Since this is the final World War 3 PPV, it's worth noting that the match itself wound up pretty much being the nWo's signature match type, since literally every single one was won by an nWo member. Sure, 1995 event predated the foundation of the nWo, but winner Randy Savage would go on to be one of the most notable members of the group, while 1996, 1997, & 1998 were all won people who were active nWo members at that time (Giant, Scott Hall, & Kevin Nash).
Great match type that WWE fans cannot stand because it's bigger and better than their Royal Rumble. The only problem with it back then was not having 16x9 HD widescreen to film it with, as the three rings are too much to cram into a 4x3 SD shot. Would have been a nightmare to film.
The dragging out of the Scott Steiner/Rick Steiner and Kevin Nash/Scott Hall feuds was inescusable. The fans really wanted to see the matches and WCW kept jerking them around. There's no reason to screw over paying customers with this nonsense.
Also, the idea that Scott Steiner was afraid of Rick and needed Buff to help him didn't fit with Scott's character. Scott should've insisted that he take on Rick by himself, and if the nWo tried to help, Scott should've turned on them too. They could've made Scott into someone who was so out of control and dangerous that he could've been the guy to eventually explode on Goldberg and take the belt from him.
@@G360LIVE Yeah, Scott Steiner wasn't exactly the best choice to play the cowardly heel. Then again, they could've made it work if Rick Steiner got to beat him up in a wrestling match every once in a while. But it was so predictable that he was going to get screwed over by the NWO every time. I remember dreading the Scott/Buff Bagwell/Rick Steiner segments back in those days because it was so predictable and lame.
@@G360LIVE That's a pretty good idea for a storyline. What time line do you think would have worked best for having the Rick vs. Scott match and Scott turning on the nWo when they interfered, and when would you have had a Scott Steiner vs. Goldberg title match?
@@tempestfennac9687 I would have had the Steiners have their 1 on 1 match at Fall Brawl, as was once intended, but remove the Buff Bagwell angle from it entirely. Or even earlier, because without the Buff angle, you don't have to wait for him to be 100%. The angle started in like February, should have been done by BatB. Honestly, instead of bringing in the Warrior for Fall Brawl and Halloween Havoc, let the War Games match at Fall Brawl show some dissent in the NWO, and have that follow a Steiner match where Scott refuses to fight after the NWO shows up mid-match, because WCW screwed the fans over with the match they actually had anyways, may as well let it build a story. Then Scott can win World War 3, because we all know Nash didn't need it to get a title shot, anyways, he was still very over. If Scott is booked strong enough in the World War 3 match, he'll be believable as a threat to Goldberg in time for Starcade.
Oh please. If misinformation from the WWE Network causes you to experience chills then perhaps you should stop watching that nonsense and go back and watch WCW instead so you can be cured of this ailment. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the Starrcade main event or how it went down. Goldberg had to lose eventually and the way they did it protected his character.
@@Will_Parker undoubtedly! 😅 on a mission to set the record straight re WCW while watching this RTW series! McMahon's nonsense has gone on faaar too long for my liking lol
@@namikstudios The match sucked. Nash had no akills, and was dominated by Goldberg. I agree that it did allow Goldberg to keep the kayfabe of invincibility after losing. It's not so much that Goldberg lost, or that a no talent Nash became champion. It's that WCW stopped evolving and went back to being about Hogan.
A lot of people say that 1999 is when WCW started going down hill but man going through the entire 1998 year feels like it started falling off around the summer time. They really dropped the ball with the Wolfpack and Black and White NWO.
@Dr-Alexander-The-Great yeah I heard that. It just crazy how the numbers were still doing ok but man the product just wasn't that great imo. Like the first part of 98 was still pretty solid but as time went on, the direction for storylines got worse.
I was at this show live. I can hardly remember anything about it. Such a huge step down from WW3 that came from the same building in 1997 as well. Thank goodness for Reliving The War to make this digestible.
Wcw had zero planned for after sting vs Hogan at starcade and you can really tell by this stage Out siders vs nwo could have been huge but instead we got Hollywood Stevie ray vs wolfpac k-dog
Watching these last few months of Nitros, it is extremely infuriating seeing WCW fail to cement their next generation of main event stars. In the past year they were lucky enough to have Konnan, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Buff Bagwell, Perry Saturn, Wrath, Rick Steiner, Scott Steiner, and Booker T through their own talent and hard work, get over with the fans. And through terrible stop and start booking they all lost most or all of their heat. I would argue that WCW had a better crop of potential main eventers in early 1998 than WWF, and they absolutely fumbled the bag.
@@chrisbelos2834 You mean the same Goldberg WCW has had wrestle like once a month and despite being champion doesn't even put in the main event of their PPVs?
Lucky for Konnan that he wasn't, probably would've ended up making out with a mop like Saturn or being terribly underappreciated and misused like Malenko. Even Eddie had to wait until long after WCW was sold to get a decent push.
I honestly don't know why he wasn't a bigger star. Guy had the size, the look, the moves, and left you wanting more. However, I can't recall any promos, he wasn't given any time on the mic, so if he was weak on the mic, he had no chances to develop. Feel like both companies dropped the ball with him.
I used to rent this from blockbuster all the time because I really missed wcw and never got to see this period as it happened. And this was 2003. So it was pretty nostalgic
It's surprising, looking back, that there was so little build to the hottest feud of 98. The nWo civil war should have been wild and instead it was "meh".
To be fair though, the entire nWo thing kind fizzled pretty quickly since half the locker room joined it, and they dragged ass with it for so long. Then the wolf pack splits off, and then they drag ass a bit more with that rivalry. Then you get LWO, which admittedly was kinda funny, but having essentially your whole lightweight roster under one banner meant it was gonna be pretty lame. They really just had no idea what to do with any of the stables anymore.
@@Maggot39967 the hottest angle of 1998 was unquestionably Goldberg's streak. Nothing WWF had even came close to it. Bill was as over with the fans like nobody ever has been before or since, perhaps with the exception of Hogan in the 80s.
Yeah. Sad to think that In a month and a half or 2 we'll get to relive the moment WCW died in the ratings war (and the ensuing chaos on TV that only further cemented WWf's dominance). I wasn't even alive back then and it still saddens me to think we're that close. Edit: I forgor about the break that'll happen on the third of august.
