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Konnan's forced frown is funny--like a Latino Mr. Hughes. I will say that putting Buff in this is actually a smart move as he's someone you'd expect might be ripe to take a submission loss.

Curt's selling isn't that good...I mean, in hindsight it wasn't SUPPOSED to look good, but...I have a headache.

I was underwhelmed by this--and that's too bad because I was really looking forward to see what Alex could do with some time in a PPV setting, and I don't hate Ultimo like I did the pre-'96 version. But this really suffers in direct comparison to the Eddie/Chris match we just saw (I know on the PPV there was a Steiners/Heat match breaking things up). The matwork just isn't as snug and while Wright definitely carries himself like a wrestler beyond his years, he resorts more to generic chinlocks instead of the focused and creative holds that the cruisers were using. Ultimo has a few nice high spots but also blows some stuff, as does Alex--I'm okay with sloppiness if it's a heated brawl, but with two guys who are supposed to be graceful flyers it stands out more. The closing stretch is better and I really like how Alex sold the danger of the dragon sleeper. But in the end, Keith's "too long" criticism is warranted even if his star rating isn't.

Terrific match, probably the best of Jericho's career to this point. The moves get more advanced but this is really laid out like a '70s NWA title bout, with matwork leading to a few highspots then the pace being slowed down again before ramping up to the finish. But the matwork is pretty intricate and focused at the same time, with Jericho going after Eddie's arm and Eddie working the back with some unique holds that really get the crowd's attention to a degree that you don't often see for submission holds in the U.S. This is the best type of "smart" audience--the kind that understands psychology and what good wrestling is. In an ideal world, Eddie would be springboarding into Nitro main events because of this and Havoc.

I don't really know the whole story behind the mole stuff and have always found it to be incredibly weird. This segment, which is akin to Vince McMahon sending off Randy Savage, just makes everything weirder.

Joey Styles calling a Bret Hart match, here or at any other point, is WEIRD. That aside, this was a hell of a bout that I thought actually naturally progressed from matwork to brawling--the chairs and tables all made an impact without being overdone. Bruce and whichever other Hart brother were useless and I agree, they were going into business for themselves. In any event, this got really hot when they started battling over leg submissions, with a great near-fall that had me when Bret reversed the spinning toe hold into a small package. I'm not the biggest fan of the double-pin finish, but knowing Funk he probably insisted on putting Bret over and this was a good way for him to do that without the local hero being completely vanquished.

The problem I have with Sullivan, at least '90s Sullivan, is that I recall all of his squashes being the same, as in move-for-move and sequence-for-sequence.

Yes, Lee supposedly had it in their contracts that all their matches were under "Moondog Rules," a la Raven in 1997 WCW.

I have NO recollection of this "interim commissioner" angle but as soon as they brought it up in the Eddie-Rey match I figured it'd be Piper. Milwaukee likes it, but I'm underwhelmed. Piper had enough contractual pull not to be portrayed as weak and ineffective as Dillon was, at least. Piper still has "an open contract from last Halloween Havoc," and uses it to make a Piper/Hogan cage match at Havoc, which doesn't make much sense. He also changes WarGames. If they want to use Piper as commissioner, fine, but I have no desire to see him wrestle again, against Hogan or anybody else.

Clever segment from a more innocent, pre-Over the Edge time. This is one of those instances where Schiavone's worked disgust may be crossing over into legitimate disgust. I can definitely see how people might freak out seeing this for a few moments, particularly the channel-jumpers.

Another segment that's fine in isolation but--I'm becoming a broken record here--is clearly designed to make the Horsemen look like idiots. Why are they not just running out and trying to trash the NWO right now? They have the exact 4 people Flair was waiting for earlier.

Terrific TV match, one of the best WCW TV bouts in awhile--Rey isn't "better than ever," but he is indeed back. I agree about the commentary--WCW still doesn't really know and would never figure out how to maximize Rey's considerable star power, something the big-man world of WWE did a much better job of. Here Schiavone subtly shits on Rey for doing his dives on a bad leg, and Larry fucking Zbyszko of all people does a good job of covering and putting Rey over for it. Rey's winning pin gets a huge pop but his return should have been treated as a bigger deal.

Security again fucks the Horsemen over after doing so the previous week--I'm not sure what the specific answer was, but you'd think that Sullivan or Taylor could have come up with an explanation to handwave away why this kept happening, like Bischoff bribed them or something. Hell, Doug Dillinger being an NWO secret agent wouldn't have been the dumbest turn ever. Hennig shows himself to be an inferior talker at this point to Mongo, of all people. Flair says that last week was the first time in his life that he was embarrassed to be a professional wrestler, which regardless of truth or merit is a heavy statement for him to be making. Flair cuts one of his best promos in forever--Flair promises repeatedly that he's not leaving until the NWO arrive, then they leave. Okay then. I like both of these segments--the parody and the response--in a vacuum, but the backstage politics so overwhelm the on-air product that it's impossible to ignore. Yes, this clearly seemed designed to make the Horsemen look weak and ineffective, and it would get worse before it got better.

