WCW House Show 2/19/1999

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling House Show
Date: 2/19/1999
From: San Francisco, CA

Opening Contest: Chris Adams vs. The Barbarian: Early on, Barbarian tosses Adams down to the canvas a couple of times to showoff his clear size advantage. Adams comes off the ropes but runs into a shoulder block. Adams tries for a sunset flip rollup but Barbarian kicks out and rolls to the floor where Jimmy Hart gives him some advice. Adams goes to the floor and puts his hands on Hart who runs away. Adams stomps on the jacket and rams Barbarian into the guard railing a few times. Back in the ring, Barbarian regains control with a simple strike and a side slam for a near fall. Barbarian rams Adams face first into the ring steps and rams Adams back first into the ring post. Hart distracts the referee so Barbarian can headbutt Adams in the groin area. Adams counters a piledriver attempt with a backdrop and a kick to the head. Adams comes off the middle rope with a clothesline and connects with his trademark super kick. Jimmy Hart on the apron to distract and that allows Barbarian to hit a yakuza kick for the win. (*. An odd pairing to open the show, but the fans were into Barbarian while Adams was given a heel heat despite playing the face role. Not an ideal start to the show.)

Second Contest: Silver King & Lizmark Jr. vs. El Dandy & Damien: This would have been a better way to get the crowd rockin’ than the first one. Dandy and Damien waste no time going after King and Lizmark. King plants Dandy with a tornado DDT for an early near fall. Damien hits King while on the apron to give Dandy the advantage. That doesn’t last long as King delivered a dropkick but Dandy hit a float over DDT moments later for a near fall. Lizmark misses a dropkick on Damien in the corner. Lizmark hits a nice tilt a whirl back breaker and the fans are making some good noise for Lizmark. Damien gets dropped across the top and Lizmark gets a near fall after a springboard moonsault. Lizmark gets stopped with a low blow and Damien delivers a splash to the lower midsection. Dandy and Damien work over Lizmark in their corner while King can’t help. Damien hits a nice top rope hurricanrana and Dandy gets a two count on the cover.

Dandy plants Lizmark with a spine buster and tags in Damien. King gets tagged in but decked by Dandy quickly. King is double teamed and dropped throat first across the top rope. Dandy holds King up for a Damien dropkick from the middle rope for a two count. King fights back with a double face buster and here comes Lizmark who quickly misses a splash in the corner. Damien leaps off of Dandy to splash Lizmark for a two count. Lizmark avoids a second attempt of the move and tags in King. King hits a missile dropkick, tilt a whirl back breaker and super kick on the heels. Lizmark and King are sent into each other but soon Lizmark has both Dandy and Damien by the leg to allow King to hit a top rope cross body for a near win. Dandy and Damien are sent to the floor where Lizmark and King hit dives! King hits a whirly bird slam and a somersault leg drop on Damien for the win. (**. A decent match between four cruiserweights that don’t get much airtime on television and may be the four less known guys in the division. Lizmark had some impressive moments.)

Third Contest: Scotty Riggs vs. Norman Smiley: Riggs taunts the fans to start and allows Smiley to get some pops but attacks like a true heel. Riggs mocks Smiley the Big Wiggle before delivering a back elbow shot. Smiley hits a snap suplex but is stopped with a boot to the face. Scotty dumps Norman to the floor and comes off the apron to deliver an overhand strike. On the floor, Smiley sends Riggs into the guard railing. Riggs delivers a shot to Smiley’s midsection and a dropkick in the corner. Scotty scoop slams Norman and nearly gets rolled up from behind. Riggs regains control with a quick clothesline. Riggs gets out of a sunset flip pin attempt and nearly pins Smiley. Norman backdrops Riggs and follows up with a dropkick. Norman hits the swinging scoop slam and plays to the crowd. Riggs sends Smiley to the outside to buy himself some time. The referee kicks Riggs hands off the top rope as he was trying to avoid a rollup and Norman gets the win. (DUD. That was very boring with nothing memorable happening. This felt like a match you’d see between two students just starting out in the business.)

Fourth Contest: Chris Jericho vs. Booker T: Jericho is getting frustrated before anything even happens as the fans aren’t behind him. Jericho comes off the topes but is dropped by Booker and goes back to stalling. Jericho shoulder blocks Booker but Booker comes back with a short arm clothesline. Booker runs into a big boot in the corner and Jericho delivers a spin kick to get a lasting advantage. Booker ducks a clothesline to deliver a leaping forearm shot a standing side kick. Booker avoids a dropkick and catapults Jericho over the top to the floor. On the floor, Jericho tells the fans to kiss his ass as he walks backstage. Booker leaves and grabs Jericho to bring him back to the ring. Back in the ring, Jericho is begging off but drops Booker across the top and hits a dropkick before kicking Booker to the floor. Jericho comes off the apron with a double axe handle.

Booker is sent into the railing and falls over into the crowd where Jericho follows. Jericho goes for a suplex back into the ring as a fan tossed something into the ring. Jericho grabs a stuffed animal that tossed in and kicks it back into the crowd. Booker nearly wins with a rollup out of the corner but Jericho goes back to having control of the contest. Booker elbows out of a headlock and arm drags Jericho but runs into a back elbow. Jericho heads to the top but Booker gets a boot up and blocks a splash. Booker hits a scissors kick but Jericho fights back with a flapjack. Booker recovers quickly and hits a leaping side kick for the win. (**1/4. Not their best work, but it’s the best that we’ve gotten thus far on the show. Jericho controlled most of the match and did a fine job of keeping interest. It’s funny how Booker is in a barely advertised match on PPV in two days and pins a guy who is in a regularly promoted match on the same show.)