@@drdeans_the2ndYeah but it’ll be interesting to see what we all missed in WCW because I had already basically given up watching WCW by now but after the finger poke I barely ever switched the channel so maybe I missed something decent maybe.
Might have to get myself a red and black nWo shirt. Already have the black and white. Won't be buying it from WWE though, that's for sure. The nWo logo is the nWo logo and you don't need to pay Vinnie Mac for it. Counterfeit is the way to go.
You’ve no idea how much I’ve been looking forward to this specific video. I got this on VHS for Christmas in 99 with zero context. I didn’t watch wrestling at all prior to it. Seeing the back stories explained on your channel has given me a Galaxy brained series of revelations.
I was at this show when I was 9 years old in Auburn Hills, Michigan. I was so excited to see the three rings and remember Brett Hart and DDP. Everything else was a let down and forgettable.
Neither can I, because WCW even in 2000 is better than anything WWE has produced in their entire history. Seriously. Give me Russo garbage over McMahon garbage any day.
The Scott and Goldberg confrontation is always great to see. Also I'm pretty sure scott said "F U MF" which is funny and the spear to scott was amazing.
The on-the-fly booking was really starting to be an issue for WCW. Little to no build up for a PPV is a result of no clear storyline direction or behind the scenes interference from talent on what to do.
Nope, that started happening years ago when AOL TimeWarner started botching the merger with Turner. Had nothing to do with anything that happened inside WCW itself.
Aw you ALWAYS deliver at the right times man! Was completely lost on what to watch and then lo and behold... I've only gone and forgotten it's PPV time 🙌🏼
Didnt watch in the 90s. Its wild how the Stiener bros were a tag team for 15 plus years and they didnt end up having a blow up match with a proper finish. Wild
It was done purely for ratings should have been a PPV match with a proper build up. Clear as day they didn’t know what too do with Goldberg once he had the gold.
@@danielainger They just got Brett from WWF. They should’ve feuded him with Goldberg. This would have helped Goldberg get more into acceptable matches that could be more than just super squashes. And it would’ve had Brett involved in their title picture, which I bet, would’ve made him way more determined to deliver and show why he was the best.
@@danielainger I mean how much can you do with him. He had no mic skills, had minimal ring skills & couldn’t do long matches. That’s why its not a surprise they had nothing for him. The belt was put on him prematurely.
Ive never felt anything when this is spoken about in the present tense, but when you said maybe starcade will turn it around, my heart sank like a giant flashback.
@@namikstudios, mediocre, not good. It had some cruiserweight stuff, sime jobber matches, DDP taking on The Giant was good, Flair vs Bishof 😂, and the main event of 2 supposed titans but rookie Goldberg has more skills than Nash so it doesn't equal anything special.
This was the first wrestling PPV I ever saw live and, well, I really liked it. A friend had introduced me to wrestling only a couple weeks before, so without the baggage of expectations or knowing any of the storylines, the spectacle of it was just fun. I didn't know any of the wrestlers all that well, and the most vivid memory from the event is hearing my friend's dad exclaim "Who the f*** is that?!" when Ciclope came out for the 60-man event. Pretty sure I was already starting to develop favorite wrestlers in Jericho and Rey Mysterio, but it was so early on I can't even totally remember.
Me and my cousin who lived lives in Kentucky would talke about wow and hall and Nash when we had our thanksgiving family reunion. Miss having that to talk about this…. Until we both discovered your channel
Man hard to believe how far this series has come. Like many i stopped watching after finger poke of doom so everything after will be new to me. That is how the episodes go. I know the ruso stuff.
If you stopped watching after the poke then you missed out on so many great moments. The angle involving Flair, Piper, and "Little Naitch" Charles Robinson that's coming up in 1999 is one of the best ever.
I can't wait to watch relieving the war for 1999 to 2001 WCW With Gang wars in wcw, 6 wcw defections coming to the WWF from February 1999 to Late January 2000 (if you know what i'm talking about), Rick Steiner turning Heel, vince russo lands in wcw, I'm looking forward to watching future reliving the war episode.
Being a WCW fan in this period, you could really feel the air seeping out of the company from pretty much mid 1998 onwards. By mid 1999 I'd switched off completely.
I stuck around with WCW to the bitter end due to Scott Steiner. His rise to the main event and world title run imo were one of the few things WCW did right during its death throes.
@@charlesiofaustria7361yup, same. I enjoyed a lot of stuff in the last 5 months or so of WCW, actually. I was pretty burned out on the WWF after WrestleMania 2000. Didn't watch much wrestling over the summer and when I tuned in once school started it was mostly WCW 🤷🏻♂️
Same here, I was a huge WCW fan but I tuned out after Spring Stampede 99. The creative went into a blender where they just had random turns and complete amnesia of what we had just seen (nWo and Bischoff are suddenly faces, DDP becomes a heel for no reason, Flair goes from face president to crazy heel and his son magically goes from hating him to being his biggest ally all while the announcers are still talking like nothing has changed, etc.). You could tell at this point no one was in charge and people were just doing whatever they wanted with zero knowledge of anything else.
@@fumpr84 From what I understood the fans wanted Sting as the champion at Spring Stampede and didn't take well to it going to DDP so some of them were booing him but that still was a silly reason for them to turn DDP into a heel after all of his hard work the past few years. A lot of things didn't make sense that year!
I think its comeing soon. My favorite tag team in WCW; Ray and Kidman. Oh yeah! Bu this time in wrestling i was in full swing with WWF. I would only watch a few people in WCW, the Kidman and Ray J tag team was one of them.
Wrath was one of my fave wrestlers, even as Adam Bomb and as a tag team member in Kronik. Its just a shame that Bryan Clark retired in 2003. He had the jam.
Thank you so much for Reliving the War! It's like I'm Reliving my childhood watching all your videos. You found a gold mine with this idea! After we reach the end of this journey, I'm definitely gonna start all over n watch em again lol
I didn't watch much WCW at the time. I just watched WWF at the time, 10 o clock on a Friday night in the UK. By watching this series, you can really see that the cracks are starting to appear in WCW. It looks like Nitro has been woeful since the summer of 98.
