The SmarK Rant for WCW Fall Brawl 1997–09.14.97

The SmarK Rant for WCW Fall Brawl 1997 – 09.14.97

Live from Winston-Salem, NC, drawing a sellout 11939 paying $213,000, and a reported 0.53 buyrate.

Your hosts are Tony, Mike & Bobby

The last time I watched this one, WCW was still alive, so I’d say it’s due for a redo.

WCW Cruiserweight title: Chris Jericho v. Eddie Guerrero

Don’t forget that Jericho is due for a “tour of the Orient” after this! Maybe he’ll take the Orient Express while he’s over there in the Orient. Eddie immediately runs away and then claims a hairpull off an armdrag. They do a series of headlocks on the mat and Mark Curtis still isn’t buying the hairpull story, so Eddie demonstrates on him just to make sure. After that last episode of Nitro I would not be screwing with Mark Curtis! Eddie picks the ankle and takes him down into an armbar off that, but Jericho escapes with an armdrag, so Eddie hits him with chops in the corner. Jericho fires back with his own chops and takes Eddie down with a wristlock, then works on the arm. The crowd rallies support by chanting “Deport Eddie”. What, to Texas? Jericho controls the wrist on the mat and they stay with that longer than needed, but Eddie fights up and Jericho hotshots him and follows with the Lionsault for a hot two. And back to the wristlock on the mat, but Eddie finally drops Jericho on the top rope to break and adds a dropkick while Jericho is laying on the ropes. Eddie hits a backdrop suplex and goes to the inverted surfboard, and then works on the back and hits a senton for two. He goes to an upside-down Gory Special, but Jericho flips out of it and faceplants Eddie. They slug it out and Jericho drops him on the top rope and dropkicks him to the apron. Jericho tries a powerbomb off the apron, but Eddie grabs the top rope and Jericho just drops him on the top rope and they both tumble to the floor instead. Back in, Jericho hits a release german for two, but Eddie escapes a powerbomb and counters with a uranage. Jericho pops up with a powerslam for two, however. Leg lariat gets two. Jericho hits him with a flapjack and tries la majastral, but Eddie counters for two. Jericho with the double powerbomb for two and he puts Eddie on the top rope out of that, but he tries a suplex and Eddie counters him onto his head, and finishes with the frog splash to win the title at 17:24. This was a strong opener, although it was a bit slow to start. ***1/2

Harlem Heat v. The Steiner Brothers

This feud would be a lot more effective if one of them was able to be tag team champions. But, you know, it was vitally important to keep them on the Outsiders at Road Wild. Stevie pounds on Scott in the corner, but Scott fires back, so Stevie boots him out of the corner and follows with a sideslam. Scott chases him out of the ring with a belly to belly and it’s over to Booker. The announcers, meanwhile, won’t shut up about how Eddie Guerrero had an important win in a great match over Chris Jericho to get the Cruiserweight title in the first match. Come on, everyone knows you’re supposed to bury and ignore that division! How are they supposed to draw money by treating them as equals? That’s stupid. The Heat try for some double-teams, but the Steiners regroup and chase them out of the ring. Rick goes to work on Booker and drops an elbow for two, but charges and hits boot. Booker follows with a sidekick and Stevie comes in and shows off his Tyson Fury-like pugilism. But then Rick catches Booker with a powerslam for two. Scott gets superkicked by Booker, however, and goes flying over the top rope and into a superkick from Stevie. They choke him out with the TV cord and Rick has had enough of these sheganigans, but Booker goes to the chinlock in the ring while the ref chases Rick out. Scott fights up and Booker gets a back elbow for two. Booker tries a sidekick and Scott catches him and hits a suplex, which allows the hot tag to Rick. Flying bulldog on Stevie gets two, but the Heat regroups with the Heatseeker for two. And then Scott hits Stevie with a german suplex while Rick clotheslines him, and that’s enough to finish at 11:40. This was fine but we saw it a million times in 1997. **1/2

World TV Title: Alex Wright v. Ultimo Dragon

Wright gets a couple of slams and stops to dance, but Dragon dropkicks him out of the ring and then works the arm in the ring. They trade headlocks and Dragon gives him a nasty chop and the kick combo to send Wright to the floor. Wright necks him on the top rope on the way back in, however, and follows with a spinkick for two. Pancake piledriver sets up a sleeper, but Dragon quickly escapes that. But then Wright goes back to it again, and Dragon escapes that. But then he misses a leg lariat and flops on the mat, and Wright gets two. Wright with a chinlock on the mat and he uses the ropes. We get a funny exchange with guest commentator Larry Zbyszko as he notes that “SOME people liked to stall a lot in these situations, and put it in the deep freeze.” Not mentioning any names, of course. Dragon tries a sunset flip and Wright blocks it, but he stops to dance and Dragon finishes the move for two. Dragon goes up and lands on Wright’s foot, and Alex gets a suplex and goes up, only to hand on Dragon’s foot. Dragon kicks Wright out of the ring and follows with the Asai Moonsault. Back in, Dragon charges and hits boot, but recovers with a rana that goes pretty bad. Dragon comes back with a butterfly suplex for two and a Tiger suplex for two. They fight to the top again and Dragon brings him down with a powerbomb for two. Dragon with a moonsault for two. They trade sunset flips and Wright gets two. Dragon goes up again and Wright dropkicks him on the way down for two. They trade rollups and Wright escapes a german suplex and dropkicks Dragon into the corner, but Dragon hooks the dragon sleeper and Wright quickly makes the ropes. Wright tries a sleeper, but Dragon gets his own, so Wright escapes with a jawbreaker and finishes with the german suplex at 18:50 to retain. Another one with a slow start but they worked HARD to get it over by the end. Still, there’s something to be said for the 5:00 sprints on Nitro compared to these longer methodical PPV matches. ***

