Fun fact: the reason Sonny specifically mentions Iowa is because he's lived there for many years. It was through martial arts tournaments in the Midwest that Sonny and Eric met and became friends. He ran a karate dojo for a long time in Mason City, Iowa.
I don't know what it is with Japanese managers and wanting to live in the midwest when they live here in the US because Akio Sato currently lives in KCMO.
Jesus Christ, how thin does your roster have to be to have Sting, Luger, Savage, *and* Flair all do double-duty on a PPV where you bring in seven wrestlers from another company?
I don't know if it was thin, but on TV, the justification is that since they want their big stars in the World Cup, they also want the title match, thus all 4 of those guys should have to pull at least double duty to make it an even playing field. Savage is in the World Cup and is working hurt, so Sting and Luger and Flair have to go through each other to get the shot. If they just made it Flair vs Savage, it's not fair to Savage for Flair to just come in fresh. So Luger and Sting and Flair have to also work matches in the name of fair play.
They just brought in Malenko, Benoit, Eddie, Disco a few months before too. No Hogan and Dungeon Of Doom, I think Anderson and other regular midcarders were missing too, since WCW guys here were only faces iirc. No Renegade either lol
WCW's roster was actually bulbous in late 1995. The dilemma was more that Bischoff wanted to have his best wrestlers on the show instead of putting on another Craig Pittman/Cobra or Big Bubba/Jim Duggan that would annoy the audience. Though, ironically, you do need those kinds of matches to make the others feel even bigger in hindsight.
Was he as big as a bull though? Oh, and did he like his honey and The Rock? I don't need to ask about him helping friends though as, his entire storyline at this point involved friendship. lol
One thing I will never forget is the feeling I had when I was getting ready to watch Clash of the Champions with my dad thinking how lucky we were to get this special for free. Good times
So Kevin Sullivan directing his anger at Pillman towards Benoit would eventually lead to Sullivan "booking his own divorce"? Is that what you're trying to tell us, Zane?
Yes! Dude I'm telling you the classic PPV segments are my favorite wrestling content on all of YT. I legit couldn't tell you 3 current wrestlers, but stuff like this is incredible. Thanks Brian!
@Wrestling With Wregret Your comment about Liger being the Ultimate opening match wrestler is spot on. He was in the opening match with Tyler Breeze for the first ever NXT Takeover Brooklyn in 2015 on SummerSlam Weekend. That PPV was the one I credit for putting NXT on the map to the broader audience it's gained since.
Sonny's 'evil Japanese manager' persona was a stereotype but he played that character so well. Curtain jerkers are important to start your event off right and nobody did it better than Liger. Legend. I always liked Chono. He had cool tights.
It's true. Sonny knew exactly what the WCW audience wanted in a stereotypical Japanese heel manager and he leaned in hard. I remember sometimes he's bring a camera along and take selfies with whoever he was managing on the way to the ring because Japanese folks love cameras. right? He'd cut promos about trying to buy everything (that being a big bugaboo at the time). He'd cut promos about trying to buy wrestlers' contracts, buy whole WCW shows, etc. The man helped get some heat on a legion of otherwise boring, interchangeable midcard heels. What a boss.
Don’t know if anyone else mentioned it, but, according to Flair, Savage bladed him without his permission. You can see Savage fumbling for the blade and Flair react after it happens.
I heard that too, I think Flair also mentioned he was not too happy with this title win because there was too much outside interference, funny I know. I also remember reading the blade was actually taped to the megaphone which is why it was such a nasty blade job, Flair looked gross afterwards
Brian had me curious to do some research after he mentioned Starrcade was held on a Wednesday in 1995. Turns out, that was common place for years for WCW to hold it during the week. See below: Starrcade 1991: Sunday Starrcade 1992: Monday Starrcade 1993: Monday Starrcade 1994: Tuesday Starrcade 1995: Wednesday Starrcade 1996: FINALLY a Sunday!
Kinda funny that Hogan contractually limited himself to working only 4 PPVs a year and thus prevented him from participating in Starrcade, WCW's Wrestlemania. We're talking about the same guy whose "retirement" angle closed Wrestlemania VIII instead of the WWF title match and whom insisted on an impromptu title match in IX that robbed Bret Hart of an establishing champion moment. The man never saw a limelight he didn't want to steal. But at least it saves us from most of the Dungeon of Doom nonsense and put the focus on the other performers. It really felt like the WCW was divided between Hogan's cartoony BS and everything else going on at the time.
Hogan worked more than four PPVs in 1995: Superbrawl: Defended WCW title against Vader Uncensored: Faced Vader in a non-title strap match Slamboree: Teamed up with Savage to face Vader & Ric Flair Bash at the Beach: Defended WCW in a cage match Fall Brawl: Was on the most lopsided War Games match in history (Hogan/Savage/Luger/Sting v. Meng/Zodiac/Kamala/Shark) Halloween Havoc: Lost WCW title to Giant (plus the Monster Truck contest) World War 3: Was in the main event 60 man battle royal.
