February 1, 2007
Matt Peddycord

Slamboree ‘97
May 18, 1997
Charlotte, NC
Independence Arena

Ah, Slamboree. You always ceased to amaze me. But just for kicks, let’s see how this one turned out!

Your hosts are Tony, Dusty, Bobby and Mikey! (Tenay only works for those real hard-to-call type matches, mind you.)

WCW World Television Champion Ultimate Dragon (w/Sonny Oono) vs. Steven Regal

Going into this match, Regal has dropped the ‘Lord’ from his wrestling name because he thinks Steven Regal is classy enough already. Haha, that’s awesome. The TV belt was pretty much just something that nobody seemed to know what to do with since WCW changed dramatically in the summer of 1994. In the mid-90’s, it was pretty much a belt that Arn Anderson carried just so you couldn’t say, “That guy’s good, get him a title belt!” But that’s just my opinion. The back story to this match if memory serves me right was just that Regal wanted his belt back that he hadn’t held since losing it to Prince Iaukea in February. Onto the match, Dragon has the advantage here. He’s the champ, he has an evil manager at ringside, he can fly, he can kick the crap out of you, he’s quicker, and he can go on the mat with the best of them. Regal on the other hand, has his mat technique, he can brawl, and he has both the weight and height advantages. He’s really good at what he does as well, so this should be a great match. They lock up and then trade wristlocks, with a nice exchange into a Dragon armbar takedown. Regal breaks that up by locking in a headscissors, but Dragon KIPS UP out of that! Now they do a test of strength with Dragon bridging down and back up. Regal takes him down and drives the knee into the side of his face for a few near-falls. Regal rolls him around into a rear-chinlock position and brings him back into a surfboard-type submission. Dragon gets to his feet and turns the tables on Regal and locks in a rear-chinlock of his own. Regal counters out and gets a nice gutwrench suplex to a nice little reaction from the crowd for a near-fall! Regal tries to ground Dragon, but Dragon comes back and gets a shoulderblock for a near-fall. Dragon slaps on a headlock and takes Regal to the mat. Regal gets to his feet and breaks out of the headlock, but Dragon is just too quick and dropkicks Regal down. They blow a whip into the corner, but they improvise quite well. Regal European forearms Dragon, so Dragon gets a drop toehold and stomps across Regal’s spine. Dragon runs into the corner and does that handstand he does and kicks down Regal. You’d think they’d learn from that since he does it so often. Dragon lays Regal out with his always nice kick combo. The fans are chanting Regal. I don’t think I’ve ever HEARD a Regal chant before. Since they chant, Dragon continues to kick and kick HARD. Dragon locks in a chinlock and rakes the face at the same time. Dragon quickly decides to let go and keep on kicking! Dragon goes back to the mat and puts on the half-boston crab. Regal fights to get to the ropes, and then does. Swinging neckbreaker by Dragon is followed up by a headscissors. Regal gets out of that and tries for a REGAL STRETCH, but Dragon’s in the ropes. Regal stands up and just stomps the crap out of Dragon and the crowd is CHEERING for Regal! Dragon scoots under the rope and takes a count. Regal kicks him in the head on his way back in, and then gets a vertical suplex for a two-count. Regal now tries a full-nelson, but he doesn’t have the fingers locked. Dragon fights out and runs off the ropes for a sunset flip, but Regal kicks out after one. Regal immediately goes for the REGAL STRETCH, but once again Dragon crawls and reaches the ropes. Regal paintbrushes Dragon while releasing the hold which just pisses off Dragon. Dragon comes back with a double-leg takedown and he slaps away on Regal! Dragon tries a cross-armbreaker, but never really the arm extended like it needed to be. Regal turns Dragon around and tries another REGAL STRETCH, but Dragon fights it off. Regal then decides to just put him in a surfboard, but he doesn’t have the legs hooked right. Regal takes him off his knees and puts on a chinlock, but Dragon BITES his arm so he’ll let go! Dragon comes back with four STIFF kicks and then he locks on a Muta lock, which starts up another Regal chant! Oh WOW! Charlotte, you rock. Dragon releases the hold and moves right into a camel clutch. Regal elbows out and whips Dragon into the ropes. Dragon ducks a clothesline and then flips out of a backdrop and lands on his feet. He then catches Regal by surprise and dropkicks him in the back, sending him flying out to the floor. While the ref is tending to Dragon, Oono kicks Regal onto the floor. Dragon comes out and glares at Oono (at least as much as you can through a mask) and tosses Regal back in. Dragon isn’t pleased with Oono. Dragon takes Regal into the corner, and comes flying in with a handspring elbow. He sets Regal onto the top turnbuckle and gets the hurracanrana! Dragon covers with a 69-pin, but only gets a two to a HUGE pop. Regal just doesn’t fly that way, Dragon. Dragon can’t believe it and goes to the top and tries a moonsault, but Regal rolls out of the way! The crowd loves it! Regal tries for the REGAL STRETCH for the fourth time in this match, and Dragon once again reaches the ropes. Dragon reverses a whip, but ducks too soon. Regal kicks him and tries a butterfly powerbomb, but Dragon counters into a ‘rana for a near-fall. Dragon went for a double-leg takedown, but Regal kicks him away and rolls him up for another near-fall. Dragon comes back and kicks Regal down and puts on the la magistral cradle, but Regal is in the ropes. Both men are now standing, but totally dazed. Dragon comes off the ropes with a quebrada, but he’s too winded to cover him. With Regal back up, Dragon tries a tiger suplex but it’s countered. Dragon sends flying out to the floor once again right where Sonny Oono happens to be. Dragon dropkicks Regal through the ropes. Dragon tries a pescado, but Regal walks away from it. When Dragon gets back up to his feet, he reverses a whip into the steel guard railing. Dragon climbs onto the apron and connects with a NICE Asai Moonsault onto Regal! Dragon returns to the ring, which leaves Oono another opportunity to level Regal with some kicks. Dragon sees what is happening, and goes out and throws Regal back in. Oono then kicks Dragon in the back of the head! As he turns, Regal kicks Dragon in the back of the head! Back in, Regal levels him with a reverse suplex. He follows that up with the REGAL STRETCH, and the fifth time is the charm! Regal gets it locked in and since Dragon has no choice but to tap, he does to a HUGE crowd reaction. Regal wins his fourth WCW TV title. I hope he’s proud of himself. (16:04) Amazingly, the crowd was more into Regal than Dragon AND the commentators never once mentioned the main event! What a nice little change that was. IMO, this match is an underrated mat classic. Post-match, Oono says into the camera, “I make champions, I destroy champions.” That was the coolest thing he ever said. ****

