1996 up against Flair in 96 shouldn’t get your expectations very high, but knowing Flair this should at least be watchable, I figured I’ve seen this match before but not since it happened Live.
Ric Flair in green trunks runs into Sho, err Giant. Paul slaps Flair across his man boobs and he falls to the mat. Flair goes outside for a word with Woman. Flair comes back in Giant tells him to come closer, Flair is no no hurry certainly. Flair runs off the ropes and into the chest once more of The Giant. Giant scoops him up and slams him hard back first to the mat before posing. Giant in the corner irishwhips Flair to the corner and he does a flip over the turnbuckle down to the outside apron falling to the floor.
The Giant chases Flair around the squared-circle on the outside. Flair hides behind his Women before getting back into the ring and finally begging Giant off. The Giant wanted a test of strength but Flair hit him with a thumb to the eye. Flair chopped at The Giant and he shook it off and threw him to the buckle. Flair caught a break as The Giant crashed and burned into the corner of the ring. Flair climbs up top and of course gets caught by The Giant who just tosses him to the other side of the ring. The Giant lands a standing vertical suplex to Naitch. Giant went for a chokeslam on Flair but he made sure he stayed on his feet by holding onto the top ropes.
With the official distracted Flair hit a lowblow to The Giant. The Giant dumped Flair off of him each time Flair started landing shots to The Giant who was on his knees. Flair grabbed a weapon from his boots and layed at The Giant with a shot to the head and The Giant was out of it. Naitch rakes his face with a boot and then goes for the Figure Four. The Giant then found himself in the Figure Four and he sat up and grabbed Flair by the throat. Giant chokeslams him and we got a New Champion at 6:54.

So other then this being one of the forgettable “losses” of Flair’s 16 title reigns I have no idea why it was put on this disc.

For what its worth, it’s still pretty interesting to see these two go at it. (No matter how bad it may be…)

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12) Rey Mysterio Jr. (c) vs Dean Malenko for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship -WCW Clash of the Champions XXXIII August 15th, 1996

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Always a treat seeing these two go at it.

These two met in a series of classic matches in WCW mostly in 1996, at events like

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Halloween Havoc and the Great American Bash.

Here is a rare meeting between the two from clash of Champions in August.
Rey is the defending Champion here and Dean Malenko jumps on him as soon as he gets in the ring and the bell rings. Malenko is quick to hit Mysterio with a vertical suplex.
Malenko with a snapmare and then a throat shot. Maleno throws him in and Mysterio shows his agility landing on his feet on the outside and coming right back in. Mysterio picks up Malrnko on the outside apron and slams his head into the corner before hitting a dropkick to Malenko sending him to the floor.

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Mysterio with a baseball side into a Frankensteiner out to the floor on the Man of 1,000 holds Dean Malenko. Fans cheer the quick offense from Mysterio.
Rey sends Dean Malenko to the ropes and he blocks an initial hiplock attempt and is eventually tossed to the side, Dean Malenko leaped over Rey twice and Rey tried a shoulderblock, Malenko blocks it.

Such a quick offensive exchange here that sees Malenko kickup, Rey springboard off the ropes landing back on Dean Malenko. Mysterio with a back heel kick to Malenko, and as he walks on the outside Rey still tried to hit him between the ropes with a dropkick holding onto the top.

Malenko goes for a walk and Rey hits a nice droptoe hold. Malenko with a knee to the abdomen of Rey and goes for a powerbomb and he drops Rey on his neck right across the top rope in a clothesline type motion. Dean Malenko springs Rey back and then Malenko ties up Rey in a front facelock and goes for a Brainbuster dropping Mysterio with a suplex, Malenko gets a two. Dean Malenko with an overhead wristlock to Rey he climbs the rope and goes for a sunset flip and loses his balance on Malenko, he still gets a desperation inside cradle on Malenko. Dean Malenko snapmare to Rey into a side headlock on the canvas, into a bodyscissors as Malenko ties his leg around the shorter body of Rey Mysterio Jr.
Rey Mysterio being grounded by Malenko and eventually he starts to regain his vertical base and with a front facelock applied Mysterio elbows out, off the ropes he tried to gain momentum but Malenko drove a knee into the abodmen of Mysterio.
Unfortunately on free television they went to a commercial. Back from the break Dean Malenko still grounding Rey in a headlock, sends him off the ropes and Mysterio elbowed out. Mysterio caught onto the ropes with his feet as he was slingshotted by Malenko, he fell into a bodyscissors off the ropes by Malenko and SOMEHOW he managed to leap backwards onto Malenko (These Cruisers do crazy things) with a bridge and got a pinning combination out of it.

Dean Malenko still remained in control though as he got up and kicked at the head of Rey and slammed him back first to the mat. Malenko tied up Mysterio’s legs down on the mat as he applied a half leg-lock to Rey.

Dean Malenko on the mat where he was best twisted on the leg of Mysterio which was smart as it took out an aerial wrestler’s “moving” game.
Dean Malenko rolled out to the ropes by Rey and back up sends Mysterio to the ride and then simply elevates Mysterio up and he lands chest first to the mat. Mysterio covered by Malenko as he went for the fall at any chance he got but still just a two count. Malenko back down on the mat in a bodyscissors formation grounding Rey and driving his knee to the lower back all at the same time. Dean Malenko was then hiptossed out of the ring by Rey coming off the ropes catching Malenko.
Mysterio springboarded off the ropes to the outside landing on Malenko with a summersault into a senton. Malenko sent Mysterio into the steel gaurdrail and Mysterio adapting to his environment uses the steel as platform as he drops a moonsault onto Malenko on the outside.

The innovative Mysterio lands a dropkick from the top to Malenko on the inside, Mysterio hit a running bulldog and got a two. Mysterio then with a headscissors into a pinning combination and again a two. Rey chopping Malenko in the corner until Dean Malenko turned the tide and delivered Mysterio some shots. Malenko backdropped Rey onto the apron in the corner of the ring and then Mysterio climbed up on top of Dean in the corner and Malenko brilliantly drops Rey with a Fireman’s carry from the top rope to the canvas.
Malenko gets the three with the fireman’s carry from the top rope, the official changes his mind and out of no where Mysterio rolls him up and get the official three count.
Mysterio at 10:32 finally puts Malenko away in controversial fashion.