Ya and than you just had idiot Flair go over in the main event here when he did that in almost every Starrcade prior like Hogan at Mania, fucking dumb, Sting should have won the title in the main event here
@@Vicsongwriter something tells me that the Horsemen where on to big things in 96 before Pillman left the company and that’s why they were giving Ric the belt here
@@TimTE01 My guess its because this was in december and the january 4th show was near. He had a giant rematch with Takada coming and they prolly didnt want to to risk it.
Long before I ever knew what NJPW was, I knew who Jushin Liger was. Because WCW knew who he was and understood how much of an influence his style was having on the younger talent on the roster. So of course they brought him to our shores (or at least our screens ) when they could. Why wouldn’t you try to showcase the most influential performer of his generation if you had the chance
Fun fact Lex Luger was actually part of a PWI Match of the Year for 1991 at Superbrawl 1- Luger and Sting vs. The Steiner Brothers. The next time they say Lex can't YOU TELL THEM HE'S THE BEST WORKER EVER AND WON MATCH OF THE YEAR BY HIMSELF ALL ON HIS OWN.
Wrestling in the 90's was another level of amazing. The mainstream attention brought to wrestling was outstanding. Ratings were blowing through the roof.
He's done an intro for Botchamania alongside The Colossal Connection, and he's done one of those segments where wrestling TH-camrs/podcasters read wrestler's auto/biographies about botches.
10:45 Just wondering... At what point was the over-the-top-rope DQ rule officially rescinded in WCW? By the time the nWo angle was in full swing, I don't remember seeing anyone DQ'ed for that reason ever again.
Surprisingly, the rule was in place until February 1998 when they announced off hand on a Thunder that they had waived the rule completely. Up until the rise of the nWo and cruiserweight division, it was more of a regular occurrence though still sparse. You'd maybe see it once or twice in a month at best. The announcers would at least still call it out sometimes if someone was thrown over and the match didn't end but many times would cover saying it was their own momentum that took them over or the ref didn't see it etc. By 98 it was surprising they even brought it up to officially waive the rule as it was used so rarely that it could have been phased out without even mentioning it.
I'm glad you added that picture of the trophy at the end with the WCW vs nWo World Tour music. That is the exact shot they used after you defeated everyone in an organization.
Well, to be fair to Flair, Dolly Parton is pretty much Tennessee's only child we're unequivocally proud of. Pretty much everything and everybody else we've exported has a big asterisk after their name.
Just from Memphis alone: Jerry Lawler? Flair himself? (Yes, he was born in Memphis! And actually was victim of a baby trafficking ring, but that's another story entirely...) Aretha Franklin? Sputnik Monroe might not be a native, but what he did for desegregation in Memphis surely is worthy of great praise and an honorary title as a Memphian? Gotta use that noodle!
Most of the promotion for this show was done on the Saturday morning TBS show (Pro). They had an angle where Bobby Heenan ‘sold’ the show to New Japan. They brought in the NJPW workers to a Disney taping so all matches were on Pro, not Nitro.
Remember, though, that at the beginning of the '80s the superplex had won Maneuver of the Year and still regularly got huge pops in the '90s. Companies actually do pay attention to shit like that.
@@Feve5 It should be a finish, dang it! IT'S A MOVE FROM THE TOP ROPE. It is the *highest* a person can get in a match, falling on their back. It should be a finish i hate everyone.
Excited to see what Starcade 1995 has for us and what your opinions will be. I have high-school finals tomorrow after being stuck there for more than I should’ve, so I’m worried as all hell, but I think this will calm me down a bit. Thanks Z-man!
I still remember seeing the PPV when it was out, and I was impressed with many of the talent from New Japan Pro. Hell, this was the first actual match I saw from Jushin "Thunder" Liger. I've heard so much about him on the wrestling magazines as a kid, and it was wonderful to see him in action.
Liger is one of my favourites of all time. He wrestled on a 2 night card for my friends fed UWA in Mississauga Ontario in 2006 teaming with another one of my all time favourites Ultimo Dragon.
One of my favorite PPVs ever, and worth it just for Dusty Rhodes commentary. Been waiting for Brian to this one for a LONG time. WCW for Life!!! Oh and Sonny Ono lives in my home state Iowa, owns a car dealership in Mason City.
I get where you're coming from with the Luger/Sting thing, but it gets REALLY good in 1996 when they're tag champs and Luger's trying to pretend he's a good guy. Unfortunately, it doesn't get any resolution because of some other thing that happened nobody remembers, but it was fun while it lasted.
As someone who's never really seen Masa Saito wrestle, just by looking at him I could tell that he should have wiped the floor with Johnny B. Badd in just 5 seconds.
Doing big shows during the week was very common back then. Especially when it was around holidays. I believe this was the third or fourth year in a row Staircade was specifically on the 27th.
@@attiepollard7847 Why would they want to? The 27th is a much better day, in the run up to Christmas people are busy, by the 27th people are done with Christmas, most adults are not at work, kids are not at school, it's a good day to run a PPV on.
