Hall, NWO, drop kicks reign at Palace

It was the chance of a lifetime. Sixty wrestlers were lined up for a shot at becoming the No. 1 contender against the World Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Champion of the World. The only thing separating each man from his destiny were the 59 others.

This battle royale was the highlight of Sunday evening at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The 60-man, three-ring all-out brawl, lovingly titled "World War 3," lasted only an hour, but the four title bouts, two special stipulation matches and grudge matches made for an hour of total chaos.

Glacier gets pummeled by a merciless Meng at WCW's World War 3 on Sunday night.

Most striking about the evening was that the event, billed as a 60-man bout, was actually only comprised of 59 wrestlers. Most noticeably absent from the melee was New World Order member and Detroit native Kevin Nash, who was considered a heavy favorite to win the title shot. The New World Order, for those not in the know, is the WCW-created bad-boy gang, which has threatened the fine upstanding wrestlers that make up the rest of the WCW.

University alumni the Steiner Brothers successfully defended their first pay-per-view title match against the British duo of Dave Taylor and Steve Regal. Taylor and Regal were dispatched quickly by the immense Steiners.

Another high profile match was the Ric Flair/Curt Hennig match for the United States Heavyweight title. This match, to Flair, was much more than just for Hennig's belt - it was revenge for the humiliation that he suffered at the hands of Hennig earlier this year. The match was a "no disqualification" bout, so no rules applied. It began quite slowly and no rules were actually broken in the first few minutes. As the match wore on, steel chairs were eventually broken out and used by both sides. The match ended with Flair smashing Hennig's knee with a chair, and throwing the championship belt at Hennig's face, placing him in a figure-four leglock. Hennig then nailed Flair in the face with the belt and rolled him over for the easy pin.

This battle royale was easily the most exciting part of the night. The rules were simple: a wrestler was eliminated from the contest by being thrown over the top rope. Any wrestler could change rings, and the final 10 men would advance to the second ring and fight to the finish.

It was difficult to discern who was fighting whom amidst all the chaos. The battle royale held a couple surprise performances, such as those from such "old school" wrestlers as Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Many of the wrestlers like the smaller "Luchadores", a group of Mexican wrestlers, were eliminated right off the bat. The Giant easily proved his dominance by eliminating five wrestlers in about five seconds.

REVIEW
	WCW: WW3 Pay-Per-View Sunday night at 7 p.m.

Team play also benefited, as was shown by the success of such teams and groups like the NWO, the Steiners and Harlem Heat. In the end, it was the entire NWO contingent of Scott Hall, Curt Hennig, Vincent, Marcus "Buff" Bagwell and "Macho Man" Randy Savage versus The Giant, Diamond Dallas Page, Rick Steiner, Lex Luger and Stevie Ray of Harlem Heat.

The final four men were DDP, The Giant, Macho Man and Scott Hall. After Macho was eliminated, it was two on one. Suddenly, Jimmie Hendrix's "Voodoo Child" blared over the loudspeakers, marking the entrance of Hollywood "Hulk" Hogan, the final combatant in the contest for his very belt. Hogan helped to dispatch DDP, and was about to do the same to the Giant, when a figure slid down a rope from the ceiling. He was dressed as Sting, the silent wrestling persona who dresses like Brandon Lee's "Crow" character, but it soon became apparent that it was Kevin Nash. He helped to dispatch the Giant by clubbing him in the back with a baseball bat, and NWO founding member Scott Hall emerged the winner.

With the exception of the battle royale, "World War 3" in itself was rather droll. No titles changed hands and all of the "no disqualification" matches weren't much different than a regular match. With all the hype surrounding this event, "World War 3" really wasn't much of a war.

11-26-97