WCW World War III 1998 11/22/1998

Written by: Arnold Furious

This would be approximately two months before I stopped watching WCW altogether. WCW historians probably know why. Hulk Hogan had basically quit at this point. His body was broken down and he was completely incapable of doing anything in the ring. The sham feud with WOYAH~! had proved that. WOYAH~! was done with because he sucked so bad but the contract he had with WCW expired before the Halloween Havoc match the previous month so WCW had to ink a new deal, which paid him $1M for that Havoc match. Oh yes, they paid WOYAH~! $1M for a match. A bad match at that. To put Horace Hogan over as the newest member of the nWo. Ahem. ONE MILLION DOLLARS. Anyway Hogan decided to run for President of the USA. I couldn’t make this shit up and decided to retire. Meanwhile with Hogan gone the WCW book went over to Kevin Nash. If you thought that would improve the company politically…think again. The politics under Nash’s reign of terror were SO bad they pretty much killed the company. How so? Nash decided it was time for someone to end the streak of Bill Goldberg and shake the company up. Originally Hogan had wanted to win the belt back BUT he wasn’t able to appear at Starrcade because he was off filming Muppets in Space. True story. So this whole President/retirement thing came up to cover for it. What was it really though? No. You see here comes the genius part. It was Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash working everyone including all the wrestlers into believing Hogan was finished. The brief ray of hope was vanquished and the company started to die off. Here the wheels are set in motion as Hogan disappears and Nash comes to the forefront. Let’s watch as the car wreck begins in earnest.

November 22nd 1998. We’re in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Bobby Heenan. Quite how Tony didn’t get sacked during 1998 I’ll never know. WCW surely must have realised he’d lost his credibility and needed to be turned heel and moved into management. Of course that would be something new and different and they weren’t up for doing that.

OUTSIDE/EARLIER Goldberg arrives at the arena. He’s here to watch World War III because God forbid we have a title match on a PPV. The World War III concept was so weak by this point that WCW didn’t bother doing it again. Just at the point where they’d finally figured out how to present it. Hogan isn’t here because he’s planning on announcing stuff later. We go over to Gene Okerlund who talks about picks for WW3. He’s really vague but eventually name drops Nash & Giant.

Glacier v Wrath
Glacier’s push is over after Goldberg injured his knee. Spending time out in WCW means they’ve forgotten you exist. Now he’s a glorified jobber. He’s pretty close to dumping the gimmick. Obviously Vince Russo brought it back a few years later but his flirtation with success is over. Wrath is Bryan Clark who used to wrestle in the WWF as Adam Bomb. Bischoff thought he was a talent raid and gave him a big push. His finisher is called the Meltdown. Glacier. Meltdown. Get it? It’s a pumphandle slam with a pretty name. Glacier sucks. He stalls in between Wrath throwing him around. Wrath no sells a dropkick. Outside where Glacier attempts a brawl but Wrath no sells everything. Not that they’re trying to replicate Goldberg or anything. Big clothesline on Glacier. Wrath stomps away. More stomps. Another clothesline. Wrath uses the ropes on a pin, which is totally against his entire character. Not that Clark has any idea what he’s doing. That’s why Adam Bomb didn’t work. That’s why Wrath would have failed if he’d stayed healthy. Wrath chokes away with a cable. This has gone on way too long. The referee here is Brady Boone who’s weeks away from dying in a car crash. Okerlund famously paid tribute to him on the WCW Hotline with “no one had a bad word to say about Brady Boone because no one knew who he was”. Gene Okerlund, ladies and gentlemen, what an asshole. Glacier manages a few sloppy kicks. Glacier with the Ice Pick (Asiatic Spike) but Wrath blocks it right into the Meltdown for the pin at 8.22. DUD. Eight minutes for a squash? Fuck you WCW.

CLIPS – Bret Hart. He says he’s not afraid of anyone. He says he beat Booker T up because he didn’t like him. He says Luger isn’t a good wrestler because he’s all muscles and no technique. He says Benoit only made it to WCW because he carried him in Canada. DDP is a punk. Bret’s promos sure improved and this is a decent one but he doesn’t believe in his character in WCW. Good effort though. He’s going to make an example of that “scum” DDP.