Luna Vachon vs. Madusa

As if you care, Lee Marshall replaces Tenay here. BRING BACK TENAY! PLEASE! Anyways, Tony tells us the story to this is, Madusa beat Akira Hokuto in Japan. Hokuto at the time was the reigning WCW Women’s champion. But Oono, who is ever the honest man, says the match never took place and Akira is still the champ. That of course just makes me wonder what Luna has to do with any of that. But nevertheless, dingdingding, and here we go. I hope this is short. Luna starts things off with a slap to the face. She follows up by dragging Madusa around the ring by her hair. Madusa tries a comeback, but gets choked on the ropes as a result. Madusa gets fired up and this time, makes a short comeback with a terrible looking spin-wheel kick. Moments later, Luna goes back to choking and follows up with a suplex for two. Madusa does somewhat of a MATRIX-MOVE out of the pin. Not as good as Trish of course. Madusa reverses a whip into the corner, and sort of hits a splash. She follows up with some chops and then whips her in the opposite corner for more of the same. Madusa sends Luna into the ropes and clotheslines the CRAP out of her. That was SICK. Luna fell RIGHT on her neck! Madusa signals for the end, but Luna kicks out at two. Madusa tries for a half-crab, but Luna goes to the eyes. Madusa comes off the ropes for a sunset flip, but Luna lands on top of her and pulls on Madusa’s hair. Swinging neckbreaker by Luna and she goes to the top rope. Luna dives and misses big time. Madusa comes up behind a staggering Luna for a German suplex and bridges for the pin. (5:09) I’m not sure what the reason behind that match was exactly. The clothesline sell was good, and the finish was nice. So I’ll give it a ½*.

