Happy Saturday Everyone!
I’ll keep reviewing 1998 WCW pay per views I think with Slamboree 1998 this month. I must admit that this particular era of WCW is very much my Pro Wrestling junk food. Thunder especially from this timeframe is a good thing to have on in the background when you’re doing things because it’s presented at a more relaxed pace and you usually get a couple of good wrestling matches.
The big angles for Slamboree 1998 were that the nWo was splitting into two factions, with Hollywood Hogan’s faction wearing Black and White whilst Kevin Nash’s faction wore Black and Red. Hogan’s side has beefed up the numbers by recruiting The Giant (which would have been roughly his 77th career turn by that stage I think), which has added some layers of intrigue to the Main Event as Giant will be tagging with WCW representative Sting against Kevin Nash and Scott Hall.
Elsewhere on the card we’ve got Eric Bischoff against Vince McMahon. Well, not really, but we’ll get to that. Also Bret Hart has his first pay per view match for WCW since a misguided Heel turn as he takes on Randy Savage.
You can view the full card by clicking below;
Let’s review Slamboree 1998!
The event is emanating from Worcester, Mass on the 17th of May 1998
Calling the action are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay
The opening video focuses on buildings falling down whilst operatic music plays in the background. As far as pay per view intros go, this was certainly one of them.
The commentators yak and let any momentum gained from the opening ebb away, as usual.
We get footage from Thunder, where Eric Bischoff reads a legal letter issued from Jerry McDevitt stating that Vince McMahon won’t be at the pay per view tonight. We see that security happens to be waiting outside the venue just in case Vince does turn up.
Opening Match
WCW World Television Title
Champ: Fit Finlay Vs Crippler Chris Benoit
Benoit and Booker had been feuding over the Title, with WCW then throwing in a twist in of Finlay winning the belt, thus leading to Benoit and Booker fighting over who would get the chance to dethrone Finlay. Benoit and Booker had actually traded the belt on a House Show loop, which ended up being a bit controversial as WCW never acknowledged the changes and for a while they weren’t officially recognised, which not only robbed Benoit of his first singles Title wins in WCW but also angered the fans in those towns by essentially erasing a special moment that they had enjoyed.
There’s actually a Wild Cat Willie sighting during Benoit’s entrance, which was WCW’s rubbish attempt at creating a mascot. It wasn’t as bad as The Gobbledygooker at least. The crowd is very much into Benoit here, as the two work a snug battle in the early stages. It’s one of those matches where you don’t get a lot of flashy stuff but you do get a lot of really solid wrestling where holds, strikes and moves look believable and it feels like you’re watching two wrestlers trying to out wrestle one another.
Benoit gets the babyface shine to start, getting some of his trademark chops and a back breaker, which Finlay all sells well. Interestingly they don’t bother with having Finlay cheat to get the heat, as he just clocks Benoit with a stiff clothesline and then takes over following that. Finlay does beat Benoit outside the ring a bit at least, which is a heelish thing to be doing and succeeds in drawing some boo’s. Benoit does a good job selling for Finlay during the heat and the crowd gets behind him as a result.
Finlay tries using a chair at one stage but Benoit takes it off him and gets a shot outside the ring, which surprisingly doesn’t lead to a DQ, but when Benoit tries a dive following that, he finds a chair waiting for him which seems to bring his potential comeback to an abrupt halt. Benoit does eventually make the comeback properly and heads up top, which is the cue for Booker T to join us, dressed to the nines in a suit. Benoit and Booker get into an argument, which allows Finlay to bring Benoit’s momentum to an end. Benoit gets a desperation near fall with a small package back inside, but the damage is done and Finlay soon gets a piledriver for the win.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: FIT FINLAY
RATING: ***1/4
Thoughts: Good solid wrestling, although Finlay probably took a bit too much of it if that was the finish they were doing. They should have really have let Benoit taken the lion’s share of the offence until Booker’s interruption proved decisive
Lee Marshall is interviewing Chris Jericho at the internet booth. We don’t get to hear all of the interview, but I’m sure it was grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!
Match Two
nWo Vs WCW
Brian Adams w/ Vincent Vs The Total Package Lex Luger
Adams had jumped from the WWF in the winter of 1997 and had quickly joined the nWo in an enforcer type role. This would lead to him teaming with Scott Norton on and off as a mean guy big man team. Luger was still firmly in the WCW camp at this stage, although that wouldn’t last for much longer. Brian Adams had played a hand in injuring Rick Steiner in storyline, so Luger is looking for payback for his fallen friend here.
