WCW HOG WILD 1996 REVIEW

With that out of the way, it was on to our first match. 

With Iron Mike Tenay joining the commentary team, Rey Mysterious successfully defended his cruiserweight title against Ultimo Dragon in a spirited, though somewhat disappointing match. 

Of course, that’s not to say there was anything wrong with it, but given the caliber of the performers involved, it’s fair to say that your reviewer set his expectations perhaps just a little too high. 

Indeed, whilst this wasn’t the captivating cruiserweight classic we might have hoped for, it was a decent, straight-forward opener with a couple of cool spots thrown in for good measure. 

Your Winner and Still WCW cruiser weight champion: Rey Mysterio Jr. 

Out in the crowd, Mean Gene Okerlund, looking just as ridiculous in his fake biker costume as his broadcast colleagues, shilled the WCW hotline before the announcers went back to telling us how cool Sturgis was. 

True story, for a time when I was maybe eight or nine years old, ITV, one of the main broadcasters here in the UK, showed WCW’s Disney Studios shows on Saturday afternoons. During this period, for reasons which are largely unfathomable to me now, Ice Train was my absolute favourite wrestler. 

Here, my one-time hero sought to gain revenge on his former Fire & Ice tag partner Scott Norton after flash turned on him a few weeks earlier on Nitro.

Not that he would have much success tonight. 

Earlier in the evening, on WCW Saturday Night, ‘Train had apparently gotten himself caught up in the conflict between his manager Teddy Long, and WCW Champion The Giant (Long’s other charge, Sgt. Craig Pittman had lost a match against The Giant on Nitro) after which both he and Long were chokeslammed by the champ). That hadn’t ended well for Ice Train, who also found himself on the wrong end of a Giant attack, and was forced to wrestle this grudge match with his arm and chest heavily bandaged. 

Naturally, his adversary took full advantage of this, working over Train’s arm with a series of submission holds which, quite frankly, bored the pants off your writer. 

After a short bout, the referee decided that Ice Train could no longer continue, and this snore fest was over. 

Your Winner: Scott Norton 

In a brief interlude, we were next shown a recap of a sit down interview with The Nature Boy Ric Flair which had originally played out earlier on WCW Saturday Night. 

The clip saw Flair promising revenge after the nWo attacked his best friend, Arn Anderson two weeks ago on Nitro, and vowing that the Four Horsemen would do whatever it took to rid WCW of the New World Order. 

Up next, we were given a look at the official WCW Hog Wild 1996 merchandise.

The voiceover man assured us that the t-shirt and denim jacket were the coolest items of clothing around, though one look at them was enough to assure you that this wasn’t the case. 

Just to prove how ‘cool’ they were, the company had Jimmy Hart of all people feature in the commercial.

I don’t know about you, but when I think of cool, the last person I think of is the Mouth of the South.

Finally, after more talk about how great Sturgis is, it was back to ringside. 

In a rematch from their Summerslam 1994 encounter, Madusa and Bull Nakano locked up in a match in which the winner would be allowed to smash the loser’s motorcycle with a sledgehammer.

As dumb as it such a stipulation may sound (especially since Nakano didn’t seem to give a damn about her bike), you have to hand it to WCW, it did work. 

For the first time on the show, the crowd really came alive, rallying behind Madusa and taunting Bull Nakano with chants of ‘USA! USA!’ 

The crowd involvement seemed to help too, in turning this short little bout into the most enjoyable one on the card up to that point. 

The ending however was a tad confusing; Nakano hit a suplex and seemed to pick up the win, after which Sonny Onoo picked up the sledgehammer and went after Madusa’s bike. Madusa gave chase, was declared the winner (apparently she’d raised her shoulder and Nakano hadn’t) and proceeded to attack Nakano’s bike. 

Your Winner: Madusa 

Backstage, the Steiner Brothers were chatting to fans online via Compuserve (remember that?) until Rick Steiner found a “game” and wouldn’t let Scott play on it.

The two began playfully jostling behind two laptops, neither man seeming all that concerned with their upcoming WCW tag team title shot against Harlem Heat.

If that sounds weird, believe me, that’s because it was.

Dean Malenko vs. Chris Benoit (w/ Woman & Miss Elizabeth)

In between my Bash at the Beach 1996 review and tonight’s show, I watched every single Nitro and clued myself in as best I could on the storylines taking place at the time. That includes the ongoing rivalry between The Four Horsemen and The Dungeon of Doom, which somehow saw Jimmy Hart hiring Dean Malenko to take out Chris Benoit once and for all.

