Dennis Rodman & Hollywood Hogan vs. Lex Luger & The Giant

[7.0] "That's an incredibly fun match, maybe the only problem was indeed the duration, 22-minutes felt like it wasn't ideal, considering the type of the match that was, and things could be resolved earlier, but apart of that, man, that was fun. One year after Hogan's heel turn at the same PPV, this looked ideal, it's the epitome of what the best of nWo could offer, and that's popularity, entertainment and cool moments. Rodman was a major NBA star at the time and his chemistry with Hogan here was incredible, a duo of douchebags, and Rodzilla truly understood the business, you could see, he gets it. Hogan and Luger started the match, but the anticipation for Rodman was tremendous, and when he finally made the tag, we were all curious, and the place erupted after his armdrag. Rodman's performance was all you can ask from a celebrity and this entire match was nice to watch. The coward heels made the match with their dynamic together, and Giant's imposition was also something very showy. Sting appeared at the end and hit Giant, but the babyface team managed to win nonetheless, after a confusion with the referee, Luger won the match. This had a lot of elements, but it's a cool moment for WCW, pretty remarkable - {***1/2}"

[7.0] "This was funnily entertaining. It was just unnecessarily long, and fake Sting interference was not needed. Fake Sting angle expired past it's date when it was made clear which side real Sting picked. That being said, this was a perfect crowd service. Babyfaces win, Rodman wrestles and hits best armdrag since Steamboat and gets his ass spanked by Giant, Hogan submits. Are you not entertained?"

[9.0] "This is legitimately one of the best wcw matches of all time. Not meant to be a in ring masterclass at all but it was absolutely amazing at what it was meant to be. An Electric spectacle of a match carried by the crowd and the abilty of all 4 guys to work a crowd and really make the most out of so little. The huge pops before during and at the end of the match were incredible to listen to. 4.25/5"

[7.0] "Listen to the crowd during this match. That's also what pro wrestling is supposed to be. Not everything is a 45 star classic. This was classic storytelling with 4 guys who were very over so they could've played checkers in the middle of the ring and the crowd would've been engaged. Very fun match! Kevin Nash disguised as Sting and the announcers not questioning why Sting can suddenly step over the top rope and is taller than Hogan is so bad it's good."

[7.0] "This was a simple case of a little bit goes a long way. there was no flippy stuff or finisher spam. Luger swallowed his pride and made Rodman look good. But Luger and Giant ultimately get the victory in a fun match that the crowd was eating up. Dennis Rodman wasn't the bust everyone was expecting in 1997."

[7.0] "Another proof that you don't need some incredible workrate if the workers themselves are over and they know how to use fans' involvement. Absolutely fantastic work from all four guys, even Rodman who did some simple stuff, but his timing was perfect and crowd erupted for his Arm Drag. At the same time they didn't bury Luger or The Giant, as they were responding to his moves with more energy and power, which made the whole thing feel really believable. They knew when to pick up the speed, paced it very well and built to Lex's Torture Rack fantastically."

[4.0] "A big drag of a main event. Rodman actually entertained me more than Hogan and I cannot believe I am saying that. Hogan bores me so much in this era. The Giant has cooled off on me. Thankfully, Lex Luger absolutely rocked here. This was an old-style match that made me widen my eyes at a handful of spots, but for the most part had me sitting there waiting for the next guy to tag in and move on. Sting (? ) coming out and hitting the Giant was also random as shit considering they still won the match due to Luger. However, I am also bumping this up a point as it was relieving to see Luger and Giant finally get a win in what feels like forever."

"This match is so underrated. Rodman looked pretty good and worked well with Hogan and savage to gain an edge on Luger and giant. The end was a bit ehh but it was late 90s wcw what do you expect? Rodman was on top of the world at the time and it worked for me as a ppv main event."

[4.0] "wcw is a unique product where the same thing is shown every time on the show, but the audience gathers in a stadium and they scream like little children when they see the Giant and Hogan. Frankly, it is difficult for me to understand and it is difficult to get satisfaction from such a product. Yet somehow it worked for years."

[5.0] "Rodman's star quality translates well to the wrestling world. He looked cool as a cucumber here, and his arrogance shines through the screen. He just looked so damn pleased with himself when he busts out an arm drag that I can forgive him that his lock-ups looked like utter shit. Sadly I didn't find this match that engaging as an entire package. Simple wrestling can be excellent, but this was too simplistic for my pallet and I needed that something extra to chew on. Hogan spends the first five minutes cowering away, and as good as his crowd work is, I don't find it entertaining personally. The finish wasn't great either, as we get a screwy ending with a Sting run-in. I respect that this did monster PPV numbers, but I wasn't particularly impressed with it."

[6.0] "Way, way way too long of a match, but other than that, it's exactly what it's meant to be: A big, showy main event to get mainstream attention on the product. It's not fantastic wrestling, but it's not bad by any stretch, really. This does exactly what it's supposed to do."

[3.0] "Pretty shit that this was the state of PPV main events in WCW. The match was a painful slog with no interesting action whatsoever. The atmosphere was crazy and Hogans charisma and crowd work was probably the best thing about this. Hilarious how everyone reacted to Dennis Rodman pulling off extremely basic moves."

[6.0] "I thought that this was very fine tag match, and Dennis Rodman held his own, sometimes you just have to appreciate main events like these just because of crowd reactions."

[3.0] "This was a LONG main event! Michael Buffer lets us know how bad Dennis Rodman is. The announcers are spazing out all over themselves when Rodman does a leapfrog and are about THIS close from saying Rodman deserves a shot at a title. A whole lot of stalling in this thing. Rodman armdrags Luger! Jesuz Christ! Jumping shitballs! Make him #1 contender! Rodman tries some more leapfrogs and gets squashed by Luger. Hogan tags in and Rodman lays like he's dying outside the ring. Rodman comes back in and locks up with Giant then tries that leapfrog crap and Giant catches him and uses an inverted atomic drop. The only thing Rodman does well is sell the injury and make it look like it hurt. Luger goes for the loaded forearm of death but Rodman kicks him in the back of the head and Hogan decks and chokes him. A fitting screwy ending for a bleh match. "Sting" shows up, knocks Giant stupid with a bat and those stupid bastards in the booth think Sting can step OVER the top rope BOTH entering the ring AND leaving and they don't notice that there are no visible eyes on the sting mask, Nash walks off and probably tears his knee again, then Luger racks Hogan for the submission. Overbooked publicity stunt. Still didn't hate it as much as that Jay Leno match the following year."

[6.0] "Dennis Rodman doing an arm drag to Lex Luger ruuuuuuuules. I do not care. This is what it's all about folks."

[3.0] "So this probably worked well as a spectacle at the time, when Dennis Rodman was an icon rather than, well, whatever he is now, but it really looks bad in hindsight. Rodman was OK for a celebrity, and certainly could match Hogan and Luger for posing, but there just wasn't much actual action here. The fake "Sting" who came out at the end being a foot taller than the real one still fooled the commentators, which didn't help matters."

[7.0] "An improbably good match and certainly one of the better celebrity matches ever. Rodman, despite his weirdness, came to work hard here and really surprised everyone. The crowd reactions are near riotous and everyone does a great job in the match."