Superstar Sleeze

Kevin Nash vs The Giant - WCW Souled Out 1998 This was way more entertaining that it had any right to be. There was major heat for this and it felt like a real Clash of the Titans. Can't think of a time after this where The Giant ever felt like such a big deal. I guess Maywheather? WWE eventually found their footing with him as an upper midcarder they could plug into the main event when needed. Here, he felt like one of the hottest superstars on Earth. Nash to his credit seemed very willing to put him over and stooge for him. They did some great spots to build the tension and then The Giant just steamrolled him with great action. Nash actually busted some shit I have never seen from him, a fucking leapfrog and a tope. I don't care if the tope does not look like Psicosis the fact he tired was pretty damn cool and out over the aura how much this match meant. The Giant catching Nash and throwing him into the post was awesome. Nash is a big dude and it was crazy seeing Giant pick him up and just move him around at will. They sort of lost steam until the end when Giant was signaling for the Chokeslam. Hot coffee is back, BABY! Nash hits a low blow and then GANSO BOMB~! Seriously, a very scary looking spot and I am glad The Giant was ok. All in all an entertaining clash between two super heavyweights when I expected shit. Souled Out 1998 maybe the best PPV of the NWO era, everything has been at least good and am actually going to watch the entire PPV because how good the marquee matches have been. ***

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting vs Scott Hall - WCW Uncensored 1998 Crow Sting is just a shitty wrestler. The Avenging Angel character is wicked cool and a really genius idea, but fuck Sting just sucked at this point of his career. Hall was pretty damn funny with all his stooging and falling outside of the ring on his ass. I was always a mark for his staggered Giant walk after a chokeslam. Sting could not fucking sell cheap central heat to Eskimos. The Sting falling face first into Hall's junk was also pretty funny. Should they really be having a comedy match with Sting and the World Title? No, they shouldn't but it was the best part of the match by far because Sting could not work anyways. There is interference, a ref bump, Dusty Rhodes drops an elbow, but Sting hits the Slop Drop to win. Nothing match. If Hall was wrestling in the midcard and doing this schtick, it would have been awesome.

The GAB Savage match is absolutely incredible. One of my favorites from either wrestler ever, it is without a doubt my WCW 1995 Match of the Year. Ric Flair vs Arn Anderson - WCW Fall Brawl 1995 "If God Were A Pro Wrestler His Name Would Be Ric Flair", Amen, brutha amen. And look a Flair 3:16 sign! I have always fallen on the positive side of things in this controversial match because it was a compelling story between two men who said true to themselves from start to finish. The Enforcer is a double tough sumbitch that has been content (or proud) to be the Champion's best friend and protector. Anderson's game plan has always been to neutralize an opponent by taking a limb away rendering him powerless to be picked apart. We have seen this countless times in WCW especially in the amazing Dustin Rhodes Saturday Night 1992 match. Anderson could brawl, but he was a brawler per se. He wrestled with intent to maim and win. He was violent, but in an out or control frenetic way. He had purpose and that is every bit as violent as a bar room brawl. The story never called for Anderson to come in and tee off on Flair to beat him up. He wanted to prove his mettle against the measuring stick of pro wrestling and he was going to do it his way. He was going to take away Flair's arm and beat him down to humble him. He was going to prove he was every bit the pro wrestler that Ric Flair was and it could have been just easily him in that top spot. Flair says it all in the beginning "Are you sure you want this?" You could interpret that two ways. It is Flair cocky as ever saying I am going to beat you 1-2-3 and you are going to look a fool. Or is it the Nature Boy that does not want to fight his friend. From the outset, Flair was shown up by his Enforcer on the mat and standing up. He would ball up those fists and get tagged in the face. It woke Flair up to the reality that he was in a fight with his best friend and if he did not get his ass in gear then he would be the one humiliated. It was not two men who loathed each other, it was their pride at stake. When the chips are down, Flair will do whatever it takes to win a match. In a stroke of genius, for over a decade, Ric Flair would go up and over the turnbuckles run down the apron and either he get struck or thrown off the top rope. On this night, Anderson expecting to deck the prone Nature Boy, Flair finally pulls down the ropes sending him head over heels onto the floor. It was such a great spot and finally the Dirtiest Player in the Game is on top and he ain't too proud to use a ref's distraction to take a cheapshot at Anderson. In a way, at this point, Anderson has won, he has proven that Flair would be forced to go into his bag of tricks to beat. Anderson was the better pure wrestler, but Flair was the better cheapshot artist. It was time for The Enforecer to get his hands dirty and on the floor he starts the rapid fire punching to the head. At about this point, they do lose me a bit because it does become a bit of the Flair show as they just start throwing shit out as part of the grand finale. Flair gets a suplex on the floor and then a delayed vertical, but then the next thing you know he is hanging upside down. Anderson goes for the DDT and Flair hooks the top rope, but then Flair is getting thrown off the top. The Figure-4 stuff was incredible and super heated. I loved Anderson blocking, the struggle, Flair spit and then Anderson fires up. Anderson did a great job selling the knee and just when you think it is over. Pillman whacks Flair and Anderson hits the DDT. The Enforcer beat the Nature Boy at his own game by calling in the reinforcements and having that all-important Plan B. My minor quibble aside about the run up to the finish, I thought this was a great match that stuck to the story and was a match that only these could work. Arn Anderson was Arn Anderson he was not the Flair opponent du jour. My major qualm with the match was that Flair was ostensibly the face coming in, worked heel in the match and then got turned full-on babyface by the finish. I know Flair's preference to work heel and I think it was the right call to have him wrestle match as a heel because it served the story better. It felt they were going for a double turn in the match and then finish cements where they were going into it. I have lessened on this because Anderson/Sting does not have the same cache as Flair/Sting teaming and it was a good desperation tactic by Anderson to tear a page out of Flair's book. I would put this over Pillman/Badd, which on rewatch felt really, really long and overwrought. This match had the heat and the big match atmosphere, but there were too many lulls and it never felt like they ratcheted all the way up to a real boiling point, which you would have loved to see. ****

