Network PPV Reviews #008: WCW World War 3 1998

Combing the WWE network one Pay Per View at a time 

22/11/1998 - A snazzy intro shows off the sheer depth of WCW’s 1998 roster. From the big names at the top in Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to the rich midcard of Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko to the celebrated cruiserweight division, this was a stacked locker room, though it wouldn’t stay intact for too much longer. It’s lucky they’re so well staffed because the eponymous match is a 60 man, three ring battle royale. 

Outside, a limo driver awaits a cue, then drives about 10 metres. Goldberg gets out - I don’t really imagine him as a limo guy. He’s the world champion, but he’s not on the card. In the arena, the three rings are already in place. Mike Tenay and Bobby Heenan join Tony Schiavone on comms. Heenan looks like an economics professor in his nice blue suit. They tell us that Hogan isn’t here tonight. They bring that up so many times that I was absolutely certain he was going to show up, but - spoiler - he doesn’t. 

They throw to Mean Gene Okerlund, who wears some funny little glasses. He keeps telling us that we’re in “suburban Detroit”. Gene speculates on who might win the World War 3 match - he thinks that a smaller man could utilise “high manoeuvres and so forth” to snag the victory. He pushes his hotline, which costs $1.99 a minute.  

Glacier vs Wrath

I’ve never actually seen Glacier but I know the idea - they wanted to make a Mortal Kombat character, flew a bit too close to the sun, got in trouble, wasted a ton of money. Tony & co are just talking about the World War 3 match while Glacier makes his entrance to little fanfare. It takes him an age to get his armour off. Wrath (Bryan Clark/Adam Bomb) gets an impressive pop. Tony puts over his Meltdown finishing move. He’s pretty sculpted to be fair to him. 

The match gets off to a tentative start. Glacier gets chucked out of the ring a few times and hams it up nicely to a receptive crowd. Tony threatens that this might go 15-20 minutes. No thanks! Wrath no sells everything. He chucks Glacier into the crowd - ECW influence no doubt. In the ring, he hits a huge lariat for a great bump from Glacier. We’re told that Wrath is up for several roles in movies. Clearly there was some interest in pushing this guy.

Wrath chokes Glacier with his boot, then on the ropes. Shortly after, he tries for a pin while using the ropes for leverage, all of which is a little confusing given Wrath’s clearly intended as the babyface. Glacier jabs Wrath’s eyes but again, the no sell. Another trip to the outside, where Wrath uses a wire to choke his foe. You’re not supposed to do that but the ref lets it go. Back in the ring, he locks in a sleeper. He’s a massive bloke, so you don’t really want to see him using sleepers etc. Glacier fires up with some very slow karate kicks and his submission, which involves jabbing Wrath with his thumb. Finally Wrath unleashes his big move, which is just a pump handle slam, and that’s your lot. “In the words of Wrath, the body count continues,” says Tenay. 

Verdict: Ponderous stuff for the most part. It’s basically a squash match but it goes on too long. Wrath has a great look and his lariats were good but the heel stuff was weird. *½ 

A Bret Hart package in which the Canadian runs down everyone else in the company. He slags off Chris Benoit, who he says has forgotten his Canadian package. Well, if that’s the worst thing anyone says about Benoit, he’s done alright. He says his opponent Diamond Dallas Page is a punk because he’s covered head to toe in tattoos. DDP has like three tattoos. Bret calls him “scum” - he’s always going in too hard. Not bad at all on the mic from the Hitman.

Stevie Ray vs Konnan

The first of many nWo-centric matches. We’re into the Hollywood vs Wolfpac era, which seems to me so obviously misguided. Stevie Ray doesn’t have a great look. The Wolfpac-affiliated Konnan is charismatic but has far too many accoutrements. A daft hat and a plaid shirt and gloves and big earrings. It’s a bit Fred Krueger. He also looks like Herc from The Wire. 