Meanwhile, Team nWo sneaks past Mean Gene and “attacks” Curt Hennig in his locker room.

Jeff Jarrett v. Dean Malenko

Larry of course declares that the attack was Curt Hennig’s fault for “wandering away from the Horsemen on his own” like he’s a child or something. So the winner of this gets a shot at the US title at Halloween Havoc, although it didn’t work out that way. Jarrett does some stalling to start and Dean grabs a headlock, at which point Jarrett does the whole bit where he protests a phantom hair pull to the ref. Eddie already tried that earlier! They should at least agent the cheating. Jarrett works a hammerlock, but Dean elbows out of it, and Jarrett complains about that as well. Jeff takes him down with a top wristlock and clarifies for the fans “That’s a wrestling move right there!” Well that’s a relief. Dean also shows off some wrestling moves and Jarrett runs away to think it over. Back in for another headlock and Jarrett complains about various imagined infractions, but still manages a sleeper despite all the odds being stacked against him, what with the hair-pulling and tights-pulling and all. JJ tries a suplex but Malenko reverses to a superplex. Jarrett tries a sunset flip and Malenko blocks by punching him in the head a bunch of times, and a german suplex sets up a cloverleaf. Jarrett quickly makes the ropes, however, as Debra joins us at ringside to provide distraction and allows Jarrett to clobber Malenko from behind and take him to the floor. Dean calmly recovers and hits Jarrett with a baseball slide into the railing and then kicks the knee into it to work on that. Back in, Dean gets a leg lariat for two, but he misses a charge and Jarrett goes after the knee now. They fight on the apron and Dean tries a suplex into the ring, but Jarrett falls on top for two. Dean with a sleeper, but Jarrett suplexes out and head-fakes Dean into the figure-four. Dean reverses that for two, however, and gets a backslide for two. Jarrett with a neckbreaker, but Malenko gets a sunset flip for two. Jarrett clips the knee and gets the figure-four for real this time, and Dean gives up at 14:55. That’s a shockingly clean win for a guy who was on the way out the door. I wasn’t much into this one, but it was OK. **1/2 Much like the rest of the show thus far, which has been OK but not a blowaway effort or anything.

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE HAS BEEN PAID FOR BY THE NEW WORLD ORDER:

Nash is all broken up because they went out for a soda and found Curt Hennig injured in the dressing room. Konnan doing his tough guy gangsta schtick while Nash and Syxx are hamming it up is a ridiculous look, and I’m kind of glad he turned into a complete clown.

THE PRECEDING MESSAGE HAS BEEN PAID FOR BY THE NEW WORLD ORDER.

Wrath & Mortis v. The Faces of Fear

Thankfully I’ve watched all the Nitros leading up to this now, unlike in 1997 when I doubt I was paying much attention to it. So I had missed all the layers of the backstory that have now revealed themselves. Mortis beats on Barbarian in the corner to start, but Barbarian fires right back and gets a clothesline for two. Meng comes in and stomps a mudhole on Mortis, but misses a blind charge by a mile and Wrath throws down with him in the corner. The Faces double-team Mortis while Larry shares a story about seeing Meng headbutt a bus and WIN. I suspect that the veracity of that particular story is questionable. Barbarian gets a powerbomb on Mortis for two, and a pumphandle slam for two, and the crowd is pretty dead for all of this. And then we have CLUBBERING! WE BE CLUBBERING, TONY! Sadly we have no Dusty to fully describe four fisties on one head. God help me I’m missing Dusty on commentary here. Mortis makes a comeback on Meng, but that gets makes him mad and the beating continues, with morale not improving at all. Barbarian goes up and James Vandenberg trips him up behind the ref’s back. Amazingly, Tony calls the ref “Shooter Curtis” based on the fan run-in on Nitro. The world is a worse place for losing Mark Curtis and he’d probably be the #1 ref in AEW today if he had lived. FUCK OFF, CANCER. Barbarian gets worked over by the heels in the corner and Mortis gets the guillotine for two. Wrath goes up with a flying clothesline and they get an impressive double-team superplex, but Barbarian recovers and makes the hot tag to Meng. Meng boots everyone and hits Mortis with a flying splash for two, and then puts Mortis and Vandenberg in DOUBLE DEATH GRIPS. This allows Wrath to sneak up and hit the Death Penalty for the pin at 12:25. Yeah, I enjoyed this. They were four mean guys beating on each other and I can dig it. ***

Meanwhile, the Four Horsemen are now lacking in Curt Hennig but Flair isn’t lacking in confidence. So they’re going 4-on-3. They’re definitely overthinking the booking on this one.

