WCW Road Wild 1998

From Sturgis, South Dakota; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan.


Opening Match: Meng v Barbarian: You'd think that considering that the Faces of Fear were broken up, WCW would at least have sprung for new tights so both guys aren't dressed like tag team partners anymore. You'd be wrong, of course. Barbarian charges him on the way in, but it's Meng, and he shrugs him off. They trade suplexes, and Meng ends up getting belly-to-belly superplexed when he tries something off the top rope. That's worth a two count, and they trade chops to a stalemate. Headbutts go to a stalemate, so Meng slaps on the Tongan Deathgrip for the win at 4:49. Yeah, this sucked. If WCW can't even be bothered to buy these guys new tights, I can't be bothered to care, sorry. DUD

Public Enemy v The Dancing Fools: Rocco Rock starts with Alex Wright, but Alex is more interesting in dancing, and passes to Disco. He suckers Rock into a schoolboy for two, so Rock passes to partner Johnny Grunge. Disco catches him with a clothesline out of the ropes, and Wright adds a missile dropkick for two. More dancing triggers a double team from the Enemy, and things break down, as everyone starts throwing weapons into the ring and brawling. The Fools decide to take a walk, but return with a table (for some reason, WCW hadn't mastered the whole 'hide weapons under the ring' concept yet, so the poor guys keep having to walk all the way to the dressing rooms to get weapons), and challenge Enemy to a Street Fight. They accept, but first, head to the back to get more weapons. The usual garbage brawl ensues (or resumes, in this case) - everyone hitting random weapons shots, and brawling around the ring. It drags on forever, until Enemy stack three tables up on the floor (with Disco playing dead forever while they set it up), and the punch line is Rocco climbing a piece of scaffolding at ringside (it's an outdoor show), and elbowdropping him through three tables for the pin at 15:26. The final spot was neat (if contrived), and this would have been fine at around five minutes, but fifteen minutes was just way, way too long for what they were going for. DUD

Raven's Rules Triangle Match: Raven v Saturn v Kanyon: Added stipulation: winner gets a full name! Saturn and Kanyon start, and Saturn unloads on him in the corner, but takes a swinging neckbreaker. Raven breaks up the party with a chair, but then just sits in the corner and lets the others punch each other for his amusement. They get wise and dive at him with dropkicks, and pull him out of the corner for a side suplex/neckbreaker combo. Raven takes a Total Elimination, and Kanyon gives him an awesome three-alarm rolling Russian legsweep (the Soviet version of the German suplexes) followed by a Saturn flying legdrop. Kanyon with a swinging neckbreaker, but they start in-fighting over who gets to score the fall, and Raven whacks them both with the chair. Out to the floor, everyone ends up in a dog pile after a Kanyon plancha, and they brawl up the aisle to the entrance set. Kanyon ends up piledriving Saturn up there for two, but Raven breaks it up, and dropkicks Kanyon down the ramp. Saturn dives off of the stage at them both with a clothesline, and gives Kanyon a stungun onto the side of the ramp. They brawl back to the ring for Saturn to suplex Raven for two, and he tries a sleeper. Of course, since this is a three-way, Kanyon jumps on him with a sleeper of his own (Kanyon was known for doing things like that in three-ways anyway), and a chain stunner from Raven breaks it up. Kanyon with a superplex on Saturn, but Raven picks Kanyon up for an electric chair - the momentum carrying Saturn into the superplex off of Raven's shoulders. Wild! Raven DDT's them both for a two count on Saturn, so Kanyon drags him to the floor for a suplex, but misses a flying splash off of the lighting scaffold. That allows Raven to go back for Saturn, but he walks into a Death Valley Driver. Luckily, the Flock saves, but it backfires, and another Death Valley Driver finishes Raven at 12:27. I liked the 'everyone gangs up on Raven' dynamic in the early going, but the match had very little flow, and completely lacked transitions. Some neat spots, though. *