This was great in the sense where we got a ton of great action, it did have its sloppy moments though which ultimately hold it down. (That and the lack of time for the story to progress)

*** 1/4

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13) Team WCW- Sting, Lex Luger, Ric Fair & Arn Anderson vs Team n.W.o.- Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall & a Mystery Partner (W/Ted DiBiase) in a War Games Match -WCW Fall Brawl September 15th, 1996

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Nice to see a War Games match on here, they were always fun

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Scott Hall comes to the ring with Ted DiBiase strutting out to the New World Order theme.
Double A joins him inside the structure and the match begins.

Arn Anderson and Scott Hall squaring off for team WCW and nWo as the bell rings.
The first five minute period in the War Games.
Arn Anderson delivers shots to Hall in the corner after he initiated the original clash and the crowd love it. Arn stomps on the groin of a grounded Hall. Arn goes for a bit of a walk which proves costly as Scott regains his vertical base and kicks Arn in the groin himself for some retaliation. Hall roughs up Double A until he fights his way back in the corner.

Hall with some vicious offense as he shoves Arn head first back into the Cage.
Scott Hall in mid-ring with some high kicks now to Anderson and those eventually send the big Enforcer to the corner of the ring. With Arn there Hall continues an onslaught of punishment with some striking blows and more kicks to Double A. Hall gets a knee to the gut of a desperate veteran in Anderson fighting back. Anderson targets the knee of the former Bad Guy and takes his leg out.

Arn then slams Hall’s left leg to the mat and proceeds to twisting his ankle. Anderson setting the tone in the War Games match with Scott Hall here. Hall escapes to the other ring limping and once Arn gets to the other ring where Hall is, Scott levels him hard into the corner. Hall chokes him out with his sore leg in the corner on Anderson. Dusty Rhodes making fun of Nick Patrick as an official is humerous catching him saying things he shouldn’t.

Arn fights back on Hall and gets him in a sleeper, just 1:45 until another person enters the War Games. Anderson wearing down Hall with his Sleeperhold in mid-ring, back int he first ring. Hall gets out with a desperation side suplex to Anderson on the mat.
Hall lands a right, irishwhipped off the ropes Double A plants Scott Hall with a hard Spinebuster slam to the canvas. Arn picks up the left leg of Hall now and applies a halfcrab.

Kevin Nash of the Outsiders (nWo) is here next, Schiavone yells “Uh Oh!”
Anderson lets go of Hall and dishes out some punishment to Nash who just had entered. Arn Anderson was then held by Nash as Hall came running off the ropes and levelled Arn in the head with a big kick. The Outsiders then sent Arn Anderson into the Cage with a double throw. Nash and Hall stomp away on Arn as its clearly a 2 on 1 predicament now.
One minute remains in the period as Nash hangs Anderson up and slams him head first into the corner turnbuckle pad. Nash with a big hard forearm to the Enforcer and Hall delivers some kicks as well.

Lex Luger out next and the Outsiders both eye him, he ducks a double clothesline attempt and then proceeds to dropping them both with one at the same time. An atomic drop from Luger to Hall, and Luger then continues to manhandle the Outsiders with a running clothesline to Nash, and a kick to Hall to follow up. A flying forearm off the ropes from Luger to Nash, and a big uppercut from Luger to Hall everytime he tries something. Luger scoops up Hall and slams him back first into the Cage as he drives him there twice until Kevin Nash breaks it up. Arn Anderson throws Kevin Nash to the cage while Scott Hall beat on Luger in the corner. Luger fought back as did Nash on Anderson, two on two action throughout.

Hall irishwhipped Anderson into the Steel. Anderson beat on Hall while Luger sent Nash to the ropes and Arn gave him an uppercut into the abdomen.

The nWo with a 3-2 advantage as Hollywood Hulk Hogan comes out.
Luger and Anderson both corner Hogan and the fans eat it right up. Luger flies off the top onto Hall, Hogan then jumps on Anderson out of the corner and beats on Arn with Nash.
Action in both rings.
Hogan dropped a leg and choked out Anderson in one right, while the Outsiders double teamed Lex Luger. Fans chanted for Flair. Arn Anderson drives Hogan into the side of the Cage. Hogan then got back up and drove Anderson to the mat. Hall, Hogan and Nash the original nWo went to work on Arn and Luger dominating both men in ring #2 as all men were now in this ring. Hogan chokes out Luger, Nash drops an elbow to Anderson.

The period ends and another man comes out. Its Ric Flair to a good pop. Flair in ring #1 signals for some competitor’s and he waves in the New World Order.
Hogan meets Flair in the ring. Hogan kicks him in the abdomen and strikes him with a right, Flair ducks a clothesline attempt and levels Hogan with some righthands of his own. Flair unloaded on Hogan until Nash came in, Flair hits him with a lowblow, Hall jumps on Flair but he kicks him with a lowblow and does a strut. In comes Arn Anderson and he kicks at Nash’s groin. Luger hits Hall with an atomic drop.
Luger drops Hall with an atomic drop, Flair locks in a Figure Four Leglock on the Hulkster.

Out comes Sting to a mixed reaction. Everyone speculates he is the fourth man for the New World Order. Sting enters and beats on Anderson and then Luger. Flair goes for Sting and he dishes out some punishment back. Action all in one ring, Hogan beating on Flair, Nash delivering some knee shots to the abdomen of anderson. Sting and Hall work on Luger in the opposite corner. Arn Anderson turns Nash around and started dishing out some righthands. Hogan and Flair go at it as Hogan crushes Flair by the cage.
Hogan slams Flair to the mat and comes off the ropes with his big legdrop. Sting splashes Anderson in the corner with the Stinger Splash.

Out runs Sting!? He approaches the artificial Sting and he unloads on him. The crowd goes crazy at the swerve, Sting is clean afterall!
Sting with a Stinger Splash to the New World Order, lands one on Hogan, Hall then Nash. Sting with momentum off the ropes drives Hall face first into the canvas.
Sting has some words with Luger, Flair works on Nash in the corner. Sting showed he wasn’t a traitor and leaves the Wargames asking Luger if this was good enough for him. Hogan drops Luger when Sting leaves and hits him with a legdrop. Hulk choked out Luger on the mat. Flair hit a chop on Hall. Flair with righthands to Scott Hall in the corner, meanwhile in the other ring Hollywood Hulk Hogan drops Flair with a side suplex.
The FAKE Sting who is the fourth man, locked a Scorpion Deathlock on Luger while Hogan held him on the mat with a front facelock. Nick Patrick rings the bell as he claims Luger had given up to the artificial Sting’s Scorpion Deathlock. Its worth noting Hogan had him in a front facelock predicament at the same time.

