So to everyone wondering when I would review a War Games match (you bunch of Sadists.) here we go. In 1998 WCW was pretty panicked. They had split the nWo and run the angle into the ground pretty consistently by this point and they were becoming a pretty big mess in the Main Event Scene, with a roster screaming of "all the gear, no idea." This was a Three Way War Games match, with trios teams representing WCW, nWo Hollywood, and nWo Wolfpac. I'm still not 100% sure if Wolfpac was a rebel nWo group or a side group, but I know they had an awesome theme tune. Hollywood Hogan, Stevie Ray and Bret “The Hitman” Hart represent nWo Hollywood in this match, their nWo Wolfpac opponents are Kevin Nash, Sting and Lex Luger. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, The Warrior and Diamond Dallas Page are responsible for holding the fort for WCW in the match. This is the first three-way War Games match (and only, probably for good reason) also the first War Games that allowed pinfalls, and it is possible for the match to end before everyone enters the match. Tony Schiovane, Mike Tenay and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan are on commentary for this match. Michael Buffer is in the ring to remind us of the participants and the rules, DDP and Bret Hart have been randomly selected to start the match and a random draw determines the entry numbers. The man that gets the pinfall faces Goldberg for the WCW Championship at Halloween Havoc.
TEAM NWO 2000 VS. TEAM NWO WOLFPAC VS. TEAM WCW (WAR GAMES)
WCW Fall Brawl (13th September 1998)
Diamond Dallas Page and Bret Hart start for teams WCW and nWo 2000 respectively. DDP enters first, and that's the reaction I remember him getting. 6 of the 9 men hold 22 World Championship reigns between them, as Professor Tenay tells us. Bobby Heenan says there's really no friends in this match due to the rules as Bret Hart finally makes his way to the ring. Bret's currently the WCW United States Champion. The bell rings and we see the door being locked for half an hour or so...
Page backs Bret into a corner from a collar-elbow tie up but Bret quickly able to swap positions. Hart breaks with a forearm and right hands in the corner to Page. Hart brings Page out by his arm, and tugs on it, hammering it with strikes. Page counters the arm wrench into one of his own and drives his shoulder into Bret. Page decides to use the momentum to get a side headlock on the third try, and Bret sends him off the ropes. Page knocks Bret down with a shoulder tackle getting a nearfall. Hart slaps Page, so Page slaps him back before coming after him with blow after blow. Bret reverses an irish whip, but Page blocks a hip toss. Hart blocks the counter, but can't block a belly to belly suplex, giving Page another nearfall. The Hitman avoids a Diamond Cutter and drops Page on the top turnbuckle. He hits a DDT as we get to the three-minute mark. Bret hits a leg drop as Heenan mentions no one's outside the cage thanks to the random drawing tonight as Hart works on DDP in the corner. He chokes Page, then lets him drop to the mat before doing the same with his boot.
Bobby Heenan mentions managers being great for these matches, letting their clients know how much time is left since they're too focused on the match to be listening out for the announcements. DDP fights back from the corner but gets sent across the ring. Bret Hart drops him with a backbreaker and headbutts Page's midsection. Page blocks a suplex on his feet dropping Bret with a falling armbar for a nearfall. DDP knees at Bret in the corner, but Bret rakes his eyes. Bret hits a Russian leg sweep as we creep inside the final minute of these two being alone. Bret gets a nearfall, and a small package gets him another. The commentators and director try to throw our attention to the countdown on the giant screen for the last 30 seconds as Bret catches DDP's leg but is knocked down with a clothesline. They're both down as Stevie Ray is the next man to enter. Stevie Ray works over DDP by the ropes as now the time duration between entrants drops to two minutes. Halfway through those minutes both nWo 2000 members sends DDP across the ring, but he knocks them both down with a jumping clothesline.
Stevie Ray is the first to stir and decides to choke DDP on the mat. Heenan says that would have been an ample opportunity to cover, Schiovane thinks that could be on orders from Hollywood Hogan. Stevie Ray hits an inverted atomic drop and knocks DDP down with a clothesline. Stevie Ray meets entrant number 4, Sting in the first ring before he has a chance to get his trenchcoat off. Sting starts fighting back so Ray retreats back to the other ring. STING CLEARS THE ROPES! A flying clothesline from ring to ring knocks Stevie Ray down. We reach the halfway point of this section as DDP and Hart collapse in the corner, meanwhile, Sting brings Stevie Ray to his feet on the apron, between the ropes and the cage. Sting tams his head against the steel as DDP and Hart both go down from each others' clotheslines. Sting hits a Stinger Splash to Stevie Ray as Bret has control of Page, we get to 30 seconds left as Tony Schiovane asks if it's easier to go for a pin or submission during the match. The legend that is Bobby Heenan says option C's the easiest. Sit at home and watch it. [Editting note: During the writing of this review Bobby “The Brain” Heenan passed away. I would like to take this chance to offer my condolences to his friends and family. No one could call 'em like the Weasel.]
