WCW Souled Out 1997 Results and Review

Poster From The Event - Pretty Cool For 1997, Honestly

In 1997 big changes hit the professional wrestling world. In the WWF at the time, Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin were getting ready to switch places. The Undertaker, Vader, and several others were caught up in the main event scene, with Wrestlemania 13 going to be a big one that was set up by a lot of frustrating booking. Meanwhile, WCW had been booming with the introduction of the New World Order. The NWO was so big, that they decided to throw Souled Out in January, and the first edition was all New World Order themed. Everything from the mat, the lighting, to the structure of the matches were in favor of the NWO and it was great in my view.

This event took place on January 25, 1997 and it had an attendance of 5,120. If you look at the PPV, the venue was absolutely packed, and it was a very cool building to have a show. The crowd went nuts from time to time, but it wasn’t as hectic as some other events that would come through in 1997 from WCW< but it still had a good crowd. With that in mind, let’s consider the matches, and a review of this big event.

WCW Souled Out 1997 Results

Masahiro Chono defeated Chris Jericho
Big Bubba Rogers defeated Hugh Morris in a Mexican Death Match
Jeff Jarrett defeated Mr. Wallstreet
Buff Bagwell defeated Scotty Riggs
Scott Norton defeated Diamond Dallas Page via Countout
The Steiner Brothers defeated The Outsiders for the WCW World Tag Team Championship
Eddie Guerrero defeated Syxx in a ladder match for the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship
Hollywood Hogan fought The Giant to a no contest in the WCW World Championship Match

WCW Souled Out 1997 Review

Masahiro Chono defeated Chris Jericho

At the time, WCW had a partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling. They had talent come through to face off against their homegrown talent, and this was one of those matches. Jericho was fighting against Chono’s strong style, and it was definitely stiff. There were a few moments where you could tell Jericho and Chono had a language gap, and you could feel the pain that Jericho was getting into for this one. A decent opener, but Chono got the big win for NWO Japan.

Big Bubba Rogers defeated Hugh Morris in a Mexican Death Match

I’m always surprised by how athletic Big Bubba was. Not only that, Hugh Morris had one of the best moonsaults in the industry. This match was fun, under 10 minutes, hard hitting, fast moving, and interesting to watch, but nothing too grand on the line.

Jeff Jarrett defeated Mr. Wallstreet

This was a boring point in the night. The fans didn’t care for either one of these guys, and honestly, neither did I. A standard wrestling match, with nothing too grand to report here.

Buff Bagwell defeated Scotty Riggs

This is a significant match because Riggs and Bagwell were separating. The American Males were no longer and the two were feuding as a result. Buff joined the New World Order and Riggs wouldn’t get much of a push until he got involved in a feud with Raven towards November of 1997. Riggs would be a glorified jobber on WCW television until then. Oh, this match was cool, hard hitting, and back and forth, but in the end Riggs would lose to Buff.

Scott Norton defeated Diamond Dallas Page via Countout

Norton was a beast. This match was hard hitting, and DDP did his best to entertain the crowd, but Norton wasn’t selling nearly as much, and well, he would eventually win.

A Note On The Miss NWO Contest

Throughout the show there was a showcase of middle-age women that were going to be Miss New World Order. This was lame, and everyone involved said it was lame in shoot interviews. This was stupid, and really broke up the flow of the show.

The Steiner Brothers defeated The Outsiders for the WCW World Tag Team Championship

The Steiner Brothers were getting a bit older here, and it showed. Scott was going to turn into Big Poppa Pump soon, but before that, the Steiners put on a nice match with The Outsiders. Hall and Nash were not really working hard in their matches in WCW, at least not every single time they tagged together. This was evident in this match. There were a few good spots, but overall, the Steiners had little to work with out of Hall and Nash. That didn’t matter, the match got the crowd going, and the title change was a great option, even if it was only one night.

Eddie Guerrero defeated Syxx in a ladder match for the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship

Guerrero and Syxx put on a showcase of some serious talent. This is a five star classic if you ask me. I know it’s not as high flying as some of the more recent ladder matches, but for 1997, this was an incredible match, with a lot of pain involved. Syxx’s heel kick from the top of the ladder is worth the price of admission alone. Guerrero taking bumps like crazy was interesting, and overall this match was absolutely a show stopper.

Hollywood Hogan fought The Giant to a no contest in the WCW World Championship Match

Hogan fought the Giant to a really cool match. I suggest watching all of the matches that The Giant had in WCW because he works very differently than when he was in WWE. Remember, the WWE forced him to not only change his style, but also retrain in OVW after his stellar year in 2000. Whatever the case may be, this match was entertaining, and the crowd ate it up. The end came when the ref, aligned with the NWO, wouldn’t count the 3 and Giant got mad and beat him up. The whole New World Order would come out and get choke slammed one by one for their trouble, and this match just ended in a no contest. The crowd kept chanting for Sting, and he never showed up. The New World Order would get the last laugh as they beat up the Giant, pulled his pants down and wrote NWO across his back. No joke.

Final Thoughts on NWO Souled Out 1997

This was a cool match, I love it. I think that above all else, the ladder match was incredible. Syxx gets a lot of crap for who he was and is, but if you watch this match, you’ll realize that the guy could really wrestle. He put on a show with Guerrero, and the two really did a fine job with the ladder. Not a lot of spots like today, but more psychology and movement, great stuff.

The VHS copies of this event are rare, so you’ll have to look into picking it up on the WWE network, sorry folks.