The Rise and Fall of WCW – Disc Three
Released: 8/25/2009

• WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair (w/Elizabeth & Woman) vs. The Giant (w/Jimmy Hart) – (WCW Monday Nitro, 4/29/96)
  

Flair stops by Debra again for a quick word. She tells him to leave her alone. Flair stalls a bit and then tries a shoulderblock on Giant. That ain’t happening. Flair Corner Flip lands him on the floor, so Flair makes him give chase back into the ring only to set Giant up for a thumb to the eye. Giant sells nothing and slams Flair off the top. Giant goes for a CHOKESLAM, but Flair has his arms and legs tied up in the ropes to prevent that at all cost. Low blow to the Giant gets him out of that jam. Flair’s got Giant on his knees, but Giant shoves Flair back and stands up only to take a brass knux punch to the face. Flair struts around and goes for the FIGURE-FOUR! He has it on, but then Giant sits up and GOOZLES Flair! There’s the CHOKESLAM for the 1-2-3. (5:51) Since he’s wrestling Flair, he gets the face reaction even though he’s definitely not a face champion. *½

• WCW Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Dean Malenko – (WCW Clash of the Champions 33, 8/15/96)
  

This is back when Rey Mysterio was having AMAZING matches seemingly every week with guys like Malenko and Ultimo Dragon. Malenko pearl harbors Rey to start. Mysterio slides out and makes Malenko give chase just to screw with him a little bit. Rey dropkicks Malenko off the apron and delivers a baseball slide into a headscissors. Back in, Mysterio does this sweet hiptoss counter around Malenko and into an armdrag. Rey flips over a monkey flip attempt and hits Malenko with a quebrada for two. Malenko rolls out, allowing Mysterio to his signature 6-1-9 fake dive. Malenko takes a walk and then charges back inside right into a drop toehold, but then he drives a knee into and drops him throat-first onto the top rope out of a powerbomb. I mean, why not? Jumping Brainbuster (!!) gets two. Rey comes back with a rope walk, jumps onto Malenko’s shoulders, and drops down into a sunset flip. Malenko misses the punch to block and gets stuck in a small package for two. Mysterio fights out of a chinlock, but runs into a knee. Commercials! We come back to see Mysterio fighting out of a chinlock. As he runs off the ropes, Malenko launches him HIGH onto the middle rope. He springboards back onto Malenko trying a wheelbarrow armdrag, but Malenko blocks and goes for the reverse suplex. Mysterio flips out and trips Malenko up for an awesome rollup with a bridge for 1-2-NO! Incredible. Malenko puts a temporary end to Mysterio flying around with a kneebar. He rolls through into the ropes though. Mysterio escapes another chinlock and trips Malenko up out to the floor to avoid an O’Connor roll. Somersault Plancha by Mysterio! Down on the floor, Mysterio leaps off the guardrail for a moonsault, but Malenko is hardly there to catch him. It happens. Back inside, a springboard dropkick gets 1-2-NO! Malenko falls back on a tilt-a-whirl and Rey scores another nearfall. Springboard Hurracanrana gets 1-2-NO! They brawl over to the corner where Malenko stops Rey up top and brings him down with a SUPER GUTBUSTER! How does that not break your own leg? Cover, 1-2-3? Rey had his foot on the ropes and Malenko thinks he’s won, but nope. Mysterio victory rolls Malenko up for the real 1-2-3. (9:29 shown) Did Rey ever have a bad match in 1996? I never saw one. ***¼

• Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger & Sting vs. Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Hollywood Hogan & The Mystery Partner (w/Ted DiBiase) – Wargames Match (WCW Fall Brawl 1996)
  