NWO 2000 begin to take over in the final ten seconds. Bret drops DDP with a piledriver as Stevie Ray is able to avoid a third Stinger Splash. Possibly not for long though as “Rowdy” Roddy Piper has entered the building! Hot Rod dishes out right hands for everyone he sees. Even Page gets one due to the unique rules of the match. He claps Stevie Ray's ears and bites at his forehead, but it might as well be a headlock. Sting takes Stevie Ray between the rings and tries to force him between them as Piper knocks Page and Hart's heads together. Sting still has Stevie Ray between the rings as “Team” WCW backs into each other and exchange rights momentarily. They brawl between the rings before Lex Luger enters the match. Due to their history, Heenan's there with tips for Luger, telling him to stroll to the ring, give them more time in there together. Bret gives Luger a wave and Luger goes straight for Stevie Ray, knocking him down with a clothesline. Luger moves between rings focusing his attention to Piper now and knocks Hart down with a right hand. Tenay mentions that Luger saved Hart on Thunder last Thursday as Luger and Ray brawl.
Roddy Piper grabs a sleeper hold on Luger in the middle of the ring so Luger straddles him on the top rope as we're less than a minute to the next entrant. Piper lands on the touching ring aprons pretty safely and he and Stevie Ray give the others room, switching rings. I can hear the thuds of everyone taking moves but really you can't see or say a lot before they move on. Piper isolates Stevie Ray with another sleeper and Stevie Ray drops to his knees. He's saved by the entrance of Kevin Nash! Nash goes straight for Piper with knees to the midsection in the corner and he sets up Stevie Ray for the Jackknife, he has 2 minutes fresh to win this match. But there's Hogan! Hogan enters the match early and hits Nash over the back of the head with a foreign object. He clocks Piper with it too before taking Stevie Ray over to the other ring with him. Luger has Bret Hart up for the Torture Rack but Hogan goes for Sting first. Bret uses the cage to land on his feet safely. NWO 2000 stands tall until Stevie Ray chop blocks Hart.
It's now apparent Stevie Ray was only in the match as Hogan's insurance policy. He helps Hogan position Nash for a leg drop as the time expires. The countdown to Warrior's entrance begins as the fans chant “Hogan sucks” Hollywood Hogan hits another high leg drop on Nash and goes for the cover, but the ring's filled with smoke! Warrior enters through the trap door that injured Davey Boy Smith earlier tonight but gets jumped from behind by Hogan! Well, that was clearly worth it then... There's another blast of smoke and when it clears Hogan's stood with Warrior's coat, but Warrior's vanished. Warrior runs down to the ring from the entranceway still 8 seconds early. At least when Hogan did it, it was only once. Warrior comes in hot with right hands for Hogan and Stevie Ray, Stevie Ray is knocked into the corner and Hogan gets sent into one of the support beams for the cage. Stevie Ray attacks Warrior from behind, so Hogan uses the opportunity to crawl out of the cage with the help of The Disciple.
Stevie Ray and Warrior are still going at it as The Disciple helps lock the door and knocks out a referee for Hogan. Mike Tenay adds doubt to that as it could have been “knockout” or “lockout” but Hogan avoids Warrior, Warrior stares Hogan out around the cage but can't get to him. Not until he hangs from the roof and kicks a panel like a crazed ape anyway. Warrior drops to the floor and goes after Hogan and The Disciple on the entranceway before security breaks them up and Hogan flees the scene. Stevie Ray, Bret Hart and DDP are on their feet in the ring as we get back to the action. Stevie Ray swings the Slapjack at DDP but they fuck it up, Bret goes down unconvincingly and DDP hits the Diamond Cutter to end the match.
WINNER: DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE (#1 CONTENDER WCW CHAMPIONSHIP)
What the actual fuck was that finish? Everything from Hogan sneaking in until the final bell was just complete bullshit. The whole “match can end at any time” rule barely applied and the only real story I could see from the match was Stevie Ray being Hogan's bitch. No way in hell should this match have the War Games moniker to it. At least the later-era MVP of WCW got the win here, but it's a small victory. – WORKRATE: 2/5 PERSONAL ENJOYMENT 0.5/5 OVERALL 2.5/10
I hope that answers the question as to why I've not used the vast array of War Games matches in previous years for reviews. They're incredibly difficult to keep track of to write and it takes a long time. Terrible for projects like this. I shall be going through Fall Brawl 1999 & 2000 within the next day or so, to complete the set and ECW only has Anarchy Rulz 1999 to contest with. Leaving the rest of the month to the era WWE dominated.
I hope that answers the question as to why I've not used the vast array of War Games matches in previous years for reviews. They're incredibly difficult to keep track of to write and it takes a long time. Terrible for projects like this. I shall be going through Fall Brawl 1999 & 2000 within the next day or so, to complete the set and ECW only has Anarchy Rulz 1999 to contest with. Leaving the rest of the month to the era WWE dominated.
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