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Opening World Cup of Wrestling Tournament Match: Chris Benoit (WCW - 0) v Jushin Thunder Liger (NJPW - 0): That's quite the opener. They give each other a cardio workout to start, with Liger using a dropkick to send Benoit to the outside, then smacking him with a baseball slide. Liger dives off the apron with a flying somersault senton, but then backs off to let Chris get back in ahead of the count. Test-of-strength ends in Liger using a headscissors to set up the koppou kick, but he runs into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. Crowd is on the edge of their seats with this. Powerbomb, but Liger blocks, and hits an overhead armdrag, then a dropkick to send Chris back to the floor. Liger teases a dive, but backs off when Benoit starts distancing himself. Chris comes back in with a snap suplex and a side suplex, and the crowd is firmly behind him, despite the Horsemen being heels. Chris cranks on an elevated crab to wear Jushin down, and a bridging German suplex gets a two count. Liger fights him off with a surfboard, but Chris goes to the eyes to escape. Liger cuts him off with a camel clutch, but Benoit uses an electric chair to escape, only to get toppled while trying a saito suplex. Chris tries to keep control with a tombstone, but Liger reverses, then heads up, but Benoit vertical superplexes him down for two. Bodyslam sets up the flying headbutt, but Liger rolls out of the way, and corner koppou kicks him. Try saying that five times fast. Sitout powerbomb gets two, and a brainbuster is worth two. Benoit fires back with a clothesline, allowing him a two-alarm rolling German suplex, and a nasty powerbomb. Back up for the flying headbutt, and this time he manages to stick the landing, but here comes Kevin Sullivan. He distracts the Crippler, allowing Liger to sneak up with a sloppy rana into a cradle at 10:31. Terribly fun match, terribly terrible finish. Major points off for it, too. *** ½ (Original rating: ***)
World Cup of Wrestling Tournament Match: Alex Wright (WCW - 0) v Koji Kanemoto (NPJW - 1): Kanemoto is the IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion here, but that isn't up for grabs. Feeling out process to start, with Kanemoto looking crisp, and Wright hanging with him. Wright with a pair of headscissor takedowns and a dropkick to put Kanemoto on the ropes, and a bodypress sends both men over the top. Alex pops him with a baseball slide and a plancha before they head back in, where Wright snapmares him over for a chinlock. Kanemoto escapes and unloads a kick combo, and we get what appears to be a miscommunication, with Kanemoto trying a superplex, and Wright on a different page. They end up getting back on track with Kanemoto dropkicking him to the outside, then diving after Wright with a plancha, but a whip into the guardrail gets reversed. Wright tries a suplex back in from the apron, but Kanemoto counters with a bridging tiger suplex - only Alex is in the ropes. Kanemoto shrugs it off with a slam to set up a flying moonsault, but lets off the cover early. That proves to be a mistake, as Wright recovers with a bridging German suplex, but it only gets two. Alex keeps coming with a leg lariat, and a slam sets up a slingshot splash for two. Wright goes up for a missile dropkick, but Kanemoto throws his own dropkick at the same time, and both men are left looking up at the lights. Alex recovers first with a flying bodypress for two, but another German suplex is blocked, and Kanemoto spinkicks him. Bodyslam sets up a springboard corkscrew senton splash for two, but a flying bodypress is blocked with a dropkick from Wright. That allows Alex to land the missile dropkick he couldn't earlier, and a vertical superplex is worth two! Unfortunately for Alex, he runs into a snake-eyes during a reversal sequence in the corner, and Kanemoto capitalizes with a somersault cradle at 11:43. Man, they really worked themselves up into a lather at the end there. Really good work, and told a great story. We're only two matches in, and this is already better than any WCW pay per view in all of '95. I don't know what my problem was with this in the original review. I mean, yeah, the crowd was dead (especially compared to how hot they were for the opener), but it was a great match regardless. *** ¾ (Original rating: **)