Mean Gene is ready to have an interview with someone and then the nWo music hits. RANDY SAVAGE and ELIZABETH steal Gene’s mic and send him to the back. Savage spins out to the ring and the fans chant DDP. He says DDP doesn’t want to feel the madness anymore! And that’s DDP’s cue to enter from the stands with a twisted crutch in hand! Page climbs right into the ring, and Savage and Liz bail. Eric Bischoff even comes out and stops Savage from going into the ring. Page now has the mic and wants Savage in the ring. Page is saying that Savage didn’t want to feel the madness. What? SAVAGE IS THE MADNESS, SIR! NOT YOU! Page says the reason Savage doesn’t want to get in the ring is because he has to go to Hogan’s house and watch his car and kiss his WHAT?! Heenan ~ “I’d rather just wash the car.” Norton, Bagwell and Vincent are out with Savage. They block the entryway as Savage goes down to the ring. Savage gets in and gets CLOBBERED with the crutch. The crowd goes nuts as the nWo b-team come down. Page takes out Bagwell, Vincent and even Bischoff. Norton comes up from behind and stops that. Norton rips off Page’s shirt and finds TAPED RIBS! They all beat on those for a while until THE GIANT comes down and cleans house. This crowd will pop for ANYTHING!

Yuji Yasuraoka vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

I’ve never seen this guy wrestle, but I do know he’s from Tenryu’s WAR promotion. He was a Jr. Heavyweight Champion and a tag champion along with Lance Storm. That’s about it. Schavonie says he debuted the night before on WCW Saturday Night. WCW has more cruiserweights than any US promotion. Why they had to bring in new talent and stick him on a PPV so soon is beyond me. Let’s see if he was worth bringing in. Tenay replaces Marshall at the announce table for this one. For sake of my sanity, I’m just going to call him Yuji. They exchange holds on the mat until Yuji gets a hold of the ropes. Mysterio locks in a modified version of the guillotine choke on Yuji, but Yuji stands up out of it and flips him over. Yuji then works on the back, and then decides to work the arm. They trade arm wringers until Rey rolls out of it. Yuji doesn’t let Rey get away for too long, as he immediately takes Rey down with a clothesline. No reaction whatsoever from the Charlotte crowd. Yuji connects off the ropes with a spin kick and he does a lot of yelling, but nobody cares. Rey mounts a comeback by ducking a clothesline and backdropping Yuji. Rey runs at Yuji and then proceeds to rana him out to the floor! They do the bit where ref Mark Curtis doesn’t gets in the way of Rey leaping over the top rope. Then, Curtis goes between the ropes to try and get Yuji back in the ring and Rey leaps over the ref and right onto Yuji. THAT WAKES UP THE CROWD! Rey quickly gets back in the ring and he’s ready to go! Yuji runs back in and falls to a drop toehold. Rey hooks on a camel clutch right in the middle of the ring. Just as Yuji gets near the ropes, Rey releases the hold and stomps on him. After a reversal whip, Rey tries a springboard move and gets caught in the ribs by a jumping reverse kick. Nope, correction. I think he caught right him in the TESTICLES. Yuji covers Rey, but he gets a foot on the ropes after two. Yuji whips Rey in the opposite corner and follows him in with a stiff kick. He follows THAT up with a Fujiwara armbar! Yuji picks him up and drives his arm into the top turnbuckle. Yuji takes Rey down and applies a cross armbreaker, but Rey kicks out of it. As soon as Rey gets up, he goes right back down and continues to work the arm. Yuji is doing a great job of grounding Rey and that’s of course what you have to do! I sound like Schavonie now. Yuji holds onto the arm and wildly runs and leaps over the top rope, pulling on that injured arm. Rey rolls out to the floor and gets nailed by a Yuji plancha. Yuji suplexes Rey back in for a near-fall. Yuji misses a running charge in the corner not once, but twice. Rey sets up Yuji for a split-legged moonsault for a near-fall. They both trade near-falls out of rollups. Yuji whiffs on a running spin kick, which leads to a Rey powerbomb. Rey goes up top and hits nothing but canvas. Yuji connects with a double-arm DDT for a near-fall! The announcers mention that that is his finisher. He tries it again, and Rey counters it into a northern lights suplex for another near-fall! Yuji charges at Rey in the corner, but there’s nobody home! Rey comes at Yuji, but he catches him with a back kick. Yuji goes up top and gets a dropkick in mid-air by Rey! Rey signals for the springboard hurracanrana and he gets ALL of it for the pin! (14:58) Rey wins against a no-name in the US. I have to sarcastically and unexcitedly proclaim, “Big deal.” It had some nice spots, but this was all over the place. For a six-year pro, Yuji seemed kind of green to me. ** ½