Stevie Ray w/Vincent v Konnan
Fuck you WCW. Even a blind retarded monkey would know this match would suck. And why does Mike Jones still have a job? What’s he do? Konnan spews forth catchphrases for a while. I hate Konnan. These guys can’t make anything look good. Crowd goes nuts. I hate you all. Konnan gets blown up after about 2 minutes so he has to go a rest hold abdominal stretch. Helpfully Stevie stays in it and Konnan actually gets bored and lets it go. Stevie kicks…nothing. Konnan back bumps it. Tony even points out that Konnan went over even though Stevie missed. What the hell reasoning is that? He fucked it up. Just ignore it. Out goes Konnan for Vincent to beat on him. Stevie goes to a chinlock because four minutes of workrate is enough. This is so pathetic. What is the point of having this on PPV? Stevie helpfully feeds his arm for Konnan to backslide him. Ugly, ugly, ugly. Stevie misses an elbow drop. Konnan moved before Stevie even took off but he does the elbow anyway. Vincent on the apron. Konnan swats at him. Stevie pokes Konnan in the “eyes”. Try, “shoulder”. Fucking hell. Vincent with the slapjack, which looks like a sock and he hits Stevie with it. That looked fucking horrible. Konnan punches, sort of, Stevie in the shoulder about 10 times drawing a DQ at 6.54. -*1/2. Remarkable stuff. Truly horrendous and predictably so. Fuck you WCW.

POST MATCH Booker T is in here to tell Konnan to get lost. Yeah, don’t book the guy with talent in a match. I am so rolling my eyes right now. Stevie shoves Booker off. “I don’t need your help out here”. Sure you don’t.

Perry Saturn/Kaz Hayashi v Ernest Miller/Sonny Onoo
Kaz hasn’t long debuted. Saturn is being bizarrely de-pushed despite a terrific run with Raven and the Flock and even Goldberg. He’s rewarded by wrestling these jokers. Miller who no one cares about and cheap heat Sonny, who isn’t even a wrestler. Kaz is a comedy jobber. So basically Saturn is stuck in there with three losers who are way below him on the card. Guess who takes the loss? Guess who gets buried? Guess who easily had the most potential from this match and yet is about to get fucked over? Miller gives Kaz five seconds to clear out so Saturn switches with him and kicks Miller’s ass. Miller runs away. Kaz in to kick him around a bit but Miller gets an armdrag and celebrates. Miller kicks Kaz back down and chokes him. Onoo comes in with Kaz down and he kicks at him. Kaz no sells it because Onoo is useless. Onoo breaks out cash to bribe him but he refuses it. Onoo tags out quickly and in comes Saturn as well. Saturn with an Exploder and he wails on Miller only to get suckered into a punch. Miller with weak looking kicks. How’d this guy get a push? Oh yeah, Eric Bischoff’s buddy. It’s not WHAT you know. Bischoff probably thinks Miller is a bigger star than Saturn. Miller tags Onoo in with Saturn lying down but Onoo is too scared. Saturn grabs Onoo and nearly taps him. Miller comes in but Saturn sees him coming. Double dropkick from the faces. Miller goes to the eyes of Kaz. Onoo with a few cheap shot kicks. Onoo’s kicks look better than Millers! Tony has been rambling incoherently this entire match. Kaz jawbreakers Miller and tags in Saturn. Kaz back in and he gets beaten down again. Onoo misses a few karate chops and in comes Saturn again. Onoo offers him money again. Miller dives in there but Saturn hits him with a belly to belly and an Exploder. Onoo is legal but Kaz picks him off. The referee is positioned by them. Miller boots Saturn in the side of the head and Onoo pins Saturn at 8.05. Oh FFS. Of all the guys in this match the one guy who under no possible circumstances should lose did. This was one of those moments where you could feel Saturn’s hard work over the previous year just get flushed down the toilet so Bischoff could push one of his buddies. And to job him to fucking Onoo. That’s just tragic. -*. Fuck you WCW.

That could be the worst three matches to open a PPV, ever.

