WCW Fall Brawl 1997

From Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, and Bobby Heenan.

Opening WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Chris Jericho v Eddie Guerrero: Eddie starts by taking Chris to the mat with a side-headlock, but Jericho uses a headscissors to break. They repeat that sequence about a dozen more times, and the punch line is Guerrero complaining of a hairpull. Jericho responds with a stiff shoulderblock, but Eddie takes him to the mat in an anklelock. Shift into an armbar, but Jericho catches him with an armdrag for his efforts. Eddie blasts him with chops, but walks into another armdrag, and Chris holds him on the mat in a wristlock. Eddie fights for the ropes, but Chris keeps it firmly applied, so Guerrero forces it into a pin attempt to break. He tries a wristlock of his own, but Jericho counters into a magistral cradle for two, and takes the challenger back to the mat in another wristlock. Criss cross goes Chris' way with a stungun, and he follows up with the Lionsault for two. Back to the wristlock, but Eddie dives over the top rope (in turn snapping Jericho across it) to break, and plants a dropkick on him. Guerrero with a modified surfboard, but Jericho manages to break, so Eddie gives him a vicious side suplex and hooks on a proper surfboard - Jericho literally bending over backwards to sell it. Guerrero with a European uppercut (Spain!) and a slingshot somersault senton for two. Gory Special, but Jericho reverses it - only for Eddie to counter up onto his shoulders, which Chris promptly counters with an inverted electric chair. Pair of cross corner clotheslines hit, but a third misses, and Guerrero tries a ropewalk - only to end up getting crotched. Jericho with a dropkick to put Eddie out on the apron, and he tries to powerbomb him onto the floor from there, but Eddie grabs the ropes to block, and they both awkwardly fall to the floor out of it. That looked botched, but they did their best to save it. Eddie tries another somersault senton on the way back in, but Chris dodges, and hits a release German suplex for two. Powerbomb, but Eddie escapes again, and counters into a uranage. Chris manages a powerslam as both guys pop up, and he flapjacks Eddie to set up a spinheel kick for two. Another flapjack, but a magistral cradle is blocked, and Eddie tries a rana - only to take a two-alarm no-release powerbomb. Chris takes him up for a superplex, but Eddie counters into a DDT on the way down, and finishes him with a Frog Splash at 17:20 to win the title. Started off on the slow side (which would be fine if any of their early submission stuff actually built to something), but it heated up a lot towards the end, and both guys were working hard. Good start. ***

The Steiner Brothers v Harlem Heat: Scott Steiner starts with Stevie Ray, and Stevie controls after dodging a charge and hitting a sidewalk slam. He misses a charge of his own, however, and Scott is quick to hit a belly-to-belly suplex - Stevie wisely rolling out to the floor to break the momentum. Tag to Booker T on the way back in, but Scott is unimpressed, and slaps on an overhead wristlock - only for Booker to power out and into a full-nelson. Booker with a suplex, but a flying axehandle is countered into an overhead suplex, and Scotty follows up with a sloppy press slam. That draws Stevie back in, but Rick Steiner cuts him off with a punch, and the Steiner's clean house. The dust settles on Rick and Booker, and Steiner takes him down with a snapmare into an elbowdrop for two. Tag to brother Scott, and he hits a snapmare of his own to set up a chinlock. Tag back to Rick to hit a bodyslam for two, but a blind charge misses, and Booker cracks him with a spinkick before tagging. The Heat briefly cut the ring in half on Steiner, but Booker gets caught in a powerslam while trying a leapfrog, and Scott tags. Scott comes in hot, but walks into a double-team, and ends up on the floor to take some abuse. Inside, Booker slaps on a chinlock, and he hits a diving forearm when Scott tries escaping. Another spinkick, but Scott is ready with a suplex to block, and both men tag. Rick is a doghouse of fire to trigger a four-way brawl, and the Steiner's finish Stevie with a German suplex/clothesline combo at 11:44. Cookie cutter TV stuff, but it wasn't horrible, or anything. ½*

