The first half of World Championship Wrestling has been a rollercoaster ride to say the least. WCW is not the same company that it had been just six months ago. The New World Order is not a fixture in the company as it has fizzled since April when Hogan was taken out due to injury. Ric Flair began the year as a top babyface, but power corrupted him and Flair became a delusional heel. WCW got rid of their tremendous set for a hideous one. It’s been a rocky road to say the least.
Inside Wrestling provided a midyear report for WCW in their October 1999 edition. I figured it would be a cool idea to compare thoughts to the magazine that provided them in real-time.
REPORT CARD
ACTION: B
TALENT ROSTER: A+
COMPETITIVENESS: B
BUSINESS: B
PUBLIC IMAGE: B
PAY PER VIEWS: B
ARENA SHOWS: D
TV PRODUCTION: A
ANNOUNCERS: B-
FAN RELATIONS: C+
Bob’s Take: The only metric that I tend to disagree with is the quality of pay per view. Spring Stampede was the best pay per view of the first half with Superbrawl IX being a close second. The other four pay per views were average to below average at best. I’d be leaning more towards a C+ for pay per view events thus far. The other metrics seem to be pretty reasonable, though I don’t know how the arena shows were in ’99 to truly know if they were that level of bad. Business certainly has dipped quite a bit since late February, so a B grade there may be a bit generous.
THEY GOT AN ‘A’
CONTEXT: Kevin Nash, Sting, Ric Flair, Diamond Dallas Page, Rey Mysterio Jr. and Hollywood Hogan.
Bob’s Take: Sting had only been back in WCW since Spring Stampede and held the WCW World Championship for just over an hour and he’s considered having a great first-half of the year? Nash finishes off the half-year as the champion and did have a strong first six months in the WCW universe. DDP won the WCW World Championship a couple of times and finished the half-year as a tag champion, too. Flair obviously had a memorable six months with success as champion and power. Mysterio may have had the best first-half out of the group from simply an in-ring standpoint and his continued success as the WCW Cruiserweight Champion.
THEY GOT A ‘B’
CONTEXT: Bam-Bam Bigelow, Scott Steiner, Rick Steiner, Randy Savage, Konnan, Perry Saturn, Raven, Billy Kidman, Roddy Piper, Psychosis, Dean Malenko & Chris Benoit.
Bob’s Take: Bigelow is probably ranked a bit high, but he did have a better finish to his first half as he’s a tag champion with the Triad. Scott Steiner won the WCW US Championship, but he’s been out of action since Slamboree. Rick Steiner has been awful, but won the WCW TV Championship since his return. There is no reason for Randy Savage to be graded this high. His matches have been absolutely horrendous. The younger core of wrestlers mentioned here seem to be graded fairly well, though. For some reason, the magazine forgot to include Booker T. I’d say that he’d fit in the B range for the half year.
THEY GOT A ‘C’
CONTEXT: Hugh Morrus, Hak, Curt Hennig, Bobby Duncum Jr., Chris Jericho, Buff Bagwell, & Juventud Guerrera
Bob’s Take: Juventud may not have had a successful first half by winning any championships, but he’s been a very good in-ring worker, so a C level grade seems a bit harsh for him. Bagwell has had a better than C level first half, as well. Sure, Bagwell didn’t win a major PPV match, but he did pin Flair on Nitro and appears to be a cornerstone for the young vs. old angle kicking off. Jericho hasn’t been on TV since April, so I’m a bit surprised he even finished with a grade, honestly.
THEY GOT A ‘D’
CONTEXT: Brian Knobbs, Disco Inferno, Van Hammer, Erik Watts, Ernest Miller & Bobby Eaton
Bob’s Take: Ernest Miller stands out in this bunch as he’s been rather entertaining in recent months and seems to be on the rise for WCW. I’m not sure why they’d even mention Bobby Eaton in their grading at this point.
THEY GOT AN ‘F’
CONTEXT: Scott Norton, Jerry Flynn, & David Flair
Bob’s Take: For the most part, these three haven’t done much of anything. It seems wrong to have Norton associated with Flynn and Flair in a negative manner.
THEY GOT AN INCOMPLETE
CONTEXT: Goldberg, Eddie Guerrero, Lex Luger, Evan Karagias, Blitzkrieg, Vampiro, Scott Hall, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Steve McMichael, & Alex Wright
Bob’s Take: How in the world does Goldberg get an incomplete when he competed for nearly five months out of the first six? Just because of an injury he gets an incomplete? Goldberg probably belongs in the B level of the grading as he won three PPV matches and hadn’t lost a TV match to this point in ’99. He’s potentially WCW’s biggest babyface and the second half of ’99 should be focused on him upon his return.
