WWE Diamond Dallas Page: Positively Living Blu-Ray Review

I'm looking to catch-up on my WWE Home Video situation at the moment, so expect an influx of Blu-Ray and DVD reviews this week. Let's begin with Diamond Dallas Page: Positively Living, which has been available in the UK since the end of March from all the regular outlets.

The main feature is a new documentary that covers the life of Page Joseph Falkinberg and the story of his transformation into Diamond Dallas Page (legally Dallas Page since 2003), through his wrestling career in WCW and WWE and onto the spectacular rise of DDP Yoga. The Blu-Ray's 26 matches include outings with the likes of Chris Jericho, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Ric Flair, "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan and Eddie Guerrero...but is this set worth your time and money? Let's take a look. 

Positively Living Documentary 

As you'd expect with pretty much every doc WWE produces, this is a great watch. The story involves Dallas driving around some old haunts as we follow the story of his childhood and onto his career. His journey into pro wrestling is fascinating and those that are unfamiliar with how Page got into the business will surely find the most enjoyment here. The run-time of just over an hour means that perhaps there's a lack of depth at points, but the structure and flow of the overall film tells a solid over-arching story that may have been damaged by taking further stops along the road. All those you'd expect are interviewed, including a nice surprise from Kimberly Page, with their words, and the narrative as a whole, creating a real feel-good film. The moment when Triple H calls Diamond Dallas Page to tell him he's going into the Hall of Fame is tingly stuff, with Page's reaction to the call making it special moment. 

I would have liked to have seen the documentary spend more time in places and to hear from a more varied pool of interviewees, but taken on it's own value this a great introduction for anyone interesting in delving into one of the more underrated performers in WCW history. 

The Matches

Kicking off with DDP's earliest TV match alongside The Diamond Studd [Scott Hall] against Chris Sullivan & Brian Lee (World Championship Wrestling, Dec '91), things swiftly move into a curious Lethal Lottery Tag Team match pitting Page & Mike Graham against Jushin Thunder Liger & Bill Kazmaier (Starrcade, December '91). My curiosity for this one quickly wore off and I'm still not quite sure why this relatively lengthy bout so early in DDP's career is included. There's improvements seen when tagging with Cactus Jack against Dustin Rhodes [Goldust] & Barry Windham (Saturday Night, Mar '92), but the bout is cut short just when it seems to be getting interesting. A six man tag alongside Vinnie Vegas [Kevin Nash] & Scotty Flamingo [Raven] opposite Marcus Alexander Bagwell, Brad Armstrong & Johnny B. Badd (Saturday Night, Dec '92) continues to show signs of DDP quickly developing as a wrestler, but not much else. 

The first singles bout is with Johnny B. Badd (Spring Stampede, Apr '94) and after a decent jump in time, DDP is still not particularly crisp, however the Battle of the Gimmicks is driven well by Badd and has a pleasant flurry of action to bring it to it's conclusion. The set then begins to move past Page's formative in-ring days, jumping to a United States Heavyweight Championship match with Eddie Guerrero (Starrcade, Dec '96) with the pair connecting nicely in the first truly enjoyable bout of the set. A random mid-match piledriver and a screwy nWo based finish, as well as an uninterested crowd, harm what could have been a much better outing for Guerrero and Page. At first glance a match with some guy called Mark Starr (Monday NITRO, Jan '97) isn't particularly interesting, but the post-match swerve with DDP "joining" the nWo is quintessential WCW viewing and one of the highlights of the Monday Night War. No Disqualification with Randy Savage (Spring Stampede, Apr '97) is a deck-stacker, storyline based epic of a scrap. Coming from one of DDP's most memorable feuds, it's a shame that the subsequent Great American Bash and Halloween Havoc matches aren't included as having the trilogy one after the other would've been a really cool touch. 