Exactly when I make references to telepathy or psychics, Miss Cleo is always my go-to. Spivey just looked like a styrofoam chia pet. Wrestlecrap had introduced me to this angle years ago and finally seeing it, it is most definitely Wrestlecrap.

Finally a reverse chinlock wins a match! Brutus Beefcake in all his forms is a shitty wrestler, but was he ever worse than as the Zodiac. His stooging and bumping was the lamest shit I have seen since Akeem. The first five minutes with Sting and Tenta was actually pretty fun. Sting was his usual hopped up on sugar self which is perfect for starting the match. I really liked his leap from one ring to the other. Tenta played a good big man foil for Sting. When he tries to replicates Sting's leap he ends laid out across both ropes allowing for Sting to kick him in the gut. It was fun shit. Then The Zodiac comes in. NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! The match does not pick back up again until Luger accidentally nails Savage or was it an accident? I really liked WCW main event booking at this time. It is a booker's dream having Hogan, Savage, Luger, Sting, Flair and Giant at your disposal. It is great because everything weaves them together in interesting and unique fashions that plays off old history. It comes close to achieving the full booking potential of pro wrestling. The WWF/E's overly simplified linear booking where the only person who exists in your world is the person you are working a program with has always bothered the shit out of me. Of course, there are deviations from this path, but for the most part WWF/E has followed this paradigm. The beauty of wrestling should be all the interconnections and shifting pieces in interesting, organic fashions by overlapping issues. All six main events have real motivations to hate or support one and another. Any permutation of face versus heel is interesting not just because of the characters, but because the motivations are in place to add to the match. I wanted to say something positive about WCW booking at the time because this match sucks. Hogan comes in and throws powder in everyone's face. The Desert Storm Match was way cooler. Hogan/Sullivan was not as fun as I expected, but The Giant's debut was pretty sweet. Talk about making a rookie a main event star immediately. WCW would eventually bungle The Giant, but I would say at least up until Hog Wild '96 and really through Souled Out '98, he was a legitimate main event with plenty of heat. I'd argue that from his debut through Souled Out '98, The Giant was never used more effectively in his career. Yes, he became a better wrestler in the WWF, but was never the credible main event player that he was in WCW. This is pretty counter-intuitive to the "Vince books big guys better" and "WCW fucks everything up". Yes WCW eventually fucked it up, but they actually got quite a decent run out of him first. Don't watch this match. Watch Nitro, it is way more fun and interesting.

Seemingly every wrestling fan from this era have fond memories of Harlem Heat, being a little younger, I never really got the big deal. It must be the entrance music. No memorable matches, feuds, angles or promos (besides Hogan, we comin for you...) leaves me scratching my head. It must be the entrance music. This match affirmed all my feelings regarding Harlem Heat. By far, the worst match I have watched in some time. It just dragged and dragged. I was actually pretty excited for it because I like Buck and Slater and was hoping them to carry Harlem Heat to a good match. It was kick-punch-hold forever. I couldn't figure out who the fuck was the babyface or heel. Turns out they were both heel, but the four of them were the lamest heels ever. Parker and Sherri become so bored they literally say Fuck It and go to town on each other. The Nasties apparently hate the hicks from the sticks more than the brothers from the hood. It is weird because you know it is going to start a Nasties/Harlem Heat program not a Stud Stable/Nasties program so why wouldn't the Nasties attack the new champs rather than helping them. Are the Nasties faces? I love what WCW is doing the main event scene at this point, but the undercard blows except for DDP, he is a hero to millions and a role model for the Free World.

DDP is my man! This is the match that got me a board the DDP bandwagon. He just tried so hard to get this match over by heeling and bumping and clowning as best he could. I have never seen a Renegade match, but he will leave you yearning for the Ultimate Warrior. Renegade's existence actually shows you that for all Warrior's faults he definitely had a unique charisma and aura to him. Great DDP performance and is there more before this? Or is this the first of many fun DDP matches to come?