Mortis (w/James Vandenberg) vs. Glacier

Mortis is Kanyon and Glacier is well, Glacier. Oh yeah, and James Vandenberg is James Mitchell who’s in TNA and manages Abyss. The guy always managed the freaks. Glacier shoots in the ring and is ready to go, but Mortis stops him at the start with a barrage of kicks. Mortis works the knee so Glacier can’t do the CRYONIC KICK! OMG! Mortis is motioning for WRATH to come out. While Mortis is posing in the corner, Glacier comes up behind him and gets an electric chair drop! Glacier fights back and gets a backdrop. Glacier clotheslines Mortis out to the floor and Wrath comes in and WHACKS Glacier in the back with Mortis’ weird-looking staff for the DQ. (1:54) Wrath chokes out and beats up Glacier until a fan, or THE CAT ERNEST MILLER comes in and kicks some booty as Dusty said! Doug Dellinger (WHOA! He’s got a huge beard!) and some other security guys come out and try to restore order. Vandenberg screams something about Pandora’s Box and I’m diving for the fast forward button. CRAP

WCW U.S. Champion Dean Malenko vs. Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra)

Jarrett was announced as a member of the Four Horsemen and there was some beef with Mongo which leads me to wonder why they didn’t just forget Reggie White and let those two guys fight instead of getting Malenko involved. Anyways, let’s get this over with. Match starts off with Jarrett strutting and stalling. They tie-up and go all over the ropes with it until they end up in the corner with Malenko holding the advantage. Thunderous “Jarrett sucks” chants start up, which causes more stalling. They lock up again and Jarrett goes to a headlock. Malenko shoots him off into the ropes and gets taken down by a shoulderblock. Jarrett gets an armdrag and then decides to strut. Jarrett works an armbar and then walks across Malenko’s back. Malenko comes back and puts on a reverse chinlock. Jarrett counters over into a headscissors, which Malenko counters beautifully into an STF! Jarrett fights out and works on the leg. Jarrett misses an elbow, and they get back up to a stalemate. As Jarrett tries to go after Malenko’s leg, Malenko takes over and slaps on a kneebar. Malenko holds on the left leg of Jarrett and drags him out to the floor where he wraps Jarrett’s leg around the guardrail and dropkicks the knee! Jarrett hobbles back in the ring and Malenko follows him in. Jarrett was playing him for a FOO and attacks Malenko on his way back in the ring. Nice dropkick by Jarrett gets him a near-fall. Jarrett applies an ab stretch off the ropes at just the right place for him to grab hold of Debra’s hand for the old extra added leverage bit! Malenko gets in the ropes and Jarrett has to break. Jarrett reverses a whip and they blow an ab stretch reversal sequence. Malenko stomps at him for SUCKING. Malenko whips Jarrett into the ropes and nails him with a right hand. That surprises Jarrett and sends him rolling out to the floor for a breather. “Jarrett sucks!” Back in, and Jarrett begins to work the arm. Malenko breaks that up by sending Jarrett crashing into the turnbuckle. Malenko hits a picture-perfect belly-to-back suplex for a two-count. Malenko eats boot running into the corner and then gets nailed with a swinging neckbreaker. Jarrett calls for the FIGURE-FOUR, but Malenko punches him in his injured left knee and tries for the TEXAS CLOVERLEAF! Malenko doesn’t lock it in and gets inside cradled for a two count. Jarrett misses an enziquri and Malenko tries for a Boston crab perhaps, but Jarrett reaches the ropes. Jarrett tosses Malenko out to the floor and follows out after him. Jarrett throws Malenko into the guard rail. Back in, Jarrett goes up top for a flying crossbody, but Malenko rolls through for a near-fall. Jarrett hooks on a sleeper, but gets backed into the corner to break it. Now Malenko hooks on a sleeper, but Jarrett counters it into a shin breaker that sets up for the FIGURE-FOUR! Malenko grabs the bottom rope to get free. They do a double-noggin knocker out of the corner that sends Jarrett falling out to the floor right at Debra’s feet. Here comes STEVE MCMICHAEL to save the day! McMichael tosses Jarrett back in the ring and leaves with Debra’s hand. Malenko gets the tiger driver and locks on the TEXAS CLOVERLEAF for the submission win! (15:03) Not a bad match at all, until Mongo came down to ruin it. ***

