Match of the Day - Curt Hennig saves Chris Jericho's life... basically

Curt Henning vs. Chris Jericho - WCW Monday Nitro (1997)

It might seem like a dream match now, but back in '97 a Hennig/Jericho match on Monday Nitro was just an excuse to talk about anything other than a Hennig/Jericho match. A shame really, but this was WCW at the height of the nWo days, remember.

While this match may forever be lost in the mix of other forgettable Nitro matches used to talk about the nWo, it does include a mishap on Chris Jericho's behalf that may not seem that big of a deal in hindsight, but it could have ended Jericho's career if it got any worse. What I'm talking about is Jericho's Lionsault (middle rope springboard moonsault) towards the end of the match that he botches by not rotating enough - the same exact move and mishap that paralyzed Hayabusa a few years later. Luckily in this instance, Curt Hennig, either on instinct or following out the spot, put his knees up at just the right time that Jericho ends up landing on Henning's knees with his back rather than on his head and, well, pretty much saving his neck:

phew.

Match of the Day - Kevin Nash - The original streak ender #wcw

Kevin Nash vs. Goldberg - WCW World Heavyweight title match - Starrcade (1998)

Undertaker's streak may be over, but at least he wasn't tasered by Paul Heyman for Brock Lesnar to pick up the unexpected win. How about being tasered by Scott Hall? Well, that's exactly what happened to Goldberg while defending not only his World Heavyweight title but his 173 win streak (despite most of those wins being squashes) here at Starrcade '98.

Goldberg would eventually try to duplicate his streak in the later half of 2000 in order to earn himself a title shot at the World Heavyweight title. Unfortunately, he only made it into the double digits, 35 to be exact, before being defeated in his last match in WCW at Sin 2001.

Match of the Day - The One Warrior Nation is now zero.

The Warrior vs. Hollywood Hogan - WCW Halloween Havoc (1998)

By now you may have heard the shocking news that the Ultimate Warrior has passed away. It's a truly bizarre and tragic event that has taken place only mere days after Warrior's inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and only about 24 or so removed from his appearance on Raw last Monday night.

Warrior and his character he left to the wrestling world will forever be remembered.



While I did not grow up during the time of Ultimate Warrior's major run in WWF  or during the peak of Hulkamania, I did grow up in the time that the Ultimate Warrior was making another return to wrestling, and this time it was in a nWo-heavy World Championship Wrestling. I remember renting WCW's Halloween Havoc '98 at Blockbusters (RIP as well) when I was just beginning to really sink my teeth into all this wrestling business, I didn't really know much about the Warrior at the time, but the cover on the box at the store had Hulk Hogan strangling a man with what looked like cake all over his face and the words "The World's Most Terrifying Wrestling Event" labeled above it. I'm not sure why looking at the cover made me want to watch this PPV immediately, maybe it was the fact that I really needed to find out why Warrior had cake all over his face, but it did.

People may give this Hogan/Warrior match at Halloween Havoc a lot of crap, but for someone who had not seen a lot of wrestling at the time this was a huge spectacle to watch. Also, I did not see the build up to this match which included Warrior appearing in the mirror, a lot of smoke, and, of course, profound Warrior promos, so this was really the first time that I was treated to the likes of the One Warrior Nation (that's nWo backwards).

There will never be another Ultimate Warrior. He is simply unrecreatable. Rest in peace.

Match of the Day - The Nash/Hogan vs. Piper/Giant bat match?

Kevin Nash & Hollywood Hogan vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper & The Giant - Baseball Bat on a Pole match - WCW Spring Stampede (1998)

It's the first day of Spring and that can only mean one thing: A Spring Stampede match is in order for today.

This match here is from Spring Stampede 1998, the year I started collecting WCW action figures apparently because every wrestler in this match looks exactly like the plastic form of themselves I had when I was growing up.

Despite the rules of the match, a tag team pole match where anyone who pulled down the baseball bat could use it anyway they wanted, Vince Russo was not working for WCW at this time. Even with the painfully bad "bat switch" towards the end of this match, I must remind everyone, Vince Russo was not working for WCW yet.

If you don't know who Vince Russo is, look up the San Francisco 49ers match, or the Viagra on a pole match, or the leather jacket on a pole match, or the Judy Bagwell on a pole match. The man loved his object(s) on a pole matches. Except for the last one there on the list, the Judy Bagwell one, she couldn't fit on a pole so they used a forklift instead. 

Match of the Day - The king of extreme triangle hardcore match

Hak vs. Raven vs. Bam Bam Bigelow - Falls Count Anywhere Triangle match - WCW Uncensored (1999)

Three guys who made a name for themselves in the extreme promotion known as ECW going head to head to head in a WCW style hardcore match. As an early precursor to WCW's Hardcore title division (a cheap imitation of the hardcore wrestling that had become popular through WWF), all it really was was taking the weapon-oriented style that ECW was using (but not limited to) and cranking it up to 11. So, as you can see from the video above, this match is more about how many things Hak (Sandman), Raven, and Bam Bam Bigelow can hit each other with than it is about being hardcore. Granted, these guys are/were hardcore at one point or another, the match is still just one big mess.