This was not even so bad it was good. Gary Spivey is just funny looking and has nothing that resembles charisma. I only know him because of this angle. Was he actually famous in 95? Why is a psychic a motivational speaker? This was as bad as everyone has ever said.

Party's over, grandpa. You can have your pablum and P's & Q's, but nostalgia will only take you so far. Sure it appeals to your fellow bell-bottom-wearing, Three's Company-watching hippies, who revel in their glory days, but if you want to build a bridge to the future wrestling fan then you need a wrestling fan, who can speak today's vernacular and relate to their wrestling woes and ills. You need someone with Animal Magnetism to make all the men pack their ear buds in and all the women swoon. You need someone with a melodious and dulcet voice that will be filling their ears with aural candy. You especially need somebody with some HAIR!!! You need...you need..Reading that back, nobody my age would understand that promo so I guess you don't need me. So keep on churning out the awesome podcasts with or without me. This was a fucking blast. Though, I do look forward to my triumphant return to Titans of Wrestling to discuss...well that is Kelly and mine's secret. I'll be back to discuss Tito/Martel/Steamboat later this afternoon.

WCW Crusierweight Champion Rey Misterio Jr vs Chris Jericho - WCW Souled Out 1998 I thought they worked smart match around Rey's knee going above and beyond the typical Jericho works Rey Jr.'s knee over. Again it is so refreshing to watch a midcard match where both acts are over, huge "Jericho Sucks" and Rey is generally well-liked by WCW fans. Jericho is great at false sincerity early interacting with the crowd I wish they would give him the mic to cut a promo beforehand. The early part of the match establishes Jericho is a dick and has the weight advantage. Rey is able to overcome this with his speed, but eventually this cost him his mobility when he goes for the proto-619, which he used as a fake out move. I liked how after that Misterio tried other tactics to stay in control like grounding Jericho and even going after Jericho's illustrious mane. Rey is really good at selling the knee, but how much is really selling, we don;t know. Rey goes for another high risk move but Jericho hotshots on the top rope. Jericho is great at showboating. Rey works through the pain and gets one last ditch high risk move (somersault plancha). He blows out his knee. Rey tries to persevere, but they work a great finish where Jericho counters the hurricanrana off the top rope into a Liontamer. The Liontamer and Crippler Crossface both over on the same show was cool. I love the Jericho character and they work the best possible match given Rey's limitations.

Raven vs Chris Benoit - WCW Souled Out 1998 "Raven Sucks!" chants ring out early and are eventually replaced by "Benoit! Benoit!" chants. Midcard acts that are over, well how about that! I am a pretty big fan of Raven character, but I freely admit he has very few great matches to his name, but this is probably his best in WCW. He really looked on his A-game punishing Benoit and working hims over with simple, but effective moves. The early surprise attack with dropkick off the apron and then using the railing and bulldog on chair were all great moments to keep relentless Benoit down. Benoit did a great job selling all these attacks and how even though he usually only has one gear: forward; Raven has effectively stymied. The one issue with this segment was Raven almost worked it too neutral. The reason he was getting heat was because his character was so detestable, but besides the sneak attack he was not really doing anything reprehensible. I think with some more heeling and bit more chickenshit, this would have built to an even better Benoit home stretch and a bigger crowd reaction. Still for Raven on offense this was really good shit. I love the Benoit transition being a drop toehold onto the chair calling back to Raven doing that to Scotty Riggs (one of most impactful moments of my childhood. I thought that was some fucked up shit back then). Benoit absolutely and royally kicks the ever loving shit out of Raven. Give Raven credit he was selling, bumping and stooging for Benoit and making him look great. I wish I watched the angle leading up to this because it would have made the beating all the sweeter, but I remember enough about Raven to get me behind Benoit. In what may have been the stupidest fucking thing of all time, Benoit does a diving headbutt onto a chair that is Raven's face. My Dad used to shit all over Benoit for just doing the diving headbutt. This just takes it to a whole new level. The finish stretch is short and compact and put everything that needs to be. They tease a bit of drama with Raven nailing a DDT out of a Northern Lights Suplex. So now you don't know who will win because Raven is beat up he can't capitalize. When he goes for it again, Benoit puts him in the crossface, Raven enjoys the pain of the Crossface before passing out. You put over Raven as this sick masochist and Benoit as a unrelenting badass. I think if Raven reminds us why he is a heel during that opening stretch that this becomes the match of the night on a surprisingly great card. As it stands, it is very good match, but just missing that little something. ***3/4

