Uncensored 1998

- 15th March 1998 from Alabama.
Attendance: 7,475
Buyrate: 1.10 (Found online)

TV Title - Eddie Guerrero (w/ Chavo) Vs. Booker-T
 Eddie stalls to boos. Booker is 100% in charge. Booker heads up top but Eddie dropkicks him and hits a superplex. Side kick gets Booker 2 then Eddie avoids Scissors Kick by dropkicking his knee and follows up with knee work, I like psychology. Match is bought to a halt by a long knee lock by Eddie. Spinarooni leads to Scissor Kick and a spinebuster, he did touch his knee so that's classed as selling I guess. Booker comes off the top and lands on his feet, sell it fool! (Missed a chance there as I should of put Sucka!)Missile dropkick gets Booker the 3 count. *** - Solid match but a bit annoyed Booker didn't sell the knee more. Heel Eddie was awesome, he beats up Chavo post match which is also awesome.

 Konnan Vs. Juventud Guerrera
 Juvi is only recently unmasked (Superbrawl I think). Juvi heel kicks K-Dawg when his back is turned. Springboard dropkick gets Juventud a 2 count. Release german sends Juvi from Alabama all the way to California. Juvi does a Flair Flip from a slingshot, nice way of showing Konnan has the power advantage. Konnas does what Mike Tenay calls a 'Rocking Horse' submission and it's a nice move, what isn't nice though is Juvi being dropped on his neck like a botched Styles Clash and god knows that move is being botched enough nowadays. K-Diggity-Diggity-Dawg goes for a top rope german but Juvi lands on his feet and attacks a tree of woes Konnan. Wheel barrow style german gets K-Dawg a 2 count. Juvi facebusters out of a powerbomb but Konnan fires off a cradled DDT for 2. Konnan now goes for a cocky nonchalant pin but is crucifixed and Juvi gets the 3 count.*** - Boosted as I enjoyed some of Konnan's submissions. Good match here as Uncensored has got off to a good start. (Nice how heels attempt to show off backfired as well leading to a face win)

J.J Dillon says that for tonight only the Jackknife is allowed.

Cruiserweight Title - Chris Jericho (c) Vs. Dean Malenko
 Jericho grabs a wristlock and shouts 'This is hold 643'. Dean does a HBK kip up but is enziguried, Jericho tries to follow up with a crossbody but Dean avoids it. Forearms and stomps have Jericho down but he fires back with a Sky High/Spinebuster. Jericho busts out a Basil Fawlty style strut. Jericho controls for a while now and the match slows down until Malenko seems to snap with punches, headbutts then a suplex for 2. Jericho hits a curtain call style suplex but Dean soon gets a couple of 2s from a victory roll and a backslide. Dean hits a top rope gutbuster to avoid a top rope hurricanrana and gets a 2 count from it. Jericho blocks a heel kick and gets the submission win via the Liontamer. Post Match Mean Gene walks past Jericho, snubbed! Gene essentially calls Dean a loser and asks him where he foes from here, Dean's reply 'Home'. - *** Very enjoyable match here, as these two are complete opposites they work well together, also this loss led to Dean's return at Slamboree 1998 to an almighty pop when he unmasked. (He was dressed as Ciclope) 

Scott Steiner Vs. Lex Luger
 Scott turned on his brother Rick at Superbrawl the previous month and donned the black and white. Scott attacks upon entry, a belly-to-belly is followed by an elbow for a 2 count. It's been 100% Scott so far. Lex suplexes Scott over to the outside in his first offensive manoeuvre. Back in Lex soon signals for the Torture Rack but he is low blowed. Steiner Recliner is applied with Lex more out of the ring than in it. Rick Steiner's in da house, crowd woofs. Lex gets the 3 count with a clothesline. Post Match Scott runs at Rick with a chair but is backdropped to outside to a pop. *1/2 (Scott had only turned a month earlier so I wouldn't have jobbed him out to Luger off all people. also the Scott/Rick stuff dragged on and on as Scott always avoided Rick to the point of it going from a heel dodging a face to it almost becoming a joke)

US Title - No DQ/Falls Count Anywhere -  Raven Vs. Chris Benoit Vs. DDP (c) 
 DDPs ribs are taped but it'd be a bigger shock if they weren't (I'll check tonight but I think his ribs were taped on the WCW/nWo revenge game). Triple lock up sends all three guys ringside. Page is wiped out into ring steps leaving Benoit to batter Raven. Diving Headbutt gets 2 on Raven. Benoit and DDP are ringside so Raven launches himself onto both and gets a 2 on both guys. Page places Raven in a trashcan and he and Benoit hit him with crutches. Page gets thrown through the Uncensored sign. Raven suplexes a table onto Benoit as Page is out by the sign. Raven sets the table up vertically but he is whipped through it. 'DDP' Chant. Raven and Benoit are now back in the ring where Raven is drop toe holded(?) onto a set-up chair. Page is crawling back to the ring, as Benoit sets a chair up in the corner and whips Raven into it as he is dismantling Raven. Triple sleeper is applied as Page is now back in the ring. Rolling germans to Raven then Page decides he wants in on that and we get a triple german. 'DDP' chant. DDP is placed on a table as Benoit lays Raven out with a STOP sign (STOP sign shots are so 1990s but I must say I do miss them). Page Diamond Cutters Raven off the top onto the table which didn't break properly. ****1/2 - Great, fun 3-way which was much better than I was anticipating, some innovative spots for 1998. Damn good match here folks. (The fact it doesn't break adds to the grittiness)