Many people call the backyard wrestling, ultraviolent, sleazy hardcore wresting of today "trash" wrestling, but this match literally looked like trash wrestling with all the crap that littered the ring.

PS: sorry for the sketchy video... it was the best I could find just of this match in its entirety.

Match of the Day - Goldberg melts Glacier! #wcw

Bill Goldberg vs. Glacier - WCW Monday Nitro (1997)

Damn, it's cold out!

Here's the first of a few Golderg versus the coldest man in the world, Glacier squash matches. The Sub-Zero-like Glacier's snowy entrance takes just about as long if not more than the match itself. 

Take that cold!

Match of the Day - Lance Storm looks to become a grand slam champion in WCW

Lance Storm vs. Booker T - WCW Heavyweight title match - Monday Nitro (2000)

Lance Storm takes on the WCW Heavyweight champ, Booker T in hopes to become a four title champion.

Storm at the time held the WCW Crusierweight title (which he renamed the 100 kg and Under title), the WCW United States Heavyweight title (renamed the Canadian Heavyweight title), and the WCW Hardcore title (renamed the Saskatchewan Hardcore International title AKA S.H.I.T.) - all he needed was the Heavyweight title and, after less than a year into WCW, the Canadian native would have had possession of all the singles titles in the company.

Despite this match being mostly a warm-up for Booker T as he headed into the New Blood Rising PPV to defend the title against Jeff Jarrett, this is still a pretty good match and far better than said match with Jeff Jarrett that summer.

Match of the Day - Mr. T in his referee pj's takes on Kevin Sullivan + Santamania

Kevin Sullivan vs. Mr. T - WCW Starrcade (1994)

Tis the season for a Christmas disaster.

Part way through the match Mr. T gets his zebra shirt stuck on his hands rendering the toughest man in Chicago useless. Then the camera man falls over and T tries to pin him or something before Santa Claus comes out and stands around for too long. Eventually someone in the crowd takes Santa's hat off and reveals that he is Kevin Sullivan's wannabe Hulk Hogan brother, Dave. Dave then stuffs his Santa sack with Jimmy Hart's megaphone and clubs his brother over the head with it to help our handless hero, Mr. T win the match.

The segment ends with the crazed Kevin Sullivan seeking retribution on his jolly clad brother by beating Dave with his pants down, piledriving him, and smacking him around for a bit with the leather Santa belt. No run-in from the real Santa Claus to help Dave, no run-in from Hulk Hogan, no run-in from Hulk Hogan as Santa with muscles, no nothing. Merry Christmas.

Match of the Day - That other unification match that happened that one time

Chris Jericho vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin - Match to unify the WWF Championship with WCW's World Heavyweight Championship and to crown the new Undisputed Champion - WWF Vengeance (2001)

WWE may be labeling Randy Orton and John Cena's TLC match to unify the WWE title and the World Heavyweight title as the first unification match of its kind, but as someone who watched WWF buy out WCW, the eventually Invasion angle, and the final unification match with both companies top titles, I would have to beg the differ on that. Yes, I am aware that Jericho and Austin were wrestling to unify the WWE and WCW titles, but that same WCW title is being considered the same title still used today (or was, we'll see what happens) as the World Heavyweight title when it was reintroduced in 2002. Saying that this title here is not the same as the one John Cena held before TLC, yet saying that the title that Booker T won in WCW is the same, is completely ridiculous. By the way, if you go back and watch Jericho's entrance from the previous match you can clearly see Jericho is labeled as the "World Heavyweight" Champion; not just the WCW Champion.

Clearly someone just wants to make this Orton/Cena showdown huge by calling it the first of its kind.

The context behind this Austin/Jericho unification match is that there was a mini-tournament of sorts to crown the first undisputed champion by combining the WWE title with WCW's World heavyweight title. The first match was Kurt Angle taking on the WWF champ, Steve Austin, then The Rock (unsuccessfully) defended the World Heavyweight title against Chris Jericho. Jericho, just hot of winning the WHC had to take on Austin in the match above to crown the very first Undisputed Champion. The rest is history.

Match of the Day - The Chair on a Pole match

Crowbar vs. Meng - Chair on a Pole match - WCW Thunder (2001)

A "Chair on a Pole" match. Featuring the alternate chair at ringside, paisley versus Daffney, and overreacting Stevie Ray.

Enough said.

Theme Results

TLC: Chairs.