Charles, do you think Hogan and Savage were not motivated in their Sting matches. Hogan is not going to bump around for Sting, but he is not going to bump around for anyone face or heel. I think there has been ways to have good matches within the Hollywood Hogan formula and Sting just did not try to sell or fire up. Savage flew around for Sting like a lunatic and Sting was the one who looked plodding. Did Sting look more invested in this match? Yes! I don't think it was DDP was more motivated than the other two. It was because for some reason Sting was motivated. WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting vs WCW US Champion Diamond Dallas Page - WCW Nitro 3/23/30 DDP is in that period of being a super hot midcard act like Austin in 97 or Rock in 98 that is useful to creating some really dynamic booking and fun matches. What I love from a guy like DDP in this spot is that he has a enough natural buzz and charisma that he generates a lot of interest and heat going up against one of the top dog in spite of the fact he is most likely going to lose. He still gains plenty of momentum from just being shown as an equal to the World Champion and there is no booking anxiety stemming from his jobbing. DDP does a great job throughout the match expressing through his body language and actions how important this match is. He is focused and determined to prove that not only he belong with Sting that he was a very credible threat to being World Champion. The intense lock up and just his posture made you believe he was taking this match very seriously/ Larry Z added a ton to this match by commenting that DDP may have jacked himself up too much and that the calmer, more experienced Sting may be able to take advantage of this. You see just that as Sting almost hooks the Scorpion Deathlock on a overzealous Page. Page sells how quickly it all could have been taking away. He doubles down and goes for the Diamond Cutter, but is thrown off. They hook each other in chinlocks and I am not too enamored with either of them going for it. I did not think either one needed to use the chinlock. Sting has looked the best he during this stretch because he looks to be trying harder on offense and also wrestling he did before the Crow gimmick. I think he was just more comfortable with that level of energy, facebusters and the out of control splash. Not everyone can reinvent themselves in the ring and once he got back to doing what brought him to the dance, he felt more natural and interesting. His selling still left a lot to be desired. I liked DPP getting the knees up on the out of control splash and he goes for the Diamond Cutter out of the corner, But Sting reverses into the Scorpion Death Drop to a huge pop. I loved the beginning and the finish. They definitely would go on to build off this foundation to have an all-time great WCW match the following year on Nitro. ***

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage vs Hollywood Hogan - WCW Nitro 4/20/98 The match I hated the most as a child, fresh off seeing my hero win the World Championship at Spring Stampede he faces Hogan in what is basically an extended squash.When you add together that Savage prefers taking heat when he is a face, that he was injured and Hogan loves working on top it really was not to be unexpected. At first, Hogan looked a little bit more plodding than he had in the other matches I had seen from this year. The badmouth was still there, but the same energy was not there. Savage was on top of his game acting like wounded animal that would occasionally lash out, but the pain would overwhelm. Not often you get to see Hogan work over a body part and it is admirable. Savage is great at peppering in heated hope spots that get the crowd to pop like using the belt and the Big Elbow, but he lands on the injured knee! Hogan goes back to the knee, spinning toe hold and a figure-4. This has been a great story in terms of Savage being too banged up and defending his title the next night and Hogan is just licking his chops. Savage going crazy and choking Hogan draws a big pop. The finish goes into overdrive with The Disciple attacking the ref. Beefcake has one of those faces that just can never recognize him when he changed gimmicks. Nash coming in powerbombing Hogan got a massive, massive pop. This makes the Goldberg title victory all the more intriguing because I am surprised they did not put the belt on Nash. Hart nails Nash and puts Hogan on top. It is not going to blow you away, but on WCW main event sliding scale this was pretty good. The novelty of Hogan working a body part was cool. Savage doing his crazed wounded animal selling keeps the match entertaining throughout. I have seen better Hogan performances on the year though. Resetting to Hogan makes complete sense now that I have seen the Sting title reign. He was in no shape to carry the belt. Savage as a one day champion is a fine transitional champion because he will be on the shelf soon and it sort of puts to bed the Hogan/Savage issue shifts to Hogan/Nash and Savage/Hart, which is not a bad one-two punch, but Nash is so interested in hanging out with his buddy, Hall in that miss their window to pop a big buyrate with Hogan/Nash on top. Bash at the Beach 1998, the two year anniversary of the NWO, Nash vs. Hogan on top would have been huge. Alas. I understand the reset to Hogan and I think they went with gutsier move to put it on Goldberg. I would have probably played it safe and put it on Nash. WCW just when you think you have them figured out they keep you guessing even all these years later.