Entertaining material here, just a very anti-climatic ending.
So in the end at 18:15 the New World Order got the win.

 

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14) Syxx (c) vs Eddie Guerrero in a Ladder Match for the WCW United States Championship -WCW Souled Out January 25th, 1997

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There was an interesting atmosphere here. The entire ring and apron were overtook by the New World Order. Bischoff continued to put them over on commentary throughout.
Both guys were great for there size and in a Ladder match environment displayed more of there unique capablities.

Syxx the defending Champion put his title on a cord and it went up to the ceiling.
Eddie jumps Syxx and the bell rings.
Eddie Guerrero leapfrogged by Syxx but he comes off with some martial arts blows to Eddie followed by a standing spinning heel kick by Syxx to Eddie. Eddie Guerrero hit with a high kick and Syxx hit him with a nice chop on the ropes. Syxx drops righthands to Eddie and sends him to the ride. Eddie about to be hit with what looked like a reverse elbow didn’t and fell to the mat asking for a break.
Eddie Guerrero hit Sxx with a european uppercut and then a headscissors. Eddie hit Syxx with a nice backbreaker as he came running at him. Syxx went for a walk and Eddie Guerrero climbed to the top and landed a high, flying crossbody to the floor.
This is Eddie Guerrero in 1997 which means he was on top of his game.
Eddie Guerrero sent Syxx by the hair back into the ring.
Eddie Guerrero then sends Syxx to the corner of the ring with a hard irishwhip and Syxx lands in the corner. Eddie charged at him but Syxx got a boot up hitting Guerrero in the chin, still Eddie charges at Syxx in the corner again and this time Syxx leaps up. Eddie still fighting at him and sets Syxx up in a sitting position. Eddie is pushed off the top by Syxx but showing agility he lands on his feet with a backflip. Syxx comes off the top with a Spinning Heel Kick to Eddie taking him down, finally. Syxx with Eddie on the mat turns him over and places him in the corner hitting a fine chop. Syxx then elevated himself up on Eddie hitting him with a thrust kick. With Eddie sitting in the corner, Syxx does a martial-arts taunt and Syxx then drops Eddie with some shots in the corner. Syxx drops from the corner of the ring and kicks at Eddie. Syxx in mid-ring drops Eddie with a righthand, Eddie came rolling off Syxx off the ropes landing on his feet. Eddie Guerrero drops Syxx out of the ring with a nice dropkick. Eddie spotted Syxx getting up on the outside and he pulls him by the hair onto the outside apron. Syxx fights back and drops Eddie Guerrero over the top rope out to the floor with a vertical suplex, Syxx showing tremendous resilience. Syxx then springboards off the side ropes and drops onto Eddie on the floor with a Senton splash.
Syxx back in control of the match taking Eddie out with a high risk move. Syxx goes towards the Ladder by the entrance stage and he grabs ahold of it. Syxx comes towards the ring with the Ladder and looks as if he can barely carry it. All of the sudden with the Ladder in hand Syxx charges at Eddie Guerrero getting up and he plants him with the running Ladder shot across the chest. This of course drops Eddie Guerrero back to the floor. Syxx sets up the Ladder nearing the ringside area. Syxx has it set up on the apron, Eddie comes crawling up on the other side and shoves it towards Syxx, Eddie drops to the floor and elevated the Ladder up into the throat region of Syxx. Eddie elevated himself over the top rope from the outside apron and dropped Syxx with a kick to the head. Fans chant for Eddie.
Guerrero used the Ladder as a weapon spinning with it, nailing Syxx on the mat any chance he got. Bischoff on commentary said this is not what the match was all about. Eddie chopped Syxx in the corner of the ring hard a few times. Guerrero then irishwhipped hard into the Ladder set up in the corner by Syxx who reversed an initial-irishwhip by Eddie.
Syxx sent Eddie Guerrero crashing and burning into the corner, the crowd then got behind Eddie some more. Syxx drops the Ladder onto Eddie laying backfirst on the mat, Syxx kicks the Ladder into Eddie a couple of times dropping the boot on top of the Ladder onto Eddie.

Syxx sent Eddie into the Ladder in the middle of the ring when Eddie came charing towards him off the side ropes, Syxx simply moved out of the way scooped Eddie up in the air and all that was left for Guerrero to do was crash and burn. Syxx set up the Ladder in the corner, to slow Eddie down he lands a standing vertical suplex on Guerrero. Both men climb the Ladder placed in the corner of the ring, Syxx headbutts Eddie off. Syxx with the advnatage leaps off the Ladder and sets it up. Syxx then goes to ride the Ladder on top of Eddie Guerrero from the corner turnbuckle. Eddie scouts this and gets up dropkicking the Lader into Syxx in the corner and this drops Syxx on his groin on the top turnbuckle. Eddie with a front facelock on Syxx and then he climbs and meets Syxx on the top.

Eddie Guerrero comes off dropping Syxx to the mat off the top with a superplex.
Eddie Guerrero getting up grabs ahold of the Ladder and sets it up in the center of the ring. Guerrero climbs and Syxx does as well slowly on the other side. Syxx lands a shot on Eddie while DiBiase cheers on Syxx on the commentary. With both men near the top, an inverted-jump sidekick by Eddie Guerrero to Syxx and this nails him off the Ladder. The high-risk move by Eddie also took it out of him as well as both men lay on the canvas with the Ladder set up in the middle of the ring. Syxx climbs one side as does Guerrero. Both men exchange right’s up at the top in climatic fashion. Guerrero is knocked off the Ladder and off the ropes slingshots back into the Ladder and this sends Syxx off the Ladder crashing off into the ropes, down to the mat. Syxx down and Eddie with a chance to grab back the momentum in the Ladder match. Eddie kicks at Syxx by the Ladder. Eddie lands a stiff uppercut to Syxx in the corner and begins climbing the Ladder in the center of the ring. Syxx crawls over and just in time prevents Eddie from grabbing the belt.
Both men grab the belt at the same time and in unique fashion, this match sees both Eddie Guerrero and Syxx with a piece of the Gold tugging for it at the top of the Ladder as it seperated itself from the cord. Eddie Guerrero used it on Syxx’s head and he falls off the Ladder, Eddie Guerrero is the winner. Bischoff and DiBiase don’t like this very much on commentary. The fans applaud Eddie Guerrero walking to the back with his belt through the crowd.

