WCW Mayhem 1999 pay-per-view Review

If you follow my @RantsWrestle account you will hopefully know it's the account I do sort of live tweets on pro wrestling events every Sunday at 5pm GMT. Today after months of thinking I should really blog my reviews of these shows I've been watching I'm finally getting around to it. Today I watched wcw mayhem 1999 from Toronto Canada at the maple leaf gardens arena and I wasn't that impressed with the show but before I get ahead of myself and go into full on rant mode here's the results and all the major happenings from this show in my review. The show opened with a video package trying to explain how the wcw world title had become vacant a job wcw didn't do very well, basically they said sting actions at last months wcw Halloween havoc had caused the title to be declared vacant. Those actions where never explained properly but then the whole situation last month may have taken a whole month to explain. The previous month wcw had done a screwy finish (Russo favourite folks the worked shoot) between hogan and sting. I think I'm right in saying hulk laid down for sting after 3seconds. Later on (still the same ppv)  sting faced bill Goldberg in what was billed as an impromptu unsanctioned wcw world title. Goldberg beat sting in 3 minutes to win the title and the next night on nitro championship commitee member JJ Dillon declared the title had never changed hands because the match was unsanctioned and due to sting attacking match official Charles Robinson during his match with Goldberg. So the title was vacant and wcw booked a horrible 32 man tournament which wasn't a clean tournament, even the losers of 1st round matches somehow advanced. An example of this was that madusa was eliminated but thrown back in and a number of wrestlers won there matches by DQ or count out. Anyway wcw had a hard task of explaining this whole mess from last month and the nitros in the weeks leading up to mayhem, so i well let them slide on that. The announce team of tony schiavone and bobby hennan welcomed us to the show and began to plug the hell out of tonight's big matches like the two semi final matches in the wcw world title tournament, buff bagwell v curt Hennig in a loser must retire match, Kimberly vs David flair ( yes seriously wcw booked this as a main match on the show) and the Sid v Goldberg I quit match. Up first was the 1st semi final match of the wcw world title tournament as the chosen one Jeff Jarrett goes up against Chris Benoit, almost off the bat schiavone is talking about how Jeff is the chosen one of the powers that be (At this point the audience at home have no idea who these powers are but tony drops enough hints that if you were smark would know it's vince Russo and ed Ferrera). Both men start it off by going into a lock up, Jarrett like the great heel that he is knows he can't out wrestle Benoit so pushes Benoit off into the ropes Benoit bounces back at Jarrett and takes him down hard with a shoulder tackle. Benoit begins to chop Jarrett and follows it up with a swinging neck breaker and a DDT. Benoit goes and puts Jarrett on the top rope and gives Jeff an almighty snap suplex from the top rope to the mat below. Both men begin to brawl on the outside something your see quiet often on this show, honestly take my word for it almost every match ended up on the outside. Jarrett then picks up Benoit into an atomic drop but crotches Benoit into the ring post to get the upper hand on the crippler, Jarrett follows it up by whipping Benoit into the guardrail and chokes him in front of his Canadian fans who chant Jarrett sucks. Back in the ring Jarrett takes control with a powerslam and then suplexes Benoit for a 2 count. Jarrett slows the match down with a sleeper hold to Benoit which is on for just the right amount of time. while in the hold Benoit hand drops twice but not a third to the delight of the crowd and Benoit battles back on Jarrett by throwing his elbow into Jarrett's gut. Benoit slaps on his own sleeper to Jarrett but Jarrett drops down to his arse technically hitting Benoit with a stunner. Both men trade kicks, punches and chops which Benoit obviously wins and Benoit hits the 3 German suplexes on Jeff. The Harris twins Ron and don now creative control in wcw run out the ring (yep outside interference in the first match, thanks vince Russo), meanwhile back in the ring Jarrett knocks Benoit to the outside and Jarrett asks referee Charles Robinson to count him out and Benoit makes it back in by six. Jarrett goes to the top rope and hits a cross body onto Benoit but Benoit counters it for a very close two count. Benoit hits a back breaker for another 2 count then hits a second this time he cuts his throat to signal the impending arrival of the top rope headbutt. Benoit goes up top and flys off hitting Jarrett square in the chest, Benoit covers Jarrett for the 1,2 no as creative control pull the referee to the outside breaking up the pin in the process. One of control distract the referee as the other puts the boots to Benoit on the outside after Benoit went out after the Harris twins. Control roll Benoit into the ring and now Jarrett has recovered and hits Benoit with the stroke as dustin Rhodes comes from out of the crowd. Back in the ring Jarrett covers Benoit for the 1,2 but no dustin pulls Jarrett off of Benoit at 2 and control attack dustin. Jarrett grabs his gutiar at ringside as the referee is on the outside dealing with control and dustin who are now brawling in the aisle way, Jarrett goes to smash the gutiar over benoit's head but Benoit ducks then Benoit overpowers Jarrett takes the gutiar and smashes it over Jarrett's head and covers the chosen one to get the 1,2 and 3 and advance to the final of the wcw world title tournament. Afterwards control and Jarrett attack Benoit from behind and put the boots to him some more as