Arnold Furious reviews Starrcade '97 - a good read

["IcePic" Rick Cobos]

www.411mania.com/wrestling/video_reviews/48457/The-Furious-Flashbacks-%96-WCW-Starrcade-%5C'97.htm

[JMA]

Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

["IcePic" Rick Cobos]

I will say that Furious is not 100% on the money - the politics really started at Road Wild four months earlier, when Nash & Hall retained the tag titles against the Steiners, and Hogan regained the World title from Luger just days after losing it in one of the most viewed segments in the history of the business.

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

I think the argument is that the politics of those matches, while obvious and detrimental, would have been acceptable had Sting/Hogan gone well. Simply put, Sting/Hogan was an all-out disgrace in execution. If there was anything in wrestling history that had to be pulled off competently, and no better than competently, it was this one match; the build along the way could have a flaw here and a flaw there without hurting the hype, but the fact that this one main event didn't go as planned is completely undenaible proof that politics had gotten in the way of the company's well-being.

[odanobunaga]

And yet, Hogan have a bigger pop than everbody on RAW.


Sometimes, I hate humankind.

[balmudo]

Spring Stampede '98 is up.
www.411mania.com/wrestling/video_reviews/48861/The-Furious-Flashbacks-–-WCW-Spring-Stampede-98.htm

[skskillz]

Wow. This reminded me why I hate reading "smark" reviews.

[mysterydriver]

This guy is horrible. The entire review is a "I don't like them, so their match sucked" with poor excuses to try and cover the fact.

["IcePic" Rick Cobos]

Nothing wrong with having a different opinion.

[mysterydriver]

supersonic said:

Nothing wrong with having a different opinion.

Not at all, but this guy just seems downright bitter.

["IcePic" Rick Cobos]

mysterydriver said:

supersonic said:

Nothing wrong with having a different opinion.

Not at all, but this guy just seems downright bitter.

Starrcade '97 was my very first PPV I ever saw, as I had started watching wrestling (specifically WCW) the month before; my friend introduced me to it, and as a ten year old at the time, I was in awe as a mark.

However, after Starrcade, as a ten year old mark who had only been watching for a month, I wasn't too thrilled with the show. TWO cancelled matches (Raven vs. Benoit, Nash vs. Giant), starting the show with FIVE heel victories (even at ten, I was apathetic to annoying bastards like Bagwell), and while I was glad to see my then-favorite Sting win the title, it did feel a bit anti-climatic to me (although to be honest, I didn't notice the "controversial" fast-count until I watched the match years later).

In short, I think the show's disappointing execution can be summed up best just by using me as an example - I was a ten year old mark, had only been watching for a month, would not access the "smark" universe for several years, and yet, I was disappointed.

[mysterydriver]

supersonic said:

mysterydriver said:

Not at all, but this guy just seems downright bitter.

Starrcade '97 was my very first PPV I ever saw, as I had started watching wrestling (specifically WCW) the month before; my friend introduced me to it, and as a ten year old at the time, I was in awe as a mark.

However, after Starrcade, as a ten year old mark who had only been watching for a month, I wasn't too thrilled with the show. TWO cancelled matches (Raven vs. Benoit, Nash vs. Giant), starting the show with FIVE heel victories (even at ten, I was apathetic to annoying bastards like Bagwell), and while I was glad to see my then-favorite Sting win the title, it did feel a bit anti-climatic to me (although to be honest, I didn't notice the "controversial" fast-count until I watched the match years later).

In short, I think the show's disappointing execution can be summed up best just by using me as an example - I was a ten year old mark, had only been watching for a month, would not access the "smark" universe for several years, and yet, I was disappointed.

I can understand the disappointment. I recorded the PPV and watched it the other night (finding out that the fricking tape ran out two minutes into the main event.).

However, in my opinion, Saturn/Beniot made up for no Raven. The Giant just powerbombing Hall "as a message" could have worked it Hall didn't keep showing up during the rest of the PPV.

Buff Bagwell was a hit or miss guy. Some people liked him. A lot of people I knew hated him. The Luger/Bagwell was kind of a bust, but then again, it had Luger in it too. Luger is basically Bagwell with a couple more years under his belt.

Eddie/Malenko was great. Really got me pumped for the PPV.

Hennig/DDP should be on a DVD someday because it was astounding and showed how well Curt was at "selling." DDP looked like a star before, during, and definitely after that match.

Hogan/Sting is perhaps the biggest catastrophe in wrestling history (Trademark Bizarro Tony Schivonne). I am only working on memory of it (as I mentioned earlier), but even if people thought wrestling was real, they knew, THEY KNEW that the match should not end that way. That match may have helped slit kaybefae's throat. It was the ultimate disappointment.

Things could have been done better, but the big things are what hurt this. The lower/midcard matches weren't that bad in my opinion. Then again, that is all it is: my opinion.