On the Nitro prior to Fall Brawl, the nWo had everyone thinking that Sting had joined their crew by having what we thought was him join in on a backstage Lex Luger beatdown. Wild stuff and this was quite the intriguing scenario leading into Fall Brawl where Sting is supposed to be on WCW’s team to compete in Wargames. According to the commentary and since I haven’t seen the complete show in years, nobody else on the WCW team was believing Sting’s defense saying that whoever the nWo had posing as him on Nitro was NOT him. Not even his best pal Lex Luger believed him. Onto the match, Scott Hall and perennial Wargames starter Arn Anderson begins the match. If I know anything about Wargames and I’ve seen a good chunk of them, it should have been Arn ripping into Hall like a monkey on a cupcake for five minutes, but instead the action goes back and forth. When Arn is in control though, Bobby Heenan channels the spirit of David Crockett. WHIP HIM! WHIP LIKE A DOG! I love it. Arn hits the Spinebuster and my hometown of Winston-Salem erupts. Arn grabs a half crab and makes a big mistake by turning his back away from the entrance. The nWo naturally wins the coin toss since they’re the heels. Here comes Kevin Nash. Arn decks him real good, but Hall grabs hold of Arn as Nash catches him with a Big Boot. After two minutes of roughhousing, Lex Luger runs down ahead of the two-minute period and starts kicking butt with clotheslines while Arn regroups. Luger doesn’t need the steel cage – he’s got steel-plated forearms! Once the odds overwhelm Lex, Arn makes the save and hits a DDT on Nash! Hollywood Hogan joins the match. While Hall and Nash are down, Luger and AA enjoy a few moments of double-teaming Hogan in the corner. With the odds against Luger and Arn, it’s only a matter of time before the nWo start dishing out the beating again. Ric Flair evens the teams and dares Hogan to join him alone in the other ring! Hogan gets a shot in, but Flair ducks a big right hand and fires back. Out comes the taped knux! Down goes Hogan! Hall and Nash try to save their leader and both receive low blows. YES. Flair grabs a FIGURE-FOUR on Hogan, Hall takes a bunch of atomic drops from Luger, and AA has Nash being choked down in the corner. AWESOME. Well, I believe Cobra is a little off cue here. The Fake Sting finally arrives and he looks like Sting if you don’t, umm, look at him in the face. But then you watch him WRESTLE and it’s clearly not Sting at all. The crowd starts chanting “We want Sting!” Haha, oh WCW. The nWo foursome continue to destroy Arn, Lex, and Flair until the REAL Sting sprints down the aisle and into the ring. Tony, Bobby, and Dusty all admit they were wrong as Sting lays the smackdown on the entire nWo while Lex, Arn, and Flair stand back in disbelief. Once Sting is done dishing out the Stinger Splashes to everyone, he gives them the universal “up yours” sign to his team and leaves. Well, it’s over now. The Fake Sting and Hogan concentrate on Luger in one ring while Hall and Nash keep Flair and AA in the other ring. Fake Sting grabs a SCORPION DEATHLOCK while Hogan pulls up on Luger’s chin until he passes out to give the nWo the victory. (18:15) After the cage is lifted up, the nWo continue to destroy Luger in the aisleway as he tries to crawl to find Sting. Quite the dramatic moment for a wrestling match. Flair and AA try to save, but it’s Randy Savage who shows up and takes Hogan back into the ring. As Hogan cowers into the corner, the Giant grabs Savage from behind and turns him around for a CHOKESLAM. Not sure what happened to AA and Flair, but Hall, Nash, and DiBiase join Hogan and Giant in the ring to humiliate Savage some more. Elizabeth, who I don’t believe was really on good terms with Savage in storyline terms, comes down to try and stop the nWo. They’re all unimpressed, so while Liz lays on top of Savage, she gets the nWo letters sprayed on the back of her dress. Hogan gets on the mic and berates both of them for not being able to commit to their wedding vows. OUCH. Giant grabs the spray can and does the honors all over Savage’s back. The final Wargames match that anyone could call *great* in WCW. ****

• WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion Eddie Guerrero vs. Syxx – Ladder Match (nWo Souled Out 1997)
  