the announcers wonder will Benoit be ready to go come tonight's main event. Overall it was a great opener Benoit and Jarrett worked there arses off and it helped the crowd was super hot for this one as well, it almost seems like wcw fans in the late nineties wanted Benoit to become the man or maybe it was just because the show was in Canada. We almost immendtly go to the back you know like what happens in TNA almost every week when Russo was booking there product. Anyway mean gene is with disco inferno who says the 25,000 dollars was more important to him than his wcw cruiser weight title, whoever wrote or come up with that line should have been shot it was so stupid talk about burying the title you currently hold what was Disco thinking. Anyway it was again never fully explained why Evan karagias was putting his 25,000 on the line and why this money was so much more important than the title. Moving onto the Match, almost off the bat the announcers are wondering why madusa is with Evan is it because of his money says tony yes says hennan. Moving on disco is suddenly attacked in the back by a irrate Jarrett and control (who is suppose to be the face and heel here). So disco stumbles to the ring very comically I may add and he was trying to be serious, Evan meets disco in the aisle way and the two brawl on the outside to start the match. Back in the ring Evan hits a cross body for the two and hits disco with a spin kick. Disco makes his comeback with a pair of weak looking clotheslines, backslide by karagias for another close two count. Disco cuts off Evan with a right hand and goes for a powerbomb but Evan counters it into a roll up for the 2 count. On the outside now and disco blows a kiss towards madusa, back in the ring disco gives karagias a snapmere then goes to the second rope and blows another kiss at madusa and drops a jerry Lawler fist drop onto Evan for a very near fall indeed, not that the crowd believed it was the finish. By this point disco buddy tony marinara had come out and was on commentary he suddenly got up and went over to madusa and started to chat up the veteran tough lady. Evan came out and decked tony as disco got on the ring apron and dived off but Evan was ready for him and drop kicked disco in the chest.  Evan rolled disco into the ring but disco was up first and hit Evan with a suplex and what looked like a Brain buster and gets a close two count on Evan. By now madusa has had enough of disco and Tonys advances and slaps disco while Evan grabs a chair and hits tony in the head while on the outside, Evan quickly climbs to the top rope and hits disco with a cross body to pick up the win and we have a new wcw cruiser weight champion in Evan karagias. Why so much happened in this match between madusa and tony on the outside it so distracting and took away from what was happening in the ring hence why this match didn't really deliver for me personally. Again it's straight to the back as Bret hart is shown arriving, Jeff Jarrett is shown talking to the powers that be but we don't ever see who is powers are but you can hear Russo ripping into Jeff while Jeff calls the powers a yanky bastard. Norman Smiley is with mean gene he cuts a silly promo declaring he may be scared straight of knobbs but he's hardcore for me it was so silly that it worked. Up next was brian knobbs with jimmy hart vs Norman smiley for the newly created wcw hardcore title, again I don't understand the logic in wcw introducing this title the hardcore division was something WWF were doing and here it screamed direct rip off of what WWF were doing. Norman gets a cheap pop for warring a Toronto maple leafs shirt and hockey attire for his match, mr big wiggle himself had some priceless facial expression on his face making his way to the ring he legit looked terrified. Knobbs almost took poor old Normans head off with a trash can shot and followed it up with serval more before knobbs broke a broom handle across smileys back as Norman screamed out in pain. Jimmy hart throws in a trash can lid but Norman catches it and decks knobbs over the head with it and goes for the hardcore wiggle but knobbs isn't having any of that. The two begin to battle on the outside exchanging trash can shots, The two battle to the back and knobbs throws Norman into the walls of the maple leaf gardens. Knobbs sets up a table up right and throws Norman into it hard OUCH that was stiff. The two are brawling now in the crating area and a food fight breaks out between the two, the two exchange trash can shots again and then knobbs grabs a crutch and breaks it over Normans head while Norman screams and cries, seriously I saw a tear in his eye. The two bounce off boxes and end up by an elevator and throw each other in. Then the lift closes and jimmy readys himself with a trash can Lid awaiting the two to fall out of the lift. The doors had closed by now. When the doors opened both men fell out and jimmy accidentally hits knobbs with his trash can lid and Norman covers knobbs and gets the 1,2 and 3. New and first time ever wcw hardcore champion Norman smiley. I don't know how you guys fill but I'm beginning to think crash Holly May have lifted most of his routine from Norman because the two are so alike, fun match but way to many silly trash can shots and a food fight, I'm sure Lou Thesz would have loved this match. Moving onto the feud between filthy animals and revolution as we get a video package explaining how this inter gender six person elimination tag came to be. In the back is mike tenay with revolution this was clearly recorded earlier in the day as dean and perry were wearing there street clothes and it didn't take them seconds to put on there wrestling attire, vince Russo strikes again I guess. The filthy animals are with mean gene and say nothing of importance in the 90 seconds there allocated to speak.