In the end Eddid Guerrero defeated Syxx in a Ladder match to retain the WCW United States Championship at 13:48.
Nice to see this on the Rise and Fall of WCW since I feel it got neglected when the Ladder match DVD was released.

A forgotten gem.
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15) Eddie Guerrero (c) vs Dean Malenko for the WCW United States Championship in a No Disqualification Match -WCW Uncensored March 16th, 1997

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Guerrero and Malenko’s chemistry in the ring is magical. There matches together in just about every promotion have been classic’s.

Here is a forgotten match and nice addition to the DVD set from WCW uNcEnSoReD in 1997 for the US title.

Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko opened up uNcEnSoReD in 1997 with a No DQ match for the US title.

Malenko comes to the ring with his “all business” look on him.
Its mind-boggling to think these type of matches actually OPENED shows back in this day, but they did.

Dean Malenko and Eddie have a face to face as the bell rings.

Malenko and Guerrero get in a shoving match, Eddie flips over. Eddie Guerrero with a standing side headlock and pushed to the ropes he runs into Malenko. Eddie re-applies the headlock and drops righthands to Malenko standing mid-ring, Malenko the man of 1,000 holds fights back with an overhead wristlock. Malenko off the ropes overpowers Eddie and shoves him on his back and he rolls to the outside for a breather.

It is awesome watching these two start a match, whether they are chain wrestling or just feeling each other out like right here. Malenko kicks Eddie in the gut and slams him hard into the buckle head first. Dean Malenko stomps the Holy Hell out of Eddie Guerrero in the corner. Eddie throws Malenko to the corner reversing an irishwhip, Malenko stops in the middle of the ring and hits a standing vertical suplex. Malenko with some hard open rights to the face of Eddie showing the match is NO DQ.
Eddie fights back with some stiff shots of his own, cornering Malenko. Eddie Guerrero with vicious stomping on Malenko in the corner of the ring. Eddie backs Malenko to the corner, irishwhips him hard into the opposite corner and as he charges to Malenko he elevated him up and Eddie Guerrero landed headfirst on the top turnbuckle padding. Malenko has some of the crowd in his favor who approve of this move and as a groggy Eddie backs up towards Malenko he drops him hard to the canvas with a side suplex dropping Eddie on his head.
Unfortunately they leave the ring action to show the nWo with a fallen man.

Dean Malenko applied a half-crab to Eddie Guerrero in mid-ring, Malenko then stretched the leg up and applied back with a ton of extra tork on the leg of Eddie. Malenko tosses Eddie Guerrero over the top rope to the outside floor.

The fans like this rough stuff from two technical experts. Malenko grabs Eddie’s US title.
Malenko drives the belt into the abdomen of Eddie, and then the back. Malenko stalks Eddie as he gets up and hits a stiff clothesline charging at Guerrero, Malenko scores a two. Dean Malenko on top of his game against Eddie Guerrero here. Malenko again up and awaiting Guerrero to get to his vertical base, when he does Eddie Guerrero hooks up Malenko and drops him with what they call a side suplex, looks like a Rock Bottom. Guerrero back on top of Malenko gives him a piece of his mind and drops a couple stiff blows to the head of the Man of 1,000 holds. Malenko down and Eddie Guerrero lands some more shots, Malenko up and Guerrero drops him with a European Uppercut.

Eddie Guerrero reverses an irishwhip attempt by Malenko and he dropkicks the single leg out of Malenko. Eddie Guerrero goes to work on the leg of Malenko and drops it across the bottom rope. Eddie drops from the top turnbuckle and continues to disect the leg of Malenko, dropping his entire body weight on top of him by the side ropes. Eddie Guerrero slaps on a leglock in the center of the ring trying to weardown Malenko some more.

Eddie Guerrero twists the leg and switches into a rear chinlock, a formation of the STF by Guerrero trying back his leg all at the same time.