Luger runs wild on the Heels to start, all though he does it in quite a relaxed manner which gives off the impression that he’s not working in high gear here. Adams actually sells it well and takes some nice bumps, with Luger targeting the shoulder as that was the body part Adams targeted when injuring Rick Steiner. Hey, that’s an actual storyline aspect to the match that makes sense, are we sure we’re watching 1998 WCW?
A distraction from Vincent (maybe he waived an Olive Garden voucher in Luger’s face?) leads to Adams getting a sloppy piledriver for the cut off. This means we get to enjoy one of wrestling’s best memes, that being “Lex Luger yells really loudly whilst selling”, as made famous by OSW Review. Brian Adams is dark chocolate Toblerone if we’re playing the What Bar game BTW. Anyway, Luger ends up catching Adams with The Human Torture Wrack OUTTA NOWHERE and that’s enough for the InstaTap.
WINNER: LEX LUGER
RATING: *
Thoughts: Luger didn’t seem to be putting in maximum effort there, but the match storyline made sense at least and we got a clean babyface win in an nWo Vs WCW match, which were often as rare a total eclipse during lent in a leap year
Perry Saturn cuts an ECW styled to-camera promo, where he says that he’ll be facing Goldberg alone tonight, meaning we won’t be getting the originally advertised gauntlet match. Saturn also takes a sideswipe at Raven saying that tonight it’s “what about Saturn?” for once. That was a decent promo actually, with the format working well when it came to getting the best out of Saturn.
Match Three
WCW World Cruiserweight Title #1 Contender Battle Royal
Lenny “Loverboy” Lane Vs Evan Karagias Vs Psicosis Vs Silver King Vs Juventud Guerrera Vs Super Calo Vs Kidman Vs Johnny Swinger Vs Chavo Guerrero Jr Vs El Dandy Vs Marty “Rock Rock Till He Drops, Rock Rock Never Stop” Jannetty Vs Damien 666 Vs El Grio Vs Villano IV Vs “Ciclope”
The story here was that Jericho had kind of cleaned out the division of challengers, so this match was booked to find him a new contender. El Grio is Halloween, who ironically normally used to work in WCW as Ciclope. Jericho introduces the competitors and does so in a humorous fashion by insulting them all. Jabs include that Silver King is just a few wins away from being upgraded to Gold King and that El Dandy is a Lou Ferrigno lookalike. Saying that Damien paints his face because he can’t afford a mask is an absolutely great line also. It’s funny stuff and enough to make the match an instant thumbs up before anything else even happens.
You can be eliminated either by pin fall or being thrown out of the ring. The match itself is just a standard battle royal, although it’s not a bad watch or anything. It’s kind of just guys doing stuff with the occasional impressive bump considering that the Cruiserweights are a bit lighter on their feet. The ending is great stuff though, as it comes down to Juventud and Ciclope but, after quick chat between the two, Juventud decides to eliminate himself to give Ciclope the win. The crowd starts to buzz following that as Ciclope begins to unmask before revealing himself to be Dean Malenko, leading to Tony Schiavone stating “That’s not Ciclope!” in of his best ever calls.
WINNER: DEAN MALENKO
RATING: **
Thoughts: Battle Royals are what they are most of the time, but this was entertaining for the most part and the ending was great
Jericho freaks out at seeing Malenko as he had been taunting and tormenting Malenko for two months following a match they had in March. Malenko had left WCW following defeat in that contest and Jericho had kept pushing and pushing and pushing on the mic each week until the fans were desperate to see Malenko return and get his revenge, so they are absolutely psyched to see Malenko get the shot here whilst Jericho looks petrified.
Match Four
WCW World Cruiserweight Title
Champ: Lionheart Chris Jericho Vs The Iceman Dean Malenko
Malenko actually wrestles the match in the Ciclope body suit, and goes to town on Jericho early doors with some mud hole stomping in the corner as the crowd goes nuts. Malenko is showing off some fantastic intensity and fire here, with Jericho doing an excellent job bumping and selling for the challenger. Juventud stays at ringside to cheer Malenko on, as he has no love for Jericho and he’s happy to see the Champ get clobbered in such a manner. Jericho manages to catch Malenko with a desperation Stun Gun though and that’s the cut off.