WCW Television Title Match: Alex Wright v Ultimo Dragon: Wright (firmly in his heel Wunderkid phase) tries to act heelish by shoving Dragon around, but only ends up looking like an angry stick of Wrigley's gum. Well, I guess he's a threat to that one holdout dentist, then? They should have gone the distance with it, and had him come out with evil (or, at least significantly disgruntled) sets of twins. Dragon responds to his shenanigans with a dropkick, and they trade wristlocks - Wright controlling by cheating. Standing side-headlock by the champion, but Dragon starts firing off kicks, so Alex stunguns him. Spinheel kick gets two, and a forward-falling piledriver hits. Chinlock, but apparently Dragon is invincible, since that's not enough. Wright tries a side suplex for two, and goes back to the chinlock - since why not wrestle this like a house show match, right? Dragon fires back with more kicks, but a spinheel version misses, and Alex covers his challenger for two. Another chinlock, but Wright at least bothers to make use of the ropes this time. It still doesn't get the win, but hey, it's effort. Japanese armdrag sets up yet another chinlock, but Dragon finds a sunset flip for two - Wright's counters of disco dancing sadly failing. Dragon with a splash off of the middle rope, but Wright lifts his boots to block, and hits a leg lariat. Snap suplex sets up a flying splash, but now Dragon blocks with his boot, and knocks the champ to the floor with lightning kicks. He follows with a springboard moonsault, and hits a rana on the way back in. Chopfest goes Dragon's way with a dropkick, but Wright crotches him on the top turnbuckle when he goes for a moonsault, and dropkicks the challenger down to the floor. Alex follows with a plancha, but he gets caught with a butterfly suplex on the way back in, and Dragon covers for two. Tiger suplex gets two, and they fight to the top - Wright getting powerbombed off for two. Dragon with a slam and a flying moonsault for two, but a flying axehandle is blocked with a dropkick for two. Wright with a side suplex to capitalize, but Dragon counters into a bodyblock for two. Magistral cradle gets two, so Wright dropkicks him into the corner - only to miss a charge, and take a rana off of the top. Dragon Sleeper, but Wright is in the ropes. Dragon tries it again, but takes a stunner, and Alex grabs the dazed challenger for a German suplex to retain at 18:43. A little long for what they were going for, and too much resting in the early going, but it had its moments. ** ¼

#1 Contender's Match: Dean Malenko v Jeff Jarrett: To clarify, this is for Contendership to the US Title. Jarrett gets cocky with struts right away, but Dean is the iceman, and just starts wrestling him. He dazes Jarrett with hammerlocks and headlocks, and a shoulderblock knocks Double J off of his feet. Cue complaints of hair pulling, and Jeff manages to counter a drop-toehold into a mat-based hammerlock. Dean manages the toehold on the second try, and infuriates Jarrett by walking all over him. Literally. Jeff responds with a drop-toehold of his own, but Malenko manages to dodge an elbowdrop, and sends Jeff to the floor with a well placed dropkick. Inside, Jeff goes for a side-headlock, but Dean escapes for a criss cross, and decks Double J. Turnbuckles smashes, but a clothesline is ducked, and Jarrett locks a sleeper. Malenko quickly dives into the ropes, and dodges a cross corner charge to set up a flying axehandle. Superplex, but a dropkick misses, and Jeff grabs the legs for a somersault cradle - only for Dean to roll through before the referee can even count. He dropkicks Jarrett, and plants him on the mat with a release German suplex. Texas Cloverleaf, but Jarrett is in the ropes before Dean can get it fully applied. Dean with a bodypress to send both men crashing over the top, and he's up first with a baseball slide. He feeds Jeff a helping of guardrail, and bashes his knee into it before rolling him back inside for a leg lariat. Blind charge misses, and Jarrett goes for the knee himself - pounding it in the corner and bashing it against the ringpost. Jarrett ends up crotching himself on the ropes as he keeps after the knee, and Dean shoves him to the floor for another shot against the rail. Suplex back in, but Jarrett bodyblocks to counter - getting two. Malenko tries a sleeper, but Jeff uses a side suplex to counter, and head fakes him with a 2^nd rope fistdrop to set up the Figure Four - only for Malenko to cradle him for two. Backslide gets two, but Jarrett catches him with a swinging neckbreaker to set up a butterfly suplex - only for Dean to reverse. Jarrett reverses as well, and it turns into a three-alarm pinfall reversal sequence - ending in Jarrett clipping the knee to set up the Figure Four at 14:54. Unfortunately, Jarrett would bail back to the WWF before getting that planned title shot the next month at Halloween Havoc. Good match that didn't focus on too much of the usual stalling from Jarrett, had psychology, and had the crowd totally buying into the near falls - though not quite on par with their match at Slamboree a few months earlier. ***