A World Heavyweight title bout with Hollywood Hogan (Monday NITRO, Oct' '97) showcases the kind of performer DDP developed into as he sells his arse off for Hogan and gets a DQ finish in return. The post-match angle with Sting making the save from the nWo (a rag-tag bunch including Konnan, Vincent, Curt Hennig, Scott Hall, Scott Norton & nWo Sting) doesn't make this bout anymore worth it's inclusion. Hennig is the adversary in the next bout (Starrcade, Dec '97), where DDP earns his first US Heavyweight title in a decent outing. The two mix a brawling and wrestling style well at points, with Hennig heeling it up to the max to result in a fun out of nowhere victory for DDP. A match with Chris Jericho over the same title (Monday NITRO, Jan '98) is included presumably just to put Jericho's name on the artwork. A Raven's Rules match with...um...Raven (Spring Stampede, Apr '98) has some value in it's brawly weapons and interference based tomfoolery, but it's still not a good match. 

A tag bout with basketball chap Karl Malone against Hollywood Hogan & another basketball chap Dennis Rodman (Bash at the Beach, Jul '98) is needlessly long, but not actually that bad. DDP's ability to allow the celebs to shine and still look a million dollars was a special skill that not many have ever possessed. This match wouldn't have worked without Page in his role. A similar match with DDP teaming with comedian, non-wrestler Jay Leno against Hogan and non-comedian, non-wrestler Eric Bischoff (Road Wild, Aug' 98) is not as good, with Leno & Bischoff lacking any real athletic ability. The fact that Hogan sold an arm wrench for Leno means that pretty much everything else that goes on here is irrelevant. It could have been much much worse, but it's still shit. 

One of DDP's top three matches is here as Goldberg (Halloween Havoc, Oct '98) is our unlikely hero for a perfectly simple World Heavyweight title bout in front of a molten Las Vegas crowd. The two do exactly what they need to do to get that audience whipped into a frenzy and it makes for a satisfying watch. The next night, it's Bret Hart over the US Heavyweight title (Monday NITRO, Oct '98) and another solid match, that's well worth a look-see. There's more silly WCW nonsense in the aftermath, but when DDP and Hart get it going in the ring, it's pretty sweet. 

Dallas' first World title win is present, but it's unfortunate that it comes in the form of a shit show of a Fatal Fourway with Hollywood Hogan, Ric Flair and Sting (Spring Stampede, Apr' 99), with Randy Savage operating as guest referee. You'd think with such a fine list of talent, that these five lads would, at the very least, be able to coast to something mildly engaging, and perhaps this is, but for all the wrong reasons. The booking is shit, the wrestling is shit, the finish is shit, this match is shit, you should watch it, because I did. Luckily, the night after against just Sting (Monday NITRO, Apr' 99) is DDP's best match, despite dropping the belt. The heel work from Page is juxtaposed well with his earlier babyface matches here, with the second half of the bout being full of top drawer near falls and reversals. It all comes crumbling down later on in the same show when DDP gets the title back in another Four-Way, this time with Kevin Nash and Goldberg, which manages to undo the good work of the earlier bout, as very little happens and when it happens it happens awkwardly.  

The final WCW match is a bizarre tag match with Bam Bam Bigelow against Perry Saturn and (a mostly absent) Kanyon (Monday NITRO, May '99), that whilst containing an impressive performance from Saturn, has a bollocks finish when Kanyon finally turns up. Things close up with the only WWF match, which is a fun clash with Christian over the European Championship (WrestleMania X8, Mar '02), and whilst it doesn't set the world alight it's still an easy watch. 

Blu-Ray Exclusives 

A Television title match with The Renegade (Fall Brawl, Sep '95) is not good, not at all good. Then there's a Battle Royal for a World title shot, with a bunch of crabcakes, namely Scott Norton, Ice-Train, Dirty Dick Slater, Earl Robert Eaton, Rocco Rock, Johnny Grunge and The Barbarian (Slamboree, May '96), which is as much of a farce as you could imagine. A US title bout with Bret Hart (World War Three, Nov' 98) is a slog of a bout. Seriously, there's nothing bad going on, but there's just so much meaningless slop and for a PPV main event you would've expected a lot more. Things aren't helped by the near 20 mins of action concluding with a screwy finish either. 

The Giant [Big Show] provides an intriguing opponent for DDP (Starrcade, Dec' 98) next, with the pair doing some strong big man/small man schtick, which is different from most of the content on the set. Beyond the story, it's hard to get past just how green Giant is at this point and the fact this is WCW means the booking is confused as hell. A steel cage match with Jeff Jarrett (Monday NITRO, Apr '00) concludes a poor selection of matches, as despite the cage having a roof WCW still managed to use a screwy finish, which is then fucked up further by Kanyon. 