Nitro was awesome right up until the very last episode. From start to finish it was the best wrestling has ever been. Even 2000 and 2001, while not as good as the previous years, were still lightyears ahead of anything the WWF/E has ever come up with.
World War 3 i believe was WCW's answer to the WWF's Royal Rumble. Plus you know Nash had his hands all over that battle royal based on how strong he looked in that match with him throwing out nearly all the wrestlers in his ring.
@@BusinessOfFear The only real problem with WW3 was how hard it was to present on old SD TV. There was just too much going on to cram into 4:3 SD. Would be sooo much easier to watch in 16:9 HD. It desperately needed widescreen.
It would be better if done today simply because they could film it in HD 16x9 widescreen which wasn't available to WCW back in the 90s. So much easier to fit the three rings in one shot with widescreen. Would have been a nightmare to film in SD 4x3.
I always wondered if there was maybe a language issue between a lot of the luchadore cruiserweights and WCW management/agents putting together matches. Which was why a bare handful (Eddie, Rey, Konnan, and Juvi) seemed to get anywhere and the rest were thrown at each other interchangeably. The top tier of wrestlers overcome that obviously, or figure out a way around it (or default to English for calling moves, from the few interviews I've seen)
Bischoff has said (in interviews years later) that he thought masked wrestlers couldn’t connect with his audience. And that’s why he had Juvi unmask and demanded that Rey unmask as well (or leave the company). Bischoff has since admitted that he was wrong as evidenced by how popular masked-Mysterio was (and still is) in the WWE, but that was his opinion on the Luchadore wrestlers at the time. I always thought it was weird that Bischoff felt that way because the very first wrestler to appear in a WCW Monday Nitro ring was Jushin Thunder Liger. And not only is Liger masked, but basically every inch of his body (except his hands) is covered up, lol. But, yeah, that’s what Bischoff thought about masked wrestlers. Russo isn’t around WCW right now (in the WCW-side of the ‘Reliving the War’ series), but Russo was (still is?) of the opinion that foreign language-speaking wrestlers, masked wrestlers, and especially foreign language-speaking masked wrestlers cannot possibly get over or connect with an American audience. Which was also completely wrong, but that’s what he thought at the time (and maybe still thinks that way, I have no idea). And I’m sure Bischoff and Russo aren’t the only two in the 90s and early 2000s who thought this way. But yeah, that’s why it was so difficult for the Luchadores to get over in WCW. The four names you mentioned (Eddie, Rey, Konnan and Juvi): Eddie, Rey and Konnan are all Americans and native English speakers. Juvi didn’t speak English well he first arrived in WCW (although his English was maybe okay by 1998, I’m not sure), but was made to unmask. And even American, native English-speaking Rey couldn’t avoid being forced to unmasked as well. Just think of how many replica Mysterio masks (and other Luchadores’ masks) Bischoff could have sold if he just gave the masked wrestlers an honest chance at connecting with the audience on their own terms.
WCW made Eddie, Rey, Juvi, Konnan, etc into household names in the US. Konnan was already a big star in Mexico and worked closely with Bischoff to bring many of the other luchas to WCW.
May be a hot take. But Starrcade 1998 main event should’ve been Goldberg defending against Bam Bam. Goldberg wins and the streak goes on. Then in April you can still have DDP win it from Goldberg in a Halloween Havoc rematch and give a babyface ddp his redemption story and first title win
Nash was so much more over than Bam Bam who had only just joined WCW. Made total sense for Nash to be the one to break the streak, which had to be broken sooner or later.
I stopped watching WCW a bit before this point as Stone Cold had me glued to WWF so it's great to see all this stuff for the first time. Thanks for everything!
It's interesting seeing the downfall of WCW again. There's a lot of things that I'm remembering, but there's a lot of things that I'm also seeing and being like I don't remember that. So it's a nice trip down memory lane. WCW had all the tools in the world. They had the talent, but they didn't utilize it. It was all about egos.
Actually, the downfall of WCW had nothing to do with anything that happened inside WCW itself and rather was entirely due to AOL TimeWarner's disastrous merger with Turner, which started years before 1999 but was starting to really hurt around about this time. Had nothing to do with talent or egos or the fact. WCW was pumping out more stars than WWE at this time but none of that mattered. Had nothing to do with WWE either for that matter. All down to AOL TimeWarner being totally incompetent and destroying the entire Turner empire.
1- almost as many Chinlocks as Survivor Series: King of the ring edition 2- Beautiful World Title.....horrible champions. The belt has no meaning to it. 3- Awaiting for our "Brass Knuckles" Shirt. 4- No mention of "Smokey the cat". Good video and good coverage.
Man they treated goldberg as an afterthought here why not have him wrestle lex luger or a nwo black and white member just shows how little they did with him around this time.
Hilarious. Go and watch Nitro in 1998. Goldberg was the biggest thing that happened in either promotion for the entire year. WCW booked him incredibly well.
@namikstudios I know about that I'm talking about this time Towards starrcade where he didn't even have a match on the two ppvs from fall brawl to ww3 hell he wasn't even the main focus during this time and he was the world champion it was put on Hollywood hogan and his fake presidency
I love watching these as they remind me of how things were back when this was real time and how it actually was far BETTER than people perceive it was today. I look forward to seeing more of these. Thank you. I would love to throw out the idea of a 'Managers: the forgotten WWE performers'. We can NOT forget people like Classy Freddie Blassie, Slick, Miss Elizabeth, Sherri and folks more proactive like Bobby Heenan, Mr Fuji and Harvey Wippleman. back in the pre attitude era, Managers made all the differences instead of making incompetent referees the ONLY partition between a clean and a dirty win.
And with Starrcade coming soon, it means we're closer to the night it all changed, the night we knew WCW was done, because while one man's childhood dream was finally a reality, another got a finger poke of doom.
Another awesome upload from the wrestling channel with the most jam on the planet! From here on WCW goes rapidly downhill and keeps falling. Where as WWF keeps going from strength to strength week to week. I think it’s fair to say the war was all but over by the end of 98 start of 99. It will be interesting to see if WCW wins any more weeks in the weekly head to head battle. Between now and going out of business. As far as the WW3 PPV goes. Fans really wanted to see Hall VS Nash. The main match itself was WCWs answer to Royal Rumble. However, much like WCW by this point, ended up being an overbooked mess.
