WCW World War 3 - 1995

World War 3 was – other than a confusing name for a show, as all subsequent versions would also be called ‘3,’ as opposed to ‘4’ or ‘5’ – the latest addition in the ever expanding pay per view battle between the WWF and WCW during 1995, that had both companies going to a monthly format by the years end.

The concept came about when The Giant won the WCW World Title from Hulk Hogan in an overbooking nightmare at Halloween Havoc, but was stripped of it, so WCW decided to hold a battle royal to declare a new champion. All good so far – that one’s been done hundreds of times in wrestling history. Then, they decided not twenty, not thirty, not forty, not even fifty, but sixty men would compete. Okay, sounds cool. More intrigue. Oh, and it would take place in three rings simultaneously. Actually, still sounds good – to ten-year-old-Ben that was making it EXTREME!! and I was definitely into the idea. Unfortunately, the execution is where it fell a little short of the concept – but we’ll get to that later.

From Norfolk, Virginia – Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan for the main portion, joined later on by Eric Bischoff and Dusty Rhodes, and Chris Cruise and Larry Zbyszko to help call the battle royal – all from an arena that’s set up with the atmosphere of an auto show, with three rings on the floor space.


Opening WCW Television Title v Services of Kimberly Match: Johnny B. Badd v Diamond Dallas Page: They had been feuding for a while, and to goad Badd into another title shot, Page put up the services of his hot valet (and real life wife) Kimberly on the line, in what was a great angle – as Page treated her like scum, and people chomped at the bit for Badd to save her. They brawl to the floor immediately, and back inside Badd drops him like a Samoan for two. He works a mat-based side-headlock, but Page wrestles out, and grabs a wristlock. Badd dumps him, and hits a slingshot bodypress, and goes into his Golden Gloves routine, but Page hides behind Kimberly. Inside, Dallas with a side suplex, tombstone piledriver, but he gets too distracted with Kimberly to make a cover. Blind charge misses, and Badd hits an inverted atomic drop. Fists of fury, and a sitout powerbomb get two, but he misses his own charge, and Page nearly pins him with two feet on the ropes for leverage. Tilt-a-whirl slam gets two, but another try gets him headscissored, and Badd tries a slingshot splash, but hits knees. Gutbuster by Page for two, so he tries the tombstone again, but gets reversed for a dramatic two count. Page bails, but Badd follows with a slingshot seated senton, and back in with a slingshot legdrop to retain, and win the ‘services’ of Kimberly at 12:35. Considering the guy was married to Sable in real life, that must have made for a few interesting Saturday nights. You know, splitting the bills at Applebees, and such. It was fairly plodding at first, but it picked up quite a bit toward the end, though the tombstone reversal probably should have been the finish. Still, good choice for an opener. * ½.

Taped Fist Match: Jim Duggan v Big Bubba Rogers: Both guys sport taped fists, and fight to either a pinfall or knockout. Duggan jumps him during the entrances, and... um... punches. Bubba comes back with punches, but gets his head jammed between the posts of two rings, and punched some more. They punch their way through all three rings, and Bubba even pulls a roll of tape out of his pocket to give his taped fists extra mojo. That doesn't work, so he tapes Duggan to the top rope (because loosely wrapped athletic tape is more than enough to hold a rabid three hundred pound maniac), but he doesn't count on Duggan TARDING UP!! 3-Point Stance, and he grabs the 2x4, but Bubba gets a pair of brass knux for the knockout at 10:08. Yeah, they literally booked ten minutes of punching, and let the heel win. Obviously, kind of limiting match due to the gimmick, and it didn't help that both guys were pretty horrible by this point in their careers. -*.

Women's Tag Team Match: Bull Nakano and Akira Hokuto v Mayumi Ozaki and Cutie Suzuki: Nakano and Hokuto jump them before the bell, and unload, giving Bull a chance to throw a couple of her hairpull slams. Akira with a flying axehandle, and they play mind games with Ozaki – holding her inches from being able to tag, but pulling her back each time. Ozaki tries to make a comeback on Nakano, but she's a bull, and all, so she gets sent into the corner for some punishment. She does manage a DDT on Akira, and the tag to Suzuki, and the faces get stereo half-crabs on the heels. Probably the only time thousands of people will cheer to see ladies with crabs. Nakano gets sick of it, though, and creams Suzuki with a powerbomb, but misses a moonsault. Then, in a fantastic sequence, Ozaki and Suzuki take turns hitting double-stomps off of the top rope... twice each! Just awesome. They try a double suplex, but Bull reverses them both, and Hokuto hits a flying bodypress. She kills Akira with a German suplex, and a missile dropkick puts her outside. Flying senton follows, and inside a Doomsday Device gets two for Bull, so she hits a flying legdrop to finish properly at 9:16. It's no secret that I've never been a fan of proper women's wrestling - preferring Divas rolling around in skimpy outfits - but there's no question these four tore it up. No psychology to speak of, but a terrific, fast paced spotfest. **.