I recently started watching Monday Night Wars made it to. Starrcade last night, but didn't care to watch the Japanese stars as I knew nothing about them, so I went to TH-cam hoping you had reviewed it disappointed you hadn't and here we are the next morning
@@TJSpyke correct me if i'm wrong but weren't most of his world title reigns short he did have a lot of reigns but from what i can tell only one of them was for a meaningful amount of time
@@robjackson4050 depends which titles you mean. Of his 10 NWA title reigns, 6 of them were at least 400 days each. But his longest WCW title reign was 171 days (which was his first resign) and his longest WWE Championship reign was 77 days
Brief correction in your review, but Luger wasn't a heel at the time. He was a tweener. He did heelish things at times, but because of his friendship of Sting he was still technically a babyface.
@@cameronjohnson9361 yes i agree. he was basically a heel to everybody except sting. if i recall, when giant beat hogan at havoc, when macho came in to save him, luger came in and attacked macho.
I just happened to watch starrcade 96 just the other day and this might as well have been the exact same card. The under card putting on clinics and the veterans pretty much embarrassing themselves with a few exceptions.
The network must not have the footage because there were promos and hype packages on the Japanese wrestlers who competed in the World Cup of Wrestling. The most memorable was the one with Sony advising each Wrestler how to conquer his opponent at Starrcade
I can attest to Liger being an amazing opener. I went to a Ring of Honor taping in Philadelphia and he was part of a 4 corner survival with Mark Briscoe, Jay Lethal, and Shinsuke Nakamura and he was super over with the theme.
Part of the build involved Heenan selling WCW Pro to Sonny Onoo and NJPW. Of course he wasn't allowed to do that, but we did manage to somehow get a few weeks of Japanese guys on Pro before that was discovered. I absolutely loved this show as a kid (I was 12 at the time) and while it definitely could have been a lot better, seeing guys I'd only read about in magazines, as well as Liger again, was really exciting. Lastly, it actually wasn't odd for this show to be on a weeknight. Starrcade had been on the 27th for a few years at this point, and Sunday wouldn't become nearly the only day for ppv for another year or so after this.
11:42 it’s spelled “Ootani” because the proper pronunciation of the “O” in Japanese is lengthened and is normally romanized as “ōtani,” “Ohtani” or “Ootani”
King of the Ring 01 is next? That's a pretty good show if I remember. Aside from the DDP/Undertaker stuff, which was technically not a match, and Benoit's injury in the Main Event. As, I believe KOTR 01 was the one with Shane/Angle (and Angle was in 3 matches), Edge winning KOTR, Austin vs Benoit vs Jericho. So, I believe it must've been at least a good show, if not great.
I enjoyed that show, remember having Sky TV at the time but couldn't watch it live because I had school in the morning so instead just watched the repeat the next night with my Mum and Stepdad, they kinda enjoyed even they weren't into wrestling at all.
I remember watching this and thinking Flair was gonna bleed to death. Besides from some ECW matches, this was to that date the worst bleeding I had seen (started watching wrestling in 84)
Watching this for the first time on Peacock, I was walking on a treadmill and couldn’t help laughing at Bobby Heenan’s booth blunders. From losing his papers to losing his chair to losing his headset, I couldn’t stop laughing. I forgive Tony and Dusty for struggling to stay focused with all that.
Marc Mero is really an underrated high flyer. A lot of us saw him for the first time as a boxer with Sable. I remember the “Wild Man” doing a freakin Shooting Star Press. If there are any matches with him and the WCW cruiserweights, I’d love to see it.
King of the Ring 2001 is next, hmm? I wonder... are you going to cover PPVs throughout the whole Invasion storyline afterwards the same way you did the WCW 2001 trilogy? From Invasion to Survivor Series 2001?
I'm curious if at least, Invasion will be after King of the Ring 2001? It would fall in that July time frame and after all next month is the 20 year anniversary of that show. I made a prediction a couple years ago that he would review that show by next month.
One advantage to having it so one person has to tag out is that it at least avoid situations where people have to sell outside the ring for ages while the other 2 guys fight each other. :P
Umm... this might be a stupid question, but why didn't they bring in Tenay to comment here? They would do that later for similar events (even in TNA) and I remember him being quite good in terms of explaining foreign wrestling customs
Granted my memory isn't what is used to be, but was Tenay even with the company at this point? I seem to remember him not coming in until mid 96 or thereabouts.
@@brandonhendrix7223 he was. I checked this before writing the comment as I wasn't sure myself ;) Actually already since 1994, in a couple of rotating positions, such as B-show commentator and backstage interviewer
@@CmdrUD87 ok. Well, my best guess is maybe they felt he wasn't "ready" to call a major ppv yet. Sure, I know it's right up his alley and he would've nailed it but you know how people in power sometimes think. (Sidenote: I had no idea Tenay was there for that long. Granted, I only watched Saturday Night sporadically after 1992 or so. But even then the first time I really remember him was on Nitro doing segments about luchadors, not sure when that was.)
With regards to the double O in Ootani, it's a matter of how you wish to spell his name as the "O" in his name is a long O. Ou/Oh/Ō are also often seen as there are multiple systems. Macrons, I feel, are the best but a pain to type for many people.
Oh and there's the option to leave a single o which is stupid as some Japanese words are completely different depending on whether the vowel is short or long.