Everything ends with the debut of DDP for WWF (RAW, Jun '01), with Dallas doing his best with having to do the Undertaker's wife's stalker gimmick.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.78/10

Positively Living is a strange release, because parts seem extremely well thought through, whilst others appear thrown together. The documentary is a strong film, telling it's story well and hitting most of the major points, whilst also creating a strong image of the man behind the character. The matches begin by following Page's arc of improvement and then jump about to title wins and then kind of gets lost. The match quality doesn't always reflect DDP's body of work, with matches against Raven (Spring Stampede, Apr '98), Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Fall Brawl, Sep '96), the aforementioned bouts with Randy Savage (The Great American Bash, Jun '97, Halloween Havoc, Oct '97) and Johnny B. Badd (World War 3, Nov '95) all missing, as well as a stellar three way with Raven and Chris Benoit (Uncensored, Apr '98) for obvious reasons. 

As a whole the match selection feels little bit like "Hah, wasn't WCW ridiculous?", instead of picking the stronger and most enjoyable matches of Page's career. With the WWE Network readily available, I'd personally want, if not all, of a person's best matches, at least, the majority to be here in one place. The lest said about the Blu-Ray exclusives the better.

This is a solid release, but had potential to be a lot stronger. 

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Blu-Ray Review: WWE The Very Best of WCW Monday Nitro Vol. 3

WWE's The Very Best of WCW Monday Nitro Vol. 3 is out on on DVD and Blu-Ray from www.wwedvd.co.uk and all other good home video outlets. The set takes the form of a match and segment compilation, with Diamond Dallas Page appearing intermittently to narrate and lead into certain portions of the content. There 34 matches and 8 segments (with a further 6 matches and 2 segments as Blu-Ray exclusives) with the likes Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Bret Hart, Sting, The Outsiders and more feautring throughout the set.

Disc One

The opening match between Lex Luger and "Macho Man" Randy Savage (October 1995) is decent start to the set, with the pair stringing together some nice looking sequences, although like a lot of the matches on this set is harmed by having a "TV finish" (To be expected, really!) Johnny B. Badd clearly is up to wrestling Eddie Guerrero (November 1995) in the style of bout that is laid out, and despite some quite clever ideas, the end result is kind of shitty. Diamond Dallas Page and Sting (January 1996), put on a solid TV clash, that is certainly helped along by a lively Charleston crowd. The first real quality bout of the set is Savage and Ric Flair's (January 1996) World Heavyweight Championship clash, which features an electric finish, even if the commentary is more interested in pushing SOME GUY called Kevin Greene.  


Having Scott Hall and Kevin Nash on commentary makes a match between Rick Steiner and Sting (December 1996), that becomes more of a segment, ridiculously entertaining, as the two discuss whether is not Sting is part of the nWo. Another cracking in-ring segment with the nWo kicking out The Giant (December 1996) follows, with the amount of debris thrown into the ring by the fans being quite a site. nWo continues to dominate as the entire group and what feels like the entire roster brawl in the ring (May 1997), with Hollywood Hogan and Randy Savage's commentary adding something a little extra to proceedings. I'm convinced that the match compilers saw Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera (June 1997) and went "Yeah, that'll be all-right"...it isn't, it's botchy and Guerrera looks like he's never stepped foot inside a ring. 


Scott Steiner battles Randy Savage (July 1997) in a bout that features some competent action, but lacks urgency, harming the pace as the pair plod along and wait for the nWo run-in. The Outsiders are on sterling form in a tag match opposite Diamond Dallas Page and Lex Luger (August 1997), with one of the hottest crowds on the entire set and quite clever finish for television that left me wanting to see what would come next. nWo bitch-boys Vincent, Konnan, Buff Bagwell, Scott Norton and Rick Rude replacing the WCW signs (December 1997) with the nWo logo is interesting for about ten seconds, but quickly becomes a bore and runs WAY too long. The segment continuing all the way through to include the nWo Monday Nitro intro is a nice touch, but Eric Bischoff giving Hollywood Hogan two motorcycles and a limo (with a hot tub in it, because WCW) is mind numbingly bad. 