WCW United States Title Match: Kensuke Sasaki v Chris Benoit: Both men win tie-ups by unloading with chops, and Benoit takes control with a front-facelock. Sasaki suplexes out, and they try a test-of-strength, giving Chris a chance to show off his fabulous bridging abilities. Sasaki gets a pair of slams, and a helicopter press slam, but he spills outside, and Benoit follows with a tope. Inside, Benoit with a crisp snap suplex for two, but gets powerslammed for two. Sasaki with his own suplex, but Benoit counters into the rolling German's, only to get back elbowed after two. Tombstone, but Chris reverses, and hits the flying headbutt - but it's only good for two. Rana off of the top gets two. He starts to get frustrated, kicking wildly at Sasaki, and that gets him trapped in an armbreaker submission. He makes the ropes, so Sasaki hits a brainbuster to finish at 10:00. Weird booking for the second time on the card - as the frustration into getting suckered into the submission made a lot more sense as the finish. Match had some very crisp, well executed spots - particularly from Chris Benoit, who looked fantastic here - but overall didn't flow well, and felt disjointed. *.

Randy Savage v Lex Luger: Savage nails him coming in, and chokes away - which would be a beautifully poetic way to defeat a guy like Lex Luger. Boston Crab, but Luger easily makes the ropes, so Savage hits the Big Elbow, only to have Luger's manager, Jimmy Hart, distract the referee before the count. He responds by using Luger as a dart at Hart, and then ramming Lex into the rail. He gets reversed into another one, however, and Luger is halfway to a countout victory when he jumps back out to hook him in the Torture Rack - on the floor. Normally I'd have a problem with that psychology - as Luger should just take the countout win and move on - but considering both are set to compete for the World Title in the big battle royal later in the evening, it makes sense that Luger would want to do everything he can to damage a major contender like Savage, even if it puts winning a match like this in jeopardy. Back inside, Luger with an armbar - which sounds ridiculous at this juncture - but Savage has an injured, taped up arm, and that gets a quick submission at 5:28. Well, that was brisk. Match was like a videogame version of what you'd imagine a Savage/Luger bout to be. ¼*.

Ric Flair v Sting: This was set up at Halloween Havoc, where Flair suckered Sting into teaming with him, and then, shockingly, turned on him to re-form the Four Horsemen. It was a pretty hot feud at the time - one that probably could have went on to do good business for Starrcade - but the monthly pay per view model, and Eric Bischoff's ambitious (if misguided) vision for Starrcade in 1995 put a hold on that plan. Flair trash talks to start, so Sting wallops him all the way from the one ring to the other. Flair acts like that was all part of the plan, and challenges him to follow, and that ends with him getting press slammed. Sting with a ten-punch count, and a dropkick sends Flair running into ring number three, again acting like it was all part of his grand plan. Sting follows, begging Flair to chop him, and he no sells a series of them. Clothesline puts Flair out, and he runs out of plans to... run... so he starts heading up the aisle. Back inside, he tries a couple of cheap shots, but Sting no sells, and another press slam puts them on the floor. Sting tries the Stinger Splash on the rail, but misses, and that succeeds in finally giving Flair the advantage. Back to the first ring, Flair blows him low to make sure he stays down, and starts cautiously going to work on the knee. Side suplex sets up the figure four, but Sting SURFS UP!! and reverses! Backslide gets two. Press slam, a series of clotheslines, and he slams Flair off of the top. Flair flip, and a super-duperplex set up the Scorpion Deathlock, and Sting wins at 14:30. These two had dozens of matches with each other over the years - none of them bad - and this certainly was fine, if unspectacular. The crowd loved it, hanging onto their every move, and they built a great storyline into the match – with Flair throwing everything at Sting, and getting nowhere, as he had tricked him one time too many, and was going to pay. * ¼.

