My Favorite Wrestling: WCW Worldwide 10/27/96

1. Kevin Sullivan & Konnan vs. John Peterson & Johnny Boone

Well this was a sloppy massacre. Sullivan drags Boone into the MGM crowd and throws him over the top row railing into the entranceway. Boone later takes a splash mountain powerbomb on his shoulder and took a big flip bump off a Sullivan clothesline. No idea who Peterson was but he took a big snap bump off a lariat. You knew what this was.

2. Juventud Guerrera vs. Eddie Guerrero

Oh shit yeah this was great. I cannot imagine more stuff being crammed into 4 minutes. Juvy does every single move he knows and Eddie makes them look amazing. Both guys were fast and violent, and say what you will about MGM crowds but they literally screamed "Go Eddie!" the whole time. Juvy pulls some wild stuff out of his ass for '96, hitting a springboard rana into the ring and with Eddie on the top rope, and then breaking out a 360 corkscrew springboard splash. Eddie gives Juvy tons of offense here, even getting dumped with a snap brainbuster. Juvy is constant motion here, never letting up, dropping Eddie and following up with elbow drops, leg drops, always throwing punches and elbows while standing; Eddie hits a mean slingshot senton and huge superplex before just planting the frog splash. When you see this match on paper you hope for something as spirited as this. These guys were great.

3. Ron Studd vs. Rick Steiner

Match only went a minute, and had a classic WCW syndie finish where a guy kicks out on the two count and everybody is confused for a while until the bell just rings. Studd hit a pretty decent big boot and Steiner took his knee out with a chop block. He finished with the Steiner Line and Studd kicked out, but Steiner stood up holding his arms up like he won, so nobody knew what to do. How the hell did this happen so much!? Studd was even more mammoth than I remembered; he was literally tall as Steiner while he was kneeling. That's crazy.

4. Disco Inferno vs. Rey Misterio Jr.

Short little match with Rey hitting a flurry at the end to win it. Disco does some fun exaggerated punches and shakes his fist out after. Love that. Rey threw himself wildly into all of Disco's moves, taking a high speed hotshot and whipping himself into a swinging neckbreaker, gets planted on a powerbomb. Disco admirably tries to busy himself while being draped over the middle rope as Rey hits a springboard legdrop. Disco also misses a nasty kneedrop off the middle. Quick Rey springboard dropkick and rana roll up for the win. Watching this show it's kind of crazy how Juvy may have been *this* close to being the crossover superstar instead of Rey. Does anyone know what specifically made them choose Rey over Juvy for that spot?

5. Jerry Lynn vs. Chris Benoit

Some girl wearing a gigantic football jersey at ringside touches Benoit on his entrance, and he turns and just stares a fucking hole through her. What a creep. The girl looked genuinely frightened. Some really old woman is also booing him. Double thumbs down. And then Benoit proceeds to beat the shit out of Jerry Lynn for 3 1/2 minutes. Lynn gets a nice tilt-a-whirl armdrag and a rana roll-up, and the rest is all Benoit throwing brutal chops, nasty kicks to the stomach, stomping Lynn in the back of the head, hitting one of his all time brain damage causing headbutts, just really annihilates Lynn.

6. Dean Malenko vs. Chris Jericho

Wildcat Willie is warming up the crowd with some hot moves. Heenan, on Malenko: "He seems like the kind of guy who would walk you to the electric chair, and then beg to pull the switch." I mean, he'll at least make excuses for you after you murder your family. So there's that. And this match is killer. It's worked fast like a 3 minute match, except it goes almost 8. Jericho is in full on fired up babyface mode and Dean is cold calculated murder(er apologist). Dean breaks out every little trick he knows, doing all his counter wrestling porn. Some of the sequences get a little too rehearsed with Dean focusing on when to somersault bump instead of waiting for Jericho's enziguiri to actually connect. But who cares? A lot of that 90s workrate counter wrestling hasn't aged well, but this match holds up shockingly well. The pace was tight, they didn't go for an absurd amount of nearfalls, and they tossed in a couple of large unexpected bumps. Malenko at one point was out on the apron near the turnbuckles and Jericho hit a running forearm that sent Malenko sprawling. Jericho followed it up with a stiff springboard shoulderblock to the floor. Back in and Jericho got two real good nearfalls off roll ups, and they lead to a smart finish where Malenko rolls through a Jericho crossbody and only wins by holding the tights. Malenko had just the right amount of heel work here, and the crowd was rabidly behind babyface Jericho. This was not Malenko working 2.9 nearfalls and random leglocks in a silent vacuum, this was an actual competitive match with the fans really loving Jericho going tit for tat with Malenko. Awesome stuff.

Huge thanks again to CubsFan for not only donating to a great cause, but making me go back and watch some really fun '96 WCW. There's still more to come :)


***I'm still desperately trying to raise money for my friend and coworker whose home burned down, completely disappearing every single one of her possessions. The donations are coming in and the requests are getting weirder and I fear they're going to start purposely torturing me. BUT NO MATTER! I'm matching every contribution and will continue writing above and beyond for those who donate. This means SO MUCH to me and you all are making me so happy***