Cruiserweight title – Juventud Guerrera (c) v Billy Kidman
Juvi turns heel on his way out by joining the Latino World Order. Rey Jr comes out to protest against him not getting a title shot (he’s in the LWO at this point thanks to losing to Eddie) but Eddie drags him into the back for a chat. All that booking really necessary in a cruiserweight match? Juvi is in charge from the off with a Rocker Dropper. Whirl headscissors but when he goes for a rana Kidman counters into a Rydien bomb. Emerald Fusion and a slingshot legdrop gets 2. It’s about damn time someone covered. Juvi gets a roll up for 2. Short powerbomb and an elbow drop gets 2. Kidman counters going into the corner and lays Juvi out with a clothesline. To the ropes and Juvi’s tornado DDT is blocked but he switches into a hangover on the ropes. He comes off the top but Kidman nails him with a dropkick on the way down for 2. Outside and Kidman hits a pescado. To the ropes again and Juvi HITS A DIVING RANA TO THE FLOOR OFF THE APRON! Back inside and Juvi covers for 2. BRAINBUSTER gets 2. Slingshot springboard missile dropkick from Juvi and Kidman bails to recover. PLAAAAANCHAAAAAA from Juvi. Back inside and Juvi hits a slingshot legdrop for 2. They fight into the other ring and Juvi hits a double springboard dropkick to the knee (although he almost fell off the 2nd rope and was aiming higher). That gets 2. Kidman comes back with a GREAT dropkick. Side salto out of a suplex gets 2. Kidman misses into the corner and Juvi hits the ropes. Kidman crotches him though and headscissors back into the first ring. Kidman dives across from one ring to the other with a crossbody for 2. Kidman gets backdropped into ring 3 landing on the ropes. Juvi jumps over into a SUPER RANA for 2. Juvi Driver is blocked but Juvi reverses into the JUVI DRIVER at the 2nd attempt. It’s a double KO on that though. Juvi is up first and he climbs the ropes. 450 splash but he lands on his feet when it misses and hits a RANA INTO A PIN…for 2 although it looked like 3. Juvi looks for a powerbomb but YOU CAN’T POWERBOMB KIDMAN and he faceplants for 2. OCEAN CYCLONE and now Kidman climbs. Juvi crotches him though. Out comes Rey Mysterio Jr to help Kidman preventing a super rana and allowing the SHOOTING STAR PRESS to finish for Kidman, the new champion, at 15.25. ***1/2. Highly spotty but everything worked so kudos to these guys for putting on a good show. FINALLY a good match. Bout time!

POST MATCH Eddy gets on Rey’s case for helping Kidman telling him he’s either with the LWO or against them. Rey rips the shirt off and the entire LWO chase him to the back. Heh. It was a little cartoony but that works for me.

CLIPS – Nash trying to make friends with Scott Hall. They still have a match tonight. Hall is on the outs with the Black & White.

Scott Steiner w/Buff Bagwell/his own referee v Rick Steiner
They still haven’t been able to do this match. WCW officials have now refused to referee Scott Steiner matches so he’s brought in his own corrupt ref. Rick is getting beaten up by the Black & White backstage, in particular the Giant, so he drags his remains out here. They can’t even do this match ONE FUCKING TIME? The “ref” allows a 2 on 1 with Bagwell remaining in there. Rick comes back with a few stern lariats. He’s holding his right arm. Ref gets punked out but Scott goes low. This is a total mess. Tony bemoans a lack of match between these two guys. Anyway GOLDBERG has seen enough of this and he runs in there. Scott tries to ignore him. Goldberg is persistent so Scott hammers him. Goldberg SPEARS him to the biggest pop of the night. Buff with a chair shot but Goldberg no sells that. The referee attacks so Goldberg presses him into the other ring. Goldberg celebrates with Rick and this was about 3 minutes of bullshit. -** for putting this shit on a PPV. Fuck you WCW

Scott Hall w/nWo Hollywood v Kevin Nash
Crowd is still baying for Goldberg, which shows you how dumb it was to not book the world champion in a match on this PPV. That girl holding the sign up in the front row – hottest fan, ever. And I’m not just saying that because it looks like a certain girl I know. ANYWAY in comes Eric Bischoff. He grabs the mic. It’s survey time. The survey says “get him”. Hall gets his ass kicked by the entire Black and White and out comes Nash to make the save because the Black and White are all jobbers. The Outsiders clear out the ring and the crowd chants for them. Hall offers the hand sign but Nash walks away. They can’t put the match on. They can’t do the reunion. Fuck you WCW.