This match might be the only reason to watch the first Souled Out PPV. Syxx steals Eddie’s US title belt to set this match up. The belt just hangs from a meat hook, which is kind of cool. Syxx nails Eddie with a series of KA-RA-TE punches and a spin kick. Eddie comes back with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors and sends Syxx to the floor after a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Guerrero wipes out Syxx with his signature dive from the top. PEEP HOLE CAM? That’s different. Back in, Syxx shoves Eddie off a hurracanrana attempt in the corner, who does a back flip onto his feet, and comes off the second rope with a spinning heel kick. Syxx hits the Bronco Buster, but Eddie flips out of a backdrop and dropkicks Syxx to the floor. Syxx counters a suplex off the apron and brings Eddie down hard to the floor. Syxx finds the ladder and slams it into Eddie up against the apron. They get into a tug-of-war over the ladder, which Eddie manages to hotshot the ladder up into Syxx’s face! In the ring, Guerrero smashes the ladder down on Syxx and leans it up in the corner, but Syxx counters the corner whip and Eddie eats the ladder. Syxx stomps the ladder on Eddie and gives him a lift into the air to come crashing down onto the ladder. Syxx tries a possible legdrop off the ladder, but Eddie meets him at the top. Syxx jabs Eddie in the balls through one of the rungs and shoves Eddie down to ride the ladder down on top of him like Shawn Michaels did many years ago (which Eric & Ted translate as Scott Hall teaching Syxx the move). It doesn’t work though as Syxx takes too much time and dropkicks the ladder to crotch Syxx on the top rope. Eddie brings Syxx down with a superplex and sets up the ladder. Syxx does a nasty dropkick off the ladder on Eddie to send them both crashing to the mat. Back up the ladder, Syxx punches Eddie down into the ropes as he bounces back and knocks the ladder over. One more climb up and they both get a hold of the belt. Eddie manages to smash the belt back in Syxx’s face. Whoops, Eddie drops the belt as Syxx falls to the mat, so he climbs down and picks it up for the win. (13:49) If I remember correctly, this was the only *clean* win for WCW the whole night. Granted, it was an “nWo” PPV. Even if you look at prior examples such as the two storytelling HBK/Razor ladder masterpieces and all the stuff WWE has done since this match over the last ten years, this could hardly hold up to the test of time. Also, it’s another reason as to why WCW didn’t do more ladder matches – without blatantly ripping off Shawn Michaels or Razor Ramon, they couldn’t put too many together that anyone would care about. ***

• WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko – No Disqualification Match (WCW UnCeNSoReD 1997)
  

Malenko has been accusing Eddie of being somewhat of a rule breaker as of late, so now they must settle it – IN THE RING! Last month at the Superbrawl VII PPV, Eddie tried to prevent Syxx from stealing Malenko’s Cruiserweight belt (since that was his thing back then – stealing belts for the nWo) and ended up smashing Dean in the face with it during their title tug-of-war. Malenko shows us some personality to start by pointing fingers at Eddie and stomping a mudhole in him down in the corner. Character advancement for cruiserweights? NO WAY. Guerrero does the same and he gets booed by the crowd. Malenko catches Eddie off a corner charge and launches him into the corner. Back suplex sets up a half crab as we go backstage to see Rick Steiner face down on the concrete with Hall, Nash, and Syxx all standing around him sarcastically asking for some medical assistance. Down on the floor, Malenko finds the US belt and bashes it in Eddie’s ribs and back. Big clothesline gets two. Malenko tries another and gets caught with a Uranage. Now Eddie starts slapping Dean around and catches him with a low dropkick to the knee. Here’s where Eddie gets nasty working the leg. Hilo on the knee connects and sets up a kneebar. He transitions over into an STF as we check on Rick Steiner in the back. He’s getting carried out on a gurney. Back at ringside, Guerrero takes Malenko to the floor for some guardrail action. Malenko reverses a whip into the guardrail and tries to get some feeling back in his leg. As Malenko tries to make it up the steps, Eddie dropkicks his knee into the ringpost. Awesome. Now an ambulance is shown taking Rick Steiner away. Okay Rick is gone, NO MORE INTERRUPTIONS. Eddie grabs a Figure-Four and starts up the trash talk. Malenko can’t reverse the hold or reach the ropes, so he pokes Eddie in the eye to break the hold. Guerrero unloads with European forearms. Malenko blocks one with a backslide, but Eddie flips out and hits another European forearm. Malenko rolls out to the floor to avoid a second Hilo, but Guerrero catches him with a baseball slide. Eddie comes off the top, but Malenko moves and Eddie eats the guardrail. Malenko follows up by dropping Eddie’s shoulder on the guardrail and brings him back inside to work an armbar. Guerrero buries a knee and DOWN COME THE STRAPS. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to Malenko connects, as does a powerbomb and a bridge pin gets 1-2-NO! Malenko low blows Eddie, but gets caught with a knee to the groin as Guerrero hits the mat after a right hand. Small package gets two. That one to Dean looked legit. Malenko catches Eddie with a powerslam and delivers the Frog Splash! WHAT. Cover, 1-2-NO! Malenko pulls him up off the cover. Dusty ~ “DRAGON SPLASH!” Eddie counters a powerbomb with a rana, but comes off the ropes into a tilt-a-whirl slam for two. Sunset flip off the shoulders fails, but an Oklahoma roll gets two after all for Eddie. Eddie tries the wheelbarrow armdrag, but Malenko counters in a release German suplex right on the injured shoulder for two. BEAUTIFUL. Tornado DDT by Eddie sets up the Texas Cloverleaf! WHAT. Cue Syxx with the handheld camera. He grabs the US belt, which brings Guerrero off the hold. Eddie grabs Syxx, so Syxx swings with the camera and misses. Once Eddie retrieves his belt, Malenko grabs the video camera and nails Eddie with it for the 1-2-3! (19:13) One of the most underrated matches and underutilized rivalries in WCW history. These two could ALWAYS go. ****½

