WCW Starrcade 1998

From Washington, D.C; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan.


Opening WCW Cruiserweight Title Triangle Match: Billy Kidman v Rey Mysterio Jr v Juventud Guerrera: Guerrera starts by slapping them both across the face, so Kidman talks it over with Rey, and then gang up - overwhelming Guerrera into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. They double-team Juvi with a dropkick/bronco buster combo, but a miscommunication turns into a slugfest between Mysterio and Kidman. Guerrera joins in to make it a true three-way, and a fight over who gets to superplex Juvi ends in Kidman suplexing Mysterio onto Guerrera after a nice reversal sequence. Juvi comes back with a bulldog onto both men, but takes too long to cover, and it only gets two. Guerrera with chops for both men, but another reversal sequence ends in Kidman clotheslining him, and taking a sitout facebuster from Rey for two. Everyone ends up on the floor for Guerrera to springboard dive onto, but a flying bodypress on the way back in is blocked by stereo dropkicks from Billy and Rey (WCW left money on the table by not programming them as an odd couple country music tag team). Kidman picks Mysterio up for an electric chair, but Guerrera springboards into a rana off of Kidman's shoulders for two. Rey uses a rana to put Juvi on the floor, but Kidman suplexes Rey before he can capitalize, and hits a 2^nd rope legdrop for two. Kidman powerbombs Guerrera for two. Mysterio bulldogs Kidman for two. Guerrera crucifix backbreakers Mysterio for two. Back to the floor, it's Rey's turn to dive onto both of them - Rey using a sky-kissing springboard moonsault. He rolls Juvi back in for a springboard rana, but a criss cross ends in the Juvi Driver for two. Rey uses another rana to take Guerrera out to the floor, setting up Kidman's turn for a suicide dive, and Billy delivers with a shooting star press. That draws Eddie Guerrero out to protest Kidman dominating his fellow Latinos, but his attempt at interference backfires, and Kidman cradles Guerrera to retain at 14:54. I can watch these three trade spots all day, and it was a fun match (perfect for an opener), but far from perfect - too much down time between the eye-popping spots, instead of taking advantage of having three guys out there. ***

WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Billy Kidman v Eddie Guerrero: This is impromptu, after Guerrero (still dressed in street clothes) bitched out Mysterio and Guerrera, saying that he'll show them how to get the job done. Guerrero jumps him right at the bell to stomp a mud hole in the champ, and he whips him into the ropes for a clothesline. A powerbomb is worth two, and Eddie hooks an inside cradle for two. Leveraged abdominal stretch, but Rey breaks Juvi's leverage up out of respect for Kidman. The distraction allows Kidman a slingshot headscissors takedown, and a dropkick allows him to stomp a mud hole of his own. Kidman is still recovering from the grueling opener though, and Eddie manages to clip his knee, and lock on a modified bow-and-arrow. To the floor, Juvi holds the champ for Eddie to smack around, and he adds a shot into the post before rolling him back in - only to get bulldogged after Billy reverses a cross corner whip. Kidman with a ten-punch count, and a sleeper, but Eddie quickly breaker with a stunner. He takes his boot off for a cheap shot behind the referees back, and gets two off of it. Guerrero with a brainbuster, but he has trouble climbing to the top rope with only one shoe, and Kidman superplexes him for two. Eddie with a dropkick to the knee (which looks kinda goofy in socks) to set up a bridging legscissors, but Rey stops him from using the ropes again. Eddie with a springboard rana, but Billy counters a powerbomb with a facebuster, and a bodyslam sets up a slingshot legdrop for two. Kidman with a rana off of the top rope, but Eddie blocks by holding the rope - only to have Kidman shove him off as he tries to follow up. That sets up the Shooting Star Press, but Juvi crotches the champ on the top - only for Eddie to suffer the same fate as he capitalizes, and Kidman to retain with the Star Press at 10:47. Another good match - Kidman was on a roll during this period, and he really got a nice showcase here, getting the crowd behind him as a never-say-die underdog, much the way Bret Hart did in the early 1990s. ** ½