Disco is shown apologising to tony marinara in the back, tony simply just walks away from disco and then Jeff Jarrett and creative control are shown walking in the back as Jarrett is muttering to himself you want me to make an impact I'll make an impact. Up next was the six person inter gender elimination tag as the revolution team of dean Malenko, perry Saturn and asya took on the filthy animals team of Eddie Guerrero, billy Kidman and torrie Wilson. All six begin with a brawl to start out the match in fact there was so much going on I had quiet a hard time keeping up. Anyway Kidman is all over Saturn and clothes lines him to the outside, in the ring Eddie gives dean a big back body drop. Both men are battling in the corner and Eddie wraps on a head scissors and both dean and Eddie go to the outside, Kidman dives out onto both men on the outside. Dean is then suddenly attacked by some fan (plant) brandishing a Canadian flag and security escort the fan away(remember this because it's important for later), back in the ring asya is stalking torrie basically they tease the two will have a fight but Kidman tags himself in and is blindsided by dean who rolls up Kidman for the quick 1,2 and 3 and Kidman is eliminated. Dean and perry begin to double team Eddie and hit the impressive looking guillotine leg drop, dean covers Eddie for a 2 count. Asya is tagged in and she goes right after Eddie lifting him up into a vertical suplex, she tags in dean who gives Eddie a back breaker for a 2 count. Dean whips Eddie into the ropes and Eddie bounces back with a huancaina and gets dean with a quick 1,2 and 3 and dean is eliminated. Perry attacks Eddie from behind and scoop slams Eddie and tags in asya. Asya gives Eddie a sloppy looking double under hook suplex for a close two count. Asya holds Eddie in place as Perry lines up a super kick for Eddie but Eddie ducks and perry hits asya. Eddie then drop kicks Saturn to the outside and covers asya for the 1,2 and 3 and the big lady asya is gone. Now it's down to Eddie and torrie vs perry, perry attacks Eddie and gives him a t bone suplex for a two. Perry takes to long on the top rope and as he dives off Eddie catches perry with a drop kick to the gut while Douglas screams perry may have just broke his ribs. Saturn recovers and drills Eddie with a sit down powerbomb and Perry goes to the top rope and hits an impressive looking elbow drop but only a 2 count and Douglas is beside himself screaming slow count over and over. Eddie hits another huancaina this time he only gets a two then from out of nowhere perry locks Eddie in the rings of Saturn and Eddie taps, now Eddie is eliminated and it's down to torrie vs perry. Perry grabs torrie by the hair but she low blows him and seriously I thought it was over but only a two, torrie backs up into the corner and perry low blows torrie for the 1,2 and 3. That's all folks a rather anticlimactic finish to a match which was so far the second best match of the night, personally I really enjoyed this match. In the back Jeff Jarrett is making his impact as he attacks buff bagwell moments before buff is scheduled to face curt Hennig in a retirement match. So obviously up next is curt Hennig (Mr Perfect) vs buff bagwell in a loser must retire match, Hennig comes out but when buff is introduced he doesn't come out due to the attack earlier but Jarrett and creative control are back and they beat down Hennig, why I have no idea. Buff comes out and him and Hennig attack and send Jarrett and control packing, I have to question the logic of of this pre match angle as these two are about to enter a retirement match why would they team up wouldn't it be to buffs advantage to see Hennig get taken out before there retirement match and why would buff with his career on the line want to wrestle this match now with a bum knee it made no sense and the two teaming up made even less sense why would they want to do this moments before a massive retirement match. Anyway moving on Hennig almost off the bat grabbed a nerv hold on buff as the crowd chanted perfect at the artist formerly known as mr perfect. The two take the action to the outside and Hennig chops buff so hard that buff takes a tumble over the announcers table, buff then Irish whips Hennig into the guardrail and perfect of old takes a big bump over the rail and into the front row. Back in the ring buff works over Hennig as the crowd chant bagwell sucks (seriously leading up to this Hennig was a face as was buff and I've never understood the logic of baby face vs baby face matches), curt recovers and goes for the single leg but buff counters. Curt applies a sleeper and the crowd who were chanting perfect moments ago are now chanting boring, buff fights out of the sleeper after what seemed like forever with a pair of back elbows to Hennig's jaw. Hennig was dazed now but buff