#1 Contenders Match: Rey Mysterio Jr v Psychosis: Winner becomes the top contender for the Cruiserweight title. Psychosis powers him into the corner out of the initial lockup, but offers a clean break. He takes Rey into a crossface as they tie-up again, and into an armbar when Rey gets uppity. Rey fires back with a dropkick, and Psychosis wisely rolls to the floor to break the momentum. Back inside, Psychosis wins a test-of-strength with a wristlock, and a sloppy reversal sequence ends in Psychosis clotheslining him for two. Psychosis with a brain buster for two, and a series of cross corner whips leave Mysterio on dream street. Psychosis wakes him up with a nasty flapjack (with extra syrup), and a vertical suplex sets up a flying splash, but Rey blocks with his boot. He unloads a series of turnbuckle smashes, and handsprings into a rana to put Psychosis back on the outside. Rey forces him in for a flying bodypress, but another rana is blocked with a sitout powerbomb - getting two for Psychosis. Nervehold, but Rey powers up, so Psychosis gives him an electric chair drop for two. Now it's Rey who is bailing to the floor to regroup, but Psychosis is on him with a dropkick out there. Inside, Psychosis goes for the bad leg with a Boston crab, but Rey won't submit, so Psychosis gives him a rana off the top for two. He goes back to the knee, but Rey blocks a flying moonsault by dropkicking him out to the floor, and he follows with a springboard somersault senton. Rey with a springboard sunset flip for two on the way back in, and a rotating rocker dropper sets up a springboard moonsault for two. Psychosis tries a spinebuster for two, but a dropkick misses, and Mysterio finishes him with a sloppy springboard rana (dropping Psychosis right on his head) at 13:38. Pretty big letdown, all things considered. Both guys never really got going, and didn't seem to click for them at all. Far from 'bad,' but slow, and disappointing. * ¼

WCW Television Title Match: Stevie Ray v Chavo Guerrero Jr: Just what this crowd wants to see: black people and Mexicans. Chavo stalls him in the early going, and teases a handshake before dropkicking Stevie's knee. Ray no-sells it, so Guerrero lures him into a chase, but Stevie no-sells everything, and hits the Slapjack to retain at 2:39 - which is practically an epic compared to their grueling one-minute classic from Bash at the Beach the month before. DUD

Scott Steiner v Rick Steiner: Or not, as Scott Steiner is 'injured,' and the match is postponed until Fall Brawl. Haha, sorry, paying customers. But then, what are people gonna do? Watch the WWF instead? Oh... wait...

Steve McMichael v Brian Adams: The first pair of lockups end in stalemates, so Adams suckers him into a test-of-strength, and hits a cheap shot. McMichael comes back with what could generously be called a 'DDT,' and Adams bails to the floor before McMichael has another chance to cripple him. Inside, Adams blocks a big boot with a slam, and he hits a pair of legdrops for two. Nervehold, but McMichael gets uppity, so Adams clotheslines him to the floor for Vincent to abuse. Inside, Adams hits a backbreaker for two, but a 2^nd rope kneedrop misses, and McMichael side suplexes him. 3-point stance, but the referee gets bumped as Adams tries for a piledriver, and Vincent grabs a chair. It backfires, and Mongo finishes him with the Tombstone at 6:34. DUD, bordering negative stars.

WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Chris Jericho v Juventud Guerrera: Dean Malenko acts as the special guest referee for the bout. Jericho makes sure to rub it in Malenko's face when he offers a clean break out of the initial lockup (complete with exaggerated facial expressions), but Dean's not buying it, and physically blocks Chris from getting out of line. Guerrera uses the intervention to peel off a dropkick (a common occurrence at wrestling interventions - a reason why so many superstars have trouble overcoming addiction), and a missile dropkick puts Jericho on the floor. Juvi follows with a series of chops to knock Chris into the rail, and he follows with a crazy springboard dive - especially nuts because the rail is much further from the ring (on a platform) than usual. He ends up banging his knee as a result, and rolls Jericho in with a slingshot legdrop for two. Chinlock, but Jericho escapes, so Juvi goes with a springboard bodypress for two. Guerrera with a flying version, but Jericho is ready with a powerslam for two. Chris with a hanging vertical suplex for two, and a senton splash gets two. Jericho slaps on a chinlock, but Guerrera powers up, so the champ smacks him down with a kneelift as he charges. Bodyslam sets up the Lionsault, but Guerrera blocks with his knees, and takes him down with a headscissors. Guerrera with a flying spinheel kick for two, and a nice reversal sequence ends in Chris blocking a rana with a powerbomb. He literally kicks Guerrera out of the ring for a springboard shoulderblock, and a clothesline on the way back in is worth two. Another powerbomb, but Guerrera blocks with a sitout facebuster for two, and adds the Juvi Driver for two. 450 Splash, but Jericho dives into the ropes to block - crotching Guerrera on the top turnbuckle. Chris super-duperplexes him down, and goes for the Liontamer, but Juvi grabs the ropes. Chris thinks he's won and argues with Malenko, but Dean is ice cold. Jericho slaps him across the face before laying Guerrera out with the title belt, but Dean still gives him a fair two count. Jericho kicks Malenko in the face in the hopes of getting disqualified, but Dean responds by alley-ooping Guerrera into Jericho for a rana - Guerrera scoring the pinfall for the title at 16:23. A lot of the focus was on Jericho/Malenko, but it didn't hurt the match too badly. Not nearly as much as Guerrera banging up his knee in the first few minutes (which slowed them down a lot), and the dead crowd (though that wasn't really their fault). * ¾

WCW World Title Battle Royal: The idea here is that nine guys (including WCW Champion Goldberg) have a battle royal, and the winner takes the title. Eliminations occur by standard over the top rules, as well as pinfalls. We've got: Goldberg, Giant, Scott Hall, Curt Hennig, Scott Norton, Konnan, Lex Luger, Kevin Nash, and Sting. The eight nWo members stupidly fight each other instead of working together to eliminate the undefeated World Champion, and Hall is the first to get backdropped out as he tries to Edge Goldberg. Nash eliminates himself to go after Hall on the floor (what's the World Title when you have a petty feud to settle, after all?), and everyone plods around for a while until Goldberg spears Konnan, and tosses him. Hennig and Giant finally work together to go after Goldberg, but it quickly falls apart, and Goldberg is left alone in the corner while the others fight. He comes over to toss Hennig out, and shoves Sting and Norton over as well. Spear for Luger to allow Giant to toss him, but he takes a spear as well, before Goldberg Jackhammer's him to retain at 7:57. Basically just Goldberg versus eight guys, but the eight guys couldn't be bothered to target Goldberg, so it was basically just Goldberg standing around while the nWo fought, and occasionally coming over to eliminate someone. But, hey, it was a creative way to job guys like Hall and Nash without having Goldberg actually beat them. DUD

Main Event: Hollywood Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff v Diamond Dallas Page and Jay Leno: A match that doesn't only scream 'main event,' it holds you down and forces you to agree! Hogan starts with Page, and overpowers him through a few lockups, but gets caught in an armbar. Page pinballs Hogan in the corner with Leno to set up a swinging neckbreaker, and Hulk bails. DDP tries to bring him back in by the hair, but it backfires because Hulk has none, so fellow baldy Kevin Eubanks shows him how it's done, and helps Hollywood back into the ring. Hogan muscles Page into the corner to allow a tag to Bischoff, and he unloads a series of kicks in the corner, but misses a charge. Tag to Leno, but Eric dives back into his home corner to daddy Hulk. Leno uses speed to dodge Hogan, but it's Page who ends up nailing Hogan to allow Leno a wristlock. Hogan powers into the corner with kneelifts, but Leno dodges an axehandle, and tags Page. A cheap shot from Bischoff allows the nWo to cut the ring in half, and Hogan hits the big boot, but forgets to follow-up, and takes a short-clothesline. That's enough to allow Page to tag, and Leno is a TV studio of fire on Bischoff. Low Blow! Fists of Fury! Turnbuckle Smashes! That triggers a four-way brawl, and Eubanks sneaks in with a Diamond Cutter, Jay pinning Eric off of it at 14:32. Leno worked hard, and they carried him well (though Hogan was really hamming it up), but really, at the end of the day, it's still Jay Leno main eventing a pay per view. DUD

BUExperience: If you’re really curious about Jay Leno main eventing, then yeah, this one is for you. Everyone else, take a pass. DUD