WCW Slamboree 1996

After taking a look at the nWo‘s formation, I thought we should pull back and take a peek at the last WCW pay per view to take place before Scott Hall’s fateful appearance on Nitro the next week.

For 1996, WCW scrapped the ‘Legends Reunion’ theme from Slamboree – instead digging up Dusty Rhodes’ BattleBowl/Lethal Lottery concept (not used since November 1993) to advance some angles without having to pay them off, as well as push Diamond Dallas Page.

My interest in the show was minimal, as I had become a WCW fan after Hogan and Savage’s entrances in 1994 – but only to a point. Everything from fall 1995-nWo invasion blends together, as I was mostly watching the WWF – almost every week of which I remember vividly.

From Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes.


Opening Lethal Lottery Match: Lex Luger and Hawk v Booker T and Animal: Luger and Animal start, and fight over the initial lockup. Luger wins, and powerslams him, but Animal catches him with one of his own off of a criss cross. Shoulderblocks, and a dropkick keep Luger down, and Booker T tags in. They try to cut the ring in half, with Booker throwing every version of a kick he can think of, but a four way brawl breaks out - with the Road Warriors teaming up - and both teams get counted out at 6:54, for a double elimination. Dull, pointless match, made worse by poor booking decisions like the double countout ending in a tournament specifically designed to get bodies into a battle royal, as well as not even giving us a Road Warriors showdown - which is sort of the whole point of these matches. DUD

Lethal Lottery Match: Chris Benoit and Kevin Sullivan v The Public Enemy: Man, just in case there was still one little kid at home who actually thought the drawings weren't rigged, they're already putting frequent partners together against two guys who are feuding. Benoit and Rocco Rock start, with Rock raking the eyes, and catching him with a headscissors takedown. Rana, but he wastes time dancing, and gets powerbombed. Tag to Sullivan, which draws Johnny Grunge in illegally, and we have a four way brawl. The Public Enemy try to put Sullivan through a table, but Benoit saves, only to get suplexed over-the-top by Rock. They put him through a table (like the Dudley Boyz later, that was pretty much their gimmick – tag team that puts people through tables) for the pin at 4:44. Too short to go anywhere, leading to the formula four way brawl way too early (even in context), but it was going fine before it wasn't. ½*

Lethal Lottery Match: Sgt. Craig Pittman and Scott Steiner v The Booty Man and Rick Steiner: The Booty Man is Ed Leslie (best known for his WWF run, as Brutus Beefcake) in one of, like, ten WCW gimmick he had. And that would be a conservative estimate. Pittman and Booty start, and work a bunch of stalemate sequences. Rick Steiner gives it a go – hitting a belly to belly suplex - but gets caught in an armbar. Tag to Scott - giving us the Steiner Brothers showdown - and predictably they work an amateur style clash (fireman's carries, headlocks, etc) since they don't hate each other. Scott throws the first power move with a side suplex, but gets caught with a big clothesline. Rick goes to check to make sure he isn't hurt, but Scott cradles him – in a nice bit. They trade full-nelsons, with Rick turning his into a suplex, but gets caught on the top rope and belly to belly suplexed off. Tag to Booty, but he misses a blind charge, and Pittman goes right for it - hooking his armbreaker submission finisher. Booty more or less no sells it, tagging Rick while still in the hold, and Rick German suplexes Pittman for the pin at 8:21. The Steiner Brothers battle was fun, the rest was paint-by-numbers. ¾*

Lethal Lottery Match: The Blue Bloods v Jim Duggan and VK Wallstreet: Wallstreet is Mike Rotunda, spoofing Vince McMahon (Vincent Kennedy McMahon), and, apparently, his love of money and success. Boy, you don't see that kind of sizzling satire anymore. Steven Regal and Jim Duggan start, but Duggan is apparently on PCP (dancing around a wrestling ring in your underwear, yelling out the name of the country you’re in obnoxiously loudly – yep PCP), and Regal rightly refuses to tie-up. Duggan eventually calms down (I think the kids call it ‘crashing’), and hiptosses Regal, but Wallstreet won't tag. Communications break down between them (with Jim Duggan?!?), so he tapes his fist, and knocks Dave Taylor out for the pin at 3:46. All angle, and too short to build properly. DUD

Lethal Lottery Match: Dick Slater and Robert Eaton v Alex Wright and Disco Inferno: Definition of lazy booking: not putting the Disco Inferno and the Booty Man in the same match. Slater and Disco start, but Disco's too worried about mussing his hair to tie-up. Slater responds with an elbowsmash (messing up the hair!!), so he bails to Alex Wright. He gets Robert Eaton (Bobby Eaton - playing a Blue Blood), and dominates him with leg lariats. Tag to Disco, and he's an inferno - leading to the requisite four way brawl. Slater nails Disco with a cowboy boot in the chaos, and gets the pin at 2:56. Again, not long enough to be a proper match. DUD