runs into a knee to the gut by Hennig. Hennig goes to Irish whips buff but buff counters it and Hennig ends up in the corner, buff charges Hennig but runs into a boot from Hennig then Hennig tried the same but buff this time counters and puts his boot up for Hennig to run into. Buff goes to the second rope and out of nowhere hits Hennig with a blockbuster and gets a 1,2 and 3 and now curt Hennig must retire, afterwards the crowd give Hennig a standing ovation I guess that's what they call respect brother. All in all this was a horrid match the two seemed to never hit top gear and it's a shame wcw retired Hennig and not bagwell because seriously who would you rather have in your promotion Hennig or bagwell, I don't think I even have to answer that for some of you. We cut to the back and sting is with mike tenay he tells tenay that the powers had unfairly stripped him of the wcw title and says he never lost the belt to begin with and tonight he would win back the title he never actually lost. So up next in the second semi final match of the wcw world title tournament is Bret the Hitman hart vs sting. During the introductions the crowd seem to be split 50/50 on both sting and Hitman but that would soon change. Both men start the match with a stare down and the crowd is electric for this stare down. Bret and sting then trade lefts and rights going back and fourth. Bret takes advantage with a headbutt to the stinger which sends sting crashing to the outside and both men begin to brawl on the outside. Back in the ring Bret works over stings right leg while the crowd chant lets go Bret. Sting comes back with a dropkick and is booed by the Canadian crowd, Bret battles back and the place comes unglued as Bret suplexes the stinger and covers him for a near fall. Sting battles back and goes all heel by low blowing Bret right in front of the referee but no DQ for some reason. Sting slams Bret and drops and elbow to the hart of hart and covers Bret but only gets a two count. Sting slaps on a rear naked choke to the Hitman and Bret sells it perfectly, Bret then gives sting serval gut shots to break the stingers grip. Sting then goes low on Bret again and whips him into the ropes and the Hitman sails over the top rope to the floor below. Sting follows Bret to the outside and throws Bret onto the announce table and tries a stinger splash but Bret moves and sting lands stomach first on top of the table. Back in the ring sting Irish whips Bret into the corner and goes for another stinger splash and again fails as Bret puts his leg up and sting crashes into brets boot. Bret asends to the top rope and flys off with a double axe handle but sting pulls referee Mikey Jay in front of him and poor old jay takes the handle shot by Bret (ref bump another One of Russo's favourite tricks). Lex Lugar runs out with a baseball bat in his hand but rather than deck hart he nails sting with the bat (again isn't sting a heel). Bret grabs the bat from lex and nails the total package and puts lex in a shape shooter. By now Jay has recovered and calls for the bell and Dave penzer announces that Bret hart had won DQ (never has a DQ been so popular). Valiant baby face Bret tells referee jay he doesn't want to win the match this way and gets jay to restart the match which of course sting has no problem with. The bell rings and the match is officially restarted, Bret gives a goggy sting the side Russian leg sweep. Bret asends to the second rope and drops an elbow into the stingers black hart and covers sting for another close two count. Sting battles back with a back breaker and a stinger splash and gets a near fall, sting then goes for the scorpion death lock but Bret counters his hold and now has sting in the shape shooter and sting who tries to battle out has nowhere to go and is forced to tap out. Afterwards sting and Hitman tease another fight but sting goes back face and extends his hand and both men shake hands to the delight of the crowd. Another quality match between two legit icons but this review isn't meant to go back and look at this Match though rose tinted glasses my only complaint was the silly restart but I guess it made Bret look like a honourable chap. In the back Chris Benoit is with mean gene he basically cuts a short and sweet promo and gets his point across in saying it will be an honour to face Bret this evening in the wcw world title tournament final. Lex lugar is with mike tenay in the back and he is now wearing a surgical collar he says there is no way he going to be able to wrestle meng tonight. Up next was a chain match between Vampario and Berlyn formerly the techno dancing Alex wright. Before the bell can even ring out comes Oklahoma and dr death steve Williams who join schiavone and hennan at the announce table. This reive will now turn into a rant as I was so disgusted by ed ferrera's send