The Faces of Fear v Wrath and Mortis: Barbarian starts with Mortis, and Mortis tries to scare him with lightning kicks, but gets beat up in the corner. Barbarian with a flapjack, and a lariat gets a quick two count. Tag to Meng, but he quickly misses an avalanche, and Wrath gets the tag. That turns right into a slugfest with Meng, and if you've seen even one shoot interview in your life, you can guess how that goes. Wrath still manages a 2^nd rope clothesline, and he tags back out. Meng wins another slugfest, and tags Barbarian to set up that neat backdrop/powerbomb tandem spot. That gets two, and Barbie adds a pumphandle slam for two. The Faces cut the ring in half, until manager James Vandenberg crotches Barbarian on the top rope, and Wrath comes in with a big boot. They hit a sitout powerbomb/neckbreaker combo, and Wrath hits a backbreaker followed by a pump-elbowdrop for two. Mortis with a Rocker dropper off the top for two, and Wrath adds a side suplex followed by a flying clothesline to knock Barbie out to the floor for Mortis to abuse. Inside, Wrath puts Mortis on his shoulders to get some extra elevation on a superplex, but it hurts them all, and Barbarian gets a tag before this can capitalize. Meng with a powerslam and a flying splash on Mortis for two, but that triggers a four-way brawl, and Mortis ends up in the Tongan Death Grip - only for Wrath to break it up with the Death Penalty for the pin at 12:33. Very little finesse, but tons of well paced, hard-hitting stuff for thirteen minutes. **

The Giant v Scott Norton: Giant overpowers him out of the initial lockup, but Norton is no ones bitch (expect everyone), and slugs away. Giant shrugs him off and shoves him over the top, then follows to ram him into the post, but Scott reverses. Suplex, but now Giant reverses, and throws him into the rail. He rolls him back in, but Giant is too slow in following, and Norton Cactus Clotheslines him back out. Inside, Giant wails on him with forearms to the neck, but Norton blows him low, and manages a stungun. Norton works him over with punch-kick stuff, and a pair of avalanches set up a side suplex for two. He goes for the kill, but Giant kips-up and fires back with a dropkick, before finishing with the Chokeslam at 5:29. I enjoyed some of Norton's power moves (which look especially impressive on a man the size of Giant), but this was mostly dull punchy-kicky junk. Short enough, thankfully. DUD

No Disqualification Match: Diamond Dallas Page and Lex Luger v Randy Savage and Scott Hall: Luger starts with Hall, Lex controls by overpowering him. That draws Savage in, but Luger clotheslines him too, and press slams him over the top - right onto Hall. Impressive bump for a late 90s Savage era match, actually. Tag to Page, but Scott catches him with a shoulderblock, and he works the shoulder. Page fires back with an inverted atomic drop, and a forward-falling piledriver hits, so Savage trips him up to turn the tide, and tags in with a flying kneedrop. The nWo cut the ring in half, and they work in an awesome spot with Hall literally stomping Luger into the gap between the two rings when he tries to step in. They toss Page from one ring to the other and back again, but the pesky referee keeps bugging them, so Hall decks him. Another one runs out, but Hall kicks his ass too, so Larry Zbyszko heads down to shake his fist. With Page handled by Savage, Hall challenges Larry to get in, but the distraction allows Luger to crawl out of the gap and schoolboy Scott for a Zbyszko counted pinfall at 10:18. About on par with their Clash of the Champions match that set it up. Which is another way of saying, 'not very good.' ¼*

