WCW Souled Out 1999

[Kiffy Lube]

WCW Souled Out 1999

The first Pay-Per View after Goldberg got screwed by Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. Also, The Finger Poke of Doom incident was a couple weeks prior to this event. That is still a mockery to this day, I might even be willing to say it's worse than David Arquette becomin' their Champ. However, this is the first WCW Souled Out officially because the two years they had been running it was pretty much under the nWo banner. Now that I kind of painted a picture, I got to mention the Nature Boy is in total control and a hybrid nWo/Wolfpac is runnin' amok. What could possibly go wrong???

We open with a pretty good announcement from the President, Ric Flair as he pretended he was doing a press conference or something. Let's get to the action.

Oh wait first we got give Goldberg an excuse to why the main is gonna suck right? So Goldberg is backstage clutching his knee but we didn't get to see the attack so we just get to see Goldberg act. What a treat.

Mike Enos v.s Chris Benoit.

I thought there was a mistake when I saw Mike Enos was coming to the ring looking as generic as hell. At least we get to seem Benoit tear apart some baby kid, right? Eh, I was underwhelmed with Benoit here. It looked like he knew this was a joke. He's not apart of a real feud so they just throw him in with a total nobody and just waste his precious time.

Not sure why it got so much time anyways. It should have just been a simple squash. Man, I don't understand this garbage. The transitions were just awkward and not fun to watch. I remember a few weeks prior to this Horace Hogan faced Benoit in what was like only a 5 minute match and that was so much better than this.

We get further into the match and we get to see how lazy Benoit was this night. He goes for multiple Germans but stops at two. The announcers were right on him liked you expect saying he usually does a third. He does a pretty awesome Diving Headbutt after this but I think he loves rattlin' his brains with that move. Sorry if that is offensive. A little bit of back and forth until Enos ends up in the Crossface and taps like a bitch. That's pretty much what I endured watching this. So in general this is just a pretty pathetic match that goes on for at least 10 minutes if not longer.

3/4*

Norman Smiley v.s Chavo Guerrero.

Yeah a match with an actual backstory! The Nitro before this event Norman stole Chavo's "friend" Pepe. If you don't know who Pepe is, you gotta Youtube that kid. So on that particular Nitro Norman ended up throwing Pepe into a woodchipper and blood splattered everywhere. No... I mean turned into woodchips. Jesus, catch up.

So Smiley comes into this match with an urn full of woodchips. This throws Chavo off his game entirely. After a quick start from Chavo, Norman uses some heelish tactics to put him in control of the match while mocking Chavo. We get to see some amazing mat work by Norman. Or you know just unorthodox submission after unorthodox submission that you have no real idea if they hurt or not.

I really did enjoy this match despite the horrible story behind it. It was a game of one-upmanship as they both escalated their offense accordingly until we got to their bigger moves and eventually their finishers. At one point Smiley even had Chavo in the Gory Special. I dunno if others would necessarily care for this match but after seeing how wrongly they used the Crippler this was just a complete overhaul and it turned out pretty good in the end. Sometimes you just need to let decent workers work a damn match. Props.

***

Interesting enough on Wikipedia it says the next match is Finlay/Van Hammer which I wouldn't have minded watching but I never saw that match on my edition of the PPV so I can't say anything about that match if even really exists.

Wrath v.s Bam Bam Bigelow.

After what was just a weak, uninspired brawl on Nitro a couple weeks back we get to see it again! I mean seriously on that Nitro they fought to the backstage area and then went back to just talking about Goldberg. I don't know what was goin' on but I'm pretty sure they didn't just shake hands after that and go their separate ways. That is pretty terrible way to end a match.

This was actually much better than their Nitro match though. I mean they at least looked like were trying. What a massive improvement that is. Of course this wasn't the big man match you'd hope for. It's nothing like Sheamus/Big Show, it barely feels like a fight compared to that. Wrath flew a few times in this match trying to keep Bam Bam down. Yeah, most of the match seemed to be whether or not Wrath could beat Bam Bam straight up but naw dawg he couldn't.

The match progresses with more slow brawling action. A couple beatdown attempts by both guys but the other doesn't want any part of that. Then we just slide into a finish with Bam Bam Bigelow hitting Greetings From Asbury Park too bad Wrath's head clearly never hit the ground. So it came off unbelievable to me after what had some promise. Ugh, whatever at least Wrath didn't win.