Despite this, I just can’t tell who -if anybody- is supposed to be the babyface in this story. As far as I can tell, it’s all just a bunch of heels hating on each other. You know what? If that’s what it took to produce matches like this, then I’m all for it.

Yes, I’m aware of what Benoit did, and no, I’m not in the camp that thinks he should still be revered by fans after the crimes he committed, but for the sake of these reviews, I’ve decided to just judge Benoit’s matches on their own merit,and as such, I’m happy to report that yes, this one was a good one.

A true ‘wrestling’ match in the purest sense of the word, The Crippler and The Ice Man atacked each other with everything they had in a gruelling, hard fought contest that was spoiled only by a general lack of interest from the Sturgis crowd.

Despite this, the two kept going, first wrestling each other to a time limit draw, and then taking the match into not one, but two five minute over-time periods. In the second of these, Woman got involved, allowing Benoit to roll-up Malenko for a somewhat anti-climatic finish.
Your Winner: Chris Benoit

After more shots of the live crowd, it was straight on to our next match.

World Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship
WCW Tag Team Champions Harlem Heat (Booker T & Stevie Ray w/ Sister Sherri & Col. Parker) vs. The Steiner Brothers (Rick &  Scott Steiner)

Just when it looked as though the subdued crowd had possibly fallen asleep for good during that last bout, Booker T, Stevie Ray, Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner certainly did a terrific job of waking them up again with a fun, by-the-numbers bout for the tag team titles.

Getting the crowd pumped up in a way that they hadn’t been all night, both teams went at it in a hard-hitting battle that was made all the more enjoyable thanks to the excitement generated by the live audience.

Just when it looked like The Steiners may have secured the victory, Col. Parker and Sister Sherri got involved, the latter blasting Scott in the face with white powder, and the former drilling Steiner over the head with a cane. That was enough for Booker T to make the cover, get the count, and win the match for his team.
Your Winners and Still WCW Tag Team Champions: Harlem Heat

Up next, we were shown footage various WCW superstars riding to Sturgis, along with more generic shots of people riding through the streets on bikes. You know, just in case you hadn’t already figured out that this was a biker ralley or something.

World Championship Wrestling United States Championship
WCW United States Champion Ric Flair (w/ Woman & Miss Elizabeth) vs. Eddie Guerrero 

For the second pay per view in a row, United States Champion Ric Flair had one of the best matches on the show, this time in a solid defence against future legend, Eddie Guerrero.

With the sun setting on Sturgis and the crowd now finally alive, both men went at it in an exhilarating, see-saw battle which up to this point was your writer’s favourite match on the entire show.

After plenty of back-and-forth action, Woman once again got involved, giving Ric Flair the assist by pulling on his arms for extra leverage as he held Guerrero in the figure four. Apparently passing out due to the pain, Guerrero lay on the mat, shoulders down, and was pinned.
Your Winner and Still WCW United States Champion: Ric Flair

Somewhere out in the arena, Mean Gene interviewed Jimmy Hart and WCW Champion The Giant about the latter’s upcoming match with Hulk Hogan. Hart warned Hogan not to fall over “because nobody will be there to pick you up,” whilst Giant himself spoke about how Hogan had betrayed WCW, and how it was up to The Giant himself to end Hulk once and for all.

Sting & Lex Luger vs. The Outsiders (Scott Hall & Kevin Nash)

Though the ambiance of being outdoors in the dark did lend a certain aesthetic appeal to this match, the actual in-ring action did nothing -and I mean *nothing*- to warrant anybody ever watching it more than once.

To say it was boring would hardly be doing it justice. Honestly, from the moment it started to the moment it finished, it seemed as though neither Lex Luger, Sting, Scott Hall, nor Kevin Nash actually wanted to be there. All four men simply showed up and did as little as they possibly could to get through a dull, lifeless bout.

Thankfully, Luger and Hall eventually put us out of our misery when the former picked up the latter for a torture rack. Referee Nick Patrick got in the way, coming up short on the reeving end of Hall’s boot and taking a tumble. In a move which must have seemed bizarre at the time -but which now makes plenty of sense with hindsight- Patrick “accidentally” chopped Luger around the back of the leg, causing Hall to fall on top of him.

One very fast three count later, and this one was finally over.
Your Winners: The Outsiders 

With all that over and done with, it was on to our main event of the evening.

World Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship
WCW Champion The Giant (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan