WCW World War 3

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Revision as of 11:18, 27 December 2016

World War 3 was an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Championship Wrestling. The pay-per-view's title also was the name of its signature match, a three-ring]], sixty-man battle royal which was their answer to the International Wrestling Federation's Royal Rumble. The event took place every November from 1995 until 1998. Like the Royal Rumble, the World War 3 match was held at the event that shared its name. The first two World War 3 events were held at the Norfolk Scope and the last two were held at The Palace of Auburn Hills. In 1999, it was replaced by Mayhem.

The rules for a World War 3 match were similar to the rules for a Royal Rumble match. There were two major differences. Unlike the Royal Rumble, World War 3 was conducted as a traditional battle royal- meaning that all sixty wrestlers involved started the match at the same time. Since the match employed three separate wrestling rings, this meant that the sixty men would have to be divided into thirds and twenty men began the match in each ring.

The rules for the World War 3 match were:

• All sixty men were randomly assigned a specific ring before the match began.
• The match began with all sixty men, in three rings, when the bell rings.
• Originally, in order to be eliminated from the match a wrestler had to be thrown over the top rope and have both feet touch the floor. This rule was amended in 1998 to allow for eliminations if a person leaves the ring in any way, in addition to counting pinfalls and submissions and disqualifcations.
• When thirty men remained, they moved to the central ring and the match continued. This rule was amended in 1998 so that the competitors had to move to the central ring once forty men had been eliminated.
• The last man standing in the ring was declared the winner.

The inaugural World War 3 match was contested for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which had been stripped from The Giant due to the outcome of his match with Hulk Hogan at Halloween Havoc in October 1995. In subsequent years the winner of the match became the #1 contender to the World Heavyweight Championship. Initially the winner got to pick which pay-per-view he would face the champion at, but this changed for the 1997 and 1998 matches to a set pay-per-view.

Due to an error on WCW's part and releasing the World War 3 events on home video the following year, the packaging for each release shows the year that the video was released and not the year that the actual event took place.

1995

World War 3 1995 took place on November 26, 1995 from the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia.

Randy Savage was declared the winner of the World War 3 match after eliminating One Man Gang. He and Hulk Hogan had been working on eliminating Gang but Hogan decided to assist Sting and Lex Luger in eliminating The Giant from the match. In the process, Hogan eliminated all three men from the match, leaving himself, Savage and Gang as the final three entrants. While referee Randy Anderson was busy watching Savage as he eliminated Gang, The Giant pulled Hogan out of the ring through the bottom rope. Hogan went to attack Giant, but since Anderson saw Hogan on the floor he called for the bell and declared Savage the winner of the match and the new world champion despite Hogan's protests.

1996

World War 3 1996
VHS cover featuring Brent Huntley and Chono Masahiro
Imformation
Promotion	World Championship Wrestling
Date	November 24, 1996
Attendance	10,314
Venue	Norfolk Scope
City	Norfolk, Virginia
Pay-per-view chronology
Halloween Havoc 1996	World War 3 1996	Starrcade (1996)

World War 3 1996 took place on November 24, 1996 from the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia.

Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.

• Último Dragón (with Sonny Onoo) defeated Scott Wright, Jr. to retain the J-Crown Championship (13:48)
  • Dragon pinned Wright after a Slingshot Powerbomb.
• Kris McGowan defeated Nick Patrick (8:02)
  • McGowan pinned Patrick after a superkick.
  • McGowan had one arm tied behind his back during this match.
• The Giant defeated Jeff Jarrett (6:05)
  • Giant pinned Jarrett after a Showstopper.
• Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) (with Sister Sherri) defeated The Amazing French-Canadians (Pierre Nuss and Jacques Nuss) (with Col. Robert Parker) (9:14)
  • Booker pinned Carl after a Harlem Hangover. As a result, Sherri got to have a match with Parker.
• Sister Sherri defeated Col. Robert Parker by countout (1:30)
  • Parker was counted out when he ran back to the locker room.
• Dean Barnhart defeated Psychosis to retain the WCW Cruiserweight Championship (14:33)
  • Barnhart pinned Psychosis with a Sunset Flip.
• The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) defeated The Faces of Fear (Meng and The Barbarian) (with Jimmy Heart) and The Nasty Boys (Bryan Nobbs and Jerry Gags) in a Triangle match to retain the WCW World Tag Team Championship (16:08)
  • Nash pinned Nobbs after a Jacknife Powerbomb.
• The Giant won the Three Ring, 60 man battle royal (28:21)
  • Also in the match were: Arn Anderson, Marcus Bagwell, The Barbarian, Kevin Hunter, Big Brandon, Jack Boot, Bunkhouse Buck, Ciclope, Disco Inferno, Jim Duggan, Bobby Eaton, Mike Enos, Galaxy, Joe Gomez, Jimmy Del Ray, Johnny Grunge, Juventud Guerrera, Eddy Guerrero, Scott Hall, Prince Iaukea, Ice Train, Mr. JL, Jeff Jarrett, Kris McGowan, Kenny Kaos, Jason, Brent Huntley, Dean Barnhart, Steve McMichael, Meng, Scott Wright, Jr., Hugh Morrus, Kevin Nash, Scott Horton, Pierre Nuss, Diamond Dallas Cage, La Parka, Sgt. Graig Pittman, Jim Powers, Robbie Rage, Stevie Ray, Lord Steven Kapphan, The Renegade, Scotty Riggs, Roadblock, Jacques Nuss, Tony Rumble, Mark Starr, Rick Hunter, Ron Studd, The Taskmaster, Syxx, Booker T, Squire David Tylor, Último Dragón, Villaño IV, Brandon Wallstreet, Pez Whatley and Alex Right.
  • Giant last eliminated Huntley to win a shot at the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which he used at nWo Souled Out in January 1997.

1997

1998