Meng vs. Chris Benoit (w/Woman) - Death Match

A WCW “Death Match” is pretty much a last man standing/submission match. Benoit is actually feuding with Kevin Sullivan here. But since Meng is a Dungeon of Doom guy, Sullivan sent Meng to fight to do his dirty work. Meng is CRAZY. He starts off striking at Benoit, but Benoit is very attentive and evades all of Meng’s attacks. They finally lock up and Meng just throws Benoit into the corner. Benoit takes a kick to the ribs. He catches a second one, and takes Meng down with a legwhip. Benoit goes after Meng’s leg, and Meng moves and kicks Benoit again. Benoit rolls out to the floor to regroup and comes back in to lock up again with Meng. Benoit tried an armbar, but Meng just powers him over with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Benoit ducks a clothesline and gets a German suplex! Benoit dropkicks Meng’s knee and tries a figure-four, but Meng kicks him off. They go out to the floor, and Benoit sends Meng to the steel steps. Back in, they trade blows in the corner until Meng shrugs him off and continues the beatdown. Meanwhile, JACQUELINE comes down the entryway to watch the match. Benoit fights back trying to KO Meng with about a dozen rights and knees to Meng’s head! Meng takes Benoit down with a clothesline right when everyone’s attention is on Woman and Jacqueline, which nothing is really happening that matters. Meng locks on a half-crab that Benoit sells like death. After about a minute, Benoit makes the ropes. That’s one thing I can think of right now that makes no sense in No-DQ matches. If someone takes hold of the ropes when they’re in a submission hold, why does the wrestler have to relinquish the hold? It’s not the ref can DQ him? Crazy wrestling and it’s nonsense. Even Bobby Heenan notices that, but Tony says it’s just out of habit. Whatever, guys. Benoit tries to fight back with some STIFF chops, but Meng no-sells them and returns the favor with a headbutt. Meng hits a NICE piledriver on Benoit, but he’s up at seven. “Benoit!” chants start up! Benoit surprises Meng out of nowhere with the CRIPPLER CROSSFACE, but Meng doesn’t sell it and makes the ropes too easily. I love how the commentators try and justify the ruling of breaking a hold on the ropes in this match. Dusty ~ “Yeah, that was one of the stipulations in this match.” So now Dusty’s making up rules as we go along? Meng comes back with a barrage of strikes all over Benoit. Benoit is up at five and he screams at Meng, “COME ON!” Meng punches the crap out of him again, and he goes down. Benoit is up at eight and he still wants more. Meng takes Benoit into the corner and just kicks on him unmercifully. Meng misses a running kick in the corner and is caught up on the top turnbuckle. Benoit goes for the triple-German suplex combo, but Meng elbows out before the third one. Meng chops the sweat clear off of Benoit’s chest. Benoit ducks a third chop and locks on the CRIPPLER CROSSFACE again that Meng no-sells. Meng makes the ropes again and rolls out to the floor. That gives Benoit the opportunity to NAIL a suicide dive through the ropes on Meng! He rolls Meng back in and goes up top, but Meng crotches him up there. Meng goes up to meet him and Benoit rolls off his back and nails him with a German suplex from the second turnbuckle! Benoit goes up top and tries the DIVING HEADBUTT, but Meng catches him in the TONGAN DEATH GRIP on the way down! Benoit tries to fight Meng off, but it does no good as Benoit passes out. (14:54) Benoit totally carried this one on his back and it just wasn’t enough. **

Konan & Hugh Morrus (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Rick & Scott Steiner