It would have hurt Jericho... he was TV Champ. He would have lost the belt and then you'd have the problem of Goldberg being a double champ. They had him vacate the US Title when he won the World Title to avoid that situation in the first place.
it wasnt decision making at this point, as much as it was "how do we eventually put the title back on hogan and keep him, nash and hall on top". thats all they could think about.
Most WWE fans would be baffled as they really don't understand what a good wrestling product is. They'd rather see Issac Yankum DDS going up against Mable or Doink, or perhaps have John Cena shoved down their throats for a decade followed by having Roman Reigns shoved down their throats right after him.
Man, WCW really dropped the ball on the Steiner Brothers feud big time. How many times did they tease a real match between them? Bait and switch taken to the extreme. Pretty sure they never had a blow off match 1 on 1 either.
Can you point to something - _anything_ - WCW didn't drop the ball on, going into 1999? Bischoff was in full "look Mum, no hands..." mode. And it ended how that always ends.
@henrygvidonas9573 You're right of course. It's frustrating because they probably had a better overall roster than WWF at the time, just no clue what to do with it.
Another repeating of the "dropped the ball" line with accompanying misinformation inspired by the WWE Network. Just wait until JJ comes back and you can all repeat the "never drew a dime" line too!
"let's see if wcw can turn it around in december" god we're about to really get into THIS era of wcw...it's gonna be a bumpy ride!
Seeing Kidman and Juvi use the multiple rings with their offense was cool and made this one stand out a bit from their others matches
Since this is the final World War 3 PPV, it's worth noting that the match itself wound up pretty much being the nWo's signature match type, since literally every single one was won by an nWo member. Sure, 1995 event predated the foundation of the nWo, but winner Randy Savage would go on to be one of the most notable members of the group, while 1996, 1997, & 1998 were all won people who were active nWo members at that time (Giant, Scott Hall, & Kevin Nash).
And Hogan was runner up in 95 too.
The match type sucked.
Great match type that WWE fans cannot stand because it's bigger and better than their Royal Rumble. The only problem with it back then was not having 16x9 HD widescreen to film it with, as the three rings are too much to cram into a 4x3 SD shot. Would have been a nightmare to film.
The dragging out of the Scott Steiner/Rick Steiner and Kevin Nash/Scott Hall feuds was inescusable. The fans really wanted to see the matches and WCW kept jerking them around. There's no reason to screw over paying customers with this nonsense.
Also, the idea that Scott Steiner was afraid of Rick and needed Buff to help him didn't fit with Scott's character. Scott should've insisted that he take on Rick by himself, and if the nWo tried to help, Scott should've turned on them too. They could've made Scott into someone who was so out of control and dangerous that he could've been the guy to eventually explode on Goldberg and take the belt from him.
@@G360LIVE Yeah, Scott Steiner wasn't exactly the best choice to play the cowardly heel. Then again, they could've made it work if Rick Steiner got to beat him up in a wrestling match every once in a while. But it was so predictable that he was going to get screwed over by the NWO every time. I remember dreading the Scott/Buff Bagwell/Rick Steiner segments back in those days because it was so predictable and lame.
@@G360LIVE That's a pretty good idea for a storyline. What time line do you think would have worked best for having the Rick vs. Scott match and Scott turning on the nWo when they interfered, and when would you have had a Scott Steiner vs. Goldberg title match?
@@tempestfennac9687 I would have had the Steiners have their 1 on 1 match at Fall Brawl, as was once intended, but remove the Buff Bagwell angle from it entirely. Or even earlier, because without the Buff angle, you don't have to wait for him to be 100%. The angle started in like February, should have been done by BatB. Honestly, instead of bringing in the Warrior for Fall Brawl and Halloween Havoc, let the War Games match at Fall Brawl show some dissent in the NWO, and have that follow a Steiner match where Scott refuses to fight after the NWO shows up mid-match, because WCW screwed the fans over with the match they actually had anyways, may as well let it build a story. Then Scott can win World War 3, because we all know Nash didn't need it to get a title shot, anyways, he was still very over. If Scott is booked strong enough in the World War 3 match, he'll be believable as a threat to Goldberg in time for Starcade.
@@press_x_tojason Think you'd have Goldberg win at Starrcade?
Your channel has single handily got me back into wrestling after 20 years. Thank you!
Same here, bro.
This is one of my favorite channels on RUclips. It really revived my Fandom of wrestling during a great time (the best really to me) for wrestling.
Same for me too.
Facts
Absolutely true.
I'm surprised that this PPV didn't cause WW3 because of how crappy it was.
Yooooo!
😂😂😂
Man, it's wild how close we are to WCW putting the final nail in their coffin. Seems like we just started this journey.
Russo WCW coming soon, ya bald headed bastard!
What exactly is the final nail?
Asking for a friend. 😂
We still have one last really good WCW PPV, Spring Stampede 99, after that though it's going to get really rough. @@CurlyFromTheSwirly
@@CurlyFromTheSwirly A finger that dooms us all
@@thatlat5831
Dooms us to bordom
I got a chill down my spine when you said "Nash will face Goldberg at Starcade" lol
Oh please. If misinformation from the WWE Network causes you to experience chills then perhaps you should stop watching that nonsense and go back and watch WCW instead so you can be cured of this ailment. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the Starrcade main event or how it went down. Goldberg had to lose eventually and the way they did it protected his character.
@@namikstudios dude you've got some serious issues lol
@@Will_Parker undoubtedly! 😅 on a mission to set the record straight re WCW while watching this RTW series! McMahon's nonsense has gone on faaar too long for my liking lol
@@namikstudios
The match sucked. Nash had no akills, and was dominated by Goldberg.
I agree that it did allow Goldberg to keep the kayfabe of invincibility after losing.
It's not so much that Goldberg lost, or that a no talent Nash became champion. It's that WCW stopped evolving and went back to being about Hogan.
That spear Scott Steiner took was possibly the greatest bump I've ever seen. Holy sh*t that was clean.
