Monday Nitro – July 19, 1999

Date: July 19, 1999

Location: Metrocentre,
Rockford, Illinois

Attendance: 7,558

Commentators: Scott
Hudson, Bobby Heenan

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re inching closer to
Road Wild and we have a main event of World Champion Hollywood Hogan
defending against Kevin Nash, who may or may not be a heel now. The
main story for tonight though is Sting facing Ric Flair for control
of the company, which is a more interesting match as I really don’t
remember where these stories go. Let’s get to it.

Quick recap from last
week and the opening sequence.

Here’s Sid for an
intellectual chat. He can feel the same thing the fans feel in his
blood and wants Hogan’s World Title. We get the usual catchphrases
and I’m assuming that’s our main event.

Nitro Girls.

Before the match Jimmy
Hart pops up on screen to challenge Finlay for Road Wild, giving him
a chance to get the trophy back. Finlay takes over to start and
hammers on Jerry in the middle of the ring. Then he hammers him
against the ropes and in the corner for good measure. A snapmare and
elbow get two on Jerry but he pops up with his spinwheel kick to get
a breather. The fans actually cheer for Jerry as he nails a top rope
clothesline for two, only to walk into a jawbreaker.

They head outside for
some shots into the barricade but the referee takes Finlay’s chair
away. We hit the chinlock back inside as Jimmy pops up on screen to
cheer for Jerry again. Flynn comes back with his usual jobber
offense and chokes against the ropes. He avoids a charging Finlay
but walks into the rolling fireman’s carry. Not that it matters
though as Finlay leaves to go after Hart, only to get jumped by the
First Family, including Flynn. I’m assuming it’s a no contest.

Rating:
D-. This is the match that’s
supposed to get people to stick with the show? Seriously? This is
the best they can come up with? When you have Road Dogg, Bob Holly
and Al Snow doing actually entertaining hardcore stuff, at least try
to counter with actual hardcore stuff instead of two guys having a
bad match. It might actually work. Ok not likely but it could.

JJ
Dillon is in the back with Lenny and Lodi. Their contracts have been
renewed by something went wrong. Apparently they’re really brothers
and should have signed as such. This story just reached a new level
of creepy and stupid, which I didn’t think was possible.

Hogan
comes out, says he’s going back to his old ways of listening to the
fans and accepts Sid’s challenge. Somehow this took five minutes.

Video
on Flair vs. Sting.

Lenny
and Lodi hug before we get going. Lodi rakes the eyes to take over
early on, only to get armdragged down. The spinning slam sends Lodi
running to the floor though and it’s time for another embrace.
Smiley sends him into the barricade to keep Lodi in trouble though
and it’s time for the BIG WIGGLE.

Lenny
seems to like the idea and does it too, allowing Lodi to get in a
cheap shot to take over. Lodi
rolls some suplexes for two with Smiley getting a foot on the ropes.
Norman fights up but runs into an elbow to the jaw. We pause for a
bit for a consultation between the brothers, only to have Lodi run
into a boot in the corner. The Norman’s Conquest goes on and Norman
rolls Lodi up for the fast pin.

Rating:
D. So we have brothers
who…..you know what? I can’t get through this sentence without
feeling very wrong. It’s a shock value story and isn’t making me
care about either guy any more than I did before. I can’t picture it
ending well either as it’s going to get into some uncomfortable
areas.

The
brothers try the Big Wiggle post match.

DJ
Ran.

Eric
Bischoff jumps in on commentary. Yay.

Video
hyping Sting vs. Flair. Basically Sting says Flair is corrupt (he
is) and now Sting wants a match for control of the company.

Bischoff
goes on another rant about what he did wrong. I really don’t know
what they’re trying to accomplish with these talks but it comes off
like trying to make me care about Bischoff, which would work better
if he actually DID something. Sting plants Robinson with a Scorpion
Death Drop before the bell, meaning Mickie Jay will come out to
referee. Flair looks
terrified as reality begins to set in.