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting vs Randy Savage - WCW Spring Stampede 1998 Fun fact: This is the first PPV I ever begged my parents to order because my favorite wrestler, Randy Savage was challenging for the World Title. Oddly, I had no recollection of this match until the end when all the memories came flooding back. It is weird because I still vividly remember the Hogan vs Savage match on Nitro the next night that royally pissed me off as a child. I don't know if it is the face paint, but Sting is just so frigging lame. The complaint seemed to be that Hogan took most of the SuperBrawl match and that is why it sucked, but as I expected Savage would be more giving, but still Sting did not look he gave two fucks. He was just going through the motions and his selling was just dogshit. Savage looked like a car wreck with the huge knee brace and the taped arm. Sting really needs to ditch the trench coat that's the second time sometime has attacked him before he could get it off. I loved Savage selling the punch and then punch through it. That's not someone no selling that is selling how fucking nutzo he is. Savage does his best to wrestle for one between taking bumps over the top rope, selling the arm and then taking back over on offense with good heel offense. Tony gets in one of his more infamous lines about the bales of hay being abrasive and the particulates getting into respiratory tract. He has a point, but man did it sound fucking lame. Sting just randomly stops selling, but not in the way that elicits a crowd reaction because he is hulking up. He will literally just stand up and stand there. It happened at least twice, It is honestly like he forgot how to wrestle. Liz gets in the ring and gives him a chair shot and then all the memories come rushing back. I know something big is going to happen BOOM! Liz takes a Stinger Splash. WOW! Savage is like kthxbai and looks to use the distraction to elbow Sting on the chair, but Hogan interferes. Sting hits the Slop Drop, but here comes Big Sexy to hit the Jacknife and pulls Savage to win. The booking fucked up Sting, yes, but he did not do himself any favors. He was shitting the bed in the ring. Resetting to Hollywood to transition to Goldberg was actually a pretty gutsy and intelligent thing to do. I am going to give WCW kudos for that. Savage tried as he might, but was too banged up to salvage this match. This is neck and neck with the SuperBrawl VIII for shittiest main event match of '98, but I think this one takes it because there was more Sting offense and Hogan's effort in SuperBrawl VIII is to be praised.

Hollywood Hogan vs Randy Savage - WCW Uncensored 1998 Worst match ever? No. For instance, I thought their Halloween Havoc 1996 match was much worse than this. Once again, Hogan looked game to have a good match and was very energetic. I really don't understand the complaints of the match plodding. They were cutting a good pace and Hogan never really rested once. I don't know if Savage's knee is already hurt, but they go into Savage babyface match mode, which means he gets the shit beat out of him for most the match. The big difference between this and Sting match is that Savage is selling incredibly well. You really feel like he is hurt and a bit discombobulated by all of Hogan's offense. Hogan whipped him pretty good with belt and wish Savage whipped back a bit harder. I liked the first Hogan cutoff sending Savage into the cage hard on a backdrop, which is the only spot to get universal praise from the reviews I read. If WCW were a bunch of pansies and let use see the double juice, I think this could be more entertaining. I am surprised how dead the crowd was for this because everything I saw was pretty decent and given the personalities I thought that would magnify the reaction. Savage hitting the double axe handle from the top of the cage was a crazy spot that woke the crowd up. The ref just letting them out of the cage to do some basic brawling and then head right back into the cage was lame. The finish was fucking atrocious with Savage & Sting standing off against Hogan & Disciple for an eternity only for Savage to deck Sting. Maybe the reason why Sting did not give a flying fuck was because he was booked like a dope. Stupid shit aside, this is not the worst match of all time. I think the cage inhibited them more than anything else because could have been helped by more brawling around the ring. It is a pretty average match, but Hogan and Savage both seem to have some gas in the tank.

