ironhorse_iv
In late 1996, the New World Order angle was perhaps the hottest thing in pro-wrestling at the time. The idea of seeing a rebelling stable of wrestlers going against the corporation establishment was entertaining to see. It was the main driving forces behind World Championship Wrestling promotion rise on topping the World Wrestling Federation, back in the Monday Night Wars, for a while. However, the first missteps in direction, became to show in early 1997, when then-president, Eric Bischoff, had the idea of making the NWO, its own entity or brand, by, giving the heelish group, its own PPV, without much deep thought. Taking place at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at the Five Seasons Center, in the cold midst of the winter, the PPV opens up, with the NWO wrestlers riding the backs of garbage trucks. Why, garbage trucks!? I guess, everybody knew, this PPV would be trash. Honestly, the symbolic would be, better, if they were riding the semi-trucks! At least, that makes sense with the story, they were originally trying to tell, with the NWO taking over the production of WCW. Despite that, at least, the opening video with a dictatorial speech from Bischoff, was kinda cool. Plus the stage for the PPV was unique, with new light up staircase, trio of titan-trons, and live band. Yet, I can't say, with the aged dancers that can barely dance, & the three random fat guys, sitting on the stairs. Are they supposed to be bouncers!? They look like greasy sweat hogs! You would think, NWO would hired bodyguards with some muscle. It looks out of place, like the Miss NWO pageant of questionable women of beauty. Another thing, I hate about the layout of the PPV is the camera shots. The hand held camera on the stick, really don't mix, well, with the studio cameras. The shots, they product, look shaky, grainy, dark, and awkward. Talking about awkward, the commentary for the show was just as bad. The idea that all the audiences is only going to hear, from heels doesn't make the PPV, any easily to listen to. You need babyfaces to couther all the juvenile crapping, of wrestlers, outside of the NWO stable. If not, it will make, the wrestlers, look weak, because there isn't much, praise about their athletic abilities or style. This is what happen, before, during and after the matches most of the night. To make it worst, throughout the show, Ted DiBiase and especially Bischoff talk about, way too much about bland other subjects like motorcycles, and not enough on what's happening in the ring. It was very distracting. It really alienation, a lot of the fans & talents that love in ring work. It didn't help that every match on the card, featured the in-story crooked referee in Nick Patrick. No wonder, why nobody paid to watch this 3 hours show. Nearly every match in the card, ended with some BS farcical means. Without spoiling the show, too much, I have to say, the opening card, between (WCW) Chris Jericho Vs Masahiro Chono (NWO) was not that bad. However, both men could do, better. It seem a bit lazy at parts. Also, sadly, the crowd didn't really, seem into it, as nobody had a clue, who Chono, was. The next match, wasn't any better, with (NWO) Big Bubba Rogers AKA Big Bossman fighting (WCW) Hugh Morrus (with Jimmy Hart) in a 'Mexican Death Match' AKA 'Last Man Standing', replacing Konnan who has travel problems. Because of the last minute replacement, the stipulation for this match, doesn't make a lick of sense. Why would an ex-prison guard fight a laughing man? None of the weapons, use, relate to anybody persona or the gimmick of the match. Instead, an odd motorcycle hit and run, was the highlight of, what can be, called, as a below average Crash TV hardcore match. This brings us to the next match, which was (NWO) Mr. Wall Street AKA 'I.R.S', Irwin R. Schyster versus Jeff Jarrett. It was a nothing, of a match that made no sense, with a horrible ending. Moving on, (NWO) Buff Bagwell and (WCW) Scotty Riggs faced each other in fourth match of the night, stemming from Bagwell's betrayal of Riggs to join the NWO, thus breaking their tag team. The two men had a lengthy match, which sadly, was alright, but not very memorable. At least, it was a full match, and not a half of a fight, like Diamond Dallas Page (WCW) match with (NWO) Scott Norton. That contest was cut way too short. Despite that, the ending was somewhat memorable. It really made DDP, into a bigger baby face. This brings us to the next fight, which had 'The Outsiders' (Scott Hall and Kevin Nash) defended their WCW World Tag Team Championship against the 'Steiner Brothers' (Rick and Scott). Considering that, this was the first title match of the night. It was fine, even with weird ref bump. All wrestlers did, what they could, to make the match, fun to watch. The final match on the undercard was a ladder match between champion, Eddie Guerrero and challenger, Syxx AKA X-Pac for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. Like most ladder matches from the 90s, it doesn't quite stack up to the crazy stunts, we seem since then. Yet, the match was rather good. It beats the somewhat predictable main event, between World Champion, Hulk Hogan versus the Giant AKA the Big Show, ten folds for the title. Overall: I wouldn't call, this show, 'mildly exciting'. It was too much of a headache to watch with the repetitive BS finishes and lazy ringwork. It's just a worse version of the Nitro episode with the same gimmick. Because of that, it's 'not worth overseeing' even for nostalgia reasons.