Lethal Lottery Match: Diamond Dallas Page and The Barbarian v Hugh Morrus and Meng: Page and Morrus start (no shit!), and Page works an armbar, but gets shoulderblocked to the outside. Morrus tries to follow with a plancha, but misses, and Page tags the Barbarian. Backdrop, but Morrus blocks and tags Meng - giving us the Faces of Fear showdown. They do a couple of clean breaks, but quickly succumb into slugging it out, and literally using their heads. Morrus with a flying elbowdrop for two, so he tries again, but Page crotches him on the top. Barbarian overhead suplexes him off, but Meng breaks up a pin. Morrus with a flying moonsault, and the four way brawl breaks out, allowing Barbarian a big boot on Morrus for the pin at 5:15. A couple of nice spots from Hugh Morrus - not much else. ½*

Lethal Lottery Match: Big Bubba Rogers and Stevie Ray v Fire and Ice: Stevie and Scott Norton start, with Ray slamming him around. Bubba tags in with a cross corner clothesline, and a spinebuster for two. Norton starts throwing clotheslines to come back, and a faceslam. Fire and Ice double team shoulderblock finishes at 3:32. DUD

Lethal Lottery Match: Ric Flair and Randy Savage v Arn Anderson and Eddie Guerrero: Anderson jumps Savage coming in (with Flair joining in), but Guerrero actually breaks it up to go after Flair. I get that he's a face, and therefore wants to help fellow babyface Savage, but, dude - strategy. Eddie unloads with a series of dropkicks, and tags Anderson - but he double teams Savage... with Flair. Spinebuster gets two, and Flair tags in - but goes after Savage instead of Anderson. That draws Eddie in with a tornado DDT, and do I even have to type 'four way brawl?' They put a twist on it, as Savage goes for Flair and Anderson for Guerrero, and an Arn DDT allows Flair to get the pin at 4:04. This could have been really good given another ten minutes, and maybe easing back on the infighting. ¼* Afterwards, Flair and Anderson do a proper beat down on Savage.

WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Dean Malenko v Brad Armstrong: This was early into the revamped Cruiserweight division, before they imported the Luchadores to properly get it going. They trade hammerlocks to start – with Armstrong getting the best of it - and he nails Malenko with an enzuigiri. Dropkick puts Dean on the outside, but unlike what that usually transitions to in the later Cruiserweight matches (some sort of suicide dive after him), Armstrong just waits in the ring. Malenko dropkick the knee on his way back in, and posts it. He ties him up on the mat - working the leg - and hits a pump handle splash. Kneebreaker into a leglock, but Armstrong won't give, so Malenko hangs him in a tree of woe. He keeps hammering the knee, but a second pump handle splash misses. Armstrong with a powerslam to come back, and a missile dropkick. He puts Malenko in the Texas Cloverleaf (Dean's finisher), but Malenko easily makes the ropes. They fight to the top, and Dean with a gutbuster off of the top rope to retain at 8:29. Psychologically sound, but dull. Luckily, the imports were on their way, and the division would take off (kinda literally) soon. ¾*

Lethal Lottery Match: Dick Slater and Robert Eaton v Jim Duggan and VK Wallstreet: In a booking decision I can only assume had something to do with crack, WCW decided to tweak the format for the Lethal Lottery to run two rounds before the BattleBowl battle royal - resulting in a night abbreviated matches. Wallstreet and Duggan fight each other to start (while Eaton and Slater intelligently hang back), until Wallstreet dumps Duggan - which leaves him alone to get double teamed. He holds his own – getting Eaton in an abdominal stretch - but more fighting with Duggan allows Eaton to schoolboy him for the pin at 4:08. DUD

Lethal Lottery Match: Ric Flair and Randy Savage v The Public Enemy: Savage is still pissed from earlier (what – a little attempted murder isn't cool anymore?), and jumps Flair from behind during the entrances. The Officials can't pull them apart (let alone talk them into wrestling together), so Public Enemy wins by forfeit at 0:00. No match, obviously, but a good bit of angle development. This probably would have led to a blowoff at Bash at the Beach, but the start of the nWo angle pretty much abolished all active feuds.