The Steiners get a HUGE pop. STEINERIZE! Morrus starts off with Scott and Scott spends much of the first few moments complaining about hairpulls. Finally, Scott comes out of the corner with a patented spinning belly-to-belly suplex. Tag to Rick and he gets pounded. Konan & Morrus mock the DFG by barking around the ring, but they look dumber doing it than Rick does. Morrus misses a charge in the corner and gets suplexed for it. Rick follows it with a pair of Steinerlines and then goes to the top for a top-rope Steinerline! Morrus rolls out to the floor to regroup. Meanwhile, Scott comes in and does that thing where Rick barks while jogging around the ring and he gets on all fours under Scott. Konan gets a tag and is all, “VIVA LA RAZA!” to a bunch of boos. Schavonie mentions that the Steiners have a win/loss percentage of over .875?! Konan rolls around and catches a Steinerline for it. After some bland offense on Konan, Scott tags in to take over. Scott eats a boot off a charge in the corner. That leads nowhere as Scott reverses a whip and gets a belly-to-belly suplex. Tag to Morrus, and Jimmy Hart trips up Scott off a whip, which leads to a swinging neckbreaker. Scott gets pressed and then dropped throat-first across the top rope. Tag to Konan, and he hits the rolling clothesline for a near-fall. Another tag to Morrus, and he applies an armbreaker. Morrus tags in Konan, and he keeps the pressure on the arm. Morrus just comes in without a tag and tries to clothesline Scott while Konan holds him, but they both duck and Rick pulls down the top rope sending Morrus out to the floor. Scott twists around and gets a desperation belly-to-belly suplex. Morrus comes back in the ring and tries a middle-rope splash, but he eats boot. Why isn’t the ref doing anything to restore order? Rick gets the HOT tag! Steinerlines for the heels! Konan gets dumped and Morrus takes a powerslam. Rick goes up top and connects with the TOP-ROPE BULLDOG! Morrus isn’t even legal, but Rick covers and the ref counts anyway. Konan comes in and breaks up the count. That brings Scott back in, and he goes to punching on Konan in the corner while Rick does the same. Rick gets clotheslined, setting himself up for a NO LAUGHING MATTER moonsault from Morrus! Can he connect with it? NO HE CAN’T! Scott signals for the FRANKENSTEINER to a HUGE reaction, and gets it good! Rick covers (but he’s still not legal?!) for the three-count! (9:35) Jimmy Hart is pissed at Morrus for losing the match. Konan DDT’s Morrus, but he seemed to have done it for himself and not Jimmy. Konan joins the nWo shortly after this. The match, however, was a fun little squash if I do say so myself. * ½

Steve McMichael (w/Debra) vs. Reggie White

McMichael comes out with pre-WWF Debra and White comes out with some trainer who looks like Crash Holly with his baseball cap on backwards and everything. They don’t give him a name. This has got a CRAP rating before the bell even sounds. Oh man, and this tape has 45 minutes left on it with this and only one more match. I know the main event didn’t go 40 minutes, so this has been given more time than it ever deserved. Meaning, five minutes would’ve been enough if they just HAD to do this match. Mongo is only over with the Charlotte crowd because he’s a horsemen and he raises the four fingers. Other than that, he’s not got much else going for him. For the sake of my sanity, I’m not doing play-by-play on this one. Just know it sucks and let’s move on and never speak of it again. McMichael wins after hitting Reggie in the back with a steel briefcase. (15:17) Yes, 15 minutes and 17 seconds. CRAP.

Scott Hall, Kevin Nash & Syxx vs. Ric Flair, Roddy Piper & Kevin Greene - No-DQ Match

