Written by: Arnold Furious
Having seen the success the WWF had garnered by signing Mike Tyson to help sell Wrestlemania, WCW took a page from their book and signed Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone to compete at Bash at the Beach ’98. It worked out really well for them. The show did a whopping 1.50 buyrate. Which was the best buyrate of the year including Starrcade. To put that in perspective the Great American Bash did a 0.75. So two basketball players doubled the buyrate. WWF was in general slaying WCW in terms of buyrate by this point. Wrestlemania did a 2.3 thanks to Mike Tyson and a stacked card. Summerslam did 1.48, which was better than any WCW buyrate all year BAR this one. Survivor Series did a 1.3, which was better than the rest of WCW’s buyrates. The huge buyrate pop was a good deal for WCW. It’s almost a pity for them that they totally fucked up their next BIG match they had lined up. See, Bash at the Beach took place on July 12th. But WCW had this big show lined up for July 6th, the Nitro before this PPV. It was at the Georgia Dome. They had 40,000 fans lined up and wanted to put on a show so unforgettable that Nitro would completely cream the WWF in the ratings, which it did. Why? Because they booked Hogan v Goldberg. Title v streak. On Nitro. Not, yanno, PPV where it probably would have done the 1.50 buyrate without signing two basketball players. Hell, put it on at Road Wild or Fall Brawl they could have had back to back HUGE numbers on PPV. Tease the match a little before doing it. But no, they just went ahead and did it. Goldberg kicked out of two legdrops before hitting the spear and the Jackhammer and he went over clean. WCW won the ratings war for that night but flushed their only viable remaining PPV main event down the toilet. Hence Jay Leno and the Ultimate WOYAH~! ended up getting drafted in for subsequent PPV deals (weird how it’s hard to say which is more ridiculous).
We’re in San Diego, California. Attendance is a rather weak 10,000 compared to the enormous show they did one week ago. Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Bobby Heenan who are all sporting really bad shirts. Crowd is already chanting “Goldberg”. At least the show isn’t on an actual beach this year.
Raven w/Lodi/Riggs v Perry Saturn
This is Raven’s Rules. Saturn is no longer in the Flock after their falling out last month. Apparently Saturn never considered himself to be in the Flock. Saturn bails to attack Raven on the floor. He whips him into a few rails. Saturn looks like a wrestler now and is wearing the kind of gear he had during the WWF run. Saturn chokes Raven with his shirt. Saturn falls off the ropes and hits a dropkick. Oops. Saturn with the drop toehold into the anklelock but Raven gets the ropes. I thought Raven’s Rules was no DQ? Why let go? Gutwrench suplex from Saturn. Hey, Lodi is dressed like Hat Guy! Saturn with a leg jam but it misses. Raven with a butterfly suplex and he bails for a “chair”. Or a table if you’re not Tony Schiavone. Heenan and Tenay both mock him mercilessly for that one. Saturn crotches Raven on the ropes but Raven ducks the slingshot clothesline. Raven with the Russian legsweep into the rail. Raven pins using the ropes behind the ref’s back for 2. Why not just do it in front of him? This is no DQ it doesn’t fucking matter. Raven with a sleeper but Saturn backs him into the corner to break. Raven goes back to it so Saturn uses a jawbreaker. Raven looks SO fucking baked here. At least he’s ‘with it’ enough to block Saturn’s kicks. Exploder from Saturn and he bails for a chair. He puts it across Raven’s face and hits the springboard legdrop for 2. Saturn goes for something else with the chair but Lodi and Riggs run in. Saturn destroys them both only to miss with the springboard off the chair and level impartial referee Nick Patrick. Everyone down bar the participants. Saturn bulldogs Raven into the ring steps. What’s the point of a ref bump in a no DQ match? WHAT? I really want to know! What’s the fucking point? Saturn isn’t even pinning so it’s not like he’ll miss a pinfall. Saturn stacks up the chairs, er, tables and puts Raven in the middle. Crowd senses evil but Kanyon saves Raven and Saturn tables himself. Why jump when Raven was already gone? Why does Kanyon help Raven when he hates him? So he can Flatliner him into a chair? Because that’s what he does. Riggs throws Saturn in and Raven pins…for 2. Shouldn’t Raven be out after that chair shot? Raven with the chair drop toehold for 2. What the hell is Kanyon involved in this before? Because he doesn’t have a match or something? And if he cares so much about the outcome why not stop the Flock interfering more? Riggs jumps in there but gets caught in a Death Valley Driver. Raven with the Even Flow DDT for the pin at 10.41. *. What the fuck was that? Saturn is a great wrestler who doesn’t need all this bullshit booking. This feud needs a cage match. Hell, every Raven feud needs a cage match because of all the shitty booking. The biggest concern would be Raven going completely backwards ever since DDP. It’s like WCW doesn’t want new stars.