The
gorilla press plants Flair to start and the chops have no effect.
You would think ten years would have taught Flair a lesson already.
Sting sends him into the corner but Ric nails a quick low blow to
take over. He tries a suplex from the apron to the floor and I’m
assuming you know how that turns out. Ric
rolls outside and pulls Sting with him, only to eat a hard
clothesline.

Back
in and Sting nails a big superplex for two as Anderson makes the
save. Sting nails Arn but
here’s Sid to attack Sting and give us a mini Horsemen reunion.
Flair slowly stomps away on
Sting and puts on the Figure Four. The ropes are grabbed and Sting
gets back up to no sell some more chops. He charges into an elbow
though, allowing Flair to go up top. After the required slam off the
top, Sting nails some clotheslines but Ric pulls the referee in front
of the Stinger Splash. Anderson and Asya come in but are quickly
dispatched, allowing Sting to put on the Scorpion. Bischoff comes in
and accepts Flair’s submission.

Rating:
C+. This was just the greatest
hits from Sting vs. Flair, which is fine given that they almost
always have a good match. That being said, this felt more about
Bischoff’s redemption, even though no one was really interested in
seeing him be redeemed anyway. The fact that these two have had what
is likely to be the match of the night tells you all about the match
selection on this show.

Post
match Sid comes in and nails Sting before powerbombing Bischoff.
Hogan runs in for the save.

Let’s
get this over with. Steiner
hammers away on Horace to start with his usual array of brutally bad
offense. Horace pulls him out to the floor but misses a splash on
the barricade ala Sting. Back
in and Steiner slugs Horace down again with hard shots to the face
before putting on a chinlock. Horace
fights up with a big boot to knock the champ outside. The referee
doesn’t seem to mind the chair shots to Steiner’s back. Kevin Nash
seems to mind though as he comes out to send Horace into the steps.
The Steiner Bulldog retains the title.

Rating:
D. Someone lock Steiner in a
room so he can’t hurt any more matches. This was the usual dreadful
mess with Rick in there beating up whomever he’s against and barely
selling a thing. Horace isn’t much but he’s light years ahead of
Rick, who somehow used to be a good hand in the ring.

Nash
and Steiner touch fists post match, drawing out Hogan to ask what’s
going on. Kevin says it’s personal and that’s that.

Nitro
Girls.

We
continue the search for Eddie’s wallet. Psychosis misses a charge to
start and crashes into the corner, allowing Eddie to baseball slide
him out to the floor. Back
in and Eddie nails a quick slingshot hilo, only to eat a clothesline
from Psychosis. A
headscissors and tilt-a-whirl backbreaker get two Eddie and we head
outside again.

Eddie
is sent into the barricade to work on the ribs so Psychosis throws
him back in for a waistlock. A
top rope spinwheel kick drops Eddie for two and a top rope
hurricanrana gets the same. Eddie blocks a tornado DDT though and
grabs a quick neckbreaker, followed by the Frog Splash for the fast
pin.

Rating:
C-. Psychosis doesn’t get the
respect he deserves as he’s actually better than people remember. He
may not have been as good as the elite members of the division but
he’s still more than able to hold his own in the ring. Eddie
continues to look sharp since his return, but this wallet thing needs
to wrap up soon so he can go somewhere else.

Villano
V and La Parka run in to beat down Eddie post match until Rey
Mysterio comes out for the save. Naturally former issues are
forgotten and they shake hands.

In
the back, Stevie Ray asks Vincent and Brian Adams to watch his back
against the Triad. Adams isn’t interested because Ray should be
worried about NWO business. He
has a point there. Squashing Prince Iaukea on weekend C shows is
serious business.

The
Triad does their usual stuff but throws in some Your Mama jokes about
Stevie. Ray storms the ring
and destroys Kanyon
with a big shoulder followed by a gorilla press and big boot. He’s
wrestling like a total face so far. Kanyon
ducks a corner clothesline though and hammers away, only to be thrown
to the floor with ease. Stevie continues to defend his mama’s honor
by sending Kanyon into the barricade and then the steps as this has
been almost one sided.