A lot of people say that 1999 is when WCW started going down hill but man going through the entire 1998 year feels like it started falling off around the summer time. They really dropped the ball with the Wolfpack and Black and White NWO.
Totally agree
Even Bishoff has said that.
1998 was the last yr WCW was competitive
@Dr-Alexander-The-Great yeah I heard that. It just crazy how the numbers were still doing ok but man the product just wasn't that great imo. Like the first part of 98 was still pretty solid but as time went on, the direction for storylines got worse.
The First half of 1998 was really great for WCW. But since the build of BATB it is a disaster
@@Dr-Alexander-The-Greatbecause of what the numbers say but if you’re watching this objectively you can see 98 was a “wtf” year for them
As a wcw fan watching reliving the war from 99 onwards is gonna be so painful
I'm honestly worried. It's a blind spot for me, I stopped watching around the finger poke as a kid. I don't even remember Bam Bam Bigelow showing up.
We’re inching closer to 1999 where both companies would have some of their strangest storylines ever
I wish this also covered ecw, its also a turning point for them, as they get a tv deal
Yeah but the WWF ones were cool. Especially the Val Venus peepee chopping storyline
It's really the downfall of WCW
@UnforgivenRonin I wonder if he will do a SmackDown vs Thunder series
& 99 still wwf took off and never looked back wcw fell off and ECW man one of the strongest years
I was at this show live. I can hardly remember anything about it. Such a huge step down from WW3 that came from the same building in 1997 as well. Thank goodness for Reliving The War to make this digestible.
Wcw had zero planned for after sting vs Hogan at starcade and you can really tell by this stage
Out siders vs nwo could have been huge but instead we got Hollywood Stevie ray vs wolfpac k-dog
It’s been a stressful week, I’m glad we have wrestling bios to chill out for a bit
Watching these last few months of Nitros, it is extremely infuriating seeing WCW fail to cement their next generation of main event stars. In the past year they were lucky enough to have Konnan, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Buff Bagwell, Perry Saturn, Wrath, Rick Steiner, Scott Steiner, and Booker T through their own talent and hard work, get over with the fans. And through terrible stop and start booking they all lost most or all of their heat. I would argue that WCW had a better crop of potential main eventers in early 1998 than WWF, and they absolutely fumbled the bag.
The steiners were hardly the "next" generation but I understand your sentiment and agree with you to that extent
you just ignore 1998 Goldberg, the most over wrestler not name stone cold. but sure
@@chrisbelos2834 I didn't ignore him. Just highlighting the other 8-10 guys who could have been elevated with him.
@@chrisbelos2834 You mean the same Goldberg WCW has had wrestle like once a month and despite being champion doesn't even put in the main event of their PPVs?
@@denniswilliams6519 sure bud, the 173-0 Goldberg streak isn't real. bozo
Konnan's K-Dog nickname got me thinking back to how he could have been part of The Radicalz.
Lucky for Konnan that he wasn't, probably would've ended up making out with a mop like Saturn or being terribly underappreciated and misused like Malenko. Even Eddie had to wait until long after WCW was sold to get a decent push.
After Spring Stampede 99 it’s going to be tough ppv viewing
I do remember that being one of their last good PPVs
Slamborre 99 was funny as hell, but yeah it get worst after that.
just wait when the insufferable McMahon take over WWF wrestling. a shitshow on it's own. the attitude era is about to eat it's pants.
10:45 It's cause the Steiners hated the idea of wrestling eachother and never wanted this feud. So of course WCW kept it going for months on end.
Wrath’s MELTDOWN was a sweet finisher.
I honestly don't know why he wasn't a bigger star. Guy had the size, the look, the moves, and left you wanting more. However, I can't recall any promos, he wasn't given any time on the mic, so if he was weak on the mic, he had no chances to develop. Feel like both companies dropped the ball with him.
Yep including in the WWF. He seemed to check ALL of the Vince boxes.
Is it a same finisher of Road Dogg ?
@@kidwaryodproductionI think so
@@kidwaryodproduction Road Doggs was different. It was the PumpHandel Slam .
I used to rent this from blockbuster all the time because I really missed wcw and never got to see this period as it happened. And this was 2003. So it was pretty nostalgic
It's surprising, looking back, that there was so little build to the hottest feud of 98. The nWo civil war should have been wild and instead it was "meh".
To be fair though, the entire nWo thing kind fizzled pretty quickly since half the locker room joined it, and they dragged ass with it for so long. Then the wolf pack splits off, and then they drag ass a bit more with that rivalry. Then you get LWO, which admittedly was kinda funny, but having essentially your whole lightweight roster under one banner meant it was gonna be pretty lame. They really just had no idea what to do with any of the stables anymore.
@@Paranitis Getting side tracked with Warrior, Savage and Sting injuries and Hall well being Hall also didn't help.
Can you really call this the hottest fued when Austin and the rock are feuding for the first time this year in the WWF?
There was a huge amount of build to it, rewatch the entire year of Nitro and you will see.
@@Maggot39967 the hottest angle of 1998 was unquestionably Goldberg's streak. Nothing WWF had even came close to it. Bill was as over with the fans like nobody ever has been before or since, perhaps with the exception of Hogan in the 80s.
One step closer to the finger point of doom 😢
Extremely close ! Also close to Vince winning the rumble & the road to Austin vs rock WM. I’m excited for that
*poke
And Formation of nWo Elite
Yeah. Sad to think that In a month and a half or 2 we'll get to relive the moment WCW died in the ratings war (and the ensuing chaos on TV that only further cemented WWf's dominance). I wasn't even alive back then and it still saddens me to think we're that close.
Edit: I forgor about the break that'll happen on the third of august.
@@drdeans_the2ndYeah but it’ll be interesting to see what we all missed in WCW because I had already basically given up watching WCW by now but after the finger poke I barely ever switched the channel so maybe I missed something decent maybe.
i get more excited when these ppvs drop than when some actual ppvs drop today
Why would you get excited about modern ppvs, is there any rock, Austin or Goldberg
I'm literally wearing my nWo wolfpac shirt today. Let's see what happens, I love it, Sunday just got better
I think the next ppv from Wwf came from my home town
Might have to get myself a red and black nWo shirt. Already have the black and white. Won't be buying it from WWE though, that's for sure. The nWo logo is the nWo logo and you don't need to pay Vinnie Mac for it. Counterfeit is the way to go.