I was watching Randy Savage vs Lex Luger from Souled Out 1997 and I enjoyed the match as a sort of sprint main event with great heeling and just that constant motion from Savage. He was just suffocating Luger. Luger was great at selling especially verbally. The Luger comeback in the ring was cliche, but the end of the show the last image is Savage getting racked and Sting putting Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock. WCW sending the fans home happy coupled with the great chemistry that Savage and Luger had I found the match to be pretty enjoyable. So I figure given the names and timeframes I am sure the reviewers shit on this match because of their blind dislike for these two wrestlers and the WCW main event scene. Part of me wanted to understand what people did not like about a match that I thought never dipped below average once. The following is from Sharpshooter Review published on 411mania in 2010 Main Event:Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage. Man, this would have been a great match in 1989. Too bad it’s1998, though. Michael Buffer does his typical announcer. LET’SSSSS GET READDYYYY TO SUCK IT BUFFER! They are playing a song I remember from some porno. Oh wait, it is just nWo’s music. Both wrestlers get barely a reaction from the crowd, as the crowd’s burnt out from, well, good wrestling. Savage runs away from Luger. Elisabeth hits Luger in the back. Savage sends Luger back in the ring. Savage comes off with a double axe handle for two. Savage has a nice bald spot going out. OOOOHH YEAH! Savage is giving the ref some heat because he is a heel. Savage chokes Luger because he is a heel. Elisabeth chokes Luger because she is a heel. But how could Elisabeth ever want to be with Luger? He does nothing for society. All he does is waste space! I take it all back. I swear, Luger! We all love you! They’re outside the ring brawling, for a lot longer than ten seconds. TNA steals so many WCW ideas! Now what’s the deal with companies stealing stupid ideas? Back in the ring, Luger hits the powerslam. Hall and Hogan come out, but Hogan stops Hall. Savage goes right into Hall, and then Luger puts in the RACK ( 7:02 ). nWo all do a beat down on Luger, but Sting makes the save. Luger puts in the RACK on Nash. Sting puts in the Deathlock on Hogan. Blah. ½* --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't mind him shitting on the match. I expected that. I really thought there was a systemic disconnect between how smart/internet/hardcore fans may view wrestling motivations in a modern context. Savage did NOT do all those things because he is a heel. He is a heel because he did all those things in the context of how, why, when, where and to whom. It such a simple point, but it is so critical. The first is a man playing role and needing to check boxes in order to accomplish a task. The second is a man that has performed certain actions that are reprehensible and despicable causing you to loathe that man. The first perspective is totally cold and analytic. The second is emotional. How you would react if someone swiped a referee for no apparent reason? Pro wrestling should hit in you in the gut. It is something you feel. I get that not every heel performance is going to raise your dander or have your fist shaking at the TV, but to view wrestling in a manner like Wrestler X did a spot because he is a heel or he is a face or because he is a coward or a blue collar working man or an egomaniac or an respected champion defeats its purpose. Your choices and actions define who you are. You want to understand why someone did something, but throwing a blanket, catch-all term is a disservice to great wrestling. The information my co-workers, friends and family evaluate me on is on things I say and do. Each new action allows them to re-evaluate who I am and all the different facets of me. If this re-evaluation is not taking place, wrestlers and wrestling becomes static. If we just chock up decisions of wrestlers to who they are at specific time, we are not learning about them. The disconnect between mind and gut that wrestling causes matches to become passionless and artificial. In a lot of ways, that is how I feel about current WWE save for a few like Rusev and Sheamus. I recognize what I am watching is good to great wrestling, but it is at the point where the wrestlers and agents just know what good wrestling is supposed to look like they just go through the motions. I think fans really do dictate the wrestling we see. Maybe not in terms of the pushes, but how the action is worked. You will explicitly see at least one match a RAW worked with the intent of getting a "This is Awesome" chant. My brother and I have a new favorite game where we guess how many spots they are a way from the chant breaking out. "Martin, I am telling you they are one spot away", "Brutha, they need at least two more nearfalls.". No one is really trying to win the match, get themselves over or an angle over. The intent of the match is merely entertain the fans. Wrestling should be motivated internally by wrestlers who want to win matches in the context of who they are and what is happening to him. Along the way, they should entertain you otherwise it is a shitty gimmick, angle or match. If the number one is to entertain then everything evaporates. The fans have influenced that greatly in way they respond to matches with a more head-first, gut-second approach. Modern wrestling is not aimed to hit you in the gut. It is played out for your head. It is because wrestling fans have become so disconnected from the product that the wrestling matches we watch now reflect that disconnect. Thank God for the WWE Network and Randy Savage & Lex Luger matches to save the day. Souled Out 1998 main event was a very inspiring main event.

Of course, everything in moderation and like I opened with in my response, I am sure it was not good and I am not going to seek out, but the way Charles described it shows the redeeming qualities of booking like that. One reason I have really dug Miz matches his return is because they all had interesting hooks. At first, it was don't hit me in the face. They really played up how big of a deal it would be for someone to hit them in the face. When Ziggler finally did at Summerslam, I popped, but I didn't feel like the reaction was as big as it should have been because A. it was not the finish and they still went for 5 more minutes & B. Fans aren't really trained to care about cool like hooks like that anymore. I think Mizdow stuff has incorporated in a really cool way for the most part. Now you send out most midcarders and really everything looks and feels same-y. Even in that Miz/Ziggler series, how did each match build on each other. They really did not. I have watched enough 80s WWF to know that within a single loop the match between two people were almost identical, but from loop to loop the plot advanced. Something new happened. Matches should be designed to get at least one person over or the angle over. These matches that just exist to entertain me just don't entertain me anymore.

Hollywood Hogan vs Sting - WCW Superbrawl VIII Vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship Sting looked like and wrestled like a sad mime. it was one of the most pitiful performances on a grand stage I think I have ever seen. Sure some wind had been taken out of his sails because they botched Starrcade '97, but still they put him over at Souled Out. Booking or not, when you are out in front of those fans, you control your destiny. He just did not want it. He did not look like gave one single fuck. Hogan on other hand was on his A-game. I was shocked at the amount of effort he was putting into this match. He was working a ton of great heel tactics. He was constantly moving and there was a sense of urgency. You got the impression the belt meant everything to Hogan. At first, he was not taking any chances. He was going to whip Sting with the belt and he was going to cheat like a muthafucka. You felt his desperation. Like any egomaniac, his hubris seemed to be his downfall, he would begin to toy with Sting and Sting would get a hope spot and he would quickly cut off as if it was a wake up call. On top of that you got the sense of entitlement from when Nick Patrick came in. "Do you know who I am, I am Hollywood". The egomania, the entitlement, the desperation, the cowardice all was a perfect confluence of a heel. Hogan has his limitations, he can't bump at all and his offense is pretty straightforward. It was never really all that boring because he was always moving and always coming up with a new way to cheat. Sting looked like all his charisma has been sucked out by a vacuum. His selling was awful. Standing around and staggering a bit is not selling. Get fucking pissed that this asshole is treating you like shit. Let the crowd know you are in pain. Anything besides what ever the hell that was. Maybe the problem was he was trying to get over a new gimmick he was not suited for. Sting the overgrown child hopped up on sugar in the ring suited him so well that this solemn and somber character was just hard for him to really execute. He needed to be a badass and he just felt like a sad mime. The finish sucked so hard. Savage clearly should have fended off the NWO members while Sting made Hogan tap to the Scorpion Deathlock. Having Savage scoop up Sting's heat and just have Sting pin Hogan right after the spray paint can shot was so lame. I don't really feel bad for Sting. I don't think he deserved the title after that performance. Did Hogan gobble him up at the outset? He sure did, but Sting could have done things to make that worthwhile. He could have called for more hope spots, he could have shown more fire, more pain, more anything really, but we got apathy. Hogan wrestled like his career was on the line and did a great job. Sting needed to carry his weight. I do not fault them one iota to going back to Hogan to transition to Goldberg. Sting blew it.