Konnan absorbs some strikes from Stevie then throws out a rolling lariat and basement dropkick. He’s over, to give him his due, and fast for a big lad. In short order they slow things down with an abominable stretch. Konnan fights out and goes for a back body drop but Stevie sees it coming and bungs his opponent to the outside, where Vincent (the former Virgil) works him over. Vincent has something in his pocket. The commentators speculate what it might be. “It can’t be a phone, everyone he knows is here,” says Heenan. That guy is a gem. Stevie misses an elbow and Konnan fires up. He hits a mule kick and a facebuster, but Vincent distracts him. Stevie rakes the eyes. Vincent’s item turns out to be a cosh. He accidentally hits Stevie with it. Konnan hammers ray and pushes the referee away when the official tries to break things up, leading to the DQ. Oh. 

Verdict: Even without the deflating finish, this was pretty lame. Konnan got to show a bit but this was a waste of time for all concerned. *½ 

Booker T comes to brother Stevie’s rescue, but Stevie tells him to buzz off. They’re not great at filling us in on comms as to why folks are feuding. Schiavone lists off all the places they’re talking about this event, namely all the different tyes of school, and offices. Bobby ventures correctional facilities. Tony doesn’t like that. 

Sonny Onoo & The Cat vs Kaz Hayashi & Perry Saturn

As the teams make their entrance, Tony continues to nag Bobby about his correctional facilities wisecrack. Bobby says Tony’s brother-in-law told him this was the case. I can only assume Bobby dipped his mic and told Tony to set him up for that joke.

The story here is that Sonny Onoo isn’t a wrestler, he’s just an annoying manager type who Saturn and Hayashi would love to batter. The Cat gobs off at Kaz, who starts the match. Cat turns his back disrespectfully. Kaz tags in Saturn so that Cat can do a comedy shocked reaction. Cat flees the ring. Kaz tags straight back in. Really nothing has happened thus far. Hayashi wants to fight Onoo, who isn’t interested. Cat slams and kicks Kaz, then tags in Sonny, who just wants to pick the bones. Kaz no-sells the non-wrestler’s limp offence and Sonny scampers. Saturn enters and hurls Cat around a bit. He’s one of the best at really making it look like he’s fighting. Cat regains control quickly, though. The odd thing here is Sonny and Cat are obviously the team of dickheads, but the upshot is the ostensibly comedic Cat is taking on two tough guys by himself. 

Cat ducks a kick and sweeps Saturn’s legs, which is pretty cool. He demands Sonny enters the ring. Saturn locks Onoo in an STF, which Cat breaks up. Sonny takes a powder, getting fanned by the crew, while the faces waft Onoo. Cat takes over again, clubbing Kaz and throwing him around. Sonny gets in a cheap shot and comes back in. Kaz lifts him for an atomic drop - he has to hold it for quite a long time so Cat can boot him and turn it into a bulldog. Cat dominates Kaz a little more, leading to Sonny getting the opportunistic tag. Saturn’s tagged in too. Sonny begs off, and Perry catches Cat’s sneak attack, hitting a huge belly to belly and a t bone suplex. Saturn finally snares Onoo, but a Cat roundhouse kick grants Sonny the surprise pin. I’d assumed Kaz was there to take the pin but there you go. 

Verdict: I’m seeing a lot of negativity towards this online. I thought it was really good fun. Again it’s weird to have Cat as the heel when he did the majority of the work. I assume this didn’t lead to a big face turn and ditching Onoo. **½ 

Cruiserweight Championship: Billy Kidman vs Juventud Guerrera (c)

Juvi has recently joined Eddie Guerrero’s LWO faction. For some reason, Mean Gene decides to stick his beak in, ambushing Juvi and Eddie as the champion makes his entrance. Fellow LWO member Rey Mysterio comes out to complain that he should be the recipient of the title shot. “Wait a minute - you’re not of one mind here!” says Gene, who is running a gotcha on the group for some reason. Juvi looks not unlike Michael Jackson. So does Kidman while we’re at it. 

