Mike Reviews WCW Fan Favourites Home Video

Happy Friday Everyone! (I hope your day isn’t too unlucky)

We’ve got a WCW home video release from 2000 today, courtesy of F+C, with the Fan Favourites aspect of it being that WCW fans supposedly voted for the four matches that were included here, one of which I don’t think I’ve ever sat down and properly watched before.

Let’s have a look and see if the Fan Favourites included on this tape are deserving of inclusion or not.

Our hosts for the tape are Mike Tenay and Scott Hudson

Tenay and Hudson open the tape with a “to camera” whilst they’re at the announce desk, with fans behind them cheering (although they probably don’t know what’s being filmed here). Tenay and Hudson give some brief backstory for each match and it’s off to the footage. A random group of three ladies do a quick vox-pop about the match and don’t seem to have a clue what’s going on, but they had some energy to their lines at least

WCW Halloween Havoc 1993
Spin The Wheel, Make A Deal
Non Title Texas Death Match
WCW World Champ: Big Van Vader w/ Harley Race Vs Cactus Jack

Shout out to _plastic_legends for the fun pic above

The story here was that Vader gave Cactus a Powerbomb on the concrete floor, which led to Cactus doing a big injury angle for it. However, WCW decided to ruin things by making Cactus film a bunch of silly comedy segments where he had amnesia and got lost in Cleveland, which dulled the effect of the injury angle somewhat. Cactus has now spun all that as mind games though, and we are finally here for the climactic bout at Halloween Havoc. As mentioned earlier in the review; Vader has spun the Deal Wheel earlier on, and now we’ve got a Texas Death Match. They make no pretence at this being a technical wrestling match to start, as they quickly start brawling on the entrance ramp and things take it from there. Vader is game to take some bumps tonight, and even takes a suplex from the ring onto the rampway at one stage.

Cactus is soon bleeding from the eye, but he keeps fighting and soon both combatants are brawling over by the entrance area, where Cactus knocks Vader down some stairs where a Vader headstone just happens to be, which leads to the great visual of Vader climbing out of the “grave” with blood on his face. Cactus actually gets a pin following that, but Vader gets up pretty quickly, which leads to Cactus hitting Vader with a prop cactus before following with a flying elbow off the stage onto Vader on the concrete floor. Cactus gets the pin following that, but Vader is already getting up following the rest period. Honestly, I think this match would be better if they got rid of the 30 second rest period and just went straight to the 10 count following the pin. The rest period just halts the momentum and isn’t really adding anything.

Aside from that though, the action here is really good, as both wrestlers successfully get across the idea that this is a hate filled brawl, with both combatants happy to take big bumps in order to make the other look good. Vader successfully manages to come off the top with the Moonsault at one stage, and that not surprisingly nets him a three count, but Cactus is able to beat the ten count and get back up to his feet, however he’s in really rough shape following it. We get a very memorable spot when the two brawl out to the ramp again, where Cactus gets a sleeper on Vader and Vader goes route one with the counter by just falling back and landing on top of Cactus in gruesome fashion.

Mick Foley was actually so miserable in WCW at the time that he was almost hoping that such a big bump would outright end his career, but his body was so used to taking punishment by this stage in his career that he was able to survive it. Vader manages to get the pin following that, but Cactus gets up and DDT’s Vader onto a chair before the 30 second rest period ends. However, because Cactus was down again before the 30 second ended, he’s now able to be counted out by the referee, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I mean, he got up to his feet and hit a move, why wouldn’t that restart things? Anyway, Cactus looks like he’s going to beat the 10 count, but Race jabs him with a tazer and that means that Cactus doesn’t get up in time, so Vader wins.

WINNER: VADER
RATING: ****

Thoughts: That finish would have made a lot more sense if this had been a standard Last Man Standing match and not a Texas Death Match, as both guys could have then been counted out in a dramatic race in order to see who could get up first. As it was, Cactus was the only wrestler in contention for being counted out there, which hampered the drama somewhat. It also really didn’t make sense that Cactus essentially beat the count before the 30 second rest period ended, but because he hit a move he was still eligible for being counted down. Those niggles aside, this was a fantastic brawl, that delivered on the grudge match aspect and gave Vader a way of winning without making Cactus look weak, as it took help from Race in order to finally keep Cactus down. An excellent way to close out the event

Cactus gives Race a DDT following the match in order to get his heat back.