Match of the Day - Eddie Guerrero challenges his nephew to a hair vs. hair match

Eddie Guerrero vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. - Hair vs. Hair match - WCW/nWo Bash at the Beach (1998)

Eddie and Chavo had quite the relationship in wrestling to say the least. It seemed whenever they were together they were either winning titles as a well tandem tag team or slugging it out. While Eddie Guerrero was Chavo's uncle, their bond, and rivalry for that matter, was much more like a brotherly one. It probably didn't help either that the two were only 3 years apart in age and had been wrestling each other (in front of wrestling crowds during intermission) since they were kids.

This particular match between the two Guerrero's in WCW is one of their best. In the video above, the match doesn't start until after Chavo Guerrero wrestlers Stevie Ray of the Harlem Heat. It might seem strange that Chavo would have to fight two matches in a row, not to mention a large competitor like Stevie Ray first, but this was all part of Uncle Eddie's plan to wear down his nephew for before the official match. The official match was no ordinary match either, it was a hair vs. hair - a stipulation Eddie was no stranger to as he had been on the losing end of such a gambling match back in AAA with Los Gringos Locos. Who loses? Who get's their head shaved? Take a look and find out!

Theme results

Family Feud: Uncle vs. Nephew.

Match of the Day - The WCW Halloween Havoc phantom!

The WCW Halloween Havoc Phantom vs. "Z-Man" Tom Zenk - Halloween Havoc (1991)

The masked and mustached WCW Halloween Havoc phantom squashes Tom Zenk before relieving his true identity to the WCW audience in 1991.

Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

Match of the Debut - The man, the myth, The Machine.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. The Machine - WCW Thunder (2000)

In 2000, WCW debuted one of their least remembered one-hit wonders in the form of a big masked strongman named, The Machine. Apparently, this masked man was brought in as the next big thing by Jimmy Hart... but after one match against the veteran, pre-yoga DDP, he disappeared without a trace.

The man behind the mask was the late Emory Hail, who exactly had a few jobber matches previously in WCW. As for the "Machine" gimmick, Wikipedia says that the mask he wore was apparently inspired by a mask worn by a sadist character in the snuff film mystery flick starring Nicolas Cage, 8MM. Yep, you read that right: a wrestler was based off a Nic Cage film!

Now that's something.

Match of the Day - The man with 1000 holds vs. The World Class Olympic bobsledder

Dean Malenko vs. Chip Minton - WCW Worldwide (1996)

Dean Malenko takes on the "downhill scooter runner" Chip Minton in a Saturday morning squash.

Highlights of this short match include Bobby "The Brain" Heenan commentary and the solid ring work of Malenko.

Minton would later place fifth in the four-man bobsled race at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan and return to WCW much larger than before. Guess he was really ready to jerk the curtain some more.

Match of the Debut - Forgotten 90's tag team number 101: The Blackhearts

The Blackhearts vs. Dave Hart & Mike Winner - WCW Saturday Night (1993)

The Blackhearts were a mysterious team to say the least. You may notice that these guys look a lot like another forgettable character that only appeared maybe once or twice in the 90's - The Black Phantom. If you did notice this, I'm really impressed and as it turns out, you would be correct - at least with one of them. See, The Blackhearts were a team made up of Tom Nash and David Heath AKA The Black Phantom AKA Gangrel. I have no idea who's who, but apparently Heath was called Apocalypse and Nash was Destruction. Of course, Jesse Ventura had no idea what their names were here during their debut on WCW television, so they were just referred to as Blackheart #1 and #2.

As legend has it, The Blackhearts, who started in Stampede Wrestling, were the bastard sons of Stu Hart. As for the screeching and weird hand gestures they would do, well, that's all apart of the mystery that was The Blackhearts.

Enjoy.

Match of the Day - La Parka defeats the macho one?!?

Macho Man Randy Savage vs. La Parka - Monday Nitro (1997)

Macho Man Randy Savage gets more than he bargained for when "the Chairman" La Parka diamond cuts him out of no where in the middle of the ring and reveals to everyone that he was a certain arch-nemesis of the virus that was nWo. 

Who was it? I'll give you another hint: It was that self high fiving yoga guy. 

Match of the Day - Regal refuses to be squashed by Goldberg?

Steve Regal vs. Goldberg - Monday Nitro (1998)

Ah yes, the age old tale of Lord Steven Regal stiffing Goldberg in what was supposed to be a normal Monday Nitro Goldberg three minute squash match. The result: Regal's first release from WCW.

As it turns out though, the bookers actually told Regal to have a real rasslin match with Bill to show that the big green former football player could actually wrestle. Unfortunately, Goldberg was just not ready for such a match and the whole thing ended up looking like one big convoluted shoot fight. Goldberg looks surprised when Regal takes him down to his level because, well, he genuinely was. Regal, in the end, wasn't stiffing anybody but himself... 