• WCW World Cruiserweight Champion Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera – Title vs. Mask (WCW Superbrawl VIII)
  

So Jericho is on this kick where he wears the Cruiserweight title everywhere now. He’s still wearing it after the bell sounds. Just to show him how dumb that is, Juvi hits him in the belt with a jumping back kick. If you watch closely, Juventud actually just kicks him in the chest. Off comes the belt. Honestly, I don’t think the crowd gives one crap about Juventud. After a short time on the mat, Guerrera nails Jericho with a springboard spin kick and then gives him a springboard headscissors off the apron. Juvi heads back into the ring while Jericho plays ‘possum on the floor trying to lose by countout so that he still keeps the belt. Juvi sees what’s happening here and drops an elbow on Jericho for trying such a thing. Back in, Guerrera flips out of a German, but runs into a hotshot. Jericho delivers his Springboard Dropkick to the apron. On the floor, Jericho props Juvi up against the guardrail and uses the steps for Air Jericho, but he takes too much time setting it all up that he gets caught and dropped on the railing! That was nasty looking. Back inside, Juventud springboards into a tombstone piledriver! Slow cover gets two. Jericho shows a little frustration and kicks Juvi around. Stalling suplex connects to set up the running senton splash for two. Jericho grabs a backbreaker submission. He releases the hold to convince the ref that Juvi gave up, which doesn’t work and a temper tantrum ensues. Maybe the sound is just bad, but there’s still no real response to anything in this match. You’d think the crowd had been here for two days and this was during Jericho’s hottest period in WCW. We’re in SAN FRANCISCO for crying out loud! You guys love watching men roll around on top of each other for long periods of time. And when I say that, I’m talking about professional wrestling. Nothing else. Juvi shoves Jericho off the top, but flies down and gets caught for an Electric Chair Drop! Well that was impressive. Guerrera’s back up and dropkicks Jericho off the top down to the floor. Jericho sells the knee and starts to walk up the aisle way when Air Juvi occurs all upon Jericho! Back in the ring, Juvi delivers the Juvi Driver and hits the 450 SPLASH! Cover, 1-2-NO! Jericho grabbed the bottom rope. The bell rings prematurely, so Juvi thinks he’s won. Big mistake. Jericho runs up behind him with a chopblock. Lots of nearfall rollups occur – leading to Jericho stopping Juvi for the LIONTAMER. So much for that “Never Surrender” attitude, because Juvi gives it up and unmasks while Jericho calls him Quasi-Juice and every other combination of words he can make up beginning with Quasi. (13:30) So Juventud becomes the first of three masked luchadores to unmask while in WCW. Not a bad match even with some of the botches. That’s pretty much par for the course with Juventud though. The crowd could not have cared less about this though. ***¼

• WCW World Tag Team Champions Rick & Scott Steiner (w/Ted DiBiase) vs. The Outsiders (w/Dusty Rhodes) – (WCW Superbrawl VIII)
  

