
Which of course begs the question: why didn’t they have most of this show a month earlier at Starrcade 1997? Starrcade was the biggest show on the NWA/WCW calendar going back to 1983. This show was loaded, and that was without such WCW stalwarts of the day as Sting, Hulk Hogan, Diamond Dallas Page, Curt Hennig, Eddie Guererro, and Dean Malenko. A post match beatdown of Luger was thwarted by Sting and the two longtime partners stood victorious to close out the show. The finish, where botched interference from Hogan and Kevin Nash, led to a Luger victory, was the first step in a pending NWO breakup that was not booked well at all. The match itself was short (seven minutes) but both guys came to play and put on a good one in that short time. Randy Savage vs Lex Luger – This should have been at Starrcade, instead of Luger facing Buff Bagwell and Savage being in the six man tag match.Both guys got in all their signature stuff and put on a good show. Bret Hart vs Ric Flair – Hart’s first match in WCW, and maybe Flair’s last really good WCW match.Nash botched a powerbomb on the Giant and legit injured him that’s always a danger in big man matches because doing your power stuff on supersized guys is always iffy.


Nash actually came to work this time and we got a good big man match. Kevin Nash vs The Giant – this one was scheduled for Starrcade and just got moved here for no good reason.Standard six man stuff here the Steiners were a shell of themselves after years of injuries and….pharmaceutical treatments. This was a virtual repeat of a match at Starrcade except that Randy Savage was on the NWO team in that match instead of Bagwell (what a waste). Ray Traylor and the Steiner Brothers vs Scott Norton, Konnan, and Buff Bagwell – filler match here.It was ok for what it was, minus the stupid Dusty Rhodes heel turn at the end. Larry Zbysko vs Scott Hall – this match should have been at Starrcade, not that Zbysko-Eric Bischoff debacle.Both guys brought it and this was a great technical match. Martel was near the end of the line here and after his long stint as The Model in the WWE it was easy to forget just how good of a worker in the ring he was. Booker was at the beginning of his singles run, and like Jericho he was beginning a run that would change his career for good. World Television Title Match: Booker T (champ) vs Rick Martel – Excellent match here.Rey was in his heyday the difference between this Rey and the one who struggled to stay healthy towards the end of his WWE run is like night and day.

(champ) vs Chris Jericho – Very underrated match here Jericho was in the early phases of the heel run that make him a perpetual star in the business going forward.