Fifth Contest: Curt Hennig & Barry Windham vs. Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko: A preview to what we’d see at Superbrawl in two days? Windham and Hennig quickly go on the attack stomping away on Benoit and Malenko. Benoit and Malenko fight back with strikes and send the heels to the floor. Hennig and Benoit start the match and it’s a slow start as expected. Hennig shoulder blocks Benoit but gets knocked to the floor quickly. Hennig returns to the ring and chops Benoit but is taken down with a snap suplex. Malenko gets several shots in from the apron and Windham tags into the contest. Malenko tags in as well and is backed into a corner where Dean avoids a strike and stomps away on Windham. Malenko backdrops Barry and continues the attack in the corner. Malenko drops Windham with a right hand for a near fall and Benoit punches Windham from the apron. Windham is double teamed briefly as Benoit tags back in.

Benoit gets a near fall with a clothesline on Windham but gets low blowed in the corner. Windham plants Benoit with a DDT and tags in Hennig. Hennig hits his trademark rolling neck snap and Benoit gets stuck in the corner and pulled to the floor by Windham to get beaten down while Malenko distracted the referee. Malenko gets tagged in after a failed backdrop attempt by Hennig. Windham distracts Dean leading to a cheap shot and now Malenko is on the floor and crotched on the railing! Windham runs over Malenko with a rather weak clothesline and follows up with a gut wrench slam. Hennig cuts Dean off with a knee lift to the midsection and Windham returns to the bout. Barry keeps his offense very basic and brawling oriented.

Windham works over Malenko with a sleeper hold and Hennig gives him some added leverage from the apron. Malenko crawls towards Benoit but is stopped by Hennig. Hennig works over Malenko with several stomps and a vicious chop sending Dean into a corner. Malenko drops Hennig with a back suplex. Benoit enters the match and rams Hennig into Windham. All four men are in the ring brawling with Malenko sending Windham over with a dropkick. Benoit has the Crossface locked in but here comes Windham to break the hold.

Malenko dropkicks Barry to the floor. Hennig hits the Hennig Plex but Malenko makes the save before the three count. Dean puts the Cloverleaf on Windham but Hennig sends Benoit into his own partner to break the hold. Hennig has Benoit and hits the Hennig Plex to get the win! (**. A standard tag match between these two teams. The final sequence was entertaining but everything leading up to it was average to subpar. Shockingly, Benoit didn’t even do a German suplex.)

Sixth Contest: WCW Television Champion Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page: Steiner taunts Page and is chased around the ring with DDP sending Steiner into the railing. Page works over Steiner with strikes in the ring to drop the champ several times. Page is on fire stomping the champ in the corner but is tripped to the canvas and met with several strikes as well. They fall to the floor locked up but Steiner breaks the hold and sends Page into the railing. Steiner kicks Page away into the railing again and knocks Page off the apron. Page drops Steiner throat first across the top to gain the advantage but Steiner stops him with a low blow! Page comes off the ropes but is met with a clothesline and elbow drop.

Page starts to fight back but Steiner cuts him off with a belly to belly suplex. Page dumps Steiner over the top and hits a cross body to the floor! Page heads to the top but is crotched by the champ. Steiner hits a top rope hurricanrana for a very close two count. Page plants Steiner with a jumping DDT but only manages a near fall. Steiner avoids the Diamond Cutter but shoving Page into the referee. Steiner clubs Page over the head with the belt and wakes the referee up. Steiner covers and wins the match. (**1/2. Honestly, a good match that went by very quickly. Compared to everything else, it was evident the fans were interested in this feud. A hot crowd and some fine action from both men.) After the match, Steiner misses a chair shot and gets met with the Diamond Cutter. The referee meets the same fate. Page uses the chair on Steiner, as well.

Main Event: Bam-Bam Bigelow vs. Sting: Bigelow backs Sting into a corner but doesn’t do anything with the advantage. Sting trips Bigelow and Bam-Bam bails to the floor to stall a little bit. Bigelow works over Sting’s arm to gain the advantage. Sting yanks on Bam-Bam’s arm to drop the big man to canvas but backs away soon after. They do a test of strength which Bigelow controls and kicks Sting down to the canvas. Sting fights back and punches Bigelow over the top to the floor. Sting sends Bigelow into the railing but misses a Stinger Splash, as he normally does. Bigelow keeps the offense simple with a few stomps and strikes. Bigelow has a sleeper hold on Sting but Stinger gets back to his feet and elbows his way out of it only to be met with a knee to the midsection. Bam-Bam with a scoop slam and a falling head butt for a near fall. They collide in the middle of the ring and crash to the canvas.

Bigelow gets back to his feet first and decides to head to the top rope. Sting avoids a top rope head butt and works over Bigelow in the corner. Goldberg and Bret Hart are now involved int eh match and Goldberg spears Bigelow. Sting has Hart and hits the Scorpion Death Drop as Goldberg hits the Jackhammer. Sting pins Hart while Goldberg pins Bigelow. (*. Um, what the heck was that finish for? They even play Goldberg’s music to end the show. The match is slow and plodding with very little actual worthwhile action. The fact they didn’t have a finish with Sting pinning Bigelow is baffling. A pretty bad main event to close the show.)

Final Thoughts:
So, aside from an average Jericho/Booker match and a short, but entertaining Steiner/Page match the show is lacking anything entertaining. Considering Superbrawl IX was in two days there was very little chance of anything incredible going on here, but they could have done a little better with the booking of the show. I can’t recommend this show.

Thanks for reading.