These two teams had been trading the belts back and forth for the past five months, but lately Scott Steiner has been acting a little distant. What’s going to happen to the Steiner Brothers? We’re about to find out. Rick starts the match punching the crap out of Scott Hall. A big overhead suplex from Rick brings Nash in and he gets clotheslined to the floor. Scott comes in and does the spot where Rick gets on all fours and Scott stands over him. They do this a little longer than usual when Scott nods to Hall and Nash and lowers the boom on his brother. WHAT. The crowd gives the heel turn a HUGE positive reaction from San Francisco. He sends the nWo sign over to Hall and gives Rick a double underhook slam. DiBiase gets nailed off the apron as Dusty comes over and posts him. Scott retreats to the apron while Hall covers Rick for 1-2-NO! He kicks out and tries to fight out of the corner, but Nash nails him in the back from the apron. OUTSIDER’S EDGE fails the first time, but Hall gets it on the second try for the 1-2-3. (4:17) Scott Steiner is now nWo 4-LIFE! More of an angle than an actual match. Quite well done though, but the Steiner brothers feud that followed made ZERO sense. A main event run for Scott Steiner that some considered was due to him for five years finally came nearly three years later towards the end of the year 2000 – when it was too late. ¾*

• Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone vs. Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman (w/The Disciple) – (WCW Bash at the Beach 1998)
  

When I look at this match now, I can’t help but think of Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Wrestling show. Interesting though how the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz were in the NBA finals that very year, which Tenay translates into the first rivalry from another sport that spills over into wrestling. Despite being PROFESSIONAL WRESTLERS, Malone and Rodman start the match. If I’m not mistaken, Rodman showed up pretty wasted for this match. Hogan pulls off Rodman’s shades ala the Hart Foundation, which is kind of cool. Rodman ducks Malone a bunch. They go for a test of strength and Malone slaps the hand away. Rodman sells it big time into the corner! Malone shoves off a headlock and Rodman hightails it out to the floor. More stalling. Hogan tags in and gets caught in a chinlock. Out of the chinlock, Malone slams Hogan. Now we get DDP vs. Rodman. DDP shoves him down a bunch out of a tie-up. Hogan claims hairpulling, which is ridiculous. Finally, Rodman armdrags Page out of the tie-up. It turns into a mess quickly with Rodman clumsily colliding with Page as he comes off the ropes, showing us just how inebriated he is. More of Hogan vs. Malone. Rodman cheapshots Malone, which begins a face in peril segment with Hogan in total control. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Oh sorry, HOT TAG TO DDP! Rodman cuts that off quickly with a knee to the back from the apron. More of the same that we saw done to Malone. False tag spot erupts, but just allows another double-team beatdown from Hogan and Rodzilla. Page avoids Hogan’s LEGDROP and hot tags Malone. Hogan BEGS OFF? Malone goes clothesline crazy! He unloads with body slams and delivers a DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER. Turnbuckle smashes galore! Page tags in for the DIAMOND CUTTER on Hogan. Rodman tries to break it up, but Malone spins him around for the DIAMOND CUTTER. While the ref tries to get Malone and Rodman out, the Disciple (hobo-looking Brutus Beefcake) jumps in and gives DDP the APOCALYSPE (Stunner). Hogan is put on top of Page for the 1-2-3. (23:47) It had all the silly “I can’t believe that non-wrestler knows how to do an armdrag!” spots like it’s some super complex move. Way too long for a celebrity match, but it garnered a 1.5 buyrate and gave WCW a lot of extra media attention, so maybe it’s not all bad. *½

• WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg vs. Diamond Dallas Page – (WCW Halloween Havoc 1998)
  

Despite being HUGELY popular in 1997-98, this was his first world title shot on PPV. We see the classic Goldberg entrance where he’s escorted by police out the tunnel. DDP is JACKED as he would say for this match. He gets up in Goldberg’s face and gets shoved down after a couple tie-ups. On the time that he doesn’t get shoved down, they tumble out to the floor still tied up. Back in, Goldberg shrugs off a heel trip and takes DDP down in a cross armbreaker. Page goes for a random DIAMOND CUTTER and gets shoved off to the floor. After some regrouping, DDP goes after the arm. Goldberg comes back with a shoulderblock, but Page snaps off a quick hotshot and hits a swinging neckbreaker. DDP keeps up with the fast moves with a Russian legsweep for two. He continues to hold onto Goldberg with a front headlock. Goldberg knees out of that and hits that spinning neckbreaker he does. He follows up with a hiptoss and a side slam for two. He applies another cross armbreaker, but Page makes the ropes. Another side slam attempt is countered into a tilt-a-whirl headscissors! Reverse kick sends DDP back into the corner, but he leaps up to avoid a SPEAR, sending Goldberg shoulder-first into the ringpost. Back in, Page hits a flying clothesline for two. Goldberg is favoring his shoulder quite a lot here. Hiptoss is countered by Page into the DDT. Page motions for the DIAMOND CUTTER, but turns around into a SPEAR! Too bad Goldberg used his sore shoulder to pull that off. He tries for the JACKHAMMER, but he can’t lift Page up. He gets him up, but DDP flips out and turns Goldberg around into the DIAMOND CUTTER. Slow cover gets 1-2-NO! Page tries a suplex, but Goldberg kicks away and uses the momentum to lift DDP up despite the sore shoulder into the JACKHAMMER for 1-2-3. (10:30) Many call it Goldberg’s best match and for good reason. He did a great job selling the shoulder and had you believing Page had a shot at beating him because of it. ***¼