A cruiser weight tag team pitting Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero against Chavo Guerrero and Dean Malenko (February 1998) is one of the best bouts on the entire set, as one would imagine, but is hurt by Eddie trying to heel it up and the El Paso crowd not having any of it. nWo trying to recruit Rick Steiner (March 1998) did absolutely nothing for me, because I just couldn't give a fuck about Rick Steiner. The Giant chucking Scott Hall into a pool (March 1998) is at least a novelty to see, in a time when all WWE's venues look the same, but is still really quite silly, SPRING BREAK! Michael Buffer is the bane of my life, seriously every time this guy turns up I want to fast forward. He does the intro for a confusing Randy Savage vs. Hollywood Hogan bout (May 1998) where I'm pretty sure that everyone was heel. 


There's more nWo antics as Lex Luger joins the Wolfpac (May 1998), with so many of these jumps and without any real context it's difficult to get too involved. There is however, a superb segment featuring some back and forth between Hollywood Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone (June 1998), that's paced to tee and the crowd laps up every minute of. Things take a down-ward turn with Scott Hall's alcoholic "gimmick" in a match opposite Kidman, where Vincent refuses to give Hall a drink until he wins the contest (September 1998). It's easy to forget just however over Diamond Dallas Page was, but his over-booked contest with Kanyon (October 1998), is testament to Page's popularity if not anything else.


There's pretty cool stunt in a segment involving Bret Hart, Diamond Dallas Page and The Giant (December 1998), with Page offering a decent insight into it in his lead-in prior. A three way bout between Bam Bam Bigelow, Goldberg and Kevin Nash (December 1998) is at least an interesting combination of guys, but with the match coming just before Goldberg and Nash's infamous Starrcade bout there's way too much of an eye on that match for this one to get too interesting.

Disc Two

When DDP puts over a match between Booker T and Bret Hart (February 1999) as being "nothing less than a clinic", it's easy to be a bit sceptical, with what has gone before, but this is probably the best match of the set. Plenty of great back and forth between the two, who both look very comfortable in the ring, but it's a major shame that the focus of the show isn't on the pairs quality wrestling match. There's a strong story being told in Goldberg and Ric Flair's (March 1999) entry, but it's hurt by some stupid booking. I had absolutely no idea what was going in Diamond Dallas Page and Hollywood Hogan's brawling bout (March 1999) and quickly lost interest. A hardcore bout between Rick Steiner and Hak is thoroughly entertaining (June 1999), but the booking is mind-boggling as Sting makes an appearance. 


Whilst a tag match with Kevin Nash and Sid Vicious on the opposite to Sting and Hollywood Hogan (July 1999) might be star-studded, this is WCW...and the hallmarks of the promotion are all over the bout towards it's conclusion. There's a decent match between Sting and Bret Hart over the World Heavyweight Championship (October 1999) but even this bout isn't quite as smooth as it should have been. A Ladder match between Hart, Vicious, Scott Hall and Goldberg with Kevin Nash as special guest referee (November 1999) is a steaming pile of wank...perhaps one of the worst matches I've ever seen. Hart puts on another sound match, this time with Jeff Jarrett (November 1999) but similar to the earlier Sting bout it's nothing to go out of your way to see. 


A Tornado Tag Team match (which is also apparently Falls Count Anywhere) with Sting and Vampiro taking on Team Package (March 2000) is utter silliness throughout, but is actually very entertaining. Booker T and Mike Awesome's World Heavyweight Championship bout (July 2000) is another satisfactory encounter with some nice back and forth between the two and a CLEAN FINISH! To close off the set for the banter, there's a pre-match promo from SCOTT STEINER! A SCOTT STEINER PROMO! Scott teams with brother Rick for a bizarre match with Booker and Diamond Dallas Page. (March 2001)

Blu-Ray Exclusives

The Blu-Ray exclusives kick-off with a Scott Hall promo, oh you are treating us WWE. Hall teams with Wolfpac brother Syxx in a short but sweet bout opposite the Steiner Brothers (October 1997). Gene Okerlund interviewing Ric Flair and Bret Hart is a diamond of a segment with and shows just what both men could do when motivated (January 1998). I found Hart's match with Lex Luger (August 1998) rather absorbing, the bout tells a sound story, with the commentary team (Tony Shiavone, Mike Tenay, Larry Zybyszko and Bobby Heenan) being on their best form of the entire set. 


