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 - 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 - 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 - Scott Hall/Zbyszko + Dusty Rhodes's heel turn

Scott Hall w/Louie Spicolli vs. Larry Zbyszko w/Dusty Rhodes - WCW/NWO Souled Out (1998)

While Scott Hall and Larry Zbyszko's many encounters can be noted all the back to when a very "green" Hall was trying to break out in the wrestling business in the 80's, this particular feud in WCW all began in 1997 when Zbyszko, a commentator at that time, was often on the butt-end of many nWo and Hall jokes and pranks including a segment on Nitro where Hall and his one-man entourage, Louie Spicolli stole Larry's golf clubs and broke them in the middle of the ring.

At first, Larry Zbyszko turned down the offer to face Hall at the end of 1997, but after being "nailed" by Hall and the nWo along with "Easy E" Eric Bischoff on countless occasions, Larry gave in and at Starrcade '97, Zbyszko took on Eric Bischoff in a match where if Bischoff won, he got control of Monday Nitro, but if Larry won, he could finally get his hands on Scott Hall in a match whenever he wanted. Zbyszko would eventually win his bout against Bischoff thanks to the special guest ref, Bret Hart, therefore setting up a match with Hall at Souled Out '98.

Despite Scott Hall often criticizing Larry Zbyszko for being a slow competitor, Larry took it to Hall pretty fast in their match together. It even looked like Larry had it won via submission until Louie "Rad Radford" Spicolli came in to try to help his buddy out (causing the DQ) - luckily for Larry though, Dusty Rhodes was at his side and came in to deliver Spicolli with three atomic elbows (Spicolli sold them like a champ). Rhodes looked to deliver another elbow, this time to Scott Hall, but Hall moved out of the way and Rhodes lit up Larry with the elbow instead. Rhodes didn't seem too upset about what he had done however as he removed his WCW cap and shirt to reveal .. dun dun dun... a black and white nWo shirt!

Thus heel Dusty Rhodes was born! WCW bite that!

Aftermath: Rumor has it that another Larry Zbyszko epic was in the works just after this match... this time against Scott Hall's goon, Louie Spicolli at Superbrawl. Unfortunately, Louie Spicolli passed away a little less than a month after Souled Out and the match never went on.

As for Rhodes and his new role as a heel, he would then manage Scott Hall and the returning Kevin Nash before leaving WCW for a short stint in ECW. Remember that?