FRONTSTAGE Mean Gene invites Eddie Guerrero out for a chat. He has a hair v hair match with Chavo Jr later. Eddie looks wasted too and his promo reflexes that. What the hell was wrong with WCW? Didn’t they bother drug testing it’s wrestlers at the very least on the day of a big show. Eddie says he’ll not even cut Chavo’s hair but shave his head.
Kidman w/Lodi v Juventud Guerrera
Oh, and we can’t get through a show where there’s a bunch of wasted wrestlers without Juvi could we? He now has “Juice” on his tights. This starts as a brawl before Kidman hooks a headlock. They run some lucha stuff into chopping from Juvi. Flying headscissors from Juvi but the crowd wants Flair. Juvi goes to dive but Lodi trips him and drags him outside. Kidman with a pescado but Lodi takes it instead. Juvi is up for the plancha. Lodi is hurt. He hit his head really hard on the Kidman pescado. Kidman hits a sweet Ocean Cyclone back inside. That was swish. Juvi landed on his neck. Kidman takes it to the floor again and dumps Juvi on the rail. Kidman dives off the apron and ends up in the rail. Juvi backdrops him. This should have been the opening match. Juvi with a sunset flip powerbomb to the floor. Called, what else, a “sidewalk slam” by Tony. Does he think everything is a sidewalk slam? To the ropes where Kidman goes low and hits the Rydien bomb off the top. He hurts his assbone doing that so delays on the pin for 2. Guess what Tony calls it? If you guessed “sidewalk slam” you guessed correctly! He really is totally inept. He needs to shut up and let Tenay call all the difficult matches. Kidman boots Juvi through the ropes. Kidman goes up top but takes too long. Juvi crotches him and hits a springboard rana off the ropes for 2. Northern Lights gets 2. Kidman gets caught in an Exploder for 2. Kidman nearly landed on his head. ZERO reaction from the crowd. Kidman with a block and a bulldog gets 2. They run a near falls but they switch in the middle of that. Juvi lands on his feet off a German suplex. JUVI DRIVER! That gets 2. Juvi runs into a spinebuster. Kidman has him set up for the Seven Year Itch (SSP), which misses. Now Kidman is lying prone for the 450 Splash and that’ll do it at 9.54. ***. Bags of effort from these guys. It got a little spotty but that’s what happens when you only give them 10 minutes instead of the 20 they were crafting excellent matches with in ’96 and ’97.
BACKSTAGE Lee Marshall chats to Konnan online. This is horrible and doesn’t end quickly enough for my liking. Apparently that’s the level of excitement on WCWwrestling.com. Groovy! I’m so glad I never went on that site.
Stevie Ray v Chavo Guerrero Jr
Chavo has gone completely nuts by this point. He has a water pistol and an inflatable inner tube on. Uncle Eddie comes out with scissors to watch this. He’s hoping that Chavo gets massacred here but Chavo dedicates this match to his favourite wrestler…Eddie Guerrero. “This is for you, little trooper!” Chavo quits during a handshake to keep the crowd amused and freak Eddie out at 1.34. Most of that was Chavo posing and dancing like a goofball.