**

Konnan v.s Lex Luger.

This should have been a bigger match but I guess Konnan was always an afterthought when he was dealin' with the Wolfpac. Konnan gets to speak on this or run his mouth about the treatment he got when he got kicked out of the 'Pac. So Luger comes out acting like he's got Konnan's best interest with him but then goes for a cheap shot to start the match off. Yeah, Lex is such a fantastic actor too.

This was really lame as it lasted and most of the time it was Luger just doing whatever he wanted. I mean seriously Konnan just kept taking a slow but not really methodical beating. It was just more like lets waste some time here but Konnan I can't keep up with your pace so you'll just take my offense. Is that okay with you? No, well I'm The Total Package. Just horrible.

I thought with Konnan being involved on a big show he'd bring something decent out of the older Lex here. Nope, he could barely get some of his specialty moves like his rolling closeline which sucked in this match. I don't know the pace and speed of the match just didn't even pick up when Konnan tried to implement anything. Luger mostly doing some generic back work was the majority of this encounter until he just slaps on his Torture Rack. Pretty boring stuff man.

*

Perry Saturn v.s Chris Jericho.

Alright, now this is more on my level. However there a few botches in this and this feud is just Chris Jericho screwing around with Ralphus mostly. I mean he roped Saturn into this match but would only face him if he agreed to wear a dress if he lost. Of course before the match takes place I guess WCW officials had to make it fair and now it's whoever loses has to drag it up. Too bad at this time Saturn was wearing ridiculous vests to the ring so kind of already looked like a gay biker.

So the action in this pretty good like you would expect. Jericho being a cocky heel and Saturn being the overagressive face looking more and more like he'll just cost himself the match. I should also mention about this time(maybe I should have already) that the referee in the match has been screwing Saturn as of late. So the announcers are all over it that Jericho probably paid him off but Jericho still treats him like trash throughout the match.

So as we get some pretty decent false finishes, we get to a small package attempt by Saturn. Well the referee runs by the move and it turns the favor for Jericho and does a really fast count. Total robbery but now we get to see Saturn reluctantly put the dress on for way too long. Just get over with it, there is no pay off in these kind of matches unless it's the heel that gets embarrassed in the end. Enjoyable at least if you like actual wrestlers competing. I don't know do you? Of course, I still expected better.

**1/4

Crusierweight Title Match: Billy Kidman(c) v.s Juventud Guerrera v.s Psicosis v.s Rey Mysterio.

Oh man. It's time to tear down the house with those crazy crusierweights. Yeah, they seriously went all out here. Some decent storytelling but at points it completely falls apart. You have Kidman and Rey helping each other most of the match while Juvie and Psicosis tried to counter that but really get along at all. At first Juvie goes to tag Psicosis into the ring... I don't know why it's a tornado match. I don't know if someone didn't tell him what was going on. It was just odd. Of course the match eventually breaks down.

This match gets some good time and for the talent they have in it I think it was totally deserved. They all got take turns throughout the match to do dives which is typical. I don't really care for that kind of thing because sometimes it just feels like they are gettin' their shit in. Eh, whatever man. I'm sure I've said something on that level a 100 times.

Now I want to talk about the worst part of the entire match. The part where Kidman and Rey hit a Doomsday Device. So Rey goes for the pin and Kidman just goes to the apron. I mean if the pinfall wasn't broken up the remaining person in the match it just comes off looking like Kidman was just giving his title to Rey. I know Rey is the King of the Crusierweights but you can't expect me to take that seriously. I mean later the duo hits another double team move and Kidman goes for the cover and Rey immediately stops it. Yeah, still this is pretty damn good stuff. I think most folks that love these fast, paced Crusierweight matches will enjoy it but there are some pretty easy flaws that I pointed out that get in the way of this being a classic.

***1/2-***3/4

Barry Windham & Curt Henning v.s The Flair Pair.

