WCW House Show 7/10/1998

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling House Show
Date: 7/10/1998
From: Inglewood, CA

Matches:
1.)WCW Television Champion Booker T defeated Fit Finlay to retain the title
2.)Eddie Guerrero defeated Chavo Guerrero Jr.
3.)Juventud Guerrera, Psychosis & Ciclope defeated Damien, Villano IV & Villano V
4.)The Ultimo Dragon defeated Dean Malenko by count-out
5.)WCW Cruiserweight Champion Chris Jericho defeated Rey Mysterio Jr. via disqualification to retain the title
6.)Konnan defeated Vincent
7.)Kevin Nash & Lex Luger defeated Bret Hart & The Giant via disqualification
8.)WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg defeated Curt Hennig to retain the title
9.)Sting defeated Hulk Hogan in a steel cage match

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.The fans are pretty pumped up for this show, which is also an internet audio show. Finlay has the early advantage with several uppercuts in the corner. Booker battles back with a big boot and a clothesline. Finlay bails to the floor to prevent any further punishment. Finlay returns and quickly regains control with a scoop slam. Booker comes off the ropes with a leaping forearm smash and drives Finlay down with a spine buster for a near win. Finlay drives Booker into the corner shoulder first and works on the champ on the floor. Booker almost wins with a slingshot roll up back in the ring. Booker drops Finlay with several kicks. Booker flapjacks Finlay and hits a leaping side kick before heading to the top rope. Finlay cuts him off, though. Finlay is punched down to the mat and Booker connects with a missile dropkick to win the match. It was a solid opening contest to the show. The fans are going nuts for Booker.

2.Chavo hits a leaping cross body after Eddie stalled for a few moments. Eddie got control with an arm drag and kept control with a wrist lock. Chavo gets out of a back suplex and scoops slams Eddie, causing Eddie to bail to the floor. Chavo catapults Eddie as he runs the ropes and leaps off the top only to miss his attack and hits a tilt a whirl back breaker! Chavo gets on the microphone and begins to taunt Eddie, who has gone to the floor again. Eddie returns to the contest and works on Chavo’s left leg. The fans are getting restless as Eddie is just keeping it simple by using leg locks. So, Eddie hits a powerbomb but only gets a near fall. He also shoves the referee, who backs him into a corner and gets in his face. Chavo takes Eddie out on the floor with a nice somersault dive! Eddie is able to stop Chavo’s momentum with a dropkick to his injured left leg. Chavo drops Eddie throat first across the top rope but misses a springboard dive off the top. Eddie tries to hit the frog splash but he misses as well. Eddie crotches Chavo on the top rope to connect with a superplex. Eddie heads to the top again and this time hits the frog splash to win the match. There were a few minutes were the action was boring, but they were able to put together a decent match. Eddie knows how to turn a crowd around and have them enjoy a match that they had gotten restless with. It just shows how great he truly was.

3.I’m pretty sure this six man cruiserweight match is going to just be filled with high spots. You can see a lot of people walking around during this match. I’d assume this was the bathroom break, get your concessions match. Juventud Guerrera countered a powerbomb attempt by Damien to hit the Juvi Driver to win the match. That’s all you need to know about this one.

4.We continued with more cruiserweight action with Malenko squaring off against Dragon. They have a standoff after neither man was able to get a clear cut advantage in the first few moments of the contest. Malenko gets a near fall after a back suplex. Dragon nails Malenko with a dropkick for a two count. He keeps control for several moments with a headlock. Malenko catches Dragon in the corner when he attempts a handspring back elbow, but isn’t able to do anything as Dragon locks in the Dragon Sleeper, but Malenko reaches the ropes. Malenko connects with a snap power slam to finally get some momentum. Dragon counters the Cloverleaf with a roll up for a near fall. Dragon drops Malenko with several kicks. Dragon nearly wins following a springboard moonsault! Dragon gets another two count following a hurricanrana. They proceed to trade several roll ups but neither man can get a win. Chris Jericho makes his way down to the ring to distract Malenko. Malenko chases Jericho to the backstage area and Malenko is counted out. I thought this was okay, but nothing all that great. They didn’t really pick up the action until the last two or three minutes.

