Souled Out (1998)

{{short description|1998 World Championship Wrestling pay-per-view event}}

{{Infobox Wrestling event

|name=Souled Out (1998)

|image=Souled Out 98 poster.jpg

|tagline=Hell Hath No Fury Like...
First Fight '98
Who Do You Trust?

|promotion=World Championship Wrestling

|brand=WCW
nWo

|date=January 24, 1998

|venue=Hara Arena

|city=Dayton, Ohio

|attendance=5,486

|lastevent=Starrcade

|nextevent=SuperBrawl VIII

|event=Souled Out

|nextevent2=1999

|lastevent2=1997}}

Souled Out (1998) was the second Souled Out professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and sponsored by Snickers. The event took place on January 24, 1998 from the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio.{{cite web |url=http://www.wcwwrestling.com/ppvevents/calendar/9801e.html |title=WCW Live Events - September, 1997 |website=www.wcwwrestling.com |access-date=19 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980204042754/http://www.wcwwrestling.com/ppvevents/calendar/9801e.html |archive-date=4 February 1998 |url-status=dead}} Unlike the previous year's event, this year's event was billed as a joint production by WCW and the nWo (in storyline) and the pay-per-view events until the following year's Uncensored were jointly produced by WCW and the nWo.

The event featured a double main event. The first main event featured Bret Hart making his WCW in-ring debut against Ric Flair. Hart made Flair submit to the Sharpshooter. The second main event featured WCW's Lex Luger against nWo's Randy Savage. Luger made Savage submit to the Torture Rack.{{cite web|url=http://411mania.com/wrestling/the-smark-retro-repost-souled-out-98/|title=The SmarK Retro Repost – Souled Out '98|publisher=411Mania|accessdate=2017-02-28}}

The event featured several WCW vs. nWo matches. There were two singles matches as Larry Zbyszko and The Giant represented WCW against the nWo's Scott Hall and Kevin Nash in respective matches while WCW's Ray Traylor and The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) took on the nWo's Konnan, Scott Norton and Buff Bagwell in a six-man tag team match. Aside from WCW vs. nWo matches, the WCW Cruiserweight Championship and the WCW World Television Championship were also defended at the event. Chris Benoit took on Raven in a Raven's Rules Match and a lucha libre cruiserweight eight-man tag team match also took place at the event.

Storylines

The event featured wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.{{cite web|url=http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/pro-wrestling.htm|title=How Pro Wrestling Works|last=Grabianowski|first=Ed|work=HowStuffWorks, Inc.|date=13 January 2006 |publisher=Discovery Communications|accessdate=2015-11-15}}

At Starrcade, Randy Savage provided a distraction to Lex Luger during his match against Savage's teammate Buff Bagwell, allowing Bagwell to win the match. Luger defeated Bagwell in a rematch the following night on Nitro and then challenged Savage to a match. Luger defeated Savage in a short match on the following week's Nitro. Luger then cost Savage, a match against Chris Adams by hitting Savage with a steel chair on the debut episode of Thunder. Later on the show, it was announced that Luger would face Savage at Souled Out.

Event

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|+ Other on-screen personnel

!Role:

!Name:

rowspan=3|Commentators

Interviewer

rowspan=2|Ring announcers

rowspan=5|Referee

One notable moment of the night was when Kevin Nash attempted his Jackknife Powerbomb on The Giant. Nash was unable to lift the Giant high enough, and the impact caused the Giant to land on his head. The announcers were noticeably stunned as it appeared the Giant may have suffered a serious neck injury. While he ultimately recovered, Nash and the Giant would play it off as a deliberate move on Nash's part to try to break the Giant's neck.{{cite web|url=http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/souledout.htm|title=Souled Out pay-per-view results|publisher=The History of WWE|accessdate=2016-02-28}}

Dusty Rhodes began the evening as the second color commentator alongside Bobby Heenan, but left the table to accompany Larry Zbyszko, at his request, to the ring for his match with Scott Hall. Rhodes then turned on Zbyszko during the match to align himself with Hall and the New World Order and did not return to the broadcast position; Mike Tenay joined Heenan and Tony Schiavone for the rest of the program.{{cite web|url=http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/souledout.htm|title=Souled Out pay-per-view results|publisher=The History of WWE|accessdate=2016-02-28}}

Reception

In 2010, 411Mania staff gave the event a rating of 7.5 [Good], stating, "All the non-nWo stuff delivers, but all the nWo stuff pretty much sucks. Even though there's a lot to enjoy on this card, it still reminded me of a nursing home, since you could smell death coming.

Eric Bischoff was a one-trick pony for a booker. The only major angle he came up with was nWo. It got over huge, but once it was time to end it, he didn't. Instead of pushing talent the fans wanted to see, he shoved nWo down the fans' throats. Bischoff thought no matter how shitty the product was, people would still watch WCW over WWF. His method did in fact work for a while, but once people started seeing fresh talent, interesting characters, cussing, puppies, and aggressive violence - the WCW fans evolved into WWF fans.

I will have to give this a thumbs up, but do not say I didn't warn you about the nWo garbage."{{cite web | url=https://411mania.com/wrestling/sharpshooter-review-souled-out-1998/ | title=Sharpshooter Review: Souled Out 1998 }}

Results

{{Pro Wrestling results table

|results={{cite web | url=https://www.f4wonline.com/other-wrestling/daily-pro-wrestling-history-0124-wwf-royal-rumble-1999-302516 | title=Pro wrestling history (01/24): WWF Royal Rumble 1999 | date=January 24, 2020 | accessdate=January 25, 2020 | first=Brian | last=Hoops | work=Wrestling Observer Newsletter}}

|match1=Juventud Guerrera, Super Caló, Lizmark Jr. and Chavo Guerrero Jr. defeated La Parka, Psychosis, Silver King and El Dandy

|stip1=Eight-man tag team match

|time1=09:30

|match2=Chris Benoit defeated Raven by technical submission

|stip2=Raven's Rules Match

|time2=10:36

|match3=Chris Jericho defeated Rey Misterio Jr. (c) by submission

|stip3=Singles match for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship

|time3=08:22

|match4=Booker T (c) defeated Rick Martel

|stip4=Singles match for the WCW World Television Championship

|time4=10:50