Malenko sells well whilst on the defensive whilst Jericho plays to the crowd and draws some good Heel heat in the process. The crowd is very into this match in general, which is a testament to how good a job they did at building this issue up between the two wrestlers, especially as Malenko had legitimately been off TV for 2 months prior to this and most of the build had been Jericho being an almighty douche each week. Malenko manages to catch Jericho with a big Gut Buster and quickly takes it home with the Texas Cloverleaf.
WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: DEAN MALENKO
RATING: ***
Thoughts: This wasn’t an amazing match or anything because they didn’t get a lot of time to work with, but it was a brilliant moment and the crowd was into it throughout. Malenko coming back and getting the clean win for some revenge was a very un-WCW thing to do as well, which made this stand out even more
Malenko celebrates with his new belt whilst the crowd goes cuckoo for Coco Pops. This was a darn fine bit of business.
A limo pulls up outside the venue, which the commentary team thinks might be Vince McMahon. Tony gets a knock in at Jim Ross saying that he might pop out and carry Vince’s bags for him. Tony and Ross have since made up of course if AEW is anything to go by.
Match Five
Bowery Death Match inside a Steel Cage
Raven Vs Diamond Dallas Page
Raven had been feuding with DDP for a few months prior to this and had even defeated him for the US Title at the previous pay per view. This one is essentially a Last Man Standing match with weapons inside a cage, which is a near Vince Russo amount of gimmicks for just one match. This is designed to be the blow off for the feud. They had tried to make the feud deeper and richer by referencing both wrestlers real life connection to Jake Roberts, but it didn’t really go anywhere. Raven has his own riot squad here, which I think came about because a fan legitimately attacked Raven during an episode of Thunder so they made it part of the story.
This is a decent brawl actually, with both wrestlers getting thrown in to the cage and using the weapons. The fact that no one comes up bleeding at any stage is a bit distracting as it becomes kind of a ridiculous after a certain stage, but WCW was mostly blood free at the time outside of the occasional bout here and there. I think Hogan and Savage used blood earlier in the year, but they were higher up the pecking order than these two and Hogan could pretty much do whatever he wanted, so it’s a bit of a different scenario.
That all being said, DDP does actually try to hang Raven with a noose at one stage, which is a pretty heavy spot for WCW in 1998, although it’s not quite as graphic as it sounds. DDP clonks Raven with a VCR (ask your parents what they were, kids) following that and it makes an almighty thud. That’s a very ECW-like spot. What’s next is Raven going to brain DDP with a PlayStation? I think this might have been better without the 10 count stipulation to be honest, although both wrestlers sell the knock out teases well.
The match feels a bit flat at points because the crowd doesn’t seem that invested, possibly because the feud had been going on for quite a while at this stage and all the gimmicks were kind of overkill to the crowd after a certain point? The ref ends up getting squished in the corner at one stage, which leads to Raven’s Flock of Riggs, Reese and Sick Boy trying to enter the cage in order to help their boss. Former Flock member Van Hammer (complete with nipple ring) makes the save with a stop sign though, seemingly to leave it as a fair fight.
However, the riot squad members unmask as Flock members Horace Boulder and Kidman, leading to DDP having to fight THEM off as well with some Diamond Cutters, as this is starting to get a tad bit overbooked. I can appreciate Raven trying for the Dog and Pony Show, but WCW wasn’t really like the WWF or ECW and the fans generally preferred a more straightforward product most of the time. The crowd does pop for the Diamond Cutters at least, so that aspect of it worked. Raven actually hits DDP with a Diamond Cutter of his own, but DDP manages to survive that and delivers the genuine article soon after for the knockout victory.
WINNER: DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE
RATING: **3/4
Thoughts: This was probably a bit too overbooked and they kind of lost the crowd as a result as it was all a bit too much for them. The brawling was decent though and DDP came out of it looking good, which was handy as he was going to wrestle Hulk Hogan a couple of times over the summer so he needed to have some momentum
We get a further ECW tribute, as one of the other riot crew members unmasks as Chris Kanyon and he handcuffs Raven to the cage before delivering his own version of “the chair shot heard around the world” that Tommy Dreamer delivered to Raven in 1995. Kanyon had been trying to join the Flock but Raven had refused, so this led to Kanyon going on a long quest for revenge that eventually ended when he and Raven started working together after all, because WCW. The chair shot was pretty brutal and it didn’t quite get the reaction the ECW chair shot did, mainly because Kanyon wasn’t really established yet and I don’t think all of the crowd knew who he was.
Security is checking if Vince McMahon is trying to sneak in, as this is now starting to get a bit silly.