I’m pretty sure there was a lot more promotion of the New Japan wrestlers on Saturday Night & the syndicated shows. I remember Savage cutting a promo on Tenzan (I’ll beat Tenzan, Nine Zan, whoever”). I thought there was a segment on Nitro where Sonny, Liger & Saito were sitting at ringside scouting the competition
Correct, it's just there was none on their flagship Nitro. I remember on Nitro they would only ever mention the Triangle Match but the not the World Cup.
Fun fact: the reason Sonny specifically mentions Iowa is because he's lived there for many years. It was through martial arts tournaments in the Midwest that Sonny and Eric met and became friends. He ran a karate dojo for a long time in Mason City, Iowa.
I don't know what it is with Japanese managers and wanting to live in the midwest when they live here in the US because Akio Sato currently lives in KCMO.
One of the few reps from my home state, we don't get a lot we'll take anyone
As someone who’s lived in Iowa my whole life I never knew this
@@phatshotsgaming7578 I only really know because I, myself, am from Mason City. When Sonny signed with WCW, it was reported on in the local newspaper.
Did he teach Eric the famous Front Left Back Kick?
The drop in audio quality shows how the quality off ppv dropped
🤣🤣🤣
Jesus Christ, how thin does your roster have to be to have Sting, Luger, Savage, *and* Flair all do double-duty on a PPV where you bring in seven wrestlers from another company?
I don't know if it was thin, but on TV, the justification is that since they want their big stars in the World Cup, they also want the title match, thus all 4 of those guys should have to pull at least double duty to make it an even playing field. Savage is in the World Cup and is working hurt, so Sting and Luger and Flair have to go through each other to get the shot. If they just made it Flair vs Savage, it's not fair to Savage for Flair to just come in fresh. So Luger and Sting and Flair have to also work matches in the name of fair play.
AJ Lee thin.
They just brought in Malenko, Benoit, Eddie, Disco a few months before too. No Hogan and Dungeon Of Doom, I think Anderson and other regular midcarders were missing too, since WCW guys here were only faces iirc. No Renegade either lol
@@attiepollard7847 seemed more like a Bischoff side project. Guess it flopped at the box office and he stopped this story
WCW's roster was actually bulbous in late 1995. The dilemma was more that Bischoff wanted to have his best wrestlers on the show instead of putting on another Craig Pittman/Cobra or Big Bubba/Jim Duggan that would annoy the audience. Though, ironically, you do need those kinds of matches to make the others feel even bigger in hindsight.
Ric Flair: I knew how to beat Sting, I knew he would do this and that and he is not fast a cat
Was he as big as a bull though? Oh, and did he like his honey and The Rock? I don't need to ask about him helping friends though as, his entire storyline at this point involved friendship. lol
@@BrettStormXWP He's no John Cena that's for sure.
Maybe he's some kind of karate.
Does he hit him with a bat?
He does this and he does that.
One thing I will never forget is the feeling I had when I was getting ready to watch Clash of the Champions with my dad thinking how lucky we were to get this special for free. Good times
Free? Your dad never paid the cable bill?
@@martyklestadt6766 lol, I meant not having to order the Pay per view
Liger/Benoit can't be a bad match. Impossible. Bad finish or not.
yeah, he even says stupid finish aside excellent match.
So Kevin Sullivan directing his anger at Pillman towards Benoit would eventually lead to Sullivan "booking his own divorce"? Is that what you're trying to tell us, Zane?
Even a Sonny Onoo on a pole match?
The match was great. And the finish was kind of hokey, but it wasn't really as bad as Brian made it out to be.
@@jd9119 He gave the match 4 stars lol
Yes! Dude I'm telling you the classic PPV segments are my favorite wrestling content on all of YT. I legit couldn't tell you 3 current wrestlers, but stuff like this is incredible. Thanks Brian!
Flair had so many girls around him he couldn't possibly remember all their names *woo*
Oh snap the beard is coming back!
The original American Male.
@Wrestling With Wregret Your comment about Liger being the Ultimate opening match wrestler is spot on. He was in the opening match with Tyler Breeze for the first ever NXT Takeover Brooklyn in 2015 on SummerSlam Weekend. That PPV was the one I credit for putting NXT on the map to the broader audience it's gained since.
Ono is such a dastardly heel, wanting to turn Iowa Japanese
Forget the squeaky ring, it's all about listening to Luger whenever he's involved! "OHH!" "AHH!" "OHH!"
Luger's grunts makes Shamrock's grunts sound quiet.
OW! MAH GAHD! OOH AHH! REH! EH!
Check out osw review, that have a whole thing about Lugers selling
Ud want watch osw review ard number 53 they slate him up till ard then except one there 3irish lads and now they love lex and his loud selling
Oh sumone already said sorry didint even look didint think sumone would of know us Irish podcast 👊👊💯💯🇨🇮🇨🇮🇨🇮
Sonny's 'evil Japanese manager' persona was a stereotype but he played that character so well. Curtain jerkers are important to start your event off right and nobody did it better than Liger. Legend.
I always liked Chono. He had cool tights.
I thought Mr Fuji had that gimmick down pat in the WWF, too.
It's true. Sonny knew exactly what the WCW audience wanted in a stereotypical Japanese heel manager and he leaned in hard. I remember sometimes he's bring a camera along and take selfies with whoever he was managing on the way to the ring because Japanese folks love cameras. right? He'd cut promos about trying to buy everything (that being a big bugaboo at the time). He'd cut promos about trying to buy wrestlers' contracts, buy whole WCW shows, etc. The man helped get some heat on a legion of otherwise boring, interchangeable midcard heels. What a boss.