Prince Iaukea v Norman Smiley: Ah, Norman Smiley and his dancing - the rage of middleschoolers everywhere (including me and my thirteen year old friends at the time). Iaukea tries to flip-flop around him, but Smiley grounds him with an armscissors to work the shoulder. Smiley with a suplex and a bodyslam for two, and he ground Prince with a headscissors. Iaukea tries a sunset flip for one, but takes a snapmare, and a double stomp. Norman goes back to the shoulder with a series of bodyscissored armbars, but Iaukea chops him, and hits a cross corner clothesline. A suplex is reversed though, and Smiley hits a hanging double-underhook suplex for two. Armscissors, but Iaukea chops free again, and hits an overhead suplex for two. Smiley responds by tying him up in a modified bow-and-arrow for a couple of near falls, and another double stomp hits, but Iaukea chops away to set up a headbutt to the balls ('headnut' or 'buttballs,' if you will). Iaukea makes a lazy comeback (consisting entirely of punches), but Norman rolls through a springboard bodypress for two. Iaukea tries a backslide, but the bad shoulder acts up, and Smiley counters into the Conquest (a crossface chickenwing) for the submission at 11:32. This didn't really belong on pay per view, but it wasn't a bad match by any means - psychologically sound, and well paced. Iaukea looked horrible though, but his lack of motivation by this point was understandable. *

Saturn v Ernest Miller: Miller makes the mistake of playing with the microphone too much before the bell (that can make you go blind, you know), and gets jumped. He decides to walk out, but Saturn stupidly turns his back, so Miller charges in - only to misjudge his slide, and come short of Saturn. That gets him a ten-punch count in the corner, so Miller tries to win Saturn over with a formal bow. That gets him kicked, so he rakes the eyes, and sweeps Saturn to the mat for some choking. Saturn tries to turn it into a wrestling match on the mat with a series of cradles, but he can't get past two counts, and Miller rolls to the floor to catch a breather. Inside, Miller manages a savate kick for two, but a slugfest doesn't go his way, and Saturn side suplexes him. Saturn with a powerslam for two, and a swinging neckbreaker sets up a flying axehandle, but Miller blocks with a superkick for two. Another superkick draws Miller manager Sonny Onoo in for some random reason, but he hits Ernest by mistake, and Saturn finishes with the Death Valley Driver at 7:06. I generally like both guys, but this didn't work - they didn't click at all, and the finish came off horribly. DUD

Brian Adams and Scott Norton v Fit Finlay and Jerry Flynn: Adams and Finlay start, and Brian controls with a cross corner clothesline, but misses a second, and gets shoulderblocked for two. Finlay with European uppercuts and a seated senton splash, but his own blind charge misses, and Adams passes to Norton for some clotheslines and a powerslam. Tag to Flynn, but Norton eats them both alive with clotheslines - only to get his turn at missing a charge in the corner. Tag back to Adams, but Flynn chops him to block a test-of-strength, so Vincent fires off a cheap shot from the apron, and Adams hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. Tag to Finlay to unload some elbowsmashes, but he telegraphs a backdrop of his own, and gets piledriven. Tag to Norton with a DDT and a neckbreaker for two, and he hits a shoulderbreaker for two. Pass back to Brian for a double-team backelbow, but Finlay blocks a follow-up with a chincrusher and a DDT for two. Adams blocks a 2^nd rope splash with his boot to set up a press gutbuster, but Finlay manages to get to Flynn. He's a dojo of arson with lightning kicks to trigger a four-way brawl, but ends up taking a powerbomb from Norton, and we're done at 8:55. Energetic, but this also had no place on pay per view. ¾*

WCW Television Title Match: Konnan v Chris Jericho: A nineteen year old, pre-fame Stacy Keibler can be seen dancing in the crowd in an nWo shirt during the entrances. Well, someone saw something they liked, clearly. Jericho controls with shoulderblocks in the early going, and hits a spinheel kick, but a flying bodypress misses, and Konnan clotheslines him to the floor. Chris manages to reverse him into the rail out there, and adds a shot into the post for good measure before rolling him back inside for a suplex. That's worth two, and a chinlock grounds the champion. Jericho with chops in the corner, and a bodyslam sets up a flying splash, but Konnan blocks with his boot, and hits a rolling clothesline. Konnan with a whiplash for two, but Jericho quickly fires back with a chincrusher and the Lionsault for two. That leaves Konnan bailing to the outside, and Jericho's attempt at a springboard bodypress follow-up backfires when he hits the steps. That gets Konnan two, but a sitout facebuster is countered into a slingshot. The referee gets bumped to allow Jericho to whack Konnan with the TV title belt, but it only gets two, and Chris is shocked, allowing Konnan to hit the sitout facebuster, and hook the Tequila Sunrise to retain at 7:28. Jericho did his best to carry this, and it was decent, but forgettable. *