WCW Bash at the Beach 1996
Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and ??? Vs Sting, Randy Savage and Lex Luger

Nash and Hall had left the WWF and moved over to WCW, so Eric Bischoff decided to make use of it by doing his own version of the New Japan Vs UWFi feud that he’d seen whilst in Japan, by acting like Hall and Nash were still WWF guys looking to come in and take WCW down. They were forced to tone it down a bit when the WWF legal team got involved, which led to Hall and Nash both openly admitting that they didn’t work for the WWF at Great American Bash. However, on that same show they powerbombed Bischoff through a table to heat the feud up further. WCW did an incredible job of booking them as a threat, actually needing police with guns to stop them at one stage. This all built to Sting, Luger and Savage teaming up to take on Hall, Nash and a mystery third man at BATB.

They used an instrumental very similar to “Crazy” by Seal for Hall and Nash’s theme, which sounded cool but didn’t really suit them. That song is also incredibly 1990’s isn’t it? In a nice touch the commentators are openly cheering against the Heels because of their villainous goals, even including Heel commentator Bobby Heenan, who would normally want the heels to win. This bit is cut from the tape, but The commentary team actually freaked out when Hall and Nash came out without their third man, with Mean Gene even coming down to ask them who it was. They said they had enough with just the two of them for now, and demanded that the faces come down to start the match. This was a great way of building suspense and I remember reading a Re-writing The Book over on Wrestlecrap where there wasn’t even a third man and they were just making it up to mess with the babyfaces, which actually could have worked as a payoff. All the babyfaces have their faces painted like Sting to show that they are unified.

Luger gets a quick shine but Sting accidentally squishes him in the corner with a Stinger Splash, which leads to him getting taken away by medics. This not only makes it 2 on 2 now but it also plants another seed to try and make people thing that Luger could be the third man. Sting gets to batter Hall for a brief bit, but soon both he and Savage are getting taken apart by the heels. There is one notable botch where Savage tries to move out of the way of an elbow drop but he can’t quite manage it and Nash lands on top of his head and neck in a gnarly moment. Savage was lucky not to get badly hurt there. I’ve seen less conspicuous botches cause worse. Sting gets worked over for a while and sells it well, although the heat probably goes on for a bit too long and it starts to drag after a while. It does the job of making Hall and Nash look like dominant heels that are a genuine threat at least, which is exactly what they needed to do here.

Sting finally manages to make the hot tag to Savage and he briefly runs wild only for Nash to catch him with a low blow to take him out of proceedings just as he was getting motoring. This is Hulk Hogan’s cue to come down to the ring, ostensibly to help the WCW guys. However, it’s all a SWERVE, and one of the best ever for that fact, as Hogan drops the leg on Savage and high fives with Hall and Nash to reveal himself as the third man. Heenan screaming “whose side is he on?” when Hogan came down was in character for him seeing as he was always Hogan Hater In Chief, but I personally think it telegraphed the turn a bit. Hogan flings the ref out of the ring, leading to the match getting thrown out. I’m surprised they didn’t go the whole hog and have Hogan get a proper pin.

NO CONTEST
RATING: **

Thoughts: The match was basically one long heat segment, which wasn’t especially interesting to watch, but the storytelling was fantastic and began WCW’s run of dominance in the Monday Night War until they managed to ruin it for themselves in 1998 and 1999

Hogan cuts a big heel promo following the match, as fans fill the ring with rubbish, and dubs the group the New World Organisation. I’m still not sure if he just got it wrong or if it was originally supposed to be that but they realised New World Order sounded better. The gist is that Hogan was bored of being nice brother, and wanted to team up with Hall and Nash to take over the wrestling industry. As far as reasons go, that works well.

I can understand folks voting for Vader Vs Cactus Jack as that was a really good match, but I do wonder why folks voted for this one? It’s not a terrible match by any means, and the twist at the end was HUGE for WCW, but they’d already included the full post-match promo on the “Best of the Bash” VHS that was released in 1998/99, so I’m not sure why folks were so interested to vote for it to be included on this tape?