Lee Marshall is interviewing Saturn at the internet booth. Saturn says that he’s better prepared for Goldberg tonight than he was in their previous bout and that’s why he’s going to leave this event as the United States Champ. That was short and to the point.
The commentators talk whilst they raise the cage and un-cuff all of the Flock.
Match Six
Lucha de Apuestas
If Eddy Wins then Chavo must remain under his control
If Dragon wins then Chavo is free
Eddy Guerrero w/ Chavo Guerrero Jr Vs Ultimo Dragon
Eddy had won a match that allowed him to take control of Chavo’s career, leading to much bullying and cracking down on his nephew. Dragon had been wrestling both Guerrero’s, and if he wins here then Chavo will be free of Eddy’s control. I feel for these poor sods having to follow that wacky cage bout with a standard wrestling match, but Eddy and Dragon are talented enough that they could still get the fans into this one if they wrestle it well. You can see some empty seats on the hard cam side actually, so these two already have an uphill climb on their hands.
The wrestling is crisp and executed well here, although I agree with Scott Keith that Dragon’s style has already had a bit of an antiseptic feel to it in that everything is done nicely with grace but it’s lacking that special something to it. Chris Candido can be similar sometimes, in that everything he does is done how it should be but there’s an almost robotic feel to it all. Eddy and Dragon do some stuff on the mat to start, with some slick counters going on and Dragon generally getting the better of things. There’s the odd moment where they don’t appear to be on the same page with what they are going for, but on the whole its good wrestling.
The crowd seems distracted by other things and don’t really get that into the match. I’m mystified that they put that nutty weapons filled cage brawl smack dab in the middle of the card like that when they still had mid-card matches to run. Poor Eddy and Dragon have essentially become the cooldown match here, which isn’t very fair to them. Eddy eventually manages to cut Dragon off and flings him to the floor for an Irish Whip into the railings and a choke with a camera cable. Eddy gets chastised for that but not DQ’ed.
Dragon eventually fights back with an Asai Moonsault and gets a nice spinning back breaker inside the ring, but the crowd still doesn’t really care. They do some very nice back and forth near falls, with both wrestlers hitting some flashy moves, but the crowd continues to sit on their hands, which is a shame. Both wrestlers actually trade Dragon Sleeper attempts, although Chavo knocks Eddy’s feet off the ropes when he tries to use them to assist his sleeper. This leads to Chavo and Dragon accidentally colliding and Eddy heading up with a Frogsplash for three.
WINNER: EDDY GUERRERO
RATING: **1/2
Thoughts: Outside of the odd timing issue, the wrestling was mostly good here and the finishing sequence was really well done, but the crowd was burnt out from the cage match and didn’t get into this one as a result
Chavo is angry that Dragon lost and attacks him following the match, seemingly going Heel in the process. However, Chavo also has a go at Eddy as well and Eddy looks freaked out. Chavo almost attacks Eddy, but ends up walking off, leading to a new twist in the story where Chavo would start being overly friendly to Eddy in order to mess with him, thus leading to the two wrestling on the next two pay per view events.
Vince “The Reasons For The Ratings” McMahon has his own locker room apparently. I’m not entirely sure about the background on that one but I’m guessing it was something to do with Vince making himself an on screen character in the WWF after making snide comments about Bischoff doing similar? There was so much silliness going on during this period that it’s hard to keep track.
Match Seven
WCW United States Title
Champ: Goldberg Vs Saturn
Goldberg had won the belt from Raven on Nitro and had continued to feud with Raven’s stablemates, chiefly Saturn. This was originally supposed to be a gauntlet match where Goldberg took on multiple members of Raven’s Flock, but they’ve just changed it to Saturn taking him on in a singles match, possibly because they thought it would be overkill to have two dog and pony Flock matches so close together on the same show? Saturn is the only Flock member who has anything resembling a chance against Goldberg anyway so they might as well just have him work the match.
Goldberg shines on Saturn to start and flings him around with terrifying ease, with Saturn taking his bumps as big as possible in order to make the Champ look dangerous. Saturn does get some offence as well, even weirdly no selling a Goldberg neck breaker in order to apply a chin lock at one stage. Goldberg doesn’t do a bad job selling actually, especially considering how for so long he’d been an unstoppable monster who didn’t need to do those things. Saturn brings a chair into the ring and tries to jump off it onto Goldberg in the corner, but Goldberg plucks him out of mid-air with a Spear and the Jackhammer ends it soon after.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: GOLDBERG
RATING: **
Thoughts: The Spring Stampede match between the two the month before was the better as it had the benefit of a hotter crowd, but this was another more competitive win for Goldberg, which he needed at the time as he was going to be required to sell more and work longer matches the further he climbed the card. Saturn was a good opponent to get him through the match in that instance
We get a hype video for Great American Bash, with Raven and The Flock featuring in it. It was the usual late 90’s “edgy” commercial.
