It’s time for another “Into the Vault ‘97” and it’s WWE vs. WCW! We’re looking at WCW Uncensored which took place on March 16, 1997.
The main event features a triangle elimination bout with the nWo, Team Piper, and Team WCW.
WCW Uncensored 1997: The Best
Like most WCW pay-per-views during the boom, the gold-quality bouts are usually in the undercard. This show is no different, folks.
One of the immediate gems includes the no disqualification, 19-minute failed U.S Heavyweight title defense as champion Eddie Guerrero takes on 90s rival Dean Malenko.
Right after that, we have an exciting bout between Ultimate Dragon and Psychosis with Ultimate Dragon picking up the win after a little over 13-minutes. WCW would get the homie Ultimo Dragon’s name correct eventually.
These two bouts really heated up the fans for some WCW action. After a match that went too long and another match that wasn’t too bad, we get Harlem Heat taking on The Public Enemy in a Texas Tornado match.
Now, I’ve always loved the Texas Tornado match and Harlem Heat is one of my favorite teams. While street fights aren’t their bread and butter as they are for the PE, they do very well in them depending on the team.
This was a nasty ass brawl. It was a mess—as most Public Enemy pay-per-view bouts tend to be—but it was the match I enjoyed the most.
I don’t know if it was just decided that “This is just how our matches will be” or what because they’ve faced each other numerous times on television and a couple of times on PPV.
The sloppiness isn’t a bug, it’s a feature of their matches. On its own, this isn’t what would be considered “a good match” but it’s extremely fun and part of that is thanks to the commentary.
Rey Misterio Jr takes on Prince Iaukea for the WCW Television title in their second PPV showdown in a row. Their matches are usually better than solid and this was no different.
Even though there were stakes here in the Television title, it was just a watchable exhibition. I guess you’d say it was far from bad but it just seemed like WCW was really trying to make Iaukea a thing.
At least it was competitive and not a bunch of posturing. Iaukea holds on to the Television strap in this one.
The Rest
Glacier taking on Mortis was a Saturday Night or Pro bout put on WCW Uncensored. If it was left off the show, you wouldn’t be missing anything—and the show probably would’ve flowed better.
Buff Bagwell vs. Scotty Riggs was a fairly decent strap match. What worked here is that the two had some history as the former tag team champions American Males.
Mind you, that was in September 1995 for a little over a week and Bagwell had since moved on to be featured heavily as part of the new World order.
In 1997, I was done with anything Roddy Piper but WCW did a good job getting him in the mix with the whole WCW vs. nWo conflict.
I’m a big WCW fan, I was pulling for WCW to actually do some damage against the black-and-white plight but without Sting, things would be rough. They actually started the match down a man with just Lex Luger, The Giant, and Scott Steiner.
The new World order made their own advantage by taking out the “Dog Faced Gremlin” RICK STEINER. You know you’re dastardly, dirty, rotten, nothin’ happening gang when you take out a Steiner.
As for Team Piper, Rowdy Roddy got his hands on the Four Horsemen’s bulls in Chris Benoit and MONGO. Oh, and Jarrett was there as well. Team nWo was stacked with Hogan, Savage, Hall, and Nash. The match was a bit on the long side but it is an elimination match with three multiple-man teams.
Plus, WCW being at a disadvantage works perfectly. I don’t know if we really needed Team Piper but it mixes things up a bit as we got plenty of WCW versus nWo.
I did love Luger being the “Last Defender of WCW” during the last stretch of the match. Sting arriving at the end and siding with World Championship Wrestling was the icing on the cake for this match.
There was anticipation and I feel WCW delivered in that regard. It wasn’t a bad match it was just long and a bit of a mess. That’s mainly down to there being too many folks being involved.
WCW Uncensored 1997 Verdict: Bronze Medal (2.8/5)
This was close to being a solid Silver Medal show. The undercard really hustled even in the matches I wasn’t feeling, they were either heated, exciting, or truly worth watching in full.
The match of the show was Eddie vs. Malenko for the WCW United States Championship. It was fabulous and is the perfect example of how WCW’s undercard scene rocked the house on PPV or TV.
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