Michaels and Helmsley, who isn't even Triple H yet, destroy the Bulldog as he's making a ring entrance and destroy his knee with the metal entrance ramp and a chair. Who the hell is this guy doing commentary?

Goldust gets DQ'd for repeatedly hitting Owen below the belt--that's two tournament matches that have ended with guys basically throwing their title opportunity away. Not really an effective method of getting the title over. Goldust gets jumped by the Hart Foundation afterward but Austin makes the save with a broom, then heaves it at McMahon who flips out in a great, crazy moment. Pillman shows us Part 2 of the XXX Files. More of the same.

Effective stuff here, and the new gimmick match was immediately put over as a big deal--I also like how they took the time to explain that the ring would be inspected before the cage was lowered, meaning no one could hide and come up from underneath. Shawn is still paying lip service to putting over his programs and his opponents--he's been surprisingly tolerable since his backstage brush-up with Bret, actually. Speaking of Bret, where the fuck has he been?

I wonder what that guy in the suit outside the Louisville Gardens thought of some weirdo in a gold bodysuit and half-rubbed-off facepaint chasing after a car. Dude Love comes out for a tournament match with Brian Pillman--he's got Goldust to be in his corner, which doesn't sit well with Pillman, who calls in and forfeits instead. I don't hate this angle, though I can see the problems with it, but guys forfeiting matches left and right and bait-and-switches with regard to announced matches does definitely reek of Russo. At the time, injuries sort of necessitated these types of moves but Russo grew to use them as a crutch very quickly. Pillman's XXX Files video does look appropriately sleazy and amateurish.

Slaughter intends to bring law & order to the WWF...whether the wrestlers, the executives (stares at Vince), or the FANS (big boos) like it or not. He also announces a tournament for the IC title and orders Steve Austin to appear at Badd Blood to present the belt to the winner--I'm sure that will go well. Austin comes out and drops Sarge with a Stunner and makes a move toward going after McMahon--I don't know if they had the Austin vs. Vince storyline in mind yet or not, but there's no question that they've made the decision for this Stunner rampage to climax with Vince. Austin threatens to hijack the announcer's table before leaving. Yet another electric segment involving Austin--the guy who in my mind is going to have to carry the load for the entire company from a personal entertainment standpoint for the last quarter of the year.

This is a fine performance by Shawn, taking some crazy bumps and doing his best to hold this together, pulling off the tricky balancing act of being a despicable cocky heel who thinks he can't be touched as well as being a simpering coward. Mike Chioda's bump from being flung over the ropes to the floor deserves praise as well. The ending is pretty ridiculous and overlong and overbooked, with HHH and Chyna coming in repeatedly and Undertaker essentially playing Whack-a-Mole with them (without being able to touch Chyna, naturally). It does a good job of establishing that a normal match can't contain these two but I wish the point could have been made a little more succinctly. The post-match emphasis on Undertaker's dive is one of those little things that separated the WWF from WCW--I'm not sure WCW ever had the capability of getting a singular wrestling spot over to that degree.

What are you defining as a "runway entrance"? The Dream Team, Hercules, Bundy & the midgets, Sheik & Volkoff, and Adonis all came out on the cart and none of them had music.

You could argue its slot one way or the other, but I'll just point out that the WM4 video box cover consisted entirely of two big photos of Hogan and Andre.

...and the fact that if not for Larry O'Day, the title would probably still be held up and in limbo in 2016.

A few other notes on this show that I found interesting: - The bringing back of the NWA was mostly Kip Frey's doing, and he got to his Executive VP position partly by being one of the Turner lawyers who were working on getting the Big Gold Belt back from Ric Flair. Frey actually wanted to dump the "WCW" name and re-brand the promotion again entirely under the NWA banner. This also explains why Watts was so keen on burying the Alliance--he essentially walked into this position with no quick and easy way out of it. - From a WrestlingClassics post: "As a point of interest, the O'Days from Australia were included in the tag tournament as a political favor because father Larry was on the NWA board and reportedly cast the deciding vote (after some prodding from Jim Barnett) that allowed the WCW contingent of Herd, Jim Crockett, and Gary Juster to strip Flair of the NWA title."

Re: Hercules...there's the MSG match with Sid (shortly before WM8) where he basically no-sells everything. He goes up for the power bomb and stays down for 3, but then immediately rolls out of the ring after that. Is that what was being thought of? I'm not sure if that led to Herc being canned or if he was already on his way out.

I haven't gone back and examined the Headhunters yet, but if you watch the Masked Man at the Iowa Clash with the big Hogan kneecap angle during the final run-in, that's CLEARLY Arn just by his mannerisms and body language. I have a hard time believing Arn would be able to successfully disguise himself even under a mask 2 years earlier. Edit: Oh Christ, I'm called out by name literally as I'm typing this up. I've developed a rep!