“Match” Eight
WCW Vs WWF
Eric Bischoff Vs Vince McMahon
The story here was that D-Generation X had “invaded” a Nitro show at the Norfolk Scope and it had angered Bischoff. Bischoff decided to fire back by challenging Vince to a match here at Slamboree 1998, although he made sure to state that Vince wouldn’t show up so as to try and evade any legal threats. This being wrestling, the WWF still issued legal threats anyway, stating that in wrestling if you say something won’t happen then it actually means it will, thus Bischoff was falsely advertising a Vince appearance by saying that Vince wouldn’t be appearing. Sadly I don’t think that one ever went to court, as I would have loved to see a judge’s reaction to that statement.
Anyway, Bischoff decided to keep hyping up the issue between him and Vince, even after Vince stated that he wouldn’t be there via a press release. Bischoff even went as far as to film himself training and reading out a legal letter from the WWF in a mocking tone. Of course Vince McMahon doesn’t show up, because to do so would be ridiculous. However, Bischoff still demands that the “match” gets the full Michael Buffer treatment before getting the “count out” win over the non-existent Vince. They could have at least played Hogan’s “American Made” theme for Vince.
“WINNER” BY COUNT OUT: ERIC BISCHOFF
RATING: DUD
Thoughts: Bischoff was an entertaining performer, but this was so incredibly lame and they should have just done the initial promo on Nitro and left it at that. I’m really not sure what the point of this was, as you’d think that Bischoff challenging Vince McMahon to show up and then bragging that the WWF owner didn’t appear would be a babyface move to the WCW fan base, but Bischoff was still clearly a Heel here and all it succeeded in doing was make him look lesser than Vince McMahon due to Vince not even bothering to show up and fight him.
Semi-Main
Guest Referee: Rowdy Roddy Piper
Bret Hitman Hart Vs Macho Man Randy Savage
Bret had gone Heel on Nitro by costing Savage the WCW Title against Hollywood Hogan. This had caused long time Hart Family ally Roddy Piper to be deeply offended, thus causing this match to be booked with Piper supposedly the troubleshooting referee there to ensure the rules are followed and we get a fair result. Michael Buffer seemingly forgets Bret Hart’s surname here and just announces him as “Bretttttttt………………” before trailing off, leading Bret to sneer at him. At least Buffer didn’t call him by the wrong surname this time. Yes, that actually happened once.
I think both Bret and Savage wanted to do this match as a WrestleMania Main Event in the early 90’s (I’m guessing it would have been Mania IX) but Vince wouldn’t go for it and it never happened. Savage had destroyed his hip, back and knee in 1997, so his mobility was pretty limited by this stage and he really needed time off to heal up. Sadly when he did finally get that recovery time he ended up getting ludicrously muscular and swollen, which essentially finished him once and for all as an in-ring competitor. This one is mostly a brawl for the most part, with both wrestlers kicking, punching, stomping and choking.
It’s not boring, but it’s not the sort of exciting wrestling clinic you might have got between the two a few years earlier on due to Savage’s injuries and Bret seemingly not having his heart fully in it (please pardon the pun). We get some crowd brawling at one stage, as they are using a lot of shortcuts here to make up for the fact that Savage can’t really work a proper match. It does at least play into Savage’s anarchic wild character and the intensity makes sense seeing as Bret had cost Savage the WCW Title.
Bret targets the knee of Savage when the bout eventually makes its way back into the ring, with Savage selling everything well and Bret doing a good job working the crowd in order to draw Heel heat. The combination of Savage’s selling and Bret’s solid Heel antics help keep this one watchable and the crowd reactions are decent for the most part. Savage eventually makes a brief comeback and actually manages to come off the top with the Macho Elbow, but he stops to sell his knee following the move and the delay allows Bret enough time to recover and kick out. I love stuff like that as it protects the move by suggesting the delay in the pin was why it didn’t work, but it still gives us a big near fall.