Hair v Hair: Chavo Guerrero Jr v Eddie Guerrero
Eddie’s temper tantrum amuses me. Especially when he’s swinging fists at Stevie behind his back. Chavo bites Eddie on the buttocks and Eddie feels the need to show the referee literally showing ass to get his nephew over. Eddie hurts his foot kicking the ropes and Chavo mocks his selling by doing the funky chicken. Ok, I love this match. Chavo cheap shots on the handshake. BIIIIG backdrop and Chavo mocks Eddie once again as Eddie runs on his knees to hug the referee. Chavo bites him again and Heenan starts quizzing Tony about how he can’t possibly have NEVER been bitten on the buttocks. Eddie decides to get serious by dropkicking Chavo’s knee. DROPKICK TO THE SPINE! DAAAAAAAMN. BRAINBUSTER. Dropkick to the back of the neck. Great slingshot HILO to the spine from Eddie and he’s totally bossing this match now. Outside and Chavo gets railed. Back inside and Eddie breaks out the Gory Special. That doesn’t work so he switches to a camel clutch. Tenay reels off Eddie’s history in hair vs hair matches (I’ve seen the one loss Eddie had at When World’s Collide). “How does he know this stuff?” – Heenan. “I was there” replies Tenay. Indeed, and he also commentated on it. Chavo gets out and monkey flips Eddie into the ropes. Whirl backbreaker from Chavo but Eddie uses leverage to send him outside. Eddie exposes the floor but Chavo counters and suplexes Eddie on the concrete. Back inside and Chavo climbs but Eddie crotches him. SUPERPLEX and that is the easiest looking Superplex I’ve ever seen. They just clicked perfectly there. Probably done it a thousand times. Never seen a superplex made to look so straightforward. Eddie gets dumped into the buckles and Chavo climbs again. FROG SPLASH GETS KNEES! With that finish lifted Eddie lifts the TORNADO DDT! Eddie goes to the scissors early but the ref takes them away. FROG SPLASH…MISSES. TORNADO DDT FROM CHAVO! He goes to the scissors as well. What, are they both retarded or something? Eddie cradles the temporarily dumb Chavo for 3 at 11.49. ***1/2. Great until the finish with the dumb scissor stuff. That felt tagged on to an otherwise solid affair. Shame. Chavo shaves his own hair like a LOON. Why doesn’t the WWE book INSANE Chavo? He’s so much fun. “You want one too. We’ll be twins, me and you. Wooo” – Chavo. “Maybe he could take out his appendix” – Heenan. Chavo takes a drink from his water pistol and even shaves his armpits.
Disco Inferno w/Alex Wright v Konnan w/Kevin Nash/Lex Luger
Disco & Wright had a tag team around this time called the Dancing Fools. They’d later be known as the Boogie Knights, which is a much better name. They’re up against the nWo Wolfpac here so they have no chance whatsoever. The Fools attempt some Hispanic lingo imitating K-Dawg. They try to dance but get interrupted by the Wolfpac’s music. Seeing as it’s Konnan I’d rather see the dancing. Konnan fucking sucks. Worst. Wrestler. Ever. Wolfpac now no longer has Savage, who’s injured and Hennig, who’s defected so I officially hate the entire group. Chant with me now, “WOLFPAC SUCKS, WOLFPAC SUCKS, WOLFPAC SUCKS”. Nash gets the mic because that’s all he can do. Spout off a bunch of catchphrases. Speaking of which Konnan does the exact same thing in Spanish. Just pop off meaningless catchphrases one after another. Wolfpac really was wrestling for the retarded fans. Watching Konnan wrestle should be illegal. If anything he’s even worse now. The opening 30 seconds contain more blown spots than the entire rest of the show (minus Rodman, natch). What the fuck? Why keeping putting this amateur on TV? AND PUSHING HIM? It’s a fucking outrage. This guy can’t do ANYTHING. He makes Nash look awesome. Wright pounds Konnan on the floor and he can’t sell either. Meanwhile Nash jumps in there and powerbombs Disco because Konnan can’t do anything. Shitty Tequila Sunrise is on and it’s over at 2.15. -*. It’s amazing to me that they can put out a match that awful with only 2 minutes to do it in. Seriously, Konnan should get a medal or something. Services to sucking at everything. Sir Konnan, knight of the crapulence realm, master of the fuck up. This special bonus match has nearly taken the entire PPV down with its time filling nonsense. What a piece of shit. The Wolfpac music is actually making me feel sick when it kicks in now. Oh God, bad match and my lunch coming up! Die Nash, die!
Giant v Kevin Greene
And now out come the guys from other sports. Greene is a football player. I’m not sure why I’m supposed to care. It’s not like I’ve even heard of the guy. Apart from tagging with Mongo, which I’ve erased from my memory. Greene dodges Giant and playfully slaps him. You hit like a bitch! Greene suckers Giant into a crotching on the ropes. Greene charges into a BORE-HUG, which Giant converts into a spinebuster. Tony has no idea how to call that. Greene is trying but has no idea what he’s doing out there. Crowd wants “Goldberg” suggesting they don’t give a shit about Kevin Greene. I know I don’t. Well, that and it was supposed to be Greene/Goldberg v Giant/Hennig but Goldberg winning the title changed that and made this into a match I have to sit through. Thanks for that, WCW. I’d have kept the tag match as it was. Who cares if Goldberg is champion? They pop him like crazy anyway. They brawl outside and that’s messy. Greene gets the upper hand in the process but Giant happily shoves Greene over. Greene with a decent diving clothesline. I’d be impressed if he was training to be a wrestler. Instead of wrestling his fifth and probably final match. He tries clipping the knee. Three Point Stance but he runs right into the chokeslam at 6.56. ½*. Heh, liked the finish.