Tenay and Hudson hype up the next two matches, with Hudson actually giving some good backstory to how Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat first started feuding of the US Title until moving onto a feud for the World Title

NWA Chi-Town Rumble
NWA World Title
Champion: “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair w/ Hiro Matsuda Vs Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat w/ Bonnie Steamboat and Ricky Steamboat Jr

Steamboat had returned to the NWA as a mystery partner for Eddie Gilbert against Ric Flair and Barry Windham, setting up a big match between Flair and Steamboat. From a character and storyline perspective; we’ve got the womanising cocky Flair against the supposedly honourable family man Steamboat, making for an interesting dichotomy. I think I might have watched this one before but I’m certainly not as familiar with it as I am with Ragin Cajun and Wrestle War, so this presents a good chance to sit down and watch it properly for review purposes. Steamboat has “Sirius” dubbed out here of course, although interestingly they don’t play the Jimmy Hart version of the song that they’d sometimes use and instead use some generic rock song. Flair with Matsuda just never seemed to work as a duo for me, but at the time Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson and James J. Dillon were elsewhere so they decided to try and play into 1980’s American Japanophobia by having the Japanese “buy-out” The Horsemen.

This one follows the usual Flair/Steamboat formula to start, with Steamboat bettering Flair in the technical wrestling contest, leading to Flair trying to turn it into more of a fight, with Steamboat then getting the better of THAT as well! I do love how so many Flair Vs Steamboat matches come down to the idea that Steamboat is just plain better than Flair but Flair is able to just about hang in there every time they wrestle, which sometimes allows him to sneak a win. I know that Flair would often work that way as a Heel, but even as a babyface he’d usually let Steamboat just get the better of him if they had a match together. Steamboat being Ric Flair’s personal kryptonite just adds a really fun little wrinkle to their long feud. It also helps explain why Flair is always so scared/cautious about wrestling Steamboat, even though Steamboat is physically a bit smaller than Flair. Flair knows that Steamboat just has his number for whatever reason, so every match could be potential disaster in some form. I think the only person who has a better success rate in there with Flair would be someone like Hulk Hogan, as Flair could normally get the better of things with the likes of Sting, Luger and Savage, or at the very least split the wins and losses with them, but Hogan and Steamboat would invariably beat him.

Steamboat controls this one for long stretches of time at the start, with Flair seemingly not having an answer for it. Flair does seem to have his share of supporters in the building, and he would be turning babyface later in the year so that kind of makes sense. Despite being an arrogant jerk, Flair’s character was a top athlete, dressed to nines and always had a bevvy of gorgeous gals on his arm, so you can understand why fans would eventually start gravitating to him, especially as Steamboat’s “Family Man” gimmick was a bit boring by comparison, and dare I say a bit preachy as well. The pace they’re working at in this one is fantastic, as it’s non-stop from start to finish, with the crowd getting more and more invested in it the longer it goes. Flair does manage to lock Steamboat in the Figure Four at one stage, but the crowd gets behind The Dragon and he’s eventually able to survive the move, even with Flair using the ropes for leverage at points when referee Tommy Young isn’t looking.

Young eventually catches Flair, and demands that the hold be broken, which is a good example of Flair being his own worst enemy. He had Steamboat locked in the hold and Steamboat was just about holding on, but Flair couldn’t just leave it at that and HAD to cheat, with that eventually leading to him getting caught and things getting reset. Both wrestlers take a tumble out to the floor at one stage following that, as the pace they are working here continues to be really impressive. It’s amazing that these two wrestlers could just go in there and work at such a quick clip without seemingly slowing down at all. Flair does finally manage to work some heat on Steamboat after the tumble to the floor, as he’s able to fling Steamboat into the ring post and control things back inside for a bit, with Steamboat’s selling being impeccable as always. In a neat touch, well noted by Jim Ross on commentary, Flair tries to pin Steamboat with his feet on the ropes the same way he pinned Lex Luger back at Starrcade 1988, but Steamboat is able to survive it, which is a way of showing fans that they can believe in Steamboat as a challenger in a way they couldn’t believe in Luger after 1988.