Bret and Savage fight over The Sharpshooter following that, which leads to Miss. Elizabeth joining us. I can’t remember whose side she was on at the time because she flip-flopped so often during the nWo Era of WCW. Liz starts arguing with Piper at one stage for reasons unexplored, and that allows Bret to clock Piper from behind. Bret tries to clock Savage with an international object, but Savage disarms Bret and looks to use the weapon himself. However, Hollywood Hogan jumps the distracted Savage (all missed by the stunned Piper) and The Sharpshooter follows for the submission win.
WINNER: BRET HART
RATING: **3/4
Thoughts: Bret did a decent job of getting an injured Savage through this one and the bout ended up being watchable as a result. Bret being a snivelling cheating Heel wasn’t really the best use of him as his Heel character in the WWF had been more dynamic, but he mostly delivered here although it took him a while to get cooking
The commentary team muses that Piper thought Savage clocked him earlier and not Bret. Piper would actually use some common sense and watch the match back though and that led to him reversing the decision and awarding the bout to Randy Savage the next night on Nitro.
Main Event
WCW World Tag Team Titles
Champs: The Outsiders (Big Sexy Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) w/ The American Dream Dusty Rhodes Vs Crow Sting and The Giant
The story here is that Sting can’t trust anyone in this match, but Giant is trying to get him to come over to the dark side and believes that he will do so if they win the belts here. Giant’s turn kind of made sense in that he had been embroiled in a feud with Nash, so Hogan tempting Giant to his team so that Giant could get his revenge made sense. It would have been more effective if Giant hadn’t already been in the nWo previously though. Hall actually hadn’t been on TV for quite a while leading up to this, so one of the storylines for the match was whether he’d actually turn up or not. WCW in 1998 everybody!
To say this match has kind of a strange atmosphere would be a bit of an understatement, as the crowd doesn’t really know how to react to things, as no one wants to cheer for Giant but no one really wants to boo Sting either. Sting gets a shine on the Champs for instance, but the crowd doesn’t really know how to take it and kind of just watches on. Giant and Nash go at it following that, with the crowd clearly choosing Nash over Giant as far as the guy they want to cheer, and it’s the usual match between them, which falls comfortably into “Not bad for two massive blokes”.
Giant gets the better of Nash, which causes the crowd to chant for the Wolfpac, but when Nash cuts Sting off with a big boot there are some slight boos. Basically, the crowd wants the Champs to batter Giant, and aren’t particularly interested in anything else. The work itself isn’t bad or anything. It’s a bit paint by the numbers in my opinion, but it’s hardly awful or anything, and Sting does a good enough job selling that the crowd eventually starts clapping for him to make a comeback.
I have to say, one thing I don’t miss about late 90’s wrestling is the shades of grey stuff they used to do. I like there to be a clear face and a clear heel most of the time outside of special situations, and it was overdone to the point it was no longer special during this time period. The fans start getting behind Sting again when Nash puts him in a bear hug and even pops when he tags out to Giant, but they then start booing when Giant runs wild on Nash and body slams him. This is such a weird match to watch. It’s like they were happy Sting was no longer getting battered but unhappy that Nash was now on the defensive.
Giant drops a leg on Nash for two and then takes down the strap on his singlet before heading up to the top rope. He misses a top rope splash however, which allows Nash to get up and prep for a power bomb. However, Dusty passes Hall one of the tag belts and Hall hits Nash with it to give Giant the three count and the Titles. Cleverly, Hall and Giant never really interacted in the match, so it wasn’t one of those cases where two heels batter one another in the match only to then reveal themselves as allies.
WINNERS AND NEW CHAMPIONS: STING & GIANT
RATING: **
Thoughts: An odd match that felt like a Nitro bout rather than something you’d see on pay per view.
Sting looks on befuddled as the happy nWo Black and White guys hand him his half of the belts. Sting would eventually join Nash’s faction and would defeat Giant for both of the tag belts the following month, choosing Nash as his Championship partner. They would then go on to lose the belts to…Scott Hall and The Giant. Makes you wonder what the point of this whole match was doesn’t it.
In Conclusion
This is a very middling show. It’s not actively bad, and some of the matches are decent, but it just felt like a throwaway show for the most part, which was usually the case with Slamboree as WCW never seemed to really care that much about it as a show. I honestly wonder why they didn’t just do a televised Clash of the Champions in May each year, because they rarely put on pay per view calibre cards for these Slamboree shows so they might as well just do a TV special instead.
The highlight of the show for me was the Jericho/Malenko stuff, although the opener was a good match as well and Bret Hart did the best he could in trying to get something out of a near crippled Randy Savage. You really don’t need to watch this one, but if you do you probably won’t hate it.
Not a recommended show