BACKSTAGE Lee Marshall quizzes Hennig on whether Goldberg is unbeatable. Hennig says he’d already challenged Goldberg before he was champion. Hennig says he’s more experienced and knows everything. He can beat Goldberg by using his experience and Goldberg’s lack of stamina. We get some clips of Chris Jericho provoking Malenko by suggesting that Malenko’s mother must have fucked around while Malenko’s Dad was on the road, which is why “you and your brother look absolutely nothing alike”.
Cruiserweight title – Chris Jericho (c) v Rey Mysterio Jr
This was meant to be Jericho-Malenko until Jericho provoked Malenko into attacking him thus having him removed from the match. Chris Jericho originally out here to do a little “soft-shoe routine”. Kind of like tap-dancing. But JJ Dillon comes out to stop him and he senses that a lot of the fans came to see Jericho defend his title here tonight. Jericho assumes it’s a “local jabroni” he’s facing. JJ points out he hasn’t wrestled in six months. Jericho calls him a jobber without even asking who his opponent is. “Chris Jericho equals buyrate” – Jericho. Work those smarks! This is Rey’s comeback 6 months after Jericho put him out. Jericho tries to bash him with a cane but Rey ducks. Jericho gets attacked and HOW. Rey springboards into a leg drop to the back of the head. Rey screws up a rana around the ringpost on the floor. Too ambitious? Jericho chop blocks the knee and stomps away. Jericho misses a corner charge and takes a walk. They fight out to the “beach” and Jericho gets thrown onto a sandcastle. Rey dives off the lifeguard station with a rana. “The sand may be a soft landing but I imagine it’s quite irritating”. Way to sell that bump Fat Tony! Back inside and Jericho rolls through a crossbody for 2. To the ropes and Jericho hits a super powerslam. Outside and Jericho picks up a chair using it on Rey’s injured knee, HARD. Jericho drops a knee off the ropes and hurts himself. Rey goes after Jericho’s bad leg and chair shots it. Chair w/dropkick to the knee. Springboard…nothing from Rey and the Liontamer is blocked. Malenko comes out to stare at Jericho although Jericho doesn’t even see him coming. Rey rolls Jericho up for the win at 5.58. *1/2. Aside from the cool looking rana off the lifeguard ladder this was a bit of a mess. I’d probably put that down to Rey just coming back off 6 months out. Ah well. Best to just forget about this one. Apart from that Jericho went back to the NWA rule book to get this decision reversed on the grounds that Malenko interfered.
POST MATCH Malenko chases Jericho backstage where Arn Anderson holds Jericho so Malenko can attack properly. So, the seeds are there for the reuniting of the Four Horsemen. It just seems weird they’d do that with Ric Flair still suing WCW.
TV title – Booker T (c) v Bret Hart
So now Bret is busted down to the TV title, which is for perennial midcarders and hard working up and comers. Its one of those matches where the fact Bret won’t win is entirely telegraphed. Like when Undertaker challenged for the IC title. Booker shoves. Bret says he won’t be “Mr nice guy” now. Why is Booker still TV champion? Why not elevate him? Why not elevate anyone? No one gets elevated in this company bar the guys they hand pick like Goldberg and DDP and even then they need HUGE crowd support BEFORE they get a push. They run a hip toss reversal spot where Bret goes over the top rope. Bret uses Booker’s fan interaction as an opportunity to dump him face first on the rail. Tenay tries to sell Booker’s knee brace, on the right knee, as being from the Best of Seven series even though the leg worked on in the series was the left. Outside and Bret rams Booker back first into the post. Bret goes to the Five Moves of Doom. Second rope elbow gets 2. Crowd doesn’t seem to care. Wow, Bret really didn’t care in ’98 huh? Booker completely fucks up the Brisco corner roll up. Booker with kicks and the Harlem Sidekick scores. Heenan talks about how Booker is too hurt to do the spinneroonie and whatnot. And yet he’s throwing kicks all over the place. Flapjack and the spinneroonie thus wrecking Heenan’s argument for the laziness of these guys. I can’t honestly believe I’m typing that about Booker AND Bret Hart but this is a total sleepwalk. Bret gets sick of being kicked and waffles Booker with a chair for the DQ at 8.28. Oh good grief. ¾*. I’m tired of complaining and trying to reason with the booking. Next match please.