You’ve no idea how much I’ve been looking forward to this specific video. I got this on VHS for Christmas in 99 with zero context. I didn’t watch wrestling at all prior to it. Seeing the back stories explained on your channel has given me a Galaxy brained series of revelations.
Same! I was 11 years old and loved it. Now that I know better there are much better PPVs of this era, but this one will always be special to me
I was at this show when I was 9 years old in Auburn Hills, Michigan. I was so excited to see the three rings and remember Brett Hart and DDP. Everything else was a let down and forgettable.
Much agreed Bios! I put this in your "surprise list" on RLW. But Bret so far in WCW has been a lot of fun since he turned heel.
This series has made me realize that Bret Hart's WCW run was a lot better than I thought and Bret really took lemons and made lemonade.
I can’t wait for 2000 WCW 😂
Nitro isn't getting a single point in 2000, book it 😂
It's better than some recent WWE years if you ask me... I was really rooting for WCW at the time so it was sad but interesting at the time
Neither can I, because WCW even in 2000 is better than anything WWE has produced in their entire history. Seriously. Give me Russo garbage over McMahon garbage any day.
The Scott and Goldberg confrontation is always great to see. Also I'm pretty sure scott said "F U MF" which is funny and the spear to scott was amazing.
The on-the-fly booking was really starting to be an issue for WCW. Little to no build up for a PPV is a result of no clear storyline direction or behind the scenes interference from talent on what to do.
I swear I never noticed chinlocks before you pointed them out.. now I cannot unsee them.
Favorite wrestling channel for sure!! *This is NOT Steve Blackman's burner account for sure!*
The beginning of the end of WCW right around the corner 😢
Nope, that started happening years ago when AOL TimeWarner started botching the merger with Turner. Had nothing to do with anything that happened inside WCW itself.
@@namikstudiosnope dumbest booking and retarded creative decisions leads to the downfall
Aw you ALWAYS deliver at the right times man! Was completely lost on what to watch and then lo and behold... I've only gone and forgotten it's PPV time 🙌🏼
You’ll still be lost in 26 mins thou
So weird seeing the tombstone not finish a match 😂💯 bet undertaker wasn’t to happy seeing that
😂😂😂
WE LOVE YOU! Get some good rest, you earned it!
I went with friends to see this live. Woof. I hardly remember any of it. Watching what went down (and what didn't), I can see why.
Kevin Nash after winning WW3 Battle Royale saying to the Camera
"Guess I'm Next"
Didnt watch in the 90s. Its wild how the Stiener bros were a tag team for 15 plus years and they didnt end up having a blow up match with a proper finish. Wild
They gave Goldberg the title on Nitro and he was red hot and then they did squat with him
It was done purely for ratings should have been a PPV match with a proper build up. Clear as day they didn’t know what too do with Goldberg once he had the gold.
@@danielainger
They just got Brett from WWF. They should’ve feuded him with Goldberg.
This would have helped Goldberg get more into acceptable matches that could be more than just super squashes.
And it would’ve had Brett involved in their title picture, which I bet, would’ve made him way more determined to deliver and show why he was the best.
@@danielainger I mean how much can you do with him. He had no mic skills, had minimal ring skills & couldn’t do long matches. That’s why its not a surprise they had nothing for him. The belt was put on him prematurely.
Said nobody who watched WCW in 1998.
Bret does indeed feud with Goldberg later in 1999 when he returns from having a long break after Owen's death @@randycruel
RIP WCW
Gone but never forgotten
Amen
Ive never felt anything when this is spoken about in the present tense, but when you said maybe starcade will turn it around, my heart sank like a giant flashback.
Starrcade was good. Don't let misinformation from the WWE convince you otherwise.
@@namikstudios,
mediocre, not good.
It had some cruiserweight stuff, sime jobber matches, DDP taking on The Giant was good, Flair vs Bishof 😂, and the main event of 2 supposed titans but rookie Goldberg has more skills than Nash so it doesn't equal anything special.
This was the first wrestling PPV I ever saw live and, well, I really liked it. A friend had introduced me to wrestling only a couple weeks before, so without the baggage of expectations or knowing any of the storylines, the spectacle of it was just fun. I didn't know any of the wrestlers all that well, and the most vivid memory from the event is hearing my friend's dad exclaim "Who the f*** is that?!" when Ciclope came out for the 60-man event. Pretty sure I was already starting to develop favorite wrestlers in Jericho and Rey Mysterio, but it was so early on I can't even totally remember.
Me and my cousin who lived lives in Kentucky would talke about wow and hall and Nash when we had our thanksgiving family reunion. Miss having that to talk about this…. Until we both discovered your channel
I loved when wcw started running the blood runs cold again spot and the commentary team were totally burying Glacier
Thanks for all you do WB!
Man hard to believe how far this series has come. Like many i stopped watching after finger poke of doom so everything after will be new to me. That is how the episodes go. I know the ruso stuff.
If you stopped watching after the poke then you missed out on so many great moments. The angle involving Flair, Piper, and "Little Naitch" Charles Robinson that's coming up in 1999 is one of the best ever.
I can't wait to watch relieving the war for 1999 to 2001 WCW
With Gang wars in wcw, 6 wcw defections coming to the WWF from February 1999 to Late January 2000 (if you know what i'm talking about), Rick Steiner turning Heel, vince russo lands in wcw, I'm looking forward to watching future reliving the war episode.
Being a WCW fan in this period, you could really feel the air seeping out of the company from pretty much mid 1998 onwards. By mid 1999 I'd switched off completely.
Yeah, I stopped watching completely after Road Wild 99. And it only got worse from there! 😰
I stuck around with WCW to the bitter end due to Scott Steiner. His rise to the main event and world title run imo were one of the few things WCW did right during its death throes.