Also racist that he sued WCW and Time Warner.
Yokozoooooonaaaaaah numbaaaaaaah one! aaaaaaaaahhhh haaaaa aaaaah
Don’t know if anyone else mentioned it, but, according to Flair, Savage bladed him without his permission. You can see Savage fumbling for the blade and Flair react after it happens.
I heard that too, I think Flair also mentioned he was not too happy with this title win because there was too much outside interference, funny I know. I also remember reading the blade was actually taped to the megaphone which is why it was such a nasty blade job, Flair looked gross afterwards
This HAS to be false.
Flair bleeds on command. He don't need no blade job.
@@Eidenhoek I was very close to the ring for that match and Flair did not have help getting busted open and it was DEEP! His hair turned red FAST!!
@@DLRX This is 100:correct. It was awesome! Had to be the highlight of the ppv.
Brian had me curious to do some research after he mentioned Starrcade was held on a Wednesday in 1995. Turns out, that was common place for years for WCW to hold it during the week. See below:
Starrcade 1991: Sunday
Starrcade 1992: Monday
Starrcade 1993: Monday
Starrcade 1994: Tuesday
Starrcade 1995: Wednesday
Starrcade 1996: FINALLY a Sunday!
Kinda funny that Hogan contractually limited himself to working only 4 PPVs a year and thus prevented him from participating in Starrcade, WCW's Wrestlemania. We're talking about the same guy whose "retirement" angle closed Wrestlemania VIII instead of the WWF title match and whom insisted on an impromptu title match in IX that robbed Bret Hart of an establishing champion moment. The man never saw a limelight he didn't want to steal. But at least it saves us from most of the Dungeon of Doom nonsense and put the focus on the other performers. It really felt like the WCW was divided between Hogan's cartoony BS and everything else going on at the time.
I really think that his absence explains that of Mutoh.
Why else their World Champion be absent from the ‘World Cup?’
Hogan worked more than four PPVs in 1995:
Superbrawl: Defended WCW title against Vader
Uncensored: Faced Vader in a non-title strap match
Slamboree: Teamed up with Savage to face Vader & Ric Flair
Bash at the Beach: Defended WCW in a cage match
Fall Brawl: Was on the most lopsided War Games match in history (Hogan/Savage/Luger/Sting v. Meng/Zodiac/Kamala/Shark)
Halloween Havoc: Lost WCW title to Giant (plus the Monster Truck contest)
World War 3: Was in the main event 60 man battle royal.
Ya and than you just had idiot Flair go over in the main event here when he did that in almost every Starrcade prior like Hogan at Mania, fucking dumb, Sting should have won the title in the main event here
@@Vicsongwriter something tells me that the Horsemen where on to big things in 96 before Pillman left the company and that’s why they were giving Ric the belt here
@@TimTE01 My guess its because this was in december and the january 4th show was near. He had a giant rematch with Takada coming and they prolly didnt want to to risk it.
Long before I ever knew what NJPW was, I knew who Jushin Liger was. Because WCW knew who he was and understood how much of an influence his style was having on the younger talent on the roster. So of course they brought him to our shores (or at least our screens ) when they could. Why wouldn’t you try to showcase the most influential performer of his generation if you had the chance
7:44 those sonny onoo thumbnails killed me lmfao
Any Lex match gets a bonus half star for that amazing selling.
OOAH!
@@jeffreydrozek-fitzwater4649 GUAH!
Fun fact Lex Luger was actually part of a PWI Match of the Year for 1991 at Superbrawl 1- Luger and Sting vs. The Steiner Brothers. The next time they say Lex can't YOU TELL THEM HE'S THE BEST WORKER EVER AND WON MATCH OF THE YEAR BY HIMSELF ALL ON HIS OWN.
Ahh
Lex Taking Bump
What a surprise.....Benoit and Eddie had the best matches of the night.
In other news, water is wet!
Wrestling in the 90's was another level of amazing. The mainstream attention brought to wrestling was outstanding. Ratings were blowing through the roof.
It’s a shame that Jushin thunder Liger couldn’t used his anime theme song
Liger was originally a manga by Go Nagai.
@@MinscFromBaldursGate92 Yes, same as Tiger Mask. Koji Kanemoto was actually Tiger Mask III before losing his mask to Jushin Liger.
Let’s fighting love
15:52 If Brian Zane ever does a Botchamania video on Wrestling With Wregret. :)
He's done an intro for Botchamania alongside The Colossal Connection, and he's done one of those segments where wrestling TH-camrs/podcasters read wrestler's auto/biographies about botches.
@@mrsejanoz523 No, I mean if Zane ever does a Top 8 Botch Moments in Wregret history.
Eddie was a baby face cause of that fabulous mullet, how can you be bad with that hair? 🤔
Plus he was so happy to be here, and he told us a million times in one promo!
That mullet belonged in the Louvre.
@@JMFabiano Was he also nervous? Because according to OSW Review, being nervous yet happy to be there would make him a bitch.