POST MATCH Bret destroys the knee with chair shots. And I mean DESTROYS with multiple evil looking chair shots before the RINGPOST FIGURE FOUR. The crowd loves all this btw. Imagine them running this segment with Hogan instead of Booker? Imagine that reaction? Stevie Ray SLOOOOOOOOOOWLY walks out here to run Bret off. Stevie shows more animosity towards the WCW Doctor when he comes out here, helping Booker out of the ring and saying he can take care of his own brother. Crowd boos…something. Shouldn’t they be cheering Booker’s resilience? His guts? What the hell is going on?
CLIPS Hogan from Nitro. They had Goldberg wrestle Hall before Hogan and go over with relative ease. US title retained. Hogan graces Atlanta with his presence “Hollywood” style. Which apparently involves losing. Spear. Jackhammer. New champ. Crowd goes mental. Should have been on a PPV. What were they thinking? Eric Bischoff was thinking ratings no doubt but he wasn’t thinking clearly.
WCW title – Bill Goldberg (c) v Curt Hennig
I like that Goldberg getting the belt coincides with the aging midcard guy getting a title shot suddenly. Way to devalue your new champion! Hell, Giant didn’t have anything to do! He was booked in a nothing match that got called off because of Goldberg winning and stuck in another nothing match. Why not just book Goldberg-Giant and make Goldberg look like a proper champion? No Rude in Hennig’s corner. He had cancer around this time, which could well explain his absence. He didn’t die from cancer though, it was heart failure. The cancer wasn’t life threatening. Crowd loves Goldberg and chants his name. He’s 111-0. Hennig bounces off a few times. Hennig with a few chops and they back Goldberg up. Goldberg with a take down out of the corner so Hennig bails. Hennig climbs but Goldberg just stalks him and hits the powerslam off the ropes. Hennig single legs him and takes out the knee. Tony talks about this being a new strategy. You’d think one of those 111 guys would think of working the leg. Goldberg counters it into his own leglock but Hennig grabs the ropes right away. Perfectplex FOR 2. Goldberg pops back up with a clothesline. Spear. Jackhammer and that’s the match at 3.49. ½*. Well you can’t say Goldberg didn’t energise the crowd with his appearance. Shame they didn’t get him a bigger name to challenge. No disrespect to Curt Hennig but he wasn’t being booked as a big star by WCW during 1998. 112-0.
Hulk Hogan/Dennis Rodman v Diamond Dallas Page/Karl Malone
For those who don’t follow basketball the name Dennis Rodman or Rodzilla should still be familiar. His controversial public appearances made him a celebrity. Sure, he was a good basketball player with great statistics but when it came to wrestling he didn’t do so well. He skipped practice to be on wrestling shows during 1998, which made him incredibly unpopular with basketball fans and in fact could have even triggered the end of his basketball career. Malone is known as the Mailman for his consistency and is far more respected. He also prepared for this show in an attempt to make himself look good. Rodman on the other hand turned up fucked up. Hey, at least he’s behaving like a wrestler. Hogan requested FORTY FIVE MINUTES for this match. Thankfully not even Eric Bischoff is that stupid and let them have 25 minutes instead. Keep in mind Hogan was so bashed up by this point that he struggled with a 10 minute match. Rodman and Malone aren’t wrestlers at all. This just has bad idea written all over it. Yeah, it popped a buyrate. Fair play to them for that but don’t let it go long. DDP looks weird in his matching gear with Malone. They stall for AGES before we even get the bell. So the basketball players start and Rodman still has his shades on. Hogan removes them. Oh, good lord. Rodman is WASTED. His eyes are gone. Only he’s not a wrestler so there’s no covering for him. Rodman takes to hiding in the ropes for the opening, oooh, 3 minutes or so. Oh, wait HEADLOCK! Malone shoves him off and Rodman bails. Hogan wants in, which is for the best because Rodman is struggling with stalling so wrestling is out of the question. Malone is possibly a better worker than Hogan at this point in Hogan’s career so it’s no shock he controls and slams Hogan to pops. DDP tags in against Rodman. Oh good grief. He stalls some more. He just about manages a collar and elbow tie up before getting shoved