@@charlesiofaustria7361yup, same. I enjoyed a lot of stuff in the last 5 months or so of WCW, actually. I was pretty burned out on the WWF after WrestleMania 2000. Didn't watch much wrestling over the summer and when I tuned in once school started it was mostly WCW 🤷🏻♂️
Same here, I was a huge WCW fan but I tuned out after Spring Stampede 99. The creative went into a blender where they just had random turns and complete amnesia of what we had just seen (nWo and Bischoff are suddenly faces, DDP becomes a heel for no reason, Flair goes from face president to crazy heel and his son magically goes from hating him to being his biggest ally all while the announcers are still talking like nothing has changed, etc.). You could tell at this point no one was in charge and people were just doing whatever they wanted with zero knowledge of anything else.
@@fumpr84 From what I understood the fans wanted Sting as the champion at Spring Stampede and didn't take well to it going to DDP so some of them were booing him but that still was a silly reason for them to turn DDP into a heel after all of his hard work the past few years. A lot of things didn't make sense that year!
I remember watching back in the day, and thinking about how crazy violent brett was back then too.
I think its comeing soon. My favorite tag team in WCW; Ray and Kidman. Oh yeah! Bu this time in wrestling i was in full swing with WWF. I would only watch a few people in WCW, the Kidman and Ray J tag team was one of them.
When this channel posts a new video, I get so excited. . im once again back into wrestling
Not expecting much here but bios commentary makes things much better
Wrath was one of my fave wrestlers, even as Adam Bomb and as a tag team member in Kronik. Its just a shame that Bryan Clark retired in 2003. He had the jam.
Kronik was jobbed out and terribly misused by WWE.
We are now so close to January 4, 1999... The Fingerpoke of Doom episode.
Thank you so much for Reliving the War! It's like I'm Reliving my childhood watching all your videos. You found a gold mine with this idea! After we reach the end of this journey, I'm definitely gonna start all over n watch em again lol
Dropped this one late and to say it was a pleasant surprise is an understatement. This truly is horseman business
The palace of Auburn Hills
So weird that the LWO were portrayed as heels. They were essentially a labor union.
I didn't watch much WCW at the time. I just watched WWF at the time, 10 o clock on a Friday night in the UK. By watching this series, you can really see that the cracks are starting to appear in WCW. It looks like Nitro has been woeful since the summer of 98.
Nitro was awesome right up until the very last episode. From start to finish it was the best wrestling has ever been. Even 2000 and 2001, while not as good as the previous years, were still lightyears ahead of anything the WWF/E has ever come up with.
World War 3 i believe was WCW's answer to the WWF's Royal Rumble. Plus you know Nash had his hands all over that battle royal based on how strong he looked in that match with him throwing out nearly all the wrestlers in his ring.
Bigger and better than the RR. Nash being booked strongly made sense given how over he was at the time and what a physical presence he had.
@@namikstudiosBigger, not better. WW3 was a always a mess.
@@BusinessOfFear The only real problem with WW3 was how hard it was to present on old SD TV. There was just too much going on to cram into 4:3 SD. Would be sooo much easier to watch in 16:9 HD. It desperately needed widescreen.
AEW has enough wrestler to a World War 4 match with four rings! That could be terrifying?
It would be better if done today simply because they could film it in HD 16x9 widescreen which wasn't available to WCW back in the 90s. So much easier to fit the three rings in one shot with widescreen. Would have been a nightmare to film in SD 4x3.
I always wondered if there was maybe a language issue between a lot of the luchadore cruiserweights and WCW management/agents putting together matches. Which was why a bare handful (Eddie, Rey, Konnan, and Juvi) seemed to get anywhere and the rest were thrown at each other interchangeably.
The top tier of wrestlers overcome that obviously, or figure out a way around it (or default to English for calling moves, from the few interviews I've seen)
Bischoff has said (in interviews years later) that he thought masked wrestlers couldn’t connect with his audience. And that’s why he had Juvi unmask and demanded that Rey unmask as well (or leave the company). Bischoff has since admitted that he was wrong as evidenced by how popular masked-Mysterio was (and still is) in the WWE, but that was his opinion on the Luchadore wrestlers at the time.
I always thought it was weird that Bischoff felt that way because the very first wrestler to appear in a WCW Monday Nitro ring was Jushin Thunder Liger. And not only is Liger masked, but basically every inch of his body (except his hands) is covered up, lol. But, yeah, that’s what Bischoff thought about masked wrestlers.
Russo isn’t around WCW right now (in the WCW-side of the ‘Reliving the War’ series), but Russo was (still is?) of the opinion that foreign language-speaking wrestlers, masked wrestlers, and especially foreign language-speaking masked wrestlers cannot possibly get over or connect with an American audience. Which was also completely wrong, but that’s what he thought at the time (and maybe still thinks that way, I have no idea).
And I’m sure Bischoff and Russo aren’t the only two in the 90s and early 2000s who thought this way. But yeah, that’s why it was so difficult for the Luchadores to get over in WCW.
The four names you mentioned (Eddie, Rey, Konnan and Juvi): Eddie, Rey and Konnan are all Americans and native English speakers. Juvi didn’t speak English well he first arrived in WCW (although his English was maybe okay by 1998, I’m not sure), but was made to unmask. And even American, native English-speaking Rey couldn’t avoid being forced to unmasked as well.
Just think of how many replica Mysterio masks (and other Luchadores’ masks) Bischoff could have sold if he just gave the masked wrestlers an honest chance at connecting with the audience on their own terms.
WCW made Eddie, Rey, Juvi, Konnan, etc into household names in the US. Konnan was already a big star in Mexico and worked closely with Bischoff to bring many of the other luchas to WCW.
May be a hot take. But Starrcade 1998 main event should’ve been Goldberg defending against Bam Bam. Goldberg wins and the streak goes on.
Then in April you can still have DDP win it from Goldberg in a Halloween Havoc rematch and give a babyface ddp his redemption story and first title win
Nash was so much more over than Bam Bam who had only just joined WCW. Made total sense for Nash to be the one to break the streak, which had to be broken sooner or later.
Juvi looks like Michael Jackson
that LWo vest El Dandy was wearing was pure fire🔥😎
Really good card for Thunder.
I stopped watching WCW a bit before this point as Stone Cold had me glued to WWF so it's great to see all this stuff for the first time. Thanks for everything!