When you’re this good technically you can apply moves like this in a NO DQ match and get away with it.
The two brawl outside the ring as Malenko managed out of the STF by Eddie. Malenko crashed into the security railing and then Guerrero slams Malenko head first into the apron outside the ring. Eddie Guerrero keeps on the leg of Malenko with stomps on the mat, outside on the floor. Eddie Guerrero then is irishwhipped back first, HARD into the Steel outside the ring as Dean Malenko catches a break. Malenko looked on at Eddie Guerrero who looked angry now and he caught Malenko with another hard shot. Malenko climbed the steps and was about to get back in the ring, Eddie stayed on the knee and he kicked at Eddie. Malenko fell to the floor as he lost balance selling the bad leg.
Back inside the ring Eddie Guerrero followed up on the leg and applied a Figure Four, all this with grabbing on top of the middle rope for additional support and leverage. The fans laughed at this, the broadcasters tried to be clever reminding us this was infact “uNcEnSoReD.“
Dean Malenko still in a bad way as Eddie had the figure four slapped on, he held it until Malenko finally raked his face. Malenko up caught a series of European uppercuts by Eddie. Malenko attempted a backslide out of desperation, Eddie Guerrero flipped over him and went back to the Uppercuts landing another. Eddie then sent Malenko to the ropes and Eddie Guerrero drops Malenko with a spinning heel kick. Eddie Guerrero rolls into the ring over the top rope with a summersault, caught nobody home. Eddie Guerrero wont miss twice in a row so he runs off the ropes immediately after missing the summersault and hits a baseball slide into Malenko on the floor crashing into the steel.
Eddie Guerrero leaped over the top rope onto Malenko outside the ring with a crossbody attempt but Malenko pushed Guerrero in mid-air and he crashed into the security railing. Malenko with Guerrero placed on his shoulders outside the ring on the floor drops Eddie on the steel, safety railing buying himself a moment of time to re-group after a vicious, onslaught of offense from Eddie Guerrero. Dean Malenko climbed his way back in the ring and dropped a high kick at Eddie. Malenko then with an overhead wristlock into an armbar on the canvas floor. Eddie in mid-ring lands a hard chop to Malenko sends him to the ropes and drops him with a picture perfect backbreaker which gains some applause. Eddie Guerrero scoops up Eddie and drops him with a Powerbomb keeping the legs hooked, Eddie Guerrero bridges over Malenko flipping into a pinning combination and getting a two.
Eddie Guerrero flipped over by Malenko off the ropes as Dean Malenko attempted a backbreaker, Guerrero landed on his feet, ducked a clothesline a standing switch, Eddie Guerrero tries an inside cradle from no where, Malenko kicks out. Both men down, pulling out all the stops in a technical NO DQ contest.
Dean Malenko dropped Eddie Guerrero with a nice powerslam flipping Guerrero inside out. Malenko goes up top with a frogsplash, he had the three but he pulled himself off of Eddie Guerrero. Malenko was in control until Guerero hit a headscissors takeover, Eddie Guerrero found himself quickly in a powerslam by Malenko off the ropes as Dean regained control. Eddie Guerrero tried to slide out Malenko`s control with a headscissors and fell to the mat, Eddie Guerrero hits an Oklahoma roll on Malenko and a two. Off the ropes Guerrero is caught by Malenko and he hits him with a unique release german suplex. Nicely applied by Malenko who twisted Eddie`s body every which way before landing a suplex. Malenko looks like a beaten man and still dishes out punishment to Eddie in the corner, but Guerrero busts out a desperation move from the corner nailing Malenko with a tremendous tornado DDT.
Eddie Guerrero didn`t go for a cover, and Guerrero tried a Texas Cloverleaf, Malenko saw it coming and attempted some righthands to get out but Eddie turns him over!
Guerrero with Malenko`s own hold.
The nWo`s Syxx comes out holding a camera. Syxx the Cruiserweight Champion grabs ahold of the US title. Eddie Guerrero drops the Texas Cloverleaf and grabs ahold of Syxx distracting him outside the ring. Guerrero caught Malenko behind him and attempted to take his head off with the belt.
Malenko dodged the swing and nailed Eddie Guerrero with Syxx`s videocamera.
The match is over and we got a new Champion!
In the end at 19:14, Dean Malenko became the NEW US Champion after he Malenko pinned Eddie Guerrero after hitting him with Syxx’s camera.

This match was excellent. It showed that two second generation performers with a technical background could adapt in a rough-neck environment, they incorporated a lot of material here

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Just eye-candy for a Wrestling purist.

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****

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16) Chris Jericho (c) vs Juventud Guerrera in a WCW Cruiserweight Championship Title vs Mask Match -WCW SuperBrawl VIII February 22th, 1998

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You just know Jericho and Juventud would produce greatness together.

Jericho`s character was so entertaining here, even if a match wasn`t top notch or full of workrate, his persona alone made it entertaining.

Here with Juventud Guerrera you didn`t have to worry about any dull moments, I`m very surprised to this day the WWE has yet to sign him. I figured he`d be one of the first people over if he was still doing his thing. I`m glad the WWE acknowledges him at least on these DVD packages.

Juventud Guerrera hops around as the crowd chant “Jericho Sucks!“
Jericho hooks up with Jueventud at the side ropes, a clean break. Jericho backs off and walks in a circle. Jericho with an arm-ringer to Juventud Guerrera. Title vs Mask.
Juventud Guerrera flips out and slaps an arm-ringer to Chris until he chops out. Jericho ducked under by Juventud Guerrera and he hits him with a spinning heel kick to the belt Chris Jericho still had wrapped around his waist. Jericho finally takes it off as this move worked against him. Off the ropes Juventud Guerrera drops Chris with another spinning heel kick. Juventud Guerrera slaps a sleeper on him, Jericho grabs a handfull of hair and then reverses it into a hammerlock riding Juventud on the WCW canvas. Jericho to the attack once again chopping Juventud against the ropes. Jericho sends Juventud Guerrera to the ropes and Juventud hooks onto Jericho and sends him away with an armdrag takedown. Juventud Guerrera uses the top rope as a springboard taking down Jericho.
Juventud Guerrera off the top rope with a springboard headscissors out to Jericho on the outside apron all the way to the floor! Nice spot.

Juventud Guerrera chops Jericho outside the ring sending him down.
Jericho now tries to get counted out when Juventud Guerrera has took it to him, time after time. Here we see the brilliant Jericho purposely trying to get counted out.

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Juventud Guerrera drops a leg to him outside the ring, that will wake him up. Juventud chops Chris in the middle of the ring, Jericho then fights back to the back of the neck. Jericho with a hard forearm shot to Juventud. Jericho behind Juventud Guerrera in a full nelson hits a eelease german but Juventud lands with some good agility. Juventud Guerrera charges into Jericho and he picks him up and drops him clotheslining the top rope back to the canvas floor. Juventud Guerrera rolls to the outside apron and Jericho springboards off the corner turnbuckle and lands a dropkick onto Juventud.

Jericho trashtalks to the camera and followed Juventud on the floor, slamming him on the mat by the ring. Jericho charged at Juventud Guerrera and used the steel steps as a springboard, Juventud Guerrera was waiting for him and had that pre-thought scouted and sent Jericho crashing into the steel. Juventud Guerrera sends Jericho into the ring, springboards in and Jericho picks up Juventud in the ring and drops him to the mat. Jericho with a nearfall. Jericho kicks away at Juventud. Jericho sends Juventud into the ropes and comes off with a reverse elbow before an arrogant pinning attempt, one foot across the chest. “Chris`s COME ON BAYBAYYY!“

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Jericho lands a hard right to the head of Juventud Guerrera. Off the ropes Juventud Guerrera lands behind Jericho and rolls him through with an inside cradle catching Chris Jericho offgaurd. Jericho with a big kick drops Juventud Guerrera in the corner. Jericho then drags Juventud by the hair and in mid-ring scoops up Juventud Guerrera with a nice, standing vertical suplex. Jericho drops an elbow on top of Juventud Guerrera. Jericho with another nearfall. Juventud Guerrera slammed back first on the knee of Jericho who lands a nice back breaker, a submission hold by Jericho in a backbreaker formation, driving the knee into the lower spine of Juventud Guerrera. Jericho taunts some more to the official and crowd giving Juventud Guerrera a break to retaliate which wasn`t the smartest thing to do. Chris Jericho kicked at in the corner by Juventud Guerrera who chops Jericho. Running off the ropes Juventud Guerrera is then clotheslined down by Jericho, Chris goes for a cover but Juventud Guerrera is near the ropes.