10:45 Just wondering... At what point was the over-the-top-rope DQ rule officially rescinded in WCW? By the time the nWo angle was in full swing, I don't remember seeing anyone DQ'ed for that reason ever again.
Even at this point it was done completely randomly. There's definitely matches around this time where it happens and there's no DQ.
Surprisingly, the rule was in place until February 1998 when they announced off hand on a Thunder that they had waived the rule completely. Up until the rise of the nWo and cruiserweight division, it was more of a regular occurrence though still sparse.
You'd maybe see it once or twice in a month at best. The announcers would at least still call it out sometimes if someone was thrown over and the match didn't end but many times would cover saying it was their own momentum that took them over or the ref didn't see it etc. By 98 it was surprising they even brought it up to officially waive the rule as it was used so rarely that it could have been phased out without even mentioning it.
I'm glad you added that picture of the trophy at the end with the WCW vs nWo World Tour music. That is the exact shot they used after you defeated everyone in an organization.
Well, to be fair to Flair, Dolly Parton is pretty much Tennessee's only child we're unequivocally proud of. Pretty much everything and everybody else we've exported has a big asterisk after their name.
Just from Memphis alone: Jerry Lawler? Flair himself? (Yes, he was born in Memphis! And actually was victim of a baby trafficking ring, but that's another story entirely...) Aretha Franklin? Sputnik Monroe might not be a native, but what he did for desegregation in Memphis surely is worthy of great praise and an honorary title as a Memphian?
Gotta use that noodle!
Tennessee is ALSO PROUD of Conway Twitty Eviltwindumbass
The late great Tina Turner comes to mind (she was born in Nutbush TN iirc)
Most of the promotion for this show was done on the Saturday morning TBS show (Pro). They had an angle where Bobby Heenan ‘sold’ the show to New Japan. They brought in the NJPW workers to a Disney taping so all matches were on Pro, not Nitro.
Too Many Superplexs, Too Many Roll Up Victories… Damnit D’Lo.
Remember, though, that at the beginning of the '80s the superplex had won Maneuver of the Year and still regularly got huge pops in the '90s. Companies actually do pay attention to shit like that.
@@Feve5 It should be a finish, dang it!
IT'S A MOVE FROM THE TOP ROPE. It is the *highest* a person can get in a match, falling on their back.
It should be a finish i hate everyone.
@@Eidenhoek "It's still real to me, dammit!"
I am suprised brian did not mention when Bobby and dusty was making fun of tony for calling the boot "the mafia kick"
Really enjoy these classic ppv reviews, keep them coming sir. Thank you.
FINALLY KOTR 2001 will be reviewed!!!!! Shane vs Angle is in my top 3 matches!
I've been desperately waiting for the invasion pay-per-view review though...
This is the closest we are going to get Brian to review a NJPW showv
Damn not used to seeing Eddie's early generic babyface subdued mild mannered promos
You do a really good job with these, by far the best on the internet. Really enjoy these during my WoW grinds.
Excited to see what Starcade 1995 has for us and what your opinions will be. I have high-school finals tomorrow after being stuck there for more than I should’ve, so I’m worried as all hell, but I think this will calm me down a bit. Thanks Z-man!
Good luck!
@@Pensfan5919 cheers!
Good luck bro!
Good luck!
Happy to say the final went really well! Will have to wait to see the final results but excited nonetheless
I rather see the 3rd guy on the apron in a triangle match instead of him rolling out the ring for 3 minutes waiting for the next spot.
Haven't been on this channel in a while, so much newer videos to see. Love it.
I still remember seeing the PPV when it was out, and I was impressed with many of the talent from New Japan Pro. Hell, this was the first actual match I saw from Jushin "Thunder" Liger. I've heard so much about him on the wrestling magazines as a kid, and it was wonderful to see him in action.
Liger is one of my favourites of all time. He wrestled on a 2 night card for my friends fed UWA in Mississauga Ontario in 2006 teaming with another one of my all time favourites Ultimo Dragon.
One of my favorite PPVs ever, and worth it just for Dusty Rhodes commentary. Been waiting for Brian to this one for a LONG time.
WCW for Life!!!
Oh and Sonny Ono lives in my home state Iowa, owns a car dealership in Mason City.
I get where you're coming from with the Luger/Sting thing, but it gets REALLY good in 1996 when they're tag champs and Luger's trying to pretend he's a good guy. Unfortunately, it doesn't get any resolution because of some other thing that happened nobody remembers, but it was fun while it lasted.
As someone who's never really seen Masa Saito wrestle, just by looking at him I could tell that he should have wiped the floor with Johnny B. Badd in just 5 seconds.
Why the heck would you ever decide to have your biggest PPV of the year on a WEDNESDAY?
It was a Wednesday between Xmas and New Year. Having it on a Sunday would have meant having on either Xmas Eve or New Years Eve,.
@@robfinlay8058 Still could've done it on a Friday or Saturday though.
Doing big shows during the week was very common back then. Especially when it was around holidays. I believe this was the third or fourth year in a row Staircade was specifically on the 27th.