Super quick exchange of wristlocks and snapmares from the off. Kidman catches Juvi trying to duck under him, but Juvi manoeuvres into a Fameasser of sorts. He hits a hurricanrana which Kidman sells like death, but Guerrera is quickly caught in a pop up powerbomb. Kidman hits a bodyslam and a leg drop on the apron. The momentum goes back and forth at electric pace. Juvi comes off the top and Kidman shows off an amazing vertical leap to dropkick him out of the sky. The two grapple on the ropes and Juvi nails a hurricanrana from the top, onto the apron. The crowd really undersells how gnarly it looked. A brainbuster follows, and Guerrera gets a two count. Juvi goes into one of the other rings. He bounces from rope to rope for a dropkick that goes a bit wrong, but he salvages it well enough. 

Kidman shows off his vertical leap again and takes control with a back suplex, but momentum shifts again. Kidman throws Juvi into another ring with a head scissors, then does his own somewhat more successful rope walk, nailing a cross body. It’s a close two, then Kidman’s thrown into the third ring. Juvi hops between the rings to snatch Billy in a frankensteiner. It’s a one count! They don’t make much of Kidman kicking at one - maybe he shouldn’t have done. There’s a counter and another counter of the Juvi driver, which eventually hits. Kidman dodges Juvi’s 450 splash and hits a hurricanrana, which looked like a stiff head bump. Kidman hits a facebuster and a German suplex. Kidman goes for the shooting star press, which the crowd are itching to see. Juvi racks him and goes for another frankensteiner, but here’s Rey Mysterio to hold Kidman in place! Juvi topples, Kidman hits the shooting star press, and that’s the three, and a new champ. 

Verdict: I’d have preferred no dodgy finish but that match was a blast. Obviously WCW’s cruiserweight division of the day is the stuff of legend and these guys didn’t disappoint. ***½

The rest of the LWO rush the ring to have an argument. La Parka is in the mix - I’d like to have seen him. “You’re in or you’re out,” says Eddie. Rey takes his LWO top off and chucks it at Eddie, who bellows “get ‘im!” They chase Rey off. Fun fun fun.

Scott Steiner vs Rick Steiner

These dudes are also on either side of the nWo divide. It’s exhausting stuff. Scott has his own face on his trunks and is joined by Buff Bagwell in irritating mode. Scott’s vascularity is beyond belief. He looks gross. Fans do the barking for Rick’s entrance. Wrestling fans love to bark. Rick’s theme is a “Welcome to The Jungle” rip off. He doesn’t emerge, though - he’s in the back, being beaten up by the relevant branch of the nWo! The Giant, soon to be repackaged elsewhere as Big Show, drags Rick to the ring. Scott gets on the mic but quickly decides he can’t be bothered. Scott’s nWo also has its own divvy referee for some reason. 

The ref and Scott double team Rick, who tries to fight back but only has one good arm. The crowd’s not especially interested. Scott cinches in the Steiner Recliner. Who should rush the ring but Goldberg! Scott flips him the middle finger and clearly shouts “fuck you motherfucker”. Goldberg’s whipped into the ropes. He is unbelievably fast. He spears Scott and goes for the Jackhammer. Buff whacks Goldberg with a chair, but Bill basically no sells it. The heels flee. Rick and Goldberg celebrate. 

Verdict: Just an angle to get Goldberg onto the show. Say what you will about Bill G but he is fun. He injected some much needed excitement here. N/A

The NWO music again. Hall doesn’t look too great. I don’t know if they’re doing the drunk thing here. Scott Hall struts around. He’s cool as fuck man. One of like five cool wrestlers ever. Here’s Bischoff. He’s got a goatee that doesn’t really suit him, he’s still an astonishingly handsome man. Bischoff gets on the mic. It seems he and Hall are having problems. “It’s survey time” he says. The NWO turn on Scott! Here’s Nash. He cleans house. Scott and Kev clear the ring. An “Outsiders” chant. Scott throws up the too sweet. Kev thinks about it. He shakes his head. He leaves the ring fairly slowly. Two chunks on the bounce where there's going to be a match then isn’t. Schivaonne recaps what just happened seconds ago. Now Heenan recaps also. There’s evidently time to fill here. 