up of Jim Ross someone I respect a lot more than mr Ferrera. It was so horrendous and took away from this match which I paid no attention as the whole Ferrera thing was so distracting to me. The match was a bit of a mess as vampario basically battled both Berlyn and his hired goon the wall and most of the match made no sense to me as Vam-Pryo as Oklahoma called him basically battled two men why no one cared. At one point the wall walked out on the match and Berlyn, I guess the wall was sick to death of Ferrera calls at ringside but in reality it was the end of the wall/Berlyn pairing. Anyway there was no crowd reaction whatsoever I'm guessing they were as confused as I was to who was actually the man who was wrestling vampario. To end this complete and utter mess vampario raps the chain around berlyn's throat and wright simply passed out and no one gave a rats arse. Overall this match was dire and I may have taken ferrera's comments and impersation to heart more than jr probably but I really didn't like this match at all. We go to the back were Scott hall the wcw tv and us champion says if the boys have a problem with him holding two belts they can suck it (what promotion does he work for again). The announce team say officials in the back have ordered lex lugar to wrestle his match with meng which rather strangely is up next. To start the match lugar is still wearing his neck brace but meng is having none of it and attacks the total package before the bell even rings. Meng takes lugar down and puts the boots to lugar and strikes lugar with a karate thrust chop to lugar so called hurt neck. Lugar battles back somehow and suplexes meng but the savage no sells it and pops right back to the horror of lugar. Both men brawl to complete and utter silence from the crowd, lugar hits a clothesline on meng again to silence and again meng no sells it and pops right back up. Meng goes for the death grip but can't apply it properly due to lugar still wearing his neck brace so meng pulls the neck brace off as lugar slides to the outside and runs to Elizabeth as meng follows him out and lugar puts Liz in harms way. Lugar slides back in the ring and so does meng now and lugar puts the boots to him. Lugar whips meng into the ropes and hits a big powerslam and covers meng but only gets a two count. Lugar goes to hit meng in the head but as you know if you hit a Samoan in the head in wrestling it will have no effect (schiavone rightly points out this is a huge mistake). Meng strikes lugar with a karate kick and covers the total package for a 2 count. Meng now has lugar bent over on the second rope as Elizabeth bends down to pull something out of her pocket she does but it takes her an incredibly long time to get the device she retrieved from her pocket to work. She then sprays lugar 'accidentally' in the eyes which sends lugar back paddling into meng who applies the death grip and lugar passes out and your winner is meng. Again this was another stinker and didn't need to be on the card which was already stacked. Bret Hart is in the back with mean gene he tells gene he may be friends with Benoit but tonight he's putting there friendship aside so he can win his first wcw world title. David flair is shown in the back polishing his crowbar, I promise that's not a masturbation joke. Up next is Scott hall putting both his wcw us/tv title on the line against a replacement as he was originally susposed to face rick steiner in a unification title match. Rick had been stripped of the wcw tv title six days earlier on nitro due to an injury and hall was awarded the belt. Before ricks replacement came to the ring hall challenged any of the boys in the back to a match and also teased that Kevin Nash was on his way to the building (again remember this because it's important for later on). In the end wcw mainstay and former Harlem heat team member booker t accepted halls challenge. To start the match the two are about to lock up when hall stops and crotch chops at booker (your in the wrong company mate). The two eventually lock up and hall executes a big back body drop and booker hits a side kick as hall plays to the crowd who at this point are loving halls antics. Booker follows it up with a flying forearm smash which sends hall to the outside. Booker challenges hall to get back in the ring which hall does and the two go into a test of strength but hall takes a short cut and knees booker in the gut. Hall gives booker a fall away slam and rather arrogantly throws booker to the outside and challenges booker to get in the ring he does and hall charges booker and sends him up and over to the outside again. This time hall goes to the outside and hall Irish whips booker back first into the guardrail. Back in the ring hall slaps on a sleeper hold to booker to wear down the former Harlem heat member, meanwhile the crowd