Ultimo Dragon vs. Randy Savage (1/30/1998)

When I first heard of Ultimo Dragon vs. Randy Savage, I immediately thought to myself, where has this dream match been my entire life? These two amazing in-ring performers must have faced off at least half a dozen times, and why have I not seen these matches? Well, I never saw these matches because in fact, Ultimo Dragon and Randy Savage only faced off once and that was on an episode of WCW Worldwide in early 1998.

I set out to learn as much about this match as possible and discovered this isn't all that much to learn. The match aired in the middle of an episode of WCW Worldwide, which at the time was WCW's fourth tier show behind Nitro, Thunder, and Saturday Night. Worldwide was syndicated and aired on different stations and at different times which made it hard to keep up if you moved around a lot like I did.

I always loved the lower tier WCW shows because they were taped in studio (at Disney or Universal Studios) and had a very different feel than the larger arena shows like Nitro and Thunder. They typically featured lower card guys with the occasional mid-carder main eventing an episode of Worldwide. The main event of the episode where Ultimo Dragon and The Macho Man faced off was Scott Norton vs. Lex Luger.

This particular episode of Worldwide was taped at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida and saw Macho Man and Ultimo Dragon wrestle for just under three minutes. Still, in those three minutes they told a cohesive story that well... is sometimes lacking in today's wrestling world.

I wish I could say it was a barn burner or a twenty minute classic, but it wasn't. Instead, we got to see to of the greats for just a couple of minutes on a fourth rate show during WCW's prime. I guess, if there is anything to blame WCW for its not giving us more matches like this and instead letting Hulk Hogan babble on for way too long on Nitro.

Check the match out for youself and see what you think.