TV title – Chris Jericho (c) w/Ralphus v Bobby Duncum Jr
No one cares about Duncum. He’s not long debuted and doesn’t have much personality. Jericho on the other hand has a huge personality. He’s one of the most over heels in the company. Jericho gets shoved over and bails to hug Ralphus. Awww. Back inside Jericho controls with some illegal hair pulling. Oriental crossbow is on and Jericho throws him off to celebrate. Jericho flips a bit so Duncum gives him the old short arm clothesline. Jericho bails but gets suplexed back in for 1. Duncum with a chinlock. Sign in crowd – “I’d rather be at the bar”. Amen, brother. But why buy tickets? Dumbshit. Outside and Duncum gets the cowbell but the referee won’t let him use it. Jericho gets sent head first into the front row. Jericho borrows a beverage to nail Duncum and hit a springboard clothesline off the rail. Cool. Back inside Jericho hits a missile dropkick for 2. Nice. Jericho is ON here. Duncum staggers out of a chinlock and bounces Jericho off the buckles. That was ugly. Duncum with a shoulderbreaker for 2. Duncum tries for a cross armbreaker but Jericho is in the ropes. Jericho with a nice Hot Shot. Springboard dropkick sends Duncum to the floor. HIGH TEN for Ralphus. Duncum eats ring steps. Back inside the cocky cover gets 2. Jericho controls with a front facelock just cutting off any fire Duncum got from being put in the cocky cover. Crowd is getting pretty bored. Jericho with a chop and a back kick. Ultimo Dragon that shit down! Duncum comes back with a lariat to no reaction. That gets 2. Duncum goes for another but Jericho ducks it. Duncum continues to control with power. This match is dragging now. Jericho with a sunset flip but Duncum cuts him into a chokebomb for 2. They kneel around talking. I hate that shit. LIONSAULT…gets 2. Running senton and Jericho kills time. He goes up top but Duncum cuts him off with a superplex. Jericho gets a roll up into the Liontamer. Duncum is too big to be put in it. Crowd boos because they wanted Jericho to win. Duncum drops an elbow off the middle rope for 2. Ralphus grabs Duncum’s foot so Duncum goes after him. Jericho has the title belt and while the ref is getting Ralphus out Duncum takes the belt to the back of the head for the pin at 13.21. **1/4. That was ok but the crowd really didn’t care about Duncum seeing as he just walked into the company a week ago. Jericho was on great form though. Everything was crisp and clean.

World War III
Participants are Chris Adams, Chris Benoit, Bobby Blaze, Ciclope, Damien, El Dandy, Barry Darsow, The Disciple, Disco Inferno, Bobby Eaton, Mike Enos, Scott Hall, Hector Garza, The Giant, Glacier, Juventud Guerrera, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Eddie Guerrero, Van Hammer, Kenny Kaos, Kaz Hayashi, Horace Hogan, Barry Horowitz, Prince Iaukea, Chris Jericho, Kanyon, Billy Kidman, Konnan, Lenny Lane, Lex Luger, Lizmark Jr., Lodi, Dean Malenko, Steve McMichael, Ernest Miller, Chip Minton, Rey Mysterio Jr., Kevin Nash, Scott Norton, La Parka, Buddy Lee Parker, Psicosis, Scott Putski, Stevie Ray, The Renegade, Scotty Riggs, Perry Saturn, Silver King, Norman Smiley, Scott Steiner, Super Calo, Johnny Swinger, Booker T, Tokyo Magnum, Villano V, Vincent, Kendall Windham, Wrath and Alex Wright.

Bobby Blaze hasn’t been around much in WCW. He appeared in WW3 the previous year. That’s about it. WWF jobber Barry Horowitz is out there. Quite why WCW signed him remains a mystery. He actually got a TWO YEAR contract out of them. Amazing what WCW did. Lenny Lane is pretty new and doesn’t have much in the way of character other than he looks like a mini-Lex Luger. Chip Minton is a former Olympian. Not in wrestling but bobsledding. The 1998 Olympics at that. Finished fourth. Considering what the WWF did with Mark Henry, it’s almost a surprise that Minton didn’t get more of a push. Kendall Windham has been knocking around the south since the late 80’s where he competed for JCP. Kind of sad his biggest career push was the West Texas Rednecks. Always sad when someone’s biggest push is something dumb. That’s about it. Everyone else has either been in a match on WCW PPV before or competed in last years WW3. Tony points out that eliminations can also take place by pinfall or submission. I hate this company. They can’t even do a battle royal right. The introductions are actually good this year. The announcers pick up on everyone and they’re spaced out and announced by Penzer.