World Cup of Wrestling Tournament Match: Lex Luger (WCW - 0) v Masahiro Chono (NJPW - 2): I'd note that using only WCW referees seems like a huge conflict of interest, but then New Japan is already up by two points, so I won't waste space. Luger works a headlock at the bell, but Chono wants to criss cross, so Lex shoulderblocks him down, and hits a press-drop. The crowd is back to being hot for this, so clearly they're here to see the stars. Luger plays to them, but that allows Chono time to recover, and a big boot knocks the Total Package to the outside, where he stalls. Back in, Chono wants a test-of-strength, but Luger quickly takes a cheap shot, and bounces him around with a few turnbuckle smashes. Vertical suplex, but Chono reverses, and throws knees in the corner. Sleeper, but Luger starts to escape, so Chono drills him with an inverted DDT as a preemptive measure. STF, but Lex gets the ropes, so Chono uses an inverted atomic drop on him. He dives with a flying axehandle, but Lex throws an elbow to block, and the Torture Rack wraps up at 6:41. Your basic Nitro match. * (Original rating: ¼*)
World Cup of Wrestling Tournament Match: Johnny B. Badd (WCW - 1) v Masa Saito (NJPW - 2): Badd is the WCW TV champion here, but that isn't on the line. They feel each other out to start, with Saito dominating by keeping Johnny grounded. Turning it into a slugfest doesn't go as well for him, but he manages to keep control by cheating, and he chokes Johnny down. Saito suplex gets two, and a clothesline is worth two. Russian legsweep gets two, but Badd fights back with rights, and hits a kneelift to set up a flying axehandle. Got some serious hang time on that one. Flying sunset flip gets two, and a vertical suplex is worth only one. Even still, Sonny Onoo gets involved, but Saito makes the mistake of capitalizing by tossing Badd over the top, and he's disqualified at 5:53. Bad finish to a whole lot of nothing. ¼* (Original rating: ¼*)
World Cup of Wrestling Tournament Match: Eddie Guerrero (WCW - 2) v Shinjiro Otani (NJPW - 2): They square off for a while, each man hesitant to make the first move. Guerrero shoots first, but gets trapped in an armbar on the mat, and Otani tries to crossface him, but Eddie escapes. Otani shoots for the leg, but Guerrero is ready with a leg-feed enzuigiri, so Otani hides in the ropes to prevent a follow-up. Both guys are acting like total dicks here. In a good way. They trade off on the mat, until Guerrero uses a rana to send Otani running for the hills. Ranaing for the hills? Back in, Otani wants a test-of-strength, but Eddie responds with a dropkick, and a slam sets up a slingshot somersault senton splash for two.
World Cup of Wrestling Tournament Match: Randy Savage (WCW - 2) v Hiroyoshi Tenzan (NJPW - 3): Savage is the WCW World champion, but this is non-title. Too bad they didn't bring Great Muta in, so at least then we'd get the WCW Champion versus the IWGP Champion. Both Savage and Tenzan apparently shop at the same store, by the looks of it. After some posturing, Tenzan pounds the WCW Champion down, and works him over with punch-kick stuff. Clothesline gets two, and Tenzan grounds him in a front-facelock. Savage wrestles to a vertical base, so Tenzan pounds him in the corner instead, and hits a spinheel kick. To the outside, Tenzan rams him into the rail, then back in for a backdrop driver to set up a flying headbutt for two. Bodyslam sets up a flying moonsault, but Macho dodges, and throws a clothesline. Vertical suplex looks to follow, but he fails to properly execute it, and settles for the Flying Elbowdrop to finish at 6:54. Yawn. Savage was sleepwalking through his formula here, and Tenzan wasn't exactly spitting fire with his offense. ¼* (Original rating: ¼*)