got temporarily is distracted by a fan being ejected by security. Booker makes his comeback with another flying forearm then Jeff Jarrett and creative control appear in the aisle way as booker hits another sidekick and pins hall for the 1,2 no as Jarrett pulls booker off hall control get in the ring and eat a pair of side kicks as Jarrett distracts booker. This gives hall time to recover who low blows (yep yet another low blow, talk about overkill) booker then gives booker the outsiders edge for the 1,2 and 3 and hall is declared the winner. Afterwards Jarrett and control attack a downed booker but then the lights go out and when they return a rather large lady (wcw billed her as midnight) is standing behind control and Jarrett she attacks them and sends the three packing as she tends to the fallen booker. All in all this was turning into a very good match but yet again Russo over does it with another cheap interference finish. In the back lugar is looking for Elizabeth by walking up and down the halls shouting Elizabeth, a video package airs on the dire feud between David flair and Kimberly. Up next was flair vs Kimberly, David comes to the ring with his crowbar while Kimberly walks out clearly not dressed to wrestle. David stalks Kimberly as the bell ring then the limber Kimberly does some stretching to distract David it works and she suddenly turns and low blows David but David no sells the low blow. David grabs his crowbar and nails referee nick Patrick sending Patrick to the outside. Kimberly sensing she was in trouble gets on her knees and puts are hands on David's crotch and puts her hand down David's pants and pulls out a jock strap. Kimberly gets up and hits David with the dirty looking jock strap (I'm seriously not making this up). Kimberly throws away the dirty jock and slaps David in the face but he seems to like it, she then takes David down and mounts him and slaps David over and over. David throws her off and gets up as Kimberly cowers in the corner. David walks up to Kimberly and out runs the returning Kaynon who jumps flair and gives him a Russian leg sweep. Kaynon then tends to Kimberly but before he can get her out of harms way he is low blowed by David. DDP then walks out he gets in the ring and diamond cutters David to save his wife. DDP grabs the crowbar and out runs Arn Anderson who stops the match and Kimberly and DDP leave. Meanwhile David recovers grabs the crowbar from Arn and smashes it into arns neck and David leaves. Arn is then tended to by EMT and strapped to a stretcher and taken to the back as the announces talk about how Arn had to retire due to a neck injury two years ago in fact Arn makes it look believable but it meant nothing. This match was nothing more than a frigging angle and not a very good one at that the crowd switched off almost immediately and entertained themsevles with we want flair chants (ric flair that is), EC-dub and we want Bret, it was utter nonsense and a waste of time. A video package airs on the Sid vicious/bill Goldberg feud, Sid is in the back with tenay he cuts one of his shouty promos and says there is two words he will never utter and that is I quit. So up next is in an I quit match is Goldberg vs sid, as Goldberg makes his entrance sid jumps him in the aisle way and the two brawl into the ring and are exchanging lefts and rights. The crowd almost immediately turn on Goldberg and cheer sid and his heeliish antics. Goldberg hits a running bulldog early on as Sid slides to the outside, Goldberg chases the back paddling Sid and goldie Irish whips sid into the guardrail. Back in the ring sid gauges goldbergs eyes and gives goldie a side slam, then sid poses for the crowd and by now the crowd is chanting les go sid and Goldberg sucks even louder than before. Goldberg takes down Sid and applies an arm bar but Sid refuses to quit, Goldberg whips sid into the corner but sid stops the charging Goldberg with a boot to the mouth and follows it up with a chokeslam and then hits a second chokeslam on Goldberg. Sid then chokes Goldberg as he lay motionless on the mat screaming at the referee ask him. Goldberg battles back and applies another arm bar to sid as the chants of Goldberg sucks gets louder yet again this time Goldberg gets up and just laughs at the crowd. Goldberg then puts on the million dollar dream but after mere seconds the referee calls for the bell and declares sid had said I quit, even know we never heard him say it. The crowd was legit hot by now and booed even louder as Goldberg left the ringside area. What a let down the match barley went 4 minutes and was susposed to be the semi main event but when there was so many matahes I'm guessing it was down to time constrains why this match was ended so early. Lex lugar is in the back with mean gene he tells gene he couldn't find Elizabeth adding I guess she knows she messed up but it's ok he said I'll deal with her tomorrow night on nitro. Up next is the main event and it's the final match in the 32 man wcw world title tournament as Chris Benoit faces Bret the Hitman hart. Both men got incredible ovations from there fellow countrymen as they made tree way to the ring, before the bell both men shake hands. To start the bout Bret and Benoit lock up and Benoit takes Bret down and goes for an arm bar but Bret gets out. Again the two lock up and Benoit goes to the arm again but Bret gets out again. The two then have a test of strength which Bret wins he then applies an arm bar of his own and Bret works the arm for serval minutes. Benoit and Bret exchange left and rights and