Chris Jericho sets up Juventud Guerrera in the corner. Up top Jericho delivered a hard forearm to Juventud Guerrera up high. Juventud Guerrera pushed Jericho off the top, Juventud landed on top of Jericho going for perhaps a headscissors and Jericho with a defensive shove nails him off of him. Juventud Guerrera catches Jericho this time up high with a dropkick sending Jericho to the floor knee first. Jericho limps his way out and Juventud Guerrera springboards off the top rope with a springboard splash onto Jericho. Air-Juvi says Tenay.

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Juventud Guerrera tosses Jericho by the hair back into the ring.
Juventud Guerrera caught Jericho trying to escape again, sends him into the corner, Jericho elevated himself up but Juventud Guerrera dropped him on his back. Juventud Guerrera had him in position for the 450 splash and he lands it. Juventud Guerrera gets the three but Jericho had his leg on the bottom rope, the official realized this despite the bell ringing.

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Jericho meanwhile was in shock and got up behind Juventud Guerrera. Jericho took the legs out of Juventud Guerrera. Jericho stomped away on him nearing the side ropes. Chris Jericho scooped up Juventud Guerrera in a release German formation, Juventud Guerrera rolled out. Still Jericho lands a hard, stiff clothesline to Juventud Guerrera. Jericho in control again scooped Juventud Guerrera from in front of him but he elbowed out. Juventud Guerrera turned a side suplex attempt from Jericho into a tornado ddt, awesome counter. Another nearfall for Juventud Guerrera. Juventud Guerrera scooped Jericho up in the corner and from the top went for a headscissors, Jericho pushed him off and Jericho lands on top of Juventud Guerrera who hit an inverted atomic drop, a resourceful move from a landing Jericho.

Juventud Guerrera with a great takeover to Jericho from the top springboarding from the top rope up into a headscissors to Jericho. Jericho tried a sunset flip to Juventud Guerrera but he bridged out, Jericho then hit a reverse suplex. Counter after counter.
Jericho misses the Lionsault attempt.

Juventud Guerrera off the ropes caught an elbow from Jericho, he went for the Liontamer and Juventud Guerrera got out rather easily with an inside cradle, a pinning attempt at that!
Jericho eventually reversed an offensive move from Juventud Guerrera and he locked on the Liontamer.

Its over, Juventud Guerrera is done.
Jericho retains the title.

Jericho gets on the mic and he says that thanks to all the Jerichoholics, he is still the Champ! Juventud Guerrera is forced to unmask while Jericho continues the trashtalking.

In the end at 13:29 Jericho defeated Juventud Guerrera as he forced him to submit to his Liontamer.

This match is exciting throughout the entire duration. Its executed well, the contrast in personalities is evident but the athleticism (where the similarity lies) from both men was displayed top notch.

 

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17) The Steiner Brothers (c) (With Ted DiBiase) vs The Outsiders (With Dusty Rhodes) in a WCW Unified World Tag Team Championship Match -WCW SuperBrawl

Another match from the same show at Superbrawl back to back on this set.

Two of the biggest tag teams of all time meet here for the Unified tag title’s.

This one is put on the DVD for the significance with the Heel turn by Scott Steiner.

There is something humerous about Dusty Rhodes strutting to the ring with the nWo theme, in front of The Outsiders.
Scott Hall gets on the mic before the match, Hall does his usual Survey Says thing.

Rick Steiner begins in with Scott Hall, Schiavone points out its usually Scott starting the match, read into that what you will.
Rick lands a hard fist to the face of Hall. Scott with an arm-ringer and off the ropes runs into the rough Rick Steiner. Rick drops Hall with a Clothesline.

Rick Steiner had Hall grounded on the canvas.

Rick Steiner with a belly to belly suplex on Hall.
steiner lands a right on Hall and then dishes out more in the corner of the ring. Rick Steiner with more blows to the head of Hall.

Rick Steiner with a belly to belly overhead release suplex to Hall. Nash runs in and then is clotheslined over the top to the outside by Rick. Scott comes in and celebrates with Rick. Scott poses on top of Rick.

Scott then droped a double axehandle to Rick on top of him and does the nWo signal with Hall, the fans go crazy. Wrestling does not seem to have moments like this anymore. Scott
Hall covers Rick Steiner but he still wants to fight, he kicks out. Hall drops righthands to Rick in the corner of the ring. Nash and Hall get a series of shots by a determined Rick Steiner. Scott looks calm and cool out on the apron having just turned on his brother.
Nash clubs Rick in the head from the outside apron. Hall tried to get an Edge on Steiner and could not do it. He does so this time and Scott trashtalks him from the apron all at the same time.

In the end at 4:16 Scott Hall pinned Rick Steiner after the Outsiders Edge, and the Outsiders became the new Tag Champions.

After the match Scotty Steiner joins the Outsiders and helps them celebrate with the gold.

This match is what it is, a dramatic heel turn done well. Pretty entertaining for under five minutes thoug

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18) Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone vs Hollywood Hulk Hogan & Dennis Rodman -WCW Bash at the Beach July 12th, 1998

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One of those matches that were more about Media Hype then workrate obviously, and placed here on this set more for its significance rather then its quality.
Diamond Dallas Page was on top of his game popularity wise, after a great 1997 feuding with Randy Savage he was the Peoples Champion before The Rock.
Karl Malone begins in with Rodman.

Fans pop as the bell rings.
Malone and Rodman get set to go and Rodman grabs onto the apron then complains about hair pulling. Hogan obviously taught him a few things. Hogan and Page watch these two NBA stars just hop around the ring until it really begins.

A test of strength, Malone with a thumb to the eye on Rodman.

A standing side headlock by Rodman until he is pushed out of the ring. Hogan goes for a ten minute walk with Dennis outside the ring, Page does not seem to like it. Malone does the Diamond Cutter sign, and Hollywood tags in. In comes Hulk.

Hogan and Malone now get set to go. Hogan is all show so he would love this environment. Hogan and Malone seem to take what seems like forever before they tie up. Malone and Hogan tease a test of strength and by now you just want it to happen for the sake of it happening.

