I forgot how cool the spinning WCW ring was. I think they only rolled it out for the B and C shows, which I'm guessing was a logistics thing and it was confined to Centre Stage, because you can bet Hollywood Hogan would've cut some incredible shithousing promos in the dark in that spinning ring if they'd been able to take it on the road. Imagine pieces of rubbish being thrown from all corners of the arena as Hogan played air guitar while making direct eye contact with every drunk redneck in the Georgia Dome. This was a super fun eight minutes between two guys that are always going to be super fun with eight minutes to play with. One thing about DDP, certainly in '96 but probably further back as well, he was always creative and always willing to mix things up, try some inventive stuff, really use the time he had to do something interesting. That's the sort of thing I really appreciate as a wrestling fan at this point, probably because I'm more inclined to watch a bunch of shorter matches, which is where you get to see who's motivated to bust their tail and put some thought into things. 14 minutes on Nitro or a PPV is one thing, but seven minutes on Worldwide? Plenty of more highly thought of wrestlers than DDP have gone out there in similar situations and gone through the motions. Of course Eddie is another guy who's worth watching in basically any environment and both of them match up great. Eddie's early dropkicks looked awesome and the second one ruled. It sent Page through the ropes, but on the way out he caught himself as if he was mid-619, so Eddie followed up with another dropkick that sent him all the way out, then followed up on that with a plancha. Page takes over by hucking Eddie into the buckles and working over the midsection, first with some really mean looking sternum-first whips into the corner. He hits this awesome gutwrench gutbuster and would cut Eddie off with body shots. This was around the time WCW were pushing Nick Patrick as a heel ref' so the finish is shitty, but everything before it was really some of the best WCW B show stuff you could want.
Eddy Guerrero v DDP (Saturday Night, 6/20/98) - GOOD
This might've been even better and if nothing else had an actual finish (and an amazing one at that). The roles were reversed here, with Page red hot as a babyface heading into a PPV main event at Bash at the Beach. Even more so than in the previous match he could've come out and coasted through the six minutes they had, but he didn't and they worked something really nifty. This time Eddie works over the ribs of Page and Eddie Guerrero working a body part will always work for me. He hits his hilo to the lower back and stretches Page with a single-leg bow and arrow, really digging his knee into the kidneys. Tenay and Hudson mention how Page watches wrestling tapes from all over the world, from his opponents in WCW for scouting purposes, and honestly I can believe it. I could easily see DDP reading the old DVDVR newsletters and buying New Japan tapes and cribbing a bunch of stuff. They also mention the Diamond Cutter and how he has a knack for hitting it from anywhere. The first time he tries it here it's from a running start, but Eddie holds firm and shoves him off. The next time Page has a chance he goes for a powerbomb, spins Eddie in the air and plants him with the Cutter. An unnecessary setup perhaps, but a great one nonetheless.
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