The bout between Bret Hart and Hollywood Hogan (September 1998) is going strong for the portion of the match just between those two, but as soon as the booking team and Sting get involved it quickly became a pile of horseshit. The two nWo factions brawling backstage (leading to the Wolfac flipping Hollywood's limo) is a lot of fun with plenty of stuff going on throughout it's very enjoyable in isolation. The exclusives conclude with an "Everything is happening" bout between Jeff Jarrett, Goldberg, Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner (June 2000) and not wanting to break from tradition, we close things with a truly wank finish.

Finally...

I think the first point I need to make here is that the idea of having a third volume of a "Very Best" series is pretty ridiculous...if the first volume was the "Very Best" then this volume surely can't be?


Diamond Dallas Page is a fun host once again, offering some nice personal stories to go behind some of the matches, however, I can't help feeling having a different narrator for different matches and segments could have added the extra context that certain bouts could have done with. Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo explaining some of the booking decision could have been very interesting...


The entire set is pretty watchable from start to finish and whilst some of the moments are cringe-inducing or head-scratching, a lot of them are decent television outings. That being said there isn't a lot that is worth searching out to watch, with only three matches standing out as true quality bouts (Savage vs. Flair, Guerrero & Jericho vs. Guerrero & Malenko, Booker vs. Hart). If you're a big fan of average, television matches then you'll enjoy yourself here. The segments are hit and miss, but there is some absolute gold at points, with the Bret Hart and Ric Flair interview on the Blu-Ray exclusives standing out as one of the best of the bunch.


The set comes across as a good representation as the overall feels of Monday NITRO with a solid mixture of match types and segments. If you don't fancy trawling through every episode on the WWE Network then this could be a good purchase for you, although I'd imagine the first two volumes would be first on your list here.


You can find the set at WWEDVD, Amazon, Base, eBay, Hive, Rakuten and Blackwells. With WWEDVD offering the best price at £22.99 for the Blu-Ray.

Retro Review: Snickers WCW/NWO Halloween Havoc 1998

Get your retro hats and your old-school slippers on and settle in for Retro Review!


In this edition we travel back to 25th October 1998 for the 10th incarnation of WCW's Halloween Havoc. Bill Clinton was the president of the United States and Tony Blair was the prime minister in the UK. B*Witched were a top of the UK charts with Rollercoaster, whilst across the pond, The First Night by Monica was ruling the airwaves.

The PPV was main evented by Goldberg defending the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Diamond Dallas Page, although due to WCW over running, many PPV providers cut off their feed before the match began. This meant that most house holds would have seen the Hollywood Hogan vs. The Warrior bout last. The show also features matches involving Chris Jericho, Bret Hart, Sting, Scott Hall, Raven and more. But was it any good?

Match 1 - WCW World Television Championship

"Lionheart" Chris Jericho (C)

vs.

Raven

After a load of random shit happens, it's 12 minutes before the first bell on Halloween Havoc 1998. These two guys are more than capable of stringing together an enjoyable opening bout, and for the most part I was into this bout. There's some nice ECW style brawling on the outside, although a horrible dive off the apron from Jericho hurts the early part of the bout. If the botchy dive hurt the match, a blatant low blow in front of the referee from Lionheart almost completely ruins what is actually a well-done closing sequence. There's just no need for it and it only leads to confusion over who is actually supposed to be the heel in the contest. By the time Jericho had reversed an Evenflow DDT attempt into the Liontamer (thanks to some tomfoolery from Kanyon at ringside), I'd lost interest with what should have been a good start to the show.

Winner - Chris Jericho via submission in 7 minutes, 49 seconds.


Next PPV - Jericho would successfully defend his World Television Championship again at the next month's PPV, World War Three, overcoming Bobby Duncum, Jr. Raven on the other hand wouldn't make another PPV appearance until March 1999's Uncensored, falling to Hak in Falls Count Anywhere match that also involved Bam Bam Bigelow.

Because there hadn't been enough bullshit already on the show (I've left out the Nitro Girls and the commentary team rambling to each other), Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff cut promos on the entrance way....for reasons. Hogan goes on about his attack on nephew Horace, whilst then moving onto his match with Warrior tonight. If someone had brought the PPV, they surely already had all the build-up they needed for the match, just stick a video package of the feud on before it and get on with things. There is no need for a promo this long.