I believe you 100% Charles this is a bad match, BUT don't you wish WWE could pull a character piece like this off nowadays. That used to be their bread and butter in the 80s and 90s, who you were in terms of a gimmick or the angle actually affected how the match was wrestle. Jericho is the ultimate wussy and chump. He is doing his best chickenshit heel but in 1999. They go over the top and drive it home. They come up with an interesting way for Jericho to get Shamrock down using one aspect of his gimmick (Mr. Hughes) and hit him in the ribs with another aspect, his hockey pads, to cause internal bleeding which was the interminable storyline of 1999 that I remember. Nowadays you just send two midcarders out who just have a match, but there is nothing unique because they are bereft of a simple angle or gimmick hook. More character pieces in wrestling is what I would like to see.

Yes, WWE Road Agents that sterilize everything, neuter all heels, abhor limb psychology, and have the most artificial and least significant transitions. Watching WWE main event matches not involving Rusev or Sheamus is one of the most cold, mechanical and passionless exhibitions of sports entertainment that have ever existed. The only part where there were "random" transitions was in the end where the WWE lives and dies on the abrupt, arbitrary finisher transitions to pop the crowd. The problem of course with most WWE matches is the entire match is littered with video game transitions here in this match it was at least limited to the finish run. I do not see how they once deviated from the storyline of Strong Style Warrior vs Pretty Boy Prick with smart transitions and fundamentals. The strike exchange in this match was the best strike exchange of any puroresu 2000s and a perfect microcosm of the actual match. Goto loses his temper and lets the closed fists fly, a big no no in Japan, it feels significant. The ref admonishes him and BOOM nut shot. That's the story of the match if Goto could get Tanahashi he would kick his ass, but Tanahashi take advantage of every opportunity with fundamentals. Like I said in my review if they ended their with usual Tanahashi finish run this was Match of the Decade contender. They extended it out, but it is still a great match. I have no clue when either of them hit a "random" move before the ballshot. After the ballshot, the most egregious issue is that Tanahashi was selling a "shoot" neck injury and then ends up bridging on the neck and winning clean. I thought this was a smartly worked match especially unique to Japan in this timeframe that had an overkill finish, but still accomplished telling the story of the Strong Style Warrior being outfoxed by the Pretty Boy Prick.

Randy Savage vs Lex Luger - Souled Out 1998 I always thought these two had great chemistry with one another. I know a lot of people will write this off because of the participants and the year, but this was really energetic. It shows how much the knee injury fucked up Savage because he looked great here. He was flying around taking cheapshots. Savage and Liz were such a great heel tandem at this point with just non-stop heeling. Luger always seems motivated against Savage and was cutting a good pace here trying to get out from Savage's nefarious tactics. I liked the short quick crowd brawling and Luger really urgent on countering Savage. Luger's cliche finish sequence was pretty lame, but hell Torture Rack finish to win the match. I know Savage/Luger was hardly the biggest match on the card with Nash/Giant and Flair/Hart. However, neither of those matches would have finished the show with the image of Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock and Nash in the Torture Rack. WCW sending the crowd home happy is definitively a novelty. I thought it was a fun sprint, not PPV main event worthy, but a fun match. ***

Bret Hart vs Ric Flair - Souled Out 1998 The last great Ric Flair match or just the last great Flair match in WCW? I can't think of another great Flair match in WCW after this. Even a year later with Hogan, Flair still had some gas in the tank, but he was not given the opportunities just like Hart was given the opportunities. However, on this night, they made the most of what they were given to have one of the best WCW main eventer vs main eventer matches in the NWO era. What I loved about this match especially in stark comparison today is the the two-spot transition. It is never an abrupt change of control everything is earned. Hart shows Flair up early on the mat and with a figure-4. So Flair regroups and realizes that he ain't winning this one fair and squared. In typical Flair fashion, he takes over in the corner, but Hart still has enough left that Flair needs a back suplex out of a headlock and a well-timed low blow to consolidate control. Then similarly when Flair is chopping away in the corner, Hart fires up with punches, but it is the swinging neckbreaker and an attack on leg. It is a false transition as Flair pushes Hart into the railing and begins working over the knee. Flair worked the leg really well, but also kept up the illegal tactics. Hart busted out a nice enziguri, which I don't remember him using all that often. It was a great hope spot. I have not seen Flair/Hart from 92 in years so does Hart always do the strap down no-sell in these matches because that was a cool touch. I wish he deviated from more from his usual finish run and just beat the shit out of Flair and maybe threw some more cheap shots back in Flair's face. The superplex/Sharpshooter finish is quite decisive and a victory like this should have warranted a WCW World Title shot. But WCW's booking was in such disarray post-Starrcade that they never followed up on it until they turned Bret heel. Bret looked to pick up right way he left off in WWF with crisp offense and selling the knee well. Flair looked inspired, but a little gas. He made up for it with his tried and true tricks and his great verbal selling. It was a great story with Flair looking to prove he could still hang even if it was through cheapshots, but coming up short and thus making Bret Hart look like one of the big hitters if WCW was competent. ****