As for Regal's first departure from WCW, that was all Regal's doing. Regal was having a lot of problems with drugs at the time and left the WCW to coupe with his "demons". After a short stint in WWF where he was given a hardhat and the moniker of a real man's man, Regal checked himself into rehab before one more WCW run.

Match of the Day - "The match is called Judy Bagwell on a pole"

Buff Bagwell vs. "Positively" Kanyon - Judy Bagwell on a pole match - New Blood Rising (2000)

...But it's Judy Bagwell on a forklift.

When I think of mothers in wrestling, since it's Mother's Day here in the states, two particular incidents come to my mind. The first mother/wrestler gimmick would have to be Shelton Benjamin and the short period of time when his mother showed up on Raw to help him win some matches including one for the intercontinental title, and the other is Buff Bagwell and his mother, Judy. 

Judy Bagwell first came on the scene in WCW when she was revealed to be the mystery partner of tag team champion, Rick Steiner one night on Nitro in 1998. Judy would return in 2000 via Buff Bagwell's feud with "Positively" Chris Kanyon (a DDP rip-off) which eventually culminated into this match... the Judy Bagwell on a pole match. A match that turned out to be "the foul mouth" Judy Bagwell strapped to a forklift match because, for some odd reason, Kanyon could not find such a pole that could hold Mrs. Bagwell anywhere in Canada. 

Why did Buff Bagwell's mom even need to be put on a pole during this match in the first place? Answer: WCW 2000.

Judy Bagwell has actually been known to get involved in Buff Bagwell's work so much that rumor has it she got her son fired from the WWF after continually calling in to WWF headquarters complaining that Buff was getting mistreated and needed time off to heal from his injuries sustained at the hands of the APA. 

Whether or not the accusations of Buff getting future endeavored by WWF are true, it is well documented how much his mother loved him. Happy Mother's Day, Judy!

Match of the Day - Last WCW match on the last Nitro ever!

Ric Flair vs. Sting - last Nitro main event - Monday Nitro (2001)

March 26, 2001: The Night of Champions, AKA the last Nitro of all time marked the end of an era and the dawn of WWF as the ultimate wrestling promotion. Vince had won the war and World Championship Wrestling had run its course. I guess it would only be fitting that the last match on the last Nitro, and the last WCW match (if you don't count the Buff Bagwell/Booker T "WCW" match on Raw) ever, be between the first man to be called the WCW World Heavyweight champion, Ric Flair, and the only big name wrestler to ever not jump ship to WWF, Sting!

Ric Flair versus Sting also just makes sense as the send-off match for Nitro. These two had gone toe-to-toe with each other countless of times including at the main event of the very first Clash of the Champions where they wrestled until the 45 minute time-limit. Flair and Sting even wrestled each other for the US Heavyweight title at the very first Nitro at the Mall of America right before the Hogan/Big Bubba Rogers main event less than six years prior. So yeah, perfect.

Anyways...

RIP WCW.

Theme Results:

Final match: Ric Flair in WCW, Sting in WCW, Nitro, and WCW.

Match of the Day - Mean Mark gets an 8.2 on the slam-o-meter + Robocop gets his own dressing room

Mean Mark w/ Theodore R. Long vs. Johnny Ace - NWA/WCW Capital Combat: The Return of Robocop (1990)

Who knew that all three of these men would still be around and even employed by WWE in the year 2012? Two of whom would have their own separate teams in a Survivor Series-style elimination match at WrestleMania XXVIII while the other would win his 30th WrestleMania match, the longest streak of its kind in WWE!

Who knew that Mark (pre-Undertaker) Calaway would be the last person to face Johnny Ace, AKA "Senior Vice President of Talent Operations" John Laurinaitis, in a televised match in WCW? A bout that may have also been Johnny's last televised match ever in the US as, soon after leaving WCW, he went of to wrestle and fine tune his "skills" in Japan with AJPW until his in-ring retirement in 2000.

Johnny Ace would later return to WCW after retiring, but just as a backstage figure with his real name, John Laurinaitis. Laurinaitis would eventually replace Vince Russo and be the head booker for WCW until its demise in 2001.

... And the rest is history.

This match is taken from the Capital Combat WCW PPV that revolved around Robocop saving Sting from the Four Horseman in promotion for Robocop 2 and then disappearing into wrestling folklore. Maybe Robocop will make a return in TNA this year or the next to help rescue Sting from the Aces & Eights to promote the new Robocop remake.

The match also features great use of the Slam-O-Meter, a very scientific metering system that WCW invented to calibrate and calculate the impact of a slam. Mean Mark earned himself an 8.2 on the Slam-O-Meter with his tight-rope elbow drop to end the match and send Johnny packing...

Theme Results:

Final match: Johnny Ace's final televised match in WCW and possibly in the US.