Match 2 - Singles

Meng

vs.

Wrath 

"Let's put Wrath over strong!" "But Wrath is shite" "Aye, but we're WCW!" Seriously Wrath (better known as Adam Bomb) was shite, he looked knackered after two minutes and his strikes were some of the worst I've ever seen, poor old Meng (better known as Haku) doesn't do much to help things either.

Winner - Wrath via pinfall in 4 minutes, 23 seconds.

Next PPV - Wrath would go on to defeat Glacier at World War 3, whilst also competing in the Three Ring Battle Royal. Meng didn't receive another PPV bout until November 1999, with a swift victory over the Total Package at Mayhem.

Match 3 - WCW World Cruiserweight Championship #1 Contenders

Disco Inferno

vs.

Juventud Guerrera

Juventud Guerrera wrestles around Disco Inferno to produce a pretty decent Cruiserweight bout. There's plenty of high flying action from Guerrera which for the most part looks good, a Frankensteiner and spinning wheel kick off the top stand out as particular highlights. There's a couple of moments that niggled me, like the indy-riffic repeat spot when Inferno get's lost taking a modified rocker dropper and some bizarre moments where both wrestlers do stupid taunts instead of going for the pin and Inferno hitting a fucking low blow in front of the ref (That's two on the show so far). Seeing as this match was to get a shot at Kidman's Cruiserweight title later on in the night, I couldn't have been more annoyed when Inferno picked up the victory with a piledriver.

Winner - Disco Inferno by pinfall in 9 minutes, 39 seconds

Next PPV - Disco Inferno would take part in the Three Ring Battle Royal at World War Three, whilst Guerrera would drop HIS Cruiserweight title to Kidman (Go figure).

Match 4 - Singles

Alex Wright

vs.

Fit Finlay

The crowd could not have cared less about Fit Finlay (better known as just Finlay) and Alex Wright and quickly turn on the bout chanting "Boring" for quite some time. The pair do nothing to try and get the crowd onside, but personally I enjoyed the bout that they put together. Full of uppercuts and chops, there's a physicality that is missing from a number of the contests on the rest of the card. I thought the finish was rather clever also, as the two miss a big move each before Wright is able to hit a neckbreaker for the victory. The two should have tried something to get the crowd involved and interested, but it's clear that not enough had been done previously to give the MGM Grand Arena a reason to care about what was going on either.

Winner - Alex Wright via pinfall in 5 minutes, 9 seconds.

Next PPV - Wright would take part in the Three Ring Battle Royal at World War 3, whilst Finlay would skip forward to Starrcade in December where he'd team with Jerry Flynn in a losing effort against Brian Adams & Scott Norton.

Match 5 - Singles

Lodi 

vs.

Saturn

Squashy McSquash, because WCW. (Also this was Lodi's first PPV bout)

Winner - Saturn via pinfall in 3 minutes, 50 seconds

Next PPV - Saturn would be on the losing side of a tag team match at World War 3, teaming with Kaz Hayashi opposite The Cat & Sonny Onoo. Lodi would be unsuccesful in the Three Ring Battle Royal.

Match 6 - WCW Cruiserweight Championship

Kidman (C)

vs.

Disco Inferno

This isn't terrible, but it's definitely not any good. There's a nice call back to Inferno's earlier piledriver victory, with Kidman able to escape in a nice sequence, but it's repeated about three times and get's completely over played. Especially when Inferno looks like he's going for a powerbomb instead of a piledriver, just because that's what the reversal calls for. Just like Inferno's earlier match, their is a lot of frustrating stalling that makes it hard to suspend disbelief, like why is Inferno doing the macarena before hitting a piledriver? There's little attempt to tell a story off the previous match and even Kidman's Seven Year Itch doesn't look particularly good here. Way too long.


Winner - Kidman via pinfal in 10 minutes, 49 seconds

Next PPV - At World War 3, Kidman would succesfully win the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship from Juventud Guerrera (he'd dropped the belt to Guerrera on Monday NITRO a few weeks prior) whilst also competing with Inferno in the Three Ring Battle Royal. 

Match 7 - WCW World Tag Team Championship

Scott Steiner & The Giant (C)

 vs.