Halloween Havoc and BATB were bigger deals than Starrcade since Bischoff took over
@@attiepollard7847 Why would they want to? The 27th is a much better day, in the run up to Christmas people are busy, by the 27th people are done with Christmas, most adults are not at work, kids are not at school, it's a good day to run a PPV on.
Thanks for all the time you put into all of your reviews and other videos man. Always great work
I recently started watching Monday Night Wars made it to. Starrcade last night, but didn't care to watch the Japanese stars as I knew nothing about them, so I went to TH-cam hoping you had reviewed it disappointed you hadn't and here we are the next morning
I wasn't aware Flair won at least 5 of his World Championship titles while being 46 or older. That just blows my mind.
I'm pretty sure Flair was born 46 years old
Though most of those 5 reigns were meaningless, as they were for a combined 132 days (the 4th reign was 7 days and the 5th reign was about an hour)
@@TJSpyke correct me if i'm wrong but weren't most of his world title reigns short he did have a lot of reigns but from what i can tell only one of them was for a meaningful amount of time
@@robjackson4050 depends which titles you mean. Of his 10 NWA title reigns, 6 of them were at least 400 days each. But his longest WCW title reign was 171 days (which was his first resign) and his longest WWE Championship reign was 77 days
@@wesleywiggins958 nah he was born as david flair
Brief correction in your review, but Luger wasn't a heel at the time. He was a tweener. He did heelish things at times, but because of his friendship of Sting he was still technically a babyface.
Nah he is just a heel who values friendship
@@cameronjohnson9361 yes i agree. he was basically a heel to everybody except sting. if i recall, when giant beat hogan at havoc, when macho came in to save him, luger came in and attacked macho.
He was in the Dungeon of Doom. Heel with a super babyface trying to appeal to his better nature.
I just happened to watch starrcade 96 just the other day and this might as well have been the exact same card. The under card putting on clinics and the veterans pretty much embarrassing themselves with a few exceptions.
6 Years before WWE vs The Alliance during The Invasion and Many years before AEW vs Impact Wrestling vs NJPW there was WCW vs NJPW
Oh wow this brought me back this was my first Starrcade it introduced me to the Wrestlers from Japan! 😊😊😊😊😊
For shame, no selling the Mafia Kick exchange on commentary!
Sonny Onoo was my favorite WCW manager
The network must not have the footage because there were promos and hype packages on the Japanese wrestlers who competed in the World Cup of Wrestling. The most memorable was the one with Sony advising each Wrestler how to conquer his opponent at Starrcade
absolutely correct
NJPW owns the footage.
Luger was the Big Show of WCW constantly turning heel and face
I can attest to Liger being an amazing opener. I went to a Ring of Honor taping in Philadelphia and he was part of a 4 corner survival with Mark Briscoe, Jay Lethal, and Shinsuke Nakamura and he was super over with the theme.
Sounds like a hell of a match.
Part of the build involved Heenan selling WCW Pro to Sonny Onoo and NJPW. Of course he wasn't allowed to do that, but we did manage to somehow get a few weeks of Japanese guys on Pro before that was discovered.
I absolutely loved this show as a kid (I was 12 at the time) and while it definitely could have been a lot better, seeing guys I'd only read about in magazines, as well as Liger again, was really exciting.
Lastly, it actually wasn't odd for this show to be on a weeknight. Starrcade had been on the 27th for a few years at this point, and Sunday wouldn't become nearly the only day for ppv for another year or so after this.
11:42 it’s spelled “Ootani” because the proper pronunciation of the “O” in Japanese is lengthened and is normally romanized as “ōtani,” “Ohtani” or “Ootani”
This is the same company that Rey Mysterio Sr was called ‘Rey Mysterioso’ and ‘Rey Mysteric’ in.
@@TimTE01man that's tough
Well, not always, just in names/words like Ōtani
King of the Ring 01 is next? That's a pretty good show if I remember. Aside from the DDP/Undertaker stuff, which was technically not a match, and Benoit's injury in the Main Event. As, I believe KOTR 01 was the one with Shane/Angle (and Angle was in 3 matches), Edge winning KOTR, Austin vs Benoit vs Jericho. So, I believe it must've been at least a good show, if not great.
I enjoyed that show, remember having Sky TV at the time but couldn't watch it live because I had school in the morning so instead just watched the repeat the next night with my Mum and Stepdad, they kinda enjoyed even they weren't into wrestling at all.
10:37 That was a disgustingly clean sunset flip. That was basically a swanton but harder to aim
They did stuff on WCW Pro and Worldwide to promote the New Japan Stars. They had Sonny buy Worldwide time to feature his guys if i remember correctly.
The roll up was the most effective move of that night
It is the greatest move in wrestling.
It’s the most effective finisher of all time
No matter how many times I hear his name I will always say "Masa My Hero Chono" the way he was announced at Souled Out.
‘Wunderkid' Alex Wright had the quintessential 90s hair back then.
19:13 And I thought Hogan's and Storm's chairshots were bad.
Hogan will always be the worst 😅
This was my first WCW pov I watched as a kid on VHS loved it!
I saw many wrestling cards in that venue including wrestlemania 1on big screen closed circuit when i was 7 years old good memories!