Syxx is introduced as 220 pounds of disrespect. Wait until his mother hears of this! As a side note, Syxx is the WCW Cruiserweight champ and as the Outsiders were throughout the majority of 1997, the WCW World tag champs. Even with all the nWo shirts in the crowd, these guys are getting booed out of the city. Greene comes out to some REALLY bad theme music. Flair of course, comes out to the biggest face pop of the night. Syxx starts off with Flair and this crowd just won’t shut up. Awesome, I love it. WOO! Syxx takes Flair down with a shoulderblock, and then poses to quiet down the crowd. Syxx hits another one and then gets a hiptoss on Flair. Syxx mocks the Flair strut, and gets his head chopped off! Flair shows him how it’s done, and then takes a spinning heel kick. Syxx tries a couple chops in the corner, and then Flair turns it around on him and one-ups Syxx with some more stiff chops. The crowd is just eating this up. Flair backdrops Syxx out of the corner, and then Flair struts around a little more just to piss off Hall & Nash. Flair flips the bird at the Outsiders and then pounds away on Syxx. Hall comes in and gets nailed! Flair chops down Syxx & Hall and chops at Nash on the apron, but that just pisses him off! Flair is just begging Nash to get in there, but Nash just stares back at him like, “Who do you think you are?” Because man, tradition bites! Syxx tags in Hall and as Hall throws the toothpick, Flair sidesteps it for a laugh. Flair plays around with Hall and then decides to tag in Kevin Greene. Flair acts like he just tagged in God or something by walking over to Hall and just begging him to bring it! Greene does some silly football taunts and once again, the crowd eats it all up like candy. Hall spits on Greene, and then tags in Nash. HA! Greene wants both Hall and Nash, but that’s not part of the rules dummy. They talk trash and shove each other back and forth. Greene gets distracted and Nash knees him in the gut and then does his usual in the corner. Greene ducks a big boot off the ropes and nails Nash with a shoulder tackle to a HUGE pop. He follows that up with a so-so clothesline and a slam that sends Nash rolling out to the floor. Hall and Syxx try a pearl-harbor job on Greene, but he turns around and nails them both with a double-clothesline. The heels regroup out on the floor. Hall tags in, so Greene asks the crowd if they want Piper to get tagged in and they do! In comes Piper, so Hall mocks him by limping around because of Piper’s hurt right hip. Hall slaps the taped hip, so Piper slaps Hall across the face! AND THE CROWD GOES NUTS! The heat is UNBELIEVABLE! Piper punches at Hall around two dozen times in the corner and then tells Nash & Syxx to kiss it! Piper does the voodoo taunt at Hall! HA! They lock up and Hall takes it right into the heel corner. They hold him and let Hall kick at him, but Piper fights his way out and connects with a swinging neckbreaker. Nash distracts the ref while Syxx comes in and kicks Piper’s taped hip from behind. Hall & Syxx tag in and out while working on the leg. “We want Flair!” chants start up. Hall cuts the ring off and takes Piper by the leg and mocks Flair by saying, “NOW WE GO TO SCHOOL!” He tries a figure-four, but Piper kicks him off. Piper makes a diving HOT tag into Flair. He goes chop crazy on all the heels. Hall puts a thumb in the eye, and then whips Flair into the corner for a Flair flip. Flair runs up to the opposite corner and comes off the top rope, only to get caught for a fallaway slam. Flair gets clotheslined out to the floor to get attacked by Syxx, until Greene comes over to make the save. Nash catches Flair in the head with a big boot and then tosses Flair back in the ring. Hall covers with his feet on the ropes, but Flair gets a shoulder up at two. Nash gets tagged in, and he connects with the snake eyes. Nash chokes on Flair in the corner with his boot. Nash nails the Bossman straddle with a little assistance from Hall. Nash hits the side slam and tags in Hall. Hall whips Flair in a corner, and follows in with a clothesline. Syxx is tagged in for a bronco buster. Flair fights back with chops, but then gets nailed by Hall from the apron for a two-count. They do a double-KO with Syxx’s arm draped across Flair for a near-fall. Syxx tags in Hall while Flair tags in Piper, but the ref only sees the heel tag. Piper cleans house, INCLUDING THE REF because it’s no-DQ. Katie, bar the door now! It’s gone full-blown nuts now. Hall-Flair, Nash-Piper, and Syxx-Greene. Nick Patrick comes out to replace the beaten down ref, Randy Anderson. Nash is on the apron, and Flair gets nailed from behind off a whip. Hall signals for the Outsider’s Edge, but Flair with a double-leg takedown goes right into the FIGURE-FOUR! Greene runs in and chop-blocks Nash from breaking up the hold. Piper comes off the top and climbs on Nash for a SLEEPER HOLD! Syxx runs in and gets caught in a powerslam by Kevin Greene! Hall’s shoulders are down while in the figure-four, so ref Nick Patrick counts three! (17:20) Due to the hometown crowd for Flair and it being so freaking crazy; if WCW hadn’t gave the win to the Flair team and ended it like every other nWo match in 1996-97, there would’ve been riots. People would have started dying. Yes, the crowd was THAT hot. Just for that, this match should get ****’s easy. But since the match itself wasn’t but about a *, let’s call it even and say this match was around ** ½.

Final Thoughts: Unless you’re a die-hard Regal fan, feel free to skip this one. When six out of nine matches feel like filler, there’s a problem. This PPV was pretty much done almost exactly the same in June just to let you know how uncreative this part of the nWo story was. People were eating this WCW stuff up like crazy in ’97, but watching it now makes it not all that great. The main problem I had with the nWo period was that there was no payoff. The nWo just died. I mean, by the summer of 1997 it got me thinking, “Ok, where are they going with this?” The Four Horsemen IMO is still considered the best because as I said, stars were made. Hall, Nash and Hogan were already mega stars and any one else in the nWo were just bad ex-WWF mid-carders or ex-WWF champs that the WWF just didn’t care about anymore. I mean, the nWo could’ve worked if say the young bloods of WCW had taken out the nWo. It would’ve done wonders for the company and who knows, they might still be in biz. Maybe even the only one’s in biz. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20.