Buff Bagwell & Rick Steiner

Even Stevie Wonder could see the Buff Bagwell turn coming a mile off. Turning on your partner in a title match doesn't help the belts at all, but attacking your partner and rejoining the nWo and then walking to the back, just makes you look like an idiot. For some reason WCW was focused on putting Rick Steiner over super strong and despite Bagwell turning on him, Steiner is able to overcome both Scott Steiner and The Giant...for reasons. The Giant coming off the top rope for a dropkick was a really silly spot, that really wasn't needed in a match likes this. And now Buff Bagwell has won the tag titles, despite clearly not being interested. WCW. As per the pre-match stipulations, not only did Rick win the tag titles (because championships are clearly not enough) but he also got 15 minutes with Scott straight away.


Winners - Buff Bagwell & Rick Steiner via pinfall in 8 minutes, 24 seconds


Next PPV - Scott Steiner and The Giant would be involved in the Three Ring Battle Royal at World War Three. Buff Bagwell wouldn't be seen on PPV until May 1999 at Slamboree where he would unsuccesfully challenge Scott Steiner for the United States Heavyweight Championship. Rick Steiner also wouldn't be seen again until that PPV where defeat Booker T to win the WCW World Television Championship.

Match 8 - No Disqualification

Rick Steiner

vs.

Scott Steiner

I don't think I've ever seen someone put over as strongly as Rick Steiner on this PPV, seriously the crowd loves every second of it, but why oh why was Rick being treated as the saviour of WCW at this point?

Winner - Rick Steiner via pinfall in 4 minutes, 46 seconds (Clearly not fifteen minutes, so why the fuck did you mention it? WCW)

Match 9 - Singles

Kevin Nash

vs.

Scott Hall

I talked about this match a little in the Kliq Rules Blu-Ray review and the bout is still as annoying now as it was a few weeks earlier. Having Scott Hall play out his alcoholic "gimmick" on TV is just mind boggling, and the whole set-up of the match has me completely confused. Nash is supposedly the babyface, because he is. As he takes the piss out of Hall's problems throughout the match (shouting "Here's a double" before delivering two knees to the stomach) but then hits a two Jacknife Powerbombs before fucking off and losing by countout. This makes no sense, if Nash is happy enough to verbally berate Hall, why wouldn't he want to get the pin on his old pal?


Winner - Scott Hall via countout in 14 minutes, 19 seconds


Next PPV - Nash would go on to win the Three Ring Battle Royal at World War 3, Hall was also part of the bout.

Match 10 - WCW United States Heavyweight Championship

Bret Hart (C)

vs.

Sting

There is shit loads of stalling at the beginning of the match, as my hopes that this match could be any good slowly washed away. The commentary is absolutely horrendous before the bell rings, as someone quips that this rivalry is more important than the title. Then why the fuck is the title on this feud? If the feud has become bigger than the belt, than what's the point of having a belt in the first place? Also if this piss-poor Hart vs. Sting feud is bigger than the United States Heavyweight title then you might as well forget that belt altogether.


Man, Bret Hart vs. Sting is a dream match, isn't it? Both men use the same move as their finishers, so surely this will be good? To fuck is it. The match should write itself, both men try to work the back and both men try to lock in their signature holds. But noooooooooo. That would be silly, wouldn't it WCW? Bret Hart takes out the referee and then there's all sorts of shenanigans going on and the crowd couldn't have cared less. Hart is not convincing in his heel role, and clearly couldn't be bothered with this match. There's no passion from him and it hurts the match.


The finish is so silly, as Sting seems to be getting some momentum and then over fires on a Stinger Splash, hitting his head on the ring post. Which is fine, this works as a finish if you're trying to keep each man looking strong, I suppose. But then Hart twats Sting a couple f times with his baseball bat, before locking on the Sharpshooter for the victory (with the referee coming to just in time). The overbooking isn't needed, both men look so awkward with everything they're asked to do in there. This must have been one of the matches WCW fans people began to get excited about once Hart jumped ship to WCW, I can't begin to imagine how disappointed they were with this.


Winner - Bret Hart by submission in 15 minutes, 4 seconds *STILL CHAMPION*


As Sting is taken out on a stretcher, his selling is spot on and probably my highlight of the entire match. The commentary team however, begins to shill for the Hogan vs. Warrior match later on. WHY? The viewer is already two and a half hours into the PPV, you don't need to convince them about how good the next match might be. You do need to sell the severity of the injuries that Sting has just received.