Main Event: WCW World Title World War 3 Battle Royal: The concept is that, as noted above, there are three rings. Twenty men battle in each ring until each ring is down to ten men, and then the rings merge for a standard thirty-man battle royal. The winner walks out world champion. The participants are: Scott Armstrong, Steve Armstrong, Arn Anderson, Randy Savage, Johnny B. Badd, Marcus Bagwell, Chris Benoit, Big Train Bart, One Man Gang, Bunkhouse Buck, Cobra, Disco Inferno, Jim Duggan, Bobby Eaton, Ric Flair, The Giant, Eddy Guerrero, Hulk Hogan, Mr. JL, Chris Kanyon, Brian Knobs, Jerry Sags, Kurasawa, Lex Luger, Joey Maggs, Meng, Hugh Morrus, Max Muscle, Scott Norton, Paul Orndorff, Diamond Dallas Page, Buddy Lee Parker, Brian Pillman, Sgt. Craig Pittman, Stevie Ray, Steven Regal, Scotty Riggs, Hawk, Big Bubba Rogers, Ricky Santana, Kensuke Sasaki, Shark, Fidel Sierra, Dick Slater, Mark Starr, Sting, Dave Sullivan, Kevin Sullivan, Super Assassin #1, Super Assassin #2, Booker T, David Taylor, Bobby Walker, VK Wallstreet, Pez Whatley, Mike Winner, Alex Wright, James Earl Wright, The Yeti, and The Zodiac. If that sounds like it might be difficult to keep track of, it is, so WCW has 'helpfully' split the screen into three portions - which works in theory, but while trying to watch a match of this scope (especially in 1995, when the television screens were considerably smaller) most of the time you can't tell what's going on. Standard battle royal fare to start, Hulk Hogan targets Ric Flair in their ring, various guys get tossed on the edge of the screen - nothing particularly exciting or noteworthy. That Mike Winner fellow doesn't live up to his name. I found that interesting. After a good fifteen minutes, they have the numbers to merge into one ring, with a bunch of guys ganging up on Hogan. WCW also decided, in a match with sixty guys, to buck battle royal convention, and have the referees on the inside of the ring. What's the point of that? Anything goes in a battle royal! You could shit on your opponents head, if you think it’ll help. Their only job is to watch the floor for eliminations, and see whose feet hit the ground. Even the referee doesn't know what he's doing in there - wandering around aimlessly watching the match. Duggan and Bubba dump each other to guarantee the continuation of that brilliant feud, and Dave Taylor flies out, robbing us of that epic title run. We get down to Luger, Giant, Flair, Anderson, Sting, One Man Gang, Eddy Guerrero, Savage, and Hulk Hogan - and Eddy's the first to go, after Flair and Arn take turns abusing him. Luger's next, and Savage takes a chokeslam from The Giant. Then, in possibly the first and only interesting spot of the match, Flair and Anderson try a spike piledriver on Sting, but he counters Arn with a slingshot, firing him into the corner, and knocking Flair off of the top, and out of the match. Awesome! He dumps Arn next, as Flair flips out. Not, like, a 'Flair Flip,' just, like, ‘goes fucking nuts,’ flipping. Sting and Hogan gang up to dump the Giant, but virtuous babyface Hulk Hogan (who had spent half the night hanging out with Sting, in interview bits I glossed over) pushes Sting out along with him, from behind. Giant's pissed (although, Sting really should be the one angry, as his professed 'friend' just pushed him out of the match, from behind, for his own benefit), and pulls Hogan out – though under the bottom rope. The referee sees Hogan on the floor, and Savage alone in the ring, and declares Randy the winner at 29:40, which is kind of hilarious, considering he was horrible at Royal Rumble’s. See, that kind of shit would never happen if the referee stayed on the floor like he’s supposed to. Hogan comes back in and whines about it afterwards, as opposed to shaking his other ‘best friends’ hand, and there's your set up for a big title match at Starrcade - but no, as Hogan took some time off, and they went in a different direction. You'd think sixty men in what's essentially a bar-room brawl would have to be exciting, but, somehow, it wasn't. They really booked themselves into a corner, as they promised a sixty-man battle royal to end all battle royals, and they couldn't pay that off with the ten minute match this warranted – therefore forcing us to watch thirty minutes of this. You'd think they'd take the hint, but they'd actually run this thing again annually through 1998 - and in those instances the World Title wasn't even on the line. There was no saving this - just a horrible attempt to emulate the WWF's success with the Royal Rumble. DUD.

BUExperience: Uh, yeah, that main event?! Horribly booked (questionable finishes; putting the women’s match early, when it should have been just before the main event, considering the women weren’t participating, and the men could have used a rest after their matches), endless interview segments I glossed over that weren’t quick backstage bits like the WWF was doing, but full in-arena promos, with complete entrances, and an atmosphere that felt not only like an auto show, but a used auto show. There’s some historically significant stuff – with Savage’s title win, and being that it’s the first World War 3 – but even that’s not enough to warrant checking this out. DUD.