Wow, you missed an epic match between Kevin Nash against Hulk Hogan, where even at 100 years old Hogan comes up with a great move to beat Nash. 😂
1:00: uses mk2 genesis remixed soundtrack. So perfect!
It's interesting seeing the downfall of WCW again. There's a lot of things that I'm remembering, but there's a lot of things that I'm also seeing and being like I don't remember that. So it's a nice trip down memory lane. WCW had all the tools in the world. They had the talent, but they didn't utilize it. It was all about egos.
Actually, the downfall of WCW had nothing to do with anything that happened inside WCW itself and rather was entirely due to AOL TimeWarner's disastrous merger with Turner, which started years before 1999 but was starting to really hurt around about this time. Had nothing to do with talent or egos or the fact. WCW was pumping out more stars than WWE at this time but none of that mattered. Had nothing to do with WWE either for that matter. All down to AOL TimeWarner being totally incompetent and destroying the entire Turner empire.
"WCW didn't turn it around....."
9yo me was at this ppv. My dad took me for my birthday and I got in trouble for giving Chris Jericho the bird.
Cool Been waiting for your video and yeah crazy we never gotten a Nash vs hall in WCW but did happen in WWF
Did anyone here ever play Promotion Wars back in the day? This channel is REALLY bringing all those memories flooding back!
1- almost as many Chinlocks as Survivor Series: King of the ring edition
2- Beautiful World Title.....horrible champions. The belt has no meaning to it.
3- Awaiting for our "Brass Knuckles" Shirt.
4- No mention of "Smokey the cat".
Good video and good coverage.
Thank you Wrestling Bios
Bret and DDP were so opposite.. this was a little 🤏🏼 treat in reality 🎉😂
Man they treated goldberg as an afterthought here why not have him wrestle lex luger or a nwo black and white member just shows how little they did with him around this time.
Hilarious. Go and watch Nitro in 1998. Goldberg was the biggest thing that happened in either promotion for the entire year. WCW booked him incredibly well.
@namikstudios I know about that I'm talking about this time Towards starrcade where he didn't even have a match on the two ppvs from fall brawl to ww3 hell he wasn't even the main focus during this time and he was the world champion it was put on Hollywood hogan and his fake presidency
R.I.P. to The Palace of Auburn Hills
Home of World war 3 and 3 Pistons Championships 😢
And SummerSlam 1993 as well.
Thanks yet again, Bios.
Oh yeah, baby, I love this place
Bobby Duncum could have changed the face of a dying company with a clean win here, it would have tied in nicely with Barry windom and the horseman
I love watching these as they remind me of how things were back when this was real time and how it actually was far BETTER than people perceive it was today.
I look forward to seeing more of these. Thank you.
I would love to throw out the idea of a 'Managers: the forgotten WWE performers'. We can NOT forget people like Classy Freddie Blassie, Slick, Miss Elizabeth, Sherri and folks more proactive like Bobby Heenan, Mr Fuji and Harvey Wippleman.
back in the pre attitude era, Managers made all the differences instead of making incompetent referees the ONLY partition between a clean and a dirty win.
I almost spit my drink out when you said " chin-lockery"
@4:28 booker T and Stevie ray got the same barber 💈😂🎉
And with Starrcade coming soon, it means we're closer to the night it all changed, the night we knew WCW was done, because while one man's childhood dream was finally a reality, another got a finger poke of doom.
Best content on RUclips! Thanks WrestlingBios!
Is it just me or does it look like Goldberg potatoed bam bam and the bam bam immediately gave the receipt back to Goldberg??
i noticed that too. not a surprise with greenberg though
We're about a month away from the Finger Poke of Doom: the true last straw. I honestly can't wait.
chilling off the edge here watching this.
The Bret Hart "Brass knucks that don't like brass knucks, but we will call them brass knucks anyway" recurring joke is one of my favorites.
The Palace of Auburn Hills was a great arena, one of the few privately-financed sports facilities.
Another awesome upload from the wrestling channel with the most jam on the planet!
From here on WCW goes rapidly downhill and keeps falling. Where as WWF keeps going from strength to strength week to week. I think it’s fair to say the war was all but over by the end of 98 start of 99. It will be interesting to see if WCW wins any more weeks in the weekly head to head battle. Between now and going out of business.
As far as the WW3 PPV goes. Fans really wanted to see Hall VS Nash. The main match itself was WCWs answer to Royal Rumble. However, much like WCW by this point, ended up being an overbooked mess.
Thanks for the series
They should have booked Goldberg vs Jericho here. A simple entertaining squash match that wouldn't have hurt either man.
Exactly Chris Jericho even said himself that’s all he wanted was to get a squash match with Goldberg
It would have hurt Jericho... he was TV Champ. He would have lost the belt and then you'd have the problem of Goldberg being a double champ. They had him vacate the US Title when he won the World Title to avoid that situation in the first place.
That Billy Silverman freeze frame is priceless!! 😂
I imagine good main events can be brought down by a poor overall show that precedes it as far as crowd reaction goes.
WCW's decision making has been just baffling for months now.
I genuinely don't get it.
Politics BROTHER
Very baffling but what can you expect with Eric letting the inmates run the prison yard
it wasnt decision making at this point, as much as it was "how do we eventually put the title back on hogan and keep him, nash and hall on top". thats all they could think about.
@@henry7696 they lived & died by the original nwo
Most WWE fans would be baffled as they really don't understand what a good wrestling product is. They'd rather see Issac Yankum DDS going up against Mable or Doink, or perhaps have John Cena shoved down their throats for a decade followed by having Roman Reigns shoved down their throats right after him.
Man, WCW really dropped the ball on the Steiner Brothers feud big time. How many times did they tease a real match between them? Bait and switch taken to the extreme. Pretty sure they never had a blow off match 1 on 1 either.
Can you point to something - _anything_ - WCW didn't drop the ball on, going into 1999?
Bischoff was in full "look Mum, no hands..." mode. And it ended how that always ends.
@henrygvidonas9573 You're right of course. It's frustrating because they probably had a better overall roster than WWF at the time, just no clue what to do with it.
Another repeating of the "dropped the ball" line with accompanying misinformation inspired by the WWE Network. Just wait until JJ comes back and you can all repeat the "never drew a dime" line too!