The nWo music again as Scott Hall takes to the ring with the nWo Hollywood lot. He’s one of about five genuinely cool wrestlers ever. He seems to be at odds with nWo honcho Eric Bischoff (here with an ill suited goatee), who comes down to the ring. Bischoff instructs the nWo lot to turn on Scott! They beat him down until Kevin Nash makes the save. The former Razor Ramon and Diesel clear the ring. The fans love this stuff, an “Outsiders” chant ringing out. Hall offers up a too sweet, but Nash demures. Schiavone recaps what just happened seconds ago. Then Heenan does the same. Evidently there’s time to fill here. 

TV Championship: Bobby Duncum Jr vs Chris Jericho (c)

I have never heard of Bobby Duncum Jr. He’s a cowboy. Heenan talks up the man’s dad (Bobby Duncum Sr), who he managed back in the day. Jericho has his “break the walls down” music - I don’t know if they’ve edited that in after the fact, but I wouldn’t have guessed he had that music in WCW days. Jericho has his personal security, Ralphus, who’s a portly weird old bloke with a small t-shirt. It’s funny stuff, designed to prod Goldberg. Jericho seems so much more modern than everyone else involved. Bobby’s jacket says TEXAS on it and his trunks have the outline of Texas on them. We get it mate.

Bobby overpowers Jericho as the commentators continue to talk about how Hogan isn’t ere tonight. I think maybe the folks who did consistently show up for work are a bit annoyed that Terry basically does what he wants. Jericho wrestles the bigger man down and locks on a few holds. When Bobby gets the upper hand with a big lariat, Jericho scurries out. He runs to Ralphus for comfort and amuses himself with some shouting. Back in the ring Bobby hits a big boot, then his offence sort of falls apart and he ends up leaning on Chris. Outside again, Jericho’s knocked into the crowd. He chucks a cup of something in Duncum’s face, then nails a crossbody off the guard rail. In the ring he tries to wear Bobby down, then hits that nice springboard dropkick of his to send Bobby outside once again. 

Tony calls Mike Tenay smug for no reason at all. Mike doesn’t rise to it. Bobby bounces off the steps. Jericho does his one foot pin and a surfboard hold. There’s a distracting guy in the crowd a few rows back who will not stop showing off, flipping the bird and flexing. Bobby explodes out of a corner for a two count. They tussle in another corner, where the camera couldn’t be better placed to catch Chris calling spots. Bobby powers out of a sunset flip and hits a tree bomb for a two. Jericho catches Bobby with a jawbreaker, then the lionsault for a two. He dodges a German suplex and tries to lock on the liontamer but Bobby fights him off. Duncum hits a Vader bomb/elbow drop in the corner. He tries for an atomic drop but Ralphus gets involved to sort of break it up. In the confusion, Jericho grabs the belt and hits Bobby with it. The strap hits the ref, who has to pretend he didn’t notice and counts the three. 

Verdict: Pretty good fun with Jericho clearly a star on the rise. I thought Bobby’s stuff was pretty sloppy a lot of the time. **1/2

World War 3 Match

This is the Royal Rumble but with twice the wrestlers and thrice the rings; also you can lose by pinfall or submission as well as getting chucked out of the ring (you don’t even need to go over the top)! There are too many names to tick off here. Chris Benoit gets a big pop. Horace Hogan is a character I always find funny. They file out one by one and some are far too hot on the heels of the ones in front. Scott Steiner has changed his trunks. Billy Kidman clearly hasn’t got changed, his vest is soaked. A huge pop for Lex Luger. Van Hammer in some fantastic dayglo gear. Jericho comes out selling that he’s absolutely exhausted which is fun. 

We’re away. The likes of Hall and Nash find corners to lurk in. Nash almost immediately clears all 19 opponents from his ring, meaning he can kick his heels for a while. Incidentally Nash had recently taken a position on the booking committee. “The Giant is just standing there,” says Tony. He sure is. Everyone piles onto The Giant, but he shrugs them off. Before too long, Rey Mysterio is gone and we’ve got our final 20. That means everyone has to file politely into one ring, which is funny. Perry Saturn and the Cat are given their marching orders as they’re too busy scrapping on the outside to even make it in. Loads of people stand in the corner not doing much, to a degree you’d never get in a Royal Rumble. The Giant hoists up Billy Kidman and chucks him out, then faces off with Nash. The crowd gets well into their brief tussle. Then the big lads go back into their corners to kill some time. Some lads at the bottom of the screen are disrobing and showing off, not at all interested by the match. 

