PWTorch specialist Jimmy Eaton is picking up his 1995 WCW retrospective review series with a review of World War III . Check back for his WCW Saturday Night retrospective columns in future weeks.

WCW World War III PPV
November 26, 1995
Norfolk, Va.
Retrospective Review by Jimmy Eaton, PWTorch specialist

The show opens with a "WCW Declares War" promo followed by an introduction and card run-down from Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan. He picks three people to win the biggest battle royal ever (this was the first WWIII PPV) before throwing it to Mean Gene, who interviews Hogan, Sting, and Randy Savage. They apologize to each other, talk up each other, and Hogan removes his black attire for his classic Red and Yellow. He was wearing black since he had been feuding with the Dungeon of Doom over the past few months. Interestingly, this was one-half-year before his Hollywood Hogan heel turn at Bash at the Beach '96. The best part about this promo was Savage's line of "You're the coolest dude in the world!" to Hogan, who went from lame to awesome because of how he said it. Miss ya, Macho Man.

1 -- JOHNNY B. BADD vs. DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE (w/Diamond Doll) - WCW TV Title match

Before the match, the announcers summed up the rivalry between DDP and Badd over the last month or so. Also, the Diamond Doll is getting more and more fed up with DDP and his antics (ya know, treating her like crap). The finish came when Badd hit the Bad Mood on the outside, rolled DDP back into the ring, and then pinned him after a slingshot leg drop. Of course, with that, he also won the services of the Diamond Doll. Lucky man.

Afterwards, the announcers sent it over to Mean Gene, who interviewed the two after the match. Badd said that he'd love to have her services, but wants her to think about it first. Kimberly came off extremely likable throughout the match, and didn't get in the way too much.

WINNER: Johnny B. Badd retained the TV Title via pinfall in 12:00. Good charisma from DDP and not a bad way to open the PPV. (**1/2)

2 -- BIG BUBBA ROGERS vs. JIM DUGGAN -- Taped Fist match

The finish came when Rogers won via KO after knocking Duggan out with a chain provided to him by V.K. Wallstreet. V.K. took a 2x4 to the gut for his troubles.

WINNER: Big Bubba Rogers via pinfall/KO in 10:00. (*)

After the match, Mean Gene interviewed Ric Flair, who talked down about Sting and did his classic "Naitch" promo. Next, they went to the ring for a showcase of Japanese women's wrestling.

3 -- BULL NAKANO & AKIRA HOKUTO (w/Sonny Onoo) vs. MAYUMI OZAKI & CUTIE SUZUKI

To wrap up the match at this point, Nakano pinned Ozaki after a leg drop from the top rope. I always thought highly of her leg drop. It looked great and was sold really well.

WINNERS: Nakano & Hokuto via pinfall in 9:00. (**1/2)

4 -- U.S. Hvt. champion KENSUKE SASAKI (w/Sonny Onoo) vs. CHRIS BENOIT -- U.S. Title match

Sasaki pinned Benoit after a Northern Lights Bomb. Sonny Onoo was hilarious in his quick trip to the commentary booth, by the way. In general, I always thought he was awesome.

WINNER: Sasaki in 10:00 to retain the U.S. Hvt. Title. (**1/2)

Mean Gene brought in The Taskmaster, The Giant, and Jimmy Hart for an interview.

5 -- LEX LUGER vs. RANDY SAVAGE

Luger forced Savage to submit to an armbar.

WINNER: Luger in 6:00. (*1/2)

6 -- STING vs. RIC FLAIR

Sting forced Flair to submit to the Scorpion Deathlock.

WINNER: Sting via submussion in 15:00. (**1/2)

7 -- WORLD WAR III BATTLE ROYAL -- Three Ring, 60-man Battle Royal -- vacant WCW World Hvt. Title on the line

Wow, the presentation was bad with three small screens. Not easy on the eyes and action was happening left and right. The three commenting teams were off at times, but honestly, I could listen to this over the multi-man booths of today.

WINNER: Randy Savage in 30:00 to become WCW Hvt. champion. (***)

After the match, Hogan whined that he was dragged under the bottom rope by The Giant. He came off like a huge baby, but people loved him and actually booed Savage. But, a fun way to close the show with Savage saying he wants to see the film on Nitro. Nice way to plug the Monday show following the big PPV.

OVERALL: This show was fun and has a special place in my heart. Was it great? No, but some of the matches were average to slightly-above-average and the battle royal was fun to watch near the end once the odd presentation was eliminated using all three rings. Overall, I'd give the show a slight recommendation for nostalgia at a 7.0, give or take. Thanks for reading. This has been your retrospective, from a common fan.

***

Jimmy Eaton blogs his wrestling buffoonery out of Spring Hill, Tenn. He occasionally writes a Retrospective of the Common Fan column for the Pro Wrestling Torch and can be found on Sean Radican's Wrestling Community Audio show yapping about independent wrestling from time to time. His podcast, Perspectives of the Common Fan, can be found at potcf.blogspot.com . Twitter- @TheCommonFan ... Facebook- www,facebook.com/thecommonfan

[Torch photo credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch.com]

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