I saw a sign that said Flair Pair describing the team of Ric and his son David so I'm goin' with that name. I don't really want to get too much into the story behind this match because the match itself isn't what it should be. You have three of the greatests wrestlers I've ever seen but they are all past their prime and then you have some noob. I do want to say that on a Nitro before this that there was a promo where Reid Flair was in the ring. Man, he was so young and looked like you're average kid... Pretty sad seeing that and knowing what just happened to him.

Okay, okay let's get to it. I mean Windham and Henning made for a pretty decent tag team and the exchanges with Flair do make this watchable on that front. However David Flair started the match with a horrible hip toss so were off to a terrible start. He tags out and Flair keeps control for a bit but ultimately starts taking a major beating. Easily, easily the best part of the match watching the vets of Barry and Curt take apart Ric while Ric sells like a true champion. It just all falls apart when he eventually does have to make the tag.

The match ends shortly after David gets back involved with Arn Anderson using a tire iron. I don't want to hate too much on David though... I'll save all my complaining about him for future matches of his because he wasn't supposed to be much of a worker here. So I recommend this match if you fast forward through anything Big Dave does. And I really don't fast forward through anything except diva matches nowadays.

*

After this the Nature Boy gets dismantled and handcuffed to the ropes as the nWo whips his kid in front of him. Hogan taunting Flair saying you gotta beat the man as he's just turning his son's flesh red with that trademark Hogan workout belt. This was decently entertaining, I did sit through David pinning Mr. Perfect so I guess this makes up for that. Haha.

Ladder Match: Scott Hall v.s Goldberg.

First of all you should all know why this match is happening so I'm not going into detail. I'll just refresh your memory that there is a stun gun hanging above the ring for obvious reasons. Slick Ric sure made a great first main event didn't he? I'd think he'd want an actual wrestling match. Now looking at the stipulation you know Goldberg is gonna suck in this match. However it's not that he even actually had a bad performance here but he sure as hell didn't know how to use a Ladder in a such a match. We all know Scott has a couple classic Ladder matches prior to this so I almost trust him but it's Hall '99.

Pretty basic action for the most part. Hall really held his own here, I guess they did have to waste some time but I don't think many people thought with him coming into the match that he was gonna have much of a chance. It did help that a Ladder match was completely in his favor. It's in his wheelhouse if ya will. However Goldberg does get on control for quite a bit of time too. It's not usually a good thing because after awhile Goldberg will just make up moves. Seriously, I'm sure you've seen him just tossing folks around in ways that are more dangerous then they should be.

So I really don't hate this match. I enjoyed it a lot more than I remember. At one point Disco Inferno and Bam Bam Bigelow get involved but Goldberg takes them apart. The finish comes up shortly after this and Goldberg gets the stun gun. I would think Hall would have a better gameplan than just Disco and Bam Bam gettin' out there. Whatever though, he seemed rather confident that he was gonna taze that impassionate opponent of his. However it was totally the other guy. Goldberg got a hold of the stun gun and is taunting Scott with it. He then throws it in the air to distract him as he hits a huge spear before a Jackhammer and a good ol' tazing man. Disco and Bam Bam also got in on that so I guess they were just out there to have another couple get tazed. Great booking guys but for what they were working with I still say I didn't mind this at all. Hey and I didn't even harp on 'Berg's leg injury.

**3/4

Overall Thoughts: This had some awkward booking for a few matches while others actually had stories you'd care about. I mean who cares about Chavo's "friend" Pepe but I guess that's alright because I did like that match. While others like the Flair Pair had actual solid booking behind it with a story you might what to get invested in but that match sucked. So this show is really a mix bag and shows some odd direction for the future of WCW especially in their undercard which is littered with guys that they don't know how to use. So in final not as bad you'd expect from WCW at this point and time... It's just nowhere near being a classic PPV.

Sign of the Night: I STEAL PPV
-I was like so do I!

Wrestler of the Night: Rey Mysterio.
-Didn't fuck up like Kidman and kept up a great pace.

Match of the Night: Crusierweight Title Match.
-I don't need to explain anymore do I? It was clearly the best match.

 

[Keith]

Very engaging and witty review of what sounds like a pretty woeful ppv. Keep it up.

BTW wasn't Souled Out 98 a WCW/NWO con-production.

 

[Kiffy Lube]

Yeah, you're right about that Keith. I thought I explained that but I guess I didn't do it fully.