Main Event: WarGames: The Horsemen (Ric Flair, Steve McMichael, Curt Hennig, and Chris Benoit) v The nWo (Kevin Nash, Syxx, Konnan, and Buff Bagwell): WarGames is a two ring match, with a cage covering both rings. One man from each side starts. After five minutes, a member from one of the teams - determined by a coin toss - enters, giving his team the temporary handicap advantage. After two minutes, a member from the other team enters to even the odds. Entrants alternate between teams every two minutes, giving the coin toss-winning team the temporary advantage in the numbers game before giving the other team the advantage with the freshest man in to even the odds. Once everyone is in, they battle to submission, surrender, or knockout - no pinfalls or disqualifications. The Horsemen come out sans Hennig, as the nWo beat him down backstage earlier on. Down to business, Benoit starts with Bagwell (probably the two guys I like least in this match - though for very different reasons), but Buff is more interested in posing than WarGaming. Benoit responds by slapping the shit out of him, and tossing him into the cage a few times. Suplex against the cage, but a flying headbutt misses (obviously performed without the full swan dive effect here), and Bagwell dropkicks him. Bagwell with a backdrop into the cage, and he chokes away as the period ends and Konnan joins the party. Benoit manages to fight off a double-team, and snap suplexes Konnan, then bodyslams Bagwell onto him. He feeds them both a helping of cage, but gets overwhelmed fighting a two-front war, and Konnan catches him with a DDT. The nWo double-team, but stupidly toss him into the opposite ring - closer to the Horsemen side. And they pay for it as the buzzer goes, and McMichael runs in with bodyslams for everyone. 3-point stance for Konnan, and the Horsemen pound away until the period ends and Syxx charges in. He runs right into a lariat from Benoit though, and Chris uses him as a weapon with a whip into Bagwell. He nearly tears Syxx's head off with another lariat, and McMichael flapjacks him. The nWo manage to turn the tide by using the handicap advantage (by which I mean the 3-on-2 advantage, not some sort of special treatment because they have Bagwell), as Curt Hennig marches out - his arm in a sling. Buzzer goes, and in comes Flair. Chops! Chops! Chops! The Horsemen control, but in comes Kevin Nash, and Flair takes a sidewalk slam. Slam into the cage for Benoit, and a big boot for McMichael as Syxx baseball slides into Benoit. He grates Flair's face into the mesh, but Ric gets the little guy in a Figure Four as the buzzer sounds. Curt comes in and shrugs off the sling, the crowd popping thinking he's fooled the nWo, but no - he quickly turns on the Horsemen. They chain Benoit and McMichael to the cage with handcuffs, and gang up on Flair, as the crowd deflates. Nash grabs a microphone and gives the underlings a chance to surrender, but no go. Flair tells him to go fuck himself as well, and gets Powerbombed for his trouble. The Horsemen still won't surrender, so they drag Flair over to the door, and Henning threatens to slam it on his head if they don't give up. McMichael gives up to save Flair at 19:38 - but of course, Hennig slams the door on his head anyway! That was something of a shock at the time, and a totally unnecessary one, in retrospect. Pretty average WarGames, but the shocking twist of an ending was pretty wild at the time. **

BUExperience: Other than the big shock ending, this is a totally forgettable show – but not a bad one. The undercard is filled with good, long matches and the old guys are limited to short stuff, or the gimmick main event (which is a hard match to screw up), so they don’t stink up the joint too badly. Forgettable, but watchable. **