World Cup of Wrestling Tournament Final Match: Sting (WCW - 3) v Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW - 3): Sasaki is the WCW Untied States champion here (having beaten Sting for it), but that isn't on the line. Sasaki attacks before the bell, and pounds Sting down for some rope choking. He uses a few turnbuckle smashes and a bodyslam for one, then grounds Sting in a chinlock. Sting slugs free, and doesn't waste time hitting the Stinger Splash, but gets bulldogged when trying a second charge. Sasaki adds a pair of clotheslines, but Sting fires back with a dropkick, then clotheslines Sasaki over the top! He tries a suplex back in, but Sasaki blocks, and powerslams him. He drills Sting with a brainbuster, and applies an armbar, but it goes nowhere. Armdrag gets two, and Sasaki taunts him by applying Sting's own scorpion deathlock, but the Stinger powers out of it. Sasaki keeps coming with a corkscrew legwhip, but another one is countered with a leg-feed enzuigiri. Sasaki tries to cut him off with a running powerslam, but Sting escapes, and hits a one-handed bulldog to set up the Deathlock - winning WCW the Cup at 6:53. Decent enough as a match, but felt underwhelming as the tiebreaking final. * ¾ (Original rating: ¼*)
#1 Contender's Triangle Match: Ric Flair v Sting v Lex Luger: Winner faces Randy Savage for the WCW World title to close the show. First fall wins, but only two guys are allowed in at a time, with tags in and out. Flair and Sting start, with Sting quickly hitting a press-slam for two, but Flair able to hide in the ropes to avoid the Deathlock. He bails to the outside to stall, and tries working a hammerlock on the way back in, dominating Sting with that on the mat for a while. Ric with chops, but Sting no-sells (while making a super creepy face), and the Stinger press-slams him again to set up a ten-punch. That actually doesn't manage to flop Flair, so Sting one-handed bulldogs him, and Ric bails. Sting is right on him, so Flair tries whipping him into the rail, but it gets no-sold. Back in, Sting hits a hiptoss, but misses a dropkick, and Ric goes to work. He tosses Sting over the top (making sure to use Luger as a pawn to distract the referee first), and Sting isn't so immune to another trip into the rail. Back in, Ric hits a kneedrop for two, but Sting pops up after a hanging vertical suplex, and he tries a superplex, so Ric goes to the eyes. Sting fights back with another press-slam, and a second try at the vertical superplex goes much better, but only gets two. Luger was on his way in to break up the count, which earns him an earful from pal Sting, allowing Flair to attack from behind with a high knee. It backfires though, knocking Sting right into a forced tag to Luger, and Lex sends Ric running for the hills! He forces the Nature Boy back in, unloading in the corner, and hitting a press-slam. Flair is getting more air time than a pilot tonight. Lex with a ten-punch to flop Flair, and a pointed elbowdrop is worth two. Ric shakes him off by going to the eyes, and immediately capitalizes by clipping the leg. Classic Flair here. He works Lex's leg, and slides to the outside, using a chair on the knee to stretch the referee's leniency. He uses Sting as a pawn to distract the referee so he can go low on Luger ahead of slapping on the Figure Four, but Lex reverses anyway! Ric responds by trying to vertical suplex him out of the ring from the apron, but Lex reverses back in for two. Ric goes up, but gets slammed off, so he starts desperately throwing chops to try and get control of things again, but Lex no-sells! Out of options, he forces a tag to Sting to buy time, in a nice bit of psychology. The two pals shake hands, but you can see Luger itching to get the first shot in. Even still, he offers Sting a clean break when a collar-and-elbow tie-up ends in the ropes, and the Stinger offers him the same when he dominates a second lockup. Test-of-strength, but Lex throws a cheap shot before they finish locking hands, and he hammers his buddy in the corner. Turnbuckle smash gets reversed, however, and Sting unloads a ten-punch, so Luger tries an inverted atomic drop, but Sting fires back with a pair of clotheslines! They spill to the outside, where Sting blocks a flying axehandle, and hits a flying bodypress for two on the way back in. Sting with a bodyslam to set up a 2nd rope pump-splash, but Lex lifts his knees to block, and hits a pointed elbowdrop for two. Series of three standard elbowdrops follow, but Sting is in the ropes to prevent a count. Sting slugs back at the Total Package, and he