Back
in and Kanyon grabs a quick slam, followed by a middle rope legdrop
for two. A swan dive misses though and Stevie plants Kanyon with a
powerslam. The rest of the Triad comes in but Stevie fights them off
with relative ease. Stevie totally botches the Slapjack, nearly
falling onto Kanyon instead of jumping. Not that it matters as Page
comes in for the DQ. Actually scratch that as the referee says it
was a pin, even though Page hit him before the three. Ok then.

Rating:
D+. Stevie looked like a
monster out there but at the end of the day, there’s only so much he
can do in the ring. That Slapjack was just horrible, especially when
it doesn’t fit Stevie’s style. He’s a power guy but it’s really not
a power move. If the skinny version of HHH can hit it, how powerful
can it be?

The
Triad beats Stevie down until Booker makes the save. To be fair they
made fun of his mama too.

Robert
Wuhl of Arli$$ joins commentary. I’ve never seen the show so I’m
assuming he’s in character and doesn’t really sound this annoying.

There’s no Madusa with
Savage for some reason. Before the match, Savage says he wants his
title back and that he’s running for President in 2000. Sure why
not. They trade wristlocks to start with Savage looking a bit
frustrated. Savage kicks him in the ribs as Arliss is already
getting on my nerves, talking about how amazing Dennis Rodman is. A
headscissors and dropkick send Savage to the floor where he grabs a
chair and blasts the announcers’ table.

Back in and Savage
hammers away, only to get backdropped out to the floor for a big
crash. That’s fine with Savage as he pulls Kidman out to the floor
and chokes on the table……WITH A SLIM JIM! Ok that made up for a
lot of the problems in this show. Back in again and Kidman eats an
elbow to the jaw as Arliss STILL won’t shut up about Rodman. Miss
Madness accidentally dropkicks Savage (at least it wasn’t the Molly
Go Round) to give Kidman two. Savage pops up and piledrives Kidman
into next year, setting up the big elbow.

He pulls up at two
though and decks the referee, only to drop another referee. Cue
Rodman in semi-drag to hit Savage in the back with his hat, sending
Savage to the floor and Arliss into the ring to celebrate. I’m
assuming the match was thrown out but the fans eat Rodman up because
this is Chicago Bulls country.

Rating:
C-. This summed up a lot of
WCW’s issues in a nutshell. We had a watchable match going on, but
between Arliss on commentary, Rodman coming in and the girls brawling
afterwards, it was almost impossible to care about the match. On top
of that, this was all to set up Randy Savage vs. Dennis Rodman?
That’s the best idea they can come up with for a pay per view?
Decent match ruined by WCW being unable to stop messing with things.

Security (and Tony
Schiavone for some reason) comes in to break it up as Arliss makes a
challenge for Savage vs. Rodman at Road Wild. Madusa comes out and
brawls with Miss Madness

Clip of Vampiro beating
up Konnan last week.

Konnan babbles about
cheddar before the match and slaps Vampiro in the face before the
bell. Vampiro quickly takes over and suplexes him down for two
before stomping away on Konnan. A spinwheel kick drops Konnan as
Heenan sounds bombed. The kick to the ribs and X Factor set up a
clothesline to knock Vampiro outside. Back in and a horrible looking
takedown called a bulldog sets up the rolling lariat, only to have
the Insane Clown Posse come in to stomp on Konnan for the DQ.

Shaggy 2 Dope drops a
terrible looking “legdrop” on Konnan which seems to hurt him way
more than it should. Raven is out with the clowns too. Rey tries to
come in but gets laid out for a moonsault from Violent J. Let’s see:
NWO, Team Savage, Rednecks, Triad, No Limit Solders, First Family,
Vampiro and company and you could argue Regal/Finlay/Taylor. When
you’re reaching enough factions to hold a factions tournament, it’s
time to cut things down a few dozen notches.

Nitro Girls with DJ
Ran.

Clip of Hogan winning
the title last week.

Here’s Buff Bagwell
dressed as the Cat to continue this stupid feud. I’ll gloss over the
small guy with him in an Asian face mask and the fact that Buff has
brown makeup on. His impression is good at least and he rips on fans
for being fat. Buff promises to whip all of the Jacksons and wants
to click his red shoes together three times to get out of Rockford.
Eh point for a funny line. This brings out Cat and Onoo for a red
shoe to the head and a Moonwalk elbow. So long Buff. It was nice
having you in credability land while it lasted.