The Giant v. Scott Norton

Giant shrugs off Norton’s offense and tosses him, then sends him into the railing, but Norton runs him into the post. They slug it out on the floor and neither guy is particularly selling anything. Finally Norton knocks him off the apron and beats on him in the corner to take over. Back suplex gets two, but Giant pops up like a creature from the grave and then kips up for good measure. Giant dropkick and AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH CHOKESLAM finishes at 5:23. Match was shit but HOW ABOUT THAT FINISH? Damn. *1/2

Scott Hall & Randy Savage v. Lex Luger & Diamond Dallas Page

What’s with all of the rematches from the Clash? I mean, whatever, but it’s pretty lazy booking on a lazy show as it is. But then it’s becoming rapidly apparent that Luger used up his last batch of fucks to give at Road Wild and is now permanently checked out. Luger overpowers Hall to start and clotheslines both nWo guys to clear the ring. He’s yelling a lot so you know he’s worked up tonight. Over to DDP, but Hall works the arm, so Page slugs away on him and gets an atomic drop and pancake piledriver. Hall is actually selling tonight so he must be on the good shit. Savage gets a shot from the apron and hits DDP with a knee from the middle rope to take over. Hall with the sack of shit slam for two and Savage chokes away, and the nWo double-team Page in the corner. Hall cuts off a tag and beats Luger between the rings while Savage chokes out Page before the ref’s back and even Elizabeth gets some shots in. Page gets chucked into the other ring and they just move over there, but then Hall changes his mind and throws Page back to the first ring again. So then Hall knocks out Shooter Curtis, who was unable to secure a guillotine to defend himself in time, and it’s ANARCHY. A second ref comes out to check on the first, and Hall beats him up, too, so Larry leaves the broadcast position to take care of shit himself. So Hall goes after Larry, who uses the power of stalling to keep him occupied, and Luger rolls him up while Larry counts the pin at 10:20. I’ve never seen Larry use the Seven Minute Stall for good before. Anyway, most of the match was Luger literally laying between the rings while Page took bumps, but it had incredible heat, so that puts it above 80% of what’s on Monday nights these days. ** Unfortunately, the eventual payoff for the Hall-Zbyszko feud absolutely did not justify the months of build.

Ric Flair, Curt Hennig, Chris Benoit & Steve McMichael v. Kevin Nash, Buff Bagwell, Syxx & Konnan

This was of course the direct result of the famous nWo Horsemen parody, one of the few times that something like that led to a serious blowoff. Hennig as a Horsemen should have been so great and perfect (pardon the pun) but they just couldn’t let them get over on the nWo. Benoit starts with Bagwell and beats the hell out of him, suplexing him into the cage and chopping him raw. Diving headbutt misses and Buff stomps away as the nWo wins the coin toss. Konnan is the next guy in and Benoit fights him off and slams Buff onto him. Both heels eat cage, but Konnan comes back with a DDT and they move to the other ring to better beat on Benoit. Mongo makes the save and the Horsemen do some double-teaming, including a cute spot where Bagwell hides in the corner and Benoit taps him on the shoulder before putting him down with a chop. Syxx comes in for the advantage and Benoit gives him a well-deserved beating to wake up the crowd. Mongo tosses him into the ceiling in a neat spot and Benoit applies the crossface, but the nWo takes over again. Did Syxx and Benoit ever do a match on Nitro? Seems like it would have been pretty awesome. Curt Hennig arrives at ringside with his arm in a sling after an nWo “attack” backstage, and Flair comes in to get his revenge on everyone. Nash is the last guy in for the heels, and he destroys everyone while Bagwell mugs for the camera. Question: Is Buff Bagwell one of the best makeovers in wrestling history? Hard to imagine many better outside of, like, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Flair makes a brief comeback and hits people in the nuts, but don’t worry, because Hennig is here to even it up. And he was faking the injury, but quickly turns on the Horsemen as they get handcuffed to the cage. Poor Flair gets mauled in a lengthy beatdown by the nWo , and Mongo finally submits at 20:00 after Hennig slams Flair’s head in the cage door. Nash declares the death of the Horsemen in their own backyard, and he wasn’t far off. About as good as it was going to be at that point, but why couldn’t they just let the Horsemen win and then do the turn on Nitro later? The finish still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and no one ever get their revenge for any of it. ***1/2

So yeah, overall a pretty inessential show. In the Observer at the time, Dave called this the worst WarGames match ever, but that would certainly be topped by 98’s version if nothing else. I wouldn’t call it underrated or anything, it’s pretty much rated exactly where it should be, a mid-level WCW B-PPV with a good undercard and questionable top of the card. On the scale of Burn It / Avoid It / Skim It / Watch It / Binge It, I’d call it a pretty solid WATCH IT but it’s nothing to go out of your way for.