Randy Savage vs Bret Hart - Slamboree 1998 Man, this show was in Worcester, c'mon Dad, why didn't we go? Can't bitch too much he did take me to Boston Brawl in January that year and that was one helluva show. On paper, this show does not seem like much, but hell this was pretty entertaining. It was not as good as their SNME 1987 match, but compared to pretty much all the other main eventer vs main eventer matches this was a MOTY. Savage's knee is clearly messed up as he has a giant brace and his usual mobility is gone, which means that chaos is lost in a match that really needed that to take it over the top. I liked the both of them using heel tactics early and was glad that Savage did not do his usual babyface match where he takes heat immediately. The brawling was not the best ever, but it is good stuff. What worked so well was that Hart's formula meshes so well with Savage's babyface formula. Hart works on top in such a compelling fashion and Savage is so great at selling the knee. Hart looked so crisp with his strikes and that piledriver. I loved Savage's comeback with the one legged suplex. Then hitting the elbow drop, but injuring the knee. That was a great nearfall. I was surprised that the Northeast was not more into Hart. Things went into overbooking hell with Elizabeth (WTF) and Hogan (well at least that makes sense). Piper sucks. Hart wins by submission or maybe DQ, who knows, but finishes aren't that important in 98 WCW. The match was pretty good thanks to both's just natural charisma. ***1/2

Bret Hart vs Booker T - WCW 2/22/99 I needed to watch something other than Pro Wrestling NOAH and 1999 WCW sounded different enough and this definitely caught my eye. Bret is such an amazing offensive wrestler. He basically carries the entire match by kicking Booker's ass, but never killing him and everything was just so convincing and interesting. He is the closest version to an American Genichiro Tenryu. He just has such contempt for anyone who isn't him. I feel like it would very difficult to have a conversation with Bret if you had a different point of view than him. Could be totally wrong, but that how he comes off in the ring. I think it comes off really well in this match because Booker surprises him early, but it takes a couple cheapshots in the corner and a quick chair jab to the midsection to really gain control. Bret worked the crowd early with his antics and then kept them hooked by working in great highspots like the figure-4 and superplex. I really thought that Booker was the proverbial broomstick who happened to be able to do the spin-a-roonie. I really didn't think he added much in terms of offense or in selling (would have loved a longer shine). He had all the spots I remember WCW Booker having axe kick, side kick, side slam and missile dropkick/Harlem Hangover. I can see why people dug him because he had a good ring presence, was energetic, was young and could break dance, but he never did anything for me. All in all, I liked this a lot as an extended squash that was effectively masked as a competitive match by Hart's wrestling IQ and a hot crowd (I miss hot American crowds for midcard matches). Bret could definitely still go, very sad , he didn't get the extra time to make it count. ***

Hogan played this match really strangely as Charles alluded to insofar as pretty much playing the babyface. The mocking of the "WOOO" I could see construed as "cool" heel or just being an ass. The whole beginning was pretty much all Hollywood. You wanted Flair to make good on his promise that he was going to kick Hogan's ass, but they played the early goings like Hogan/Flair '94 with Hogan winning shoulder blocks and using his size to dominate Flair. Now once they got to the heat segment proper I thought Hogan was rocking it as a heel and really beating Flair up to the point of sympathy, but since Hogan had already won the fans over early the heat segment had weird reverse heat on it. I loved, loved Flair firing up on jelly legs a couple times. Those belt shots by Hogan were fucking vicious. You really felt like you were watching a fight. I really wanted to see Flair punch and chop through that to take control. Flair does eventually take control with low blows, which is fine to fight fire with fire, but seems like the crowd is firmly pro-Hogan. The double juice, the out of control violence and their aura could have taken this to US MOTYC for a very weak year. Instead what we got was five absolutely electric minutes followed by a pretty lame turn from David Flair on his father. I will say Torrie Wilson was hot and I mean double hot. Nash was right "Sable eat your heart out". It was disappointing because how surprising it was that they were working at such a high level even if it was only for about five minutes. It is too bad Uncensored ended up shitty as popular opinion says, but I'll be taking a look at some point. ***