Then Benoit knees Bret in the gut. Benoit slaps on a headlock to Bret and Bret pushes Benoit off but Benoit rebounds and shoulder tackles which sends Bret onto his back. Bret gets back up and both men tease there finishing hold first Bret teases the shape shooter while Benoit teases the crossface. The crowd by now give both men a standing ovation and Bret and Benoit both look out at the crowd then each other. Suddenly that fan (I said it was important) who attacked Malenko earlier jumps in the ring and attacks Benoit now as Bret looks on bemused by all of this. Security drag away the fan who takes off his mask and it's dean Malenko (hold up so Malenko attacked himself earlier, try and work that one out because I couldn't). Back to the action and Bret gives Benoit the rarely unseen these days a piledriver and Bret covers Benoit for a 2 count only. Bret drops a standing leg drop onto Benoit and covers the crippler for another near fall. The two exchange chops and brenoit wins that battle of course and follows it up with a brutal looking back breaker and Benoit covers Bret but only gets a 2 count himself. Benoit hits Bret with a explosive back drop and covers Bret and again only gets a two count.

Bret battles back and hits Benoit with a DDT and Bret gets another two count on Benoit. Bret whips Benoit into the ropes and goes for a tilt-a-whirl slam but Benoit counters it and has Bret in a tombstone now and drops down to his knees spiking Bret in the process. Benoit climbs to the top rope and flies off with a diving headbutt and Benoit lands it. Benoit covers Bret for a 1,2 no as Bret just kicks out, then the outsiders run out and attack both men (again I said it was important). Goldberg runs out but he can't save the day as by now hall has a chair and hall wallops with the chair. Bret and Benoit team up to rid us of the outsiders and now in the aisle way Goldberg grabs hall and Nash and battles with them into the back. Back to the action and Beniot gives Bret a dragon screw leg whip, Benoit works over brets leg as we go to the back and see the outsiders take out bill Goldberg. Back in the ring Benoit continues his assault on brets leg and applies the figure four to Bret. Bret sells it perfectly and just makes it to the rope to force Benoit to relinquish the hold. Benoit is then going for the figure four again but Bret kicks Benoit off of him and Bret follows it up with a Russian leg sweep and back breaker to just get a two count. Both men battle back and fourth and Bret eventually puts Benoit on the top turnbuckle and climbs up to join Benoit and gives Benoit a massive top rope suplex (late 80's early 90's highspot). Both men sell the shit out of the move and Bret recovers first and crawls over to Benoit and pins him for the 1,2 no as Benoit just kicks out at two. A Heyman is god sign is held up in the front row as Bret begins to headbutt Benoit on the lower back and Bret suplexes Benoit again but this time Benoit counters it and lands on top of Bret for the nearest of falls (some fans in the front row felt it was

Over and poped big time). Bret went for the same suplex again and again Benoit countered and this time gave Bret the 3 German suplex spot. Benoit then goes for the crossface but can't hook it in and Bret counters the hold and now has Benoit in the shape shooter and Benoit is forced to tap out. The crowd explode as does some Pryo as Bret is presented with the wcw world title, Benoit gets up and hugs Bret then leaves as brets family join him in the ring to celebrate and we fade to black to end the show. After some awful crap in the mid card this main event more than delivered, I may get some heat for this but I felt after watching this that this match was better than there Owen hart tribute match. But as for the show itself it has 4 very good matches in sting v hart, hall v booker, Jarrett v Benoit and the Bret v Benoit but apart from that there wasn't a lot else I felt was must see. Overall I'd give this show a solid 6.5 out of 10 due to matches above as for the rest of the card that should be avoided because most of the matches were ranged from awful to just plain awful