Malone ties up with Hulk and gets him in a standing side headlock.
Diamond Dallas Page has the crowd on his side and he tells Hogan he does not want him. He wants the Rod Man. Rodman tags in as DDP gets what he wants. Page shoves Rodman off of him when the meet in the center of the ring. Rodman sporting the nWo bandana continues on about hair pulling. I am also pretty sure a Boring chant starts up, and I really would not blame the audience.

DDP and Rodman take awhile yet again, this time Page spits on Rodman.
Page ties up with Rodman and he hits an armdrag takedown on Page surprising him. This was actually executed quite well by Dennis. Rodman and Page circle around each other with the Media surrounding the ringside area. Page and Rodman tie up yet again and DDP had a side headlock, off the ropes Page runs into Rodman and Page gets the etter of it as Rodman hit hard falling down. Hollywood Hogan encourages him from the apron.
Rodman with a side headlock and DDP fights out and is taken down, this looks sloppy and the first pinfall attempt (Thank god) comes from Dallas Page who gets a two after seemingly a nothing of a move. Page slaps on a sleeper on Rodman, pushed to the ropes, Rodman with two nice leapfrogs and then the two just collide bonking heads.
The crowd are not sure whether to laugh or cry here as they do both after this botch. Wow that is ugly and it has to be directly after the two most impressive aspects of the match. (Rodmans leapfrogs)
Malone goes after Rodman as he tags in, Rodman tags in Hulk.
Hollywood Hogan and Karl Malone get set to go.

Malone in an overhead wristlock by Hollywood Hulk Hogan. Hogan with some rapid fire blows to the bridge of the nost of Malone. Hogan chokes him out down on the eat. Hogan drops an elbow on Malone and chokes him out before tagging in Rodman.
Dennis Robman with a big elbow drop to Malone.

Hogan in again and he slaps a chinlock on Malone while driving the knee to his spine.
Page finally gets a hot tag and goes to work on Hogan and Rodman, a Diamond Cutter is teased (and I do mean teased) but Hogan works on Page. Rodman with a cheapshot to Diamond Dallas Page from the outside apron. Hollywood Hogan works him over until him and Rodman hit Diamond Dallas Page with a double clothesline, Hogan hooks the leg but Page kicks out.

Diamond Dallas Page gets his back raked by Hogan who then drives his boot into his throat choking him out down in the corner. Hogan with a boot to the face in comes Rodman just kicking at Page.

Rodman with a front facelock to Page and the crowd arent fans.
Hogan back in hits Diamond Dallas Page with a vertical suplex and a two. Hogan in control for only a moment of time until Page elbows both Rodman and Hogan.

Rodman comes back in and continues to cut off half the ring with a front facelock to Page. While Malone complains to the official both Hollywood Hogan and Dennis Rodman unload on Diamond Dallas Page with a series of cheapshots, punches and kicks. Hogan drops a right to Page. Hogan levels out Page with a big boot. Hogan goes for his signature legdrop, Page moves. Page makes the tag to Karl Malone who leaps in the ring and points at Hogan who is now begging from his knees.
Malone with a series of clotheslines to Hogan, Rodman comes in and he proceeds to dropping him. Malone scoopslams both men. Malone grabs Hogan and Rodman and bonks there heads together. Malone drives Hulk into the turnbuckle head first over and over, and then over again. Malone signals for the Diamond Cutter and the crowd love doing the taunt follow along.

Page comes in, hits the Diamond Cutter on Hogan. Malone drops Rodman with one. Behind Referee Charles Robinson the Disciple comes in and lays out Page.
Hogan covers Diamond Dallas Page, its over, a lot of the crowd cheer. Malone levels out the Disciple after the match with a Diamond Cutter.

So in the end at 23:47 Hogan pinned Page after an Apocalypse from The Disciple.

A bit long but this one is still pretty memorable.
It does hurt knowing we could of gotten two, perhaps three QUALITY WCW Cruiser matches from this time period, but then I remember this is called the Rise and FALL of WCW, one can then know why it was placed on the DVD.

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3/4*

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19) Goldberg (c) vs Diamond Dallas Page for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship -WCW Halloween Havoc October 25th, 1998

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Fun Note: The PPV ran longer than scheduled and as a result, several thousand people lost the PPV feed at 11pm which was during the World Title match. (This is shown during the documentary to Rise and Fall)

The following night, WCW decided to correct the problem by airing the entire match for free on Nitro.

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Here we get one of the better matches in the career of both men, when both guys were at there peak in terms of popularity which definitely helped the atmosphere in this match.

Diamond Dallas Page and Bill Goldberg were the two hottest stars of WCW in the late 1990s. (An argument can be made for Sting but here Page was the Peoples Champion)
Fans begin chanting for Goldberg.

This show was a pretty big disaster on so many levels already with Warrior-Hogan taking place.
Goldberg follows security and out comes the undefeated Champion.

Goldberg and Page get set to tangle as the bell sounds.
Diamond Dallas Page ties up mid-ring and Goldberg sends him to the corner a series of times and the fans love it.

Goldberg irishwhips Page to the corner hard as Page has landed on his back in the corner a few times to begin this ma
Goldberg gets hiptossed by Page and then the two hook up again and Goldberg takes Page down out to the floor as both fall through the middle ropes. Page goes for a walk and Big Bad Bill is waiting for him in the other side of the ring.
The fans chant Goldbergs name.
Diamond Dallas Page gets an overhead wristlock slapped on him by Goldberg reversing a side headlock, a sweep of the leg by Page. Goldberg pushed Page, Goldberg landed on his feet after Page sweeped him off his leg. Goldberg scoop slammed Page down and he slaps on a cross-armbar to DDP. Goldberg is actually wrestling, good stuff.

Goldberg then gets hit with a jawbreaker from Diamond Dallas Page. DDP goes for the Diamond Cutter and Bill shrugs him off outside the ring, through the ropes to the floor. Page shakes his head and goes for another walk around the ring. Goldberg with an armringer on DDP and then bends his wrist behind him, DDP rolls out and hits a droptoe hold to Goldberg, a nice hammerlock by Page.

Good chain-wrestling here.