tries the Deathlock, but Luger has the ropes before Sting can properly apply it, and he isn't shy about throwing a low blow at his good friend as he's letting him out of the hold! Lex follows up on it with an inverted atomic drop, but Sting manages a small package for two, followed by a sunset flip for two. Lex tries firing back with a vertical suplex, but Sting reverses, then one-handed bulldogs him. Stinger Splash connects, but a second misses, and Luger gets the Torture Rack on! Unfortunately for him the referee gets bumped in the process, and Flair clips the knee to save! He tosses both guys to the outside before hopping back out to the apron, and telling the recovering referee to count. Sting actually recovers enough to beat the count, but Lex selfishly grabs his arm to hold him back, and both are counted out at 28:06! That's the most Flair appropriate finish ever! The match was really long, with three distinct sections. The move set itself was really basic, but they easily held the audiences attention for the half hour through pacing and psychology. And Flair was in all his glory here, pulling every dirty trick in the book out of his bag, and doing so with style! *** (Original rating: * ½)
Main Event: WCW World Title Match: Randy Savage v Ric Flair: This has the distinction of being the only match in history to headline both a Starrcade and a WrestleMania. Jimmy Hart abandons Luger in favor of standing in Flair's corner now, because he's a disloyal little runt. Macho quickly hooks a backslide for two, so Flair fires off chops in the corner, but Savage fires back with fists. He bounces jabs off of Flair's head, as Paul Orndorff observes from the aisle - in a neck brace following an attack from the Horsemen on Nitro a few weeks prior. Macho tries a ten-punch, but Flair counters with an inverted atomic drop, only to have the Figure Four blocked. Randy keeps teeing off on him with rights, and Flair flips to the floor following a corner whip, but manages to gutpunch Savage to block a flying axehandle out there. Ric sends him into the rail next, getting right up close and personal with the fans, and making believers out of the wide eyed youngsters. Back in, Flair goes to work on Macho's bad arm, hammerlocking him, while using the ropes for illegal leverage. Savage fights him off, but his comeback is cut off when Flair slaps on a sleeper. Macho dives into the ropes to force a break, and pops Flair with a right hand for two. Backdrop and a pair of clotheslines follow for two, as Randy gets back on the comeback trail. Flying axehandle, but Ric punches him out of the air again - only to have a shot with Hart's megaphone backfire, busting the challenger wide open. And I mean WIDE! Savage did the cutting there, and let's just say he brought the same intensity to blading that he does to everything else. I assume that was a reaction to the Bret Hart blade at In Your House earlier in the month. Which is kind of neat, since they also did dueling blade jobs at WrestleMania VIII. Flying Elbowdrop looks to finish, but the referee is distracted with Hart, and the Horsemen run in! Macho fights them off, but gets overwhelmed when Arn Anderson uses the knux, and Flair is the new champion at 8:43! After a year and a half of non-stop Hulkamania, seeing Flair and the Horsemen standing tall after cheating their way to a world title win at Starrcade feels especially satisfying. * ¾ (Original rating: ¼*)
BUExperience: It’s not really a particularly good show from a presentation standpoint, as there was very little in the way of blow offs, or even angle development here. The World Cup tournament was basically presented straight, with no back-story, or even promotion, in most cases. The wrestling itself was better than any WCW pay per view in quite a long time though, and what it lacked in intrigue, it made up for with in-ring action. It depends what you want out of your experience. If you’re all about the workrate, then you’d probably enjoy this one. But if you like your pay per views with satisfying blow offs, big angles, and atmosphere, then outside of the main event scene, this one isn’t really for you. I fall somewhere in between.
**
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