Road Wild ad.

This could be good.
Hennig takes Benoit into the corner to start but has his whip
reversed so Benoit can hammer away. A dropkick to the knee puts Curt
down and it’s off to Saturn for a double suplex. Back to Benoit very
quickly for a double clothesline before the Crippler goes back to the
knee. Kendall finally trips Benoit up to give Hennig a breather,
allowing Curt to nail a clothesline and tag in Barry.

Windham hits a
clothesline of his own and we take a break. Back with Barry
superplexing Benoit for two as Saturn makes the save. Off to Curt
for his usual, only to miss a charge in the corner. The hot tag
brings in Saturn but he has to fight off all four Rednecks. Hennig
rakes the eyes to get out of the Death Valley Driver but gets caught
in the Crossface, drawing in the Rednecks for the DQ.

Rating:
C. The match was ok while it
lasted but I’m getting tired of these heel groups that keep
interfering to end matches. We had it for years with the NWO and now
we have it with the Triad and the Rednecks. I’m glad that they’re
giving so many people something to do, but come up with something
fresh. Also, did a six and a half minute match really need a
commercial?

Malenko
tries to make the save but gets beaten down as well. Instead SHANE
DOUGLAS makes his return and cleans house. He grabs the mic and says
these guys are the backbone of the company and won’t be held down
like he was for years. Where he comes from, if someone is trying to
stop your career, you bash them in the head with a stop sign. He’s
going to take the cancer out of WCW starting tonight. Hopefully
this lights a fire in the old vs. new story even though it’s already
dying of frostbite from being so cold. Also, when Shane Douglas is
your best hope, you might want to just pack it in now.

Nitro Girls.

Clip of Hogan winning
the title last week.

Road Wild ad.

Hogan is defending of
course. Heenan doesn’t think these two have ever had a match before.
Even Hudson corrects him, saying they may have but not in a WCW
ring. They circle each other for a bit before Sid drops outside.
Back in and Sid shoves the champion down before Hogan does something
similar, though Sid doesn’t go off his feet. A test of strength goes
nowhere and Sid is sent outside again.

We’re almost four
minutes into the match already and a LOUD boring chant starts up.
Back in and Sid kicks at the recently injured knee but Hogan blocks a
weak ram into the buckle. A bunch of right hands have Sid reeling
and Hogan rains down ten punches in the corner. Hogan rakes the eyes
but can’t slam him with the bad knee giving out. Sid grabs a
chinlock before wrapping the knee around the post, but the TNT feed
goes out for ten seconds for no apparent reason.

We come back without
the announcers acknowledging the break so I can’t imagine it was
intentional. Back in and Sid puts on a cobra clutch of all things
but lets it go and boots Hogan down, only to miss a legdrop. Hulk Up
time and he slams Vicious, only to have Nash come in for the DQ.

Rating:
D. Here’s
the current dilemma for WCW: their options range from trying
something “new” with Nash vs. Savage and having the matches be
disasters or trying something old with Hogan vs. a monster, which
will be more tolerable
due to Hogan being able to do that match in his sleep, but
still nothing we haven’t seen a thousand times. Yes
those are our only two options, because we’re not getting anyone new
in the main event anytime soon.

Sting comes in for the
save until Rick Steiner comes in to beat Sting down. Goldberg
FINALLY returns and cleans house, sending the villains to the floor
for a big staredown to end the show. Of course Nash is totally cool
with Sid, who was involved in attempting to murder him about a month
ago.

Overall
Rating: D. I know I said they
needed to get back to something more basic, but could they move past
1988? We’re really sitting through Hogan vs. tall monsters and Sting
vs. Flair in 1999. That’s
in addition to all the lame celebrity appearances and the ridiculous
amount of factions. This
wouldn’t be so bad if there wasn’t an army of young talented guys
that are just spinning their wheels in nothing feuds while the old
guys do whatever they feel like doing because no one is going to tell
them no.