There are referees in there because of the dumb stipulations and Hall hides behind Mickey Jay to start. Big brawl, as per usual. Tony keeps bringing up Hogan. Nice to see Benoit and Eddy pairing off. Nash throws Smiley out at 52 seconds. Super Calo as well at 55 seconds. Nash is on a mission and out goes Lodi at 1.00. They gave him the jobber ring. Lizmark Jr gets booted and thrown out at 1.04. Riggs is over and out at 1.10. La Parka throws Magnum Tokyo out of the same ring at 1.22. That’s really clearing out. Two more go out – Swinger and Putski. Same ring. Nash dumps Silver King at 1.39. Parka goes after Nash but can’t move him. They keep missing eliminations. Hammer kicks Enos out at 2.11. Hammer is the only guy left and Nash boots him out at 2.42. He’s not working by the hour. Ring 3 is now empty. Nash hangs out there until the count reaches 20. There are still 38 guys out there. Hall gives Psicosis the fallaway slam over the top at 3.27. That was cool. They keep missing eliminations but obviously no one important is about to go. Kanyon is up top for some reason but manages to fall back inside. We get a slow period out there. He dumps Kidman on the ropes and goes for something off there but Malenko cuts him down and Kanyon pays for his daft approach by being dumped at 5.29. Kaz went out at the same time. Giant is doing the same thing as Nash only slower. Alex Wright survives a few trips to apron. Horace takes the Disciple out while going too at 6.14. This is the quickest WW3 ever. We’re down to 30. Halfway. Chavo gets dumped by the Giant at 6.31. Giant picks Wright up but he survives again. That’s three times. Benoit and Saturn wail on Giant and they’re joined by Eddy and a bunch of other guys. Giant throws the Guerreros off. Everyone begs off. Disco gets everyone organised. Benoit goes after him instead. Benoit and Eddy keep working. Juvi is gone around 9 minutes. They missed the elimination. Three more and we’re down to one ring. Someone else goes off camera. Mongo is trying to get Hall out and we’re nearly down to one ring as another elimination happens off camera. Rey flies out and we’re down to the final 20 guys.

Into one ring now at 10.38. Nash is back into the action then after a seven minute workrate intensive breather. Saturn and Miller fight to the floor and the referee’s decide they’re out. The guys in Ring 2 square off. It’s almost an even split of Hollywood v Wolfpac. Wright finally goes out at 11.41. Chavo tries to pull Eddy out but he’s knocked out anyway. Disco goes out and Giant presses Kidman onto all of them at 12.00. So a bunch of fun guys were eliminated. Giant and Nash go at it. Hall helps Giant for some reason. Way to earn Nash’s confidence. Steiner goes after Nash. Giant hits a sloppy chop on Norton “by mistake”. There are three Horsemen in there: Mongo, Benoit and Malenko. Wrath and Booker are the only neutrals in there. Booker goes after Nash. Giant chokes Hall with his boot. Nash saves him and goes after Giant again. Crowd is buying into that. Now Hall helps Nash. Outsiders try to dump Giant, which gets an enormous pop. Norton helps Giant survive. Luger puts Stevie Ray out at 15.02. We’re down to 12. Luger has been his typical lazy self out there. Mongo backdrops Norton out at 15.30. Nash dumps Mongo while he’s recovering from that at 15.33. 10 guys left. Benoit is working over Wrath. Everyone else is standing around. Here comes BAM BAM BIGELOW. He jumps in there and everyone kicks his ass. Security comes out here to stop him and the crowd wants Goldberg. Here he is, on cue. He wails on Bigelow. Great brawl on the floor. Bags of intensity. The battle royal just stops as everyone watches. Steiner gets dumped while we’re watching the brawl. Wrath is out during that too. So there are eight guys left in there. Nash, Benoit, Malenko, Luger, Giant, Konnan, Hall and Booker T. It least that showed an intention to push this new Horsemen. Booker is gone at 18.21. 3 Wolfpac, 2 Horsemen, the Giant and Hall left. Everyone goes after the Giant bar Konnan who goes after Hall. That gets him dumped at 19.23. See ya K-Dawg! Nash gets everyone organised and singles out the Giant. Hall and the Horsemen agree. Everyone wails on the Giant but he shoves people off. They get his legs finally and turf him out at 20.24. Horsemen eye up Hall whose crotch chopping at Giant. Horsemen wail on Hall while the Wolfpac stand around. Hall fights the Horsemen off. Wolfpac pick off Benoit and dump him at 21.11.