Lethal Lottery Match: Rick Steiner and The Booty Man v Diamond Dallas Page and The Barbarian: Page and the Booty start, and Dallas bumps to the floor off of a punch, getting himself tangled up in electrical cables on the way. Inside, Steiner with a release powerslam, and he tries a ten-punch count, but gets stungunned. Barbarian tags, but gets suplexed, and Rick plants him with a super-belly to belly suplex. Backdrop, but Barbarian powerbombs him, and hooks a front face-lock. A cheap shot from Page allows him to live his dream of throwing as many clotheslines as humanely possible, but Steiner stunguns him. Four way brawl breaks out, and Page throws another cheap shot to allow Barbarian to get some Booty at 5:05. A couple nice power moves from Steiner, but overall quite disjointed. ¼*

WCW United States Title Match: Konnan v Jushin Liger: Konnan goes right to the mat with a well executed reverse bow-and-arrow, but Liger reverses the reversed hold. They do a cartwheel stalemate to demonstrate that these two are fast paced wrestlers, and Konnan bails. Liger follows with a plancha, and inside plants him with a brainbuster for two. They go to the mat, trading armholds, with Liger dominating the champion. Konnan tries to slap his way free (!), so Liger super-duperplexes him, and hits a flying splash for two. To the outside, Liger stupidly tries a flying bodypress when Konnan is standing upright and facing him – and, not surprisingly, it misses. Inside, Liger reverses a German suplex, and hits a fisherman's buster for two. Konnan with a powerbomb on the Power Ranger to come back, but Liger counters Splash Mountain with a sunset flip for two. Inside cradles gets two. Ligerbomb (a sitout powerbomb) gets two – frustrating him - so he tries a flying splash again, but misses. Konnan with the Splash Mountain to retain at 9:30. Good, back-and-forth action throughout - well paced, and filled with near falls and high spots. ***

BattleBowl: All the winners of the Lethal Lottery qualify, and the winner of the battle royal gets a title shot at The Great American Bash. It's a pretty weak eight-man field of non-contenders, featuring: Robert Eaton, Ice Train, Scott Norton, Rocco Rock, Johnny Grunge, Diamond Dallas Page, The Barbarian, and Dick Slater. Standard battle royal fare, with the regular tag teams (Public Enemy, Fire and Ice) teaming up in the early going. Everyone else brawls, and Barbarian dumps Page - but he hangs on to the ropes, and pulls himself back in. We get down to Ice Train, Johnny Grunge, Barbarian, and Page - and Ice Train powerslams everyone. Page follows by hitting a Diamond Cutter on everyone, and pins Train and Grunge off of it (pinfalls count in this version of BattleBowl), but Barbarian kicks out. Apparently they didn't bother telling the crowd that pinfalls count, though, because they're totally lost. Barbarian with a visually impressive tombstone for two (impressive in that it looked great, but not well executed in that he nearly crippled Page with it), and he tries a sleeper, but Page blows him low to escape. Backdrop, but he gets powerbombed for two. Flying headbutt misses, however, and Page hits another Diamond Cutter for the pin at 9:33. The title shot would be revoked the next night on Nitro, over controversy due to Page's near elimination earlier in the match (see: they wanted to push Page, but knew he wasn’t yet enough of a draw to headline the next pay per view). ½*

Main Event: WCW World Title Match: The Giant v Sting: WCW's brilliant production team plays a graphic highlighting this as a 'US Title Match' during the entrances. Maybe it was political commentary? Big criss cross to start, and Sting tries a bodypress, but literally bounces off of him. He tries a sleeper instead, but Giant powers out, so Sting starts throwing dropkicks. It doesn't faze the champion, however, so Sting bails to the floor to regroup with pal Lex Luger. Back in, Sting continues to stick and move, but gets toppled when he tries a slam. Giant works him over (stomp, choke, elbowdrop - you're not missing anything), and locks him in a rope-assisted bodyscissors. The referee catches him cheating, however, so he tosses Sting to the outside. He tries a chokeslam through a random table sitting in the middle of the aisle, but Lex Luger lays Jimmy Hart (Giant's manager) on it to prevent the slam. Inside, Giant misses a dropkick when Luger pulls Sting out of the way, and Sting hits the Stinger Splash. Another three follow - finally knocking him down - but Sting stupidly (Sting? Stupid? No!) goes after Jimmy Hart instead of finishing. By the time he gets around to it, Giant easily tosses him off. Flying splash gets two, so he hooks the Deathlock, but Jimmy Hart clocks him with the megaphone to break it up. Chokeslam retains the title for Giant at 10:41. Energetic enough, but more of a TV match than a pay per view main event. *

BUExperience: Not surprisingly, this was the last appearance of the Lethal Lottery and BattleBowl – a concept no one wanted to see come back to begin with. This show could have actually worked (or at least worked better), had they only done the traditional Lethal Lottery (without a second round), as the extended format didn’t allow any of the matches to properly develop – all coming off as rushed, and flat. It was so dull that even commentator Bobby Heenan was constantly checking his wristwatch whenever the camera would show the announce team. Luckily, the nWo and the Luchadores were on their way. DUD