DDP off the ropes tries a shoulder block and Goldberg uses his powergame with some defense sending Page out to the floor. Page spears Goldberg coming back in and lands a swinging neckbreaker. DDP sends Goldberg to the corner and then hits another Side Russian Legsweep to Goldberg. DDP gets a two.
Page with a front facelock to Goldberg on the mat and Bill slowly rises up in the hold from Page.

Goldberg neutralized for the moment by the challenger, Diamond Dallas Page. Fans chant his name and he slowly rises up. Goldberg then jabs at Page hitting him in the abodmen and then lands a hiptoss on Page. Goldberg with Diamond Dallas Page up lands a hard, striking forearm to his head, then to the kidneys. Goldberg into a front facelock, locks Page in for a beautiful hiplock and he slams back first to the Halloween Havoc Mat.

Goldberg runs with Page off the ropes hitting a side suplex, Goldberg scored a nearfall. Goldberg goes back to the arm of Page with a modified armbar-body scissors, Goldberg torking the arm of page back using his big legs as security. Page gets out reaching to the ropes. Diamond Dallas Page irishwhipped to the ropes and DDP hits a desperation headscissors to Goldberg. Bill hits a standing side kick, Goldberg goes for the Spear on Page in the corner and he moves!

Diamond Dallas Page catches a big break as Goldberg spears nobody hitting shoulder first into the ring post.

Diamond Dallas Page waits as he caught himself a moment, Goldberg tries to shake it off outside the ring.

Goldberg gets up slowly in the ring and Diamond Dallas Page lands a flying crossbody from the top, Goldberk manages to kick out. Page kicks at Goldberg on the mat. Page with another hard kick to the low back of Goldberg. Goldberg selling the shoulder reverses an irishwhip to Page and he hits a one-arm DDT to Bill Goldberg. Nice stuff.
DDP up first then signals for the end with a Diamond Cutter, Goldberg charged at him landing a Spear to a huge roar from the audience.

Goldberg favors the right shoulder as it took more out of his bruised shoulder-region that crashed into the ring post just a little bit earlier on in this match. Goldberg slowly goes towards Diamond Dallas Page in the middle of the ring, picks him up with his one good arm attempting a Jackhammer onto Diamond Dallas Page.

DDP blocks it and has a front facelock on Bill. Goldberg goes to Jackhammer Diamond Dallas Page, he lands behind him on his feet and lands the Diamond Cutter!

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The place explodes.

Both guys down, Page used up his energy on the desperation Diamond Cutter and he was not able to take advantage right away, this proves costly as Goldberg kicks out when Diamond Dallas Page finally manages to cover Bill.

Goldberg blocks Diamond Dallas Page and his suplex attempt, then with bad arm and all elevated him in the air landing a huge Jackhammer.

In the end at 10:28 Goldberg pinned Page after countering a suplex into a Jackhammer retaining the title.

This match was great.
Goldberg goes 155-0 and counting as WCW Heavyweight Champion of the world. One of the best matches in either mans career.

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*** 1/2

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20) Booker T (c) vs Lance Storm for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship -WCW Monday Night Nitro August 7th, 2000

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The final match on the Rise and Fall of WCW comes appropriately in its dying days and its nice to see someone like Lance Storm get a match on here.
This was the Nitro before New Blood Rising where Booker defended the title against Jeff Jarrett.

I went to the Nitro the week after this where Booker faced Jarrett in a re-match, it wasn’t one of the better shows I’ve attended but I still remember it quite well.
Storm was getting over big in WCW around this time with his Canadian hero type deal going on, Bret Hart made his final WCW appearance at New Blood Rising approriately standing next to Storm.

Booker T with a waist-lock go behind out of an arm-ringer, lands a reverse elbow to Storm off the ropes. Booker ducks a clothesline drops a flying forearm at the Challenger.

Lance Storm on the side ropes irishwhipped for the ride and Booker went for a scoop slam, Lance with agility lands on his feet and Booker elbows him still. Storm dropkicks Booker T taking out the leg. Booker on the outside walking around while Storm flies over the top rope out to the floor on top of Booker.

Look, Mike Awesome and some Lady are out with a bunch of burgers on commentary.

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WCW is not dying at all.

Booker drives Storm to the mat landing a nice vertical suplex. Storm with a sunset flip attempt and now he tries to lock on a Canadian Maple Leaf to the bad leg of Booker. Storm drops Booker with a jawbreaker and then goes for a thrust kick. Booker ducked a clothesline from Storm, he drives his knee into the abdomen of Storm. Booker off the ropes hits a leg to the back of the head of Storm.

Booker with a Spinnerooni.

Storm comes at Booker but he levels him down with a thrust kick. Booker kicks at Storm with a standing sidekick. Storm lands a kick on Booker, Storm attempts a crossbody off the top but Booker kicked out. Booker T recieved a slap from Storm, a waistlock go-behind by Booker into an inside cradle by Storm.

Lance Storm attempts the Canadian Maple Leaf to the bad leg of the Champ!
Storm pulls on the leg of Booker, the fans chant USA.
Good god I almost forgot how unbearable WCW and there commentary team were around this time period. Booker T manages to the ropes. Lance Storm grabs Booker and hits him with a nice thrust kick up high.

Lance Storm hits a snapmare on the Champ.

Booker catches Lance Storm charging towards him with a Spinebuster Slam.
Booker T goes to the top rope, a bit unchacterisitc for him and Booker drops Lance Storm with a missle dropkick. Booker picks up Storm and went for a Bookend and Storm kneed him in the abdomen. Booker then drops Storm with a bookend off the ropes and he gets the three at 4:56.

In the end Booker retains the title.

This match is pretty good for the time it got on television with no commercials. A ton of action between two very good workers. A pretty average match as far as historical significance goes but its still nice to see a match from the dying days of WCW.

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**

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Final Rating for The Rise and Fall of WCW = 8/10

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Say what you want about the Documentary being underwhelming, it is what it is. For some reason the consensus seems to be that it did not nearly hold up to the pace of the ECW Rise and Fall DVD Doc in comparison. Some may feel it is because of bias. And while it may have not touched new ground from the Monday Night Wars DVD, it still was a decent watch and the matches on Disc 2 and 3 (Especially Disc 2) more then make up for it. Infact the matches on Disc 2 are worth 3 points here alone. Truly get a series of gems which is ultimtely just what you want from a DVD set covering a company with a rich history full of them. Pick it up.