• WCW World Heavyweight Champion Booker T vs. Lance Storm – (WCW Monday Nitro, 8/7/2000)
  

So in the first six weeks Lance Storm entered WCW, he had already captured the WCW U.S. title and made it the Canadian title, the WCW Cruiserweight title and renamed it the 100 kg and Under title, and he won the WCW Hardcore title and turned it into the Saskatchewan Hardcore International title (S.H.I.T. GET IT?! Genius, right? Not.) all in that short span of time. Now I love Lance Storm, but that’s ridiculous for anyone to do that. So now Lance Storm is looking to become the first-ever Grand Slam champion by winning all the belts at once. There’s five people on commentary by the way: Tony Schiavone (who is past the point of caring on any level), Scott Hudson, Mark Madden, “The Fat Chick Thriller” Mike Awesome, and his recent fat chick girlfriend Heidi. Why is he out here? In six days at the New Blood Rising PPV, Awesome faces Lance Storm for a “Canadian” title shot. Haha, Booker has a mustache. Okay, here we go with the match. This crowd is surprisingly hot. Here comes a fat guy with a platter of Arby’s roast beef sandwiches for Heidi. Mike has to take care of his lady. Booker has an injured knee and we can see that because of the huge knee brace. Basic stuff until they go to the floor where Storm hits Booker with a springboard plancha. Back inside, Booker does a nice counter out of a Northern Lights suplex into a suplex of his own. Storm tries for the CANADIAN MAPLE LEAF on the bad knee, but Booker kicks him off. Superkick is blocked, which allows Booker to hit the SCISSORS KICK (using the bad knee). Jumping leg lariat (which completely whiffs Lance’s head) gets 1-2-NO! Booker connects with a superkick, but runs into a boot in the corner. Lance comes off the top and gets caught on the way down with a powerslam for 1-2-NO! Storm counters a possible German suplex into a CANADIAN MAPLE LEAF. Oops, he fell over. Okay now he has it locked in, but Booker makes the ropes. Storm catches Booker standing up with a Superkick, but charges into the 110^th Street Slam for 1-2-NO! Missile Dropkick gets 1-2-NO! Storm knees out of the BOOK END one time, but takes it on the second try for 1-2-3. (5:25) Jeff Jarrett interrupts the celebration and starts kicking on Booker’s knee that doesn’t have a brace on it. Ummm? Jarrett uses Lance’s Canadian flag pole, which pisses him off. They brawl to the floor. Jarrett grabs his GEETAR and goes to KABONG Lance Storm, but he ducks Heidi gets wiped out. Mike Awesome chases Jarrett into the ring where Booker gives him the BOOK END. This was probably as good of an example of WCW at the time as any I’ve seen. Seeing Jeff Jarrett get handled by Booker makes it all the more clear as to why they chose this of all matches from 2000 for this DVD set.  That makes me laugh. **½

Final Thoughts: A few cruiserweight gems and a great Goldberg match sums up the only thing worth watching on the third disc, but doesn’t that technically define the Nitro era as a whole anyway? Overall, this set is tremendous and worth getting if just for disc two. The Nitro era is an enjoyable period, but the matches by themselves with no build or understanding as to why they are happening makes them a little less enjoyable for me and I’m sure for anyone else who didn’t watch WCW at the time. Disc three brings the set down a tad, but disc two is so strong, that disc three would have really had to try hard to make me not recommend this DVD. With that being said, I’ll go with a mild thumbs up for the set because the documentary is very brief and made seemingly specific to your post-WCW audience, while the extra discs are hit-and-miss awesome.