5.WCW Cruiserweight Champion Chris Jericho is in action next anyway. He cuts a promo saying that he knows that everyone came to the show to see him in action. Rey goes to work on Jericho early on with several strikes in the corner. Rey hits a backdrop and a dropkick. He hits a springboard leg drop off the top but only gets a near fall. Jericho avoids a leapfrog and takes on Rey’s injured leg with a shoulder ram. Jericho maintains the advantage by splashing onto Rey’s knee on the apron. Rey dropkicks Jericho back in the ring but isn’t able to follow up. Rey manages to soon hit a springboard moonsault, but Jericho recovers rather quickly and keeps control of the contest. Jericho misses a splash off the top and is instead greeted with a big boot. Rey drives Jericho face first into the canvas and spin kicks Jericho to the floor. Rey takes him out with a somersault dive on the floor. Jericho nearly rolls through a cross body off the top to steal a win. Rey hits an Un-Prettier but Jericho pops out at two. Jericho counters a springboard hurricanrana and has the Lion Tamer locked in! Well, here comes Dean Malenko. He enters the ring and attacks Jericho to cause the disqualification. Malenko catapults Rey onto Jericho who hits a top rope hurricanrana. Malenko decides to count a pin fall, but Jericho still won by DQ, folks. I enjoyed the match and the interference was obviously going to happen.

6.Do you have a lot of interest in a Konnan vs. Vincent match? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Konnan forces Vincent to submit to the Tequila Sunrise.

7.Nash and Hart opened the tag match with Nash working over Hart with knee strikes and a back elbow. Hart nails Nash with a clothesline off the middle rope and delivers a head butt to his lower midsection. Giant is actually smoking a cigarette on the apron. Luger tags in and hammers away on hart after leaping off the middle rope with a double ax handle. Hart fights back with a few strikes but is stopped with an atomic drop and a running forearm smash by Luger. Hart connects with a side Russian leg sweep and tags in Giant. Giant works on Luger with several over hand chops and uses his back side to ram into Luger in the corner. Giant maintains the advantage with several elbow drops before tagging in Hart. Luger avoids a middle rope elbow drop by Hart and he looks to tag in Nash. Giant takes his time getting into the ring and that allows Nash to enter and he hammers away on Giant with big right hands and staggers the big man with a big boot. Hart tries to save Giant from the power bomb, but Luger takes care of him. Vincent and the Disciple run into the ring to cause the disqualification. Here comes Konnan with a chair to run everyone off. Yes, they don’t even do clean finishes on the house shows!

8.Hennig tries to attack Goldberg on the aisle way, but that doesn’t work out in his favor. It should come to no surprise how this match went. Hennig was able to hit the Hennig Plex, but Goldberg kicked out. Seconds later, Goldberg would hit the spear and finish off Hennig with the Jackhammer to win the match.

9.The cage is all set up and we are ready for the main event between Hogan and Sting. Yes, I know these two had a cage match back in February, so this isn’t exactly new, but still! Hogan works on Sting as soon as he enters the cage delivering right hands and numerous clotheslines. Sting hits Hogan below the belt and rakes his eyes to mount his comeback early on. Hogan tries to escape the cage but Sting pulls him back in. Sting hangs Hogan upside from the cage and hits a Stinger Splash but misses a second one and hits the cage as a result. A fan apparently jumped the railing and is seen being escorted out of the arena. Hogan begins to whip Sting with his belt several times across the back. Sting manages to get the belt and returns the favor with several whips of his own. Sting proceeds to ram Hogan face first into the cage to maintain the advantage. Hogan is actually busted open as he sends Sting into the fencing. I can’t tell if sting is bleeding since he has red face paint. They go to the floor and brawl. This is awfully similar to their cage match five months ago, by the way. As usual, Sting misses a splash and hits the railing. How do people not see that coming? They are back in the ring where Hogan is choking Sting with his belt. Hogan hits a big boot and scoop slams Sting. Sting manages to avoid a leg drop and makes his comeback for a second time in this match. Sting hits Hogan with a splash in the corner and locks in the Scorpion Death Lock! Hogan has nowhere to go and taps out. After the match, Bret Hart, the Giant, Vincent and Hennig enter the ring to attack Sting. Goldberg runs down and cleans house. Goldberg tosses them all into the cage as the fans throw beer into the ring. Goldberg scoop slams Giant after Sting hit a splash in the corner. That’s the show, folks!

Final Thoughts:
Well, that was a really good house show by World Championship Wrestling this time around. The first five matches all had entertainment value to them. Though, I wasn’t all that interested in the six man cruiserweight match. The second half of the show stumbled along until the main event, which saw Sting and Hogan put forth a good effort and a fine main event to close the show. For house show standards this gets a thumbs up from me.

Thanks for reading.