over. “Boring” – San Diego. And it is! They’re absolutely right. Rodman spits at DDP. That’s probably 30% proof. DDP spits back. Rodman with an armdrag that DDP does a great job of doing by himself. DDP headlocks Rodman who promptly falls over (that’s #1). Oh dear lord. Well standing is a problem but Rodman seems to have the headlock down. DDP tries to push him off but Rodman doesn’t understand he’s meant to let go so Page ends up pulling him over (#2 at falling over). They get it right the second time and Rodman manages a few leapfrogs before falling over AGAIN landing his face into DDP’s crotch (#3). This is embarrassing. DDP is doing everything he possibly can out there and Rodman is just fucking everything up. Malone tags in and Rodman tags himself out and nearly fucks that up. I sometimes make light of some wrestlers claiming they can’t do anything right, like Konnan, but Rodman really can’t do anything. Although I suspect his mental state isn’t helping. Rodman jumps in for a cheap shot, which he just about manages without falling over his own legs. Malone starts selling Hogan’s weak ass shit. Hogan with a slam and an elbow drop. Oh God, Rodman is back in there. He manages an elbow drop on Malone. Make that two. Malone sure learned a LOT in a short time. Hey, if he’s getting bored in his retirement he could always wrestle. Hogan chinlocks away and then chokes. This really should be over by now. Rodman comes in and falls on his ass again (#4). Lay off the drugs Rodzilla. Hogan with a back suplex, which Malone doesn’t jump for. Malone gets a desperation tag and Page is in. He lays out Rodman for good measure before wailing on Hogan. Rodman knees DDP in the back and he FINALLY got his timing right. Hogan with the weight lifting belt and he hits DDP with it. Rodman looks winded on the apron. But, he hasn’t done anything! Hogan chokes away some more. Jesus Christ, this is boring. My only entertainment is waiting for Rodman to fuck something up. Hogan helps him not fall over on a double big boot. Tony thinks that “keeping your wind” would be where Rodman and Malone would excel. Well, Malone anyway. DDP takes more heat. How long is this match? It just keeps going. I can’t imagine how unbelievably tedious 45 minutes would have been. Rodman gets in the way of a hot tag although not intentionally. DDP takes more heat. Referee lets the heels switch without seeing the tag but doesn’t when it’s the faces. Hogan with a big boot. Old Glory misses with DDP rolling away from it. Tag to Malone. Hogan begs off. Is this over yet? Malone hits a few clotheslines. He slams Rodman and the crowd goes nuts for that. Hogan stands there letting Malone do the noggin knocker. Malone is fired up. He looks thrilled to be out there and he’s clearly worked hard. It’s just a shame that Rodman ruined the match. Malone with the big boot. He calls for the Diamond Cutter. In comes DDP – DIAMOND CUTTER. This is over BUT Rodman runs in and Malone hits him with the Diamond Cutter. NOW this should be over but The Disciple jumps in there and hits an ugly stunner on DDP allowing Hogan to cover for the win at 23.44. Yeah, they even put Hogan over after that…thing. -**. One for letting Rodman wrestle and his subsequent embarrassing performance (like just falling on your ass four times for no reason). One for putting the heels over when there’s no need for it at all.
POST MATCH Malone gives Disciple a Diamond Cutter. Then the referee for missing the finish. Lil Naitch takes it better than Rodman did.
Final Thoughts: The hard working guys aren’t moving up the card or even getting much of interest to do. Rodman turns up completely fucked up and embarrasses the entire wrestling profession during the main event and yet somehow sued WCW for contractual reasons afterwards. And they put the heels over. Again. You’d have thought they’d have learned. Don’t put the heels over in totally pointless one off matches. The nWo thing was a mess by this point and needed to end. Hogan wasn’t healthy and most of the roster didn’t care. And it showed. While there are a few good matches on the undercard and even a few good characters developing the overall trend of the shows is depressing. It’s the like they know they’re going to lose the war with the WWF. The tide has turned against them and all the politics is causing every potentially good story to just implode. And we haven’t reached rock bottom yet.