Steamboat makes a big comeback, with the crowd totally transfixed on the action. In another clever moment, Steamboat gets a top rope crossbody on Flair, but Tommy Young gets bumped in the process, meaning that there’s no one to count. This would usually be a sign that the belt isn’t changing hands, with Steamboat getting a visual pin-fall to make up for the fact that he isn’t going to be winning tonight. However, Steamboat manages to catch Flair with a cradle when Flair tries the Figure Four again, and that’s enough for a three count from replacement referee Teddy Long, giving Steamboat the win and taking the fans in another direction after teasing something else. The fans of course erupt at Steamboat winning, whilst Flair is dejected, showing how much the belt meant to him. Steamboat gets some notable boos when he celebrates with his family in the ring, showing that some fans were definitely rejecting the Family Man character.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: RICKY STEAMBOAT
RATING: ****1/2

Thoughts: I don’t think it’s possible for Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat to wrestle one another in front of an invested crowd and it not be good in some way. What was so impressive about this one was just how quick a clip they were working at. They wrestled basically non-stop for nearly 25 Minutes and they looked like they could have easily done another 25 on top of that (which they essentially did in the New Orleans re-match). This is definitely worth watching if you’ve never seen it. Two master craftsmen going in there and tearing it up on pay per view. The fans were right to vote this one in

I must say though that I have ZERO idea why the fans voted for the one up next. I can only guess it’s for historical significance? Either that or WWF and ECW fans decided to skew the poll in order to show WCW at its worst?

WCW Starrcade 1997
nWo Vs WCW
WCW World Heavyweight Title
Champion: Hollywood Hogan Vs Sting

The nWo had debuted their own Sting in the autumn of 1996, which had led to WCW guys questioning whether the real Sting had joined the group as well. This had led to Sting going all emo and stalking the rafters of the venues WCW ran, upset that people in WCW had questioned his loyalty to the promotion. Eventually Sting showed that he was indeed still on Team WCW by attacking Hogan at Uncensored 97, which led to a nearly yearlong build for the two finally clashing at Starrcade. The result was a monster buy rate, with fans chomping at the bit to see Sting defeat Hogan and claim the Title. Indeed, the fan base had been living through nearly 18 months of #LolNwoWins and the time was ripe to start winding the group down, with Sting’s decisive win over Hogan being the perfect way to start the ball rolling. Common sense dictated a strong Sting win, but this was WCW, where common sense went to die.

This match is deathly dull and mostly features Hogan working Sting over. It looks like it’s building to Sting finally making the big comeback to win the match, but instead Hogan drops the leg on Sting and pins him clean to win. Referee Nick Patrick was supposed to do a fast count following the leg drop, but he just did a normal one (With rumours abounding that Hogan slipped him some cheddar in order to “accidentally” count too slow). As a result, Sting has just lost after a year of build and looks like a chump as a result.

Guest Referee from a previous match, Bret Hart, comes down and demands that the match restart, which would have made sense if there had actually been a fast count, but as there wasn’t it just looks stupid and if anything makes Hogan look sympathetic that he won the match clean and is now getting forced into wrestling again. Sting quickly fires up and locks Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock, which leads to Bret ringing the bell even though it doesn’t look like Hogan actually submitted, and thus Sting “wins” the WCW Title in the most uninspiring and lame way possible.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: STING
RATING: DUD

Thoughts: I don’t think I can accurately describe just how much of a disaster this match was, as they pretty much killed Sting in one night and then ended up pissing away further goodwill by not having the decision stand and making the two men face off again at SuperBrawl VIII for the held up belt. Hogan apparently thought Sting didn’t look impressive enough physically, which is why he demanded this limp-wristed booking, and then Patrick exacerbated the lameness of it all with his non-fast count. Honestly, I could have lived with Hogan battering Sting for 8 minutes or so with it all building to Sting making the superman comeback and winning clean, as it’s not like Sting needed to squash him or anything. But this match was the worst of all worlds, as Hogan not only dominated the match but Sting didn’t even get to look strong in the closing sections. Just a sickening and ferociously awful match

They try doing the big roster celebration after that, but COME ON!

In Conclusion:

Vader Vs Cactus Jack and Flair Vs Steamboat were both excellent matches and well worth inclusion on a compilation tape like this. I’m not sure why fans voted for the two nWo focused matches on a Fan Favourites tape, but they were both historically significant at least (although Starrcade 1997 was significant for all the WRONG reasons of course)

I’d switch the tape off once Chi-Town Rumble ends, but up to that point you’re getting a very good tape