Hall and Nash combine to work the Giant, which again the crowd gets well into. With 12 men left, Bobby describes the remainder as the “dirty dozen”. “Good call, Brain.” Tony says rather generously. As per, Benoit is on another level to anyone else in terms of intensity. Bam Bam Bigelow rushes the ring! Then Goldberg comes to put paid to it. They brawl on the outside while security try to separate them. The two big bulls sell the hell out of this. I’d absolutely have watched that match, which would go on to take place in the new year (and isn’t very good per Cagematch). No one, including the commentators, pays attention to the ring work until Bill and Bam Bam are finally dragged off. In the ring, the remaining seven - Konnan, Hall, Luger, Nash, Giant, Benoit, Malenko - split into their groups, save for Hall who’s a man without a country. Konnan is soon gone, and mob rule finally ousts the Giant. Luger’s done absolutely nothing. Benoit and Malenko are soon gone. nWo stablemates Lex and Kevin agree to put on a sporting contest. The three way match doesn’t play out for long before Luger hoists Hall for the torture rack. The opportunistic Nash bungs them both over the top for the win. 

Verdict: It’s stupid to have 60 people but that was fun. A fair few folks in that match really did very little work and you can’t help assuming Kevin’s exercising his creative control here. ***

US Championship: Bret Hart vs Diamond Dallas Page (c)

Michael Buffer comes out to do his bit. He does his little catchphrase. Well done mate. He bungles Bret’s “best there is, best there was, best there ever will be” introduction even though he’s reading off a card. DDP’s t-shirt says BANG on it. He’s got some grungey music - it’s so shit and drowns out the crowd to such an extent that I can only assume they’ve had to slap some new song on for copyright reasons or whatever. He hurls himself straight over the rope to lay into Bret on the outside as the bell rings. He hurls Hart into the rail. A crew lady sat there tries to move out of the way, but she only moves about an inch so she nearly gets absolutely squished. 

Bret plays dirty to gain control, choking Page with his boot and cranking his neck. DDP swings desperate shots into Bret’s gut but the Hitman clings on and keeps the punishment coming. I feel like that’s a detail you don’t see too much. DDP regains some momentum with a swinging neckbreaker but Bret scurries free of the Diamond Cutter to the outside. He ducks a baseball slide and smashes Paege into the steps. In the ring he goes for a tombstone but DDP counter for one of his own. It’s a two. Undertaker can’t have been thrilled with that. Bret nails a clothesline and both roll outside, where Hart grabs a knuckle duster kind of thing. Referee Charles Robinson confiscates it. There’s a quick exchange of pins and DDP locks in a pretty crap sharpshooter. Bret gets to the ropes. There’s a puddle of really disgusting goo in the corner. 

Bret takes a pasting in the corner but a kick to the gut regains control. He then starts to work Page’s knee for absolutely ages. He bends it around the rope and cranks it on the mat. He does his ring post-assisted figure four, which always looks great. He locks on a proper figure four in the ring. Tony says that DDP appeals to both college students and high school students. Bret’s methodical beatdown continues quite a lot longer than it should. Finally Page is able to boot the Hitman to the outside. He returns the favour with a post-assisted figure four of his own. DDP hoists a chair to wallop Bret. Charles Robinson grabs it, but a shove causes a ref bump. Bret gets his brass knux back, knocks out DDP (great bump from Page), and that divvy nWo ref comes back as the sharpshooter goes on. The ref calls for the bell. That’s yer not - except it isn’t, because the real ref comes in to castigate the pretender. Page hits the Diamond Cutter to retain. 

Verdict: Good match with a few pacing issues, but you’d expect quality out of this pair. Page is probably at the peak of his powers coming off the Goldberg match. You can see why Bret’s WCW run didn’t go to plan - he controls this whole match then loses to one cutter. ***

Final verdict: I think this is a better show than folk give it credit for. There’s some slosh on there but two or three matches are well worth watching, and the hot crowd helps.  B-