WRESTLER OF THE HALF-YEAR
WINNER: Sting
Bob’s Take: It’s a little crazy to give Sting wrestler of the half year award since he had only returned to the company in April. Sting held the WCW World Championship for about an hour and a half, and competed in a uninteresting feud with Rick Steiner. Personally, I’d probably give the wrestler of the half year to Rey Mysterio Jr.
TAG TEAM OF THE HALF-YEAR
WINNER: Rey Mysterio Jr. & Billy Kidman
Bob’s Take: WCW’s tag team division is full of makeshift teams that haven’t been teaming for a substantial amount of time. I think by default I’d be leaning towards Benoit & Malenko since they had been a team for the duration of the half year.
MATCH OF THE HALF-YEAR
WINNER: Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page — WCW Nitro 4/26
Bob’s Take: I can’t argue with this being considered the best match in the half year as it is on my list of ten of the best matches thus far. I may lean a little more towards Rey vs. Kidman on Nitro in March as that bout was incredible, too.
MOST POPULAR WRESTLER HALF-YEAR
WINNER: Kevin Nash
Bob’s Take: Just because Nash is the WCW World Champion shouldn’t mean that he’s the most popular wrestler. I’d say Goldberg is easily more popular and Sting is a close second. Nash is maybe the third most popular, but if Hogan returns as a babyface then Nash becomes maybe the fourth most popular.
MOST HATED WRESTLER HALF-YEAR
WINNER: Diamond Dallas Page
Bob’s Take: Ric Flair could be seen as a most hated candidate, but the crowd still reacts fairly well to Flair each time he comes out. DDP may be the best bet of getting consistent heel heat at this point for notable workers.
MOST INSPIRATIONAL WRESTLER OF THE HALF-YEAR
WINNER: Rey Mysterio Jr.
Bob’s Take: Mysterio is the ultimate underdog, so I can understand the mindset of picking Mysterio for this category. Jim Duggan returning from cancer would have been a feel-good moment. We can’t forget Eddie Guerrero returning from a serious car accident in January.
NEWCOMER OF THE HALF-YEAR
WINNER: Hak
Bob’s Take: There’s not a whole lot of competition for this award. Mikey Whipwreck hasn’t competed all that much on major programming. Hak has been fairly successful in the hardcore division, but I am a big Sid Vicious fan and even though Sid returned only a few weeks left in the period I’d give it to Sid.
PREDICTIONS FOR THE SECOND HALF OF 1999
CONTEXT: Tank Abbott will win either the WCW World or WCW United States Championship. The gap between Nitro and RAW will narrow. Ric Flair and Randy Savage will feud over the WCW World Championship. The Wolfpac will destroy the Four Horsemen. Goldberg will depart WCW and sign with the WWF.
Bob’s Take: I’m not sure why they’d want any of this to happen aside from the ratings narrowing between WCW and WWF. While the ratings don’t narrow at all, luckily none of the other predictions take place in the second half of ’99.
The next five portions of this article were not in the Inside Magazine column, but instead my personal picks.
TEN TV MATCHES FOR THE HALF-YEAR
WCW Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. (Nitro 3/15)
WCW World Champion Diamond Dallas Page vs. Sting (Nitro 4/26)
WCW Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera (Thunder 3/18)
WCW Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera (Thunder 4/15)
Eddie Guerrero vs. Psychosis (Thunder 6/24)
WCW Tag Team Champions Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Raven & Perry Saturn (Nitro 4/5)
Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera & Psychosis (Nitro 1/4)
Bret Hart vs. Booker T (Nitro 2/22)
WCW World Champion Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg (Nitro 4/19)
Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit (Nitro 3/1)
FIVE PPV MATCHES FOR THE HALF-YEAR
WCW Tag Team Champions Rey Mysterio & Bily Kidman vs. Raven & Perry Saturn vs. Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko (Slamboree 1999)
WCW Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Psychosis vs. Juventud Guerrera (Souled Out 1999)
WCW Television Champion Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Superbrawl IX)
WCW World Champion Ric Flair vs. Hollywood Hogan vs. Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Spring Stampede 1999)
WCW Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Superbrawl IX)
BEST NITRO EPISODE OF THE HALF YEAR
April 5th
BEST THUNDER EPISODE OF THE HALF YEAR
February 18th
BEST PAY PER VIEW OF THE HALF YEAR
WCW Spring Stampede 1999
What are your thoughts on WCW through the first six months of 1999?
Thanks for reading.