callanvass
Live from Cedar Rapids, IAAttendance: 5,120Your hosts are Eric Bischoff & Ted Dibiase Everything is nWo. The setup, the logos, the ring, the announcers, everything. To be honest, it's a little overbearing. Masahiro Chono Vs Chris JerichoJericho is a face here and he's booed pretty loudly because Cedar Rapids seem to be full of idiots. The crowd ends up favoring Jericho anyway because of Nick Patrick. Chono wins with a boot to the face. Technically, this match is fine. It just lacks any real spark. **Mexican Death MatchHugh Morrus (W/Jimmy Hart) Vs Big Bubba RogersA Mexican Death Match is where anything goes. No pinfalls, no countouts, submissions, etc. You keep going until you can't continue. Kinda like a Last Man Standing Match. Big Bubba wins after running over Morrus with a motorcycle. This was such a stupid match. They didn't take advantage of the stipulation and failed to be creative on anything. The finish was really silly.*Jeff Jarrett Vs M. WallstreetJarrett wins after Steve McMichael interferes. This is another boring match. It was filled with rest holds that bored me to tears. Jarrett is a decent worker, but that's about it.*1/4Buff Bagwell Vs Scotty RiggsBagwell wins with the Buff Blockbuster. This one was REALLY boring. It felt like it went on for 30 minutes with how much it dragged. The only cool thing about it was seeing Buff's finisher. I've always thought Buff's finisher was awesome.*1/2Diamond Dallas Paige Vs Scott NortonScott Norton wins by countout when Buff Bagwell and other nWo members come down to the ring. Buff offers DDP another chance to be in the nWo. DDP accepts the nWo's invitation and puts on the shirt. It turns out to be a trick from DDP. DDP nails the Diamond Cutter on Norton, fends off the nWo, and escapes through the crowd.This is a pretty mediocre match that had a hot ending. DDP's tease was exciting.*3/4Tag Team ChampionshipThe Outsiders (C) Vs The Steiner BrothersThe Steiner's win the tag team titles after Rick Steiner hits Scott Hall with a bulldog from the top. This was a pretty average tag team match. There was nothing horrible about it, but nothing overly exciting either. The Steiner's winning is a pretty cool moment, I guess,**United States Championship (Ladder Match)Eddie Guererro Vs SyxxBoth pull the belt down at the same time, but Eddie gains possession and drills Syxx with it to fully gain possession of the belt and win the title. This might seem tame for today's standards because there have been so many ladder matches, but it's still an excellent ladder match. It was exciting and both did some cool stuff. ***3/4Up next is Eric Bischoff in a painful segment, choosing the new miss nWo. This was way worse than the diva search. World Heavyweight Championship"Hollywood" Hulk Hogan (C) (W/The Dallas Cowboys) Vs The GiantThe match ends inconclusively. The Giant has the match won with a chokeslam, but Nick Patrick won't count the three. The Giant ends up destroying the nWo with chokeslams until Hogan nails The Giant with a guitar. Hogan and the nWo humiliate the Giant by spray painting nWo on him to end the show. This was an awful main event. Every match these two have with each other has stunk. I hated the finish as well. 3/4*This is quite possibly the worst WCW PPV I've ever seen. It was obnoxious garbage from start to finish except for the ladder match. The setup is very murky as well. The nWo did do some memorable things, but Bischoff also didn't realize when enough was enough. They overdid it in a big way here.2.5/10