Sidenote – do they have any idea what to do with Goldberg? Winner of this gets a title shot but he’s already feuding with Scott Steiner AND Bigelow.

FINAL FOUR – Kevin Nash, Lex Luger, Dean Malenko and Scott Hall. Hall throws Malenko out at 21.17. Sheesh. At least Benoit got double teamed. Nash and Luger debate this and we’re going everyone for themselves. Nash ends up wailing on Luger after patting the back of his head. Luger would rather wail on Hall. Nash nearly throws him out. Hall jumps Nash and this is all punching. Nash ends up on the mat for the first time. Luger knocks Hall down too and calls for the Rack. RACK FOR HALL. Nash blindsides him in the process and Hall falls out. Luger doesn’t so Nash makes sure and throws him out at 23.25. Nash wins the title shot. **. Meh, its World War III. As far as battle royal’s go its ok but they usually suck. So one PPV with Nash booking and one main event win for Nash. Tony’s suggestion that this was the “best one yet” is embarrassing. It was the best produced one so far but they still missed a LOAD of eliminations.

US title – Diamond Dallas Page (c) v Bret Hart
So here’s the match that no one really cares about that’s going on last so that the boys in the back think they have a shot at not being totally dominated by the old guard under Nash’s book. That said DDP has been main eventing all summer. The problem with this is that DDP is already US champion after winning the belt on Nitro so no one wants to see the heel win the title on PPV. DDP hits a pescado ahead of the bell. Bret gets whipped into a few rails. Crowd is VERY pro DDP. The thing about this whole match is that just over a week after this Bret would win the belt anyway. Thus devaluing the point of PPV matches. Bret slows this one down with some technical wrestling and some choking on the ropes. Page comes back with a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Bret bails on the Diamond Cutter. Bret back in with a Russian legsweep for 2. They counter on a Tombstone, which DDP hits for 2. Bret goes to his usual. Backbreaker and a legdrop gets 2. DDP comes back with a belly to belly for 2. Discus lariat. He goes for the pancake but makes a hash of that for 2. Bret clotheslines DDP outside and they both take a breather. Bret with a foreign object but DDP doesn’t see it so can’t run the spot. Bret drops it and the ref gets it. DDP counters and puts the Sharpshooter on! HIYO! Where’s Vince McMahon? RING THE FUCKING BELL. Bret gets the ropes. Bret goes low after DDP spends too long trash talking. Bret wraps DDP’s leg around the ropes. Bret uses the ring post a few times and FIGURE FOUR ON THE RINGPOST! I love that move. Bret manages it without DDP holding his leg. Nice! Never seen that. Bret keeps working the leg and drops off the ropes onto it. Figure Four from Bret. Bret uses the ropes for leverage. Leg snap from Bret. He goes for the rope drop again but DDP kicks him off over the top. DDP follows and runs Bret into the ring steps. DDP’s hobbles around and looks for a receipt. He ties Bret’s legs around the ring post and FIGURE FOUR ROUND THE RINGPOST. Awesome. Double whammy. DDP with a chair. The ref won’t let him use it. Bret takes advantage by pushing DDP into the ref and bumping him. Bret gets his foreign object back and in comes the nWo referee. Bret knocks DDP out with the whatever it is. Knucks? Sharpshooter! RING THE FUCKING BELL says the referee at 18.15. Oh, Montreal. The nWo ref gives Bret the belt but Mickey Jay is out here to tell him there was no submission. DIAMOND CUTTER and Charles Robinson is back up and able to count the pin at 18.54. **1/2. I liked the match just fine until the booking kicked in. The booking sucked. As I said further up though Bret would win the belt back in 8 days time just to scupper the point of the PPV match.

Final Thoughts: The show starts really badly and there are several notable absentees from the card. No match for Goldberg despite him being there, no Hogan and two scheduled matches (Steiner v Steiner and Nash v Hall) didn’t even go ahead. Of the other matches the only decent ones are relatively heatless (Bret-DDP and Jericho-Duncum). The rest of the card sucks. Thumbs down.