Ric Flair v Eric Bischoff: This stems from a real life feud between the two, that resulted in Flair getting legitimately suspended, and nearly quitting the promotion. Flair charges in, and chases Bischoff around ringside - catching him on the rail with chops. Inside, Flair with more chops, but this time he adds choking and a fish-hook for good measure. More chops set up a shindrop, so Bischoff starts clutching his knee to try and get Flair to back off. No dice, as Ric unloads on the knee to give him something to cry about, but the referee intervention allows Bischoff a roundhouse kick to put Flair on the floor for a shot into the rail - Ric blading. Inside, more kicks, so Flair blows him low - twice. He rips Bischoff's shirt off for a few shots to the exposed chest, but the referee gets bumped as Flair kicks a field goal in Eric's crotch. A side suplex and a hanging vertical suplex set up the Figure Four, but the referee is still down, and Curt Hennig runs in to pass Bischoff a set of knux - Eric whacking Ric with them for the pin at 7:08. This would normally fall under the 'bad match/good payoff' category, but putting Bischoff over totally negates the payoff, so it just falls back into the 'bad match' category, without anything to redeem it. DUD

Diamond Dallas Page v The Giant: Page spits in his face at the bell (hell of a shot, too), and uses Giant's anger to pull him into a few short-shoulderblocks. A clothesline knocks Giant out over the top, but a whip into the steps is countered with a short-clothesline. A headbutt sends Page into the first row, so he grabs a random trashcan, but still gets whipped into the steps as he comes back over the rail. Giant rams him into the post a couple of times before press slamming him back inside for an elbowdrop to the knee. He keeps after the knee with a leglock, so Page rakes the eyes to break the hold, but gets clotheslined again, and hugged like a bear. Page fires back with an elbow to set up the Diamond Cutter, but Giant blocks with a powerslam, and hugs him like a bear again. Page bites his way out this time, but a sunset flip is blocked with a modified backbreaker, so Page counters a hiptoss with a DDT - leaving both guys down. Page tries covering, but Giant kicks out with authority to bump the referee, and Bret Hart hustles down the aisle with a chair meant for Page - which hits Giant. That still only gets two, so Dallas goes to the top for a pair of flying clotheslines, but a third gets blocked with the Chokeslam, so Page counters into the Cutter on the way down for the pin at 12:45. Really dull stuff up until the ending, Giant looking especially lethargic. ¼*

Main Event: No Disqualification WCW World Title Match: Goldberg v Kevin Nash: Goldberg's pyro overwhelms the buildings poor ventilation system, and leaves both guys wandering around in the fog as the bell sounds - which lasts for the duration of the match. They go to a power stalemate out of the initial lockup, and a second go ends in Nash hooking a standing side-headlock. Goldberg breaks with a side suplex to send Kevin out to the floor to regroup, but Big Kev comes back in hot with kneelifts in the corner. Lots of 'em! Boot choke, but Goldberg shoves him off, so Nash holds the arm for an armbreaker. Goldberg literally refuses, and powers into an anklelock, but Nash is so tall that he grabs the bottom rope from center ring. Goldberg with a series of rights to put the challenger on his ass, but Nash suckers Goldberg into the corner, and manages the boot choke. A criss cross allows Goldberg to fire back with the spear, but Nash blows him low to block the Jackhammer, and hits a sidewalk slam for two. An elbowdrop is worth two, and a backelbow sets up a lariat for two. Suplex, but Goldberg counters with a neckbreaker, and hits a double-underhook suplex for two. Superkick and a powerslam get two, but a spinheel kick draw Disco Inferno out. Goldberg kills him with a spear, so Bam Bam Bigelow runs in. Goldberg kills him too, so Scott Hall jumps out of the crowd dressed as arena security, and zaps Goldberg with a taser to set up the Powerbomb, and Nash ends Goldberg's streak  at 174 at 11:19 - a decision that is still heavily debated to this day. It's worth noting that the crowd popped for it, though. The match was decent power stuff until the grossly overbooked ending (if Goldberg's streak needed to end, it should have been someone besting him after a grueling match), but nothing worthy of headlining the biggest show of the year. ½*
  
BUExperience: They say that ‘timing is everything,’ and there’s no more fitting example of it in the world of professional wrestling than Starrcade 1998. From debate over whether or not it was time to end Goldberg’s streak (it wasn’t), to the fact that WCW still couldn’t time their cards correctly (a common occurrence for them in 1998, when pay per views were constantly running too short or too long) and had to cut several advertised top level matches because they got overloaded with filler matches and in-arena interviews, ‘timing’ was a huge factor.

It’s a weird show, because there’s some decent stuff on the undercard, and the main event is the sort of epic booking train wreck that’s worth checking out, but it’s an underwhelming show to say the least, with lots of TV level matches clogging the undercard, and not nearly enough intrigue. **