Kevin Nash Vs. The Giant
 You heard the rumour Nash avoided Starrcade '97 so he didn't have to job? Giant has a neck brace and that's probably from the botched Powerbomb at Souled Out 1998, he wasn't really hurt this bad. They have a pose off which is won by Giant. Nash does some shadow boxing. Nash transitions a headlock to a wristlock so Giant clotheslines him. They go ringside where Giant is bounced off a ringpost. Nash applies a chinlock after multiple elbows then removes the neck brace. Nash headbutts Giant but it backfires and Giant is fighting back, Giant calls for a Chokeslam but instead sets up a Powerbomb until nWo come out for a lame DQ. Giant Chokeslams Vincent, Konnan and goes to do it to Brian Adams but Nash hits him with a baseball bat and nWo leave. *1/2 (Because lord help us if a face beat or outsmarted nWo that wasn't named Sting)

Curt Henning (w/ Rick Rude) Vs. Bret Hart
 Side headlock takedown by Hart as something finally happens. It's headlock-mania so far here, kind of hip toss by Hart so Henning bails ringside. Hart applies Sharpshooter but Rude hits him behinds refs back. Henning is going for Hart's leg/knee whilst Rude also gets cheapshots in. Henning's been on top for a while but it's not really interesting. Henning applies Figure Four which makes sense given the earlier leg work. Hart soon fired back with his usual offence bar Sharpshooter, then takes his chest first whip into the turnbuckle. Perfect-Plex gets a 2 count. Hart rolls through a sunset flip and applies Sharpshooter for the submission victory. *** - Better than I expected given it's WCW Hart Vs. WCW Henning, it felt like a WWF style match. (Probably due to Hart still being relatively motivated as WCW hadn't quite sunk his spirits fully yet)

WCW Title - Scott Hall (w/ Dusty Rhodes) Vs. Sting (c).
 Hall earned this title shot at World War III .... in November, Sting hits Hall after he won't hand the belt back. Wristlock with shoulder blocks by Hall, now he calls for a test of strength and pokes Sting in the eyes. Chokeslam by Hall then he mocks Giant. Bulldog by Sting, Hall was channeling HBK of SummerSlam 2005 there, Dusty gets involved as Scott is on top of the match now, fallaway slam gets a 2 count. Sting inadvertently hits Hall in the ping pongs. Dusty elbows Sting getting Hall a 2 count. He's Stinging Up! Stinger Splash to Hall but Dusty distracts him stopping the Deathdrop. Ref Bump! as Hall is whipped into him. Brass knuckles shot gets the challenger a 2 count. Outsiders Edge is called for but Sting gets out of it and Deathdrop gets the 3 count. **1/2 - Slow at times and did feel very Nitro-esque, match which wasn't bad it just didn't feel PPV worthy. (I usually say solid if unspectacular for matches like this, so I shall now)

Steel Cage - Hollywood Hogan Vs. Macho Man Randy Savage (W/ Liz)
 Control of nWo on the line or something, Savage hit Hogan at Superbrawl costing him the WCW Title. Lights go up, then we go dark again, oh now they're back. Hogan beats Randy down after a lock up. Big Boot gets a 2 count as Randy has had no offence yet. Savage avoids elbows and finally gets some offence. Hogan avoids going into the cage and rakes Savage's eyes, belt shots follow after some more boring stuff Hogan misses a leg drop and Macho whips him. Punches and elbows by Savage but then he is backdropped into the cage. Randy is rammed into the cage, They fight outside the cage thus rendering the cage concept useless. Back in Randy hits a crazy Double Axe Handle of the cage, okay that was good albeit slightly mad. Disciple opens the cage, Sting rappels from the rafters, he has Randys back until Savage clotheslines then piledrives Sting. Fans dont care but schiavone does, Randy spits at Hogan then leaves, then the PPV ends I guess with a no contest? *1/2 (May of been more bar the stupid ending)

23.5 / 45 - Well Scott/Lex was too short to be any good, and wrong man went over for me, the WCW Title was acceptable for a Nitro but not really for a PPV and the cage match really drags this down, one thing that would've made it less annoying was having it in the penultimate slot as that wouldn't make the PPV end on a stinker and you could still have Savage attack Sting because Hall could just come out that would add babyface over coming the odds story to the match as well. However the triple threat was fantastic and the rest bar Giant/Nash were good as well so i'll go thumbs slightly up for Uncensored 1998, which is amazing for an Uncensored PPV.