I felt pretty silly here. Heard you say the Peacock version and thought "this must be real recent" look down and it says 1 hour ago.
i just happened to watch this for the first time tonight and you just happened to post this thank you brian
I remember watching this and thinking Flair was gonna bleed to death. Besides from some ECW matches, this was to that date the worst bleeding I had seen (started watching wrestling in 84)
what about jericho outbladed himself that year in smokey mountain wrestling. pretty nasty
this was one of te more intriguing ppv to me growing up ... i remember seeing results in a pwi mag
Watching this for the first time on Peacock, I was walking on a treadmill and couldn’t help laughing at Bobby Heenan’s booth blunders. From losing his papers to losing his chair to losing his headset, I couldn’t stop laughing. I forgive Tony and Dusty for struggling to stay focused with all that.
Marc Mero is really an underrated high flyer. A lot of us saw him for the first time as a boxer with Sable. I remember the “Wild Man” doing a freakin Shooting Star Press. If there are any matches with him and the WCW cruiserweights, I’d love to see it.
He wrestled in the WCW light heavyweight
Nothing could ever beat Liger vs. Benoit as wild Pegasus in their Super J cup match.
I saw it when it happened, and to that point I had only watched WWF (since 84) so imagine the contrast....
I remember this show. It was the first PPV I bought with my own money.
King of the Ring 2001 is next, hmm? I wonder... are you going to cover PPVs throughout the whole Invasion storyline afterwards the same way you did the WCW 2001 trilogy? From Invasion to Survivor Series 2001?
I'm curious if at least, Invasion will be after King of the Ring 2001? It would fall in that July time frame and after all next month is the 20 year anniversary of that show. I made a prediction a couple years ago that he would review that show by next month.
Always loved that Guerrero vs. Otani match. Also, that outro music!!
The original forbidden door
One advantage to having it so one person has to tag out is that it at least avoid situations where people have to sell outside the ring for ages while the other 2 guys fight each other. :P
Having Hogan use up all his PPV appearances before Starrcade just proves that Bischoff considered Halloween Havoc to be their 'Mania
Team USA with a Canadian, a German and a Mexican American hahaha
Then again, WCW had a Team Canada faction in 2000 where everyone but Lance Storm (and PCO & Jacques Rougeau for about a week) was American.
@@DasNordlicht91 true they had 8 members and 4 were American and 4 were Canadian lol
well they couldnt call it team everyone who isnt Japanese lol
@@heisensaul5538 are u talking about Team USA or Team Canada lol? Sorry I got confused
@@JCLopez209 I was talking about Team USA on this show lol
New classic PPV review = me happy 😊
10:17 perfect use of DJ horns.
Much thanks and safety to ya!!!
Umm... this might be a stupid question, but why didn't they bring in Tenay to comment here? They would do that later for similar events (even in TNA) and I remember him being quite good in terms of explaining foreign wrestling customs
Granted my memory isn't what is used to be, but was Tenay even with the company at this point? I seem to remember him not coming in until mid 96 or thereabouts.
@@brandonhendrix7223 he was. I checked this before writing the comment as I wasn't sure myself ;) Actually already since 1994, in a couple of rotating positions, such as B-show commentator and backstage interviewer
@@CmdrUD87 ok. Well, my best guess is maybe they felt he wasn't "ready" to call a major ppv yet. Sure, I know it's right up his alley and he would've nailed it but you know how people in power sometimes think. (Sidenote: I had no idea Tenay was there for that long. Granted, I only watched Saturday Night sporadically after 1992 or so. But even then the first time I really remember him was on Nitro doing segments about luchadors, not sure when that was.)
Imagine today. With NJPW being more recognized today than ever before.
It's great how well Savage's and Tenzan's attires go together.
I actually own this PPV on an old VHS tape. I should dig it out.
Sonny Ono, the inventor of the selfie.
Nice use of that N64 character select music at the end!
Loved this show despite the negatives and positives, it was just a fun show all around
With regards to the double O in Ootani, it's a matter of how you wish to spell his name as the "O" in his name is a long O. Ou/Oh/Ō are also often seen as there are multiple systems. Macrons, I feel, are the best but a pain to type for many people.
Oh and there's the option to leave a single o which is stupid as some Japanese words are completely different depending on whether the vowel is short or long.
I’m pretty sure there was a lot more promotion of the New Japan wrestlers on Saturday Night & the syndicated shows. I remember Savage cutting a promo on Tenzan (I’ll beat Tenzan, Nine Zan, whoever”). I thought there was a segment on Nitro where Sonny, Liger & Saito were sitting at ringside scouting the competition
Correct, it's just there was none on their flagship Nitro. I remember on Nitro they would only ever mention the Triangle Match but the not the World Cup.
Liger was always one of the best. Didn't really know much about his Japan run, but his WCW time was good enough to win me over.
Holy crap Tenzan has had the exact same haircut for over thirty years.
I love Benoit s mullet.
While 1995 was a lean year for wrestling. WCW stayed rather entertaining and they had some of the more creative characters in wrestling that year.
The first starcade during the monday night and the first starcade that associate with NJPW
Upside of mic failure is we get to see (hear) exactly how good your first string mic is.
The man called sting!!!!
He does this, he does that
@@NateMac434 that's nice but what else does he do?