Next PPV - Hart would go on to main event World War 3, in a losing effort to Diamond Dallas Page over the United States Heavyweight Championship (Hart had dropped the title on the Monday NITRO after Halloween Havoc). Sting wouldn't get another PPV appearance until April 1999's Spring Stampede, where he'd get a shot for Ric Flair's World Heavyweight Championship, in a match that also involved Hollywood Hogan and eventual winner, Diamond Dallas Page.

Match 11 - Singles

Hollywood Hogan

vs.

The Warrior

There's even more stalling before this match, because stalling is fucking cool. Hogan shouting "I'm going to kill this guy" in his stupid gimmicky voice, is not at all convincing.

You must have heard how bad this match is by now? If you've never seen it, go and watch it, just so you can share the burden that those before you have had to hold for so long. It's shitty, shitty match. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. The botched fireball spot. Why was this even a thing to begin with? What made the original match so good, was the simple but effective booking. So what do WCW here? They over-book it to shit. There's run ins, from The Giant, Stevie Ray and Vincent, and then Horace Hogan....the same Horace Hogan that Hollywood attacked on NITRO and gave stitches in his head. Yes, Horace Hogan causes the finish by hitting Warrior with a chair. AHHHHHHHHHHHH. 1. No one cares about Horace Hogan. 2. No one cares about Horace Hogan. FUCK THE WCW.

Winner - NO ONE AT ALL. 

Next PPV - Hollywood Hogan wouldn't wrestle on PPV again until February's SuperBrawl, where he'd defend the World Heavyweight Championship (Hogan won the title from Kevin Nash on NITRO) against Ric Flair. This would be Warrior's final PPV appearance in professional wrestling

Match 12 - WCW World Heavyweight Championship

Goldberg (C)

vs.

Diamond Dallas Page

The best match of the show and it didn't even appear on the show (For anyone wondering WCW overran with the PPV and the majority of PPV streams did not carry the main event, it was then shown on NITRO the next night)


Seriously, this is one of the best Goldberg matches you will ever see and almost certainly his first good match. As opposed to the rest of the show, it's straight-up wrestling match, which is kept simple with no-runs and no silly twists. After some nice back and forth wrestling early doors, which suits the face vs. face dynamic, Goldberg's missed spear attempt creates a really interesting piece of storytelling for the final section of the match. Goldberg sells his injured arm really well and we get two nice near falls towards the end, with Goldberg kicking out of a Diamond Cutter and then Goldberg unable to get the cover after a Spear. The only real complaint that I can have is that this match just isn't long enough for the two guys to really build something special, whether they were told to keep the match short because the PPV was already over-running or whether this was the original plan I don't know. 


Winner - Goldberg wins via pinfall in 10 minutes, 28 seconds.


Next PPV - Goldberg wouldn't be on the next PPV, because he was only the World Heavyweight Champion. He'd go on to drop the belt to Kevin Nash at Starrcade. DDP would go on to defend his United States Heavyweight Championship against Bret Hart in the main event of World War 3 (after beating Hart for the strap on NITRO)

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating (with main event) - 3.05/10
ATPW Scale Rating (without main event) - 2.78/10


We have a brand new lowest scorer on the ATPW Scale! This PPV is seriously, seriously bad. 


The main event is worth checking out, but pretty much everything else should be avoided. Hogan vs. Warrior is what most remember about this PPV and it is one of the worst worked matches of all the times. A number of other big name matches (Hall vs. Nash, Sting vs. Hart) fail to deliver, and the mid and lower card is even worse with no one looking to break out of their place on the card. Three matches that go less than five minutes, that's not cool. If you don't say FUCK WCW, at least five times whilst watching this PPV, then there maybe something wrong with you.

Next time - WWE No Way Out 2009

John Cena put's his World Heavyweight Championship on the line against Chris Jericho, Edge, Kane, MIKE KNOX and Rey Mysterio inside the Elimination Chamber! Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Triple H, Finlay, Randy Orton and more also feature on the show, which has one more Elimination Chamber match, a No Holds Barred match and an All or Nothing match. The WWE and ECW Championships are also defended.